[00:00:00] Blank Check with Griffin and David Blank Check with Griffin and David Don't know what to say or to expect All you need to know is that the name of the show is Blank Check
[00:00:18] Alone lying, thinking last night how to find my soul a home where water is not thirsty And bread loaf is not stone I came up with one thing and I don't believe I'm wrong That nobody, but nobody can podcast out here alone
[00:00:36] Alone all alone, nobody, but nobody can podcast out here alone There are some millionaires with money they can't use Their wives run around like banshees their children sing the blues They've got expensive doctors to cure their hearts of stone But nobody, no nobody can podcast out here alone
[00:00:58] Now if you listen closely I'll tell you what I know Storm clouds are gathering the wind is gonna blow The race of man is suffering and I can hear the moan Because nobody, but nobody can podcast out here alone
[00:01:13] All alone, nobody, but nobody can podcast out here alone I just feel like we're all in this kind of mellow mood now Which is like, alright, yeah, alright That's the effect of Maya I posted my virtual background for today as Maya Angelou teaching the word M with Elmo
[00:01:33] Sure And I just have such a Pavlovian response to her Because of how much she was on Sesame Street in the early 90s Where like any celebrity who appeared on Sesame Street that much I still find relaxing when they pop up in things I watch as an adult
[00:01:49] That makes total sense Right? She's a very early 90s figure Obviously existed for far longer than that as a major figure But you know, I think of the inauguration of Bill Clinton I think of this movie I think of, you know, like, yeah, Sesame Street, sure
[00:02:04] The 90s were sort of when she got elevated to like national treasure A book of secrets You know, when she was No, but she was I feel like at that point it's like Okay, you've been an important cultural figure for this long
[00:02:17] We're now treating you like a pillar of our very society It is just funny that this is like her first movie appearance in 20 years Sure, I guess I hadn't thought about that Like on screen appearance Yeah, yeah Yeah But she had done Like she does movies after this
[00:02:38] She had done stuff in the 70s But this is like Couple things A big deal Maybe she's in roots Yeah For her to be in this And also to write the poems in this
[00:02:46] It is such a flex for a filmmaker under the age of 25 for a second movie Going like, oh yeah, and by the way, Maya Angelou wrote Additional material for me I just think it speaks to just how unique his position was Going into his second movie
[00:03:03] Which is the thing I want to talk about a little bit On this episode of Blank Check with Griffin and David I'm Griffin David I'm David Wow I tried to get in so quickly if we could see I Yeah Uh-huh Because people have been clowning on you
[00:03:16] They've been clowning on you for being slow on the uptake Saying, and I'm David And so instead this time you were so overreaggered That you didn't even throw in the and I'm You just went David I'm really losing it That's clearly I'm just like David, David, I'm David
[00:03:30] Well, I don't understand why And frankly you have no excuse I find your behavior A bore Uh-huh This is a podcast about filmographies Directors who have massive success Early on in their careers And are given a series of blank checks To make whatever crazy passion projects they want
[00:03:44] And sometimes those checks clear And sometimes they bounce baby And this is a mini series On the films of John Singleton This is his second film Poetic Justice This mini series is called Pods in the Cast And joining us again for the third time
[00:04:02] From the Bad Romance podcast Film critic, comedian Drodain Searls Drodain Thank you so much for being back Happy to be back Uh This is what you called that you wanted this one A while ago I gave you like a list of a couple mini series ahead
[00:04:20] And the two you sparked to were A new leaf and poetic justice Yes, that's right You were deciding between those two Yes New Leaf, great I mean, I assume you're a fan Yeah, I love a new leaf Yeah, it's interesting that I chose this
[00:04:37] Movie because I don't love it This is a more flawed movie Yeah, that's right Then the new leaf Yeah, I like this movie But it's you know It is it is no unambiguous classic First of all, I like this movie a lot
[00:04:50] I'm a big fan of this movie I had never seen it before Wait, you had never seen it before? I had never Not only I had never seen it before I had a completely incorrect perception Of what this movie was
[00:05:02] Oh, why did you did you think of it like Like in relation to the Drake song What was going on? Do you think it was like more about poetry? Like like she was going to go to like a poetry competition or something
[00:05:13] I for some reason up until when I put this movie on yesterday Thought this was a movie about a poetry teacher I thought this was a movie about a poetry class Were you sort of merging this and higher learning His like his two adjacent movies where it's like
[00:05:30] Yes, it said at school I guess I must have But I but I know that like higher learning is more of like a campus violence movie Well, I mean, I do feel like if you if you look at the poster of poetic justice
[00:05:44] If it being it being a teacher would totally make sense Her arms are folded She looks like she's not gonna yeah exactly Take any nonsense and the words behind her And also the the 90s were it were the peak
[00:05:56] This is the early 90s that the teacher movie is everywhere There's so many movies about teachers inspiring people But I think I knew that Maya Angelou wrote the poems I knew that it was Tupac and Janet Jackson And I knew the poster and I just extrapolated
[00:06:12] I guess oh, I bet this is a classroom movie about her teaching poetry to people And then I was watching it going like man, it's taking a really long time They're still in the mail truck. What's going on?
[00:06:25] Yeah, well like 30 minutes on and I looked it up and I was like Oh, I just I am watching the wrong movie Relative to what I thought but um, I like this movie a lot. Yeah Jordane, so you're you're kind of fascinated with it more than anything
[00:06:41] What what is your sort of relationship to this movie? And I guess to John Singleton overall that made this one jump out to you first I mean, I've seen this movie a lot. You know, it's one of those movies that I don't even know if it was a
[00:06:54] It's very hard to tell what was on BET and like what I'm just imagining was on BET Because you know, everybody agrees that baby boy was on BET every single day for the duration of our lives
[00:07:07] But like otherwise it's very hard to remember like what else like I want to say that I watched this a lot on BET But it also just might have been uh cable Uh, yeah, I've just I've seen it a lot because you know, whenever they're like black movies
[00:07:21] Especially in the 90s that were about any kind of romance. I would watch all of them Um trying to see which ones I like and which ones I didn't like and I don't really think I've ever liked this one
[00:07:32] But I kept watching it and I guess I am here to try to figure out why It is also just such A fascinating second movie in that way I was sort of queuing up where it's like When when you're a director who is
[00:07:49] That much of an explosive like cultural phenomenon movie right out of the gate A lot of people crumble under that pressure of like Now I'm expected to make my my great follow-up, right? They they fall into like the magnificent amber sins trap
[00:08:06] And somehow their ambitions get too large or they lose control of the movie or whatever it is And this feels like very strategically him saying like I am going to choose to make a movie that is not quote unquote important You know
[00:08:19] Like I I'm very much choosing to make a different type of movie And to try to cast off the expectations that every time i'm gonna rattle society like boys in the hood did Also, he made a very male movie boys in the hood obviously is and he's like
[00:08:35] I'm gonna do a movie with a female protagonist and yeah, I guess I guess this is not as I mean boys in the hood is a very confrontational like let's let's talk about the issues movie And I guess this is not that but this is not like
[00:08:50] You know completely it is it's a contemporary movie set in contemporary times that's like You know has some issues at the forefront, but yeah, it's a little different I I guess this is my bigger point. Is that like
[00:09:02] I feel like a lot of other filmmakers in his position would have made higher learning or rosewood second Right higher learning does kind of feel like the follow-up movie right where he's like
[00:09:13] I'm gonna I'm gonna tackle so many things at once right. How do you feel about higher learning drudane? I do not like it Yeah, I mean it's I think higher learning is a more is is a
[00:09:26] Failure is it you know like he a huge huge swings that that that mostly don't connect Not to preview my take on higher learning Yeah, yeah a higher learning. I mean I haven't seen it in a long time, but Uh
[00:09:40] Yeah, I remember just being like this is weird. I don't remember exactly why it was weird It also just feels like a kind of like a Like a lesser version of school days except you know in in higher learning. It's like, you know the racial
[00:09:56] Stuff is like more Expansive in terms of all of the conflicts. I don't know it doesn't really uh I don't know now. I want to watch it again, but I feel like as soon as I do i'm gonna regret it
[00:10:09] School days is funny and it's got all this sort of genre blending and obviously it's said that uh, you know Historically black college or it's like higher learning is it just it's so serious. It's very serious. Yeah
[00:10:23] And so like that's it's and it can't really swerve out a serious because it's got so much to talk about But look that's higher learning I don't know why i'm bringing up so much higher learning on the top of the poetic justice episode
[00:10:33] But I agree with you griffin that that feels like a movie number two I was just looking at the reviews of this movie while I was watching it and was very surprised by how
[00:10:45] Mixed they were and how like disappointed critics seem to be and I of course i'm talking about the primarily White critics who are writing for major outlets in the 90s and all of them are like
[00:10:56] What is this? This is not what we expected from the boys in the hood guy Like they seem disappointed that he's not making another movie. That's like grabbing them by the collar, you know That's so strange to me because I feel like this is a
[00:11:09] Companion movie the boys in the hood in a lot of ways Yes, but but it's like it's an interesting It's that thing. I mean you you quoted someone else saying this david recently But the like every director's movie is a response to their last movie in some way
[00:11:24] And this is him not falling into the trap of I just need to go bigger It's like I need to make the complimentary movie, you know I need to flip to the other side of what I was sort of doing in in boys in the hood
[00:11:35] But I think that's an interesting artistic Choice as opposed to him making the kind of obvious career choice of You know like make your your epic now. I also think that was him consciously being like I'm like 25 Everyone's eyes are on me
[00:11:55] I need to set up a template for me to be able to experiment and make different kinds of things without people expecting every time That it's going to be like a primal scream, you know
[00:12:05] Look, I mean it's a very falling up boys in the hood is just that's like a Curse thing. It's a poison chalice. Like, you know, like they're you're not going to satisfy it And the hype is very big. You got your Oscar nomination
[00:12:16] You know, especially right these sort of critical community Is just it's not even they're not going to have their knives out there. Just like you said, they're just going to It's it's the classic second album thing. They will have very high expectations. I think going with an intimate
[00:12:32] movie that's a romance that's you know Basically set in one location for about like a huge chunk of the movie like in a moving location But is a very smart zag Yeah, and I think this movie had a long afterlife
[00:12:49] Like you're saying today this I this is definitely a cable movie. Maybe it was I it was all it was this movie was always It's partly also just obviously janet and tupac like You know, especially tupac like the fact that he's in so few movies
[00:13:03] I feel like all his movies kind of play A lot but like this is just The whole legacy of this movie is is a few years after its release not probably like It's opening weekend Can I just like sort of as a as a comparison point, right?
[00:13:21] So I won't read this full list. I'll just sort of go from like the modern ones most recent but here are other people Who got a best director academy award nomination for their first movie, right? Examining what their second movies were
[00:13:35] Okay, because it's like there's a pattern of a couple different things that people fall into And I think what singleton did here is Strategically in terms of the long term the smartest thing someone his position can do Which is just immediately shake off
[00:13:49] The expectations of needing to outdo the first movie by saying I'm not even trying to do that, right? Yeah Ben Zitland just gets absolutely caught right like takes eight years makes a movie that doesn't exist He sure does
[00:14:03] Okay, tony gilroy michael clayton sort of tries to do the same thing as this where he's like now I'm gonna do like a smaller sort of romance comedy caper duplicity. Are you gaming me? Right, but I'm like strategically not trying to do the same movie again
[00:14:18] And not going for an oscar or whatever right which I think is what singleton's doing here as well Like making a movie with a lot of integrity But not trying to make a prestige play in the same kind of way benet miller capote like
[00:14:30] Absolutely overcome with the pressure takes like seven years to make another film total oscar bait and the oscars are like, okay, we'll pay attention, but they're also like Gee but takes so long
[00:14:43] Turns down so many things ends up signing to a movie that someone else got fired off of you know Oh, no, right. He made moneyball before a frox catchers. Fuck. I'm sorry moneyball's a great follow-up Yeah, good job, benet miller. Yes, but but took a while
[00:14:56] Uh, uh rob marshall chicago does the obvious thing which is like do memoirs of agatian acts Go huge adapt the biggest thing get the biggest people bomb
[00:15:06] Sam and his american beauty is kind of the weird combination of all of them where he's trying to do like an oscar play And a summer blockbuster with the biggest movie star at the same time and it's a genre exercise
[00:15:18] Mm-hmm a hit I feel like was critics were kind of disappointed Yeah, critics had their knives out at the time Right what film is this? Road to perdition. Oh Yeah Yeah, I like that movie. I'm a huge fan of that movie
[00:15:35] But it is Griffin wild to think about that like same man just and he won best picture with this first movie So that's even more you know Big even bigger hype to deal with but right that he's like yeah, I'm working with tom hanks. Okay, buddy
[00:15:49] I'm doing a gangster movie. Oh, okay But it's coming out in the summer like that that's the thing that would never happen No, they would never put that movie out in the summer right everything about that movie is weird
[00:16:01] But it's also just like hanks paul newman spielberg everyone was like absolutely. This is the guy, right? Uh spike jones just sort of doubles down right like from being john malchovich adaptation that actually works uh cosner takes Fucking seven years and then does the postman
[00:16:20] Yeah, you're gonna want to deliver mail Right. I mean those are like the examples from the 90s and on you know Mm-hmm. I just think it's it's like Singleton made this very choice, which is like i'm gonna build a movie around a movie star
[00:16:35] Or rather i'm gonna build a movie around a superstar Yeah, not a move where I will get the press buzz from making her a movie star And I saw this like mtv
[00:16:47] Uh segment like an mtv news segment on youtube the other day as I've been watching stuff to prep for this Where they went onto the set of poetic justice
[00:16:55] And it was wild the way it was framed as can you believe that tupac and janet jackson are doing a john singleton movie Yeah, just like why would they do that or Is it crazy that he got them?
[00:17:08] It that that it was like this is big for them as much as it was big for him I I can buy that with tupac. I don't know if I buy that with janet though like she was she was so huge Right by 93 like she's been around forever
[00:17:23] But that there was an air of legitimacy to it Let's say sure sure right because she had turned down so many movies at this point in time Janet jackson, of course had been in a lot of sitcoms and tv shows growing up Hadn't done a movie period
[00:17:35] Was constantly being wooed to try to do like musical films didn't do them and the idea of just like It was more that the mtv news segment was just like holy shit. This feels like a cultural moment
[00:17:45] You have these three people on the same set. This is going to be major They're just I think was an unreasonable amount of expectation put on this movie for a movie that is designed to be A pretty intimate small character study and my angel too
[00:17:59] Yeah, my angel to pach jannah jackson, you know john singleton like You know, I can imagine the expectations for it would be pretty high I mean not necessarily in the same way like it's gonna culturally rock the world
[00:18:16] But in the sense that this this has got to be something really special Totally. Yeah, I also think it is having only seen this movie one time 24 hours ago Very much the kind of movie that feels like
[00:18:28] It would only gain power from watching it on cable over and over again Because there's its best qualities are just it's sort of like lived in observational intimacy It has acts so you can kind of it like a classic cable movie you can be like
[00:18:43] Oh, like what part of it? Oh, this is like the beauty shop But this is the they're getting in the mail truck. Like I don't know I think that's crucial to a rewatchable movie Yeah, there's I mean there's like the barbecue scene and you know, I
[00:18:56] When I was watching it again on yesterday I was like, oh, I know that the barbecue scene is coming and I know that my is gonna be in this scene And the only scene actually in this movie that I always forget is the opening scene
[00:19:08] I I remember everything else but every single time I turn it on I'm just like what is Billy zane doing there every single fucking time I do love opening on Billy zane and and wait who is lorry petty, right?
[00:19:22] The opening is so fascinating because this feels like him directly addressing the expectations that everyone right right It's like to start with the columbia pictures logo and rhapsody in blue playing, right? And then you have his like once upon a time in south central l.a again
[00:19:39] But this time with that music and then you cut indoors to Billy zane and lorry petty in this over rot modern noir film Yeah, it's it's very funny at billy's. Where's billy zane? Why is he the guy?
[00:19:52] To be your joke movie star at this point. I want to look this up It's also uh, that's lorry petty because lorry petty was such a weird movie star It's not like she was like conventional miss hollywood. Hi god. I love lorry petty so much
[00:20:05] But then again, you know, I'm a tank girl defender. I love tank girl. I think that it's incredible Okay, Ben's getting happy again. I mean tank girl is actually kind of another cable movie
[00:20:15] I feel like there was maybe just the spell there. I kept catching it on cable. Yeah, but um, yeah that movie that like I mean, I had such a crush on tank girl. I was like I want to date a tank girl
[00:20:28] Tank girl is amazing like what is better than a girl on a tank? Like it's very hard to think of something better than that And tom waits is in the desert with you too. Yes moment. Come on
[00:20:41] Yeah, no, it's yeah, it's so good. Um, yeah, but with billy zane is so interesting because I've been rewatching Well, I not rewatching I've been watching a lot of his movies because like people are just like Oh, he's only been in like five movies. That's actually not true
[00:20:55] he just did a lot of nd movies and did not do a lot of hollywood movies and He's actually really great and at the same time I was watching a bunch of alex baldman movies
[00:21:05] And I decided to make the very explosive take that billy zane should have alex baldman's career And I'd be I'd be interested to see it. I mean I billy zane is So beautiful especially back then alex baldman
[00:21:24] And I look I know he's retired from public life. So I don't want to mock someone who's trying to be private Of course, he's retired. He doesn't want to he's trying to stay out of the spotlight so hard
[00:21:35] I mean like and alex baldman was very was we've talked about it You know in the 80s he was he was very handsome, but I don't think of him as as pretty as billy zane billy zane
[00:21:43] He was a little more sure virile. Yes billy zane is like, yeah beautiful around here. This is when he's in orlando It's when he's in tombstone is the like dandy actor like he would he would swoop into a movie as like kind of like
[00:21:58] this sort of flashy kind of uh exciting uh handsome guy and I guess the phantom is it's all supposed to be building to the phantom, which I enjoy I I think the phantom is fun Uh, I haven't seen it since I was like 12 years old
[00:22:15] But and then you know titanic. I mean the man's in titanic. I assume you can just sort of dine out on that forever He's so good in titanic There is something there that dooms his like a-list possibilities. I don't know why yeah
[00:22:30] Well, right. I mean dead calm is the movie where everyone I guess said like oh this guy's supposed to be a movie star, right? That's the one. Yes, that's amazing in that
[00:22:39] Yeah, yeah, it's incredible in that. Yeah, I feel like that was the movie where everyone went like oh, this is inevitable It's a matter of time then he does like the smaller films like orlando And then you're right
[00:22:50] It was like by the time you get to poetic justice It's been four years since dead calm and it almost feels like he's been avoiding Putting on a superhero costume, you know, he's been avoiding making the phantom He's good in the phantom slam evil
[00:23:07] Slam evil, you know the you know the story about phantom, right? Have I said this before on the podcast? Yeah, I think you have that Is it that the writer wrote it as a sort of satirical movie?
[00:23:18] Joe Dante was supposed to make it and he wrote it as a satire and they fired him And he still retained a producer credit But he wasn't involved day-to-day and he went to the premiere and was like, oh no They didn't rewrite the script
[00:23:32] But they didn't get that it was a comedy. They just shot it all straight. Yeah, right He was just sitting there going like that was a joke that That line is structured like a joke. What are you doing? Billy's ancient have alex baldwins career
[00:23:47] So I'm just trying to think of like I you know what I I had a full argument for this at the time And I feel like in the middle of the night I'm gonna wake up and I'm gonna remember what the exact argument was
[00:23:58] I'm not I like I like alex baldwins early career, but I still am just intrigued By like Billy zane like we're making him jack ryan Like obviously he'd be good in like miami blues. He'd probably be fun in glen gary glenn ross. Yeah
[00:24:15] Like i'm trying to think of those like early And then of course like it's funny because like alex baldwin does the shadow which is his the phantom they both did Briefly go like oh, okay
[00:24:28] 30s newsreel energy. That's what we should do right? I will I think it's just because they both have this like Classic energy, but it's not like george plunie kind of a eight list thing. It's kind of this other It kind of this other kind of weirder territory
[00:24:46] and somehow alex baldwins was able to parlay that into a career with uh An appeal that I personally don't understand but Well, I mean once he's retired from public life. We shouldn't talk about too much, but david. What are you gonna say?
[00:25:02] Well, when zane is in titanic, you're like, oh my god, like this guy is the most styled into the You know old-fashioned like, you know vaudevillian thing, you know Everyone in that movie is on a different energy, which is one reason that movie I think works
[00:25:19] But it is crazy like some people like he's doing like he's so fucking funny Clowned on him at the time. I just remember people clowning on that performance But but not recognizing how canny it is that he gets what movie he's in more than anyone else
[00:25:33] Everything in titanic was clowned upon worship to get out took taken apart put back together I mean that movie was but yes, you're right. I mean He if you think that movie is silly and over the top you're gonna point to
[00:25:46] The embodiment of yes, right. Yeah, but I mean I think that all rules I put the code on her. He says that Yeah, uh looking at the things he did right after titanic It feels like another moment where he like deliberately avoided becoming like the hollywood villain
[00:26:03] You know where he probably turned down a lot of easy pathways And then zoolander which for me is a feather in his cap That he's like Billy zane right that he's not precious enough about his image
[00:26:14] Maybe kind of fucked him in a way. Well, because it makes it seem like he's retired right It's like he's what is he just chilling now doing cameos? I don't know It makes him seem like Richard griego and knight at the rocks buried. That's the problem
[00:26:27] What he should have done probably at that point and I forgot of course He's on pin peaks as well shout out to billet john jessons wheeler But um, I always forget that yeah, yeah, right
[00:26:36] I do too and he's in the first two back to future movies, of course Well as match he's one of the one of the right one of the bullies, but he should have done a tv show and he didn't
[00:26:47] Um because tv I guess in their late 90s is still you know It's it's not as easy to sort of hop Over and maybe that he did a lot of tv movies But like why didn't he have some show where he's like a hot lawyer?
[00:27:00] That just kind of feels easy I want to say two things before we move out of our 10 minute billy zane corner segment on our poetic justice episode Yeah, let's get out of zane who's in this movie for one minute four shots. Yeah, maybe two right
[00:27:14] Just two quick things about zane. Uh, david, I know both you and I rewatched all of community recently He's got that one episode appearance on community where he's unbelievable In the last season where he is so fucking funny that makes you wonder why he hasn't had a
[00:27:28] Alec Baldwin style comedic resurgence because it feels like that guy is ready To just show up with a big bushy beard and be a bizarre comedic figure He's the Honda guy if people don't remember. He is so fucking good in that episode
[00:27:42] Secondly, uh, if anyone did not listen to our episode of course on Don John Uh, which was a couple episodes before this Sean Clements shares an amazing story about Billy zane Which I also is why I think we're taking to him so strongly now because we're like
[00:27:57] In that sphere of is Billy zane a genius? Did we do wrong by him culturally? Jordan I will repeat the story for you off my Yeah, it's a good story But Billy zane comes off great in this story. What is that? It's a story that that
[00:28:11] It cosigns your argument that perhaps Billy zane should not only have been alec baldman But should have been anointed the president of hollywood You you have this fake out movie and then you go to the Drive-in theater This yeah this this date with jannet jackson and q-tip. Yes
[00:28:34] Which uh I mean once again, I'm watching this and I think this movie's about a teacher, right? I think this is the tragic Back I know I just it was sometime after I guess like maybe 25 minutes in I I realized I was wrong
[00:28:49] But at this point I assume this is the tragic backstory and it's gonna cut ahead 10 years to her in a classroom on the first day of school or something, right? It's more interesting this being the overly dramatic
[00:29:01] Opening to a movie that isn't really trafficking in the same level of drama even compared to like when Tupac finds out that his cousin is dead is handled very differently than this sequence, which is so operatic. You know, yeah
[00:29:15] Yeah, that's very quiet the the later scene right? This is given the close-up on the gun and her screaming and the glass breaking and yes, it feels Uh It's sort of out of break. It's not it's not like anything else in the movie in a way Yeah
[00:29:31] But it's also like here's like everyone is still reeling from the death of ricky, right? And he's sort of like i'm gonna give you the ricky death right up at the top So the entire movie isn't the audience going when is someone gonna get shot
[00:29:44] It in some way it feels like maybe that was his thought process Yeah, that's that's perhaps I The q-tip thing is so interesting because like later when you learn about the rest of her backstory that her
[00:29:57] Grandma died recently and that her mom and that her mom also died her mom committed suicide, right? Yeah. Yeah committed suicide It's like she already has so much tragedy So to also have the q-tip thing is like okay, so this woman is surrounded by death like
[00:30:14] Right. Also the q-tip thing doesn't really come up Again in the same way that the stuff you're talking about. I mean, I guess it comes up But like it's casting this paul over the movie
[00:30:25] I it's funny also just because like q-tip is kind of a dick in this scene Which is Weird and like I don't think the movie needs it in terms of like the stuff it explores later with her character Like you said she's got plenty worth exploring
[00:30:44] That she lays out there but Maybe you're right grift that is sort of like him challenging the audience of like is this what you expect From me. I don't know and especially starting with this fake bullshit Hollywood movie, you know
[00:31:00] I mean, I just feel like he's at the very beginning trying to address The baggage that everyone's going to come into his second movie with to some degree, you know, and you also have just like the way
[00:31:12] The sequence is set up with him going to get the food from the concession stand and then you have that very weird Like split diapeter shot that that isn't even trying to look like it's the same image It's sort of like a split screen in terms of composition
[00:31:26] But with the split diapeter effect between it and the way that's just sort of like Just building and building intention them talking about the guy um It just feels like he's you know Coming to the table saying I know all eyes are on me right now
[00:31:45] And this is what you expect and I'm going to knock this movie right out at the beginning, right? First I'm going to show you the parody of the type of movie. I'm not going to make which I also think is sort of a statement of uh
[00:31:58] I was reading uh, I I know I'm going on like tangents off of tangents off of tangents here But but cam collin's piece when singleton died was really good. I've been reading a lot of his in memoriam
[00:32:11] The pieces written about singleton after he died especially because that death was so Surprising to people that I feel like it got these really great tributes because people had to suddenly do
[00:32:20] Real digging as opposed to it being someone who they were like, oh, I've already come to terms with the fact that this guy might never make a Movie again. He's 86 right um It felt like he was you know sort of pulled so uh arbitrarily and and early
[00:32:35] Um and cam collin said this thing about how so much of john singleton's identity as a filmmaker is tied to just his very first moment ever which is The the columbia logo at the beginning of boys in the hood With the screaming over it right
[00:32:52] And that john singleton was very aware of the fact that he was not an independent filmmaker that he was making big hollywood studio movies And that he was not trying to be esoteric. He was trying to wield the responsibility of being
[00:33:06] At the sort of center of the culture in a lot of ways And this whole opening feels to me like him just kind of wrestling with all of that Yeah, right. Yeah, definitely for then qtip gets shot
[00:33:19] Jan Jackson screams and we go to a notebook her name is justice and she writes poetry She is a poetic justice one could argue And he's already mentioned that that's what he loves most about her is her poetry Oh high school poetry man
[00:33:35] Were you a high school poet then? I mean I was mad as hell And I wrote it down. What was your tolerance level in terms of like
[00:33:44] What what kind of schedule were you on were you thinking you were going to continue to take it or were you planning to not take it anymore? Wait, what? I'm mad as hell Crazy joke griffin. It was it was I mean that talk about a sophomore slump
[00:34:02] It might be better that I didn't know what you meant. Yeah, it's fine Yeah, I guess I guess the idea with justice is that She's just got this kind of arrested life right like she's Like post this she's just kind of like
[00:34:18] Sort of trying to figure herself out that's This is a romance, but that's kind of the major plot of the movie Right, like she's just kind of still in a bit of a days She's got her friends, but she's kind of just kind of guarded now
[00:34:34] Yeah, put the put the shutters up right right she lives in her grandmother's house with her cat and she sort of just is like You know Her life is just her job I was feeling so it's interesting because
[00:34:47] She's supposed to be you know like a loner and sad and everything But I was honestly watching the movie just like man I wish I was living in this house and then she opened the
[00:34:56] And I loved the cat and then she opens the closet. It's just all these black clothes I was just like yes girl same I was just like this this whole thing where she's just like supposed to be like bitter and it's just like go out there
[00:35:08] And like meet a man. I was just like no like this is fine. Like I wish that's what I was doing Her job is fun. I just like that the first 20 20 30 minutes of this movie are
[00:35:20] Mostly set in the the hair salon. It's mostly people hanging out and chatting It's just got a good energy. It's funny Uh, and it's the that it's that's not really just the rest of the movie
[00:35:33] We're gonna we're gonna then we're gonna go on a trip. But like this is All good. This is all something I just could watch on cable 10 times which is I do feel like poetic justice is
[00:35:45] Ultimate legacy it's a it's fun slice of life stuff and it's I'm paraphrasing cam Collins again here but it's sort of like the argument that singleton was trying to make so badly at this point in his career which is like The the culture I'm representing is the mainstream
[00:36:01] You know, it is just a mainstream America that Hollywood does not represent He he I think so much the design of this movie is making Something that is just about a couple of characters and a couple of days You know
[00:36:15] And saying like there's sort of no bigger point behind this their individual points and scenes The statement is the the intimacy if that makes sense. Yeah, I would say so
[00:36:27] Yeah, I mean the only overarching theme that I got and I think I'm getting it more as I'm older is this idea that you know In this time, you know, the the late 80s and early 90s and you know everything after that
[00:36:41] There's this thing with like the older generation watching the younger generation of black um men and women and everyone else just being like They don't know what they're doing and they don't know how to be together anymore and like I mean
[00:36:57] I feel like that's very much in the my angelo part where it's just like There's there's this thing where it's just like everybody's having sex I'm like nobody's committing and like I feel like that's that's an
[00:37:08] Old kind of idea that you could put with like, you know any group of people white people whatever but I feel like this movie is kind of like dealing with the kind of like gulf between
[00:37:19] The kind of lives that the aunties lived and the kind of lives that the kids are living right now and so much of it is about like um like dealing with emotions and Like kind of like learning how to commit to each other
[00:37:38] And I know what and it's like, I don't know. It's kind of reminds me of like uh that In the terms of themes it you ever watched that boondocks episode where martin luther king comes back and he's like watching bt
[00:37:51] Yes, like he's just like so upset and like Like that is that is kind of like the perspective that I see of this movie Just like my angelo just like looking at these kids and it's like what are you doing? What is this?
[00:38:05] But then it's also so funny because he is so young. It's not like he's commenting on a generation from a distance He's not out of remove, you know Right the fact that there were so few black filmmakers in hollywood period, but right now you also have this guy
[00:38:20] He's 25 years old. He's making a movie about people who are practically his age Like there's just a lot of filmmakers doing that. It's fucking hard to make a goddamn studio movie like Yeah, he's I don't think of him like, you know, you think of the sort of
[00:38:36] So many hollywood movies of the past that mostly are not directed by black people are so moralistic and so you know in search of a fix or in search of a Like here's what needs to happen and that like poetic justice is not like that
[00:38:52] Which is great. Like and yeah, john singleton in general is not like boys in the hood things happen that are bad and it's You know trying to talk about stuff, but it also just kind of ends with like this is fucked up like
[00:39:06] We're sad like, you know this it's and we know nothing's gonna change We assume very nothing is gonna change. Yeah Yeah, it's not trying to really teach you a lesson which I which I like about boys in the hood
[00:39:18] And I that is a thing that I like about this movie said it's not trying to teach you a lesson But it's kind of like a young man trying to be like Man, like I don't Because I feel like so much of it is like tupac
[00:39:30] Not being in touch with his emotions and not being able to you know, just be real With janet and it's also but there's also the Regina king and and joe tori which that that's a whole thing where it's like they can't
[00:39:47] They also can't be real with each other either and there's this thing where it's like man Why can't we talk to each other? It just seems like to be the through line. Why can't we just
[00:39:56] Say what we're feeling and be honest with each other and yeah, he doesn't really Come up with an explanation for that. He just kind of explores it Which I like like yeah and like right joe tori and regina um, regina king are like performing
[00:40:12] You know very their relationship very loudly and like, you know, they're they're bigger than life and it's whereas right like tupac and janet jackson are Very afraid to
[00:40:24] Admit anything sort of, you know sensitive or vulnerable to each other and like they they have a lot of their their guard is up and that Put him in a fucking mail truck drive him across california. Like let's see what happens. Let's rattle it around
[00:40:38] Well, I was seeing this thing. Do you know what his original pitch was for this movie? No, was it like she's like a teacher maybe who like teaches kids valuable lesson about poetry No, that was my pitch for this movie before seeing it
[00:40:51] Um, this is so this is like talking about what second movie he didn't make. Okay I'm just going to read this verbatim john singleton's original idea for poetic justice was to do an army
[00:41:02] film because he was upset that a friend of his was sent to fight in the persian gulf It was going to be about a young gi's wife named justice who would marry a guy who was recruited from south central
[00:41:11] Los angeles and then would go off to live on an army base in japan or the philippines or northwest The man would spend all his money on his truck and not in supporting his family
[00:41:20] He would eventually get mad at one of the ceo's and end up punching him out Which then gets upset to jail justice would send impolence while he's locked up
[00:41:26] She'd have babies but with no money the idea of justice working at a hair salon came from her originally doing the hair Of other army wise for extra money singleton ended up giving up the army idea
[00:41:37] Since he'd have to do extensive research of living on an army base Well, he also he like he came up with a movie. He cut 90 percent of the movie away
[00:41:45] It was like but what about this person who works at a hair salon and is kind of bummed out right Which speaks to just like why don't I just simplify this and just make a movie about a person
[00:41:54] Which I also think was him saying like you know boys in the hood did not have a ton of substantive Screen time for women. There are not many women Movies being made about african-american women period. Let me correct that
[00:42:07] I have the power to do that and also knowing that if he cast a megastar They would probably be pretty hands off with whatever he wanted to do in the film Yeah, it's I I do appreciate
[00:42:19] I mean, I have a very contentious relationship and I write about it a lot In my reviews and things about like What happens when a black male director is like? Well, I'm gonna try to understand women
[00:42:32] Gonna turn the camera over here. Yeah, and it's like I I'm always just like I respect it I respect that they care, you know, I love my brothers, but then I'm always just like a lot of the
[00:42:43] Uh, the conclusions that they come to for why black women are the way that they are are really Fucking weird and I think that that's my issue with this movie That's my underlining issue with this movie
[00:42:55] But I do appreciate that he tries and there are some things like the thing about justice Like as a character is that she has she totally has Reasons like totally valid reasons for being the way that she is and then everybody around her is just like
[00:43:12] You know, like why don't you like smile more and why don't you wear nicer clothes? And like, why don't you like why don't you like date a boy and she's just like I just I just want to be left alone, man and
[00:43:25] And the movie just won't leave her alone Well, she's unfortunately the star of it so the movie keeps being like hey, what's up, man Movies called poetic justice. You're justice. Did you know that like how are you doing?
[00:43:39] Yeah, I mean you you said it Jordan that like the movie it does Ultimately end up being about tupac coming to terms with his own emotions, right and learning how to be like a more Emotionally intimate person
[00:43:51] He is ostensibly the character who has the arc in this movie like she is the protagonist But as much as the movie keeps on saying like come on shake it up She doesn't really have to change. I mean, she is fundamentally right
[00:44:04] You know, she's the pretty much the correct person in every single scene You know whereas he is the guy who really has to change Yeah Yeah, I think it's something we've talked to I mean it's like he doesn't want to
[00:44:17] Maybe that's why you have this overly dramatic opening Like he doesn't want to load her character up with flaws and issues So it's like well things there are terrible things have happened to her and that's why she's in a funk Where is right like
[00:44:29] Tupac is also just kind of a pretty electrifying performer I'm a fairly yeah big fan of his screen presence in general like so I guess he's also you're also just kind of like I want to know what's up with this guy, but I do think the movie
[00:44:43] Especially in the latter half is kind of just like more into it more interested by him And especially the ending like you know, like I always sign up with the idea that the The ending is the conceit of the movie, right?
[00:44:57] Whatever a filmmaker chooses to end on is pretty much the ultimate statement of what the movie was about up until that point If the ending doesn't feel like it fits with the rest of the movie It's probably a failing of how the movie was set up
[00:45:07] But the ending of this movie is the accomplishment of him coming into the salon To apologize to her to introduce her to his daughter Like he's the one who's making the move, you know
[00:45:19] Yeah, yeah exactly. He's the dream of choir like he's the one who's like i'm here. I'm ready I guess this is singleton's only movie about a with a female lead I mean higher learning is just like a big ensemble that would be the closest like sort of
[00:45:33] Jennifer kind of like chris christy swanson, but like that's it like yeah, it's true that he never really Does this again? He didn't make enough movies like you know
[00:45:43] But yes, it's a it's a mostly male driven uvra and and jerdane to like your point. This is the exact point in time Where hollywood should have been letting
[00:45:55] Julie dash make this movie. I'm not saying this movie in particular but her version of this right like boys in the hood And uh dars of the dust are both 91 Yeah, they are yeah
[00:46:07] And she famously struggles to get anything made she does I mean dars of the dust is a more Obviously boys in the hood is a freaking hollywood movie. It's part of the reason it just like smashed things down Dars of the dust is incredible, but obviously it's a
[00:46:20] You know he's innately a more commercial mainstream filmmaker than her. Yes. Yes But i mean julie dash has certainly said like it's been fucking impossible to make to get any funding for anything like she's well the
[00:46:33] Kind of like the black women directors of the 90s, you know, you there's sharyl denier julie dash cassie lemons and Leslie harris. Yeah, Leslie Harris and you know
[00:46:47] The well it's weird the weird thing about Leslie Harris is that she made the exact kind of movie that should have Gotten her a career similar to john singleton's and it just didn't happen. She's the wildest one. She Yeah, that's the wildest one
[00:47:00] Like that movie just another girl in the irt is not a perfect movie But it is very much like a bombastic fun interesting movie that like Should have broken through and like, you know, I guess I mean obviously it was discussed
[00:47:14] It's a big debut. Like if if it had come out now It would be a huge deal But for some reason at the time it really wasn't but in terms of like the other three You know, they were doing more kind of like our housey work
[00:47:29] And so I think that that's part of it because you know Like, you know, I mean I've talked I've talked in on other places and other videos and things about like how hard it was
[00:47:39] For me to find a copy of the watermelon woman and how I was like chasing down a vhs of it for years that I never got Um, I only watched it for the first time. I think like four years ago
[00:47:50] So that was a thing like a lot of those movies weren't really easy to find But but Cheryl Dunn's another perfect example of that where it's like, you know She feels like she should have been able to transition more easily, you know, like
[00:48:04] It's usually easier for people to move up in terms of comedy directors And it takes her years to get to make another movie. Yeah. Yeah, sure. Yeah, Cyril Dunnier. Her thing is like Ah
[00:48:17] Yeah, but that's the thing like it the 90s in terms of like how we think about black women It's almost totally shaped by you know, like john singleton spike lee and all of these things and also the players club, which is ice cubes magnum opus
[00:48:35] Like uh, I'm so glad that he didn't if he I kind of wish ice cuban made a bunch of other movies Just so that I could come on blank check to specifically talk about How insane the players club is like it does not
[00:48:48] That is one of the wildest movies that I've ever seen just nothing nothing about it makes sense But yeah, it's like It's interesting. I'm thinking was hit too. I mean, yeah, he could have made more movies
[00:49:01] He he he sure could martin lorenz could have made more movies too. Yeah That's and cube kept like writing and producing movies. It feels like he just chose to never direct again Yeah, I mean which I am you know, but yeah so
[00:49:26] I don't know like I don't want to like go do like a whole treatise on it but like It When you watch poetic justice, you know, especially the the parts with the the women in the hair salon
[00:49:38] Like it's very clear that john singleton is like he's taking stuff that he's heard women say And putting them in their mouths and like that's interesting But there's also like for me a sense that a sense of like there's something
[00:49:53] Missing in the way that they talk to each other like I like I wish it was better But it's it's something that like really can't be registered. I can't explain what it is But that makes the beauty shop not pop as much as I wanted to
[00:50:10] Can I throw out a micro theory? Hmm The other thing here is I feel like with movies like this, right? it's like If the filmmaker is going outside of the immediate purview of their understanding of the world, right?
[00:50:24] Uh, you know a very male director trying to make a movie with a female lead Uh, you have to sort of really be able to trust your collaborators to give you the insight that you do not organically have and
[00:50:37] The actor that he is putting at the center of the film and kind of trusting as a key creative collaborator has also been So disproportionately famous and she was a child
[00:50:47] You know and he said like that one of the things that major at jackson want to do this movie Was she has always longed to have a normal life that like part of the appeal for this movie for her was her getting to play act
[00:51:00] Not being a mega star by the time she was 13, you know But it does mean that perhaps as she's giving insight into the movie You know, it's like he's throwing out things that he's heard people say and she's throwing out things that she's heard people say
[00:51:16] Because her perspective is also so different from The everyday life of these characters Yeah, yeah exactly. So there's like a sense. There's like a sense that they're going for they're going for authenticity And it doesn't it doesn't exactly work
[00:51:35] Although like I will say one of my favorite exchanges in in the in the salon is Is at the end where there are those two women and they're staring at each other
[00:51:47] And then they they like start getting into conflict. They're gonna fight and then and then one was just like just remember Every sickle time you kiss your man. You're also like tasting my pussy. I believe that that shit is incredible Like That's a great scene
[00:52:03] The second major pussy breath joke in the movie, right? It's sort of bookended I wish that's so much the like I would love just like a beauty salon movie where it's just that where it's just like people just
[00:52:20] Like kind of what beauty shop should have been to barbershop a beauty shop was too like Cartooning that is my exact problem with beauty shop because I love the barbershop movies
[00:52:29] And I think barbershop 3 in which it is a combo barbershop beauty shop does a better job of it than beauty shop Oh, yeah, totally when they when they brought nicky minaj in there Yeah, and regina hall and everything that's much better for me
[00:52:42] I just like the idea of a beauty shop a beauty shop movie and once it gets into Uh, the mail truck it is What a journey what a journey we go on It's uh, right. Yeah, because it's like I mean that seems to be to some degree
[00:52:58] His big conceit is like I want to make two for the road, right? Like I want to make this road romance picture I want to make this ups and downs of a relationship
[00:53:08] Kind of movie can find to a vehicle with two couples, you know one real couple one potential couple It's also just wild to consider I know that ice cube is in boys in the hood and and lorence was risen
[00:53:19] But like boys in the hood has these actors who he's like plucking out of nowhere. They're making screen debuts He's making this movie about like hey, this is you know, this is the life you don't know about like this is real life
[00:53:33] And here he is going for again like this, you know, these are real people They got real problems and he's passing these two huge huge stars Like beyond the acting like they're just I mean janet especially is just like a a globe
[00:53:48] dominating force at this point like she's someone who like sells out You know a worldwide tour Just one of the famous people on the planet and to a certain degree There's a target on her back by casting her in this movie because there's that thing that often happens
[00:54:03] Especially with female superstars where it's like, oh you want to do this too now? Right. Sure. Sure. Sure. All right, jenna. Yeah. Well, you can't you want yeah Tupac I guess is about to be a mega star like he's a star
[00:54:16] He's a big name, but like I feel like his peak is more Than in the next couple years, right? Like that's when He whatever crosses over. I mean like what you know, he does the sort of his corny or albums, which I still enjoy
[00:54:30] Uh me too because I'm a big sap. I was always more of a tupac kid because he's emotional He's corny Um, but he's he's so good As an act I just I always like tupac like in any movie in the whatever the eight movies he made
[00:54:48] Tupac is great in this movie. He's so great. He's so good He's only been in juice before this, but she's also great in juice is like a big energy performance Like that's just like But like that he's he's so yeah, he's just magnetic in this movie
[00:55:03] He wrote this for ice cube Explicitly he wrote it for ice cube and jenna jackson And there are all these stories of the other actresses like jada pinkett who were like vying for this role so hard
[00:55:13] And singleton said we never did casting I wrote it for jenna jackson. It was my explicit intent I think he knew her a little bit because I mean he had done the remember the time video already at this point
[00:55:24] So he he was in with michael and everything but um He said like we never had auditions and those other actress who like have been reported were up for the role Literally just showed up at the studio when the movie was announced
[00:55:37] Because there were so few roles for black actresses That the announcement of a movie was like jada pinkett just showing up on the lot and being like can I get an audition? But jen jackson was the only person
[00:55:48] Um, he writes it for ice cube ice cube turns it down A because he I think is already signed on to do trespass at that point and b He said I don't think I can pull off being a romantic lead. I don't think I can do it
[00:56:01] I think he was totally right. Yeah I don't know because there's like uh Because you know all of like two pox angry scenes, you know, he's got this like intense vulnerability Whereas like I feel like ice cube would just be intense. Yeah
[00:56:15] Right. That's what he's really good at right at this point in time like and probably That's that's usually what he can give you intensity Presence but I don't yeah, I don't I don't know what he would look like in this movie
[00:56:29] I I'd be interested to see you know Him going in a more vulnerable direction. I guess I feel like he would be terrifying in this movie I just I think He turned it down
[00:56:44] He turned down the john singleton follow-up movie like he probably knew like, eh, I don't think this is gonna work for me No, I know but he was just like it was you know, just like that
[00:56:52] I'm not going to be able to pull that off people won't see me that way. I don't think I can do it You know and it's like we were talking so much about ice cube in the last episode
[00:57:01] But like, you know, he's become a very effective movie star But part of his effectiveness is I think he's very aware of what his range is And he's been able to translate that over to different genres and different types of characters But he's very smart about not overreaching
[00:57:18] And tupac like you watch ice cube when he comes on screen boys in the hood and you go Wow, this guy is a movie star like immediately You know this guy might not be a finely polished actor, but he's just engaging to watch
[00:57:30] Whereas tupac comes on screen in this movie and you're like he's an actor You know, he just immediately has that presence On screen his interaction is chemistry with everyone He's so good at listening to people and he's also just got those incredible eyes
[00:57:46] You know, he was he was so hot so fucking hot He's like one of the top five Hottest people of the 90s or whatever right like just I'm inclined to agree Like I'm just like I don't know if many people had a better face than him
[00:58:02] He like at the at the end um when god who who is the actress? I feel because there are so many like, um, you know Black woman character actresses in this movie and I want to know
[00:58:13] I think it's um, I think it's tyra ferrell who is the one who talks about how he has a how he has a cute nose And it is she does yeah
[00:58:24] It's also like he's got a cute everything the guy just looks good like that that's seen him entering in And and flirting you're just like yep Absolutely, you're the star of this movie. Of course you are oh my god
[00:58:36] And his name being lucky like come on like just he's he has such romantic lead energy I just remember do you guys remember, you know, do you remember the movie notorious?
[00:58:47] The notorious bg biopic anthony mackey plays tupac in that movie and anthony mackey is a is a very handsome man I you know like no no offense to his looks but like It's just like everyone else in that movie like, you know
[00:59:03] The jamaul willard the guy playing, you know biggie like obviously he like he looks like him He's imitating him. He's going for a whole thing But like when anthony mackey shows up his tupac you're like nah get the fuck out of here. This is not even close
[00:59:15] When they make the tupac biopic they cast a guy who had never been in a movie before Who just looked so much like him because they were like people aren't gonna be able to get over it
[00:59:24] His bone structure was so much a part of his like iconography. You just need to get that face Man remember when that movie came out? They didn't even screen it for critics
[00:59:34] And it made a bunch of money and people were like is this good and everyone was like no I I didn't see it, but I do remember like poor poor poor cat gram poor cat gram just having to like deal with
[00:59:51] Uh jada pink it being so upset about not being consulted about the movie It's like cat gram is just a nice actress who was on vampire diaries. She took a job. She didn't know Yeah, right just not not fair not fair not her fault
[01:00:06] It was just such a weird phenomenon that was like that movie came out and it was like wait Did anyone announce this? It's like No, it came out of nowhere It was very unceremonious because I remember when the lead up to notorious
[01:00:19] I knew that notorious was coming. It was huge notorious was like a big deal coming out Yeah, it was like came out martin luther king day weekend. It was like months of hype We got this guy you won't believe he sounds like biggie like all that shit
[01:00:33] And then like straight out of Compton. It's like oh my god like ice cube sun is playing ice cube and you're gonna You know that's gonna blow your mind like there was one of the most watched trailers on youtube
[01:00:43] Like everyone knew that thing was gonna be a fucking hit I remember I guess we had maybe done like a saturday record or something But I remember being in a bagel shop with you
[01:00:51] When one of us got like saw on our phone the opening day numbers for all eyes on me And we're just like flummoxed But it was like it made sense that people wanted to see the movie
[01:01:05] It just came out of nowhere and vanished just as quickly and no one ever talks about it. It's just funny to think about I think it was like made by some white. I feel like it was made by some white guy Like it was made by benny boon
[01:01:18] Was it? Yeah, it was directed by benny boon. That's like the weirdest thing about it. Are you fucking kidding really? I am not kidding you Yeah, but it definitely it had that kind of energy It feels like I directed that movie like that's the problem
[01:01:32] I feel like that's why no one was excited for it because it looked like I just assumed it was some white guy Like I don't know why I felt that Yes, it has ginormous griffin newman tries to make a hip hop biopic energy
[01:01:47] Oh man, but yeah. Wow. Yeah tupac You know, I I love that he He comes in and he flirts with janet and I love how mean she is to him Although like it's very hard. She is mean Janet being mean is something that like It's a little hard
[01:02:06] It's been it's a hard sell for me because I can always feel like I don't believe that janet jackson is a mean person But she tries and I appreciate that
[01:02:14] Well, I think that was like another thing I was reading, you know led her to want to do this was She wanted to seem more Personable and part of being more personable
[01:02:27] I think is also being a little more rough around the edges because she had spent her entire life with a very sort of like Carefully crafted public persona, you know and everything was designed towards being as kind of like likable and aspirational and electric
[01:02:45] And uncontroversial as possible to a certain degree And you know things like the rolling stone cover like happen after this, you know, I think she was trying to like To some degree demolish this idea of just being some kind of like
[01:03:02] Uh ivory tower pop princess, but I think she's really good in this movie Yeah, she's good. I like janet jackson as an actor basically always I think I think I always find her to be very locked in and charming
[01:03:18] I was looking this up after this obviously she had done a lot of tv up until this point, right? She's on good times a bunch like that's what I think of mine different strokes. She did a season of fame, right?
[01:03:27] That's what she had done. This is her first movie. David. Can you name what her second movie is? I'm gonna guess that it's clumps from the way that you're setting it up. Yes 90 years later to eight years later
[01:03:40] Look, I haven't seen clumps. Yeah, I haven't seen clumps in 20 years But I remember her being very cute and fun and great Agreed but everyone was sort of like oh nice of her to do this
[01:03:50] It's weird that this is her second movie that she could have done so much after poetic justice Then do you know what her next movie is after that? Mm-hmm for colored girls. Why did I get married? Oh, right. She's in that and she's in the sequel
[01:04:05] Remember the sequel where the men the poster the men are all wrapped up with one ring and the women are wrapped up with the other rings Oh, why did I get married? Right then she does. Why did I get married to and then she does for colored girls?
[01:04:17] Those are her only five Films she's made five movies. It feels like she's been in more Yeah, she three Tyler Perry movies a clumps movie And a singleton movie There you go That's Janet Jackson's film career
[01:04:34] And the in the why did I get married movies are some of the wildest performances that I have ever seen Like her energy in those movies are it's so chaotic, especially the second one and I did not expect that from her
[01:04:47] The second one becomes like a murder mystery, right? And the second one is so intense They're on vacation, right? Because the first one is like these guys are like, why did I get married? But like the second one is like, all right. Well, we already dealt with that
[01:05:02] So they go on vacation and there's something something crazy happens. There's a murder, right? Isn't there a murder in that mood? They go to like a tropical couples retreat and someone dies I don't know. I just I just remember this scene this this wild scene
[01:05:18] With janet jackson and her husband and like something having to do with like a giant cake at the office And this whole thing about her like calling him a bitch And like just like a lot of her just calling him a bitch
[01:05:31] And there's making a big show of it and like embarrassing him and I was just like, is this really necessary? I just remember seeing the trailer for the first movie and going like, okay, I get it So look it's like the big chill
[01:05:44] But with some like men are from mars women are from venus energy and then seeing the trailer for the second movie And i'm like, is this an all moe devar film like why is it like shots of her holding a knife and screaming?
[01:05:55] She really she really goes in for that movie and it's such a weird movie to go in for Yeah, but I do feel like tyler parry He usually is like telling his actors like you know get really theatrical like you can you know
[01:06:10] You can really have fun here or whatever. Maybe that's part of it But why did I get married two strikes me is like where he's in sandler mode where he's like the movies set in the bahamas I
[01:06:24] Let me call lions gate and tell them to book a plane because we're going to the bahamas My character has a medical condition where he needs to be massaged at all times on screen
[01:06:36] I mean if you have to do like one to two movies a year like you might as well like have fun make them into trips But then I read so those three tyler parry movies are lions gate, right?
[01:06:47] And and the two why that I get married movies are in the upper half of his highest grossing films Especially for the early part of his career Lions gate signs a big deal with jana jackson developed movies to be in more movies. None of them ever happen
[01:06:59] In like 2011 2012 they were like we're in business with jana jackson. Here's the deal She's got her own label and she's like i'm gonna make sci-fi movies I'm gonna make comedies. I'm gonna do everything nothing happens I would love a jannet jackson sci-fi movie. Yeah now i'm just
[01:07:16] Yeah, it's when I was younger. I feel like I was very hard on her performance And I don't know what I think I was I was a meaner critic when I was younger
[01:07:25] I like I used to write reviews like in high school and I read them. It's just like this is this is really harsh What was going on with me? It's made no I I think everyone is more like that in high school
[01:07:35] I feel like I have just become such a softy as I age for i'm like I don't know they made an effort everyone showed up like where he's like when high school You're like well no this did not clear the bar that I know
[01:07:46] One has to right especially if you're a film dork It's like that's the age where you're starting to develop like critical thought and you're like, okay Now I know what bad things are
[01:07:56] Like yeah, like I was way meaner about taylor perry movies when I was young and like now I watch them But i'm just like i'm having a great time man. Like it's That's certainly the idea of them right? I mean it's just like look
[01:08:07] I know I didn't see the one on netflix where people are like did he Like did they even like give people their lines before they like turned off the cameras? Well, what's that one called the wig? It's a fall from grace, but but I
[01:08:21] I call it the wig because there's just absolutely no There was I saw the wig and I was like no we are absolutely 100 not doing it with this fucking wig Um like it's it's like not it's still not as bad as that lace front that he gave
[01:08:39] Shamar Moore and dire of a mad black woman where it's like a lace lace front corn rows a corn row wig I have never I had never seen anything like it. I'm never gonna see anything like it since it's fucking it's
[01:08:53] Because he's always wearing the headband and the headband is to hide the fact that it's a lace front And I just couldn't yeah, I'm looking at it here. It's it's a nightmare It's terrifying
[01:09:03] At least then it was like he was making those movies for not a lot of money But for a fall from grace, it's like he has netflix money. He's a mogul And like whenever he's interviewed it's like Clint Eastwood like shooting the fake
[01:09:17] You know the baby doll in american sniper. He's just like I gotta go man Yeah, we got a day to shoot this like I don't have to fuck around put a wig on her like I don't care Yeah, his his schedule is as wild. Yeah, it's
[01:09:30] I would say though like top tier tyler parry the family that prays and medea goes to jail Even though medea goes to jail is a movie where you have to deal with the actress who played rudy huckstable being Like an adult right like and that's very jarring
[01:09:48] Yeah, right Yeah, um But yeah, she's she's good in this movie. I think a lot of her janets like Facial acting is really great in this movie. I don't think I really appreciated it when I was younger
[01:10:01] But like she she does a lot of work with her face I think my I think that my issue was when I was younger is that I didn't like the way that she recited the poems but the poems are a very
[01:10:13] Interesting part of yeah, look, I mean sure dain not everyone can recite these poems with the beauty and grace That I gave at the beginning of this episode. It's a tall order, right?
[01:10:23] Uh, but no it is it is that it is a jokes aside an incredibly big ask of anyone to be like cool So Maya Angelou has written original poems for this film and you have to be the one to recite them in voiceover
[01:10:37] Let alone someone who is already that well known and whose voice is that famous But is trying to step away from the public perception and create a new character It's interesting. You keep thinking like when are the poems going to play a plot role?
[01:10:54] And that's not the vibe that singleton's going for and no nor does it need to be I don't like that like I do not need this to be about someone who whose poetry unlocks something in the plot but like It maybe
[01:11:07] Maybe throws viewers where they're like, what what's with the interstitials where it's voiceover poetry Which I don't like what did that have to do with them in the mail truck fighting Yeah, I really I really don't know they they don't really connect they they take up
[01:11:22] Like space in the movie And they're nice to chill me out I mean, I guess I guess when like she's alone or like when she's thinking like it's in lieu of like voiceover or Silence, but yeah, it's weird The way that it's set up
[01:11:38] But I guess we should talk more about the mail truck in this journey because they're going to they're doing um two-potkin joke of joe tori or like doing a run and um
[01:11:51] Regina king and jana jackson are trying to go to a hair show and it's like in the same place So they're just like all riding together and Regina King is already with joe tori and it's just Regina king and joe tori In this movie Are so stressful
[01:12:13] Very much so joe tori I only really know him as He has a big arc in er. I have no idea if any of you Uh are aware of this. I know I know he's sort of like was on deaf comedy jam
[01:12:27] He's hosting deaf comedy jam at this point He's the guy who replaces martin lorenz when martin lorenz blows up so simpleton is very much casting him off of that Right. He's he's on er is this guy who gets in this big sort of protracted fight with dr. Green
[01:12:43] For many episodes. I don't know him that well like what happened to joe tori. Where where did he go? I mean, I think he's just still doing comedy I I but I I had seen joe tori
[01:12:55] In some movies before that he's in tales from the hood and I remember that yes, he's in house party three. He's in strictly business, which is this hally berry movie that nobody talks about ever
[01:13:07] Which is it's really just a movie. Yeah, it's like a it's like a hally berry romantic comedy and no this looks fun Yeah, it's a fun movie. I don't know why people don't talk about it
[01:13:19] um, he's also in the joe tori movie that I have seen the most is Sprung I have seen sprung a lot which is also like a two couples kind of thing Kind of a structure for a movie
[01:13:33] It does feel like that's the zone in which he's perfect, you know, is being like the guy in the second couple Yeah But I think yeah, I think you're right that he just kept doing stand-up
[01:13:45] I mean, I bet he's a guy who by all accounts is still headlining across the country Well, yeah, I mean I assume that's what happened to bill bellamy too and like I associate them with the same kind of era
[01:13:56] Right, uh, you know, it feels like where did that guy go and the answer is he's probably making three million dollars a year Right. He's just right. He just works. Yeah, but yeah, I just I think if I associate him so strongly with the R
[01:14:08] But right and he is the they're very stressful Regina King's in all of John singleton's early movies and He's usually playing a very big character. I feel like that was her early obviously 227 but like, you know, like that's her early screen
[01:14:25] Where she gets slotted in like you're gonna play Someone who's loud someone who's opinionated someone who's just kind of like, you know Boosting up the energy anytime. She's in the movie. I love her. She's great. I yes
[01:14:37] I just I am always thrilled to watch uh, Regina King. I'm never not Enjoying myself watching her do anything. I just think she's such a fucking pro Uh, and she's fun in this it's also like we've just watched boys in the hood where she's
[01:14:51] Electric but she's got so little screen time It just feels nice to see her being given this much even though we now live in a reality where Gina hell
[01:14:59] Actually, ever Gina King finally gets to do a lot. Well. Yeah, it's so interesting because like Regina King is like Was one of my favorite actresses growing up Like she was one of the first actresses words like I know who she is
[01:15:11] I like her whenever she's in something I'm into it and it's been so interesting like watching people like figure out who she is like Very late in the game Like in the last five years basically, right?
[01:15:25] Yeah, it's so strange because like she has been doing television since the 80s. Her first movie was a 91 Like she's yeah And she I mean, I think part of it is that she's worked mostly
[01:15:38] You know, she does like a lot of mostly black movies. What's up for Jerry Maguire, which it's so weird The thing is she she's so dominant and incredible in jerry maguire now Obviously lots of people pop out of that movie. So it's not like but
[01:15:54] post that you would think like Oh give her her own tv show or give her movies And yet still she's kind of just like a very reliable supporting player
[01:16:05] Obviously, there's also the stuff where it's like, yeah, did you know she's the voice of riley and hui and the boondocks? Like, you know, like there's all that stuff But like I remember when she was in ray in 2004 and she got oscar bus for that role
[01:16:17] She's incredible in ray Yeah Even then it felt like people were just sort of discovering regina king again And then like it just happened again five years ago where it's like, you know, who's the best regina king?
[01:16:27] And I'm like, yeah, she's the best. She's been doing this ship for 30 years She's been doing comedy forever But then suddenly she started doing like serious stuff like the leftovers in seven seconds in american crime
[01:16:40] And then everybody's just like, oh, she's incredible. It's like, I'm so sorry that you guys don't respect comedy Like I think that that's exactly what it is That's definitely part of it And and you forget southland the transitional thing she's so good on southland
[01:16:55] The forgotten prestige cop show of the uh, whatever early Teens what are we calling that the 20 teens? Sure whatever that is Southland the thing that she did with um, mr. O. C. The oc boy
[01:17:11] Ben mckenzie ben mckenzie never doesn't work ben mckenzie just works o c i'm done Going to southland. I've done with southland going to gotham You guys you guys know the gotham ran for 100 episodes. I directed three of them. You did a good job
[01:17:27] You showed up to the task Do you know i'm married to marina bakaran that that lady from from, you know firefly and shit Yeah, we met on the set of gotham. It's just one of those things where you're like, what's that actor doing?
[01:17:39] Oh, oh, I see they've constantly worked. That's what they're doing. Okay, right. I forgot Uh, regina king kind of has that like what's regina king doing lately turning in good performances
[01:17:50] Right always always always good always good literally has never missed. I mean i'm just looking here so it's like You're right. Okay, so you go like it's the early single tens right doing friday and then jerry maguire Which was supposed to be janet jackson janet was cast
[01:18:06] And dropped out because it conflicted with her touring schedule I wonder if even she had maybe recommended regina king for the role But it was absolutely supposed to be janet jackson playing uh, marcie tidwell
[01:18:19] Then her run after jerry maguire where it feels like she really should level up Is like how stella got her groove back enemy of the state mighty joe young right it's like Kind of whatever supporting roles in like this supporting roles. That's what it is. She's the friend
[01:18:34] 2001 down to earth. Ah, yes down to earth another cable staple that movie She rules in that movie. I rewatched that recently. She's so fucking good in that
[01:18:46] But that's someone finally letting her be the female lead of a movie and then she ends up like you look at the 2000s You talk about jordane like people not recognizing her
[01:18:56] Just as a collection of things for her to be in that should have helped her like cross over in terms of just name You know recognition daddy daycare legally blonde to cinderella story rey miscongeniality too Yeah, she's in she's in the sequels to the uh
[01:19:14] Both miscongeniality and legally blonde the the less liked sequels But that's like a three a three year run where she's just in big movies with big stars playing big parts Usually, I mean she's like the second lead of miscongeniality too. She's incredible in rey. Yeah
[01:19:31] I do not remember her role in um a cinderella story. I must say but i'm sure she's i'm sure she's good Also, I think it's interesting that uh, well, I mean this isn't a big movie in general
[01:19:42] But a thin line between love and hate is such a weird movie for her to be in because she's playing like The nice girl but meanwhile like lin witfield is of course like the main woman in that and
[01:19:53] I don't I wish more people watched it because that's a fucking weird movie. Have you all seen it? I know I mean, I know martin lorne's here's what I know about a thin line between love and hate
[01:20:02] I know martin lorne's directed it and I know that the poster has the papyrus fawn Which always blows my mind every time I see it. I'm not trying to do an snl avatar bit You should please look up the poster
[01:20:12] It's the only comedy brave enough to use papyrus papyrus is not usually the domain of comedies It's so bizarre that people think that this is a comedy because if you watch it it it's an erotic thriller
[01:20:24] It's so weird that it's yes. I believe my reading of a thin line between love and hate is that it's an erotic thriller I don't get what's supposed to be funny about it at all. It's not funny to me
[01:20:34] The tagline is while some women are waiting to exhale this one is ready to get even so it's coming for waiting to exhale It's like Get out of the way. We're gonna eat your lunch waiting to exhale
[01:20:48] And I know that lin witfield has it gone on the poster He's going like what's going on and he's doing full comedy face on the poster his head's tilted
[01:20:57] Right. Yeah, so it's so weird like it's it makes me think like it was sold as a comedy because he thinks it's a comedy Because at the end like lin witfield is having this like full breakdown. She's like attacking him
[01:21:08] You think she's gonna kill him. She's like she's like attacking rejina. She's like angry at rejina king Like it's like a full like single white female freak out at the end It's not funny at all. All right. I'll check it out. Yes
[01:21:24] I've never watched it been live between love and hate Just to circle back to the rejina king talk you talk about like it's feeling like people are are Discovering her quote unquote now, you know for the first time
[01:21:39] Uh, I even feel like there was that sense when she won the emmy for watchmen of like, uh, Finally rejina king is getting her due and it's like mother fucker. She already had three emmies before this She just quietly won three emmies in the 2010s
[01:21:54] I was good. She's she had won an oscar before she won the emmy for watchmen correct Yeah, but but even then it felt like on watchmen people were like finally and it's like she won an oscar
[01:22:04] Yeah, but watchmen is her getting a lead role all her other stuff was supporting stuff and watchmen was her having a Big lead role winning. I guess I guess that was the difference now. She's making movies I you know I support rejina king. I thought her movie was
[01:22:21] Uh good No, I thought it was a long guess review from david That pause like you know, you could put an entire lifespan between that pause I like which I I liked a lot of It's a play. I don't know like it felt it felt
[01:22:38] You know, it had a lot of this sort of like, uh play to screen david I I don't think I've heard you pause that long since the last time I said i'm griffin Thank you. Thank you for rushing to that joke, please
[01:22:52] I had to I had to I had to it was a talent Like that I don't have to have you guys seen one night in Miami That movie has like a lot of like
[01:22:59] Like what whenever she can she's doing something and I'm like, you know, whenever she can sort of fit in like flourish I like the flourish It is just a lot of that movie is people sitting in a room and talking to each other which is you know
[01:23:13] Is what it is. Yeah, I've seen that I reviewed it. Yeah It's it's interesting. I mean, I mostly talked about the conversations that are had in it because I right
[01:23:21] That's most of what the movie is but but I do think that like for what it is like for the format of just like Uh, kind of a one-room kind of story. I I think that she does A really really good job
[01:23:33] I actually think that she does a better job at it than like how Mulrainy's black bottom functions. I think she It's interesting I think she figures out how to do the whole theater thing better than that movie
[01:23:45] But I'm you know in a minority what I think about Mulrainy She's also the regent king has been like an incredible stalwart TV director like she's directed 15 TV episodes in the last eight years
[01:24:01] I mean, I think the you can I think interviews with her sort of bear this out She has some point where she's like I'm sick of making movies and playing the third leader the best friend or whatever
[01:24:10] And I went to tv and there were much better roles for me there And it seems like because the first thing she directed was a southland episode that it's just that classic thing of like
[01:24:18] You know, hey, do you want to give a you know an episode a shot? And then that's That's like the sort of the film school that you can do and she has you can see like yeah
[01:24:27] She did six but being Mary Jane scandal the catch animal kingdom green leaf pitch. This is a shameless good doctor insecure Before she does one night in miami Yeah And that's all in like seven or eight years. Look Regina King rules. This is what we're trying to say
[01:24:43] I like her a lot in this movie. Joe Tory kind of stresses me out I think he's good at the characters that he's stressful I I think the I think the Chicago was in a very weird position in the movie because he
[01:25:00] I don't know. I forgot like how quiet he is like for some reason I remembered the movie being Yeah, it's interesting because like Tupac is very quiet But Joe Tory is also very quiet and you kind of expect the other friend to be loud
[01:25:13] But really the only loud character is Regina King Regina King's like kind of loud for everyone which makes their fight scenes really weird because like Of course, like he ends up hitting her and that's like the huge thing where he get where he gets left
[01:25:27] And you know, he's not in the rest of the movie. But before he hits her He's like very chill like he hits her like Hitting her was just like terrible. But like he hits her like the because
[01:25:43] His feelings are her and you feel like his feelings had been hurt throughout the entire movie And he just didn't he didn't know how to talk about his feelings Which I mean this movie is so much about men not knowing how to talk about his feelings
[01:25:56] But he just sits there. He just he just stands there and his feelings are so hurt And then there's this long pause and then he hits her and that's like It it's it's interesting that he's just out of the movie after this. I understand why but
[01:26:11] I kind of wish that he His character was a better friend with Tupac so that they could like talk about this Because like Tupac gets a lot of points for being like no, no, we don't hit women
[01:26:23] I'm just gonna leave you on the side of the road. Um, but I I wish they had like he doesn't intervene at first though Like which is interesting like they do They let that moment happen where he does the kind of like look it's between them
[01:26:36] I don't know like he you know, he sort of does that like well I just want to stay out of this and then When jenna jacks, you know when uh, justice gets involved then then he's like, okay You know and then he right steps up
[01:26:48] But I do like that you give him that weird unsympathetic moment there Yeah, and I mean it feels like a very you know realistic response to like especially from a man like that It's just like well, you know like this isn't my business. They're fighting
[01:27:04] Yeah, the problem with uh With Chicago um, geochill and her gena king is that like She's just really mean to him and he just really does nothing until that hit like he's just Well even that earlier moment at the when they go to the family reunion and
[01:27:25] She's flirting with the other guy and janet jackson with justice goes up to her and is like he's gonna go ballistic Like he's gonna beat you you feel like that's not my read on this guy
[01:27:36] And even when he charges towards her it doesn't feel like he's about to really get violent, you know Yeah, no, he doesn't he does not read like a violent person And I don't know if that's like a performance issue or what it is
[01:27:53] It might be a writing issue or maybe not like maybe the idea is this should come out of nowhere But it does I'm not sure if that's true. Like it might more just be like this hasn't been layered in quite well enough
[01:28:07] For it to you know to me. I don't know. I don't know. I would like yeah Because I mean well chicago is a very hard character to like get a read on because the movie isn't about him And usually when you have a best friend character
[01:28:20] He kind of like comes out at the gate being like this is who I am This is what like he has to basically declare himself because he doesn't get to have these like specific character moments and
[01:28:32] Joe tory never really does like I mean his clothes are loud and he has the thing with the brush Right, it's just it's just his style like that's all the real characterization. There's this guy cares a lot about how he looks
[01:28:44] And like even the hair brushing and just like it almost feels like a nervous tick because he He takes out the brush during the fight and you just feel like he just needs to put his hands on something And they already do the joke about him stuttering
[01:28:59] You know and then he's got that big scene not that big scene, but there's the scene where he rips into Lucky for not dressing well Like it all feels a little bit cartoonish, you know in terms of just like This guy's just about grooming and nothing else
[01:29:14] Whereas regina king Is as you're saying like she comes in it's like this is my deal as a character. Here's what i'm about You're like, okay, I got it right, you know like she succeeds in that Oh my god
[01:29:25] Just like her going and drinking that 40 just like he's just like dedicated to that 40 and anybody who has an issue Whether it's just like i'm gonna do what I want. I'm gonna drink And you know what?
[01:29:40] It's it's very funny until it's not but yeah, it's funny at first I I do just also like movies that are designed this way where it's like, okay, you have a mail truck, right?
[01:29:53] It's this unusual like layout with the two seats in front and then all this room in the back The the dramatic shifts of the movie are pretty much going to be decided by the four square of who's where in the vehicle
[01:30:07] Yeah, ben. Did you ever work in a mail? I'm making this up ben Is that mail truck something to I worked it for fedex and I packed those trucks
[01:30:18] Right, but you never drove one around it does feel like very freeing that they can just take the mail truck on the road Oh man, I would love to be the ones in the back Yeah, you never went when you were a fedex driver
[01:30:30] You never went on a road trip where you took uh your friend to you seem to not even like that much his girlfriend and his girlfriend's friend No, never never worked out cool man
[01:30:41] Yeah, it's it's so interesting that they're just like fighting in the back because like I just keep on thinking like I would just be having sex back there and just like having I'd be like smoking some weed
[01:30:52] And like you know like and it would be just a thing where Like my version of this movie would just be like them coming out and just being them just kind of like peeking on just being like Oh, it looks like they're falling in love in there. Anyway
[01:31:07] Back to what we were doing. There's a sweet romance happening on the other side of the cab. Okay great Like they were back to yeah, yeah But they're so but tupac and janet are so guarded. They're so I mean, they really don't like emotionally connect for the first
[01:31:24] Two thirds of this movie basically right no and there's that huge fight early where she gets out of the truck And then wants to leave her behind. I mean it's you know Oh, yeah Well, because she's like she's just like, you know what?
[01:31:36] I'm a black woman and you shouldn't call me a bitch and you have to respect me And he's just like I don't care about you bitches like so much in this movie is just like bitches man
[01:31:46] It's right if I'm a bitch then your mom is a bitch or whatever like that Which is a great line because that's exactly true It's I mean it is this I feel like especially with these early films singleton really trying to make movies about like emotional intelligence, right?
[01:32:04] I mean, I think like about this dividing line between like You know how someone becomes an adult Especially since so much of these movies are kind of these like nature versus nurture debates And there's so much about the role of like families and these people's development and everything
[01:32:19] And then you have the Maya Angelou speech later where she says like but at a certain point like a person Takes responsibility for who they are themselves Um, you know it's on you
[01:32:31] Uh, I I feel like all of that is you know and and so much of just the arc of this character is him learning how to Uh actually engage with other people in a meaningful way
[01:32:44] Yeah, oh we we haven't talked at all about um his baby mama and and and tone low Man I love tone low. I do just anyone have a better voice than tone You know
[01:33:02] Oh my god, what what a great and he's like really blowing. I mean the early 90s I would just forget how robust his movie career was for a time there Just for a little chunk just for like the first five years of the 90s
[01:33:16] He is everywhere and and he is always killing it. He's always great posse surf ninjas poetic justice Car 54, where are you ace ventura pet detective? blank check And heat and then he is the heat's like the the crown on top We use that one hilarious scene in heat
[01:33:37] Oh my god, he was also in a cartoon that I see baron jamal Wow, I totally forgot about that. Um What what I was thinking about was actually um Fern gully and baby's kids
[01:33:53] Oh, well, yeah, he's he's the he's the baby and baby is kids right who pulls the plug on las vegas. Is that right? Yeah, he's pui and in fern gully. I feel like he's just like a giant lizard and he gets a song and I remember that
[01:34:11] See I was really really into seabaring jamal which was an animated series a sardine morning cartoon in which uh tone look played a hip hop teddy bear He was an anthropomorphic teddy bear with a bad attitude I need to watch this
[01:34:28] Because I because I had heard of it, but I've never seen it His song in fern gully just f y is called if i'm gonna eat somebody it might as well be you Yes
[01:34:38] Yeah, he's about to eat one of the hot fairies or whatever and you know, I You remember fern gully. It's it's a bunch of hot wood elves, right? Yeah Yeah, anyway tone look. He's great, but yes the early part of this movie
[01:34:53] I'm sorry. We got we got caught up in tone look, but uh that we didn't even really talk about lucky's Like his whole his whole situation that is the reason he's so emo and distant and you know tough to connect to
[01:35:11] He and tone look both have children with the same woman Who has a history of drug addiction? tone look is dealing And uh lucky is incredibly concerned About his daughter growing up in that environment despite the fact that he and tone look appear to be
[01:35:30] Kind of closer friends than him in chicago. Yeah, he seems to get along better with tone look They are pals in this movie and I I wish that there was more of tone look because they're just like friends It's because tone looks good. Yeah
[01:35:46] It's just like an earthy actor with just a lot of charisma and you're just like, yeah You just buy that people get along with it the best voice of all time Yeah, I just like the kind of guy's just like sitting on the porch
[01:35:58] And it's like I'm just gonna spend a couple hours with this guy Like we're gonna share blood and we're gonna have a conversation and it's gonna be great man I miss sharing blood so much I miss tone look
[01:36:10] He's around I believe. Yeah, I think tone looks still still with us. Yeah. Yeah He is yeah, I mean we talked about almost every other actor in the movie blank check has died
[01:36:20] So it's there's a there seems to be a blank check curse that does not extend to our podcast But does extend to that cast the cast of blank check. Yeah tone look Has to be on guard. I'll say also I'm on tone looks IMDb page right now
[01:36:33] his uh His photo his main photo and IMDb is him on the red carpet for tight nae With his arm and a sling pointing at the camera looking surprised. It's it's a really good photo Oh, yeah, damn wow
[01:36:50] Like it's got sort of like what are you doing here energy and it's like tone look What are you why's your arm a sling? What are you doing at the tight nae premiere? Oh man tight nae. That's a movie that I've never finished
[01:37:01] That's a movie that I start never finish ever Um, yeah, don't the tight nae is a movie anytime you throw it on you're like this has to be good and then like five minutes in you're like
[01:37:11] This is just boring. Yeah, it's at some point. I'm gonna like this Right like come on. It's a don bluth sci-fi apocos movie. And then you're just like why is this so dull? Yeah, I I truly don't know but yeah, um
[01:37:25] Love love this tone look scene and then you get into it and then it's the whole thing this scene is kind of like Kind of like emblematic of like my issues with john singleton and women where it's just like This woman is not only like on drugs
[01:37:42] But she's also like having sex with a guy in the house and doing drugs while her daughter is Watching cartoons while tone look is Is on like, um on the porch while tupac is there like there's just like so many so many things happening
[01:38:01] It's it's the most like let's talk about the issues seen in the movie. We're like, all right. We get it. Jesus like Yeah, it's way too on the nose. It reminds me of like all of the drug stuff in jungle fever, which I
[01:38:17] But at least the drug stuff in jungle fever, which I know what you like is presented like Operatically like that's the one like spike Lee just at least those so like dial everything up like crazy Whereas this is
[01:38:30] Like more just being like oh, well, this is like a hard hitting thing that's happening and it but it feels you know soapy Well, that's the thing is like, you know Spike Lee was always
[01:38:42] I'm not gonna put this in the past that spike Lee's entire career is so much about genre and tonal Experimentation right and mashing those things up in a way that to a certain degree has always prevented him from being able to like
[01:38:56] Cross over into blockbuster territory because so many people are just always turned off by like I don't get it Why is this scene so goofy? Why is this scene so operatic? Why is this scene so dramatic and John singleton was always trying to be a little more like
[01:39:10] Uh Focused, you know In in his tone in any given film the one movie of his that weirdly feels that playful is too fast too furious Which is the one movie where John singleton's like i'm trying fucking everything every scene
[01:39:25] But I think it bites him in the ass and a scene like this in the movie where he doesn't have The latitude to be able to really like play with tone enough to Pull that scene off in any way
[01:39:39] Yeah, no the the the scene doesn't work and it's also just like when you think about it in the wider context of this movie It's just kind of like why is it here?
[01:39:49] Like I you know, we need to meet the daughter. I understand that but it's like why If we're not coming back here. Why does the scene have to be like this
[01:40:03] To q-tip getting shot right it's like well, this is what's up with them and i'm like you didn't need to yell You know, I can I can be into these characters Without this being screamed at me I also think
[01:40:15] Like singleton one of his main, you know, sort of like concerns is the importance of the father, right? in in the raising of a child and what bumps me out a little bit is that like
[01:40:28] In this movie it's set up where it's like well the father has to step up because the mother is such a catastrophe As opposed to it feeling like this character's arc works just as well
[01:40:40] If not better if it is he is just not putting in the time as a father And by the end of the trip he realizes I need to show up
[01:40:49] I need to be there more for my daughter rather than it being like I need to save her from this, you know um and boys in the bull hood has a you know, obviously like the the uh angel abasca character is like
[01:41:01] Hyper competent in that movie, but it still becomes about like no you need to just be with your father You know, both of these movies have this thing of just like it has to just be the father and the child In very different forms Yeah, yeah the whole
[01:41:16] I love the I love kind of like the joke about that and um, don't be a menace Just this is like like I just need to drop you off in the hood. Like you just need to spend some time there specifically
[01:41:29] I I do think the jennifer louis seems very good Yeah, and I kind of wish that it was just kind of like that like if she was just like You know you need to go see your daughter like you could just throw that in
[01:41:41] Instead of yeah, right and like him showing up at the salon with the daughter at the end of the movie does feel like huge Emotional growth, but that doesn't have to you don't have to sacrifice the female character in order to make that happen, you know
[01:41:56] Right exactly like them like the mom doesn't need to be this whole The whole stuff with the mom just like leads to a bunch of other questions Like what were they doing together? Like he seems like justice is like a relatively quiet person
[01:42:10] But his reaction to her is like so like uh this bitch and it's it's weird Like when this is who your baby mama is like wouldn't justice seem Like like very very chill and comparison already. Like wouldn't you be nicer to her?
[01:42:27] Yeah, I kind of just can't even imagine them having a prior conversation Let alone having a child together, you know, no Yeah, it's this one like I feel like it'd be one of those things where it was just like
[01:42:41] It happened at a party he immediately regretted it and then he was just like um But I still don't even know how that would happen at a party because I just I I only just imagined
[01:42:49] Tupac brooding like I can only see him brooding and that's his energy the whole movie like it's so consistent Yeah, I do think the ending scene is very sweet though. The ending scene is great I I I always love a scene about like
[01:43:04] Dad's not being able to do their daughter's hair It's just nice I like them. Yeah, I like them this movie takes these like wild swings sometimes really You know, I don't know if I If I saw that coming but right I do like them pretty much throughout
[01:43:22] Let's also just say Tupac is so much fun during the family reunion Oh my god. Yeah, I love that they just like show up at this reunion and like And they're just like well, this is a big extended family. We can just say
[01:43:37] Right like they're trying to find the angle for how could we con our way into pretending that we're relatives And then the drunk uncle comes up and just serves it to them on a plate It's just like hey cousin
[01:43:49] Yeah, and they're like well great. Thank you for doing all of our work for us Yeah, I just love and this is also totally something that I would do just be like, oh, there's a family reunion I see food like this is it's just such a classic hygiene
[01:44:03] Like who's gonna who's gonna care really? Yeah Once there's like more than 50 people or whatever it's like, yeah, sure Yeah, like this is this is outside. This is this is a public event at this point
[01:44:15] Like keep me a burger. He's that's sort of the crux scene in the movie. I guess that's kind of halfway in That's sort of when she warms up to him, right? I mean because they're still fighting up until that point It's sort of right. Yes
[01:44:26] But then there's so much drama with Regina king and she throws up and all like that then we sort of get Side track to that but yes. Yes, that is That's when they start to to talk to each other
[01:44:37] And that's when Maya Angelou shows up and becomes the moral center of the movie She does have crazy screen presence. Maya Angelou Yes, I totally believe you do kind of just want to listen to her talk
[01:44:51] She yeah, she she's great in this movie and I just want to she's just I wish that she was like The Greek course of this movie because she's just sitting there just like look at the kids
[01:45:00] The kids these days like she says that she's married, but she's not wearing her wedding ring It's just like I just love this I feel like a comedy that would be like they're they're on the mail truck
[01:45:11] And then she's just like off to the side just like oh look right. Absolutely They just keep running into her. She plays like someone at the gas station Like it's just Maya Angelou is just always there But but but I do think like you're right Jordan
[01:45:27] The most she shows up in this movie. I want her to just be doing pretend it's a city for this entire film Like I want them to cut back to her at a table with John Singleton riffing on shit
[01:45:37] Yeah, and I did I don't know if you read I don't I haven't like read a full article on this but apparently like Maya Angelou like Mentored Tupac a little bit on set like and I'd love to know more about that
[01:45:51] And Tupac like he like leaves the set to go like take part in the LA protests Yeah, you know that's all happening Like it does feel I mean to think that like, you know Tupac dies what 95 96 like it's it's
[01:46:06] His whole thing his whole like sort of fame is compacted into like five six years And there's so much shit in it that's complicated and it does feel like
[01:46:17] Maya Angelou is probably one of the people who's like hey, hey like zoom out like think about that, you know like and Obviously, yeah No, they were very I mean she's like I've heard her talk about him a lot in interviews and stuff
[01:46:30] I think they were fairly close and she felt like This guy is in the eye of a hurricane He needs people to be able to guide him in some sort of way It was just so fast for him
[01:46:41] It's also I mean you're leaving out the other part of it Which is that like he left behind so much fucking war that he was able to still feel present as an artist for a decade after he passed
[01:46:51] He is one of the first celebrities. I was aware of dying. I don't remember Kurt Cobain dying But I do remember Tupac dying. I was like maybe a little too young
[01:47:01] For when Kurt Cobain died, but Tupac I was like 10 years old and it was like a big deal at school And like I had like a friend who was really upset like I'm that he is one of the earliest Celebrities where I was like, yeah
[01:47:14] See that's like the age difference between you and I because I remember biggie dying vividly But my my memory of Tupac is being like oh that new Tupac song is good And people being like, you know, he died two years ago
[01:47:24] And yeah, and y'all are both old y'all are both older than me because like my first one was aliyah Because that was 2001. I mean, I remember that too. That was crazy. Yeah, that was Humongous. Yeah, that was like a big like I could not stop crying
[01:47:41] During that it was so bizarre because she was I mean also she was like 22 years old like yeah I know she was she was so young. She was so big It felt so clear that she was on the precipice of becoming even bigger
[01:47:54] And then it was just like she died in a plane crash. What? Yeah, and it was for the like it was from the rock the boat video Which like after that like I could not watch that video for like a year. I still don't like watching it
[01:48:06] Right, right. And then you're like she already has A vampire movie in the can I remember trying to explain this to my mom because my mom was like, I don't get it She's in like two movies. She has like two albums like what wait wait?
[01:48:19] I don't get and I was just like you don't understand like like your sinker She was about to kind of take over the world like it was so clear She was supposed to do the matrix sequels like that was the other thing everyone was just like
[01:48:30] We we all agree that aliyah is about to dominate both Mediums and also just like just because she didn't have like a lot of out She was also like everywhere. She was friends with everyone
[01:48:41] So you'd be watching a missy video and she'd be there you'd be like ludicrous She'd be there DMX she'd be there like she knew everyone She was friends with everyone and she was very present even when she wasn't like
[01:48:53] And she had like married or kelly when she was a teenager Like there was just so much shit there in such a short life, you know She was and she was engaged to like a daemon dash. I believe when she died. Yeah
[01:49:06] That was the whole thing also like they had a whole rivalry like jay-z wanted to be with her And and like it was like jay-z and daemon dash like fell out because it was like who who gets to be with her
[01:49:18] That was like a whole fucking that whole thing was all those fucking things are so weird We're doing this with britney too And it's not like britney was not like people were absolutely aware of how horrifying the
[01:49:29] Let's say at the at the time we're recording this episode the britney documentary has just come out But like it is like what you just said jrenay and I remember that like where it's like all these guys were fighting over
[01:49:40] And it's like man, this shit is so it's so weird. I know at the time people said it was weird, but still No, it's it's fucking weird and she was just like so young and I was just like I
[01:49:51] Like I was like a kid, but I was just like can we just like leave her alone like Wait like when when two famous people I like are dating and I hear that I go Oh, that's nice
[01:50:01] And when someone I like is dating someone I don't like I go. Oh, that's kind of a bummer I don't understand the impulse to chart every single step of it and even just like in this last week I've seen all all the fucking like inches devoted
[01:50:15] To the erin roger shylene woodley thing and are they engaged or not because he said this offhand I'm like who gives a shit like I don't know who he is And I like her okay as an actor and I don't care whether they get married or not
[01:50:29] I think do I hope they're happy whatever The only thing I'll say about that is it's one of those things where you never know when shylene woodley is gonna pop up She'll just kind of pop up
[01:50:39] Where it's like you'll never guess who erin rogers is guys who is married engaged She went i'm like oh and shylene woodley and i'm like I wouldn't have guessed that she's back She's always here. I still refer to her as divergent. I'm so
[01:50:51] She's so divergent. It's no, that's a good. It's a good nickname I mean I will I will cop to the fact that I am very into the celebrity dating thing
[01:51:00] But I'm also like I prefer like established relationships. I don't want to know who's fighting over who like this is This shit is this shit is weird That's a great distinction jordan. That's the thing like when it like you have the fucking like
[01:51:13] Oh, oh, they're mad because he was seen flirting with her But he had dibs on her for like who gives a shit But if I hear like oh tessa thompson genelman air still together. I'm like great. I hope they're happy. Yeah, that's nice That makes me feel good
[01:51:29] I don't need to know about what's going on on a day-to-day basis I hope they are relaxed and watch tv together on the couch She was wearing her ring and oh no the ring was off and what what does that mean?
[01:51:42] Who cares? Oh my god, and the brad pet aliyah shawkat stuff was so fucking weird Yeah, let them be friends like that like It also just like this shouldn't we all be celebrating the fact?
[01:51:54] I can't get worked up about any of it. I can't it's because I just said then i'm gonna get worked up I can't I can't get worked up. Well, I'm worked up because I watched the brad anything literally last night
[01:52:04] So now I've spent the last 24 hours on this like tear tear down the whole system I keep I do keep on wondering what this movie would be like if jade a pink
[01:52:12] It was in it because tupac and jade a pink it were very famously like really really close And I also remember because my mom was talking about um
[01:52:20] When jade a picket ended up with wil smith and my mom thought that was really funny because like in the 90s Like with her and like tupac she my mom vividly remembered jade a pink it and tupac making fun of wil smith together Yeah, he's corny
[01:52:36] And then for her to end up with him jade would probably jade pink is what probably would have been amazing in this movie because she rules and She just has that like
[01:52:49] She she you know she could play that sort of early iciness of the character so well and then on you know unlock She I mean especially in the you know, and then I mean I always loved jade
[01:53:01] I mean she's in the matrix or i'm just so pumped about that It's one of the few things I think about every day that she's on the matrix for that now obi is back
[01:53:10] David i'm not going to say anything more but just because of conversations that you and I have off microphone at daily basis I just think it's incredibly funny that you're saying that jade a pink of being the matrix four is one of the
[01:53:22] There's other things I think about I know I know he didn't say it was the one but now i'm just compiling the list in my head And that that getting like top five ranking is very funny
[01:53:33] Um, no jade pink it would have been great in this but I also think I obviously as I just said the britney stuff's fresh in my mind I'm sure there's 18 new developments Every week to the britney saga since the time we've recorded this. Yeah, hashtag free britney
[01:53:49] I mean hashtag free britney. This is very much a free britney podcast But as I was digging into this movie jenna jackson got Two fucking razzi nominations for this movie Which the razzis suck we talk about how they suck and they're stupid
[01:54:04] The razzis hate women so much like I remember I remember the first time I realized that the razzis hate women very vividly It was Paris hilton getting a razzi nomination for repo the genetic opera a movie that she is
[01:54:18] Amazing. Yeah, she's so good in that and I was just like okay They didn't watch this movie They just don't like Paris hilton because like out of all the performances hers is the most interesting
[01:54:29] They they just pick the like tabloid targets du jour. They're such hacks. It's so bad This must have just been a like don't you know, it's that thing like oh, you think you can sing an act Well, we're here to like, you know poke your balloon. Yeah
[01:54:43] But that's why I was thinking about this I mean obviously she's had a very different arc from britney spears But you have like the You know deep into her career the super bowl moment Which just kind of like demolishes her and somehow makes
[01:54:56] Justin timberlake more famous, right? Justin timberlake a literal demon like I do not believe That that is a human man Absolutely. No, I mean the amount of women the amount of high profile women that he has essentially like destroyed the careers of
[01:55:14] Possibly we look listen to our Justin timberlake and the tenancy kids episode for This is I'm surprised that it's actually taken this long to get to Justin timberlake because like I am Number one Justin timberlake hater that ramen noodle head. Yes. I hate it
[01:55:33] I mean, this was our fucking Justin timberlake episode The tenancy kids was mostly me talking about just like I just cannot get over how much I fundamentally dislike this guy
[01:55:42] Right. It's us being like this is a very accomplished film and obviously a lot of efforts to put on but there's just something about Justin timberlake that we can't handle And like then we go through I mean, yes. Yes all all the stuff Griffin
[01:55:56] He is just the most insincere actor and I like and at the time that this will come out It'll be after this but at this time right now as we're recording. He's got like a new Palmer like by apple and I haven't seen palmer I
[01:56:11] Absolutely. I'm just I'm so mad like he's one of the least convincing actors of all time He's least he's also one of the least convincing people of all time Like if he turned out to be an alien, I would 100% be like this makes total sense
[01:56:25] I saw a headline today. I did not click the link but said Justin timberlake thinks palmer might be his best performance yet. Okay, cool He's never had a good performance. Yeah, also good for you Justin
[01:56:38] Am I supposed to be astonished by your opinion that your most recent work is the one you think is the best? It's it's such a weird thing because like out of all of the
[01:56:48] The soulful white guys like him being the white guy to go the distance when he's like not even like Anyway, I mean the real answer to white guy was soul as always john b john b I I I do I mean a
[01:57:04] Watching the britney documentary last night. It is just kind of astonishing how fucking corny justin timberlake was like More so than almost any other boy band member. You're just like this guy
[01:57:16] Well, because like his career would not have like been a thing if it wasn't for timbaland timbaland made him cool And also all the britney's shit like he just weaponized that so much being able to brag about it
[01:57:28] And also being able to like play the victim and all of that I bring this all up just because I do think there was a similar kind of like knives out thing for janet jackson Where it was just like do not ask us to respect you
[01:57:42] You know like to have her playing like a a an emotionally grounded Human being in this movie. It just felt like certain people were like fuck you absolutely not You're a superstar. You're a tabloid fixture. You know, you're a pin-up model
[01:57:57] You know, you could be many things but we're not going to intellectually engage with you And the shittiest here people like the razzies were just like fuck you absolutely not You're not only worst actress. You're also worse new star
[01:58:10] Um, uh rude I will say and you know post this is when she she does scream With michael jackson, which is the most expensive music video of all time Right, but it's also their sort of fuck the media song and then she does the velvet rope
[01:58:24] Which like is kind of her best album like in 97 I don't know if I can say it's her best album just because that's like a whole debate, but it's a great album It's an incredible album the velvet rope is really yeah
[01:58:38] And q-tip is on that album by the way he is and it feels like her being like look Oh, that's the joni michael. Yes Yeah, and like it feels like she's been like i've been you know
[01:58:49] I've been kind of out of this ballad for a couple years. I'm back with like this very artistically whole Thing that is different and it's you know, it's so fucking good This is just the I think this is just her best run like this
[01:59:02] Like early 90s all the way up to the velvet rope like it's just it's just everything she's doing is cool I think janet jackson is great That's my opinion on janet jackson Yeah, no, she's she's great. Um
[01:59:16] Yeah, we you know, I will finally people are starting to be like wow um just in timber like really like leverage that moment to like Like prolong his career and it's just yeah, it's It's it's fucked up
[01:59:33] She just like she for once she's been dealing with this bullshit since she was a child and she I feel like just was like I don't want to talk to anyone. I'm getting you know, I'm going in to
[01:59:44] You know, don't talk to me whereas justin just rolled out this whole like slick sort of Evil yeah PR campaign. He's like reading the scripted. You know it sucks. Watch that movie that movie's interesting but it's also just Yeah, it's just insane that
[02:00:01] With her it was all these people up in arms yelling like think of the children and with him It was like well look he's making good jokes about it Yeah, it's like she can't make a joke about it because it's her boot Like
[02:00:15] It was it's america is so weird. Like it was a good boob. It was a nice boob Like if anything, you know, I was just like well, thank you like that was nice. Thank you for that gift Thank you for the gift of that boob
[02:00:29] I'm never gonna say no to boobs. I don't understand what everybody's It's a whole we really america it was the lowest point for america saying yes to boobs and it's a problem It's it just reflects how bad america Really was at that moment
[02:00:44] I think a lot about the the snl sketch the week after that was uh, daryl hammond doing ted copple And he pronounced it bub and I think that is truly the only funny thing that came out of that entire scandal
[02:01:00] Can I just run through quickly? I know we talked about most of the movie And we we did some some janet talk here. I just want to very quickly run down some of the things that janet did not do as an actor after this Okay
[02:01:11] um, they uh wanted her they wanted to build a stars born remake around her Didn't happen. She really wanted to play dorthy dan dridge in a biopic Didn't happen eventually that becomes the hbo hally berry movie that really elevates hally berry
[02:01:27] She accepts the role of marcie tiddwell and jim rguyer drops out regina king gets it. She was offered trinity in the matrix Turns it down for touring She was officially cast To play stormen x-men dropped out because of touring
[02:01:45] I mean a lot of these we're seeing like the tale of The the roles that made the careers of other actresses. Yeah Where she just kept on saying like no, I kind of am more interested in in the music
[02:01:57] Uh screen three head of states. This is an insane stat She was originally requested to provide the singing vocals for katharine zeta jones in chicago They wanted to dub katharine zeta jones with janet jackson That's just weird just cast janet jackson
[02:02:15] katharine zeta jones won an oscar for doing her own singing in that movie clearly it was good enough Announced in 2004 that betty thomas was going to remake valley of the dolls starring janet jackson betty thomas Yeah, all people absolutely not yep, uh
[02:02:34] Eddie murphy wanted to do a romeo and juliette adaptation where she played juliette and he played romeo's father Don't really understand the timeline on that one. She was originally supposed to play the white witch in the lion the witch in the wardrobe
[02:02:48] She'd be good. Oh my god. That would have been good. That would have been good. I would have been into that uh, and then Tyler perich had to get her from a dais family reunion before I think
[02:02:58] Why did I get married was really built around winning her over? Yeah, and then you know at that point she signs the deal with lions gate never makes a single movie
[02:03:06] Uh, I I wish janet jackson had more of a movie career. It just seems like she's someone who Does what she wants to do and often that's gonna more point to music, right?
[02:03:16] Like you know, like she's got a lot of plates spinning her music career is kind of always there And often she just goes back to it and this was yeah 2011 it was j day j Excuse me j d j entertainment. I want to say j day j
[02:03:33] It's j d j entertainment And her quote was I want to make movies with a lot of energy. I love action films. I love sci-fi No movies come out of that deal Action sci-fi which that just reminds me of like hallie berry
[02:03:48] Like really really campaigning to be in the third john wick movie and then me just being like, oh my god She could have been doing shit like this the whole time. She is so good in john wick fray
[02:04:00] So crazy good in that movie. Uh, yeah, and especially like lions gate Like home of john wick is the exact place I want to see jenna jackson making sci-fi action movies. That's the exact kind of Unpretentious fun genre stuff I want her to be doing
[02:04:15] I would love to watch jenna jackson just like play a spy like that would be so good Box office game this movie was a big hit, right? It was a medium hit. It opens number one It's july 23rd 1993 it makes like 30 million dollars
[02:04:30] I wouldn't probably for the size of movies that it is it no one's taken about but it does open number one So it definitely You know makes a splash. It's got its big star big soundtrack She gets the oscar nomination for the song
[02:04:44] And also it's just being positioned in the summer like there's a lot of confidence from columbia number two is a great movie an action movie with A great star one of the one of the
[02:04:56] This this star usually directs himself, but one of the he's not directing himself in a line of fire Yes, yeah, I can love in the line of fire. I know a movie you love that was the giveaway for me there is how passionately you were talking about it
[02:05:11] Yeah, just a lot of fun. Just a great hokey old guy It's just the setup he's haunted by like JFK getting shot. He's still a secret service agent Well, that setup is even simpler than that that movie is money in the bank the second you say
[02:05:29] Clint Eastwood plays a secret service agent You're like, yeah, absolutely. Take me there. Um number three is another movie. I love this is just a great time What a great time for schlocky thrillers this is
[02:05:44] Um, you could just go see poetic justice or maybe we go see a thriller first then see poetic justice second To kind of like, you know unwind a little bit, but this is major star Uh best-selling novel um
[02:06:01] Yeah, I just a thriller. Yeah, I so badly want to say what if there was a but you know, it you know what it is It's kind of a it's kind of a there's something up with title with the it's it's is it the good son
[02:06:16] No, it's not the good son. It like major star major major like huge huge star huge the biggest major author of the 90s. It's the firm well done griffin Thank you, and it's fourth week. It's made a hundred and four million dollars. Something's up with that firm griffin
[02:06:31] Yeah, what if there was a firm two and a half hours long and when it's over you're like, that's it. There's not more What's up with the firm The firm is so long It has a seed where a kid backflips down
[02:06:44] on Memphis street and everyone acts like it's normal And then like tom cruise is like it's like oh, I could backflip too. It's the it's the most bananas movie
[02:06:54] It's the most stackcast, but I just love where it's like what's the pitch? What's up with this this lawyer joins a law firm? Oh, okay Well, what happens while there's something up with the firm from this is not a good firm
[02:07:06] They're up to no good. It's a radical sci-fi premise. What if these weird? ivory tower financial institutions are actually completely morally fucked Gene Hackman is in a role written for meryl streep. It come on. It's the best
[02:07:22] All right number four. He also uncredited because he was angry that he wasn't above the title Something like that. He's maybe only credited in the end or whatever. But yeah, something like that Number four is a film I saw in theaters children's film um big hit
[02:07:37] You probably saw this in theaters. It might have been too young a disney movie. I almost definitely saw it's not a disney movie It is a live action movie. It's live action um with an animal
[02:07:49] Which was just a cornerstone of children's entertainment at the time. It's not Beethoven, right? No Bigger uh big bigger Is it free willy? It's free willy. I mean how many animals are bigger than Beethoven?
[02:08:03] Absolutely saw in theaters. Uh, so you kind of you have michael and janet at the box office That's true. Of course. Will you be there? Do you remember when the whale jumps? He sure does
[02:08:15] In free willy? No, I don't remember that happening. It happens at the end of the movie No, it's the last thing that happens to the movie No, no, I would remember that I would remember that Is this big moment that comes right at the end?
[02:08:27] Okay, okay, but what you're talking about like a little jump Certainly he didn't clear like the entire height of a kid or something He can't clear like a jason james ricketer type right? No, I'm talking two three feet
[02:08:38] No way he cleared like five foot two. He's like a stunt man in this Yeah, he is. He sure is caco, of course They made like four of those in an animated series and everything I think there's three theatricals and direct a video
[02:08:54] I you're probably right. We could probably do that on the picture Yeah, the fourth one is called uh free free willy escaped from pirates cove just fii That's what the fourth one's called
[02:09:04] I think the cartoon was like captain planet where there were like robot pirates who were trying to pour toxic waste into the Ocean free willy has like lasers on his back and shit Yep, there's a cyborg
[02:09:15] I also want to point out that the straight to video sequel free willy escaped from pirates cove stars uh bindi urwin the daughter of Of course, uh steve urwin the crocodile hunter Um number five of the box office griffin is the most successful film of 1993
[02:09:32] The most successful film of 1993 well 92 is Aladdin 91 is terminator two Going the wrong direction. I know but i'm just trying to Familiarize myself with the other the other films of The time of course 94 is gump 95 is toy story. Why is 93 the one that I can't remember
[02:09:55] I don't know this movie's big bigger than any of those movies It's bigger than any of those movies So it's it was one of the 10 highest grossing films of all time when I came out I think it was number one practically It was practically. Oh, of course
[02:10:10] I am a dumb dumb the movie is called Jurassic park Jurassic park Jurassic big hit but number six and ben I want to know if you like this movie Opening at number six coneheads Ben
[02:10:24] Were you a conehead fan? Why waste airtime asking this question? I just want to hear him say it Yeah, just let him say it He's not saying anything It's been frozen Oh my god
[02:10:38] Oh my god, it's been terrible for the first time in the history of this podcast coneheads has come up organically and ben is frozen This is tragic. I thought he was just doing a david-esque pause. I thought he was
[02:10:53] It was crazy how satisfied he looks on the zoom. He looked so satisfied Oh my god, it's midnight No one tell ben that it says david sims is the host now david has gone full bar caught obdi He is the host now
[02:11:10] Please I beg our listeners do not tell ben that coneheads came up without him. It will break his little heart This has to be our secrets Sure dame. Thank you so much for being on the show. You're one of our favorite people to have on as a guest
[02:11:24] Thank you so much for having me Um people should listen to uh bad romance Yeah Yes, please listen to bad romance and give us good reviews We just recently had griffin on to talk about the breakup the breakup one of my favorite, uh, uh,
[02:11:44] Guilty I hesitate to even call it guilty pleasure But a movie I've spent a lot of my life defending and where somewhat unlikely to ever do payton read on this show So I was very very grateful to have an opportunity. I'd like to do payton read one day
[02:11:57] Maybe someday, but yes I did a very impassioned defense of the breakup a movie that few people have ever thought about more than once Uh, and then I've probably seen eight times
[02:12:08] Folks, thank you all for listening. Please remember to rate review and subscribe. Thanks to Joe Bone and pat rounds for our Work. Thank you Deline Montgomery and the great american novel for our theme song Thank you to Marie Barty for our social media
[02:12:23] Thank you to our editing team alex barron and aj mckinn Go to blankies dot red dot com for some real nerdy shit and go to our Shopify page for some real nerdy shirts and other types of merchandise that don't fit into that paradigm of
[02:12:39] Speech that easily. Yes, you could go to patreon.com slash blank check where we're talking about Whatever franchise one march madness or maybe if that one was short we're talking about some other thing Maybe we're talking about free willy. I don't know
[02:12:52] Hey, ben, uh, welcome back. How are you doing? Fine I want to hear what this movie was so annoyed. Oh, don't worry. I don't think it's a movie you cared about that much We won't even talk about it Wait, I can't tell him
[02:13:05] I don't think it was like a pivotal totemic movie for you. I see we should end after we'll see Yes, good call good call tune in next week for higher learning And as always coneheads Fuck you The goddamn fucking masterpiece Oh, that was worth it. That was great