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Welcome to the pastel revealing and breaking down

0:04

movies to look for insight into the movie

0:07

making process. Hosted by silent films. Back when they took

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no talking to the movie theater very seriously.

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Now let's give the life needs and start the show.

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Welcome everybody to the pest. Today's shows is

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brought to you by Rob. For Rob. Get the robot without a glitch,

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fix your pro blown without a hitch. Rock code. Welcome everybody to the pest, I

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am West, and I am Todd, and we're filmmakers,

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we make stuff behind and in front of

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the camera, a lot of voice acting lately,

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but we are also regular normal people actors.

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We we we use our face as well,

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when when asked to. I was

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in Wyoming last week I did a shoot

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It was pretty cool. Went to Wyoming to

0:54

shoot a a project at an old abandoned in mind. And I'll flesh this out a

0:58

little bit because the whole backstory, I think

1:00

gets this gets into some really cool stuff. But

1:04

back in the 18 eighties or so, there was a gold rush

1:07

into that area of Wyoming that brought a bunch of, you know, spec

1:12

or whatever they call. And they didn't find any gold, but what they

1:16

did find was copper in this little area

1:18

called Heart, and they started mining for the copper. And

1:23

after, like, 6 years, they were like, and I need so much copper here. And so

1:26

that's how they talk back then. By the way, and

1:29

they decided, oh, you know what is here

1:31

though. They got some the iron. Like, I don't know why. Oh, please stop

1:36

it. So

1:39

they started mining for the iron there, and that led

1:43

to a really huge it's street for that went for,

1:47

over 80 years. And in fact, 1 point, I think it was owned by

1:51

John Rockefeller. And he built some stuff out there, and

1:54

they built what's called a company town where

1:57

the company owned everything. They built houses. They

1:59

built gyms and they had movie nights. They built all kind

2:03

of stuff out their barber shops just so

2:05

that everyone could live out there, because, again, this the back woods, Wyoming.

2:10

And so after 80 years of mining this

2:12

thing, they they started with, like, strip mining,

2:15

and that's where you have to put dynamite basically on the

2:19

surface and just blow a bunch of stuff up, and then they go and collect it.

2:22

They throw it in a mine cart, fill the cart,

2:26

send it off to, you know, on via

2:28

rail to some big processing plant down in

2:31

Colorado. And then after a while, they kept

2:33

blowing stuff up on the surface and it just kept creating a bigger and bigger hole,

2:37

a big pit that got harder and harder

2:40

to get those mine carts. Out of the top of it. So they

2:43

started next, what they call the glory home

2:45

method, and then they just said, okay. Instead of pulling the

2:49

mine carts out over the top. Yes. You are correct in that face. We

2:54

did nothing, but I like 12 year olds the entire time and trust me saying that

2:59

over and over in front of an archaeologist

3:01

without sm best acting of my life and I was

3:06

gonna say. Awesome.

3:10

And so that method is where they just keep blowing

3:13

stuff up on the surface, but then let it fall down into the pit.

3:17

And in the pit, they loaded up on the those carts, send it down a a

3:20

mine shaft and then lift it via h

3:24

out of the mine. In that way, they

3:27

could now continue to keep creating a bigger

3:29

hole and getting stuff out. Eventually, even that got

3:32

to be too much and they started the whole new method called block.

3:35

Anyway, that goes for 80 years sometime in the late thirties. There was a teacher out

3:39

there. Again, this was a whole town. They built a school.

3:42

Had a teacher out there who on his

3:45

downtime would kinda walk around. He found this

3:47

little spot. I'm in the middle of town, basically.

3:50

And he would find these little artifacts. These little, like, what we normally would call arrowhead

3:54

heads, but what archaeologists call projectile points. And

3:58

so he would keep finding these little projectile

4:00

points on the ground, and he just saved

4:02

him, and he had a built a big

4:05

collection. So

4:07

the mine is closed in 19 80, and

4:09

we get now into something like 19 81

4:12

to 85 somewhere in this area. And they're having a reunion.

4:17

This guy, this teacher goes back.

4:20

He's excited to go see everyone and he

4:22

sees that they've started what they call

4:25

reclamation, reclaiming some of the land, and which

4:28

means effectively blowing it up and filling in places. To

4:32

kinda smooth it all out and make it more accessible to people. I think that's what

4:36

they mean when they say reclamation. That's what it sounded like. I never got an exact

4:39

definition. So I'll look it up and put it in the show notes, so that we

4:42

can be more precise. So he sees that

4:44

part of this reclamation process is the very next day that he gets

4:49

there. Going to blow up this place that he

4:52

had kept finding all these little ancient artifacts.

4:56

And so he's like, whoa, whoa, y'all are

4:58

about to blow up this interesting little spot.

5:01

And so he finds a local archaeologist that

5:04

then goes and stops the day before they're

5:07

about to blow this thing up. And they

5:09

start then, and he pulls out like this

5:12

sack. This whole collection of these these old

5:14

artifacts and that, you know, you and I see it, we're thinking this is probably from

5:18

Native Americans, you know, a few hundred years ago. What they end up finding out. Is this

5:23

thing is actually an even older mine from thousands of

5:27

years ago, and would come to find out that maybe

5:31

the oldest mine certainly of this type in

5:34

the Americas period, dating back over 14000 years.

5:38

And so this guy ended discovering this

5:42

huge huge understanding of

5:45

are past here in America. And

5:48

they've started ex, now they have a whole teams of archaeologists that are going out there

5:52

and they're digging looking for for stuff. And so I got

5:57

to go out there and tell all these stories. 1, how they were doing the mining back in,

6:02

you know, the 19 hundreds through the eighties,

6:04

and then what the archaeologists were finding as well

6:08

as the town itself, what came about of

6:10

the town, why did the the get there, all that stuff. And so... And I'm doing

6:15

this all in, like, Vr. And the 1 thing that I thought was

6:18

really fun money. So I kept throwing out, like,

6:22

my favorite movie lines, and stuff like, this

6:25

belongs in a museum don't And apparently,

6:30

they're not big on Indiana Jones out there. They were too busy, like,

6:34

learning about archaeology to actually watch

6:37

that or jurassic park or any of that stuff.

6:40

Amazing. Oh my god. He didn't stop to think it should.

6:47

They didn't catch any of my jokes. Oh

6:50

my gosh. What made it double funny for

6:52

me, but 0 for them. And so it was amazing though. And even

6:57

doing something like that, the whole process really

6:59

started, which the script and understanding

7:02

what story are we trying to tell. And

7:05

once we understand that. Now we can figure out and back our way into what visuals

7:09

do we need to capture it to help tell that story. And that became a whole

7:13

interesting creative process in itself because most of

7:15

the stuff out there is torn down. How do you tell a story without any

7:19

of the landmarks that help you tell that story or

7:23

without most of them. And so that became a really interesting creative journey that I worked

7:28

the with my producer, and, the archaeologists and everyone there. Like, it was

7:33

really fun and we're in post now, so

7:35

we'll see how that all goes. But it's all part of the creative process. You know

7:39

that I think part of that that helps

7:41

me is what we do here on our show, man,

7:44

just learning and getting interesting thoughts about what went into making something

7:50

can then be backed into what you're making

7:52

and creating now, I think. Oh, that's amazing, man. Golly.

7:57

Yeah. How do you tell that story? That's gotta be

8:01

really like an interesting challenge?

8:04

Yeah. I've got. Yeah. I I have no

8:06

idea. I mean, what... Can you give any

8:08

tips? Like, what did you What what how did you look at that?

8:11

You know? Because you... This is a visual medium. So

8:15

a lot of it, we're gonna be exploring things that I haven't done before, but I'm

8:19

all about experimenting and trying things. And so

8:22

1 thing that we do have is a fair amount of, like, old photographs.

8:26

And so So I was like, okay, what if we take some of these old photos

8:29

and now we go film in Vr,

8:32

03:60 video. These same spaces and then find

8:35

a way to overlay the photographs so that you can see where the building

8:39

used to be and still have that sense of immersion. That'll be 1 thing. They also

8:43

have these stone circles that

8:47

they used to use to hold down T pee, a few hundred years ago, and they still

8:52

have these old stone circles and it's literally,

8:54

like, I don't know. These 10 to 12

8:57

inch in diameter rocks just in the way

9:00

they stacked, you could see that it turned

9:02

into a circle and That was just how they pin down the edges of the the

9:05

T. So with that, because, obviously, there's no

9:08

more T, let alone the hides, probably don't exist anymore

9:11

that they were made of. So

9:14

I'm like, okay. I can animate that stuff on, or I can animate on a picture

9:19

of this at the time, it was the largest garage

9:23

in the world. It had the Guinness book

9:25

of world records and it had held over, like, a hundred cars.

9:29

And so I'm like, oh, I could draw on that...

9:32

What all the framing used to look like for, you know, this garage,

9:35

stuff like that. And so it's we'll see,

9:38

like it's experimental who knows if it'll work, kinda has to.

9:42

So, stuff like that, man, just

9:46

crossing your fingers is doing your best and, see what happens.

9:51

Amazing. But I can't wait to see it, man. God, Least. Same, man. Yeah. It was

9:55

a pretty magical glory hole. So well, okay. That's enough big of that. Oh god.

10:01

Well What's thinking of flurry holes. Yeah.

10:05

I don't know. Covering. This is a... That's

10:07

just the the normal segue that we have

10:10

speaking of whatever. Speaking today... Boeing stuff up on the ground,

10:16

I think. Sure. Sure.

10:19

Alright. So today, we're covering a quiet place

10:22

day 1 as of this recording. It's just been released.

10:26

Hopefully, you can get to see this in theaters. But please watch the the film before

10:30

you listen to this episode. If you haven't, please pause and go with... Go do that

10:34

because we're gonna spoil a bunch of stuff. Absolutely. We'll talk about a handful of things.

10:38

Mostly looking at the writing in story,

10:42

suspending disbelief, theme, and plots and other such stuff and

10:46

things and stuff. And a quick synopsis of the film, a woman named Sam finds herself

10:50

trapped in New York City during the early stages of an invasion by alien creatures with

10:55

ultra sensitive hearing. Directed by Michael Ser,

10:59

screen play by Michael Ser, cinematography by Pat Sc,

11:03

featuring As Sami,

11:06

Alex Wolf as Ruben, Joseph Quinn as Eric

11:09

and J Hon as Henry.

11:12

And here's our clip. And that was it. So yeah.

11:19

Sorry was lunch you're gonna wait longer. You're good. You're on it. I like it.

11:26

Dude it. So this is a third in the series, and they've done a, a, really

11:30

interesting pivot. So I'm curious, you know, are you excited

11:33

for the direction and how did day 1

11:36

strike you in comparison to the last 2 films. Yeah. It's is

11:40

isn't it. It's probably my favorite of the 3 to be honest.

11:44

If I mean, I need to go back and rewatch it again and funny walking out

11:48

of it. So my son and I went to see

11:51

it yesterday. And, you know, we don't really watch scary

11:54

movies a lot. Like, we're you know, he's

11:57

only 11, and he's got rest his life

11:59

to watch scary movies. I don't I don't

12:01

need a deal with nightmares. He doesn't need to

12:04

He doesn't need to know the entire the world as it is quite yet. You know.

12:08

So... But the first 1 is just stressful.

12:12

You know, it's not really like Gory or

12:15

anything. So we... I was like, okay. Let's let's try

12:19

this a little bit and he loved it. Absolutely

12:22

loved it. And so we watched the second

12:24

1. Loved it again. So he was very excited about this 1.

12:28

And and we went into it, and I

12:30

was, you know, kind of, like, standoff flow, but

12:34

I was like, okay. Well, let's just see. Let's just see.

12:36

And I adored every moment of it. I absolutely did.

12:40

And it hadn't it had... Maybe it had something to do with the

12:43

fact that you sit me, but, you know what? That's that's part of the movies. You

12:47

know what Absolutely. Yeah. That's who you go

12:49

see it with? I mean, I I sometimes go to movies

12:53

with other friends, and it's a different experience

12:56

than going to movie with, like, you, You

12:58

know? Or, you know, a movie that I

13:00

wanna see with my son, which I've never

13:02

done that before. I mean, I have... We've gone to see

13:06

movies a lot, but usually, it's like a

13:08

kids movie or something, you know, and this

13:10

time, it was... No, it's just a movie that we're, like, I'm I'm about to do

13:14

podcast on it. I'm watching it for details,

13:17

you know, and I'm excited to see it. And and it was fantastic. So the experience

13:21

was great, but also, I

13:25

just a... I really love the chances they took. I felt like

13:29

they took some serious chances here. Like we

13:32

know the world. They've already built us this

13:34

world. This world is rural. This world is is people that know the

13:40

situation are struggling to survive in a situation

13:43

that they understand. Well, you know, 2 point. They understand don't

13:47

make noise. And then and then we understand the characters.

13:50

And the first 2, a lot of the same characters there. And

13:54

in this case, all new characters,

13:57

brand new setting completely opposite from the other setting. Were in

14:02

urban in in the city, and they took such a simple thing, basically

14:07

the way that I felt watching this movie was, it is not a story about monsters.

14:12

It is a story about survival in the face of certain death.

14:17

And survival for the smallest reason you can imagine.

14:22

I'm just gonna go get some pizza. And and it's a... It's obviously a bigger

14:27

reason than that. It's, you know, and we

14:29

find out throughout the movie, you know, her father used to play Piano at this place,

14:32

and they we always get pizza all she wants before she dies

14:36

is is a piece of pizza. And I

14:39

I Just a great amazing

14:42

position we've put ourselves in. We are with someone who is terminal. She is definitely dying.

14:47

We know that for a fact. And yet,

14:50

we want... We are... It's she's struggling to

14:53

survive. And and the reason is for the pizza.

14:56

It's not really the pizza, but, you know, And I think it's beautiful. And then not

15:00

only does she survive it, you know, to get the pizza

15:04

but she brings somebody a perfect stranger along

15:07

with her. And and,

15:11

you know, at first, I was sitting there wondering, okay, why is this guy

15:16

latching onto her? And then I realized throughout his character development,

15:20

which, by the way? Joseph Quinn. Incredible. Yeah.

15:26

I don't know what he's done. III mean,

15:28

I meant to go look, you know, at at his I d beads what he's done.

15:31

He has to have done other stuff. But oh my god.

15:35

I absolutely loved him and bought him as

15:38

Eric And as this guy who's... He's... He he

15:42

obviously has anxiety, severe anxiety

15:46

about not just about death, but about how he dies. He's a afraid of water. He's

15:50

terrified of water. And he never says that,

15:53

but we know it. You know... First time

15:56

we meet him. He's coming up for air out of the subway.

15:59

And we don't know why. We don't know what happened. We know the subway goes under

16:02

the ocean. And so maybe they... Maybe the subway collapsed

16:07

and He had to swim his way out. I don't know, but the cat calms him

16:11

down. So he loves this cat instantly.

16:13

He loves this cat. I also love the

16:16

runtime. I love their their... The liberties they took, cutting things

16:21

out when he meets the cat. This is a good example. He meets the cat when

16:24

he we first see him. He's he's,

16:28

you know, stressed out. He has his severe

16:30

anxiety. Sees the cat and he immediately calms down.

16:33

And then the cat runs away. We don't follow the cat to to Same. We don't

16:38

follow him following the cat to same. It's just... We cut to Same, and then the

16:42

cat is there. That's a... That's great. I don't need this...

16:46

I don't need to watch the cat run into the to her. They do that all over the movie where

16:50

they cut out these things, and your brain just pieces together, you know, for... And I

16:55

don't know if it's for time or what, but... Or if it was just like, we

16:58

don't need that. Let's let's just tell the

17:00

story. And so as it goes on, I find,

17:04

you know, I start realizing, oh, that's he's

17:06

following her because 1 the cat

17:09

is a is a connecting tissue there that

17:12

calms him down, but also it gives him

17:15

more of a purpose. You know, He he says to her in her apartment, which

17:19

I think is a beautiful scene during the rain. So beautiful,

17:23

says to her that he came to New York for law school. It was the

17:27

only thing... The only thing was supposed to do or something like that. So I have

17:31

this instant feeling of he he doesn't really have a purpose? He

17:36

feels like he doesn't have a purpose. And this was supposed to be his purpose

17:39

and now that's gone. And so he has no purpose. So why not go get pizza?

17:44

Instead. You know, like, why not? And then my god, at the end,

17:50

when she gives him her sweater And you're

17:53

sitting there thinking, wait a minute. He gave you his jacket. Why are you giving him

17:56

your sweater, and we find out it's her father's eye. We find it her father's sweater.

18:01

And I almost started crying in the in the theater. I was like,

18:06

this is so beautiful and has nothing to

18:08

do with monsters. The monsters are fantastic. I think we see

18:11

just enough of them in new in unique

18:14

new ways. Mh. Right, You know, like, in

18:17

the... Their nest area, whatever that is.

18:19

That was creepy as heck. But and and and they use these moments

18:23

to tell a little bit more of the story. So, like, yeah, They're in the nest

18:26

of the monsters. And in the spite of all that, this

18:30

this terrified guy climbs a beam to go get the cat

18:34

to save the cat because He is nothing without that cat That cat

18:38

calms him down, he is surviving for that

18:41

cat and pizza. But but and he's... He

18:44

wants to save the cat for her too. And, yeah, I mean, another moment, Like, when

18:48

she's laying there after he's gotten her meds and and and she's ready to die, and

18:52

he said not until you get pizza. They basically cut from that to the next

18:56

day. She's up and he's helping her down the stairs. No fluff.

19:01

Know, that what we have a wide shot of now its today, and then he's helping

19:03

her down the stairs. Yeah. It's just beautiful. Anyway, I'm gonna stop talking

19:08

because I know I wanna talk you about it. And Wanna hear what you think

19:11

But it it I need to go see it again, but it might be my favorite

19:14

of the 3. Wow. Like, I... I'm really glad that

19:19

I was happy to sit and listen to you for another 20 minutes.

19:23

Yeah. I... For me, 1 is still supreme...

19:28

For me it's not even close, like, the

19:30

the emotional journey that we go on in

19:33

the first film, which I'll come back to, later. Spoiler, if you haven't seen the first

19:37

2 as well, we'll probably ruin those 2, but I'm assuming if

19:41

you're here. So for me, I I did like this

19:45

way more than the second 1, and I love what you're saying. Like, they took some

19:50

risks, and this is the way you do it. This is the way you keep flushing

19:53

out a unit verse to create new opportunities.

19:56

And I completely agree about Joseph Quinn. Here's the

20:00

thing. We know we're gonna get greatness out

20:03

of Pete in the. Like, of course, like

20:06

she's absolutely incredible

20:09

in this. And every emotional beat is singing

20:12

straight through. Alex Wolf, we know is gonna be great.

20:16

And J Han. I'm sorry. Like, I'm sure he's played a

20:20

bad guy here or there. But he has just got the sweetest

20:24

presence and all you wanna do is, like, be

20:28

protected by him like, And every time he's on any screen, I

20:32

just freaking love him, and he kills it. And he's still able to play like, really

20:36

unique, you know, characters. And so we expect all those things from

20:41

those 3 actors. But Joseph Quinn to to step in like

20:44

that. And I agree, I I know I've

20:46

seen him in some other stuff. I couldn't tell you what it is, but I'm pretty

20:50

sure he's he's been something that Really, really loved. But

20:53

he stepped in and really

20:56

bridged a lot of gas because... And this

20:59

is Funny. This is the second wolf we've

21:01

covered in the last... Or I don't know if it was Alex Wolf. I think I

21:04

think it was Nat wolf that was in J. Right? I... It's his brother, but for

21:08

years, I thought they were the same person because

21:11

they look almost identical. Women a minute. Yeah. What? Yeah The kid

21:15

from J. Right? It's it him So there's

21:18

an I see is mole on on his

21:20

mouth. But his brother has the exact same mole no sexy space. Like, look up nat

21:25

Wolf and Alex Wolf. And you would think

21:28

same exact person. And I was confused on how he kept

21:32

playing high school teenagers for, like, a decade,

21:35

but it turns out there's 2 of them.

21:38

Like yeah, They might be multiplying. But we I expect him to be great

21:43

no matter what. Yeah. So this film, I

21:47

I really enjoyed it, for all the reasons you're talking about, and

21:51

I did feel a little unfulfilled by the

21:54

end, and distracted a few points,

21:58

but still really happy that they made it.

22:01

It it went into an interesting place. I thought of naming the cat frodo.

22:05

Oh, was kind of interesting because in this case,

22:08

she's the ring kinda being, you know, taken

22:11

into the the heart of Mo to be

22:13

dropped off or whatever. And so in Front is escort her in a certain

22:18

way and maybe that also kind of explains

22:21

along with him being a service gap, which might actually be

22:24

it comes off as a joke at first and the more you see the way the

22:27

cat behaves you're like, okay. That might actually

22:29

be a service cat, and that's kind of the excuse, I think for letting it be

22:33

as incredibly aware of

22:36

everything as as it is. But, yeah. There

22:39

was just a few things that I was like, this is

22:43

missing a few key components that I think would take it

22:47

from a really good movie to

22:49

as good or better than the original, which

22:53

I'll get into in a little bit, but I,

22:56

yeah. I'm in favor of this. If they did,

22:59

day 2 with a whole new cast of characters,

23:03

I'm there as well as letting someone else

23:05

come in and tell a story. Like the fact that So, you know, wrote this

23:10

is really cool. And I'm sure he was a part of

23:13

the the team. Right? This is a Platinum Dune thing. So He's talking to K,

23:18

as well as Andrew Form, Brad Fuller and whoever, I actually worked with

23:25

those guys on Friday thirteenth because that was their production. And they seem like really cool

23:29

guys on on on the ball. And so I can imagine he's not just

23:34

doing it in silo, but also, he clearly got a lot of

23:38

free reign to just tell the story that he

23:41

won to tell. And so that's such a cool way. And

23:44

I also expect... I don't know what you think about this. I expect that in the

23:49

background they're building out a trilogy

23:53

of quiet place films. That's gonna go into

23:56

where these things came from and what comes next. Like what's coming after them.

24:00

Because as a as the first film, it

24:03

could survive on its own and no no other film needs to be made. But if

24:06

you wanna keep exploring his universe, you have to start digging a little bit

24:10

more into the terra form from.

24:13

Because... Okay, what now? What else? And so I

24:16

love the the little nest thing that you're talking about. We kinda get the mother Alien

24:21

vibe from that... Who knows where that's combining like,

24:25

Okay. Do they wait until all life has

24:28

been wiped out, and then they come and... That's... That's their version of what do you

24:32

call it? Terra formation. And so that's their method. Their terra forming

24:37

earth for the real inhabitants. So what are

24:40

their owners look like, If these are the dogs,

24:42

what are the people look like of the species? But so I'm I'm excited for them to

24:48

keep telling stories if they hadn't done this version, if they'd

24:52

just done another part 2

24:55

iteration, I'd kinda be done with the series. But because they said, no. No No. Let's

25:00

pivot and think about this in a fresh

25:02

way, that makes me really excited for the

25:04

possibilities because not enough

25:08

franchises really do that. They just kind of

25:11

keep doing the same thing. Same characters, Star Wars is suffering from that. They keep you

25:15

know what we really need is more Han solo and the original... Like, we don't we

25:19

don't go to a whole other era, like, in this

25:22

universe so much more space to explore in a

25:26

lot of ways, again, that I'll that'll come to. Yeah. That's my general thoughts.

25:31

So I'm... I would be curious to see your second viewing if if this still has

25:35

the resonance for you because, man, I loved

25:38

all these characters so much. I loved Sami and Reuben relationship. I loved that they

25:43

then immediately kill off Ruben. That's gonna make you lean forward and be

25:47

like, well, what's next. Now what? Then we meet these kids and

25:52

it's like, well, okay. What's happening with these

25:54

kids? And then she gets rid of them

25:57

so to speak so that she can be free to do her own thing. And that's

26:00

when she picks up a bogey, Eric.

26:03

So it just keeps you on your toes of, oh, is that what this is now?

26:06

Oh, no. It's not. Is that what this is now? And so I love that aspect

26:10

of it that just keeps... Oh, there's Henry. Are we gonna

26:13

now become part of Henry's group. No? Oh, okay. And so they keep you guessing, and

26:17

I love that aspect of the film. Yeah. I... You know,

26:22

the... Okay. I think you should... You just put it into perspective for me. So I

26:25

do need to see this again before I say that it is my favorite of the

26:28

3, like I said. But I think 1 of the things that

26:31

I'm latching onto to about how much I love this is because so many

26:36

either sequels or the third of a of a film.

26:40

They... Like you you said, they just kind

26:43

of take the same formula Even if it's not the same formula as

26:46

the first 1, the same formula of a third movie. Mh. Whatever that might be, and

26:51

they follow that, and this did not do

26:53

that. This took everything that was in the

26:55

first 2 and did something comp, like opposite

26:58

from it in a way. Not opposite fully, but, like,

27:02

different. Yeah. In almost every way. It was

27:05

just different. And I think that was part... It felt like in the Dna of the

27:09

script was what was it like,

27:12

do something else? That's that's what I felt

27:16

in watching it. I was, like, everything is new.

27:19

The only thing that's not new is the monsters and how they hunt.

27:23

That's it. That's like, it's kinda like the...

27:25

What is it? The the the Elon Musk way of thinking where you say, is say,

27:29

what is the 1 with the 1 connecting factor? Like, the 1

27:33

minimal minimal thing?

27:37

I I don't know how to say it. Was like him. Take that. Yeah. Yeah. Take that. Hold onto

27:42

to that. Everything else around it, make it different. And I felt like, man, that is

27:47

exactly what I want out of a movie. Just that. So whether or not it is

27:51

my favorite almost doesn't even matter to me. I'm just so thankful that they made this

27:55

because it's a freaking blueprint for how to

27:58

do something. The... How to do something new out of

28:02

something that's been done. You know, tell a new story with an

28:06

old concept, and not an old, but you

28:08

know what I'm saying? With a done concept. And and just the...

28:12

I I mean, I had kudos to also

28:15

to K for not holding onto it. And saying, no.

28:20

I'm gonna write this and direct it to, like I did the first 1. I think

28:23

you did the second 1, too. Yep. I'm gonna let somebody else take the reins and

28:27

and tell this story. Because I've already told my version of the

28:31

story. Somebody else has their own their other

28:34

version. My version that I wanted to tell was

28:36

about a father, and about his love for his kids and

28:39

his family. And I told that and I'm

28:41

good. Now I'm gonna hand it off to somebody. Like,

28:45

that is amazing. And it's not just... It's it's not

28:49

just that he was like, he was like, you know,

28:53

gracious. It was kind of like this... Well,

28:56

everything goes back to Hamilton for me, but George Washington could have run for another term,

29:01

but he didn't. He chose to step away

29:03

to allow to allow

29:05

the the country to learn how to how to change.

29:09

You know, and and and evolve and to

29:11

to, you know, whatever. That's how this feels a little bit down

29:15

a lesser degree, obviously. Where he's like, I just told my story.

29:19

I'm gonna give it somebody else to do somebody that I trust, and the guy just

29:24

just destroyed it. Sounds so cool. I'll run

29:27

through a few notes and you can jump in to disagree or like,

29:31

or ad notes. Great. So

29:36

suspending this is critical for any film. The ability

29:41

to stop thinking, I'm in a movie theater,

29:44

watching a movie that's been made up with cameras and lights and microphones and actors with

29:48

lines that they're memorizing and rehearsing and

29:51

you have to suddenly forget all that and just be

29:55

completely embedded and and en gross in story

29:58

that's being told. That requires a lot from everyone. Certainly the

30:03

viewer, but the filmmaker has to give you reasons

30:06

to keep suspending that disbelief. Don't give the audience a

30:10

reason to stop pretending with you.

30:14

And I think for me, part of the problem

30:17

was there was a a lit of things

30:19

that made me pause and eject from the

30:22

story I was watching. 1 of them, and this is tricky. Like,

30:26

nope. Not everyone's gonna agree with me on this, and that's obviously totally okay. But for

30:30

me, watching this set in New York and watching these

30:33

monsters come crashing down. It felt a little

30:36

evo of some of the 09:11 imagery that

30:39

we're so familiar with. Now it's not that

30:41

I think we're well past the point of,

30:44

you can, you know, use that stuff to

30:46

affect, without feeling gross. There was a good

30:50

decade. Plus where I was, like,

30:53

stop, stop telling. It just felt very cheap

30:57

and and, s to me that some of these stores

31:00

were being told about something so horrific so soon. Like, exploit

31:05

the, you know, of... Let's use this event

31:07

for money gain, and there were so many things that came out of that that I

31:10

was just, like, not personally okay with. I

31:12

didn't judge anyone for going and I'm watching those, we all

31:15

deal with stuff differently. And so for me

31:18

though, watching this at in New york if felt like,

31:21

there was some of that, you know, whenever you see the dust cloud hit,

31:24

stuff like that. Personally and this is again, just me. I'm probably staying a hundred feet

31:29

away from any of that. Unless I want to use that as,

31:34

a metaphor to then explore this world,

31:38

and maybe tell a more layered approach that is

31:43

giving a little bit more emotional weight to

31:46

all that those experiences. And here, it just felt like, oh, this

31:50

is what we learned through some of these experience. Let's just use that imagery.

31:53

And me. Like, I'm either going all in

31:56

or I'm staying all out. I don't really wanna dance around it. And

32:01

because of some of that imagery just made me kind of pull back and like, wait.

32:05

Are we going there? Is this about the way they... In that moment, you saw

32:10

people helping other people who this time of

32:12

crisis. And that's what it felt like they were

32:14

playing with without fully investing in. But maybe not maybe that

32:18

was all just incidental. But again, that's why

32:21

I either stay away from New York in this story or figure out another method

32:26

visually. The other thing that kinda pulled me

32:28

out, and that was brief not like that kept me out the entire

32:31

movie, but I was looking for several minutes after that. So there was

32:35

a... This really nice beautiful moment. Right She

32:38

looks after those kids in the fountain. Right? And she,

32:42

gets them to the exit parade of people. And so 1 thing that

32:46

I thought about, like, as that sequence played

32:49

out. Like, did those kids just die. I

32:51

don't remember seeing them on the boat. I don't know maybe they were, and I just

32:54

missed it. But out... It made me think

32:56

she kinda let those kids to their death

32:59

because I whole raid gets slaughtered, which was a genius idea of

33:03

the way you can fail with good intention.

33:07

Like, the chopper is going out and saying, hey, quietly, there's no way to move

33:12

10000 people quietly. It just doesn't exist.

33:15

And I love that as a a really good nature failure on the part

33:19

of everyone, and I thought That was really cool. But

33:23

what really screwed me up in that sequence

33:26

was as it got louder and it drew all the

33:29

creatures back people started acting in weirdly dumb. Like, the

33:34

guy under the the car, started screaming, help

33:36

me help me, which felt really stupid and un motivated because

33:40

he clearly wasn't being attacked yet. And it

33:43

was just like, you survived this long by

33:45

clearly knowing the rules and suddenly,

33:48

you're acting like a complete moron on. I

33:50

didn't believe that. It doesn't matter if people

33:53

in reality would actually do that. What matters

33:55

is in your story having people act out

33:58

of character like that, makes me stop suspending disbelief. It makes me

34:02

stop thinking that you as a storyteller screwed up. And I'm calling you dumb by

34:07

watching these characters act dumb because you wrote them to be that way. And then the

34:11

same way, like, moments later, you know, she's

34:13

walking around, There's this woman calling Jonathan,

34:16

and then she immediately gets killed. It's like,

34:19

you didn't live this long by acting this way. It just

34:23

again, 1 of those little ejection moments for me. And then there's some other little minor

34:27

ones. These... Some of these aren't as bad. Like, the magic trick I thought was a

34:30

really sweet tinder moment. But it also didn't make

34:34

sense. I didn't really understand what purpose it

34:36

was serving on any of the the levels

34:39

of the the journey. It just felt like a random nice thing for him to do

34:42

to her without serving any greater

34:45

purpose. In that same way, I love the

34:47

note, but I also saw him pull this

34:50

note out of his pocket after being dunk in the ocean.

34:53

And I was like, there's no way That thing is surviving. That's it's ink. The... It's...

34:58

You can't even open it. First of all, let alone the ink is all blood dry.

35:02

And here's the thing. These aren't normally things I think about while watching a movie. And

35:06

so I feel like if I'm over here getting really distracted by some of these story.

35:11

It I can't be the only 1. Maybe I am. But I don't know. That 1

35:15

threw me out. And then the last 1 was the trick

35:20

mist was the cat itself. When I see

35:22

the cat survive, I thought that's really sweet. But then when I see her start risking

35:27

her and everyone's life for the cat, I that was tough.

35:31

I think the cat isn't probably a metaphor

35:34

for her holding on to life, and, ultimately,

35:37

she hands the cat over and symbolic weight that says, I'm done now. It's

35:42

okay for everyone to move on. And we'll

35:44

come back to that in a moment. But the cat became a massive distraction for

35:49

me. I was like, y'all need to let this cat die. That thing

35:52

makes won meow out and you're all done.

35:55

Like, that that was really rough for me.

35:59

I love cats. I love... I'm I'm a

36:02

cat person. I'm a dog person. I really love animals, but you seeing

36:06

animals used in this way in films Is always very dicey because there's

36:10

it's such a fine line of using animals as a motivator for your characters,

36:16

can really go wrong whenever I think it's

36:19

a it's dumb. It's 1 thing to risk your life. It's another thing to risk everyone's

36:23

life, which is what I felt she was doing.

36:26

Yeah. So moving beyond my destruction

36:31

theme plot, I Dicey.

36:35

She's dying of cancer and perhaps is looking

36:38

to die with dignity and acceptance.

36:41

On the 1 hand, cancer as a story device I am done

36:47

with, Like, for me, I was done about a decade ago. It got Dicey 15 years

36:51

ago, and then, you, see a few more and you're like, oh, god, man we gotta

36:55

find another way. It's... But

36:57

they didn't beat you over the head with it too badly, I think because it was

37:00

more about pain management. And so it it was... If you're gonna

37:05

do it, this is what I can tolerate. This is the absolute

37:09

maximum I can handle because it was really

37:11

thoughtful fully and carefully handled, I think.

37:15

And so I do, though, love the direction

37:18

of finding new stories apart from that original

37:20

family flesh this world out, and it also

37:23

to what you're saying allows us to use

37:26

fresh new metaphors that the monsters can rip

37:29

resent. That was what was so cool for me about the story is that in the

37:33

first film, the the monsters

37:36

represented the the inability of a family to communicate with

37:40

each other. And that's why they couldn't talk. They couldn't

37:44

talk not because of the monster The monsters was

37:47

the excuse for them not to communicate with each other. And it just became... And if you go

37:51

and listen to our first podcast about the first movie, I think, you

37:55

know, we have a really phenomenal conversation about all of that. And so

37:59

I love that this is now pivoting to

38:02

a new set of characters that you can then use the monsters as

38:06

a new metaphor, or at least

38:08

maybe the same metaphor, but with new circumstances.

38:12

That's all okay. It it's becomes feeling like

38:15

a whole new story because the circumstances have shifted. And so even

38:19

though maybe she can't communicate what she's feeling

38:22

or thinking because she can't speak because of

38:24

the monsters. It still feels like fresh, you know,

38:28

ground to to to dig up. But

38:31

I think they missed the boat. I think maybe her arc is a little

38:36

too subtle. Because I don't think we

38:39

we never have a strong understanding of her

38:41

internal push and pool. Right? Is she just better at dying

38:45

Does she have regrets? And then why does she suddenly accept it

38:49

at the end? I don't feel like that's ever very cleanly drawn?

38:54

It just kinda happens, and we accepted because

38:57

of how good Lu and Is. Like she's so incredible that. You're like, yeah,

39:01

okay. I believe it, but I think a

39:04

little more context could have made this a much more powerful

39:07

journey. And I think a far better method

39:12

would have been to pair her with a loved 1.

39:15

Like, for instance, her dad.

39:19

Like, think that would have been an incredible

39:21

reversal of the first film by having her

39:24

teach her dad that it's okay to let

39:26

go. And that she's ready and that he

39:29

will be okay. Like, there's a whole incredibly

39:32

emotional journey. I mean, you could also use a spouse

39:35

or She has her own kid, all of that could have worked amazingly,

39:40

but something, I think that allows her to fight about

39:44

choice to end her life on her own terms. And then you can also use the

39:47

chaotic violence of the monsters to kill people

39:50

we meet along the way, and also

39:53

also help make the point that life is a gift, and that anyone can die at

39:57

any time, but she gets to choose even

40:00

though it feels like she doesn't right now

40:03

because she knows she's going to die soon. She still has a choice. And then you

40:06

can make this more elegant beautiful metaphor

40:10

about all of that. That we... As a

40:13

society, I think are failing people when it

40:15

comes to the these kind of circumstances. I just think with the little minor tweaks,

40:20

that like, this has a huge right hand

40:23

that it can really level the audience with.

40:26

I could not agree with you more.

40:29

What if they made Jim G Hon, her dad.

40:38

And then she... And then she

40:40

dies at the end, and he lives it

40:42

goes on to the island. Yeah

40:45

The second 1 Like,

40:49

Oh my god. Whole new context that that's

40:51

like an whole new context. I mean, I

40:54

could not agree with you more. The other stuff, I I could... I yeah. I could

40:58

see how that could maybe, I have my arguments, but that...

41:03

Oh my god. Would make it. Because then and then we'd

41:06

have him on screen

41:09

the entire movie, which I want. Yeah. Which

41:12

I absolutely wish I want. And I totally believe him is her dad. Yeah.

41:17

That... Oh my god. So... Anyway, wow... An

41:20

opportunity I see. I think, you know, that

41:23

was, missed. Again, I'm so glad they're

41:26

exploring this this stuff. 1 thing I did like because I don't

41:30

wanna just, you know, sit here and poo all over the the place.

41:34

Is revealing character, I thought they did a

41:36

really nice job at the beginning She's mad at Ruben,

41:40

and he's, like, I'm your friend. Like, she

41:43

tells them point blank. You're not my friend. You're a nurse.

41:46

The implication being you're only here as a job. You don't

41:51

actually care about me. You're paid to care

41:53

about me, which is a really fair accusation

41:56

I would say, it's rooted in,

41:59

a realistic and cynical

42:02

approach to the world, which is revealing her

42:04

character that she cynical about people loving her

42:07

and wanting the best for her. And it's

42:10

great, I think to make a statement

42:13

and then either prove it true or prove it false through actions and decisions. That's a

42:18

great way to flesh out character for everyone.

42:21

For her, her point of view of the world. And

42:24

then for him to prove, you know, that

42:27

he is who he says he is. That's wonderful. That's such a good writing technique. And

42:31

then, of course, he proves her wrong by looking after her and her cat, Like,

42:36

that's a decision. Like he made a which

42:38

is why I love up to that point, the use of the cat, and then it

42:42

also makes his death that much worse

42:45

for knowing he actually did care about her. And it wasn't just a job as she

42:49

suspected. Like such a beautiful use of killing

42:52

off a character to reveal so many things about the world

42:55

that were that were inhabit. And to your point earlier, the... I love

42:59

the rep reprieve that we get from all the silence

43:02

by using the rain, that storm. My favorite

43:05

moment of the movie bar on, like, just

43:07

such a wonderful sequence. Of these 2 characters connecting

43:12

and learning about each other. It was just

43:15

killed me. It just was so good. And

43:17

then, of course, our characters using the rain and storm is smart. It's

43:21

revealing them to be intelligent. You know, heroes, and then we can also

43:26

reset the audience to re

43:29

for another long sequence of of silence. We

43:31

need that moment to take a breath and be like, okay.

43:35

Oh, words and people and noise. This is

43:37

good This is good. Said Oh, crap. Now

43:39

we can tense to get tense up again for all the silence. Great. Just great storytelling.

43:43

It's very thoughtful from the thousand foot view and of looking at your story as a

43:47

whole and saying, okay. We're dealing with so

43:49

much silence. We have noise, then we have silence. We need some more noise so that

43:53

then we can have more silence. Fantastic. Yeah. And that summarizes

43:58

all my poop notes. Yeah. I mean, that the I I get

44:04

the New York thing, I guess, but they

44:06

established that at the beginning. Like, New York is very loud. Cream. You know?

44:10

Yeah. Yeah. It's like it's like screaming all

44:13

day. So, of course, they'd be attracted to that.

44:16

You know? So they... I do get it can be tiring

44:20

to see something like that, You know, But, you know, I'm sure Chicago is pretty loud.

44:23

Why not? You know? I don't know Yeah or whatever. But, yeah,

44:27

New York is definitely very loud and snowing

44:29

for being loud. So now now all I can think about is

44:34

is Diamond Han being her dad.

44:38

And what and and how I want that story. I really want that story.

44:43

Yeah. Yeah. So so what would you rate it then?

44:47

Oh, out of 10,

44:50

I'm probably sitting 6 and a half to 7.

44:55

Okay. I think it's it's hard for me to not see all the opportunity.

44:58

And so I'd probably honestly lean closer to

45:01

6.5 with reflection. At walking out, I was like,

45:05

this is this is this was a fun experience, and it's a 7. But with

45:10

perspective, and the maturity of time. Like

45:13

that we go. 6.5. What about you? I'm a 9. I'm

45:17

a solid 9. It yes. I can't help

45:20

it now see to your brilliant point, some of the things

45:24

they missed, but it is the story. You know, it is

45:28

what it is, and for what it is, I couldn't have asked

45:32

for more, honestly. I... Especially nowadays, like, the

45:35

way that they make movies nowadays is it just this is a breath of fresh air. So

45:41

yeah. III give it a 9. For sure. And setting,

45:44

man, I was in a nice a nice

45:47

cinema with my sons that next to me

45:49

and like, you know, he was to me. I

45:52

was like, be quiet, bro. Quiet. Know.

45:55

Yeah. Thanks so, anyway, yeah.

45:59

Nice. So what are you gonna recommend this week, man? I can't believe we haven't recommended

46:04

this. We're gonna recommend the invisible man.

46:09

Yeah. Yeah. The which we have anyone. Haven't done

46:13

the newer 1. Yeah. The 20 21. Yeah.

46:15

Yeah. Lee no, which is like, surprisingly

46:20

good. Like, you know, for a remake is,

46:23

you know, I I think the old 1 was in the fifties or something, I don't

46:26

know. A long time ago. But so they

46:29

didn't really have a super high bar, I guess, but the way

46:33

that they did it and the acting it

46:35

just... And the practical effects that they did in that

46:39

film. If you go to and watch behind the

46:41

scenes stuff is unbelievable, so cool and how

46:44

much fund that would have been to been

46:47

on set, watching that happen, so cool. Anyway. So, yeah, the invisible man,

46:51

the 20 20 version. So could not agree

46:53

more, and that's a clinic

46:56

on fundamentals of tension and suspense. Like, it's

47:02

absolutely astronomical good. Like, it has no right

47:05

being called the the invisible man and being

47:07

that good. It's it's crazy. And I've looked for that

47:10

screen play before, and I don't think I've found it. And so maybe I'll look again

47:14

because I'd love to just see what's on the page, and it's... I can imagine it's

47:17

like, 60 or 70 pages. Like it... There's so

47:20

much time just spent in suspense. And the

47:23

way he builds it is an absolute

47:25

masterclass class. On on how to do that, and I

47:28

fully intend to study that more. Great recommendation.

47:31

I'm gonna recommend, my pizza dough recipe.

47:37

She was all thought. She was all about

47:41

getting a a slice of pizza. And if you're like me, you're a terrible

47:45

chef. There is a simple, stupid easy method of making your own pizza

47:50

dough that can also double as garlic bread. Put it in the

47:54

show notes, but a quick rundown as you

47:56

combine all your dry ingredients, 273

47:59

grams of flour. And there's more specifics that come along with

48:02

that. 9 grams of salt, 3 grams of

48:05

garlic powder, and then you combine that all

48:07

together, then you mix in 220 grams of

48:09

warm water, 3 grams of yeast, a tablespoon

48:11

of honey. And then let it bloom for 10 minutes, and then

48:15

you mix in piece by piece. Some of that dry mix, slowly use and use a

48:19

wooden spoon. That's really important actually just because you lose

48:23

so much if you go just straight hands. It's also nice to not have to put

48:26

your hands in that stuff, but you lose so much dough on your fingers because it's

48:29

impossible to get off. But very easily off the wooden spoon do not underestimate the magic,

48:34

of the wooden soon. And so from there,

48:38

you mix in until you got about half, then you add about 3 tablespoons of extra

48:43

virgin olive oil. And then you finish mixing

48:45

in the other half, mix it, let it sit for, 15, 20 minutes, Mix it again,

48:50

and then cover it, let it sit for

48:52

not know 12 hours, let it rise, and

48:54

then mix it again, stuff it in the fridge, and then you divide it. And you

48:58

can either eat it as pizza, I like

49:00

to throw it in, like, a, cast pan with my own homemade toppings,

49:05

or just throw it in the for whatever 03:50, 10:12 minutes, and you have amazing garlic

49:10

bread. Yeah. It's stupid easy. There's no starter though.

49:13

There's much more probably far superior pizza dough.

49:17

I'm certain, and I'm still working on this recipe, but, this is the 1 that I'm,

49:21

like, satisfied with for a quick, easy

49:25

pizza night at home. Yeah. So

49:28

quick and easy if you have an entire day to make it.

49:32

That's so them. But yes, Can eat preferable.

49:36

Jesus correct. Beautiful.

49:38

I love it, man. Nice. So

49:41

stay tuned for next week. We're gonna go way back and take a

49:46

look at the Stephen King adapted story. Stand by me.

49:51

And I think this will be Todd's first time

49:54

fully watching it. So we'll see what he

49:56

thinks if he thinks it holds or it's,

49:58

you know, lacking Tb. What what the man himself thinks. And

50:03

if you're enjoying the show, don't forget to subscribe, Drops a review. And let us know

50:07

the kind of things you want us to cover. If you wanna comment on this episode.

50:11

Tell me why it's actually far better than

50:13

I understand. You can do that at the pe podcast

50:16

dot com slash a quiet place day 1.

50:18

And I'm sure somebody will find a way to do that.

50:21

And Our quote of the day today is

50:23

from Nina simone. Who I like this. I'll

50:26

tell you what Freedom is to me. No fear. I mean really, no fear.

50:31

That's great. I mean,

50:34

once, you know, 1 quick sentence, that's great.

50:38

I believe good. And I think it speaks to, like, she

50:43

he she's playing nina a simon simone, obviously whenever, you know, the movie ends.

50:47

Which is a really fun and funky way to to end the film.

50:51

I loved it. And that's where she's at. In her life now.

50:55

She's living without fear of death. And that even though it's gonna lead to

51:00

her imminent death, is also absolute freedom them.

51:03

Unsure. Yeah. Hundred percent. She went the way she

51:07

wanted to go too, you know, she made her own decision.

51:10

Yeah. Great. Great quote. I this is a

51:13

a blast man. I a blast watching it blast talking to you about it. You know,

51:17

Simon wanted to be on the but then he got kinda cold feet, So maybe maybe

51:21

sometime later. Anyway, I love your your insights there, man.

51:25

So thank you for that. Hopefully, you enjoyed this episode. If you did,

51:28

please review us subscribe wherever you get your

51:31

podcast, share us with your friends, all of it really helps. And if there's a film,

51:34

you'd like to see us pick apart and talk about. Share it with us. Who knows

51:37

maybe we'll do it. Until next time, I'm todd.