Episode 92

full
Published on:

24th Jun 2025

Midsommar with Marianna Barksdale

Comedian and full-time May Queen Marianna Barksdale returns to Movie Wars to break down one of her all-time favorite films: Midsommar. And yes, we’re releasing this on the actual Midsummer holiday — because we love a good ritual.

We dive deep into Ari Aster’s sun-drenched horror masterpiece — grief, gaslighting, mushrooms, and messed-up relationships all included. Marianna shares why Midsommar hits her on such a personal level, and we debate whether Christian is truly a bad boyfriend or just a 24-year-old idiot. This episode mixes hilarity, honesty, and film nerdery like only Movie Wars can.


Fair warning: if your relationship is hanging by a thread, don’t book a trip to rural Sweden. Just listen to this episode instead.


🎧 Show Notes & Time Markers


00:00 — Intro & why we dropped this episode on Midsummer


02:00 — Marianna's Midsommar obsession and her desk tchotchkes


04:00 — Ari Aster’s unique brand of horror and first-time reactions


07:00 — The most accurate mushroom visuals ever put on screen


10:00 — Symbolism, flower dresses, and personal Easter eggs


14:00 — Was Christian actually a bad boyfriend? A surprisingly deep debate


20:00 — Grief, trauma, and emotional immaturity in the characters


26:00 — Was it all orchestrated? Could they ever have left the commune?


  • 28:00 — The ritual’s logic and the unsettling beauty of sacrifice
Transcript
Mariann:

Movie Wars.

Kyle:

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Movie wars podcast. I'm Kyle.

Seth:

I'm Seth.

Mariann:

I'm Mariana.

Seth:

She's back.

Kyle:

She's back.

Seth:

We got her.

Mariann:

She's back.

Kyle:

We have a long roster of friends that we in. A roster we haven't even gotten to of friends. But we have a repeat guest, which is great. You're the second. I think Drew's the only other repeat.

Seth:

Maybe at this point. Yeah.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Nice.

Seth:

What's funny is. Is the next episode we're recording is coming out before this episode, so it would be like, we know she's back. What's going on?

Kyle:

Whoa. That's true.

Mariann:

Oh, yeah. That was all my doing, too, because of Midsommar.

Seth:

It's all good. Yes. What a movie we were about to discuss.

Kyle:

Yeah. And we're actually. We're locked up for the happiness slot today because we're gonna do Black Swan after, so we just decided summertime last week, so.

Yeah, it's summertime, so let's just depress ourselves all to hell.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

But we're so glad you're back. How you been since the last episode? You did the Shining?

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

And what was the other one?

Seth:

Sometimes I think about dying.

Kyle:

Sometimes I think about dying. Yeah.

Mariann:

And drive.

Kyle:

And. And drive.

Mariann:

There has to be a fourth one. No, we did two.

Kyle:

Oh, so this is your third.

Seth:

This is her third time.

Kyle:

Oh, man.

Mariann:

I know.

Kyle:

So you're the Queen. You're the May Queen.

Mariann:

I am. Oh, my God. I'm the May Queen.

Kyle:

You're the May Queen.

Mariann:

I'm the May Queen. Make a note.

Kyle:

Everybody know yes.

Mariann:

Yeah. I expect offerings as the main yes.

Kyle:

After you break that sadistic smile at the end, which we'll to that. Holy shit.

Mariann:

Did you see it? I did it.

Kyle:

Oh, she did it. There we go. They're kind of like, I'm so glad to be here.

Seth:

This was my first introduction to Ari Aster.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

What a crazy time. I had no fucking clue what I was getting myself into, other than simply. I knew the name and that it took place in Sweden and.

And had some Norse ritual ideas with it. But, like, I went in so blind, into the movie theater, snuck in a. A flask of bourbon.

Kyle:

Nice.

Seth:

Put it in my Diet Coke and watch. I got to say, that was a crazy experience.

Mariann:

Good move with the bourbon.

Seth:

Oh, yeah.

Kyle:

That would have been publishable. Punishable by Harga law, though.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Oh, yeah.

Seth:

If I'd known. If I'd known the heavy mushroom use was in it, I probably would have.

Mariann:

Gone on mushrooms, but, yeah, there's they're doing mushrooms the entire movie.

Kyle:

No sneaking, though. Well. And we actually.

When we first kicked off movie Wars 2.0, this movie, we wanted to do this with you, like, six months ago, and we finally got on the schedule. And I want you. You know, I usually do all the talking at the beginning, but you. She is the. The biggest fan of this film that. That exists.

She has things. Yeah. What do they call. What do you call it? Tchotchkes. She's got chotchkis.

Seth:

Souvenirs.

Kyle:

Souvenirs.

Mariann:

There's one.

Kyle:

Yep.

Mariann:

That's my desk. Souvenir.

Kyle:

That's incredible that you have this for this.

Mariann:

Oh, I have a patch. I left it in my back.

Kyle:

Yeah. Though.

Mariann:

But I need to sew it on something. It's a little.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Hulsingland.

Seth:

Oh, nice patch.

Mariann:

Show it to you later.

Kyle:

So tell us. Tell us about your passion for it. Why do you love it? And also maybe just kind of give us. Just. Just give us the thing.

Seth:

For those of you who don't realize, this is releasing on Midsummer, Like. Like, this is. Today is Midsummer.

Kyle:

We did that.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Yeah. And Seth. And Seth has a mallet that after I jump off his roof, he's going to put me out of my misery. Yes.

Mariann:

It'll be so fun. And then I'll get to do the mallet after him, and then I'm gonna.

Seth:

Put a stick up his ass and.

Kyle:

Yeah, it's gonna be good.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

I don't remember that part of the movie.

Seth:

It was heavily implied.

Mariann:

Oh, really?

Seth:

Heavily implied that they. That they. One of the dudes in the ass with something. Oh, yeah. I'm pretty sure it was Will Poulter, because they hated that guy.

Mariann:

They did stick. I mean, they had sticks coming through them at the end when they put them in the temple. Yeah, we're jumping ahead.

Seth:

And there was also the Blood Eagle guy. Like.

Mariann:

Yeah, there's a lot. Oh, my God. The guy with the lungs open at the end. Yeah.

Kyle:

They took that from Hannibal.

Mariann:

But people have always talk about this movie like, it's not scary. Which is.

Seth:

It's terrifying.

Kyle:

It's terrifying.

Mariann:

I know whenever people say it's not scary, I'm like, I guess you didn't watch all of it.

Seth:

Maybe because it's daytime horror, they're like, it's not as scary. But I think that's. Honestly, for me, what made it scarier was there were no crazy shadows. And, like, there were no jump scares necessarily.

Or, like, traditional jump scares. Like, it was a very opposite kind of horror movie.

Mariann:

Yeah, exactly. Oh, I just realized I'm supposed to be doing an intro.

Kyle:

There you go.

Mariann:

This movie, I don't under. It's Midsommar Ari Aster. I have no idea why this movie touched me so much.

I think it has to do more with the tragedy at the beginning of it and then the birth of her at the end as like a new version of herself in a world where she can actually thrive as a person. And it is kind of like my dream come true in a way. And she lives in like this beautiful flower world in Sweden at the end.

So, you know, she goes from having this very mediocre existence with her boyfriend who, honestly, that's the horror movie of. That's the horror of the movie is the boyfriend. Right.

Seth:

I mean, sort of. I kind of. I. I feel for him because I. I have been on his side of things, but I've also been on her side of things.

So it's like he should have been honest about his feelings from the get go. But I also understand being in a position where you're like, if I am honest, this might send her further into a spiral.

Kyle:

I have a question about this, so. Oh, yeah, save it. Yeah, yeah, this is good.

Seth:

Okay.

Kyle:

I got a question about this. It's a real.

Seth:

Yeah, I could definitely see it from both sides, but I definitely think he took the coward's way out.

Mariann:

Yeah. Well, my problem with him is just I hate when people waste my time and are not honest with me.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

And at the end of the day, I just feel like he's wasting her life despite her going through a tragedy. I mean.

Seth:

Oh, 100%. That's why I'm like, he took the coward's way out.

Mariann:

He still could have been a person in her life.

Kyle:

Right.

Mariann:

He didn't have to stay her boyfriend, like, and. And honestly, they had a year of a bad relationship. How do you get to a year in a bad relationship? I say, I know. I say after I've had.

I've had a lot of bad relationships. So I'm like, oh, yeah, I remember. Especially when you're young, in college.

Seth:

Oh, yeah. And I do. I do have a surprise for you that I just remembered. I actually saw the flower dress in person.

Mariann:

Oh, my God.

Kyle:

Where was this?

Seth:

At the Academy Museum in la. They have it on display. Yeah. So I actually got to see that thing in person.

Mariann:

I love.

Seth:

I'll send this picture to Kyle so he can. He can pop it in the edit, but.

Kyle:

Yes. Yeah, yeah.

Seth:

It is every bit as fantastic as it looks in the movie.

Kyle:

That's Killer.

Mariann:

Yeah. So I wrote down some of the things from the movie when I was re. Watching it on mushrooms, which is the first time I ever got to watch it on my show.

Kyle:

Oh, wonderful. I bet that was horrible.

Mariann:

It was.

Seth:

While we're on that subject, before you get deep into that, I will say for. For people who have not done mushrooms, if you ever want to know what it actually looks like to take just enough to start seeing some. Some. Some shit.

This is the most accurate representation of mushrooms I have ever seen on screen. It's that. That weird, like, things moving unnaturally. The earth looks like it's breathing, like they're.

The water kind of looks like it's going in and out, like. This was a shocking moment for me because I had. I had just done mushrooms like a year or two before for the first time, and I was like, holy shit.

Kyle:

This.

Seth:

This. This is what I've been trying to describe to people.

Mariann:

Yeah. They get the. Like the lines that sort of get on everything that sort of make you feel like you're. You are connected to everything.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

That's why whenever I do mushrooms, I'm just like. It makes me so calm.

Seth:

Yeah. That moment of the. The grass in her hand, like, that's what it feels like.

Mariann:

Yeah. Or in her feet when she's about to dance.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

I love that.

Kyle:

Well, I watched it on decaf, so imagine. Imagine how I felt.

Mariann:

It's still.

Seth:

Is there gay.

Kyle:

Oh, turn it off.

Mariann:

What are you doing? There's no boobs.

Seth:

And the ones there are.

Mariann:

Are old. Well, this is one of the only times where I've say would say a naked group of women was not sexy.

Kyle:

No.

Mariann:

This is the first time I've ever been like, oh, God, there's a sex scene.

Kyle:

Yeah, it was definitely a scene, man.

Seth:

Yeah. It's like I wanted my mom to come in, so I had an excuse to turn that scene off.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

So you love the transformation.

Mariann:

Love the transformation.

Kyle:

You love the transformation. What else. What else do you dig?

Mariann:

Honestly, just the setting, and I like the pacing of it, even though that's criticized online for the most part.

Seth:

Really?

Mariann:

Yeah. People really didn't, like, they felt like it dies off, and I feel like it just kind of embodies what it would be like to be there.

I feel like it puts you more in the moment.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

The movie, you know.

Seth:

Yeah. I mean, it's. It's definitely one of those horror movies that's designed to make you more uncomfortable until it really starts getting scary. Yeah.

And the whole thing is very uncomfortable. To watch. Like, I have traveled enough. Not a ton, but enough to know what it is like to be the outsider in a tight knit community like that. So it is.

It's very jarring to like, witness and also be like, oh, yeah, I've been there. Like, I've been in those situations where I'm like, are these people about to, like, murder me? Like, what is going on?

Mariann:

Yeah, well. And also I was just like, are they gonna have an orgy? It's like a spring festival and it all makes sense at the end.

Although if you watch the beginning, they show you what's gonna happen.

Seth:

Yeah. Everything.

Mariann:

Oh, yeah, that's this. That's my. I have a midsommar shower curtain. We can cut this.

Seth:

Wow.

Mariann:

If it's too much.

Kyle:

No, it's great.

Mariann:

It's a. It's. It's upside down.

Kyle:

If you're listening and not watching. She's got a. An actual shower curtain that is the.

Seth:

Opening frame of the movie.

Kyle:

Wow.

Mariann:

I know, right?

Kyle:

That's incredible.

Mariann:

Amazing. Thank you. Whatever online thing I bought this from.

Kyle:

That's incredible.

Mariann:

If you don't know, Seth's entire house is like, movie and like, fun things from movies and directors and stuff. So it's like I knew out of everybody who would appreciate this, you would appreciate this.

Seth:

Absolutely. I wish we had a wall that we could hang it up on just for it to be in the background, but.

Kyle:

Wow.

Mariann:

Next time.

Kyle:

Well, I love your passion and your love for this. That's fantastic. I, you know, I. For me, I.

Seth:

Did you see it in theaters?

Kyle:

I didn't.

Seth:

Okay.

Kyle:

No. I actually avoided this one for a long time. I. It's not that I didn't want to see it. I just kept. I actually started it a bunch of times.

I was like, right, this was your.

Seth:

First time getting through it?

Kyle:

Yes. Okay. It wasn't because I didn't think it was going to be good, but I could just tell. I was like, I need to be in a right mental state.

And apparently doing it for the podcast was the right mental state fair. So I'm glad that's.

Seth:

There's been a couple of movies like that for me that I'm like, like. And then you're like, let's do it. I'm like, okay, fine, I'll watch it. And then I enjoyed him.

Kyle:

Part of it is like, I. I just, you know, I. I grew up really loving slasher films and I liked.

I didn't mind gore, but for some reason later in my life, I think it's two things. A. I Have four kids. So for some reason, gore and stuff. And even though this you. I.

I know it's weird to associate this movie with the gore because there's so much more going on.

Seth:

Yeah. But it's still viscerally gory.

Kyle:

Yeah. And the way Ari Asteroid depicts those things is very unsettling.

Seth:

Very. So he wants you in it.

Kyle:

Yes.

Mariann:

Yeah, it's worse.

Kyle:

And so I needed to be in a mood. And apparently sitting on an airplane on the way to Las Vegas surrounded by two strangers was the perfect. Was the perfect way. Yeah.

Seth:

Oh, you got the seat of the plane.

Kyle:

And I was watching this and I kept just doing this with my phone. Like, you didn't see that hammer hit that guy's head. Right. Sorry, sorry. How's preschool going?

Seth:

See the cracked out teeth face?

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

I remember you texted me. You were about to watch it on the plane and I was like, yeah, you should do mushrooms for the first time right now.

I think on a plane is a perfect place.

Kyle:

You wanted my first time on mushrooms to be? A, watching this movie. B, on an airplane.

Seth:

Yes.

Kyle:

Thank you.

Seth:

For between two other people that you don't know.

Kyle:

Maybe we're not friends.

Mariann:

That would have been such a good sketch, though. That'd be so funny. You're losing your mind.

Kyle:

The lady to my left, I'm like.

Seth:

We'Re gonna write this. Are you gonna make it happen?

Mariann:

Yes. La. In the. In the aisle. Just like, make it stop. I don't know how y' all go on mushrooms. I don't know.

Seth:

I. I'm very chill on mushrooms. I like. What I like is I like to have two. If I'm not outside, then I have two rooms.

I have the trip out room, which is just blasting like tobacco or black moth super rainbow or the flaming Lips or Pink Floyd. Usually all of them shuffled together and I've got crazy lasers and lights and shit. And then I have this room, which is the calm zone, where you can.

If you're overstimulated, you just come back out and you're like, I am back in reality.

Kyle:

Yeah, yeah.

Mariann:

Both sound great.

Seth:

Exactly. No, and I feel like, especially if you're not in nature, you need that balance of, like.

No, I need to, like, go deep into the zone and then I need to come back to reality while I'm still tripping out.

Kyle:

It's amazing how decaf does the same thing for me. It's amazing. I go into a room with lasers.

Seth:

I think they call that alcoholic withdrawals.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

That's actually seven months later.

Kyle:

That's actually that is actually what it is called. And grumpy as hell.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Oh, yeah. Decaf and beef jerky.

Kyle:

Cigars are the only vice I have left. Yeah, life's great. Yeah.

Seth:

Yeah, life is great.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Seth:

We smoked cigars once, and I saw him inhaling, and I was like, oh.

Kyle:

How you been doing, Seth? You doing? You still like it? Doing the podcast. You liking it?

Seth:

You want officially as a co host.

Kyle:

You want to do it? You want to do this big time.

Seth:

Oh, my God, we gotta make the dollars.

Kyle:

All four of my kids came out and hugged me. I'm just like, good night, darling.

Seth:

Sleep well, sweetheart. I'll see you in the morning. Loves you.

Kyle:

You want to puff?

Mariann:

Stop doing an impression of my aunt. Okay?

Kyle:

This is my.

Mariann:

Ain't it? You're doing an impression.

Seth:

How you doing, Mariana? It's been six months since Easter.

Kyle:

You know what my. You know what my doctor sent me for Easter? A picture of my lung. It's still blacker than ever.

Seth:

We named it Jabari.

Kyle:

This is what happens when you get comedians on. It's lovely.

Mariann:

Yeah. I was about to say, as soon as you were like, you should start the episode, I was like, this is gonna go.

Kyle:

It's gonna go great.

Mariann:

Immediately.

Kyle:

One of these.

Seth:

What are these notes you wrote down?

Mariann:

Oh, yeah.

Seth:

I want to hear your mushroom notes.

Kyle:

Yes.

Mariann:

I. Yeah, this was fun.

Kyle:

I couldn't find the play button on the DVD player.

Mariann:

I wrote in all caps, just codependent. My favorite line of his, though, because, like, they're both codependent. But when he goes, I invited her, and she accepted.

But she's not actually going to Sweden.

Seth:

Yeah, she's not coming.

Mariann:

Like, she's not coming. And then my favorite line for her is, she was like, I forgot to remind him it was my birthday.

Seth:

Yeah, it's my fault.

Kyle:

Typical victim mentality.

Mariann:

Like, he just. He sucks.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

And his friends suck. Except for Pele, sort of. Because I have a theory that Pele, like, knew what was gonna happen, and he was like, this is my new wife.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

I wanted to know your thoughts on that. Specifically that.

Seth:

What was gonna happen?

Mariann:

Yeah, Well, I mean, he knew what was gonna happen, but I think he was, like, definitely maybe edging things along so that they did happen now.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Did he do it?

Seth:

I mean, he. He brought her for a reason. He knew she was the blonde outsider who was going to win.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Seth:

No, this is. It was. It was all calculated on his part.

Kyle:

Now, how did he know she was gonna win, though? Like, is it. Is it because of her trauma? Like, did he know that she needed take place and that she had the.

Maybe that energy of transformation to push her to win. Or did he. Did he have some kind of spiritual insight? Like, that was my thing is like, I. I do think in some ways it was orchestrated.

And that's actually my second question I had. We can get to the questions a minute. But yeah, yeah, I. That was. My big curiosity is like, how did he know? I do think he knew, but like, why and how?

Seth:

I think it was that conversation they had after that gorgeous mirror shot. Or it's like that two minute long shot where it's just in the mirror. It's such a good shot. And then she sits down and they start talking.

He's like, sorry to hear about your family and everything. I think it was that conversation.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

Where he was like, no, she needs to come. Like, she's gonna be the one.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Can I tell you my favorite Easter egg from that scene?

Kyle:

Please.

Mariann:

That I think I made up in my head, but maybe not. The thing that I hated about her dynamic with her boyfriend was that he's always kind of lying to her and misleading her. But then he's.

Pele's sitting there drawing, and he's drawing the table, and she's like, oh, what are you drawing? And he's just like, the table. And he's just. For whatever reason.

And then they show that he's drawing the table and it's like, obviously he's not lying.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

And I'm like, I don't know why, but that little tiny thing was what kind of set my mind in motion of like, oh, my God, he's honest with her. Look at that. Look at the stark difference.

Seth:

I mean, how easy it is throughout the whole movie. I don't think he ever told a lie. He definitely omitted the truth when it came to the suicide moment. But he never told a lie.

He was always honest about things. And you could see him carefully wording things. So he was like, no, I technically told you, but I didn't tell you everything.

It was that very interesting blatant honesty that gets you to trust him. And then when you know what happens, you're watching it and like, oh, that's where he's kind of moving things.

Mariann:

Things. Yeah. And also he's, I think, just a random Swedish guy. I don't think he's an actor because I did follow him on Instagram for a little while.

He just kind of has a regular life.

Kyle:

He didn't invite you to a commune, did he?

Mariann:

Not yet. I mean, I was Hoping.

Seth:

Fingers crossed.

Mariann:

I know. I was hoping he would follow me back, but.

Kyle:

Yeah. Wilhelm Blomgren.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

And what's funny, I'm kind of used to this because my favorite. One of my favorite directors is Refn. And so like, so many of his movies are just random people from the Scandinavian countries.

And I'm just used to all these crazy names and stuff.

Mariann:

Well, I think all of the people that are there in the commune are just regular Swedish people. I don't think they're even. Most of them I don't think are actors. Maybe. Maybe the few that talk a lot. Yeah, but.

Seth:

And I'm sure he. He. He seems like a well trained enough actor that I'm sure he has studied and probably acted in theater stuff, like local stuff. But no, I don't.

Yeah, he's incredible. He's so good, all of them. And I don't know, I have kind of noticed this with kind of the. The Norse and Scandinavian countries.

Whenever I see actors from there, I don't ever see them overactive.

Like, for whatever reason, no matter what the script is, every single person I've seen from that area of the world, like their normal speaking voice is just so nonchalant that I'm like. I feel like he's just like. Just say the words.

Kyle:

That's Mads Mickelson to a T. Yeah. And now he's one of my favorite actors. Yeah.

Seth:

Yeah. Both of them. And this very like nonchalant way of like, this is. I'm just talking.

Kyle:

Yeah. He was a. I. Death stranding. I was texting you about replaying. Death stranding.

And like Mads Mikkelsen in that, like his delivery in that game is incredible. Like, he's so good.

Seth:

I'm excited to watch a stream of it. I've been needing to.

Kyle:

Yeah, yeah. Actually it's a good segue. Let's just get into the questions because we're already talking about it. But this was the question I wrote down.

Seth:

Plug the show first.

Kyle:

Yeah. Maybe you're an ambiguously toxic relationship. Maybe it's toxic, maybe it's not. But you need a vacation. Yeah.

And let's not land in Sweden or anywhere in the perimeter. Let's.

Seth:

It's expensive anyways.

Kyle:

Let's go to Alabama. Let's go to southern Florida. Let's just. Let's go somewhere abroad.

Seth:

If you don't hear banjos, you're in the wrong place.

Kyle:

Yes. Cuz you're not going to repair your relationship in a commune.

Seth:

No.

Kyle:

It's obvious you're not going to recover.

Seth:

From your family's murder suicide.

Kyle:

It's going to be rough. It's going to be rough. So share Movie wars with your toxic beloved other and use this as a.

Seth:

Way to break up with your toxic beloved other and just be like, hey, Midsummer, we're done.

Kyle:

Here's a podcast that tells you we're over. Yeah, it's called Movie Wars.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Send it to your friends.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Love you.

Seth:

Love you, too.

Kyle:

The questions. Let's get right back into it. I'm gonna. I mean, we've already kind of covered it, but is Christian really a bad boyfriend now?

I know he's a bad boyfriend, but is he bad?

Seth:

See? Okay. Yeah, I'm excited to talk about this.

Kyle:

How toxic. Sid. That's the thing. I love. I love this movie, by the way. I.

I was texting you the whole time, this dialogue, and we'll get into the scorecard, but there was so much. I was like, I just can't believe how well written this is.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

But I do have a little bit of a quip with how just how toxic the relationship is.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

It's not a good relationship, but I have seen much, much worse in my personal life.

Seth:

Here's. Here's my thing with it. And, like, I. Like I alluded to earlier, I've been on both sides of this.

I have definitely been the guy who's like, I really need to cut myself off from this person. But I also don't want them to go and spiral and kill, try to kill themselves. Like, I've been right there.

But I've also been on the side where I've been. Like, I've had someone who has been kind of terrible to me, whether they meant to or not. And I couldn't see it, and I couldn't get myself out of it.

Kyle:

Right.

Seth:

Like, I empathize with him in that I don't think he's a bad person, and I don't think he was trying to be malicious in how he was dealing with her. I think he's just a fucking idiot.

Kyle:

He's stunted emotionally.

Seth:

Yes. And I think everyone was just like, bro, just. Just do it. And it's like, oh, I don't think I can.

I'm like, I think he's more dumb than he is a bad person.

Mariann:

Yeah. I completely agree. Also, these people are 20 or 21.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

I think they're 23 to 25 because they're in grad school.

Mariann:

Okay.

Seth:

Because they're all doing their thesis.

Mariann:

They're young. They're kids.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

I mean, I would still consider them kids. So, like, I was horrible being in a relationship then.

Seth:

Oh, yeah.

Mariann:

And as much as I would love to just harshly judge him as, like, a terrible person. Person. Yeah. Like, he's. He's just a guy.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

He was in the wrong relationship.

Seth:

Yeah. And, you know, and she was going through some horrible.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Seth:

And I. I would be the same way. I would be like, I don't. I don't know what to do.

Mariann:

I know. But also, I just feel like they should have ended it very. A long time before.

Kyle:

Right.

Seth:

Oh, yeah.

Mariann:

So.

Kyle:

And we can't minimize too. The thing that got me. And I say this as a person who's had to. To rid of my toxic. Not to use Gen Z terms, but I have had to be rid of.

I've spent lots of hours in therapy ridding of my toxic.

Seth:

Ridding your toxic. Riz.

Kyle:

Yeah. That I was bringing into my relationships with friends, people, peers, you know, my children. You know, you just.

When you raise children and get married, if you want to have a success in those areas, you got to get rid of your toxic.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

She. Before the. The suicide or the. The murder suicide of her folks, was showing signs of her own. And I'm not saying it's right.

It doesn't mean Christian was right. But also, Christian was just not the right guy to be paired with someone who needed to do some work.

And I felt bad for her because I related, because I saw some of my old behaviors in her character, and I was like, God, I've been there, bro.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

What was the question?

Seth:

Is he really a bad guy?

Kyle:

Well, she didn't have. She had unresolved. Even before the murder suicide, she wasn't.

Mariann:

Ready for a relationship. I don't think she needed to be with anybody at that point in her life. I mean, when you're going through that kind of big stuff with your family.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

I've had a lot of that. And.

And I regret being in relationships when I should have been focusing on doing the work to become a healed person and not just, like, checking out and pretending like I was in love with somebody to, like, maybe this will make all of my. Maybe I'll feel loved finally. And you're just like, oh, yeah, no, that's not how love works.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

You know, so I just. I feel bad for both of them. And none of the. None.

None of the dudes as bad as they are, as bad as one of them is, at least none of them deserve to die.

Seth:

No. Will Poulter deserve to die.

Mariann:

So he. But he got skinned, so.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

Oh, yeah.

Mariann:

That's a rough way to die.

Kyle:

I just got done watching him in the Bear. Like, I've always liked Will Poker. He is so good in the Bear and lovable, his character. And then I get here, I'm like, I. I want to punch him.

Mariann:

He's so good.

Seth:

And we're the Millers.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

So much.

Mariann:

If you ever googled him as Eyebrows Guy.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Do you know that, like, if you Google Eyebrows Guy, Will Holter shows?

Seth:

Really?

Mariann:

Because he was in, I want to say Divergent or something and. Yeah, that was when I first realized he's. I just looked up Eyebrows Guy.

Seth:

I know. He was definitely in the third Narnia movie.

Mariann:

He's been in a bunch. He's been out of so much stuff.

Seth:

Yeah. He's been acting since he was a. Like a medium child.

Mariann:

Like a baby.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Before Skarsgard, he was actually the lead to reprise Pennywise. Oh, yeah. For a long time.

Seth:

That would have been really cool.

Kyle:

That's when Casey Fukunaga was gonna direct it. True. Direct. True Detective.

Seth:

Isn't he now playing the. The. The villain in Scary Movie six?

Kyle:

Oh, I don't know.

Seth:

I think they're making a sixth Scary Movie and I think he's supposed to play a version of Pennywise.

Kyle:

They lost me at Scary Movie one, so I.

Seth:

Two and three were really good.

Kyle:

That's just been years.

Seth:

They were so good. 4 and 5. The only reason I watched 5 is because my uncle showed up randomly in one in the background of a scene.

Mariann:

Oh, cool.

Kyle:

Yeah, he's in Peaky Blinders too, right?

Seth:

Will Bolter?

Kyle:

Yeah, I think so. Maybe.

Mariann:

I can't remember to watch that. I just got recommended Peaky.

Kyle:

It's brilliant.

Mariann:

I have to watch it's.

Kyle:

Yeah, it's perfect.

Mariann:

That and Mobland. Those are my two. Next.

Kyle:

Oh, I need to do Mom.

Mariann:

I'm rewatching the Sopranos right now though, so.

Kyle:

Oh, I do that once every couple years.

Mariann:

Oh, it's so good.

Kyle:

Best show ever made.

Mariann:

It's seriously the best. It's so understated.

Kyle:

It takes me on a ride.

Mariann:

Makes me. Sorry.

Seth:

Still think True Detective of season one is the best?

Kyle:

Actually. Yes. That's the truth. That's actually right.

Mariann:

They're all. You know. I don't like to pick favorites, but I love both of them. I'm obsessed with that one scene from A True Detective.

That six minute scene of the raid in the house. I've watched that a million times.

Seth:

That was shot on film. That was the only thing that kept that scene to that length was. That was one reel of film.

Kyle:

Wow.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Amazing.

Kyle:

Yeah. I just finished. I actually skipped season two because I know it's bad, but actually, I finished season three on the plane. Season three is.

Seth:

I enjoyed magic, too.

Kyle:

Season three is magnificent.

Mariann:

All right, I'll go back. I actually started it.

Seth:

Season two had the problem that it was never going to be as good as season one. If you just ignore the fact that season one exists. Season two is great. Vince Vaughn gives one of his best performances.

Farrell gives one of his best performances. Like, it's actually a reasonably good season of television.

Kyle:

Anthology shows always struggle.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Because of that reason, like, it feels like you're going to acquire a new fan base every season almost. Yeah. And plus, Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson were so magnetic.

Seth:

Like, flawless.

Kyle:

Just. It's hard to. It's hard to replace that, even with Colin Farrell and.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Yeah. Next question. I want to get back into this. So it's funny. You guys both hit on the two things I want to talk about.

These are less comedic today because I just have so many curiosities. Do you think, like, here's. Here's how I wrote the question down. Was there ever a window?

Because this is the most negative feedback I saw consistently about this movie is like, why couldn't they just leave? How orchestrated was it? Was there ever a window where they could leave? Or was this pele. From beginning to end, this was orchestrated.

Or could they have at one point left on their own will, do you think?

Seth:

I mean, two people tried to and both got destroyed.

Kyle:

Yeah, it's true.

Seth:

So, I mean, no, they couldn't have. They. They were so far out in the boonies. That was the whole point. They were. They. They drove to a place and then walked miles into the camp. Like.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

No, they could not have left. Left.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

I feel like if they hadn't broken rules and, like, criticized them for doing what they were doing, I feel like they could have left, honestly, because the two people at the beginning you were trying to leave, they were criticizing, like, their ritual of the end of their life. And I feel I never.

I don't know if I would actually be all that upset if somebody did that in front of me because, like, clearly they were looking forward to it. You know, it was a ritual. It's like a beautiful thing for them to be able to give their lives.

I liked it that they didn't have to die, you know, the way.

Seth:

Yeah. They didn't have to get weak. They didn't have to become senile.

Kyle:

Except old guy effed it up, though, and he.

Mariann:

He died wrong.

Kyle:

I think he erased all that goodwill. The chick did a great job, but he, like, with his leg getting all detached and landing on his legs instead of his face, like, he screwed it up.

So I think. I think all the goodwill he was trying to create and good energy he erased by making me watch his severed knee. And.

Mariann:

Yeah, idiot, ruined it.

Kyle:

And now Midsummer, my ass.

Seth:

Yeah. I don't know, because when you look at the end of the movie, the whole point was they needed the four outsiders.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Seth:

And those were the four outsiders. Like, those were the. And they had to have them.

Mariann:

But there's six of them. So there's.

Seth:

One of them was going to be the May Queen.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Seth:

And one of them was the potential offering at the end. Because, remember, they offered up one of their own guys, too.

Mariann:

Yeah. Well, that's the other thing is that plenty of their members all sacrificed themselves as well.

Happily, that's something that I kind of forgot because they had the two people who had already killed them themselves.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

And then they had two people who volunteered to kill themselves.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

And then they had the guy in the Bears or the one that the May Queen picks. I don't know.

I want to believe that if they had followed the rules, they would have been able to leave because there were other people that they could have sacrificed.

Seth:

But the.

The whole speech he gives at the end was about how they needed four outsiders and four locals, and then she picked whether the last person was going to be an outsider or a person there. Like, no, that was the entire. That's why I'm like, no, there's no way they could have left.

The entire ritual as described by the head guy was they had to sacrifice four outsiders and they had to sacrifice four of their own.

Mariann:

But I will say the. The guy that was doing the. What is it, the thesis. He just gets killed and, like, put in a flower bed, you know, because he, like.

Seth:

Wasn't he one of the. No, I think. I think he was there at the end.

Mariann:

Flower bed.

Seth:

They cut his legs off.

Mariann:

I didn't see him.

Seth:

But that's because all the other guy. That's because everyone was in doll form at that point.

Mariann:

Okay. I don't remember seeing him at the end. Anyway.

Seth:

I'm pretty sure he was in the barn when they. Or the. The temple when they burned.

Mariann:

I got you. I believe you. Because I don't believe me. I've seen this movie hundreds of times, and I saw.

I did see the Extended version in the theater last year, too, which is. In the extended version, there is one scene. There's literally one extra scene.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

And they go to a water. A body of water, and they drown somebody or they almost drown somebody. Oh, it's the. It's the. The oracle.

I think they almost drown him and then they don't.

Seth:

Interesting.

Kyle:

The inbred guy.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Yeah. That was really crazy.

Seth:

Was the inbred person a guy or a girl? I thought it was a girl.

Kyle:

Inbred, something.

Mariann:

I think that they were just supposed to be, you know, a being.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

I don't know if we were supposed to necessarily have. Have.

Kyle:

That was a weird.

Seth:

So weird.

Mariann:

So it was weird.

Kyle:

See, I. I had. I had always been under the assumption, like, because when I watched the trailer of this, they show the oracle's face, I thought maybe like.

Like the ritual was like the. The one of the people gets stung by a bunch of bees. Yeah. And like, I thought that's what that. And then. Yeah. Wicker man style.

Mariann:

That's what.

Seth:

Okay. So Incredible.

Mariann:

I've been meaning to watch the Wick. Both of the Wicker Mans.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Since this movie because that's the one that's suggested right afterwards. The one from the 70s.

Kyle:

Yeah. The first one's really good. The second one's hilarious.

Mariann:

Okay.

Seth:

We should judge. Dread those and do those back to back at some point. Yeah, we'll get you on that one.

Mariann:

Oh, my God. And Mandy. Have you seen Mandy?

Seth:

No, but.

Kyle:

Oh, my God, no.

Mariann:

If y' all do Mandy, I want to be on the.

Kyle:

Okay. Okay. It's so good, Rando.

Mariann:

I did it too.

Kyle:

Yes. We always love it when our guests do, and usually they do it better than I do, which is weird. It's preceded me or.

Seth:

Exceeded.

Kyle:

It's exceeded me. It's like it's exacerbated me.

Seth:

It touched him aggressively.

Kyle:

Yes. I love this type of world building. This gives me Michael Mann vibes here. Ari Asteroid. Yeah.

He authored an extensive 100 page Bible outlining Hargo beliefs, history, traditions, all the. That you actually see in a movie. He outlined before he started making the film. And it includes a lot of real stuff.

So like the pubic hair, menstrual blood, the jumping ritual, like, all that. There are, like, things like that in real Nordic mythology, but he, like, put his own creative twist on him and put them in this Bible.

Seth:

That's dope. I've.

I've actually literally been doing the same thing I'm writing, and I plan on it taking me a long time, but I'm writing a like 300 page history textbook of a fantasy world I'm creating.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

To turn into like movies and video games and also.

Kyle:

I mean you have to. Right, for that. For that genre.

Seth:

Oh yeah, absolutely.

Kyle:

You have to.

Mariann:

World building.

Seth:

Yeah, yeah.

Kyle:

And they also. And this was. Even though the story takes place in Sweden, that's an actual remote village they built from the ground up in Budapest. Near Budapest.

Seth:

That makes sense. Chamber tax incentives. And. And when you're doing something that. Not specific, you've got to build it yourself.

Kyle:

Yep.

Mariann:

Oh yeah.

Seth:

What was the. What was the budget on this?

Kyle:

Oh, I don't know.

Mariann:

Question. It's pretty sparse too. Honestly, there's not. Except for that giant barn which I would love to live in, but even.

Seth:

That'S cheap to make.

Kyle:

$9 million, that's grows 50 worldwide.

Mariann:

Let me get my savings account real quick.

Kyle:

27 in the U.S. 48. Sorry, go ahead.

Mariann:

Got that in my Roth IRA.

Kyle:

Yeah. Hey, hey, hey.

Seth:

See, this is what we need more of.

We need more 4 to 10 million dollars movies that can go and do 5x and make 50 million or even 90 million or 100 million, but that don't cost a fuck ton of money to make. And you've seen that now with a 24 has been killing it. Neon has really come out recently with some heavy hitters.

Kyle:

Some Bloom House.

Seth:

Bloom House, absolutely. Blumhouse is getting the rights to Saw now, so James Wan will be back in creative control of the Saw franchise finally. Yeah.

So we need more of this, people.

Kyle:

Yeah. I mean, watch the Lighthouse. How much mileage did they get out of that small, tiny budget with basically two.

Two actors of three if you include the mermaid.

Seth:

But yeah.

Kyle:

How much mileage did they get out of that fucking budget? And that movie haunts me to this day.

Seth:

It's incredible.

Kyle:

It's perfect.

Seth:

It's so good.

Kyle:

Yeah, I agree with you. More of that. I mean, what are the upgrade.

Seth:

Yeah. Such a good movie.

Mariann:

Yeah. Anything blue.

Kyle:

I didn't hate it.

Seth:

I hated it so hard on the podcast.

Kyle:

I did. I liked it. I didn't love it, but I respected it. But I didn't hate it.

Seth:

You shat on it. So go back and watch.

Kyle:

I'm gonna go listen to it. This is the second time you referred to how much. I. I'm really surprised by it every time. Cuz then I. I looked back on it fondly. You.

Seth:

You and Drew shat on it so hard.

Kyle:

Well, I think maybe Drew. I don't know.

Mariann:

It was Drew.

Kyle:

It was all Drew.

Mariann:

Negative energy.

Seth:

He.

Mariann:

You know Drew.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

He's just the most negative left and right on everything.

Kyle:

Quarter mile at a time.

Seth:

Yeah, I'm gonna be on that. This. This next.

Kyle:

Oh, really? That's hilarious.

Mariann:

Drew is the best.

Seth:

We're doing. We're doing the Lost City of Z. Oh.

Mariann:

Oh, my God.

Seth:

I've never seen it.

Mariann:

The book is amazing. You can borrow it if you want. I have it.

Seth:

I've read it three times.

Kyle:

I won't read, but borrow it anyway and just tell everybody you read it.

Mariann:

It's so good. The book is so good, but the movie's so good. And I love Charlie Hunnam.

Seth:

I. I love him too. And I heard bad things when it came out, but it's like, now that I've heard more people talk about it, apparently it's great.

Mariann:

So I'm excited to watch it. Very interesting. Interesting. It's about something interesting.

Kyle:

Okay.

Mariann:

I don't know if it's a good movie or not, but it's like, actually about something real that happened or something really happened.

Seth:

Nice.

Kyle:

Next, Rando J. It's all good. No, this is good. This is all good. It's hard. It's hard. I've said this with comedians.

As the producer, I always hate interrupting flow because it's always so good.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

But I also edit this and it's like sometimes I'm like, oh, my God, where do I cut it?

Seth:

Would this be the only moment you cut out? Is you talking about cutting out?

Kyle:

Yeah. This was so good.

Mariann:

That minute sucked.

Kyle:

So Jack Rainer, who played Christian, so originally he wasn't supposed to be running around naked during that scene where he does, but he wanted to be like equal opportunist. And he thought that. That Christian should have been embarrassed as much as possible. So it was actually his decision to go around fully, fully naked.

Seth:

Nice.

Mariann:

It makes sense. It really works.

Seth:

I mean, especially right after what just happened.

Mariann:

He just.

Seth:

And he's on drugs. He's freaking out like that. That is crazy how well it shows both a good trip and a bad trip all throughout the movie.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

And because this movie already with the sunlight, you know, because there's a lot that you read about how important it is that this movie's completely in light.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

In the sun. He thought that that was a good. Another good reason to align it because the women nudity is so a. Such a trope in horror.

He was like, this movie's already flipping a lot of tropes. So he thought that was a good opportunity to maybe also 100.

Seth:

I think it Was a great decision.

Mariann:

Yeah. Definitely.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

More dicks in film.

Kyle:

Yeah. With small budgets. Big dicks.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Seth:

Or even just regular.

Mariann:

Any dicks.

Kyle:

Any of.

Mariann:

Any scale of regular.

Kyle:

Yeah. Micro to aggro. I don't know.

Mariann:

Aggro, dicks. Hbo. They did. Remember when those people made that video about hbo and they were like, more dicks. And then they did it. They were like.

They were like, we'll show you dicks. Okay.

Seth:

You want cock?

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

Give you cock.

Mariann:

They're like, we're not even gonna have a naked woman ever again. Ever again.

Kyle:

I love hbo, but I do want them to revisit that meeting.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Just. I could do it.

Mariann:

There is a lot.

Kyle:

Let's cut it down.

Mariann:

It's a lot.

Kyle:

Like, even in movies that don't need it or shows that don't need it, it's like, whoa.

Seth:

All right, let's circumcise it. Just take a little bit off. Then we'll. We'll settle. It'll be good.

Kyle:

Yeah. Foreskin afterthought. That's one of those things. I don't know if it's funny or just funny in context.

Seth:

You know, they'll tell us. Don't worry.

Kyle:

Yeah. I love it. So this is interesting. So the haunting, the. The final smile was meant to be. And that's why I asked you about earlier.

It was meant to be ambiguous. There's basically three schools of thought. Right. Either she was actually legitimately happy. Transformed to see it happen.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

B, she's having a psychotic break.

Seth:

That's what I think it is.

Kyle:

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Or actually two. I don't. I don't think there was a third, but.

So Florence Pugh basically said she abused herself mentally through the whole.

Seth:

Oh, yeah.

Kyle:

Film. To. To do the crying. She said that she. She actually. I don't know if she regrets it, but she said she was. She was sobbing in real life.

Seth:

I. I know. I saw that interview. She didn't say she regretted it, but she said she can't do like that again.

Kyle:

Yes.

Seth:

She was like, I was grateful that I got to do a role like that, but I can't again, Which I've heard so many people say. I mean, Christian Bale has even gotten to the point where he's like, I cannot gain and lose weight for movies again.

Kyle:

And he doesn't need to. Now I'm worried about it.

Seth:

Eight times. We're good.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

You don't need to go from the machinist to Batman Begins in six months again.

Kyle:

Yeah. To the Fighter to. Yeah.

Mariann:

Nobody needs to do that to American Hustle, like. But can we just, for a moment, just. Florence Pugh. This was the first movie I saw her in.

Kyle:

She was great.

Mariann:

Amazing.

Seth:

This put her on the map.

Mariann:

She is at one of my favorite. Every time I see her in anything, I'm like, I will watch it just because she's in it. I love that she picks good projects.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Very dimensional in this movie.

Seth:

Except for Black Widow. That was. The character was fine. The movie was fucking bad.

Mariann:

The cast of that is amazing. Yeah. It's a terrible movie. I can't.

I can't get over how they got all of these beautiful, perfect, amazing actresses in this horrifically written long. It was the only Marvel movie I've seen because it's the only one I wanted to see because it's the only one starring Dakota.

Seth:

Well, that is the worst. Second worst. Yeah. Yeah. Madame Web is definitely worse. That is one of the worst entries you could have picked to watch by itself.

Mariann:

I know, I know. Well, I didn't. I don't know. Well, going back to Florence Pugh torturing herself for this role, I could feel it.

Kyle:

Yes.

Mariann:

She's just. I was like, I don't know who this actress is, but I think they just got a grieving person.

Seth:

Yeah. Pretty much to do this because, like.

Mariann:

I feel her so much. And then on my shirt, they have, like, this scene. But the other shirt that you could have bought was this. The.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

When we saw that in theaters, none of us knew what to do.

Kyle:

We all just were like, when all the women are screaming together. Yeah, that scene.

Mariann:

That's.

Kyle:

That's actually part of this rando. And that. That. That's one example of how raw she had gotten for that raw.

That after that scene when Astrid cut, all the actresses, like, were sobbing and clung each other and were hugging each other because they were so emotionally.

Seth:

They'd be a puddle of people right out of college. I did a play at Belmont that a buddy of mine produced, and I did the original, like, table read for.

Then he was like, no, I actually want to be in the play. So the very end of it, though, involved me breaking down in tears. And in the last dress rehearsal before.

Before we did our first show, I was like, fuck it. I'm just gonna go full send. And I did it, and I fully actually broke down in tears.

And when we finished, everyone walked up and they're like, are you okay? And I just immediately perked up, was like, oh, yeah, no, it's called acting. Like, it's. This is. But yeah, in.

In that moment, you let yourself go, and you. Everything will just flow. It's crazy.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

So when I can imagine when you have 12 people all doing that, it's like it doesn't stop for a minute. Like, you all have to be like, okay, yeah, let's back off for a second.

Mariann:

That was my favorite part of, like, the community, was that they all experience emotions together.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

I feel like that makes emotions so much more realistic to, like, have them. And, like, children see that, and they're like, oh, so you're not always just supposed to be fine.

Seth:

Yeah. Well, like, the very end, whenever. When they hear the guys in the barn burning, screaming. Yeah. They're all joining in because they're like, no.

The whole point of their sacrifice is that we feel it with them.

Mariann:

Yeah. I think that makes life a lot, lot easier to live when you're like, oh, we're going through this together, you know?

Seth:

Yeah, absolutely.

Kyle:

Yeah. And I didn't pick up on this till later. I actually saw it, but didn't register it. But there is a hidden Easter egg early on the.

There's a painting early in the film of the bear. Yeah.

Mariann:

Yeah, I want that. I don't know how. I don't have it yet.

Kyle:

Where'd you. Where have we got the shower curtain?

Mariann:

Maybe I've got. I've looked. They had it. But I want to get, like, a good version of it. I have been looking for that for years. Years.

Kyle:

To get a really. Yeah, yeah. There's. It's a woman wearing a crown kissing a bear, and it's, like, above her bed or whatever.

Seth:

I do love the fact that they introduced the bear so early with the most meta line in the whole movie, because they do exactly what will Poulter. Or maybe. Maybe it's the guy writing the thesis.

But they walk by and they're like, so we're just gonna ignore the bear, and then you don't see the bear until the very end.

Mariann:

It's a bear.

Seth:

Yeah. He just. They. They just. He tells you exactly. He's like, no, we're gonna ignore it.

It's gonna be there, but you're never gonna see it until the very end of the movie.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

I just love how that guy's like, that's a bear.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

I laughed so hard.

Kyle:

You're gonna be inside of that bear. I didn't see it coming. And then I remember when I saw. When I. You first see Christian in the bear, I'm just like, oh, my God.

Mariann:

Yeah. No, that's no way for that guy to Go out. That's a horrible death.

Kyle:

Yeah. He wasn't that bad of a boyfriend.

Mariann:

He was not that bad of a boyfriend.

Seth:

He was bad, but it sucks because he couldn't move or speak or anything. But he could feel every bit of pain.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Really? I wondered that. Could he. I didn't know if he could feel it or not because.

Seth:

No, she. She literally just said, you won't be able to move, but.

But they never mentioned, like, not feeling pain and especially knowing that the other guys who. Who took the. The SAP were supposed to not feel pain and then felt everything. I'm like, no, he felt everything. He just couldn't.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Seth:

Couldn't react.

Mariann:

They were screaming.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

They were like, here you go.

Seth:

What is crazy, though, is if you do get set on fire like that, you would only be in pain for about five seconds and then all your nerves would be shot and you wouldn't feel anything from that on.

Kyle:

Oh, that's good enough. Good to hear at least. Yeah. There's nothing worse. Like, I've watched a ton of horror in my life, but watching people burn on screen is still.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Horrible.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Ari Aster really likes to burn people.

Kyle:

He does.

Mariann:

He really does. This movie has so many segues into hereditary.

Seth:

Oh, yeah?

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Starts off with killing old people.

Seth:

People set on fire.

Mariann:

Ends almost exactly the same way.

Kyle:

Probably the. This is the last Randall. Probably the only thing I'll ever like that I read about Ariana Grande, but apparently this movie really was. And I.

I was trying to ask myself, I was like, did this, did this? It didn't necessarily put a 24 on the map. They had a ton of movies before. Yeah, but. And they did. They had.

If you look at their list, like, they had a ton of movies before this.

Seth:

Breakers was an A24.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

But this. This movie took it up a notch. Yeah. Like, and. And so much so that Ariana Grande, like pulp pop culture was all over it.

And her 27th birthday was a midsummer theme birthday party and she dressed as the May Queen. Or. No, they had a May Queen crown. They did the whole thing. So I don't give a crap about Ariana or pop stars at all. But she did have a.

It was a big deal.

Seth:

That's funny.

Mariann:

That makes me like her.

Kyle:

Yeah, exactly.

Mariann:

Yeah. Me and her, we're both 25, Italian.

Seth:

Yeah. This definitely took them from that weird indie studio to, like, a staple of horror.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

And they've been on a tear ever since.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

And they pair with my favorite hippie T shirt company. The funny thing about this shirt is that. It's not that I love it because it's a 24.

Seth:

It's.

Mariann:

It's. I know about it because it's online ceramics.

Seth:

Oh, nice.

Mariann:

Which is. Do you know about them?

Seth:

I've heard of them.

Mariann:

They're. It is a Grateful Dead inspired hippie line of clothes, line of T shirts, and they're all made in America and.

Seth:

Not a sponsor, but feel free. Please sponsor us.

Mariann:

Oh, my God, I love you guys so much. Yeah, but they. They make everything in the US and when you order something, they're like.

Like, it could be about 30 days before we get around to this. Okay. We're doing my shrooms.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

We're trying to quit, but we're doing it.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Yeah. So it combines everything I love. So it's like. It's an online ceramic shirt, and it's a 24, and it's midsommar, so.

Seth:

Hell yeah.

Kyle:

Shall we put on the bear suit?

Seth:

Yes. Yes.

Kyle:

Shall we jump off some cliffs? Jump off some cliffs? Yeah, let's. Let's cut the bear open. Let's war.

Seth:

Let's set the barn on fire.

Kyle:

Let's do it. Top bill cast. Oh, and yes. Our category. So for yes, it's Let me go. Where's my damn spreadsheet? If you dig it. Affirmative. Positive. Love it. May Queen.

Seth:

Okay.

Kyle:

All right. All right. And bear suit. If you don't like it.

Seth:

Hell yeah.

Kyle:

Yeah. Yeah. There was great dialogue, but nothing super quotable. Yeah, like, I'm not gonna, like, drop. Be dropping crazy midsummer quotes at a dinner party.

Seth:

I forgot to remind him.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Oh, my God. I can't get over that, actually. I know. It's my fault. I forgot to remind him it's my birthday.

Kyle:

That was total self victimization to a.

Mariann:

T. This is how women do not need to behave.

Seth:

So no one needs to behave.

Mariann:

Nobody needs to behave that way.

Kyle:

Yeah, I know. But the funny thing is, she's talking to Pele, right? And he's like. He's like, don't worry. It's gonna be okay.

Mariann:

He's like, do you feel held by him? Oh, what a great line.

Kyle:

It was in that moment. He was like, let's burn him in a bear suit.

Mariann:

Yeah. Yeah. Had a plan this whole.

Seth:

You will be my wife.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

He's a goodlooking guy.

Mariann:

Yeah, he is. He's a good guy. I mean, he's, you know, got those eyes.

Kyle:

Yes. And he actually made it to the top Bill cast. Even though it's like, who is this guy? Top bill cast. Florence Pugh, Jack Rayner and Wilhelm Blomgren.

Seth:

I mean, when everyone gets paid like 10 grand, it's not hard to get to. To be the top build cast.

Kyle:

Yeah, it's true.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

And a Dairy Queen gift card in Budapest. I love the Budapest.

Seth:

Full in the month of May.

Mariann:

Costco membership for life.

Kyle:

Yes.

Seth:

But, yeah, obviously this is a May Queen. Like, God damn. Everybody put their fucking all into it.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

Just. It's hard to find problems with it. Yeah. Everyone put 110% into it.

Mariann:

I believed them for so long. I hated Jack Raynor because of this movie.

Kyle:

Yep.

Mariann:

I mean, I don't hate you as a person. You're actually a very good actor. But like, you're so good. He's so good. I'm just talking to him now.

Yeah, because you're watching, obviously, Jack, at this point, I feel like he will see it.

Kyle:

Oh, he may see it, but I.

Mariann:

You know, when, when somebody's such a good actor that you actually hate them.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

I mean, that's amazing.

Seth:

I mean, this is the same thing we talked about in, in sometimes I feel about dying. The. The one girl who's like the office manager. Fucking hate her in that. But she's. It's because she's so good and she's very real. Yeah. Yeah.

Mariann:

Is that Meg? Meg Stalter?

Kyle:

Yes.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

That was the Meg Stalter Appreciation podcast from you.

Mariann:

I'm obsessed with her.

Kyle:

Yeah. I kept tagging her and she never responded. But David Maharlay. Yeah, he now follows us.

Seth:

Yeah, now. Now he's gonna stop because you just butchered his name. I'm sure. We love you, Dave.

Kyle:

I'm gonna cut that out.

Mariann:

Yeah, I would, but.

Seth:

Yeah. So I'm assuming this is a May Queen from you.

Mariann:

Yeah, May Queen.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

I can't imagine anybody else being cast in this movie.

Seth:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kyle:

I mean, this is a gut wrenching story. And in. In Christian or Jack Rainer, the way he plays him, it's very believable. Like, he's very. He feels like a very real person to me.

You know, the way he portrays. And that's part of the reason I'm like, how bad is he? I mean, he just feels like a confused college guy to me.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

And he nails it.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Nails it so across the board. And I, I love Pele as a character. Like, I just, I just.

Yeah, there's literally, you know, I could go out and look for imperfections and not find any here. Yeah, absolutely. Fantastic. And the dialogue we'll get to in writing, but the dialogue is Also just so well written.

Like, I don't know who could well perform.

Seth:

Yeah, I've seen good dialogue butchered before.

Kyle:

So, yeah, here it's a. It's a marriage of two really great things. So. May Queen. All right, zero.

Seth:

For those counting at home, one to zero.

Kyle:

I've got the spreadsheet open. All right, supporting cast, here we go. The great William Jackson Harper is Josh, which. It was great to see him here. Will Poulter is Mark Love. Will.

Mariann:

Yeah. Eyebrows.

Seth:

You guys are getting paid. That happened. I'll bet you that happened on this movie. Like, they finished it.

And he starts passing out checks and Will's just like, you guys are getting paid.

Kyle:

What, though?

Mariann:

That's funny.

Kyle:

The. The characters I felt fell for the most was Elora Torchia as Connie and Simon, played by Archie Madaweki. Yeah, that poor. That poor couple.

And the rest are just a lot of, you know, a lot of great, but actors. But not anybody we would know and.

Seth:

Not anyone that you could pronounce their names easily. I'm sure.

Kyle:

I can barely pronounce, you know, normal names.

Seth:

Yeah, well, I just fucked up. Will Poulter.

Kyle:

Yeah. Will exacerbates.

Seth:

Yeah. I mean, yeah, obviously, like, here's. Here's the thing, and.

And don't take this as negative, but as far as the supporting cast goes, it is a squeak over for me. I do think everyone did a good job. However, in between the. The English and American actors that are in it. And then you have the Swedish actors.

None of the Swedish people. Not none. Maybe one or two, but most of the Swedish people ever stood out to me. Yeah, but the.

The American and English people, they all really stood out as far as doing a great job at all their characters. So it is. It is definitely a May Queen, but it is a little bit of a squeak over for me. I don't think anyone did a bad job. But it's.

It's one of those things, like, we've talked about this in other movies. There are some movies where every single side. The Speed racer, every single side character stands out in some way.

Kyle:

Right.

Seth:

This one. And I know they're kind of supposed to, but a lot of them just blend in and then you have a few that really stand out.

So that's why it's a squeak over.

Kyle:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mariann:

Oh, my. This is a May Queen for me. But I hear what you're saying, but I. There are like a handful of the Swedish people that I remember very clearly.

One of them only says, talk, and then she walks away. And I Don't know why, but I'm just like, that is just the most beautiful Swedish person.

Kyle:

Golden Globe for you.

Mariann:

And then at the end, the woman who kind of helps her be the May Queen.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

I love her. She's like one of my favorite characters. But most of them do kind of fall into the background, I think, on purpose.

Seth:

Yeah. And like I said, I don't say that negatively towards anybody, but. But as someone who's just strictly objectively looking at this.

Yeah, some people could have stood out more, but it's definitely not bad.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

I wish. I wish I could remember. There is one, though, in particular that stands out big time. I can't remember, because the character name.

No, yeah, no, that stood out for different reasons, Stan. It was either Sten or Ingmar, the character, but the one who gets pissed when he pisses on the tree.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Seth:

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kyle:

That guy.

Seth:

Yeah, that is the brother.

Kyle:

Is that stencil? I think so, Stan. Okay. Yeah. Played by Lars Varlinger. His emotion. And then when he's just staring at him.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

At the dinner daily. Just that face. I'm like. I'm a sucker for facial expressions. Like, oh, my God, I can't imagine someone staring at me like that. Yeah, he was pissed.

Mariann:

Yeah, I was pissed. I was pissed because he was pissed. I was like, I get it.

Kyle:

Will Poulter got skinned and he still doesn't know. See, this why they're mad.

Seth:

Brings me back to the best horror movies are about the unluckiest and the stupidest people. People.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

And Will Poulter, I think, falls under both of those. Yeah, he's a moron. Because clearly this fallen tree is separated from the forest for a reason and surrounded in ash.

Like, none of it looks like the rest of the place. But also, dude had to take a piss and he want. He didn't want to, like, do it in front of people. So. Listen, he's dumb, but also, like, very unlucky.

Kyle:

I'm from Arkansas. Maybe you can relate, being from Alabama. You see a fall, you see a tree on the ground. That's perfect. Pissing ground.

Seth:

Exactly. It's not unreasonable that he went there, but it's also, like, you kind of. You should have been a little more observant.

Kyle:

Even if I don't have to take a piss, I see a tree on the ground, I'm like, boy, I wish I could work up a piss right now.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

That tree is just begging for it.

Mariann:

That's so funny because, like, for me, because. Because, like, I haven't peed in nature as much as men have, I guess, just because of the ease of it.

Kyle:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mariann:

But I felt like the tree was, like, very out in the open. I would have gone deep in the forest and gotten some tick bites. But I don't know where they were supposed.

I don't know if they had a bathroom or an outhouse or anything. There's one outhouse at the very beginning where she sees herself in the mirror when she's on mushrooms, but that was.

Seth:

A way for them.

Kyle:

Yeah, but they don't.

Mariann:

They don't really. You don't see any of that. So I don't even know, like, how far away could the bathroom have been? You know?

Seth:

That's where I'm like. I could see why he would have done that. But it's also like, come on, dude. Like, read the room.

Kyle:

I don't know. I saw. I was like, I want to piss on that tree. That's a good tree.

Mariann:

I just feel like they also brought that guy because they're like, well, we need sacrifices. Yeah, we're not gonna bring, like, my favorite people from America if you're gonna.

Kyle:

Make it that easy.

Mariann:

Yeah, I know. We have to bring some. Like, some of them might make it.

Kyle:

Yeah. No, it's. It's true. And it's funny. I mean, I think. I think they put it. I think, yeah, maybe it really was for their.

The burial of their ancestors, But I think it was like a. They put it out there on purpose, like, oh, someone's gonna piss on that.

Mariann:

They could. Yeah, yeah. They're like, we're gonna get one.

Kyle:

Americans can help themselves.

Mariann:

Then we get to Skinner fishing for Swedes.

Kyle:

Swedish fish, which are manufactured in Canada, by the way.

Mariann:

Oh, man, I wish I'd said that. When this happens, dub my voice of Swedish fish. And then you say, cool.

Kyle:

I'm gonna cut her voice over mine. I'm gonna give her the joke.

Seth:

We got ventriloquist here, y' all.

Kyle:

Two to zero. We are getting closer to the sacrifice writing. And I believe Ari had a partner. Nope, it was just him.

I thought he had a partner, but nope, he directed and he wrote it. Ari asked her crazy.

Seth:

So.

Mariann:

Wow.

Seth:

This. This is one of those movies where the. The script. I a. I highly doubt there was much, if any, improv happening.

Like, I feel like every word that was spoken was written down. But he also hits this crazy Michael Crichton level of conversationalist where everything feels natural.

People are talking over each other a little bit, but not to the point where it's like, what's everybody saying? Like, it's so well done. This is a 10 out of 10 script for me. This is absolutely a May Queen. Like, this was so well written.

Mariann:

Wow.

Seth:

Not once watching this movie did I ever think, oh, I know it's about to happen.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Seth:

Except for the jumping, but, I mean, that was blatantly obvious. If you didn't see that was coming, you're a idiot.

Mariann:

Yeah, well, coming from you, that's saying a lot too. Wow. I feel like the cohes. I. I. I feel like. I feel that he. One person wrote this.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

It's so cohesive.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

As an idea, I love the script. I think it's perfect. I like that it's very understated and it's not. It's not like, like rashly American, you know?

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Nice. I think that's also why it's kind of a relaxing horror movie.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

To watch. It's also just gorgeous.

Kyle:

So.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

What was the question?

Kyle:

What do you think about the writing, the dialogue? May Queen.

Mariann:

Amazing.

Kyle:

Yas, my queen. Sorry, I can't talk today.

Seth:

James isn't here today. Okay.

Kyle:

That's true. We had James Holiday on last.

Mariann:

Oh, my God.

Seth:

He did 300 with us.

Mariann:

I love James.

Kyle:

He loves those Spartans, let me tell you.

Mariann:

I bet.

Kyle:

Yeah. He really does.

Seth:

He was talking about seeing it in an IMAX and having, like, his third sexual awakening.

Mariann:

He's like, this is when I knew I was gay.

Seth:

He was like, no, that was like, the third time he remembered he was gay. He was just like, I'm as big as one of their abs. Like, oh, my God.

Mariann:

Yeah. Imagine there's some thighs in that movie. I didn't even know I was attracted to thighs.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

I didn't know thighs could look like.

Seth:

Like that.

Kyle:

Yeah. Yeah, there's some good thighs.

Seth:

There's a reason you're into wwe.

Mariann:

There's such. It's definitely the men in underwear. The women in underwear is nice, too.

Seth:

Yeah. But the thighs. The man thighs.

Mariann:

Especially stone cold Steve Austin's thighs, y' all.

Kyle:

Yeah, they're. They're legit.

Mariann:

He doesn't even fit in pants. All right, I'll stop. I'll stop.

Kyle:

Wow.

Seth:

He can't drive a four wheeler.

Kyle:

Sounds like I need to add a new category here.

Mariann:

How are the thighs in the movie? I'll take the thighs.

Kyle:

I went May Queen here, too, and I. This is where I started texting you. I was like, I just can't believe how intricate this dialogue is.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

And I think for me, it's the mystery that it all creates. Because even though I feel like there's only. This can only end horrifically.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

They do such an interesting job creating this world through the writing of this commune slash culture. And you're also like, how much. It's like, it's challenging me. It's like. It's like, are you an American that's afraid to buy into a different culture?

And you're afraid because there is this embedded idea. There's a lot of ideas in this. It's not just about toxic relationships.

I think it's also about Americanism and colonialism and these ideas of how Americans view the world. Right. There's that idea, too. And I'm like, asking myself.

I'm like, am I an American that's afraid of, you know, indigenous behavior, or is this fucking psycho?

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

And. But the writing never lets me off the hook either way.

Seth:

Not till that last moment.

Kyle:

Then you're like, yeah, this is messed up. But, but, but, but there. There are moments where you buy, like, community is nice.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

You know, I feel lonely, like I need a community. And it's like you're in there toying with me the whole time, and it's so intricate.

Seth:

Well, especially that whole speech about, no, this is. They're choosing to do this to end their lives. We don't want to grow so old that we become a burden on our society.

Like, in that moment, you're like, oh, yeah, I could buy that.

Kyle:

Makes sense. I mean, some countries.

Seth:

Cultural thing. I get it. Not. And then. Then you hit the end. You're like, no, that was all fine.

Kyle:

Yeah. Euphanasia was a thing.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

So anyway, I. I'm just lost in the. In the conversation. I just think. I just think all the way through. I just can't believe how well written.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

This was.

Seth:

So I wish a 24 would put the script on sale because I don't want to spend 50 bucks on a script.

Mariann:

I know. And bring back the bear in a cage, please. Oh, my God. Yeah, they don't really release that. I have the incense holder.

I would have brought it, but it's very fragile. Want to break it?

Kyle:

You've brought. You brought enough. And this is fantastic.

Mariann:

This is a tree topper. I don't. Haven't done Christmas yet, so we'll see at some point.

Seth:

Maybe I'll do Hell, yeah.

Mariann:

Maybe I'll do a Midsommar tree. Oh, my God, that'd be great.

Seth:

That'd be so good.

Mariann:

That'd be so good.

Seth:

Just deck it out in flowers.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Although I Would be afraid. If I was your husband, though, I'd be like, am I going to get burned up?

Seth:

He's just walking around looking for the bear.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

He's like, oh, my God, I'm going to be sacrificed.

Seth:

Have y' all done a Bear Danny costume yet? Couples costume.

Mariann:

We've never done a couple's costume.

Seth:

You should do it.

Kyle:

We should this year.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

That's pretty. And he.

Seth:

We'll do a Movie Wars Halloween party.

Kyle:

We should.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Y' all have never seen my husband naked, but if he just took off all of his clothes, he would look.

Kyle:

Like the bear now. I kind of want to, though.

Mariann:

I know he's furry. Yeah, I'm a furry cuz he's furry. Get it?

Kyle:

We talk so much about your husband. I want to meet him one day. Like, we invited him to a show. We. I've never. Still never met him, but we talked. He sounds like amazing. Amazing guy.

I want to. He's great.

Seth:

Is he gonna be there Saturday or not? Not Saturday. Next Friday.

Mariann:

He never comes to shows like that because I feel like I'm at work and I feel like he. I don't know, he just doesn't really like.

Seth:

See, Mike's is where I would not invite a significant other, but shows, I'm like, yeah, come on. This is. This is where I get to showcase everything. Well, he might watch me work, though.

Mariann:

I should ask him to come to this show because his main reason for not wanting to be around comedy is he's like. Everybody's like a lead singer. As a lead singer. Energy. And I'm like, oh, yeah. It's not all of them, but, yeah, you know what I'm talking about.

Seth:

I get it, though.

Kyle:

It's always interesting getting an outsider's perspective on comedians because it's like, ouch. That's so true. Bunch of Anthony Kiedis is walking around.

Mariann:

No, exactly, exactly.

Seth:

I'm not going to name names, but one person immediately came to mind.

Mariann:

Amazing. Tell me after.

Seth:

He has a mustache. That's all I'll say. Oh, thank you, guys.

Mariann:

This should be coming to me. Oh, wait, yeah, yeah.

Kyle:

It's not coming to me because I've taken a long break. Tell me off air.

Seth:

You know, I'm now off air.

Kyle:

We got an on air light thing up there.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Directing, it's 3 to 0. Ari Aster.

Seth:

Yeah, it's going to be 4 to 0 because obviously this is fucking incredible.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

I haven't seen Beau is Afraid, and I know he's got the new movie coming out. Eddington. But of the two I've seen, this is his masterpiece. Like, Hereditary was good.

I will never watch it again unless I have the promise of some very dirty sex from a very beautiful woman. Because that movie disturbs the ever living out of me. So. But this is. Is a 10 out of 10 flawless movie on his part. So.

Yeah, obviously this is May Queen.

Kyle:

Wonderful.

Mariann:

Same May Queen all the way.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Oh my God. I rewatched Hereditary to like kind of get back familiar with it because I only watched it one time and I said the same thing.

I was like, I'll never watch it again.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

And I watched it again and I'm like, I want to watch this again. It's really.

Seth:

It's the one scene with. With the decapitation. I just. The first time I saw it, I had a full out panic attack, hyperventilating, white, knuckling the couch. Like I.

It was bad, so.

Mariann:

I know. But then at the end, she inhabits her brother's body because anyway, she gets him back is all I'm saying.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

I just think I've never been so blown away by the creativity in small things the way Ari Aster does it. I just think, I don't know. Nobody, nobody makes anything like him. And I cannot wait to hear what you think about. Bo is afraid because like I.

That's one of those. Like sometimes when my husband's out, I will just be like, all right, I'm gonna get.

I'm gonna pack a bowl and I'm gonna do all of these and I'm going to watch this movie. And nothing will distract me. Everything in the house is off. The cats are.

Seth:

The cats are off, the cats are outside.

Mariann:

Everything. Nothing will disturb me because like, it is, it is a lot. It's kind of like Schenectady, New York, New York. And I'm saying that wrong, but okay.

It's just one of those like very. It's very different.

Seth:

Yeah. I'll get to it.

Mariann:

Than these.

Seth:

I'll get to it. Yeah, I know. He kind of leaves the horror genre now, which is fine. He kind of perfected it with this, so.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Seth:

Yeah, I am interested to see it.

Kyle:

Probably gave himself nightmares.

Seth:

Yeah, I bet he, man, he gave Florence Pew nightmares. So I'm sure. I'm sure he lives with it too.

Kyle:

If Stephen King's cheese gave him his own nightmares and cheesy Stephen King dog.

Mariann:

Let's do more Stephen King material.

Kyle:

I don't know why I've read so many of his books. I always read it go, really? This is I've read the 30th one. I'm like, damn it, Steven.

Mariann:

Again, just do, just do the thing.

Seth:

No more child orgies.

Kyle:

Yeah. Write a complete novel without telekinesis. Literally every book will be start off like, oh, this, this could be pretty good. Telekinesis.

Oh, yeah, it's his crutch. Everybody's got to have telekinesis. No, I, I'm surprised Cujo didn't have telekinesis. I.

This, I'm gonna give a more weird answer for this because it's a. Hell, yeah, it's a May Queen. You know, we've. I've been doing movie wars for five years, so I've just.

We've talked about so many movies and it's like been like a self education. One thing I've been looking at this category through a directing is budget because we have been getting into lower budget movies.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

u know, when you. Until about:

Those were very commonplace with the advent of CGI technology and all the things that's made it easier. But you know, we talked about so many gigantic budget movies with mega cast and, and the, the director, the badass, like the.

And you don't feel a damn thing.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

And I watched this $9 million budget and, and yeah, there's. There's some scenes in the city when they're setting it up before they go to Sweden.

And then there's the, the little remote part before they go to the village. But 90 of this movie takes place in this small remote area. But it feels like such a big story.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

It's just crazy how much life he generated. And a lot of that is because of the, the scenery he chose. The way they built the village. Just the fucking. When the yellow hut.

What's the official name of that thing? Does it have a real name?

Seth:

Temple.

Kyle:

The temple.

Seth:

Yeah, they called it a temple.

Kyle:

Like, that was the biggest moment for me when it's like, oh, that's, that's not for us. And it was in the distance. And like this is really probably like three. What, three square miles of land, if that.

Seth:

But it feels maybe like two, three acres.

Kyle:

Yeah, but it feels just like, like.

Seth:

Such a whole world.

Kyle:

It's a whole world. And he builds it slowly and there's so much mystery just in the dialogue.

And I just think he, I just think he was absolutely masterful, masterful here. And it pisses me off when I watch these giant big budget movies that just. You walk away just feeling hollow.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

And you see this 9 million bucks and you're just like, holy. Yeah. Like he just. Yeah. Knocked me on my ass. So I didn't mean to turn that to a festival of love, but I, I just really blown away.

The intricacy here is baffling. So I just, I just love it when. And that's. And because he wrote it and directed. I mean, this is a vision executed.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

100 from. From bottom to top, every detail accounted for. So just kudos. Yeah.

Mariann:

Every time I watch it, I'm like again and again. It's always good.

Seth:

It's one of the few horror films that I will always go back to.

Kyle:

Yeah. Yeah. And. And again, that reminds me. And this has been a drum I've been beating for a couple years and we mentioned it on one podcast.

I think maybe it was the Shining where you were with us. But horror is where innovation's happening right now.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

We're not shooting in LA anymore. We can't afford it.

They're, you know, we're, we're knee deep in superhero movies and Warner brother is $38 billion in debt and they're only doing IP now. They're not doing original anything. They've declared that.

Mariann:

Wow.

Kyle:

Horror though is. And I don't know why. Maybe it's because they feel like they have less boundaries. But horror is where.

Seth:

Exactly. Why?

Kyle:

Yeah, there's just innovation and creativity there. That's not happening in a lot of other genres right now.

Seth:

Well, there's a lot of forgiveness in horror when. Because of the roots of horror in, in the B movies of the. The 50s especially.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

That was the birth of horror. Before that it was kind of like gothic horror thing. Well, even. I'm talking about four Hitchcock.

Before Hitchcock, you had the very theatrical like Frankenstein, Gothic and gothic horror. And it was a very much a regal genre. Then the 50s come along and, and we start getting just B grade monster horror.

Then Hitchcock comes along and brings like a psychological element.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

But even he wasn't really doing horror. He was doing way more thriller than horror.

Kyle:

Yes.

Seth:

Then you hit the 80s, the 70s and 80s, where you have Alien come out, you have have Predator come out, you have slasher. All of these crazy slasher horror movies that still were campy in some ways, but brought a lot of legitimacy to the genre.

You also Silence of the Lambs, which won the Oscar for Best Picture. It's one of the only horror movies to win the best Picture Oscar. So that brought the legitimacy.

But because of the B grade origins of it, as long as you have a cool concept and as long as they can see. See that you're not trying to skip out of doing it right, it can have some mistakes and people still love it.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

Because you're doing something different and. And horror is the only genre I feel like that gives you that leeway to make mistakes.

Kyle:

I love that. I think that's why I used to not. I used to not understand because there are horror people. I hear from them on this podcast.

Mariann:

Right, right.

Kyle:

You're a nice one, though. There are people. Like we did. I covered Nightmare on Elm Street a long time ago and I just got lambasted it for some stuff.

But that was from the like horror. Like what? I don't even know a good word for. But the obsessive horror fans.

Seth:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kyle:

And. But now I get it. I. Now I get it because it's like when. When other things grow stale. It's the one genre where I can go to like.

I know I'm gonna get something good here.

Mariann:

Yeah, yeah.

Kyle:

Like the substance.

Mariann:

Oh, my God.

Seth:

I've heard good things. I need to see.

Mariann:

Can we please do that one too?

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

That is like. I've been thinking about that movie.

Kyle:

Remind me to fast for a day before. But. Yeah.

Mariann:

So good.

Kyle:

Yeah. Anyway, that was a long tangent. Sorry. Four to zero. What's in front of us. We are on our way to a. A beautiful sacrifice here.

Seth:

Yeah, it's gonna be a queen sweep. Let's be real.

Kyle:

Yeah, that's what it feels like, especially this category. Cinematography, production design, sound, costumes, editing.

Seth:

Yeah, it's all flawless. And Studs, yeah, just. He has a perfect balance of symmetry and asymmetry in the cinematography in this one.

Especially, like when things need to be Wes Anderson level, symmetrical, they are. When things need to feel a little bit off, they are. Every shot feels so planned out. Every transition is. And we've been big on how.

How good or bad transitions are recently.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

Every single one of them. Flawless.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

Like, oh, my God. There were a few moments when I watched. It was like, oh, my God. That was just seamless, endless. So good. So, yeah. It's 100aMay Queen.

This is such a goddamn good movie.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Yeah. Oh, my God. I. As you were talking, it actually reminded me of some of the cinematography in Hereditary.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Just there's one scene where, like, there's the house and it's night and then it clicks and it's day. It's the exact same shot. And I'm like, that is so genius. Also one of my. But this is how my brain works. I'm sorry.

Seth:

No.

Mariann:

Not even talking about the question. This is a total May Queen. The first scene when they're driving into Hulsingland.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Where it's upside down.

Seth:

Yep.

Mariann:

That's like the first time I'd ever really seen that. It's almost Kubrick like.

Kyle:

Yes.

Seth:

The only other shot that I've seen in a movie that I can think of is from Limitless. When he first takes the drug and he's getting off the drug. He's hitting the kind of withdrawal levels and he runs over the camera.

The camera flips upside down and then he throws up upside down. That's the only other time I can think of a shot like that that was done successfully because it is so easy to make that shot look shitty.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Seth:

And they. Flawless. So good.

Mariann:

They can over drone it or something.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Seth:

And then he also is really good at the long oners. Like the whole again that we talked about earlier. That whole reflection shot. That's like a two minute shot.

Mariann:

I know.

Seth:

And the camera doesn't move at all. And it's so interesting to watch.

Mariann:

Watch. And they separate her from everybody.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

I love that because she's in the mirror reflected.

Seth:

Y.

Mariann:

So beautiful.

Seth:

The sound design is incredible. Every moment that needs to sound visceral. Does. And the dead silence at other times just. It's so good.

Mariann:

The music is so good in this.

Kyle:

Yep.

Mariann:

I love. I love prophecy. That's my favorite song.

Seth:

I couldn't tell you the names of them, but I. I believe you.

Mariann:

It's about 15 seconds long. Nice.

Kyle:

That's so cool.

Mariann:

Yeah. May Queen. Absolutely. All the way. I could talk. Oh my God. The costume.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

That's another part that really puts you in that world.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

That is low budget. A low budget way of doing it is that he created this world where all of these people are in this big pageant.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Of life. And I love that they said it during just this. You don't get to see them in their regular clothes. I mean, Ingmar and Pele a little bit.

Seth:

At the very beginning.

Mariann:

At the very beginning, you get to see. Oh, they do wear regular clothes too. But yeah.

Seth:

You definitely need. Next time you go to la, you need to go to the Academy museum and you need to see it because that. The dress in person.

Mariann:

Wow.

Seth:

Is just astonishing. It. It looks. When she's struggling to walk at the very end, I'm like, no, I can. It looks. It Looks that heavy. It looks like it weighs a hundred pounds.

Mariann:

It probably does, yeah. It's like a weight vest.

Seth:

It's so beautiful.

Kyle:

This episode of Mariana Goes to La La Land.

Mariann:

Yeah. Oh, I wish I've never been.

Seth:

I'm going in August.

Mariann:

Oh, nice.

Kyle:

Hope you come back in one piece, bro.

Seth:

Oh, I'm just kidding. I'll dance out to 30 seconds to Mars and then I'll be back. It'll be a good time.

Kyle:

Yeah. I go May Queen here and I, I think a big thing is the imagery. The cinematography here is stunning. And also I think it's interesting.

This is one of those cases where even the. They're the subtext of what this movie is about.

Besides the relationship stuff about what I said earlier, the Americanism and expansionism of American thought.

Like, the thing I was thinking about this is like, okay, so as from an American point of view, putting myself in the college students shoes, this looks like a place we would retreat to. Like, this is like we would pay a lot of money to go on an ayahuasca retreat here.

Mariann:

Totally.

Kyle:

And the massage spa over here and. And the, the mineral pool over here.

Seth:

And the ash piss tree over here.

Kyle:

Yes. But this is their way of life. Yeah, yeah. And. And the imagery though is.

It's so like, as an American, I think, oh, it would be so nice to vacation there. You know, it's like, oh, I could go and find peace there. But this is their way of life.

And it's weird how like, you see the imagery, but it just kind of feels like. You can't help but feel like these, these Americans are continually contaminating everything that they touch.

Seth:

It kind of feels similar. Did you ever see the Green Inferno?

Mariann:

Yes.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

Love that movie. And it feels very similar of like the Americans forcing their own views on another part of. Of society that they don't understand.

Kyle:

Right.

Mariann:

Man, that movie haunts me.

Kyle:

Yeah, good. Yeah.

Seth:

That movie single handedly, in my opinion, is the greatest practical effects horror movie I've ever seen.

Kyle:

Right.

Mariann:

Is that Eli Raw?

Seth:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kyle:

It still didn't.

Seth:

And Daryl Sabera from Spy Kids.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Oh my God.

Seth:

Yeah, yeah.

Mariann:

Forgot about that.

Kyle:

It somehow didn't still. It still didn't hit the highs of its. Of the movie that paid homage to which. Which is Cannibal Holocaust.

Mariann:

Yeah, yeah, it's.

Kyle:

And which I don't think Roth wanted to, but that. He said that was his dedication to that.

Seth:

I mean. Yeah, he. Yeah, that one. I remember when it came out, it was heavily protested because of how gruesome it was.

And it definitely ended up flying under the radar. But it is such a good movie.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Yeah. But anyway, the imagery here is. Is. Is just stunning. I just. I just can't believe how, like you said, symmetrical earlier.

A lot of the shots are insanely, like the framing, but then there's one.

Seth:

Little thing that's off balance that's supposed to give you that little creeping feeling that something's.

Kyle:

Which thing? Just.

Seth:

Just in. In all of those shows, they'll start very symmetrical. Then one person will be just off kilter.

Kyle:

Some of it's a little off the center. Some of it's the angular buildings, too. The buildings are a little unsettling.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Like, sometimes from the front, like, oh, that looks like a cool little lodge. And then from the side, it's like, why is it angled like that to the ground?

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

What's happening in there?

Seth:

But it's always. Yeah, it's like in those big wide shots where the building is symmetrical, you'll have, like, the door, like the. The dormitory where they all stand.

The door is off the center. It's just a little off the center. It's like, oh, something is going to happen.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Yeah. So weird. I love that.

Kyle:

And that baby crying in the background.

Mariann:

Yeah, yeah. Oh, and then there's that one shot where she's on the May Queen. They have her lifted up and her sister, her face is in the trees.

Yeah, I saw that online. I did not see that in the movie.

Seth:

Interesting.

Kyle:

Oh, I missed that.

Mariann:

Yeah, I didn't see it in the movie. Somebody else pointed it out, but they were. It was her sister with the thing in her mouth at the beginning. The two.

Kyle:

I need you to help me find that because I'm gonna put that on Instagram.

Mariann:

Yeah, yeah, I'll. I'll show it to you.

Kyle:

Cool. Please do.

Mariann:

I was looking up what is Midsommar about?

Kyle:

Yeah, I know. I thought I knew. And then I left with, like, six interpretations. Yeah, I was like, God, this is about pagans. This is about Viking Cruises.

Brought to you by. All right. Five to zero. All right, bro. Categories, here we go. This one's called Relationship Goals.

The reason I picked this category, and it goes back to my question earlier, again, I'm not afraid to get a clean sweep on this. On this movie, but.

Seth:

Queen Sweep.

Kyle:

Queen Sweep. Yes. Queen Sweep. But the only kind of, if you want to call it a flaw, is the level of toxicity of this relationship versus how ariaster.

Because our one rando I didn't get to is that he. This is Based on a very toxic breakup that he had. That's what. That's what fueled his writing of this.

Seth:

Okay.

Kyle:

And if you talk to normal people, they're just like, that's what this movie's about. But given that's the fact the. This is really a yes or a no to. Does the toxicity of this relationship really equate to the outcome at the end?

And does. Is he really such a bad boyfriend? And does it really make sense, his demise, like that balance? Do you think that's a good balance struck here?

Seth:

That is a very interesting question because like I said earlier, I could definitely. I feel for both sides of things. I think the way that she has interpreted it by the end is what determines it. Because she's still on drugs.

She's still freaking out from everything that's been going on. She doesn't have the context of. He was basically raped when he was forced to have sex with the girl.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

Because all she saw was him fucking her.

Kyle:

That's true.

Seth:

She didn't see anything before. So at that moment, that's what broke her. And her. Any. Any love or respect she had for him was gone at that moment. I think from.

If you only look at it from her perspective, yes, that all justified how it ended up. But obviously, as the outsider looking in, we get to see, well, they're both kind of shitty to each other.

Neither of them are standing up for themselves in the way that they should. So, I mean, yeah, I feel like at that point it's justified in her mind, but also kind of justified by the fact that they just.

He didn't have the balls to do what he had to do earlier. So, yeah, if. If you're not gonna have the balls to break up with someone when you should have six months ago.

Kyle:

True.

Seth:

Yeah. You deserve to get shoved into a bare body.

Kyle:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Good point.

Mariann:

What did you go, wait, are we not doing May Queen?

Seth:

Oh, yeah. So. So what would make Queen make would be like.

Kyle:

Yes, it nailed. Like the movie nailed it. Like.

Seth:

Yeah, yeah, it's a squeak over Make Queen for me.

Kyle:

Yeah. Okay.

Mariann:

I wanted to make sure I knew.

Seth:

Yeah, yeah.

Kyle:

Are you familiar with the squeak over system? A squeak can be anywhere from a 50 on a field scale to a 79. I'm just kidding.

Seth:

I don't know. It's. It's a 5. It's a 5.1.

Kyle:

I literally just make up numbers.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

I was like. I was like, oh, God. This is where me being stupid.

Kyle:

56, 57 on a squeak scale.

Seth:

Squeak over is a 5.1. Anything above that is a scotch.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

Squeak under is a four point.

Kyle:

Yeah. And then we get some to my. Which we haven't gotten to my scale, but I like the shit ton and the ton scale.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

A. A ton is a. Bigger than a ton.

Seth:

A ton is nine and up. A ton is probably eight to nine.

Kyle:

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. You knew that. I didn't even. I don't know.

Seth:

It just makes sense.

Kyle:

We've been doing this long enough now. He just knows.

Mariann:

Yeah, I get it. Okay. All right. I think May Queen.

Seth:

Squeak Scotch ton.

Mariann:

This would be a ton of a scotch. I think it's a fucking ton of a stone. I'm gonna clip that.

Kyle:

It's amazing.

Mariann:

Yeah, that's. Man. No, we were talking about it earlier. I agree. I don't. I wait. When I first watched it, and especially if I was 25, I'd be like, yeah, that guy.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

What a dick, that guy. Especially that part where he, like, forgot her birthday and then he's trying to light the candle.

Seth:

That was so good.

Mariann:

But do you remember in. He's in front of. They're in front of 5G. Generations of women. Yeah. Rocking and singing to a baby.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

And he's just sitting there trying to light a candle.

Seth:

So good.

Mariann:

And I just.

Kyle:

Really. Well done.

Seth:

I want to know if. If the mishap was planned or if that happened. And then he was like, no, keep doing that.

Kyle:

That's a great small detail.

Mariann:

Yeah, it is. And I could see it going. Because it was perfect.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

It was like, look at this guy. Can't do anything.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

But. Yeah, no, I think it's both. It's both of their faults, really. I mean, they're kids. They're bad at relationships. I mean, I don't.

I wouldn't have been very good at a relationship. I was not good at relationships. We could interview my ex boyfriend from that time and he would have some things to say. But it's both of them.

They're both. They're both the problem.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

May Queen in that. Like, it's a good description of a bad relationship, but they're so young. I feel like I just don't want to hold them accountable.

Definitely not punishable by death.

Kyle:

Really. Yeah.

Mariann:

Badness. Like.

Seth:

So you a bear suit?

Mariann:

I guess I'm a bear suit. Oh, my God.

Seth:

Squeak under on a bear suit.

Kyle:

I put you in a position to criticize your favorite movie.

Mariann:

But it's really. I. You know, I didn't realize how old they were the first time I watched it.

Yeah, it didn't matter to me how old they were the first time I watched it. And now.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

The age I am now, I'm. I'm like, it's so.

Seth:

Yeah. Because 23 year olds are still fucking stupid.

Mariann:

The most important aspect of the whole.

Kyle:

Movie is that, of course, well, they're still in school. There's a. I mean, I, Yeah, it's great to keep going to get education, but like, you're still in Arrested Development at that point.

Mariann:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're not a real human until you actually have to pay all your bills.

Kyle:

Yeah, yeah. So you actually went bear suit.

Mariann:

Bear suit.

Kyle:

I actually go bear suit here too.

Seth:

And ruin the queen.

Kyle:

And I'm so glad I picked this category. I actually struggled to pick categories and then they hit me and I was like, oh, that's going to be a good one. Yeah, here's, here's my thing.

This was a movie like a lot of movies we cover, where it drove me to go do research because I was like, I think I know what I think this movie meant and how it ended. But ultimately I just, I'm really curious what Aster. What he was thinking. And this is about toxic relationships and female liberation. Yeah.

That is really the most consistent messaging I'm seeing from him.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

And that's cool. I don't have a problem with that message. Fantastic. But. But they both, they both individually need liberation from their own.

Seth:

Yeah. Yeah.

Kyle:

And I, I just think, okay, that's great. But she's. She, she gets off the hook. But he doesn't. Like, they both. Neither. So it's like, okay, we kill him.

Seth:

Stupid and unlucky.

Kyle:

Yeah. Stupid and lucky.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

And so that it's the one thing. And almost nearly, like, I'm telling you, I think like, this is a nearly perfect film in a lot of ways. And I don't say that often.

I was, I was stunned by a lot of this in the movie, but this is the one thing I was just like, it's. He's not that bad. He's bad, but he's just. I knew people so much worse in real life and it's just like they're both.

Just like they shouldn't be together and they both need to work on their own, but he is the one that dies.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

And it's just like, why does she not have her own version of a reckoning here? She gets celebrated. If this is really female liberation, it's like she gets to skate by on her bullshit.

Seth:

At the same time, you still feel so uncomfortable when she's smiling feeling at the end.

Kyle:

Oh, yes.

Seth:

Like that's the whole point.

Kyle:

Yes.

Seth:

Is not all liberation, female, male, whoever. Not all liberation is good. Really. It's just good to that person.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

So. Yeah.

Kyle:

And no matter what, race, whatever gender, nationality, one person's liberation is someone else's. Something.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Right. It's nothing. It's just the law of physics. Not one thing doesn't happen without affecting something else.

Seth:

Exactly.

Kyle:

And maybe that's part of the subtext is like whether or not it's warranted, somebody's got to be sacrificed.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

But also life's not fair. Like, it's just what would have happened if he had not died there? And then what, he goes back to America and then.

Seth:

No, they probably would have been stuck there forever.

Mariann:

Right. Yeah, I, I just. So then would she have been stuck with him forever? I mean, like. Yeah, then I would have killed him if that was the choice.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

In his defense, I will say, as the movie went on, he actually got better at making sure she was fine. Like he, you could tell, he. And this is, this is again why it's a squeak over for me. He genuinely cared about her.

Like, that's why he didn't break up with her was because he actually gave a. But it's like, yeah, in some ways you gave so much of a. That you didn't let her get better. And he coddled what she was going.

Kyle:

And he stayed with her, although it was wrong, like you said earlier. Just tell the truth. But he stayed with her because in his mind that was. Was going to hurt her the least.

Mariann:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I also just can't get over the fact that I'm like, she's just beautiful.

And I feel like a lot of the times in relationships, like these horrible relationships, this guy just wants to be with this beautiful woman. I mean, even if she's insane.

Seth:

In some ways, I would say that's kind of Ari Astro's fault for picking one of the most beautiful women in the world to play to play her.

Like, sure, you could have gotten a more plain looking person to play her, but it's like in the context of what I know she can look like and what she looks like in the movie, she is, especially at that point, just kind of a sloppy mess for a little bit there.

Mariann:

Oh. I still see her as absolutely gorgeous.

Seth:

I mean, she's beautiful, don't get me wrong. But she, in context, she's wearing loose fitting clothes because she doesn't feel comfortable in herself.

Kyle:

That's true. She's not Dressing sexy, showering.

Seth:

As much like her hair is kind of greasy.

Mariann:

Yeah, yeah.

Seth:

It's like. And you know, it's one of those things where it's like you can't make Margot Robbie look ugly no matter how.

Kyle:

Hard she's movie star ugly.

Seth:

Exactly.

Mariann:

I know.

Seth:

So it's like, yeah, she's still gorgeous, but it's like in context, she still is kind of a sloppy mess.

Mariann:

Yeah. But I feel like that's like a very realistic thing.

Seth:

Absolutely.

Mariann:

In the relationship.

Seth:

Oh, 100.

Mariann:

He doesn't want to break up with her because he's like, but I got this gorgeous woman.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

And it's just like. But I don't want to break up with her because she's gorgeous. She's insane.

Kyle:

But like. Yeah.

Mariann:

God.

Kyle:

Well, and two more things. One thing you said that I actually forgot. And you. And that's another thing.

Like, you do forget at a certain point that hallucinogens are just built in here. At first you're like, oh, my God, they're all tripping. But they're tripping a lot of the time. So you're not going to make things.

Seth:

From the May pole on. They're all still on drugs.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

And you're not going to make an equitable decision there. And. And that's. Things aren't going to make sense. Right. So that's a good point. And then B, he is. His mo.

His priority at the beginning of the movie is his are his studies and his career and his paper and his. His thesis.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

And that is his focus. And you kind of forget that as the movie goes on. But like, to him, a relationship is always going to be a secondary thing.

And I think a lot of people get into that. You. I know these people personally that are either going through a divorce or. Or have bad relationships because they still.

The thing they do is more important than the relationship.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

And that's a very real thing. And so to him, you know, he. His relationship always was secondary anyway. And so that. That actually just hit me in the head that, like, his.

His thesis was the most important thing to him.

Seth:

So you change in. You think he's shitty enough?

Kyle:

Oh, God, I don't know.

Mariann:

You know, I forgot about that dynamic of him being shitty to his. His.

Seth:

His friend.

Kyle:

Oh, that's right.

Mariann:

Taking the thesis in the middle of the movie.

Seth:

Are you swapping?

Kyle:

I forgot about that.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

You know what? Yes, he is a shitbag.

Mariann:

Yeah. You know what? Fuck him.

Kyle:

I forgot about that. Like, now I. Now I look really bad because I was Kind of overlooking his stuff with his relationship. But he did.

He rounded out his shit bag case with how he treated his own friend.

Seth:

Yeah, you know what?

Kyle:

He's a shithole.

Mariann:

But, like, in the middle of the trip, the Josh was like, I'm doing my thesis before they left.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

And then in the middle of it, he's like, I mean, I'm gonna do my thesis here, too.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

What an asshole. I'm glad he burned.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Fuck you.

Mariann:

Christian again. Midsommar, too.

Kyle:

I love it.

Seth:

That is the best quote from A Bug's Life ever. Burn him again. It's my favorite fucking movie quote ever.

Mariann:

I want to be a voice in A Bug's Life.

Kyle:

And one of my favorite things is when that happens on this podcast when people flip. It doesn't happen a lot, but sometimes it flips. We both were on a journey there. It's like. We were like, oh, God, wait a second.

And then you gave me the looks like, are you flipping? I'm like, I didn't think that was an option.

Seth:

But now that you're saying it, it's always allowed.

Mariann:

Queen Sweet.

Kyle:

Yeah. Queen Sweet. Queen Sweep.

Seth:

Well, that depends on what the last one is.

Mariann:

That's a good point. We don't even know.

Kyle:

It's. It's an interesting one. This one's called Cult Following.

Seth:

Oh, okay.

Kyle:

So we got a cult here. I mean, I know it's a commune. It's a cult.

Seth:

Yeah. And so it's a Norwegian death cult.

Kyle:

Yes. And I looked at.

Seth:

Sorry, Swedish.

Kyle:

Some of the most. I did some research on the most celebrated and beloved cult in movie history, and I want to. I want to see.

Seth:

Just think about how it stacks up.

Kyle:

Yeah. The family. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which is obviously a real thing.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Wow.

Kyle:

The Firefly Family. Family from House of a Thousand Corpses was on that. And the Devil Rejects. That's on there.

The Order of the Solar Temple from the Void is a beloved one. Oh, yeah. The Brethren. Sound of my Voice. The Wicker Man. The Island Cult.

Seth:

I haven't seen it.

Kyle:

You still. You haven't seen the new one either. I haven't seen any of the Zam.

Mariann:

You don't like cult movies?

Seth:

It's not. I mean, I grew up with people who ended up being in cults, so it does hit home for me a little too hard sometimes.

Kyle:

But you'll know this one. The Red Cloaks. Eyes Wide Shut.

Seth:

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Kyle:

This one hit me hard. The Satanist and Rosemary's Baby. Oh, my God. Armitage Family. And get out.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Nice.

Kyle:

The Phelps family and Martha Macy. And this is again, a list I found. And then in the Master, the Church of Scientology. Oh, nice.

Seth:

I think we should also add into it, I don't know the name of the cult, but like the, the Chinese cult in VHS2.

Kyle:

Oh, I haven't seen that one.

Mariann:

Oh my God. Oh my God. Can we do an entire VHS series?

Kyle:

He actually, that was one of the first ones he suggested.

Mariann:

Yeah, I'm obsessed with those. Those are my favorite movies.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Really? I wasn't ready at the time, but I think, I think heading towards October, maybe.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

Oh.

Mariann:

Oh, my God.

Kyle:

Favorite movies. So that there's a lot of good cults and movies. When I say good, I mean, you know, interesting.

Mariann:

I mean, you know, you like the idea of being in a cult.

Kyle:

I do.

Seth:

So what exactly is the question? So I know what I'm saying.

Kyle:

How do we feel? Does this stack up against just, just film in general, where. In movies where cults are depicted, we should add the children of.

The children of the corn.

Seth:

On the corn. Yep, yep. Absolutely. This.

Kyle:

Who the rose. You. Stephen King.

Seth:

Yeah. This is an absolute May Queen for me. This, I. This stands out more to me than even the cult from hereditary.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

Like, to me, this one is, is the one I remember. I, I don't really remember any of the details of the cult and hereditary other than there was a cult. This one, it.

Yeah, it very much stands out to me. Definitely. I. I think it will be looked back upon as top five movie cults.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

So it's a definite May Queen for me.

Mariann:

Yes. Man. I just think I like, love cults. Yeah, I think, I think I honestly, like, I don't talk to my mom, but like, I'm pretty sure that she was.

My entire life was like, she's gonna join a cult. I feel like I was perfect fodder for a cult for so long. Yeah. May Queen all the way. Every one of those you mentioned. By the way.

I just realized I love, love watching movies about cult.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Specifically, I've seeked all of these moves. I sought out all of these. Yeah, I think them out.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

But I also was smoking a lot of weed and doing mushrooms during a lot of the movies, so I need to watch them.

Kyle:

Yeah, Yeah. I like documentaries about colts. Like, I cannot watch enough David Koresh documentaries.

Mariann:

See, I don't know if I like the documentaries about them as much as the movies because I like the made up ones.

Seth:

Yeah.

Mariann:

I want to be in the made.

Kyle:

Up ones because those aren't real people getting Led to slaughter.

Mariann:

They're real ones. I'm like, I mean, this isn't cool.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

I'm gonna have sex with that guy.

Kyle:

That's so funny.

Mariann:

In the movies, you're like, yeah, him.

Seth:

For real, though.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Yeah. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood's one of my favorite movies.

Seth:

It's so good.

Kyle:

It's the best in a movie, too.

Mariann:

When I watch. I watched it three nights in a row, which is my. That is how I know I love a movie, is when I watch it three nights in a row.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

Because I can't help myself. I'm like, what else would I watch?

Seth:

That is now my goal in filmmaking, to make a movie that Mariana will watch three nights in a row.

Kyle:

There we go. You'll be the screener.

Mariann:

There we go. I love this.

Kyle:

So May Queen.

Mariann:

Yes.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

Queen sweet.

Kyle:

Queen sweet. I go, may Queen. Yes. And that's because I. You know, it's interesting. You don't realize until you get older that there are cults all around.

There's all kinds, and they exist in places you don't think. Like, you hear about all these. These Silicon Valley billionaires that are in cults.

Mariann:

Yeah.

Kyle:

That's a thing. They're everywhere, and they. They're very interesting. And the reason I, I. This is actually like a. This is a heavy. A heavy May Queen.

Because this cult, the way that it's depicted, toyed with me. I'm like, well, maybe. Maybe they mean well.

Mariann:

Maybe nice.

Kyle:

They seem nice. They seem like good people, and it.

Seth:

Really is just ancient culture that has survived.

Kyle:

Exactly. That's. I'm trying to, like, I'm trying to bail them out.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

And then by the end, I'm like, nah, man.

Seth:

This place.

Kyle:

This place. So just the very fact, the way that. That it's designed and orchestrated toyed with me. I'm like, this is. This is good stuff. So it's a heavy May Queen.

Mariann:

I was like. By the end of the movie, I was like, I want to move there.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

This place looks great. Fit in.

Kyle:

Awesome.

Seth:

I mean, you're blonde. You would survive.

Mariann:

Yes.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Yeah. You probably would win the dance off. I mean, you're a fitness person, especially on shrooms.

Mariann:

I have won so many dance competitions.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mariann:

I won a Macarena competition. How do you even do that? I did it.

Kyle:

Future May Queen.

Seth:

I knew a girl in high school. No, this is middle school for me. She was in high school. I was in middle school.

She was at my church, and she won a hula hoop contest because she knew how to walk while hula hooping, and I think she went for, like, four hours, but would just keep walking over to the snack table and grabbing food while still hula hooping. Oh, that's cool.

Mariann:

Oh, I like her. Yeah, that's fun.

Kyle:

Queen Sweet Queen 7 to 0.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Well, thank you for chilling with us. Hopefully you're not in a state where you need to join a cult. Yeah, but.

Seth:

Or leave one.

Kyle:

What a great movie. We're so glad to have you back again.

Mariann:

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Kyle:

Do you have any shows coming up next week?

Mariann:

Stone Cold.

Seth:

Oh, you know what this will be by then.

Kyle:

Yeah, July.

Seth:

July.

Mariann:

Yeah. I can't remember where I'll be in Kentucky a lot in July.

Kyle:

Kentucky.

Mariann:

From Kentucky.

Seth:

Check her Instagram. We'll have everything up.

Mariann:

Yeah, that's a good point.

Kyle:

Yes. Mariana Barksdale. She keeps switching her name on me. Anyway, love y' all. Kyle.

Seth:

I'm Seth.

Mariann:

I'm Mariana.

Kyle:

Movie Wars.

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Movie Wars
A panel of standup comedians deliver deeply researched and thoughtful film analysis.
A panel of stand-up comedians blends humor with deep film analysis, using their unique ‘War Card’ system to grade movies across key categories. Each episode delivers thoughtful insights and spirited debate, offering a fresh, comedic take on film critique. New episode every Tuesday!
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Kyle Castro