The Grey NATO – 223 – Film Club Vol. 9

Published on Thu, 19 Jan 2023 06:00:00 -0500

Synopsis

The podcast discusses various films in a "Film Club" format, where the hosts Jason and James each recommend 5 movies. The movies range from older classics like The Sixth Sense, The Bourne Identity, Blade Runner, and The Day of the Jackal, to more recent films like Triple Frontier, Everything Everywhere All at Once, and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. They provide synopses and discuss the merits of each film. They also touch on other topics like new watch releases, a packable tote bag recommendation, and an article about modifying vehicles like Subarus for off-road use.

Transcript

Speaker
Jason Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Graynado, a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 223, and it's proudly brought to you by our ever-growing 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. And I guess along with the travel, adventure, diving, driving gear and watches, we're going to talk about films today, James, another film club.
James We sure are. Film club volume nine. Right. Normally we do these like I would say we put more like the better part of a year between each one. We did one on 208. Episode 208 was film club volume eight. I do think that this, like it's January, I think this is the time of year where you can catch up on some movies you didn't see last year. Yeah. Without kind of feeling like you're losing out on a lot of really good cottage fire time or by the lake or whatever you like to do when the weather is maybe a little bit more agreeable. And obviously you could be cross country skiing or snowshoeing or the rest of it. Yeah. But on a day where you're going to stay inside, I think this is a nice time of year where I look back over the last couple of years and see where the holes are. Things I haven't seen yet. Right. I'm looking forward to another film club for sure. And yeah, it's a great time of year to dig into a movie with a bowl of popcorn and fireplace on that sort of thing. Yeah, definitely. As far as updates before we kind of jump right into the show proper, the the only update to go over this week is that we've got a little bit of a change for how the invite for the slack will work. So due to the way that slack manages the invite link, you can only have one active at a time. And it expires at a certain point. I actually learned it expires, even if you say don't expire because the link that I created and then painstakingly made sure never to recreate another one. It expired the other day, but now when you sign up, I get an email announcing the new sign up. I will then send you a slack invite by hand so that you'll get an invite directly from slack, which should help mitigate some of the spam filtering that sometimes happens with these things. And you can click on that and get right in. So that's how it's going to work moving forward. If you signed up for either supporter level recently and just didn't bother signing into the Slack or signing up for the Slack when it came out, just drop me an email and I'll get it sorted out very quickly. It's very simple to do from my phone, so you should get a quick reply. I think that's the only update, Jason. What have you been up to other than bobbing and weaving on the Slack?
Jason Well, speaking of Slack, I mean, it's funny, you know, I got absolutely uh, waylaid by a head cold, uh, back on like Friday evening, it started to come on. And then by Saturday morning, I was just, just lights out, um, in bed all weekend. We had a three day weekend here for Martin Luther King day. And, uh, so Ghoshani was off on Monday and, and she took good care of me, but boy, I was just, just down and out for, for three days straight. And I probably still sound a little rough today, a little more resonant than usual, but, um, That also kind of just caused me to be a bit of a zombie the past few days. And I even missed out on, on the Slack chats for a few days. And boy, when you step away from it and come back, it's like, wow, what happened? I mean, there's so many people in there. And then somebody DM to me on Instagram and said, boy, Cole really blew things up. Didn't he? And I said, what did Cole say? What, what, what's up with Cole? And the guy said, Oh, Cole joined the Slack group. And, Then I had to go and check on Slack and it was like all these messages back and forth. And it was like, wow, it's, it's just super active. But, uh, yeah, it's, it's so much fun. But yeah, I'm, I'm kind of on the men now, but, but one thing that, that I'm glad to hear that being laid up allowed me to do was we binge watched a kind of a cult following TV show, TV series that I'd heard about, but I wasn't sure about called the detectorists. Have you heard of this or seen any of it?
James I know of it. I haven't seen it.
Jason It is incredibly good. It is. I highly recommend it. Oh, cool. Yeah. And I'm sure a lot of our listeners in the UK are familiar with the show because it's a British show and it stars Mackenzie Crook, who actually kind of conceived of the show and writes and directs it. And Toby Jones, who is such a great actor. And it's a comedy. Each episode's like 30 minutes long, but it's one of those really pleasant, like, it makes you feel good to watch it. not even sure what to compare it to. But the reason it resonated with me was because it's all about this obscure hobby of metal detecting. You know, I'm sure everybody's seen, maybe even some of you are metal detectorists, you know, on the side of the road or in a field or somewhere, you know, waving a wand along a beach or something looking for stuff. And I always kind of roll my eyes and they go, what's that all about? But, You know, it's another one of those obscure hobbies like tinkering with an old Land Rover, collecting watches, you know, whatever it might be, um, building models, collecting stamps, right. Um, that it's kind of celebrated in the show. These, these guys, these two friends are devoted detectorists from a small town in England. And that's kind of the basis of the show. But then it, it's all of the tangential stories that go along with it, the relationships they have, the romantic, you know, failed and, and somewhat successful romantic relationships they have, what's going on in their town, other members of their detectorist club, some of the conflicts that arise with landowners and rival groups. And it feels very TGN to me. It feels like it really celebrates the kinds of communities that I think we're all a part of and that we like. And, uh, anyway, long story short, uh, being laid up for three days straight allowed us to kind of binge the first season of it. And I highly recommend it. It's really good. Check it out.
James I should have gotten you on call of duty, could have had you all leveled up by now.
Jason I'm not sure I could have been coherent enough to even pay attention to that. I was, I was, my capacities were limited to just kind of barely keeping one eye open to watch the TV. Oh, fair. Yeah, you gotta, you gotta be sharp. Yeah. Yeah. And what about you?
James Yeah, for me, the only major news, aside from continuing to attempt to get OK at Call of Duty Mobile when I have some free time, is my hunt for a water rower. Rowing machine was successful. Was able to score a really tidy, well-maintained S4. This one had gone through a couple computers, so it's on the S4. And I picked it up just north of Toronto here in a spot called Aurora for about $900. So if you're also hunting one, that gives you a point of reference. that seemed to be about going for NCAD, so $900 is more like 680, 700 bucks, something like that, US. Yeah, sounds fair. And yeah, and it came with like separate, a whole, almost an entire kit of consumable parts. I picked it up, it just barely fit in the Jeep without any dismantling, I had to take the head rest off the front passenger seat, and because I didn't wanna have to drain it and then refill it, it's just like the water was already in there and treated, so why not? So I got it home, And so far I've done three, by the time you hear this, five workouts. Yeah. Through YouTube, I bought a little arm that holds my iPad, kind of in the place where a screen would be if it was like sort of a smart equipped unit. Yes. And then the videos I've been watching have been from this guy, Training Tall. I don't know if you've come across him. He's like 6'8 or something. Oh, wow. But he has these very popular and several for kind of beginners. So they're high intensity cadence workouts for the rowing machine. And while you're doing it, he's constantly making little notes to remind you about various elements of the form. I could not have been more ignorant to the amount of technique that existed in rowing. And once my heart rate is kind of up to a comfortable zone, maybe call it 160, 165 beats, I find that I start to zone out and just keep my stroke cadence at whatever they're asking for, 18, 20, 22, 24, whatever. Yeah. And as soon as I zone out, I suddenly realized that something hurts and it's because I'm pulling too quickly. So my, the top of your forearm starts to wear out really quickly. Right. Or if you're swinging too hard or too early against your hips, then your shoulders start to get sore or your lower back. It's weird if you're like shimmying back and forth. Yeah, it's so far I'm, I'm absolutely in love with it. Oh, that's great. It definitely feels like I found like a really happy medium between the sort of steady state of running, but without the damage. Yeah. Yeah. Like when I finished this, nothing hurts. My feet don't hurt. Right. I've done a couple of these 40 minutes back to back and I'm tired. Like even as I sit here, I'm tired, but I'm still thinking about doing another one this afternoon rather than taking a rest day. So we'll see. The goal would be to get comfortable, I guess, with three hours a week. Yeah. which would be somewhere between five and six days of rowing and then have a rest. I think if that doesn't work out, if that leads to being too sore or I'm not getting faster or stronger, then I'll probably alternate rowing in the weights back and forth. So we'll see.
Jason And do you keep it down or do you set it up against the wall?
James I have a vertical up against the wall. It tucks in nicely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So far I'm thrilled. I also find it, um, physically more comfortable than sitting on a spin bike for the same amount of time.
Jason Oh, totally. Yeah. Rowing is one of those exercise forms that just, it, it, it feels, you know, you have the obvious sort of exertion. I don't want to even call it pain, but, um, that exertion sensation while you're doing it. And you can, you can certainly get the heart rate up and feel your muscles, but there's none of the kind of focused pains that you get with a lot of other sports. Like you said, like, cycling, like your neck can hurt your wrists, your, your seat, or with running, obviously, you know, knees, ankles, feet, whatever. And, and it's just, right. You get off and you're like, okay, I'm really tired, but like nothing hurts that is something wrong. You know, I like that. Yeah, that's great. And then the technique is it's such a simple motion and yet there's so much nuance to it. I remember many years ago, I took a actual rowing class at a boathouse here on the Mississippi and with a, crew, you know, they took us out on, I don't want to put six, six person skulls out on the Mississippi. And, um, and the technique there is like, if you screw it up, you're going to like rock the boat literally. So like they had us, they had us first on the machines and like dialed it in before they even let you get in the boat. So that like, you don't, you know, flip the boat in the middle of a major river. So it makes sense, right? Yeah. Yeah. That's really cool. I'm glad you picked that out.
James Yeah, I'm absolutely thrilled. If you're on the fence and you're looking for a no impact option, I'm not saying go water or don't. I think that's a very personal choice. If I had a workout area, I probably would have gone concept too. Yeah, they seem to hold their value infinitely and as to the rower waters because there's an aesthetic quality to them. The one thing I can say that's a massive benefit is it's not loud. Yeah, right, right, like at all and like some of those ones that use the fan are really noisy. Like you hear them at hotel gyms, you can hear them down the hallway. Right, right. So I like that concept as well. It feels like you're paying a decent amount of money, but getting kind of a thoughtful, well-made product. Right. Oh, that's great. Well, you want to dive into a little bit of wrist check?
Jason Yeah, sure. I finally peeled the 2254 Omega off my wrist in the past few days, and I've been wearing the Um, the Vertex M60 Aqualion.
James So this is kind of a beefier version of the same idea.
Jason It is. There's something about this watch. I mean, it's a 40 millimeter watch and certainly it's thicker because it's got higher water resistance, but this watch wears bigger, but it doesn't, but with, with none of the downsides of a big watch, you know, like looking at it, you think that's like a big burly watch. And then it's like, no, it's, it's the same size. Actually, it's smaller in diameter than, than the Omega, but it's, uh, yeah, true. Yeah, it's such a fun piece and it's been great for my kind of head cold induced insomnia where, you know, I wake up in the middle of the night. I'm like, what time is it? Like this, the loom is just so amazing on this thing.
James So yeah, it's great. Yeah. The loom is crazy on those. What a great watch.
Unknown Yeah.
James Yeah. And how about you? So I kind of got to a point where I couldn't do any more smartwatch and I've gone the exact opposite direction. So I had the Apple watch ultra on all last week, used it for workouts and the rest of it. And today I'm wearing, probably from the late 50s, very early 60s, my chronograph Swiss, rose gold. Beautiful. You were able to get a strap on it. I was finally able to get... So it uses those stupid female spring bars.
Unknown Yeah.
James So instead of having a hole in the lug, some vintage watches, probably ones like this that have hollow lugs would be one reason why you might opt for this. Somebody can let me know on Slack if I'm way off. But this watch, while it is solid rose gold, solid should probably have an asterisk or something. because the interior side of the lugs is kind of hollowed out to use less gold, and these were not high end chronographs at the time. It uses a lander in 248, which is a temperamental movement that I really like. I think it's beautiful, and I recently had this one fully overhauled by Jason at Roaldorf, so happy to have it back. It used to have a chip on the crystal and a bunch of little flecks on the dial, and the movement was only so-so, but that's all been redone otherwise left in original condition. And I just love the sort of the aesthetic, the size, how thin it is, how much of it is crystal, the black dial, the weird... I'll put a picture of it, but it has this really weird... It's almost like they used a different two marker, like the numeral two, flipped it upside down to be a seven. Oh, yeah. So it has this funky seven design. I absolutely adore this watch. I'm thrilled to have it back. It's one of my favorite vintage watches I've ever owned. So yeah, that's I don't know what the model or the reference number is. It's a chronograph Swiss in rose gold with a black dial. I'm not usually a huge rose gold fan, but this came to me through James Lambden, and not only was it a great deal, but I like buying watches like this from people I know, like vintage kind of dressy, because then every time I put it on, I think of my buddy James and the times we've had together and that sort of thing. So this one checks a lot of boxes for me. I finally found some appropriately sized spring bars. So to finish my earlier rant, the bars have to mount on to existing kind of nubs, pins basically that come out of the lug. So you have to buy female spring bars, but I forgot that the sizing is different. They're not really... So like an 18 millimeter lugs, you wouldn't buy 18 millimeter spring bars, you buy 16 millimeters so that they can compress far enough to go between the two pins and hold it back up.
Unknown Yeah.
James So I ordered some locally, drove across town to this place called Perrin, a watch supply area in Toronto, but it's a good distance in time from my place. I drove across town, picked up them, got them all the way home, realized they didn't fit, got kind of dejected and angry and put the watch in my watch box for a while. And then the other day I saw the Perrin receipt come up in some accounting I was doing, and I was like, Oh, I should do that again. this time I just I had it shipped so I at least saved myself the drive across town and they fit so that's good I'm happy I don't have any other watches that have the the female spring bars the male lug connection so it is kind of a weird thing to have you know to buy a package of 12 spring bars knowing that like worst case nine of them are never gonna get used I love this watch I'm thrilled to have it back on my wrist and I've got it on like a simple tan strap And it's got that like grandpa appeal, which I like this time of year as well. I'm wearing sweaters. I'm sitting inside in slippers. Let's wear a gold watch.
Jason Oh, that's great. Yeah. Can't wait to see more photos of that one because it's been a long time since you've got that and then you've been able to wear it.
James Yeah, exactly. So I put a couple in the slack. So if you hit up, if you're in the slack, hit up wrist check and just, uh, I don't know, search out my name or whatever, and you'll, you'll see some, some shots of it. together. I was saying that it's kind of like a two watch option where this is more of an indoor watch for me, and when it was snowing and we were shoveling and that kind of stuff, I was wearing the Mido outside. Yeah. I just got a new Erica's in solid gray for it, which it's perfect. I don't know that I'll ever take that watch off that strap. It's just so easy to wear, but this might be the new like one, two combo when I'm traveling or even when I'm home, like you have the travel watch and then this beautiful chronograph, so. Nice. Gonna get some wear out of it for sure.
Jason Yeah. Besides what we're wearing, I mean, there's a, there's a couple of watches that sort of hit the airwaves, so to speak. Oh, true. Last couple of weeks. Um, there's the, the volcano and then, and then this momentum sea quartz. Uh, what do you think of these?
James Yeah, I can dig into the volcano cause I wrote a hands-on for Hodinkee. Uh, so this is their, obviously they, they, they're essentially been relaunched by, uh, the same people behind the Nevada Grinch and relaunch. Uh, and so last year they brought back the cricket, which is the alarm kind of classic alarm watch worn by presidents, all that kind of stuff. And, you know, I like Vulcane as a name. I love seeing it on a dial. It's cool. And I also like the cricket, but they're always expensive. Vintage ones are expensive for lots of good reasons. And these new ones are between $3,500 and $4,000. And, you know, obviously they have specialized movements and the rest of it, the cricket stuff. But this is a more conventional, and when I say more, I mean exceedingly conventional skin diver style dive watch, although it is 200 meters water resistant, which is great. It's 1,500 Swiss francs, so like 1,600, 1,620 USD at the time we're recording this. Uses an ETA 2824, and it's 38 millimeters wide, 12.2 millimeters thick, and 44.5 millimeters lug to lug. So a really nice sizing. I don't think anyone's gonna complain for that if you're looking... If you want sort of the small or small-ish mid-sized dive watch. not too thick, certainly, and some of that's going to be the domed crystal to at twelve point two, and then the lug to lug super agreeable. The watch itself is like conventional, almost to the point of being bland. Yeah, but I think that's smart. Yeah, like if you put a different if you put Angeles on the dial, if you put like any of those other skin divers, I'm forgetting the ones I the one I own the so if you put Sylvana on the dial, if you like you, it would almost be interchangeable, but then in the press stuff that they sent out that that Vulcan sent out, they have a photo of the original and it's really similar. Yeah, so like like they either they either tried to do something new, which like why would you do that while also making like a reissue of a sixties dive watch or basically stick to the same format? And the only thing I could really ascertain that they changed is obviously the new bezel has a ceramic insert, so the bezel itself is a little bit slicker and then of course they've got a more modern movement, which is an at a twenty eight twenty four And then you can get it in a matte black or a brushed blue dial. I like the matte black. And finally, the new version, the one that they're offering now is 38 millimeters, whereas the old one was 37. Sure. Yeah.
Jason What do you think of these? I like the blue and it has this sort of vertically brushed finish to it. Just because it's different, because as you said, it's such a conventional looking watch. I feel like the blue sets it apart a little bit because, you know, you don't get as many of that color. And I think it looks great. I'd go nuts for the blue if it had a blue bezel.
James The blue black doesn't... And it could be the kind of thing where if I saw it in person, you'd feel differently. But just from the images, I would lean on the black just because it looks... The blue black feels incongruous to a certain extent.
Jason I find blue and blue a bit too much blue for me. And then, boy, if you put a blue strap on it, it's way too much. But... Yeah. Yeah. I'm looking at this and I'm thinking... Immediately what popped in my head was DOCSIS sub 200. Not so much, you know, which is a fair bit cheaper. I think that when was going for nine 90, I don't know what a little more than half the price. Yeah. Um, so I'm, I'm guessing this is a superior watch. Maybe it's the bezel, maybe it's something, but, but yeah, I guess in terms of where they're aiming, you know, the, the sub 200 is, is not as iconic or, or individual as, as the sub 300. series of watches, but it feels like they're kind of aiming for a more generalist audience, I guess. And that's kind of, I feel like what they're doing here, but yeah, it's really cool.
James Yeah, for sure. I mean, and for people who don't know the docs, a lineup, the sub 200 is the entry level piece. So it's nine 50 on a rubber strap. It's 42 millimeters is, is going to be what the, like, is there just aren't that many at 38? Yeah. Yeah. You know, the, the, even, you know, you go back to like diver 65, they make some of those in 36 and 40, of course, but those are 2000 with a largely similar move, 22, 2300 with a bracelet. So on that vein, you go like, well, it says Vulcan on the dial. That's kind of cool. That's a brand we know it existed for a while. It's back where the pricing where I think you can kind of, you could kind of suggest you're paying a premium for the Vulcan on the dial is when you look at like a Doxa for a thousand or a little bit less. I think this makes sense for somebody who likes the SPB but doesn't want a 6R movement. Yeah. Wants a Swiss movement that could easily be regulated to keep excellent time. It's an Elabor grade 2824. It's not certified from the factory. Maybe that would have been a nice little bonus as well, given the price point. But then you start looking at like a 1150 for a 40.5 millimeter Mido Ocean Star tribute. very similar idea for a watch. I'm assuming similar in terms of execution. You go to a 21 millimeter lug width with the Mido, Certina with the DS stuff. I was thinking that too. They make a 38 mil DS, right? Yeah. I think they did a lot of the stuff right with the watch. It's like it reflects the original nicely. I think the price is realistic. I think that the proportions are really good. But do you wonder, is this a little bit too late? Like the Diver 65, I feel like kind of really kicked off the reissue trend. Yeah. Yeah. In 2015.
Jason Yeah. This doesn't excite me. I think it's a, it's a nice looking watch, but it does feel like it's a bit late. And I feel like if you're going to leverage the Vulcan name, maybe lean a little more into the, into the cricket stuff, which they have certainly, but I don't know, this, this just feels.
James Yeah. And I think this is just, it gives them a diver and it also gives them an entry level price point. Yeah. True. Yeah. Right. Yeah, I think it's good. I think it's handsome. I check it out in the notes. Obviously, let us know in the comments on sub stack or in the slack what you think of it. If you happen to get one, we, you know, love. I think we're going to do a hands-on for hooding key, but I think that'll be via Danny. So I'm excited to see what he thinks of it. I think it's a successful thing. I think it looks what I think it looks good. I think that the competitions and arguably never been fiercer around a thousand dollars. Yeah, so you have to decide if the 38 is is the tipping point.
Unknown I think yeah,
James Otherwise, the rest of it makes a lot of sense to me. It's a handsome, good-looking, 60-skinned guy. Like, I'm on board. I was on board before it existed, right?
Unknown Right, right.
Jason Yeah, it's cool stuff. Yeah, and then the other one is this Momentum C-Quartz 30. Kind of came out of nowhere, although you and I got a bit of a heads-up a while back when we got an email from a guy who works with Momentum, and we got a little bit of the backstory, which has now been disclosed on the story behind this watch, and that is that the founder of Momentum Uh, his family actually owned Kronosport back in the seventies and Kronosport of course, right, was the original brand that, that made the sea quartz. Um, one of the first quartz dive watches actually, uh, back in the mid seventies and it was made most famous by, uh, Magnum PI. So it was the, if you remember, I know that a lot of people associate Magnum PI with a GMT master, which he wore in later seasons. But if you watch even the opening credits and the earlier seasons, he has a, a quartz dive watch on a rubber strap. And it's, it's the chronosport C quartz 30 and man, I've, I've loved that watch for so long and I'm so happy to see someone bringing it back and momentum has done it. And the amazing thing about this is, is for one thing, it's a dead ringer for the original. Um, and it's got this great Monin style case, which is one of my favorite case styles of all time. It's the same case that CWC uses. And, um, Rhonda Swiss courts movement. But, but the most remarkable thing about it is that they're releasing it initially with a 1980 price of $195. So, you know, this is like one of those total impulse buys that, um, you know, I think has kind of blown up a few of the forums and then I've seen it discussed on the slack group. And, uh, I know a lot of people have jumped on board because now they're already on like their third run of, of pre-orders, and they're already now pushed out to May for deliveries. But what do you think of this? I think it's so cool.
James I absolutely dig it. I mean, I think the sizing makes a lot of sense. If you're the type that dive watches aren't necessarily your thing, maybe you're a dress watch guy, maybe it's all chronographs, maybe you just love vintage stuff, but you want something that is like a genuine knock around, wear it and love it, definitely take it diving, all that sort of stuff, this feels like a no-brainer. Right. I love the look. I love the fully graduated bezel. Awesome case, all brushed out. I'm assuming the loom's gonna be pretty strong. It's got plenty of space for loom. Good kind of like plow prof era aesthetics to the overall package. Right. And then a day date. Who doesn't like a day date? So handy, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think this makes a lot of sense. This would be an incredible watch to get somebody into sports watches or watches in general. Oh, totally. A fantastic graduation gift. Yeah. Father's Day gift. kid got a good grade at like it like don't get me wrong. I'm not saying 200 bucks is not a lot of money, depending on what you spend it on, but it's also like within the range of what it costs to take a family out for a meal now. Yeah, right like like in my mind when I was growing up, if it was between the whole the whole of my large family going to a local red like a swish la or something, there's a local reference for the local folks or or getting a watch I might have leaned towards the watch. So I guess that's why I say it would make a solid gift, because the stakes are kind of low. You're not pushing somebody into a mechanical. Right. This is one that you'll still set and just go with. And I also think this would be a great one in that world where... This shows you the two kind of worlds that I'm straddling, is the world where you have somebody older in your life that's not gonna wanna fiddle with a movement that wants great legibility and loom. My dad would love this watch, especially in the orange strap.
Jason Yeah. You know, Momentum's a brand that very few kind of watch enthusiasts talk about. But the funny thing is, is that, um, I mean, they've been around a good long time and, and I used to own one years ago. I think it was just kind of a field watch style and I passed it on as a gift to somebody a long time ago, but I remember it being Oh, always. Yeah. Dive shops, the shop where I go to get my tanks filled and regulator serviced. Um, they have a handful of momentum watches under the, under the glass and they're in their display case along with the dive knives and dive computers. And, uh, I hope to see this one there someday. I think, uh, you know, I'm sure this pre-order and kind of early buzz will, you know, I'm sure it's going to be a big hit. Yeah. I think it's going to be a big hit. I think it's going to be a big hit. keep them from even having to sell them in dive shops, but I'd love to see them there someday. I think it'd be such a throwback kind of bit of a small triumph for the world of analog watches again, but love this piece.
James And you get to do your own Magnum PI cosplay through the summer. Maybe see if you get a best friend with a helicopter, you could have a good time. Oh man. I'm on board. Hawaiian shirt. The other thing, yeah, exactly. Always, always with the Aloha or the Hawaiian for sure. Yeah. I'm a big fan. The other thing I would just like to add before we move on, let's get to Film Club, but a big shout out to Momentum for directly referencing the Chronosport connection. Yeah. Take it to the next level and bring out the UDT again. Oh, yeah, definitely. Let's talk. I would love one of those. I have absolutely been just jonesing for an aerospace for the last little while, and I keep just kind of fighting that by looking at the Pluton and the UDTs and that kind of stuff. And I know really I should just put on the Citizen Aqualand, which does all the same stuff and really has a similar vibe, but there's something so slick about that UDT. So I'll throw that in the show notes if you don't know that watch, but it'd be one to see. Even if it said momentum on the dial, that wouldn't bother me because you know the family connection. Yeah. But if they could find those movements and make something kind of cool, I'd be down.
Jason That'd be really fun. Yeah. I mean, same case as this with the addition of chronograph pushers and then yeah, the analog digital. Oh, so good.
James That'd be great. Yeah. It'd be fun. Yeah. All right. You want to dive into some movies? Yeah, let's do it. So this is volume nine. If this happens to be your very first film club, it is one where we kind of break format. We kind of move away from watches for an episode. And we dig kind of just into movies that we really like, that we watch frequently, or that we remember very fondly, that we would kind of enjoy to be part of the TGN library. Either they reference something kind of specific, it could be Cool Watch, it could be A Great Adventure, it could be, you know, Man vs. Nature, etc. Or it's just one that we really like and that we recommend to our friends. So we do these occasionally. Over the course of several years, we've made it to Volume 9. And Each episode involves Jason and I picking five movies a piece and kind of going back and forth. So you end up with 10 new movies to watch and we try and do at least one of these a year. Certainly we're averaging above that at this point. So Jason, why don't you kick it off with a, with your first pick for film club volume nine?
Jason Yeah, sure. My first pick is the sixth sense from 1999. This was a movie that I remember I was a little, I wasn't that enthused to see it when it came out. I thought, okay, you know, I'm not really into kind of thrillers or, or supernatural films, ghost stories, whatever you want to call it. Right. But I still consider this almost like a standard bearer for this type of movie. And I feel like, I believe this was M. Night Shyamalan's kind of first big movie. And I felt like he set the bar so high for himself that everything he's done since has always fallen short in my mind. And it's always been disappointing when he comes out with a movie because I'm always like, is it going to be as good as the sixth sense? And it never is, but he's far from a one hit wonder. But this, this movie is just, it really stands the test of time. It's, it's Bruce Willis playing a child psychologist. And then Haley Joel Osment plays this young boy who has the ability to see dead people as the famous line goes in the movie. And Bruce Willis is kind of trying to, kind of help him with his, his sort of troubles. And I don't know, there was something about this movie that, that I felt like it took the thriller or the ghost story or the supernatural film in a different direction, just through some of the techniques that were used. I remember some of the, the scenes where it was almost like the, the strategy in jaws where, you know, you don't see the shark, but you know, it's there and there's the music or maybe a flash of a fin or something. that scares you. And I felt like that's, that's how this movie was made as well. You'd see a bit of a flash across the screen, kind of almost out of the corner of your eye in the background, kind of blurred. And it was like, was that something was something there, you know, and it makes you, it kind of makes the goose bumps stand up on the back of your neck. And I just don't remember a lot of movies of this genre doing that back then. And, uh, right. You know, this was, this was kind of prime. This was, you know, the Bruce Willis is golden years. I mean, he was doing a lot of great movies back then. And, He played the role really well. And it's funny nowadays when I see Haley Joel Osment in movies or TV shows or whatever, like I always recognize him because he has these very distinctive eyes and I'm like, where do I know him from? And it's like, yep, he was, he was in the sixth sense, but just a movie that's always stuck with me as, as, uh, you know, a great one, not only in this genre, but just, uh, just a great movie in general. Good story. Well-filmed, um, good acting all around.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason How about you? Do you like this?
James I've never seen it. Oh, Wow. I can't say that I'm an ardent M. Night Shyamalan fan. I remember I remember liking signs like liking not loving. Yeah. And then I think shortly after signs came out, I went back if I have my chronology correct. I went back and watched Unbreakable.
Unknown Yeah.
James And really didn't like it. Yeah. My guess is if I watch... I should give Unbreakable another chance, because I know that people do really like them, do really like both his movies and that movie. And I can't remember... I was very young. I mean, this was a long time ago when Unbreakable would have been pseudo-modern. Yeah. I think I remember finding it too slow, maybe overly nuanced or something. I can't... I should just go back and give it another try. I feel like this might be an opinion that I formed at a time that's unfair to M. Night Shyamalan, certainly a talented guy who continues to put out work and that sort of thing. But Do you ever have that thing in your life where the memes or the references to something? Yeah, almost to fill your interest in experiencing it yourself. Like I feel like I knew I know more references to icy dead people. Yeah, yeah, and I feel like that like once you know that or you've heard fifty icy dead people jokes, it's almost like kept me from ever bothering to put this on the list of what I wanted to catch up on. Yeah, and I bet you that's a disservice. If you like it, I'm sure I would too.
Jason Well, and to your comment about being disappointed in his other movies. I mean, I fully agree. There isn't another M night Shyamalan movie that I've enjoyed. And it's not even just in comparison to this one. I just always find them. There's always a point at which the movie kind of goes over the edge of the cliff. And I'm like, ah, you've, you've lost me. This one never has that. This, this movie's I think good start to finish. I think it's, it, it is truly his best work in my opinion. So, I would say rather than go back and rewatch Unbreakable, I'd say give this one a go.
James All right. I'll put it on the list. I like it. I don't think I don't think that we've put anything on the film club except maybe the Fitzcarraldo.
Unknown Oh, yeah.
James Yeah, that's the one. I think that's the only one from the list. I haven't gone back and watched. Oh, yeah. I tried to find it on one of my various sources and couldn't yeah and and then didn't didn't double down, but that's so I'll have to get to that and I'll have to get to the six cents for sure. Yeah. All right. What's your first? I'm gonna I'm gonna start with one that I'm blown away wasn't in volumes one through eight. You know, obviously we started film club before twenty nineteen, but I'm surprised that this Netflix movie called Triple Frontier wasn't it was probably I probably just put it in a in a final notes and I've forgotten about it. Yeah. So it hasn't been in a past episode of Film Club, but it definitely kind of feels like it. This is a movie that I don't think could exist now. Like if they were to make it today, it would be, I think, a vastly different movie. But this came out just before the pandemic. So this was 2019. It's again called Triple Frontier. It is directed by J.C. Chandor and it stars Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Garrick Hedlund, Pedro Pascal, The basic conceit of the film is loyalties are tested when five friends and former special forces operatives reunite to take down a South American drug lord, unleashing a chain of unintended consequences. So this is basically a movie made for me. This has become a joke among my brothers and I that if we talk about movies long enough, I bring up Triple Frontier. So I'm a huge Ben Affleck fan, massive Pedro Pascal fan, and Oscar Isaac can do no wrong in my mind. I really adored this movie when it came out, and I've watched it probably eight or nine times. Wow. Over the course, since 2019. I just really like the pacing of the movie. There's no lulls. It falls directly into that dad thriller vibe like... Yeah, I can't say enough great stuff about this. I think even since this movie was made, Oscar Isaac and Pedro Pascal have become even bigger stars, especially if you talk about the Delta, like Pedro Pascal between Mandalorian and now Last of Us and several movies, just increasingly ratcheting up the level of kind of notoriety. And I just don't know that this movie would be made the same way today. Sure. Just a couple years later, four years later, I don't think that this movie would be Netflix only thing but the the action is excellent the storyline I think is fascinating if you watch the the full trailer you'll understand kind of the scope of the of the thing but it isn't you basically only get to the end of the second act by the time the main plot point has happened and the rest is is the fallout it's great I like this movie wall-to-wall for sure amazing
Jason Yeah. I've never seen this. You know, every time I turn on our smart TV, I always see this up on the top as like one of the suggested films. It either knows me well or you're, you're planting it there. But yeah, that's a, that's a good sign that I should watch this. When you were talking about the plot, it reminded me of something like predator or the expendables or something where you get this sort of star studded, you know, very masculine cast of, of kind of military guys that get together to carry out a project.
James Yeah, it's not as goofy as an expendable, but this is for those of you who are wondering like J.C. Chandor, this is not his first film. He directed the absolutely incredible Margin Call, could easily be a TGN special. Yeah. A TGN film club pick. He also did All Is Lost, which has a great Seiko cameo and our favorite Robert Redford. And he did A Most Violent Year, which is kind of the movie that kicked off Oscar Isaac's sort of rise. All great movies. Margin Call is one that, yeah, that's another one that could easily be a film club pick. But yeah, he does a great job, and I think he did a great job with this. And the only thing is that it's kind of like it kind of got depressed by only being a Netflix movie. Oh, sure.
Jason Yeah, I think there's gonna be this like black hole in the movie industry where there's gonna be a lot of these great films from that 2019 through 2021 period that people are going to be rediscovering for a long time.
James I agree. And a lot came out like there was a drought for a little while when everybody was holding movies like what happened with Bond. Yeah. But then after that, there was this like flood.
Unknown Yeah.
James And like a lot of stuff came out and you realize like, Oh, there's so there's stuff from the last two years of the Oscars. I haven't seen. Right. Like I haven't had time to check out or whatever. So I would say add this to your list, especially if you like, like paramilitary sort of stuff. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. All right. Your second pick.
Jason Well, kind of along the same lines, I guess, sort of action film.
James Yeah. My triple frontier does not exist without your next.
Jason I'm moving up a few years from sixth sense to 2002 and the born identity. Um, this is a movie I thought might've been on a past, uh, film club. I mean, there obviously are some hidden gems we've, we've left off over the years. I've always been a devoted bond fan and I know there have been a lot of comparisons like who would win James Bond or Jason Bourne and you know, which movies are better arguably or not even arguably at this era in, in the early two thousands, this was the latter era of Pierce Brosnan. The movies were getting a little kind of far fetched and comical. And I think the Bourne movies were, creating like a whole new genre of action film, very smart, very visceral action sequences. You know, they felt very jarring and realistic. The storyline, I mean, it's based on a bestselling great thriller, um, by Robert Ludlam. And, uh, you know, Matt Damon's one of those actors that he's never at the top of my list. He's, he almost kind of fits in that Ben Affleck, Tom Cruise category, but like everyone I see him in, he's good. And, And this movie has, has everything. I mean, I've seen the followups to this and I would say all of the Bourne movies have been good, but you know, you've got to go back to the first one. I mean, it has this sort of globe hopping action, great car chases, the, you know, going down the steps in the mini. Incredible cast. Yeah. Great cast. You've got, you know, Brian Cox, Chris Cooper, Clive Owens in this.
James You can't find me a bad Chris Cooper. It doesn't exist.
Jason Oh yeah.
James He's great. Yeah. He's great. Um, Brian Cox. Yeah. Yeah, man. Yeah. And a fantastic third act, essentially a cameo by Clive Owen. Right. Who at the time was like a thing, but like more in the BBC sense of being a thing. Right. He hadn't become the Clive Owen that we know.
Unknown Yeah.
James And talk about a hit rate on film clubs. Clive Owen's in a few. Yeah, true. Yeah, you're right. And then this is also Doug Lyman, so an incredible director, Edge of Tomorrow, Live, Die, Repeat, one of my favorite Tom Cruise. ones out there. He also like one of his earlier movies was swingers. If you didn't see that, yeah, it's not the conventional use of the term swingers, which I won't explain for those who have their kids in the car, right? It's like people going out and dancing to swing music in the nineties. Yeah. John Favreau kind of kicked off his career, a very early Vince Vaughn as well. A fantastic movie if you haven't seen it and then born identity like come on.
Jason Yeah, so good. I need to re watch this. I need to watch this and I need to need to watch triple frontier and just kind of get get the juices flowing.
James This is good stuff. I remember watching the born identity and kind of having the same feeling as when I first saw the matrix where I was like, Oh, I'm seeing something I haven't really seen before. You know that that opening sequence where he wakes up on the park bench. Yeah, and you know, it's kind of groggy and clearly dealing with the amnesia that's central to the plot line and dismantles these two guards and kind of scares himself and you're like, Oh, that's right, right.
Unknown Okay, cool.
James We're seeing something neat And the movie has this real guy against the worst side of the government thing. Yeah, always a good theme. And they do that almost better than anyone else. Sure, there's Mission Impossible 1, his whole team is dead, so he's obviously the fall guy. Kittredge is gonna put him down, all this kind of stuff. But I feel like this does the same. This follows in a very similar arc to the first Mission Impossible. Obviously, the Mission Impossible lost their way. In my opinion, they got kind of crazy with the John Woo stuff, still entertaining, but wild. Yeah, one of the weirdest Philip Seymour Hoffman's ever. Yeah, in whatever that was the third one, maybe. And then they've come back since then to be kind of these central action, huge set piece movies that are the last couple of been incredible. But the first Mission Impossible is its own thing, right? Obviously, it had the dangling from the ceiling and the rest of it, but it had this nuance of like little group against the world. all of the CIA, all of Interpol, all of this, and I think they do this really well. And I watched the born a day not that long ago, and I think the only thing that didn't age that all that well is the way in which they were filming action at the time where these crazy fast cuts. Yeah, yeah, where the cuts are so fast, you can't actually tell who's doing what who's going to punch. How is it working? Who's winning this fight? It just feels like stress. Yeah, and I think that was a thing for a few years and we've kind of come a different direction from from the like. It's a little bit. We're seeing more action in the wide angle. Sometimes it felt like there were two or three camera moves or camera cuts for one punch. Whereas now you might, you know, in a John Wick, you might have 10 or 15 moves for a cut. It may be the only thing that doesn't age that well, because I think the rest of this movie feels so dialed in on a time. The cell phones, the cars, the way they're dressed. It's all really good. And for me is aged pretty well.
Jason Yeah. And I think you don't get the Daniel Craig Bond movies without the Bourne identity, because I think it was almost a Casino Royale was almost made directly as a response. You know, I'm projecting here, but directly as a response to, um, the Bourne identity, I think, you know, when Brosnan was driving invisible cars across the ice and all that sort of stuff, it was feeling very dated, very farfetched. And then you get the Bourne identity and it was like, Whoa, this is, this is like action hero, territory, globe hopping gadgets, et cetera. And, and then, like you get Casino Royale and it was like, okay, they're waking up to this.
James So yeah, I love this one. Yeah. Solid pick. Another good one for sure. All right. I'm going to follow up the Bourne Identity with a movie that also features Clive Owen, but as the lead and it came out the year before and it couldn't be more different. It's called Gosford Park. Oh yeah. And it's a movie I've been thinking about a lot because not only do I love it and it's kind of perfect. It's like one of those movies where you watch a play happen. Here's the synopsis. Set in the 1930s, this movie brings a group of pretentious, rich and famous people together for a weekend of relaxation at a hunting resort. When a murder occurs, each one of these interesting characters becomes a suspect. So not only is this movie I really like, but it's a movie where when I watch Knives Out or Glass Onion, I think of Gosford Park as being like the progenitor of this. It has a little bit of the Poirot feel. It has the whodunit. it's a little bit clue, but it's, it has just the most amazing cast. So obviously Clive Owen is, is, is among the top, but it's Maggie Smith, Ryan Phillippe, Michael Gambon, Kristen Scott Thomas, Camila Rutherford, Charles Dance, Tom Hollander. If you just watched White Lotus, Tom Hollander plays an incredible role in the second season of White Lotus. I absolutely love this. It's a, it's super watchable. I think it's aged really well. They just hit the thirties and it still works. and especially because a lot of this stuff has become increasingly popular that era between the crown and other stuff like that. I think that this movies kind of do now 2021 years in 22 years in for a bit of a rehash and if you haven't seen Gosford Park, no, it's not a paramilitary action adventure in South America, it's something else entirely, but it is a really beautiful, really entertaining and very well told film
Jason Yeah, this is great. And you've reminded me how much I like this one. And another great thing about setting a movie in an era like the 1930s is you, you don't have to worry about dated technology popping up in the movie. I mean, it's all, it's dated that's built into it. Yep. So you don't have to worry about cell phones and cars and things like that. It's just, it is what it is. And what a great cast. That's a, that's a really good pick.
James Yeah, it's, it's, it's a good one. And it's one that I assume just, just with so many people talking about glass onion, which I thought was fine. I enjoyed it. It was entertaining. But while watching that, and I remember I enjoyed Knives Out more, but while watching Knives Out, I just kept thinking of Gosford Park. Yeah.
Unknown I figured I'd throw it in there.
James It's a good comparison. Yeah. All right. What do you got for your third?
Jason All right. I don't know what order I'm going in today, but I'll just roll with it here. Zero Dark Thirty from 2012, a show that Ghoshani and I recently watched, The Looming Tower. For those who haven't seen that, I highly recommend that series with Jeff Daniels is about the, the kind of the failure of American intelligence to, to stop the nine 11 attacks. Well, it was logical then to watch zero dark 30 because it's the obviously the aftermath, the hunt for Osama bin Laden. It's such an intelligently done, very tense movie with some really good actors. Jessica Chastain is just excellent in this role. Chris Kratz in it. Mark Strong. I mean, Mark Strong is great in this movie. Uh, as he always is Joel Edgerton. It's a fantastic movie. I'm a sucker for kind of these, you know, deep, deep dive kind of CIA intelligence kind of movies, kind of, uh, I guess a deeper, more intelligent version of the, like the Jack Ryan series or Homeland or something like that. But obviously, you know, true story set, set in real life. And it was, uh, I believe it won a bunch of awards. It was directed by Catherine Bigelow. Um, and, uh, Yeah, based on a fairly well-known book as well. So, yeah, that's my pick. I assume you've seen this one.
James I have a couple of times. I was a huge Bigelow fan after The Hurt Locker. Yeah. I thought it was an incredible film, you know, really introduced Renner to a big, wide, powerful audience, you know, won the Oscar, even better took the Oscar from Avatar. I thought her locker was great and then to follow it up with something that like was only a few years after that event happened. Yeah, it could have been so much cheesier and I think the tone kind of comes down closer to body of lies, which we've referenced previously, which has these it's a lot of tense conversations that lead up to action. Yeah, this movie was really like a different director and a different lead away from being an entirely different film right like if this wasn't Catherine Bigelow and it was you know, Mark Wahlberg as the lead, I think it could have gone in a different direction to its credit. I think it does a great job. Yeah. All right.
Jason What's your number three?
James So my number three is one of the new ones that I mentioned right at the top of the show that I've been thinking about, because this is a good time to go back and watch movies you might've missed. And this is also a movie you're going to hear a ton about over the next little while it's winning plenty of awards. It'll probably continue to do so. And that's this movie called everything, everywhere, all at once. And what I like about this movie is sort of like Knives Out and Glass Onion, I never really meet anyone who wasn't in the audience for this movie, like where it doesn't work for you at all.
Unknown Yeah.
James I've also never seen a movie like this. It's dual directors. So it's Dan Kwan and Daniel Shiner, to my apologies of that pronunciation isn't great. And it's essentially a movie that deals with the concept of infinite realities and a very, sort of mundane, common, everyday person having been given the ability to move between those realities as a way of almost appreciating life differently in a little bit of like an Ebenezer Scrooge element. Oh, sure. A sub story. Yeah. We're seeing how things could have been different, or if you change one thing about a reality, how it kind of cascades out. And it's really wild and zany. It's not rooted in a conventional filmmaking reality or the conventions of like a normal thriller or an action movie or a family drama. It's like pieces of all of that. And I'm definitely not the first person to praise this movie, but it is a complicated kind of jaw dropping visual demonstration of something that is otherwise exceedingly difficult to describe. So I really just recommend checking out everything everywhere all at once, which is from last year and is currently winning all the awards.
Jason Well, that's a good pick. I've seen stuff about it lately, obviously with award season, but yeah, I didn't know anything about it. So yeah, I'll take your recommendation. Check that one out.
James Yeah. Michelle Yeoh does just an absolutely incredible job, kind of like bringing something really special and specific to the core of this role, which is very much dependent upon her. because so much of what's around her is changing constantly. Oh, yeah. And then it just gets wilder from there. Yeah, I'm a huge fan. I thought this worked out really well and it was definitely one of the more special movies I've seen from 2022 gave me a little bit of like the tenant feeling like I'm seeing something I haven't seen before or I've seen I'm seeing a treatment of of something I understand such as time travel or whatever, but taking it to a different kind of level and execution. Yeah, that's my third. What do you got next?
Jason I'm going back in time now. Most of my movies have been well not Not that recent, but I'm now going way back, uh, 1973, uh, the day of the Jackal. So this is one of those classic, you know, I would almost put this in the kind of where Eagles dare, you know, Saturday afternoon movie time on the sofa, Edward Fox plays a kind of shadowy assassin who's hired to assassinate Charles de Gaulle, the, the president of France. This is back in the seventies, um, actually set in the sixties based largely on some true elements, uh, from, from a time when there was a lot of kind of political unrest and strife and sort of, uh, uprisings in, in France over their liberation of Algeria from, from colonialism. It's just, it's based on a Frederick Forsyth books of Frederick Forsyth, uh, famously from our TGN recommendation, the, Uh, the shepherd that we, uh, we always talk about around Christmas time. Um, he's a great thriller writer, maybe a little bit wordy if you read his books, but, um, as a, as a movie plot, uh, it's just a fantastic story. Um, with it, with a great cast, kind of this classic early seventies European style, uh, kind of thriller movie. And, um, you know, just kind of along the lines of, you know, uh, three days of the Condor or the French connection or marathon man or something like that, that, you know, you, you, you, You watch this type of movie for a certain vibe and it's just got that in spades. I think this is a great film. Have you seen this one?
James Yeah. It's been a long time, but I have seen it and it is an absolute winner for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely put this on the list. If you like some of the older films that we pick, this is going to fall right in step with, with a lot of what we talked about before.
Jason Yeah. And one of the great things about these old kind of 70s movies is, or 60s, 70s, whatever is, is just picking up some of the, the style cues, the clothing, you know, you get a little thrill when you see somebody's wristwatch or like an old car. Absolutely. I always look for like old Land Rovers in some of these movies. I'm just kind of watching the trailer on mute now. And there's a lot of great old, you know, Citroen DSs racing around Paris and, and stuff like that. So it's a, that's always a fun part of it too.
James Absolutely. Yeah, no, I, I don't, I can't, I can't offer any fault. It's a great one. It's one I should definitely see. I probably haven't seen in 20 years. Yeah. So it's definitely, definitely worth checking out again. All right. What's your next pick? My fourth is gonna be the weirdest one, I think. Actually, I didn't double check this, so I could be off, but I believe this is the first animated film suggested to the Film Club, and it's 1995's Ghost in the Shell.
Jason Wow, it's that old, huh?
James Jeez. It's been on my watch list, so it was remade a few years back with Scarlett Johansson. That's a heart, that's an easy skip. Easy skip, don't bother, because this exists. Yeah. don't bother watching the new one. There's nothing left to do better than this one. Yeah, and where they had opportunities to take it to the next level, they decided to not bother. So ghost in the shell has been on my list of things to watch based on recommendations from my friends for since one thousand nine hundred and ninety six like look for you know twenty five years or whatever it is. Yeah, you know it was massively popular in its day. It's the story of a cyborg police woman in a future. You know major city has a lot of like sort of Blade Runner-y sort of vibes. Her and her partner are on the hunt for a mysterious and powerful hacker called the Puppet Master. And it deals with some connective tissue with some other movies that we will talk about in the next few minutes, where the concept of can a robot, can a mechanically created entity have a soul, which they call a ghost in the parlance of this story. And it's all about the concept of existence and where humanity stops and ends based on your actions, based on your ability. At what point could you start or stop being human based on what's been changed? Maybe more of like if you think of your body and the sort of concept of like the ship of Theseus sort of debate. So it deals with all those things. It's also like insanely gorgeously hand drawn and the music is wild. it's rated fourteen. There's definitely like plenty of adult themes and visuals in this, so it's not something I would say like, hey, it's animated. Check it out with your kids or whatever. Maybe watch it yourself and decide from there. It falls into some of the aesthetic pitfalls of anime in general, and I'm not a huge animation fan, which is why I waited forever to see this, but I just watched it this past week after after again being told by a friend that I would probably enjoy it. and there's a bunch of connective tissue aesthetically to movies that we'll recognize like The Matrix and stuff like that, that have borrowed heavily on what was established in sort of the action and kinetic elements of Ghost in the Shell. So yeah, it's my first time seeing it. I'll definitely add it to the list and I just really enjoyed it. It felt like, you know, I was watching kind of the center of a web of something I've appreciated kind of the outer tendrils of for a long time. Interesting.
Jason Yeah. I'll have to check that out. And I think it's particularly, um, apropos given how you described it, that, uh, that my last pick, uh, this week is, is the original Blade Runner from 1982. Um, you know, I, again, a movie I thought we might've included in the past. I know we talked about Blade Runner 2049 and I probably referenced Blade Runner when you were talking about 2049, but, I mean, this is one of my all time favorite movies. I mean, full stop. I, I, I absolutely adore this movie. You know, there've been a few different versions of it. I think I still like the original with, with the Harrison Ford voiceover, you know, Ridley Scott film, great cast. I mean, it's been referenced so many times and, and I think it's, it's grown in reputation. Um, people have, are finally fully, fully appreciating this movie or have over the past decade or so. Um, Funny thing is I watched a little bit of it the other day and, and you know, it opens in 2019. So now we're already past the, the, the year that it was set as a science fiction movie, which is kind of funny. But I don't know that everything from, from the soundtrack to kind of the visuals, it was just a, it's just such a tremendous film. And my appreciation for Harrison Ford has just been growing so much lately. I've been watching kind of old interviews with him and kind of want to revisit some of his old films. Some of which I suppose might appear on future film clubs. But yeah, this is definitely one of my top 10 movies, I would say personally.
James It's perfect. He's incredible in it. He embodies that character so well. The dialogue is incredible, like quotable, lasting. If you haven't seen this, do it tonight. Yeah. It's incredible. It's so good. Yeah. And I think it's aged pretty well in many ways. A lot of it feels cliche. but you might in some ways be watching where the cliche started, right? You know the rainy neon street with the cleaning machine that goes by and the grizzled cop eating like weird noodles in a space where nobody's talking, you know all that stuff like you could it's in ghosts in the shell, it's in it's in blade runner twenty forty nine, it's in all sorts of of other things that that have done that and I think it's it's a it's an interesting thing to see one of the origin points of what became kind of a defining aesthetic from the 80s, right? Yeah, the way that we all thought of the future, and of course we're here now. It's four years after Blade Runner was set, and it hasn't quite gone that way, but you do see these like these kind of touch points, and it's a fantastic movie from an absolutely incredible director. Yeah. Speaking of body of lies, right? Yeah. Among, you know, So many other great ones. Yeah, but yeah, good pick and highly recommended might be the pick of the of the show so far. All right, what's your what's your last one? So for my final, this is a funny one. It's one that I watched on a plane recently and just couldn't couldn't peel my eyes away from this from the screen. I just absolutely loved it. It's a 2022 is the unbearable weight of massive talent and the synopsis largely gets the tone of it in this action packed comedy. Nicholas Cage plays Nick Cage, Nick with a K instead of just NIC channeling his iconic characters as he's caught between a super fan, Pedro Pascal and a CIA agent played by Tiffany Haddish. So it's Nick Cage playing a version of himself that's constantly having arguments with a not. I'm going to use the term deep faked. It's technically not. It's a D aged version of himself referencing characters from his past. huh as as his career isn't necessarily working out that well and he's not getting the roles that he wants. He comes in contact with a super fan who has a ton of money that could get him out of a problem. If he helps him make a movie and that's played by Pedro Pascal, who's a cd guy, very funny, but also genuinely loves Nick Cage's movies and wants to make a Nick Cage movie and it's all it's. It's this overlapping reference upon reference, Nick Cage, like I believe to be simply one of the most amazing actors capable of doing so much. He's been in stuff that's kind of laughable. He's been in stuff that's meant to be funny, and he's been in some of the best movies ever made. So it all kind of makes sense that there's that range there. I wouldn't necessarily say I liked this as much as a movie he did a few years ago called Mandy, but I also don't know if I could actually recommend Mandy on a film club. I worry that someone who doesn't know that director or checked out the trailer even wouldn't understand the tone of that movie and would would, you know, never listen to TGN again, but I really enjoyed Mandy aside. I really enjoyed the unbearable weight of massive talent. This is super funny, really well performed and and it just kind of feels like it exists within the knowledge of the way that a lot of different generations have to interface with Nick Cage because he's been around for so long. Yeah, and I just thought it was wonderful. He's great in it. Pascal's great. Another Pedro Pascal. Yeah, that that's my pick. It'll you'll definitely get a laugh out of it for sure. Oh, that's great.
Jason Good one to close out the film club. I think we had a lot of, or at least mine, when I look back, I like had a lot of pretty serious kind of heavy films and I think you had a few in there too. Yeah, same. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure. Good one to close out on.
James Yeah. So that's our, that's our 10. Jason, you went with the Sixth Sense from 1999. 2002 is The Bourne Identity. 2012 is Zero Dark Thirty. 1973 is The Day of the Jackal and 1982 is Blade Runner. A pretty solid five right there. That'd be a pretty long weekend to do all five at once. Maybe throw in, I don't know, some sort of other activity or comedy or something.
Jason Yeah. And you had 2019's Triple Frontier, one I definitely have to check out. 2022's Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. 1995's Ghost in the Shell. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, 2022. And Gosford Park from 2001. Not bad. Fun 10 movies. That should sustain listeners for a good long time, I would think.
James Yeah, it's got to be the better part of like 22 to 24 hours. Yeah. You know, you could get a whole day.
Jason Yeah. So if you come down with my head cold, maybe that's your weekend.
James Yeah. Scratch a few of these off the list for sure. But look, speaking of time, we're going extra long in this episode, which is fine for a film club. But why don't we jump right into Final Notes and put a bow on it?
Jason Yeah, sure. I'll kick it off with an article on Adventure Journal. Um, that I sent you, I came across this, uh, last week and it's, it's actually an article that's in response to a different article that was on outside by a guy that, that you've mentioned before, Wes Seiler, who writes a lot about overlanding and vehicle builds and camping kind of practicalities. And in that piece, Wes Seiler, um, was kind of writing about people who soup up their Subarus and kind of build them out to be kind of overlanding vehicles with big tires and skid plates and roof racks. air compressors and things. And he's saying, you know, don't do that. Just go buy a truck. This article is a direct response to that. And it's on adventure journal and it's called actually do whatever you want with your Subaru. And it's by Justin Houseman. And, um, actually I guess this article was from last February. Um, but I just came across it and, and it's, it, the reason I found it interesting was, you know, I don't really care what people drive or what they do to their Subarus, but yeah, it's sort of rung true along with a lot of the arguments we hear in the watch world. You know, don't wear your dive watches on, on leather. Don't, you know, wear a watch on your right hand or, you know, whatever the kind of those pedantic phrases are. And, and I think, you know, what it all comes down to with, with some of these hobbies is just, you know, wear what you want, drive what you want. It's your stuff. I mean, you know, have fun with it. And I think what I loved about this article was, you know, as someone who owns a, a rather serious looking off-road vehicle in the Land Rover. It is, it does strike me as a little bit, um, over the top to, to be, you know, perusing websites for winches and, and, you know, uh, traction plates and, and, you know, kidding out with every little accessory when, you know, our Volvo XC60, um, with some proper tires and maybe a little bit of a lift could, could go 99% of the places that we want to go. Right. So it just, it was, it was a great piece and, and, you know, a nice counterpoint to, to a more pedantic sort of viewpoint.
James Yeah, absolutely. I think, I think it's a good one. And I mean, you, you referenced like the watch side of it. If you want to dig in deeper than this, you know, shout out to episode one 98, should you break these watch rules where we kind of dig into stuff like the leather watch or stuff like the leather strap on a dive watch and, and other stuff beyond that. The funny thing is, is I feel like the the the West Siler style content about what you should do versus the response in the Subaru. Yeah, like in some ways they're doing exactly the same thing. They're providing an opinion on a topic that's pretty nuanced. Yeah, it's just like West has probably made every mistake that you can make and he says like if you just want to do it and be done with it, do this right and he says it with the conviction of someone who like made all the mistakes along the way, whether it was modifying an inappropriate vehicle or otherwise. But what you end up with is this sort of steadfast, subjective opinion that's rooted in objective values, right? But it can end up being inflexible, which I think is how you could describe some of the way that Wes operates. I like Wes's coverage of all sorts of stuff. I like that a lot of it comes down to data and looking to give you the straightest line to the best possible result. And then to Justin Hausman's credit, the Subarus are a great platform. And as long as there's backup in the industry to buy the pieces you want, as long as it suits your needs, you're good. I think that it might just be a question of like mixed needs. And so you have this sort of call and response. And I don't think either either are wrong. I actually really enjoyed the Subaru, the Subaru one. And I think you can you can see some some credit to what Justin's outlaying in the fact that Subaru is making from the factory like increasingly off road specific vehicles that are compromised from their on road standpoint, not unlike my Wrangler or your Land Rover, not great necessarily on the road, but excel at going places where your standard vehicle might not. It's always a task when you're reviewing something or offering pretty ardent, expensive advice, like go buy a truck or put thousands of dollars into a Subaru and you might actually end up with less fuel economy and a bumpier ride and more noise. I feel like if you're not an enthusiast, you could read either one of these and that would become a whole opinion rather than like a data point for an opinion. You know what I mean? Whereas if you get deep enough, you go like, but it's all so nuanced. Sometimes reviewing things, watches included, doesn't leave a ton of room for nuance. Because you only have... There's only so many words, right? Just like there's only so many minutes in a podcast. Right, right. I like it though. Good stuff for sure. And yeah, do whatever you want with your car, do whatever you want with your watches. Rules are kind of silly. If you do something and it suits your life worse than you made, you turned the wrong way. And that happens to the best of us. All right. What are you gonna wrap it up with? Yeah, so to close out the show, mine is actually a product recommendation. It's one I've been waiting a little while for, for a restock. So it's made by Peak Design and it's their Packable Tote. So obviously, I live in a world where I have all the bags I need and then several more. But the one hole that I found, especially for my camera layout, the bag I would take on most trips, is that if you have one or two more things, you get something on the trip, you buy something at duty free, or even next into about two weeks, I go to Switzerland for a few days. Yeah. And I'm gonna have a couple cameras, my laptop, all that. So what if I wanna leave the hotel with one camera and my daily carry. Right. It's just the flexibility of having one more bag that's very innocuous. So basically, that led me to this hunt for a variety of simple totes. And I have a couple totes that are kind of semi rigid, kind of fold up like a paper bag.
Unknown Yeah.
James And I'll put one of those under the camera insert in my bag. So when I get to the hotel or whatever, I have a simple cloth tote that I can put a few things in if I wanna walk around and I don't wanna carry a camera bag. It's super handy and I really like it. but this is a little bit in elegant, they don't always have a zippered top, so rain and the rest of it, they're not always water resistant and often they either say something on them or or you know aren't as subtle as as what you might prefer, and so peak design for twenty dollars makes this very packable little tote. I wouldn't say it's attractive when it's open, but it's very innocuous, it just looks like something you could put groceries in or whatever, and I would prefer that to any other option. If it looked really fancy, it would have probably also way more and would be overall like a larger thing to carry around. But for $20, this thing packs down to be roughly the footprint of your phone, but a little bit bigger, obviously thicker, because it's kind of puffy. So it's easy to carry around. You can tuck it into a bag. I've had it in the pocket of my jacket, So that way if you go and you're out and you go, Oh, you know what? I do need eggs. And while I'm at the store, I still need some crackers or cheese or whatever else things I eat. You have that with you. And especially like now there's no bags offered, no plastic bags offered.
Unknown Yeah.
James And, um, and, and so I'm going to give this a test run for the next little while, but for $20, I've had it for a little bit and about a week now, and I've been largely impressed with it. I think they've done a good job. If, if I could ever make my own bag, this is where I'd be leaning. something similar to this, but maybe a little bit aesthetically, a little bit more refined than just being kind of the... When you see this, you'll know what I mean. It's a very simple, straightforward bag. It's a pouch, essentially, that's quite large, works like a tote. And yeah, I like the usability of something like this, and it gives me a nice backup if I come home with more than I left with, or you don't need to carry something on the fly.
Jason Yeah, that's a smart smart call. I think, um, your, your idea of, you know, you're out, I mean, we go for a lot of walks in the summer and then we say, Oh, we should swing by the grocery store. And it's like, Oh, well don't have a bag or whatever. And you don't always want to carry a backpack empty while you're just walking around. And yeah, this is a nice, it's a nice size, you know, and peak designs is one of those companies that kind of like what we've talked about with, with snow peak and whatever, I just admire all their aesthetics and their design and it's just, yeah, good stuff.
James So check that out. It'll be in the show notes, but that's my final note for the week. And I think that puts a bow on the show for TGN Film Club Volume 9. Who knew we would make it to 9? We'll be double digits probably before the end of the year. Yeah, good stuff. Good films. Well, hey, 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 consider supporting the show directly, which will get you into the slack with about 800 other people these days and possibly give you the option of grabbing a new TGN signed NATO. Just visit TheGreyNado.com for more details. Music throughout is of course, Siesta by Jazzar via the free music archive.
Jason And we leave you with this quote from Alfred Hitchcock who said, I'm a writer and therefore automatically a suspicious character.