I'm Your Buddy
A film and TV podcast hosted by best friends, Nick and William. Join us weekly as we watch imperfect but excellent works and discuss storytelling, friendship, and, in our current season, the film and tv scripts of Alex Garland!
I'm Your Buddy
Episode 225: There's A Lesson For You Here
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This week we watch Alex Garland's ninth feature film 28 Years Later (2025) and discuss new TV shows we are watching, British nationalism, and Sally Field.
Hello and welcome to season 10 of I'm Your Buddy with Nick and William, the podcast where two best friends are watching and discussing the filmography of writer director Alex Garland. I'm Nick who loves Alex Garland.
SPEAKER_01And I'm William who also loves Alex Garland. And today we are talking about his 2025 film 28 years later. Which second film in 2025.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Yeah, he did too, because he directed Warfare right after Civil War. He did those two in a row. And he did not direct 28 years later. Dude's double dipping on scripts. Yeah, we're back to almost what started his career. He's working with Danny Boyle again in this first movie of the hopefully soon to be completed 28 years trilogy, which supposedly the third one is being shot next year or something like that. By Danny Boyle as well. Yeah, it's been a couple weeks. We've been off for a few weeks, uh which this feels like the longest stretch in a long time. I think so. This might have been I can't I don't remember when I mean I remember when Leo was born, but I think the Leo being born a month off menti breaky.
SPEAKER_01We took a we we took a time off. We took some gaps for a bit.
SPEAKER_00Just feels like a long time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. It's been a long time since we've done it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Oh, because it like a week before uh it came out or something we recorded with Dave or something like that. Or no, it was Sean. It was Sean. Yeah, my brother Sean came on and talked about warfare. Yeah. You're out of it. Dude, I'm fucking I'm so tired. I was literally almost falling asleep when you came over.
SPEAKER_01I noticed. Yeah. And I laid down when you went to poop, and I was like, I could fall asleep right now. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I could do a little nap time. Yeah, for real. Yeah, absolutely. Just back from vacation and instantly extremely busy. Um bitch. Everything. Yeah. What about you? So how have you been? I haven't seen you in two weeks. I missed you. I love you. I missed you. I love you. Saw our good friend Graham. Friend of a pod. He misses and loves you too.
SPEAKER_01I miss and love Graham, Lauren, Bright. Yeah. Pasta Cats. Trio. Never been up there.
SPEAKER_00You should. So nice. Definitely. Yeah. Uh weather, weather was excellent. Company was even better. Sweet. With them. But yeah. So what have you been up to these past couple weeks?
SPEAKER_01None. I'm fine. No. I've been good. Work is insanely busy. I'm training three people. I'm working on presentations. I'm doing projects. Like I'm staying late. It's dude, it's been nuts. I'm I've been like way busier at work than I have been in a long time. I'm really good at balancing that for the most part. But like this, the last like I would say three to four weeks is some of the busiest I've been.
SPEAKER_00Wow. It's been a lot. It isn't this when a lot of people's plans switch over back.
SPEAKER_01That'll be October. Oh we prep you prep for J everyone wants January for your reset for your renewal. Okay, gotcha. And we prep for all of that October. This is just internal, our team. We're losing people, we're hiring people. It's all sorts of stuff. So I've just been really busy on that. We don't have to get into the the details because no one cares, but this is uh kind of funny and a little pertinent to the the nerd fan base of us. I had an argument with my manager, came in hot, we're arguing, and he interrupts me and he says, You you gotta you got a weird thing about justice. And I said, Yeah, and I don't like bullies. Wow. Obviously, we were talking about someone else in the office, and I'm hot. And he goes, But yeah, you're just you get hung up on this justice thing, and he does the corny, he goes, if I had to ask you who your favorite superhero is, you would probably say Batman. I said, No, I'd say Spider-Man. He just wants to be loved and he's not allowed because of the child. He's like, Alright, shut up, shut up.
SPEAKER_00He's like, I didn't ask you about your personal life.
SPEAKER_01He didn't want to hear that. He's like, Oh, okay, okay, okay. But he tried to get that whole therapy one-on-one, like your superhero is Batman. I was like, nah, man. No, bro. Missed it. That's so fucking funny. I just want to see.
SPEAKER_00And then once he got to the real thing, he's just like, no, I don't give a shit. That doesn't help my argument.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. But no, I've been uh coming in hot. Haven't seen any movies. I've watched a few bit of TV. I can do catch up on TV real quick. Because I would assume you ain't seen shit.
SPEAKER_00No, we actually watched some with Graham and Lauren, yeah. What'd you watch? We watched A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
SPEAKER_01Never heard of it. Oh, Game of Thrones shit? So it's sword shit?
SPEAKER_00It's the Game of Thrones. Uh well, I guess it's the second spin-off of Game of Thrones. So they did the House of the Dragon. House of the Dragon, that's the big one, you know, big prequel, I guess. And then there's that that one's all the big dragons, house, Targaryen, all that kind of shit. And exactly. And then I guess there's a some novellas or something like that, short stories that George R. Martin wrote about just like a lowly knight, and that's what a knight of the seven kingdoms is. Oh, cool. So it's literally just takes place, it's just this uh green, not the green knight, but a green knight, you know, he's just rookie. Rookie, yeah. And um, he's going to like a competition, basically a jousting competition to find yeah, to prove himself, basically. And he's a ledger. It's like six episodes, maybe, and they're like 32, 40 minutes long. They're not the full hour or anything like that. That sounds cool. And so we knocked it out in in two nights staying at Graham's. Nice, so fucking enjoyable, very funny. I mean, it's still, you know, there's some devastating stuff. It's Game of Thrones, you know, violence. Yeah, it's George R. Martin, but very good chemistry between the lead, the the leads, very likable characters, and yeah, it's just really well done, just kind of self-contained. It almost feels like a mini-series. They're gonna do more because there's more short stories with the knight and his squire, it's uh who's Dunk. So Dunkin' the Tall, and and then Egg is uh his little bald squire boy. Yeah, but yeah, it's super enjoyable, easy to knock out. Yeah, I had a nice. I've really enjoyed it. I haven't heard it was good.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say that makes sense. I've heard there's there's two different shows, and well, I've only heard good things about one. I haven't heard bad about the other, it's just everyone's like, oh no, this show's cool. Yeah, okay, that's cool. That's fun.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's worth watching, yeah. Yeah, it's I really like it. And it's it's Game of Thrones adjacent. Like there's not a lot of lore or anything that you gotta figure out. You get some name drops, yeah, places. Barely castles, maybe barely any. Sweet. Yeah, so it's very nice, very accessible.
SPEAKER_01Nice. I watched, I haven't finished. I dipped my toe into Widow's Bay. Oh, yes. A lot of people keep talking about it. And Josh Jenkins. Josh Jenkins said it's great.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I didn't know anything about it. It just from the the poster that I saw, it looked kind of painted, and it gave me the same vibes as the Mike Flanagan Midnight Mass type stuff. And I heard it was horror. Yeah. So in my head, I was like, okay, I'm down. I I won't wait for Halloween. I'll I'll watch something creepy now. Uh I found out it's the writer, it's one of the creators of Parks and Rec and Lady 2016 Ghostbusters. Yes. Yeah. So I was like, that's weird. Yeah. I don't know how I do with horror comedy. Like, I can give you two examples of when that works for me. Sure. So I was like, I don't know. Let's see. I haven't finished it, but it's really cool. Nice. It's a lot of fun. I think almost every character you instantly are like, oh yeah, I like these people. Yeah. That's what they nail, which I think is the same thing they do with Parks and Rec. Because I don't necessarily laugh at Parks and Rec, but I like all the characters. Yeah. You know, that's another one of those like devs where like maybe Leslie Nopes, my least favorite character. Everybody else is so interesting or different or eccentric. Sure. So like this has that feeling of like, oh yeah, all of these characters feel well written and well thought out, and they're fun. Anytime someone pops up, you're like, hell yeah, I like that person. Nice. So that on top of the setting, an island town, and there is some spooky stuff. Yeah, uh, I am very much enjoying it. I will finish it. I was having fun with that. Nice. I thought that was cool. And then I finished The Bear.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yes. The end of the show. The final season came out, right? Final season. Which I haven't heard anyone talk about any of it. Which is a shame. Because is it good? Do they they turn it around after the turn?
SPEAKER_01I think they ended it as a season, not just the end, but it's a great season.
SPEAKER_00Well, and I think that's what that was the problem, right? Is they had an idea for a season three, but it was so popular, they're like, ah, we're gonna stretch it out. So it felt like seasons, right?
SPEAKER_01You could have taken the last two seasons and made one out of them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And then did this, and this show uh trims all that fat, but I get it. I mean, if they give you a budget and you hear you get to have John Cena in your show, it's hard to say no to stuff like that. Of course. I totally get it. But ooh But it ends it if it really does feel like they went back to the form of the second season where it really is about the characters in the way you care about them. Yeah, it's nailing and how they're transforming and how the rest of the thing is. There's still stakes, there's still chaos, all of that's still there, it's still about cooking and blah blah blah, but like you I won't spoil it because I really do want you to watch it. Yeah, we'll watch it, we'll watch it. I know you like it, so you will, but it I I really did feel like every episode, I was like, I'm liking all their choices. Nice.
SPEAKER_00Well, I think I think they nailed it, and I think he had something to prove now because people didn't like season three very much. So since he already had the kind of ending in mind already, now he's like, okay, now we just had to pull it off well. So it makes sense that it's good, to be honest. Yeah, that the track said it's good. Because yeah, if you split that idea into two seasons, people don't like the one that's before you you you uh you got you gotta prove them wrong. You're like, no, no, I yeah, I have the landing to stick. Yeah, I think that's good. That makes me happy.
SPEAKER_01I think of one like uh plot character thing. I was like, yeah, there's one character story. I was like, I'm not loving this. Everyone does well, but there's just one piece of it. I was like, nah, I don't love this. I didn't need this. You could have done something different. With the facts or whatever. No, no, no, no. Um, the uh the pastry chefs.
SPEAKER_00Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01Just what they do with that. I was uh the end again, ends great, but just there's a point of it where I was like, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I just don't love it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. I I wanted something a little different, but oh man, I thought it was great. I really did. And yeah, I got choked up a few times. Everyone does really well. They give every character it feels like what you want them to have in a way that feels earned.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we gotta re-watch three or no, did we? Well, I think we started out. I can't even remember if we watched any of three. I can't fucking remember to be honest.
SPEAKER_01They all have good stuff, and their overall stuff is good, but it it's you can just definitely tell at one season they're like, okay, yeah, you got a budget, your guest list got huge, and you're just kind of going through the motions. Yeah, I think we did, yeah, we watched it. Yeah, Bree Larson showing up out of nowhere. Love Brie Larson, shout out, but like I didn't need that. You know what I mean? It starts feeling like that. It's like, I don't need John Cena here. Yeah, yeah, exactly. But um, no, it was good. It it feels good that it's over. That was the thing I was thinking about. It's like it's done. Yeah, that's a completed show. Yeah, and I I like that that exists. I think they fell to you dump it all in one day, no one talks about it. There's nothing to do with it. Oh, okay. So it wasn't the weekly, they just put it out of the bench.
SPEAKER_00Gotcha. And I do think that affects that show. Which is interesting because it's they have the choice of doing either. I mean, that's FX uh does a lot of their prestige shows episodically, and it's I guess it's was it on uh maybe it's a Hulu more. It's on Hulu, yeah. So but they still have the choice, whatever they can do whatever the fuck they want.
SPEAKER_01But it bums me out that that's how they did it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because I forgot that it came out.
SPEAKER_01Did you also forget that season two of X-Men 97 came out?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I saw like, oh, look at the preview for episode four of X-Men 97 season two. I'm like, what I'm like, what the fuck? I remember that it was gonna start. Yeah, there's the ghosts in the new ghost in the shell anime started on Amazon. That's supposed to be good too. I have no idea. Yeah, so I gotta catch the video.
SPEAKER_01I completely forgot about X-Men and I watched the first episode, but I was doing other stuff and I fell asleep and I was like, turn it off. I'll start this over later. Yeah. Take it seriously because I'm excited. Yeah, that first season was I mean, yeah. I'm trying not to exaggerate, but like it's perfect for me. Oh, yeah. That's exactly what I want from anything X-Men related. Yep. It was so good where I legit there was a moment where I was watching the show and I was like, I don't need a live action movie. No, you did this. I I I'm not hungry for live action like I was. Like I got Scott Summers, I got Gene Gray.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you get them being badasses, and it's the soap opera. Like that's it. That's all you need. Yeah. That that's why it's so odd, like some of the choices in the X-Men movies. That's all you because the characters are great. As long as you cast them well, just we just need the soap and we need the fucking scope, the action, we need the the bigness, the great moments. Which hopefully the Russell's will bring some of that as comic book nerd fans.
SPEAKER_01I think they will. I think they'll the more I think about it. I'm like, yeah, they're gonna do fine with Avengers Doomsday. I think so. It'll be fine, it'll be a lot of fun. Yeah, it's just I don't think the emotion's gonna hit the way they want because you already did it. Yeah, it's all you did it. Yeah, you can't do it twice. No, you know, you really rebuild, you know. Yeah, but um I think that's all I've been watching.
SPEAKER_00I mean, it's only been two weeks or so.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, my let's play's doing Resident Evil Requiem. Nice. So I'm watching another guy be bad at playing Resident Evil Requiem, just like Grant was, missing every shot, getting scared, shooting the Requiem, wasting the ammo, getting caught by the big baby in the hallway, and they go, just go in the room. He's like, It's too late, passed it, can't go now. And I'm like, Yeah, uh, damn.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so it is days of fucking hilarious. It's like this game is so hard. It's like, is it really? It doesn't matter. This is your get you're the one you like this. Yeah, it does your favorite thing. This is your shit, right? Why are you so bad at your favorite things? I know it's so fucking funny, but no, because it's he grew up playing with a guide. Yeah, that's what it is.
SPEAKER_01But still, why why does the guide make you bad at aiming? That I don't get.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's a skills issue for sure. There's a blue skill. Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. Absolutely literally.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, other than that, I've been okay, been uh sucking and fucking the night away with me and Shepard. Just I'm sure. Just hanging in there. Just damn, do this work thing, stress. I'm gonna take a week off uh either the end of July or the first week of August. Oh, nice. I have like 190 hours PTO. Wow. So I'm just gonna take a random week off. I'm done with my big project right now. That'll be nice. So yeah, I'll take a week and do nothing or maybe um paint some of my walls. A few? Yeah, yeah. I think I'll paint a few.
SPEAKER_00Should go get a massage or should go to fucking Santa Fe or something just.
SPEAKER_01I'm trying to save money. I'm trying to paint my car off this year. Oh, nice. And I got just a little bit left.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's good.
SPEAKER_01So I'm holding off on that. Yeah. I think that's my big thing right now. I'm trying not to buy things, which of course I'm still buying things. Yeah, yeah. That was tough. Yeah. But yeah, other than that, I'm doing uh I'm doing alright. I'm very excited for the Odyssey. I I don't love Nolan, but every once in a while I remember I love Nolan.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's how I am with him. I'm like, guy ain't that shit. And then I'll think and I'm like, I think he's the shit. Yeah, yeah. He's the fucking shit.
SPEAKER_00It's just the guy of he is great, but he's so popular that dum-dums love him too.
SPEAKER_01And he's also not great sometimes at the exact same time in the exact same film. Oh, yeah. I'm like, ugh. He's he's so basic. No one's perfect. Yeah, he's he's imper he's yeah, he's very imperfect. Uh I just randomly texted you the other day. I was like, Nick, Hugh Jackman drowns himself a hundred times, like how his wife died at the end because he just wants to know what she felt when she left. Yeah, he was drowning himself in a sink to see visions of her, to connect with her. Yeah. And then he goes, Well, I'm just gonna kill myself the way she died a hundred times.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's to punish myself because this is the thing that drove her to that.
SPEAKER_01I'm like, okay, yeah, no, he is the shit. Yeah, he's totally the shit.
SPEAKER_00And that's coming back in the theaters. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01Is it really? It's never the one they bring back.
SPEAKER_00Because it's 20 years ago, it's it's 20 anniversary, dude. So yeah, we gotta go see that. The fuck back. I know, yeah.
SPEAKER_01It is one of my favorite movies.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we gotta see that. We gotta see Akira's coming back. Never seen it, which I've never seen. I've only read so that in IMAX 4K or whatever the fuck it's gonna be, and it will be great. And then yeah, Spidey at the end of the month already, which we we do it for. Yes, as soon as possible, because it looks awesome. Yeah, I'm very excited. Can't fucking wait. That'll probably be well, yeah, that'll probably be my favorite movie of the year, probably. I don't know. I think you're forgetting what's coming out. Why what else is coming out?
SPEAKER_01Dune fucking three.
SPEAKER_00I know, and I do love Denis, and I do love Dune, but I love Spidey, man. I know, and this is sad.
SPEAKER_01And if they do sad Spidey, I just opened with yeah, they do sad fucking Pete. He's gonna be at a party and see MJ with a dude. Come on, and he's just gonna go swing after he's crying in his mask and no one knows. He's just fucking woo-hoo-hoo. It's just swinging the city.
SPEAKER_00Can't wait. I can't wait. Yep, yeah. Uh, but yeah, that's it's that's coming up quick. Because yeah, it hasn't really felt like summer movies yet.
SPEAKER_01I haven't treated it like summer movies. Last movie I saw was Backrooms. Oh, yeah. Which is horror. Yeah. Which is cool. Yeah, I did enjoy it.
SPEAKER_00I would like to see it. I like Chew Wittel a lot.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they built the sets.
SPEAKER_00Oh, cool.
SPEAKER_01And I was like, no, there's some cool stuff here, there's some creepy stuff here.
SPEAKER_00Sick.
SPEAKER_01The the metaphors and the messaging doesn't always stick. It gets a little messy, but it's good enough. Nice. I liked it.
SPEAKER_00That's cool. Yeah. Yeah, I do want to see it eventually.
SPEAKER_01Nicholas, what do you want to talk about? You've been so goddamn busy living life, being a dad and a husband. I just been out of town. People like being around, traveling places, yeah, seeing stuff.
SPEAKER_00I was out of town for ten days, which was too long.
SPEAKER_01Did you get bored? Oh, did you just need to come back? Both.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, seeing Graham was great. We had to get to play some racquetball, we got to play some pickleball. Leo and Bright got along really well. Bright was super stoked to play Donkey Kong Bananza on my Switch too. So I'm basically forcing Graham to buy a Switch too. It was just it was very nice, very nice to catch up with friends. And then yeah, going out to the coast to to see my in-laws. Uh the weather was great. Just you know, the opposite of here. It's in the 60s, but there was it was unseasonably sunny, which was actually nice. And hoodie weather? Uh yes, yeah, hoodie and yeah, shorts and some days pants for sure. But yeah, it's just too long because they just live in a small town out there and there's literally nothing to do. You know, you get to hang out with family and stuff, and and really, yeah, I'm like, I forget how as I get older, like I'm coming around to being much more of a desert person. I don't like the heat, I don't like being sweaty, but after nearly 40 years of that, now I'm just like, oh, this is my reality, this is what I'm used to. Just being out there, and while the cool weather was very nice, it's just damp all the time, always. And if we're staying close to the beach, it's like sand is everywhere. Your towel never dries after using it. You put something out to dry, it does, it never dries. I literally like wash the coffee pot uh that we have in our little cabin, and I left it out to dry. And after and I didn't use it for three more days after that because we had coffee uh at my sister-in-law's house, and I went to go put it back when we were leaving, still wet. Like that kind of shit where I'm like, how do people live like this? It's but it's green, there's nature, there's alive, but there's mold and there's moss. That's also alive.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I don't like it. Yeah, I know. What am I? An int? You know what I mean? You you you you hit me with that a couple times ago. It's last of us part two. Yeah, you go, you the last the way you worded it a few trips ago, you said you can feel it decaying and like rotting, like the mold is eating everything. You're like, it gets to you. Yeah, that's so fascinating. I don't like it.
SPEAKER_00I've never been. It's gorgeous, it's definitely worth visiting. It's super green, and it it's all night. It's it's all for Leo. That's kind of what I had to tell myself this whole time. It's nice to see my family. It's all for you, boy. But it's like it's his first plane ride, it's his first time. I'm traveling on like you know uh light rail trains stuff, which he fucking loved that stuff because he's just like we don't have to wear a seatbelt, like that's like he was so fucking stoked. Like literally the shuttle between the airport and and the parking lot is cool to him and the airport and the rental car place, like that's his favorite part, yeah. And literally, he would just mention that multiple times. It's like, oh, we don't have to wear a seatbelt, like he's just so stoked on. Sounds like me, yeah, exactly. So, and then he gets to see his cousins. He we went out on uh my sister-in-law's husband's boat and did a little bit of fishing just for like half an hour. Leo didn't catch anything, but Leo loved that, he thought it was cool, and so it's like it's cool experiences for the boy, exactly. So, because I just forget, we hadn't been there in over three years. We went right we went like the year before Leo was born, maybe 2022 or something. I think so. So maybe it's yeah, it's been four years. So I was just like, Oh yeah, it's once you get there, the food is always great, the fish is always great. Like it's nice to see family, it's nice to hang out with family, do things like that. Sure, but like if you say so, but there's just not a lot of stuff to do, and we've already done all that stuff the past few times, and so I'm just like this is too long here in this location. You know, I just we we gotta shorten it up, which is selfish of me.
SPEAKER_01No, because it is a balance because if you do it too short, your brain will go. I need it to be worth the travel. No, exactly, because it's a lot of travel, it's a lot of travel. So you can't go too short, yeah, rapper, but you can't go too long because you're just like, I'm I'm done. Yeah, I'm done being temporary somewhere else.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and it's yeah, it's okay. And then I just turned where I'm like, I just want to either eat poor or drink booze to to kind of deal with it. And so you did both? Uh yes, I did both. Yes, and I but I did catch up on a little bit of reading, but I couldn't do my projects that I had to fucking work on. Like at home, I got we gotta work on stuff for the house, obviously. I got now the fucking comic book redeemer, the colors are done, except for one character as of today. So, and it looks fucking great. We're having a meeting, uh, Google Meet on Sunday, so the day before this episode comes out, to talk about the lettering and the colors, but now like then I ship it to the fucking printers and I gotta start making everything now. So it's like really kicking in high gear in July. So that's all coming up. So like it's just there's a lot of busyness, and I was just like, I just can't work on anything that I need slash want to work on while I'm out of town, but I catch up on uh I I caught up on some reading, read about some budgeting, which I need to do. It's nice to hear you talk about you not wanting to spend money, yeah. Because I, you know, I'm just so bad with it.
SPEAKER_01I just bought a $350 linen jacket that I can't wear until the fall.
SPEAKER_00You were just wearing a jacket, you can wear it, you'll be all right. Linen's good, it's breathable, it's for summer.
SPEAKER_01I thought the same, and then I was like, eh, it's a little too heavy. Yeah, it's cool as hell, and I was just like, I didn't need to buy this right now.
SPEAKER_00Well, at least you know you need to start budgeting, and that's I read a whole budgeting book. I started reading a narrative book that my uh sister-in-law's husband. Chapter one, don't have poor parents.
SPEAKER_01Uh I mean, you know, that does it does help. Yeah, when they when they talk about savings, they're like, so best rule of advice Yeah, be born rich. Be born rich, estates. Exactly. Cash value on insurance plans, I'll tell you that.
SPEAKER_00I don't know what that means. And I started reading a an actual novel too, which is okay. I'll I'll finish it. I got halfway through while I was there, so I'll just I'll finish it. Pretty and it's just like a fun thing, it's very popular right now. But which one is it? Uh it's Dungeon Crawler Carl. I've heard of that, yeah. Yeah, it's very popular. It's it's kind of like I mean it it is very niche, RPG, DD kind of stuff, but with like the sense of humor of a Bazinga. Yes. Uh very correct. I'm never gonna read this. No, I'm mad now. No, no, no. Why are you reading it? Because it's popular? You want to check it out? No, because my the my sister's in-law's husband was like, Here, you should read this. I, you know, he's really liking him and his brother are really, really into it. Bazinga boys, and he's like, Oh, yeah, it's just like a it's like a video game. And I'm like, uh-huh. Yeah, I I know.
SPEAKER_01And then I get into the humor and I'm like you are this trip.
SPEAKER_00Yes, you read a Bazinga book. But but the it's structured, it's structured pretty well. The the majority of the chapters end on kind of decent cliffhangers that throw into the next chapter. So, like as a writing exercise, I'm like, oh, this is kind of interesting. That's cool. But then like when the humor comes, uh yeah, you're like, oh yeah, this just and some of it makes sense for the world that he's building, so I can give a little bit of it a pass, but it's it's kind of that like um it's the Andy Weir Martian of it all where you can tell a lot of the dude is in this character. So you're like, oh, you think some of these things are funny, uh, so that's why you're you know, it's one of those things. So but I'm like, okay, it's interesting enough. There's this like a sentient cat in it that's kind of fun, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but but yeah, so there's uh there's another popular novel I keep hearing about because I'm obsessed with the Dark Souls games. A lot of people compare it to that aesthetic. I think it's called Between Two Fires, and it's like between two fires. It's a gas ephemerality. There's it's a medieval like horror. Okay, like a night during the plague. It might be zombie-ish or something. That's cool. But I was like, that does sound cool. Yeah, that would be fun.
SPEAKER_00It's nice to read a novel, like a nice fucking I bought a few that I'm like, I gotta read these. Yeah, it's it's nice just holding the cock in your hand. Soft soft well, uh softback, you know, mass paperback, whatever. I keep on wanting to say trade, but that's a comic book thing. Fucking bazinga nerd. But yeah, long story short, it was a long time to be out in the middle of nowhere, uh, very moist for this desert boy's liking. But then we on our way back, we went to a Mariner's game and Leo and Bright got to run the bases afterwards.
SPEAKER_01That's super cool. It was great. And I hope the older he gets, he's like, Oh yeah, I did that. That's crazy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I hope yeah, I hope it he he had a really good time, and yeah, it was just nice to kind of cap it off with seeing Graham one more time. Uh he's a good boy, yeah. So yeah, it was just a long trip, and I was just very busy at work right beforehand, and then immediately dive back into the exact same kind of busyness at work where I'm just fucking hitting my head up against the wall. But we'll see. It's just the time of year, it'll and it's gonna get fucking super slammed by the end of the month, and yeah, this is just gonna be very busy. End of year. From now to December, you're you're bum rushed. Yeah, I'm really, really fucking busy. And literally, I I was trying to clean up in here.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say, like, it's different, and I can't tell all the way what it is.
SPEAKER_00That's a computer monitor because I had to rebuild my media server, which I moved out of here. But nerd, yeah, exactly. But I was like, Oh man, I just organized this room and now it's getting dirty again. Then I'm like, no, Nick, it's July. It's been seven months since you organized this room. You organized this room over Christmas break. Yeah. And I'm like, how the fuck has it been seven months since I organized this room? So yeah, it's just like time is fucking flying and whatever. I mean, the audience is bored of me saying that I'm busy. But you're busy, you're tired. Yeah, exactly. Same old shit. Just just get it over with.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00But speaking of same old shit, 28 years later. Watching it again, having watched 28 days later, you know, a couple months ago, I was like, oh, okay, I I see more of the connections in terms of the filmmaking style, at least, which I I respected and and and this time around and kind of missed the first time around, actually. There was a lot of details that I missed the first time around.
SPEAKER_01I feel like while I was watching this, I kept thinking you I think liked it but didn't love it when we saw it in the theater. And every time something happened, I was watching the camera work. I was like, Danny Boyle is just not your guy.
SPEAKER_02Nope.
SPEAKER_01He is not set for your heart. Nope. I do not at all.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I got halfway through the movie and kind of realized two things. One, I don't know, and we know all know how bad my memory is, but I don't know if I can name another movie where I really like the writing, but I don't like the directing. That is so rare. Yeah. Like just that just doesn't happen uh a lot of times. That maybe it exists. I'll have to kind of mull it over.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's called Sunshine. Another Danny Boyle. It's it's called Danny Boyle movies.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I do I like sunshine a lot more than this for sure. Yeah, I like his directing a lot more uh that. But and and I realized also, I'm like, oh, this is one of those like Rogue One to me. And there's a couple others too, but I again can't think of it off the top of my head. The third act where I love it by the end. Like I don't like it in the beginning, and I don't like the first half, but by the end, I'm like, oh, this is great. And it's a it that's a rare thing too, but that's how it is with Rogue One, where I'm just like, I did this first act, it's so fucking clunky, and then but by the end, it's very emotionally touching and it's awesome. Um, and I think that that's how I feel I feel the same way that I did in theaters. I think this is fine, but yeah, all the kind of Danny Boyleness of it, I really don't like a lot of this movie. So many of the fucking score choices. Stop putting fucking rock music in everything, it doesn't fucking work. We get it. You fucking grew up in Britain and blah blah blah. It's fucking annoying. Like it takes me out of so much of it, I can't fucking stand it.
SPEAKER_01Like are you blaspheming John Murphy?
SPEAKER_00No, there's once it gets to actual score, it's great. The score, the themes, when we yeah, like at the end with Spike and with the shit with his mom and all that. Yeah, that's beautiful. That's gorgeous.
SPEAKER_01But everything more than that is it's like it's the best part it's like.
SPEAKER_00Oh, if we're gonna fucking run around and oh, let's do some fucking let's put some rock music to it. Stop. You know what you're reminding me of? Stop. You're reminding me of Hot Fuzz.
SPEAKER_01No, exactly. The end credits song, but that's supposed to be funny. It is supposed to be cool. And I was like, I just think British people suck. I don't know. Their culture's lame, they're not cool.
SPEAKER_00No, their music's not cool. That's such that's so fucking spot on. Yeah, because it does kind of give me the same vibes of uh of uh Baby Driver where you're like, this song isn't doing what you think it's doing in this movie. Yes, and that is a very British thing. That's such a fucking interesting observation. Yeah, I just I couldn't and whatever the camera work, it's the camera work.
SPEAKER_01It's well, we gotta talk about it.
SPEAKER_00Well, I don't know. I it's a thing that I've come to accept, but it doesn't mean I like it. Yeah, that could work as well for just review. But I just know we're on the ride of Danny Boyle being like, ah, I just want to fuck around.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Where I'm just like we're getting Danny, we're getting goofy. Danny, I just want to experience the story, brother. I know I'm sorry that you have to. This is the shit that makes it interesting to you, but like go make some fucking music videos, bro.
SPEAKER_01Go make your bullshit somewhere else.
SPEAKER_00That's what it's for. Like, you're using uh I mean he's gonna be.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, tell the everything everywhere all at once, guys.
SPEAKER_00That no, no, exactly.
SPEAKER_01Like, I don't know, I want an Oscar with it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, bitch. Exactly, because they care about telling the fucking story using those tools. Where Danny Boyle's not interested in that. He has a great script, he has a great foundation, and he's made great movies. And he but like, yeah, he's not utilizing the tools. He's not your guy, man.
SPEAKER_01He's not a form function guy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he's just not using it to my liking because he does have good concepts. I get it. You're gonna shoot digital aid here, you're gonna use iPhones. It's because it is the modern world, and cell phones do exist in this world, but just not on this island, right? Like, yeah, I get the whys behind it. He always has those, but the way he implements it in terms of his shot choice, it just doesn't jive with my storytelling likes. I agree.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I don't know. Because it's not uh very rarely is it emotionally motivated.
SPEAKER_00Yes, very rarely. That's yeah, very that's spot on, yeah. That's all that's all I want. That's all I fucking want. Yeah, I need that catharsis, I need it in art because I am otherwise a miserable, terrified person, dude.
SPEAKER_01Your your uh uh what was it, the proposition where he says a misanthrope, and it's like, what that? It's like a bloke that hates every other bloke. He's like, I don't think that's right. He's like, actually, it's kind of dead accurate, it's kind of spot on.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, absolutely. That's great. I need to revisit that. It's been a while. I William, what do you what are your thoughts?
SPEAKER_01Nicholas, I'm so glad you asked as co-host of this. Yeah, sorry, 40 minutes. This is the guy with a microphone in his face, too. And I don't just make cum jokes.
SPEAKER_00Well, I liked it.
SPEAKER_01Oh I liked it when I first saw it. I thought it was cool. I took time away, and now we're watching Alex Garland stuff, and I've been very curious about watching again. I still like it. I don't know if I like it more or less. I think I just like it. I do think it's a good movie. Yeah, I think he's talking about fascinating stuff, the big difference between me and you. I I like Dane Boyle being a weird little freak boy. I kind of really dig it, and then sometimes I don't at all. Yeah. And I'm like, eh, I didn't need that. That's not enough. I think I get that point of it's not enough, and that's the emotional stuff. Yeah. It's like you can you you're doing so much that's cool and fun, scary, exciting, but when we get to the emotion of um sadness, loss, those emotions, it's not enough.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01When uh he drops the baby off, and Aaron Tarrell Johnson's like, oh shit, my son's outside, and he goes out. I was like, that should wreck me. That should be a sadder scene that should have more emotion to it and doesn't have it.
SPEAKER_00That's like, now let's do a GoPro and and crank up the shot fucking shutter speed, and he's more super ultra wide from up top.
SPEAKER_01And I'm like, no, that's not the time to do that. Yeah. Um, to quote the uh great actor Lazarus, it's about emotionality, yeah, and it's not in that scene. I think a lot of the mom stuff, it's not enough. When we get to her dying, it is. Yeah, some of it also not enough. Yeah, it's kind of clunky and can be a little funny looking when she's walking out and he shoots her from behind with the dart. Yeah. Yeah, he's just like, Yeah, you're not crazy to kind of like chuckle and go, eh, it's a little funny looking.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. It's a little hunched over.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's just weird, it's framed weird, it's blocked weird, and there's a better way to do those things emotionally. Yeah. And I think it would be with closeness. They're far, they're distant to each other. He's too far behind her. Yeah, make it intimate, bring the boy in. Like, there's just so many of those things where I'm just like, ah, not enough.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But dude, you're to those infected in the red. Yes. That's very cool. Terrifying. Yeah. So creepy. And the noises and the sensory overload with that. Yeah. The gas and the gas station diner just in the atmosphere.
SPEAKER_00And her breathing it out and stuff like that. Yeah. Very cool. Yeah. And I I I do like when he gets into the subjective mind of the mom, which that's the that's another thing, too. Like I would rather I want I want my storytellers to have, I mean, and look, he he's made this choice, but he dips into her subjective perspective a couple times throughout the movie. And I wish he would do that for the other characters a little bit more. Because then it's like a interesting. We can dip into everyone. Yeah, we can't do it. You know, we can go into the brains, which he kind of does. He does with the infected a bit. Yeah. Uh, he does with her a bit. And I just wish he did it with a little bit of everyone. Maybe he tried to, maybe I'm just not uh astute enough to figure it out. But I like those little touches when he does with the mom because it's like her waking up after like the party and asking Spike to run to the shops, and it's that shot of what she thinks uh the city looked like before, and there's like the dial-up internet because it was 2000, and then it cuts to showing what it looks like once she kind of remembers, you know, and it's all fucking torn up and all shit. And her having seen the Angel of the North statue or whatever, and when she starts calling Spike her dad, yeah, and then it's her she's short in the in the flowers, and it's her dad's hands on her shoulders like when she was a kid. I'm like, I like that stuff, that's cool. That's where you can kind of fuck around and use it in an emotionally effective way and and dipping into their subjective experience. But we don't I mean, I we get it with Spike, that's that is true, with like all the when he's high on the shit while his mom's being uh boiled. Yeah, yep. You know, and that's a gorgeous, that's a gorgeous spot, you know. And uh maybe I just wanted a little more from maybe the dad and and a little more with Kelson too. Um more with the boy, more with Spike. Yeah, yeah, sure. Yeah, if he needed more, that'd be great.
SPEAKER_01The idea of him being out there alone, yeah. You could have filmed it where it feels scarier and bigger and vast. Like again, he's so creative. Yeah you could he could have done that and it would have fit with all the other choices he did. Very true, very true. Yeah, first, yeah, because for him to play with the Milky Way galaxy when they're running back on the the walkway and the alpha's chasing them. Yeah, I was like, this looks incredible. Yeah. There's a part of my brain that goes, God, I love looking at this. Why'd he do it?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I want to know why.
SPEAKER_01I don't know why he did it. But if you're gonna do it, then there's other moments where I'm going, you can do it here too. Yeah, you could get weird here, and that's yeah, I'm like, not enough. Yeah, yeah. In the places that I wanted. For sure. How do you feel about the mom character? Do you hate that she's crazy and yelling and bad? No, does she bug you? Is she too Sally Field for you?
SPEAKER_00No, no, I like Jody Cover. I think she's very good. Yeah, she's that's a perfect question. Is she too Sally Field for you? No, there's a see the problem with Sally Field. The problem I have with Sally Field is that she's got a dog face. No, and she was very attractive uh in her heyday, but uh but Sally Field has a fucking attitude. Hell yeah, Nick Nick pre teach him something good. No, so when she said, and maybe it's like from watching uh what Dennis Amenis. No, no, no. Not without my daughter. I do, I do, I did like Dennis Menace growing up. No, it's like Mrs. Dowfire, yeah, which she's completely in the right to hate him for what he's doing, yeah. He's a crazy person, he's a fucking asshole piece of shit. But but there's just something about she's she's somehow condescending and weepy at the same time, where I'm just like, and that's what that for some reason those two things go together with like her manic quality for me. So yeah, that's what there's my my TED talk on uh Sally Field sucks. Why I don't like Sally Field uh when she's especially when she's sad, I just can't stand it. But no, I like Jody Comer, and I like that there's she's great, yeah, the tragic aspect to it, and he does her moments of lucidity very well, like you know, when she kills the the good the fucking fat sloth slug. The slug which which sloth me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's just like fat people, you know. Yeah, look at these fucking fat larvates.
SPEAKER_00You're either really skinny and you can run, or you're fat and you're on the floor.
SPEAKER_01Like, I don't know what Denny Boyle's saying about uh body image issues, but it just reminds me of whatever the fuck that disturbed album cover is. Yes, it's like a close-up of a bald guy.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I hate it. No, that's exactly it. It's that and that um isn't there a matchbox twenty one where it's some fat guy with a thing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, exactly. Um that and then the Harkinan from dude. Yes. Yes. It's all of that on the floor.
SPEAKER_00That's exactly right. Oh, yeah, the they yeah, they do look like Harkonans. That's so funny. Um But I I I do really like Goody Cumber in this. Just crawling. Yeah, exactly. I hate it. Um, but I do like the addition of those zombies actually, because this it's a new thing in this franchise where all zombies and back in the day used to be the shamblers, right? They were very slow. It was about the masses, yeah, you know, being overwhelming. But and that's what 28 days later revolutionized with it's infected, it's the rage, it's the rage virus, it's they are fucking fast and they're gonna get you. And so it's fun that they when they come back to this trilogy 28 years later, that they're actually playing with that of like, oh no, there's slow zombies now, and we can play with dread that way, instead of just ooh, where are they? Or they get burst out and run, because we've seen that a bunch, yeah. Um, so I I did note that I like that, and it it the scene that made me think about it as the when they're in the church and yeah, crawling towards her slowly, exactly, and her having that moment of lucidity of bashing in the fucking thing, so yeah. But I think she's great, and it's it's such a tragic thing of just like thinking and knowing she has a disease, but she doesn't know what to tell her son, and then once Kelson kind of confirms it for her, and she's just like, I couldn't, I couldn't find a way to tell you. And and when Kelson asks about her uh moment those moments of lucidity, and she's like, Well, it used to come in waves, but now I think the tides come in. I'm like, that's a fucking great line.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, Alex Garland.
SPEAKER_00For real, so fucking good, such a great way to visualize. Yeah, she's great. I don't know. I've seen her in a couple other things, but uh watch the last duel. I think you'll like it. Ah, yes, I think you'll like it a lot. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I forgot that she's a good Ridley Scott, yeah, good Adam Driver, Matt Damon.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. It's good from all the different perspectives, right? Yes, yeah, yeah. It's a fun one. Yeah, so it's yeah, she she doesn't bug me. I I don't I mean, you're not supposed to like Aaron Taylor Donson's character in this. I don't really like it. I like him as an actor, though. He's great.
SPEAKER_01He's good, he's he's turned into a solid thing where he always makes interesting choices. Yeah, and I don't know if people fully utilize him the way they can.
SPEAKER_00No, I don't think they do.
SPEAKER_01I still don't think he's he's had that yet.
SPEAKER_00He's probably like five to ten years away from like really fucking like I think so. Doing a really great role that is like gonna be defining for his and I think it's unfortunate that like he came up and he might have to wait.
SPEAKER_01He's like, oh wait, I think Jake Joan Hall is doing my career. So I gotta wait for Jake to be done, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he could, but he's just not funny like Jake is. No, yeah, that's the difference, I think. Yeah, that's but I I think yeah, I think he's a great actor. And um, I mean, we'll talk a lot about Ralph Fines in the next movie. Yeah, but watching this movie, I was like, I came to the realization because we talked about character types and all this kind of stuff uh across this season with Alex Garland and like uncharismatic protagonists, that kind of thing, which Spike. Yeah, Spike. He's he's a kid, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, don't love it, yeah, don't hate it, but uh yeah, obviously. I'm watching a kid, I'm kind of bored.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and he's just going through these, you know, it's whatever, becoming a fucking person or something. I don't know what the fuck it is. Maybe we'll figure it out in the second movie too. I was like, I think Dr. Kelson is my favorite Alex Garland character. I love that character. Like it going back and thinking of all of even the side characters, I'm like, oh, but all the characters in dev, and then I'm like, no, I actually don't like almost any of the characters in dev, I just like devs.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the concept, not the people, yeah except the the old guy.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yeah, exactly. And yeah, thinking of honestly, shoot from the hip, Chris Evans Sunshine might be my favorite. No, he's great too, and I I really like him. He's top five for sure, but in terms of like characters, the hyper in an Alex Garland movie, and while I'm watching the story, I'm just like, I really like this character. I was like, this guy's easily number one for me now. That makes sense. Yeah, I love that because I I love him in this role where I find it so fucking good, yeah. And he's even better in the second movie, which we'll talk about. Uh, because spoiler for those who haven't seen Bond Temple, he's back. Yeah, everyone in this movie is is basically back. Except the mom. Except the well, technically, her head's still on the temple. Oh, she is there. She's there. Aaron Taylor Johnson's not though.
SPEAKER_01They we don't revisit the island in the second movie, but so there's a virus, they quarantine inside Brits, outside the others. Yep. They're gross, they're ugly, dark-skinned, uh, naked savages. And Danny Boyle keeps inner cutting of what you're watching, and then he goes back to medieval knights and the flag of England. Yep. I think he's saying that. He is doing the whole, yes, it's COVID.
SPEAKER_00Because you have the the British Isle, the little place that they live on is the analogue for the okay, I see.
SPEAKER_01So there's a little bit of COVID there, of course, as post-COVID. But I also think it's a weird nationalist isolationist of Britain's history of being scumbags towards the other.
SPEAKER_00And they're obsessed with war somehow. Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_01Because there's there's there's a nationalist pride.
SPEAKER_00Well, he shows the flag, the English flag, many times.
SPEAKER_01And then it finally shows it just fucking on fire.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. When Spike is leaving. Yep.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yep, yep. So I I think he is talking about how gross it is. He just came back from doing anti-war American films. Yeah. And he's like, I gotta go back and kick my country shit in a bit. Yeah. Of like, yeah, we're obsessed thinking we're good and cool because of what we do, but like, we're really shitty and gross.
SPEAKER_00Still xenophobic.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we're so fucking xenophobic. Yeah, yeah. Okay. And by we, I mean them. Finally, I get to say, like, shame on you guys, because it's not about America. That does make sense. But I do think that's what he's talking about. It's also, it goes down to like the we're not leaving to help you. Your son's out there. You're not even hunting for your son.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you can't.
SPEAKER_01The dad stayed.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01If the baby and the note was there, your son's like five minutes away.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You're faster than him. You could go get him. And he's like, ah, rules is rules. I gotta stay in the gates, though.
SPEAKER_00Yep. Yeah, we have rules. Yeah, that is fascinating. And tying into the lying of it all, not only is it the disillusionment of you know a child seeing his parents as human, right? Seeing the fallacy of it, the lies of his father. Yeah. But like it's also that can work for the metaphor as well, where we've you've they've built this society and its rules, and his dad will boast about it, and everyone buys into it, even though it's bullshit.
SPEAKER_01Because it's also he's he look he feels like because you get the undercutting with the medieval stuff, but then there is very it feels like the old beer hole, the night back from you know, like a night. Like in there in the pub, like, oh, victory, and it's these big bearded men cheering, and then he goes and fucks a lady in a cobblestone alleyway. Like he's still it's modern, but he's playing with that old-fashioned look of it of like we love talking about the good old days, yeah. Exactly. And because we're Britain, we can talk about the like 1300s, we can go back, back, back, not just World War II. So I think he is kind of holding that up to them. Yeah, that makes sense. Like, yeah, you guys are gross. Yeah, I didn't think that's a good thing. And from a modern perspective, of like, no, you fucked up, man. Yeah, you fucked a lot of things up. Yeah, this boy doesn't want to go back for sure, and you're not even gonna go get him.
SPEAKER_00Which and he said, Yeah, I'll come back when I'm ready, right? Or when I walk around, or something, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I'll figure some shit out on my own and then I'll come back. Which I don't know what Alex Scarlin's saying about the Jimmy's obviously being Jimmy Saville, which is a very notorious and famous uh child predator. Oh, yeah. That from what I'm saying. Subject William's an expert on, we all know. But I think the government like aided and kind of like swept under the rug until it was too obvious.
SPEAKER_00Well, then he worked for the BBC.
SPEAKER_01That's what I'm saying is he had royal ties and government ties. He worked for the BBC, he was like their Mr. Rogers, yeah, yeah. But everybody knew he was abusing children and until it got too big, then it it got dealt with. Gotcha. Which I do think Louis Thoreau had a hand in uh doing some documentaries on and exposing part of that. Again, I can't say enough great things about Louis Thoreau.
SPEAKER_00I know I listened to an episode of his podcast the other day. It was good.
SPEAKER_01His his documentaries are incredible. But yeah, I don't know what Alex is saying about Jimmy Savile. I don't know how that ties in, and we'll get more into it because that's the sequel, but I don't know what what he's saying about it other than evil. Upside down cross, pure evil, exploitation of children. Yeah, yeah. Like all of that's there, yeah, but how does that tie in to Britain?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'd be curious and to watch it with that lens and see if we can pick up on anything more. Because yeah, I mean, the one thing, especially with the Jimmies that I noticed this time is how much they're referenced. There's two or three times throughout the story where I'm like, oh, I didn't notice that the first time.
SPEAKER_01It's on the wall, it's on the hanging guy. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00It's on the hanging guy.
SPEAKER_01It's the intro, exactly him, his story.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. And at the the final scene when the Jimmy show up to help Spike, I wouldn't have known this if I didn't watch these movies on subtitles. Uh-huh. But the song that kicks in is like a punk slash metal cover of the Teletubbies theme song. Yeah. And that's what uh because I didn't catch that the first time I saw it, but yeah, on the subtitles, it's like version of Teletubby's theme. I was like, okay, gotcha. But yeah, his presence is over it and embedded. And and I mean, maybe there's I this think the second one does get into it a little bit of like contrasting Spike and Jimmy and you know their upbringings and all this stuff. And I think Alex Garland's usual critique of humans and their interpretation of religion and their interpretation of God. Uh that's definitely in this.
SPEAKER_01Which we mean you will never talk about again.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but it's in here, right? Absolutely. And I and I mean uh he's are I think he's compo commenting on it in a fascinating way, just in the terms of the way that he represents it, and because we've seen him quantify God uh as incomprehensible, yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's like four times, yeah, many times.
SPEAKER_00Yes, and that's the shit that we're like, this is fucking cool. We really like this, and very clearly at the beginning of this movie, because he hasn't touched on religion since devs really. He those two in between are there's not a lot of religion in there, but it's like, no, this fucking priest, Jimmy's dad, is just a fucking idiot psycho, like who clearly is getting off on all this yeah, whatever the doomsdays. This is it, yeah. He wrote about this, yeah, exactly. And you know, it's not subtle whatsoever. You know, Jimmy literally, father, why have you forsaken me and all that stuff? So it's it's literally right there, and just to have the priest consumed by the fucking rage virus, it's just like, oh yeah, well, you we gotcha, we gotcha.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so so he's bringing that back a lot about how kids are treated in these structures. So maybe that's religion, nationalism, the Jimmy of it all.
SPEAKER_00And I mean that makes it, but yeah, but how does that reflect upon Britain? And maybe it's like, yeah, I mean, look, maybe she's airing it out. This is all our jersey. It could be that, and he's Roman free. I mean, the guy whatever, I think Jimmy Savile died. I can't remember, but I don't think he went to prison. He was old, right? When they was old, yeah. So there's something to him, this kind of guy with that abuse or history of abuse, and we'll we'll we'll get into it in the second movie, but he's roaming around fucking shit up, you know. Yeah, and he's a he's quote unquote allowed to, right? So there's got there's something there, yeah. But yeah, I think that's such an interesting point. I was I you've been alluding to this for a few episodes of of Yeah, my take on it. Yeah, the nationalism, which makes total fucking sense. And I obviously saw the flag shots and all the stuff seeing it the first time, but yeah, this time around, you're like, oh yeah, this is literally like direct critique of England sniffing its own farts a bit, and just how how full of bullshit that is, and how youth it's usually you know, the young who look back upon it are just like, yeah, fuck this. What do you mean? This is bullshit. This is all made of lies, and you're a fucking liar. Um, and the foundations of this aren't as moral as you like to claim they are.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01How do you feel about what he does with the rage uh infected? The Z word.
SPEAKER_00Well, we we make changes without getting into spoiler territory for the second movie. We do have a rage-born child who doesn't have the virus. Yeah. So it's it I like that they make it. We already knew that it was a medical thing, right? I mean, because it comes from a fucking lab in the first movie. Hold on. Uh uh from bats. Uh, but no, it's from chimpanzees. But yeah, I I think it makes sense. I'm glad that they're commenting on it. They're trying to evolve the lore in that way. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Because I think it's a cool way to evolve it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because not only would do we get new forms in terms of uh the fatties, yeah. And the piggy fat boys on the floor, and the alphas. So we get the alphas. The title. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, giant, giant dongs, prosthetic dongs. Fat long dong. Oh, yeah. William's favorite part of the movie that he told me many times after having seen it. I said, Yeah, I know William. And said, You don't have to say it again.
SPEAKER_01I'll tell you this. After I watch the Bone Temple, I'm gonna have to buy another TV because of the burn-in. I can't invite anybody over anymore. It's like, what is don't worry about what that is. Stop looking.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. They're evolving the lore in in fascinating ways. So bringing in a doctor character, a medical character. Because it's cool. It's yeah, I like it. I'm like, okay, this makes logical sense. So not only are they telling us a new story and giving us these new metaphors for the country, for how the country reacts not only to war, but how it treats other people, how it treats children, etc. etc. But we get fun stuff of like, oh, well, let's address this. Let's not just keep it as like, oh, it's it's the fucking Walking Dead plague. We're never gonna talk about it, and it's just this is the reality. It's like, no, this is possibly a man-made thing. William, back with the Wuhan truth or stuff.
SPEAKER_01Uh, but I think it's all fact by now.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, I I I like it. I I think it's great. And they continue to talk about it in the next film as well. Yeah, but it's uh it's a cool concept.
SPEAKER_01But in this one, you get the scene of them just hanging out in a river, yeah, and her just walking around pregnant, yep, before the the the birth scene. Yep. That felt interesting to me. It's like a wildlife documentary. That's what I'm saying, is like that because it that's the part that makes me think, okay, if if this is a virus that brings out the rage, how long are you ra like because uh this was always my thought. Do you sleep? I'm always angry with you. You know what I mean? That's your secret, you're always raging, but like you know what I mean? Like, if that's what the virus does to you, you're still human. Do you do you sleep? Are they like do they shit? Do they pick like yeah, they do are they just running at all time, Powerman 5000, just like just running constantly, James Hetfield Coke days, or are there moments where they're just like like oh shit, that was a butterfly. That's fucking cool.
SPEAKER_00Well, and you get to and yeah, I mean the movies it's but yeah, the second one gets into it a bit more, but yeah, this one is planting those seeds of like seeing them on the river. They're so human. Well, and that's exactly, and we we have that human moment of of the mom helping the infected woman give birth and that moment of human connection. There's something there before it kicks back in for and the the swede guy or whatever's got a killer, but yeah, and there's I mean it makes sense the way that Alex's brain works. I think like you you bring up the sleep thing, that's a fascinating thing. Maybe they don't sleep, and guess what happens to people who don't sleep? They fucking go insane. Yeah, you literally people experience psychosis, yeah, from delirium's real. Yeah, exactly. So I think that that can kind of tie into this pretty fucking well. And I and we all know this. Garland is not a guy who hasn't thought this shit through. Exactly. He's not just fucking guessing, he invented this world, he created this world. And while he may not have known the answers the entire time, he's the type of writer who's gonna have a fucking answer, and the writing's gonna be informed by that. You know what I mean? He may maybe he probably didn't think about it back in fucking 2001 when this movie came out, but now that he's quote unquote, they're wrapping this kind of story up, where um he's had time to think about it. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_01And uh though the world has gone through a few different things that I I I'm sure that's how you get here is like, oh yeah, we know more uh culturally and societally, we've discussed viruses more. Woke mind virus specifically, is well yeah, and I think there's something to be said, and I'll go back to the American side of it, is like if a structural government thing infected people, they're infected. That means they're sick. There's a virus. We looked at them and said, ew, kill it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Now you can come back to this and go, really? Is that what you're supposed to do when someone's sick? Whether it's drug addiction or something like that. Yeah. Are you supposed to look at someone that's violent because of uh an illness and go, well, you gotta put them down because they're violent and mean and scary. You can't have a dick that big running around. Like you just can't. You gotta kill them.
SPEAKER_00Nothing takes them down. And that's the and the uh what's the only thing that does?
SPEAKER_01Opiates, drugs, exactly, yeah. Fent exactly, yeah, yeah, yeah. The third one's filmed in Philly on Kensington. That's that's 28 years later, Kensington Avenue.
SPEAKER_00Devastating.
SPEAKER_01Um, but like yeah, uh there there is that of like there's still fucking humans, guys. Yeah, yeah. And we did it. So uh that's so fucking fascinating that he made it about a doctor also thinking that.
SPEAKER_00Well, and that's the that's you have the brilliant contrast, and it's it's intentional, right? You have Kelson and you have Spike's dad, right? Yep so you have Spike's dad who says who actually you know, and he he does show some moments of of empathy, but he's the representation of conservative, conservative, whatever it is, traditional, traditional British ideal, yeah, where he when he talks about the infected, he says they have no mind, so therefore they have no soul. So it's okay.
SPEAKER_01Shout out Alex Scarlet, another one. I was like, Thank you, buddy. Yeah, keep it going.
SPEAKER_00So that's why it's okay to kill him. And while the the moments of he's gonna fucking kill the slug kid, yeah, and Spike's like, Dad, and he's like, All right, I'll let him go. Yeah, he's like, Come on, man. You know, you get a little bit of it, and and he does. I mean, he slaps Spike, which which isn't good, but he immediately regrets it. And he doesn't punch him, he punches the wall, which I guess is better. Which I love that shot. The fucking shot where he's shaking and holding the knife before handing it.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say, I I love him taking the kid's knife, yeah, I love it and then giving it back. That's that's such a good father-son scene.
SPEAKER_00And him listening to Spike, Spike saying just dad, just leave, and he leaves. I love that. That's great.
SPEAKER_01He's not a total scumbag. Exactly. He's kind of a good dad, but he's also not it's complicated. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00I love that, but you have that contrast of of that, and his opinions of the no mind, no soul contrast it with Kelson, who we hear his dad say when we saw him 15 fucking years ago, there was there, it was crazy. He had all these bodies, infected and non infected people.
SPEAKER_01Yep, children, and all women, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And uh, and when we get to Kelson and and we get to his memento mori uh bone temple, there's no differentiation between him. Yeah, everyone's a human, everyone had these things, these eyes saw, these jaws chewed, they spoke. Everyone had. Brain that thought even the infected, not just normal people. So he's boiling these motherfuckers and making this thing non-discriminately.
SPEAKER_01You can't tell which skull was the infected or not. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. So we just it's right there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah. Of course, Garland knows what he's doing. He fucking knows what he's doing.
SPEAKER_01But he left a big question that I don't I don't understand. I don't know the answer to this. Sure, sure. Is he the alpha because his dick's big? Or by becoming the alpha, his dick was that big? Like, are there other alphas that like he's saying, like, how does this work?
SPEAKER_00It goes hand in hand.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, was it I mean, yeah, it's a couple hands, it looks like not just mine. Three or four. I'll tell you that. Yeah, three or four, I think.
SPEAKER_00Is there a choke alpha? What came first? Yeah, the chicken or the egg. Yeah. No, I think it's because if it's genetic selection, but I don't know if it is. Because how old is that guy? If this is 28 years after the uh the full infection breakout, yeah, that guy he looks like he's 30 or something like that, right? He's probably not in his 20s, he looks older. And so he's like 10. Well, and we learn a little bit about it, uh, possibly, spoiler, in the second movie. So that guy was born before the virus, so maybe the maybe there is something to the virus. Uh William, it's it's not real. No, it's real to me. Damn it. They can't distill the rage virus to just get penile answers.
SPEAKER_01You don't know that. You're talking in absolutes, and you don't know that. We haven't squared this away yet. Because also, Kelson is showing through opiates you can you can curb the rage part of the virus. Yeah. So you can maybe mix with the opiates and have some other parts of the virus stick around. That's true.
SPEAKER_00That's true.
SPEAKER_01If the rage virus is the thing that made his dog fucking grow, maybe it just can balance it out. Viagra was supposed to be a like a heart medicine.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like this is how breaks in science work.
SPEAKER_00And that is how the rage virus would really be created as a man trying to million percent, trying to get half an inch on his dick size.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. It's like, I think I just ended the world. But guys, I went from 6.3 to 7.2.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01And you can't make fun of me anymore.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_01Yes, I'm bald. Yep. But it it hangs pretty well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I gotta hang now.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah, and I wanted to point out that that actor is just as tall, I think, as Colin is. He's 6'9, I believe. And he's Jesus Christ. Our friend Colin is six nine. He doubled for Hagrid, I guess, as well. Yeah, back in Harry Potter. That's him and uh I read in the the trivia that him and Ralph Fines had known each other basically a little bit. They crossed over a little bit filming Harry Potter. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Uh it's not um uh uh Rake Young from CKY. No, it's not him.
SPEAKER_00No, it does look like him. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's such a good deep pull. Uh his hair does look very much like that. But yeah, I don't know. Uh maybe the rage does do something for for dongs because it's it's a it's an impressive don't. Yeah, which I love that once because there's like a palpable thing in the theater where we're watching into the theater, and then that train scene comes, you're like, oh, we're just gonna see so much of this the whole time. Yeah, it's so fucking funny. We're watching that in theaters, we're just like, oh, everyone's like, yep, it's real.
SPEAKER_01We're here, we're here, and we gotta all act like we're cool. And total that's normal. That's of course that's what it looks like. Exactly. That's what it looks like for all of us, right, guys. This is duh. Another day of the office is a big fat don't hitting his kneecaps.
SPEAKER_00I know he could he could murder the foot. I wish he killed the deer with his dick.
SPEAKER_01I wish that'd be amazing. Remember that scene in uh the two towers where golems are smacking the fish on the rock.
SPEAKER_00It's just his dick to a deer skull, just exactly choking the wrapping it around the yeah, that's how he climbs trees. Yeah, yeah. So fucking funny. But yeah, I again love the script. Don't love the directing.
SPEAKER_01I really yeah, I I do like the script a lot. I like the story, I like what they're talking about. Some of these shots are fucking beautiful. You mentioned it in the weird like tilt shift above the the temple when she's dying and the fires like spiraling.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like what am I looking at? It is beautiful, and him putting the fucking her skull on top when the sunrise behind them.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the red the greens are so vibrant. Yeah, the colors look great. Yep, all the arrow shots have the little quick matrix cam uh jitter, which is weird, but it's fun. Yeah, there's yeah, there's a lot of really cool visual stuff, but at a certain point I did look at it and go, I like it. Why'd you do that though?
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_01I kept asking that. I was like, why'd you do that? And I kept going, eh, Nick hates you.
SPEAKER_00Well, it's like I don't get you want to have fun.
SPEAKER_01I get it. But is that all it is? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know Danny Boyle well enough to say he just likes having fun. Or do you need a heightened, stylized sense of this world? I don't know if you need it. I don't know. The the headlamps on the troops.
SPEAKER_00Yes, cool, very cool. Yeah, gun sounds are great. I like introducing those troops, I think that's fun. Uh and that guy does a good job in riding that line of being an asshole and kind of but also being kind of empathetic. Yeah, there's always little bits of humanity in these characters, definitely.
SPEAKER_01Um his cool girlfriend.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's yeah, Kira was cracking up with that. She's like, Yeah, I got a got a girl in the visit village who when she eats shellfish, yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's what she looks like. Yeah, all right, give my phone back.
SPEAKER_00I love that line. Yeah, what's wrong with her? What's wrong with you? Yeah, same getting defense. So to a little kid. Yeah, just fucking your face. Yeah, so yeah. Do we want to go over any random stuff?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh, I don't know what was more the jump cuts or the cunts from Jody Comer when you introduced her into the bed. How many times she said cunt and how many jump cuts there were, I was like, damn. Yeah, he's going for it.
SPEAKER_00Does really well with that, just makes it kind of visceral. And yeah, I like how she's mean sometimes. That's good. Yeah, she's not just the it helps us believe that she could smash the shit out of this slug guy's head.
SPEAKER_01You know, she's tough, broad.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, she's not a pushover, she's not that's the thing. She's not weepy, she's capable. I don't I don't think Sally Fields. She's like a capable woman. I don't like Sally woman. Yeah, Sally Field will sit there and complain but not do anything about it.
SPEAKER_01Strange people on the mainland. That's why our home is so precious.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01Yep, that's yeah, uh dead on. I also like the shot when they're in the gas station. We talked about the the the fuel and the the fumes in the air. But when it does ignite this cool Danny Boyle shot, they're on glass, so you're under them. Yes. That's cool.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's a fun shot. I like that too. Yes, a couple of my notes. Score choices of drum and guitar doesn't make it scary. And then can't stand the digital zooms and pans and pauses.
SPEAKER_01Yikes. I would okay, Nick. What's worse? Watching your dad give oral or watching your dad get oral. What's worse? Uh neither's from your mom. It's another woman. What's worse?
SPEAKER_00Get, yeah, of course. Get.
SPEAKER_01You don't want to see your dad that happy.
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_01No one's supposed to see that.
SPEAKER_00And then you're seeing his dick.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, maybe not.
SPEAKER_00Well, from a distance, because that's the thing. With the yeah, with the other way, like in this movie, she's she he's going under the skirt. So you're seeing her, you're not seeing him. Yeah, no, way worse to see him get in the dome. Yeah, no, thank you.
unknownDo you not agree?
SPEAKER_01I completely agree. I said it, and I without thinking of it. No, I I I regret it because now it's I'm just envisioning your dad, and I hate it. It's in my head and I hate it. I hate it. He's sitting down and it buzzed up. Oh, he's sitting down. The fucking shining with the bear. Yeah. Oh, it's too vivid in my head and I hate it. That's horrific. That's on you. I know.
SPEAKER_00It's all my fault. I like their little exchange where it's like, is your dad silly? Like, is your dad silly with it? Yeah, that was cute. And it made me sad because I'm like, I'm not the silly parent. Because I can be silly with Leo, but yeah, Kira's the fun parent. I'm the non parent.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say you're not even the authoritative, like hard ass. You're just in your head. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's what I was saying. It's like he doesn't go, well, well, yeah, mom's fun, dad's mean. You're not that's what I'm saying. You're not the authoritarian.
SPEAKER_00I'm just not as fun. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And I notice with the shell station speaking, the gas station, the S, yeah. The S was gonna hell. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I'm like, okay, all right. A bit much Alex or Danny. I'll blame Danny. Yeah, good question. Do you like the poem used in the movie that was in the trailer?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's effective.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's effective. And it's like I I think it's supposed to be in reference to British armies and stuff like that, you know. And yeah, I think that movie is uh I think it's based off a Shakespeare play, and it's from like 1944. Damn. That was made in 44. Who's the who uh what the fuck is his name? Olivier, Francis Olivier, who stars in it, and he directed that movie, I guess. Yeah, yeah. Which 44 right at the end of the war. So I wonder if there's something there too.
SPEAKER_01I thought you were gonna say Steve Coogan. No, Steve Coogan.
SPEAKER_00That's a that's a modern actor.
SPEAKER_01I wrote this down. We're not gonna use it for a title, but I had to write the magic of the placenta.
unknownYeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Because he said it so sincere. I know.
SPEAKER_00God's why I love him. Yeah. It's because he's free in a way that I will never be. Oh, yeah. Yeah, the idea. He's an actor. He's an artist. A hundred well, and Kelsen, I think.
SPEAKER_01Oh, Kelson, not uh fines.
SPEAKER_00Well, finds too, but he's got hundreds of dead bodies, and he sees some people and he's like, Hey, come on. Hey, yeah. Just like I'm just doing this. This is I know it's kind of weird, but I genuinely believe in this. And yeah, and the whole time he's just like, he's doesn't apologize, he just explains what's going on in terms of like, oh, I'm covered in iodine, the virus doesn't like iodine. So Paul, and he's just always kind of like, I know I look weird.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's like weird, yeah, it's really smart, which is a crazy way to explain things.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and and just him examining mom and all that stuff, where he's just very gentle, he's got a great bedside manner, you know, and it's the And he's good with the kid, yeah.
SPEAKER_01He's good with Spike, talks to him like an adult, but he's so comforting.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's the it is it's the Memento Mori thing of like there is so much death that he's just accepted that hey, I'm just I wanted to do this one project. Yeah, I know I'm gonna die. So it's uh yeah, he's so comfortable with death that like he's reached some kind of zen place. Yeah, you know, but I like that.
SPEAKER_01I do think it's funny that we meet him in the temple's built, so it's easy to be like, no, no, no, let me explain what this is, and you're like, it's so weird, but I get it. Yeah, I don't think that goes over when the bodies are there and you walk on them, he goes, No, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna boil them and I'm gonna build a fucking skull statue tower. It's gonna be fucking sick. Yeah, and everyone's like, What? Yeah, no, yeah, they murder him on site for sure. Oh if he goes, No, no, I'm gonna boil the bodies. Yeah, no, I just need their bones. They're I didn't kill them, but I'm gonna build a thing with their bones.
SPEAKER_00That's the the one instance where their xenophobia is actually a good thing because then they left him alone. Yeah, it was right to go to you. We don't talk to those. Yeah, it's oh that guy's scary because I don't understand him. Or it's like, okay, good. We just don't go to that part of the woods because you would get it. Yeah, you would have killed him if you would have actually talked to him and getting his plan. You wouldn't have clicked for him to calmly, yeah.
SPEAKER_01No, I'm gonna build a tower out of their skulls. I'm fine. Yeah, you would kill him if you have to. You know, we gotta get rid of this guy. Yeah, yeah. It's like, no, yeah, no, we can't be dealing with this guy. Exactly. It's like, there's enough going on in this world. We can't know you're doing this shit, dude. We can't put up with this. Yeah, exactly. It's bad enough out here. Did you see that dude's fucking dick? Yeah, now you got your temple is his dick. No. Uh-uh. Uh-uh. We're out.
SPEAKER_00That's one too many things, man.
SPEAKER_01Too much.
SPEAKER_00You know something real bad's going on, and now you're throwing this at me. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But I'm I do like this movie.
SPEAKER_00I I really do. Yeah, my my opinion didn't change on it, I don't think, in terms of my feelings. Just saw more of the nuances and and appreciate the writing more, uh, absolutely. Because it was all there uh first time around, but yeah, just having gone through the his entire filmography, it's just like, oh yeah, all the all the shit's here.
SPEAKER_01I do have a question for you, and uh of course we'll do this later, but we're coming towards the end.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01Right now, are you having trouble thinking of ranking and positioning his films, or is this working kind of easy for you right now?
SPEAKER_00I haven't thought of it to be honest. Okay. I I that's fine. I've been giving him star ratings on no, yeah, but I've been giving him star ratings on letterbox. I do keep up with that since I mean I watch so few movies, it's easy to do that. Yeah. So I'll just have to look back over it and see if I agree with them. Yeah, so next week we'll be back. We may have a guest. It might be Dave Jordan. Uh, if Dave is out of town, it might be Antonio again. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01We'll I have no idea what's happening.
SPEAKER_00We'll have to see. But uh yeah, thank you for listening and being patient with our break of me being out of town and not wanting to rush in an episode kind of at the last minute uh before having to leave. So uh we'll be back. We will actually be back next week with the final movie in season 10, I believe. Unless we want to do a little bonus episode, which maybe we'll discuss.
SPEAKER_01We'll finish Choji. We'll do Elden Ring. Yeah, we gotta keep tabs on Alex. He's a busy boy host. Of course, of course. So yeah, we'll be back next week. I love you, man. I love you too.