The Grey NATO – 208 – Film Club Vol. 8

Published on Wed, 21 Sep 2022 12:00:00 -0400

Synopsis

The podcast features a discussion between the hosts about various topics, including an upcoming trip, movies, a notable business decision by the company Patagonia, and interesting articles they've read. They share personal stories and anecdotes, and also have a segment called "Film Club" where they recommend and discuss different movies.

Transcript

Speaker
Unknown Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Graynado, a loose discussion of travel, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 208, and it's proudly brought to you by our TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support. And if you'd like to support the show, please visit thegraynado.com for more details. James, we're doing an early record on a Friday. It's kind of unusual for us. We both sound incredibly gravelly today.
Unknown Extra, extra gravel. Yeah. The coffee hasn't quite kicked in yet. Uh, just, just kind of got through the, the morning, uh, athletic greens routine and, and then sat down and turned on the mic.
Unknown Athletic greens. That's, uh, I've heard good things about that. You're, you're in a routine with that.
Unknown Yeah, probably, I don't know, six months maybe we've been doing it. Um, it sounds, it's crazy. It's something I don't talk about on the podcast because that's all you hear about it on podcasts. Is it like one of the most popular podcast advertisers?
Unknown Uh, Oh really? Okay.
Unknown Oh yeah. They're, they're super popular like it, but like as, as one of these kind of blanket, you know, whether it's manscaping or male chimp or, or now athletic greens, but the product itself, uh, I promise I, they did not give it to me for free. I have no relationship with this company, but, uh, the product is great. I like it quite a bit.
Unknown Oh, cool.
Unknown Might have to try it.
Unknown I've heard good things. Yeah, I'm happy with it. You know, I'm not great at doing things like vitamins or necessarily getting all the vegetables I should be eating. Right. So I figure this is a little insurance policy. I think it costs something like two or three bucks a day. That's how they work it out. Yeah. Nice.
Unknown Yeah.
Unknown It sounded like an ad. I really promise it wasn't.
Unknown What else is new here? Well, the reason we're recording on a Friday morning is because you're gone next week. You've got kind of an interesting trip ahead of you.
Unknown Yeah. I'll be doing a little, uh, sort of a content project, uh, talking watches and some other stuff, um, kind of between Zurich and, uh, a couple of stops in Austria. It'll be the better part of a week. Not bad. No, not bad at all. The better part of a week that I'm gone. Um, so we obviously don't want to take a break if we don't have to. So we're just recording this one a little bit earlier. And, you know, this will be yet another one that's edited on an airplane or something like that. Cause I've got some flights ahead of me. So, uh, yeah, this is the one, one of the last things I have to do, uh, before I leave for that trip. So I'm excited. There's a nice photography angle to this trip, which is good. And I haven't been in the Alps for a while. Right. Um, so I'm, I'm pumped to get back there. I love Austria. I love that part of the world, especially, so it should be, should be good time. And it's some places I've never been before. Um, I have actually, I'm, I said, it sounds like I'm being, um, coy about it. I just, I haven't seen the itinerary. Uh, I just, I know that I'm starting off in Zurich and then we're essentially heading, uh, East crossing a good piece of the country on, uh, by, by car. So, uh, I guess, uh, I'm, I'm still out of pace on Instagram these days, but I'll do my best to kind of spin that back up now that I might have something more interesting than here I am going from my bed to my desk and then to my couch.
Unknown Some good mountain vistas.
Unknown Yeah. How about you? Anything, uh, you, you've been up too much this week. I mean, we did record just a couple of days ago.
Unknown We did, but it's been a momentous couple of days. Our, our buddy, Mike Pearson, who was just on an episode recently, we met him in Chicago. Um, uh, now with a Zodiac watches, he's actually in town this week. Uh, he's, um, helping open Zodiac in a new retailer here, continental diamonds. Good, good friends of mine. Uh, they've been good to me over the years. And, uh, of course, so is Mike and he's, he's in town and I couldn't pass up an opportunity to meet up with him. And, and so, For the past two nights, actually, we've, we've had some curries that the first night he was over here, um, killer chatting with Gashani and me, and he brought a, you know, big bag of watches and we chatted and had a couple of beers and Gashani cooked a good curry. And then yesterday I went and saw him over at, at continental diamonds and, and, uh, chatted with him there. And then we left straight from there. I threw the kayaks on the defender and we, we went to a nearby lake and we, we did some kayaking kind of right at sunset. And it was great. I mean, we were having this, you know, amazing. late summer burst of warm weather and it was really pleasant. And then after that we went straight to an Indian restaurant and, and, uh, had more curry. So it was a, it was a really good time. Yeah. It was really good to see Mike as usual. He's always fun to see and get caught up. You know, when we saw him in Chicago, I just, I didn't get the, I didn't get a proper kind of catch up with him. So it was really nice to, you know, just, uh, just hang out and chat.
Unknown That was really fun. He texted me and said, you guys had a great time. So I'm glad to hear that, you know, Yeah. Maybe someday we can all link up somewhere. That sounds, uh, but that, that's, uh, that's great that you got out and who doesn't like a good courier too? Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. And then the, uh, you know, the other thing that I wanted to cover before we jump into, uh, into risk check is the, this Patagonia news. I assume most people who are, you know, kind of keyed into something like TGN wouldn't would already know about this, but, uh, you know, I don't think there's anyone in the world who puts his money where his mouth is like Vaughn Chouinard. And, uh, he, I assume you read all about this as well, Jason, but he, has donated essentially the entire company, uh, so, uh, into two different things. So there's a, there's a trust that's going to hold all of the voting stock and essentially operate as the company. And then there's, uh, everything that's non-voting, um, is going to something called the hold fast collection. For those of you who maybe don't, you know, it's been a little while since we talked about Patagonia, but like easily my favorite company in the world. I love the way this guy runs and thinks of business and, and, uh, in my mind, it even, perhaps now more than ever, or in a way that's more important. I've always seen them as kind of the American Rolex. Oh yeah. This sort of, you know, making great products that last, but also maybe at times too popular for their own good. You know, you can make the claim that Rolex is a charity. That's how they are set up, but it's, it's kind of in a different metric than what Patagonia has done. And I guess starting now, they've announced that a hundred percent of the money that's not going to be reinvested into Patagonia will be given to the nonprofit. And they figured that'll be a hundred million dollars a year to fight climate change is the goal. Wow. Right. Yeah. The estimated full value of this move is something like $3 billion. So apparently, and this is, I read this in several articles, so there must be a root interview or something that everybody's pulling from, but apparently he was recently on a list of American billionaires and apparently that pissed him off. And as the story goes, according to the current CEO, they, he was challenged by the Chouinards, the family, to essentially find a way to protect the future running of the company, but to entirely devote every last penny they could to fighting climate change.
Unknown Yeah.
Unknown The way they did it is all pretty above board, but you know, it's, the family has to pay about 17 and a half million dollars in tax. Wow. So this isn't like you donated and now they get tax write-offs for the rest of their life. Yeah. And because the, the, the Holdfast collective is a 501, they can make unlimited donations to political causes, but there's no tax benefit. Sure. Yeah. So there's no, this isn't like, this isn't like moving money around to, to, to kind of like figure it out. Um, and, and so instead of going public, they call this going purpose, which I think is kind of funny, very, you know, very Patagonia. Right. And, uh, the, the really interesting thing, and this is what I, it took me a couple of things that I'll, I'll link the, um, the letter from Patagonia and, the outside online piece, which was one of the better ones I found about it. Um, but I learned just this morning as we were prepping these notes, the last few stages of notes that the trust has no beneficiaries and the stock can't be sold. Yeah. So there's no upside to doing anything with the, the trust unless they're, they're functioning towards the goal of, you know, cover covering for a climate change. Yeah. Yeah. It's just like one of the most impressive things I've ever heard.
Unknown Yeah, it really kind of set me back on my heels when I read that. I mean, you know, I'm, we're used to reading about Chouinard's, uh, sort of iconoclastic, uh, escapades and kind of his history. And I think when you step back and you look at this guy, he's such an atypical kind of business founder, you know, icon of, of business. I mean, he, you know, I remember many years ago buying his book, uh, let my people go surfing and, and, you know, I remember reading it and I thought, okay, um, he's kind of playing a part like he's, this is, this is him sort of, living as a certain image, uh, you know, that, that has been projected over the years by Patagonia is the kind of this dirtbag culture, you know, living out of the back of a car, climbing, surfing, whatever. But like you continue to watch this guy. And I, he was in town once and I went and listened to him speak and whatever. And he's like, he is the real deal. And there's nobody else like him. I mean, you know, he's 83 now. I mean, when he, you know, passes on, like there's not gonna be another person like him for a long time. He's, he's truly remarkable. And when you look at the arc of his, his history. I mean, here's a business guy that he's kind of known for now in this iconic company, but you know, you look back at his roots and you see the old photos of him like banging away in his blacksmith studio or, or, you know, forge his shop, uh, you know, and sleeping in, in a, you know, hammock on, on the side of a sheer wall in Yosemite or something like this guy has lived a life. I mean, he's, he's the kind of person you want to emulate, you know, just amazing. Just amazing.
Unknown It's a, it's a, it's fascinating.
Unknown Yeah. Yeah. It's funny, you know, when, when Mike and I were paddling last night, we were chatting and, and he's like, you know, where's the nearest Patagonia store. Cause like, I want to go out and buy a fleece. I mean, it's, it's funny because you know, Patagonia has always had this, or in recent years they've always said, you know, don't buy this jacket was one of their ad campaigns. It's like, we, we're, we're not, we're not all about like consumerism and like, but yet they sell products. And, but if there's one reason to, to buy from a specific company, I mean, you just look at this company and then, To boot, the products are tremendous. I mean, we, we both own plenty of Patagonia stuff and it's, you know, I've got a jacket that's, you know, pushing, you know, 25, 30 years old now. And it's like, this stuff's good. And, and, and you know, you want to support a company like this. And, uh, and I feel compelled to go to the store one of these days and just buy a pair of swim trunks or something just to support them.
Unknown I've got a pair. They're pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean like the look, Patagonia became very trendy in the last decade. Um, I think, well, you know, it's, it's an ebb and flow of course for, for kind of style and that sort of thing. But the, to the extent where, you know, you would get people, the, the Patagucci sort of thing and, and, and all that kind of stuff and all that makes sense.
Unknown Yeah.
Unknown But I guess what, what's all, what I've always liked in the end is like, I really liked the way the company was run. This is a whole step forward that I think maybe people will try to emulate. Who knows? Maybe not. Yeah. Um, so could talk about expensive. Yeah. Like monumentally. So, right. And yeah, maybe people emulate it. Maybe they won't. But like you said, the other side of it is their products are pretty solid. Apparently people like working for that company. Like, yeah, no, I thought it was fascinating. It definitely felt like something to to chit chat about. I mean, he's just such a hero. Talk about you know, the, the dream of, of being able to sit down with him for a TGN someday. Oh man. Yeah. I, I probably be too scared. That would have to be one just for you. Yeah. I just sit there. It'd be like a Chris Farley bit with Paul McCartney. Remember when you were in the Beatles? Yeah, no, I, I just think it's amazing. And I definitely figured it was worth chatting about and I'm sure it'll be something that, you know, there's an expanding conversation as to like, what specifically is done with a hundred plus million dollars a year. Right. And, and I mean, the more that they sell, if this means, if this makes the company even more popular, then there's more money.
Unknown All right.
Unknown How about a risk check? Yeah, let's do it. So, well, I, um, fittingly, uh, when I met Mike, he, uh, lent me a, a watch to wear for awhile. This is, um, you know, I've had Zodiacs in the past. I've had kind of their super sea wolf lines, kind of the standard, uh, they call them the compression or the skin. depending on the dial variant, which is kind of their standard dive watch. But I was really smitten by, they've got one called the Super Seawolf 68 Saturation. And this is a watch that has a very polarizing design. It has this sort of lugless oval shaped case. It's a big heavy watch. This is their thousand meter diver chronometer certified movement. And, you know, when he brought it over the other night, he's like, yeah, try it, take it for a spin. You know, don't, don't worry about scratching it up, whatever. And, uh, came on a bracelet, this watch, I haven't weighed it, but it's, it's heavy. It's thick. And it occurred to me, I think I like, you know, after our discussion last time about the titanium citizen and how I felt like it was just, just too felt too light, this titanium watch, I think I must like heavy watches because this feels like, it feels like my S 2000 Braymont. It feels like, you know, a planet ocean that I've owned or a plow prof. I mean, it's, it's a thick watch. It's, I don't know, you know, probably 14 millimeters thick. It's, uh, It sits tall on the wrist. You can feel it. It's heavy, but I dig it. I mean, I like it better than, than kind of their smaller, you know, quote unquote, more, more comfortable super seawolf line. It just feels more substantial. It feels, I don't know, higher quality. It has a push to turn bezel. There's a kind of a locking ring that holds the crystal in place, kind of some cool orange accents on the dial. So Um, I'm going diving in a couple of weeks. I'm going to take this one along and get it wet. And I'm just enjoying wearing it. So it's, uh, it's great. Yeah. Thanks to Mike for, uh, for letting me take it for a spin. This'd be, this'd be a lot of fun.
Unknown What are you wearing? I'm wearing the Seiko SSK 003 GMT. So that, that most recent Seiko GMT that I got back when we went to Chicago. Um, yeah. Yeah. I haven't been wearing it a ton. I've been kind of tied down with other hands on, but I've, I've got a handful of those kind of, done. And, and I was trying to pick what to take to Austria. Um, and you know, natural choices, the Explorer too. Uh, but I think this is maybe, maybe it makes more sense. I'm going to give it a run. I mean, it's not quite as handy for actually changing time zones, but I'm only changing to one time zone. Uh, so I only have to do it the one time I'm not, I'm not doing a lot of jumping around. So I think I'll do that and it might lead to some more interesting photos than if I just shot it at the house for the, uh, eventual hands on. Yeah. So I'd say, you know, stay tuned for that. Um, but the, the shortcut is, is if you like the size and feel of an SKX, uh, but would like it in the GMT, that's exactly what this watch, like it does exactly what it says on the tin. Yeah. Yeah. There's not like a lot of surprises. Like we've, we've talked about how the bezels strange at first and now I don't really notice it. Right. The fact that it doesn't click, it's a tension bezel. And, um, and yeah, I think, you know, there's a few versions at Seiko, so there'll be a few more versions if you don't like black or blue or orange, you know, the price points, fantastic. The movement seems great. Fine. You know what you'd expect, right? For the price. And the rest is very much an SKX like experience.
Unknown I think it would be interesting at the end of a given calendar year to, to look, to create some kind of a line graph where you, you look at the spikes of interest or, or hype or, or attention paid to a specific watch or, or the different watches over the course of the year. Because when, when that line of, Seiko GMTs came out back in whatever it was, June, July, like you'd see this spike, that line would like zip straight up to the top. You know, it's funny, it kind of, now it's ebbed a little bit and like, you don't hear much about it. Then it was what the, the Pelagos 39 big spike. Sure. It's, uh, it's kind of fun to like look back. I mean, I think our industry, you know, we're, we're kind of, we get a little numb to it after a while, but yeah, I do enjoy that, that, that excitement that comes with kind of a funky watch that, you know, people that, don't pay attention to watch as much. Probably can't really understand, but I think it's, it's really fun. And then, and then to revisit something like that, watch months later, like you're doing with the Seiko after the hype has kind of died down to kind of take it and live with it, you know?
Unknown Yeah. I wanted the hype thing is one thing I enjoy being able to write a hands-on when the story will kind of have like tie into that hype. Yeah. But with this, I just figured one, maybe just slow down a little bit so that when the story comes out, if somebody's interested, they could actually buy the watch. You know, they were, when I got it, if I had written that hands on a week or two after we were in Chicago, the watch was still kind of tough. And then, then half the comments are like, I can't find it. Where did you buy yours? This or that. And like, to be clear, toppers in California sold me mine. I can't recommend those guys enough if you're in the States or, or can, can work out a purchase with them. I highly recommend it. That's what I did. Would do it again. But I do kind of like the idea that, you know, I went really hard on the SPB 143. I definitely like that watch more than the SSK for all the reasons that I will. I like the SPB more than the SKX. It's a lot of, a lot of it is size, but I just figured it'd be, it'd be interesting just, just to slow down a little bit and, and probably hit it in September when I'm seeing it available on, uh, in terms of stock, like it, it hasn't, there hasn't been this run on it that makes it impossible to buy. Yeah. Um, and, and we might try and do the same thing with the Pelagos. Uh, I don't know how long that will be. Um, I've inquired about picking one up for myself and, uh, it's looking like early next year. Oh, wow. Would probably be the easiest, uh, an opportunity could come up, but there's only so many outlets, uh, in Canada and I'd like to buy through some people that I know. Yeah. And they said that's probably the scenario. And that's fine. I mean, I don't, I don't think I need to like cut in line or take, take anybody else's reservation or any of that kind of stuff. That also gives me time to think over it. It's not an inexpensive watch. I could sell a couple other pieces and kind of cover that spread. But, uh, yeah, we, we should have a kind of more, more news on SSKs and P39s and the rest of it sometime in the future. But I'm, I'm enjoying this GMT. And like I said, if you feel like an SKX, but want one with a GMT, that's not really a dive watch, then that's exactly what Seiko's offering.
Unknown Yeah.
Unknown Yeah. Yeah.
Unknown Cool.
Unknown Well, we've got a fun episode. I mean, we're, uh, we're Dipping back to one of our favorite genres of show here, this is Film Club Volume 8.
Unknown Yeah, Volume 7 was number 188, which we aired while you were in Sri Lanka back in April. And now I'm happy to say that we needed to basically do the same thing. I'm away next week. So if you've never listened to a film club before, it's not heady, you know, film commentary. Basically, we have a running list of movies that we just recommend. And for each one of these, we pick five movies and we explain kind of what we like about it. It moves pretty quickly. And, uh, and yeah, we've, we've covered a lot of movies at this point. Um, I actually should find a way to publish that whole list. Um, which can't, can't be that hard to do at all. So yeah, let me, let me figure that out for when we put the notes up for this episode. But Jason, do you want, do you want to take it away with the first pick for film club volume eight?
Unknown Yeah. I realized that I have a bit of a, kind of a jungle vibe going, uh, with, with you definitely do at least three of my picks here. Uh, and then with a real outlier, uh, as one of mine, but I'm going to start with a 2016 film that I really enjoyed. I actually read the book before the film came out called lost city of Z. This was a movie that was starring Charlie Hunnam and, uh, Robert, uh, Pattinson was in it and Tom Holland, Sienna Miller. I mean, we had some, some big names in this movie and it's, it's a historical piece about, a British explorer named Percy Fawcett, Percival Fawcett, who set out to find a lost city, the lost city of Z or Zed, as he says it, in the Amazon in the 1920s. So it's, he was in the first world war, a bit traumatized by it, kind of set off to be this explorer. Actually in the book, some of the background was that he actually spent some of his early time stationed in Ceylon, which is now Sri Lanka, which was interesting to me. uh, started doing some jungle explorations there. And, uh, and the lost city of Z is set in, I believe it's the Peruvian Amazon. And, you know, this is a quest of his to, to, it's a true story actually, uh, to find this, um, this purported legendary city that's somewhere lost in the jungle and, and kind of prove to kind of the, the snooty upper crust, uh, clubby, uh, Explorer guys back in, in Britain that, you know, there were advanced civilizations well before, uh, you know, European, uh, civilization. So, you know, it's a great movie that kind of ping pongs between that scene, uh, you know, back in England and, and then these incredibly raw, visceral, you know, scenes in the jungle with, you know, the usual stuff you'd expect, you know, snakes and bugs and, and, you know, uh, trench foot and all this kind of horrible stuff, uh, in the jungle that, that both horrifies and fascinates me. I, I have a very strange fascination with the jungle. I've, I've only spent a little time in jungles and I don't know if it just feels like everything's out to get you. And yet people persist in, in wanting to explore and hunt through them. And I think this movie really kind of captures that. Um, and I really, I like this era of exploration history anyway. And, um, and the movie was really well done. So, and if you get a chance, read the book too, cause I thought it was really good. So have you seen this movie?
Unknown I have seen the movie. Uh, I, I read the book many years ago, a buddy of mine recommended it to me right around the time the movie was coming out. He was like, Hey, a movie's coming out for this. You should, you should check it out. The books a great read. Yeah. Fantastic. Actually, I should really consider reading that again. Yeah. And the movie, I remember I, I definitely watched it, but now I don't remember what content, like, I think I might've watched it on a plane. Oh, sure. So I should give it a better chance. That does probably deserves more than the, you know, a back of a seat screen sort of experience. I remember liking this, but in my mind I can only remember a couple of scenes on the river and a couple of scenes back when they were in London, you know, arguing and yeah, a good one for sure. And you know, this wasn't made that long ago, but you know, in, in 2016, but some of these people have had a really incredible rise. Yeah. Tom Holland wasn't, wasn't quite, uh, quite on the same arc, uh, in, in 2016. Right.
Unknown Yeah. I mean, I think this is a film where, you know, the story itself is fascinating. I mean, it's based on a true story. And so I think in terms of, you know, there are different ways to kind of judge a film. And for me, the true story is fascinating enough that I don't need the filmmakers to like, you know, craft this gripping page turner kind of story. I mean, it's, it's built into it. I think to capture for me, what, what struck me about it was the, the direction and the, and the cinematography to actually capture that that visceral sense of the jungle. I think that's what stood out for me. So yeah.
Unknown Yeah. Yeah. Solid pick. Good one. What's your first? All right. I'm going to start with this one just by reading the description. In November 1984, the Soviet Union's best submarine captain in a new undetectable sub violates orders and heads for the US. The American CIA and military must quickly determine, is he trying to defect or start a war? It's The Hunt for Red October. I just love this movie so much. Oh man. Yeah. I watched it not that long ago. I like it for me. Like if you're talking about, um, these like John McTiernan, that's the director of this, but these Tom Clancy style movies, this movie is fantastic. There's some stuff about it that's really silly and hasn't aged that well, but none of that really bothers me when I watch it. Um, you know, McTiernan, we've talked about his movies before. This is the guy that directed Die Hard and Predator, you know, some, some pretty big action movies. And I think that Hunt for Red October, despite the fact that it, like I said, there's some silly elements to it. Like Sean Connery doesn't even attempt a Russian accent. Yeah. Yeah. It's in some ways, I just think it's aged so well, you know, it, it almost exclusively takes place inside submarines, which I think is pretty fun. Yeah. There's a, there's a point early in the film that I won't give away where something switches and the way they do it is very clever. And it's always something that stood out for me. It's, um, yeah, I don't want to, I don't want to give it away, but it's, it's very early on in the film and it's once you, once you hear it, you'll, you'll, you'll catch it. Um, I, I really enjoy this movie. It was one that we had, you know, if it was on cable on a Saturday afternoon, that was your afternoon sorted. Uh, it's, it's another one of these ones with Alec Baldwin playing Jack Ryan and, and he's still doing that. Like, Oh, but I'm an analyst. Uh, but, but he's still jumping out of a helicopter to get onto a submarine. He's got a, he's got a plan that like nobody agrees with, but you know, maybe it's just in the, but James Earl Jones kind of got his back as Admiral Greer. It's got Scott Glenn and Sam Neil. Yeah. I love this. Tim Curry's in it. Wow. I mean, how can you complain? This is a great movie. Yeah.
Unknown Yeah. I mean this, I, we've talked about this in the past, this classic, like, I don't remember. I think it was the episode when a film club, when your brother was on, we were kind of talking about these, these, these films, these, those dad thrillers, dad thrillers. That's what, that's the term. Exactly. I mean, this is, this is great. All these Jack Ryan ones. I'm kind of looking on IMDB and it says more like this. And it's like lots of American flags and Harrison Ford photos down there, but Just looking right at the camera. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's, I remember there's a line in, in, I don't know, maybe it's Casino Royale or something where, where Judi Dench's character says, I miss the cold war. And, and, uh, this is like, when I see a film like this, there is this sort of comforting warmth that kind of settles in like, you're right. This was a, it was a simpler time. It was a complex time in its own right. But like,
Unknown crazy complex but as a as a the backdrop it was it was like perfect it was like you know the good guys the bad guys and it's like submarines submarine captains i mean this has everything it's it's perfect in that regard yeah and i had i like this because it actually has a nice ending i actually don't remember the ending i gotta watch this again it has some um it has some ambiguity to its ethics which which is a something that you get in tom clancy but not something that you necessarily get when tom clancy becomes a movie sometimes there's just a straightforward hero it's like It's, uh, you know, uh, Harrison Ford in a jacket with arm patches and, and talking to people who, who can't see the light, you know what I mean? And this is a little bit of that in this. And I mean, Alec Baldwin's incredible. Yeah. And so was Sean Connery, uh, find me a bad James Earl Jones performance. This, this certainly isn't it. Um, yeah, I love this movie. It's so, it's so much fun. And I think weirdly it's held up pretty well, or at least elements of it have held up very well.
Unknown Yeah. Yeah. That's a good one. Yeah. Good, good first pick. It's, uh, it's weird.
Unknown It's kind of surprised it wasn't already on there. Like actually everything I picked this week, save for one, which is a very new film, but everything else I picked this week, I had to go back to our list and check multiple times. Yeah. Cause we've been doing this for a while and I would hate to double up and then get it in the comments. Like you guys picked that and yeah. So I was doing a lot of control F and checking the titles of my picks. Yeah. What have you got for your second?
Unknown Yeah. For the second one, I'm going to, I'm going to, jump ahead in my list here and kind of stick with the, uh, the jungle theme and kind of, uh, I would say it's an iconic jungle movie. Um, it's called a Fitzcarraldo. Have you ever seen this movie? I have not. Oh, it's, I haven't seen it in many years. So I'm, I'm actually, I need to rewatch this. I, I don't remember a whole lot about it. I had to watch the trailer to kind of remember kind of some of the, you know, the synopsis of it, but I, it's a movie that kind of has burned in my brain when I saw it many, many years ago. It's from 1982. It was directed and possibly written by, let me check here. Written. Yep. Directed and written by Werner Herzog. Just, you know, incredible, um, uh, eccentric, uh, director and writer of all sorts of different films. And most recently an author. This is the story. It's actually based on a true story, but it's, it's highly fictionalized of a guy named Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, who is this, uh, equally eccentric man who intends to build an opera house in the middle of the jungle. This is in South America. And, uh, in order to do this, he takes an old kind of paddle wheel riverboat and, you know, he's, he's kind of going up this river. You know, there's, there's shades of kind of apocalypse now kind of it's, it's this, um, I guess archetypal jungle film where you're kind of headed further into the jungle, upper river. And, He's got this paddle wheel boat and in the most iconic kind of memorable scene or part of this film is he has to get this huge like paddle wheel riverboat over a small mountain. It's like an isthmus between two parts of the river and he has to get it over a mountain. And so he recruits the help from some indigenous tribes people to construct this elaborate pulley system and ramp out of, you know, jungle wood and haul this boat up and over and through the jungle, a riverboat. It's mud and it's rain and it's, uh, you know, bows and arrows and sweat and grime. And I mean, it, it has everything and it's, it's strange. I mean, Klaus Kinski plays the lead character and he's, I remember I probably was too young when I first saw this. I didn't quite appreciated or grasped, but I remember being struck by Kinski. It was just has this wild eyed kind of weird look to him. But I think he, in retrospect, he was kind of perfect for the role. And there's actually a documentary made about this film called burden of dreams. And it was about, it's a documentary about the making of Fitzcarraldo because I haven't seen this yet, but I have to see it because I think it's going to be like hearts of darkness or heart of darkness. The documentary about the making of apocalypse now, because maybe better than the movie.
Unknown I flip-flopped back. Yeah, it's a fantastic documentary.
Unknown And Herzog was in a similar situation. This was 82 and he, you know, back then he was a young guy and he had, he was as ambitious as his lead character as, you know, Fitzgerald was in Fitzcarraldo in making this film. And as legend has it, 20th Century Fox was all set to finance this movie. But when they looked at what was involved, they said, well, we're going to, you know, use special effects to kind of show how you get this this boat up and over the mountain and Herzog said nope I'm not taking your money because I'm gonna we're gonna actually get a boat a full riverboat up and over the mountain and and they they did it and that shows in the in the scenery I mean they actually are doing this in the movie and it's just uh it's it's an amazing movie so it sounds cool um Fitzcarraldo yeah check it out yeah in a way this it's a very different storyline of course but it has that same kind of sweaty dirty jungly aspect as um A sorcerer, the movie we talked about when your brother was on film club. I mean, I just, I, I must, I must, uh, along with heavy watches, I must be kind of into, you know, getting muddy and going into the jungle. It's something, something in me.
Unknown Sorcerer, uh, is something else. I love that movie. That's from volume six. If you missed it, we, uh, we had my brother on and we each picked three for that one. So it was a nine movie. I kind of pick from three different sides, but we had like nine very different movies. And Sorcerer was probably the one that I've most connected to that I hadn't seen from that outing. Really, really good. So I'll have to give this a try. This looks wild. It's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. All right. What's number two? All right. Number two for me is also, in my opinion, a wild movie that I did not care for the first time I saw it. And then I watched it again and I've seen it several times now. It's become a little bit of an obsession and it's from 2020. Christopher Nolan's Tenet. Oh man. Um, I, this is a movie I had a lot of trouble with the first time I saw it. I felt like, like I was questioning my own personal intelligence through most of the film. Like what, why did, why does that, why is this happening? What's happening? Yeah. The movie itself has an incredibly difficult premise, um, in terms of its plot structure. But I do think of it in, in some ways, not, not specifically, but in some ways there is a similarity to the way that the, the structure of this film leaves you off balance. in a way that's not dissimilar to Memento, which you picked in volume seven. Oh, yeah. Yeah. The timeline is this is basically time. It can be reversed or some people can be moving forward through time while others are moving back. And there it's essentially about some people trying to stop a guy from creating a very dangerous weapon and using it. If it sounds like I'm being, you know, like ambiguous, it's because of the movie's hard to describe. Yeah. But the second time I watched it, I kind of had given up fully understanding what was going on, and I just started to appreciate the spectacle of it all. Yeah. And I get it. I've been in the past hard on movies that are mostly a spectacle. You know, I think Avatar is among the worst things I've ever watched. I didn't love Mad Max Fury Road, and most people adore that. For me, it felt like I was watching, like with Avatar, the tech demo for a video card. Like technically this is incredible. Yeah. But it feels like, like, like story was fifth or sixth or seventh in some ways. Sure. And with this, once I, once I got into the second one, the second viewing, I kind of was able to listen and dial into the story and, and how these people are connected in ways that they don't realize because they're not all existing on the same timeline. Um, I think this movie does things that I've never seen in a film before. And because it's Christopher Nolan, it's all done, with this razor sharpness. Yeah. And half the time you'll, I guarantee if you haven't seen it, you'll spend the first time watching the movie, just kind of equally jaw dropped and kind of disconnected because it's very hard to understand what they're trying to do and how it comes together. It's not impossible. You can go ahead and like read some explainers. Um, and then there's some ambiguity. There's where there's people online that disagree about what certain things are happening. So yeah, this is a John David Washington and Robert Pattinson and Elizabeth Debicki and Kenneth Branagh plays the bad guy. It has a stacked cast. Aaron Taylor Johnson. It's my favorite role from him. I really, really like this movie. It's got incredible action, has a totally insane plot line, and then the whole time construction element is a whole layer on top of that. I just really like wall-to-wall enjoyed this. And I have to say, I remember the first time I watched it, among, I said, you know, I had said that the movie made me feel pretty stupid. And I watched this whole movie going, man, that, that, uh, that the lead guy, John David Washington, he's really familiar. And I couldn't quite figure out why. Yeah. And, um, and I hadn't looked up his name. I just, you know, I was looking at his face, but the way he would speak, the way he smiled kind of was like, was reminding me of, and then I get to the end and I see John David Washington and he go like, what if he's like a Denzel Washington's son? And of course Of course he is. He is? Yeah. He looks more like his mom, I guess. But like the mannerisms in his voice are like identical to his dad's.
Unknown Wow. Okay. It's really charming. I didn't know that. And he's, he's so good. He's such a good actor.
Unknown Wow.
Unknown Yeah. So he's great. And, and he has the exact same like mannerisms and smile. His voice is like similar and beautiful and yeah, he's, and he's incredible in this and he's great in anything else I've seen him in. Yeah. Um, so he's now become one of these guys I'm really pumped to, uh, to see in anything. But he and Pattinson together, especially when you learn a little bit more about their relationship, the movie kind of teases some of that out. And when you get to the movie the second time, which I really is the point of putting this on the list is don't watch Tenet once, watch it twice. I absolutely love this. And yeah, Tenet, it's a crazy one. I'm not even sure how I'll edit talking about it. Like, because it's just such an easy movie to start rambling about and sounding incoherent because that's kind of how it makes you feel.
Unknown Um, it's parts of it watching more than once is good advice. I've only seen it once. And I remember, I think I even commented to you at the time after watching this back in 2020, I was, I was excited to see it because the previews looked interesting. And I generally like Christopher Nolan and, um, me too. And I was like, I was actually like angry. Uh, after that movie, I remember being done with that movie and I was so confused. I don't like to be made to feel stupid. You know, I was like, and, and I, it almost felt like, Okay. This feels elitist. It feels like you're being difficult just for the sake of it. Like you're showing off that like you can make the most complicated story. I don't disagree with any of these takes. And I was so angry at that movie. I was like, I felt like visually it was great, but I was like, I just wasted two hours of my time watching this movie that makes me feel dumb. And I, I don't get it. Like, why is it needlessly, you know, complicated, et cetera. So there are movies, you know, like this, uh, I suppose memento is a little easier to grasp, but you know, movies like that, that kind of play with time a bit that I think take a little bit of, well, not a little bit, it takes rewatching. So I think I will definitely at some point give it a second watch. That's good advice.
Unknown Yeah. I, that's what I wrote. That's my, that's more than my big takeaways from like the movies I've seen in the last few years was the, the, the complete turn heel for me between seeing tenant the first time and the second time. Yeah. I don't, I can't necessarily explain it better to you after seeing it several times, but, uh, the amount to which I enjoyed it has grown exponentially.
Unknown Yeah. What do you got for number three? All right. Number three, another 1982 film tangentially jungly again, first blood. I don't know what led me to watch this. I think Ghoshani was busy one night and I was like looking for kind of some, you know, like fast foodie kind of movie watching. And I remembered liking this movie. I mean, you know, Sylvester Stallone's become a bit of a caricature cliche over the years. I mean, he's, he's just spun out so many of these kind of franchise films, the Rambos, the Rockies, et cetera. And, but I remember first blood, now this is 1982. So we're, this is, you know, Fitzcarraldo territory. This is that, that same era and, uh, kind of that same, um, filmy feel to it. And, uh, it was a very minimalist movie. Like first blood is not, like the following Rambo films. This was a movie that starts out very quietly. Sylvester Stallone plays John Rambo. He's a former special forces guy, Green Beret, who fought in Vietnam. And he's kind of drifting a bit. You see him at the beginning of the movie kind of walking into this small town in Washington state and kind of minding his own business. And he's accosted by kind of this aggressive Sheriff played brilliantly by Brian Dennehy, who's I just love Dennehy. Actually, he's he's one of my favorite actors. This was a time, you know, in the 80s when Vietnam was not that far in the rearview mirror and was very controversial. And there was some backlash against a lot of the soldiers that came home, et cetera. And this movie kind of reflected that because, you know, Dennehy's character views Rambo as as kind of this dangerous drifter who's no good for the town. And he wants to, like, run him out of town. And he Like does he puts him in his cop car and like drags him to the town line and says, get out of here. And, uh, you know, it escalates, um, quite quickly actually, to the point where Rambo ends up hiding out in these, this, you know, quite beautiful, lush forested mountains around the small town in Washington. And Denny, he has to marshal an increasingly large force of, you know, national guardsmen and cops to, to track him down. And it's a good movie. It's a quiet film that kind of gets loud at times, but I thought it was nicely shot. And I do like Stallone in this. I think it was early days before he got too pumped up and kind of does a good job with this role. He was kind of made for this role. And then kind of a more unsung character that I really like in this movie is Richard Crenna, the actor who plays Troutman, who was Rambo's former mentor and leader when he was, uh, when he was in the army and he kind of comes in to kind of counsel. Yeah, this is a good movie. I mean, this is, this is probably like a hunt for red October, kind of one of those Saturday afternoon, you know, it's a rainy day, it's on TV, right? You watch this movie. It's, it's one of those films. It's not, it's, it's no tenant, you know, it's not going to make you think too hard. Um, but it's, uh, it's nicely done.
Unknown So yeah, first blood, I have to admit, I've never seen it.
Unknown Oh, okay.
Unknown I didn't even realize it was set in the States. Yeah. Oh yeah. I thought this was, I must be confusing first blood with one of the later ones, like maybe where he's fighting for a village that's been taken over by some sort of tyrant. I don't know. They're all video game plot lines. Yeah. But I didn't realize that this was just like a misunderstood vet sort of story. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to, I'm definitely going to watch this. I don't, for whatever reason, like you'll like it. It's not that I do or don't love Stallone. I mean, cliffhanger is incredible. Yeah. I'm sure that'll make it to, uh, to a film club eventually. But yeah, for whatever reason, I've never seen this movie. I didn't even realize that was the, uh, the plot line. I figured they were all guy left in the jungle. You're protecting people, you know, who couldn't stand up to some sort of military force. Uh, that's fascinating. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. Directed by a Canadian. Huh? Oh, really? Okay. Ted Koch who also did weekend at Bernie's apparently. Wow. All right. That's a, that's a two. That's a movie. Yeah. That's a pair. That's, I mean, that's a Saturday afternoon right there. Yeah. Right. Something tells me first blood might've held up better than weekend at Bernie's, but yeah. Yeah. So for my third one, I've got one that I definitely checked on the list several times to make sure that I hadn't already talked about it. Cause it's a movie. I talk about a lot and it's one I absolutely love. It is from 2006 and it's called inside man by Spike Lee. And this is Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Willem Dafoe. You don't even have to listen to film club episodes to know that I love bank robbery movies. And this one's way up there. The description for this one is a police detective, a bank robber, and a high power broker enter a high stakes negotiations after the criminal's brilliant heist spirals into a hostage situation. Basically, this is Clive Owen plays a bank robber. You can't quite tell what he wants. Obviously, he's in the bank for something. And he's basically set up a perfect bank robbery. There's no way for them to stop him, it seems. Yeah. And then Denzel Washington plays the kind of hostage guy, hostage negotiator, detective, guy that's in charge of trying to defuse the scenario and end the standoff. And over the course of this robbery, which takes quite some time, you learn that there's a whole third element, a different motivation that involves other people and stuff that you wouldn't even necessarily think would be in a bank and, and all that kind of stuff. I absolutely love this movie. It's wall to wall. Fantastic. Super tense, beautifully shot. Um, I think it's Clive Owen and Washington like at one of their best. This is just one of my favorites. I watch it every year. Um, I think it's a fantastic.
Unknown Yeah, I think I, I remember seeing this movie. I don't remember, specifics about it but I remember really liking this movie and I think you put Denzel Washington and Clive Owen kind of at their peaks like facing off like you can't you can't go wrong I mean those two Clive Owens kind of I don't know what's happened to him lately I'm not sure what he's doing but like I've always liked him in stuff I mean he has that brooding he's perfect in this role just perfect and Denzel Washington never does anything bad so yeah exactly yeah yeah exactly find me a bad there's some Denzel Washington's been in some movies I don't like but he's never bad
Unknown Uh, much like Clive Owen. Um, actually you could do a lot of Clive Owen movies for film club as well. And some of them would, would be not ones you predict, but he, you know, you don't remember that he was in the first born. Oh, uh, as the, like the last guy, uh, the last other treadstone agent that comes after, um, Jason, when they're in like that little, um, farmhouse.
Unknown Oh, okay.
Unknown There's that fantastic, almost, um, heat ask standoff in the, in the grass. The other thing I like about this is, there was a time when he would have, he could have been Bond, but he was on the list. Right. And this movie came out the same year as Casino Royale. Oh yeah. Yeah. So if this had, if things, if the dice had fallen a different way, we wouldn't have gotten inside man, or we would have, I guess, maybe gotten it with somebody else. Right. Right. Spike Lee's not my favorite by, by any stretch. I think he has some incredible movies, but this is my favorite one. And I just, I absolutely, it's like super New York. It's a great bank robbery sequence. It's not especially violent, which you don't usually get to say about, uh, bank robberies, you can tell that there's more of a cerebral side to the whole plan. Um, and uh, yeah, I, I can't say enough good things about inside man. I think it's a, an absolute winner.
Unknown Yeah. Good one. I like it. I'm liking your picks today. This is great.
Unknown Well, I, I, I dropped the ball big time with pig last time you weren't a fan while you're batting a movie.
Unknown I still stand at 10 at the jury is still out, but I'm, I'm willing to, I think, I think I could like that. Yeah.
Unknown Uh, what have you got for number four?
Unknown All right, number four. 1977, I'm moving out of the jungle now. This is absolutely one of the great Saturday afternoon films and one of my all-time favorites, A Bridge Too Far. You talk about a cast. Ryan O'Neill, Sean Connery, Gene Hackman. Michael Caine. Michael Caine. Lawrence Olivier. Edward Fox. Lawrence Olivier. I mean, it's like a who's who and they all play these just fun roles and the story itself is is you know it's it's definitely based on a true story but it's told in such a way that's like it's just we're rollicking kind of adventure um set in world war ii uh it's kind of centers on what was called operation market garden um when you know the allies were trying to kind of move further into german-held territory um and they needed to capture a number of kind of bridges and and There were two elements to it. There was kind of the airborne element and then the ground-based element, and they were going to kind of support each other and meet at this final bridge, which as the title suggests was a bridge too far. I love the way this movie shot. It's very long. It's almost, it's almost just under three hours long, but you know, it's, it's, it's amazing for, for its era, like the scenery with, you know, the paratroopers jumping out of the planes, the sheer number of airplanes they use, the, the, the weaponry, the, the, the Jeeps, the clothing, the, the houses that they use for kind of the allied headquarters in the German headquarters. I mean, it's, it's, it's got everything. This is, um, this is a movie I just watched. It's, it's kind of like a Bond film in a way that I can pick up this movie having seen it so many times, I can just pick it up in the middle or watch a favorite scene and, uh, and be, be good for awhile. You know, like I can watch 20 minutes of it or 45 minutes of it and like, I'm good, you know? Yeah. It's just, it's, it's one of those films. There's, there's a great scene where Edward Fox, uh, his character, he, he goes up on a stage to introduce the, this, this, uh, mission, this operation market garden to an assembled group of allied soldiers. And you've got the Irish guys and then Gene Hackman plays, you know, the, he kind of oversees the Polish regiment that is helping. And then you've got Connery and they're all sitting in this audience, Michael Caine, And he kind of stands up there and he has that sort of classic sort of British panache. He's up there with his turtleneck sweater and he's kind of got this sly grin on his face and he's introducing this, this, uh, you know, very dangerous mission as, as this grand adventure. And I think that sort of summarizes this movie. I think if you just watch that scene on YouTube or whatever, it's, uh, it's, uh, it'll get you hooked. It's great. So that's awesome.
Unknown Yeah. That sounds awesome. I don't think I've seen that since I was very young, probably like a Saturday afternoon thing. My dad would have had it on. Um, yeah. Yeah. I love that. Um, at least in my memory, this is one of those movies that was made a long time ago, but Gene Hackman doesn't look any older or younger. Like I think he just, he just kind of picked an age and was like, I'm, I'm just good here. I'm Gene. Yeah, true. Uh, yeah, no, that's a, that's fantastic. Good pick. I definitely need to, uh, to revisit that one. It's been a long time. Yeah. All right. Number four, I'm going to save a special one for the last one, but, uh, I'm going to go with no, which is Jordan Peele's latest sort of horror thriller. It just came out recently and I don't love going to theaters. So it was something I was kind of very much anticipating to watch at home. And I was just absolutely loved it. I've enjoyed his, uh, his other movies, but they were closer to what I would call horror, especially if you're talking about us. Yeah. Um, whereas this one, um, is a little bit more, you know, my brother made a good point. I was talking to my brother about it and, He likened it to Jaws. And I saw that I saw the connection almost immediately. Wow.
Unknown Okay.
Unknown It stars Daniel Kaluuya, who's awesome. Kiki Palmer, who's very new to me. And the other guy I recognized immediately was Steven Yeun, who's in The Walking Dead, or if you're a big fan of, um, I think you should leave the comedy series, uh, on Netflix. Uh, he, he pops up in that the tagline or the description is, uh, the residents of a lonely Gulch in Inland, California, bear witness to an uncanny and chilling discovery. And it's basically, um, they're visited by something. Um, it's not a ghost. It's more, we'll say more like aliens. And, uh, I don't like giving any of this kind of stuff away. In my mind, it doesn't really qualify as horror. It's never that scary, but it is scary in the same way that jobs is you see little things, you get little visions. And the, the reason that I w I would put it on, on the film club is kind of like how we've talked about several things here where inside man, the set pieces, New York, it has this vibe. We've got a couple movies set in the jungle. The scenery for this film is so different than I'm used to. So it's based just outside of L.A. I mean, I think by name, it's Santa Clarita and an area called Agua Dulce. I may be mispronouncing that, but it's these beautiful lowland rolling hills. And it's about Daniel Kali and his sister and their father, who's played by Keith David, they basically run like, um, one of these things that, uh, like one of these outfits that offers, uh, horses for movies. Oh yeah. Huh? So it's about their experience, but something kind of comes to their ranch and then they're trying to figure out a way to prove that it's there. They know it's there, but they're having a lot of trouble proving it anytime it's nearby electronics turn off. Huh? So they're trying to find ways to track it. And that there is a little metric that that's kind of like the barrels that they shoot into the shark and jaws. Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean, if you've seen any of Jordan Peele's movies, it's like beautifully shot, very innovative, really fun, super fast paced. And, um, I don't know that, I don't know that it would have the same sort of effect on you that like get out might. Yeah. But I think I might've liked this as much or maybe more. I've, I've, I've watched it, uh, one and a half times through it and just really, really enjoyed it. Huh. Weird pick for me. Cause I'm not a huge horror guy, I make an exception for the Jordan Peele stuff. Cause it's, I just love it so much. Yeah. Us was too scary for me. His second one was probably too scary for me. Um, but this one more like jaws, less like weird ghosts or something like that.
Unknown Yeah. I mean, two things strike me. And one is, um, we don't cover a lot of horror. I think I did, what was it? Um, let the right one in way back one of our first film clubs. And, uh, I'm not sure we've done much other horror, the reef. Which is a horror thriller ish. But I don't watch a lot of horror and I've never seen Get Out. I've never seen Us. Not for any other reason. I just I don't I'm not drawn to horror films. But the other thing that strikes me is that this is a film from from this year and we so often go way back. I mean my most recent movie in my picture is 2016. I mean we just don't do a lot of like current stuff. I think for me a lot of times movies have to kind of settle or simmer or marinate a little bit. I have to watch them a few times in And I think you're the same. And so it's interesting that that strikes me that if the fact that you chose this, it says something about the movie itself. So I'll have to give it a try.
Unknown Yeah. When you know, you sit down, you know, you're going to do a film club. You take a few days to think about stuff that's like has stayed in your memory. Yeah. Um, I don't really like the idea of having to go back and like look at lists of movies to, to remember something. I would just say, I want the stuff that I can't forget about. Right. And this, yeah, there's, there's a bunch of stuff in this I've never really kind of seen before. If I had, it was like familiar in a, in a good way. And, uh, and yeah, I just, I liked the premise. I love where it's set and I kind of enjoyed it. The, the, the, the whole sort of arc of the story and, and how, yeah, if you, I think if you like jaws, which, you know, lots of people do, it follows that format. It's like, it has that kind of blockbuster thriller feel and you know, IMDB classes it as horror mystery sci-fi, but like also there's not that much sci-fi stuff in it. Yeah. Yeah. It's hard to, it's kind of a weird one to describe. All right.
Unknown Definitely going to watch it.
Unknown I really enjoyed it. Maybe this will end up being like pig and I dug it and you won't love it. But, um, yeah, I, I, I loved it. And I thought that it is a bit of a left left field pick. Um, but if you, if you're, if you enjoy the other picks that we've suggested in the past, I think you'd also enjoy no quote of it. Yeah.
Unknown Yeah. All right. I'm on to number five. I'm this is a, this is a palate cleanser. This is a, this is a movie that, you know, Should be on any film club list. Uh, I was reminded of it last night when I was paddling with, uh, with our friend Mike, cause I know he's a huge fan. 1986 Top Gun. Oh yeah. This is quite a statement. I think this is like the perfect movie. Okay. Well, let's not say the perfect movie. Let's say it's the perfect blockbuster. It's the perfect, like it has, it just carries the right tone. There's everything about it. It's like, it's got the romance, it's got the music, it's got the, you know, the guys sweating it out in the control room on the, on the aircraft carrier. It's, it's got the fast planes, the motorcycles. I mean, it's, it's just, um, it's got the bit of a comic element with, uh, with goose that character. I mean, who hasn't seen this movie? I'm guessing everybody listening to this has seen top gunner and uh, yeah. And with the most recent one that came out, which I felt, I thought was a fantastic followup. I thought that was a great kind of sequel to this. Um, but I still don't think you can, you can top the original top gun. I mean, I don't know what more to say about it. You know, it's, it's classic Tom Cruise, a guy who I've tried not to like. And I always think like, I don't like Tom Cruise. And then I watch him and anything he's in, I think he's, he's, he's just such a, he's a great actor. I mean, he carries, he carries a lot of great movies.
Unknown He's another guy, like he's been in some bad movies, but he hasn't done it. I haven't come across a bad role. There's some of his stuff I haven't seen, of course, but I, I, I don't think I've seen Top Gun in, more than a decade. Huh. Okay. Yeah. Like, like I might even only like remember it for it's kind of like pillar moments.
Unknown Yeah. Right. Right.
Unknown The volleyball game and the, the volleyball game, the, the him on that. I think it's a Kawasaki. Yeah. Like going as the plane takes off next to him. Yeah. I should probably watch it again. It's not a movie that I hold in like a super high regard, but I'm not really sure why I don't have a problem with it. Yeah. Yeah. it definitely falls into a very similar category as hunt for red October. Yeah, I think so. But a more complete movie, right? There's, there's more human in, right. In, uh, in elements of Top Gun. Like you said, there's a, you know, like an actual kind of love plot line and there's, there's the competition between the different pilots and the rest of it. But yeah, it's been a while. Yeah. It's been a while for me. I'll definitely have to give that because I haven't, I should probably watch it before I see the new one. I haven't seen maverick yet either.
Unknown Yeah, that's a good back to back. I mean, if the new one's showing, well, it's probably a little too late now, but if the new one's showing on your flight over to Europe, that'd be a good one to catch.
Unknown Oh, yeah. I hadn't thought of that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Good pick. Solid five for sure. Yeah. Yeah. And interestingly, you went with Tony Scott and my final is made by his brother, Ridley. Ah, okay. So my final is from 2008. It's really hard to say if it's my favorite Ridley Scott. It's way up there and no one ever talks about it. Uh, it's called Body of Lies. And so you've got Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Mark Strong, um, Oscar Isaac, uh, before like this is 2008 Oscar Isaac, like before he was one of the biggest guys out there. Uh, it's probably my favorite Mark Strong performance. Again, this is one where the description will help if you haven't seen it. A CIA agent on the ground in Jordan hunts down a powerful terrorist leader while being caught between the unclear intentions of his American supervisors and Jordanian intelligence. It's, it's a really good, how would you just, it's almost like a, um, a more realistic bond. Okay. Yeah. There's a little bit more like trade craft spy stuff going on and then there's some exceedingly violent elements, but it plays out to these where you're not really sure who's the pawn and who's the one playing the game. And so you've got Russell Crowe back, like pulling strings from Langley as sort of like the ghost, the spook sort of thing. But clearly not in the field. And then you have DiCaprio is kind of trying to play both sides, like make sure that he has friends in the local government. And that's where Mark Strong comes in as Hani. And I really, really like this movie. I could see why. It's very much of a time. You know, a time and an era kind of created around the war in Afghanistan. Yeah. Um, and it speaks to all sorts of different sides of that. And as soon as you start watching it, you'll feel the time era that this came from, but I think it's a fantastic DiCaprio. Um, it's an uncommon film when people talk about Ridley Scott. And for those of you who don't follow your, your directors, Ridley Scott's widely known for things like gladiator and blade runner. And this is, um, I think this is as well a crafted film, but of course the scope's a lot smaller. It's based on a novel of the same name, And, uh, yeah, it's one that I really enjoy. I've definitely seen it, you know, several times and, uh, and you know, every time I get a chance to see it or have the excuse to watch it or, or it feels like it, I've, you know, that it might be fresh. I've, I've always enjoyed it.
Unknown Good pick. I mean, I, I remember liking this movie and, and I just watched the trailer, uh, before we started recording and definitely want to rewatch this. I think, uh, DiCaprio is another guy kind of in that Tom Cruise category where it's like, he's, he's, he's just so good in whatever he's in and, and, uh, I often overlook him nowadays. And, uh, and this is, uh, this is a great one. Of course, Russell Crowe and, and kind of a different role. Like he's really evolved in the, in the roles he's taken, you know? I mean, you look at gladiator and then you look at this and it's like, you almost don't even recognize him.
Unknown Yeah. Yeah. And then, I mean, even, even more modern stuff, right?
Unknown Yeah.
Unknown Yeah. He has had a very interesting career arc, especially following gladiator when he was, you know, one of the biggest stars in the world. I mean, that movie was like, I don't know. A movie could be bigger. Maybe the matrix when it first came out, like in terms of just kind of hitting on every quadrant, it was critical reviews and kind of popcorn reviews and the rest of it. Yeah. And yeah, so your five, you picked a lost city of Z from 2016 top gun, which is 1986 first blood, 1982 Fitzcarraldo also in 1982 and very jungly theme for your five. And then finally a bridge too far. Uh, Which I think that's a solid list. And there's a couple on there that either haven't watched or it's been so long that it's roughly the same as having not watched.
Unknown You had a really eclectic list and a couple of films in here that are definitely going to be on my queue for coming up shortly here. The Hunt for Red October from 1990. 2022's Nope. 2020's Tenet. 2006's Inside Man and Body of Lies from 2008.
Unknown I mean, that's 10 weird movies. It is. You wouldn't watch all of these in a row.
Unknown Yeah. I wonder, I mean, looking back, I mean, I'd love to like establish certain themes or, or kind of organize things by, by theme. I mean, I think there's a lot of dad thrillers. I think a bridge too far might be like a granddad thriller. Okay. But, uh, you know, I mean, we've got like first blood, the hunt for red October, and then we've got, you know, yeah. I mean, it's, uh, it's a little something for everyone.
Unknown It's quite a mix. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was fun. Uh, always fun to do that, but that puts the wraps on TGN film club volume eight. How about we get to some final notes?
Unknown Yeah, let's jump into it. I have one that came via a TGN listener, John Cook, who graciously sent in this suggestion, something that we might enjoy. This is, it's a YouTube video from a guy who just goes by Callum on YouTube, and it's called World War II Rescue Buoys, Secret Floating Hotels of the English Channel. Just a fun, really informative, I love like like these, uh, these YouTube, like history, little programs that people put together, like, like mini documentaries. And this is one of them apparently during world war two in the English channel, you know, there were so many planes going down that, uh, that first the Germans and then, then the British, uh, constructed and, and, and moored these, uh, what they call rescue buoys out in the, in the water, in the open water of the English channel. So that when pilots went down, you know, hopefully they would be in, in some proximity to one of these rescue buoys. And these were like little floating, Little cabins almost like they stuck up out of the water they would have a flag on top and kind of a small platform and then you could crawl down inside of them and they would be stocked with you know everything from board games to brandy to some rations and a bed. you know, things to pass the time and then, uh, and then hopefully you'd be rescued. And, you know, when the British saw what the Germans were doing, they, they, they built their own arguably, um, a little better, a little more comfortable. They weren't built quite like a top heavy buoys that would rock around a lot and make you probably get seasick. And they were more like small boats without a motor that were anchored in place. And, uh, I guess there was even a film kind of a fictional film about, you know, as you might expect, like, you know, British, uh, downed British pilot who has to spend time in one with a downed German pilot. And of course they strike up a friendship. Uh, you know, that might be a future film club inclusion at some point, but I just, it's, it's a piece of history I didn't know about. It's a fascinating, it was well done. This guy Callum, um, uh, did a really nice job of, of explaining it and some good, uh, good visuals. And he actually finds one that's at a maritime museum in Scotland that he went and visited. So, um, yeah, really fun. Thanks to John Cook for, for sending that my way and, uh, yeah, check it out.
Unknown That's very cool. Yeah. You linked that to me and I, I watched a bit of it and, and yeah, that's a, I had no idea that existed. Yeah. It's very, very cool. What's yours? Yeah. Mine is a, uh, it almost defies explanation. This story, it's from the guardian and it's called, uh, the disastrous voyage of Satoshi, the world's first cryptocurrency cruise ship. Oh boy. This is a crazy, crazy story. So like I've done in the past with some of these longer reads, just go ahead and read it. So it's a story of three plus individuals who were deeply into cryptocurrency and believed in this concept called seasteading, where you start kind of a new country and new politics and everything away from any land. Yeah. Right. This has been a thing with kind of rich weirdos for a long time.
Unknown Yeah.
Unknown Uh, trying to get away from taxes, trying to get away from, uh, laws that they, they find kind of pesky or, or annoying, uh, lots of sad stories in the history of, um, of essentially what's, you know, homesteading in the high seas and a lot of examples of how it hasn't worked. And during the pandemic, these guys bought a cruise ship and then attempted to set up another society on it outside of Panama. Wow. Wow. Like, obviously, you know how this goes. It's in the title. It's disastrous. Yeah. Um, you know, they're, they're trying to get people to buy or rent, you know, stuff on the, but it all has to do with cryptocurrency and there's not gonna be any taxes, but there are, as it turns out, a lot of rules. Like it's a cruise ship. You can't have people cooking in every room for just one example of how crazy it kind of gets so that now there's a group kitchen and it really started to feel like what they were doing is essentially paying to go to prison. Uh, at a certain extent, you know, things don't go that well. And they ended up with a cruise ship on their hands during a pandemic. Yeah. Just check it out. It's, it's, it's a, it really is kind of a crazy, uh, a crazy story and well-written and well-covered. And, you know, the guardian did a good job of kind of highlighting, what feels like an idea almost anyone would go like, well, this is crazy. How does this go? Well, yeah. How do you get internet? How do you, how do you get, who do you get the fuel from? Like your new country now, right? Like it's all, it's all that kind of stuff. So they, they, you know, they, they, they basically found the one way that they could try this and then it, it all kind of unraveled as it, as it set off.
Unknown So, wow.
Unknown The disastrous voyage of the Satoshi.
Unknown Wow. Funny uh funny bookend since we started with uh Yvon Chouinard and Patagonia and then finished with uh with uh kind of the flip side of uh of you know having a lot of money. Extreme wealth. Yeah exactly yeah.
Unknown Crazy stuff. Good times great episode. For sure and as always thank you so much for listening. If you want to subscribe to the show notes get into the comments for each episode or even consider supporting the show directly maybe even grabbing yourself a new TGN signed NATO Music Throat is, of course, Siesta by Jazzar via the Free Music Archive.
Unknown And we leave you with this quote from Alfred Hitchcock, who said, For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake.