Transcript of 70mm’s Barry Lyndon (1975) Episode.
SLIM Hey, it’s your old pal Slim, and this is 70mm, a podcast for film lovers just like you. Every Monday I chat about recently watched movies with my close friend and artist, Danny Haas.
DANNY We sat down, and we got 25 minutes in, and all of a sudden the TV pauses and I look over and she’s like, “I can’t do this.” And I’m like, “Okay, I’ll go to my office and watch it.” That was it. She was done.
SLIM And my close friend and movie insider, Protolexus.
PROTO This was another situation where I’m sitting down on the couch, and my kids are around me, and I think I had the Vudu account up and this was on there. And I’m looking and I’m thinking, “Can I watch this with kids in the room?”
SLIM Every month, we have a new theme that guides our featured presentation for that episode. And this time around, we’re continuing with 70s Month and Proto’s pick, Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon from 1975. Is it the most beautiful movie ever made about the soul sucking nature of the elite class? Or is Barry just a total dud? Use the chapters in your podcast app to skip right to that discussion, and let’s find out the answer to that question right now.
[70mm theme song ramps up, plays alone, fades out]
SLIM The hot Discord topic of the day. Every so often I decided we should talk about what’s going on the Discord. You know, if you’re a supporter, you can get action in the discord. Talk about hot movie topics. See what kind of snacks people are eating. Austin Butler. Have you heard about this guy, Austin Butler? [Danny laughs] He played Elvis in this Elvis movie, Baz Lurhmann. He’s sexy, he’s sweaty, he’s Elvis personified. He just won like a Golden Globe for his role in as Elvis.
PROTO The king.
SLIM But he’s getting guff online because he’s got like this Elvis drawl. People are guffing him Proto. You’re the insider, you’re the Movie Insider. You’ve got your your ears to the railroad tracks. What do you think about all this?
PROTO I wonder if this is just a real condition that he’s suffering from? Is this something that actors experience where they really pour themselves so much into a role that they can’t escape it later on? Should he be seeking help for this? Or is this a good side effect? I thought, I also that thought crossed my mind as well as, you know, maybe he tried his accent out for so long that he just liked it enough to keep it? Maybe that’s what’s going on.
SLIM You never do some so often you start to like it?
PROTO We’ve all been there. [Slim laughs]
SLIM We’ve all been there. Danny, what do you think about this? You’re a big Elvis, Elvis is huge for you. Right?
DANNY Aficionado.
SLIM Aficionado, they call it. So when you haven’t even seen this movie, though. You refuse to see it.
DANNY No, I’m not watching this.
SLIM Until musicals month and I choose it and I force us to watch it.
DANNY It’s not even a musical.
SLIM I mean, they’re singing, right? He’s saying things and none
PROTO of us have seen it.
SLIM Everyone, everyone listening in their car, their fists are clenched.
DANNY They’re hite knuckling it. I’m not watching this movie. But you’re taking a stand. This accent is ridiculous. Get it out of here.
[clip of Austin Butler acceptance speech plays]
AUSTIN BUTLER My boy, my boy. Oh, man. Oh, my words are leaving me. I just am so grateful right now. I’m in this room full of my heroes. Brad. I love you. Quinn. I printed out the pulp fiction script when I was 12. I cannot believe I’m here right now. I just want to thank the Hollywood foreign press for this honor. I want to also say to my fellow nominees, you have turned in the most beautiful, profound work, and I’m so honored and proud to be listed among you.
SLIM Didn’t Madonna have like an English accent for a few years? Remember that era? Remember, Madonna?
DANNY I am not a Madonna aficionado. I don’t know. Her TikToks are scaring me though.
SLIM Listen, Madonna. We care for you. I have seen some of these TikToks float into my IG explorer. I can’t handle what goes in there any any anymore on handleable supporters we talked about supporters get access to discord we have on the calendar our next pilot episode recording pilot episodes we discuss TV shows this iteration of our season of like supporter episodes. That was our most recent episode. Killed. Gilmore Girls oh my god we recorded that ages ago we need a wake up. So Gilmore Girls is our last episode. The next one is on the docket stay 10 supporters. I thought you’re about to say no. Derya Mike Hanna says Daria when number that show Daria on MTV. Now let’s get into proto 2.0. Yeah, this is the year Frodo reimagined. And you finally took the step to watch everything everywhere all at once. Last we spoke while you
DANNY watched it. I didn’t see that.
PROTO That’s because our letterbox feed bot was down. Oh no.
SLIM I want to panic. Nobody knew how to find people’s reviews. Yeah, when this discord bot died.
PROTO Where’s the website where you read these reviews? Does anybody know? I did watch it. I was I got it gifted to me in the VHS village Secret Santa from our DW or our DW rWt chance. He gifted it to me. So I was finally able to see this movie. It’s as crazy as everyone said, it’s all true. It’s a fun ride. You know, it’s a fun movie. I had a great time watching this. It was great to see short round back in action. You know, I kind of had like an up and down experience with it though, because I thought the first half hour was so well crafted, where it was just kind of you know, quote unquote, straight with the realities that I felt like I could have watched a whole movie of that the way they were telling the story, the dynamics between this family and then you know, it gets pretty crazy in the meat of it. You know, it’s like I don’t know, but then by the I really it was finishes really, really strong from film. So I had a great time finally getting around to this.
DANNY I haven’t clicked on Letterboxd but how many stars did you give it?
PROTO I gave it four stars.
DANNY Beautiful. Perfect.
SLIM Have you seen Swiss Army Man? With Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe, their previous movie?
DANNY The farting movie,
SLIM The farting movie.
PROTO The farting movie? No, I have not.
SLIM Oh my god, I’d love to get your take on that.
PROTO I’d love to get my take too.
SLIM Farting Month. Swiss Army Man would it be my pick, probably.
PROTO Write that down.
DANNY Lighthouse.
SLIM Fart-ober, Traynor suggests.
PROTO Farch. [Danny & Slim laugh]
SLIM I mean, we talked about 2.0, but you’re on a run, you watched Banshees of Inisherin as well. Yeah, I started overseer attached to so many Oscar buzzworthy movie in my life.
PROTO Well, you know, a lot of movies hit streaming right at the right time. So this this is on HBO max at the moment. Yeah, I kind of snuck in like a half hour this here half hour. They’re like down in the family room. You know, when my kids passed through, you know, like pausing the TV, they want to get a drink of water go back upstairs. I was at you know, I was I was grinding this movie. Um, but I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it. It actually it reminded me of of a of like reading a book. I don’t know if that makes much sense. But it had like the way that the scenes in the movie were so um, so intimate between the characters, but then it takes place over a good length of time. But the characters were really compelling. I would say it’s like a really good, you know, character study on this amazing Island who knew that there was islands around Ireland? Yeah, who would have thought? so that you can live on an island off of an island? Innovating.
SLIM Your enunciation on that word is freaking me out, innovating.
PROTO I guess that four stars though. Colin Farrell. What an actor.
SLIM Yeah, he’s having a run. He just want he wanted the Golden Globes as well. So that coupled with your review, I mean, everyone was talking about Banshees, but I finally made the effort to add it to my watch list officially. So we’ll see what the future brings. I like telling you think I do want to hear about one more movie that you watch. You watch a lot of movies if I may, Aleta Battle Angel. What pushed you to watch this Robert Rodriguez vehicle.
PROTO This was another situation where I’m sitting down on the couch and my kids are around me, and I think I had the Vudu account up and this was on there. And I’m looking and I’m thinking, ‘can I watch this with kids in the room?’ I say, you don’t know unless you try, so…
SLIM There’s no way to find out unless you hit play.
PROTO So I put it on and me and the boys are having a great time watching this. You know this very flashy reminds me of Speed Racer a lot in the way that it feels the way that it looks. Robert Rodriguez vehicle Alita Battle Angel screenplay written co written including with James Cameron James Cameron yeah he worked on the screenplay.
SLIM Long gestating project for Cameron this movie. I think he’s been like attached to that game for a really
PROTO Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t really know anything about Aleta battle. Is it? Is it a manga?
SLIM It is based on a manga Yeah, okay. What do you think of the CGI because that’s my main memory when I first saw it I thought I had the best CGI I’ve ever seen at the time
PROTO Yeah, I thought it was very good Yeah, I saw kind of like glimmers almost of like the way of water in this I wonder if I wonder what kind of tech they were using for this because I thought it looked really good like the action scenes were actually really compelling and you know, they weren’t just like, like mushy or just you know, nonsensical but like the combat scenes were really good and then there’s like, the roller ball that’s in this little amazing as well. There’s just you know, they’re like on roller skates, the cyborgs fighting each other which is which is good stuff. At one point Yeah, Jenna did come down into the room and she she said you got to turn this off so I did that all right, we finished it when she disappeared again. It was
SLIM was it 4k? Is there 4k available that or is that just HD?
PROTO I don’t remember. I remember though. The manga
SLIM of that I think was rereleased or finally made digital when I was at Comixology and we I think the rerelease removed some panels because it was like super racy like that. They’re like the first issue there’s like a hot scene in the first like couple of pages and you know how monetarists you know why k y k?
DANNY Talk to me.
SLIM Nobody Google Battle Angel Aleta remove pages nobody do that. Let’s say hello to some new patrons Connor Hector Ben Kylo Nell B and John all joined since we last recorded they got access to that VHS village discord we talked about 30 Plus apps in there we have and those are available to patrons but also if you subscribe via Apple or Spotify you can get access to just those episodes. We also give out a free year of litter box pro every week and we have a winner on the tag the review 70mm pod on Letterboxd for the new plus in boots use is DreamWorks back? Yes. Is this better than Avatar? Yes. Oh, will this be in my top four movies? No, but if there was a fifth one it could be beautiful story and gorgeous animation. Even the jokes are actually funny which I did not expect, need the anime version ASAP.
SLIM When are you seeing Puss in Boots, Danny?
DANNY Never.
PROTO Is that because of its relation to Shrek?
DANNY Shrek adjacent.
SLIM Shrek Cinematic Universe. But it’s using the Spidey animation.
DANNY by No I don’t. I saw the trailer I don’t believe my kids will watch it.
SLIM You won’t. You did watch a few maybe at least one animated movie Atlantis which I want to hear more about.
DANNY Atlantis. I was trying to watch something with my kids on that day. None of them sat down with me when I hit Play, which is fine. But they all walked through like staring at it for like five seconds. Like they were about to sit because they were actually interested. I watched a video of a Yeah, I watched Atlantis The last Empire Disney animated film from I believe 2001. And it’s just one that I love. I love it dearly. It’s it’s underrated. It’s gorgeous animation. It’s it’s awesome. It’s like a production design by Mike Mignola. And it’s just it’s some beautiful stuff. It’s just a like a long forgotten Disney animated film that I feel like more people should watch and it should have a better presence in the Disney Parks etc, etc. And I love Michael J Fox also as the lead Yeah, character he just it just works really well. His voice is so iconic. But yeah, I love that film. It’s a beautifully animated film.
SLIM This came out during the kind of like, forgotten era. Was this the Brother Bear era as well? Sure.
DANNY Yeah, it’s around this around this time. Coming out of the Renaissance,
SLIM right. What’s the name of that? Era? Does it have an era name?
DANNY This era? Yeah, no, not really. I mean, it’s it is it’s like the like the second renaissance or something. I don’t know what they wanted to call it.
SLIM That’s terrible name.
DANNY Yeah, they’re so dumb. The renaissances show I
SLIM mean, all this complaining about this genie Plus app I’m seeing online what are we taught Talking about it all the genie
DANNY lesson. This isn’t a theme park podcast.
SLIM There’s plenty of theme park podcasts you can get into discuss whether or not Genie Plus app is good or bad. What about Moon fall?
DANNY Moon fall? Yes, thank you for bringing it up today. I was flipping through whatever to watch while I was working. I don’t know why I came across Moon fall. And then I just pulled it up on letterbox and I saw a proto three star on it. And I’m like, hell yes. I didn’t read his review until I was done. But I saw that he had a three star on it. So I just fired it up on HBO backs. And God, it was a lot of fun. I just enjoyed the hell out of that movie. I didn’t. When you see like, I think the average on letterbox is like a two point something like it’s bad. So my expectations were very low and it didn’t really disappointed. It just was there and it was exciting. It had a lot of like really it I was interested in the whole moon getting closer to Earth type catastrophic event. It was pretty cool idea. The back half of the movie gets bonkers, like, incredibly bonkers. It goes where I was definitely not expecting. But I had fun. It’s just fun. It’s a fun sci fi film. And I was shocked at how much fun I actually had.
PROTO We also have developed palettes for the US disaster you rang and we grew we grew up with these movies here, right?
DANNY Yeah, we were molded by these disaster movies. So we knew what to expect. Patrick Wilson looks incredible in this film to Patrick Wilson good old Patrick his body Mike Kelly Mary granted to the fun movie and the kid from Game of Thrones how we should
SLIM do that. We didn’t do the conjuring we should do the conjuring one day.
DANNY Scary month. Yeah, so now that I move on was fun. Check it out.
SLIM HBO Max. Yeah. Just a reminder. Barry Lyndon right around the corner. Barry Lyndon Stanley Kubrick. He’s back Kubrick’s second appearance on this podcast. Not physical, allegedly, you know his main feature presentation. Do I want to talk about we have time? We always have time. I rewatched Maverick? For the first time since I saw theaters. He looks fantastic on paramount. Yeah, whoever’s in charge of the back end. They’ll do a good job last year in your paycheck my friend. Hannah wants me to talk about the jump streets.
DANNY No, I’ve never seen a Jump Street my God. Is there a 21 before 22
SLIM They don’t make them like this anymore. Answer me. Is there’s 2121 22 It’s based on old television. No, thank you. I’m getting I’m getting beachball on the browser here. Let me see. All right. I’m good. Yeah, 21 Jump Street. Phil. Lord Christopher Miller ever heard of them? Have you ever heard of them? The director solo movies. They got booted off the solo movie for whatever reason cloudy with a chance to meet balls. They were directors of banger The Lego Movie. And then they got fired off of solo for some reason, which we don’t have to get into again. But it as Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum Oh, my God Brie Larson. She’s like unrecognizable in this movie. Okay, I I’m I’m stunned because I when I was watching it, I couldn’t remember if that was Brie Larson this movie and I didn’t bother to look it up. And now I’m like, I’m shaking my core that that was Brie Larson. Anywho. I love that five stars had an amazing time. Another five so fun. There’s this there was a second one that I watched a man and I watched today. still great. And bright before the Warner Brothers I think got sold to AOL or whatever at&t like years ago, they were developing a third one. That was going to be a combination of the Jump Street. People with men and black. It was going to be some kind of insane combination of a movie. never it never got off the ground after that.
PROTO Wow.
DANNY I don’t watch that terrible.
SLIM I mean, I don’t know once you watch these movies and start to see the humor in them like I would be all in like I’m all in on 30 Jump streets like that the fact that they haven’t gone back to this franchise. Maybe Phil Lord and Chris Miller don’t want to they’re doing I don’t know 100 different projects at one time.
PROTO Are you a Channing Tatum? Believer?
SLIM I thought there was gonna be like a T word like a tater tot or something. I don’t know. I III think he’s I think he’s good. He’s good in the jump streets. He’s good in. What else have I seen him in? I have no idea. I’m looking at his filmography. I haven’t seen the new law city. Magic Mike. I don’t even know if I’ve seen a Magic Mike. Maybe I’ve seen the first one. He can dance he can. He can act. He’s got the total package. Oh, he
PROTO was in Hail Caesar at that scene at dancing dancer, dance specialists now that we look at his office movies. This is the
SLIM end. I think I soured on Tatum due to his cameo and free guy. House free guy with Ryan Reynolds that like computer you got SEC movie. I soured on so many actors after they appear in that movie. I need to do like a cleanse. Oh, yeah. I don’t need to go. I won’t even say I don’t want to. I don’t want to bring I don’t want to bring the show down. There’s no point in bringing the show down. But I will say that one actor should never be in a movie ever again. After what I saw nothing.
DANNY Ryan Reynolds ever, ever.
SLIM Not Ryan Reynolds.
DANNY tyka.
SLIM Moving on. Should we get into Barry Lyndon? Oh, interesting.
PROTO Could we? Oh, sorry. Yeah, um,
DANNY I’m not ready, either.
PROTO I just I noticed that you saw you saw a movie. You saw a new release. You saw Megan? In theater. You gave this movie four and a half stars family. Did you tell us what’s going on here?
SLIM He saw that this movie was out. Like I had heard about this movie for like months in the letterbox slack like Megan Megan Meganisi means already I don’t know what the half this movie it’s about a doll I guess an evil doll. And then I saw that we weren’t doing anything on a Friday night. So I texted both my son and Amanda. I was like, you want to go see a movie Friday night and I screencap the synopsis? Because I can’t share links in Facebook Messenger with a child, my own child. And I screencap to the letterbox like synopsis and rating and they’re like yeah, okay, so we went it’s a hoot. It’s an absolute hoot. It’s like Chucky, it’s like child’s play. For a younger generation. It’s PG 13. So it’s not our so like, younger people can go see it. And I don’t think it takes itself too seriously. It’s about this character who is developing, you know, like Furbies at this company, but that she has like a secret project where it’s like more of a smart artificial intelligence, which is Megan and she has this prototype and her her sister and her brother in law died in a car accident and so she takes you know, she’s responsible for their daughter. And she’s like grieving She’s depressed so she brings home this Meghan doll to like, cheer her up. But it’s very funny. I thought it was amazing. I it’s funny. We were laughing out loud in the theater. It was great time. I loved it. It’s a Blumhouse if anyone cares about Blumhouse it’s funny it has it’s really fun. I recommend it. I mean, I had a four and a half star time I’m not saying it’s a four and a half star movie or whatever. But I think
PROTO it’s fun. It’s very same plot as after Yang
SLIM tweet saying that this is like the prequel to after Yang. Already and chances are slim it’s adult you’re really close to his like a dog impression. I heard it’s a very Linden 1975 70s month rolls on. Says protos. Peck. Kubrick Oh. Oh, what is that looks like a small Sugar Free Red Bull.
PROTO That’s a probably an adult beverage. Sparkling water.
SLIM This is protos pick first Stanley Kubrick movies since the shining very scandalous episode back in its day. For one host writing but proto what is Barry Lyndon
PROTO in 18th century Ireland, Redman bury a lot of meager means falls in love with his cousin Nora. But when she becomes betrothed to a British officer of 1500 pounds, Redmond challenges him to a duel out witted he is convinced that he has killed the officer and flees his home. Seeking a refuge Redmond joins the British army but quickly discovers the dangers of war. Over the next few years, he becomes a card shark of sorts until he meets the wealthy Countess of Linden, Woo’s her and settles in England to a lavish lifestyle and becomes Barry Lyndon. Unfortunately, this is is where his troubles begin as he crests the zenith of social status. His life comes crashing down, losing his wealth, family and limb. At last we see the dejected Barry Lyndon returning to his homeland with a wake of misfortune behind him.
SLIM The wig of misfortune that sounds like a movie title. That’s a gun in Destiny. misfortune. Berlin and I had heard of this movie just floating around in my letterbox never seen it never really seen any stills. In fact, I often confuse this with Amadeus. Because I think I’ve seen one letterbox review, which it says like the movie pretty much asked the question, what if a man was a bitch or something like that? Like hot? Excuse me? What if a man was I think that was it. And I was like, Wow, it sounds like I’m a dancer. So I had the both of them confused. Danny, what about you? Have you seen this movie that you haven’t seen this and move past right?
DANNY No, I hadn’t seen this at all. And I didn’t hear about this until former producer now disgraced in, champion that. And then it kind of was on my radar. And I’ve never really found time to watch it. Nor did I really care never really didn’t really interest me a bit. I do. I do love the art on the box. I think I like the typography and stuff. But yeah, I haven’t never visited this. I didn’t really want to give it a shot. Sorta until 70s There was on my shortlist for picking as Oh, yeah.
SLIM Holy moly, part of why why did you choose this proto?
PROTO Well, you know, I want to make my way through all the Kubrick’s and I haven’t seen this one before. And I’m the same as you. I think I discovered this on letterbox at some point, probably looking at the list of movies that Kubrick has done. And this was one of the few that I haven’t seen. So this is kind of this has been on my list for a while. And over the you know, the past few years, our friends have been I’ve seen some reviews pop in and it’s kind of like brought it to mind. And you know, there it was sitting sitting there right in the middle of the 70s that felt like the perfect fit for this month.
SLIM 4.29 average among our supporters on via the supercomputer who loves movies tabulates all our supporter ratings on letterbox truth, perfect movie a painting, greatest of all time, Kubrick the master with just a taste of some of the reviews that I’ve seen come across my desk test. So this feature presentation segment will go roundtable, each host tries to jot down three main points that we want to cover among the roundtable discussion. So let’s start with the man who picked this film proto.
PROTO So I was fortunate enough to be able to watch some of the making of stuff on a criterion disk, oh, that I got for this had a nice little bonus feature disc with about probably about two hours worth of content, nice, where they cover just different aspects of the of the movie. And the main is like a making of that’s like 45 minutes long. And one of the things that really stood out to me was just how they talked about the locations and finding the locations for doing this. One of the things they said early on, and I guess this would have been like interiors, but they were planning on building sets. renewer a lot of stuff for this. Yes. But then like last minute, Cooper changed his mind. And he said let’s do it all location. So everything is done in real locations, they you know, they went to all the houses and then this movie, you know, takes place in England and Ireland and I guess Germany, and maybe like maybe it’s France. Yeah, there’s like a few, a few pieces. And every scene was actually done in that country to be as like authentic as possible. And it was cool how they just showed like, you know, they would just send people out, you know, he would send out photographers, you know, six seven different photographers and then they would just catalog all these places take pictures and you know, come back bring it back to him. One of them that was really cool is there’s like a scene where I think we’re in he’s like an in I guess he’s supposed to be in Germany. And he like drives through like this amazing, like these, this gravel road, where like these giant buildings in the background. And they’re actually they were like from the Zara at the time in Germany who had these administration buildings. And when they went there to do those scenes, they apparently like the I guess the government was happy to like, you know, want to help Kubrick because they like changed the road they look took out everything that was modern, they like removed any of the flags, or I think was in East Germany at the time. Yeah, that’s what they were saying. So they were like very accommodating to, like make all of this possible, like the poor gravel and the roads, but it was really fascinating. But I think like that’s one of the most striking things about this movie is that like, of course, Cooper can create a beautiful shot, but then it also helps that a lot of it is just like very compelling. From like, the locations like the scene, the first duel where they like beside the river and like how the camera pulls out and like how that scene just changes as more pieces come into view. But then it has just like that gorgeous background of the river behind it. And the the houses and whatnot. There was just like so many interesting places that I felt like it was shot in.
SLIM They was gorgeous. Like everything about this movie is gorgeous. Like all of those scenes outdoors like the countryside, imagine being with us photographers getting sent out for like, find me some beautiful locations, please. Yeah. Oh darn. I’m trying to get back as soon as I can, boss. Yeah, all those outdoor scenes even filming in some of these locations. It reminds me of like having like, I had a job where I was like installing closets and you go into someone’s nicer home you have to like put stuff down on the floor. You have to wear like little booties. I can’t imagine being responsible to bring all this like filming equipment into these older places caskets and not destroying anything. Yeah, that’s valuable. Yes, sweat.
DANNY One of the things that shocked me about the cinematography and the lighting of this was reading about the all natural lighting that they had to use or they chose to use. Everything was lit naturally even interior with the candle lights, and that was just kind of baffling to me. But also you could tell you could tell that everything felt maybe like a painting but everything kind of like like dreamlike for most of this film, which I really enjoyed.
SLIM Yeah, I this is a space. I didn’t know anything about the national candlelight stuff until I saw some reviews afterward. And that had to go back on YouTube. The infamous candlelight scene from Barry Lyndon, I don’t know why it’s called infamous. But
PROTO yeah, apparently like that wasn’t done before. And like for this, Kubrick got special lenses that were developed for NASA to use to take pictures, you know, in deep space, unless they like they reconfigured them to use them on on just like, you know, their cameras, which is pretty wild.
DANNY It’s the ones that Kubrick used to fake the moon landing.
SLIM John Alcott is the cinematographer who also did 2001, A Clockwork Orange and the shining, for John Alcott also did terror train and Beastmaster and Greystoke The Legend of Tarzan, Lord Of The Apes with Christopher lamb bear, which I added to my watch list immediately.
DANNY He won the Oscar for this movie to
SLIM Christopher lamb bear. Nope.
DANNY John Alcon.
SLIM Ladies and gentlemen, the winner Christopher lamb bear is Tarzan. Accepting versus Verlander is I’ll go next. Let’s talk about duels. I need I need to have a deep dive on duels. There’s there several doors in this movie. You know, I kind of forgot about duels Do you see them in old movies and maybe some books, drawings, people like pointing guns at each other? The idea of a duel is so bizarre to me. How did both people not die? Most of the stuff is like, are the bullets just like frat such rare fragments that they will be solidified when they hit somebody? It was just aiming so like, impossible back then. Because anytime someone is doing a duel, I would assume you’re both dead? Because or how did they not get hit? And then later, when they had the final duel against Boeing 10 or wherever the kid’s name was one of them gets to shoot first. What kind of rule is that? First from 10 feet away,
DANNY heads or tails? Right?
SLIM Or what do you stand on duels?
PROTO Well, I guess that’s a way of letting fate decide, you know, maybe, you know, higher power is at play in that? Well, I guess then. Well, I guess, you know, that’s a good question. You know, these are gentleman, you know, on our, you know, taking turns, but then you know, cut to the wild west of America. And it’s like, you know, what are the rules there? That’s like when you’re in the wild west and there are no rules. It’s, you know, quickest, quickest on the draw. You’re getting shot in the back at times, which isn’t very nice either. So I think it’s kind of like a pick your poison here. You know, do you want the coin flip? Or do you want to lose to this guy who’s been shooting guns in his backyard his whole life waiting for this moment to kill you.
SLIM Some of the things about couldn’t they just arm wrestle?
PROTO Well, now you get satisfaction from Mr. Ross I wouldn’t get satisfaction last
DANNY time you wrestled last week I noticed the last duel Barry turned sideways I wonder if that was like a stance to either take it in the arm or not take like a not taken in the chest to face the guy oh I was wondering if that was like a strategic way to stand there was there was like four different ways to duel in this film it was pretty interesting the the fencing which was a weird way to do it because I didn’t kill anybody which was dumb and then there was the regular just kind of saying they’re both firing at the same time which also was weird because I’m used to like proto said 10 paces turn and fire or something like that or the first you know Quick Draw. So very interesting. But sharing
SLIM that screenshot of him with a misfire a misfire many times and discourse. Oh, I got we got your V up is such a good meme. It’s such a good and then I zoomed in on that photo. It looked like it made it look like every dude. Look like every man was wearing a diaper in those pants. Like he had a front that should not be appearing in any kind of pants Palin’s use if anyone’s curious. Zoom in. You’ll see it.
DANNY Yeah, we’re cups, just in case for two men.
SLIM First of all, it looks like Macaulay Culkin in that screenshot as well. That was one of the other things I noticed.
DANNY It does look like Macaulay.
SLIM Let’s see Danny number. What’s your first point you want to bring up for Barry Lyndon?
DANNY My first point is I don’t know of another film that I’ve watched at least recently, that comes to mind where the protag Overbury is, or at least the protagonist of the film is so unlikable, and through the entire movie, like from beginning to end. I don’t he’s such a dud. He’s such a close that’s like a loser, grifter and it’s he’s just so unlikable, and then he just, he just gets worse and worse and worse. And honestly, him getting his leg shut off wasn’t enough satisfaction for me. I wanted like I wanted him dead. I wanted that dweeb to kill them. Like it did just I really did. It was an honestly, I think Barry’s character is what kind of brings the movie down for me a bit. I just really did not enjoy that story.
SLIM You know, I had a thought that I didn’t put in my review because I didn’t want to like Cloud my opinion of it. But I can think of another movie that’s gorgeous, that had a character that I couldn’t connect to. And it’s Lawrence of Arabia. Oh, like I couldn’t find that moment that made me kind of care about him in that gorgeous lush movie for whatever reason. And I was doing a little research myself. Oh, find me. There is an interview I read with Kubrick. I think it’s like the Kubrick archive.org or whatever it’s called but he talks about I guess the the original book was. Thackeray wrote the original book, the movie that’s based on. He says Thackeray referred to it as a novel without a hero. Barry is naive and uneducated. He’s driven by relentless ambition for wealth and social position. This proves to be an unfortunate combination of qualities, which eventually lead to great misfortune on happiness for him and those around him your feelings about Barry are mixed, but he has charm and courage and it’s impossible not to like him despite his vanity, his insensitivity and his weaknesses. He’s a very real character who is neither a conventional hero nor a conventional villain proto What do you think?
PROTO You know, I hadn’t read this book. But I remember in college I did read the book Tom Jones, which is a novel that is similar to this where it it it centers around like another like roguish character, who you you follow over the course of his life and he through you know, like wit and in clever ways tries to climb the social ladder. And I wonder if I wonder how funny this book the book is, or is supposed to be because it didn’t seem like there was much connection to humor? Well, I guess there was some but it didn’t really endear you to the character much and yeah, I don’t know like that. I think a book like this that’s over 200 years old is probably hard to translate or even just the content itself to bring over and then there was something in the documentary work Cooper kind of mentioned that about almost like he expected like the person watching this almost like watching from afar like from a distance like observing this because I didn’t really Yeah, I didn’t really connect much with the the character or re you know, the characters, either. I felt like it was more of just like observing what was going on in the story. And I
SLIM guess if you Wanna get like? Nerdy you could say that like, it’s almost like many of the paintings that this aspires to mimic in some ways, like you’re just kind of from afar, observing and putting your own perspective on things.
DANNY It really felt when it begins him trembling with his cousin. And stuff like that whole beginning. I thought that this was going to be funnier than it was it honestly felt. I really, it just felt very Monty Python. Yes, yeah, I’m like, I wanted to see the coconuts coming over the hill getting clack together for a bit. The music also was weird to me. It really did. Everything felt like I’m waiting for a joke to hit in anything that was going on. It was really weird like that. It really had a Monty Python, holy grail vibe to it.
SLIM I saw something bonkers in our Discord, that your wife DNF’d this movie.
DANNY we sat down and we got 25 minutes and and all of a sudden the TV pauses and I look over and she’s like, I can’t do this. And I’m like, Okay, I’ll go to my office and watch it. It was it. She was done. She came out. It was we were done. Done for that for this movie. Wow. But I don’t expect her to go back and watch it. Wow, that did not finish. I don’t think this movie is for everybody there. This is a this is a very specific movie. I wouldn’t recommend to just random people.
SLIM I mean, I the lowest rating in my friends list. I have one person with three stars. Everyone else is Satan. Me. Mainly four stars. Whose turn is I think it’s protos. Do we eat get Danny your first one? Yeah, I did berry as a dud very dead. And well, I guess to like, we didn’t really talk about, you know, the actor that played Barry Ryan O’Neal, who? Looking like when he first said we’re gonna do something, I look to see what the cast who the cast was. And I was like one, right, yeah, as a cast here. And Kubrick did touch on that. In this interview that was conducted years later. Someone asked like the I meant to see what year was but the interviewer kind of asked him is like you haven’t really ever done an interview about Barry Lyndon, he talks about how the movie was still. It wasn’t completed until like, two or three months before release. And also the fact that he said he doesn’t like doing interviews. But he said looking back, he chose Ryan, because he thought he had more in him than the work that he had so far. And he thought he was right. He thought he got more out of Ryan in the role than then Ryan O’Neal had previously done in his work. So Lisa Kubrick’s opinion part of what’s your second point.
PROTO Second point, I think was just the overall look especially like, the costumes in this. Like everything just looks incredible to me, everyone in costume and the amount of different sets and characters in these, you know, seemingly like very complex or, you know, elegant costumes of the time was impressive and it felt very authentic and in the documentary does say that. Some of these were actually legit, like historical pieces that they were able to borrow. So some of the things that Ryan O’Neal wore I can’t remember his the Countess limited Linden lady Linden, which she wore and then like the British officer uniforms, so they were actually legit. Yeah, like the real legit thing. So and then of course like that some of the things like I’m fascinated by this period because it’s it’s it’s just like crazy to think like people live this way. But like that whole social norm of like the painting of faces. I can’t just like unbelievable with like the beauty marks to like apply to the face. Yes. Wild when
SLIM one of my when I was going to write my reviews I like what universe is this movie from? Like, I still can’t wrap my head around that like, sign hundreds the years isn’t that long ago, where you’re putting this face paint on. It’s just it was so bonkers to me. It did win for Best Costume Design, the Academy Awards, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and best scoring I meant to say actually really loved the main piece of music that really about in this movie a lot. That was probably my favorite part. That piece of music. But yeah, like so much of this movie is me kind of staring at everyone and they’re wearing and I was like, What are we doing? I know I sound like a total idiot when I say that, but it’s just crazy to look back and see in film like how things were like I just don’t get it. I wouldn’t be able to live wearing all this get up.
DANNY One of the things that I couldn’t wrap my head around, the British officers outfits how they have almost like tuxedo tails, but then they’re pinned up.
PROTO Yes.
DANNY I couldn’t stop staring at that. I don’t know why. It bothered me, like why is it pinned up? What is the point of that?
PROTO Yeah, the amount of extra material.
DANNY Just cut it off.
SLIM The amount of work you needed to do to just take a whiz in the 1700s. Like what’s the point? I don’t even know what I would do.
PROTO It looks so uncomfortable.
DANNY That’s why they’re wearing diapers. [Slim laughs]
SLIM It did look like they were wearing a diaper. I was gonna zoom in and screenshot, but I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate for live chat. It probably would have been banned by the the bot.
DANNY I did find myself so much at the time, as you said, like just kind of like staring at this incredible movie. But I kept it’s so cliche to say but watching it I’m like, this is something that’s never gonna happen again, the locations the outfits, the amount of people in the scenes like this is this just, this gets CGI, the skits motion captured, this doesn’t. This doesn’t happen anymore. We don’t go to seven different countries to film at castles with 100 Cast wearing period pieces like this. There was a scene where it just camera pans looking across a park and there’s just people everywhere in these costumes. And I’m just like, this doesn’t this doesn’t happen anymore. This is this is like I don’t even know, even around that time if things were still being made like that this feels like Kubrick is just reigning supreme and getting everything he wants. And it looks incredible. And it pays off. I mean, this film is stunning.
SLIM There is I searched I didn’t see a forecast of this. There’s just there’s just the criterion
DANNY blu ray, I believe, which is the Fourcade technical 4k traits are right on the back.
SLIM My second point is maybe just a quick hit on a character Captain Quinn the captain who is like trying to marry his cousin that he had the hots for. He wanted a bone his own cousin and vice versa. Captain Quinn is a soldier who comes in and like the marriage is gonna bring 15 I don’t know what currency it was 15 something or other 15,000 I don’t know if I can say that word that sounds like a very honest,
DANNY you can believe me. I don’t know what, actually
SLIM this the end of 70 Mm. So he, I mean his he’s such a character actor in this movie. Like there are so many scenes where he’s like blowing his top. I mean, his first entrance when he’s doing that like thing with the soldiers and He cocked his head. I was trying to take off what I thought this was a joke. I was trying to take photos of my TV. I had so many and then I was like 90, the high quality version. So I looked on YouTube and I couldn’t find a high quality version. And I knew that Apple would let me take a screenshot it was a whole mess. But there’s so many scenes he’s making these weird faces. There’s one line where he’s like, very comes in when he’s like, you know, ogling the cousin and he pulled he has like the little thing you know piece of fabric that he’s pulled out. But then Barry like reveals he has the same one. And he’s like I’ve had enough of Miss bready here and to Irish ways. I was like rewind and the whole movie I had enough of Miss Brady here. I’m good Irish ways and then they had that dinner where he’s also like insulted and he demands satisfaction. They do the duel and you don’t find out until later he like he shoots Captain Quinn and then leaves town and Captain Quinn is like presumed dead you don’t find out till later the captain it was all ruse. They just wanted Barry out of town so they faked they would they filled it with tow whatever the hell that is so so Captain Quinn was alive and well the marriage was planned. They just got the help they got rid of Barry
PROTO and that guy is such a coward. You think about it like first he tries to just buy off Barry. And then But then of course the bullets fake as well just to get him out of town. Coward.
SLIM We need a sequel that focuses on Captain Quinn in his youth in the army.
PROTO Barry Lyndon 2. [Slim laughs]
SLIM Oh, we didn’t talk about The Passion of the Christ sequel that’s allegedly in the works earlier.
DANNY Oh, we don’t need to talk about that.
SLIM My god.
DANNY Is Caviezel doing it?
SLIM Yeah he’s allegedly doing it.
PROTO If you don’t think we’re doing we’re having this
SLIM The Passion of the Christ
DANNY boy last temptation it’s a big month reclassification
SLIM of Christ. We have oh my god yeah April though Easter Wait, could we do religious month
DANNY finally in April we have winds winds passionate across two. We gotta wait. time around
SLIM is going to be years where that comes out.
DANNY No. Don’t get it done. Danny,
SLIM what’s your number two.
DANNY Number two is probably my favorite moment in this move. Have a and it’s when Barry comes in ahead. He tells the husband of Lady London that I don’t know what he was going I don’t actually remember he’s going to tell him and he freaks out on him and he dies. But the monologue that he gives yelling, while he’s having a heart attack trying to take his pills. Honestly, it’s the best perform scene of the movie. I couldn’t stop laughing at this scene. And Barry, just standing like, I don’t know what it was about it, but it really tickled me. And it was so well performed that I just, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The Mole the fake moles on his face, the white face paint. Everything about that scene was just singing. I just it was great. What a good scene.
SLIM Can you imagine insulting someone to the point where they have a heart attack and die?
DANNY That’s the dream. I want to do.
SLIM Yeah, it was a great scene. I thought it was fascinating to later how his mother, you know, she reveals him like, you know, you’re like, so Barry marries into wealth. And with Bullington is already born and they have a son with his own son. The his mother tells him like, you’re not gonna get any of this money when she dies. It’s all gonna go to the sun. So you need to actually be Lord, you need to bribe some people to get a title. And then that’s a lot of the movie where he’s like bribing people. They’re spending money. I mean, half this movie is them doing bills in that one room? I don’t understand the I need a documentary on how they pay the bills. I don’t understand the concept of money in the 1700s it didn’t look like any money existed. There’s just paper that said that they were they had money. Yeah, like a debit for my account this amount, and they send it away. But then they’re also like they’re they think they’re running out of money. How do you know you’re running out of money? I haven’t seen any cash flow.
DANNY Who’s got a job in this family?
SLIM Nobody did.
PROTO That’s the beauty of it.
DANNY That’s it remind me of when Casey shows me my Pay Pal receipts. Gosh, you six lashes in the next room.
SLIM There’s nothing worse than your spouse sending you a screenshot of a transaction in the bank. With a question mark. I dare you to find something worse. Terrified.
PROTO I didn’t love that library they had though. Oh, yeah. They were set up there. Yeah. Amazing with his books. Oh, my third purchase third. Oh, so one thing that I thought was interesting of how the story progressed was I don’t remember if it was in the first like the end of the first part of the beginning of the second where there’s a narrator throughout this whole movie. And then they’re playing a game in the lawn. And then the narrator basically like spoils the second half of the movie saying that very Linden is destined to be to die, penniless, childless and alone. And this is like when he’s at the height like he’s married there in all this wealth, living this lavish life. And then they dropped that factoid on you. I was like, Ha, they just spoiled the movie for you. Because at that point, you know, I don’t I don’t know what’s gonna happen. But I thought that was just like a really interesting choice. Especially how the story progresses, and just knowing he’s gonna die childless. And then like, Here, he has this eight year old son or whatever. And then, you know, it’s like, oh, it’s his birthday. He wants a horse. And you can kind of see it coming. Like, oh, man, something’s gonna go wrong here. So in that way, it’s kind of interesting, though, knowing what’s going to happen like this kid’s going to die somehow. And then how they kind of lead up to that so I just thought that was like an interesting way to tell the story by giving it away.
SLIM Yeah, yeah, they do set it up the like, the could call this like the, I think was the actually the book was was it called the fall of Barry Lyndon or something like that? Maybe. But yeah, like they they you are on the ride expecting to see what the hell is going to happen to this dud. Like how sideways are things going to go for him? And I just reminded me of a scene we talked about how like, he’s very unlikable, and there was some comments in chat about how that’s true. And I’ve seen a lot of reviews of like five star reviews that say the same thing. But when he’s first in that carriage with Lady Linden, and he’s smelling the smoke in her face. I just that might have been the point where Casey DNF that’s probably where I would have I would have 75 minutes. What kind of a human being does that I would have strangled him
DANNY is a dud. I needed to see him die better than the way he did it even die. That’s shot of the kid getting thrown off the horse look
SLIM painful. Very dangerous. Yeah. Like they talked
PROTO about that is in the making of so Kubrick wasn’t there for that shot. They had like the second unit go and they had a kid on worse. And they’re like, alright, you know, like, let’s run them out there. Aaron do it. And that was the first take where he goes up on the horse. And then the director, he calls Kubrick, and he’s like, I think we got we did one shot, but I think we have it and of course, Kubrick’s known for doing hundreds, you know, hundreds of shots for anything. So he’s like, I don’t know about that. But yeah, they did one take because it was just that good. Was the Okay. I’d actually
SLIM hate to tell you that it’s actually the coffin in that one scene. That was the real funeral citizen think
DANNY I did laugh when they showed that kid wrapped up in a bed. All I want to do is photoshopped someone’s face. Give me your hand. I can’t feel my legs. Between the both of you if I tie
SLIM my third point we’ve actually gone through all of my third point I thought Bullington was we talked about which ones that Bullington is the first son the oldest Oh, we talked about Barry Lyndon being a dad Bullington man I probably wanted to slap him around more than once in this movie. He just looked like he needed a slap like a young lap and I don’t agree with Barry linens whipping at all I thought you know they’re both like berries just I don’t understand bear like you know you’re not going to get any money why piss this kid off? Even more at this point? Right? If a Plan B would be to get in this kid’s good graces right yeah like maybe be a good dad just try that.
PROTO Yeah Barry’s just an idiot all around this is not the techniques are
SLIM Danny third final point
DANNY I really okay, I really liked the the one kind of battle scene where berries marching across a field with they’re all lined up the front when the when the other guy dies with him he takes him off the field right before he desserts. That scene looked incredible the lineup the marching the killing. I really enjoyed it. It’s just a good battle scene. That was very, I don’t know, I feel like a lot of battle scenes are just like the World War twos and people running but i like i like the like formation kind of stuff that was fun to watch. So really realistic. But then when he had to carry him off the field, and he asked him to kiss him one more time. And he laid a real good kiss on his like great kid like that was that was a real good cast. That could have been like MTV Movie Jimmy Stewart so the oh, you’ve That’s close. Not enough cheek rubbing but
SLIM yeah, it was fascinating scene. He What do you say like Kiss Me as you’ll never see me ever again. Or something like that. Or as um,
DANNY yeah. He leaves my 100 guineas something was on his pocket.
SLIM I need to get confirmation from legal that. That is
PROTO the belief that again, I’m sorry a word. Take the kidneys from my pocket.
SLIM Mommy, take my puppy. Yeah, great scene. All right. Final Thoughts honorable mentions and ratings for Barry Lyndon.
PROTO The Marquis. Yeah, I had some other notes just from the documentary some like it’s very interesting facts. So when they did the carriage scenes, they tried it a few different ways. So it wasn’t like pulled by a horse, I think because they said it was like too loud. And then they tried with a car that they couldn’t like keep this the right pace with a car. So they ended up having 12 guys with thought, pull the carriages around wherever they had shots inside of the carriage, which is pretty interesting. So when they were shooting in Ireland, at one point, the IRA gave a threat of kidnapping Stanley Kubrick. And as soon as they got that Kubrick was like, I’m out. And they just left Ireland. Like they just like quit right away.
DANNY This is what Barnum was singing about.
PROTO Another crazy thing is so like they were they were they did a lot of recent like Kubrick Of course, you can imagine he’s like known for his levels of research. Like he looked at 1000s of books. He had 1000s of pages of notes and annotated pages of different art. You know, they chose all the art for the different rooms. But he wanted to know how a Howard like a noble person would greet a king. So they and they had like somebody who knew the Queen affiliated with like the movie so they could bounce ideas off and he eventually called the queen. He was like, Well, why don’t we call her so he calls the queen with Stanley in the room, and then he’s asking her questions. And then at one point he’s like, you know the Queen wants to talk to you don’t say he, Stanley got to talk to the Queen about the movie. It was pretty wild.
SLIM Also, like, Was she the only person who had that knowledge passed? From generation to generation? Let’s write that stuff down. Well, I
PROTO guess the idea was that like, people would greet her now. So it’s like, how are people greeting you now? Because she’s like one of the few people who would have any idea. I was also impressed by how every well, they don’t, they don’t have a lot of actors to interview was basically the two, the two young actors who did Bullington when he was like, very young, and then like the, the, the older version, but they how highly they spoke of Stanley Kubrick and everything that he did, like his whole process. I guess I had, like, in my head that just because he did so many shots, over and over again, that like actors would be like, kind of soured to his style, or it’d be like, Oh, he’s like, really tough to work with. Or maybe that was like talked about during the shining episode like that. Maybe some actors did have that experience. But right. Well, everyone just talked who’s the
SLIM lead and judge Shelley Duvall had a nightmare situation.
PROTO Yeah. Yeah, so maybe it’s just like a mix, but everybody in this, like, they were just like, praised him and like, talk so highly of him. Which was, which was interesting to hear, um, be a final thoughts rating for this? Yeah. You know, I wasn’t, I thought it would look great, too, but I wasn’t really taken by the story. I think by the end of it, um, I didn’t really like feel much of anything. I didn’t really feel that involved and then again, I also didn’t find it like that funny. I mean, it looked amazing and watching the making of it was like incredible just to see all the effort that went into doing this. And it’s, it’s really an incredible feat, but just term in terms of, you know, my enjoyment of watching it I want to say it was like through the roof. Saw my three stars preparing.
SLIM Wah wah wah wah wah wah, wow, the masterpiece Barry Lyndon hmm, my honorable mentions. There was I have a lot of just random notes about their pants still. Awesome. Looks like Ryan O’Neal was packing heat down there.
DANNY Excuse me. If you get my drift 100 guineas a roll of 100 guineas.
SLIM I wrote in my review, but I thought the duel at the end. It could have been an hour long. If it was 10 minutes. It felt so long. I’m I’m the same way I It looks gorgeous. I said I said the same thing about Lawrence of Arabia. I just didn’t really connect or care. Like I know people say you don’t have to connect. You don’t have to connect with Barry Lyndon, he’s a he’s a bad guy. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to enjoy the movie really necessarily, at least from my perspective. So I’m gonna three and a half stars very limited. Three and a half. I’ll tell you what I was. I posted some means of like Kermit on fire on Twitter, saying hi. When I discovered the runtime, all of the fans came out. I got a lot of realize those tweets like it should have been longer. Give me an hour a perfect movie. I didn’t like most of them in an hour. They say well, I did not like most of they’re not winning letterbox for a year that I don’t know if they’re gonna see this reading might string me up like Kermie What’s your final thoughts and rating?
DANNY I am giving this three stars. That’s my final thought. I board isn’t the right word. Because I wasn’t bored in this film. But I just wanted it over. It was only I can only take so much of I don’t know the beauty. Right? It’s like this. Yeah, great. Every scene looks incredible. Everyone looks incredible. The performances are fine. I just couldn’t care less about this story. It was fine. So I’m three stars. A master? Well,
SLIM I have a lot of probably rubbing foreheads on their podcast app right now.
PROTO A lot of unsubscribes.
SLIM Listen, if you’re typing on Apple podcast right now you’re hovering over the one star people have different opinions on movies. That’s the beauty of the thing. They have different experiences. What is a four star movie anyway? Really? Four and a half star Megan? They’ll tell you that. We have some letters to get to you can shoot us an email at 7am pod@gmail.com We got a few let me see if I can pull up our letter machine make sure I got all the ones we need to go through. You can also send us an audio memo Voice Memo using your iPhone there’s links on 70 Min buy.com. This comes from Nick subject line. We’re ready for this where your darn shoes the movies. Oh my god cry last strategy. There we go. This is from Nick.
PROTO All right, write that down. Nick I
SLIM just made the list.
Hey, 70 Mm, I just wanted to come on here and thank you for a few specific things. The first is creating this amazing podcast. You’re welcome. The first time I heard you guys was about a year ago on a rainy day at the lumberyard I used to work at funny enough when it rains no one wants to buy wood. So halfway through that never ending day I found the 70 mm podcaster Danny’s all inspiring Instagram page. Oh my gosh. I quickly open up Spotify and throw in the matrix resurrections episode. Oh, me. And I thought quote, these guys are wack. I couldn’t believe the positive reviews. I was hearing him for this film. I almost turned it off. But I thought to myself, when was the last time I listen to a podcast where it’s just genuine friends talking about movies. So I kept going and now you guys are my go to podcast. My favorite episodes so far is the Indiana Jones series chef’s kiss slammed again, thank you for your comedy. Proto. Thank you for your superb intros, although not doing half star ratings is a little unsettling. And Danny thank you for constantly creating movie art that is above and beyond any modern movie poster. Oh, gosh. Lastly, I want to thank you guys for relating the love I have for films. As a kid I would make movies with my friends. My favorite was a total not rip off Star Wars called Galaxy hunters, complete with lightsaber knives, not swords, so I couldn’t get sued. But that fire went away when adulthood came around. But you guys have inspired me to finally get back to it and create and release a short film. You guys are amazing. Thank you for all that you do, even the dune app and that comes from Nick.
PROTO Thank you, Nick. So Nick in this one email, he attacks the freedom of foot movement. Matrix resurrections, a five star movie, and my hat my no half star ratings became for you, Nick, I still support you. Thank you.
SLIM And the matrix resurrection episode. It was a delight. What a time watching and you don’t wait Trix movie at home? What a moment.
PROTO You know what snuck in with the letter. letterbox feed was down. Dale Dale watch that and
DANNY he knew the feeds are down I’m shook
SLIM he was shown months ago decided it was Phil’s in studio right now he’s we’re not making eye contact right now. He’s checking the feeds. Megan sends a letter subject line please for the love of God. Don’t rush the subject line. All Ah, here’s some stats for seven days month so far. Scenes from a marriage two hours 49 minutes foreign language film. John Dieleman. Three hours 22 minutes foreign language film. Barry Lyndon three hours. Five minutes. I’ll be completely honest. I haven’t watched any movies from this month so far. Barry Lyndon seemed interesting to me. But it’s over three hours long and got yanked from HBO max right after Prado announced it. These movies are just too daunting for me, especially the foreign language films. So Danny, I implore you please save this month for me. I need a simple movie. A short movie. 90 minutes would be great. But at this point, I’ll take anything under two hours. I’m holding out hope for a 1970s Disney flick pick.
DANNY Janice,
SLIM can you say that on podcast? Love a simple gal who loves movies? Or is it who loves to watch movies? Who concern really? It’s good question that comes from Megan.
DANNY Megan, listen, the movie I have picked is 96 minutes long.
SLIM 96 it’s what I’m talking about. We will reveal Danny’s pick in mere moments coming in hot. Danny ride on a horse like Gandalf the White over that hill probably. Soon Gad and Tao final letter comes from Michael berry Linden and the January theme might have upset people by January. I just wanted to drop a quick line of thank you for the amazing journey so far in January. Barry Lyndon had been on my watch list for quite some time, so I appreciate the nudge. I did like this movie but felt the lead role could have gone to someone more deserving and more fitting Ryan O’Neal seemed a bit out of his league here. All in all, this was a lovely movie to look at. And while it’s not high on my Kubrick list that doesn’t really take much away from it since he made quite a few masterpieces. The January theme has been pretty incredible as there could have been a lot more obvious choices from the 70s. I look forward to continuing the trend of movies that clock in over three hours from this month patent deer hunter, but wanted to reiterate my Dischord suggestion for February. This would give our beloved podcasters as well as the VHS village a bit of a breather. So let’s lock this in February 90 minutes or less. I think it’d be fun to see what shorter movies you guys come up With the Meet the theme, sadly that would mean that mortal engines will be pushed for yet another month. That joke is still good, right? I’m approaching a year as a member of the VHS village and a listener to this podcast and I’m looking forward to what you cook up over the next year. Take care that comes from Mike Scott. Thank you, Mike.
PROTO Can you imagine if Jack Nicholson had played Barry?
DANNY Oh my god a banger?
SLIM Yeah, I can’t imagine that. I have seen I lost count the amount of times people have suggested February being a shorter month. Loss counts a short month
PROTO just because it has a few less days. Yeah. Is that the Kinect? It’s no less
SLIM a great month. That’s true. You know?
PROTO We may have plans already.
SLIM Maybe we have. I would. I’d love to do deer hunter. I watched that when I worked with Stuart HS that is a long one. Deer Hunter Oh my god.
DANNY Gonna be dragged out in the streets if I pick deer hunter.
SLIM I think that is it for the letters. And it is time. Oh my for Danny to reveal his Peck
DANNY for this. Yes. So like I said 96 minutes. We’re going to unplug our brain for a second we’ve been plugged in to heavy movies, deep movies, foreign movies. Kubrick movie. So this one from 1977 to lead actors actor actress we haven’t had on the pod yet. Love this directed by how need him smoking the bandit Reynolds Sally Field we’re going hard.
SLIM Oh my god. Why why this time? Smokey and the producer
PROTO my god Sally Field too.
SLIM get this poster. Meeting me.
PROTO I’m Stein calm has done a young Sally Field. And Taylor young Burt
SLIM Reynolds. Jackie Gleason. Veeder say about this. I feel like I’ve seen smoking the bandit as a kid a bunch, but I have no recollection of seeing it as an
DANNY exam. I know my dad had it on this and Dukes of Hazzard are nonstop.
SLIM I need feature to wake up feature. Please. We need to find some data here.
PROTO Each action adventure comedy.
DANNY We’re here to have a good time to end this mile average
SLIM average rating on feature from our scores four stars. Oh, okay. There’s only six people that have logged but what’s enough for an average? Oh, my Cannonball Run was another movie how Needham did that is a mechanical banger. Oh my god. Another incredible poster.
PROTO This movie centers around transporting an illegal beer shipment
yes
SLIM the pic Megan this was for you. The back all right smoking the Bandit is next. We have some plant we have some big plans coming up. We do but the week after that. And then bigger plans after that. Yeah, it only gets bigger from here. Foreign Language month I’m just kidding.
DANNY Did you notice I put my name first for the next month. No, I
SLIM didn’t notice that. I did. Oh, me well, you know what, funnily enough we rotated for some reason like I started at us. I don’t even know you were doing
PROTO the room rotate
SLIM the certain guidelines in the Google doc without us even knowing I’m excited
DANNY for next month and I’m just I want to go first.
SLIM Okay. All right. All right. Let’s wrap it up pro any closing thoughts this week? For you? Okay in the band?
PROTO Yeah, there was one more factoid from the behind the scenes on something about Stanley was when they’re shooting the boxing match scene when he was in the army and there what I thought was cool is there’s some scenes that are the cameras handheld you know, and it’s moving in but I I felt like those really stood out because so much of it is you know, it’s so set up with a you know, the camera stationary and or it’s just like zooming in or out. But this scene was handheld and it should have behind the scenes picture. And it was Stanley holding it holding the camera. You know, he was he was doing the shot himself and the person they were interviewing was talking about he said that Stanley would cradle the camera with with his hands in a way that like no one did. Like he wasn’t holding it the way you should. Like he was holding it as if like he would you would like hold a baby And I was I was really touched by this image of Stanley. You know, here he is. He’s in a field. He’s filming Ryan O’Neal in a boxing match. He had a beige raincoat in his eye is pressed up against his viewfinder. You know, his knees are bent and his his head’s cocked and he has his hands, you know, just cradling this camera like no one had before. And the guy they were interviewing, he said, he said it was like it was pre steadicam. It was like Stanley was doing something that no one didn’t have Steadicam at that point, like Stanley was inventing this as he was doing it. And it was almost as if like Stanley intuitively knew what he was doing. Like he wasn’t holding the camera like anyone else did. And I just thought, you know, like, that’s the way it goes. Sometimes when you love something. You love it enough that you just find you pave new roads, you find new ways of doing things and that’s what Stanley was doing. I just thought that was beautiful.
SLIM I think I heard the same sentiment about Austin Butler.
DANNY Okay. Cut the stream. We’re done.
SLIM We’ll see everybody next week for Smokey and the Bandit.
[70mm theme song ramps up, plays alone, fades out]
