Shaun of the Dead / So Go Back to the Cluuub

Stick around pull up a bar stool, and open the pig snacks, cause we're in the annals for "Shaun of the Dead." (D. Edgar Wright 2004) Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Bill Nighy. We break down what the Director/Writer, and tagline describe as "a romcom with zombies," whoops, zed word. Favorites in The Edgar Wright pantheon, the general Evil Dead pantheon, even THE VERY SUBJECT OF THE EPISODE! That's right, this one has it all, and a Drumstick ©️ for your Trick or Treat bucket. So, get in the Jag, and let's haul ass to the Winchester!

**All episodes contain explicit language**
Artwork - Ben McFadden
Review Review Intro/Outro Theme - Jamie Henwood
"What Are We Watching" & "Whatcha been up to?" Themes - Matthew Fosket
"Fun Facts" Theme - Chris Olds/Paul Root
Lead-Ins Edited/Conceptualized by - Ben McFadden
Produced by - Ben McFadden & Paul Root
Concept - Paul Root

Transcript

I don't know. What is this? What is this show saying? It looks like a couple of fucking chimps on a davenport in a basement. Get your shit in order, mate.

What the I mean, I fucked up that queue, but hello everyone. Welcome. It's the review review. It's spooky season. We're in the annals again.

And it's our second of 2 Super Sean's. That's right. Super Sean spooky season. It's too much alliteration. It's an alluring alliteration like Seattle Seahawks.

Sounds great. Go Hawks. We've gone on with this fact. Couple other facts. Normally on this show, we take a guest suggestion for a film that we break down back and forth.

We go over previous ratings, current ratings, create new ratings based on our discourse that movie is seven years old or older. Two hours and twenty two minutes or less and not part of any major franchise. This time for spooky season, it was Ben's turn. My pick. I did it.

I chose it. I done did it. In terms of this 1, you've got red on you. You got red on you? I got red on you.

I think everybody everybody who's anybody who listens to this and knows what we're talking about. Yeah. There are too many context clues. Ash couldn't be here today. Housewares.

We're the first act of the movie. It's like the zombies are always around if you're paying any sort of attention. Yeah. I think you should say the title. We're doing Shaun of the Dead.

It's time. It's past time for a lot of people and things and whatever in terms of this movie. And in terms of Edgar. Right? Exactly.

Very specifically. Yeah. The fact that we haven't done Edgar Wright which are some of my favorite movies is crazy. Same. Did you think there's gonna be a specific 1 that wasn't this that might be the first for any reason?

Maybe Scott Pilgrim. Because that's another, I don't wanna get into what my favorite Passionate fandom. Edgar Wright is a of it all. I think that in terms of like best comic book adaptations. Mhmm.

I think Scott Pilgrim is number 1 for me. In terms of the you and I here, you are the authority. I thought Rachel Foskett was potentially gonna bring the Sparks brothers. Oh, interesting. At a point.

Because I know she loves that movie and I think she knows I love that movie. Yeah. But, I watched it on a plane, but I loved it. I would love to have a different viewing experience. I assumed this would be the 1 over any of the other Cornettos.

Although, I know Hot Fuzz is it. Oh. Is I mean, they're all good for me. They're all amazing. On the Sparks brothers too, that only would have been able to be brought to it end to us because it's on my secret list on Letterboxd.

You can follow us on Letterboxd. You could. That's Run BMC. I'm Run BMC. I'm Paul x Badley.

Ben? Yeah. What you been doing? Well, it's been so long since we recorded last. Oh, shit.

Still in the annals. So Still in the we haven't left. We haven't we burrowed in not too deep. We're hiding out down here. We're hiding out down in the annals trying to keep away from all the oh, we don't use the zed word.

No. No. No. No. No.

No. No. Don't say that. Oh wait. I got a phone call.

Hey. What's up? I can't do anything right now. I'm a little busy. Hey.

I've been playing a video game. It's a game called Control. With a c or a k? A c. Okay.

It is Annapurna? Oh, woah. Yeah. Annapurna Pictures slash Who I believe the video game department has recently gone under. Oh, okay.

But I really liked I really liked a lot of their games. And this is 1 that I haven't people have told me to play and I, I haven't. And I finally checked and saw on PlayStation Marketplace, it was free. Okay. So I was like, fuck it.

And I'm enjoying it. It's really fun. It's a it's a very story driven game, but the mechanics are fun. And it's kind of, similar to his other franchise, Alan Wake. Love those games.

Okay. So it's the same same franchise or same people. It's very Lynchian in some ways. Use the crutch. Use the Homer, please don't bring home any old moral crutches.

Paul is waving a crutch in the air like a madman. I'm this century's Dennis the next The fact that people wanna come back and record with us is wild. Because we're in if you haven't been tracking in the annals, the lights go out. So if we randomly scream The Rude's in the Stude's, we gotta let them have it. Rude is in the Stude's?

It's his for it's his. We'll get it back at some point. So Paul, what you've been doing? Control the video game. I just wanna remember because the Alan Wake of it is you said.

And free. And free. I have been reading off and on a book that I can't seem to finish, that I've put down a couple few times. Please text us if you've read this book. It's Holly by Stephen King as it is we're in spooky season.

Stephen King King. Gear. Stephen King rules. The heat and yes. I I second it.

I would love the shirt. Yeah. Needful things is 1 of my favorite books, The Mist. Love a lot of that work. But it's just a lot of it feels like it's like, yes, sir.

I have the same opinion as you. We don't have to keep hitting these points. Can we not and that that's fine for some or all or whatever. But for me, it's just I wanna get through the book. I'm almost sure it's gonna be really good.

But I would love to get some sort of feedback from someone as I put it down and I read something that I'd read previously years ago. Just because I've it was like, I can put this down. I'm fine. How are you feeling about upcoming Stephen King adaptations? We have the, Dark Tower series.

Right. As it should be. Going to Amazon that Mike Flanagan's doing. Right. I believe there is also another Flanagan movie with Hiddleston that's a short story from King called the is it the life of Chuck or the secret life of Chuck?

Okay. Something like that. That got brave reviews in Toronto. Okay. But it seems like Flanagan and King are are buddies.

Well, yeah. Well, and he's done so well previously with kind of loosely or not so loosely homaging King slash doing direct Adaptation. In terms of doctor sleep. Yeah. Things like that.

My understanding is he's like the front runner to resurrect the nightmare, franchise as well. And I don't know how true that is. He's doing Exorcist. Right? But that's the rumor.

Yeah. And that's the thing the thing I was gonna mention is, like, I can't imagine he can take on all of that. It's a that's a lot. That's a lot. Hello, everyone.

It's Paul from The Edit. I'm here to apologize for us for me. For I missing an opportunity here to mention that Edgar Wright is directing a remake of The Running Man, which is based on a short story by Stephen King, pen name Richard Bachman. I will be better. I will try harder.

I will not let something like this happen again. You have my word. Thank you so much for your patience, your grace under fire. We can get there. We can do it.

Back to the program. Stephen King finished the book and, yeah, Mike Flanagan. Great. But I also man, sometimes I don't lean into it as much as I like to. I just love novelty music.

I've been listening to a good amount of it. I don't know if you'd consider the proto men novelty music listeners, if you know what that is. Text them. But they do updated cover songs of soundtrack music, and it's fantastic. But also, Alice Cooper made a song called Man Behind the Mask.

And I think we should talk about what we're watching. Oh, shit. Speaking of novelty music. That was good. What have you been watching?

We just passed Friday True story. Alice Cooper, man behind the mask. It's from the Friday franchise. Do you have a favorite Friday? Are you big on that franchise at all?

We don't do franchises. We don't discuss this really. Yeah. You're right. I mean, I've seen the first one.

I've seen the second one. I don't know if I could discern the rest of them except for Jason x, which I've unfortunately seen. I don't know if I could actually, like, break apart what differentiates the rest of them. But I think of the ones I've seen, I like the second one the most. I love 6.

Okay. That's the 1 where Jason is buried dead and gone. They transitioned to a different bad guy in number 5 that was a Jason fake. And in 6, Jason comes back, gets resurrected by a bolt of lightning through a steel rod, and it's hilarious and super over the top. It's the movie where, like, okay, we're leaning into the MTV eighties thing.

So I just I wanna make sure we're in the spooky season groove and that people are watching things and thinking of things like Friday and Stephen King. Yeah. Go watch your Go watch your spookies. And if you're not pocket. If you're not into the full on scaries, we got you too because we got some some horror comedies.

We've got some some dark movies, some strange movies. We're covering a gamut. We we watched a movie that's like watching with your 10 year old. Wolfman's got mad. Yeah.

We're doing a great job. Not not the 1 speaking to of tonight. I wouldn't watch this 1 movie season. No. Hey, the light came back on when we had fived in a clapper.

It looks like a couple of hours. Hit the lights. I, I think it's fact time. I haven't said what I've been watching, Paul. How rude of you.

Oh, wow. Shit. My bad. Wow. I thought on the Friday thing and skipped it.

My fault. It's okay. Tell me what you've been watching, please. I didn't plan anything. So let me get give me a second.

Make me feel like shit. Yeah. That's, that's what I do. Well, I did finish the Hudsucker proxy. Yeah.

Coen brothers, Tim Robbins, Jennifer Jason Leigh. Paul Newman? Paul Newman. Bruce Campbell? Bruce Campbell.

Yeah. The dad from Frasier. Oh, John Mahoney. Yeah. RIP.

RIP. RIP RIP RIP RIP to Paul Newman as well. Yeah. What a weird fun movie. It it's so interesting to me because while I think there are absurd moments in Raising Arizona and absurd moments in Big Lebowski and moments of absurdity in Fargo, I don't think any of them touch this level of absurdity.

It is and I want the last time I watched it was in high school, I think. Okay. Really enjoyed it. I mean, it's a three three or 3 and a half heart movie for me. It's on Netflix.

It's leaving soon. But I think in terms of, like, weird sort of, like, highly stylized theatrical you know, the other stuff that I feel like they've attempted to do that's kind of absurd like this is but doesn't quite get there is like lady killers. Yo. Okay. Which doesn't quite work.

I I'm not a yeah. It doesn't work. Big fan of that 1. But I think like this because of its, like, its commentary on sort of, corporate America and its commentary on this American dream. It actually and Tim Robbins' performance.

And Jennifer Jason Leigh, who Special, special actor. Is amazing in this. Yeah. It's been a while since I've revisited a Conan Brothers. It's been a while.

And I was pleased to revisit that 1. And then we've talked about it briefly, but I told you chaos on Netflix. I like to push things too that are, maybe lesser known and not some sort of, like, IP that you might go out and see anyway. But like, chaos on Netflix is just worth your time, especially if you're a fan of Greek mythology, fantastic cast, Goldblum, actually getting some meat to chew on, which is great because I feel like all he gets fed now is sort of you know Do your thing. Yeah.

Be Goldblum. Yeah. And this it's like, you know, he's fucking scary. He plays Zeus. And if you don't know the story, the whole, there will be a season two well, they haven't green lit it.

This is let this is set up a season two. We'll see what Netflix does knowing that Netflix. Fucking hate original content. If you know any stories about Greek mythology, about Orpheus and Eurydice and Hades and Persephone and and Zeus, and Dionysus. It is worth your time, and it's super fun.

So you'll blaze through it. Highly recommend. Alright. Cool. It's how many episodes?

8. Oh, great. Yeah. Very consumable. Yeah.

Bang bang bang. What about you? Oh, wait. You already said it. You're too nice nice now.

You give me too many opportunities to talk about what I'm watching. Let's just talk about what we're watching this whole episode. Split the song over and over and over. We'll just call this podcast, what are we watching? And we'll lose everybody.

Put it on Patreon. No. We should go to facts though. Okay. Archaeology is the search for facts.

I, I'll I'll tell you this for free. It's you, bud. We watched Shaun of the Dead. It is Rogue Pictures Studio Canal working title, Universal, distributed. I'm guessing Universal.

Yeah. Rated R. This movie was released in 02/4. It is one hour and thirty nine minutes. The budget on this movie, get ready, hold on to your butts.

It is only 610,000,0.0. Hold on to your butts. Which adjusted is 1,010,000,0.0. Yes. Which is insane.

For what this yeah. That's like, if people want context, that's like less than an episode of House of Dragons. Yeah. I don't know what Game of Thrones got up to ultimately or what you're talking about looks like. But I'm sure it's almost every episode is essentially like a big budget movie.

It's a business unto itself. Yeah. And like, yeah. This makes I mean less than every dollar look like. This is less than I think every episode of Stranger Things was at least 10,000,000 Wow.

Of this last recent season. Yep. Opening weekend was Sept. 24, 2004. It made a whopping 3,330,000,.00.

Hoo hoo. Adjusted that is 4.,999. Final gross North America is 1,4.3, adjusted 2,380,000,0.0. Final gross worldwide, 3,9.4 because the Brits had I mean, I'm sure it released in England First. Oh, yeah.

And adjusted that is 65 65.65. Follow the money. Follow the money. Other releases this date, the forgotten. I don't I don't remember that.

No. Do you remember that? I don't have a recollection. I have no. I don't remember.

Remember memory. Yeah. I have no. And First Daughter. Weekend top 5, The Forgotten?

I was that this weekend? Her? Did that there are dozens of I don't remember. I don't remember. Dozens.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Oh, man. Something should be buried. Mr. 3000, Resident Evil Apocalypse and First Daughter.

Top 5 films from this year, domestic Shrek 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Spider man 2, The Incredibles, The Passion of the Christ. What's the frequency ca vaism? Yeah. Let's talk about frequency. Hey, do you have some time to talk about frequency?

The movie frequency? Do you have the, you wanna that's what my pamphlets say when I pass them out. There's nothing religious on them. It's just all about movie frequency. Thank you.

Do you have a moment to talk about the movie freak oh, I don't. I'm not really no. This is just I just wanna I need someone to talk about. Sorry, it just stars Dennis Quaid. Give me 1 minute.

Other films from 02/4, '50 Dates, The Princess Diaries 2: A Royal Engagement, The Grudge, Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, written by James Gunn. Mhmm. Ladder 49, Big Fish Saw Out of Reach. Big Fish. I think that's, a good Burton.

I haven't seen Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Don't say it again. Beetlejuice? Holy shit, mother. Come for your daughter joke.

Nice fucking model. Also, why'd you include out of reach in the other is that a Steven If you haven't caught on yet, Paul is the 1 who writes these. I do not. I just read them. Can you just move on?

I just read the teleprompter like I'm paid to. I can't. I can't. I hear you. I got you.

You're the gun is to my head. I'm going. Okay? Okay. Get the Winchester away from my head.

Letterbox average of this movie? I don't it doesn't there's no there's nothing there. But follow us again at Run B M C. 4 dead. 4 dead.

4 what? 4 dead. Oh. Letterboxd average is 4. Follow us again.

Letterboxd please at run b m c. At Paul x Badly. Seriously, like you can maybe see what episodes are coming up by seeing what movies we're watching. And also we like to follow you back and we like to see what you're watching. No judgment.

We just wanna be part of a community. We add movies that we know are coming well in advance. We come to a decision about putting those on to Letterbox. Coming. And it's like a switch that goes on.

To a decision. Ebert. Regular or menthol? Ebert, 3 out of 4 stars. Rotten Tomatoes, 92%.

Metacritic, 76. Major awards nominations. Saturn award, best horror, and 3 BAFTA noms. You really wanted to zoom through that. But Suda.

Paul. The director of this film is the aforementioned Edgar Wright, baby driver, hot fuzz, to world's end writer. Edgar Wright, Last Night in Soho and star of this film also, Simon Pegg. Yeah. The writer of Star Trek Beyond.

Director of photography, David m Dunlap. The calcium kid, all in time, the great Gilley Hopkins. And that Yeah. That's not me. That's not me.

I hear you. Okay. Music, Dan Mudford. Mostly TV and, Pete Woodhead who has no other credits. Which is crazy because the music in this movie is really good.

Yeah. But it's such an independent movie. It really is. Really really is. Producers, Neera Park, The Sparks Brothers, Man Up, Scott Pilgrim versus the World and many many many others.

Again, Ben mentioned many studios that were involved in this. Simon Pegg played Sean. You've got Red Oak. Mission Impossible, Ghost Protocol, Star Trek Into Darkness and Run Fatboy, Run. Nick Frost was Ed.

Paul, attack the block. Don't. That sounds like you talk Paul, attack the block. Don't. Don't.

Don't do that. Kate Ashfield was Liz. Beyond Borders late night shopping guest house Paradiso. Hi. Hi.

Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi.

Bye bye. Bye bye. Okay. Bye bye bye. Lucy Davis was Diane.

Wonder Woman. Garfield, the tale of 2 kitties, Nicholas Nickleby. Dylan Moran was David Notting Hill, Good Vibrations and Cavalry. Nicola Cunningham was Mary? Trauma and the World's End.

Peter Serafinowicz, Pete, The Guardians of the Galaxy, Spy, starring Melissa McCarthy and John Wick, chapter 2. And we gotta do it. Bill Nighy. Oh my gosh. As Philip.

Being human, love actually, valkyrie, and holder of my heart. Bill Nighy is 1 of the greatest. He's 1 of the greats. In terms of just general timing Yeah. As an actor period, but the comedic timing and the dry I don't know where you stand because I know it's a very divisive movie.

I don't know where you stand on Love Actually, but his storyline in Love Actually and his performance are very good. I like things about the movie. Yeah. I like pieces of and storylines of the movie, but the movie is a whole for me. I'm like, I don't know.

Yeah. Yeah. But the Bill Nighy storyline, I agree, is the best part of the movie. And he's it's no coincidence that it's that actor too. Yeah.

He's great. It's been too spooky. Are you having fun? Are you having fun yet? I'm are you having a good time?

Are you having a good time? Are you having a good time? Or do you think you're being funny? Are you having fun? Okay.

Here's some fun facts, though. Fun facts. Fun facts, everybody. It's fun fact time. When the switch goes on, I feel like another person.

I feel I don't know. I feel like a I could try. Like a machine. Many of the zombie extras are fans of the BBC show Spaced from 1999 which also starred Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and directed by Edgar Wright. They were recruited through the spaced out fan website.

Have you seen spaced? That's so fucking cool. Yeah. Many years ago. Yeah.

It's great. Yeah. I was I was a lot of fun. And I was 3. Oh, wow.

Because it was, I mean, it was 19. No wait, 02/8. Did you have the cognitive resources to understand what you were watching? No. That's part of why I gotta go back.

Because it was 02/8, I was 3 years old. Yeah. You were you were What did you what did you want from me? You were dumb. All the news readers and television change.

All the news readers and television presenters are real people portraying themselves including Coldplay. Zombie. Zombie. But was that from a different thing and they CG that on their shirts? I don't know.

That's interesting. I wonder if that's in like a commentary or something more. I have I I have questions about that. The film is littered with references to George A Romero's, RIP, Living Dead movies including Night, Day and Dawn of the Dead. According to Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg, the latter reacted to the idea of Barbara dying as if his own mother was being killed.

And after her death scene was filmed, Pegg and Frost cried real tears. That moment's effective. It's so fucking well acted Yeah. By everyone. Yeah.

Specifically, Simon Pegg. Sure. But, I mean, it's it's hinging on him. Right? Yeah.

He's gotta pull it off and he does. But It's it's a solid perform I mean, I throughout this I will get into it. But without throughout, the performances are solid. It's not a good performance to me. Yep.

It's all great. And absolutely, it's a credit to the actors. And it's a credit to the casting director. And it's a fucking huge credit to Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg and Nick Farrag. And these people who collaborate together frequently on different levels.

Yeah. Like way to go. Way to find each other and find a creative groove. Yeah. So cool.

And way to help me and you and various others benefit from that. 100%. Yeah. When Ed is being bitten by a zombie near the end of the film, the sound effect of the scream is taken from the character of Windows from John Carpenter's The Thing. So cool that they just like reused Foley from that movie specifically for I think it's Windows Transforming or Dying or whatever it is.

Edgar Wright makes a voice cameo as the host of Full Seas Italian no. We'll full up tonight. We'll full up. It's so Oh, when he like bites the phone. Yeah.

Like the level of frustration is so great. I still to this I've seen this movie so many times. But I still now, every time he forgets to make that reservation, I'm so empathetic to him. Me too. Yeah.

Like when he calls, I'm like, just let let them have the reservation tonight. Yeah. I don't know, like You just hit like such a good point though. We're gonna do the log line or try Yeah. In a moment.

But 1 of the tag lines to this movie is a romantic comedy with zombies. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure.

Do you agree with that? Oh, yeah. Okay. We'll we'll have to break this down. We'll have to talk it out.

Totally. I'm just curious Alright. We gotta try a log line here. Right? Do you want me to go first?

Or do you I mean, it's your movie. It's my movie. It's true. Okay. A 20, loser, Sean, trying to hold on to his relationship is cast into a zombie apocalypse surrounded by his friends and has to muster up the courage to protect the 1 he loves.

Okay. The workaday life of an uninterested, uninteresting I don't wanna say loser because I don't think he's, like, a loser. He's just, like, fucking absent my I don't know. Yeah. Maybe kind of.

Yeah. Maybe I just needed to come to terms with that. Oh, this is a weird log line. Yeah. This is okay.

One second. I'm gonna read from my journal for a while. Okay. So it was September '14. Now the work a day life of a basic loser is thrown into chaos when a zombie apocalypse changes who he is and the people he loves forever when he's forced to become a hero.

The uneventful aimless lives of a London romance. I mean, there's there are longer ones. This is just the most popular. Yeah. Sure.

That's fine. I think ours were better. I I think we're better. I think we've done a fucking great job. We're better people.

We are. This episode is brought to you by the best people. Best people. There are no better people. I know all the best people.

Yep. I am All the best. I know all the best. Yeah. And we'll get to the You work with all the best people.

I am part of the best people. You hire all the best people. Yeah. Until I fire them. And they're not the best people.

Clearly. Yeah. Yeah. Easy to put yes. Put that label.

Yeah. You've been fired. You you suck. Yeah. This episode is brought to you by the best people.

Rest assured. Top shelf. We'll be back. Hey. It's Paul from the Review Review.

We say that this program is brought to you by the best people. We ain't kidding. We're gonna remind you of who these people are. Scott, Ben the Burrito Burris, Chris, Jessica, San Jeev, Audrey, Derek, Liz, Rachel, Matt Foskett, Brandon, Zach, Melinda, Keiko Green, Mike Bowers, David Park, Deborah, Riley, Brian, Charles, Matt Yanagia, Moses, Katie, Travis, Shannon, David Maguire, Stimson, Jono, Rob, Sarah Egan, Sarah Coats, MJ, Matt Barrow, Adria, Dustin, Harriet, we love you. These great people bring you this great program.

Back to it. You know the best people, right Paul? You have the best people in this? I do have the best people in this. The best possible people are producing and creating this product.

To the best? Always. And I keep them close. What's the product? Because I keep my enemies close.

Product doesn't matter. It says people. Speaking of the best people, we have a box full of examples of the best people. We have a box? Oh, oh shit.

I was like, what are you talking about? It's in the box. Wow. I probably just spiked this so hard. I assume we're recording.

Oh, you want me to record? Shut the fuck up. We're We're gonna play cinephile. I got the freebie yesterday, didn't I? Yeah.

Shy finger. I got the freebie yesterday. Don't tell them that. I know. Fuck.

Fuck. Cat's out of the bag. Cat's out of the fucking bag. Now we're gonna eat it. Rudy, get back in the bag.

Get back in the bag, Rudy. Don't want anyone eating you. Okay. I'm gonna actually pick a card up. Are you?

Nope. We're gonna be here. You're having a lot of trouble with it. I I am. This is crazy.

I need to get the best people on this. Just grab a stack of them and then okay. Angelica Houston, Prizy's honor. The Addams Family. The Addams Family Family Values?

The Postman always rings twice. I'm done, man. What else you got for me? Inform me. No.

I'm just gonna take that for now because my brain jammed after that. That was it. What kind of jam was it? Was it raspberry? Only 1 man would dare use raspberry.

Lone star. Lone star. You know what they never said in the writer's room of baseballs? Let's put a pin in that. No.

It was gonna be too direct so they didn't do that. Yeah. They didn't even say pin. No. It was just like We'll keep that on a veil.

Yes. Yes. Mhmm. Yeah. More cocaine.

Let's go. That's a limerick. Is it me? Is it you? Is it me?

Who talks first? Well, you lost. Okay. This movie came out in 02/4. This came out in February, Mhmm.

Which would have been my the first month of college for me. Oh. I saw this movie in the theater Mhmm. With my friends, including former guest of this podcast, mister Matthew Scott Barrow. And I remember just, like, laughing my ass off.

I thought this movie was so funny. It was funny in a way that I feel like we hadn't really experienced, because we hadn't, the Edgar Wright School of Comedy. And I feel like it kind of took us to school a little there is a really great episode of, the YouTube series Every Frame a Painting that really breaks down why this visual style of comedy is so effective and really different from what we were accustomed to at the time, which was more improv based comedy. A lot of like, you know, like set up the camera, Anchorman, you know, these movies where it was like a lot of very funny people with a concept around them and they're kinda like spitballing jokes. Yeah.

And that is not how this movie works. This movie is very well scripted. It is purposeful and the visual storytelling is funny. The camera movements are funny. The cuts to it.

The cuts are funny. The transitions are funny. And that is such a different style of comedy. We weren't used to it. And I was definitely not.

So I I loved it. I probably would have went walked away with from the theater experience with, like a 4. Mhmm. And I've watched this movie several times, since then. I mean, I own this movie.

At 1, I bought this movie in when I was visiting England, not realizing that it was the wrong zone. Wrong region. Wrong region. Yeah. And you can only change a region on a player so many times until it's stuck.

Yep. So then I bought it from, the digital store of Bezos. Mhmm. But I might, you know, might someday do a if they ever do a 4 k Cornetto SteelBook. SteelBook.

I would go down on that. I would go down on it. I champion that. Thank you. Yeah.

I watched this movie like couple months ago maybe. Typically now, because I've seen it so many times, it's more of a background movie for me where I just throw it on while I'm cleaning the house especially in like soup season, you know, or I'm doing work on my computer. I just throw it on because it's such a comfort. Mhmm. And this was the first time last night that I actually was like, I'm going to watch this movie.

Alright. Yeah. And after my viewing last night, Paul, after my viewing last night, I walked away with 5 pints. Woah. You're stumbling home after that you've had such a good time.

5 pints, baby. 5 pints. That's quite a fucking score. I have reasons why as well and I can get there once Yeah. Get into it.

Okay. The first time I saw this movie was opening weekend. I went with a friend I had at the time and some girl some coworker was trying to set him up with and a friend of hers. And we all went to this movie because I had to see this movie and no one else seemed to have a preference. And I and 1 of the random girls that came, like, had the best time and the other 2 people were like, this is fucking terrible.

Oh, wow. And we had a conversation about it after and, yeah, I clearly walked away the happiest, the highest. But also, like, I watched, like, Absolutely Fabulous and Monty Python and Are You Being Served and shit like Black Adder and shit like that on occasion. So I walked away at that point with 4 cricket bats. Mhmm.

Mhmm. Is that a cricket bat? I mean, you gotta know what a crumpet is if you know how to play cricket. Tell me. And that's true.

You didn't pay money, but it's I I'm sure they had a little bit. Crumpet. Yeah. 4. I own this movie.

I own it in 4 k. There is a Cornetto trilogy that is region free Mhmm. That is available on the Bezos Bonanza. And I've probably watched this movie in the last few years more than I've ever watched it. I wanna say in the last three years, I've probably watched this like 4 times.

Nice. Up to and including last night on Peacock and a week and a half ago at the twentieth anniversary, Atmos Yeah. Which is introduced by Edgar Wright. And the sound mix is fucking insane. It's so good.

I think I would just say that. Especially when you you're like, you know, coming into the Winchester and hearing and whatever the things around you and above you. It's fucking great. Even considering repeat viewings and everything, there is something about this movie that sometimes hits me in ways that I'm like, oh, like sad or so. I don't know how to it's things that we've already been talking about and we're gonna talk through this.

I still give it 4 and a half cricket bats. Okay. It's 1 of those it's like it's a crazy highly rated movie for me. Yeah. But it's not in my top 100 movies.

Oh, wow. But it's so close. Dude, I've seen like 3300 movies. It's crazy. Like, when you go in my letterbox I don't know what I know your letterbox is crazy.

At Run BMC? Yeah. At Run BMC on Letterbox. That's the 1. I mean, other people might know it's crazy if they followed me.

Yeah. They'll know. They'll see. You'll see. It's just a matter of time.

Credit card. You got it. It's just a matter of time. Big gulps, Well, see you later. But, yeah.

4 and a half cricket bats. That's what I walk away. That's a high score for me. That's a very high score for me. That's a very high score for me.

That's a very high score for me. It's very very high. I'm I'm so glad we're so high. High above me. So lovely.

I am so excited to talk Can you take me hate? Yeah. I'm so glad to talk Get off my plane. I'm so excited to talk about this movie. And I think we should start the movie.

Take me on a journey. Walk me to the Winchester. Cocktail movie. Starktail Ruby. And now, our feature presentation.

We got red on you. Yeah. I wanna start by saying, and I know that we'll talk about this more, but the way this movie starts and the way that this movie utilizes repetitive shots and sequences is so effective Mhmm. In the way that it's telling the story of Sean. And when we start this movie, we get this shot of Sean stumbling into the living room and it's from his feet and then it follows him up.

And he's doing this big yawn and it's already establishing that Sean is, first off, establishing the zombie motif, but also establishing that this guy is just stumbling through Already a zombie. His life. Yeah. And I'm gonna back up half a step Please. As it does these repetitive beats.

And part of it is to be like, this is his life. This is the mundaneness. This is the way you can map it or he can map it. Mhmm. What are the he can zombify himself through every pretty much every day.

Yeah. But they establish who's who so quickly in the bar and with the shots and the behavior. Mhmm. And like how Liz is feeling and whatever and then Sean wakes up. Isn't that the order?

Oh, yeah. You're right. Sorry. Yeah. No.

No. Don't apologize. And Sean like gets ready and, like, the cuts through here that it's like taking a piss, brushing my teeth. Alright. So the opening is very much like The thing you're never supposed to do.

Show somebody getting ready for their day. The the opening in the Winchester is like social network. It opens in the bar and he's having an argument with his girlfriend. Yep. The little like, the way that he uses his scripts his script writing is very smart but We're going to the fish place.

And she's arguing with Sean. She's like, I don't know. I just wish we would. And in the background, Nick Frost goes, fuck. Yes.

So much of that happens in this movie. It's so good. Some of it, you might not even know at the moment. And and it's not called out. Like, some and some is.

Yeah. You have to have repetitive viewing to to to notice it. This is the establishing of the, which they do repetitively is, something being just off frame. Mhmm. Where she's like, I just felt like I don't What's Nick Frost's character's name?

Yeah. Yeah. It's not like I don't like Ed. It's not like I don't like you. I know.

And he's right there like it's Yeah. And then Sean is the same thing. It's like, it's not like I don't like them. I don't it's not that I don't like you guys and it's that shit is so The twat and the failed act actress? Well, he he is definitely the, David is definitely the, antagonist of this movie.

Right? I could not agree with you more. I mean, Pete to a degree, but, like, David to a much much much bigger degree. Yeah. Like, the zombies are just spotter.

They're just there. There are obstacles to get over. There are distraction between the actual obstacles. That's the beauty of this and the George Romero thing. Uh-huh.

In George Romero, it's like straight horror. This is comedy, romantic comedy And he horror. And the way that we meet these characters, we meet Sean and Ed and Liz and David and, Pete. Well, and then we finally get yeah. We finally get the house.

The Yeah. Where Pete and Sean live together. And that shot again Ed's flopping out anyway. Yeah. Ed just flopped.

He's the guy on the couch. Yep. But Sean pushes the mirror and, Pete's right behind him. So good. The tick's right there.

This is where and I think, like, I yeah. I think you could say Pete to a degree, but I think what I think is so smart about the writing too is Pete and Ed are the foils for Sean. Yeah. Because they're the 2 extremes of what Sean could be. Because Sean has it within him to be the layabout, nothing, not worth anything, not working, doing anything.

And Pete and he has it in him also to be driven and motivated and taken care of. He even has an opportunity for it in the movie at several points, but you man, you just made so he won't commit. Right. He won't commit to her. He won't commit to a career or not a career or doing anything outside of his little bubble.

Again, like you were saying, the repetitive shots. This is yeah. Wow. You just hit a really good Well, ultimately, he won't commit to himself. Right?

Because, like, it all comes back to his own Believe in himself. His self worth. He doesn't he doesn't really think of himself very highly. You know, you man, you just made me have 2 epiphanies. We'll get to the second one.

Oh, I can smell them. A little bit. I'll stop doing it when you stop laughing. And this is literally the moment when Ed rips it, makes that joke, and you get an idea of the intimacy of their friendship. Like how close that they are.

Yeah. It's so well done. They're not gonna be out of each other's lives. We don't need a lot of exposition. He's Right.

He tells he tells, not David. He tells Pete, I've known him since grade school, I think, is the line. But that's all you need to know about who they are. And, like, that shot where it's Sean going to the corner store. A fucking amazing A follow shot.

And apparently, the cinematographer fought with Edgar Wright about this. Really? Yep. And Edgar Wright was like, nope. It's gonna work.

It's gonna be amazing. We're gonna repeat it. It's gonna like. And apparently, like, in interviews, Edgar Wright has said, like, I had to be like, no. This is we have to do this this way.

And it's so specific to his style. Yeah. But I mean, 1 shots are hard. Yes. Super hard.

And especially on that budget, in that area, I mean, I'm not I assume they didn't have they were not like Pinewood or some shit, I assume. No. But I think this is like that's the moment where you this movie tells you early on, you need to pay attention to the things happening in the background. Yeah. And I this is a moment where I think I need to say, Pinewood Studios is where James Bond movies are made.

It's a Star Wars. It's massive. It's where they made aliens. It's crazy. You could build a massive city inside of this studio easily, and this isn't the kind of movie that gets done there.

No. Absolutely not. And you may already knew that. I'm sorry, I'm Anne Splained. These, no.

I think it's important to there's people on here who aren't industry people. No. I know that. But I mean, there's gotta be at least 2 or 3 people listening. I didn't make that joke anyway.

Johnson. But I think like The store trip. These care these, these neighborhood characters are gonna return. It's just so great how they just establish them so early on. And like, the way that the homeless dude is stumbling and asking for money is very zombie.

Like, the guy who The kid playing soccer. The kid and he says, next time I see you, you're gonna be dead. Yes. Like to the kid playing soccer. Everyone predicts that, like Yeah.

Ad set with Pete, like, next time we'll see you, you're dead. Like, and it comes up, like, that exact same thing. Yeah. Again, hitting beats multiple times, it is so effective in this movie. And the movie just fucking flies.

Uh-huh. And the jokes just fly at you without you noticing. And they never stop. No. Visually or in the music or audio or whatever.

It's it's fucking incredible. When when Sean you know, gets the store and goes through his morning and has his morning meeting at his work and it's like, this guy's sick. This other person apparently is sick. They're already establishing something is going wrong. Yeah.

And also on the bus, we already like They're all zombies. The way that everybody is just like already sort of Yes. Zoned out. You know, this was before this was before the time of phones, but if you made it today, everyone would be on their phone. Yeah.

But like that's the idea. Right? Everyone's already in this world like zombie ing through their lives. Not interacting. Yeah.

Not Yeah. Not paying any attention. And Sean works in the electronics store and a reference to Ash from the evil dead, he's like So great. Ash couldn't be here today. So he's the manager.

And this kid who works there is on his phone. Yes. He takes a phone call in the middle of this meeting. Yes. And he's like, calls him grandpa.

He's like, hey now, I'm Granddad. I'm 29. How old are you? What? 21?

20 2? 7. I mean So go back to the call. There are things I want us to do in my life like When? Yeah.

What a That was such a burn. And and also like for a script writing perspective, genius. Right? Yeah. You don't have to you don't have to make this a big deal.

You don't have to go into what he wants to do with his life or like how he's gonna do it. But having this 1 little burn of knowing and and getting to the heart of what Sean's real conundrum is Yeah. Is is when is he gonna take control of his life? When? Dude, when are we gonna get an evil debt?

I know it's hard. Because it's hard tries. Squeeze those in. I mean, you gotta do it doing spooky spooky season. I mean, does Fade squeeze in the franchises?

Does the Fade Alvarez one count? That's a standalone. Yeah. Kinda. I think you could.

I think. But I mean also the OG, does army of darkness count? I mean that's when it becomes franchise, right? Yeah. Well, I'd still I don't know.

In spooky season break the fucking rules, break the fucking rules. Come at us. We're doing alien 3. You got red on you. You got red on you.

But red on you. We just have to do the first Sam Raimi or the Fiti Alvarez. We have to do 1 of those 2. He's showing he's showing a couple and this is where I think this movie does a genius way of using news broadcast. Yes.

And this is where it starts to show, like, these different people in, like, hazmat suits. Emergencies. Emergency taxi. Services reacting. And then he also, at 1, sees the guy across the park who's like attacking pigeons.

They're gonna eat a bird. Yeah. Something. But then it's Sean, your dad is here. He's not my dad.

And fucking Bill Nighy shows up, dry as fucking toast. Yeah. You'll come bar. You'll get flowers. You've got red on you.

Bring Barbara flowers. And the way he turns, like, hello, Sean. It's so good. Oh, so I can't be in my phone where you can talk to your dad. Is that my dad?

And this is where we get the real, like, loss of communication because Liz calls. Yes. And Liz is checking He missed her call in the morning. Yeah. Liz is checking to make sure because it's they're they're having a date tonight.

It's their anniversary. For a full cheese, they're going for for their third anniversary is the place with the fish. And he was supposed to get a reservation and he's trying to pretend like it's someone from corporate. So she's like, hey, Sean. Liz here.

Did you get the reservation? Yep. It's Liz from head office. So we're good for tonight? Yep.

Okay. I'll see you tonight. Yep. See you later, Liz. Liz from Alright.

Bye bye. Bye bye. Bye. Bye. And it's so good.

And we as audience are already now like, uh-oh, Sean. Soon. Will you help me out with this? Sean leaves work and the thing that jogs his memory to be like, oh, fuck. I gotta call the restaurant.

Whoops. Because he hasn't been paying attention to messages or phone calls or anything he's been saying. Is the woman he runs into his ex girlfriend? It's his ex. Yeah.

And she's doing well apparently. She's buying a place or bought a place? She bought a place in the neighborhood. Yeah. She's doing well and progressing and she's like, oh, what are you how are you and Liz?

And he's like, oh, it's been three years. Oh, what are you guys doing? Yeah. We're going for a meal. Oh, fuck.

In that same shot too, he's like, he sees someone face down in their car on the horn. And and nobody and, like, people are just honking. Nobody cares. Yeah. Nobody cares.

And we've seen so much shit happening in the background already. Yeah. And then he gets home and, she Ed's like, you know, I tidied up a little bit. Doesn't look like he tidied. I had a few beers after.

Ed, you're not gonna mention I tidied up. And the Sean calls the fish place in a panic. And Edgar Wright says, nope. Sorry. We're a fall out.

And you did your you did it so well, the phone bite. Like the He's so he's so mad. He's so he knows he fucked up so bad. And the 1 place that she hates and doesn't ever wanna go back to I'm gonna dipshit in this moment. Is when he calls and goes, yeah.

So there's a problem with the table, babe. But she's like, what do you mean? I thought it was fine. It's like, yes. We don't we don't you forgot, didn't you?

Yeah. So what's the plan then? And Ed just gives his w John responds is, the Winchester? And also he bought flowers for his mom. And he's going to go take these flowers to Liz now to try to make up with her.

So he's like the quick and this is where the movie does such a, you know, where it's it's these quick takes for the transition. It's hang up the phone, grab the keys, get the flowers Yeah. The cuffs. Door slam. Like so fast Yeah.

That it just like the movie fucking flies. Well, and I like how it's like he's doing everything a person should be doing. Grabbing 1. Yeah. It's like we're going over all the stuff.

It's all being done. You don't have to worry. Don't question it. It's all happening. And Sean darts over to Liz's place as quick as he can and gets upstairs via many buzzes.

I'll climb up the wall. I will do it. And Diane and David are like, no, you won't. And he doesn't. And he is determined to get Liz back.

He's like, I'm throwing away my cigarettes. Yeah. And I love I love that he's fighting for her. And I I also love that when they finally sit down on that bed and they're just talking, you can see why this relationship works. Yeah.

Because they're pretty good at just talking. Yeah. Even when he fucked up so bad. We met in Greece. Yeah.

And that when she has the flowers and she goes I I don't know if it's a break here but it works. The 2 mom love Sean. Oh. And he just kinda laughs. Yeah.

And he's like, oh, she's like, these are for your mom. I said, yeah. And just takes him back. But, you know, he fucked up pretty bad and he continues to fuck up. And this is where I think thematically the movie is so strong because this is a movie about someone who needs to stop being a zombie in their life.

Right? This is a like, at the core, this is a movie about someone who needs to realize what their priorities are. Take some fucking control of your life, mate. And Yeah. And, like, fight for the people that he loves.

Dude, it's the thing. And and the things that he loves and embracing them and being okay with them and making the best Yeah. I think is a big piece of it too. Because, I mean, the first place he goes when he wants to feel safe, he goes to the Winchester with Ed. Yeah.

They get drunk. How's that for a slice of fraud gold? Like I do wanna just real quick mention before he leaves Liz's, he goes, oh, fuck off, 4 eyes. You go after you love her so much. Yeah.

David. The silence that sits with David and his girlfriend where you can tell she knows that he does. Yep. And David's like, I don't know why he said that. We can see already this.

And what they didn't have to do that. You know, I mean, I think, like, that is such a great character driven sort of nuanced element to make David this guy who lives with Liz, like, basically, because he's his girlfriend lives there. Yeah. And is in love with Liz. Clearly, he's rooting for Liz and Sean to fail.

Yes. And I think that is such a great element to include in this. But yes, we go to the Winchester. He's just been, like, creeping the entire time, like, waiting for his fucking moment to pounce. Yeah.

Yeah. Which is so sad for his girlfriend, you know. Isn't it? Yeah. And him and Liz and just everybody.

It's just gross. When they go back to the Winchester and they're wasted The chukebox is so random. The girl and the guy making out. Them, like, talking about all the guy people The patrons and the The patrons and and what John the owner. John the owner wondering if he's connected to the mob.

Big Al says he's connected to the mafia. And if the gun is real, the Winchester. The dog says dogs can't look up. Yeah. They can't.

But yeah, they are the we established there's a gun above this bar, which is important, comes back. Pretty pretty big rifle. Yeah. The Winchester. A Winchester rifle.

And the, the couple who are making out to fight you. At the beginning outside the bar and then when they leave the bar, it's such good timing because it looks like they're just like going at it again and they look back and they're like, oh, and then the second they turn around, the guy's head just falls off. Oh, later in the movie, it's for or no. It is that moment. Yeah.

It's already like getting to that point. It's so good. What is it about Edgar Wright movies when people are, like, walking home from a bar? It's like hot fuzz in World's End. It has so many of these great I don't And good time just such strong timing, you know?

Dude, when they get back to the house and Pete's home and they're listening to Electro and they have their hats on sideways and Sean just wants to forget his troubles. And I've been the dude who comes down that's like, it's four in the fucking morning. Sort your fucking life out, mate. I've been that guy too. With a probably some bandage on my hand and I got mugged on the way home.

By him? I don't know. I didn't get his name. What? What'd they bite you?

I didn't stop to ask him. You stopped to fucking ask him. And the doors open again. Again? Arthur Arthur he's great.

Have you ever seen him as the tick in the Yeah. That's I said the tick right behind you, like in the back. Like, I love that version of the show, of that story. And Doo Doo Plays Arthur, also great, has a great podcast called Blank Check. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. But, yeah, again, I think, like, this great establishment of and Sean goes to the whiteboard in the kitchen before he passes out. And he makes us he makes a, checklist of what he needs to do, which is get back Liz, go to mom's Yes. And sort out your life.

Yes. Which I think, that's gonna come back. Like, that's that's the movie. He falls asleep in the fucking chair Yeah. Like, the whole night and wakes up to that very sobering thing.

Yep. Side note, Griffin Newman is a co host on blank check. Wanted to remember his late Arthur. There you go. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Mhmm. The streets. Do you want do you want anything from the market?

Cornetto. Cornetto. He's like the like, I'm like, god knows what time. First thing he wants, Cornetto. Maybe that's maybe that's a great hangover cure.

If people don't know what Cornetto is, it's basically like a drumstick. A drumstick. Yeah. But I think probably, you know, with real all real ingredients and shit or whatever is probably delicious, even more delicious. But the streets when Sean's going back are not exactly the same escalation.

Similar. Yeah. You see in the background the homeless dude who asked him. Like, he's, like, stumbling slowly towards him. Yeah.

And, like, the way that Sean is so oblivious. Mhmm. And, like, this continues to establish Broken windshields. Yeah. And he's just oblivious to everything going on around him, which is gonna be 1 of his arcs in this.

Right? Is he's gonna become more attentive. Mhmm. But the, it's the same follow shot. It's the same Mhmm.

1 shot. The blood on the window when he gets his The choreographed beautifully. And he's only going there for a diet coke for himself. I love the details in when he walks in the store, the bloody hand prints and he turns his head the other way when he's opening the fridge. But he slips?

And he goes to get a coke, and then he's like, you know what? Today's a new day, new life. I'm gonna get a diet coke. And then slips on the blood and wants to get a paper, can't get a paper, and he says to the I owe you £15. I owe 15 pay and leaves.

Yeah. And tells the dude, the homeless guy, like, I didn't even have enough for the paper. Yeah. As he tries to open that diet coke with his teeth Oh, yeah. That's almost where, like, the half star half fucking cricket bat is.

I used to do that. I used to do that in high school. Fuck that. No. That's fucking fucking feral animal shit.

No. Did you ever smoke weed out of a can? This isn't about me. Moving on. This is about me judging others.

But, yeah. They get back. He gets back. And she he, Ed's standing there with, like, a ghost with, by the window with a curtain around him. He's like, there's a girl in the backyard.

There's a girl in the garden. What? There's a girl in the garden. And they go out there and she's like, Yeah. And and now, like, Sean has caught on a little bit to the news reports too that, like, shit's starting to go kind of bad.

The way so this is part of in every frame of painting. How the way they show what's happening by him changing the channels Yes. Is so brilliant and so funny. The way But he doesn't even catch on to that. The nature because they're like there are people out and he changes to a nature channel and it's like and eating peep eating a lot eating it alive.

And it's like it's so funny. It works so well. And then he gets to like a pop show or whatever, like an interview show and he goes, wait. And then he goes back. Like, that's the thing Yeah.

That shakes into reality. But when they go back and they meet Mary in the garden Oh my god. She's so drunk. Can you play with us, Danny? Oh, she I think she likes you.

And Ed when Ed leaves to get the camera, which now clearly we just have our phone, but Ed gets the wind up disposable camera. Fucking great. The records. Oh. So, yeah.

There's there's another guy in the backyard. Yep. And then they go inside. This is where they establish it. They'll do it again.

Where it's like, oh, they're still out there. And he opens the curtains and they're just right there. Banging on the windows. And closes the curtains. And then closes the curtains like, yep.

Yep. This is where Sean, like, asserts himself a little bit to me the first time where he's like, I'm not gonna be trapped in here. I'm not gonna be trapped in this anymore. And he busts into the shed and gets a cricket bat and a shovel for Ed and they go hand Yeah. Because the the records aren't working.

Right. No. The records the Batman soundtrack and Dire Straits. It's a bunch of prints. He's like, no.

No. Batman soundtrack? Toss it. Sh Sade. That's Liz's.

That's Liz's. Toss it. Yeah. Yeah. So then they just go and they because they hear, which is important, they hear the news reporters say you have to remove the head and kill or kill the Destroy the brain.

So that's what Destroy the brain. So then they're like, okay, you know, he calls mom. And this is where it's important because we I feel like if we don't get this piece of information, he might just stay home. Right. But the important information is his mom says, oh, it's alright.

We had some people who tried to break in. Yeah. And he's like, mom, are you okay? Did you get bit? No.

No. I'm fine. I'm fine. Your father got bit, which is fulfilling. A little bit bitey.

Bit bitey. We're coming to get you, Barbara. Now he knows. We're coming to get you, Barbara. Philip is gonna turn and he has to go save his mom, which again, is either oh, it might that might be the top of the list.

Right? Visit mom, might because it's he goes in order. Right? Go see mom. Yeah.

Fix things with Liz. And get sort out life. He has the concepts of a plan. His concepts of the plan. He's right now also, like, he's coming up with the concepts of a plan.

As he, again, this is another thing where I feel he's progressing. Like, he sheds the name tag. Oh, yeah. This is not I'm not this. But he still has red on him.

He still you go red. Now they have You got a lot of red. They have blood on them. And the way that he's eating that, Cornetto, he's got, like, blood on his fingers. It's And he still, like, licks his fingers.

But dude, the car. Dude, Pete butt naked and Sean. When they're calling up the when they're calling up the stairs and he's like, Pete, Pete, are you, are you home? Hey, Pete. You're a dick.

Oh, he's not home. Yeah. Oh, he's gone. Pete gets left in the house. They take his car to go get mom and they've decided through their concepts of a plan They have to kill Philip.

That they have to kill Philip. But ultimately, they're not killing Philip because no fighting. I forgot to mention earlier 1 of my favorite jokes and I think it still plays in 2024 which is, and then we have to go pick up Liz. Why? Because I love her.

Alright. Gay. Which I just think is I think it's just a dude ripping another dude for like whatever. Fine. But it also is so funny because, a, he's talking about his heteronormative relationship and he needs to go save it, which is not gay.

And also, like, the it's it It almost seems like it's insulting Exactly. Yeah. But he but we've established already that, like, it works it just works so well for that character. Yeah. Each each character in this has their own individual comedy and sense of humor Yeah.

That the writers really play to. No. I agree. The the Philip being so dry toast and, like, that you're just we use this term about David, like, waiting for this character to pounce. And they're so good with the musical cues.

Yeah. When Sean goes to he's gonna bash Philip with the cricket bat and he says, I'm sorry, Philip. And he goes, why? And the musical cue Yeah. When Philip wakes up and they decide well, they are it's decided for them.

They're gonna take Philip's Jaguar. Dude, the I almost He's the fuck out of it. I almost gave this 5 Jags because that car We almost both did. Oh my gosh. Wow.

Wow. Wow. But the, the conversation he has with It's a cat. Because we get this idea that him and Philip have never really got along. He talks about how Philip chased him with a piece of wood.

A bit of wood. But then when he's talking to his mom, he's like, he touched me. And the way his mom turns around and looks at him like knows it's not true. And Sean's like That's really bad. That's not true.

I shouldn't have said that. But he can't he can't kill Philip. And what I love again, thematically is everything that's happening externally is only happening in terms of, like, the story to push Sean to mend the bridges of the relationships in his life. It has taken him twenty nine years in a zombie apocalypse to fix the relationship with his stepfather, come to terms with being honest and open and caring of his mother, and also talk about what his priorities are, which is his relationship. And to get his mother to meet his girlfriend for three years.

Yeah. They've never met him. Moment, it takes a zombie apocalypse for him to just go grab Liz and David and die. And, you know, the the meeting is so casual. Mom, Philip.

And it's just, hello. Lovely to meet you. And then they drive off. Philip is not doing well. But that conversation they have in the back.

It's beautifully acted. It's so good. By all parties. Sean. It's wonderfully shot.

Sean, I'm sorry. Sorry. He said, no, it's okay. And he says like, no, being a father is hard. And I, this time watching, started to get a little choked up.

Little emotional. Yeah. So this was the epiphany, is this moment, the other epiphany you gave me when you said what you said. This is Philip saying like, I can go now. Mhmm.

I'm gonna go now. Like, you got it. You're now you have to take care. And that's like the big moment for Sean where it's like, okay, I'm gonna commit to like, I'm I'm doing the thing now. Yeah.

I've lost both of my dad's. It's on me. I think that's the I guess the that's what I got. I And I have to help Barbara. I have to help him.

How come you get you Barbara? I got him at just that, Ed purposely crashes Pete's car to drive to Jack like a maniac. And they end up walking to the Winchester. The way that he's like pull over and and Ed like does this crazy like spin out. Yeah.

And then they have to get out. And, like, Ed's just and at this point, he's a little, we have to mention because Sean and him have started to get their relationships have become a little combative. They're fighting a little. Because he's told Trouble in Paradise. He's told Ed to turn the music off and, like, stop being a fuck around or whatever.

Yep. Ed's a little grumpy about that. And they're, like, in the back seat with a zombie and Ed's not opening the back door. No. Because the fucking child locks too.

Right? Yeah. So they can't get out. They they all get out as Philip turns. There's nothing in that car that's anything like your husband and then he turns off the music.

1 of the great all time jokes. Yeah. And then he's like, come on. Like where you can tell his mom's like, no. Did you Yeah.

He turned. This is also when he runs into Sean and everybody run into Sean's ex girlfriend. And Martin Freeman. And Martin Freeman and, like, all of their doppelgangers. Yeah.

And it's so great. And the way it shot, so great. Hi. Hi. Hi.

Hi. Hi. Where are you guys going? The Winchester. Oh, okay.

And we get this site. They don't say where they're going, but we will learn later. Yeah. We find out later. A much smarter place to go.

Yeah. We go through another kind of zombie fight thing and a great visual joke of Sean, like, climbing the ladder of a slide. Looking up. Like, I'm gonna check. Camera doesn't move.

And then we look at his face and he's like, what are they Is it clear? Is it clear? Mm-mm. No. No.

Mm-mm. How many? Well, a lot. Like, this is so taken aback. This is 1 of those moments though, I will say, as I it's like Paul, you gave this a 4 and a half and you're just like It's like when you see that shot, the establishing shot of what they're gonna go through to get to the Winchester, it's fairly well filled or whatever.

But it's like, it doesn't and I don't know exactly what city or neighborhood or whatnot that they're in, but I never and I know you're I don't think you're supposed to. I don't really ever feel a level of danger. Mhmm. Like, it's even in that moment I'm like, oh, I can see, like, bare patches and, like, where people were told to stand maybe to make it look as full as pot. Whatever.

Mhmm. But like even the way that they time moments where it's like, oh, I like sometimes I just feel like there's no real danger. And that's that's the thing where you hit on something really good earlier that we're gonna hit on when we get to it. But the fight and finding a route into the Winchester and just getting stuck. The way that they use the failed actress as someone teaching everyone to to be a zombie.

Zombie acting. And, you know, to to your credit, I think the the interesting part is that maybe there isn't necessarily like the level of danger that you would have in another, I don't know, zombie show or something like that. But But it's not the point of it to be. Like, I think I'm misguided with that. But I think it's also but it's also be it's interesting because people die.

Mhmm. You know, it's not like and and everyone seems to be fairly expendable. Yeah. So it it's interesting. I understand what you're saying.

But I think I guess, like, as the movie goes on, to be honest, as the movie goes on, like, we'll get there, but we'll, like, when we get to, like, behind the bar, that's when I start to feel more levels of danger. I agree with you. I think it hits me at about the same time. Yeah. When they go into the the Winchester and they're pinned down.

And this is 1 of those moments where it's like, there's supposed to be a level of danger or anxiety that you feel as an audience, I think. And it's like, oh, the zombies pose Well at a point, it looks great. And and then Ed gets takes a phone call. Hey. What?

No. I can't talk around now. No. I know. I'm in the middle of something.

Alright. Yeah. And Dave is a fucking dipshit. Shit. And he's a coward.

And he constantly thinks he can, like I'm the leader. Take control. And he just thinks I'm leading here. Trash can through a window, which calls all the zombies to them. And this is where Sean is starting to really go down the path Yeah.

Of taking some control Yeah. And power. And and he sacrifices himself and puts his body on the line to go bring the zombies towards him so that his friends and family can go into the bar. The hero's journey is is like so so compact. It's so well written that he it's like, okay.

Now we're at the potential self sacrifice. Here we go. And it's like, wow. I I was never not on this guy's side, but now I'm like, I'm wearing I'll wear the same laundry as this guy and watch what he does on Sunday. Like Yeah.

You know, I'm so on his side. And when Sean returns and they're debating, like, David's like, well well, maybe he'll never come back. What are we gonna live on? Peanuts and and toasties and pig snacks and the whole thing. And when Sean catches, that's such a great little camera fit.

Like, that's, again, where Sean's come back a different person. Like, I'm hardened. Yeah. And now because I went through the back door. He made it and they're in the bar.

There's no power right now. Right. But David says something about like Well, I wasn't the 1 who was blowing our cover by having a tiff with my boyfriend. He's not my boyfriend. Might be a bit warm.

The cooler's off. Thanks babe. It's such a great look. And the and the look that that Simon Pegg and and Nick Frost. As I I wanna say this now, Nick Frost.

It's so good. What an actor. Oh, yeah. Just in general. Yeah.

Good lord. So good in this movie. Those 2 just play so well off of each other. And the the zombies are breaking in and they're trying to find anything they can use to defend themselves and they're using a pool pool sticks on John. Oh, well, yeah.

They because they And the the jukebox kicks over with the power that David's fucking with. Stop me now. Don't stop me now. Don't stop me now. The best Having such a good time.

And then I'm having a and then they're hitting him to the tune. In rhythm. In rhythm. I think it's Getting John. I think in Kill the queen.

Yeah. Kill the queen. It's a joke box. Such a great line. Yeah.

You can't say that. Edgar Wright's use of soundtrack Yeah. What a needle drop legend. Is and and he does this I got Queen for this movie? Epically in Baby Driver.

Right? Where the action is literally timed to the music Mhmm. In a way that goddamn. That's and and I know from watching, like, behind the scenes on that movie, he was like he had people listening to the like, he had crew members himself. They were listening to the song as they were shooting.

But this moment is a standout for me. Right? And this is where we learn from From the barber bite. Well, and Sean has kind of established with Liz, like, he didn't give them the the zombies the slip. They followed him back.

Yeah. And the place is surrounded. And now, like, they need to be quiet. He gotten back just in time. And Ed's, like, playing a game.

And then, yeah, the music's going and the lights are flashing. And they're basically a zombie feast waiting. But, yes, Barbara has established with Liz. And we get that little 1 on 1 with mom and Liz, which is so nice. Armagh's man, so many great performances in this movie.

We man, will we ever watch a bad movie? Let me look into the future. Maybe even for a holiday. I think we might end up getting 1. I mean, we started with what dreams may come.

Right. But I I think There's only If we're lucky, we'll have a bad 1 for a holiday. Like We'll see. Lucky the Irish. You'll see.

Credit card. You got it. We have the little shooting gallery. It feels like a little video gamey or whatever. And that's kind of fun.

Like, clearly, like Well, the gun works. Nobody nobody knows how to shoot it, but the gun fucking works. Gun works, but dogs can look up. Yeah. Dogs can't put big Al's wrong.

Dogs can look up. This is the big moment in the movie. David is like, your mom's fucking turning. She's dead. We gotta kill her.

And it's like, well, he's not wrong. But he's an asshole. It's the Walter thing. Hey, asshole. You looked.

You looked. It's not that no. You're not wrong, Walter. You're just an asshole. Yeah.

Strong men also cry. But we also get this idea from David that it's less about protecting them and more about hurting Sean. And asserting himself. Yeah. It's about dominance and control yeah.

And doing anything he can to harm this other person. You're a % right. Yeah. And David, you know, Sean does the hard thing. David is like, you should do it, Sean.

And Sean fucking Barbara turns and he fucking shoots her. Which is goddamn. After this, like, standoff where they have glass bottles and a corkscrew, because again, this movie's great at kind of, like, deflecting with humor. This seems unfair. You're right.

Yeah. And Ed with the corkscrew. Yeah. Don't point that at Barbara. That copying my mom get you, Barbara.

But Simon Pig yeah. It does it and fucking cries and but the other thing too is, like, horror movie acting is mostly, like, screaming and panic and a lot of energy, and this movie is quite the opposite. And, like, can be very hard to do these yeah. It's just so fucking grounded. He punches out David.

Yep. And then David grabs the gun. And fucking tries and blows the trigger. Yep. And it clicks.

And everyone's like, what the fuck? Yep. Because that's where it's like, okay. Was it empty or did he not cock it? I don't know.

You know, he doesn't know what he's doing. Yeah. But I think, like, similar to like a good Twilight Zone episode. Right? Where it's the outside thing isn't necessarily the story.

Yeah. It's what it's gonna do to the people with the story. The best ones are all about what how it affects people and interpersonal relationships. Yeah. To me, that's a key a key of great writing.

Great storytelling. 1 of the reasons I like the James Gunn written and Zack Snyder directed Dawn of the Dead. That's such a fun movie. That's a fun movie. I like, I'm not a big fast zombie guy.

I like the idea of like, yeah, these dead things should probably not be like, you know Running full speed. Feral animals. Yeah. They shouldn't run like all the best people. Yeah.

Like fucking Olympians. Sure. Diane watches David die where he like Oh, he he He bats pedals where he's like, I we have to leave. We have to leave now. I can't because everyone's like, dude, you just tried to fucking murder this guy.

Yeah. And David essentially walks too close to the window and this effect Oh my god. It's so good. Watches him she watches him get torn to shreds. Yes.

He gets his guts pulled out and eaten by Oh my god. A bunch of zon it's great. It's so good. And it's great. And they rip his legs they rip his legs off.

And Diane. Goes after him and also Tries to fight her way out with his severed removed. But now but now the place is overrun. It's so good. You know, they've let the place be overrun now.

Oh, yeah. And it's just Ed, Sean, and Liz. And this is where I think, again, thematic And bitten now. Thematic right. We well, we once it's over but I think thematically, this is where the movie is hitting for me.

Because this at the end of the day, this movie is about Sean making a choice. And he has to make a choice about who he wants to be for the rest of his life. And Liz represents a place of love and stability, taking more responsibility Mhmm. For his life. And while Ed is still his best friend, his rock, his his true love That's right.

There's something about Ed that's holding him back. Yeah. Sure. But I think boiling it down to them 3 and then bringing Pete back. Yeah.

And we see that out, like, he's not gonna be Pete. Because he fucking takes Pete out with the like, with 1 shot. Yeah. He's gonna save Ed, and Liz. He's gonna do his best to save but he's gonna do his best save Ed.

Although, at this point, as He's been bitten. Bitten. Pete got his. Yeah. Pete got his.

But now they're about when they my 1 nugget of issue with this movie is if there was a seller, they should have been in the seller from the beginning. They should have jumped down to the seller immediately. You're totally right. But it's also nice to get the video gamey shots and the needle drops and, like, I I want all this stuff. But, like, that's the thing.

It's, like, I say this movie is so grounded and then you bring up what I think is a huge hole too, which is, like, why didn't you just go into the cellar At the beginning. Straight away. Yeah. And either way, they light the fucking bar on fire. It looks great.

It looks so high budget and cool, and every fucking thing Bullets are on the sitting on the shells are sitting on the Oh, give me a break. Because because ting, ting, ting. And they take out the old lady patron. Yeah. Former porn star.

Is the cellar door supposed to look like Cellar door. Cellar door. Cellar door. Cellar door. Not going to be able to continue this conversation.

Cellar door. Is Is it supposed to look like the Evil Dead? I think it is. I think there are some, like, shouts to so many different things. Yeah.

And I think so many people love Evil Dead over across the pond because it was a video nasty. And so people that Mhmm. You know, that was like, I think it was a band thing for years. But they make it down to the seller and Sean and Liz are negotiating who's gonna kill who, how's this gonna go. Because they got 2 bullets left.

Yep. And Ed's like, I don't wanna get eaten because he's already fucked. Yep. And he gives them the nope. I'll be a distraction.

I'll be food or whatever. You guys do what you need to do. And when Sean imagines acts out shooting Liz and shooting himself and his brain's blowing out. But the the 1 on 1 where he him and Ed are having to, like he's having to say goodbye to Ed. And this is such an important moment for Oh, dude.

For Sean because this Ed dies. Yeah. But he has to he has to say goodbye to that part of, an aspect of that part of himself. Wow. Yeah.

Yeah. Which is why I just think that that, like, script wise theme like, everything is on theme. There's nothing that feels character like, character wise, every moment, every dialogue, every feels on theme Yeah. For me. No.

I don't disagree. I also, like, as we're talking about on theme where it's just just like the military shows up and just starts wasting all these slow, like They suck mocking up, but sure. Yeah. The masses are bad, like, that are happening. They're gonna get the regular people, especially in a in a country where you can't be armed with a firearm.

Yeah. Yeah. You're like, it's gonna go be rough for a second. But the military shows up with His ex. Fucking his ex.

Which is clearly where they were going, which makes way more sense. Yep. And It's the twenty eight weeks later. Right? Is that the 1 that has the military in it?

Yeah. That's the Jeremy Renner one. And and the, Christopher Eccleston or is he in the first one? First one. First one.

Okay. He's the main military bad guy in the first one. I'm pretty sure. It's really funny to me too when we go to six months after Z Day Yeah. That all the zombies now are being used for, like, entertainment.

And they're like, they're ideal for the service industry. And we see the kid. Wait. He's like, you've got red on you. And he takes phone calls.

Yeah. You go red on me. Win. Win. And like they're like they have like a He's like push he's returning carts on a chain.

They have like a like a Nickelodeon Double Dare situation, but it's zombies on Chasing meat? I love like but I love him. It's like a Murray. Do you sleep with it? Do you sleep with it?

Yeah. Do you sleep with it? The way the the way that it's just like, it was a blip of a moment. It's gonna blip of a moment. It's gonna blip of a moment.

But then the military just came through and just was like, oh, we can take care of this. Yeah. No problem. It was over. Yeah.

It It was back to normal. It's been a couple Kinda like a couple days. Kinda like a pandemic. Yeah. The what?

The pandemic. The what? But Sean I'm not feeling We see Sean's house and it's clean and there's like new Tire. Woke up and he's got Liz and it's the same shot. He said to having sugar in his tea.

Sitting with Liz. Adventures. And they're talking about what they're gonna do for the day. And embracing the things that feel comfortable and safe. And make them happy.

And and being happy about it. Yeah. Happy about, like, no. This life is not bad. This is okay.

Like, he came to terms with it in 1 way and she seems to come to terms with it in 1 way and they meet in the middle. And I think a big reason why Sean can do this outside of becoming a hero and doing what he did is that Ed's in the shed. Gotta pop out to the garden real quick. He still has, like, that release valve, starts to bite him. Yeah.

Hey. Player 2 has entered the game. Player 2 has left the game. When he had to go to work, he had to leave the game immediately. Yeah.

Now he has this release valve that he can open and close it kind of at his leisure Yeah. Which is to a degree, it's like, oh, poor Ed. But also, like, Ed's like, I don't mind getting eaten. Like, what the fuck? Who?

It's funny because, like, Ed's like kind of sitting there looking at the controller. Like, what am I doing? Yeah. But it's a great button. Right?

And I think it's an important important button because Sean hasn't lost himself entire like, he hasn't discarded his the part of himself he was with Ed Yeah. Entirely. You know? Yeah. It's just it's there when he needs it.

It's yeah. Which is a huge part of growing up. Right? Which is why I think, like, Edgar writes storytelling, his writing here, and to a degree as well as in, World's End. Both these movies, Hot Fuzz is a different sort of like journey.

Fucking love that movie. I do too. I do too. But I think, like, like, they're both about That might be my favorite. They're both about growing up.

Yeah. I've watched At World's End a lot. Like, I like that movie a lot. Simon Pegg and, and, Nick Frost kinda doing a big a full on role reversal where they both kind of exist in certain ends of spectrums in the first two of the Cornetos. Yeah.

And then in the last 1, it's like they've become completely different and I would actually like rewatch that movie sooner than later. And I just find That world's in, like, for me too, it's about, you know, letting go of that of that feeling of that you had in that moment in high school or whenever it was where you feel peaked. What? I've peaked. Yeah.

Well, not just peaked, but where you feel like you are the whole world's in front like, the whole your whole life's in front of you. There's so much optimism. Yeah. And like, feeling like that's like instead of instead of taking being like, wait a minute. That's past.

Yeah. This is the moment. It's not then. Yeah. It's now, which is why I love At World's End.

I get you dude. You make me wanna rewatch it like much sooner than later. Last thing I wanna say about the movie, another famous beginning of a string of incredible needle drops throughout an incredible career, brings back the Queen. I don't know how they got a lot of the songs they did in this movie with the budget they did. But when it plays, you're my best friend You're my best friend.

The camera pulls back Yeah. Cuts to black. And then it gives these, like, rugged looking titles and all that shit. I gotta ask you 1 last question before you give me your rating now that we've had this discourse. Okay.

We've talked about plat holes and is there danger and the other things, the questions we've gone over. Do you think this is a romantic comedy with zombies? Yes. I do too. I fully do.

Yeah. I feel like we've spent very little time talking about zombies or the zombie thing of it all. It's about characters. And loss. It's about Sean becoming the person he used to be to save his relationship.

Yeah. Yeah. Accountability. Yeah. So many different things.

Healing healing these like healing with his dad. Yeah. Healing with his mom. I mean, it's very centric on his personal journey, but the romantic comedy themes of it sing Oh, yeah. Very loudly to me.

Totally. Great. I would now like to know your current rating. It's 5 pints, buddy. Yeah.

It's 5. No movement? This is a this is a solid 5 for me. I honestly think most of Edgar Wright's might be up in that high echelon of score for me. I think we're talking about overall my favorite director.

I don't I wouldn't disagree. Yeah. I I don't know if he's having So much joy. I don't know if there's a misfire. So much joy.

I boy. Which yeah. I'm just gonna do this. Okay. Yeah.

It's 5 cricket bats. Oh, yeah. Yeah, boy. You hit me with a couple things too where I'm like, man, I've never really thought of the timing of Philip dying and Sean kind of ascending. And the level of fuck it's that Ed gets Where Ed's like, I probably need to if if somebody's gonna go, I should go Yeah.

At various points and how much that resonates. So Yeah. I think I really am gonna have to come up that half cricket bat and I mean, I know what a fucking crumpet is. I love it. So 5 cricket bats.

Are there any zombies? We don't use this Edward. Okay. But are there any out there? No.

Looks pretty clear. Oh, wait. No. There they are. Nope.

There they are. And as we've been talking about franchises and stuff like that. Someone, when you have an opportunity, please God bring the 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles starring Sam Rockwell. Please God, bring it. You know, that's the only other when I said the best comic book adaptation for me is Scott Pilgrim.

The only other 1 I think you could really make an argument for is TMNT. That 1 I can speak to a little bit, which I can't speak to Scott Pilgrim, and I agree with you. Like, it's so gritty and emotionally charged, and it's got this crazy cool, like, spirituality to it that was clearly in the comics and stuff too. And then, you know, ninja rap. Just fucking nipples on the bat suit.

Joel Schumacher, fuck it. Yeah. An ice age. We didn't even get Bebop and Rocksteady. We got razor and Toke on razor.

Just make them Bebop and Rocksteady. Yeah. Don't give me the Bobo shit. Give me the real shit. Yeah.

Fuck it. Well, our book and themes are Jamie Henwood. Yeah. What are we watching, spooky season and what you've been doing are Matthew Foskett. Lovely.

The interstitials are Well, Ben, that's you. Me. Hooray. Chris Olds is in there doing fun facts. Paul also does a lot of work on this podcast and deserves all the credit.

He makes the fact sheets. He edits it. He adds all of the psychopathic sound effects you might hear. I do please continue audience and friends giving me suggestions for wacky sound effects for this thing. And also, again, share.

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Alright, everybody. We'll see you next time. Stay spooky. Oh, we got red on you. Yeah.