Transcript of 70mm’s Signs (2002) Episode.
SLIM Heeey, it’s your old pal Slim and this is 70mm, a podcast for film lovers. Every Monday I’m joined by famous artist, Danny Haas.
DANNY You could’ve told me one of my kids was dragged out there by an alien, I would have been like, well, I got three more.
SLIM And spiritual advisor, Protolexus.
PROTO Water’s deadly, I’ll come nude.
SLIM And together as friends forever, we discuss recently watched movies. Later in this very episode, we’re talking about M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs, starring Joaquin Phoenix. Is this still a great movie? Or is the fog of nostalgia still blinding us? Find out… now.
[70mm theme music ramps up, plays alone, fades out]
SLIM The VHS Village Olympics happened. They took place in our Discord this past week. The results are in! The TAPEDECK team battled our VHS Village in Discord in a heated night of Cinephile, a card game for movie lovers.
DANNY I mean, if we can be honest, it wasn’t even close.
SLIM It was intense.
DANNY It didn’t even come down to the last question.
SLIM You tell us how you felt, you were the the participant from 70mm on the Olympian team for TAPEDECK. And how was it?
PROTO Boots on the ground.
DANNY Boots on the ground. I had a blast. It was intense. Someone tried to stump me with a Richard Attenborough question. And I got it. Okay?
PROTO I heard that.
DANNY I’ll never forget it.
PROTO Rabbit out of the hat.
DANNY No one was going to beat me in Harrison Ford movies. I can tell you that for a fact. So I was on my A-game. If I can be frank.
PROTO His entire filmography is as tattooed on your ribs, right?
DANNY Yeah, inner thigh, actually.
SLIM We should call out a few things. Namely, it came down to the last question of the night. To determine the winner of the evening. Marcie, I just want to call out Marcie specifically. Who is some kind of…
DANNY Savant.
SLIM Movie trivia phenom. I don’t know what the word is. But it blew me away. She was naming movies I’ve never heard of that might not have even been real for all I know.
PROTO Movie Banshee. [Slim laughs] You don’t want to go up against her. You know, I will say, I listened back. And even though, you know, the record says that TAPEDECK won, I think the Villagers, they did not lose.
DANNY Oh?
PROTO That’s, that’s all I’m gonna say. Some of their performances were incredible.
SLIM Also, big shout out, you know, we were fundraising for the game that was mainly for funsies for the Human Rights Campaign. You know, they work for equality among all LGBTQ people. And we raised, we had I think we set a goal of like $200 for the first week, just you know, see, let’s raise some money while we play. We raised $1,320.
DANNY Excuse me?!
SLIM For the Human Rights Campaign. So that is all going to them. So thank you so much for everyone who donated, those who played. We had a ton of fun. We’ll do many more game nights. I think that’s pretty obvious.
PROTO Wait how much was it? 1,300?
SLIM $1,320.
DANNY And 75 cents.
PROTO Woowww.
SLIM Do you believe?
PROTO Amazing.
SLIM I’m chilled up. On the on the tonight we do Signs.
DANN Right?
SLIM And by the time this posts, the anniversary of our Patreon being up.
DANNY Unreal.
SLIM Right?
DANNY It’s all aligning.
PROTO If you say so.
SLIM We’re so close to 200 patrons in a year to unlock the Harry Potter movies. Just for patrons.
PROTO We will unlock it in 2021.
DANNY Will we ever. [Slim laughs]
PROTO I’m gonna make a prediction.
DANNY Okay.
SLIM Right now?!
PROTO But gonna I’m keep it to myself. [Danny & Slim laugh] But if it comes true, I’ll let you know.
SLIM We do have some new friends on Patreon that joined this past week, you can join at 70mmpod.com. Four bucks a month, get access to exclusive episodes, potentially those Harry Potter episodes. We’ve also done Batman Returns. Batman Forever. I think there’s another Batman movie that we did.
DANNY Really?
SLIM Batman and Robin. Only can listen to those if you’re patron. So Paul, Sam, Eli, Josh, Jack, Josh and Dan joined this past week. So thank you very much and what a year on Patreon.
PROTO Thank you guys.
SLIM Do we want to talk about Suicide Squad?
DANNY Sure.
SLIM Do we want to get into this?
DANNY Am I the only one that’s watched it?
SLIM Proto watched it!
DANNY Proto watched it?
PROTO I watched it.
DANNY Oh that’s right! You did. Yeah. You had a great review for it. Really good review.
SLIM I can’t believe, first of all, can we get into the mind of Proto that sat down to watch Suicide Squad the week it came out, the day.
DANNY What were you thinking?
SLIM What’s going on over there?
PROTO The Suicide Squad.
SLIM Spoiler free, please.
PROTO We are killing ourselves as film viewers. [Slim & Danny laugh] That’s what it feels like. I am making a bet that I would enjoy this movie. But it was, it was suicide. There’s just no way this movie’s for me at the end of the day. I made a mistake. I let everyone know that. I apologize. It’ll probably happen again. [Danny & Slim laugh] But yeah, just I mean, it’s action! I did Margot, though. This is my, I haven’t seen Harley before. So this was, this was fun.
DANNY Oh, really? This is your first intro to her as Harley?
SLIM Yeah, she’s really, yeah, I think she’s really good in the role.
DANNY I think this is my favorite portrayal of her as Harley. I liked her in this one. I mean, Birds of Prey. And the first Suicide Squad, everyone knows what that was. But I think this was, her lines are actually pretty funny. I thought she was, she was really fun to watch on this one.
SLIM Dylan in chat making a bold claim “better than both Guardians movies.”
DANNY That’s, that’s…
SLIM We probably already know the your answer that, Danny.
DANNY That’s pretty bold. Yeah, I mean, actually, I don’t really agree, because I think they’re all kind of trash.
SLIM I was about the ask, can someone check Marcie’s pulse after that statement? She’s doing the, someone put pass out GIF. That’ll be Marcie in chat. Actually, when I was scrolling through the HBO max app and saw Birds of Prey, I honestly forgot Birds of Prey was even a movie that had come out. I think that came out like a year and a half ago or something silly.
DANNY I think maybe even more.
PROTO No one knows.
SLIM Can someone check the tapes?
DANNY Is there something with the date that can tell us?
SLIM Bo, we can’t get into that.
DANNY Let’s move on. But I did see it. I watched the new Suicide Squad. I thought it was quite funny and actually better than I thought it was going to be. And so yeah, I think give it three and a half stars. I laughed a lot. I actually laughed a lot more than I thought I would. The actions pretty gory, very gory.
SLIM I heard there’s a lot of gore.
DANNY Pretty vulgar.
SLIM I moved away from showing it to James because of that.
DANNY Yeah, it’s like, it felt like everything that James couldn’t do on Guardians, he did in this movie. I feel like DC just kind of, DC Warner kinda just let him have fun.
SLIM Let him roll.
PROTO I laughed more than I thought I would. It was like, I think I’ve laughed at like five jokes out of 100. [Danny laughs] So that was more than I was expecting.
DANNY Yeah, see, everyone’s surprised on how much better this movie is.
SLIM So that was probably the only movie you watched this week besides Signs, right, Danny?
DANNY Yeah, busy week, watched Signs earlier before this.
SLIM Yeah, we’ll get into Signs just right around the corner, bottom of the hour. 2002 M. Night. And just an amazing cast.
DANNY All stars.
SLIM Proto, did you watch any other movies this week?
PROTO I did. I watched one that’s been on my watchlist for a long time, The Conversation.
DANNY Ohhhh, that was talked about quite a bit in the Olympics.
PROTO Was it really?
DANNY Yeah, a couple times it came up as a winning option.
SLIM Let us in.
PROTO I mean, 1974.
SLIM Never better.
PROTO That’s what I’m saying. The 70s. Is this the one? The Big D.
DANNY What?
SLIM Excuse me?
PROTO The decade.
DANNY Oh. [Danny laughs]
PROTO This is like a decade that I would take with me on a deserted island. You know, if you’re not gonna take movies from one decade. It’d be that one.
DANNY Interesting.
PROTO Um, yeah. I gave it four stars.
DANNY I like that notion. What would what decade would you take on a desert island?
PROTO Mhmm.
SLIM The Conversation. What was your — let’s pull it up. You gave that three stars. I’m a little surprised by that. I thought that might have been a little bit higher for you.
PROTO I was surprised as well. I was surprised as well. I love Gene Hackman, like his performance. Very good. We all know how I feel about Gene Hackman.
SLIM Well documented.
PROTO Well documented on the show.
SLIM What didn’t work for you in The Conversation? Let us in.
PROTO Nothing didn’t work. It was good! It was a good movie! I enjoyed it! I had a great time. I took some screenshots. I shared them.
SLIM What did you think of Gene Hackman;s practice of when he gets home from work, he just takes his pants right off and sits in his boxers in his apartment?
PROTO I mean, it’s smart. I’ve often wondered like when you watch movies with Jimmy Stewart, or you know, Cary Grant, these guys live in in suits. It’s like, get out of here. You’re not going home and keeping those pants on. They’re coming off. So I respected you know, Gene Hackman being true with us.
SLIM How about audio convention that he went to?
PROTO Oh yeah. Oh, well how about the studio like in this warehouse? Are you kidding me?
SLIM Unbelievable. The dream.
PROTO Watch it for the studio alone. Oh, also. [Proto laughs] Harrison Ford! Excuse me? He looked amazing!
SLIM Who did he play in that? I don’t even remember that he was in that.
PROTO He plays, I don’t know what — he plays the like the point of contact. He’s the, like assistant director.
DANNY To the director.
SLIM Ohhh.
PROTO Yeah, yeah. To the other surprise, like cameo of that movie, which I won’t spoil if haven’t seen it.
DANNY Does Harrison take his pants off? [Proto & Slim laugh]
PROTO No. Oh, yeah, listen to this. Listen.
DANNY Tell me.
PROTO California Split. You guys heard of this?
SLIM No.
PROTO I took a chance. Another chance this week. I thought can Robert Altman deliver two weeks in a row? I mean, has it ever been done like that? I almost gave this movie five stars. Elliot Gould. I think he’s like my favorite grading performance. Like he’s very abrasive as an actor. He’s like, he’s like, he’s like sandpaper. And I love the way he rubs up against people, you know, other actors.
DANNY Interesting.
PROTO So yeah, I watched The Long Goodbye then this. And I could see people not liking him at all. But for whatever reason he works for me. I love it. So it’s a great movie.
DANNY I like his voice.
PROTO Yeah, yeah, the way he talks.
DANNY He’s got a good voice.
SLIM Four stars from Proto Californian Split. What’s next on the journey then after that?
PROTO Well, I do want to see McCabe — was it McCabe and Mrs. Miller? If that the movie?
SLIM Can we get a pulse check on Art in chat?
PROTO I mean there’s that, there’s Nashville. I actually really want to see MASH, he did that. Never watched that show.
SLIM If you want to follow Proto on Letterboxd, by all means, you can actually also follow 70mm on Letterboxd, we have an HQ account. Pretty rad. And every week we give away free year Letterboxd Pro, so no ads when you’re a Pro member, get access to some cool look stats, you can sort your life in film. And you share the show on social media, you get entered into win a free year of Letterboxd Pro, so this week’s winner, averagejoeberg on Twitter. Congratulations.
PROTO Congrats.
SLIM Won a free year of Letterboxd Pro. And if you want to support Letterboxd at any time, maybe you didn’t win that year of Letterboxd Pro and you want to go Pro or Patron, you can do so to discount using the link on 70mmpod.com. We have a nice little customized version of that link now if you click on it, it’s a custom movie artwork. And a quote.
PROTO Whoaaaa.
SLIM You know? It’s very snazzy.
DANNY Also if you think you’re following Proto, you might not be. So just double check.
SLIM Check your Proto follow status.
DANNY Just check that you’re following Proto if you’re listening.
SLIM If you’re not following Proto…
DANNY Yeah, I mean if you might think you are, but you might not be check it again.
PROTO Check it again.
DANNY Just double check.
SLIM Seantana in chat “check your Prote”. Remember that Tenet review of yours? If you look up Proto’s Tenet review. There’s some Tenet-ing happening on that page.
DANNY Yeah, unreal.
SLIM If you get my drift.
PROTO Thank you Letterboxd.
SLIM I think I revealed this to Proto in Apex the other night. It was great to see Proto in Apex chat on Xbox. But I watched one of his favorite movies. Little Women, starring Winona Ryder.
DANNY What a treat.
SLIM I couldn’t believe the star power in this movie. Insane.
DANNY Through the roof.
SLIM It’s wild! Also, Christian Bale is in it, he plays Timothée’s character Laurie. [Danny & Proto laugh] And they look a lot alike I feel like in this movie. Even with that, like Garth Knight Rider goatee that he has in the back of the movie. [PRoto & Danny laugh] I was not expecting, but I really enjoyed it. I liked it. And the ending scene where Gabriel Byrne and Winona Ryder meet back at the house. And Gabriel Byrne is like, you know, ‘I have nothing to offer you my hands are empty.’ That scene… you talk about the sob knob going to 11? I was like kind of, I was watching the movie, pseudo paying attention. But then I focused on the ending scene and I started tearing up right away. It’s just one of those weird scenes in movies where you could not be paying attention or like really into the movie but the music hits right, the writing hits, right and the acting is like so perfect in that moment.
DANNY You just got to crank that knob.
SLIM You got to crank the knob, my friend.
PROTO What did you think of in terms of like how the story was told versus the Greta Gerwig one?
SLIM I had actually forgotten that the Greta Gerwig one was out of order until I think I was reading another review. And so this one is chronological. And I don’t know, I like both. I appreciate both. I really love the Greta one.
DANNY It’s hard not to.
SLIM I think it might be time to rewatch.
PROTO It’s a beautiful movie.
SLIM We just talked about it in the front of the show right?
DANNY Yeah, we didn’t really dig deep.
SLIM Ohhh man. Has it been a year since that movie came out? Maybe? Should we do like some kind of like anniversary ep?
DANNY I think it came out in 2019.
SLIM Has it been two years since that movie came out? [Danny laughs]
PROTO The big two.
DANNY So, Little Women, highly recommended. Proto was right. Proto and his sisters were right. It’s very good. Although Gabriel Byrne, is not, he doesn’t do it for me.
PROTO Yeah, he’s a little odd in that. Yeah.
SLIM It’s a little out of place. But I could be the odd person out in that respect. Is it time?
PROTO Oh baby.
SLIM To get into our movie of the week? Marcie says I’m right. Thank you, about Gabriel Byrne. This was my pick for Blockbuster Summer Month. Part Two. I searched high and low, you know, we’re running out options for this month. Whether it be action, whether it be comedy, drama. We’re at the bottom of the list and I saw this movie come out in that list and I was like it’s time. M Night. The king. [music from Signs fades in] 2002. Proto, can you remind us and take us on this journey for Signs?
PROTO Something inexplicable is happening. Crop circles are appearing around the world. Long thought to be a hoax, the coordination and process is beyond what is thought possible by humans. In a small town in Bucks County, Pennsylvania Graham Hess lives on a farm with his two kids and his brother Merrill. Having suffered the tragic loss of his wife, Graham has shed his belief in a god and his vocation as a minister. A crop circle appears in his cornfield. He quickly reasons it away as a prank. But as time passes, his reasoning fails bit by bit as signs become clear of something much bigger and more meaningful happening. As him and his family face the impossible, Graham must grapple with what kind of person he is. Is he the kind that sees signs? That sees miracles? Or does he believe that people just get lucky? Or look at the question this way, is it possible that there are no coincidences? [music from Signs ramps up] Signs. [Slim laughs]
SLIM Danny’s doing prayer hands right now, during that reading. 2002. Is this his third movie after Unbreakable? Or was this his second one? Can anyone confirm that?
DANNY I don’t know the order.
PROTO I’m pretty sure —
SLIM Third studio film, Kev in chat says. So Sixth Sense had come out. You know, this guy is…
DANNY On fire.
SLIM He’s liquid. Quote “the next Spielberg”. He makes one amazing movie and he gets that title thrown at him.
DANNY Yeah. Deserved.
SLIM And then he does Unbreakable, right, I think is his second film. At the time, I saw that I was still in love, you know, comic book movie, but real life?! M. Night and Bruce Willis?! Loved it. I have no idea if that holds up at all. But I remember loving that movie. And then Signs comes out. And I’m sitting in in theaters with a packed house seeing a scary movie directed by M. Night opening weekend. What a trip that was. Danny, what was your memories and experience checking this movie out?
DANNY I don’t remember where, when, or why I was watching this film. But I remember the experience of watching this film for the first time. I remember being scared. I just, that’s that’s what I remember most. I remember this was one of those films that I was just like, this was the first ones where they kind of got me, like I was messed up from this film. [Proto laughs] And yeah, I don’t think it was, I don’t think it was a theater experience. It may have been a couple years after it came out. I just remember the feeling of seeing this for the first time.
SLIM The feels. Proto?
PROTO Yeah, I saw this in theaters as well, I saw that the Cherry Hill Lowe’s theater, and I didn’t see you know, scary horror movies in the theater, this might have been one of my first of that ilk. And I can still see where I was. I was in the second section against the bar on the left side. And those credits came onto the screen with that music. And that lettering with that background. So I rewatched this with my brothers and my brother in law Bruce, and within five seconds of the movie starting, Bruce said ‘Oh yeah, it’s all coming back to me.’ [Danny & Proto laugh] Yes, like as soon as like — there’s something really iconic about the beginning of this movie that’s like just burned into my brain. Like I can’t forget that experience.
DANNY I mean, I was whooshing straights, Psycho. Bernie Herrm, like the intro to a Hitchcock film. Like this was given me all those vibes for the intro to Signs for sure.
SLIM Yeah, we saw, so in our Discord, we have everyone’s Letterboxd, we follow each other. And there’s a channel that kind of pipes in Letterboxd reviews. So I know of at least two people. Soph and Mckenzie watched Signs, maybe for the first time, Sophs might have been a rewatch but they rated it really low. And I started to wonder, you know, how much of this movie is like that timeframe of our lives, the nostalgia fog, so to speak. And I wonder how this would be viewed today. I feel like everyone in our age group maybe talks about it, but I don’t really see other people talking about it. But you’re right, when the text came up on screen. I was like, oh, hell yeah. I’m transported back to the exact moment when I saw this movie.
DANNY I think I watched — I think it turned Sixth Sense off because I was scared. That movie freaked me out. I’m not, I wasn’t for a long time, not a good horror film fan. Unbreakable, felt like — because what was the timeframe for Unbreakable compared to like the X-men movies?
SLIM I think a couple years.
DANNY Are we talking like before or after?
PROTO Unbreakable’s 2000.
DANNY Yeah, so I feel like watched Unbreakable, I was like this is feels like someone’s trying to change the game of comic book movies. And I was impressed big time. And I think for a while I would have said Unbreakable was my favorite M. Night. Because I really do love Bruce Willis in that film. And I mean, I love Samuel L. Jackson in it, but I think it’s one of my favorite Bruce performances.
SLIM I wrote in my notes that I wanted to check on Jonesy was our guest host for the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade episode. Because growing up with Jonesy, whom I’ve known for many years, in his house, he had a photo of Mel Gibson and his aunt. I think it was his aunt, might have been his uncle and Mel Gibson. So they filmed this movie, at their farmhouse in Bucks County.
DANNY What?!
PROTO Whaaat?
SLIM So I texted him today. I was like, hey, can you remind me that story? Because I had this vague memory of that photo with Mel in their house. So she has a ton of pics with Mel, Jonesy says, she said he was very tiny and a chain smoker, but also very polite and kind and would always thank them. So I think that, let me see, I think they get thanked in the actual credits of the film. So I just always thought that was kind of like a fun little piece of trivia. That I had like a three degrees of separation to the movie being filmed in Bucks County. So my first note, probably in general, is the music of the movie. It’s like some legit iconic soundtrack in this movie. Like we said already, you’re placed in this exact movie in time when you’re seeing it. And there’s one scene that probably still makes us a five star movie for me. So like right off the bat. Some of it doesn’t hold up as well as I remember. But the scene where they rush his son out of the house after they have that big scene at the end, where the violins like amp up and it speeds up and they rush out of the house. [music from Signs ramps up, plays alone, fades out]
SLIM Like that piece of music is all time for me. It’s up there with that piece of music from the Arrival episode. So the music really holds a special place in my heart for this movie. Proto, what’s on your list for Signs?
PROTO Well, yeah, just going back to the first experience, I get a distinct, very distinct feeling when I watch this movie that I don’t get with other movies. I don’t know what it is. And it seems like a lot of people have that experience. I’ve talked to a lot of, well, pretty much anyone who, like you said, Slim, who saw this in theaters or has this kind of memory, there’s something about this movie that is just iconic. And it really, it creates this, this feeling when I watch it, I don’t really know how to describe it. But it’s like, yeah, it takes me back. And it just feels so distinct. And maybe it’s like how intimate this movie feels. And being being in a theater filled with people watching a story that is so local, and like, to the scope, an you know, an alien invasion movie to the scope of a single family. It was just like unlike anything, I’ve, you know, I had experienced up into that point. And I felt the same way. So it’s almost, it’s so fun to return to this movie for that reason. But it did feel much different this time around. [Proto laughs] Especially, just, I think the thing I realized the most, that I was most shocked by, was that the movies after this, the thing that disappointed me most in M. Night movies was the script. And like, particularly the dialogue and like how characters are written. And what I’ve realized is that I think this movie is just as bad as those other movies. But I love their performances that Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix do. Where the like, the dialogue could be totally, like, if it was done by the wrong person who didn’t understand what they needed to do, this movie would have been a joke. But they understand like, they have such like a stiffness. And every joke they give so dry and serious. Whereas if they delivered it in any other way, I don’t think this movie would work. So I just think they took a lot of scenes that could have been really bad. And like painful to watch. And made them really good.
SLIM Yeah, you could say like, it’s related to that, he eventually did The Happening, which, at the time I saw that I said was the worst movie I’ve ever seen. [Danny & Proto laugh] That has Mark Wahlberg, and I think Zooey Deschanel. I don’t remember much about the movie. I just remember everything just being so horrific. So that could be a time where maybe the cast really couldn’t help him in that movie. That was a B movie but looked like a mainstream horror movie that just was terrible.
PROTO I remember writhing in my seat, watching that in the theater. [Danny & Slim laugh]
SLIM It is probably one of my worst cinematic memories that I have, is seeing The Happening.
DANNY Holy cow.
SLIM Like whatever positivity I had for M. Night, it was almost like immediately vanished after I saw that movie.
PROTO I think that’s where I quit. I quit him.
SLIM Quit movies. Quit movie for a few years. [Danny & Proto laugh] Yeah, you’re right. I think the writing in Old was bad. The writing here feels fine to me. But it definitely feels like it’s a certain type of way. It feels like he’s being like, purposefully obtuse with the writing. And thinking that it might be timeless over, you know, decades. And it just didn’t work in his other ones.
DANNY I have to echo Proto for a second because literally first notes for this film is Mel’s performance. Mel and Joaquin, I think for me — I think actually the four of them, the two kids and Mel and Joaquin, Rory and Abigail, I feel like their performances are so good that I’ve just really makes me forget, or I just never even realize, until people start bringing it up, like you, a couple of Letterboxd reviews talk about the script writing. It doesn’t even phase me in this film. I think the performances really carried this movie. And what I love about it is for alien invasion films we always had — I mean, when I think of that, I think of Independence Day. And we have these big, we have these big ships and we have fights and the attacks. And this is this is focused not on a global scale. And when we catch glimpses of what’s going on around the world, but it’s really focused on the four of them in their farmhouse, in the middle of nowhere. And it all weighed on all their shoulders for the performance in this film. And I just feel like Mel and Joaquin were next level. Honestly I feel like this is my favorite Mel performances. I can’t think of another one that I would put above this.
SLIM Lethal Weapon.
DANNY No. I just watched it. There’s no way!
SLIM Wouldn’t he have made an amazing Wolverine if they filmed an X-men movie in the early 90s?
DANNY Are you kidding me? Ohhh my god.
PROTO Yeah, I can see it.
SLIM We should point out, you know, Mel Gibson more recently, maybe in the last decade or 12?
DANNY It was a decade ago.
SLIM It was 10 years ago, you know, he got pulled over and was filmed just being just the worst human being on the planet. And I think he allegedly attributed to alcoholism, and he allegedly went sober. So he’s still making movies today, you can find a bunch of articles of like, why does Mel still get work? So I would encourage everyone to do some reading on Mel Gibson and his past because it’s not great. That’s why I think, I wanted to go back just to see, because no one talks about this, maybe potentially, because of Mel Gibson, you know, he could be kind of like a pariah, so to speak to it’s not as much fun to go back and watch this. The one other thing on my notes is the overt Christianity in this movie and faith. And I think that really resonated with me at the time when I saw this when I was younger.
PROTO Same.
SLIM The last scene where he talks about, you know, did someone save me? It felt so thick this time.
PROTO Yeah, yeah, to me, it hit very close to home, as well as like something I would like to think about growing up, like, you know, I grew up in church my whole life. Questions about God and faith, were always like, the forefront of my mind. So this was like, really relevant to me at the time. Yeah, it’s very heavy handed at some points. But also, the one thing I really didn’t like that I like, catch for the first time is that at the end, where he’s holding his son, and he’s like, helping him breathe, or no, no, when they go out of the farmhouse, and he’s like, the gas is getting in his lungs, he has asthma. That’s why he has asthma. And I thought, man, that, like him saying that as a man of faith, to attribute the reason his son having asthma is so that he doesn’t breathe in the gas at this moment. Seems such like a juvenile, like view. So like, in that moment, I was like, M. Night, this sucks. [Slim & Danny laugh] You cannot have this line in this movie, what are you doing? But the sign of Joaquin and Mel on the couch having that conversation about the two groups of people. I just got chills just as I said that.
DANNY Yes, yes, yes.
PROTO I love that scene. That scene has stayed with me so long. I think that scene is so well written, some of the dialogue in this is fantastic. Some of those exchanges they have.
[clip of Signs plays]
GRAHAM You have to ask yourself this what kind of person are you? Are you the kinda that sees Signs? Sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky? Or look at the question this way, is it possible that there are no coincidences?
[clip of Signs ends]
SLIM That scene is just shot so well, too. I’m not sure what M. Night had in his mind about the usage of shadows and lighting in this movie. But there are so many gorgeous scenes where like three quarters of their faces in total darkness, and just maybe half their face. But the conversation they have there is also the same thing. Like that line that Joaquin had at the end of that story, where he called himself a miracle man. Like that’s another funny memory that I have for that. But you’re right. Yeah, that scene definitely held up.
DANNY I think for this viewing, I don’t remember the last time I saw Signs before this, it had to have been, I mean, decade easily. I don’t think I’ve ever watched this since — I honestly don’t know if I’ve seen it more than twice, if that. So I didn’t really remember the faith aspect of this film. All I can remember are the tentpole scenes where they were jumpscares and tense moments in this film that got me then. Now when I watch it, honestly, I feel like this movie has really very little to do with alien invasion and more about faith and a family that is just trying to find a way to work together again. So I feel like that’s the main theme of this film. And there’s so many moments where things don’t work unless they’re working together as a family, like the baby monitor. The baby monitor’s not going to work unless they’re all joined together, and they can hear it then. There’s just little tidbits of things where this family has been ruined by the death of the mother, the brutal death, like insanely sad death of the mother. And this family is just shattered. I mean, Graham is no longer a Minister, which is a big deal. I mean, it’s a big deal to walk away from your faith, let alone your calling as a Minister. So this family is completely broken. And it’s really just the invasion itself is a way of them, figuring out how to be a family again and working together to, you know, overcome the fact that they had a terrible tragedy in their life.
SLIM Gosh, that flashback scene.
DANNY Those flashback scenes hurt. And you know what’s funny is, the death of the mother, the way she died, has been like this weird, like, burned into my memory scenario. But I could never place where I remembered it from until watching this viewing. I couldn’t remember — whenever there’s like, it’s really weird. And it’s a really weird occurrence to where there’s a car wreck, or I hear about someone dying in a car wreck, I think of the mother pinned under the tree. And until this viewing, I couldn’t remember where I remembered that from. And it was so wild to me. But anyway.
PROTO Oh, about that scene. When it’s finally at the end, he’s gonna go talk to his wife. But first he’s talking to the officer. And she’s like, you know, your wife is cut in half, and only has moments to live. But let’s stay here and keep talking for three minutes. [Danny & Slim laugh] She can die at any moment! She’s cut in half! Let him go his wife! What are you doing?!
DANNY So true.
PROTO She was acting as if like, well, we’ve got at least a half hour, she’s chopped in half.
SLIM Yeah, the Christian themes, the faith themes didn’t resonate with me as hard this time around. I almost felt like it was, this time around, it was so thick that it felt like I was watching like Left Behind Kirk Cameron. [Danny laughs] Like, almost this is a sort of propaganda machine. So which obviously can tell you how different I am than maybe in 2002 when I saw this movie.
DANNY What is crazy, though, is the amount of ways that this movie can be viewed like because for you, it kind of bugs you, but I completely forgot about the faith. And then I’m realizing this is more about faith. And it’s just amazing to me that we can take so many different viewpoints on this film. It’s Signs, for Christ’s sake.
SLIM I mean, the scenes with the alien on the roof. Initially, like that was a formative moment for me in theaters and in the audience. Like you had that moment where the audience is also, like scared out of their pants. And the famous scene where Joaquin sees the clip on the television screen.
DANNY Oh my gosh.
SLIM I remember rewinding that scene when this came out. And rewatching it. Like this was like an iconic moment for us growing up that like this was our big alien movie. This is our formative movie.
PROTO Especially because going into this movie we actually didn’t know what it was about. Like watching, it was an M. Night movie. And the thing is, he always had a twist. So it says alien movie but you didn’t really know if it was or not. Like they didn’t give anything away before you walked into the theater seeing this. So up until it’s actually confirmed, you know, you didn’t know what was going on. And I feel like the scene, I think like when he’s on the roof, like you’re still not sure, I think you’re not sure until it’s the news where they capture it at the party. You know, where you see the freeze frame of the alien in that moment. And of course Joaquin’s reaction because that’s him, he’s seeing it for the first time and like the world is seeing it. And that scene, like man, those moments were so good and like the build up to the ultimate reveal of it, you know, actually being aliens.
SLIM There’s a lot of great shots, the alien hand in the like coal chute in the basement.
DANNY Oh my god. I had forgotten about that scene.
SLIM Something I didn’t even see it in theaters. I think I only caught that when I watched it at home again.
DANNY How terrifying of a choice it’s a see the hand grab a child and then it cut to a flashlight on the ground and all you hear is the reaction to everyone figuring out how to — like that was, I forgot how mortifying that part was. Because the hand is so gross. And I forget how they can camouflage for their surroundings. So it looked like the iron bars or looked like his shirt or it was green like the leaves it was standing in. Like it was bonkers how terrifying that scene was. Right when he smashes that light out. It’s about to get real down there. There’s no more light. They got flashlights. Oh my gosh, intense.
SLIM McKenzie pointed out how it’s weird seeing this movie and then realizing that it’s a meme that you’ve seen maybe 1000s of times and that this is what it’s from. I mean that Joaquin gif is pretty famous. What do you think about M. Night as having a cameo or a supporting role in all his movies pretty much? What’s your vibe on that, Proto?
PROTO Well, as we were watching it, I was joking with my brothers that I feel like, I could see M. Night, wanting to write a movie that he stars in eventually, because it feels very much when you think of all of his roles, it feels like he’s, uh, he’s writing a character for himself. You know, like, I mean, he fits in these characters that have this small bit, but that are pretty important in the story. So it’s very particular to him. So I could almost see him like wanting to, like he wants to be an actor. Like he would love to like write a movie. I could, I still feel like I could see that happening at some point, him trying to like star in his own movie.
DANNY I feel like I mean, this is a definitely a Hitchcock approach to filming for films or suspense film, putting yourself in it. But even at the time, if you think about in 2000, whatever, when this book came out, no one knew what he looked like. If I’m watching that for the first time, I’m not going oh, that’s M. Night in this film. That’s just it’s to me that was the veterinarian that killed his wife. I mean, no one’s really pointing it out until until now.
PROTO That’s true.
DANNY There’s no way of knowing then that it was him. So it doesn’t bother me that he puts him, it’s not like he put in a bad performance either.
SLIM I think Lady in the Water might have been the one after this, or I think was The Village and then lady in the water. Lady in the Water, he is not a cameo. I mean, he’s a supporting character. And I got so pissed in the theater when I saw that, I started to get like, annoyed that M. Night was kind of putting him full center at this point in a movie like a really important role that’s on screen a bunch. That might have been with the great unraveling for me with him night at the time.
PROTO I don’t even remember that.
SLIM Let’s see, the scene at the dinner table. And after that when the aliens are starting to kind of like, try to come into the house and he’s telling the stories of their births. I thought that was a great scene. I think Kev pointed out Mel’s reaction to M. Night explaining things at the car. And Mel is like holding back tears. So yeah, those moments definitely still hold up for me.
DANNY Allegedly both of those stories told to the kids were actual birth stories of ignites kids.
SLIM Hmm.
PROTO A scene that I love. And as soon as it came on, I thought this is the scene. This is the scene that wrecked me. It’s when Mel goes out at night to put the water out for the dog. And he hears something the corn. When that happened in the theater, I was just like, no, no, no, no, no. [Danny laughs] We’re not doing this. We’re not going in the corn. And man, yeah, that scene really wrecked me in the theater. And I love it now. I love the way, I love how it just builds, you know, because he’s yelling out in the cornfield, you know, you know, ‘I know this is a prank! You’re not gonna win!’ Even though he’s seen the corn and he saw the way that it was bent and he knows no one could do it like that. He still refuses to believe that it’s anything else other than a prank by somebody. And then he sees the leg when he picks up the flashlight. So good.
SLIM I don’t even think I would go out alone at night in a cornfield, even if it wasn’t ar rumored alien invasion. There’s no way I would go out there. You know you’d get like chilled up to the point where like you’re running before you even realize you’re running, that’s how scared you are. No way Jose.
DANNY You could’ve told me one of my kids was dragged out there by an alien, I would have been like, well, I got three more. [Slim laughs] I’m not going out there.
SLIM Danny, what else on your list for Signs?
DANNY Let’s see. What else have we not talked about? Oh, I think there’s some, the scene after — there’s two bits to this part that I like about. it has to do with M. Night. So when they first are finding out about the aliens and the dog peed itself in the kitchen. There’s a great, I love the little bit of dialogue where he says to call the doctor instead of the veterinarian because the veterinarian is the guy that killed his wife. Like he doesn’t want to deal with him obviously. I love that. So anyway, getting to the house. I love the pantry scene like so much. Like that’s probably top tier of my favorite. I love Mel in that scene. I like when he pretends to be a cop, the bit he tries a pool where he’s pretending to be a cop and sound like a cop.
[clip of Signs plays]
GRAHAM The police are here. I’m with them. I am a police officer.
[clip of Signs ends]
DANNY It’s so funny. But then sticking the — just to see the reflection of the alien on the knife under the crack of the door. It gets me every time. I just love that scene. I love the framing of the shots of him entering the kitchen and then the pantry and then under the door and the hand jumping out and cutting the fingers off and this ends up being the alien that comes back to the house at the end. I just, I love that scene. That’s one of my favorite scenes in this film.
PROTO Yeah, I think that scene is so well acted where Mel, he, you know, he’s looking down there. He’s looking in the room and he puts a knife down and he walks away. But then he comes back. That is just such a well written scene, because when that happened, you’re like, oh, no! Because you know, you don’t want to know what’s behind that door. But him coming back, it just builds the tension so much. I love that.
SLIM It’s funny you mentioned the veterinarian scene at the front because I also caught that for the very first time. And I said something to Amanda, like, as I was walking in a kitchen, I was like, oh, that’s why! Because he’s the vet. She’s like whaaat?
DANNY It’s not written in dialogue. It’s only written on his mailbox, it just says veterinarian on the mailbox, so you don’t even really know to put that together.
SLIM I eventually gave up explaining it Amanda. And I was like, I’ve seen this 1000 times, just forget what I just said. She’s like I already did. [Danny laughs] I love the newscasts talking about, you know, the definitive terms of whether this is either the most elaborate hoax ever created or it’s real, like this is actually happening. I love seeing the news kind of talk in that way. Like the definitive discussions about an actual alien invasion. I know that some of the grief that this movie gets about the aliens heading to a planet of 70% water. I think the one child kind of alludes to like they’ve just used up all the resources so they have no choice to go to like this planet. So that explanation kind of worked for me, like I get the water kills them but, I mean.
DANNY Well that’s the assumption that they know that water kills them, right?
SLIM Yeah.
PROTO Water is deadly, I’ll come nude to the planet. [Slim & Danny laugh]
SLIM I mean they didn’t go to like water areas they went to the cornfield, there’s no water near there, right?
DANNY Right, if they know water is gonna kill them, who cares? Calm down people.
PROTO Air tight plot, baby!
SLIM Has M. Night ever made a mistake in a script?! I dare you to point out 100 mistakes M. Night has made in a script. I dare you.
DANNY This also also goes back to my whatever, that this is more about faith, because water is more of a symbol of purity and washing away sins instead of this is what kills the aliens. Like to me this movie is all about faith and at the end of the day what is a cleansing, and at the end of the story, it’s really the water is the symbol of what’s going to cleanse in, etc.
SLIM Was M. Night in church for like period of two years, was he going through something spiritual?
DANNY He might have been dealing with something.
SLIM Could be. Could be.
PROTO Took us to church.
SLIM That is the exhaustive level of my notes. I actually didn’t take a ton of notes, maybe just because I’ve seen this movie so many times. But Proto, final thoughts and ratings for Signs?
PROTO Well, two other things I just want to mention real quick. One is my while I was watching this, my brother in law, Bruce, he pointed out how often M. Knight uses the shot of over the shoulder of a character. So we have somebody in the foreground and then a character in the background. And once he pointed it out, it’s almost every single scene in this movie.
DANNY Interesting.
PROTO Like once you see it, you cannot unsee it. To the point where it gets to the scene of the wife pinned to the car dying. And M. Knight does an over the shoulder shot of the woman pinned to the car dying to Mel Gibson. And I was like M. Night, you gotta be kidding me. She’s pinned to a car, you’re shooting over her shoulder. But like he does it in every scene. It’s crazy!
DANNY Interesting.
PROTO Except for the scenes often that had the aliens or you know, just them outside, then they would be like a really wide shot. So it was kind of interesting to note, like just witness cinematography. And I think that helped make it feel more intimate, because a lot of the conversations were so intimate in that way, where was like very close to the actor’s face. And so many scenes where it was just a Mel Gibson staring into nothing for 10 seconds. I feel like M. Night had this thing where he wanted to have a shot that like he wanted to capture a picture where there’d be nothing moving in the frame. And you would just focus on it. So this movie, I think that’s why it feels very slow because there’s a lot of moments like that. Oh, and then the one other thing on my list is just the when Merrill goes to the the army recruiter, and this guy!
DANNY The animatronic? [Proto & Danny laugh]
PROTO The animatronic marines recruiter.
DANNY SO unreal!
PROTO If you can act, you can survive an M. Night script. But if you cannot, this is what happens.
DANNY It’s proof, you’re right. [Danny laughs]
PROTO We finished the movie and then we rewinded it and we had to go back to this scene, because his performance is like anything else. [Danny & Slim laugh] But, you know, yes, seeing this again, I think I saw more things that were like troubling to me in terms of like what makes a great movie, but I still love it. I just love this experience. Like I said before, it just, it just brings something out of me. It’s unlike any other movie for that reason. So it’s still a four star movie for me.
DANNY Mmmm, baby, baby. For me, I had a experience watching this film that I didn’t remember. Or I didn’t expect to have. I expected an alien invasion. I expected scare scenes that I could remember. What I didn’t remember or expect were being impressed by Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix’s performances, being impressed by the kids. Abigail and Rory. I thought they were incredible. I think my higher rating of this is because I was so surprised that this wasn’t what I expected or what I remembered expecting of this film. I just really enjoyed it. I had a great time watching it again. Yeah, for me, it’s four and a half stars for me.
SLIM Ohhhhh. Wow. Okay. Yeah, I also had a great time with this. I’ve seen this movie countless times. On this viewing, I get more bummed about Mel Gibson’s recent history of coming out as like an anti-Semite, homophobe, racist. It just bums me out. Because I think this is one of my favorite movies. You know, I want people to experience it and enjoy it and he’s sullied that with his actions. Having said that, it doesn’t age as well as I thought it would, but I still loved it. I’m still five stars for Signs.
DANNY Yessss, yes, yes, yes.
SLIM I had an amazing time watching this. This movie was on loop in West Coast Video when I worked there. So every inch of this movie I have a vivid memory about. So the nostalgia fog is still very thick and it is still seeping into the room every time I watched this, and that’s A-okay with me.
DANNY Amazing.
SLIM We have some voicemails to get to real quick. You can leave us a VM or a letter at 70mmpod.com. Letter, VM, send us an audio file. Let me pull up, I just remembered we have a letter to get to actually before I forget. Which I am one to do. I won’t name names.
PROTO Neva! [Slim laughs]
SLIM Neva! This comes from Josh. “My dearest 70mm, I hope this email finds you well. I’ve been listening to the pod for a while now, but just recently became a patron. The Discord is great. I love the podcast despite the fact that each of you have said something reprehensible about movies I love” We’re all on this journey together. “Apparently I got over it. Danny’s art is incredible. I can’t wait to order some prints. I rewatched Signs on Monday night and it didn’t hold up as well as I’d hoped. The dialogue and some of the performances kind of took me out of it at times. Mel’s performance is a little up and down, IMO. I still found it pretty entertaining with some great camerawork and a solid score. I’d say I root for M. Night more than the average film lover, but he usually disappoints and shadow on the actor is so much worse than the director. Good grief. 3.5 stars. I guess the real reason I emailed is to ask when the podcast will be renamed 70mmph? Yours cinematically, crash_fador, Josh”
DANNY Love it.
PROTO We gonna put that on a shirt. 70mmmph. [Danny laughs]
SLIM Imagine the questions you’d get about that shirt. The eyebrow raising movements. Alright. We got some VMs here. Let’s see, I’m looking at timestamps of this VM. Somebody went over 90 seconds. I’m not gonna name names.
DANNY Oh no.
SLIM But we’ll listen to, let’s get to Andy first.
[voicemail plays]
VOICEMAIL Hey, what’s up 70mm, it is Andy calling from Orlando. And this week you guys are covering Signs. I absolutely love this movie. I remember when it came out. I was big on it because of the suspensefulness and it being a thriller and all that. But the older I get and the more I watch it, the more I appreciate a couple of things. A, the humor, has some really funny lines in there, that you just are very normal. And so I appreciate the simplicity of the humor in this movie. Also, I view it now as a life movie. Kind of like a Stranger Than Fiction, Secret Life of Walter Mitty it just kind of challenges, how you see life and how you see the events of your life and your perspective of things. And so, for me, that’s why I think I still appreciate this movie. I give it a 4.5. Yeah, it’s up there for me. The performances I really enjoy, you know, Joaquin Phoenix, I just love his performance in this movie as well. So I’m a big fan of it. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts. And that is my dog in the background. Love you guys, bye.
[voicemail ends]
PROTO Love Andy. You know what? The first thing that I thought I’ve seeing Joaquin, I was just envisioning, this is the same guy that plays Joker. [Danny laughs] Thinking of him now?!
DANNY It’s a different person. It’s wild.
PROTO Like the roles he has done, it’s wild. It’s crazy.
DANNY Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SLIM Delete that. Get that guru out of here. I don’t want him anywhere near our Discord, that movie.
PROTO He deleted it, he deleted it! [Proto & Danny & Slim laugh]
SLIM How about Joaquin’s hair in this movie? Marcie left a comment that I almost didn’t remember. Marcie said Joaquin is hot in this movie. His hair. I don’t know, Marcie, what about his hair in this movie? What do you think about that? I don’t know how I feel about it.
PROTO It’s a tragedy we didn’t see him in a baseball uniform.
DANNY Did everyone catch him hammering up the board on the door though? Did you catch that? Him missing the nail 100 times, you have to watch it again. Go back and watch this. He hit the nail once.
SLIM It’s like that Bond movie where the guy’s like sweeping midair, without touching the ground.
DANNY I’m telling you guys, you’re gonna like die laughing when you see how many times he misses the nail and they just move on.
SLIM That’s movie magic.
DANNY It’s the best.
PROTO But also the wooden planks, there was like one door had one plank. [Slim & Danny laugh]
SLIM They don’t even know how to open doors! They’re not going to get through that thing! They can’t figure out a doorknob. They have technology that lets them zip through the galaxy but they’re not going to figure it out a doorknob.
PROTO He was just using, all M. Night had was just the wood that was on Jonesy’s aunt’s property. [Danny & Slim] He didn’t have anything else, he had to make due.
DANNY Can we go there?
SLIM I would expect Jonesy could give us a meet-up tour.
PROTO I’m going in the cooorn.
SLIM Jonesy, please. Next VM.
[voicemail plays]
VOICEMAIL Hey guys. It’s Kev. I was on the phone today for seven and a half hours with my legal team and we unfortunately found no recourse. So we will not be pressing charges for the Will Forte… oh God. What is his name? This is so bad. The Will Forte. The MacGruber. What’s his name?
SLIM Let it out. Let it out Kev.
VOICEMAIL The Will Forte, Bill Hader mix up last night. I’m pissed as you can tell, but I’m willing to overlook it because we get to talk about M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs. A movie that came out at a time where expectations were maybe too high. Newsweek, a couple years later, or no Newsweek around this time was calling him the next Spielberg, which I think for anybody is unfair. Although I think you’d say the same thing if you had just seen the movie Unbreakable, and learned that he was doing an alien invasion movie next. I was wondering if you guys had to pick a new Spielberg, who would it be out of the people working today? Is it David Lowery for The Green Knight? No. But it could be for you, live your truth. Just curious. Alright. Thank you so much. And not to get rickles at the end of the bit. But uh, this is an absolutely incredible community made up of really fantastic people who happen to all like movies. If you’re thinking of joining and you got this far into the 70mm episode of the M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs, come home. Thank you guys so much.
[voicemail ends]
SLIM Thank you Kev, what a VM. What kind of mic Kev working with over there?
DANNY Yeah, he sounded real good.
SLIM Is Kev also cooking up some kind of secret podcast in this Discord? There’s something cooking in there and I want answers.
DANNY Sounded real good.
PROTO Remember when everyone thought JJ Abrams was the next Steven Spielberg?
DANNY That’s because he tried to be. [Danny laughs]
SLIM I loved his lens flaring. Everyone hated it, but I loved it.
DANNY When are we doing Super 8?
SLIM Get me more lens flare. If I was on set, I would be like doing the hand motion in the circle, like more lens flare.
PROTO It’s iconic.
SLIM Please. Super 8. I had something else I was gonna say, now I can’t remember. Oh, yeah. So Kev infamously got a wrong answer in our VHS Olympics, VHS Village Olympics last night and everyone just let it slide. [Danny laughs] Until someone realized that he was way wrong. I felt ill in that moment.
[voicemail plays]
VOICEMAIL What up 70mm? It’s Seantana. It’s been a minute since I called in, but just wanted to give some thoughts in the movie for this week. I always considered myself a bit of an M. Night apologist. I really loved The Village and my memory of Lady in the Water was that it was at least pretty interesting. But I’d always avoided Signs. I’d seen the Sixth Sense pretty young in Signs loomed heavy as a movie that I just felt I couldn’t handle. So I did what any 12 year old boy would do. And watched Scary Movie 3 on repeat. For years, I hadn’t seen Signs. I hadn’t seen The Ring. And I hadn’t seen 8 Mile. But now the plots of those movies feel so interwoven in my mind that I just can’t shake it. So I’m sorry about your pick, Slim Night Shyamalan. This one wasn’t for me. I watched it for the first time last summer. And it’s sadly still my least favorite Shyamalan that I’ve seen. I admit, I’m to blame, since at this point, Signs just isn’t scary at all. And Scary Movie three had taken every maybe memorable scene and burned into my brain something way better. And if I ever watch Signs again, which I don’t think I’m going to do anytime soon, all I’m gonna think is man, I wish the cops hat was growing bigger and bigger right now. And would this be better if the aliens could pee out of their fingers? Or this is kind of boring. I wish there was a B plot where Joaquin Phoenix was trying to make it as a rapper and being hyped by Anthony Anderson and Kevin Hart. Anyways, I love you all. And I’m extremely blessed by this community. And if you’re listening and aren’t part of the VHS Village, just know you will be welcomed with open arms and stupid gifs. Thanks guys.
[voicemail ends]
SLIM How about Seantana like orchestrating his voicemail with his photoshops in chat? Like he was weaving a story as he was dropping those. Amazing.
PROTO If people feel disheartened to hearing that, just know that he’s pretty sick. Some of the things that he’s created. [Slim laughs] So you know, don’t worry about his star rating or his feelings toward Signs.
SLIM Scary Movie 1 & 2 were 100% formative for my youth in humor. Scary Movie 3 I think was a different runner. I didn’t like Scary Movie 3.
DANNY I’m still unclear if Torin liked this movie or not.
SLIM Can we get confirmation in chat?
PROTO He won’t stop talking about it.
SLIM Can someone acknowledged Torin, please, in chat. Satiate him. Someone?
DANNY Excuse me? [Slim laughs]
SLIM We have to announce our movie next week.
DANNY Oh, no.
SLIM This is our big August month. We’ve been doing 21st Century Blockbusters for the summer. But I’ll be honest with you, I think we ran out.
DANNY We did them all.
SLIM I think we ran out of the good ones. And we need to pivot.
DANNY Yeah, big pivot.
SLIM There was a moment last night in the VHS Village Olympics where there was a certain card that got picked. And it was the movie Speed.
DANNY My gosh.
SLIM And podcaster extraordinare and member of our Discord McKenzie, has not seen Speed. If there was ever a sign…
DANNY Yep.
SLIM That we need to cover a movie.
DANNY Yep.
SLIM With a certain guest. And that movie is streaming on HBO Max right now.
DANNY Right now.
PROTO Right now.
SLIM So we will be doing Speed, Keanu Reeves, with our special guests McKenzie, host of the ON LYNCH podcast that just dropped, that’s next week.
DANNY Big deal.
SLIM It’s time!
DANNY Mhmm.
SLIM Proto, what are your vibes on Speed with Keanu Reeves and Sondra Boollock?
PROTO Sondra. Well, Sandra Bullock in any kind of vehicle going fastest good. I mean, Gravity. Hello! This is her territory. This is her wheelhouse. These kind of movies. With Keanu?! We’re talking baby Keanu. This was before, this was before everything.
SLIM We got Jan de Bont. Directing again. We’re back! Same director as Twister.
PROTO We back!
SLIM Has this ever been done? Almost in the same month, we do a director in another movie.
DANNY We did it. [Slim laughs]
SLIM I’m excited to hear from McKenzie because McKenzie has never seen this movie. I’m intrigued to hear someone’s reaction to seeing Speed for the first time in the year of our Lord 2021. Could be really great. Could be really bad.
DANNY This is big.
SLIM Danny, when was the last time you saw Speed?
DANNY I’m gonna be honest. I’m not sure I’ve seen it all the way through. [Danny laughs]
SLIM Oh my god! Okay.
DANNY Me and McKenzie might be hanging tight together with this one.
SLIM If you’re out there listening, and you haven’t seen Speed, this is a safe place.
DANNY Big night.
SLIM We’re all in this together. There’s no gatekeeping here for these movies. Okay?
PROTO Sitting at a 3.6 on Letterboxd.
DANNY That’s big, real big. That’s Human Condition big.
PROTO We’re heading towards four stars.
SLIM Is this going to topple Human Condition?
DANNY You know, I think this is it. This is the one.
SLIM Is this the one?
DANNY Criterion, if you’re listening, this is a 4K release. [Slim laughs] Put it out there with Citizen Kane.
SLIM What are those 4K’s gonna cost from the Criterion? You know those things are gonna be expensive as hell. They’re like $60 for their blu-rays now, it’s something crazy! My god. Just one more time, thank you everyone for your support for a GoFundMe for $1300 that we’ll be donating. Just amazing. What a week. What a game night. Proto, can you take us out this week?
PROTO We had a sign that led us to our next movie next week. There’s signs all around us. Okay? You just need to have an open eye and an open heart and open ear and they’ll come to you. So just you know, give a chance, find your signs. [Danny & Slim laugh]
SLIM 70mm is a TAPEDECK production featuring original artwork provided by Danny Haas. Spiritual guidance and VGER, the robot who loves movies created by Protolexus. Producer emeritus Dale_a. Prints and other merch are available on 70mmpod.com. This episode was mixed, edited and produced by me, Slim. You can support our Patreon for access to the VHS Village Discord to talk movies with new friends, access to exclusive episodes, discounts on merch, and a physical membership card mailed to you. To check out other TAPEDECK podcasts, find the link in the episode notes. And if you’d like to support our friends at Letterboxd and upgrade to Pro or Patron status, you can do so with a 20% off discount using the links at 70mmpod.com. Goodbye!
