Strap in as the hosts of Don't Encourage Us, joined by special guest Matt Baughman, dive into the gritty world of Roadhouse. They’ll compare the iconic 1989 classic starring Patrick Swayze with the modern reboot featuring Jake Gyllenhaal. Did the reboot live up to the original's legacy, or did it miss the mark? Get ready for a lively discussion on bar fights, character charisma, and the evolution of action films - all wrapped up in classic Roadhouse style.
Watch Roadhouse 1989
Watch Roadhouse 2024
Welcome to Don't Encourage Us, the show where we talk about the big ideas behind fiction projects of all different kinds.
Books, movies, TV shows, video games, nothing's off limits.
I'm your host, Lucky.
I'm here with my cohost, Dusty, and reoccurring special guest, Ned Niederlander, AKA actor extraordinaire, Matt Baughman.
Look up here, look up here, look up here, look up here.
You two, you two, look up here.
Today, we're discussing the dueling films, 1989's Swayze classic Roadhouse and the 2024 Amazon sequel, Roadhouse 2, Electric Boogaloo.
But first, what's been on your list this week?
Yeah, tell us a story about your, quote unquote, snake insane.
So, right before I was about to, quote unquote, I got pictures, I'll post it.
So I was just finishing Roadhouse Original, and I was coming up to get my microphone set up, and there's this gigantic black snake on my computer, on my desk.
What is happening?
We were just commenting on.
Am I too close to the mic?
Is that the issue?
Just this little image.
Well, it sounds perfectly clear in my earphones.
It looks great, too.
Is this better?
You can see them.
If you see the meter, can you see the meter by your picture?
Like when I do this, do you see the meter by my picture?
It goes into the red.
Yeah.
I yellow.
But yeah, there you go.
But I don't pushing into my actually on my screen.
It doesn't show for me.
It shows for YouTube.
Oh, then we apologize for laughing.
So I have some excuse.
You can start.
Sorry.
Start over.
We're talking about this.
The big giant black snake.
But first, what's been on your list this week?
Well, I have a great story.
You guys want to hear it?
I was coming upstairs after reading, reading, watching original Roadhouse number one, getting my microphone set up.
And there's this gigantic black snake all over my computer.
And it was just waving hello.
And I was freaking out.
And I'm yelling for my wife.
My wife is not here.
She's out walking our dog.
I'm trying to call her pharyngeically.
I don't know what to do.
We're in a third level townhouse.
I don't know how it got up here.
We have no holes, no windows open, nothing.
I don't know how it got in.
So we got some kitchen tongs and we just threw out the window.
And now it's hopefully living, it's great life out in the outdoors and not in my house.
So quick question.
Yeah.
Do you have a pet hamster and have you checked on him lately?
I don't get that reference.
I apologize.
I don't know what that means.
Just do you have any pets?
We have one dog.
We have Ravioli the dog.
So no rodent pets.
No rodent pets.
Not anymore.
Any parrots?
No parrots.
Any birds?
Nothing.
Okay.
Yeah, that's crazy.
What part of the Amazon do you live in?
You live near the Amazon warehouse, right?
I do, actually, that's true.
I do live next to an Amazon warehouse, yes.
That is insane.
I don't even know what I would do.
Like if I walked into my office and there was a snake on my computer, I'm pretty sure that I would not be podcasting right now.
So I applaud your bravery.
It's pretty incredible.
And all you assholes are doing is just making fun of me.
Hey, this is a family-friendly show.
We're gonna have to bleep you out.
That's not all we're doing.
We are also drinking.
Well, also...
I was laughing hysterically now with the mute on, just to be respectful.
Wow, you can't ask for more than that out of a friend.
Yeah, thank you.
I appreciate it.
That's classy.
I guess I'm out of the guest status because you don't treat guys...
The first couple of times, I'm like, oh, thank you so much for being here.
I'm so happy to have you.
Now you're the guy who sleeps on the couch.
That's true.
I forgot to ask you what show you're in.
I've officially overstayed my welcome.
We say you're a snake.
I don't know what you want.
All right, so what's going on?
What shows are you doing for us?
Tell us.
Right now, I'm in the process, I'm about to start rehearsing for A Midsummer Night's Dream, a Shakespeare classic.
Haven't done Shakespeare since high school, so we'll see how it goes.
Okay, yeah, so I'm curious about that.
Shakespeare is heavy.
Is that like more prep?
Is that more work?
Or are you just?
Yeah, definitely.
I don't understand it.
A, because I don't read it, and two, I'm dumb.
But proud.
It's a little bit dumb and proud.
So it's a little hard for me to, it's gonna be hard to memorize it and kind of understand what I'm saying.
It's difficult.
But I'm up to the challenge.
Yeah, I'll bet.
It's come out, it opens the last weekend of June.
Goes to July 18th.
Outstanding.
Now is this like a dinner theater or will people bring their own snacks?
It's outdoors.
It's an outdoor, it's called the Sky Stage in Frederick, Maryland.
It's part of a Shakespeare festival.
And I think there's other groups I know, like I think a Hamlet is going on as well.
So yeah, it's outdoors.
I think it actually might be free too.
I should check on that.
Maybe next time.
If there is a next time.
I feel like he's threatened.
Little bit.
What's that one about?
Midsummer Night's Dream?
Oh hell, it's about star-crossed lovers.
It's about these two guys who are basically chasing after one woman and a fairy.
There's a bunch of fairies and they come and sprinkle dust like love dust, but the main fairy screws up and they fall in love with different people that they're supposed to.
And mayhem ensues.
And you're playing?
I'm playing one of the lovers.
One of the, and I'm also, there's also an acting troupe that's kind of in there for comedic relief.
I'm part of that acting troupe.
So I'm playing two parts.
The great Sam Rockwell played him and Christian Bale played my parts in the movies.
So, so excited.
I thought you were going to say Sam Rockwell was in it with you.
He was like, he's playing the other.
I know.
Oh man.
One of these days.
I wish.
One of these days.
Actually, this is random, but I had this conversation with my wife a couple of days ago about actors that you don't care what movie they're in.
Actors were actors, is you don't care what movie they're in, but you'll go see it anyway, or want to see them.
And Sam Rockwell is one of those actors that I'll watch him in anything.
I was wondering, do you guys have any actors or actresses that you don't care what they're in?
You'll see it anyway.
Gary Oldman, I think.
Someone like that.
Yeah.
Yeah, just off the top of my head.
Who else would be like that?
Like Steve Buscemi is one of those actors.
It's kind of like great and everything.
So those actors kind of like automatically, like if they were in Roadhouse, it would be a better movie, essentially.
Yeah, that's a good way to put it, I think.
Maybe not Steve Buscemi, spoiler, but maybe like Gary Oldman.
I just think he's incredible that he can, or Daniel Day-Lewis is another actor.
Maybe he's like the big one.
Well, Daniel Day-Lewis, he's excellent and he's also very choosy with his movies.
So it's kind of like, you know he's going to choose a good movie.
Did he retire?
Yeah, he retired.
You know, it's funny.
You asked a couple of times, Matt, about what actors we would cast.
And I draw a blank and I realized that I don't think of film or TV in that way.
So your question now, I drew another blank.
I was like, should I go for an actor that I think is attractive?
Like there's tons of actors I think are great, but when they put out new projects, I read the premise and if the premise doesn't interest me, I don't care.
You just got into it.
Yeah, isn't that weird?
I mean, that's actually kind of like I feel like we're, cause they always say there's been like a lot of think pieces out there that movie stars don't really exist anymore.
Like Tom Cruise is one of the like the last ones where you'll probably go see a Tom Cruise movie as opposed to, you'll want to see the movies and the characters more.
Like before in the 90s, you'd had the Will Smiths, you had the, well, Tom Cruise still, the Jim Carries too, Rodden Williams.
You like, you definitely would go see those movies just because of the actors, but nowadays, yeah, you're right.
I think a lot of people are thinking like you, they don't go for the actors, they go for the movies.
Yeah, interesting.
I wonder though, like Zendaya and Temothy Chalamet and some of these other actors that are really popular now, I wonder if they'll be able to build that.
Yeah, I don't know.
Do you think that's on the horizon?
I think they're like the closest ones to do that out of the new crop of actors that are out there.
All right.
Yeah, so I was thinking about Ella Purnell as potentially an actress that people might get behind.
She's very talented.
Yeah, and also Yellow Jackets as well.
So she might be someone who I'd be tempted, at least at this point, to go see something she was in or to watch it if it was streaming.
Just out of curiosity because she had so much and like a sweet intensity in Fallout.
Like there was such a, she managed to like sexualize it in a very classy kind of fun way.
Yeah, she's very talented.
So I'd be curious if that holds true in a different role or not, because there are a lot of shows like, you remember the Battlestar Galactica remake that they did like?
No, but I'm Stark Galactica.
Of course I do.
No, actually I don't, sorry.
By a total nerd, that's great.
Watch out for that snake behind you, buddy.
But yeah, so those actors, I thought at the time were really amazing, like Jamie Barber and some of those actors.
And then I saw them in other stuff and I was like, wow, not amazing.
Like Jamie Barber was in one of the Pulse sequels, I think Pulse, the third sequel to the American version and it was, he was not amazing.
Yes, there's some actors out there who are like, it's like they're made for their character and that's about it, unfortunately.
Is that the directing or is it the fit with the role?
Like the casting people were like, yeah, you're just already that person, so.
I would say, yeah, like John Heater plays Napoleon Dynamite.
Yes, great example.
He's excellent in that kind of part, but I don't know, I've never seen him play just kind of like a straight character, like a leading man type, but he was perfect spot on for Napoleon Dynamite.
Yeah, incredible.
So he's just that weird, is your point.
I don't know, I've never met him.
I hope to someday.
He already liked Ligers.
So they were like, you're hired.
There's certain actors that are just like good on one series.
Just right over here near the apartment, I saw Emmy Rossum, she's on that Showtime, was on that Showtime show.
And I was just thinking to myself like-
Shameless.
Shameless, right?
But I was thinking like, have I seen her in anything else or like besides that show or I don't think so.
Like certain actors are just like very much like around that specific show, but I know they get like buzz around a show and then you think they're gonna be in other stuff or be like a big star and then it just kind of fizzles out.
I think that happens a lot.
Yeah, they're kind of like one hit wonders.
Yeah, I think that does happen a good bit.
Yeah, there was that one action star or they were trying to make him an action star.
I think it was that guy from Friday Night Lights.
He did that movie called...
Taylor Kitsch?
Yeah, that guy.
He did John Carter.
That's right.
John Carter.
Yeah, he basically had three movies.
They gave him three movies.
I think it was John Carter, Battleship.
And I think there was some other...
He was Gambit.
He was Gambit in Wolverine Origins.
Sorry, go ahead.
Yeah, well, they just gave me this big push for him to be this next big action star, big actor, and it just didn't hit.
But he's actually made a good career just playing supporting character parts now.
I've seen him in quite a few things.
But yeah, and same with the guy.
I think they're making a new push for him now, too.
Aaron Taylor Johnson.
Yeah, yeah.
Who's rumored to be the next Bond.
Yes, he's going to be Craven the Hunter.
He's going to be Craven the Hunter, yeah.
In that Sony, Spider-Man, Spomb universe that they have going sort of.
But it just got pushed back, actually.
They were going to release it much earlier, and they shoved it back to the end of the year.
Wouldn't you say that he's kind of gone over that hump now?
Like, he's a big enough star now that it's not like these other stars that were kind of on the cusp.
I read a while ago about Julia Roberts' brother, Eric Roberts, in like the 70s or 80s.
I think maybe it was the 80s or something.
Like, he was supposed to be like the next huge superstar, like leading man.
And then his career just like completely tanked like right after, I don't know, whatever hit movie he had or semi hit.
But they were setting him up like Taylor Kitsch.
And then it just like, I guess bomb after bomb just like took his career down.
Yeah, you just get like a few chances in Hollywood and then you're done.
Yeah, David Caruso, Eric Stoltz.
Oh yeah, that's a great one.
Yeah, absolutely.
Who do you think's made that big comeback besides like, let's say like a John Travolta with, when he did that with Pulp Fiction?
I remember that was like a really big deal.
Like his career was pretty much dead in the water and then it...
Well, I think McConaughey had at one point.
I think he was out for a while and then he had that big comeback with his Oscar win and True Detective.
He's kind of, I guess, kind of settled down a little bit now, but I remember him having that, that McConaughey's Renaissance period for him.
Yeah.
I'm trying to think if there's anyone recently.
Mickey Rourke had one for a little bit with The Wrestler.
Yeah, and Iron Man 2.
And Iron Man 2, exactly, yeah.
I mean, Robert Down Jr., he had a huge comeback too.
He just stayed big.
Right, yeah, that one actually worked out.
What do you think an actor has to do to make that comeback happen?
Do you think it's more indie roles or like a big blockbuster and some indie roles or just like all blockbusters to kind of stay in?
I think it's all, I think it's basically, no, I think it's definitely like, I think Tarantino is one of those people, like you got to get cast in one of those, like a big project, like coming out of nowhere.
I think it's a good agent.
I think it's a good agent, it's a little bit of luck.
As soon as Hollywood smells money on your breath, you're in.
And as long as that's the case, you're still in.
And I have someone behind your back, because I remember there were stories about they didn't want Robert Downey Jr.
to be Iron Man.
It was like, no, he's not, he's too old, he's not big enough star, blah, blah, but they really fought for it, and he got it.
And that was, you know, I think you got to have that creative force behind you that's willing to stick with you.
And we'll see how that works out.
Kind of like DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese now, right?
They just always work together.
Yeah.
Well, I think DiCaprio, I don't think he's ever going to go down.
I think he is one of those actors who just like, he works with the best people, and he's like kind of earned that clout.
I guess he's one of those actors, too, that I think people will go see all the other DiCaprio movies.
Mainly because he's good, but also because you know it's going to be a good movie.
You know he's going to be working with a Tarantino or Scorsese.
And I feel like De Niro is interesting because it's like he does one really good movie and then ten really bad ones and then another good one.
So he's never like out of the limelight, but he just kind of like is just there and then he hits with a big movie role like he did with his last Scorsese movie.
Do you think it's just because he's so much of a legend at this point, so well respected that even if he does a bunch of maybe like almost straight to video type movies that he's always gonna be cast because of his reputation.
And it's probably his network too is probably impeccable, right?
Like he just knows everybody.
Yeah, I mean, you went Oscars like that and you like, I don't know if, I don't actually don't know if De Niro has ever been like a box office draw, but he's known as one of the best actors like him and Meryl Streep too.
Like I don't know if their movies, I don't think are always, don't always break the bank, but they'll always work and they'll always be critically acclaimed.
Who do you think is the most underrated actor or actress?
Well, I used to think Sam Rockwell.
I don't think so anymore.
I think he's kind of gotten his.
I used to also think Colin Farrell, but I think he's also, I think people are starting to recognize his talent as well.
But that's a good question right now.
Do you have anyone in mind?
Matt Baughman.
Matt Baughman is one of the most underrated actors for sure.
Most underrated, exactly.
That snake story was a lie.
Acting.
Acting, thank you.
End scene.
I used to think Brad Pitt was like that.
Was underrated.
Even though he was in a lot of really big roles, I always thought that people just thought like, you know, it was just he wasn't that creative an actor.
He was just like, he was just a good spread.
He was correct.
Charismatic and pretty boy.
Yeah, I know.
That's what I thought, actually, for a long time about him.
You know what?
Turn you a movie.
Turn that around for me.
Twelve Monkeys.
Twelve Monkeys.
Yeah, I know you're going to say that.
That was that was the one where I was like, oh man, this guy can act.
I got to stop hating on him.
Was that before?
I don't know if that was before seven because that's that's when I think it was before seven.
Okay.
Yeah.
Did you watch The Holdovers?
Love The Holdovers.
I didn't realize that that that kid in that movie had like no acting experience, really.
No, that was his first movie role.
He was discovered doing a high school play.
And I'm like, I can't.
It's just one of those stories.
It's just unbelievable.
Yeah.
Did you hear about this, Jason?
Yeah, we talked about it when we did the Oscars episode.
So I think I heard about it there.
Yeah.
I guess I didn't remember that.
That was Matt's turning point where he decided to do more high school productions.
I think my headphones went out for that segment.
He fell asleep, if I recall.
All right, so moving on.
What else has been on your list this week?
Anybody got anything?
Well, I have some stuff.
OK, he asked questions, but then just continues on.
Sorry, there's a delay.
Well, that's true.
We know that, but go ahead anyway.
I just finished that Argyle novel that I had started.
Oh, how was that?
Kind of mediocre, I got to say.
It wasn't that great.
It started out pretty strong and then just kind of fell apart.
So now I'm not really that excited about seeing the movie.
Was this the movie it was based off of?
I didn't know there was a book out.
I'm assuming the book came first.
Book came first, yeah, because the movie was based on it.
Yeah, I mean, I still have the movie.
What did you think of the movie?
Have you seen the movie?
No, not yet.
Oh, that was also mediocre, in my opinion.
All right.
So that settles it.
I was like, maybe I should watch the movie or read the book.
And the answer is do not.
Good to know this podcast saves time.
We waste a lot of time, but we save time.
So that's minus two hours and plus, or sorry, additional minus however many hours it takes to read the book.
You're welcome.
So it sounds like maybe you did too, Matt.
I finished the Fallout streaming series on Amazon.
Is that correct?
Yes.
What do you think?
Loved it.
I've never played the game, so I didn't know anything about it, but it hooked me.
I watched.
I don't really binge anything, but I binge that show.
It was great.
Well, good.
Yeah.
So I was surprised.
I played some of one of the Fallout games.
The story for the streaming series is original, and it happens during the plot or the timeline for the Fallout games.
So it's sort of mixed in, which is really cool.
But what really grabbed me about the series is you really don't need to know anything about the game, and every episode is good.
Yeah.
There were no episodes.
Usually there's one episode where you're like, oh, they were trying to build up and somebody had to get from A to B, or they were trying to establish something with a character, or it was right before sort of the second act turn if it, you know, three acts are extended over 10 episodes.
Not the case.
Every single episode had fun twists, great dialogue.
It was self-contained in some ways.
Like there was a good story arc in each one.
Like I really enjoyed it, and I've been recommending it to people.
It's the first, I think, real streaming hit for me this year.
Oh, yeah.
Nice.
Yeah, I would, I mean, it's definitely a hit.
I definitely agree with that.
Did the, since I didn't play the game, so did they have the whole backstory in the game with the ghoul?
I don't know.
So the games cover different pieces of what they wove together.
Ah, OK.
So some of it's like more about the vault people, and then there's some that's more about like the knights with the armor.
Gotcha.
And some of it's more, but like they kind of mixed the different elements.
I didn't play the one that had ghouls in it, or I didn't play far enough to get into that.
OK.
So I was, I think part of the fun was I was surprised by the lore, which is like really rich and deep and well thought out, especially with the twists at the end about some of the earlier stuff you encounter and you find out where that comes from.
So I don't know if that's in the game.
I don't know what's in the games, all the games and what isn't.
But I kind of don't care because it was super fun to watch it this way with just only a vague understanding of that universe.
Yeah, totally.
You don't.
You do not need to.
I mean, I'm living proof of that.
I knew nothing about the game and I really enjoyed it.
And you made a great point that there was no like lag time in the series.
Yeah, it was crazy.
It was like the casting was great.
They I thought it was really cool.
They like brought in a lot of like comedic actors to play small parts throughout.
Yes, they did, which I thought was really, really cool and really fun.
Yeah.
Yeah, it was just it was fun.
Yeah.
And it was well directed from what I could tell, like not my area.
But that that seemed to be the case.
I never felt like anyone was really acting, except maybe there was one lead, the night guy.
I felt like he was sort of mugging a lot.
I don't really understand that they kept going to him for reaction shots.
And I'm not sure that actor is quite as good or if that part was just written funny.
But regardless, it didn't take away from my overall enjoyment.
It's really solid.
Now, I think I think it was Christopher Nolan's brother, Jonathan.
Yeah, Jonathan Nolan was the one that created it.
So he was a showrunner.
He directed a few episodes.
Yeah, really good stuff.
No, I haven't.
Talented family, though.
Yeah, we I'm definitely going to check it out, though.
I've heard such good things.
Yeah, I think it's a must watch.
I don't usually use that phrase because everybody's tastes are so different, but I can't imagine somebody wouldn't find or everybody wouldn't find something in this that they would enjoy.
Maybe that's not true.
You know, maybe some people are a little too high brow for this kind of thing, because it does get kind of fun and silly at times, and it gets a little gory at times, but all in all, it's such high quality.
I mean, I talked before, I mentioned this previously when I had started it, the set design alone is like beyond, it's like summer blockbuster level throughout the whole thing.
Yeah, I would say that was, I was really impressed, especially for a streaming service, you're right.
I'm trying to think back if there's another streaming show that I really, really enjoy this year, and I don't think I have one.
I really, really tried Three Body Problem.
I know you have an episode on it.
We did, yeah.
I tried three episodes, and I just did not get me.
Usually, I did my three-episode role, and I had to cut it off.
All right, well, that's a wrap for Matt.
You guys liked it?
No, I love the novel series.
So I wanted to love the TV show.
I love the novel.
I just finished it.
You finished it?
The first one, yeah.
Wow, damn, you must have blown through that.
It's long.
I mean, I had read a lot of it already, so I just picked up.
What did you think?
I loved it.
I thought it was so much better than the show.
You can't even compare the two.
So much better.
The backstory, the Tricylarians, what's happening there.
Really, the genius part of it is just the humanity of it or the logic behind why they would invade Earth.
It's so well thought out.
Matt, you've got to give it another chance.
Maybe don't launch the series, but try and read the novels or start reading the novel because it's so great.
It's not your typical alien invasion story at all.
I think you mentioned that during our episode, Jason, that it's really a story about humanity and the interplay between humans and in this case humans and also these aliens.
But you go into it thinking these aliens are just going to be evil.
Your typical evil invasion type of story, but it's not that at all.
And I know I'm not even scratching the surface from what I understand of what it's going to turn into.
It just blows up from there.
Yeah, the next two novels are insane.
So, Matt, I read everything translated by the author Shixin Liu.
And I think part of why he grabbed me is because as a science fiction writer, he not only understands the hard science and a lot of it, but he has a very intuitive, I think, natural ability to understand humans on a societal level.
So his psych fiction is really engaging and informative, right?
It's like really good science fiction.
And it's not just physics and chemistry and all the other stuff that some...
Like Asimov does really great things with talking about technology and how it can evolve over time.
And his work with humans and psychology is interesting, right?
But Shishun Liu, I think, takes that even further.
And he has even more of an innate ability to understand humans in groups.
So I just don't encounter that.
And it's so, so entertaining.
And it's like smart.
It feels really cool to read.
So you're saying read the book, but skip the series?
Well, the series is fine.
You know, when you read the book, you develop a passion for the subject matter.
And you want to see a good adaptation.
So I imagine Steve, like myself, is now rooting for the series to be good.
You know, so you kind of watch it with that, like, hope, you know, that like, you know, when it's your kid kind of a thing, and maybe your sister's kid or whatever, and you want them to, like, be good in football or whatever he's doing.
So yeah, I mean, it's you'll get, you'll probably get through, if you read the book and you like it, you'll probably get through the streaming series and be like, yeah, okay, sure.
But I totally get what you mean.
There is, unlike Fallout, there are a lot of lulls.
There's some non-sequiturs.
There's issues.
It's fine, right?
But it's a difficult novel to adapt.
I mean, it seems that way.
I watched, I know you guys didn't watch it, or read the book, but there's a book and a series called One Day.
It's a very, it's a romance.
I read it during my hopeless romantic era.
The Netflix series, right?
Yeah, it's a Netflix series.
I really liked it.
Oh, you watched it too?
Yeah, I thought it was great.
Okay, good, okay, good.
I'm not alone.
I'm gonna go get a sandwich real quick.
I would say that was the only other series I really enjoyed this year.
New series.
And that, you know, it's not really a romantic comedy.
It's more of a romance.
It's about this couple that meets in college, and then you check in on them every day on that year, one day a year for, I don't know, 15 years or something like that.
And you kind of see their lives where they are and kind of like one's up high and one's low, and then it kind of like, it kind of switches back as they ebbs and flows.
So really well acted.
Very good book.
Very well acted.
Yeah, I was pretty impressed.
I wasn't expecting much.
Yeah, I mean, I loved the book so much.
And I liked them.
There was a movie in like 2011 or something like that with Anne Hathaway, which was OK.
So I was kind of hesitant to watch the series, but everyone was telling me the series was good.
So I did watch it.
And when I really liked it, I wish most dramas would or some dramas would do this is make the episode 30 minutes long as opposed to an hour, an hour plus, because like it's a little bit daunting to sit down and watch an hour long show if you don't have the time for it.
But like 30 minutes, I can pop through them.
And the one day series was like between 20, it was like sitcom length, but it was not a sitcom.
It was a drama.
So I kind of wish like the bear on Hulu does that too.
I wish more dramas would tighten it up a little bit.
Question.
Yep.
Why not pause it?
Come back later.
Well, that's a good question.
If it was two hours, then yeah, I could just pause it and come back.
But I feel like it's like, I think I want to watch it all the way through.
But you're right.
I could pause it.
I mean, I did that with Fallout a couple of times because it was a little long.
Some of the episodes were a little long.
I did that.
But I kind of like went to watch, like I like watching a full episodes, episode in one sitting, get that whole experience.
Yeah.
So it's like you don't ever buy the family size bag of Doritos.
I mean, that would be a problem for you.
You can't roll up the bag and clip it for later.
You got to get through to the end.
Did you see The Gentleman, by the way?
No, I got it.
It's on my list.
It's really good.
I know you re-recommended it last time.
Love the movie.
Is that it?
Is it like the movie?
It's like the movie.
Yeah.
But I don't really remember too much about the movie.
I watched it a while ago.
What about Ripley?
Have you seen any of that?
I started watching it, but this is a really stupid thing to say, but I'm going to say it.
The fact that it's in black and white just really turned me off to watching it.
Really?
But I heard it's amazing.
So I might have to check it out.
I mean, I understand that.
I can understand that.
But why does that affect you, the black and white?
I don't know.
I think I just have to be in the right mood for it.
Like we watched Notorious, and when I watched that, I was in the mood for it, so it didn't bother me at all.
I've watched movies in black and white before, or I can think of Schindler's List, which is in black and white, and I loved it.
But I don't know.
Lately, I haven't been in that mood for it.
I don't know what it is.
I don't know how to explain it, but it almost makes me feel a sense of claustrophobia when I'm watching a black and white movie.
I can't really explain the feeling.
As an existential crisis.
That's great.
No, I know you don't see many series in black and white, at least nowadays, and I'm kind of curious why they chose to do it black and white, if it was like the artistic merit of doing it that way.
Yeah, I don't know.
Like, could you see why they did it that way?
I didn't watch that much of it.
Or just because they wanted to be artistic?
Yeah, I don't know.
Probably find out.
It's probably a significant reason.
It was cheaper, maybe.
Or they screwed up the collar, they blew out the collar, and they're just like, oh, let's switch to black and white.
Yeah, that's right.
All right, well, before we get to the main event, I wanted to shout out a couple good bands that I've been listening to lately.
There's a band called Bring Me the Horizon.
Have you guys heard about this band?
I have.
It's a British band.
Okay.
Oh, you have.
I saw some nods over there.
I've heard of them, but haven't listened to them.
Okay.
Yeah, so they have a really awesome song out.
I'm going to put a link to it in the show notes, so you guys can look forward to that.
Kool-Aid, highly recommend.
Very cool.
It's kind of like Heavy Metal, and they would hate this if they heard me say it, but it's like Blink 182 if they were Heavy Metal.
So kind of maybe like an alternative metal band.
They've been around for about 15 years, and it seems like they've been perfecting their sound.
So their latest release, I think it's from January 2024 this year, and really great, really great song.
There's a couple other good songs there.
If you like that, you might check out Beartooth.
That's another relatively recent band, and they're a little bit softer, like more rock, more alternative stuff, but very good.
Kind of like an angry Linkin Park maybe.
And then another band I really like, totally different kind of music though, the Honest Heart Collection.
So just wanted to give them a shout out.
They have some really great songs.
May not be your thing, but it's a little bit of like a 90s rock feel, and I haven't heard anything new that sounds like that in a while that's really good.
So I think those guys are great.
They play festivals and kind of bounce around a little bit, but not huge yet.
So you might want to check those out.
And again, I will put links in the show notes, although I've noticed when it goes out to different platforms, the links aren't always clickable.
So you might want to just go to your streaming service of choice and check out the Honest Heart Collection, Beartooth, and Bring Me the Horizon.
Do you guys have any new bands you've been listening to?
Oh, Matt, you want to say something?
I mean, I was just getting a cool question.
How did you come across these bands?
So I recently switched from Apple Music to YouTube Music, and I got to say the sound quality on YouTube Music is infinitely better.
Now, I know not everybody can hear the difference, but for me, going from Spotify to Apple to YouTube, the sound quality has just jumped dramatically.
I haven't changed any hardware using the same devices to listen to it, but YouTube Music, for whatever reason, the sound quality is like, it feels like the full range, whereas Apple and Spotify at the highest settings they had, at the most expensive subscriptions, sounded kind of muted and a little bit like muffled to me.
So I'm really just getting back into music and reigniting that passion.
I've been making more playlists.
I'm just loving it.
And as part of that, I've gotten back into following, going through some of the blogs, music blogs I like.
And because I'm making big playlists, YouTube is making some suggestions.
So some of these songs come from that.
I think Honest Heart Collection came out of a blog that I follow and listen to through a different app.
But really good stuff.
YouTube Music, not trying to sell you a subscription.
The app is probably about 10 years behind in terms of functionality.
It really feels like 2010, trying to make it work.
It doesn't really handle offline well.
It'll freeze sometimes.
It doesn't have the buttons and the options that you want.
It's kind of a pain.
I don't know why.
It's not like Google doesn't have money or Alphabet or whatever doesn't have money, but they just haven't invested or straightened that out yet.
So anyway, the sound quality is what dragged me back into music.
And I'm probably going to start going back to shows too now that there's more live music kind of going around, although a lot of theaters, venues closed in my area during COVID.
Yeah, unfortunately.
930 Club is still rocking though.
Yeah, 930 Club is pretty good.
It's just, I don't know, the bands they get are maybe a little well known for me these days.
Yeah, see, I mean, I'm a rube when it comes to music because I listen to whatever is popular.
And like if a 13 year old girl likes it, I'm going to like it.
So it's very much like these bands.
I would probably have never, I would have never, I'll check it out because I do.
I do like to check out different music and I'll just take recommendations.
But honestly, I don't really go searching for it.
Like I'm still like a Taylor Swift guy and I like Beyoncé's new country album.
So it's kind of like I just kind of whatever is popular, What's It Written, Zeitgeist.
I mean, I was a huge One Direction fan when they were popular.
That's a wrap for Matt?
What's Ever On Hot 99.5.
That's what I'm listening to.
All right, we'll cut that.
Don't worry about it.
All right.
All right.
So main event today, Road Housing.
Backing up.
So how about it, Dusty?
I've been listening to Fred again.
Do you know Fred again?
Fred again?
Is that Fred, comma again or Fred again?
Fred again, dot, dot, dot.
It's one guy.
He's like an electronic music artist.
His mentor was that guy, Brian, you know, who produced all those albums like U2 and everything.
He's got really great stuff.
He did a NPR Tiny Desk concert, which was really great.
Oh, cool.
So if you like that sort of thing, check him out.
I think with all our music tastes, we could do a music podcast.
You know, I would love to.
Probably.
But I don't know how to cut in music.
I would love to do that, but I don't know, like, how to figure out the sampling without, you know, getting blocked on streaming services now that major corporations have total control.
Exactly.
It's better safe not to do it, because they take a couple seconds here and there, but I think that's it.
I know, but it's like free advertising.
You would think they would sign off on it, but from what I read, like, you just get copyright struck instantly.
Yeah, yeah.
That's a bummer, because there's some great music out there.
Anything else you've been listening to, anybody?
Salton and Shepherd, I've been listening to a little bit.
They're like another electronic group, above and beyond, of course.
I've been listening to them.
Yeah, they have a good podcast, Group Therapy.
All right, so on to the main event.
We are Road Housing Today.
It's a road housing project.
We have the 1989 version starring Patrick Swayze and Sam Elliott.
And the 2024 version with Jake Gyllenhaal and Conor McGregor as debut performance.
So the 2024 version was directed by Doug Lyman, who did, or is it Limon?
Do we know?
I think it's Lyman.
Limon.
He did Swingers, 1996, and Edge of Tomorrow, just to name a couple.
The 1989 version features James Dalton, played by Patrick Swayze, of course.
And the 2024 version, 2024 version, features Elwood Dalton, played by Jake Gyllenhaal.
Not really sure why they changed the first name of the title character, but they made a point of it in the second one to mention that a few times in some kind of clunky dialogue.
So that was weird to me.
Clunky dialogue, you don't say.
Yeah, right.
In that movie?
No way.
So here's a brief summary of the stories of both movies at the same time.
So we start with a tough guy who's infamous for killing somebody else in a fight.
He gets hired as a professional cooler to clean up a particularly nasty bar.
That job puts Dalton between the bar and a local wealthy asshole.
And his plans to expand.
Dalton gets a knife wound and meets a sexy doctor at the ER.
She falls for his muscles and his pacifism.
It turns out she's tied to our villain, and our hero has to rescue everybody from the rich asshole's goons.
The end.
It's a nice, tight summary.
It's both films.
Any issues there?
I don't think so.
I mean, yeah, they both...
I guess I have a question before we start.
We've already started, buddy.
Yeah, we can't go back.
I can't stop it now and restart.
Hilarious.
Bunch of Dalton's here.
Can we just point to the title, by the way?
No one said anything.
Roadhouse.
Roadhouse versus Roadhouse, a rowdy Roadhouse rendezvous.
The name of this...
Nice.
You see it on the upper left?
Yeah, that's all I have.
Oh, I see it.
Yeah, that was good.
And I believe we have a question.
Matt, did you want to fire your question?
Which one did you watch first?
1989 came before 2024 for me.
How about you guys?
2024?
Mine, 2024 was for me.
It was the first one I watched.
Oh, you guys did it the other way.
Oh, wow.
So, Jason, did you see this like a long time ago or recently?
I was not old enough to go see all of the violence and nudity in the era.
There was a lot of violence.
I was shocked.
I was surprised.
I mean, I forgot because I think I only saw it on TV.
And it was heavily edited.
For those of you who might have seen it on TVS, let me tell you right now, you missed a lot.
There was a lot.
It was about every, what, 10 minutes?
There was a nice pair.
Yeah.
A pair of fists.
That too.
That too.
It was a double deuce.
Well, that's interesting.
I mean, I'll be curious to see how that affects our perspectives.
Before we get to that, though, briefly, there is a Roadhouse 2 from 2006, a direct to video sequel, and it has Jake Busey in it.
Do you guys know who Jake Busey is?
I do know Jake.
Gary Busey's son, right?
That's right.
Starship Troopers.
He's done quite a few things.
The Frighteners?
I love The Frighteners.
I love The Frighteners.
We're going to watch that.
So, you're the one.
What year is it from?
1996, he said.
2006.
Yeah, it's a fraudulent sequel.
Is it?
Is the guy, is his name Dalton, too, in that?
It's his kid.
Oh, it's his son.
Oh, it's his kid.
Jake Busey doesn't play him, by the way.
He's just in it.
I think he's one of the thugs or whatever, but yeah.
There's nothing memorable in it.
I tried to dig through the dark web and find it, but I could not locate it in time.
I was thinking about hiring a private investigation firm, but I just, you know, the week goes by so fast.
So anyway, not a big hit, surprise to say.
Beyond that, I can't tell you too much.
Well, I don't think the original one was a big hit at first.
Not initially.
Not initially.
It just got, it grew its audience during the home video.
The critics didn't like it.
No, I can see why.
And I saw that it was nominated for quite a few Razzie's too.
Which I think is kind of deserved.
I'll go ahead and start.
I quite enjoyed the 2024 version.
I knew what I was going in for.
Like I wasn't expecting a great movie.
I had a lot of fun with it.
I thought Jake Gyllenhaal was I think the biggest difference for me was that I felt like the 2024 one kind of was fun.
Like I felt like they wanted to have fun with it.
I thought Jake Gyllenhaal had some comedic moments.
I thought his character was kind of unique, how his mannerisms, his like temperament.
He wasn't just kind of like solid rock.
He was kind of like a cocky guy too.
Yes, he was extremely ripped.
Like that was impressive.
I really liked the bad guy, Billy, I can't pronounce his last name.
Manisooin?
The actor who played him.
Yeah.
He's a Broadway actor.
I've liked him for a long time.
And I will say Conor McGregor was horrendous.
I thought he was doing a bad Irish accent and I know he has an Irish accent.
Like, his accent was so bad for some reason and it felt like he wasn't directed at all.
It felt like he was just smiling his way through it the entire time.
I don't know, he kind of took me out of it.
I thought the fight scenes were really inventive, kind of like the point of view, first-person type of, sometimes like the camera is getting punched in the face.
I thought that was unique.
I'm trying to think if there's anything else that's kind of sticking out.
I kind of liked the, I don't know, I thought there was more, there's a little bit higher stakes too.
And this 2024 one, and I didn't fall asleep, which I did, unfortunately, during the 1989 one.
I missed kind of a big chunk of the 1989 version because I fell asleep.
I didn't have time to go back and watch it.
This is amazing.
That's my quick review of the 2024.
What do you think, what your thoughts are?
That's it for the Swifties.
Thank you for your perspective on that.
We're talking about the 2024 one first and any reactions to any of that very long list of reactions from Matt.
There was a lot going on there to unpack.
I thought Jake Gyllenhaal was-
The snake's back.
I got to go.
Pressured speech.
Yeah.
What kind of reactions you got going there, Stu?
I thought Jake Gyllenhaal actually wasn't bad.
I didn't mind his acting at all, as compared to Patrick Swayze's version of Dalton.
I thought he was-
He played it much better.
I totally agree with that.
I thought Conor McGregor was awful.
True.
But overall, in terms of the overall plot, how ridiculous those scenes were, it's hard for me to get behind either of these two movies, to be honest.
It took me so long to watch the 1989 version.
I was watching it like 10 minutes at a time.
I'd pause it and see how much time I had left.
And then I'm like, can I make it through another 10 minutes?
I was watching it like that.
And then to get to something-
Is this another one where you were doing one arm pushups and listening to it at double speed?
I wish I could.
If I would have watched it at double speed, I would have done it.
But yeah, it was pretty rough, these two.
I don't know if I could have watched them like back to back.
Well, I watched them back to back.
And you loved every minute of it, probably.
I mean, totally different reactions than you two.
So so far for the 2024, we got one thumbs up, one hand, like palm flat shaking.
Right?
Is that what that was?
Sort of tilting, threatening to tilt.
One personal insult to Conor McGregor.
That's brave.
And you also mentioned where you live earlier.
I don't know.
It's risky.
It's scary.
So who sent you that snake?
I sent it to this podcast.
May Taylor Swift protect you.
So yeah, here's what stood out to me about the 2024.
First of all, I spotted the Double Deuce restaurant next door to the Glass Book or whatever.
What was the name of that bookstore?
The Glass Book.
What was that about?
The naming of places.
What's the name of the bar?
The Roadhouse.
It was like a random main generator.
It's of humor and the Glass Book.
Like, what?
It's literally transparent.
How do you have words on there?
Anyway, so I spotted the Double Deuce restaurant right away.
That got me excited because it reminded me of the classic 1989 film, which I had not rewatched for a long time, so I was excited about that.
The Glass Key stood out to me.
Not a real place.
Any thoughts on why they made up a Florida key for this film?
Anybody?
Because none of the other keys agreed to let their name be used to tarnish the reputation anymore.
Yeah, I was going to say maybe it's because it was portrayed as not a great area to live in because of the monopoly that this guy has.
I don't know.
What makes you say that?
You mean a bar where they destroy the bar every single night.
What's the repair budget on that place?
Do they ever break even or what?
What kind of place is that?
What's this part of this film was at the end when there was a car in the middle of the bar and some random people walk up, push past the car and go, hey, is the bar open?
And she's like, yeah, sure.
Why not?
No safety hazard here.
No clear structural damage that would concern anyone.
But yeah, so they made up Glass Key because the Florida Keys obviously are not, there's no bad key like this that's run by like a criminal family or whatever.
It was the weirdest thing to me.
Anyway, so what else stood out to about the 2024, the car ride to the hospital?
I think that was probably the best scene.
Oh yeah, that was fun.
Yeah, that was the best.
And I think it illustrates a huge difference between the two films.
The 2024 film did the humor well.
There's a little bit of humor in the 89 one, but the 80s were a more serious time, I guess.
It was either a comedy or an action flick usually, whereas lately tastes have changed and we like our comedy with our action and our action with our comedy.
So I think the ride to the hospital, that was pretty good.
That was well acted.
It was a good showcase for a couple of those actors and it was fun.
Bump.
So a question for you.
Do you guys remember the scene where Jake shows up, this is after the girl's been kidnapped and he shows up at the pool and he straight up murders that guy?
Yes.
Yeah.
How did you feel about that?
Not too good.
It was just such an odd scene that he was just suddenly so violent and not that he hadn't been violent earlier, but it was like more like comedic, more cartoonish type of fighting.
At least that's what it felt like to me.
And then it just took like a really dark, really, really dark turn in that scene where he just completely goes overboard.
When the guy's like choking in the pool, I'm like, he's gonna choke, but he's gonna like save him or something.
And then when he just like lets him die, I was just like, wow, I don't know.
It seemed out of place for the movie, put it that way.
It did seem out of place.
But like, if you go back to there, there's a lot of murders in the original one too, which was maybe that's why they did it that way.
But yeah, you're right.
I felt like it was kind of, I felt like it was kind of, that was a little jarring because he killed another person too, but that was more of like an accident.
Or I guess, no, it was the guy who was eaten by the alligator.
He just didn't help him.
He didn't kill him, yeah, yeah.
Well, no, he tried.
I mean, you notice like he was trying to pull the rope.
And so anyway, I think that scene, for those of you who have not seen this and don't want to put the time in based on the reviews and comments on this show, there's a scene where the hero who has previously killed someone accidentally in a UFC fight and is haunted by that and his life kind of fell apart as a result of that.
He, the girl that he's gone on one day with gets kidnapped and he's sort of pulled into this bigger conspiracy and he just sort of snaps, sort of.
He doesn't visibly snap, but he just gets real intense.
He goes to the hangout for the bad guys.
The bad guy who I guess is responsible for sending the bookstore owner and his daughter to the ER, which by the way, they're fine and that's weird, but we'll talk about that in a minute.
So that guy is just there.
He's standing by a pool and Jake just punches him right in the throat, collapses his trachea.
The guy can't breathe.
He pushes him or he falls into the pool and he lets him die.
And my problem with this is I think that breaks the character.
So the 1989 one we'll talk about in a minute and there's a character arc there that, you know, if anything, it's too pronounced, but it's there and it works.
This character is haunted by accidentally murdering someone and based on what we're told, that's it.
He hasn't killed anyone else.
He's not a killer.
When he murders this guy and doesn't care or react to it, it stops any kind of character development.
There's no arc there.
Now, maybe I missed it and there's some other flaw or problem that he's overcoming, but I think at that point, that's it.
And if you look at where the film ends, he really doesn't have an arc.
He doesn't grow.
He doesn't develop.
And I think that that moment is what breaks the character.
And I think that's a real problem with the film.
I'm disappointed in the director for not realizing that.
I think he was focused on gimmicks and tone and things like that, the editing.
Really, you know, they do, both films do a good job integrating music, but it's like very, it's almost comic book-y.
And the 2024 version.
So I just wanted to highlight that, because I think for the average audience member, it stood out.
Like, I think if you see it, there's a part of you that just goes, that's not right.
But then you kind of move on because there's explosions and fighting and fighting and stuff like that.
So who cares?
But I think from a writing perspective or a storytelling perspective, it's a real issue.
I was gonna say, I 100% agree with you.
I didn't, I didn't really didn't put that much, like for me, you're right.
I kind of just got sidetracked for the rest of it because I was like, oh, big, big fight scenes, big, water scenes there.
But yeah, you're right.
It seemed really out of place, especially since he died.
That's this whole, his whole character is how this, his death, this death where he could have prevented, like that's also a thing, like during the fight, he could have stopped when he didn't.
He knew he could have stopped.
It wasn't just like rage.
He just kept on doing it.
So yeah, you're right.
That's a good point.
It kind of felt like it was a start of a villain arc.
Like from that point on, he was changed and was now going to become some kind of super villain.
I know that wasn't going to happen, but that's what it felt like.
That's how jarring it was.
Yeah.
Well, you're right.
He has a rage problem.
So his arc should be to not act from rage, like to pull himself back in a moment when he's being overwhelmed by anger.
And presumably be a good guy.
But they really didn't put that together in this film.
And it's fine.
Like it's okay if you don't care about that.
Like I'm not going to say you can't like this film if you don't like that.
I just want to point out that the bones are wrong.
You know, it just isn't laid out in a way that would make this good.
And maybe that's why it went directly to streaming.
You know, maybe the powers would be watch the film and said, yeah, this isn't working.
So maybe we'll do it this way.
Or they read the script and thought it just isn't working.
Or Amazon's just got a ton of money and who cares?
But anyway.
They had fallout coming in.
Right.
But I think there's a lot of holes in it, to be honest with you, because there was, I'm a kind of a forgiving audience member when it comes to plot holes.
I'm more just happy to be entertained.
And that's what I thought, I was entertained by this movie.
But that doesn't, like he had no experience becoming a bouncer, like he was just a fighter.
Someone brings him in to be a bouncer.
But then once he got to the Roadhouse, he knew exactly how to be a bouncer, how to be a cooler.
Like how do you, and you're supposed to teach that.
And I didn't understand that, I guess that plot point as well.
You mean how he suddenly became an experienced bouncer by, and, but he didn't have any experience.
He was suddenly the most experienced bouncer there, but he's never done it before.
Just because he was a fighter.
And his whole job is to deescalate fights.
At least that's what I was presumed, yeah.
The 1989 movie did a much better job of that, of showing that.
Yes.
You know, like where he could have gotten into so many more fights and gotten completely overboard and killed so many people during all those fights, but he knew when to say when.
And that's kind of, you know, to give a credit, that's what made him kind of an interesting character.
Even though I didn't like the movie and I had a hard time watching it, that part of it, I really, I thought they did a good job of, for an action movie that's kind of mindless, you know?
And you understood it.
Yeah.
So when he does end up killing someone, it feels like it's out of complete necessity.
Because it was, so it's not like jarring, like, oh my God, he wanted this guy dead, he didn't, you know?
The guy just like pushed him to the point where it was, you know, his life was on the line.
So, which is very different than this scene that we're discussing, which, yeah, there was no real threat to him.
Interesting.
So next question, why give Elwood a different name?
Why not use the same first name?
Because it's not really, you know, jokes aside, it's supposed to be a sequel.
It's a remake or a reimagining, if you want to be artistic about it.
Why change the character's first name?
Do you guys have any theories on that?
I mean, maybe it's out of respect for Patrick Swayze, because it was an iconic character for him.
And since he's no longer with us, they wanted to change the name.
It's like retiring a Jersey.
I'm glad we have an actor on the show.
Yeah, that's, I never would have thought of that.
Yeah, that's what I would assume why.
Hmm.
Okay, moving on.
So did you guys notice that they set up a sequel really nicely for this one?
So a couple things, I mean, there's a lot of ways, but I'll point out the two most obvious.
Number one, there's a father character who is referenced repeatedly.
He's in jail and he would make a great big bad for a sequel, right?
So for those of you who haven't seen it, the sort of the bad guy here is the son of a wealthy man.
His dad's in jail.
His dad actually calls from jail at one point and the son is a little erratic and doesn't like his dad's pressure.
So he tosses the phone and we don't really, we don't meet the dad.
We don't even know why he's in jail.
Presumably it's related to the crimes or the drugs or whatever it is that they're doing.
So the son, spoiler alert, gets killed at the end when Conor McGregor and Jake are fighting.
Conor actually kills him.
But you can imagine in a sequel how the story would get out or the dad who gets out of jail would come to believe that Jake's the one who killed him, killed his son.
So I feel like they set that up nicely and Conor McGregor survives as well.
My partner usually doesn't do this.
So I'm sure the answer is no.
But did you see the mid-credits scene with Conor McGregor?
I did, yeah.
Because you assumed that he was dead, too.
He did not.
I did not.
I got out of it as quickly as I could.
I knew it.
There were credits.
So there's a mid-credits scene with Conor McGregor.
It's a call back to an earlier joke.
He's in the hospital.
You see like nurses flying or whatever.
He's beating people up.
And he busts out.
And you remember in the beginning when you meet him and he's naked and he's walking down the street in Italy or whatever.
So he does that same walk out of the hospital, but he's got a hospital gown.
So you can see his butt again because the gown is like open in the back.
And he's doing that weird kind of like penguin walk that he does on the way out.
So again, sets up a sequel nicely.
The dad hires him.
He lies and says, Jake killed his son.
They hunt him down.
I'm assuming in some completely different location.
We've done, what was it?
Louisiana was the first one.
We've done The Keys and what?
Missouri was the first one.
Oregon or something.
Wasn't it some of that?
Missouri, thank you.
Missouri, yeah.
Yeah, and it'll be like Washington State for the next one or whatever.
So yeah, did you guys notice that, that sequel set up there or leaving the door open?
Yeah, yeah, I truly saw it.
I definitely saw it with the mid credit scene with Conor McGregor running out of the hospital and the father not being seen yet and he's probably gonna get out of prison.
I don't, I'm curious if there will be one.
I don't know how successful it was.
Yeah, I don't either.
I think for a streamer, it's probably successful.
By now.
It depends on the budget.
The makers of the film are not happy with it going straight to streaming because I think they shot it with the intent of it going to movie theaters.
So they might not want to do it, which doesn't mean, I guess that doesn't mean that there won't be a sequel.
I'll watch it.
Even though I didn't really quite enjoy either of them, I would do it.
I don't think getting another director is going to really make much of a difference, in my opinion.
I think you would get another director who's equally as good to do a movie like this.
I didn't see like anything that was so like stylistically Doug Liman in this movie.
Well, I know, but I think you have to have Jake Gyllenhaal back, don't you?
Yeah, no, yeah.
I mean, but in terms of a director, like the director not wanting to do it, I think it's one of those situations where it doesn't even matter.
Right, no, I don't think so either.
I think that he stylized the movie pretty well, but you're right.
It could be handed off to another director easily.
It's kind of like certain movies that are so about the director, like Guy Ritchie, you know, and like The Gentleman and those movies.
He has his very, very unique style.
This is one of those, I think, you just hand over a style guide and say like, okay, follow this.
Yeah, I think you could have a sequel if Jake Gyllenhaal wants to come back and do it.
All right.
Yeah, I mean, it depends on how much he wants to work out, I guess.
Right.
He was pretty crazy ripped.
Yeah.
You know, he's the age, I believe he's the age that, oh gosh, I forgot, that Sam Elliott was in the original.
Oh really, wow.
I think he's at the same age, which is insane.
Wow, that is insane.
Because they kept on calling Sam Elliott the old guy.
He's just in his mid forties.
I like how he called the love interest doc and she's just doc through the whole thing.
Yeah.
All right, so I was going to mention this briefly.
I said something earlier, so I'll mention it.
There's a scene where two thugs are walking into the bookstore and one of them has like a baseball bat and the other one has a gas can and then it cuts away.
And we're told later that the bookstore owner and his daughter are in the ER, right?
So you would think that they smashed the place up, you know, hurt both of them really seriously and then maybe burned it down or at least burned it pretty bad.
Later we see those characters, the owner and his daughter and the bookstore, everything looks fine.
She's got like a little cut on her cheek.
The dad looks totally normal.
I was like, what is that?
Why put a gas can and all that kind of stuff?
And then circle back later and be like, yeah, I mean, she like probably fell down.
You know what I mean?
Like they were probably yelling and they knocked over some books and she like, oh, tripped on a copy of like a Western or something and cut her cheek a little.
But didn't the guy die over this?
Isn't the guy that he killed?
That's what set off our hero to crush someone's throat.
Thank you, right?
It's a little bit of an issue with the writing, I would say.
He doesn't want to find out.
He just hears through the grapevine that.
Right, it doesn't even check.
Oh no, no, I just drove my daughter to the ER.
She's fine.
She actually heard her cheek a little bit after they left.
We were cleaning up and she bumped into something.
She caught herself on a glass book.
All right, so moving on to the 1989 original classic film that everyone loves.
And I believe, Matt, you said it was your favorite movie of all time, Steve, you were wired after watching it.
Incredible.
Pure adrenaline, that's what I said.
But go ahead.
All right, so before you guys tear this apart, I'm gonna say that I fell back in love with this movie.
I watched it again and I was like, this is a much better movie than I remember.
It is awesome.
Now I understand if you're not attracted to blondes, maybe this isn't your film, but I thought it was great.
There are a couple cheesy moments, maybe a little over the top, but I can forgive that because it was a solid film.
It was well written.
The scenes were great.
They were pretty tight overall, especially initially, there was a lot of short scenes where you kinda just get the meat of it and they move on.
And then later on, they let the scenes breathe a little bit.
I thought it was really well paced.
There wasn't a lot of fat on it with Possibly.
I will accept one criticism.
Maybe we don't need four minutes of shirtless Patrick Swayze doing Tai Chi by the river.
But hey, I wasn't the target audience for that.
So I will allow it.
The one thing you liked, you and Taylor Swift were texting about that, weren't you?
Yeah, that and the blondes.
I liked the blondes.
That was not a problem.
Oh, redemption.
I feel like this is gonna be Leave Extraordinary Gentlemen, part two, right here.
Now, I could see why you think that over this movie and I could see why it's kind of below the classic.
Oh, you're gonna let me have that?
That's it.
I'll let you out of it.
That's it, that's real nice of you.
You saying it was, were you saying that it was like, there was no fat to be trimmed?
I mean, this movie could have been 30 minutes shorter.
Well, that's only because your attention span is 30 minutes.
No, and I fell asleep too.
Just hit pause.
You know, there is a pause button.
You can't pause things.
No, I had to watch it.
I started the movie at 3.30 and I had to be up for this podcast by 3.
So I couldn't pause it.
And the snake showed up.
Why does the film have to suffer for your poor planning?
Because I was dreading watching this.
So do you just like pass out while you're watching any movie?
Like, oh, I'm tired.
And you just like pass out and you never hit pause.
So it's just like gone.
No, I don't fall asleep during good movies.
All right, well, this is your chance.
This is my attention.
This is your chance.
What is wrong with this film from your perspective?
I mean, I don't think there's anything wrong with it, to be honest with you.
It's just like, maybe it's just not for me.
I mean, maybe if it was, if I saw this when I was younger and I enjoyed it.
Love it.
I loved this movie.
I'm just not gonna talk anymore.
You guys are just like, you guys are being assholes today.
We're not, good lord.
We're not.
No, I, you guys go.
I, or Steve, you talk about it.
I don't.
All right, Steve.
I talk too much.
We'll go back to Matt.
Matt, gather your thoughts because I do wanna hear what you didn't like, but feel free to take your time on that.
Steve, what were your reactions here?
Thumbs up, middling hand.
You mean for the movie overall?
I would give it a thumbs down, but then we're gonna go center.
It would be, because as I think about it a little bit more and I compare it to the new one, it does have its merits.
And they did a lot of things a lot better.
Like the whole idea where like, they built his character in a way that was...
They did.
That was pretty well paced.
You understood where he was coming from in terms of like not being a man of violence.
I thought the speech that he gave in the beginning set up his character really well, where he fires everyone.
About you're gonna be nice.
You know, you're gonna walk people out of here.
You're gonna be nice.
Yes.
And he reiterates that.
I like that part.
There were certain parts of it that I thought were absolutely ridiculous.
Like the fight scenes themselves.
There was just, I know the whole movie is about fighting, but it was just a little bit over the top.
You know what I mean?
That one character, the guy who owns the bar, I didn't think he offered much in the way of characterization or anything.
He just stared a lot.
He seemed like a villain, yeah.
He just stared a lot and then stared some more.
But then again, Patrick Swayze just stared a lot.
You could have a drinking game around him just staring.
Yeah, he had villain energy.
He was giving off some serious vibes.
But even Patrick Swayze, so much staring in the beginning, you know that he's observing things, but you think there's gonna be a massive payoff to him observing these bouncers and how they act.
I would have really enjoyed more, even if they had more like Karate Kid type scenes where he's training the bouncers, that would have been a nice touch, you know?
But there was too little of that and too much just like bad guys breaking up the bar, just general fight scenes.
I really like movies that have that progression.
That's why I thought Karate Kid was such a classic.
There's that progression of him not knowing how to fight to at the end really being able to fight.
And I think it would have been great to have a character who he kind of brought under his wing and really showed him the ropes.
But then it would have been a different movie.
I understand that.
But I don't know, there's certain things about the script I would have changed just to make it a little more powerful.
Also, the bad guy is just a bad guy to me.
Like he just wants to expand or control.
This is my town.
They could have done a little better job kind of showing like, or a little more backstory or something a little bit more complicated as to why he's just going around town, destroying everything and like ruining everyone's life.
Two dimensional.
Very two dimensional character.
And the goons were very two dimensional, but you know, I'll give them a pass.
And he's such a great actor, the guy who played the villain.
So it would have been great to see something about why he was doing what he was doing and what kind of revenge he wanted to take on the town.
Even if it was something like we're growing up, like they treated them poorly or like they did something to him.
And I don't know, anything would have helped tell the story, but it was just, he's a bad guy and he's just ruining the town.
He's greedy.
That was it.
That was who the character was.
Let me pause you because you're on a great role, but he mentioned he was in Korea in the war and they could have developed that.
He's a veteran.
He had some experiences there.
You really could develop that character from that angle, but sorry, go ahead.
But they really focused in on him and that guy, Red, right?
Is that his name, Red?
The guy who owns the hardware store?
Yeah, the auto parts store, yeah.
It would have been great to know a little bit more about that extortion or what was happening there, but he was just seemed to be another cookie cutter character that was being extorted by the bad guy of the town.
That's a great point, yeah.
There wasn't much there in the way of like really understanding why he does what he does, just anything.
I mean, in that scene where like the monster truck destroys all the cars at the car dealership, I'm like, why that guy in particular just like has his whole life ruined and he's just like, oh, whatever.
You know, I run this town, just made out to be an example.
I don't know, there was a lot of that going on.
That is a scene that was clearly added purely because monster trucks were huge back then.
So I will give you that.
That is fact that could have been cut, although they needed a way to set up the ending with the town business owners.
But yes, sorry, interrupt it again.
Keep going, great role.
I think overall, if they would have focused more on Patrick Swayze and kind of the mentoring part, and it would have given a lot more focus in terms of like his whole arc.
So I guess overall, if I was gonna improve the movie, it would be the backstory or motivation for everyone in the movie that they focus in on.
Let's use this in a sequel to the 2024 one, right?
So that mentor mentee element, they kind of touched on it a little bit when he was training those guys.
And in a sequel, if we do one, I was thinking before we started recording, that it'd be great to have a Sam Elliott character who kind of comes in and teaches him how to be a cooler or something.
But you could also do the version where he's teaching, he's learning what a cooler is, and he's teaching these younger guys the difference between fighting and being a cooler.
So that could also work, almost making him the Sam Elliott type, but almost like a prequel kind of a deal in terms of how that story developed.
So that would be cool.
I love that.
And then you give the villains a little bit more.
But I think the villains were better in the 2024 one.
Yeah, and I think one more thing, I think that would really help both versions would be the build up to the mayhem.
Like it just reminds you of that scene in Inglourious Basterds, where they're in the, they're all drinking.
And they realize that he's not a Nazi because the way he holds up his three fingers or whatever, you would hold up like the last three and he held up like the index finger and the other two.
I thought that was so brilliantly done in that movie.
If they had kind of similar elements in this movie where it's not just like, oh, another fight, because it just becomes one long fight through the whole movie.
Oh, you want to build tension.
You don't want it to just be a fight that you know is coming and it goes on and on, but you want to have some tension built between the fighters before they get into it.
Is that what you're saying?
Yeah, even if it was just once or twice in the movie, just to set it up that these fights kind of break out, break out for different reasons, you know what I mean?
Because it's kind of fun to see those two characters play off of each other.
Like in the 2024 version with Jake Gyllenhaal, I think it's that Broadway actor that you like, the son of the, or like the villain guy.
I thought that was a pretty decent scene when he like rolls up on Jake Gyllenhaal who's sitting at the bar having a drink and they have that conversation.
I thought that was one of the best, or maybe the best scene in the movie where they're just playing off each other.
It would have been nice to see that more because these fights aren't starting for no reason, right?
It's just, all of a sudden they just start yelling and smashing bottles over each other's head and that's it.
It'd be great to see the lead up.
Yeah, that made more sense in the 80s version than the 2024 version.
But I feel like what you're saying is right, but it's a much better film than they're ever gonna make in this series.
Right.
You know, that kind of writing intention, and I'm not saying the actress can't do it, but I'm just saying it's just well above the quality of this kind of thing.
And maybe that's a reason not to make any more of them.
I don't know, but you're absolutely right.
That would dramatically improve things.
It would also make it feel like a very different kind of film, I think.
Maybe even would make some of the fight scenes less interesting, because the tension that you built between the characters would have been, it would be a better scene than the subsequent pushing each other around and swinging pool cues and golf clubs and stuff like that.
Can we talk about that scene with the original, the 89 version with the guy in the pool cue, when he jumps using the pool cue and does like a backflip onto the stage?
Totally normal.
That was amazing.
So the backstory about that guy would be great too.
He's like a gymnast and a kung fu master.
Yeah, right.
What do you think of that scene, Matt?
He was on the prison Olympics team.
It's like a pole vaulter.
And he wedges it underneath the fat bouncer guy, the heavy bouncer.
That was so funny.
And he flips over.
It was so random.
But that whole character was random.
They did not...
So I will say one thing that is definitively better about this second one, the 2024, is that the villains, especially the goons, they did more with.
In the original 80s one, they are pretty faceless and interchangeable.
And when Swayze rips that guy's throat out, it's sort of like, it may as well have been a wild bear or something like that.
Like for all that you know about this dude, I mean, he gets a couple of sentences out about his prison time and his homosexual activities and stuff like that.
And I'm like, he's starting to become a person.
This guy's got layers.
And then he gets his throat ripped out and he gets half dragged across the river.
I was like, where's Swayze going with that corpse?
You know, the water's gonna get deep quick.
Anyway, much better in the sequel.
Conor McGregor was acting his heart out for sure, man.
All right, good.
So the 80s one, the 89 version, you guys can disagree, feel free, but I thought it had some great one-liners in it.
It's just classic 80s one-liners, really well-written, well-delivered.
Swayze, this is why, it's easy, I would imagine, Matt, correct me, but it's easy to deliver dialogue like that poorly.
And I think part of, okay, good.
And I think what makes Swayze such a memorable actor is the way he delivered it.
Like there was a great line, there's so many great lines.
And they're not even like quotable per se.
It's just the setup and the delivery is just so spot on.
But there's one in particular that reminded me of something.
So there's a line, I guess he's being patched up, the doctor's pat, stitching up his wound.
And she said, how'd a guy like you end up a bouncer?
And he says, just lucky, I guess.
And I forgot this, but that is the line I used when I was single.
And women would ask me why I'm single.
Like, why are you single?
Which they would do all the time.
Like, why are you single?
And I just started saying, just lucky, I guess.
You know, you lock eyes, you smile, and then you say, just lucky, I guess.
They did not like that answer.
Thanks, Roadhouse.
But it always got a smile back.
Yeah, so thank you, Patrick Swayze.
Thank you, Roadhouse.
So did you guys like the one-liners, or did you think they were cheap?
It was very classic 80s.
There was one I kind of liked, and I can't remember what it was, but when it was towards the end, when he drops the bear on the guy, one of the-
Oh, yeah, uh-huh.
I can't remember what the line said, but I remember that was like the camera shot and his action line.
I was like, oh, that's a good one, but I don't remember it, unfortunately.
I can't remember any of this dialogue, to be honest with you.
I, except the one that was like, I have guys like you in prison, that one, that will stick in my head forever.
Wow.
All right.
Well, it was just felt like so random out of nowhere, but I felt like that was, that was one that kind of stuck out to me.
Sure.
All right.
So comparing the two, before we really get into picking which one is the better film, I'm gonna ask the most obvious of questions, Dalton versus other Dalton, which one would win in a fight?
It was just like Jason versus Freddie.
Mm hmm.
That's right.
I think it's two Dalton's.
I think UFC would win because he'd be a much better technical fighter.
A better technical fighter, I would say.
He's a better technical fighter, but Swayze can rip out someone's throat.
And I feel like if he got to the right move, he can do it.
But he can crush someone's throat.
Jake Gyllenhaal can just go rip it out.
Oh yeah.
Yep.
Well, so then if Jake Gyllenhaal crushed Patrick Swayze's throat, Swayze could pull it back out a little bit, right?
He's already got the grip for that.
Well, they kept on calling Swayze small, which I guess.
Oh, that was great.
That was so funny.
I thought that was pretty funny.
Thought you'd be bigger.
Thought you'd be bigger.
I get that a lot.
That was a good one.
I like that one.
I get that a lot, didn't you say that?
Yeah.
I hear that a lot.
So, here's the thing.
And this, I think, is more central to the differences in the films, but I'm gonna use it here in our Dalton versus Dalton fight.
Swayze's Dalton is more experienced and his life is not a mess, right?
He's actually like a pretty competent, settled guy.
He's very calm, he's centered, he likes who he is, he knows who he is.
The only time you see that crack is when his mentor shows up.
That's when you start to see the more insecure kind of younger guy come out.
But he's very much in control.
And Jake's Dalton is a disaster, right?
He's barely getting through the day.
There's a point where he pulls his car out on train tracks and contemplates suicide.
I don't know if that makes him more or less dangerous, but I'm gonna say just my own life experience and what I think in reality, not in films, but in reality, I think your calmer, more centered fighter, the one who's used to this, who's still lethal and can be, I think he's gonna win.
I think our Jake Gyllenhaal character, even though I guess the actor's older, that Dalton seems earlier in his journey and I think less experienced, and as a result, I think he would lose.
What do you guys think?
Yeah, I see that.
I see that way.
I think you made a good point where Jake Gyllenhaal's character, his Dalton, is a lot more of a loose wire.
And I feel like he, and he's got the rage issue.
And I feel like he can go see red and just go out.
Where as Patrick Swayze, I didn't see that part of him.
I thought he was a little more calm and collected.
And I think Gyllenhaal's probably, is Dalton is the better fighter too.
Swayze is more cunning.
So yeah, I don't know.
Yeah, I'm going to give it to Swayze, but you guys can, you can put your money on either side.
What fighting style would Swayze's Dalton?
80s action hero.
80s, okay.
That combination of chai chi and just bar fights is just lethal.
And he has that knee kick.
That's all.
That knee kick is pretty brutal.
Oh, yeah.
The knee kick combined with the throat pull.
Yeah, okay.
I take it back.
You'll win.
There's no doubt.
It's more of a tear.
Yeah.
He's got the hair too.
Yeah.
He's got the hair.
I love the those love scenes in that movie because they both have the same hair.
And I would just get.
Uh-huh.
Yeah, who has more hair?
It was like watching two lions just like gentle breeze, just making it flow.
At one point, they say the wind comes from behind and it blows out.
I don't know if you guys noticed that he was like running into the house and like blows out his mullet and it's like out here.
I did not notice that.
That's why I have you on the show.
A cunning eye.
That's why I watch it 10 minutes at a time so I can pick up all the details.
I'm like, Matt, falling asleep.
I fell asleep right after the woman was stripping on the stage, was doing the strip dance on stage and then I woke up when the farmer got his house blown up.
So between that time is-
It's like 45 minutes or so.
It wasn't pretty long.
I think it was a long time.
I was like, oh, what happened?
But I got caught back up.
Oh boy.
Oh boy.
I didn't fall asleep during the 2024 one.
I don't know what to do with that.
I didn't fall asleep during the extraordinary gentleman.
So there's that.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
I thought Sam Elliott was great.
That guy really-
Sam Elliott is always great.
And he's seen much better.
Yeah.
And the mentor minty dynamic really worked.
So just breaking it down, right, differences.
The love story was weak in the 2024 version.
That's not necessarily a bad thing.
And I don't mean like weak in a bad way.
It was just a choice.
They wrote it way down.
That's fine.
You know, the 2024 version, it's structured to me in a weird way where they introduce some, you know, main character and supporting characters.
And then most of those supporting characters drop out of the film about halfway through or maybe about 40%.
In the second act, they introduce new supporting characters in the form of the love interest, her father, who's the sheriff and a few other people.
And then at the very, very, very end, we get the supporting characters from the beginning back.
So that's weird, structurally speaking.
The 1989 version did not do that.
The supporting characters stayed present at about the same amount.
There was a little bit of a drop back when you get Sam Elliott introduced and when the main thug comes to the forefront, then your other supporting characters fall back.
But they come back again pretty quickly and it doesn't feel wonky.
So that's an interesting change.
The love story again being sort of throughout the film, like once it's introduced, it's pretty constant.
The twenty twenty four one, it's really like a plot.
It's there to serve the plot only and not so much character development, which I didn't love the end of the nineteen eighty nine one.
You know, Dalton has a full arc, which I thought was much better.
His problem is he doesn't know really what to do.
Like when violence, when when killing is required, he was taught if someone pulls a gun, you got to kill him.
There's no other choice.
He did that before.
It haunts him still to today.
You know, his mentor tells him to let it go.
That's normal.
That's what you should do.
His mentor is killed.
He does it again.
You know, our main character kills another person.
The woman's like, oh, I thought you were redeemable and you're not and so on.
And that kind of breaks their relationship.
And then at the very end, someone pulls a gun on him again.
He has the opportunity.
He goes for the strike and he chooses not to.
And she shows up.
And the last we see of him in the film is there.
It's happily ever after.
Like he's grown beyond his mentor.
He's learned who he is as a person.
And he can be the philosopher and the lover that he wants to be.
Happy ending.
Right.
So the arc in the 1989 for the main character is much, much better.
It works great.
Jake Gyllenhaal, on the other hand, really doesn't learn anything.
He doesn't get the girl.
He just gets on a bus.
His main issue, as we're told, is rage, right?
As Matt mentioned earlier, he's a rage-aholic, so to speak.
And at no point is he overcome by rage and then able to center himself and not take action on that.
So no growth.
So I think the 1989 is better for that.
The music in the 2024 was maybe a little bit better, although if you like that kind of jazz blues stuff, or not jazz, that like heavy blues rock, maybe you like the 1989 one better.
Big difference for me, the bouncer culture.
I thought that was really interesting.
Yeah, it's like they're like celebrities.
Yeah, the 1989 one really gets into, it makes you feel, I'm sure it's all fictionalized, but it makes you feel like you're learning what it would be like to do that.
And that's pretty cool.
You know, that's like a great guy movie concept.
And the 2024 one was just absent that entirely.
And in the drama in the 1989 one, I thought it was bigger, right?
The story involved the whole town, the finale involved the business owners.
Like it just felt like the stakes were higher.
It wasn't just one bar in the way of like a resort.
It really, to me, it felt like it involved more.
So it like raised up the stakes.
So for me, hands down, the 1989 one is better.
Do you guys have any thoughts about that?
Well, I feel like it's now what I've noticed doing these podcasts, I feel like you and I are always off on the opposite page of things when it comes to reviewing movies, because it seems like, and correct me if I'm wrong, you're more into the story, having it make sense, seeing the character development, seeing the growth.
And I'm more into the movies of like, I want to be entertained.
And like, I'd rather have something that's fun and like frothy and like, can kind of like say, I don't really care about the, I didn't really care about Patrick Swayze's character development.
I believe it was there.
I agree with you there.
It was there, but that's not an important thing to me.
So I feel like that's kind of like, I think we'll always be on the opposite side of things, because I really, I thought the 2020, 2024 version was by far better than the original.
I just thought it was, I just, I just enjoyed it more.
I can't say that it was a better movie, but I just say, I just enjoyed it more.
Right.
So just sort of building on what you said, the question is, what are you tuning into, right?
I'm noticing the writing, the character development, right?
The flow of the story.
And you're noticing something else that's putting us on opposite ends.
Any idea?
Yeah, I'm noticing the comedy.
Like I have the first one.
I'm noticing the tone.
The tone was, I don't want to say brighter.
I don't know if that's the better term.
It just wasn't as dark.
It wasn't as heavy as the original.
Yeah, the original is visceral and pretty serious, which I thought fit the subject matter.
But yeah, OK, so you didn't like that it was quite so visceral.
I didn't feel like it.
Exactly.
I didn't like that it was so grounded.
I kind of like the goofiness of the remake version of it.
The style, I thought it was more stylized.
I thought there was different types of fighting choreography.
I thought there was different types of cinematography used, that kind of thing.
And that's also probably because they have newer technology and newer things are going on.
You could do much more than you could in the 80s.
So I can understand that.
I feel like that's more...
It's kind of like our music tastes, where I am the bubblegum pop, bright, happy, let's try to make myself feel good.
And you want to go more into what makes you think, what kind of like dive deeper in.
And I don't think there's anything wrong with either approaches.
No, but we need a winner, so let's go to our tiebreaker.
Well, I think Steve's with you.
I think he has the same mindset when it comes to entertainment.
We'll find out.
It's like that scene in Gladiator, you know, we're waiting on the emperor.
Is it a sideways thumb?
Is it an upside down thumb?
Straight up?
So what do you think, Steve?
Any comments on any of this stuff?
Or just Taylor Swift in general?
Taylor Swift, she's great, isn't she?
No.
I think she is.
No, she is.
That's a wrap on Steve.
Luckily, I opened the session up, so that isn't a wrap on me.
I think the new movie has its merits in terms of what Matt said, the filming style, the cinematography, camera movement, fight choreography.
But you always have to take into consideration the fact that it had the original to base a lot of those things on.
I think in terms of a movie, a standalone movie for its time, it was kind of groundbreaking what the original one did or that style.
You had never seen this character really before in that setting.
Like the kind of almost like a Zen master, a complicated type of loner.
It's like a samurai warrior.
Exactly.
So it's almost like a samurai warrior set in this bar atmosphere, which is pretty unique in and of...
I have to give it that, in and of itself.
Like how many action movies from the 80s do you have a character like that?
Very few.
You have the Schwarzenegger, who is a straight up action hero, tons of violence.
He just gets around shooting people, and then you have this bouncer who can inflict violence, but prefers not to.
That was interesting.
Overall, I think, if I was to say which one's better, I'd have to say the one from 1989 would be better, if I was to go between the two, because I thought the 2024 one, now that I'm thinking back, how I was feeling watching both of them, I thought the 2024 one was awful.
Like really had some terrible, terrible scenes that it shouldn't have had.
Like how awful it was when he arrives at the bar in the beginning in those conversations between the bar.
I thought I was watching like a school play.
Like she's like, she's like, oh, we have this special drink.
Oh, the coffee.
I'm forgetting exactly.
We have whatever it was.
The coffee drink.
It's really strong.
He's like black coffee.
Strong here.
Yes.
I'll take one.
The Chicano coffee.
Yeah, everything was like stilted and awkward.
And I'm like, oh no, this is going to be the rest of this movie is going to be like this.
And there was so much of that, even though it did have some moments where I thought were pretty good, like the fight in the parking lot, it gave me hope that the rest of the movie was going to have that kind of like sense of comedy and comedic timing.
That was fun.
Like is there a hospital near here?
Then the ride to the hospital.
All of that was really good.
But it seemed like it was being written.
Oh, I just slapped you.
Yeah.
Like it was being written, it was written by two different people all together.
Like someone who was in charge of writing those scenes and then someone who was in charge of putting together the rest of the plot.
It seemed very, very taped together as a plot.
While the first one seemed more cohesive, even though it had all those flaws that I mentioned before in terms of characterization, like backstory, a lot of motivation issues and a lot of two dimensional characters, it seemed like a cohesive whole.
The new one seemed like a music video meets like a UFC fight, you know, meets the lack of character development.
And then those scenes where he kills a guy when his whole motivation is that he's troubled by having killed a guy makes absolutely no sense.
I think for those reasons, 89 wins it.
All right.
Well, I will say this, I would like a sequel to the 2024 one.
I don't want a sequel to the 1989 one.
I don't think you need one.
Like if we could, you know, reanimate Patrick Swayze somehow, I wouldn't want to see that because it's a nice, tight, complete film.
But the 2024 one, there's a lot to work with.
You know, I really think you could carve a much better story out of what they've already done and then really develop that character in an interesting way.
I think Jake Gyllenhaal's portrayal is it has the seeds of something that could be really good, especially as they set up that character matures into his role as a cooler.
I think that would be really interesting and I would love to see that.
So I don't dislike the 2024 one, but I do think the 1989 one is a superior film.
Matt, did we sway you at all or are you just even more dumb?
Uh, he Swayze'd me.
No, we Swayze'd him a little.
Well, no, I mean, I want to say something controversial.
I agree with you that I think the original movie is a better movie.
Oh, wow.
But I enjoyed the 2024 version better.
That's fair.
That's a fair answer.
I like the music video pop version of it.
Yeah, like the quick cuts and the close ups and the weird fighting camera where you're boxing with the camera.
Exactly.
It's like, do I want Swedish fish or do I want a prawn rib?
I'm going to go with the Swedish fish.
Might not have both.
Said no one ever.
Over the prime bread.
Someone said it.
This guy.
Controversy.
I got a sweet tooth and its name is Jake Gyllenhaal.
Close Mike Matt.
Controversy abound.
Am I going to be too classy?
You're trying to kill the edit.
I know that's what's happening.
I'm going to bite the tongue out of that mic.
I'm sorry.
That's the vengeance at work.
You have rage issues.
Make him do one.
You're like Jake Gyllenhaal.
I take it out by doing this.
See, I can tell now.
That mic's going to punch him one day.
It's going to pop him right in the face, rip his throat out.
All right.
So what questions do you guys have for the audience?
I have a couple of thoughts, but what do you guys want to know from the listeners?
Actually, I have a question before the questions for the audience.
Really quickly.
Back it up.
What would you do with the sequel?
The old, what would you do if this intellectual property fell into your lap?
So we pulled together a few pieces.
We've talked about developing the villains, developing a relationship between Dalton and someone he's mentoring.
I've mentioned having him finally face and overcome his rage hall problem.
So I think that's important, maybe a romance that actually gets developed or follows through, but not so much your typical 80s add on character, or in this case, your 2024 just there to move the plot character where there's not a lot of chemistry or romance.
So I would say maybe meeting a woman who helps him develop as a person, someone who challenges him and he kind of has to overcome his rage, a hall problem and his depression and whatever else is going on wrapped up in that psyche.
He has to overcome that stuff in order to work with her and to do his job, right?
To learn how to be nice until it's time to not be nice.
So I would love to see all of that jam packed.
I would include the dad of the villain from this one.
I would bring back Conor McGregor, even though his contribution was pretty intense.
I think they set up enough there that you could do something in a sequel with him.
So all those elements together and honestly, you just got to write a little bit of dialogue and we're done.
I don't know if this would change the movie too much, but I wouldn't mind seeing him try to make a comeback to the UFC.
Oh, wow, cool.
He tries to make a comeback and then his comeback is kind of thwarted by the release of the guy from prison and Conor McGregor.
Maybe Conor McGregor and Dalton have a big fight in the UFC ring and whoever wins gets.
The Roadhouse, something like that maybe.
But I think that would be kind of interesting.
Cool.
Try to tie the Roadhouse back in.
I like that.
What about you?
I think it would take elements of both of your ideas and kind of mesh them together.
I love this, you know, that movie, The Equalizer.
I love those movies or Taken where the character is like a really lethal character who's like semi-retired, but who gets drawn back into the action.
I like this idea of having a fight over the Roadhouse.
But let's say he ends up winning the Roadhouse to the Gyllenhaal character and he's all settled and he has his wife and everything.
And then these characters from the past pop up to destroy his life.
I think it's a really, it's a tried and true formula that I would love to see in that world of of these villains in this in this town.
I think that could work really well.
Yeah.
And who would you want to see as the guy in the prison since we never met him?
His father.
Like is there kind of like a like a Brian Cox you could see?
Yeah, he would be awesome.
That would be really great in that part.
Really cool to see.
And actually Ray Winstone, who was in The Gentleman as the dad who was in prison, I would just grab him and have him play the same character in this.
But yeah, I think you'd have enough to make a full movie because you'd have the lead up to the fight and then the outcome of the fight.
So you have that that reveal there and that like climax resolution.
And then you have that second act, which is what happens when he like rebuilds the Roadhouse and everything's going great.
And then these guys coming back and maybe they start coming back little by little.
They don't like confront him, but it's people around him.
So he has to make the choice whether or not to get involved.
And he ends up having to.
And that kind of gets him back into the whole mayhem and plotline.
Yeah.
All right.
So that's solved.
So then questions for the audience?
Any thoughts about what you want to hear from our loyal listeners?
What would you do with some of these like side characters in terms of of the movie?
And it seems like in both movies, one of the flaws is like these kind of the goons that the goons that are around this like main villain.
Is there anything else that we could do with them?
Could they become more of a prominent part of the plot?
Do they try to overthrow or kill the boss or something?
Could that be kind of blended into like a new a new sequel?
Because that would be interesting too, because you wouldn't expect it at all.
Because there's such cookie cutter characters that it would be interesting if one of them kind of rose out of that that mix all of a sudden, you know, and I love that.
I love it if it was more politicized.
Yeah, like it wasn't just you have your top dog and then everybody else is just a hired goon and some of them are better at fighting than others.
But instead you sort of introduce some instability, some politics within the group.
I think that's a great idea.
And I wouldn't just say one of them, I would say, you know, nuance.
You know, they keep in both movies, they keep playing around with this idea that like maybe one of the goons doesn't really want to be a goon.
You know, maybe he's just kind of there.
But I think you can develop that way more.
So that's a great idea.
And people wouldn't expect it.
And it would add depth to the film without inadvertently moving out of the genre, like making it too too good for the others.
So that's an excellent idea.
But I'd be curious to hear what our listeners think about that.
I'm curious if they like these movies.
You know, I just I think everybody's entitled to their own opinion.
Neither of these films are so good or so bad that no one should like it or whatever.
I think it's kind of how it hits you.
And if you're in the mood for that, and if that's your kind of film.
So I'm really curious, like, does the 1981, 1989 one hold up at all?
Does the 2024 one, is it building an audience like are people going to be loyal to this or is it just totally forgettable?
So, yeah, love to hear that.
Yeah, I agree.
I'd like to hear that too.
I think this 2024 one is, if I was to be, I am a loyal listener too.
But to answer your question, I don't think this one will be remembered in 10 or 15 years.
I think I like, oh yeah.
For 10 or 15 months.
Exactly.
Yeah, I really don't.
Like, but I do, like I knew Roadhouse.
I knew, like the plot of Roadhouse without even seeing it, like from watching Family Guy and things like that.
To Roadhouse, I think it is a classic for a reason, totally.
Even though I didn't really enjoy it, but I bet you if I saw them when I was 15 or 16, I probably would have really liked it.
You know?
I think if someone watched The Beauty for the first time right now, they probably wouldn't like it.
Like, I love that movie, but they would probably point out a ton of flaws, they might have all a sweep through.
But I would be like, but that's in my mind, that's still one of my favorite movies.
All right.
Very good.
Well, as always, thank you to the people who made the projects that we reviewed.
We'd have nothing without them.
Thank you to the listeners if you've made it this far.
Stay away from those like and subscribe buttons.
If you want to, you can reach the show at dontencourage.gmail.com or via social media.
I think we're on everything, pretty much everything.
We're not on Parler.
So we set up a Parler account.
I don't know if there's another presidential election coming, so maybe Parler will heat up.
Check out the show notes for some great tunes and links and stuff about Matt's performances next week.
Should we do Red Dawn versus Red Dawn?
I think it's time.
It's either that or dead heat.
All right.
Thank you, everybody.