[00:00:01] Blank Check with Griffin and David, Blank Check with Griffin and David Don't know what to say or to express All you need to know is that the name of the show is Blank Check Pod Podcast Pod Podcast Pod Podcast Pod Podcast Pod Podcast Pod Podcast JohnDog Pop Japanese.
[00:01:00] David's holding up at no bits phone case. Oh, you're in trouble. This episode, Davey Sims. There's going to be some bit. There's going to be. When JDMotto's in town. The bits come rolling in. Hey, blanket. Thank it. Don't touch me. I haven't puked in months. Oh yeah.
[00:01:21] Wait, wait, before we even talk, let's go. We have to do a health update. Okay. Oh my. I was going to say, I know Ben's not feeling great. Yeah. I'm okay. I'm fine. Okay. Just like some prescription. You're a bad night. You're having a prescription transition. Right, exactly.
[00:01:39] You're like, you know, you're from going from one port to another port in a storm. So it's a little like, yeah. Right. Yeah, I'm getting off antidepressants and sometimes it's not fun when you're in between pills and you feel like your head is falling off.
[00:01:55] You're not going to puke any butine. Nope. No, I wouldn't do that to you. Thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah. David, how are you feeling? Well, when I was on vacation, I hurt my back at one point, like lower back. How'd you hurt it? Who knows?
[00:02:10] You know, bending to pick something up. Doing dialogue? I think there's a story here. It was not telling it. It was that. Oh boy. No, I like it was one of those classic things where I'm like bending to pick
[00:02:19] up a bag and then suddenly I'm like, why am I in like insane amounts of paint? Yeah. You have to like sit down and you're like, why isn't it going away? I have no frame of reference for this. Is it better now? Yeah.
[00:02:34] So you can just pull something. Okay, it's a little bit. Yeah. If it persists, I will, I guess, go to an orthopedist or whatever. Have you ever gotten a good massage? Yes, not in a while. I'd love to get one. Like a good massage? Like it?
[00:02:46] A good massage. Ben's doing the... Devil horns. Devil horns. Okay. I just got a good massage and I had not gotten a massage in 10 years. Okay. A, because I was like, it feels like... Yeah, I don't know. It's like too fancy.
[00:03:01] And also I was like, I don't want anyone touching me. Oh, you sound fine with the touching. But yeah. It was both things combined but I was extravagant. Man, this is really, really a pleasant thing. Absolutely. I think you got to go for the whatever the 80 minute, 90 minute.
[00:03:15] Oh, the true like experience. Because it has one of the cold stones and the hot stones. There's that one. That's why I got a cold stone cream massage. They put mixins into an ice cream on my back. They were like, mushing the cookie dough in on my vertebra.
[00:03:33] And if you tip them they sing a song about your body. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. I've never been to cold stone cream. Really? I never. Are you not an ice cream guy? Not an ice cream guy. So it's never...
[00:03:46] I mean like I'll get ice cream but like I don't seek it out so I feel like... Hey, slab it, dab it. Sure. You've heard Randy's bit. Slam it, dab it. JD, like that. You've heard Randy's bit about cold stone cream, right? Randy Newman?
[00:03:58] No, Randy the stand up that everyone loves. Oh, you mean like from funny people like Randy? You know what's crazy though? People talk about joke theft all the time. Aziz Ansari has that exact same bit. Aziz Ansari has that exact same personality. It's weird. It's almost like...
[00:04:13] Well no, but it was a parody. It was a parody of a type of a comedian. I just think it's a funny thing that Aziz had these jokes at the time he was a low energy comedian. Then he did Randy which was his parody of an energy comedian.
[00:04:25] Yeah, it was parody of Dinkook. But he used his own material and then people loved Randy and he was like what if I deliver all my material like this? This is my thing. Oh, I'm so famous. But don't...
[00:04:36] He used his own jokes to play a comedian who's shitty. Yeah, but don't we all sometimes... Finish that sentence. Take a parody of ourselves and it's truly what we hope to be. Oh, you mean like sort of an aspirational thing.
[00:04:51] Yes, it's a way to test the waters for a version of yourself that you don't have the boldness to achieve in the moment. Yes, I found a vehicle for that. It's called Blank Check with Griffin and David. Hell yeah! It's a podcast about filmographies.
[00:05:02] Directors who have massive success early on in their career and are given a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion products they want and sometimes those checks clear and sometimes they ride the cat bus baby. Into the woods. A breath of air. This is got...
[00:05:20] Okay, first and foremost. This is Meisters on the Films of Hayao Miyazaki. Oh, okay go. It's called Howl's Moving Podcast. Is it? Or Podcastle in the Sky. No, no, it's Howl's Moving Podcast. Or Podcastle of Kagliostro. The fans chose Howl's Moving Podcastle.
[00:05:33] I wanted Podcastle in the sky but they went with Howl. Or Pod's Moving Castle was the other idea. Sure. Yeah. I thought Podcastle was just like... He's got three castle titles. Yeah. It's nice if you can keep Podcast intact. We rarely have that opportunity. Right. Yeah, I agree.
[00:05:50] I agree too. That's why I wanted Podcastle in the sky. It's a little vague. Yeah. And our podcast is not in the sky but it is sometimes about the sky. I also think MyPodcastotoro would be good. What did they... Is that what... Yes.
[00:06:04] I think MyPodcastotoro would be excellent. Or My Neighbor Podocast. My Podcast Neighbor's Noto. Podcastoro. This is like a trend line on the graph. Yeah. Zero dollars. Oh. I made the microphone all down. Do you have more left to do your thing? The opening?
[00:06:24] No, we're here of course with JD Amato. I'm JD Amato and I love movies. Blanket. Thank it. Is this five or six? I mean... Well, you know what? Let's get into this. Yeah. Because I feel that I have been tossed around like a rag doll. In the waves.
[00:06:45] You already did all this to me the other day. Yes, but now this is on the record. God damn it. It's been a stressful time. Oh really? Yeah, really. I get put on... I've been scheduled to do... Okay. There's the secret podcast. We already talked about that.
[00:07:01] This is your eighth podcast if you include Corpse Brighton. It's my eighth? No. There's no way. Yeah. Digital filmmaking. Okay. One. War of the World. Three. Star Ships Troopers. Four. Billy Lynn's Long Half-Dime Walk. Five. Talking The Walk 2018. Corpse Bright. Six. This. Seven. Okay, did I say eight?
[00:07:25] Yeah. All right, I was counting wrong. Okay. Does Do The Patreon episodes count? Well... I think they kind of do. It's sort of nominally another show, but like it kind of counts. Here's what I think. Can I tell you my theory? Yeah. Okay.
[00:07:39] Wikipedia, most SNL, like most frequent SNL hosts. Sure. There's like Paul Simon up there. Sure. And they're like only hosted like three times, but then a musical guest like this many times. I feel like it's a bracket thing where I go like six pure appearances plus one Patreon.
[00:08:02] Well, I felt that I was putting a bracket in that situation because I was four... I was put into a golden bikini and dragged on Jabba's sale barge and forced to perform. No objections from me. Of course, to perform for all of your...
[00:08:16] If someone could get on a Photoshop with that post taste, that'd be great. Thank you. Aristocrats. Yeah, you didn't like us... Putting you behind the paywall. And now I'm here back with the people, the real people.
[00:08:29] Right, and there's your blank check that you want to cash your sort of crazy passion project episode, which will be coming out in 2020. It's on the spreadsheet, baby. I work for the art form. I work for No Man. And I love that. And I honestly appreciate that.
[00:08:44] And I wish... When Ben says he loves that, he doesn't mean it. He means that he doesn't love that. For me, I love that, but I just got to say that unfortunately it's got to be postponed. And I did his best... It's happening next year. You know what?
[00:08:56] We're here... Well, I'll talk to him. All right. We're here to talk about my neighbor Totoro. Come on. This is so arcane, guys. He knew this was... What? Already? Okay. You know what? Jesus, you mad at me. I'm instituting a rule for this episode.
[00:09:09] If I ever feel like David's hurrying us along, I'm going to... I'm going to record something later that Ben will have to put in to extend it. You don't have that power. Yes, I do. He does. What do you mean he does? He's just like, yeah, he does.
[00:09:24] And insert clip here. Why are you calling me, JD? What is this? David, I feel like I let you guys down. I've been up all night for the past several weeks. Just... I feel like I blew the episode, David.
[00:09:41] Should I have not texted you a couple of weeks ago saying, like, oh yeah, the episode's a disaster, but don't worry about it. Any favor that I did myself with the Billy Lynn episode, I think I've thrown in the garbage with this episode. Yeah, but that's great.
[00:09:55] Isn't it like it's sort of... You're like Ben Affleck. It can be like sort of rise and fall, rise and fall. Right? You're like you, too. Yeah, but here's the thing. I just... I love... This is like rattling... This is your rattling hum.
[00:10:06] But then you're going to surprise us all with an octane baby. Oh, but I just love my neighbor, Todor. It's one of my favorite movies of all time. I didn't do a service. Hey look. Because I love it. This is the way the business goes.
[00:10:21] For anyone listening at home, this is genuine. I know. This isn't some... I mean it is a weird JD bit, but it's also genuine. Well here, I just... It's one of my favorite movies of all time. I'm glad you love it. I love it, too. It's very good.
[00:10:36] Ben seemed really stressed out when I saw him yesterday. That's always a good sign. Stressed out by the episode? Yeah. Oh man. He was basically like I want to cut this, this, and this, referring to like four sections of the podcast. And we were like, oh, sure.
[00:10:54] Cut some of that. Not all of it. Yeah. I just... And I love you JD. You're doing fine. Thank you David. The fans love JD. Yeah, I think they're not going to love me after this.
[00:11:05] I think I'm going to be mad that I didn't do a service to Totoro. Oh don't apologize. Who cares? You're donating your time to us. This is the whole thing. People get mad at the guests sometimes. I'm like, you understand. Like they are putting themselves out.
[00:11:17] They are giving us their time. They're watching a damn movie. Sometimes more than one movie. And like coming to the studio and putting up with our nonsense. Like it's a service. We thank you for your service. Well, I'm sorry David.
[00:11:30] I'm sorry that I've done this to your Totoro episode. Jesus Christ. You gotta relax man. You're doing great. We're all doing okay. Well, we just kind of cling on to the people we love. You know, it's a tough time in the world. I agree. I love you David.
[00:11:46] Love you too buddy. All right. I'll talk to you soon. Thank you for this phone call. Of course. Wacko. That was me explaining. Now there's going to be a couple of me explaining my favorite Jackie Chan movies. So there, now we're back from JD's Jackie Chan movies.
[00:12:09] All right. Should I get that police story criterion? I think so. I have it. It's great. I want to get that. All right. We agree. Oh, I gotta make a note. I gotta record this Jackie Chan. You know, we talked a lot about recently. Go ahead.
[00:12:23] The live action, no CGI, no making. No CGI, no make up Donkey Kong film we want. Starring Russell Crowe. Oh my God. I forgot there was no make up as well. He has to do it elephant man. It's elephant man right. Bradley Cooper style.
[00:12:35] Wait, so this is Russell Crowe. It's Russell Crowe. He will just be Donkey Kong. He gets the tie. We give him the tie. We'll give him the tie. He can have a banana. He can have a barrel.
[00:12:46] He can ride a swordfish, which is something he does often in the video game. Trying to think of other Donkey Kong things. He can pound the ground. We're not doing this Lion King style. No, wait, wait, wait. No Lion King, no Mo-Cap. No Jim Henson Creature Shop.
[00:13:01] But also we're also not doing this movie style where they put make up on. They've been doing that for about 100 years and we're like, no. No. So here's the question to you. Is this gonna be a fully naked Russell Crowe? Oh, he has to be naked?
[00:13:15] The tie is gonna be very long. And a red tie. So it's like Bay Wolf where it's always blocking his genitals to the extent that you're sort of like can only think about how it's blocking his genitals. It's like the opening of Spy Who Shagged Me.
[00:13:28] No, it should be attached to his wiener. Okay. Tied around. Oh, Jesus. And who's playing Diddy Kong? I forgot. I forget. Someone will tell us. Who ever said Miles Teller? Whoever's always on those lists. What's his name? Harry Styles. Big Head? Big Head, yeah, of course.
[00:13:46] Diddy Kong's head's not that big. This is what I was gonna say. What are you talking about? I mean compared to Donkey Kong. What the fuck are you talking about? David. Not compared to Donkey Kong, relative to the size of his body.
[00:13:57] David, Diddy Kong's got a big old head. The rule of thumb is that most people are like five or six heads tall, right? Yes. Or more? If you remember- Diddy Kong is one head tall. No. What are you talking about? Two heads tall.
[00:14:11] What the fuck are you talking about? David. Two heads tall. What the fuck are you talking about? Jesus. Crazy. Look at how big his head is, how little his body is. Griffin, this man's a journalist. This is insane. This is the Atlantic Hire Review.
[00:14:23] Not only am I a journalist- Oh, a paper of record! I'm the one who is planning to do a Donkey Kong podcast on this feed. Yeah. Donkey Kong podcast. Motherfucker. No, I'll tell you who has a big head. Oh boy. Here he comes. Head say, Jack? Ooh.
[00:14:39] Baby Kong. That's a big old man. David, I would argue Baby Kong's head is smaller than Diddy Kong's head. I would argue they have almost identical proportions in anything. What you're looking at- He's got big arms. He's got big arms and a big belly. The head is bigger.
[00:14:52] It's not big head. Not sure. Diddy Kong has a more insane head to body ratio. What I was going to say is, it's crazy we've been doing this podcast for over four years. David, you and I have been friends for like five or six years now. Oh, yeah.
[00:15:09] And I didn't realize until this moment in time that you're literally the dumbest person alive. What the fuck are you talking about? Number one bum bum. This is a very hostile to David podcast so far. Considering it's about one of the gentler movies ever made.
[00:15:21] Well, also this is revenge for multiple recordings I've come in and you've been in a mood. It was just one. And you already litigated that on another appearance. Do we have to litigate it again?
[00:15:35] I think that was like the Starship Troopers episode and then like the Billy Lynn, we had to have half an hour talking about that. You were in such a mood you made me vomit. No, I know what made you vomit, my friend.
[00:15:47] A certain dish of French fries and gravy that you had at a certain Brooklyn bar. Okay, this is what I was going to say. We call that the French special. The Doh fan. Police story two. Hey, please take that name out of your mouth.
[00:16:01] Police story two ends with essentially a live action version of the original Donkey Kong. Like Jackie Chan is on like ladders and rafters avoiding barrels that are being thrown at him. 100% good format. Fucking rules. Good visual adventure format.
[00:16:17] And here's the second thing I'm going to say now, JD. Yes, perhaps we have taken advantage of our friendship with you, your loyalty to the podcast, your popularity with guests and flipped you around a little bit, tossed you around a little bit.
[00:16:30] But we did say like six, seven months ago where you're like Miyazaki's on the books. Yep. This is a skluicy. No one knows this yet. You get first crack at any Miyazaki you want. No one has put in for any Miyazaki you get to pick anyone.
[00:16:45] And you said I can do Totoro and I said it's your. My neighbor Totoro, I believe is the greatest animated film of all time in my opinion. And as much as I'm doing bits in this podcast and I've got a table of contents about 10 items on this movie.
[00:17:03] This movie I believe is one of the most wonderful movies of all time. It is my, I have an official top 10 that I've formed. Sure. You're like your top 10. It's top 10. I'm like the one that's on the wall in my apartment. Like a blockbuster staff.
[00:17:15] Oh, so like you have it like the DVDs or whatever. Yes. Yes. Can I see how many of them I can guess? Yeah, absolutely. Labyrinth. OK, so I have two different lists. Oh, I want to tell you. You have like a favorite and the best.
[00:17:27] I have my, I have my, I mean they're both favorites. But one is movies that I think represent cinema and one that's like, listen, I get it if you don't like these movies. Right. I just say favorite and best. Yes. We can say favorite and best.
[00:17:40] OK, so I think I can do the cinema list. OK, cinema list. My neighbor, Tordoro. OK. Playtime. Yep. Dog day afternoon. Yep. Fuck, my movie is on this list. Right? Right. That's taking sort of the labyrinth spot on the cinema list versus the personal list.
[00:17:56] The other ones are tough. Here's a hint. Oh, Monica Manna. Yep. Nailed it. OK, we saw that together. Yes. There's another documentary. There's another documentary on the list. There's actually two documentaries right now, but one of them is going to be bumped off soon. Is it Narrow Morris?
[00:18:14] No. It's not Hoop Dreams, right? No, although Hoop Dreams is very good. I feel like I know this. It's not a filmmaker who made almost anything else after this film. Oh, is it American movie? No. Movie. He made lots of movies. Right, I forgot that. Yeah.
[00:18:32] It's Hands on a Hard Body. Oh, Hands on a Hard Body. Of course, of course, of course. Then what else in there is the Red Shoes? Great movie. Oh, yeah. Not my personal Palin Pressburger, but I mean, indisputable. Mine's Colonel Blimp. Yours is Life and Death, right?
[00:18:47] Mine is Life and Death. But I mean, Colonel Blimp is also pretty indisputable. My mother's favorite movie of all time is I Know Where I'm Going, so that was sort of like a big... I haven't seen that one. It's fantastic. Maybe one day we'll do David's Mom.
[00:18:59] That would be the one to do for David's Mom. I would love to just do them. Yeah, you might want to put some lines. Put some brackets on it. Yeah. Oh, what are the other? Sorry, I'm sorry. Marketa Lazarova. Oh, wow. Sure, right, right. Okay.
[00:19:14] I mean, if you watch that film, it's insane. And then I have a Kurosawa spot that I... Oh, you were sort of like... I very controversially put Kurosawa's Dreams. I was going to guess that was the one. That's the best movie. Because that's a very JD movie.
[00:19:31] It's not, but it... I love that movie. I think it's... I saw it very early, and so there's so many moments and images. I had a friend who was like that. That was an early movie. Early art movie. I understand that it's not his best work,
[00:19:42] and there's other movies that I do know. But that one I just think sums up so much of what's great and beautiful about him. I don't know what my favorite Kurosawa is, though. I don't know. I don't know. For me? Oh yeah, so here's...
[00:19:54] Good Time is on my list. Yes. So here's my thing. You made this announcement if he was going to shock us. You made it so many times. Yeah. So, on my... JD has two pages of notes here. One of them is typed, one of them is handwritten.
[00:20:10] The typed one has a table of contents of things that we're going to discuss today that aren't my name is Todoro. But one of them is going to get crossed off and I need you guys to tell me, Todoro is my number three best movie of all time.
[00:20:23] What are your number three movies of all time? I don't know that I have a top one. And once again, not favorite, but like if I was ranking ultimate cinema. Yeah, but it's all... It's all combined and intermashed. My number one is playtime.
[00:20:36] My number two is dog day. Number three is Todoro. Yeah. I've said my top three... Yeah, I don't have a ranking. I guess I could attempt a ranking. You have to attempt the ranking, isn't that what I'm asking? Like second I have to attempt a ranking? Yeah.
[00:20:48] My favorite movies of all time. I think so. My top three films. I know this. Here we go then. David's stretching. He's doing like a pictures war. My top three are Toy Story 2 Bruce from McLeod and Robocop. Okay. So I would say Robocop.
[00:21:03] And if I were making the ultimate cinema list, I think Robocop would also take my number three slot. Wow. That's great. I think I probably, if I'm going ultimate cinema, Nashville is my number one. Like Nashville is the gun in my head.
[00:21:16] I think this is the best movie I've ever made. Yeah, I was thinking about an Altman for my number three too. That is my... Like if you ask me to say what I think is the ultimate statement in the medium, I think it's Nashville.
[00:21:25] I think Robocop would be number three on both lists. I'm trying to think what my number two would be. Because I've tried to assemble what my sight and sound would list would be. Right. And much like you, it's like the difference between the two
[00:21:36] is me swapping out personal favorites from certain directors for what I think is empirically their best. Yeah. Like on my personal list, I got Labyrinth, I got an earnest movie. Right. I got a lot of stuff on there that I'm not going to sit here
[00:21:49] and try to defend to A.O. Scott. More like B.O. Scott. Hey. You got it in there. Guys, you promised that you would laugh. Oh, I'm sorry. This is a joke that was made before the podcast. 45 minutes ago. And we kind of went like, huh.
[00:22:03] No, we gave it a real laugh at the time. I'm sorry we weren't on the ball. I'm just thinking about the top three questions. You totally fucked me up. David's top three. That's great. This is a movie podcast. Is this not?
[00:22:14] Do we not love movies in this room? My name's Griffin Newman and I love movies. My name's JD Amato and I love movies. Blanket. I didn't say David Simpson, I love movies. I feel like I've heard you say McCabe and Mrs. Miller's your number one. It's up there.
[00:22:25] It's up there. I have a letter box list. Okay, what's... That's like, I don't believe it's public, but that it is a top. But it's sort of a loose list. Like it's not like a... But it was, I will say, number one. Loose list. A loose list.
[00:22:42] But now I'm sort of like... Loose list. You know, I'm looking through what I've got on here. I've spirited away on this. There's a 50 film list. And I'm like, oh yeah, some of these things I've grown to love maybe even more. Some of these things...
[00:22:56] You know, like maybe I've sort of forgotten a little bit. Yee-yee, Edward Yang's Yee-yee is currently number three on that list. So, okay. Let's just make that official. That's your three. RoboCops my three. Totoro's your three. Ben, do you have a three? I mean, what comes to mind...
[00:23:13] When I saw Enter the Void, that was like a really big like, whoa, kind of moment for me. So I don't know. That would be probably three. Okay. Enter the Void. You don't even know what one and two are. I don't. That's fine. Yeah.
[00:23:27] But that's like a cinema experience that sticks out to me. If we're really doing a only Volgaro tour bracket next year, Gaspar Noe's got to be on there. Yes. I mean, Ben might really have a lot of influence. We might call it the Ben Bracket. Right.
[00:23:40] Because it might be Gaspar Noe. Yeah. Michael Winterbottom. Harmony Corrine. Oh my God. Michael Winterbottom would be the death of this podcast. Because it would be like 25 unwatchable movies. Yeah. Imagine a world of what you're doing. Okay.
[00:23:55] Take away here is the world is shit and you will die. Tristan Shandy, A Pod and Cast. That's a good movie. He's made like eight good movies. He's also just made like 16 other movies. Yeah. Yeah. Also, what would his blank check be? Like The Claim.
[00:24:11] Like he did like a... The Trip, his franchise. The Trip. He's got a big franchise. I mean, he's made movies like The Claim where you're like, who gave him money for this? Yeah. He's like made like a frontier version of Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge.
[00:24:24] Also starring like Wes Bentley. That's like a movie. Did he do a sci-fi film with Tim Robbins? Yeah, Code 46. I was trying to remember the number. It's one of those sci-fi movies where it's kind of like, they're in a greenhouse because it's the future.
[00:24:35] You know, like where they tried their best, you know, with the sets. I also feel like his name sounds like something from like... Michael Winterbottom. One of the late like Frost the Snowman spin-offs where it's like Mr. Heatmise or Mr. Winterbottom.
[00:24:47] He just sounds like the stuffiest English director. Like, oh, Michael Winterbottom. I made a film that's just unsimulated sex and concerts. That's a movie I made. You're like, oh, okay. All right. So he's not like the stuffiest guy. All right. Fine. What else? Come on.
[00:25:05] But I mean, okay, we can go through the list or we can talk about Totoro. I feel like we can maybe spice some of these in. Oh, okay. You want to sort of bounce back and forth. I feel like we can back back. We're here to talk.
[00:25:13] Just so the audience has something to look forward to. My neighbor Totoro. It's a pretty plot light movie about a big old creature who lives in the woods and a couple of girls who meet him. Okay. That's true. Yeah, it's true. It's also not true.
[00:25:26] I know what you're saying. But what I feel like is what's... Okay, so I truly believe that this is animation at its absolute finest of what the medium of animated storytelling... Keep talking. You laid down your marker but now build on it.
[00:25:39] Can I give you some stakes on this episode too? You just get so mad at me. Wow, David. I did that deliberately. I wanted to make a bet. Can I give you some stakes?
[00:25:46] Also, David always gets frustrated because the way that I talk sometimes is I will like... You're sort of like a preacher. You're kind of like... So to remind you all, the best animated movie of all time is My Neighbor Totoro.
[00:25:59] I want to establish some narrative stakes for this episode. Oh my God. Okay. This episode seems light. You're right. Let's put something else in there. Saw this movie when I was like six or whatever. Oh, so you were a little kid? I was little.
[00:26:12] Whenever it first came out on VHS, I think like 95. Did your parents just be like, here's a cartoon? I feel like even twice my parents were like, this is the one that everyone's talking about. This must be amazing. You animated films, this guy is so written-in.
[00:26:24] I think I rented it and was like, I don't get this. Didn't finish watching it. And then I remember at school there was a rainy day or something and they were like, we're going to watch this movie.
[00:26:33] And I sat there and everyone was like, oh my God, I love Totoro because I grew up in fucking New York City. You grew up and went to a private school. So everyone was like, I have to show my kid the edge...
[00:26:42] I mean, I think for the night, I mean even now it's still like, oh yeah, Disney's okay, but I make sure my kid watches Miyazaki. Totally. You're creating these characters. No, because it's me. That's what I'm going to be when I have a kid.
[00:26:54] No, no, no, I will say this. My parents were not like that. The other parents at my school were definitely like that. And I was like, everyone loves Totoro. I remember my parents being like, did you show Griff in Totoro?
[00:27:04] My mom was like, yeah, he didn't really like it. We watched the whole thing at school. I was like, I don't really get this. I remembered it very vividly. Okay. Because like when we were doing the Michael Mann episodes,
[00:27:14] two or three times I was like, I remembered a scene that didn't exist in the movie. Right, right. Whereas like this, I saw it like once in full... But it was still in your head. 25 years ago and I was like, this is in my head.
[00:27:26] I remembered the song. I remembered a bunch of images. Re-watched it. It was one of the movies where I was like, I don't think I get Miyazaki. Didn't even try to really engage with Miyazaki until we decided to do this miniseries. I've been really liking these movies.
[00:27:38] I watched this one. I certainly like it more. I don't understand it as the top tier Miyazaki. Oh my God. From what I've been watching. Wow. I got nothing bad to say about it, but I'm watching it and I'm going,
[00:27:48] there's something here I'm not getting because I think this is very good. But I've been more impressed with almost every other Miyazaki movie. I've watched it. It's interesting because my automatic response to be, oh well, you know, it's best to see when you're a kid.
[00:28:01] It really is made of like a kid's eye view. Yeah. But like then you're saying like, but you did see it when you were a kid. Also didn't register with you bad. And here's the weird thing. I don't understand why I didn't register with me as a kid.
[00:28:11] Because I've talked about it was very like literal minded in a certain way as a kid. You need to understand like the story types and the structure and the genre and things like that.
[00:28:19] And so things from other cultures kind of threw me off for things that were more sort of formless, spiritual threw me off. But the other thing is I now like one of my favorite subgenres of film is this. Is like sad child. Sure. Right.
[00:28:36] I've hated dealing with loneliness, outside trauma, interweave with fantasy. Like I love fucking Pan's labyrinth and like spirit of the beehive, you know, and even like I'm a sucker for like the bad versions of movies that fall into this, you know. Stuber. Stuber obviously. Right.
[00:28:57] Just trying to think of the most obvious not that. Right. So I just feel like this is like a genre that I love now as a kid. So what's your problem? I have nothing negative to say about it.
[00:29:05] Like I was like, I could beat myself up for not getting it, but I also know that JD has prepared a filibuster. Well, and he's going to tell me on the idea that this is the greatest animated film of all time. Well, here's the thing.
[00:29:16] Here's a seersucker suit? Yeah. He said I say, I say, I say. He's dabbing his head with a handkerchief. Here's the thing. You're allowed to not have this film touch and speak to you in the way that it does for me or someone else.
[00:29:33] But to talk about why I think it is perhaps the greatest animated film. I want to hear. I want to dial back to what I think is special magical animation, which actually touches on a larger conversation that is about modern films. So we're talking about an animator?
[00:29:50] Good to do. When it comes to drawing and making art physically with your hands, I think the beauty of that is that you're taking the real world and the human perception of the real world. Right.
[00:30:01] And you're translating it through your own identity, your own experiences and then using something that is an imperfect. Method to transfer that to something, which is your own hands, your ideas. This thing that is inherently flawed.
[00:30:14] We're not ever going to be able to exactly replicate the real world through our sort of artistic filter, right? And here's another thing I just want to say. Because sometimes the director comes up and they're like why would these guys want to cover this person versus this person?
[00:30:28] Why doesn't this person count as a blank check director? Whatever the thing is. And I think the biggest thing we look for, because the directors we've covered on this show are not necessarily who we think are the best, most important or our favorite directors ever. Right?
[00:30:42] That's not the priority. The priority is people who have that filter. Like the career that's interesting, but also in whatever medium they're working, however they work at whatever budget level, it's like people are like why are you talking about Nancy Meyers?
[00:30:54] Because every Nancy Meyers movie is a filtration of how she sees the world. Right. And her trying through this weird and perfect medium that is so complicated to control to produce the world that she sees. Right.
[00:31:06] And animation is the most extreme version of that because you're starting with a blank page. You're not even taking given objects and modifying them. Yeah, and when you're drawing a picture, right? You're not drawing what's real. You're drawing what you feel.
[00:31:18] The colors, the choices, the size of things. And especially when you get into something as unrealistic as a Miyazaki movie. Right? And I think that's what's beautiful is that number one, Miyazaki does a lot of the key framing himself. It's a lot of drawings and things like that.
[00:31:31] And it's a very personal story. And so when you're watching an animated film and a hand drawn animated film, what you're seeing is a human being literally drawing things. And it's going to be flawed and it's not going to represent reality.
[00:31:42] What it's representing is a feeling, a thing that that hopefully you identify with in some human way. Right. And so I think that's what's beautiful animation is that all of the flaws and all of the things that aren't perfect about hand drawn animation,
[00:31:55] they are to you reminding you that someone is there making this with their hand. It is a person. It is people behind this that are doing this. It's a JD magic right there.
[00:32:03] And this is another point I want to make just tying into the thing I previously said. There are people who are technically competent who can make a live action film that doesn't have any personal filter on it like that.
[00:32:15] But even the most technically inept animator, if they tried to make something would by nature of the process of animation be telling you about how they see the world. Yeah. Even if they don't have the facility to express it. Right.
[00:32:30] Because it's everything is from their brain in their hand. Right. And that's why like, you know, people love like Harvey P. Carr and someone like that where it's like, oh, but I feel this guy's feeling even though this thing is such a mess. Right.
[00:32:43] But so with just the modern context of this is that like, that's why honestly computer generated animation is sort of it's there's great movies out there. But it feels different to me because when you watch it, you are not humans are making it and helping make it. Right.
[00:32:59] But you're not feeling that feeling of like, ooh, that line moved in that small way that's almost imperceptible. And I know that that was a person or those leaves.
[00:33:07] And like as as Pixar gets, I fully motion has the same appeal of like, you had to build this thing. You had to place all those individual cobblestones. And I think that's what's so beautiful about it.
[00:33:16] And so like when you see these beautiful Pixar rendered things where it's every leaf is perfect, it's like, that's great.
[00:33:22] But what I also love more is when you see like a Miyazaki mat and it's like, oh, these splotches of green and colors that aren't there, but they feel like they're there. Yeah.
[00:33:31] And suddenly you're transported to these feelings that represent the world around you but aren't actually they're all around you. Do you know what are weirdly the only CGI movies that I think somehow are able to get at that quality? What's that? And I obviously love many CGI movies.
[00:33:46] I think because of their commitment to be physical reality of what they represent thing, the Lego movies feel like that for me. Yeah. Yeah, there's some of that. Because they like are committed to like we're going to build the fucking models out of what would be actual bricks.
[00:34:01] Yeah. So that I feel that sense of like even if it's digitally rendered, look at the idea of how that would exist. I agree with that. How that would be nailed. How that structure would live. Right.
[00:34:12] But so in talking about my neighbor Totoro and why I think it's so amazing is that that's what I think is important about animation. That context, that feeling, right?
[00:34:21] But then in a lot of animated films what you have is you have story that gets put on top of it.
[00:34:25] And as someone that's trying to make movies and make TV shows and things like that, I'm constantly wrestling with this idea that the world does not fit into story. Right?
[00:34:34] The way that we live our lives, the way that we grow up, age, the moments we have, they're not story. There's almost never a villain. There's almost never resolution.
[00:34:41] We all know that things are this morass of experiences and feelings that add up to something that feel important and feel like it has momentum to us. But if you really broke it down, rarely do things make this clear story.
[00:34:54] And so one of my problems with a lot of movies, it's not a problem, but one of the things that is strange in a lot of movies, especially the earlier Miyazaki movies before this, is it's like there's bad guys and there's good guys.
[00:35:05] And that's why I like things like guns and weapons and all this stuff is so prevalent is because it's a way to go, okay, there's this bad thing and here's this thing that can make the bad thing go.
[00:35:12] And it's like, it's these things that I don't think reflect reality necessarily. They're fun and I love stories and I love this stuff.
[00:35:19] And so this is not me saying I'm above this sort of, but when a movie is able to convey those feelings of what it's like to be a child in those... Yes. This is why I love this.
[00:35:31] ...feelings around what it's just like to live without there having to be a bad guy or a good guy or even this movie really doesn't even have any real problems in it. No, their mom is sick. Yeah, but it's not clear to what extent.
[00:35:46] From the start of the movie, it's like she's kind of on the men. She's getting better. They're gonna release her soon. Absolutely, but the closest thing to a conflict is a sort of false alarm.
[00:35:54] But there is the child dread of that something is not right because mom's not here and she's been sick and that's what I love. It's like there's not like someone who's like, I've kidnapped your mother.
[00:36:06] But it's also interesting that the movie starts at the point where they're like we've moved to be closer to her and she's gonna get out soon. So even if things are wrong, you're seeing the tail end of things being wrong. Presumed.
[00:36:17] The first time I watched this movie I was like oh is the mom gonna die? Is this like a movie about... Probably the reason I didn't like it as a child because I hate movies about parents dying. Or I did at that age.
[00:36:26] And I think that's what's so wonderful is that all these moments in this film that feel like they have anxiety and dread. It's not because someone says something. It's because as a kid when you grow up everything feels unusual and strange and things that are different upset you.
[00:36:40] Can I quote Hayao Miyazaki? Yes. That's right I went back to my book. Okay so David's got two leather bound volumes. Did I? They both have a crest on them. A lion holding a scepter. Where have I seen that before? You bringing that back? I'm not sure. Interesting.
[00:36:59] Anyway, open up the book. I recommend buying these books by the way. Okay. There are two books that are basically collections of any interview he ever gave, any essay he ever wrote, any speech he ever gave.
[00:37:15] Trying to collect Hayao Miyazaki on the record as best as they can. And they're sort of anthologies so the first one covers the first half of his career. The second one goes as far as I think like how he's moving castle or something like that.
[00:37:30] I can find the names. While he's looking I just want to say I finally saw the clip of the animation company showing him the zombie like thing. And him just like being quietly. This is a insult to life itself.
[00:37:43] But then after you watch Totoro and then you see him watching it, you get why that person would be like this is not. Yeah right. This is unacceptable. This is not why we create. This is not what I write exactly.
[00:37:55] The first one is called Starting Point, the second one is called Turning Point. Is there any director we've covered who would like this podcast less? Then Hayao Miyazaki. No. Right? I don't think so. I don't see what the point of this is.
[00:38:09] Why am I hearing a distant boat horn? So this is a very long interview about Totoro to somebody. And the guy brings up one of my favorite scenes in the movie, which is the early scene where they're running around the empty house. Yes. Oh my God.
[00:38:31] It's such a beautiful sequence. Right. And here's what he says. We've all had that kind of experience. I like that scene. It's not an important one but we would run around the house opening the door and being like that's the toilet. It's not there.
[00:38:44] Like it's really the child's world. When your kids do that in front of you it's noisy. So I didn't have to use any director's tricks in the film.
[00:38:53] I made it wondering if I really was alright to use so few tricks because it was so easy to direct that. Wow. Like he's like that's just like, you know, me like tapping right into my actual life as a child and as a parent. And you just love-
[00:39:09] Of a kid running around a big empty house. And the oldest sister is running through and then May, whatever she says, May says whatever word she heard. Like shower. Yes. Right. Car. And it just like, it just is that childhood feeling.
[00:39:25] That childhood feeling also when you move in to a new place and it's empty that it's so big. You know what I mean? I've never moved in a house before. Is that a line? No, I've never. You've stayed in the same house.
[00:39:37] He's still in the buried jeans house. Yeah. I've never moved in a house before. We need to get Ben a house. A stash house. Wait, wait, wait. Ben needs two houses. Well, were you about to set up a bit progression?
[00:39:51] No, I wasn't going to set up a bit, but as a genuine line of inquiry, you wouldn't have had that experience either because you grew up in New York City and you stayed there your entire life. In apartments, right? So you've never had the experience of a house.
[00:40:03] I guess I'm the only one that's really moved. Yeah. So in 1995 I moved to England. What? Wait, what? Wait, what? What? David. We moved to Arlington Square in Islington and we were there for two years. We were renting that. Islington. That doesn't sound like a place.
[00:40:18] He has thrown off his headphones. He's standing up in the corner. Islington. Islington. Islington, David. And then in 97 we were like, oh I guess we're staying in England. What? That was my reaction at the time because I had been told we were going to leave soon. In Dislington.
[00:40:36] No, so we moved to, we actually bought a house. We moved to Camden. You left Dislington? We did. We did. We got out of there. Dislington? And I lived in, we lived in Camden for the next 11 years. But who's in Dislington? Who's left in Dislington? It's Islington.
[00:40:53] Who's in Dislington? So no one's in Dislington? No. Dislington's empty now. No, there's some people there. It's pretty, it's a pretty hot neighborhood. And so then you just stayed in Camden. In Camden? Yeah. And so Camden now is you. Dislington is no one.
[00:41:08] And then you just stay there. Yeah. Wait, there's a place. There's a city called Camden, New Jersey. You're saying there's also a Camden elsewhere? What? Burrow of Camden and London. Oh my God. Wait a second. But the one that you moved- The neighborhood was Kenneshtown.
[00:41:22] The one that you moved into was the one in New Jersey, right? Yeah. The Camden New Jersey, the one across the water from Berlin. That's the one you're saying you moved into. No, the Burrow of Camden and London. What? What? God, this episode is so long.
[00:41:34] I can't believe this! For like an 80 minute movie. I can't believe this! Jesus Christ. Cali. Just to bring it back, I want to point out that the art director of this film is named... It's Islington! God! What happened at Islington then? It just doesn't exist anymore?
[00:42:00] So I want to talk about the Sub-Z vs. Dubbs situation. Because that's an often talked about thing. I tend to believe, obviously the arguments are when you have Dubbs, you get to pay attention to the frame. More actively when you have Sub, sometimes it's a more literal translation.
[00:42:20] So it's more accurate to the spirit of the film, but your eye is drawn to the bottom. I think it's truly whatever you are in the mood to watch, whatever suits you in that moment. Sure.
[00:42:30] But I have some issues sometimes with how things are translated, which is an impossible task. And there's an article that I remember years ago, us talking about when Rises came out. That always rubbed me the wrong way a little bit.
[00:42:47] And sort of summed up what I think the danger of... The Wind Rises is the absolute worst one to see a Dub in my opinion. That's like a film set in Japan. There's no fantasy. It was mostly just a film set in a place.
[00:43:01] So they did an article that I think posted on Vulture that was an interview with Gary Ridesstrom, who was handling the Dub. And the whole point of the article is to talk about how careful and good he was at doing this thing. But there are examples.
[00:43:17] Gary Ridesstrom is like a legend. Famous, many Oscars. And the voice of Wally. That's right. But the example is actually... Wally. Wally. Eva. I remember the noises of Wally. I just was going to say how long we were just doing it. That's what the Vulture's got.
[00:43:39] That is the Pixar that feels the most Miyazaki to me in its own weird way. Like it's not literally trying to go after it, but it achieves some of the same... Yes, it's very.
[00:43:49] So I want to read a quote from this article because the article is louding it, but it sort of rubbed me the wrong way. So this is about the Wind Rises. The article says, Okay. I agree with you. I think the dubs are bad. It's another one.
[00:44:09] Later in the... I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. It's another one. Later in life, the two connect and fall for each other.
[00:44:34] The duo wrestled with one of Miyazaki's original lives. I've loved you since the day you rescued my hat. Jones found the line ambiguous. Had Yuro loved Nikano before that many years? Is he projecting feelings? We talked it over, while culture might be romantic to a Japanese audience,
[00:44:49] I thought in American audience it might be a little creepy. But I understood the heart behind it. It was a matter of altering that line slightly. So Jones only changed the line to I'm in love with you and nothing is going to stop me. What?
[00:45:02] I've never watched the dub for that. That is a colossally different line. Yeah. And there's another one where it's like... He changed the line to, yeah, I'll have a scrambled eggs and white toast. You are my wife and we've been married for 25 years. My name is Mr. Windrises.
[00:45:18] There's a scene where a hero is telling Nihoko's father that he wants to be with a daughter. And the literal Japanese translation is please give us permission to date. That's not really romantic. Are we just going to keep reading from this article about a different movie?
[00:45:34] We have four more hours to fill. We change it to I love her very much and I sincerely hope you'll approve. Okay. I think that one of the things that's important about films, especially films that are distributed internationally,
[00:45:50] is that you're bringing with it the culture and the references and the customs of that world. And I think also... I think part of what's interesting about watching movies is seeing things you don't understand. Exactly. And so when these things are changed to be more Americanized
[00:46:05] or to appear like, I just think that takes away some of the magic of watching a film from someone that's part of a different culture. I've told this story I think before in the podcast, but I went to see Your Name in Theatres,
[00:46:16] which didn't get a very wide release. Not at all. In America. In America, right. It was this fucking blockbuster. And so I went to see it and it was a theater that felt like 92% Japanese-speaking. Oh, you told the story? Right. And there was a reference.
[00:46:40] And the movie is this weird body swap thing. Right. And there's a scene where the girl is in the body of the boy for the first time and she's trying to play along with her friends so she doesn't know what the fuck's going on
[00:46:52] and she's asking her what she's going to have for lunch. And her answer is, as subtitled, in brackets, says female version of fish. And then the guys go, what? And then she goes, I mean, brackets. Says male version of fish. And the audience exploded and I loved that
[00:47:16] whoever was subtitling was like, look, there's no way to translate this. I'm going to explain to you what is happening. Because there's no way I can put it into your language that will work. There's no equivalent thing. But I was so appreciative that I saw that
[00:47:30] with an audience and heard the reaction. You're like, okay, yeah, that lands. There's some perfect joke that cannot work in any other language. And I understand that and I respect that and I don't want them to be like, I'll have the pussy. I mean, the penis.
[00:47:46] That is pretty good. I was missing that in Totoro. Can we get back to Totoro? Yes, my question. Ben, how did you like watching Totoro? This is your first time. Yeah. It really caught me. Oh boy. I cried really hard. Kazuo Ogasan was the art director
[00:48:08] of this film. The Miyazaki credits him with the look. Usually so. Especially the environment, the artwork of the movie, essentially. It is his artwork that allows such a thorough expression of the flavor of the world. That's how he puts it. It's so beautiful and
[00:48:26] here's the other thing too. It would be one thing to do a film that is just about all of these feelings of being a child and what it's like to have these childhood experiences. And to move and be in the countryside and yeah, all that.
[00:48:40] But what I love is that Miyazaki I don't understand why you're putting such an emphasis on this. You're not telling us. What? We already did the bit. My bit. Wait, what bit? We're joking. Give him a bit? What? You're keeping a bit from us this whole time?
[00:49:00] We just keep doing laps of the whole podcast. David sort of checked out now, mentally. He's like a soldier having to come back from war. No, let's let Simms finish. Sorry, David. No, no, you were talking. I was interrupted by Graeme. So I wanted to take us back
[00:49:20] to a bit we just did. Literally just it. And we did it more than we needed to. Very loud and long. Yeah, yeah, really extended the bit. Which bit are we talking about? Oh no. All right. This is like we're caught in some wizard spell. We can't
[00:49:36] escape the feedback loop. We have to keep killing ourselves. We're trying to retry this moment. We're Kelsey Grammer in that Star Trek episode. That's he didn't go Groundhog Day, not Russian dial the modern. No, no. The captain of the USS Boseman in the episode. But Miyazaki
[00:49:56] takes all of his amazing ability in fantasy and imagination and harnesses it to highlight and enhance those childhood feelings. And he does it in a way where he is not, okay now we're in this magical world. Nor is it, okay this stuff is all a dream.
[00:50:14] It sits in the same middle ground that is the feeling of childhood where to these characters these things appear to be true and they are emotionally true. As a viewer you understand that it may not be literally true but also
[00:50:26] it doesn't matter to you because it's all about the feelings of these experiences. And these characters and these sort of like mythologies exist to just understand how these feelings feel. And I think in doing that there's so many times I watch it where I just
[00:50:42] get taken back to being a child and I'm like oh my god I remember you know holding my mom's hand in this one moment where I was nervous or you know there's moments that just feel so there's a moment in it where um
[00:50:56] uh the older sister is at school and then May shows up with Granny and it's like oh she's been crying all day and May won't say anything. She's just crying. And then finally when she sees her sister she like buries her head in her
[00:51:10] and it's like I remember those moments of I remember when I moved to a new school and it was with new kids and my sister was in the same school and I was just so terrified and I just kept asking the teacher if I could
[00:51:22] see my sister and finally the teacher literally like that scene brought me into the hallway and was like Katie here's your brother and I just like I didn't need I didn't want her to do anything I just wanted her to be there to be like
[00:51:32] it's okay you I'm here for you Wow. There's this thing I think about all the time it was some like retrospective 15th anniversary 20th anniversary or whatever uh like this movie no no of uh Daze and Confused with Link Lutter and it was
[00:51:48] like he had done like Slacker and then that was the period of time where if you made one independent movie they'd be like well obviously you get to make a $7 million studio comedy so he does Daze and Confused and um he said the day when they were shooting
[00:52:02] uh all the kids after the baseball game having to like sort of like apathetically do the good game good game right game the executives were like what the fuck we don't need this right like cut this this is not important it doesn't
[00:52:16] advance the story at all and he was like this is the whole movie yeah sorry like this is unfortunately what you've signed up for right but it was like his own philosophy to the movie is that like you have to put all these things in that everyone else
[00:52:28] cuts out of the movie absolutely right because it doesn't seem important but when you see those moments and you're like wow that's this thing I have such a like physical memory of doing over and over again in the same way that like just like running up
[00:52:42] and hugging somebody crying when you're a child and you can't express what's going on or like looking around the house in that way just like immediately connects you to a film and it's like this is the stuff that everyone else cuts out yeah agreed and
[00:52:56] on that note I'd like to cross another thing on my list and talk about an experience that's very similar to that which was a new experience in cinema for myself that Griffin actually was the one who introduced me to and I don't know David
[00:53:12] if you've had this experience or Ben if you've had this experience but I saw God's love King of Monsters and 4DX I'm not doing that Ben I believe it's done it have you yet to see a 4DX movie
[00:53:24] I have yet to see a 4DX movie Ben and I have seen two or three together yeah I think about two I go to a lot of press screenings you know and they don't do it oh my god if they did a 4DX press screening
[00:53:34] that would be my favorite that would be an interesting move to be like a scrap and do you know David and I'll see him shot in the face of the water do you want to get wet or do you not want to get wet
[00:53:44] Ben have you done 40x oh yeah yeah you guys saw Batman V-Soups we saw spider-verse and 40x together maybe one more yeah I can't remember what it was so you guys saw Godzilla King of the Monsters so I would like to explain my experience Griffin and I
[00:54:02] wanted to get together as friends as friends do we're friends we like friending we said let's go see a movie and Griffin said would you like to see Godzilla King of Monsters and I went knowing that JD and I have diverse tastes
[00:54:14] and sometimes have interest in a movie that no one else is interested in for one or two reasons we usually try to find a movie that's like is going to say this let's be each other's only let's go see happy time murders because we both feel the obligation
[00:54:28] and so I was like yeah I'll go see Godzilla King of Monsters the first Godzilla was actually sort of fun it's a great movie and Griffin's like great here's the time here's the thing and he's like also you should know I got us
[00:54:40] 40x tickets well first I said are you okay with doing 40x it's playing at 40x and my recommendation is we do 40x and here's my thing I did run it past you and I thought is I thought that he was talking about RPX
[00:54:52] which is just when it's like a regal premium experience they charge you a little more for a slightly better project yeah you have a better projector in a bigger seat right okay this was not the case no we walk into the theater
[00:55:02] David have you ever been in one of these 40x theaters I would have been there are three seats I can't believe we're not seeing a lion coming forward attached so happy we're not seeing lions attached to one another on hydraulics yes right
[00:55:16] I know right you have to put a seat belt on you fucking better you've got a control panel on your thing that lets you know do you want the smells do you want the every to ask if you want the whole thing
[00:55:28] yeah so I sit down Griffin what was what was the experience of how would you how would you describe me in this situation you were very worried I mean like I remember when we went to see Billy Lin together
[00:55:40] yes and you were like what is this going to feel like and I was like I don't know we don't know and then the second it started you turned to me and you were like I don't know if I'm going to be able to handle this yes
[00:55:50] and you had that same sort of trepidation you were like how much is going to be a thing yeah it felt like sort of like I was your parent we're about to go on your first like thrill ride or something yeah and you're getting buckled in okay
[00:56:02] and I'm like I've done this a lot it's not going to be that extreme it moves around but it's not like relentless here's Griffin talking me off the edge right okay and then I'm just I'm just I'm sorry keep talking the first
[00:56:14] thing they do when the lights come down I've seen a lot of 40x movies this is new they now have a little pre-show thing like a wriggle right but it's showing someone who feels like the 40x is so thoroughly placing them in the movie
[00:56:28] that they are in a car zooming down the highway in the middle of an action sequence and so immediately 40x is doing everything right they're like it's it's like the TH checks it's like let's show you the full power of 40x and the thing that if you've never
[00:56:46] done 40x here's all the features there are smells the seats move on hydraulics we have talked about 40x in this podcast it shoots you in the face with water it shoots you in the sky with water punches you in the back with little hands
[00:56:58] it punches you in the sky then it does stuff with your ankles right it's a crazy experience tickles it it tickles you right when it sprays you in directing the face with water it's like it's just so much more boring and I was sure I was like
[00:57:12] Griffin it just shot me in the face and Griffin goes yeah they don't do it very often but I saw the trailer of this movie and there's a lot of water in this movie I think it's raining the whole movie so we
[00:57:24] might be in trouble it's either raining or they're in the ocean they have previously always done this thing in 40x where there's just like a sprinkler above your head yeah but for Godzilla they amped it where they were like now also shoots water oh yeah into
[00:57:38] your face like the Joker's flower JD how many of the table of contents have we done and how many were made we have two and we have one two three four five I literally cleared my whole schedule yeah so you're saying it was eight total and we were
[00:57:56] one quarter of the way through yeah I thought it was ten I don't know where Griffin what are you doing on your phone now I know I well here's the thing here's my mantra about a job I didn't get here's what's tough I believe
[00:58:12] my neighbor Todorow is one of the great films I have very little funny things to say about it or content to say other than I think it is a brilliant beautiful film well it's fine because this is a podcast known for its seriousness and its gravity right yeah
[00:58:26] exactly do we want to talk more Todorow do we want to do another chapter let's talk about Todorow let's let's get Todorow because I think we got to give the audience a little back and forth yeah Todorow this is like Nashville we're spending a bunch
[00:58:38] of different narratives they're all going to come together at the end right and I'm that guy fuck I wish I remembered his name that would be fun I feel like yeah I feel like David's the lead of what's the Coen Brothers movie the tornado oh it's
[00:58:52] here I'm like Michael Stollbarre yes or like the tornado just everything he's having David's like I am a serious man the world is falling around down around him there's David Sims of the Atlantic oh boy David Sims of the atlantic.com can I say one of my favorite
[00:59:10] things is that David Sims is what you're part of the whatever New York film critic and part of the new film critic circle which is like a huge prestigious order yes and David is also the film for the Atlantic that's right and this podcast
[00:59:24] another huge prestigious on it for me I think there is a super cut you can make in this podcast told me that you want to do this on her of just the things David is said that would like fully cancel me when you go like this movie is
[00:59:38] there is there is some over I was talking like me at my most you're like this movie is poop out my butt and I'm like this is a man who's paid to write about film this is also like this is the exact not by like
[00:59:54] but poop dot com but by like an August institution that was founded by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Harriet Beecher Stowe and people like that and like this is like yes a journal of letters it shall be like a hundred years later I'm like pfft
[01:00:12] and I just love that it's like this is like exhibit A for why no serious person ever have a podcast because right once you get past like the first real things you have to say just like I don't know RoboCop big poopoo butt RoboCop maybe RoboCop too
[01:00:28] yeah not a good movie Remake not a good movie anyway making it again no it's the fucking Neil Blanc Camp movie so it's like a sequel to the first it's the sequel over over never got to make except over Hovind could make it
[01:00:44] he's alive he keeps on saying like I keep asking myself what Paul Verhoeven would do that's my philosophy for this movie right so there's just a lot of naked women and a lot of weird fuck this movie is gonna be and he says he'll only do it
[01:00:58] if Peter Weller doesn't I have a feeling Peter Weller's not gonna agree to do it how old is Peter Weller 800 once you tell us Peter Weller's age we can move on 72 wonderful I don't think he's RoboCop anymore really younger than I thought older than Samuel Jackson
[01:01:14] but only by two years interesting that's an interesting game older younger than Samuel Jackson yeah sure most of the country younger alright so in my neighbor Totoro they meet fucking Totoro he's a big old guy so Ben take a long time to meet him
[01:01:32] yes you do 25 minutes in you realize the mom is sick and I would say what like do you want to know what their inspiration was 35 minutes in I think you don't see Totoro on screen until after maybe 40 years inspiration but first you see the little guy
[01:01:46] you see him a little Totoro yeah and I can give you a Miyazaki quote but you go ahead is it about the movie that inspired them to have Totoro show up later no no no no no not at all the movie that
[01:02:00] so originally Totoro was gonna be in the first scene sure is the opener to the movie like here he is Totoro demand himself but then I believe it was like Takahata Miyazaki who released scared of the fireflies I believe on the same day as this movie
[01:02:18] certainly in the same year and then someone else they're talking and they're like no it's like ET you don't see ET until like halfway through the movie yeah for at least 40 minutes in I love that ET was there like yeah we gotta do the ET on this
[01:02:34] it'd be funny if it was the third man he's kind of the Orson Welles yeah exactly he's a big boy I mean and you get teases of him earlier I mean it's a thing that we've talked about in this movie which I always find very
[01:02:46] effective where you build up a character right or is it the same year field juices 88 yeah same year I just always find that effective all these examples we're talking about where it's like there's a titular character who the movie is sort of like priming
[01:03:00] you for this whole thing is gonna shift when they enter and you hold off bringing them in for as long as you can here's Miyazaki on the Totoro the Totoro are goblins of the transitional plane where Japan hasn't become entirely modern
[01:03:16] because this movie is set in the 50s ish yeah it's not really defined right and it's set in this place that by the time Totoro has come out like this kind of place these sort of farm lands by the mountains we're like going extinct and this movie
[01:03:32] kind of revived interest in like oh yeah that's like an environment we should protect like that sort of way of life and that's something we should like consider as like part of Japanese life but that's why for example it makes sense to me this is him again
[01:03:46] it makes sense to me that the cat goblin has turned into a bus because it's like modernity is sort of seeping into the fantasy world you know what I mean so like it's still a magical cat creature but it's now this sort of like industrial shape
[01:04:00] sure and it like behaves like a you know post war kind of invention right I love Cat Bus. Cat Bus is my favorite element of the film I was going to say oh read in the Wikipedia he was very stubborn about this film getting
[01:04:24] dubbed and that he didn't want any non-exact translations because I guess he had gone through with Nassica and with Castle in the Sky people trying to go like well this reference doesn't make sense so let's find like an American version of that
[01:04:40] reference he didn't like the music and the edits on Castle in the Sky all these sorts of things and Totoro is as a name a play on the notion of of troll right I mean it's like a thing where there's the scene where she's explaining
[01:04:54] why she's calling him Totoro and it doesn't work in the English language and they were like can we rename the character so that it makes sense and he's like no absolutely no when were you crying? what got you? a lot of people tell me they cry at
[01:05:14] this is actually one of the Miyazaki's I do not cry at interesting there are a couple Miyazaki's that just like there's a moment every time that's like a button is pushing them like oh right for some reason maybe because
[01:05:24] I didn't watch this movie as a kid that doesn't but yeah it was when were you just like the whimsical moments with kids and the spirits Ben loves that Whimsley Ben Hosley should call him Ben Whimsley sometimes Griffin looks kind of
[01:05:38] like he's concentrating on something and I'm like and then it's that's what he was concentrating on doing that right it went on a rider on the ME stage and I'm just doing all the way to stick it the last time I watched was a long time ago
[01:05:50] not a long time but like a year a couple years ago and so I grew up with two older sisters I recently lost one of my sisters which has been a very hard experience for me and watching this movie because it tapped into those child
[01:06:04] like feelings did bring back a lot of those feelings of like had you seen it since your sister past no no no and it was just I don't know it's especially if you grew up with siblings or grew up as a kid
[01:06:18] around other kids or had that feeling of being alone out in the war like out in because there's so much this movie that is maybe not even relatable to some modern kids because they're just going out of the house and no one's like even checking on them
[01:06:30] just sort of running around like there's the moment when May tells her dad like do I look like a grown up and he's like yeah and she's like alright I'm going off to do errands he's like whatever the dad who is a classic Miyazaki man
[01:06:44] where he's just like kind of a dope he's got glasses he's very sweet, Miyazaki men are usually sweet but they're usually kind of dopey yeah have you seen anything yet I don't know there's just so much that resonates and so much that feels emotionally true
[01:07:00] and little moments that you're like yeah I remember that feeling I don't know I think it's a really really really special movie it's like a movie like Inside Out there's a big tear-drinking moment when the imaginary friend you know sacrifices himself or whatever
[01:07:18] and that's great but it's so on the nose and it's forcing that out of you where this it has moments that are expressing that same thoughts without having to have it be this big perilous experience and also I love Inside Out yes
[01:07:34] I love Inside Out but it's a very literal movie about very abstract things which is the Pixar Experience Off where they're like right let's take an abstract thing and sort of make it a system which I like like I mean that appeals to me in a certain way
[01:07:50] I love Wally I think it's way up there I think it's the top non-Brad Bird Pixar movie for me Wally Sean I love Wally Sean What if Wally did a master builder he is a master builder Wally Sean My dinner with Wally So you love Wally
[01:08:10] What I was gonna say is I know a lot of people think well then it drops way off I agree with you I think the first 40 minutes of Wally are for me as good as any movie that's ever been made and then the remainder of it
[01:08:20] I think is incredible and only fails to live up to the first 40 minutes which is pretty nice I would agree with that too I think the remainder gets a bit of a bad rap I do too I think it gets too hard but it certainly not is
[01:08:34] certainly the first half of that movie is I have heard Andrew Stanton say that their goal was to keep it non-verbal and that once they got to the spaceship that humans had devolved so much they didn't have language anymore and they spoke to each other just in grunts
[01:08:48] because that feels like the fact that Wally and Eve can't talk to each other makes it have that Miyazaki-esque quality and that's so much of the history of it is just sort of sold through the background and being able to understand the history through the amount of
[01:09:04] where and age in things if they had gotten up there and no one was fucking talking I would think it was the greatest movie ever made Now here's a metric You know who's cute though? All of them are cute No I know but she's a real David
[01:09:20] I'm bossy round face I mean she is Her face is round His number one crush type is bossy round face Okay don't ever tell any of your crushes that Definitely I won't Good point We'll mention it A metric A metric that I think separates incredible filmmaking
[01:09:44] to like true beautiful filmmaking from stuff that's fine is when the story is told just through the images Right? Yes So the entire movie of Todoro started the inspiration for it was a drawing at Miyazaki Drew which was Todoro in the girl
[01:10:02] at the time it was one girl At the bus stop That was the image that was so burned in my head from a movie I watched 25 years ago It's the poster image I feel like or at least a poster image I think it's a double image
[01:10:14] But I think you could also cut out all of the dialogue scenes in this and just have it be the the scenes and you would Oh yes I think it's all perfect But I'm just saying I think it still tells the same story just the images
[01:10:28] I think you'd even take stills from this movie and put them together and it would still resonate in very similar ways and tell the same feelings to an audience I don't know I just think it's so brilliant but that's why I like Kurosawa's
[01:10:42] Dreams is that there are so many shorts that have these images that are just these beautiful images I think tell the entire story in an image and I think like when you find a film that's really great
[01:10:52] you can pull an image and go this is the entire story in one image right there So as you say there was initially one daughter for some reason involved into two I think partly was like The big thing was that he wanted to explore both that childlike play
[01:11:08] the sense of and it was hard to do with one kid So he wanted Mae the little girl to meet Totoro first because he feels like she wouldn't be scared of Totoro because Totoro's kind of scary She's an amp when she meets Totoro
[01:11:20] Right, she's in that area of childhood where you're still like seems cool And that's such a beautiful moment when she comes up to him and you're expecting it to be this scary moment or this moment that's so played out in most cinema where it's like
[01:11:32] ooh they're scared at first but it's actually a gentle beast That's ET that's like the exact ET meeting But instead it's immediately she's just so comfortable in laughing She's like this guy rules It's like when a really little kid meets
[01:11:44] someone for the first time and they just give him a hug and are like yeah I like this person Since he is lord of the forest Totoro can hear the joyous voices of the plants He would love the rain especially if it's rain falling during a rainy season
[01:11:56] We think of him enjoying the plop plop sound of raindrops with a leaf on his head And so when he gets the umbrella apparently Mizaki's concept is like he doesn't understand why you would need an umbrella Oh You know what I mean?
[01:12:08] But he thinks it's like it's a good amplification for the raindrops Exactly, he's like let's do some awesome shit with this This is a good idea, sounds cool He doesn't mind being rained on He's like a forest goblin That is what Mizaki said This interview is wild
[01:12:24] where he's just like anyway yeah they're forest goblins and he's the lord of the forests He also talks a lot where he's like I don't know, I don't want to get them to think what they are, like he sort of waves off a lot of that stuff too
[01:12:34] where he's not like here's the rules and he's like no, no they represent the whole thing is about being a kid And to the extent that he's like I don't even want it to be specific that it's a dream or not
[01:12:46] But in a movie that is 87 minutes long with a long opening and closing credit sequence Which is one of my favorite parts of especially like Japanese animated films from like the 80s It still happens now to this day in a lot of anime
[01:13:00] I just love the opening title like animation sequence where it's like it's own little short film or it's own little thing Your name does that, it has like an opening like music video Yes, it's a classic anime But in a movie that's probably about 80 minutes with those
[01:13:16] two musical credit sequences removed I think Totoro is in 10 minutes top In terms of him being on screen Yeah maybe He really only has like two set pieces and then a couple other appearances Do you guys remember what the video cover for the Fox VHS release was No
[01:13:36] It's not him flying with them riding him And it looks like he's like saving them It's almost like a never ending story Like it really makes it look like an adventure movie Right It's got like every creature that can cram in there Right, they're riding his belly Right
[01:13:54] And you know the original distributor of My Neighbor Totoro was Trum Entertainment Alma Mater of JDMot Oh sure, right But so they were the first distributor They had a different distribution that wasn't named Trum, it was called like 50th Street Films They distributed through that
[01:14:12] and then at some point I was like wait, who are these people? And they're like oh no, yeah, we know Disney you can do this So there's still these amazing posters you can get in the world that are My Neighbor Totoro with a trauma logo on the corner
[01:14:28] A little toxy There's this whole sequence where he talks in the interview where he talks about how he animated running And the classic way was to do six frames of two frames each like spring, move, land Right, something like that
[01:14:44] And how he's like that's not how children run So he wanted it to look all different and much more chaotic Yeah Children aren't conscious of wanting to run They just want to get somewhere quickly That's how he puts it That's a really good upside
[01:14:58] When you watch those making ofs or any kind of document He's so focused on movement Reflecting character to the point that he seems like sometimes gets hung up on it where he's like not quite You know what I mean? He needs to breathe differently
[01:15:16] or whatever, he really wants all the movement to be good and then he hates things Which is why I think it's so interesting that like before the sea does Nossica and Castle in the Sky Which are more action-adventure Which are all three are action films
[01:15:30] And they have explosions and vehicles and all these sorts of things Nossica is like guns and Yeah, exactly And this is just I theorize too that when you have filmmakers who work in imagination and fantasy and such and visual things so much
[01:15:50] Oftentimes I find my favorite films of theirs are the ones where they ground it in reality That's why I like Big Fish so much I think grounding them into reality Here's someone who can go totally bug nuts making a movie that's 90% reality is always really fascinating
[01:16:10] or even 70% reality Should we do another chapter on your fucking list? I'll let you guys Just pick one This is a big follow-up Big follow-up to news that we broke in the last episode This is the The Star Meter Report Only you care about this
[01:16:36] So I just want to point out Kaco the Whale has not been unseated as the tallest actor of all time according to the IMDb Topsy Elephant still number two Is Topsy the one that Edison electrocuted today? Yes Topsy and so I wanted to follow up though on Topsy
[01:16:56] Since we last recorded Topsy has moved up about 200,000 spots on the Star Meter Do you think it's a blank check phone? No I'm saying I think Topsy is hot You don't think it's because of blank check you just think it's general word on the street
[01:17:16] You think we're not leading the Topsy wave We're riding it Topsy's got buzz He's been taking generals Can I ask what Topsy's all-time highest rank is? Yes I'll tell you that in just a second We have Kaco the Whale Kaco is down from last time
[01:17:32] we recorded but up this week So Kaco's Long since dead Long since dead The highest Kaco's ever been was in 2003 November got up to Top 1000 Was that when Kaco died? We don't like to talk about that On this list does it say how the highest I've ever been?
[01:17:56] It probably does I can look you up I'm sure you're pretty high up there Topsy's highest was November 2014 Topsy got a four week high of 108,000 So let's say Ben Hosley Let's see where you're at Ben Hosley right now you're 716,485 on the star meter Really? Yeah
[01:18:22] What's the highest Ben's ever been? The highest? Ben, he's gotten really high You hit 222,064 222,064 No he was above that Maybe that's it In July 2018 July 2018 you were Alright let's see Griffin Oh you're not on IMDb I'm kidding IMDb is just like Why bother
[01:18:52] Can I tell you my guess? My guess is the highest I've ever been Really? Well, 9300 That's pretty good Did you see? No I can see the peak I can't see any of the data When do you think the highest you've ever been
[01:19:08] When do I think it was or how high do I think it was? Both I think it was November October 2017 Yeah Around that time It's like between July and September 2017 You hit 600 600, okay There were only 622 people more famous Than you Wow
[01:19:36] Can we do a different chapter because that was so disappointing? No, well here's the other thing So something that I found In the Star Meter report Also I want to say Wilson the volleyball down this week Wilson the volleyball not doing well this week
[01:19:50] How is that Donald Kaufman Trying to think of other fully fictional IMDb entries So you can also rank the Star Meter Report by special By special skills So you can figure out who the most famous person is With a special skill And one of the special skills
[01:20:08] Is accents Okay, wait can I try to I want to pause this for one second I'd like to broker a deal David JD will agree to end this bit Immediately If you go to 40x Okay, or I'll end it immediately Who the most
[01:20:34] Who the biggest celebrity right now Is that can do the robot Because IMDb will tell us We'll click robot Sort by By dance style Robots and ranking Okay, David you might be able to get this And this is a fair offer
[01:20:52] We'll end it immediately if you can pick Who the highest ranking actor is We're doing another I'll say this I'll give you a couple hands I don't want to give you too many It's not like a surprising one It's not like that person can do the robot
[01:21:08] I've seen that person do the robot I think it's very likely you have seen this person Do the robot And there's someone who is Pretty Ocaron Pretty Ocaron Like it isn't like a cast member from break-in Like this is someone who's like
[01:21:24] Who if they have not done the robot Or according to IMDb They've probably shown enough similar skills That you're like that's in their repertoire I don't know It's an emerging Leading man Has been the lead of a TV show Has been the lead of a live action film
[01:21:44] And has been the lead of an animated film Okay, I mean Biggest celebrity I can do a robot right now This week Lead of an animated Lead of an independent film That was kind of a crossover Lead of a TV series
[01:22:02] Like this year there was an independent film that was kind of a crossover No, no those are in the last couple The order was independent film then TV show Then animated film Those are the three biggest projects
[01:22:12] And I feel like everyone's still waiting for like the huge thing But like For people like us it's like This is one of the guys who's going to be with us for decades Is there a person of color? Correct Who's the robot? Ben is doing the robot
[01:22:28] The robot I see That's that dance Do you want one last hand? Yeah, sure Go ahead, yeah give me a hint The animated film is the biggest in all regards The biggest in all regards So incredible too Critically
[01:22:46] No, no, no not in the biggest in all regards of animated films I'm saying biggest in all regards Of his career Most critically well received Most successful Why is that such a good clue That now I'm like Yeah, now I'm like why don't I know
[01:23:02] Oh, he is the guy Don't forget he can do the robot He is the guy in the movie He's the guy in the movie? In the animated movie What's his name? God damn it what's his name I know his name Fuck I'm thinking of spider-verse Am I crazy?
[01:23:24] What the fuck is his name though If you say the name It's over all you gotta do is say the name I was gonna show you The most famous person to do a Japanese accent The answer will surprise you I actually want to know that Make you runny
[01:23:42] That's his name StarVie reports over Is it dope? The get down Spider-verse He is the number one robot doer Is that surprising to you? I think that took like 5 minutes Who does the number one Japanese though You want to know Okay, let me unclick robot
[01:24:04] My guess is still making a runny Oh, the answer is Not good for anybody That's why my guess It's not gonna be someone who is Japanese You're looking for a Japanese accent Not someone who has a Japanese accent The person that you should hire the most
[01:24:22] It's not New Gun Ray is it Wait, wait, wait That wasn't the one that it was before It changed since I last looked Who was it before and who is it now Wait, oh no, that's spoken languages I'm sorry Oh my god, Jamaican be bad too I bet
[01:24:40] Japanese And once again the segment has ended I want to make it very clear This is not for the segment This is the after show This is a really, really bad Okay This is like a bummer We're just gonna be bummed If you're going for a Japanese accent
[01:25:00] Who? This is the hottest person you could get It's particularly bad because I cannot pull when they would have done this accent It's not even like Who is it He has starred in multiple TV shows Who is it Disney Channel star Dylan Sprouse That's a bummer
[01:25:22] You mean one of Zach and Cody Zach and or Cody It's the one who is in Drughead Is that the one who isn't Cole is Isn't Dylan Sprouse like retired I think he's kind of retired, yeah He identifies as a heathen That's so funny
[01:25:42] That's like the third sentence It's his Wikipedia page He identifies as a heathen The star meter segment is over We're on the after after show It's not the star meter segment What does that mean? When I click on it, it's a heathenry
[01:25:58] A new religious movement called German Neo-Paganism Can you do Yiddish, baby I just saw that Yiddish isn't on Enough It's the after after show Civil Dan-ing That's not exciting, the segment's over Menache Oh my gosh I love a Menache joke I love it Alright
[01:26:22] What are we talking about? My neighbor Totoro I can't believe you forgot Doudouro I love this movie I think it's fantastic I saw it in 35 2 years ago When and where At IFC I believe IFC or Sunshine Beautiful I just love it, all the map paintings They're so beautiful
[01:26:54] One of the best shots in the entire movie Is When it cuts to the frog Watching Totoro That's great, that's everything That's the best shot of when Youngest daughter sleeps on Totoro And it pulls up It shows them in this encased In this beautiful lush greenery
[01:27:14] He does look so comfy He looks so comfy He looks pretty tough I like that he has teeth Me too There has to have been produced Because I was looking at the Wikipedia How successful this movie's been Totoro has grossed a billion
[01:27:32] Dollars if you include all of everything Especially merchandise Because they were saying in Japan Totoro Is like Winnie the Pooh Mickey Mouse, it's like that level Absolutely There has to have at some point Been a Totoro beanbag chair produced There is That must be so pleasant
[01:27:52] I thought you were going to say let's get one That'll be your next birthday present We got to do present corner Because we David's got a new hobby A new collection that he started You talking about the soda cans?
[01:28:08] Yeah, David's got a weird hobby that he's into now This is from a while ago David, this is a weird hobby you have So can you remind me Can you remind me how this started Because I don't, the three of us were techs We have a techs thread
[01:28:22] We're friends, we have a techs thread One of us will throw in a subject That's like, I feel like you two guys are the audience For this thing I've been thinking about Only this techs thread can hear this Thought
[01:28:34] And I think JD was the one who initiated and just said Can we talk about how weird Steve Carell's Career is as a leading man Like he has been a bankable leading man I think it was in that 2018 Like beautiful boy Welcome to Marwen and Fice
[01:28:48] Right, where it was like people Studios keep being like Well, how do we work Carell into this? But JD's argument was he's been bankable For over 10 years now As a leading man Almost exclusively playing Erigant creeps Or sad sex Right, right, right
[01:29:08] Which is funny because he can be Lovable I forget why we were even talking about this That's the minority of his role I think it was just because of Marwen and stuff like that It was just because there was a lot of Carell
[01:29:20] He had three movies come out in three months And he hosted SNL so he was kind of omnipresent And we were talking about what a weird fucking career he had And then we were testing each other photos of him In prosthetics from
[01:29:30] He did press for Despicable Me Too In garish prosthetics As a grew But then we were saying like It's weird how big his career has been In different ways It's also weird that now the office is humongous Right, and now the office is the most watched TV show
[01:29:46] Ben is in the corner with his head Back vaping into the sky So then I was talking about Weird it is that he did like this Get Smart Movie that was a summer blockbuster That they threatened to make a sequel to for like Eight years
[01:30:00] They kept on being like they're trying to schedule it They like crept over 100 million but what was hardly like I believe it made 130 Yes, you're crazy Not very well overseas Unsurprisingly because nobody knows what Get Smart Is overseas But like a big hit
[01:30:16] And they were like we'll keep making these And I was like for a guy who usually plays Odd characters and has not been a character Active as a movie leading man It is so weird that at the peak of this Get Smart thing He was like on
[01:30:30] Soda bottles because there was a Limited promotional Sierra Miss Flavor called Undercover Orange Right, because it didn't look like It was going to be orange and then you sifted And it was secretly orange So we discussed this, we had this discussion The discussion
[01:30:46] And then about six days later I think it was about my life Seeing movies in Brooklyn Not seeing movies in 40 acts And then Ding dong Who's that at the door? Oh the postman It's the mail man He's brought the mail What's that? Oh a package
[01:31:10] I don't know this seller Just banging the table like a child Who wants dinner And it's like When you get a package you're usually like Oh yeah I remember I wrote it a thing And you're like don't know what this package is But often I get promotional packages
[01:31:26] From TV shows or whatever So maybe it's one of those Most times you get a package and you go So I'm real wait to this thing This is a light one Open the package Inside is a tennis ball tube A tube to hold Tennis balls
[01:31:44] Tennis ball tube inside a box So at this point I'm like 50-50 this is a bomb You know what I mean Like where I'm like I did not order this I don't know what it is It's clearly not promotional material
[01:31:58] The director of some movie you pan is finally cracked Is this something fucked up Because like why would I And then I open the tennis ball tube And inside are three cans of Sierra Miss Undercover Orange No but that's the thing so I'm like
[01:32:14] Okay this is JD sent the Cams he must have found them On ebay that someone was selling Has kept them for 10 years And they're sealed But they're completely empty Now I haven't opened They have no holes, no abrasions You've noticed no
[01:32:32] Are they so old is that a thing that the soda Just goes away? Absorbs into the metal So I get these I alert you to The fact that I got them and they are empty Three so I was essentially just telling you
[01:32:44] You just paid whatever you paid for this Believe me it wasn't worth it because They are useless I paid to send garbage from the UK to David Exactly but you still have them right I think they're somewhere in my house They believe it was international shipping
[01:32:58] To send someone else with the garbage Literally garbage What needs to be done to them is recycling Like that's all beneath their aluminum They need to be recycled And then Months later I get another package JD please take it away I didn't know about this one
[01:33:18] You don't know about this? Well David why don't you tell your experience of opening it I got another fucking package of promotional cans From JD Amato More days are lost I was hoping you remembered I mean look it up I got a fair what I said David
[01:33:34] Now that David's got a collection of Movie branded cans I wanted to keep the collection going It's so weird that he's become so Into collecting movie cans Against his own will He obsessed Oh wait Oh wait I remember what I said Go on go on
[01:33:56] Look at the title Look at the title of the What it says Okay so no spoilers but it just has order delivered Dr Pepper Three empty cans Okay and they are They are a From The Dr Pepper tie in with Spider-Man 2
[01:34:20] So do you have an Alfred Molina can I don't remember but yes I remember that Both times I'm disappointed because The can is good enough That you're like I drink this You know what I mean Like Dr Pepper Three empty Dr Pepper cans Well I mean so far
[01:34:38] 40 East 34th street Sweet 1401 New York New York I was about to suggest this They have to be tie ins They have to be movie tie ins They have to be cans of soda But you better empty them You gotta be empty If you find them and they're soda
[01:34:58] We're sending them back If you find them return to send them If the seller is selling them full Then you have to have them delivered to your house You have to find a way to tap those cans And then you can send them
[01:35:10] But there can be no evidence that you've tapped them If David can find any evidence that they've been open We're sending them I'm the expert on this And give that address one more time Okay the address is 40 East 34th street New York New York 100 16
[01:35:26] And all those movie cans you can find the better But if they're new that's fine too David Sims And again the sweet number is 1401 If we can get like a sass-barilla can With topsy on it That would be the oldest possible A can of old Dr. Mitchell's coca
[01:35:44] Drink Topsy off of being on our show to the 10th on it If we can get a can of Dr. Brown's cell Ray with Fanny Bryce on it If we can get a tab can With Keiko the whale on it I mean crate Also JD sent me
[01:36:00] A 10 foot tall vinyl banner That was the teaser Poster from Ang Lee's Hulk It's 10 feet by 6 feet I believe I spent 3 weeks trying to figure out Who sent it to me Cause there was no heads up That's the thing both times with me the same way
[01:36:16] No heads up, no alert But unlike with the cans that we had Sort of like a totoro of movie merchandise 3 weeks later JD said did you get my Present and I said I figured it out But it is, it's like meant for Like giant movie theaters
[01:36:32] Where they have enough Ceiling height that they can Hang them from the rafters It's a legit banner, it's 10 feet tall It is taller than my apartment What's up JD How's it going man? Oh nothing, I just wanted to call Because I feel like I did a bad job
[01:36:52] On the episode because I was sort of a You didn't do a bad job You're overthinking it I just, I love My neighborhood was one of my favorite movies of all time And I felt like I came in a goofy mood And I feel like you probably
[01:37:06] Have to cut a bunch of stuff And I just felt bad Ben And I just want to say how much I love that Movie and I love your guys podcast And I like being on it And I'm sorry that I probably gave you extra
[01:37:18] Work by being all over the place Well thank you JD We love having you on the show And you're a great funny guy And Yeah let's just like Get into the episode Let's just let the fans decide I just Listen, I love Totoro so much
[01:37:38] I mean I called you beforehand You did Well actually and I didn't Fit that into the episode where I was going to set up playing that clip So why don't we Say now That at the end of the episode I'll play that clip
[01:37:56] Oh it's my voicemail, you have my voicemail Yeah Honestly JD Dizzlington? Pretty funny No episode is good JD Okay I trust you Thank you Ben. Have a good day I'll talk to you soon Alright What do you want I'd like them to help me with the Queens
[01:38:24] Jury Duty Challenge Something that you helped me with Both of you did Oh yes, yes I had Jury Duty and the last time I was in Jury Duty For that they played Mrs. Doubtfire For everyone And I live in Queens so Jury Duty is About like 600 people
[01:38:42] Gathered from all walks of life Who all gather and wait in a room And they play a movie for them And the one time that I went And it was a hit Everybody loved it And it just hits all things
[01:38:56] So the question that I posed to the Blanky community And I posed to Griffin and David separately Is What is the perfect Jury Duty movie Is a movie that A needs to entertain all ages And backgrounds, B not contain Anything offensive that would offend
[01:39:12] Anyone and C it cannot contain Anything that would contaminate a possible Juror for a case that they're about to sit on So That is the question. Here's the answers that I got At the time I got Inside Out, that was David Shrek, Father of the Bride
[01:39:28] Catch Me If You Can Jurassic Park, The Greatest Showman I was Griffin, I was Proud of that one. I thought that was a really good My Big Fat Greet wedding Captain Ron, although My only beef with showman was like The real legacy of E.B. Farnham Is a
[01:39:46] Hot Button But I think that's what makes it the perfect Jury Duty movie is it's like we scrubbed Everything from it I think my Big Fat Greet wedding Probably held that spot for a solid 8 years Straight. I think we're just out of that Movies reign of dominance
[01:40:02] The Majestic said Rob Malone And I think the Princess Bride So Think of what is the Best Jury Duty Movie Here's the other thing I need help with You have to send it to David You have to send it to David You have to be care of David
[01:40:20] You have to go to David I've recently joined Letterbox Oh sure, do I follow you? I don't know Maybe. Because Letterbox I guess doesn't really alert you when your friends join Also I don't do the other social media So it wouldn't know that we know each other But
[01:40:38] Okay, David's lost his mind now He just made a face that was not consistent With the situation we were in What's your profile? Like JDM Auto There you are There we are So there is a List that I'm trying to curate Of a type of film That I
[01:41:00] A film that features Movies that contain hideouts with skateboarding And arcade machines So there is a trope in cinema That I'm trying to trace There was a moment there in the early 90s When it was alive and breathing Second he has here But I would say the first
[01:41:18] It's the second one that has it, doesn't it? You know I've never seen ooze, but the first one definitely has it I have seen both The foot clan have one with skateboarding And stuff like that Is that the first one?
[01:41:30] I've never seen ooze, so it has to be the first one Maybe simple Double Dragon Double Dragon, the power core and the double dragon Skateboarding, arcade machines Jackie breaks into a place that has a bunch of arcade machines And pool tables and things like that And fights them
[01:41:46] And then hook obviously the Lost Boy skateboarding I'm looking for other movies that contain That's probably going to be 80s 90s That contain club houses Where there is Skateboarding and arcade machines And the idea is like this is like the The coolest place for these
[01:42:02] Either rebels or bad guys or whatever to hang out Do you think Richie Rich has that in it By you know I was thinking blank check Interesting, but is it a club house or is it just the A room in the mansion Right It might be
[01:42:18] If there's multiple kids in it I think it counts Richie Rich doesn't he have something like that? I just said that God it's like you're not even listening to him I think Richie Rich I remember that you've been tuning out There's definitely something Richie Richie has
[01:42:32] Once he like makes Human child friends He's like come over I remember that he has a McDonald's That's the thing I remember You have a McDonald's in your house That's like the whole thing Imagine being the staff member That had to work there at the McDonald's
[01:42:50] I mean on the plus side It's kind of like when you're like The fire department that's on City Island Where it's like look there's like three fires a year Mostly we just kind of make chilly It's like Barbara Streisand's underground Shopping mall You know about this right?
[01:43:06] Barbara Streisand loves shopping But she is so famous now that she can't do it anymore So underneath her home She has built an underground recreation Of a shopping mall With employees Where there are many items In multiple sizes and large quantities
[01:43:22] And she can pick what she wants to buy Weird well there's like that Michael Jackson thing Where they rented out the grocery store And then hired people to act like He could have the experience of being in a grocery store
[01:43:32] She just wants to be able to go into her basement He's normal right? Yeah he's dead Is that not normal? Pretty abnormal I don't like dead people She will go into her underground shopping mall And be like do you have this in gray
[01:43:50] And they're like no sorry we're out And she wants that experience And then she shakes and her head shakes And the person's eyes start bleeding I said do you have this in gray? No but that's the weird thing Is it's like Barbara Streisand's version of BDSM
[01:44:04] Is like rather than just getting all the clothing She wants to be able to replicate the experience Of not necessarily being able to find What she wants in her size or her color Right I just think that's Amazing I love it
[01:44:20] I was looking for a more interesting word But I ended up on it Amazing is a good one The last thing is I made a list of Because I wanted to talk NBA with David Oh no But I knew Griffin wouldn't like it
[01:44:35] So I made a list of Every current NBA player that has ever been in a movie Okay It's not that many Uncle Drew Rajan Rondo was in Just Right Vince Carter like Mike Tony Parker was in Asterix at the Olympic Games Wow John Wick 3 Parabellum
[01:44:55] Boban Marjanovic was in Blake Griffin was in A Bunch Stuff The Fimo Brain being one of them Dwight Howard was in Just Right as well Free Bird 3 Stooges Aaron Gordon Uncle Drew, Kyrie Irving Uncle Drew LeBron James Trainwreck Kevin Durant and Thunderstruck
[01:45:11] And I think that's it for NBA players that have been in movies Current Current NBA players Currently in the league Oh current Dog's name from Air Bud Buddy Did you know, IMDB won't let you Search by animal What? Okay here's a side First tangent of the episode
[01:45:37] First tangent of the episode Go on Do you think CGI animals replacing animal actors is good or bad For the industry or for animals at large I think it's a multi-faceted question I think it's good for animals and bad for the industry Um no I'm gonna say this
[01:45:51] I'm gonna correct this I think it's good for animals I think it's good for the industry I think it's bad for the art form And ultimately I think on a humane level The first two outweigh the third But I do think movies suffer because Okay David
[01:46:09] I like the good old days I think writing an article right now I like the good old days where a lion Could just scalp beyond the bond Yes that's one of the great Ben have you seen Roar? No we saw that together right What's it about?
[01:46:25] Oh my gosh Okay Fell in love with a man Who worked in the peripheries of the entertainment industry But was obsessed with lions Oh I've heard of this And he was like we should make a lion movie That really captures the majesty of lions
[01:46:41] He had lions living in the house A then teenage Melanie Griffith And this man whose name I'm forgetting I forget what his name is And they had lions living with them And do like people magazine photo shoots That were like them lounging in the living room with lions
[01:46:55] I mean like look lions are beautiful We can coexist and he was like I want to make a movie about this family living with lions So he made a very loosely scripted Movie in which the three of them Play the exact same roles they had within that family
[01:47:07] That shot within their house But he brought in a real film crew And it was a disaster It shot for like three years People were mauled constantly Yann de Bont who later became the director of speed But before that was like the cinematographer Of diehard
[01:47:23] Like one of the most important people in the last 30 years Of action filmmaking That was one of his first films And he was literally scalp A line bit of head off They reattached it Because he went on to make speed He bit his head
[01:47:39] Well first he just kept it And then sort of shook him around Wait was he involved in face off Maybe he got an idea there He was like help off That's the movie where John Chavald said Nicholas Cage Swap hair guns Guys I am so out of it
[01:47:55] What's wrong? I feel like Totoro is like One of the ten most important movies ever made And I'm worried we talked about it for about 20 minutes Alright I'm genuinely worried about it In the same way that Totoro is only in ten
[01:48:09] I think it's arguably one of the ten most important films ever made Make your stump speech then Even though there are Miyazaki's I prefer It just feels like maybe The most important animated movie of all time I believe it is I don't think there's a movie that's better
[01:48:25] At capturing like being a child Right? I'm looking at you and staring because I'm processing I'm like what would the rivals be To that Little fugitive one of my favorite movies Of all time Little fanfare Of course Little Rascals Ratchy Rat About the Troy of being a child
[01:48:47] Ninja Turtles Jack Jack of course You know young and hard Insomnia of course That were kind of worse than a reverse Honey I blew up the kid Right it's very big I love that Honey I shrunk the kid Honey we shrunk ourselves Okay Here's I generally believe
[01:49:13] I mean it's my number three movie of all time Sure And it's I believe the best animated film of all time And I believe it is the high point for Miyazaki Interesting I know there's other people that love like
[01:49:25] Mononoke or other but I truly believe that this is The exact Combination of His skill as an animator and a visionary And telling a story that is Relatable To all of humanity You know what I mean? I know this is an overall theme for this miniseries
[01:49:43] But we haven't covered many directors who have This phenomenon and I always find this fascinating Any sort of art form Any sort of performance any sort of creative field The people who seemingly Are like Tortured by doing the thing that they're great at Yeah
[01:49:59] Constantly want to leave it behind And then every time they do realize They know nothing else And then they have this relationship where every time they're like I can't do this any longer And when they're away for a table for like a minute
[01:50:11] They're like fuck something's calling me back Yeah cause Miyazaki famously keeps having Films that he's like this is my last one Sure done and then it's like okay one more It seems like it's A very torturous process For him
[01:50:25] Well he did say in this interview it's his final line In the interview I experienced tremendous happiness When I was making this film So this might have been an outlier for him But also interesting something to note about Miyazaki Is that he has a tenuous relationship with Japan
[01:50:37] As a country As his home country He's constantly talking about how At certain times in his life he's like I hate Japan I don't like Japan I don't let it And talk about post-war Japan and having all these feelings About the cinema of post-war Japan It's very interesting
[01:50:53] So this was a movie where he talks about Falling back in love with His home country and where he grew up And that idea of That's really important to him So you think of a lot of his other movies It's a lot about not being home
[01:51:07] It's a lot about being out away from things And so this one is very about It centers around a home A place that all feels comfortable and safe And I think that's also an interesting aspect of it too
[01:51:17] Because it feels like one of the few times where he reckons with some of those feelings Here's a Miyazaki phenomenon that I find fascinating Why not talk about it here Yes Because of tensions between China and Japan And because of China only becoming
[01:51:31] A real major film market recently All of his films have been seeing Release in China for the first time In wide theatrical releases They're not re-releases they're like finally The gates are open and all of them Have been doing crazy well And in fact Toy Story 4
[01:51:47] Underperformed in China A country where Toy Story does not have much of a cultural legacy And was just fucking Woked by Spirited Away Which was like top of the box office Spirited Away a movie that's like 15 years old Was playing like a blockbuster in China
[01:52:03] And it's this thing That we've been talking about a little bit In different episodes where it's like For how voracious a film market China has become And for how much American studios Are trying to chase China They have Pretty wide and varied Tastes
[01:52:23] Like we talked about like shoplifters And like a peronym Where like huge fucking hits in China Like there are foreign films that are being released In China that are difficult art house Films that are playing like blockbusters There are old Japanese animated films That are playing like blockbusters
[01:52:39] Like they're not just like Give us whizbang Give us franchises Even though the franchises do well there There seems to be like At the same time that it's like exploding As a commercial film market There's no appreciation for film as an art form That I'm very jealous of
[01:52:57] Well here's something that Ties into that also Is I think Totoro is specifically very Interesting because I think when people think of, especially people that have not seen My neighbor Totoro, like Ben Before you Yeah we're gonna do that box up this weekend That's more interesting
[01:53:17] The Chinese one? Okay, cause it came out like a year ago Yeah it was very recent, December 2018 Yeah, wow. Before you saw this movie What did you think it was about? They had mentioned that You could find a magical Monster in the woods
[01:53:31] Right. If you left the house one day You might just be lucky So all I knew was that There was like a big Monster. And I feel like between He was a neighbor. Yeah Well I saw that in the title and I was like
[01:53:45] Okay so they're friendly monsters But like through all the merchandising That sort of depiction of Totoro Because it's become the sort of Mickey mouse of Studio Ghibli Is I think it gets reduced into being like A Mickey mouse, a Disney kind of thing
[01:54:01] Where it's like, oh there's a mascot, it's a fun thing But I do think this is a film that Is beyond that And I think that's why like For some people it's easier to take movies more seriously That are like, spirited away
[01:54:13] Or other movies where it's like, oh this is an adult Story told through the lens For some people I think feels like it is a kid's story That is for children But I would press you to think of it as An age group that
[01:54:25] Would watch this film and not love it Right? This is a film that I think works for everybody But I'll say too, I mean you speaking about Sort of like the perception this movie has I having seen it as a six year old Was like
[01:54:39] Totoro is like barely in it, it's mostly the kids being sad About their mom and Totoro's only got like a few scenes And they're kind of quiet and like melancholy And I in my head was like I must have been an impatient kid and I'm
[01:54:49] Misremembering, there has to be a lot more Totoro Even if it takes a while for him to come in But it never does sort of become that E.T. symbiotic, he's the key to the whole movie No he serves no real plot function
[01:54:59] It's not like at the end they're like Totoro has the thing that we need To do the thing Like you know, the cap bus shows up And takes them around which is great And then the biggest conflict in the movie is like Did she run away
[01:55:13] And I was like Oh is there now going to be some trite thing where She has to use Totoro to find her sister But it's so pointedly not that No, yeah And I think that's what I think is important about this movie too
[01:55:25] Is it is a wildly successful film That is a beautiful film That also touches on all these things that filmmakers talk About believing in but rarely stick to Which is the idea that this is about Moments and experiences is not
[01:55:37] A story with villains and bad guys and good guys Because how many people talk a big game like that And I think that's why I think it is one of the most important films All the time I just think it's fascinating that like 30 years later
[01:55:47] That can get a wide release in a new country And people are like yep 100% down And remember That's why I think it's important to have a big Movie And I think it's important to have a big Movie And I think it's important to have a big Movie
[01:56:05] And I think it's important to have a big Movie And if you just turn it down And removing the cultural Ubiquity of that character as an icon It's not an obvious crowd Pleasing film But then even just sort of reading And this is before Miyazaki had
[01:56:23] Like you know Sort of had finally Developed this reputation in the states When he was still this kind of like secret Like do you know there's this guy in Japan Fox apparently made $60 million off of the VHS Like it was like a big fucking success for them. Right.
[01:56:41] I also, I take kids. Yeah, but I mean, think about how much kid stuff doesn't work on that level. I understand that was like a VHS boom. And I know the moment when the Miyazaki film started coming out on DVD also totally coincided with peak DVD boom.
[01:56:57] When Disney got the rights, it was like the height of DVD sales. Right, when people were just like, I got this machine, like let me own these DVDs. But it also was this fascinating thing. Some of these special features. G Kids who now has all the Ghibli rights.
[01:57:12] I was talking to the guy who runs it and he was like, that's the thing that's really fucking saved us and kept our lights on because of the fact that he doesn't allow them on streaming that you can't rent them digitally.
[01:57:23] They perform so much better than most physical media. Like it's like they always had their solid performance chunk and then everything else has gone down in the same way that like weird Al Jankovic now charts number one, but he's like,
[01:57:37] these are the lowest album sales I've ever had. It's just that my audience has stayed consistent. It's like you can go to any Walmart, any Best Buy, like any super mass retail big box that still has a physical media section and they will have every Ghibli movie
[01:57:52] even if otherwise their selection has become more and more sparse. Because there is this like sense of like these are fucking special and they continue to sell. I would contend that I take a little bit of Umbridge especially in these lists and this and that
[01:58:07] when people talk about the best films of all time and it's like always like Beauty and the Beast or whatever like. It's always Beauty and the Beast. When they talk about animated films, it's always these like classic American films and totally everything like that are up there
[01:58:21] but I believe those films age and I think this is a film that doesn't really age. I think so. I think that's fair about Beauty and the Beast I mean we're gonna talk about Kiki Soon Griffin which is a movie that came out the same year
[01:58:33] as Little Mermaid and is like and fascinating. Talk about Kiki Next Week. Yes on this podcast, yes and is a fascinating comparison to it and does feel a little more like applicable to now whereas The Little Mermaid, when you watch it, I love that movie
[01:58:51] but you're like Jesus Christ, like she never even met the guy and she's fucking selling her voice. You know like there are things where you're like oh if I showed this to a kid maybe we wanna talk about like gender roles and things you know like princesses
[01:59:03] and like yeah. Yeah shit and I'm sure we will have talked about this in the Lion King episode. Sure. After we've seen the movie in Forty-Act. But I did, I was very much a kid who is like on the Disney tip. Yes.
[01:59:18] Totally bought into the like the sales pitch of the Disney magic. You know like this is Disney's 33rd original completely animated film. Like I would like to be like selling the line. You weren't just, you didn't just wanna see Disney. Yeah. You knew the Disney marketing lingo.
[01:59:33] Totally but I have very little nostalgia for any of those movies and especially the Renaissance ones which were coming out at the time that I was that target audience. I would rewatch far less than the early ones. The ones that wore more sad and more slow.
[01:59:49] The new ones that came out I would see them. I would love them. I would freak out, I buy the soundtrack, this and that and then like six months later they would fade. And I know I'm in a minority there
[01:59:57] because most of these have had more stickiness with people but I did like a rewatch of a bunch of them five or six years ago when Netflix briefly had like the majority of the Renaissance movie is streaming. And the one that I think is my favorite
[02:00:13] from that Renaissance run from like whatever it is 89 to 99 if you wanna say you know is Hunchback of Notre Dame which is simultaneously the one that has aged the best and age the worst. Which I haven't seen that one in years. The best stuff in Hunchback is incredible
[02:00:31] because it has so much fucking integrity and so much commitment to what it's doing and then the stuff that's like disnified that movie stands out so hard and their shit like Jason Alexander as the wisecracking woman eyes and gargoyle that could only happen in that one specific year
[02:00:46] that it came out. And you're just like this holds up horribly. But Miyazaki movies, Ghibli films don't have that. Like they don't feel connected to that moment in which they came out in that same sort of way. And they never had the person who was like
[02:00:59] can there be a wisecracking gargoyle in Todorou? We need to make it more like this. We need to hire this musician to do this. Can there be a funny dog? Right, yeah. We have to update this from what the original story was or yeah.
[02:01:11] Here's another thing that I think is interesting. That also I think taps into some of the like not having anything controversial to say about this movie. Right. And it's changed a little bit in recent years with documentaries, but I don't think Miyazaki is someone
[02:01:28] that holds the same intrigue or drama or public persona that a lot of the Blank Check directors do in the sense that, well, but he does though. But I feel like he does now. And that's why I'm saying like his personality's becoming more and more out there.
[02:01:41] But I'm less like, you know, when you talk about Tim Burton, it's one thing to be like, oh, and then is this and he's this and he's make this choice. With Miyazaki, it's sort of and maybe it's this may be an American perspective,
[02:01:51] someone that's just away from that and does not have exposure to that. But it feels like him as a person feels like less of a presence in the culture outside of his movies. And so the films are able to stand on their own.
[02:02:06] And so I feel less of a discussion that I need to have where it's like, oh boy, here's this person making this crazy choice. And this is this point in there. Really interesting about him. He is a mogul within his own film industry,
[02:02:18] but he's a mogul who is seemingly uninterested in business and money. Like my dad was talking to this G Kids guy, well we ran into him at a screening, right? My dad knew him. I didn't know him when I was talking to him
[02:02:28] because I'm a dumb animation nerd as David would say. And I had all these questions. And my dad was like overhearing and he was like, wait, he doesn't let his movies on streaming? And the guy was like, no.
[02:02:37] My dad was like, but when's he gonna change on that? And he was like, he's never going to change. I mean, it may be when he dies. And my dad was like, what do you mean? And he was like, the G Kids guy was like,
[02:02:47] he has a modest house and he's happy with his life. And he's not the best guy, no. No. This is what I'm saying. He seems like kind of a tough guy. And also this- Now this stuff is talking about who has the real reputation.
[02:02:59] I guess when I was talking about these people who like the thing that they seem so naturally good at seems weirdly torturous for them, I find those people also have an arc where it's like when they start out, it's pure joy. And then every successive time
[02:03:12] they have to do another project, it takes more out of them and the joy diminishes. To a weird degree, at first it's like, I love this. This makes me so happy. Like maybe Totoro is the peak of that for him.
[02:03:24] And then it starts to be like more of this weird like fousty and bargain. Not to make them sound tortured, you know? But that it's like, it becomes less of a blissful organic expression and more of a sort of like surgery for them
[02:03:42] to get these things out of their system. And the fact that Miyazaki is like someone has a complete blank check because it's his studio, because the films have such catalog value, because they merchandise so well that he sort of can do whatever he wants.
[02:03:56] There's no sort of career machinations of I should do this type of movie now, I should do that. It seems to totally follow his muses. I know which is funny considering that like there's a theme park based basically on the way he draws the world.
[02:04:09] You know what I mean? Like there are video games. There's a whole style of thinking. The balance between the ways in which he is really protective of his brand and the ways he isn't. I mean, he's kind of like Jim Henson in that sense
[02:04:23] because Jim Henson had the same thing where he was like, look, there's gonna be merchandise. I have to do it. It's a necessary- Sure, he wasn't gonna be wholly about it because like yeah. But he talks a lot about like his like frustration with it.
[02:04:34] And then he was like, look, well, if I don't make it, someone else is gonna make it. And if making it is a way to like, you know, endear like strengthen the relationship between the children and these characters, then I just wanna make sure that the merchandise
[02:04:48] is good and curated. I want it to be high quality and I don't want it to be exploitative and like stuff like that, right? It feels like Miyazaki's got that sort of relationship where it's also like this is what keeps the lights on.
[02:04:58] If I sell enough Totoro plushes and continue to sell them for 15 years, I can make these other movies and I can let other people make these movies and this and that. Yeah. You need to read more about it about, yeah, how it all works.
[02:05:09] Very early on when we met as friends, we were talking about this movie. Back in the TCGS days. Exactly. Like at a Lincoln Park, the bar name and everything after the band. We were walking to Lincoln Park. We would always go after this movie.
[02:05:22] And I said to you know, the thing that I love the most about Totoro and you said, David, I don't know what you're gonna say but I do know that this is why we're becoming such good friends. Like you said something like, you remember this?
[02:05:35] Do you remember this? No, I don't remember it at all. You were like, I don't know what you're gonna say but I'm excited about the way that you asked that question and I feel like it suggests, you know, great things ahead for us. I love that.
[02:05:45] You and I had that moment early on where we were like, we both think that Jim Henson is one of the 10 most important artists who's ever lived. And you were like, oh, this isn't someone who likes them up, this is someone who is like,
[02:05:55] has specific things to say about. You realize that, right, it's that way. It's not like, Kermit's cute. And Ben and I were like, Ernest is one of the greatest comedians of modern history. I'm like, the pen. Ben is found as some sort of Totoro beanbag plushie.
[02:06:12] What is it? Is that full size though? But he's got the little lotus leaf. There's the Totoro beds. Oh man. Full size beds. David, I found a really good piece of Ghibli merchandise for you that you're gonna get later in this mini series. Oh, very excited.
[02:06:26] It's a little thing and I think you're gonna love it. It's not gonna be a cumbersome burdensome where do I put this thing? I don't know which soda is it. The other thing, Joanna also adores these movies. I'll tell you. Which soda it is?
[02:06:40] I don't wanna spoil it. I'll tell you off my... Joanna also adores these movies, so I feel like the AB less of a name. It's less of a thing where basically every day Joanna's like, when can we get rid of the forky mask?
[02:06:51] Like, you know, like he's asking me that. Well, of course he's competition. Exactly. But he's just setting you up for that. Yeah. All right. No, but also I was gonna say, I saw this thing out in the wild. I walked into a store and saw this.
[02:07:05] Oh, you saw the item. And I went, holy shit. David, would David like it if I got this for him? And then I saw an element of the item. I didn't notice it first. And I went, I will be a bad friend
[02:07:16] if I don't get this for David. So you have it, you're saying, but it hasn't appeared. Like, you have the item, but you haven't produced it. I haven't produced it. Griffin also got me a birthday present and it was the worm from Labyrinth. Once a one scale.
[02:07:28] It's a highly detailed model. It's got hair. Real hair on it. It's not the plush one, which I have two of those. Yeah, no, but it's like a polystone kind of. So anyway, the thing I was going to say to you at Lincoln Park
[02:07:39] was that, right, the whole thing is, I feel like, at a five year old's eye level, like not only story wise but visual wise. But I feel like we said that. That was my big insight as we were walking to a bar
[02:07:50] on a Tuesday night at like midnight. It's hard when a movie is. It's Wednesday night. Tuesday was trivia. That was back when our weekend was Tuesday Wednesday. Remember we used to say that? Yes. Like Tuesday was trivia. Wednesday was. Those are the two nights we said that way.
[02:08:04] The two nights. It's also crazy that Gethridge's own videology, like both sort of like. They're the same. Yeah. And I was like, those are my 20s. Yeah. Yeah. My 20s were those two things. Yeah. The friendships connected to those two things. Those trivia nights were so fun.
[02:08:19] They were great. Yes. Here's the box office game from China. I'm going to say this because I want to hold ourselves to it. I think we got to organize a trivia night. I know we've talked about before. We said that.
[02:08:28] We're going to do one of videology right before it closed. Right. I think we just need to like fucking do it. We can do it at Nighthawk maybe. I think we've discussed that. Yep. Blank check fans come out. That's the idea. Yeah, of course. Right. Yeah.
[02:08:39] Do a fun one. We run it. Yeah. Your friends come. Fun one. Our fans come. Fun one that we run. A fun run. Alex can do a guest round. JD can do a guest round. Yeah. I know what my guest round will be about.
[02:08:48] It's like, we can't commit to a weekly thing but I'd like to be like every couple of months we might do a little trivia. We do it. See how it goes. Yeah. Number one at the Chinese box office December 14th, 2018.
[02:09:01] But I think it might be the biggest hit of the year. Biggest non-Chinese hit of the year. 2014. 18. Oh, 2018. So it's an American film. Yeah. 2018. Was it the number one American film? At the box office did it over-performed in China. Avengers. No. So it's not Infinity War. No.
[02:09:16] And it's not Black Panther. No. It's not a Marvel. No. Is it a Disney? No. It's not a Disney. No. It's going to be... And it's not Fate of the Furious. No. It is good. It's a good movie? Yeah. Really? You said it was such satisfaction.
[02:09:35] Is it Aquaman? Aquaman was the number one... Okay. I was just like, that movie did so insanely well in China. I was like, is that arguably China's biggest domestic, you know, American hit of the year? Let's find out. I still feel like the biggest American film in China
[02:09:52] has Fate of the Furious. No, but in 2018, I mean, I don't mean all time. I know. I know. I know. I've been following that stuff. But Infinity War was actually slightly more... Aquaman was the second biggest American movie. Okay. Okay. But yeah, Aquaman...
[02:10:06] We both said this when we saw it. We were like, I don't know if this is going to do well here. It's going to do great in China. Was surprised by how well it did here. Did well everywhere. $1.1 billion. The highest grossing DC movie of all time? Wow.
[02:10:17] I believe. Yeah. Like right with a bullet? We... When we did our Aquaman episode, we completely flipped the actual outcome and our predictions for that versus Mary Poppins. Yes, exactly. Mary Poppins. She returned. God, that Rob Marshall, he must be so pleasant to work for
[02:10:35] because people sure like doing it. Have you guys ever been in England? Uh, what? Number two is my neighbor Totoro. Yeah, get out of here, Ben. He's got to go get the mail. A bunch of soda cans already came. Number three is a Indian film.
[02:10:52] So there's a lot of crossover there with Bollywood. Yeah. Yeah. Inspired by the life of a famous social entrepreneur. A social entrepreneur? I don't know what... I mean, I'm just like, why would you know this movie? It's called Padman. Oh, I knew that.
[02:11:06] But then the other two you'll know. This is... All right, so number four, animated film. I think Griffin was refused to see it. He has various hang-ups about it. Frozen 2. No, no, Frozen 2 hasn't even come out yet. I had to come out earlier in China. Real early.
[02:11:23] An adaptation? Nutcracker in the Four Realms. No, but Christmasy. Oh, oh, oh. I think you're talking about me, the Grinch. This is what the Grinch sounds like when voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch. Why are you so mad about it? He doesn't like it. Why would you hire Benedict Cumberbatch?
[02:11:43] You ever heard him try and say penguin? Yeah, it sounds like how the Grinch would say penguin. Have you ever heard this? Hey, did you audition for this? Is this what's going on here?
[02:11:51] No, what angers me is that they paid him probably $2 million to seemingly do an impression of me when I don't want the Grinch to sound like me. So you're mad that the Grinch sounded like you? Yeah, he's like, I don't know. I hate Christmas. Have you seen it?
[02:12:06] Benedict Cumberbatch could have been the Grinch. Have you seen it? No, I've refused to see it. The Grinch. The Grinch. No, I don't... I have no interest in the Grinch. All right, fine, fair enough. Sure, it's great. No one's seen the Grinch.
[02:12:16] JD is kind of the Grinch of Grinch movies. Clearly. I'm the Grinch-Grinch. The other movie in the top 10 is... It's an American movie. I believe it had an Indian director. Was kind of a sleeper hit of 2018, like a small movie, very small scale.
[02:12:38] I saw this movie just on a whim with Emma Stefanski and she contested by that I like spent the whole time just like squirming and shrieking in my seat. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. I know exactly what this is from your experiencing this. Fair enough.
[02:12:49] This is the film searching. Yes, I mean, I saw... I gave myself 40X watching that movie. Yeah. That movie rules. That movie's really good. I'm actually... I'm still jealous of you for putting John Cho and your best actor ballot. Hell yeah. Incredible performance. Yeah. Very, very demanding performance.
[02:13:06] That guy's so good. He is so good. Have you seen Searching? No. It's the movie that plays out entirely on a desktop screen. Oh, I've heard of this. You would love it. It's very inventive. I'll try it out. It's fun. Some people don't like the twist.
[02:13:17] I think the twist is great. I didn't see the twist coming. No. Yeah. I think it's pulpy. I think it's really well made. I think John Cho is like... He's one of those guys who can do anything. I agree. Any genre, any size, role.
[02:13:28] Did you guys know the sequel to Agent Cody Banks? Is Agent Cody Banks 2 Destination London? Yes, we knew that. Wait, how did you know that? Well, I once pulled the Cody Banks of my own and made my Destination London. What? Displencing? You already forgot. Displencing? Displencing. Displencing? Islington.
[02:13:52] When I was... Displ... Displ... Displ... Whew. God. Displencing! We're playing the Chinese box office game right now for a Japanese movie. You can't get mad at me after the shit you pulled on this episode. You maniac. Give me that piece of paper. Give it to me now. Okay.
[02:14:13] God, you're like, I love Totoro, the greatest animated movie of all time. Great. Now let's talk about the NBA ops. The other thing you said was cancel all of your plans. Yeah, you did. You said you were going to get this homework and he never did. I didn't.
[02:14:26] I had a crazy week. Fair enough. What was the homework going to be? It was just going to be some things, some discussion topics, some of this stuff. We got the most of it. Okay. Can I just say just because like I got to say it,
[02:14:37] I can't talk about what it was, but I found that right before I came to record here that I didn't get a job that I thought I was going to get that would have had me in London for two and a half months. Yeah. And the bit.
[02:14:50] You're a real agent. Cody Banks, too. I know the bit potential was like half the reason you wanted this job. So incredible. And I'm just like sitting here and like this has been a nice episode and I love being here.
[02:14:59] So my best friend folding up all these bits and like putting them in a I am just like I started sort of like planning. Yeah. Like going on. No, I just thought it was going to be so there's so much potential. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
[02:15:13] I didn't get the gig. You guys have to do a live show in London. Do we? Yes. All right. So you can see it for the first time. And you can go watch a movie on the wrong side of the road.
[02:15:26] David just threw a bag of such a against the wall, picked it up and threw it against the other wall. Crazy. Can't believe we're doing two of these tomorrow. And then you could do a seven called Big Ben Little Ben.
[02:15:40] Well, that's the other thing is Ben stands outside Big Ben. Right. Because we were panicked about him getting this job, we scheduled a shit ton of recordings, which is great. We're literally recording eight episodes within six days.
[02:15:52] Obviously, this isn't exclusive to the London job that I didn't get. If I get any job that takes me away for a little while, this is possible. But just because it seemed kind of immediate and like it was going to happen,
[02:16:03] was really excited to be able to experiment with shifting from ding dong to ring rings. Do you want another ad to put in there? Ding dong. Ring ring. Hi, it's me Mickey Mouse. No. No.
[02:16:17] If you come to Disney and say blankies, we'll let you piss in parts of the Caribbean. Mickey, it sounds like you've been hanging out with Ron McDonald a lot. You got a similar energy going. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh, I'm JD. I have to leave the room.
[02:16:35] Hey, Kings, it's me, Ronald McDonald. Hey, it's me Mickey Mouse. Yeah. David's waving us off. Okay. David's taking a big pot filled cane and he's pulling. David's doing sand man routine and show time at the Apollo style. And we're back.
[02:16:56] Did you do the whole spiel at the end? No, I'm going to do it now. Okay, good. I've been JD Amato. This has been a 30 minute episode about my hair totoro because Ben had to cut everything. Woo. Yeah, I'm like keep the meat.
[02:17:10] The meat is like one little sliver of like a slice of ham. Yeah, it's like when people have those sandwiches from like whatever, what's the place for you get sandwiches? Yeah, no, the place for never mind. I'm taking too much time describing this. Next. Pratt.
[02:17:29] Pratt. Never mind. I'm done. I love totoro. Blank it. Thank it. Guys, end it. You end it. It's your podcast. I'm a guest on this podcast. Stop yelling at me. I'm waiting for you to give me a window, David. You won't stop talking.
[02:17:47] I'm just like, end it, end it. I can't end it if you keep on saying end it. Displencing? Displencing? No, stay. David. What's your social media? On what? And? What about Instagram? You can't follow me on Instagram unless I know you. It's locked. Yeah.
[02:18:10] And that's why your follower counts very long. That's how I want it. I used to have a lot and Joanna one day was like, can people see these pictures? And I was like, yeah. And she was like, no. And I agreed with her. And email him some cans.
[02:18:22] Yeah, you gotta email David some cans. And don't email them. Mail, mail, mail them. Mail, mail, mail them. Ben, you're the producer here. If you wrap this up. If you wrap this up, we can watch the Top Gun Maverick trailer. We're trying to wrap it up.
[02:18:38] JD's begging for us to wrap this. The Top Gun Maverick trailer. I can't do it if you're talking about this trailer. You gotta give me a chance to end the episode. Someone, end this. Thank you all for listening. Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe.
[02:18:53] Thanks to Andrew Good for our social media. Oh, let me see who this is. Craig? Oh my God, it's Joe Bone and Pat Reynolds for our artwork. Thanks, Joe. Who's this? Craig? It's Blinkys.Reddit.com for some real nerdy shit. Let me pick this up. Who is it?
[02:19:12] Oh my God, it's T-Public for some real nerdy shirts. I'm gonna check the telegraph here. I'm putting my hands in the Pokemon Girl. Oh, it's Patreon where we're still doing Marvel commenters because that should never end. Tune in next week for Kiki's delivery service
[02:19:32] with the great Caroline Frampke. Right. Frampke's back, baby. Frampke's back and she's here to talk deliveries. Hey Jesus Christ, calm down. End as always. I love Totoro. What up, Oz? It's JD Amato. I told you to call me before you watched Totoro
[02:19:52] and I was on a call so I missed your call. And I just want to say this if we don't talk before you watch it. I believe this is perhaps the best animated film of all time. It taps into a imaginative and simple and beautiful encapsulation
[02:20:14] of childhood that I think is lost in most modern media. So when you watch this movie tonight, I want you to do whatever you can do to make yourself comfortable, nostalgic, and transport yourself back to what it was like to be a kid.
[02:20:29] And the thoughts and feelings and fears and ideas that you had as a kid. And going to this movie just attaching to that identity of your childhood self and letting that little kid come out.
[02:20:45] Because I think this movie really features things that make you feel like a kid and think like a kid and depicts moments and truths and honesty from the eyes of a child in a way that I think is absolutely brilliant.
[02:21:04] So if you've got some real nostalgic weed that you have to smoke or some nostalgic edibles, hit those up. You need to watch it alone in your bed and your PJs. Do that. Subs or dubs, whatever you want then.
[02:21:19] I just think this movie is so delicate and beautiful. And I can't wait for you to watch it and I can't wait to talk about it tomorrow. I hope you have a good day and I will talk to you soon. Goodbye.