52 thoughts on “Movie Podcast Weekly Ep. 229: The Great Wall (2017) and Get Out (2017) and the 89th Academy Awards Ceremony”

1. I apologize in advance to everyone for my internet issues.

   I blame Karl.

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   • Poor Dino. Not his fault at all, everybody.

     Yes, blame Karl. And blame me for trying this “no editing approach” on a week where the Internet connection bombs…

     Dammit, Karl!
     J

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     • I also blame Karl.

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       • I blame Ry because… hate.

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   • Hey Dino, Jason, and all other horror fans.

     I saw The Girl with All the Gifts (currently @85% on RT) yesterday and thought it was very good (and remember, I’m not a huge horror fan 🙂 ). It’s currently in some theaters, but also available on iTunes.

     If you don’t know anything about the film, I’d recommend not reading any reviews or watching any trailers. I’d suggest the less you know in advance the more fun you’ll have; better still if you don’t even know the premise.

     For me, it’s the type of genre fare I like best: a smart, thinking-man’s horror film; that gets better and better as it progresses – with a very clever and unexpected ending. It poses many interesting questions and dilemmas – and while it’s light on big set pieces, it does have a couple of good scares. The acting is excellent – especially Glenn Close and Sennia Nenua (who plays the young girl).

     I’d give it a 8.5/10 (deducting a point and a half for some minor plot holes and one too-lengthy scene).

     It also has a fantastic score by Cristobal Tapia de Veer. Anybody that has seen the dark, dystopian, cult-classic UK show, *Utopia*, will know his music, but here’s a taste from *TGWATG*’s soundtrack (without any visual spoilers):

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBuxZfl49kg

     Again – avoid advance information if you can!

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     • Yeah, I saw this back when it first hit iTunes on Feb. 24th, and I mostly agree with your overall assessment. It’s an 8.5 for me, as well, and is currently my #2 horror film of the year and #3 overall (to be fair, the vast majority of 2017 movies I’ve seen so far have been horror because there just hasn’t been much else that has interested me yet). I had a very vague understanding of what the movie was about beforehand, but didn’t “really” know. Like you said, definitely one you want to go in as unsullied as possible.

       I love how the movie starts at 100 mph, and you’re just doing what you can to catch up. As far as your specific criticisms, I’m curious to hear what the “too long” scene was for you.

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       • Yeah, I read too many capsule review blurbs beforehand, and one of them gave away the genre (which isn’t fully revealed until 10 or 15 minutes in) and I thought it would have been more fun not to know that going in.

         In terms of my criticisms, I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but I thought the group confrontation scene at the end (by the store) was a fair bit longer than it needed to be, and while I loved the final ending, there are some plot holes which would have made that ending impossible (or, at best, difficult). But since the movie is adapted from a book, I imagine those narrative problems likely come from the adaptation (and are resolved in the novel), so it’s not such a big deal.

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         • Geez, Mark! First it’s the exorcism scene in The Wailing and now the confrontation scene in The Girl With All the Gifts?! Patience is a virtue, my friend. Patience. 😉

           Just kidding, obviously, but that is something genre films tend to do that others maybe do not. Lingering on a scene or an event, I mean, so I guess I’m just a little more tolerant of that.

           I’m just glad you didn’t say the scene when the group was sneaking quietly around some “obstacles” was stretched too long!

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           • Dino – Hey! I’m a big fan of lingering…. love the lingering… can’t get enough lingering! *The Handmaiden* was my favorite film of last year and there is some serious lingering there. 🙂

             Seriously though, I love slow-burn drama and long scenes that reveal character motivations or interactions – but the acting has to be top-notch. Without spoiling anything, probably my biggest problem with the length of the group confrontation scene in *TGWATG* has to do with the fact that the acting (of members in the group) is not the strongest of the movie. I think you’ll understand what I mean – but in any case, it’s not a big deal to the quality of the film – just a small nitpick.

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2. I think the fact about Bill Paxton that Jay was referencing early in the episode regarding him appearing in several Sci-Fi franchises including The Terminator and Alien also includes his role in in Predator 2.

   Also, Jay, season 2 of The Wire is the best season.

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   • SOMEONE FINALLY SAID IT! And I agree. Season 2 of The Wire is definitely the best season of The Wire. You, Sir David, are wise.

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     • To me, comparing seasons of The Wire is a bit like comparing 5 excellent chapters in a great novel: each has it’s particular pleasures and they’re all superb, but each is made better and whole by the existence of the other four.

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3. Dino – You’re terrible at selling a movie live on the podcast! 😉

   The Handmaiden is considered by many as the BMOTY of 2016 – and was widely ranked by many top critics in their Top 10 of last year. No offense, but as good as The Wailing is, The Handmaiden is better in every respect (except, of course, to horror fanatics 😉 ).

   It’s a psychological/crime thriller on par with the best Hitchcock (but even twistier) – but besides being an excellent thriller, it’s an intelligent, complex look at gender, desire, and erotica. A real feminist film in the best sense of the word: Park Chan-wook takes a screenplay about two female protagonists by Seo-kyeong Jeong (a woman), inspired by the novel, “Fingersmith”, by Sarah Waters – and then films it while being fully aware of his ‘male gaze’ (with all that that implies) – to remarkable effect. It works so well on so many levels – true masterpiece that will, IMO, be viewed as a classic in the future.

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   • Sorry, I posted the above comment to the wrong episode (it was meant for the last one). I’m currently catching up on back episodes – with all the episode pages open in different tabs – obviously confusing the hell out of me 🙂

     Anyway: imagine the above rant directed to podcast-Dino, circa #228.

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   • I’m sold, Mark.

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   • Haha, you’re right! I didn’t do a very good job of selling The Handmaiden. I agree with everything you said here in its defense. Well, mostly everything: I think you’re underselling the technical and narrative brilliance of The Wailing, which is arguably a perfect film. Getting back to The Handmaiden, though, I’ll add that it’s already considered a classic in South Korea, having amassed a huge following in that country. And I think it’s well on its way to gathering a strong cult following in the U.S.

     To be fair, though, I did also mention that it was my #1 movie of 2016 (incidentally, The Wailing was my #2), that it’s a 10/10 and that it’s a masterpiece. So…

     That said, I stand by my comments that The Handmaiden is not a film for everyone. While I hope everyone will see it, I know that not everyone will like it.

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     • And, for the record, I think my difficulty in discussing it live on the show is largely based on not wanting to give away too much. Blame my acute aversion to spoilers. I even felt bad about asking Jason if he was in part 2 or part 3 of the film because I realized after the fact that simply telling him there was a part 3 could have been a spoiler!

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       • Dino –

         Yeah, apologies for posting the rant before hearing the end of the segment (when you mentioned it was your #1). 🙂 I definitely jumped the gun a bit, although I do still think you could have sold it better to Andy and Ryan (both of whom I’m pretty certain would love it) without giving too much away.

         In terms of comparison to The Wailing: in my opinion, The Handmaiden is the one that is close to a perfect film, and The Wailing, while absolutely an excellent film, could have benefited from some trimming. But I suppose – since they’re both long films – that an opinion on which of the two (if any) might be longer than necessary is simply due to one’s investment or fascination with the particular genre/subject matter.

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         • Again, to be fair, I said these same things (#1 of 2016, 10/10 and masterpiece) back when I originally reviewed the film back in Ep. 217. 😉

           As far as your “could have benefited from some trimming” comment with regard to The Wailing, I guess I would need you to give specific examples because I still don’t see that. It’s a movie I’ve watched multiple times, and I’ve also watched several “explanation” videos and read/watched several critiques to gain a better understanding of its specific cultural references. And, from what I can surmise after all that is that there is nothing superfluous in the movie. Every little detail and event informs the story in some way; everything is paid off.

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         • Not saying you’re wrong, necessarily, but I’m curious as to what you think “could have” been trimmed out without it losing something.

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           • Well it’s been a little while now since I’ve seen it, so I can’t remember every moment that felt overlong to me now – but I definitely remember that the exorcism scene felt longer than it needed to be, and each time when Jong-goo was attacked and was screaming (either in reality or in his dreams), it always felt like it continued longer than was necessary. Again, for someone that is a big horror fan, I can imagine that these things might not be an issue. But honestly, if you consider the amount of sheer plot and character work in The Handmaiden (2h 24min) compared to those in The Wailing (2h 36min), it seems out of balance to me. And even though I haven’t seen either of Hong-jin Na’s other features, glancing through some reviews seems to indicate that this criticism (i.e. could use some trimming) has been leveled by others before.

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             • I think this is something we’ll just never agree on, specifically for two reasons.

               The first, being this sentence: “But honestly, if you consider the amount of sheer plot and character work in The Handmaiden (2h 24min) compared to those in The Wailing (2h 36min), it seems out of balance to me.” I think the plot of The Wailing is far more complex than that in The Handmaiden, which is actually quite simple. The method of storytelling and character development in The Handmaiden is where the magic happens (and, of course, the sheer technical prowess on display). But as far as plot and character is concerned, The Wailing has a lot to get through. So, I guess we just fundamentally disagree on this point.

               The second reason is this: “Again, for someone that is a big horror fan, I can imagine that these things might not be an issue.” 😐

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         • But, again, my 2016 rankings…

           1. The Handmaiden
           2. The Wailing

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           • “I think the plot of The Wailing is far more complex than that in The Handmaiden, which is actually quite simple….So, I guess we just fundamentally disagree on this point.”

             Yep, 100% disagree with this. But this seems fruitless to argue about.

             “The second reason is this: “Again, for someone that is a big horror fan, I can imagine that these things might not be an issue.”

             You disagree with the premise that people that aren’t normally horror fans will have less patience with a 2 and 1/2 hour horror film? Well, I know it’s anecdotal, but I have one friend (non-horror fan) that couldn’t get all the way through it, and another one that watched it all, but didn’t think it was that great (although I haven’t questioned them about their feelings about the length). But I thought it was an excellent film – just in need of 10-15 minutes of editing.

             In any case, I’m not really sure what there is to disagree about. There’s nothing you can say to me now that will change what my viewing experience was when I watched the film (and vice versa for you). If someone gets impatient during a scene in a film because they feel they’ve gotten the point, but the director just keeps it going for too long – there’s no way to rewind that feeling later – that was the experience. I never had that feeling once during *The Handmaiden*, although I can imagine some people do.

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4. Bill Paxton might not be technically one of the greatest actors, but I know he always brought a smile to my face when he popped up on screen. I second your love of A Simple Plan, Jay (also a great book). I was a guest on an episode of the SinCast last year where we covered the films of 1998 and I picked ‘A Simple Plan’ as my favorite film of that year. It’s also my favorite Sam Raimi film; I pick it over Evil Dead and his first two Spider-man films. It’s just amazing.

   Three other Bill Paxton sleepers that I highly recommend are Traveler, Broken Lizard’s Club Dread, and One False Move. Traveler is one of my favorite Con Man movies. Club Dread is a hilarious and actually somewhat scary horror comedy where Paxton plays a Jimmy Buffett esque former music star and is just great in it. One False Move is one of my all time favorite crime thrillers.

   He will be missed.

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   • Jonathan –

     Your mention of One False Move made me go back and rewatch the film last night (I hadn’t seen it since it opened in the cinema in 1992). Great, taut little crime drama I’d forgotten about (8/10) – the first script sold by Billy Bob Thornton (and his writing partner Tom Epperson) – and a great showcase for Bill Paxton.

     Thanks for the reminder.

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     • Awesome. I had forgotten about Billy Bob Thornton writing it.

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5. I haven’t listened to this show yet… barely started the last one… so I don’t know your comments on Get Out, but I went to see it today. I thought it was great (an 8.5), but I’m honestly baffled having seen it now with all of the reviews I’ve heard calling it a comedy/horror film. Huh?? To me, this is a pretty straight up horror/thriller. There are a few mildly amusing things, especially earlier on, but almost from the start of the main premise they establish some very creepy things, and they came off as genuinely concerning to me even at that point (which was justified by how things played out later). As a comparison, a film like Shyamalan’s The Visit had more overtly funny moments, and yet I’d never call that a comedy/horror film.

   Anyway, I get that it’s playing with some racial themes, and there is a whiff of satire in some respects relating to that, but still, almost right from the beginning, I think it establishes a tone of suspense and mystery and danger, and establishes it quite well. Kudos to Jordan Peele for a solid thriller.

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   • Hi Eric,
     I agree with you. “Get Out” is not Comedy Horror, but I can tell you exactly why they’re designating it as such: LilRel Howery’s TSA best friend character… He is hilarious. So, the film has a very strong comic relief character, hence the reason I think people are classifying this as Comedy Horror.

     But I agree with you 100%, Eric. It’s a straight Mystery / Drama / Horror film with an effective comedic supporting character.

     J

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     • I’ll add to Jason’s point that I also think it has a little to do with expectations going in. People see a movie written and directed by Jordan Peele and expect “comedy” given his work on Key and Peele.

       But I do think it’s mostly a matter of semantics. The people classifying it as horror/comedy probably see the term “comedy” as meaning anything that’s funny. In that regard, there is certainly “comedy” present throughout the movie. In fact, most of the really tense moments are broken with a funny quip, like Chris’s incredibly disturbing conversation with Georgina about his phone being unplugged ending with him saying “bitch is crazy.” That’s funny, but a very real thing that most of us would say; certainly not exaggerated or satirical.

       For me, I tend to think of “comedy” as being more exaggerated satire. In that regard, like Jason said, the only part of the movie that really approaches satire from my perspective is Rod. But, as I said, that’s only from my perspective… in reality, that character may be just as real and natural as the rest of the humor in the movie, so I wouldn’t be surprised if others don’t even see him as being exaggerated.

       In short, I’m with you that I see it as being a straight horror/thriller, but I can also understand why people are classifying it as horror/comedy.

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       • Well, I agree with everyone for the most part, but I think they are roasting “white people” very subtly and sometimes not so subtly throughout the entire film. I think that takes it over the edge into a dark comedy. Moments like when the brother wants to know if he likes MMA cracked me up. The movie is sooo self-aware.

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         • Right. It is, in essence, a very subtle “black comedy,” which in itself is a very meta description.

           The whole thing has an undercurrent of black/white racial attitudes and stereotypes and such, and early parts of that play as amusing. But the tone becomes seriously uh, serious, pretty quickly, and only briefly lets up from that as it goes on. The conclusion and underlying resolution of the story is very clever, and I do appreciate the whole thing very much on that subversive social commentary level.

           It’s just that the tone of it never feels comedic. I smiled and was amused very occasionally, but never laughed, which is why I can’t really consider it a “comedy.” There is that side character who is meant to be a little bit amusing, but I never found him remotely “hilarious,” as J says. Amusing, sure, but hilarious? And I thought that scene with him in the police station kind of broke the tone that had been established by that point and was kind of dumb.

           Anyway, it’s quite a fun film, however you interpret its description. I could accept it more being described as suspense/horror with some subtle social/racial commentary and humor. To me, it’s much more akin to the suspense/horror and social commentary of The Twilight Zone or Black Mirror (fittingly, as the lead is in one of my favorite Black Mirror episodes). But I’d never refer to those shows as being comedies, even though they include some humor and levity.

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         • I mean, it’s all a matter of perspective, right? So while you might see it as “roasting ‘white people'” because of moments like the brother asking Chris if he liked MMA, the fact of the matter is that microaggressions like that happen constantly and are often undetected. It’s really difficult for us to identify when this happens in real life because, as was shown in the movie, they’re often borne out of our desire to relate with or connect in some way with someone who is different from us. The father proudly saying he would have voted for Obama a third time if he could was him trying to relate to Chris in some way. It was not borne of malicious intent, it was an honest attempt to connect with him. The problem with these microaggressions, though, is that all you’re really doing is marginalizing the individual, reducing them to a racial or cultural ideal. On their own, they might not be truly harmful, but collectively over time it is a true form of racism.

           And, believe me, this film did not exaggerate the experience. I, myself, am Caucasian, but inevitably, once people learn that I am married to an Indian woman, they feel the need to tell me that they love Indian food or have an Indian friend or love “Indian clothing.” It’s constant and, yes, it’s funny in its ridiculousness. Are these microaggressions harmful as solitary events? No, probably not. But they are never solitary events, they happen all the time. And, when you drill down to what those people are doing, they’re essentially reducing my wife to general cultural ideals or conceptions.

           I think dismissing this element of the film as over-the-top is wrong. I never got the impression that Peele was roasting Caucasians, just that he was accurately portraying the African-American experience in the U.S. And, yes, that can be an eye-opening experience if it’s new to you.

           Is the movie funny? I think it is. I said as much before. That’s part of why the movie is so successful: it balances the tension and horror with some humor and levity. But I personally have trouble calling it horror/comedy, or even a dark comedy, because in my mind that suggests that it is, in part, an exaggeration of reality. And at no point did I feel the humor was exaggerated; it is very real.

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         • “And, when you drill down to what those people are doing, they’re essentially reducing my wife to general cultural ideals or conceptions.”

           To expound on this, they’re essentially looking at her as a thing rather than an individual person. And that’s exactly what everyone does to Chris in the movie.

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         • Eric said:

           “And I thought that scene with him in the police station kind of broke the tone that had been established by that point and was kind of dumb.”

           I think what this scene accomplished was to show the frustration for a minority to be taken seriously with an authoritative figure. Rod essentially serves as the audience surrogate. He’s the one telling Chris not to go to his girlfriend’s house. Later, he’s the one telling Chris to leave the house. And, in the police station scene, he’s the one trying to be taken seriously as he explains this ridiculous scenario, which turns out to be (essentially) true.

           In a sense, I can see why you feel it broke the tone of the film, but I think it was purposeful.

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         • I’m not sure that this has been brought up, but I found the brainwashing aspects really interesting and the real reason why racism still pervades to this day. It’s not that people maliciously want to be racist to people outside of their racial identity, but that we’re (all of us, not just white people) are brainwashed by society as a whole to believe certain things are ok when they shouldn’t be.

           On microaggressions, I honestly don’t fully subscribe to the idea of them being unequivocally rooted in racism, though in the movie it was clear that they were. Yes, there are certainly people that are biased against races other than their own, some do so knowingly and some don’t. But to dump everyone in the same category for saying something that on a surface level qualifies as a microaggression seems a bit hypocritical to me. Reducing a person’s thoughts, feelings, and intentions to a simple construct of words, is doing the same exact thing the microaggression argument is trying to fight. Or is this just the way I’ve been conditioned to think?

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           • I don’t think it’s brainwashing as much as it is just ignorance. In other words, even people with the best intentions are guilty of committing discriminatory slights without even realizing what they’re doing. We’re all guilty of this in one way or another, it’s just more pronounced against certain groups of people.

             With microaggressions… I’m a really bad facsimile for Ishani on this topic; I wish I could get her own here to discuss. I think microaggression is a latent form of discrimination, not just specifically racism. I guess I don’t exactly understand the point you’re trying to make. I’m not necessarily saying that everyone who is a microaggressor is a racist, but it is an inherently discriminatory act. And we probably all do it—I know I’m guilty of it. I feel like, more often than not, it’s something that comes out of well-intentioned ignorance (if that makes any sense).

             These things are not always borne out of malicious intent, but they are no less damaging.

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             • Yeah, I disagree with you there. I do think there’s a level of brainwashing, or rather, conditioning involved. Ignorance isn’t the only problem, but it’s definitely part of it.

               And as far as microaggressions go, I guess my point is that I don’t feel like every instance of focus on someone’s identity, be it racial, sexual, or gender-specific, is automatically a microaggression. I think there’s a certain level of hypersensitivity that plays a role in all of it. Can you really never talk to me about my Mexican heritage because of the fear of “reducing” me to a race? Are race, gender, sexual topics absolutely off-limits? If so, then I think the microaggression theory is flawed and can be problematic. And look, I’m not saying it’s not a real thing because it is. But I also don’t think there’s latent discrimination or even ignorance in wanting to relate to someone.

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         • I understand that the microaggressions are not necessarily over-the-top and are meant to express the real experiences of an African-American male who is placed in an awkward position due to his girlfriend being white. However, I think that Peele’s body of work and the Key & Peele show provide a perspective that would lead the audience who is familiar with the show to believe that the movie is even more meta than simply accurately portraying acts of microaggressions by the white individuals in the film. I guess that is debatable though and I think an individual watching the movie would have a different experience depending on whether they were black and familiar with the African American experience, black non-American, non-black, or even if they have watched the Key and Peele show. That also raises the question as to whether this work is meant to be associated with the Key & Peele show which again I feel alters how I experienced the film.

           That brings up another interesting question. Would this film translate as well in a foreign market? I wonder if it could be appreciated overseas as much as we appreciate films like “The Wailing”?

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         • Juan – I feel like we’re talking about two different things. It sounds like you’re saying there’s nothing wrong if you and I were to have a conversation about you and your Mexican heritage, or me and my Italian heritage or experiences being married to an Indian woman. I agree that is totally fine. What I’m referring to are uninvited comments having to do with certain assumptions or stereotypes tied to a person’s perceived cultural, religious, racial, etc background. Those microaggressions are what were represented in the movie. It’s not a theory, just a term to describe a particular behavior. And we can commit microaggressions with the best of intentions. You said, “But I also don’t think there’s latent discrimination or even ignorance in wanting to relate to someone.” My response to that is, that’s exactly what it is—latent discrimination. I’m not saying there’s malicious intent involved, or active intent to discriminate. It’s a form of discrimination that’s often unintended, and often borne out of our own discomfort with our ignorance of a group of people.

           And when I say ignorance or racism, I don’t necessarily mean them in the malicious sense. I’m using them here to mean “lack of knowledge” and “the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race.”

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       • I also want to point out that the premise of the film is… an affluent, liberal white family seeks to literally subjugate African Americans while maintaining that they aren’t racist. The absurdity to me doesn’t come from the actions and necessarily the micro- aggressions, but the characters and archetypes themselves. Other than the main character who in my opinion is meant to represent the African American experience the other characters embody so many stereotypes, racist attitudes, and become more and more absurd while also maintaining a clear and present danger to our protagonist. Now I need to rewatch it to make sure I’ve not overanalyzed it lol. Either way the horror elements weren’t nearly as scary as the accurate depictions of modern racism.

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     • I’d like to clarify this a little bit… it’s something i’ve touched on with regards to the Horror Movie Podcast and that is that “comedy” is often a misunderstood element in film. There are various sub-genre’s of comedy that few people understand… they confuse Parody and Satire, Slapstick and Situational, and so on so forth.

       Get Out is a DARK comedy focusing on an uncomfortable “gallows” humor regarding race, racism, and it explores those themes through very real characters. While Lil Rel says some funny things, he does it while maintaining a very real character with depth and a background. But, for me, the funniest characters were absolutely the party guests and father. Their awkward attempts at conversation were far more hilarious to me than anything Lil Rel said… save for one brief monologue.

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   • MPW Listeners (and even Non-Horror fans)…
     We deep-dive into our review of “Get Out” over on Horror Movie Podcast, and we even include a lengthy spoiler section. So, if you’d like to hear some more academic analysis of “Get Out,” you can get it here:

     http://horrormoviepodcast.com/horror-movie-podcast-ep-112-get-out-2017-and-a-cure-for-wellness-2017-and-remembering-bill-paxton/

     I wanted to save it for HMP, so I just barely teased “Get Out” here on MPW.

     J

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6. Just letting you know, Jay, I’m totally fine with an unedited podcast if it means a timelier release. There wasn’t any point in the podcast where I thought, “Man, I wish they had cut this out.” So that makes me wonder: What kind of editing goes into a podcast? I don’t want to say all the hard work you’ve done in the past has gone unnoticed but I can’t imagine enjoying this episode any more than I did. Andy’s Taxi Cab Confessions were great. It took a while, but I think I really like that guy

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   • Ha ha. Thanks, Graham. I produce podcasts according to my own stringent tastes as a podcast listener. The editing I do is hardly ever for content; 99 percent of the time, it’s just for pacing… I’ll cut out long pauses or “um’s” or needless repetition of words… It just makes the show flow more smoothly and makes it easier to listen to from a pacing standpoint. Honestly, some recordings (to me) would be very maddening for a listener, so I try to make it less irritating. ha ha. But from the feedback I’m getting, setting aside the connection problems of the first hour, it almost sounds like people enjoyed the show about the same amount. That’s good. I guess I’m just prouder of the finished product once I edit, but I may adopt this method to have faster releases.
     Thanks,
     Jason

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     • I think you do a phenomenal job with editing. I never realized how many times I say “um”, “and”, “but”, “ya’ know” and have long pauses until I recorded some stuff and played with it in Audacity. If you listen to a podcast where they edit poorly or don’t take out long pauses it will make you think the show is cutting out. When I listen to a podcast with my phone it makes me think that I’m about to get a call every time there is an awkward pause in dialogue. It can be very annoying. It can be tedious to go through and cut out the waves of unneeded sound and I really appreciate it.

       You guys keep a good enough flow of dialogue and also must be pretty aware of your dialogue because I didn’t notice anything in this episode that detracts in any way, but I’d say that isn’t always the case.

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       • Thank you all for the feedback on the editing. I appreciate it, especially your generous compliments. We’ll try it again this week on Ep. 230 so we can quickly get you our “Logan” review (and public hanging of Karl, ha ha), as well as (finally!) my review of “The Handmaiden”!
         Thanks again,
         J

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7. RE: The edit vs. the fast posting… I really enjoyed having the podcast to listen to and didn’t really see that large of an issue on the editing. So long as you’re bleeping those cuss words, I’m good with it.

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8. Hey guys I just wanted to give out a recommendation for the movie Spectral, It was released by Netflix at the end of last year. It is a sci-fi/military/supernatural movie, basically a futuristic Black Hawk Down with ghosts. It’s stunning to watch, I was surprised it wasn’t a 4k streaming movie, and it’s very bight so Karl will like that. It’s fast paced and suspenseful. I knocked off a couple of points because the ghost like creatures are able to kill the Marines with such ease it’s a bit disturbing but there is no blood. Also they don’t explain very well how many of the things in the movie work or why they are in the position they are at in the first place. I give it a 8 out 10 and I wish I could of watched it in theaters but hopefully it’ll stay on Netflix unlike The Interview which for reasons unknown to me is no longer streaming.

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9. Saw Get Out last night and J your review nailed it. This was a smart movie and so crazy original. Its just what 2017 needed as it has been a slooooow start. Thanks Andy for the Netflix comedy suggestions, added to the watch list and looking forward to it.

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10. Ryan beat me by one two years in a row now. I had 19 right last year and 16 this year. Kudos. You da man, Ry. I will take some satisfaction in beating Dino by one and J by many. ?

    You guys are killing me with this on-time podcast thing. I’m still only halfway through this one and there’s already 230 out. I’d gotten used to the two week lag, and then not even realizing a new one was out because you back-dated it and I don’t see it on the top of my Unplayed podcasts list.

    I’m just kidding, of course. I think it is better if you’re more current, and so far in this one I’m not hearing any quality loss from less editing… though it may be hard to discern any loss of quality with MPW. ? I have a long trip with a lot of driving coming up in a couple weeks, so I’m sure I’ll catch up then, if not sooner.

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11. Alien invaders: “We were going to spare you, but then we watched Gods of Egypt.”

    ????????????????????????????

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