Episode 100: The Rise of Hess (with Adam LeClerc)

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. Hello everyone, and welcome to Odd Trilogies with Logan and Andy. I'm Logan. So. [00:00:22] Speaker B: And I'm Andy Carr. [00:00:23] Speaker A: And on Odd Trilogies, we take a trio of films, whether tied by cast, crew, thematic elements or just numerical order, and we discuss the good, the Bad and the weird surro each installment. And before we get into today's episode, we wanted to thank Matt Hurt specifically because today almost, I think a year, almost a year since we did our God's Not Dead sequels episode with Jake where we kind of had a similar setup to what we have today for our guest. We have now upgraded to our guest star, thanks to our friend of the podcast, Matt Hurt. [00:00:56] Speaker B: Yeah, we finally have a proper board for. For more than two mics. And it's thanks to Matt Hurt over at Obsessive Viewer and his generosity. So if you notice that we sound a lot better, you can thank Matt. If we sound worse, it's Matt's fault. No, if we sound bad, it's just because we're still figuring out stuff. But thank you, Matt, and we'll see you soon. [00:01:21] Speaker A: Can't wait for 18 more Kurosawa episodes with you some way shape or form. But until we get to those episodes today, we are actually talking about a director who by the time this episode has come out, has a new blockbuster film out in theaters. Right. By the time this episode is out, we have probably seen the film, but we will not discuss how we feel about that yet. We'll probably have our own video or kind of recording separate to that. But in honor of the release of a Minecraft movie today, for our hundredth episode of Odd Trilogies, Crazy, we are going to be talking about the rise of writer director Jared Hess, who for most people who wait, the Minecraft movie guy. Why that guy? Well, because his first three films were 2004's Napoleon Dynamite, 2006 is Nacho Libre, and also 2009's Gentleman Broncos. So the man has been around for 20 plus years and created one of the most iconic independent comedies in this century as of right now. [00:02:26] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:02:27] Speaker A: And we thought what better time to talk about probably one of our favorite films of all time, right on the podcast. But not just the two of us, right? [00:02:35] Speaker B: This goes for our guest. [00:02:36] Speaker A: We have a special guest here. This is, I think his fourth or fifth time he's trying to. He's miming what he thinks it is because he's been around. When we talked about the Hobbit trilogy, we talked about the Bionicle trilogy, we also talked about Andy Circus's Planet of. [00:02:55] Speaker B: The Apes just last year. [00:02:57] Speaker A: And if that's all of them. [00:02:58] Speaker B: I think it is. [00:02:59] Speaker A: I think this is number four. Adam Le Player, join the conversation. [00:03:03] Speaker C: I'm back, baby. [00:03:06] Speaker B: Better than ever. [00:03:06] Speaker C: Oh, man, I'm. I'm bigger. I'm better. [00:03:10] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:03:10] Speaker C: Gained weight. [00:03:12] Speaker B: And I think this is the first time that we're talking about a movie with the three of us that is like, kind of of like equal importance, at least one of these movies. [00:03:23] Speaker A: Yes. [00:03:23] Speaker C: Like, that's a really good point. Yeah. [00:03:25] Speaker B: Like, yeah, way up there for all three of us. [00:03:28] Speaker A: It's crazy because I think we're the only three people to see Gentlemen Broncos didn't see it. No, we did. [00:03:34] Speaker C: My first time watching it. But we'll get to that. [00:03:36] Speaker A: That's the joke. But yes, what's also great too, is with our current setup, Adam has the sickest setup because he looks like he has a futuristic robot arm holding his microphone. [00:03:47] Speaker B: Yeah. I gave Adam the. The. The arm because he's. He's more animated than Logan and I are and he can adjust it to his liking. [00:03:58] Speaker C: I'll probably be moving all over this. [00:04:00] Speaker A: Thing, you know, and I'm just holding my hands down under the table, trying not to touch the table. [00:04:05] Speaker C: Oh, it'll be touched. [00:04:07] Speaker A: But yeah, no, I think it's been a hot minute since we've done a Rise up episode of A Director. And, you know, after doing Patlabor and also Frankenheimer, we just kind of thought, you know, it might be fun just to do, I'd say an easy home run conversationally, with just one of the films being on this trilogy. [00:04:26] Speaker B: Right. [00:04:26] Speaker A: And then Nacho, of course, because of the Jack Black of it all. And then I think the interesting aspect, the most interesting aspect of the three of these is Gentleman Broncos because you two hadn't seen it. [00:04:36] Speaker B: Right. [00:04:36] Speaker A: And I haven't seen it, I think, since like a year or two after it came out. So it's been 15 plus years. [00:04:41] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:04:42] Speaker A: Since I think I've seen it. And it is fascinating because, I mean, Jared has to think that the man who created, like the poster child for indie comedy in the 2000s, in a sense that isn't Wes Anderson. [00:04:58] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:04:58] Speaker A: Or even like a Garden states, like indie type film, like in an era where he is pretty much cemented the idea of taking a quarter of a ham sandwich and turning it into a million dollar film that ultimately led to him having a career these last 20 plus years. That is wild that we're at the point where now he is the man who is going to Helm the Minecraft movie. But going into Jared Hess, he was a born in, I believe, Scottsdale, Arizona, or is it Glendale? [00:05:34] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that's right. [00:05:35] Speaker A: He's born in Arizona. He went to Brigham Young University in college. And that's where he met his wife, I believe is pronounced Jerusha. Jerisha Test. [00:05:46] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:05:47] Speaker A: Who is a co writer on all three of these films and a co producer. She. They met there. And during the process of being together, like working together on this, he made a couple of short films at byu. And one of them, I believe, was called Peruka or Palooka, which was pretty much the black and white experiment film that was the prototype of Napoleon Dynamite with John Heater as the lead. [00:06:15] Speaker C: Okay, wait a second. I might have watched that on. [00:06:19] Speaker A: Yes. [00:06:19] Speaker C: Some YouTube or even pre YouTube or. [00:06:23] Speaker A: Part of it, because he had, like a few. While he's a byu, he did a lot of short films. And then that was the short film where I think his friend, who was the editor on Napoleon Dynamite, telling him, like, hey, you should turn this into a feature film. And a lot of Palooka and also. Which would end up becoming Napoleon Dynamite is based off of his, you know, Hess's roots in rural town. [00:06:47] Speaker B: Right. [00:06:48] Speaker A: The film takes place. Is it Idaho? [00:06:50] Speaker B: Preston. Idaho. [00:06:51] Speaker A: Idaho. Apparently, when they shot the film. The film is, I think, $40,000 in budget. [00:06:57] Speaker B: 400,400, but still. Still tiny. Especially when you consider it made, like, $44 million at the box office. [00:07:06] Speaker A: So apparently they slept at a lot of the local cast and crew's houses when they shot the film. Shot the film in less than a month. [00:07:15] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:07:16] Speaker A: And in the process, I think they showed it. I think Sundance is when they sold it off to, like, Fox Searchlight, I think picked it up. Or is it Paramount? I think it might be Fox, because I think Fox, because Nacho Libre is Paramount. [00:07:34] Speaker B: Right, sorry. [00:07:35] Speaker A: Nacho Libre is a Nickelodeon movie. Sorry, It's a Nickelodeon movie. [00:07:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:07:39] Speaker C: It was the Viacom shadow that will consume us all. [00:07:43] Speaker B: It's one of those things at the height of Paramount man's powers, but before the fall. [00:07:47] Speaker A: Yeah, but I. I think we were talking about while we're watching this, because, I mean, out of all three of these films, this was the, like, one film where we probably could have not paid attention the entire time and still able to verbatimly talk about. Oh, yeah, the best parts about it, the scenes that hit the most, because this film just hit like a freight train for it seemed like anyone who watched it, like. And it didn't matter generationally like, it was like, you would think, because, like, it was interesting that we were going to do this trilogy because a few weeks back I was just randomly on Reddit and someone asked, like, what is a film that you would describe is quintessentially your generation? And I was expecting to see like a bunch of Gen Xers or boomers. And I think, like, there were some people that responded, sure. The top comment that I saw, though, was a millennial saying, as a millennial, Napoleon Dynamite is a film that is a quintessential, like, movie in our generation. [00:08:41] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:08:42] Speaker A: And it's hard not to watch that and be like, yeah, right, I can see that. [00:08:46] Speaker C: And this is my first time watching it in a while, and I think the first time where it felt like a time capsule. [00:08:56] Speaker A: Yes. [00:08:56] Speaker C: The first time I've watched it was like, oh, shit, this is what the world looks like. [00:09:01] Speaker B: Yeah. And I don't, I don't. Yeah. Last time I saw this movie, I don't think I was even thinking of movies in those terms. Yeah. I mean, I watched this movie. I mean, we all, we've all probably seen this movie 50 or 100 times, but I probably haven't watched it in close to 10 years. So, like, the last time I watched it, it was just, you know, and as I was this time enjoying all the, the quotes and the great comedy. But yeah, this, this time watching it, the three of us, I think, especially as we all near 30. [00:09:36] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:09:37] Speaker B: You know, it just feels a lot more of a time in a. In a great way. Yeah. And also kind of weirdly ahead of its time. [00:09:47] Speaker A: Well. [00:09:47] Speaker C: And I think it's so intrinsically tied to time and nostalgia for me because it's one of the first times that I can. So I'm the youngest of three brothers and I had a lot of movies I could share with the middle one, but not many with my oldest brother, who's 11 years older than me. [00:10:10] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:10:11] Speaker C: Napoleon Dynamite was one of those. I just remember pissing myself. [00:10:16] Speaker B: Right. [00:10:17] Speaker C: And he's doing the exact same thing next to me. Like, the only other movie that did that at the time was maybe Aladdin. Sure. Yeah. [00:10:26] Speaker B: So like a family film, like, meant for those kinds of cross generational. [00:10:32] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. And I mean, you look at even the casting and the, the, the diversity in ages, characters. Obviously it's high schoolers as kind of the main characters, but yeah, middle age representation. You've got really old people in this movie. [00:10:48] Speaker A: Oh, my God. [00:10:49] Speaker C: Like cratered faces. They look like paintings of the old West. I mean, this, this Film was textured and I think that gives it an even extra punch of nostalgia because the look like normal people too. [00:11:03] Speaker B: Yeah. It all looks so mundane, but there's kind of a. I'm probably not using this term correctly, but there's. There's almost like a magical realism about this movie too, where it's like this is capturing the mundane, like you know, kind of crappiness of the surroundings of the 2000s, especially in, you know, a blue collar town. But at the same time it feels heightened. Like it. Like it's. It kind of is all of America and also could not possibly exist at the same time. [00:11:41] Speaker C: I mean, look at Rico as a design. [00:11:43] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:11:44] Speaker C: It's anything he wears. [00:11:45] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think part of that is there's so much. Even in the movie itself, there's so much nostalgia for eras prior to when it is said. Like there's tons of 70s in there. [00:11:59] Speaker A: The iconography is very Hand me down. [00:12:02] Speaker B: Yeah. Yes. [00:12:06] Speaker A: Every single house in this film looks like a house that was made that had no renovations put in. [00:12:12] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:12:12] Speaker A: It's been. Once it was made, whether the 70s or the 80s or even the early 90s, it has not been touched. [00:12:18] Speaker B: Yeah. Nobody's. Nobody's clothes fit perfectly. Like, they're all, you know, they've got designs from 20 years ago. [00:12:26] Speaker A: The wood paneling in Napoleon's grandma's house. The Deb. [00:12:30] Speaker B: The wood paneling in every house. [00:12:32] Speaker A: But like, I think it was a Deb. Deb's mom's house where it's like the widest walls I've ever seen with the couch. That is so mundane like. And going outside. The. The most interesting thing is the mountains. And they're far away. Nothing else in the foreground is interesting, but. [00:12:49] Speaker C: But it's all. It's all shitty still in such a. Such a good daring way. I mean, like that the one I think of is just like, you know, Pedro sweating his ass off on his couch. [00:13:01] Speaker A: Yes. [00:13:02] Speaker C: It's such an uncomfortable image. And you. [00:13:04] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:13:05] Speaker C: You feel like, oh, damn. [00:13:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:07] Speaker B: Everything's dirty but not gritty, like. [00:13:11] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:13:12] Speaker B: It's normal. It's the normal amount of dirty that everything is in the real world. [00:13:17] Speaker A: And it's like the only building I think that is two stories or above is the school in this film. [00:13:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:13:23] Speaker A: It's like genuinely like this film is like. It's very flat. [00:13:27] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:13:27] Speaker A: With a nice everywhere. Yeah. And it. It very much is like considering that, you know, when Hess is a teenager, it be the 90s going into high school. [00:13:36] Speaker B: Right. [00:13:37] Speaker A: There's very Much has energy. Like when you live in a town like that, you have so many hand me down things. Whether it's just the culture, the music, the clothes. Because the thrifting if you're poor like Napoleon is most pretty much everyone in this film excluding maybe Summer and the bully and maybe like some of the cheerleaders are shown in the film. Yeah, they're all clearly have money but everyone else is like you know, going to thrift stores to get suits and has this energy. I mean like Deb's. Deb's whole like fluffy puffy like pink dress does not look like the 2000s, not even the 90s. [00:14:12] Speaker C: It's just like what Pedro wears a T shirt he does to the dance. [00:14:17] Speaker A: He does. It's great. [00:14:18] Speaker C: He's got a blazer. I mean it's very real in that. And I was even noticing that. I mean I just was looking at little details this time because when you watch it a million times you want to see if you can notice anything new. And that was one thing about just the dance scene was how obviously everybody knows what the main trio looks like at the dance. But it's all the background people. [00:14:43] Speaker A: Oh my God, they're even. [00:14:44] Speaker C: They're in very hand me down normal things for the most part. But yeah, it's just. It's dripping with character in that way the best. [00:14:56] Speaker A: I think the person who deserves the raise the most retroactively in a Jared Hess film, especially with these three films, is the casting director. In all three of these movies there are just shots of normal people who are just uncomfortably normal in a way that is just like you think of like because you think of it a movie like if. Because with Napoleon Dynamite. And I think it's why it's so endearing. You think of a clown classic high school scenario where you have a 30 year old playing a 20 year old and they look a little too good to be that age. Yeah, but John Heater looks phenomenal as Napoleon. They clear they make him look worse because like John Heater looks nor like. [00:15:33] Speaker C: He'S normal looking dude. [00:15:34] Speaker A: A nice looking like a handsome dude. But they give him this crazy hair, crazy glasses, the moon boots. Pedro with his hair and the bolo ties. Deb with the side pony. [00:15:46] Speaker B: The side pony and all the bracelets. [00:15:48] Speaker A: And yeah even Rico with the toupee which is like clearly all of his. [00:15:53] Speaker B: Shirts are like super tight to his body and also are designed to look like they're like two layers, but they're really just one layer. [00:16:01] Speaker C: It's because he's got. He's got these dickies and stuff. You know what? I'm just realizing this now again. I'm not going to talk any more about Minecraft. Steve kind of dresses like Uncle Rico. [00:16:11] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:16:11] Speaker C: Everything the trailers have shown, it's like. [00:16:13] Speaker B: Yeah. Steve in the movie. Yeah, yeah, definitely some. Some Rico homage going on there. [00:16:19] Speaker A: But like it has. I mean, it. It captures Hess. Captures that energy of being like there is like the one popular girl. Looks like Haley Duff, but it's not like, you know, yeah. Knock like she. She is a beautiful. She's a beautiful woman, but it is very much like she is a person. It's not overdone. [00:16:39] Speaker C: It doesn't look like Euphoria casting. [00:16:42] Speaker A: No, no, no. [00:16:43] Speaker B: There it's. This movie is missing that like, sheen. [00:16:48] Speaker A: Yes. [00:16:49] Speaker B: Hollywood of. I mean, obviously it's not a Hollywood film as an indie film, but like. Yeah. It lacks that elevated sense. Yes. [00:16:57] Speaker A: I mean, I think that's the benefit of this movie. That could be considered detriment to maybe Nacho a little bit, but definitely to Gentlemen Broncos when it comes to the normal people. [00:17:07] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:17:08] Speaker A: It's such the film. Napoleon has so much emphasis on the normal people surrounding this community where it's like the bully character in Napoleon Dynamite wears a gray T shirt and jeans and that's all he fucking wears. He doesn't wear any crazy outfit. [00:17:25] Speaker C: His hair is really gelled, but not too extremely even for the time. [00:17:28] Speaker A: He's also not like the worst guy in the world. He's just an asshole. He's just a dickhead. [00:17:34] Speaker B: You're talking about the jock. Oh, Adam's talking about the jock. [00:17:37] Speaker A: I'm talking about the guy that tries. [00:17:38] Speaker B: To talk about the buzz cut, smashes the tots. [00:17:41] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Because there's the jock. Yes. Who I think is perfectly designed. The fact that he's the one guy that looks like he 30 is phenomenal design. [00:17:52] Speaker C: Does top. Does the flat top guy. I mean, he kicks the tots. I remember that. Does he also try and steal the bike? [00:17:59] Speaker A: Yes. Same. [00:17:59] Speaker B: Same guy. [00:18:00] Speaker C: Okay. And yeah, yeah, I see the through line then. [00:18:02] Speaker B: Right. [00:18:03] Speaker A: And he also like puts Napoleon 10 to headlock at one point. And that's what leads to like Napoleon randomly kicking against Pedro. Offers his protection is because of him. But yeah, it's like, it's the design where it's like, what's so great about Napoleon? And I think it's why it's held so much of all of Hess's film is the quirkiness is grounded. It is not an over the top Quirkiness that I feel like, you know, you can get away with if you're Wes Anderson to an extent. [00:18:31] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:18:31] Speaker A: But there's a in between of like Napoleon Dynamite and an Anderson production where, like, if you go quirky but you try to still feel like normal people look like this constantly, it. You can really. Which I think. [00:18:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:18:44] Speaker A: Which we will get to. A Gentleman Broncos, I think is a bit of a downside at times with the character, with the costume design in that film. Even though I love the costumes of Gentlemen Broncos, I think it's like they feel more like cartoon characters in that film than actual people. While as a Napoleon, everyone feels like a person you've met. [00:19:01] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:19:01] Speaker A: The weird. [00:19:02] Speaker B: Trying to forget the weirdness of the characters in Napoleon Dynamite kind of comes from, like how ordinary they are. [00:19:10] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:19:11] Speaker B: It's like everybody's this weird in real life. [00:19:13] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:19:14] Speaker C: You get to know anybody, they're like this. And I. And that's the part that's kind of wild. I mean, I had a poster I think I mentioned when we were watching it right after we did. But I had a poster in my room through high school of this movie. And the tagline on the poster was, he's out to prove that he has nothing to prove. And kind of in that vein, this movie feels so real because it is. And with completely normal shit, they make something that feels weird. [00:19:49] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:19:50] Speaker C: As it is real. And that. [00:19:53] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:19:53] Speaker C: Part of that just comes from a little money they've got. But. [00:19:56] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:19:57] Speaker B: Right. [00:19:57] Speaker C: But part of that is so intentional. Like again, casting and the costumes with all this thrifting crap, you are basically building iconic silhouettes of normal people. [00:20:12] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:20:13] Speaker C: Like people aren't Shaggy Rogers from Scooby Doo in real life. You can't immediately look at everybody and be, oh, damn that. That's kind of their aura right there. But every Napoleon outfit is like, oh, shit, that looks like Napoleon. Every RICO outfit. [00:20:28] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:20:29] Speaker C: You could take the being out of it, this normal vessel and still their aura would be there because of the costume design. It's kind of insane. I mean, look at La Fonda. [00:20:39] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, absolutely. [00:20:42] Speaker A: I mean, if we're gonna get talk about, we gotta talk about Kip, the sex machine of Napoleon. [00:20:48] Speaker C: I had forgotten most of the over quoted things I heard were Kip. [00:20:56] Speaker B: Oh, Kip's got. Yeah. [00:20:57] Speaker C: The most mean man. He's cranking him out constantly. [00:21:02] Speaker B: I mean, just the. The entire trend of meaningless your mom jokes that was basically created by Kip. [00:21:12] Speaker A: Popularized. Definitely. [00:21:13] Speaker B: I mean, like, you know, yo mama jokes were obviously a thing for years before that. But like the. Your mom retort to everything that people did in the 2000s and 2010s, like when we were in middle school and high school is just, oh, this is stupid. Your mom's stupid. Yeah, that was Kip. [00:21:31] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:21:31] Speaker C: That was Muscle man on regular shit. [00:21:34] Speaker A: Literally was thinking about Muscle Man. You don't get it. And. [00:21:37] Speaker C: And that is one thing that, with Hess is wild, especially looking at. I mean, his. These first two movies and Napoleon especially, its DNA is just. It's like gospel music in Evolution of Music, but for comedy. [00:21:55] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:21:55] Speaker C: Like indie comedy. You look at gospel music and it turns into rock, it turns into R and B and rap. It turns into all these different things. [00:22:01] Speaker B: Right. [00:22:02] Speaker C: But Napoleon Dynamite, Holy. Its fingerprints are everywhere. [00:22:08] Speaker B: Yeah. Especially like, comedy, TV and cartoons. [00:22:14] Speaker A: Like, oh, my God. [00:22:15] Speaker B: Throughout the 2000s and 2010. [00:22:17] Speaker A: Because this is a film that is, I think, absolutely a bust, laughing, bust a laugh every single second. And it's mainly because of timing, because there's no crazy cinematography, there's no crazy shot composition. [00:22:30] Speaker B: Right. [00:22:30] Speaker A: It's all about timing. Your zooms, timing your hands, your tilts, editing. [00:22:35] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, it's. [00:22:36] Speaker A: Yeah. Because the timing is like. I think of like, you know how there's. How many moments are just funny in this movie and it literally is just a. A beat, zoom, another beat. And then Napoleon just says something. [00:22:50] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:22:50] Speaker A: Like when he goes like, you know, can I try when he does like the bike. That's pretty cool, I guess. Yeah. Like that. And it's like the ways he moves. Yeah. [00:22:59] Speaker C: The way a character can rotate 30 degrees at any speed and it'll. It's gonna be funny. It's just. There's a bit of this unnaturalness that is so intentional. [00:23:12] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Like it just. I mean, you have the timing of like, again, the. The shot of the. The farmer shooting the cow. That's all about timing. It's all about timing. [00:23:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:23:24] Speaker A: You have, you know, the whole thing about him throwing the action figure at the very beginning of the film. It's all about he don't. He triple takes and then nearly misses when he throws it out the window. [00:23:34] Speaker B: Well, in the editing too, because like you pointed out, Adam, when we were watching this, like every scene has like a kid or just a bystander that it cuts to just watching Napoleon for a second. Yeah. There's just like, like dead faced, just taking it all in. [00:23:54] Speaker C: And that's the thing too. There's this. There's this I. And I'm just realizing now there's this energy with all of these observers in this movie that are intentionally. And I mean, again, it extends in a nacho, too, but especially in Napoleon. They're just these observers, and they look catatonic. I mean, they look like they've been lobotomized sometimes, but I am just now realizing that to the shit that they're usually watching happening. [00:24:25] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:24:26] Speaker C: It's a completely understandable response. I would look the same way if I saw half of this shit. [00:24:31] Speaker B: It's also. It also goes back to the, like, weird realism of the movie because, like, it's like, if you ever see a candid photo of yourself when you didn't know your picture is being taken, you're like, I look like a fucking idiot. Yeah. Yeah. We all look like that all the time. [00:24:45] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:24:46] Speaker B: And we don't think about it. [00:24:47] Speaker A: No. [00:24:48] Speaker B: It's so good. [00:24:49] Speaker A: It perfectly captures, I think, that idea of, like, you know, right before Millennial, you have the Gen X, like, the Gen X comedy where, like, we talked about, like, the quintessential Gen X comedy a few years back with, like, Clerks, right. Where it's like, that film is quintessential because the Gen X feeling is like, we don't give a. [00:25:06] Speaker C: About the worst thing you could be is a poser. [00:25:08] Speaker A: We could be a poser. We can just do it gorilla style, black and white. Let's do this. And then this movie is quintessential Millennial because at a certain point, it's just like. I don't know, man. Like, I just like. [00:25:21] Speaker B: Because again, none of this makes any sense. [00:25:22] Speaker A: A. Like a classical version, like an 80s version of this film, is that there would be a version where it's like, Napoleon, all you do is lie. We don't believe you because he fucking lies the entire film. No one gives a shit. [00:25:34] Speaker C: I was hunting wolverines with my uncle or some shit. [00:25:37] Speaker A: There's never the. The craziest thing about this movie that I always thought was funny when people would talk about it because you would like. Or when I would see it on television, is when I see plot synopsis about this film. It always gives Napoleon more of, like, sometimes their plot synopsis where it's like, he's trying to get the girl. [00:25:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:25:54] Speaker A: He's like, he's trying to get Deb, and he's like, he's not fucking anything. [00:25:57] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:25:58] Speaker A: He's just being himself and just being kind of bummed when people don't like him, and then he just moves the fuck on. Or he hangs out with Pedro because Pedro is his friend. [00:26:05] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:26:06] Speaker B: Right. [00:26:06] Speaker A: And Then, like, it leads to him. Like, he be himself. He is himself, and people love him for it. And that leads to people, you know, just kind of like being more themselves and kind of feels like it has this good energy. The real conflict is Rico being a douchebag. But that's not even. That's like a low stakes. [00:26:22] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:26:23] Speaker A: It gets resolved immediately. Like, Rex Kwondo beats the shit out of Rico and Deb forgives Napoleon about the lie that Rico told about him. He doesn't even care. It's not a film. Trying to be. [00:26:37] Speaker B: She doesn't even ever learn that. Like, Napoleon didn't actually. [00:26:40] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:26:41] Speaker B: Do any of that. She just gets over it. [00:26:43] Speaker A: Yeah. He offers a delicious bass and they play tetherball again. [00:26:47] Speaker B: Because she realizes he's just a dumb teenage boy. [00:26:49] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:26:50] Speaker C: Well, now I'm thinking about what you just said. Oh, if this was made in the 80s or whatever. But I feel that there would have been. There would have been more drama. [00:27:00] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:27:00] Speaker C: There would have been a scene where Napoleon. Something along the lines, oh, he gets pantsed in front of the class or something. He has to be bullied in such a traumatic way that his triumph is whatever. But the beef, in very realistic terms, the beef or many beefs in this movie that people have with one another. They don't run very deep. [00:27:23] Speaker B: Yeah. They barely have any bearing on, like, the outcome of the plot. [00:27:27] Speaker C: Like, when Napoleon is left, he's dumped at the dance, basically. There's not some vengeful spirit that rises in him. He's like, these guys, they don't respect me. I hate them. There's no righteous fire. [00:27:42] Speaker B: Nothing bad happens to Tr. Trisha. Yeah. Nothing bad happens to her for being a. To him. Like. No. You know. No. Nothing bad happens to the jock or Summer. Like, because nothing needs to. That's not the point. And. And, yeah, it's not that kind of movie where every. There's. Everybody's got their karmic comeuppance. It's just these people existing and. [00:28:05] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:28:06] Speaker B: And, you know, doing shit in high school. [00:28:08] Speaker A: Yeah. A lot of it just seems like the film is, like, people telling Napoleon that if you want to do this or that you have to do. Like, if you want to be liked, you have to make money. [00:28:16] Speaker B: Right. [00:28:16] Speaker A: If you want to, like, you know, be the class president or do this. And it's like, yeah, clearly he wants to be friends with Deb throughout the film. Like, he does a great job, but, like, clearly his biggest up, like, is up his hurdle is the fact that he's never Had a friend who was a girl. [00:28:31] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:28:32] Speaker A: Like, the energy. So, like. Because, like, so I think a lot of people. That's why they think, oh, he's in love with her because she talks to him and it's like. No, like, I think it's very clearly, like, he likes her, thinks she's cool. [00:28:42] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:28:43] Speaker A: But has never. Doesn't know how to make friends. [00:28:45] Speaker B: Right. [00:28:46] Speaker C: The comment with the milk. [00:28:47] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:28:48] Speaker C: Because he just goes. I was like, well, no, you don't. [00:28:51] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:28:53] Speaker C: He is completely honest. [00:28:56] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:28:56] Speaker C: In so many ways. And then he'll just lie out of his ass about other things. [00:29:01] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:29:02] Speaker C: Because about the Japanese going to kill Nessie. Yeah. [00:29:07] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:29:08] Speaker C: And wizards having to cast spells to save him and. Or her. Pardon me. I don't know. [00:29:13] Speaker B: Well, he talks all about his skills, too. [00:29:15] Speaker C: Yeah. Like Numb Chucks. [00:29:17] Speaker A: And this would be in the 80s, a film where Napoleon's like. I have to be honest, I just. I'm kind of insecure about these. It doesn't matter. [00:29:26] Speaker B: Everyone's about the best. [00:29:28] Speaker A: The best part about this movie is everyone is insecure in themselves until they're willing to be themselves. And then Kip gets the girl. Rico gets his girl back. Yeah. Napoleon technically gets the girl, but gets a friend and also gets. You know, it gets Pedro to become president. When Pedro goes, if you make me president, all your dreams will come true. [00:29:49] Speaker C: All your wildest dreams will come true. [00:29:50] Speaker A: Yeah. And so it's like. It's. This film is just like. Just be yourself, man. Like, it's. [00:29:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:29:55] Speaker A: The most, like, I think millennial, like, shoulder shrug. I don't know, man. Just like. [00:29:59] Speaker B: Yeah. There's. There's a nonchalance about. It's not that this movie has no lesson or moral. It's just very nonchalant about it. [00:30:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:30:07] Speaker B: It's just. Just like. Do you. [00:30:10] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:30:10] Speaker A: Again, don't hurt anybody. [00:30:12] Speaker C: Do you? [00:30:12] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:13] Speaker A: I think. [00:30:13] Speaker C: Look how cringe it is to be a jerk. [00:30:15] Speaker B: Right. [00:30:16] Speaker C: Because that's the bullying again. I think showing it is something. Or framing it dramatically as not traumatic in the way like older movies did. [00:30:27] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:30:27] Speaker C: Just like, oh, my God. Freaking out. Like, all that. The fact that it shows damn bullying looks. [00:30:37] Speaker B: It's just lame. [00:30:38] Speaker C: Lame. [00:30:38] Speaker A: Yeah. Well. [00:30:39] Speaker C: And shaking a dude. They got him in a headlock and you just shake him up and down a couple times. You look like a idiot. [00:30:46] Speaker A: You kick a man's hot pocket and you think you're cool. Like, why the fuck did you do that? [00:30:51] Speaker B: It's kind of extra. Kind of a great point, because I just. I mean, Like I just said a minute ago, there's no, like, karmic comeuppance or dramatic, you know, countermeasure that happens to these bully characters. But it's like the consequence is in the action itself. Like you said, they look like idiots when they're being bullies. Like, oh, yeah, there doesn't have to be any consequence later or Napoleon beats them or whatever. You know, it's just when they do mean they look like idiots or. [00:31:22] Speaker A: Or when. [00:31:22] Speaker B: That's it. [00:31:23] Speaker A: Or when you just stay with them longer than five seconds. Mike. One of my dad's favorite. One of my dad's favorite moments in the film is when the Happy Hands Club is doing Larger Than Life by Backstreet. [00:31:35] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:31:35] Speaker A: And the. The jock looks like he's about to blow. Like he's about to climb. [00:31:41] Speaker B: Yes. [00:31:42] Speaker C: And he's the only one standing up, too. And he's just, like, dancing and looking at everybody, like. But yeah, come on, guys, let's. Let's get. [00:31:51] Speaker A: It's so embarrassing. And it's like, I remember my dad. My dad would cackle at that scene and also cackle at the 18 montage where they put Pedro posters everywhere. [00:32:02] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:32:02] Speaker A: And they slam it in the urinal. They slam it on top of the waterfall. [00:32:05] Speaker B: Those smash cuts. [00:32:07] Speaker A: Yeah. Again, this is so fudgeing funny because at this point, this movie is.04. So right before this, the big thing for, like, a studio film is, like, American Pie. Road trip. [00:32:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:32:17] Speaker A: Wedding Crashers. I think Wedding Crashers is this year, if not the year later. [00:32:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:32:21] Speaker A: And then. Then five years after this, the big thing is, like, hangover. See, if, like, when it comes to studio comedies, you are getting, like, tits. Like, tits. Ass over sexualized. Just constant expletives. Just constantly. Just like explosions. Maybe blood or gore, depending on what you watch. And this movie is PG as can be. [00:32:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:32:45] Speaker A: And it's like, barely any swearing. I think Bodaggit is the worst. Anything goes. [00:32:49] Speaker B: I don't even know if there's a swear word. [00:32:52] Speaker A: I. Damn. I think damn. [00:32:55] Speaker C: Hell, I'm sure that there's in that. Like, the fact. Now that I'm thinking about almost makes. [00:33:03] Speaker B: The. [00:33:06] Speaker C: Speech more surreal but real at the same time. Like the fact that Uncle Rico isn't saying shit this, fuck that, all that. He's just like, how much you want to bet I could throw a football over that mountain? Just so earnest. He's fully just speaking. There's no thesaurus laying next to him or anything. [00:33:22] Speaker A: He takes state. [00:33:23] Speaker C: People are talking equally unnaturally and Naturally. And it's. It's kind of remarkable that it even works. [00:33:31] Speaker A: This. Yeah. This movie could have gotten away with Napoleon being, like, fucking idiot at least a few times. Or having just like. Or having Kip just be like, the. [00:33:41] Speaker C: Voice would have been great. [00:33:42] Speaker A: Or Kip just being, like, gay. Like, you get that era. [00:33:46] Speaker B: You totally could have, but, like, your. [00:33:48] Speaker A: Mom goes to college and freaking idiot just has an energy that is so unique. [00:33:53] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:33:53] Speaker A: And it's like, everybody want to say. [00:33:55] Speaker B: That everybody in this movie is. It's like they're sheltered, and it's like, it's because they're in Preston, Idaho. Like, they're in there. They're in Mild Manor, USA. Yeah. [00:34:05] Speaker A: Napoleon makes $7, like, taking eggs out of chicken coops. [00:34:11] Speaker B: It's like a dollar an hour. [00:34:12] Speaker A: And you look at a man who looks like he's never not been in the sun. [00:34:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:34:16] Speaker A: Like, he looks like he's. He never goes outside when this. When the moon is out. It's always the sun. He stands in the sun for hours and just. [00:34:24] Speaker C: There's this. [00:34:25] Speaker B: Can't talk. [00:34:26] Speaker C: There's this. [00:34:26] Speaker A: He looks like a John Steinbeck character. [00:34:30] Speaker C: Yeah, he does. [00:34:32] Speaker A: There's so many characters in these movies. Like, again, I think of that, like a Nacho libre. Like, the. The one spy Stainer that stands out the most is the guy where he's in the wrestling match and he's like, can have a piece of that corn. It's like this old fucking dude. [00:34:46] Speaker B: Ye. [00:34:47] Speaker C: Nacho's number one fan. [00:34:49] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:34:49] Speaker A: He's just, like, shaking his head. [00:34:51] Speaker B: Right. [00:34:52] Speaker A: Like, those are the kind of characters that these movies, like, just really excel at. [00:34:56] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:34:56] Speaker A: Where it's like, you know, then you go into Gentleman Broncos having just like, the weirdest, nerdiest motherfuckers that you can think of. [00:35:02] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [00:35:03] Speaker A: At these low level writing camps and seminars. [00:35:09] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:35:09] Speaker A: It is so fucking good. [00:35:11] Speaker B: Well, the interesting thing too, about Napoleon, especially, like, in comparison to the other two in this trilogy, is you kind of see, I think this is the only one that really, like, goes full send into that kind of realism where the weirdness of it comes from, the mundanity of it. Whereas Nacho and Gentleman Broncos both lean way harder into Hess's, like, screwball. [00:35:40] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. [00:35:41] Speaker B: This is not real. This is goofy as hell. Everybody's gonna, you know, be insanely quotable and. And super ridiculous and off the wall and cartoony. [00:35:50] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:35:51] Speaker B: And it's just interesting, like, this being his first one, that it's the most, like. I mean, it makes sense that it'd be the most grounded because of the budget. But just also in terms of the script and the like style of it is all very mundane. [00:36:07] Speaker A: And I mean, it has. It's one of those things where it's like. I can understand if people, when it comes to Napoleon are. There are probably. There are some people out there who are sick of that movie because maybe they didn't see it initially and had everyone around them hype it the up or constantly quote it. [00:36:24] Speaker B: They saw Vote for Pedro shirts for it at school for three years severance. [00:36:29] Speaker C: And I was like, popular here. It's great. But it's. [00:36:34] Speaker A: Yeah, but you hearing. Freaking idiot Tina, you fat lard. Every five seconds. Because again, we are in. We are just young. We are just young enough when this film comes out that we are hearing quotes for this film for the next six to seven years. [00:36:47] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:36:47] Speaker A: Like we are hearing. And it's coming from us, it's coming from friends. It's coming from friends of friends. Like, because this is a film that is, I think, genuinely timeless. [00:36:57] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:36:57] Speaker A: And how it handles itself. [00:36:59] Speaker B: We weren't in. Well, at least Adam and I weren't in high school till 2010. And I feel like it was an almost daily thing to hear a Napoleon Dynamite quote. Even then, like six years later, when. [00:37:11] Speaker A: I think of Napoleon Dynamite, I think of middle school. And I was not in middle school when Napoleon Dynamite came. [00:37:15] Speaker B: Yeah, right, right. [00:37:16] Speaker A: So that's like the film almost before. [00:37:18] Speaker B: I was 9 years old. [00:37:19] Speaker A: Because it almost felt like anytime like, especially when, like Nacho came out, it's like when you talk about Nacho, it's like, oh, it's the guy that made Napoleon Dynamite. And then you talk about Napoleon Dynamite. Because in my opinion, I mean, I think we're all the same page. I think that film's a masterpiece. [00:37:32] Speaker B: Napoleon. [00:37:34] Speaker A: I think it's like. It is hilarious how this film is a film where it doesn't get its plot until an hour in. [00:37:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:37:39] Speaker A: It is a film where you're literally just watching cinema verite of a fucking guy who just lives in Idaho. [00:37:47] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:37:47] Speaker A: Drinks a whole glass of eggs, has an uncle who lives out of an orange van. [00:37:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:37:54] Speaker A: A brother who has an Internet girlfriend. [00:37:57] Speaker C: 33 years old and still living at. [00:37:59] Speaker A: Home with their grandma who is Max mom from its own. [00:38:03] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:38:05] Speaker A: Who is very lesbian coded. I think we talked about it too. Great. [00:38:09] Speaker B: And also, like, super adventurous. Like, she's gone for most of the movie. Four wheelering. [00:38:16] Speaker A: She breaks her coccyx at the dunes. [00:38:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:38:19] Speaker C: She. She's kind of emblematic. Of. And I'd say it probably went up into the early, early 2000, early 2000s. And you see it a little bit today still. But of the. Oh, this isn't a typical grandma. This is a rock star grandma. She does sports and she drinks and fights, or she's in a band and she listen to metal music like the fucking Lorax does that, man. [00:38:46] Speaker B: Right. [00:38:47] Speaker C: Betty White. And that was what, like, 2012 or something? But, I mean, she's very emblematic of that. [00:38:53] Speaker A: But, yeah, but I mean, I think Napoleon Dynamite, like, in my opinion, like, while I think it's a perfect film, I think the last 10 to 15 minutes are just a perfect encapsulation of why the film excels as well as it does. Able to take, like, you know, licensed music in a way that, you know, like, our parents and our grandparents would have probably heard at that point. And, like, especially my parents being the Gen Xers and hearing, like, you know, when in Rome's the Promise or Time After Time, Forever Young in the prom scene. Like, and also just mean. Going from Canned Heat to the End is, in my opinion, like, 11 out of 10. [00:39:34] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:39:34] Speaker C: Phenomenal. [00:39:35] Speaker A: Going from Can Heat to Songs for a Failed harmonium. The fiddle. [00:39:40] Speaker B: Yeah. Music for a found harmonium. Yes. [00:39:42] Speaker A: And then going right into the Promise by When in Rome. And it's like, I could watch. I think I've seen that more than anything from this. Like, if I'm watching this film on TV as soon as it gets to the last 30 minutes, like, I'm not doing anything. Yeah, I'm watching the last 30 minutes. And it's just. It's hard to have a film this fucking good as your directorial debut. [00:40:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:40:06] Speaker A: For so many reasons. Because it's like, it shouldn't work. It shouldn't work. And it's also like, you now have these expectations of, like, you turned $400,000 into 44 million just by being your quirky self and not following the rules. How. Where do you go from there? And hilariously enough, where they go from there is something, I don't think. [00:40:27] Speaker C: Mexico, baby. [00:40:30] Speaker A: You go the one place that anyone, you know, everyone could agree is an energy that it just can't be untethered. It can't be tethered. And that's Jack Black, right? [00:40:39] Speaker C: Chicken jockey. [00:40:42] Speaker A: I appreciate you waiting this long to say chicken. [00:40:45] Speaker C: Yeah, dude, I could have been stimming this whole time. [00:40:47] Speaker A: But, yeah, I mean, Napoleon Dynamite, is that, like, is the. The, in a sense, for a lot of people, a cultural reset at a Time of like, holy shit. So this is what an indie film looks like. It can look like it could be a film that actually can play in a shit ton of theaters and not be Wedding Crashers. It doesn't have to be old school and people will enjoy it. And also it will do a ton of DVDs. It'll do incredible on cable. [00:41:13] Speaker C: You don't need 14 former SNL and current SNL members on it to. You can have relative unknowns. [00:41:21] Speaker A: So it's like Jared Hess as a director. It's like, where. How do you follow that up? And I think very much in a confident, very bold move because I think it'd be easy just to do a Napoleon two. Not like an actual Napoleon two, but spiritually. [00:41:37] Speaker B: Yeah. Something very in that vein. [00:41:39] Speaker A: Yeah. And honestly, I think in most cases you would think a Gentleman Broncos type would be his second film. [00:41:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:41:45] Speaker A: But I'm so glad it isn't because what we actually get is a truly. I think of the three of these films, the oddest of the bunch because you have him go from 4, 400,000 to I think like a 30 million. 30 to 35 million dollars. [00:42:03] Speaker B: So almost. Almost as expensive to make as his last movie made. [00:42:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:42:08] Speaker B: Like, because it's daunting. [00:42:10] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:42:10] Speaker C: It's kind of terrifying. [00:42:12] Speaker A: And a lot of it is because it's Jack Black and Mike White. Really lo story about this man who worked as like, who's a. Who's a priest. [00:42:21] Speaker B: Yeah. A man of the Lord living a life of violence. [00:42:25] Speaker A: Yeah. Working luchador money to work into the orphanage and be basically daredevil. Yeah. Yeah. And very Catholic too, in Jack Black and Mike White using, I think, because Black and White Productions, I believe, is their production company that produces the film on top of Nickelodeon movies, Paramount Pictures. But just to have them be like, oh my gosh, this guy made Napoleon Dynamite. This guy's got talent. [00:42:49] Speaker B: Right. [00:42:49] Speaker A: Let's put him. He could be perfect for this. And then we have, I think the most, I would say the one of the. The two latter films, this is the one that deserves cult classic. Even though it made money at the box. [00:43:02] Speaker B: Yes. [00:43:03] Speaker A: But I think over time, especially critically, it hit it. It bombed critically, but it did well financially. [00:43:10] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:43:11] Speaker A: Because of the energy. Because the Jack Black of it. [00:43:14] Speaker B: The Jack Black, the N. Napoleon Dynamite, the Nickelodeon. [00:43:17] Speaker C: This is pre Gulliver's Travels. I mean, no one had barely heard of this guy. [00:43:21] Speaker A: This is. Yeah. Again, we talked about. [00:43:23] Speaker C: It was huge. [00:43:24] Speaker A: It's insane. When we talked about when we were watching Nacho Libre and I was like, what else is man doing at this time? [00:43:30] Speaker B: Right. [00:43:31] Speaker A: And every time you look at his filmography, he will do something interesting and then something possibly dog the same year. [00:43:37] Speaker C: When was shallow. [00:43:38] Speaker A: How shallow? How is like 2001. 2002. Okay, because the first. Here's the crazy. This will be fun to talk about because I wonder what you. If you guys can think about this. My first Jack Black film is Orange County, a film with Colin Hanks and Jack Black where he plays a slacker brother. Should not have been watching it at that age. But I did watch it. I also watched Shiloh Hal. Those were both my first Jack Black films. [00:44:02] Speaker C: Kind of thing about mine. [00:44:03] Speaker A: What were your guys'cause. This is. [00:44:07] Speaker C: Okay, so this is 2006. [00:44:09] Speaker A: This is 2006. [00:44:10] Speaker B: School of Rock is 03. Shallow Hell is 01. [00:44:13] Speaker A: Because I would understand if most people would say School of Rock, that's like his big break, I would say. [00:44:20] Speaker C: Which I've never seen all the way through. [00:44:24] Speaker B: My first Jack Black film was Bong Water. No, it was actually Johnny Skidmarks. [00:44:33] Speaker C: Johnny Bootlegger. [00:44:34] Speaker B: No, it was probably School of Rock. Although I did see the Jim Carrey movie the Cable Guy at a very young age. And Jack Black is in that. [00:44:45] Speaker A: He's in that? [00:44:46] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:44:46] Speaker A: Oh, shit. I've seen Cable Gava. I don't remember him. [00:44:49] Speaker B: I think it's a small part. [00:44:50] Speaker A: Yeah. From what I remember because his early. Because his 90s stuff. I mean, again, his water world. He's in Waterworld. He's in. [00:44:57] Speaker B: He's in the Jackal. The Bruce Willis the Jackal. He gets blown to bits by a high powered sniper rifle. [00:45:03] Speaker A: He's the biker bully in the Never Ending Story 3. [00:45:06] Speaker B: Right. [00:45:07] Speaker A: Like it's like, like, which I've never seen, but like his. I mean, his most iconic, earliest thing. I think he did a Atari Pitfall commercial. Yeah. [00:45:15] Speaker C: He's the first kid. He's got a pit helmet on. I showed a few of my students that clip. It was like, yeah. No, Jack Black's been around for that. [00:45:22] Speaker A: That's Flint and Steel himself. [00:45:24] Speaker B: He is also in 1993's Demolition man as Wasteland Scrap. [00:45:31] Speaker A: That's incredible. [00:45:33] Speaker C: I'm. I'm thinking. And you know what? It might. When would have. Because did you show me Tenacious D for the first time? [00:45:43] Speaker B: I think so. I think I introduced you to them. [00:45:46] Speaker C: It's. I mean, would have you done it before this? [00:45:50] Speaker B: No, before. [00:45:51] Speaker C: Before Nacho. [00:45:53] Speaker B: No. I probably didn't know about Tenacious D until like close to high school, so. Like 2010 or so, 2009. [00:46:00] Speaker C: Nacho maybe the first interesting Jack Black movie I saw. [00:46:05] Speaker B: Very good. [00:46:05] Speaker C: Well, wild to think about that, but I mean. [00:46:08] Speaker A: But I think it also makes sense because, to be honest, I think out of the three of us, you like this movie the most. [00:46:12] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:46:12] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [00:46:14] Speaker B: This is more part of your lexicon than mine. Probably even more yours than mine, but definitely like Adam the most. [00:46:23] Speaker C: That was another one that me and my. I mean, me and my brothers quoted to this day. Yeah, it is. [00:46:29] Speaker B: I mean, you remarked that this movie kind of like Napoleon Dynamite, like, changed, like, how your brother spoke. Your oldest brother just, like, entirely changed how he said things. [00:46:42] Speaker C: Can't you see this woman's a nun? Yeah, I think that. Yeah. My parents quote this movie, which, you know, I think Tots might be the only reference they make to Napoleon Dynamite these days. I'm sure further back you go, the more Napoleon Dynamite references there are. But I think Tots was kind of dealing with Nacho Libre. I mean, the stretchy pants line. My mom gets mileage out of that, and it always hits, but usually it's my dad is going out to bike or something, is wearing spandex. [00:47:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:47:17] Speaker C: And so, of course, Nacho Libre. [00:47:19] Speaker A: Because, like, when I. Because yesterday I hung out with my parents and I talked to my dad about us doing this trilogy, and when I talked to him about, like, these three films, he was like, ah, Napoleon Dynamite, lightning in a bottle. Nacho Libre could never hold a candle to it. Like, that's how. Like my parent, like, my. My fault. Like my dad. [00:47:36] Speaker B: Well, that kind of was. [00:47:37] Speaker A: Like, a lot of people were like, yeah. [00:47:39] Speaker B: I mean, it just didn't do as well. It wasn't as. [00:47:42] Speaker A: But at the same time, God damn, this movie's funny. [00:47:46] Speaker B: It's hilarious. [00:47:47] Speaker C: It's so funny. [00:47:48] Speaker A: Again, I mean, get that coin out of my face. Is like, yeah. Ignacion. His old song at the very. Towards the end, the eagle part just looks like something out of the SpongeBob SquarePants movie. It's the most Nickelodeon movie thing. [00:48:03] Speaker C: It's like, oh, this might have been shower. They did the Hasselhoff stuff. Right. [00:48:08] Speaker A: I would love it if that was like a reshoot thing. Like, they added the eagle later. [00:48:12] Speaker C: Well, yeah, it's. It's one of the other few big names in the movie. And that scene with. Is it Storm. [00:48:18] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:48:19] Speaker B: Peter Stormer, Storm Air. [00:48:20] Speaker C: And I mean, you can just tell. Oh, he was on the lot and we could get. We. I don't know, maybe they bought him a lunch or something. I Don't know. [00:48:29] Speaker A: It just. It just would. It just the way that it's shot is so funny because, I mean, again, you can see the money difference in terms. It's probably clear, like, a lot of the money is also going to probably black as well as shooting on location, because I think. Yeah, they shot it in Mexico. I thought. [00:48:46] Speaker C: Yeah. It doesn't feel like a theme park version of Mexico. [00:48:50] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:48:50] Speaker A: They didn't shoot in Preston. I don't. It very much feels like they shot it on location. And if they didn't, they did a hell of a job to make it look authentic and. And also using, like, real luchadors in the film. Yeah. And I mean, the biggest thing in terms of Hess as a director in this film, the writing, I think you already said Andy, is like, there's a more of an absurdity to this film. [00:49:12] Speaker B: Yeah. It's more screwball. [00:49:13] Speaker A: Yeah. But, like, the action and the direction in this is fascinating because there's a lot, lot, a lot more action. This is a sports biopic, basically, to a degree. [00:49:24] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:49:24] Speaker A: And it's, like, a good one, even. He even does, like, a rocky jump at the end when he wins. He even does, like, the little, like, the hop, like. [00:49:32] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:49:32] Speaker A: And all the. The. All the wrestling moves. Like, the wrestling scenes are well shot and really fun to watch. [00:49:37] Speaker B: Yeah. Technically, it's just all a lot more ambitious than Napoleon. Like, there's. [00:49:42] Speaker C: The scale can be big, too. Like, at the end, when they're at. I think it's Teotihuacan, the old, like, pyramids and stuff like that. When they, like, have any shit like that, Napoleon Dynamite, they're goddamn pyramids. [00:49:55] Speaker B: Climb into the mountains in Idaho. [00:49:58] Speaker A: Or, like, thinking about how, like, Napoleon Dynamite, the big. The big jump on the ramp is like him hitting his nuts on the bike. Yeah. And then in Nacho, they literally have a random gag where he rides off of a hill. So they have to get a stunt actor. They have to actually ride it off. You can see the money in the best way being used in the. In the bits. Also, I also thought about it at the very end, where I think of, like, at the end, Napoleon Dynamite. You can watch that and be like, this has to be, like, a bunch of high schoolers that were asked if they wanted to be in this film in the background. And then you watch, like, the amount of extras in the finale fight. [00:50:33] Speaker C: Oh, my God. [00:50:34] Speaker A: And Nacho libre is like, damn, there's a lot of people. [00:50:36] Speaker B: Right? [00:50:36] Speaker A: That's a lot of people. And that is, like, there's A massive step up and a noticeable difference when we get to the third film. Film in this, which we'll talk about. [00:50:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:50:45] Speaker A: Like, it is. There is very much like Hess is not. Is pulling out all the stops for this really silly, dumb, but fun movie. [00:50:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:50:55] Speaker A: That has. I mean, again, it's just similar to Napoleon Dynamite. You just have, like. Hess knows that, like, if you have the right actor to say the right line in the silly way, like, just Easters. [00:51:08] Speaker C: Like, just like, you know, I've had diarrhea since Easters. [00:51:12] Speaker A: Like, it's just like. It's like his best. Yeah. Or like the first big joke. Like, the big laugh of this film, in my opinion, is when Nacho takes a hit of his own food and he gags so hard, like, snot pops out of his nose. And the kid next to him does not like Moist. I think it's Moist's Arias Montana. Just being like, no face. No. No recognition of it. Just all those little moments. [00:51:44] Speaker C: And it's. I think. And this is one thing that has led it made, especially with my parents, but I think with a lot of people is it is an earnestly Christian story. [00:52:00] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:52:02] Speaker C: It does this thing that I don't see a lot of comedy, satire, whatever, that involves religion that isn't kind of punching. I mean, you can't really punch down at a huge theology. But I mean, kind of just cheap shots. It's usually just making fun of it and not laughing with it. The only other thing I can think of off the top of my head, I just hit the mic there. [00:52:26] Speaker B: That's okay. [00:52:27] Speaker C: The only other thing I can think of off the top of my head, that does it similarly, where it's taking a look at the world, but also laughing with the world is righteous gemstones, where it's like, okay, on the surface, you would say, oh, this is disrespectful to Christianity, or insert any other faith, like a revolving door. But if you actually watch it, like, Nacho is the mightiest warrior that Catholicism's had since, like, Joan of Arc or something. I mean, he is never faltering in his faith. He is a righteous warrior, literally fighting for children. I mean, they spell that out in the movie. It's. It's not showing an unfavorable view of faith. [00:53:17] Speaker B: Right, right. [00:53:18] Speaker C: Which is, I think, what a lot of people enjoy about the movie, too. I think it's part of the heart. [00:53:25] Speaker B: Well, I mean, part of the core. Like, part of Nacho's arc is, like, basically learning to reconcile his desire to be a wrestler with his faith. It's not about leaving his faith behind or rejecting. [00:53:43] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:53:43] Speaker B: You know, really any aspect of his faith. It's just a matter of, oh, I can live this life and be, you know, a child of God. [00:53:52] Speaker A: You know, very much has that. The Napoleon Dynamite character DNA in Nacho is the fact that. That he has nothing to prove about his love of God. It has everything to do with having to prove to other people that his love of luchador does not beget his love. And that's, like, the biggest conflict of the film is being, like, stuffy priests and, like, you know, be. Understand, like, listen, I just want to do this for the kids. I can also have fun. Yeah, but I want my. I want cheaps. I want cheaps. I want cheaps for the kids. [00:54:26] Speaker C: Tell them that they were the largest chips. [00:54:29] Speaker A: What? [00:54:29] Speaker B: I love the. I mean, it's. It's silly, but the visual representation of that reconciliation being him wearing a, like, tracksuit that's styled after a monk's robes at the end. Like, it's got the kind of the paunch. Yeah. But it's his Nacho colors. [00:54:48] Speaker C: It's almost a leisure suit. [00:54:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. [00:54:51] Speaker A: And similar to Napoleon Dynamite, the needle drops in this, even though there's very. There's less of them in n. The Neil drops are so good. Like, the. I am. I am opening. And every cut of every luchador, like, because there's, like, themes for, like, each luchador is phenomenal. Ramses theme is phenomenal in the finale. Bringing back IM for the eagle. The eagle flight. And again, there's just, like, it. Hess is very well aware. I think what's so funny about Nacho Libre is even though it's sillier than Napoleon, it is more conventional narratively. Yeah. It is a sports underdog story with a. With a. With a fat. With a fat priest who wants to be a luchador. [00:55:35] Speaker C: Literally, the first scene, like, the credits aren't even done, and it's him stealing stuff as an orphan child to make his luchador. It spells out immediately the conflict. You don't know what the hell's happening in Napoleon Dynamite. For a bit, it's just like, okay, stick with the ride. But this one's like, okay, here's. Here's what we're doing. [00:55:54] Speaker A: It's fun. That's like, in the early parts of Nacho Libre, it is trying to be like, you know, this is how you do your. You know, your civil duties as a holy man. And he goes to a man's house who's been sick for A while. And he thinks he's dead. And he thinks the thing he has to do is put two coins in his eyes and puts like a little doily over his face and a collection of. And it's like he feels more natural when he's like, oh, my gosh, I can put my creative energy for the Lord into fighting luchador for the children. And also leads to, I think, you know, you can't have Napoleon without Pedro. You can't have Nacho without Steven. Steven as his first just scene where he steals the chips. And he sounds like. Yeah, he sounds like a. He sounds like. He sounds like. Yeah, he sounds like. Golly. Sounds like a weasel. [00:56:49] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:56:50] Speaker A: And. And just like every time after that, when Steven is like the fact that he is a man of science, it's just like when they actually. When he has to like trick him into getting baptized technically. Just like Hector Jimenez is like phenomenal because it's like he is. He is the conduit to Nacho's absurdities. Yeah. Like just the. Again, the scene of the baptism, he is not moving an inch besides eating his food. And then a bowl comes out of nowhere and then Nacho just takes his head and dunks it and he just goes with it. And every. Every wrestling match, he is screaming bloody murder. [00:57:28] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:57:29] Speaker A: And it's not. It's never not funny. Oh, and also it has, I think, the best joke in the entire film, which is, I think Adam's favorite bit. And that is the secret tunnel. It's the secret tunnel scene when they do Ramsay's. The Ramsey's party. [00:57:42] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [00:57:43] Speaker C: Chicks really into him. Yeah. [00:57:45] Speaker A: And there's this huge tunnel that looks crudely made. [00:57:47] Speaker C: Like she just made it a human sized hole. [00:57:50] Speaker B: She actively burrowed it to get up there. [00:57:53] Speaker A: And again, it's like that scene is perfect because you have. You have. Steven actively burrowed the best. The trifecta of what Nacho Ly works at is like one point is the absurdity. One point is Steven yelling, and one point is Nacho accidentally hurting Steven. It's just like that whole scene is like their chemistry is just off the charts phenomenal. I think Hector is great in this movie and it's no surprise why they've tried. They bring him back in, gentlemen, because it's like Jared had a fun time working with him. And Nacho, why not bring him back? And while he's not used as well in Gentlemen, it's clear that Hector is trying to bring the same commitment in that film that he does in this. But man, you can't get. I can't get over the tiny wrestlers ripping out hair. [00:58:39] Speaker C: Satan's Caveman, Satan's case. [00:58:45] Speaker A: But it's like, it's no surprise that this film critically was considered, you know, not as good as Napoleon, because Napoleon, I mean, both films, I think, have immense confidence in one another. But Napoleon's confidence is so grounded and like, we're confident in how the mundane is funny. [00:59:04] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:59:04] Speaker A: And while Nacho is like, we are confident that the absurdity of this is funny. [00:59:08] Speaker B: Right. [00:59:08] Speaker A: And like most critics, I think, you know, stick their nose up and like. Yeah. But it's really just fart jokes and just like throwing things and you know what it is. But it's well done. [00:59:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:59:18] Speaker A: It's well written. It has a purpose in the execution. [00:59:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:59:22] Speaker A: And a lot of that has to do with Jared Hess. But I think a lot of that also has to do with the fact that the White Lotus is. Mike White is a really good writer. [00:59:30] Speaker B: Right. [00:59:30] Speaker A: And knows what's funny and also knows how to use Jack. Because they, I believe, met on School of Rock. Because Mike White is his roommate in School of Rock. [00:59:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:59:40] Speaker A: Yeah. And they just work well together and it's just like it. Nacho Libre, I think, while it's not as good as Napoleon Dynamite, in my opinion, is really, really funny and really good and has held up nearly 20 years later. I think it's held up really well. [00:59:55] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, it's a really, it's. [00:59:57] Speaker A: It's a fairy tale compared to Napoleon. Holy dynamite. [01:00:00] Speaker B: Yeah. For Hess, making the jump not just in budget, but like to a more conventional narrative and to more screwball, like, heightened comedy. It works really well and it's like, it, I think proves Hess's ability to make that leap from the small scale indie space into something bigger. [01:00:24] Speaker A: It also shows that he can co write with others because I do think his blind. His wife didn't co write Nacho Libre, but was a producer. And I think it shows that the fact that like, you have someone who is technically, I mean, it's not his wife. He wrote, you know, Napoleon Dynamite with his wife and is like, you know, going into, like, you can have a writing partner that you didn't, you know, get married to and go to college with and it's like, it just doesn't work out. But like, Mike White and Jared Hess just know how to work each other's. [01:00:50] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:00:50] Speaker A: No comedic timing and execution really well. Right into a film where I think it's like, you know, we, Adam and I literally watched this randomly last Year when we were talking about it, I think over dinner, we watched it and then it just. It held up really well. And then this year we watched it for this and it held up really well. It just. It holds up well. And I think a lot of it is the fact that even though there's so many just misfires. And Jack Black's filmography, when that man just brings the thunder, it is something to behold. Even when it's in a film that is not perfect, has perfect moments throughout. I mean, you. I mean, we got to talk a little bit about how, Andy, you were losing your mind at how he clenched his ass cheeks. [01:01:34] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [01:01:35] Speaker A: Mainly because it sounded like the spider man. Yeah. When he. [01:01:38] Speaker B: When he like cinches his pants up into his ass crack, it literally makes the same noise as a spider man web. Thw. [01:01:45] Speaker A: In the Raimy movies, that scene would not work as well if it wasn't for the dedication of Mr. J. Blink. He's. [01:01:52] Speaker B: He's such a physical talent. Like, he's so good. His whole body goes into every performance. [01:01:59] Speaker A: It's one of. It's one of the reasons why it's like, it's no surprise that even though, like, you know, it wasn't like, people are like, this movie's going to be great. But like, when the Minecraft movie finally got a cast after years of development hell hearing the fact that it's almost. It's a Nacho Libre reunion to an extent. [01:02:15] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:02:15] Speaker A: Being like, I can't believe these two guys making a funny luchador movie in 2006 has now led to them making Jack Black is Steve from Minecraft. [01:02:24] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:02:24] Speaker A: And is like, you know what? That could be something. [01:02:28] Speaker C: Right. [01:02:29] Speaker A: And it's because Nacho Libre shows that there is a talent and an execution and a, you know, camaraderie there that could lead to something. We. Again, we. By the time we are recording this, we have yet to watch Minecraft movies. [01:02:41] Speaker B: All we've seen is the trailer, which is not great. [01:02:47] Speaker C: Something you survive now that you watch. [01:02:49] Speaker A: I've. I think I've seen. It was hilarious. I saw like a, like a Tiktoker reel of like top 20 Minecraft quotes from. It's literally Chicken Jockey. It is. [01:03:01] Speaker B: I yearned for the mines. [01:03:03] Speaker A: It is 19 out of 20 is just Jack Black and I think one of them is just Jason Momoa going Huawei. And it's like. It's like the movie isn't even like, guys settled down. [01:03:13] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:03:14] Speaker A: But water bucket release. But yeah, like, I. I think Nacho Libre, even though Nacho Libre technically makes less percentage wise compared to, like, you know, how much. How little Napoleon was made. [01:03:26] Speaker B: Well, I mean, yeah. Napoleon Dynamite made over a hundred times its budget. [01:03:30] Speaker A: Yeah. But this movie made. It was a success. [01:03:32] Speaker B: It tripled its budget. Like, went from 35 to 90. [01:03:36] Speaker A: Some Nickelodeon brand and brand. [01:03:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:03:39] Speaker A: Gosh, it's. It's. [01:03:41] Speaker B: We're riding high off the spongebob movie. [01:03:43] Speaker A: Yes. And to think we've just. We've done so many Nickelodeon movies on this podcast and we have so many more to do. [01:03:49] Speaker C: Yeah, sorry, I won't be attending those. [01:03:54] Speaker A: No, there's. [01:03:55] Speaker B: I need to put a gunshot sound on this soundboard. [01:03:58] Speaker C: For Nickelodeon? [01:03:59] Speaker B: No, for me, when Logan suggests things like that. [01:04:03] Speaker C: Wait, you don't want to watch the Three Rugrats? [01:04:05] Speaker A: Oh, hold on. That's what I was suggesting. I love those. [01:04:09] Speaker B: Okay. [01:04:09] Speaker C: I haven't seen the one where Bruce Willis is the dog. [01:04:12] Speaker A: Oh, delightful. Delightful film. Actually, it probably might make me cry now watching it, considering where Bruce Willis is currently. [01:04:20] Speaker C: Yeah, you're gonna say that you're gonna cry sentimentally over the Rugrats. Wild Thornberries crops over. [01:04:29] Speaker A: There's a great sweet moment in the. That movie with Nigel. It doesn't matter. We're not talking about the Rugrats. We're not watching about Rugrats Go Wild. [01:04:37] Speaker C: Yeah, but the Viacom brand, baby. [01:04:40] Speaker A: That's Viacom brand. But Nacho Libre comes out in 2006. It is a hit, even though critically it is a flop. To critics. It is very much people enjoy it. [01:04:51] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:04:51] Speaker A: It also, I think, was a hit on cable. I think even. Even your wife said, like, wasn't this a TV movie? [01:04:58] Speaker B: Well, she remembers tuning in for the Nickelodeon premiere. Yeah, like the tv. The on air premiere. [01:05:05] Speaker A: Yeah. And she literally went, this happened after Icarly, like, she, like, committed. [01:05:09] Speaker B: Right. She knew. [01:05:10] Speaker A: Icarly played in the Nacho libre. [01:05:13] Speaker C: It's like 9 11. I remember the whole. [01:05:14] Speaker B: Where were you when Nacho Library aired? [01:05:17] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, it seems pretty clear. I think after that there. Where you go from there, I don't necessarily know for Jared Hess because it's like, you know, you could give him bigger budgets, but like, at that point, comedies are not 100 plus million dollar films. And about the point that film is coming out, you, like, you. I think you're still, like, the studio films are making, I think, arguably probably way more. [01:05:43] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:05:43] Speaker A: So it's like, you know, when Jared is probably, what he's doing something that he wants to be interested in because again, all three of these films, I will Give them credit. Clearly he is not phoning in at any point in the albums. He is passionate in all three of these films about something that he thinks is fun or interesting or funny to him and commits to that with his wife. And then of course, the next film we talk about today, it was a film that apparently him and his wife wrote a spec script for Gentleman Broncos. Fox Searchlight, I believe, bought it for $10 million. Gentlemen Broncos budget, I believe is 10 million. And then they said like Mike White said, I will produce the film. So even though Mike didn't co write the film, he produced it, he also stuck. He's in the film. But Gentleman's Broncos is basically go. We go from indie to Nickelodeon movie kids, you know. [01:06:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:06:33] Speaker A: A kid hit back to Indy and now you're going to 10 million with a film that unfortunately at the time it came out, missed. And to be completely honest, it is very understandable why. [01:06:47] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:06:47] Speaker A: And I again, the interesting thing about this conversation is is we decided that we were going to watch Gentlemen Broncos right before we recorded this. So like we haven't really had time to marinate. [01:06:59] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:07:01] Speaker A: But I will say when I saw this initially, this was a film that I remember seeing the trailer constantly on like Internet, like on Gentleman Broncos. Yeah. On YouTube. And also like, you know, there's the scene, you know, anytime Jermaine showed up on the trailer, you know, this Mike White is Dusty, who looks like, I think you said James Heffield, the 90s. He's like, your mom's hot. Like there's stuff like that where like the brain, like in my brain, I'm like, oh my God, the Napoleon Dynamite guy is making a new movie. Yeah, I should see it. [01:07:31] Speaker B: Well, that's. That was all over the posters. Like you literally. They had the Napoleon Dynamite logo on the poster for Gentlemen Broncos. [01:07:39] Speaker A: Yeah. And it was very much so. Like the movie, I guess technically came out, but I don't think it got a wide release because it's an independent film. [01:07:50] Speaker B: Well, it got so, I mean, this has become less and less a major practice because, well, movie studios are liking critics less and less. But you know, at that time, and even until recently, movies would screen for like press all over the country before they ever came out. And this movie was pretty badly reviewed. [01:08:23] Speaker A: Of these three films, this is the worst. [01:08:26] Speaker B: And after the reviews came out, Fox just like pulled the wide release. So this didn't really get a wide release. It like started to get one and then they canceled it. [01:08:37] Speaker A: Which again is not. [01:08:38] Speaker B: I mean this movie made a hundred. [01:08:39] Speaker A: Thousand dollars on a ten million. [01:08:42] Speaker B: Yeah. And so basically. [01:08:44] Speaker A: Yes. [01:08:44] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. Which is again, inverse of Napoleon. [01:08:47] Speaker C: Oh, my God. Yeah. [01:08:48] Speaker A: Which I think is. I mean, I do think is unfair to a degree because I do think it would have made at least a million just on Napoleon's name alone, wide release wise. It would have not made his money back. No, I don't think it would have. [01:09:01] Speaker B: Made his money back. [01:09:02] Speaker A: Mainly because it does look like there is an energy. And I don't think the film actually has, like. It really doesn't really feel like this throughout. But there is an energy in the trailer initially where you're like, like, is Jared Hess trying to do Napoleon Dynamite again? [01:09:17] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:09:17] Speaker A: And I don't think he is, but Gentlemen Broncos. But clearly he is, you know, like, being like, hey, just so you know, like, I am the Napoleon Dynamite guy. [01:09:27] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:09:27] Speaker A: There are some things about living in a rural town that I didn't fully cover in Napoleon Dynamite and, you know, like, you know, the whole like, you know, lower level, like writing festivals and like in Bum Nowhere. [01:09:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:09:40] Speaker A: There was a, you know, know the lower level, like kind of sci fi author. You'd have like a writing seminar in a small town and like writing weird goofy stories to yourself in your bedroom that like you would, you know, maybe someone would see later on, but you don't really know. Like, there's energy to this film where it's like, not that it was like a stuff that didn't work in Napoleon Dynamite, but it's like. No. It kind of can be a spiritual successor to an extent. However, I do understand why so many people watch it and are kind of like disappointed by it. Because while I still like the movie. Yeah, it very much. I think the thing that really gets me about this movie that I think, you know, is the reason why Napoleon has stood so well in this one. Unfortunately, I don't think will is the fact that like, I think everybody in Napoleon Dynamite is essentially normal or they see themselves as normal. [01:10:37] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:10:38] Speaker A: And in Gentleman's Broncos, everybody excluding our main character, who I think is probably the most like. I think he commits the fucking hardest to like his sad boy, homeschooled energy. I think everyone in this fucking movie is a cartoon character. [01:10:56] Speaker B: Right. [01:10:56] Speaker A: Yeah. Which is not what Napoleon is. And to be fair, there are people that have this overwhelming confidence in their weirdness, in their. Whether it's just like their self centeredness because there's like a. There's technically a love interest in the film who is clearly self centered, barely, but she's very much like the weird twist about that is that she is not taking advantage of our lead, Ben Benji. She, like, is genuinely into him, but she's so full of her own shit that she can't even even see that it's not really connecting the way that she thinks as well as, like, you know, like we said. Like I said, Hector Herz comes back in this film, and while it's. He makes funny faces and it is funny. Every time he makes a funny face, he's. It's no Steven. It's no Steven. [01:11:41] Speaker C: There's not much of a character there. [01:11:43] Speaker A: Yeah. Which I think is the biggest thing. [01:11:44] Speaker C: Cartoons. [01:11:45] Speaker A: Yeah. I think Ebert, like. I think because I think Ebert gave this a two out of four when they came out, and he said, like. I think he said, like, there are characters here that have to have something, but there's not a lot. [01:11:57] Speaker C: No. [01:11:58] Speaker A: That the movie gives. [01:11:59] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, the story kind of doesn't go anywhere terribly interesting, and so you kind of quickly. Some steam very early and then uses it. [01:12:10] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:12:10] Speaker B: I think this movie we really see the, like, the limits of. Has his trajectory going more screwball. Like in Nacho, you know, everything's a lot more heightened than Napoleon. Lot more ridiculous. And then in this, we go a step further to, like you said, every character is ridiculous. Every character is insane. Every character is a cartoon. And it kind of. Yeah, it kind of winds up watering it down because it's like. Yeah, at first when we were like, the beginning of this movie, we were all laughing a lot because it was like, oh, this is very, you know, Hess. Very Napoleon, very Nacho, you know, reminiscent of those, and funny. But then it kind of just. It cycles on that, and every character is that. And there's no reprieve. There's no variety. [01:13:02] Speaker C: There's just long swaths of things happening. A bit too long or over a joke, maybe, or a bit whatever. Going a little bit too long. [01:13:20] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:13:22] Speaker C: And not in a way where it's like, okay, they've done everything they can with this joke. It's just that maybe what they're showing you is so subtle. [01:13:30] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:13:30] Speaker C: It could just be Jemaine's character, you know, writing for what feels like four minutes straight. [01:13:38] Speaker B: Well, there's. Yeah, there's just a lot of. I think a lot of bits that are, like, nasal, exhale, funny. Like. Yeah, that's funny. But this is a whole scene rather than, like a line of dialogue. If it was a line of dialogue, I wouldn't mind the small laugh. But, like, the fact that these are entire bits and it's like, you made the point, Logan, while we were watching that. It kind of feels like the type of thing that feels really funny when you're making it with your friends. Then you watch it back and it's like, well, I could think. [01:14:10] Speaker A: I guess I can see. I could see Jared and I could see the crew being like, in Napoleon Dynamite. All right, John, I want you to take the steak off of Kip's plate, and I want you to throw it at Napoleon's face. And that's just funny because the absurdity of the stake hitting Napoleon's face is just funny. And then you watch it in theaters and you're like, that's funny as fuck. [01:14:30] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:14:31] Speaker A: Then you watch Gentlemen Broncos and you have that same energy where it's like, okay. And then Rusty's gonna pull out a pill bottle filled with shit that he's gonna shove his darts in, and then he's gonna try and use that to kill it cat. And that's kind of funny. And then you watch the scene and it's like, yeah, it's kind of funny, but it is a little bit more in the absurdity than, like, even though throwing a steak at someone. It's all grounded in the fact, like, stakes are real. You've never met anyone. You've met someone who's had a steak. [01:14:58] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:14:58] Speaker A: You've never met anyone who has a pill bottle filled with shit with a dark gun. [01:15:02] Speaker B: Yeah. It would be disingenuous to call it jumping the shark, but there is, like, an absence of tangibility to some of the jokes where it's like, yeah, where is this coming from? Well, it's also like this, like, kind of thing. And then the fact that that is a gag, that the poop dart gag is, like, one that's brought back, and it's like, really? This is the one that you're going to do multiple times? [01:15:23] Speaker C: We're going to give you more. [01:15:24] Speaker A: And it's like, wild, too, because this is the. Of the three films, this is the one film that I think really should have been relied more on its premise. [01:15:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:15:33] Speaker A: Which is like, this is about a homeschool kid who writes this wild sci fi story called the Yeast Lords, goes to a writing seminar, and a sci fi writer that he loves reads the story and plagiarizes it as his own. If you watch the trailer for Gentleman's Broncos, you would think the entire film is about that and about Benjamin trying to figure out, how do you prove that this is my story? Because you plagiarized it. But when you Watch the movie Jermaine Clement's Ronald Chevalier. [01:16:08] Speaker B: Chevalier. [01:16:09] Speaker A: Chevalier plagiarizing pretty much separately to Benjamin trying to turn Yeast Lords into a motion picture locally. [01:16:22] Speaker B: And it's not until there's a dual plagiarism plot. Yeah. [01:16:26] Speaker A: Like in the trailer when he does the whole line where it's like, you plagiarize my story. That's the last 10 minutes. [01:16:34] Speaker B: Right. [01:16:35] Speaker A: It is insane to think that like the. For the majority of the film you're kind of sitting there being like, okay, but when does he figure out that his idol has stolen his story? [01:16:45] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:16:46] Speaker A: Way too late he finds out because, like, there's also a moment where Jermaine Clement is like, I'm going to turn this. I'm going to shut down their movie because it's plagiarizing my story, which is nowhere. He doesn't turn anything down. Yeah, it is, it is a. Is interesting because it does have this kind of Jared having this energy. And maybe it has to do with. Maybe there were projects that were kind of like he wrote. But it has this energy of like the intricacies of being a writer of a piece and watching other people take it and either plagiarizing it in some. [01:17:19] Speaker B: Way or bastardizing the adaptation. [01:17:23] Speaker A: The fascinating aspect of an adaptation like that, where it's like, at what point do you consider that like, well, I got my money's worth or that was worthwhile to me as the writer. [01:17:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:17:33] Speaker A: And there's a fascinating aspect to that, but like, that's not what you sold me on the movie wise. You sold me on this guy, Jermaine Clement, which again at this time, Jermaine Clement, while he's not a huge figure at the moment, he does have an HBO show at the time. He is on Fly the Conchords. And you also have. Really the biggest selling point for me when I saw the trailers were the fact that they recreated parts of Benjamin's stories through this fun Flash Gordon esque. [01:18:01] Speaker C: And they advertise the hell out of it. [01:18:04] Speaker A: They do. [01:18:04] Speaker C: I completely forgotten. There's a bunch of. When they're. They're doing these like dream imagining sequences, kind of the writing. There's a lot of like mecha deer. [01:18:15] Speaker B: Right. [01:18:15] Speaker A: Deer mech surveillance. [01:18:17] Speaker B: Yeah. Surveillance to battle stags. [01:18:19] Speaker C: Battle stags. [01:18:22] Speaker A: Holy crap. [01:18:24] Speaker C: I had completely forgotten about that shit. I mean, again, I've never seen the movie, but I remember laughing about that when I saw the trailer a lot. And I remember even thinking, wow, that looks pretty funny. If there's a lot of that, I kind of Want to check this out? This seems like it's going to be kind of even weirder. And then I never got to see it in theaters because it just sort of of sputtered out. [01:18:49] Speaker B: Didn't really get a release. [01:18:51] Speaker A: And when you watch the film, I mean, honestly, the highest points of the movie is Sam Rockwell in those scenes as well as like the art design, the special effects. I love how shitty the cyclops looks. [01:19:05] Speaker B: I actually really like the look of this movie. [01:19:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:19:08] Speaker C: Really good looking movie. [01:19:09] Speaker A: And again, like this. I think the costume design, the art design is very passionate and like, there's a lot of influence there. I think all the performances, everyone is committed to their parts. [01:19:19] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:19:19] Speaker A: I just genuinely think it is just, you know, a bit of a Ms. Disconnect. [01:19:25] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:19:25] Speaker A: It's like, I think, I think I can see that this is not a man being like, oh, everyone, like Napoleon Dynamite. Let me do it again. It's more like. No, I think this is funny. Do you think it's funny? And unfortunately this time you go, yeah. Or you have a snake on Mike White. And then I laugh. [01:19:43] Speaker C: It's like if Napoleon Dynamite. Every character was Rex Quando. [01:19:48] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:19:48] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:19:49] Speaker C: Like he's probably, what, the most ridiculous character in that. [01:19:52] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:19:54] Speaker C: But a whole movie of them. [01:19:56] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:19:57] Speaker C: And there's not. I mean, what's the name of the guy who's the lead in this? [01:20:01] Speaker A: Michael Sky High guy and Guarano. [01:20:05] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:20:05] Speaker C: So I mean, he does really good in this, but his character is given nothing. [01:20:13] Speaker B: He's the same the entire time, basically. [01:20:16] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:20:16] Speaker C: Which when you surround him with all these ridiculous characters. I see that. Oh, okay. He seems less ridiculous, but he gets pretty ridiculous. I mean, he's in a gun fight. [01:20:26] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:20:27] Speaker A: Without a gun. [01:20:28] Speaker C: With. Not a gun. [01:20:29] Speaker B: Yeah. He gets his blow gun. [01:20:31] Speaker C: Blow gun. Where he shoots darts with poop darts. [01:20:34] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:20:34] Speaker C: He's fighting a dawn with a gun. It's like, okay, this, this character, if he stayed so normal, surrounded by these freaky characters. You got like a Seinfeld thing going on. Seinfeld's kind of the most chill one and the guys and gals around him, it's crazy. But you don't get that because he's not really interesting or. [01:20:56] Speaker B: Yeah, it's. [01:20:57] Speaker A: Yeah. Big thing is like, like he. His comedy mainly resides in the fact that he is sad, miserable 24 7. I. I still would say, even though I think the scene is what just comes out of nowhere. Gross out wise. The scene where he throws up in the. Oh, the lobby. [01:21:15] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:21:16] Speaker A: But like literally right before they kiss the shot of him with tears in his eyes and throw up in his mouth and he just has the same, same face he's had is the funniest he had been the whole film. But he just, just, he commits so hard to that face. Yeah, but it is kind of a one note joke. It is something that we're torturing him. [01:21:35] Speaker C: The whole movie, they're torturing. [01:21:37] Speaker A: And then they basically are like, all right, in the last 10 minutes, you're gonna just, you know, you're gonna be like gung ho. You're gonna stand up for your mom and then you're gonna go find Jermaine Clement. You're gonna. [01:21:47] Speaker B: The ambition kind of comes out of nowhere. [01:21:49] Speaker A: You're gonna punch him with the not penis Brutus pillow. And. And then again, it's. Again, the funniest thing about this movie too is that when he finally realizes that his work has been plagiarized, the twist is, is that his mother, because it's supposed to kind of imply that his mom doesn't really give a. About what he does. She's, they, they seem that she's very self centered, but Jennifer Koolid shows at the end that she loves her son and cares about his work and actually is the reason why they can prove that his work is plagiarized and then he could become a famous writer himself. [01:22:22] Speaker B: Right. [01:22:23] Speaker A: And again, I think Jennifer Coolidge is a great job. It is a wonderful job in the movie. But like, again, there's not a lot to her character other than horrible sweaters, hideous dresses. Hideous dresses and like, God bless her. But like, there's only so much you can give to that where it's like, I, I think the movie is funny enough that it's worth a watch. And I think if you like Napoleon Dynamite and you like Nacho Libre, you will get the most out of this. More so than if you like Nacho but don't like Napoleon or vice versa. If you like Jared's stuff, I think giving this movie a watch, you could be like, okay, cool. I can see what he's doing with this. However. Yeah, you'll laugh because we did, I think funny movies still every time we would cut to like, because again, I think a good interesting aspect is when Jermaine changes, changes the text. Sam Rockwell's, you know, version of Benji's character turns more into From Bronco to Brutus. [01:23:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:23:20] Speaker A: More effeminate. [01:23:21] Speaker B: Right. [01:23:21] Speaker A: Flamboyant. And Sam Rockwell is just a godsend of an actor. Yeah, he's, he is a man. I would love to put a picture of him in my pocket. Like, he's one of those guys where it's like he's in the pocket at all times every time I watch him in this. You. You saw his character in Hitchhikers. [01:23:37] Speaker C: Zod be brought icon. [01:23:39] Speaker A: Just think Galaxy Quest watching this. Yeah, he's just. I mean, just like, the cockiness and the energy and, like, there's a whole scene where he, like, you literally are asking Sam Rockwell to eat what looks like a piece of. And then. And then he, like, floats. It goes. We. [01:23:56] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:23:56] Speaker A: And it's, like, the funniest way you could do that. And he also has to, like, do some wild lines and, like, the. The keepsake time machine. Like, the team. Like, he just. You. Again, I think it shows the strength of Jared Hess when it comes to, like, when you find someone like Jermaine, Sam Rockwell, John Heater, Jack Black. When you find someone who's able to con, like, be the conduit of your work, that's the best parts of your stuff. But unfortunately, everyone around Jermaine and Sam Rockwell is doing their best, but I don't think is as funny as they are. [01:24:29] Speaker B: Right. [01:24:30] Speaker A: Because Jermaine is just like. [01:24:31] Speaker C: Like, God mode. [01:24:32] Speaker A: He's. Yeah. He's. [01:24:33] Speaker C: He's making lines that shouldn't be funny. Really damn fun. [01:24:38] Speaker A: Yeah, it's like. It's like an era where it's like, if you see Jermaine in this movie, and this might be the first time you've ever seen this man. [01:24:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:24:45] Speaker A: You might be aware of him and fly the Concord. [01:24:46] Speaker C: If you're an. If you're American, you probably don't know him. [01:24:50] Speaker A: Yeah. Like, he's. I mean, and he feels like. He feels like the perfect, like, oh, Jared Hess conduit for that. Or just, like, he just. [01:24:57] Speaker B: Just. [01:24:57] Speaker A: The man just says Aus. And it's like you both giggled because I think it was funny, too. [01:25:02] Speaker C: It was in the trailer, too. All the best bits are in the trailer. [01:25:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:25:08] Speaker C: Like, and it always sucks when there's a movie like that. [01:25:10] Speaker A: I mean, when he, like, literally, it's not even. He's not even trying to be that funny. But when he goes, forgive me, like, under his voice, I think is funny. Like, it's. This movie, I think is consistently funny enough for a watch. However, this is the second time I have seen this personally, and I am in a voice of like, okay, okay. If I meet someone who loves this film, I'm happy for them. However, if for the rest of my life, I meet people that go, I've seen Gentleman's Broncos. It exists. I'll be like, yeah. And to be honest, I have seen the film that comes after this that he also did with Sam Rockwell. Don Verdine came out a few years after this. Personally, I think that's worse than this. [01:25:47] Speaker B: Okay. [01:25:48] Speaker C: Whoa. [01:25:49] Speaker A: It's. That movie, I would say, is probably like a 5 out of 10. I think this is more of like a 6 for me. And Don Verdine, I would argue, has a better premise. That premise is basically, Sam Rockwell is a religious argu. Like, he says he, like, he finds bones from the biblical era. And. [01:26:07] Speaker C: Okay. [01:26:07] Speaker A: And it's like. Is for, like, his church. And then, like, he starts to pretend he has found specific types of bones for, like, a mega church to get famous and popular. It's a fun premise. It has a big, like, I think Danny McBride, Amy Ryan, will Forte's in that film. [01:26:22] Speaker B: Okay. Yeah. [01:26:22] Speaker A: And again, after Gentleman's Broncos, he has Don Verdean, which isn't as big, but he also has Masterminds, which was a film with Zach Galifianakis and Kristen Wiig that was going to get, I think, a theatrical release, but I think couldn't find the right place to put it, release wise. And then either never released it or sold it to Netflix or they did release it and then Netflix picked it up late later. [01:26:47] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:26:47] Speaker A: And I heard that film is fine. Like Jared Hess at this point when it comes to his films. He does Donverdeen and then he does Masterminds, and then I believe there's a huge gap. And then in 2024, he does an animated musical film called Thelma the Unicorn with Brittany Howard from, I believe, Alabama Shakes. [01:27:06] Speaker B: Him. Yeah, that's him. [01:27:08] Speaker C: Dude. My algorithm on Instagram was trying to show me clips of that. [01:27:12] Speaker A: I think it's because John Heater's in that as well. [01:27:14] Speaker C: I mean, I love Alabama Shakes, but. Yeah, no, I. [01:27:17] Speaker A: Can you make sure she's from Alabama Shakes now? No, she is. Okay, good. [01:27:20] Speaker C: No, because again, this is the Unicorn. [01:27:22] Speaker A: Him. He's a director. [01:27:24] Speaker C: I heard that was bad. [01:27:26] Speaker A: Well, he also looked bad because at the same time, too, in between all of this, after Gentleman's Broncos, I think a year after that, he does the thing that neither. All. All three of us, even though we love Napoleon Dynamite, we have never seen because we had no interest. I had negative interest in this. And that is the FOX animated Napoleon Dynamite show that I believe ran for only six episodes. That could have been 12. [01:27:49] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:27:50] Speaker A: So, like, that's terrible. It. It had the. It had most of the Original cast back. It was a show that like, you know, Fox was trying to push as like their main comedy thing. And it didn't have six episodes that were aired, honestly. And guess what? That's six more episodes than some other shows. But after that, I think he does like a docu series about. I think there's a docu series about like two true crime and Mormonism. He's done episodes of Last man on Earth. Yeah, he's done like TV kind of stuff and I think some co written stuff here and there. But apparently also Jared Hess, like visually, if you don't know how he looks like, he apparently looks a lot like Jermaine Clement's character in Gentleman's Broncos. And apparently Jim Main Clement at one point went, well, you write what you know. Yeah, something like that. [01:28:38] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:28:38] Speaker A: Even though Jermaine Clement's character had like, I think a real inspiration sci fi writer. Because I think, I think the Yeast Lords is based off of a real series called the Runelords as like a throwback. And I also think all the book openings of Gentleman Broncos, those are all made by actual like paperback sci fi authors. [01:28:57] Speaker C: Yeah, it was giving. And this is niche. I never read one. I just thought it was funny because it looked like it said porn on it. And I was a high schooler. But there's one series called the Dragon Riders of Pernicious P E R N and I was getting huge vibes from that. It's basically like, oh, these people in the future have genetically altered mounts that are basically dragons in space. And I was like, oh, wow, whatever the hell that was going for. They really do capture that in the artwork, in the vibe. How cheesy and pulpy the concepts in their stories are. I mean, certainly from a place of love. It's just a shame it's not. Not proportioned. Well, I think. [01:29:40] Speaker A: Yeah. I also think just to do retroactively, I think Napoleon Dynamite might have been Paramount because it was MTV Films, which is also Viacom. Yeah, I think Searchlight is the first test film. And like, I think it's no surprise that they probably picked it up because I think this is like Gentleman Broncos is post Juno. So like, when it comes to indie hits that are like low, lower budgets that hit big success, they probably think, you know, oh my God, let's get the next Deploying Dynamite film. [01:30:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:30:07] Speaker A: And what you get is a film that is technically that to an extent, but nowhere near the quality because I think it's like it's going for a lot more. The absurdity and Nacho Libre, but the grounded, you know, drab areas that you would see in like a Preston, Idaho, but in this one, it's Utah. [01:30:25] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:30:27] Speaker A: And again, it's. I, We. I think we all had a good time, but it is. Yeah, very much. I could tell with all three of us, we were like, you know what? What? [01:30:35] Speaker B: Yeah, good. [01:30:36] Speaker A: We saw it. But I'm probably not gonna watch it again. [01:30:39] Speaker B: Yeah, it's. It's a little bit like Hess kind of trying to merge the two different approaches of Napoleon and Nacho. One being the more kind of grounded, sort of everyday, slice of life stuff, but done weird and the ridiculous over the top screwball comedy. And it. Yeah, it's just a little bit too much. [01:31:04] Speaker A: And it works. [01:31:05] Speaker B: Doesn't all come together. [01:31:06] Speaker A: It works that way in art design and set design. Like, again, Benjamin's house looks like a observatory. [01:31:13] Speaker C: He's got a beehive on top. [01:31:16] Speaker A: All, all the book sequences, the set design, all that still is, like, able to give, you know, rural town, but still have a personality to it. It really is just like. Yeah, I think it doesn't balance as well as it should. [01:31:28] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:31:29] Speaker A: And yeah, that's the rise of Hess. That is. That is a director that I think, you know, regardless of how we feel about Gentleman's Bronco, that does not take away from how much we love Napoleon Dynamite. [01:31:41] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:31:42] Speaker A: And also just. Really just have a blast with Nacho Libre. [01:31:45] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:31:46] Speaker A: And again, like, I. As someone who loves deploying dynamite and really enjoys Nacho Libre, I would recommend watching Gentleman's Broncos if you're curious and you've seen those other two films. Films a hundred times. Like, kind of. We have. Or at least I think for both Annie and I, we've seen Nacho Libre a few times, but seen Napoleon 100. And then Adam has seen both. Both in plenty of times. But yeah. Yeah. And this is all apparently led to a Minecraft movie. [01:32:10] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, these three movies were the rise of Hess. With the Minecraft movie, we're about to see the peak of Hess. So, you know, it's all led to. [01:32:20] Speaker C: This and it's just like, how the hell does he get this if he's making. And I mean, again, I'm happy for the guy. [01:32:27] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:32:28] Speaker C: But like, how are you. I'm seeing. Andy's got it pulled up still. How do you make fucking Velma the Unicorn and then get the biggest video game adaptation or just the. An adaptation of the biggest video game ever? How do you make that jump? [01:32:44] Speaker A: I think a lot of that has to do with the fact the Minecraft movie has been in development hell for. [01:32:49] Speaker B: So long, it's been shopped around to a lot of people. [01:32:51] Speaker A: I would not be surprised if they went to Jack Black initially or Jared pitched a Jack Black kind of like, maybe they wanted to do something for a while and haven't. And like. Because again, like, at some point, the biggest. The time of the Minecraft movie nearly happened, but never did, was when Rob Mcinelli, who was. [01:33:09] Speaker B: Yeah, McElaney. [01:33:10] Speaker A: Yeah, Mac from Always Sunny, was going to write and direct the film. Film. Maybe even what be in it. [01:33:16] Speaker B: Yes. [01:33:16] Speaker A: He was the one person who was going to, like, actually bring this movie to light. And then there was nothing. And then I think he got his. His fill with Mythic Quest and kind of forgot about this. And then, like, I think it got to a point where, like, a studio was like, well, it. We've had the Minecraft rights for so long and Minecraft is now like, they're. The people who played Minecraft were maybe having children. Like, what the. We do. [01:33:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:33:40] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:33:40] Speaker A: And it's like, maybe it's either Jack Black brings Jared on or vice versa. And you hear Jack Black. Well, I mean, I. People are going to pretend Borderlands doesn't exist, but, like the Jumanji films, Kung Fu Panda films. [01:33:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:33:57] Speaker C: Jesus. [01:33:57] Speaker A: But again, you can't blame him because again, he's a voiceover. He's a voice. That movie was basically done three years ago and sh. [01:34:04] Speaker C: Like 15. [01:34:05] Speaker A: But like, yeah, I feel like it. It very much is. I'm. Again, I'm very curious because this will be the biggest budget Jared Hess film has had. [01:34:14] Speaker C: It could be just bonkers, man, I'm so excited. I'm not gonna lie. It could be terrible. But I. It won't be. I can't see it being a boring experience. [01:34:25] Speaker A: See, that's where I'm at too. I. I feel like. But I hope if it's boring, it. [01:34:29] Speaker C: Could be the worst movie ever. [01:34:30] Speaker A: Because Andy just locked eyes with me and I was like, fuck. It could be just for a brief moment. I think there's. [01:34:35] Speaker B: There's a decent chance that, like, the Hess life that would otherwise be in it has been, like, squeezed out of it just by the studio gestation process. [01:34:48] Speaker C: It's also the bunch of weird Norwegians or wherever the hell Mojang is just being like, you can't. [01:34:54] Speaker B: Well, and Jared has, you know, I mean, this is not a shot at him, but like, he's. He's older now. He's probably like. Like, this was probably a Great paycheck for him. Like, you know, he might have done this one just for the kids. [01:35:08] Speaker A: Let's be completely honest. Going from 20 years ago, you were sleeping on cast and crew members and like floors. [01:35:16] Speaker B: Right. [01:35:16] Speaker A: Couches and houses. And you have. You could. The thought of being able to do a film where you're basically doing the entire thing on a green screen. [01:35:24] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:35:24] Speaker A: For a hundred million dollars with Jason Momoa and fucking Jack Black on the other side. [01:35:30] Speaker B: Yeah. Is a fifty million dollar budget. [01:35:33] Speaker A: And I can't. And I can't get Danielle there too. [01:35:36] Speaker C: She's an Oscar nominated actress. [01:35:38] Speaker A: She's phenomenal. And it's like, how the hell to get her and to be complete. And it's hard not to watch that and be like. To be honest, I would be. If I was in his shoes, I'd probably say yes as well. [01:35:48] Speaker B: Yeah, right. [01:35:49] Speaker A: If you're getting a key to a kingdom, you were like, why the are you giving. Never mind. I'm not gonna say that out loud. I'm just gonna take the key. [01:35:56] Speaker B: Well, it's kind of like you're. [01:35:58] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:35:59] Speaker B: It's like being offered a Marvel movie kind of. And if you're, you know, if you're Martin Scorsese, you're saying yes to that. [01:36:07] Speaker C: Probably because you can make three movies with the money. [01:36:12] Speaker A: I will say I am, I think a little bit worried because I think Jared and his wife, neither one of them have any. Any ties to the script. [01:36:20] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:36:21] Speaker A: It might be the first time. Or maybe Thelma is the first time he did like no script. This is like. [01:36:26] Speaker B: Yeah, they're not involved at all in the writing. [01:36:28] Speaker A: So again, this, this is going to be someone taking someone else. [01:36:31] Speaker C: Maybe I'm getting a little bit. Are we gonna have a gentleman bronco go down? [01:36:35] Speaker A: I don't know. I don't. [01:36:36] Speaker B: We'll see five writers on the screenplay. [01:36:40] Speaker A: Because again, this is a film that's been development hell. [01:36:42] Speaker C: Chicken jockey. Like it's. And that's what you can come up with. [01:36:46] Speaker A: But again, it's like we constantly have made fun of these last few months. Ender Pearl and then press junk. It's like Jack Black's being like, see, everyone loves it. And it's like, God damn it. You fucking know. You know that. Like, you know that you're just saying these lines and there are children out there. And again, it's hard not to watch this movie and be like, God, it could make $10. It could also make a fucking billion. And I can't fucking. [01:37:13] Speaker C: Dude, it's gonna make so how much money? [01:37:17] Speaker A: In a world you could have Jack. [01:37:19] Speaker C: Black on the camera, like, you could see the whole thing, the orifice open and it plopped down on the lens and it would make almost its money back. [01:37:30] Speaker A: I never would have thought we would get to this point where we've already had a Five Nights at Freddy's film happen. [01:37:36] Speaker B: And that movie was kind of crazy. [01:37:38] Speaker A: And that movie is crazy successful even though that movie is, again, not that good. It's mid Ashi. Yeah, but like. Right, but that, again, it was. It was wild to see the response around. It was also wild to see people because again, like, I have, like, I've had my brother and sister be like, we're seeing this, right? [01:37:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:37:54] Speaker A: Like, they did actually ask. They're like, we're seeing this. Like, it's like, they're like, we just need to know, like, morbid curiosity. It has. Yeah, it's more morbid than Sonic 3, but it does have. Have that energy of like, I kind of just want to see what this is in theaters. [01:38:11] Speaker B: Sure. [01:38:11] Speaker A: We've had months and months of just I am Steve. And it's like, what the. Does that mean? [01:38:19] Speaker C: The nether. [01:38:20] Speaker A: It's. Yeah, it's like, it's just to think that we're at that point that we are 21 years out of Napoleon Dynamite and we're seeing Jared Hess just like get a blank check out of nowhere. It feels like. And again, when I say out of nowhere, it's not saying he doesn't Minecraft. [01:38:35] Speaker C: He has a live action Minecraft movie. [01:38:38] Speaker A: Yes. Again, it makes it sound like Jared Hess doesn't have anything under his belt. He does. It's just wild. [01:38:45] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:38:46] Speaker A: And I'm glad that he's got the chance to do it and I'm excited. I. There's a part of me that is excited to see what he brings to it, but at the same time, if it's not good, it's not good. We'll see. [01:38:56] Speaker B: Yeah, we'll. [01:38:56] Speaker A: We'll talk about it. We'll definitely have to talk about it because it's like, it's hard not to, especially with April releases. Like, this is. I mean, there's plenty of other things coming out, but like, Minecraft movies probably gonna be. It's gonna permeate for a while. [01:39:11] Speaker B: Yeah. It's gonna hang around. [01:39:12] Speaker A: It's gonna hang. It's gonna hang. [01:39:15] Speaker B: Hang around like a nacho fart. [01:39:17] Speaker A: Yeah. But, yeah, that was the rise of Hess. We're excited to talk about our next thing that we're doing, but before we get to that, actually, actually, Adam, thank you for joining us. [01:39:29] Speaker C: Yeah, thanks for having me. [01:39:31] Speaker B: I love being on the number 100. [01:39:33] Speaker C: No, I know. [01:39:34] Speaker A: I didn't know that. Going up, number four. [01:39:36] Speaker C: So that's kind of a historic event, I guess. [01:39:39] Speaker A: What? It won't be your last episode. Maybe not your last episode this year. Who knows? [01:39:43] Speaker B: Who knows? [01:39:43] Speaker C: There's lots of suggestions you guys ignore for me, so maybe someday. [01:39:48] Speaker A: No, no, no, no, no. We, we have, we have talked about the. [01:39:51] Speaker C: The animated Lord of the Rings. [01:39:52] Speaker A: Yes, we have talked about it. That is something that's in our back pocket. But, but our next episode is actually not three films. It is in fact a frequel and we are not doing it by ourselves. Andy, do you want to talk about a little bit more about what our next episode is? [01:40:08] Speaker B: Yes. Well, we've got another returning guest, lots of veterans this year, which I'm super excited for. You actually heard from him just earlier this year. [01:40:18] Speaker A: He did, yes. [01:40:19] Speaker B: We're doing a. A frequel follow up to one of. Of last year's trilogies. We are talking with our friend Jake Atwood about God's Not Dead in God We Trust, the fifth God's Not Dead film. [01:40:34] Speaker A: So if you have heard last. Last year, when we talked about the God's Not Dead sequels, we did talk about on that episode that there was a rumored fifth film. [01:40:41] Speaker B: Yes. [01:40:41] Speaker C: Did I watch this one with you or did I watch the one before it? [01:40:44] Speaker A: You watched the one before it bombed the church. [01:40:47] Speaker C: Right. [01:40:47] Speaker A: Did you watch. That was number three. [01:40:49] Speaker B: That was number three. The serious. [01:40:51] Speaker A: Yeah, he watched three. Yeah. You didn't watch four with us. Four was a God nightmare. But we, when we talked about those films, we did talk about the fact that IMDb had listed a 5. [01:41:01] Speaker B: Yeah. But there had been no details, no updates. The latest report time was from 2022. [01:41:08] Speaker A: But. But after. [01:41:08] Speaker B: And so we were like, well, if it's happening, it's probably not going to be for a while. [01:41:12] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:41:13] Speaker B: And that released last year, but after. [01:41:15] Speaker A: Three days, AKA five months. Yeah, we have. We found out we had a text from Jake unprompted of a picture of a God's Not Dead in God We Trust poster. And he says, so we're doing this next year. Right. [01:41:30] Speaker B: Y. [01:41:30] Speaker A: And so of course we have to talk about. And God's Not Dead. [01:41:34] Speaker B: And Jake, God bless him, has acquired a DVD of his own. A DVD copy of this film. [01:41:41] Speaker A: Here's the best part. So usually when we try to watch these films for the podcast, we try to do best quality possible. Or we're trying to, you know, do 4K. No, no, God's not dead 5. We're going DVD. [01:41:52] Speaker B: It's the only one. [01:41:53] Speaker A: If we can watch it in 140p, that'd be perfect. But no, I think. I think it's gonna be. Yeah. I mean, full screen only. It was. It was hilarious how I. I think we both were like, after we did God's Not Dead sequels, we were like, it's gonna happen, happen, isn't it? [01:42:13] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:42:13] Speaker A: Is there going to be a five? Because it's like. Because again, it's like pure flicks isn't like most normal films where it's like, you, you. No one follows the production process of these films. So when they just. They just come out, they just. [01:42:26] Speaker B: Yeah, they happen. [01:42:27] Speaker C: They made on a compound somewhere in rural Arkansas. You don't know where the hell it's coming from. [01:42:32] Speaker A: It's almost. It's almost like Pastor Dave himself heard that podcast and said, I have to prove these sinners wrong. I got to get five out. And we're going to get it. [01:42:41] Speaker B: We'll take the credit. [01:42:42] Speaker A: So, Yeah, I believe. April 26th. Yes, April 26th. Tune in then, when we talk about God's not dead 5 In God we Trust. But as always, I'm Logan Sowash. [01:42:52] Speaker B: And I'm Andy Carr. [01:42:54] Speaker A: Thank you so much for listening. Bye.