The Grey NATO – 250 – Film Club Vol. 10

Published on Thu, 24 Aug 2023 06:00:00 -0400

Synopsis

The podcast discusses the 250th episode of The Graynado, a show about travel, diving, driving gear, and watches. For this special Film Club Volume 10 episode, Jason and his co-host share their top 5 movie picks from different genres and time periods, including Ronin (1998), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Snatch (2000), To Catch a Thief (1955), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), The Departed (2006), Charade (1963), Play Misty for Me (1971), The Killing Fields (1984), and Annihilation (2018). They provide detailed synopses, discuss the films' merits, and share personal connections to some of the movies.

Transcript

Speaker
Jason Heaton Hello and welcome to another episode of the Graynado, a loose discussion of travel, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 250 and it's proudly brought to you by, well, not so recently formed TGN supporter crew. And we thank you all so much for your continued support all these episodes. And if you'd like to support the show and aren't already, please visit thegraynado.com for more details. Gosh, uh, 250, we're a quarter of the way to, a thousand episodes. When will we get there? My goodness.
Co-host I don't, I don't know if we'll make it to a thousand. Let's be clear. But I also had no idea that we'd make it to two 50. Yeah. Uh, this is a, this feels like kind of a, like a bigger number. This feels a bit like a hundred, like two 50, you know, yeah, we are one quarter of the way to something like a thousand. I'm trying to think if I listened to any podcasts that have four digits, I don't think so. Oh, I have, I have a couple that I've been listening to like for a very long time. Like my brother, my brother in me is a very longstanding, like, comedy podcast from three brothers. Um, and I feel like they're in the seven hundreds. Ooh, wow. Granted, I guess we were somewhat slowed down by the fact that for, for those of you who, who didn't jump in on TGN really early, we used to be every other week and were for quite a long time until the pandemic. So for the first, what, four and a half years of the show. Yeah, that's true. Uh, we only did every other week. So, uh, sometimes I'll see a podcast that I know started years after us and they're numbers are higher. And I always go like, we really, really kind of slowed the start there with the every other week. But yeah, 250 is amazing. Yeah. Um, I'm super happy with where the show is and where the community is and the rest of it. So I really couldn't be, couldn't have imagined that this is where we would be even after 250 episodes, you know, that's gotta be pushing up on 325 hours, maybe more. probably more of the show, all things concerned, which is pretty fun. And then, yeah, it's also kind of cool because this is not only episode 250, but it's also Film Club volume 10. So it's, I think it's our longest standing sub franchise. If we're going to give it such a silly name, but it's a good one to run because we're recording this kind of during the first week of the summer break. And this will cover us for Jason's summer break. I got the timing wrong on the two weeks that I picked to have off. It covers my vacation, but not Jason's. I had it shifted by one week. So this way, this episode will come out the first week back from our vacation, but it'll be kind of not that heavy in terms of like watch news. If some insane watch news happens after August 8th, my apologies, we'll get to it in episode 251.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I mean, that's, it seems like, uh, what this, this episode won't run for another three weeks. So yeah, our, our chit chat sections a bit, a bit of a moot point. I mean, by the time we, you know, if we did a weather report here, it'd be more summery and chances are the next time we record, it's going to be a hate to say it, you know, it's going to be like Labor Day week or something end of summer, but we won't, we won't talk about that. Yeah.
Co-host Yeah. I can't, I can't think about it. I was, I was out with some friends recently and I just said, you know, we're, we're closer to snow than we are the start of good. Yeah. You know, it's, it's too much. It's kind of, yeah. Uh, the summer, summer's blown by, which I suppose is how you, how you want it to go. When people are listening to this episode, you will be in Ecuador to speaking of, uh, you know, kind of warmer climates. But I guess what is the sort of scenario there? I think he said last week that it's a bit on the chilly side this time of year.
Jason Heaton Yeah. That's what, uh, that's what the guys from the Manta trust told me. They said, you know, pack a fleece and a light jacket. Um, cause it's, It's winter in the southern hemisphere. So that that's where I'll be barely in the southern hemisphere. But, uh, yeah, we'll see. I mean, I looked at the weather and it doesn't look, it's not exactly winter as we know it here. So I'm, I'm, I mean, I don't want to get overconfident, but I don't think I'll be, I don't think I'll be that cold. Um, but we'll see. So, yeah, I mean, I'll be, I'll be there when you're listening to this episode. If you're listening to it on the first day, it comes out. Um, you can certainly hit up my, Instagram, if you want any kind of photos or kind of little short reports from, from the field, from where I am. Um, but otherwise we'll, uh, we can certainly talk about, about that trip and your trip to Mexico, uh, in episode two 51, which will be at the end of August.
Co-host Very nice. Yeah, absolutely. Looking forward to that. And the other thing that we will have towards the end of August is more pins for the summer bundle. So if you have your order in for the summer bundle, currently we've paused ordering. so that we don't end up with more orders than we have stock. The numbers are quite low, so we may turn that back on to finish out the run once you're back from Ecuador, Jason. But right now, we're kind of in a holding pattern, waiting for a few pins. They should arrive like in the next 10 days from when we're recording this. So for everybody who is waiting, one, we appreciate your patience, of course. And two, you should have more movement on your package come towards the end of August, early September.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I should be able to clean, clear out the, uh, the basement, uh, once and for all. Um, yeah, when I'm back, I, I, I spent yesterday kind of prepping, I loaded a bunch of FedEx pouches with the printed labels and kind of staged everything so that, that when I come back, uh, and, and those pins are in hand, it'll be pretty quick to, to get the packages put together and then run off to FedEx and get everybody there, their bundles. So, yeah, thanks everybody for the orders. And, uh, as always, if, if you have a question about your order or if you've received an order and something's amiss, Uh, do just write to us at the gray, NATO, uh, at gmail.com. Or, um, if you're on our Slack community, you can shoot me a DM there as well.
Co-host So for sure. Well, nice. You want to jump into some risk check before we jump further into some films?
Jason Heaton Yeah, definitely. I've been kind of wearing this, uh, Tag Heuer super professional quite a bit lately. I've sort of been swapping that around with that Zodiac C crown that I've got on loan from, from Zodiac. I kind of can't, can't take this a super professional off. It's for, for a thousand meter water resistant watch. It's surprisingly comfortable. You know, a lot of times these deep diving watches are, are kind of heavy chunks, but this one, um, they managed to kind of keep it fairly slim and light and it wears really nicely on the bracelet. So yeah, that's what I've got on, but you know, who's to say what, by the time this episode goes live, I'll have on my wrist might be a, might be a Carl Bucherer because that's who's underwriting this Manta trust trip. Sure. If I get a loaner on that trip or who knows. I mean, I haven't decided which watch I'm actually going to wear from here to there. So all will be told in episode 251. How about you?
Co-host I like it. Yeah. Yeah. This week I've actually just kind of pulled the Scorpha MS22 from the watch box. I dug out all my watches having now fully integrated into the new home. So I've been working on a couple of stories here that needed some of the watches from my own sort of set. and dug up the Scurfa and wore that for the last couple of days. The MS23 has been announced, so it's like a blue version with a higher-end, high-accuracy quartz movement. Pretty exciting, all things concerned. I can definitely see that that'll be a very popular sort of model, and I love the idea of having a blue one, especially because the Pelagos is black, and in some ways, they're fairly similar watches, at least in terms of what they attempt to do. And yeah, had the Scurfa on, just really enjoyed it. Great sort of solid titanium dive watch. I mean, we've, we've talked a ton about them. I love the MS specifically for the fully graduated bezel, which I think is a huge win for bezel design in general and lets the watch stand out a little bit. But, uh, the 22 is a black, black, and I've got it on a NATO and it's just a really nice summer watch that I can do anything with. You know, we were at the cottage for 10 hours, we went antiquing and all that kind of stuff. So We did a handful of stuff this weekend and it always just kind of fits in and it disappears on wrist despite being, you know, it's not like a small watch necessarily. It's kind of, kind of on the thicker side and it wears nicely and obviously being quartz keeps great time. Yeah.
Jason Heaton No stress. Yeah. Yeah. Good choice. All right. Yeah. Well let's, let's jump into, to Film Club Volume 10. You know, before we get started, I thought it was kind of poignant or significant, I guess, or timely or however you want to put it. that the news came through yesterday that William Friedkin died at age, I think, 87. And he's featured in one or two film club choices we've done. We did certainly Sorcerer. Definitely Sorcerer. And did we do French Connection yet? If not, it will be in the future, I'm sure.
Co-host I don't think so, but I think it could make it. Hey, I mean, if we do enough of these, I'm sure The Exorcist will eventually land as well. That's true, yeah. Friedkin was a talent and had a great life and made certainly a lot of fantastic films. And if you haven't seen Sorcerer, which was a pass pick, Yeah. Now's your time to do it. And you've got a great reason to do so. Speaking of past picks, uh, if you want to be able to see all of the picks featured in all the past film clubs, we do have a letterbox collection, which was set up by Kyle Martin. Uh, big thanks to Kyle for setting that up and updating it. I checked it recently and it was updated for volume nine. So I figured Kyle probably managed volume 10. And again, thanks for that. But, uh, you can hit the link in the show notes to see all the films that we've mentioned over the past nine volumes. but why don't Jason, why don't you kick it off with your first pick for volume 10?
Jason Heaton Sure thing. Gosh, you know, I'm going to kick this off with a film. I think you and I were both surprised hadn't been mentioned. Um, and that is Ronan. I mean, it feels like kind of a quintessential sort of viewing, uh, piece for, for TGN and for our audience. I feel like we've talked about it a lot or it comes up a lot. I mean, people, it's almost this, um, uh, I don't know, like, like, like a rite of passage for, for a lot of people to, to see Ronan. I mean, there's everything from, uh, you know, a great set of, of actors. You've got, uh, De Niro, of course, you've got, um, Sean Bean, uh, who, who plays, uh, such a great role in that movie. Um, and I, and, uh, John Reno play plays a nice role in that film as well. Uh, the setting is great. The car chases, there's that Audi S eight that, that plays very significantly in, in one of those car chase scenes. And, I don't know if there's just a lot going on in this film. It's a, it's from the year 1998. I didn't realize it was that long ago, but, um, I, I don't think it's one of those movies that probably got a lot of critical acclaim, uh, at the time it was out. And, and it's certainly like an action adventure sort of, you know, it's hard to kind of put it in a box because, you know, try to explain kind of to anybody what the plot involves or kind of what, what I think the question that always arises is, what's in this case that everybody's trying to, to, to get, um, during this movie, that's kind of the MacGuffin of the film. Um, right. There's this mysterious sort of a suitcase or case that has something in it and everybody's kind of seeking this. And that leads to all of these, um, these crazy chase scenes and sort of tense moments. Yeah. But I, I think it's just, it's a, it's a, a nicely shot movie. It's a, it's just fun to watch and it's, it's got some great, sort of lines that people like to remember. For instance, what color is the boathouse at Hereford? Sure. Um, it's kind of a classic sort of meme from that, that film.
Co-host But, uh, yeah, this is, this is the kind of movie that, that in my mind is, is like 1998, this is like peak nineties for sort of an action thriller with a European element. You know, this movie couldn't, wouldn't almost make sense after like Bourne existed. True. Which I think took a lot of concepts that are in these films, the European connection, the car chasing, all that kind of stuff. I want to make sure that we stick to some format here where we do do the sort of log line for it. So a freelancing former US intelligent agent tries to track down a mysterious package that was wanted by the Irish and the Russians. That's so vague. Yeah. It's almost not helpful. But the movie is about intrigue and trust and bad guys do working on their own against a number of sort of governmental agencies, even bad, arguably even worse people. It has that, it has that sort of thing that I would say they did even better in oceans 11, where you have sort of a heist, a crew sort of thing, and everybody has their own personality. And it's a, it's kind of, it's a lot about how these people are interfacing and whether or not they even trust each other, or if they're just kind of hired guns, AKA Ronan's that sort of thing. It's an interesting and really, really fun movie. It's not a perfect film by any stretch, but I do think this is one that absolutely should be in. I'm glad we made it in the top 10 or in the original 10 film clubs. Yeah. John Frankenheimer, an incredible cast. I think this is a really good one and it has an entirely different edge than you would get from like Clear and Present Danger. Yeah. Just like I don't think Robert De Niro would have made a good Jack Ryan. Yeah. I also don't think that like Harrison Ford would have fit in this. There's something you need, the kind of menace that De Niro brings to this, this like quiet brooding. He also doesn't commonly do like movies with a romantic element. Right. Right. And, and you can see that they kind of flirt with that concept here, but don't necessarily land it entirely. They, the movie sticks to kind of its overall tone for the car chases alone. This is, this should be on your list.
Jason Heaton It's a great one. Yeah. And I, I didn't realize that David Mamet was one of the writers. I mean, he's kind of a well-known playwright and, and then you've got Stellan Skarsgård in the cast and Jonathan Price. And I mean, it's, it's yeah, it's, it's excellent. And I think you're, you're dead on when you talk about De Niro's role in this movie. I think, I think what's sort of delicious about his role in this movie is, you know, he's, he's a bit of an antihero. He's, you're not quite sure who the good guy is in this movie, but, um, his way of, of talking to people and getting things done is you kind of relish kind of his cleverness. And I think he does it really well in this movie. So yeah, it had to be on the list, I think. And I'm glad it finally made it in.
Co-host Yeah, that's a good one. Great pick. I highly recommend everybody check out Ronan. Great pick. I'm going to follow up with one with a movie that came out just a year later. And I'm not sure if that makes any sense, like in the lineage of of, you know, 1998 to 1999. And that's when I recently rewatched and it's the talented Mr. Ripley from again, from 1999. Um, if you want to talk about another movie with like a really incredible cast, goodness sakes. Right. So this is, um, Anthony Minghella's film and the lead in this is Matt Damon. He plays Tom Ripley, which is a character from a series of books, basically a sort of, I don't know, would you go as far as sociopathic? I guess when you get to the end of this film, kind of. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. just a con artist, a liar, a grifter, an impersonator. So the film features Tom Ripley being sent by Jude Law's father, Dickie Greenleaf's father, to find Dickie in Italy. And so you have Jude Law is in Italy with Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett and Philip Seymour Hoffman. And they're all just kind of being rich kids in the 50s. And, you know, living it up, they've got the sailboat, they've got the cool house, they were going and checking out jazz. And it's this life that clearly Tom Ripley wants to be a part of. And it's about him sort of inserting himself into their lives with a series of ever more complicated lies and, you know, forgeries and things like that. And then, of course, there's a turn at some point in the film where things go worse. Yeah. It goes from being kind of weird to dangerous. And I don't know of any other movie like this, which is what I really like about it. It's really beautiful. The people in it are beautiful. The places where they are are beautiful. The writing is incredible. The way that it's told is creepy, but somehow feels like human, like a real story. And that probably links back to the quality of the books and the translation therein. I think Matt Damon is incredible in this. I don't know of a bad Jude Law performance, but this definitely isn't it. Gwyneth Paltrow is great. I mean, it's Philip Seymour Hoffman. And I can't quote the line because it's incredibly vulgar. When he shows up at the first point in the film, when when Freddie Miles shows up in this beautiful little alpha. But it is one of the most like kind of shocking and excellent first lines for a character in a film. I would have to bleep almost the entire thing if if I were to were to go for it. But I love this movie. I think it's a great one. I just just watched it recently with my wife and she enjoyed enjoyed it as well. It's one of those ones where the first two thirds of it have a different pace than the final, like where a lot of the, you know, let's say check start to bounce for the, the Tom Ripley vibe of it all. But it's a, it's a good one for sure.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. This is a good pick and I haven't watched this in gosh, over a decade. So I even inspired me to check it out again. I mean, I think it's a, it's a great cast and you know, it's one of these movies, Mengele was kind of at the height of his powers then. I mean, he had, he'd done the English patient and some others and, and, and then with this cast and that setting and this movie often comes up as sort of a, um, for those that are into kind of style, I think this movie kind of stands out as well. I mean, the way it was filmed and you know, the cars and the setting and everything else, but also, you know, everything from the clothing and everything is very classic. Definitely. Um, yeah, yeah. It's a, that's a, that's a really good one. Good pick.
Co-host Yeah. A super fun one. One I really like quite a bit. It's definitely a creepy, weird kind of troublesome movie, but there's so much about it. That's like feels lived in, I guess. Yeah. And it has the quality of a, of a film that, that almost plays out like a stage play, which I also enjoy quite a bit.
Jason Heaton All right. Well, for my second pick, I'm going to, I'm going to creep forward one more year. I don't know how we got on this 1998, 99, and I'm going to go to 2000 with a snatch. Guy Ritchie film. You know, I, I think this is classic Guy Ritchie. It's probably like, you know, kind of emblematic of, of his style of movies. And I think it, it, it's kind of a, it's an interesting follow on to, to Ronan because you know, again, you've got this sort of ensemble cast of, of a number of very flawed people, heroes, if you want to call them that antiheroes, small time crooks, big time crooks, uh, kind of trying to pull off this heist and, and actually, you know, steal from other crooks. Um, you've got Jason Statham, Brad Pitt. I mean, it's just, it's a great cast. And, and you know, what always stands out for the, about this movie for me also is, um, it has a great soundtrack. And I think, you know, we, we often don't talk about soundtracks, but this was, this was a soundtrack that I remember I went out and bought, um, after seeing the movie, I think I still have like the CD, even though I don't even own a CD player anymore. It was just a stylish film. And I think it sort of played on this, uh, you know, there was this kind of era, you know, right around this kind of the early two thousands where, um, you know, Britain was sort of enjoying this, uh, sort of upsurge in, in interest in kind of British culture and British films and things like that. And I, I feel like this movie was very, it felt very English, you know, it felt like, uh, you know, you get all the different accents and kind of the street scenes and, and all of that. And, uh, yeah, it was a, it's a good movie. It's got, it's certainly got its, its level of violence to it. Um, if that offends you, but, um, you know, not, not egregious, I would say. Um, and then it's kind of interwoven with some, some pretty dark humor. Um, so yeah, I, I really quite liked this movie. Um, you know, I've watched it several times over the years and I'm probably due for another, another viewing.
Co-host I remember just being obsessed with lock, stock and two smoking barrels, which came out just two years before this kind of kicked off guy Richie's, you know, um, cockney kind of aggressive, Britishy sort of crime thrillers dealt with triple, quadruple, endless number of double crosses throughout the film. And I remember seeing Snatch and at the time reading a lot about the process of Snatch being made and what it put Brad Pitt through in terms of his character arc and the rest of this. And I think I only ever saw the movie once. I don't think I saw it multiple times. So I should probably go back and, uh, back in and watch it again. I remember a few elements from the film, but definitely not the, not the total and not, not in the same, um, kind of depth of detail that I would for like lock, stock and two smoking barrels or, or even some of the stuff that he did a little later.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And I, I, I, I had a hard time deciding which one to kind of include in today's list between lock, stock and two smoking barrels in this one. Um, But yeah, I mean, I, I think you see one, you know, you, you see both kind of back to back or if you're on kind of a Guy Ritchie kick, you know, this was kind of early days of his kind of rise to prominence. And, you know, certainly he's made a lot of movies since and including some recent ones. Um, but you know, and I think he's kind of matured in his filmmaking or he's changed slightly, but I think, you know, this, this really kind of shows the core kind of the genesis of a lot of his techniques and writing things.
Co-host So yeah, absolutely. Yeah, good pick. Made me think of another movie, which I won't give away because I think we'll need to put it in volume 11. But I had to quickly, while you were talking, go and check the archive to make sure that we hadn't already included this movie I'm thinking of. So another great British sort of crime thriller that I know we've talked about before on the show, but we'll hold it off for volume 11.
Jason Heaton Yeah. All right. You got something from 2001 or are we going to switch around a bit?
Co-host I don't. I'm actually going, well, what do we got? I could go to 2006. But it would still break it up. So I'm just going to go with the next one on my list, which actually goes backwards to 1991. I think if I told people to watch 10 movies that were essentially like the perfection of their genre, there's no way that I would hit 11 without hitting Sounds of the Lambs. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Another one that I was kind of blown away wasn't already on there. Yeah, true. Like in the past nine volumes. But this is like essentially a perfect crime thriller and was simply decades, at least a decade ahead of its time in putting a female in the lead in in a scenario where the tone could have gone in any direction. It could have been more. This could have been a lot more. If you think about it, this could have been a lot more like fugitive in many ways, right? Like more about the procedure of the FBI, more about the team that they were working with, more about the... But instead, it's so much more about serial killers and about the institution in which they're controlled and maintained. Obviously, this has a world-famous, that's not even close to a big enough statement, performance from Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. It's based on the books by Thomas Harris, which I'm absolutely a fan of. This was directed by Jonathan Demme. I think it's just an absolutely incredible film. Start to finish, beautifully paced. Jodie Foster does an amazing job. Huge fan of Scott Glenn as Jack Crawford, who's kind of her boss at the FBI. Anytime I get a Scott Glenn, I'm pretty happy. And I can't say enough good things about this. It's a creepy, troublesome, tough film that has essentially, like, established what the genre of a serial killer film is. Like, it's this and Seven basically define, like, the modern scope of something kind of in this vibe. And I think this movie is so much more delicate and deals with things in a much more modern way than Seven. This movie feels like it comes from the real world. Seven feels like something pulled from a comic book. Right. It's kind of insular. Right. You can't tell what city it's in. It doesn't necessarily link with a certain government outfit, like obviously sure police, but that's like very generalized. It feels almost like, like it, like it purposely came from fiction. Whereas there's definitely parts of the story that feel super real.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. And I think the interplay between Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins, um, you know, Clarice and Hannibal Lecter, I mean, it's just, that's what stands out for this movie. It's not, um, it's not about, um, chase scenes or, or kind of, uh, you know, it doesn't lean too hard on the kind of element of surprise where it's trying to get people to, you know, jump out of their seat. I mean, not until the end. Yeah, exactly. But it's what stands out for me looking back, having not seen this movie for many years is, is, is that interaction between the two of them and how creepy that was and the settings and you know, his cell where they keep him and the, the masks that they use and all of this, it's yeah, it's, it's, it's a, I mean, I hesitate to use the word beautiful because it's such a dark, creepy movie, but it's beautifully done.
Co-host Yeah. Yeah.
Unknown Yeah.
Co-host Yeah. I'm just, I'm just an, a huge, huge fan of this film. I think it, uh, I can't, it's hard to believe that it was in 91 and you watch it and ensure like the night vision, the famous night vision elements that those are, those feel a little bit dated. The cops have giant radios instead of phones. Like, you know, there's, there's some things that cars are obviously from the late eighties and that kind of thing. But so much of this, so much of the tone, the execution feels like, very, very modern and, and highly done.
Unknown Yeah.
Co-host I'm a big fan.
Jason Heaton This is a great movie. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, I'm going to go way back in time for my next pick, um, to kind of an all time favorite of mine and one that really made an impression on me when I was, gosh, I think a teenager when I first saw this and that is Alfred Hitchcock's movie from 1955 to catch a thief. It's so good. It's such a beautifully made movie and, and I absolutely love, Uh, Cary Grant and I love Grace Kelly. I mean, I think I fell in love with Grace Kelly when I was in high school because of this movie. It was like, how could someone be that beautiful? Like, um, sort of fits in perfectly well with kind of the setting. It's, you know, South of France. Um, Cary Grant is just the most debonair, like stylish, the way he delivers lines, the way he walks, the way he looks. I mean, he's just, he's just incredible. And, and you know, what stands out, I mean, this movie, certainly the plot, I love the idea that he's, Um, a cat burglar, you know, this, this notion of climbing around on roofs in the Mediterranean, um, you know, looking for diamonds while wearing a, you know, cravat sort of knotted around your neck. Uh, I mean, it's just, there's just, it's got so much going for it. Um, you know, it was a great driving scene. I think, uh, grace Kelly, if I'm not mistaken, drives like an old alpha when they're out sort of spinning on the, on the windy roads along the Mediterranean and, and kind of the interplay between the two characters is, Their dialogue is beautifully done. There's great chemistry between Grant and Kelly. Um, to me, this is like the height of kind of that mid fifties, you know, there were a few films, you know, in the genre. And I think you've got kind of a, a similar vibe movie, um, later in your list, but, um, I don't know, it just, uh, just, uh, really made an impression on me when I was young and I haven't seen this in a while, but, um, it's, it belongs on the list for sure.
Co-host Oh, absolutely. This is one of my favorite Hitchcocks. I think it's just simply an incredible film. They do such a great job of telling a story like in a very, it has this linear pace to it, which I don't think you always get with a movie from the fifties.
Unknown Yeah.
Co-host Yeah. Um, it just kind of goes nicely. Like I can't, I can't say, I can't disagree with anything you said about it. It's so good. It's such a easily watchable, fun, entertaining, cool story from a neat part of the world with some really great people playing the various roles. So Yeah. I'm a big fan. And although I've now forgotten for a couple of movies, here's the, the, the description from IMDb, a retired jewel thief sets out to prove his innocence after being suspected of returning to his former occupation. It's great. It's a great movie. Yeah. Solid, solid pick. And I'll follow it up with, uh, with my older one as well. Uh, so we're going to go back to 1963 to a movie I watched a lot as I grew up and that is called charade. It is a Stanley Donnan film. And the description is romance and suspense ensue in Paris as a woman. Wow. Pop-up ad. Thank you so much. IMDb romance and suspense ensue in Paris as a woman is pursued by several men who want a fortune. Her murdered husband has stolen. Whom can she trust? So it's Audrey Hepburn is essentially the, the center of this film. The only person whose motives you understand is Audrey Hepburn.
Unknown Yeah.
Co-host She's basically being pursued as the logline says. She's basically being pursued, entertained, grifted by a series of people. Basically, everyone she meets, she can't trust because her husband had something with him when he died and it's not there. They think she has it. She doesn't know who actually has it. It's this really, really, really like kind of tight, entertaining and at times a little bit goofy. sort of thriller, again, with a great European backdrop. Most of it's in Paris. I remember the first press trip I ever went on was with Longines to Roland Garros. And while we were in Paris, there was only a few things that I knew I wanted to do. And one of them was to take one of those boat tours along the river because they did it in a charade. And sure enough, the one night we had dinner on one of those same boats. Oh, nice. And I was like, I was the only nerd there who was like, guys, this is like insurance. No one cared. Yeah. Yeah. It's fun and light at times. It's scary and creepy at other times. You know, it has that man who knew too much enemy of the state, you know, that vibe of like, or even I have we ever done where, um, wait, have we ever done wait until dark? We haven't no past. So that's another one of my favorites. Also Audrey Hepburn. It's that, the main character, the person that you understand the most doesn't have all the information they need. And they're just, um, essentially like playing jazz. They're just keeping up with bad operators, good operators. You don't know if you can trust the cops in this or Cary Grant or the guys that are like more clearly bad people. It's very strongly telegraphed. This is a great movie. I highly recommend it.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I think, um, you know, we, we had a couple of, Kind of dark films here, um, initially. And I think now we've, we've moved into, you know, with to catch a thief and charade. I think if you, if you just want to kind of, um, enjoy kind of good old fashioned kind of mid-century filmmaking, I mean, these two, you can't go wrong. I mean, such great acting. I mean, again, Cary Grant, fantastic. Uh, Audrey Hepburn's right up there with Grace Kelly. I mean, one of the iconic names from, from that era.
Co-host And, uh, yeah, just Walter Matthau, James Coburn. Yeah. George Kennedy, it's, it's a really good cast. The movie's really fun. It doesn't take, it's not as serious as Roan and certainly not as serious as, as a science of the lambs or something like that. Uh, it, it has this sort of bounce to it. That's maybe a little bit more like a, um, an ocean's 11 in terms of its overall kind of vibe. You can feel happy at happy times. You can feel tense during tense experiences. It's, it's a winner. I really like it. It's, it was one of my favorites growing up right alongside wait until dark, which I'm sure can be in a future. film club. Uh, yeah, just really nice. Always. And, and, you know, grew up in a small Canadian town, just dreaming of Europe. So movies like this really spoke to me.
Unknown Yeah.
Co-host Yeah.
Jason Heaton Good pick. All right. Well, I am moving forward, sliding the timeline forward, uh, several years, uh, from your pick, uh, to 1971. Uh, this was actually the first film that Clint Eastwood directed. Um, and it's called play Misty for me. Um, you know, Eastwood, it almost kind of goes against character for him in several ways that he, um, you know, he had this, you know, prior to this, he had done this, this spaghetti Westerns, you know, um, playing the man with no name, uh, you know, the good, the bad and the ugly, et cetera. Um, this movie in this movie, he plays a, a late night jazz radio, uh, DJ and it's in, it's in California. I think, you know, probably the, the town that he ended up being mayor of Carmel by the sea, I believe, or somewhere around there. Um, and he drives a great old MG and like an MGA and, uh, and he plays jazz in the overnight radio and he has, you know, he has a great voice for it anyway. And I remember seeing this movie and it made me want to be a late night jazz DJ. And I think in some weird way it connected me with when people talk about podcasting and, you know, doing TGN and some people say, Oh, you know, your voice is great. You put me to sleep. I always think to myself, well, you know, I, I'm going to take that the right way. I think like I always wanted to be like a late night jazz DJ. Um, and, and I'm getting my, you know, a small taste of it doing, doing TGN, um, talking about watches and movies and things, but the movie itself, the plot of it, now that I've kind of gone on about his role in it, um, it's, it's kind of a suspenseful, it's not really a horror film, but there's a woman who calls in, uh, almost every night when he's on the radio and requests that he play a song called Misty and Errol Garner song. Um, and she says, play Misty for me. And he develops a relationship with this woman and they start dating. Um, and it goes wrong. She turns out to be, um, more than he can handle something that, that he didn't bargain for in this relationship. And it, it kind of turns dark and, uh, it's, uh, it's a suspenseful film. It's a stylish, stylishly shots, got a great jazz soundtrack. And like I said, it, it, you know, a lot about movies and, you know, even some of the ones that we talked about already. the impression that they make on you is different depending on when in life you watch it. And sometimes the significance of a movie has to do with when, when you see it for the first time or, you know, early days of watching it over and over. And I think for this movie, again, this was kind of formative years for me. You know, I was probably late teens, maybe early twenties when I was just getting started and kind of trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. And it was just sort of, um, I don't know, it was, it was a movie that kind of set me off on a course of, different things that I've been interested in and done. And, uh, yeah, I mean, given that Eastwood is, I believe in his early nineties and, and I think he just finished directing his latest film, which is insane. Uh, it's kind of interesting to go back to play Misty for me from 1971 and the first movie that he directed, uh, and check it out. Have you ever seen this movie?
Co-host I've not, no. Um, big Jessica Walter fan though, obviously, uh, Lucille Bluth forever. um you know r.i.p to uh to miss walter but i've not seen this uh i know my dad's referenced it in the past it's also fascinating because he directed this and it came out the same year as dirty harry it was a big year for him yeah seriously which i think i want to say he co-directed dirty harry i'm not sure i'm not sure but i mean yeah i'm also not sure it sounds good though i i didn't actually realize there was there was this sort of um tension to the film. I didn't really know necessarily what it was about, so I'm glad to have one to check out for my own. Yeah. Maybe put it on the iPad and watch it in Mexico next week. Yeah, definitely. Or when you're listening to this two weeks ago. Right. Man, the 70s had some good stuff for sure. Sure did. Alright, I'm going to go chronologically forward from 1963 to the natural 2006 for another one that, man, it's a bit of a broken record at this point, but another one that I kind of thought was on the list, and that's The Departed, which is my favorite Martin Scorsese film. It came out in 2006, kind of a stacked everything. This is a Boston cop drama from Scorsese with a truly ridiculous cast Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Vera Firminga, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Corrigan. It just kind of keeps going. Um, yeah, I've seen this movie several, several times and, and recently a couple more times because of the rewatchables, a podcast from the ringer network and bill Simmons and, uh, They do a great job kind of breaking down various elements of this and, you know, parts of the movie that work and parts they figured don't. I think this is a truly incredible kind of cop drama. I don't know, again, that there's one especially like it. It's technically in some ways a remake. Some people in the audience may take a position on either side of this line, but it's my understanding that it's essentially a remake of a 2002 film from Hong Kong called Infernal Affairs. And then in some ways it's based on multiple real life characters, most specifically Frank Costello, who's played by Jack Nicholson, is a direct reference to the crime boss Whitey Bulger. Oh, right. And so that's kind of the main... This is an exceedingly kind of adult film. It's violent, it deals with the worst parts of people's character and repression and post-traumatic stress and the rest of it, but it's also beautifully done. I think it's my favorite DiCaprio. That's kind of a tough statement because I'm a huge fan. The extent to which he operates for a movie that's a couple, a few hours long, but the extent to which he operates like a live wire, like you can just feel the tension, like the electricity of tension coming off of his character throughout this whole film. Yeah. Really, really does. Because a lot of times you see, movies that are about a cop or a cop that goes undercover. And either they go too deep in it, like it kind of aligns with the darker side of their personality and they, they, you know, they're in too deep to come out, that sort of thing. Or they deal with things in a more like direct fashion. This movie manages to capture the stress of that scenario from multiple people lying about who they are and then how that plays out in other aspects of their life. Like it's somehow more more human or more complicated storytelling than just, I did this so I drink too much at night or, or I did this and now I, I, you know, I had to go deeper in to prove my willingness to be part of this crime syndicate or whatever. Yeah. And it's, it, the movie has this unstable kind of fast cut quality to it. Some of the camera works very strange that you want to talk a soundtrack. There's some very kind of uncommon use of similar to the same song multiple times. Huh? Um, there's elements of this movie I just absolutely adore. It tells a fairly complicated story of, yeah, like an inter interconnected set of lies that all kind of come together, uh, towards the end of the film. I think it's a, it's an absolute winner.
Jason Heaton It's been again, another one that I haven't seen in a long time. You know, I have a tendency, I realize as you're describing this, I don't rewatch a lot of movies. Um, and I feel like I want to start doing that because like I said, like I said, with play misty for me, like there, You know, the first time you watch a movie, you're at a certain point in your life and it just hits you differently. And I think totally, um, this is, I think this is, this will be one of those movies that I probably watched it in 2006 when it came out and probably not since. I mean, that's, you know, that's close to 20 years. I mean, I think, uh, it's, it's definitely time for a reviewing and what a cast. I mean, I'm just like scrolling through these names and it just goes on and on and on and on.
Co-host Yeah. And everybody whose name you wouldn't necessarily know, like enough for us to sit here and list them. You see them and you go, Oh, I know that guy. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I know that guy.
Unknown It's got every, that guy.
Co-host They're all in it. Yeah. And as good as, as Damon is in, I mean, talented Mr. Ripley, let's, let's just stick to this episode. Yeah. He is next level in departed. Yeah. Yeah. All of his talents in one film. It's great.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yep. Time to time to rewatch that one.
Co-host Yeah. Not one I would say you sit down and watch with the kids. True. Uh, it's a pretty tough, super violent, very disturbing at times film with every single, you know, sort of adult theme that it can have. But if you can, if that's up your alley or works for you, I think it's a, it's a great one. If you haven't seen it yet to check out or, or if you haven't seen, seen it in since 2006, it doesn't feel like it was that long ago, but there it is.
Unknown Yeah.
Co-host Yeah. A great wall. My favorite Wahlberg. Definitely. 100% my favorite Wahlberg.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I mean, he's, he's had his ups and downs, but this was, this was a high point for sure. All right. What have you got for your final pick? I've got my last one is from 1984. Um, difficult movie to watch. Um, historically significant. Um, just a huge movie. Uh, the killing fields. Uh, this is a movie based on a true story. Um, heavily based on a true story about a journalist, named Sidney Schoenberg, who teams up with a local guy in Cambodia, Dith Pran, where they're real names. And then they're played by Sam Waterston, who's just fantastic in the role, and Hang Noor, who plays Dith Pran. And they play journalists that are on the ground towards the end of the Vietnam War, that is kind of spilled over into Cambodia when Pol Pot is kind of in his reign of terror, sort of cleansing the population via the, you know, the namesake of the movie, The Killing Fields, where he slaughtered, you know, millions of people. And Waterston plays this journalist who's across the border in Cambodia, investigating what's going on there with Dith Prahn as kind of his local fixer and a fellow journalist when things just get too dangerous. And Schoenberg's, you know, he has to pull out, but Dith Prahn is left behind and ends up um, becoming kind of lost in, in, in this, this horror. Um, and then Schoenberg, you know, kind of takes it upon himself to, to, to try to find him and get him out. Um, and it's, it's just an incredible, um, incredible movie, you know, 84, you know, Waterston. I love seeing him. He, he has this distinctive face and his voice and his delivery. I mean, I just love him as an actor. Um, and to see him in one of these early films, uh, as a much younger person, I mean, he plays the role perfectly. Um, he has that sort of, um, that ability to kind of ramp up emotion and kind of show his, his, you know, displeasure and, and sort of in a very realistic sort of way. Um, John Malkovich is in this film, Julian Sands, uh, who sadly, uh, died while hiking in California earlier this year. Um, he's in the movie. I always have liked him Spalding gray. It's, it's a chilling movie. I think it won several awards. Um, you know, there's a book that it's based on. Uh, it's, it's really well done. It's again, it's, it's difficult to watch because of the subject matter, but it's a, it's a really, really good movie.
Co-host Yeah. I don't, uh, I don't know this one. I mean, I know it by name, but I've never seen it. Uh, definitely. It looks like a heavy topic. I definitely have read into the story behind it in the past, but haven't, haven't seen the film.
Jason Heaton I kind of go through these phases where, you know, I like these movies that are sort of about a war correspondence or, you know, photojournalists kind of behind enemy lines, whether it's in, you know, Vietnam or, or World War II, or there's a film with, uh, early film with Mel Gibson, the year of living dangerously that I was tempted to put on the list as well. But, um, another kind of movie kind of in a similar vein, but, uh, I think this one stands head and shoulders above.
Co-host So yeah, check it out. And that rounds out your five to round out my picks. Here's my fifth and it's 2018 annihilation, which is by Alex Garland. And it's a science fiction movie that I've probably seen at this point, I don't know, maybe not double digits, but close.
Unknown Wow.
Co-host Okay. It's Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson. It's got Oscar Isaac, and it's a pretty good cast. It's a very strange film. I'm fairly certain it's based on a book, the tagline or the description is a biologist signs up for a dangerous secret expedition into a mysterious zone where the laws of nature don't apply. So it's somewhere on the Eastern seaboard, um, essentially like a comet or a meteor or whatever hits. Um, I guess that makes it a meteor hits the earth and slowly from the point of, of the, the impact, there's like a bubble, like a shimmer, kind of like a dome. Yeah. that emanates outward and anything inside the bubble, its DNA refracts or changes. Huh. You know, I've read a lot of background on this and, and, you know, there's, there's kind of multiple layers to what they claim the statement is about. It's a, you know, it refers mostly to cancer and what happens to, um, a cell, uh, that is afflicted with cancer. And then on top of that, it's about kind of the cancer of lies or, or mistrust between you know, people in their day-to-day lives. Uh, it's this very complicated story that, that sort of overlaps, uh, a sort of action element of them, a group of women going into the shimmer to find people to find answers. Uh, Natalie Portman's husband is Oscar Isaac, and he had gone in as a military operative before her. Um, she didn't know where or why, but that's was later connected to that. And it has some horror elements. It has some, thriller elements, and then it has some fairly deep sci-fi towards the end of it. I really like this movie, but it's strange and weird and not really like anything else I've seen before. And if you know Garland's stuff, that's kind of, in some ways, if you could be par for the course for not being par, that's how he operates. I found the men to be less interesting than this, but if you know Ex Machina with Alicia Vikander and Oscar Isaac as well, and Domhnall Gleeson, a fantastic film. It follows that line in terms of there's this like kind of background hum of just general dread throughout this whole film, uh, that I find kind of addictive. And I really like the aesthetic and what they establish in this film as far as the sort of metrics of what happens inside the shimmer. You're there's some genuinely terrifying things that happen in this film, uh, that are, it's, you know, gory and terrifying and scary and, and the rest of it. So, you know, all that on the table in front of you. But if, if you enjoy something in this vibe, this sort of loose ends, not a lot of answers, kind of scary exploration, I think it's a great one to add to the list. And I think Garland does a beautiful job with this. I would argue that his, my favorite work of his is, um, a show that he did called devs.
Unknown Oh, okay. A few years ago. Yeah.
Co-host Which I genuinely adored, um, essentially, uh, uh, like a Silicon Valley sort of next wave of an Apple style company creates a computer that can do something that other computers couldn't do or can't do. Sure. Um, and it's, it's a really fabulous story as well, but I annihilation as far as his films go is, is, is my favorite. Uh, it's a, it's a really cool thing. A huge Natalie Portman fan.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I've never heard of this movie. Um, I did like ex Machina and the fact that you've watched it almost double digits in, five years of it being out, that's saying something.
Co-host So it was my go-to airplane movie for a while.
Jason Heaton Oh, okay. I usually shy away from kind of sci-fi stuff, but whenever I give in and watch them, I I'm usually pleasantly surprised, especially if it comes recommended from somebody. So I will, uh, I'll add it to the list.
Co-host I think for at least the first two acts, maybe would say the first two and a half, the movie basically has the same tone as the thing. Oh, okay. which is a favorite of mine. So it has horror elements, but a lot of it is about the leak, the leering sort of background quality of the terror. Yeah. Yeah. Then it is necessarily like direct there's both just like in the thing. And in this there's like more direct terror, but yeah, I think it's, it's in my mind, it exists, it sits in a similar world as, as the thing. Yeah. Which I love and was a past film club pick. Yeah. Sadly, no Kurt Russell in this. And so that was my fifth. Jason, for your five, you went with Ronan from 1998, Snatch from 2000, To Catch a Thief, 1955, The Killing Fields, 1984, and finally, Clint Eastwood's Play Misty for Me, 1971.
Jason Heaton And you had The Talented Mr. Ripley from 1999, Silence of the Lambs, 1991, Annihilation, 2018, The Departed, 2006, and Charade, 1963. Quite a, that's a solid 10, quite a 10.
Co-host We always say this, but yeah, pretty solid 10.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. I would say it was a, one of our better film clubs. I think we've, we've, we've had a mixed bag of kind of sleepers and classics. I feel like this one, we hit some, some real classics that that should be on everybody's list. So really good one.
Co-host I think so. There's also weirdly like some pairings. I think we could draw between these two. Like there's something that kind of aligns, I guess it's the part of the world with talented Mr. Ripley and Ronan.
Unknown Yeah, true.
Co-host Yeah. loosely takes place in a similar part of the, you know, so the, the Riviera, um, I think, you know, snatch. And then we, we mentioned lock, stock, two smoking barrels. You could, you could do both of those together. I think to catch a thief and then charade would be like an excellent sort of one, two, I want to say charade was one of Cary Grant's last movies. And I think in some ways it would have been fairly early in Audrey Hepburn's career. I think the Delta in their age is pretty remarkable in that film. Yeah. I think that's, that's 10 solid ones. There's at least a couple on here that I haven't seen in a long time or in the case of, uh, the killing fields and play Misty for me at all. Uh, so we'll have to check those out, but, uh, we're coming up on an hour here. So do you want to put a bow on it with some final notes?
Jason Heaton Sure. Yeah. Um, I've been on this quest for, uh, I guess I got a, a bit of a bug for rugby shirts. Um, you know, I used to, I used to wear them a lot. I had, I had some old ones. I had a Patagonia one for years. I had a lands end one for years. Both, you know, both brands make a great rugby shirt, but I've gotten rid of them for one reason or another over the years. And with cooler weather ahead and, and you know, just kind of seeing some, some pictures lately of rugby shirts. I was like, I need another rugby shirt. So I went on to our Slack community and I asked for feedback from people to recommend some different brands. And I got a lot of recommendations and I've actually ordered, No less than three rugby shirts from three different places. Um, and one of them has arrived. The other two are due to arrive at some point this week. I'm not sure I'll keep all of them. I kind of wanted to try them. It's, it's one of those things I think with, I don't know if you like rugby shirts, but like there, there's a quality to them that like when you feel them, you know that it's, it's a keeper or it's what you were looking for. And some feel a little too thin or fashion-y. Um, so I was kind of picky in that regard. But, uh, the first one that, that I got was from a company called with or not, which I had never heard of. Um, but I kind of liked their vibe and, and they specialize in these kind of retro style rugby shirts with a specific sort of leaning towards, um, that era, I guess you'd, you'd say it was like eighties, nineties when rugby shirts, they sort of straddled the line between sort of prep style and kind of dirtbag climbing culture. If, if that intersects, you know, if you, if you kind of read through the Patagonia history and with Yvon Chouinard, he, you know, he pioneered or, or kind of adopted the use of rugby shirts and like corduroy trousers, um, for, for climbing clothing, because he couldn't find anything that would kind of hold up to the wear and tear of, of rock climbing. And so he became a real fan of rugby shirts and that's how Patagonia started selling them. Um, unfortunately I couldn't find one available from Patagonia because I know they make good ones. So I was directed towards whether or not, And they have a big number of sort of retro styled, um, well-made, uh, rugby shirts. And the one I ordered is, is the one called the blue Ridge, um, which isn't a traditionally striped, you know, when you think of a rugby shirt, you think of kind of the traditional hoops, uh, of, of alternating colors. Um, I did order a couple of those from a couple of other companies, but, but with this one, I went with a blue Ridge, which is sort of this, um, I guess in Land Rover, um, parlance. It's, it's the color marine blue kind of matches my series three, um, in the color, but then it has, uh, kind of a thicker band of alternating stripes near the chest. Um, and so far, you know, having just gotten it and the weather being too warm to kind of wear it comfortably, I haven't really worn it much, but it's, it has the right heft to it. It has that sort of, I think it's like a 10 or 12 ounce cotton sort of twill, um, soft, but, but thick enough that I can tell it's going to last a good long time. It's got the rubber buttons. Um, so yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm excited for it. Um, and if you're a rugby shirt fan, uh, you know, so far I like it and it's a cool company to check out.
Co-host Sounds like you, you're definitely going as deep as you can into the rugby shirt realm as a fun followup to, uh, yeah, I guess it was last episodes or maybe the one before that, the, uh, chambray shirts from, uh, the, or the history of the, the Navy chambray shirts is always a fun one. So I think that's good. We're definitely going into the shirt realm these days. I like it. Yeah. Yeah. Very cool. Good luck with the other ones arriving. I hope they also offer a take on it that you enjoy. Yeah. So my pick this week is actually a set of speakers that I bought for my desk. There's been some interest in the desk setup on the Slack. So I went through various setup. I think I've got a setup here that I'm fairly happy with. And while some stuff like the CalDigit TS4, which is a Thunderbolt dock that I bought to connect all the monitors and everything else that you would expect to be pretty good because it's very expensive. Yeah. Um, on the other hand, I wanted a set of small speakers and I mean like actually not that big for my desk. It's not a huge desk. I don't want to use, I don't want a desk that takes up the entire room. I also, you know, probably we'd say seven times out of 10 we'll just use headphones, but I wanted the ability when I'm shooting watches on the other side of the office or moving around to just have some podcasts or music or whatever in the open air. And then there's a chance that I would want to, say, edit a TGN without wearing headphones occasionally. I haven't really worked my way up to that. I feel fairly specific about it. But I wanted a set of small monitors. And the truth is, if you're talking, like, actually small, there aren't that many. And a lot of them that do exist that are small are still really quite expensive. And when it comes to speakers, I really like starting as low as I feel I could and move up. Yes, this is the most expensive way to do it. Your smartest option is to buy whatever's at the absolute top of your budget. So let's say I maybe was considering spending up to $1,000 on monitors or speakers for my desk, I should probably just go with the Kef LSXs, which I've owned in the past and are really nice and would work perfectly. Instead, I looked around at what was roughly the same size as the LSX, but significantly less money. Due to aesthetic reasons and cost and the rest of it, I really started to look at these speakers from a company called PreSonus, P-R-E-S-O-N-U-S. And they make an heiress line of like home monitors, like not super high end, certainly actually these are pretty entry level. Uh, but they make ones with a 3.5 inch, uh, design. So that's the largest speaker in the pair of the two diaphragms is 3.5 inches. So it's called the heiress E 3.5 studio monitor. And I mean, they're currently on sale on PreSonus's website in the U S for $90. I've never heard a set of speakers for 90 bucks. It sounds like this to be fair. Wow. They're not better than a $500 set of speakers, but given the size, the fact that you don't have a subwoofer or, or anything else to just have a nice, attractive looking set of speakers on the desk, they're powered. So you don't need a monitor. They just take a headphone jack or you can go balance. So if you're dealing with audio interfaces and that sort of thing, you can use a balanced input, which is typical to a monitor, but they have a volume button on the front ox in a headphone jack and a power switch. Very simple, not that heavy. I think about six inches deep, maybe seven inches tall, really a nice size for a medium sized desk. And I've just been really impressed by them. They're not going to blow you away by any factor. They're a 3.5 inch hundred dollar speaker. But for those two things, for the size of the speaker and the price, if you're looking for a desktop set of speakers or something for maybe a workspace or even on a bookshelf in the right sort of room. Yeah. I'm very impressed by what you get for a hundred dollars.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I mean, and I think, you know, you already have like a hi-fi set up in your living room, right? I mean, so, so for something in the, in the office, I mean, I think size is obviously a consideration and these, these seem compact enough. Um, it's kind of, I guess you're trying to balance, you know, size and desktop real estate with, uh, with sound quality.
Co-host So. Yeah. Cause the other option would be like, put my desk in a different part of the room, pull it out from the wall by a foot and then put speakers on a stand behind them. Oh, sure. Yeah. But the room isn't that big. Like I'm, I'm, I have a, what I consider to be a very large office. It's several times the size of the closet I had in Vancouver, for example. Yeah. But it needs to be sort of a mixed use space and I didn't want it to be all desk. Right. And even then, yeah. If I spend a thousand dollars on the speakers that I normally use headphones, I'm wearing headphones right now. I'll, I'll use headphones for, to edit this episode most likely. I mean, like once I do the plugins and the, and the quote unquote, the edit is done, I think I could do the rest on these speakers. Like once I'm comfortable with the mix, then it would just be actual, the cutting that, that goes through the edit. But yeah, I think for the money, if you're in the market for a set of speakers and you want to go, let's call it the distinct step up from something like, you know, a Logitech that you'd get at Best Buy. Yeah. These should be on your radar. I'm just, I'm, I'm impressed. I wouldn't say they're great if you really like bass heavy sort of music or like a big thump because they're, they're little speakers. Yeah. But otherwise I'm, I'm super impressed. They work great for spoken word, which is most of my listening.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And you've been posting some photos of your, your new desktop setup in your, in your new house on Slack. And it's kind of interesting to see the evolution. It's, it's inspired me to kind of revisit my setup, which is pretty slapdash and, I don't have speakers, but, and I don't listen to really music while I'm working. Um, I find it a bit distracting when I'm writing, but I do, if I would just want to like catch a 10 or 20 minute YouTube video or something, I, you know, it's pretty sad, but I just kind of, I'm watching it on a big monitor and then I'm just using the speakers, the built-in speakers on the Mac book. So this would be a nice option.
Co-host Yeah. For the, for the money, a huge step up from something like that for sure.
Jason Heaton All right. Well, there we have it. Um, kind of our, uh, stopgap episode of kind of an evergreen one with the film club. Um, we were glad to be able to get this one in the hopper and, and, um, certainly out while I'm, I'm out of the country, uh, the week that it goes live. But, uh, yeah, there we go. Film club, volume 10.
Co-host There it is. Yeah. Next week we'll be back with, uh, I assume an episode with all sorts of reports from our trips. Uh, you know, we're recording this before either of us are going on those trips. So we're going to operate under the assumption that they went very well and we had a very good time. And we'll talk about it in two 51 along with any new watch news and the rest of it. So as always, thank you so much for listening. If you'd like to subscribe to the show notes, get into the comments for each episode, or even consider supporting the show directly, which could grab you a new TGN signed NATO, please visit the greynato.com. Music throughout a siesta by Jazzar via the free music archive.
Jason Heaton And we leave you with this quote from Orson Welles who said, the cinema knows no boundary. It is a ribbon of dreams.