Saving Private Ryan with Nick Bush

We’re joined by Nashville comedian and college professor Nick Bush for one of our most emotional episodes yet — Saving Private Ryan.

This one hits different. We talk about how Spielberg’s unflinching realism changed war cinema forever, from the shaky, documentary-style camera work to the raw character moments that sneak up and wreck you. We dig into the movie’s impact on veterans, including the real-life PTSD hotlines that had to be set up after it premiered. Nick brings a unique blend of humor and literary insight, and we explore everything from the technical mastery of the D-Day landing to why Tom Hanks’ quiet leadership still holds up.

We ask hard questions: Were all German soldiers truly fighting for the Nazi cause? Why does WWII continue to dominate war storytelling? And what does a movie like this reveal about us as people, decades later?

There’s some fun too — Vin Diesel tears, imagining the war as a “heist film,” and of course, our totally respectful attempt at balancing jokes with reverence for one of the most devastating events in human history. Oh, and yes, we officially declare that this film ruined war movies forever — because nothing comes close.

🎙️ Show Notes & Timestamps:

0:00 – Intro: Kyle, Seth, and Nick Bush get silly before diving into heavy territory

2:00 – Why it’s hard to be funny about Saving Private Ryan

4:00 – Kyle admits he usually doesn’t like war movies… but this one got him

6:30 – How Spielberg used shutter speed and film grain to mimic actual combat footage

8:30 – PTSD hotlines flooded after the film’s release — and why the realism hit so hard

11:00 – The writing is just as powerful as the action — even the “quiet” scenes hit

12:45 – “It’s basically a heist movie” — Nick breaks down the structure

14:20 – The film’s legacy: did Saving Private Ryan ruin all war movies after it?

17:00 – Why WWII is the most compelling setting for storytelling

20:00 – The evolution of war movies post-9/11 and the rise of nihilism in cinema

23:00 – “I cried at least three times” — the scenes that broke us

25:10 – Vin Diesel’s surprisingly emotional death scene

27:30 – Are we desensitized to violence, or just disconnected from real consequences?

29:30 – Upham’s cowardice, morality, and the complexity of humanity in war

33:00 – Were all German soldiers “Nazis,” or just young men conscripted into hell?

36:00 – Spielberg and Hanks fund Band of Brothers off the back of this film

38:00 – Final thoughts: war as sport, sacrifice, and why this film still devastates

Takeaways:

Spielberg and Hanks took pay cuts to protect the budget — and it shows.
The film’s hyper-realism caused real PTSD flashbacks in theaters, leading to national veteran hotline spikes.
Its gritty style and technical precision redefined how war should look and feel on-screen.
Dialogue scenes hit just as hard as the battles — especially Captain Miller’s quiet wisdom.
We reflect on what war actually feels like, how art portrays it, and why this film pulls us back from cynicism.

Transcript

Seth: 00:00:00

Foreign.

Kyle: 00:00:12

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

Seth: 00:00:17

I'm Seth.

Kyle: 00:00:17

And we've got an amazing guest host with us here today. Nick Bush, ladies and gentlemen. How are you, buddy?

Nick: 00:00:23

I'm good, man, I'm good. Good to see the beautiful people.

Kyle: 00:00:26

Yeah, dude.

Nick: 00:00:27

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:00:27

It's kind of weird staring at a camera because you used to stand up, so, like, you're like. Now you're like.

Nick: 00:00:31

I'm imagining them. They're all beautiful.

Kyle: 00:00:34

All of them, except for you. Yeah, right there. No, not you. Third. Third back. Yeah.

Nick: 00:00:38

You know who we're pointing at?

Seth: 00:00:39

Yeah, the one who called him fat.

Kyle: 00:00:41

Yeah.

Seth: 00:00:42

On the. The Superman video.

Kyle: 00:00:44

Yeah. Definitely married up.

Seth: 00:00:46

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:00:46

Anyway, who are you, man? Tell us what you do. Tell us about yourself. Tell the. Tell the people.

Nick: 00:00:50

Well, I'm Nick Bush, local comic here in Nashville, and I co host a monthly showcase called Smokes and Jokes in Murfreesboro.

Kyle: 00:01:00

It's a good show.

Seth: 00:01:01

It is. Fantastic show.

Nick: 00:01:02

Yeah. Yeah, y' all both have done it. A lot of fun. Always a good crowd. And by day, I am a college professor.

Kyle: 00:01:11

Woo.

Seth: 00:01:12

Hell yeah. What do you teach?

Kyle: 00:01:13

Feel really dumb today.

Seth: 00:01:14

English. All right, so we're gonna get a solid literary perspective on. On a couple of films over the next two episodes. Thanks for being here, dude.

We're really happy to have you.

Kyle: 00:01:22

Oh, yeah, yeah. Nick's been doing it for a long time. He hilarious. He's also just a good dude. One of the best dudes in the scene.

Seth: 00:01:27

Just absolutely.

Kyle: 00:01:28

So glad you're here, man.

Nick: 00:01:30

Right.

Kyle: 00:01:31

I get cheesy with. With the guests that I like, which is all of them, so.

Seth: 00:01:34

Except that one.

Kyle: 00:01:35

Except. Except that one. Yeah. You fourth. You married up. Yeah. Yeah. We're doing Saving Private Ryan today, continuing.

Seth: 00:01:44

With the July America theme.

Kyle: 00:01:46

Yep.

Seth: 00:01:46

We.

Kyle: 00:01:46

Seth, again, is keeping me. Is keeping me completely in check with the themes again. Not letting me do Rocky or let me do Salai and Arnold movies every day.

Seth: 00:01:54

We'll get there when they. When they're appropriate.

Kyle: 00:01:56

Next. Oh, next year's Arnold year.

Seth: 00:01:58

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:01:59

No, but it's gonna be funny because we're all comedians and we're doing Shaving Private Ryan.

Seth: 00:02:05

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:02:06

And even the Patriot was a little easy to kind of be comedic about. But this one, we'll see how it goes because I don't want to make fun of veterans or.

Or one of the most important global events that's ever occurred in history, so. But, you know.

Seth: 00:02:20

Or Tom Hanks.

Kyle: 00:02:21

Or Tom Hanks.

Seth: 00:02:22

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:02:23

Tom Hanks. No, no. But yeah, I. The Thoughts I wrote down about this movie.

First of all, I was really curious how it was gonna go because I do not typically dig war movies. Not because I don't think they're good.

Seth: 00:02:37

Spoiler alert. The Germans lose.

Kyle: 00:02:39

Yeah. Spoiler. So if you haven't seen it or read anything, if you've never read something. Yeah. Just maybe tune out, come back next week.

But yeah, the Germans, they lose pretty. Pretty interestingly.

Seth: 00:02:51

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:02:52

And I, the reason I don't like it's funny. I can watch a horror movie, right? Like, I can watch gore, blood, violence. But this one is the movie that really.

Because I actually do have a top 10 war movie in my top 10, which is Apocalypse now. But it's a very acid drenched.

Seth: 00:03:08

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:03:08

Not. Yeah. It's not a traditional war film.

Seth: 00:03:11

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:03:11

This is so realistic.

Seth: 00:03:14

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:03:14

And it was designed that way and we'll get into the research later. But there was, it was intentionally designed to be so realistic. It was giving. Vets were actually.

They opened up hotlines when it came out because vets were having ptsd, they were having flashbacks in the theaters. So. And. And apparently the hot lines were flooded.

Seth: 00:03:31

Oh yeah.

Kyle: 00:03:31

When this movie came out because it was so realistic. But that's what they wanted.

Seth: 00:03:34

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:03:34

Steven Spielberg, there was someone in his family that he wanted to honor with this movie. I think he had a grandpa that would tell him stories of World War II. So that inspired a lot of it.

So in the pa, the patriots that he talked to that he was. He consulted about doing this movie, they just said, do it for real. Yeah, they said do it real. Don't romance war. Don't.

Don't over glam, you know, don't do glamor on the war. Just be for real. And I think he achieved that.

Seth: 00:03:57

I think so too. Fun fact.

My dad's dad was supposed to be at Normandy on D Day, but two weeks prior he was on a reconnaissance mission, probably right around the area, and one of his fellow soldiers stepped on a landmine. And so, yeah, my grandfather got hit with shrapnel and. And was sent home. Got a purple Heart and everything.

And because of that, probably I'm here today.

Kyle: 00:04:22

Wow.

Seth: 00:04:23

Like, yeah, things could have gone very different, but yeah, he was fully. He'd already gotten his orders, he was ready to go and then just. No, not anymore.

Kyle: 00:04:31

Yeah, very. Yeah. That's so intense. This is so intense.

And I struggle I watching this movie because it's like I said, you know, I can go and watch Friday the 13th. I go and watch Halloween and, and not even Blink. And then I watch this and I'm literally crying.

Seth: 00:04:46

Yep.

Kyle: 00:04:47

I. I'm not. I'm just going to be open about this.

I didn't cry the first time I saw this, but maybe because I have kids now, maybe because I'm just smarter, older, I kept crying, man. Yeah, I just. What about you guys?

Nick: 00:04:57

Well, going on that opening scene, it's. It's where we get the, you know, old Matt Damon and then.

And then just Normandy, you know, and that first 20 minutes, it's almost like it's shot like a documentary.

Seth: 00:05:12

Yeah.

Nick: 00:05:12

You know, like the end versus the scenes. The war scenes towards the end that are more.

Kyle: 00:05:17

Yeah.

Nick: 00:05:17

Like a. Like, like cinematic.

Seth: 00:05:19

But that's actually a technical thing I wanted to bring up because when I first watched this movie on VHS tape, it's a little clearer than when you watch it on digital. But for most of that opening Normandy scene. And we're going to get into a little bit of film tech here for a second. Everyone watching. Absolutely.

But this is what makes this movie so fascinating. So there's something called shutter speed.

And when you're shooting on film, the shutter is a little circle that spins around and there's a gap in it for a certain degree, like so. So if you're at a 45 degree shutter, that means that the image is going to be super crisp because light only hits the piece of film very quickly.

And so most of that scene was shot at a very low shutter speed so that you really get the clarity and the viscerality of everything that's going on during that opening scene.

And then every now and then, for effect, especially when it's from Tom Hanks perspective, they open up that shutter speed so things look a little more. There's a more film blur in it, so things kind of seem a little more fluid.

So that's one of the reasons why it kind of feels so in your face real is because they shot it specifically to make it feel like, clearer than it normally would. Film facts.

Kyle: 00:06:36

Wow.

Seth: 00:06:37

Yeah.

Nick: 00:06:38

They succeeded.

Seth: 00:06:39

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:06:39

Yeah, yeah.

Nick: 00:06:42

Steven Spielberg. Turns out he's good.

Kyle: 00:06:44

Yeah.

Nick: 00:06:45

You know.

Kyle: 00:06:45

Yeah.

Seth: 00:06:45

He kind of knows what he's doing.

Nick: 00:06:47

Sorry.

Kyle: 00:06:47

Yeah. And I. And I have given Spielberg shit because here's what I'll say. And you and I were texting about this.

Seth: 00:06:52

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:06:52

I think he's, you know, he's going to go down as maybe one of the three greats.

Seth: 00:06:57

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:06:57

You know, one of the three greats. Rightfully so. I do. I have criticized him in the past for when. Sometimes when he. When he mingles with dangerous subject matter.

I always use the example of Minority Report because I'm a big Philip K. Dick fan. Again, I. I don't say he likes the dick. Yeah, I love the dick. I've read so much dick. Listen, I. I also say this.

I know I'm always like, hey, source material. Yeah. Inspire. But, you know, do your own thing, make your own vision. Right. So. And I'm totally on board with that. But he, he was.

There were so many dark corners in that story that he didn't engage with. And he does this sometimes. Like, he'll. He'll kind of get right up to the edge, but he's not going to take it over. He's.

Yeah, sometimes I think it's the family friendly thing. He likes a PG13 rating, except for here, but, you know, but Jaws in this movie, 11 out of 10. Perfection.

Seth: 00:07:45

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:07:46

And to say. To say he didn't cross the line on this one. He did, and he did it marvelously.

Seth: 00:07:51

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:07:51

I mean, he. He put us. He put you in the front seat of war, which really a war movie hadn't done before. Yes. There's been violence in war.

Seth: 00:07:57

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:07:58

You know, there's been movies that have depicted violence, but this one made you put you in the driver's seat.

Seth: 00:08:03

Yeah. I feel like the gold standard before this was the Sands of Iwo Jima, the John Wayne movie.

Kyle: 00:08:08

Yeah.

Seth: 00:08:09

war movie that everyone post: 1950

Kyle: 00:08:18

And then Platoon.

Seth: 00:08:19

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kyle: 00:08:20

You know, because Oliver Stone was a Vietnam War vet. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Nick: 00:08:24

When I think of a war movies before this that I had seen, I would say like, Platoon would be one. And then I thought there was a Vietnam movie with Michael J. Fox in it.

Seth: 00:08:39

Michael J. Fox.

Kyle: 00:08:40

Oh, I had to look that up.

Seth: 00:08:41

Yeah. I don't. Wow. Okay. I might have a new movie I.

Nick: 00:08:45

Need to watch, and I feel like Sean Penn's in it too, but I can't think of the name.

Kyle: 00:08:50

Casualties of War Casualties.

Seth: 00:08:51

Oh, okay.

Kyle: 00:08:52

Look at him. He's a stud. Look at that picture of him. He looks good in it. He looks young.

Nick: 00:08:56

Yo.

Kyle: 00:08:56

All right, all right, all right. Michael J. Michael JJ.

Nick: 00:09:02

Hey. A mid-80s smarty McFly man.

Seth: 00:09:05

Yeah, bro.

Nick: 00:09:07

He's up there with Jordan.

Kyle: 00:09:08

Yeah, yeah. That's amazing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right.

And when I liked what you said, gold standard, because it's hard for me, aside from Apocalypse now, but because that's by Copa and that's One. It is kind of hard to think about war movies before this because this one really did. It changed.

Seth: 00:09:25

Yeah, it.

Kyle: 00:09:26

It's like, because we did the Patriot. Right. And we. That episode's not out yet. That'll be out next week.

Seth: 00:09:31

Well, technically, by the time this comes out, we'll have already been out last week.

Kyle: 00:09:35

I'm really good with timing. I need a third spreadsheet.

Seth: 00:09:37

It's true. I actually have the spreadsheet.

Kyle: 00:09:40

You have that spreadsheet? I'm just swimming in sheets over here. But, dude, like. Yes. Is the Patriot good? Yeah. But like, it comparing to this.

Seth: 00:09:48

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:09:49

Oh, no. The Patriot was: 2000

Seth: 00:09:50

Oh, shit. No. So it came out after.

Kyle: 00:09:52

It looks older. It does.

Seth: 00:09:54

It really does.

Kyle: 00:09:55

It looks so much older than this.

Seth: 00:09:57

Wow.

Kyle: 00:09:57

It's not a bad thing. It was just filmed differently, but it was also written by the same guy, Robert Redutt.

Seth: 00:10:03

I remember talking about that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I will say the script was fantastic in the Patriot. Like, historical inaccuracies aside, the dialogue was fantastic.

Fantastic.

Kyle: 00:10:15

It engaged you and you cared about a bunch of different people.

Seth: 00:10:18

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:10:18

Right.

Seth: 00:10:18

But at the same time, I feel like he wrote Saving Private Ryan and was just like, it can't get any better than this. So he just was like, I'll do what I can.

Kyle: 00:10:24

Yeah. Yeah. And that is. We'll get to it in the writing category. But one thing I did text you was like, I couldn't believe.

Like, it's one thing that the war scenes are so well done.

Seth: 00:10:33

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:10:33

And so just kind of articulate. They just articulate this real violence. But the. The non war scenes are just as good.

Seth: 00:10:40

Oh, yeah.

Kyle: 00:10:41

The dialogue is really well written. You're into the conversations.

Seth: 00:10:44

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:10:45

Um, you're. It's cast. I don't know how we're going to handle supporting cast because it's like you could just literally say everybody.

Seth: 00:10:51

Yeah, pretty much.

Kyle: 00:10:52

But it's just the. The non war moments. That's what makes this movie great.

Seth: 00:10:55

Yeah. It's like anytime they started to tell one of their little, like, back, like, backstory side stories, it never felt corny. Like, it so easily can.

Kyle: 00:11:05

They were heartbreaking.

Seth: 00:11:05

They were very heartbreaking and felt like natural conversations that people were having. Not just like, oh, here's the backstory time.

Kyle: 00:11:14

Like when Tom Hanks character, when Miller gives Ryan the advice of. Because he said, I can't remember my brother's faces, that was maybe the most powerful moment.

Seth: 00:11:23

Oh, my God.

Kyle: 00:11:23

God. I almost. That's one of the moments that. Where the tears came yeah. Think of a context. And then he says that memory is just. For me. I was like, that's.

That's what pushes. Yeah. The war scenes are phenomenal, but the dialogue.

Seth: 00:11:34

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:11:35

Just incredible all the way around.

Nick: 00:11:37

Yeah.

I felt like this film, it had the action element that a war film is going to have, but then it also has another type of element because they're, you know, it's. It's essentially a heist film. I mean, they're going to try to find Matt Damon. So you get the slickness.

Seth: 00:11:54

Yeah.

Nick: 00:11:54

And I don't know if slick is the right word for the dialogue here, but you get that. That the polished element there.

Seth: 00:11:59

100.

Nick: 00:12:00

Along with the gritty action of. Of the war stuff. I mean, he's doing. He's doing two things at once.

Seth: 00:12:06

Yeah.

Nick: 00:12:07

You know, Spielberg and then obviously Hanks and everybody else.

Seth: 00:12:11

Yeah.

Nick: 00:12:11

But. Yeah.

Seth: 00:12:14

And I very much appreciate how this kind of inspired Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg to go and set about to create Band of Brothers right after this, like, because I had.

I hadn't seen all of this before, but I've gone through Band of Brothers a couple of times, and now finally going through this all the way through it just. Band of Brothers makes so much more sense and, like, how they were able to do the things they were doing.

Kyle: 00:12:38

And they were truly a team on this. I mean, they were. They. They both took minimal salaries to help fund the rest of the cast, to fund the creation.

Seth: 00:12:47

I mean, the 90s was so full of just like, patriotic America that especially people of that big name, when they. When they got an opportunity to tell a story like you're telling and Saving Private Ryan, they just.

I feel like everyone took such a somber approach to it and just very respectful. I want to make sure the people who died are honored.

Kyle: 00:13:08

Yep. Yeah. And this set off a deluge of other war films. I mean, this unlocked the floodgates. Yeah.

Nick: 00:13:15

Yeah. I felt like. I mean, every year we're going to have at least one World War II movie.

Kyle: 00:13:20

Right, right.

Nick: 00:13:21

I feel like there was a period where it was happening several times a year.

Kyle: 00:13:25

Oh, yeah. You know, Enemy at the Gates. There was. There was.

Seth: 00:13:29

That was good.

Kyle: 00:13:30

Yeah. There's just a ton.

Seth: 00:13:31

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:13:32

Yeah.

Seth: 00:13:32

ike in the. In the, like, mid: 2000

The: 2000

It's like, okay, but here's the, here's the war stuff again. And, and then it was like, cool, we'll go back to the politics of war.

Kyle: 00:13:59

Yeah.

Seth: 00:14:00

It's an interesting evolution that, that the World War II movies have taken.

Nick: 00:14:04

Is World War II the best setting? Just if you're ranking all time settings? Because I feel like even if it's not on the battlefield.

Kyle: 00:14:13

Right.

Nick: 00:14:13

Even if it's just, it's, it's just in Europe during World War II and you just know that's going on in the background and like, it just feels like that is the richest setting for the, the potential for danger. But then also, you know, you can understand why characters would maybe over emphasize very little things.

Seth: 00:14:35

Yeah. Because, you know, anyway, I, I definitely think it's. If it's not the best, I definitely think it's, it's up there.

And maybe like the Civil War is one of the only other ones that I feel like ties that. Because both wars and you know, they have such a very particular evil that they're going after you.

You have slavery in the Civil War and you have the Nazis in World War II. It's like even World War I, everything is so kind of vague as far as like, why are we fighting in World War I?

Like, it's pretty clear why America got involved in World War II and they had that, that singular bad guy. And I think that kind of helps make those two pretty. You know, maybe enjoyable is the wrong word, but like powerful as far as like war movies go.

Kyle: 00:15:24

Yeah. Vietnam was such a straw man war. Go ahead.

Nick: 00:15:27

No, I agree with that.

Kyle: 00:15:28

Right.

Nick: 00:15:29

Because I think if you just, if you're just saying, hey, the Nazis are outside.

Kyle: 00:15:34

Yeah, yeah.

Nick: 00:15:34

You know, it kind of like you don't even have to do much, you know, beyond that to make them the bad guy. Like you can just kind of mention them. Yeah. And I don't know if what the. Like, who would be second in that, you know.

Seth: 00:15:48

Yeah, yeah, I don't know.

Kyle: 00:15:49

I agree, you know, I do agree on the, on the sentiments about Civil War being the other one. Because, you know, Vietnam, it's interesting too. There's a couple of thoughts I have on that. It's a great question, Nick.

I think first, the way culture views the war is so interesting. Like the art, the artists that were active during the Vietnam War very much made art reflecting their opinion. Yeah, very much.

And reflecting the normal sentiments. I mean, you know, we now have enough history to talk about the Gulf of Tonkin.

Seth: 00:16:17

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:16:18

And how the Vietnam War we got involved based on a straw man act.

You know, it's like, and, but, you know, the filmmakers at, like Coppola making a Apocalypse now, like, they were, they were critical then, you know what I mean? Like, they were, they felt like they had license. Like, you listen to the music, like the Mamas and the Papas, the Doors, like their lyrics.

Jimi Hendrix, Machine Gun, like these, all these, like, artists. Yes. And they were so quick to be critical because it was so obvious. And I think there was a nihilism. Like, you people now refer to 911 with nihilism.

ike films like, you know, the: 2000

Seth: 00:16:58

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:16:59

You talk about nihilism and art, and you can stem it back to 9 11. And until 9 11, Vietnam was that catalyst for a long time of art depicting nihilism and culture. And that's kind of how I view it.

So I think that's why, like, Full Metal Jacket, like War Platoon, Platoon was so steeped in that.

I mean, obviously, because A, Oliver Stone was a vet of Vietnam and B, Oliver Stone had malaria and didn't sleep for five days at a time while he was making a movie. But, you know, it's such a great question.

But also, you know, what's interesting too is because of podcast and because how people have moved away from mainstream media in a large way, there's been a large migration to, to independent media. I, I, what I've noticed is now it is actually being a little more acceptable to now criticize Winston Churchill.

Yeah, I've heard some, and I don't want to go down this path on the podcast, but just alluding to, we're seeing people be a little more critical, like, anti Semitically of, not of like, you know, the Holocaust.

Seth: 00:17:58

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:17:59

It's just like you're seeing this become popularized. So it's interesting.

Now, I wonder how you would see a World War II movie being made after this time period, because all of a sudden it's becoming a little more in vogue to, to be openly critical of, like, a Winston Churchill.

Seth: 00:18:13

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:18:13

Whereas I think up until independent media, we've had a pretty glamorized point of view on World War II vets.

Seth: 00:18:19

Well, yeah, it's always been we were the good guys and we won. Like, like goodness prevailed.

Nick: 00:18:26

Yeah. I feel like if you look at just the explosion of the Internet and then social media.

I mean, it just seems like more perspectives were getting presented and it's almost like, okay, we've done this, so let's do this perspective where this guy who is associated as the good guy, so we'll make him maybe not the bad guy, but maybe more of an anti hero or problematic figure. I think we see a little bit more of that.

Seth: 00:18:53

Yeah.

Nick: 00:18:53

And also before we get too far away from it, your point about nihilism and 9 11.

Kyle: 00:18:59

Yeah.

Nick: 00:18:59

I felt like in the 90s there was this angst because I think you couldn't really point to anything specific. Like you could. The Vietnam War.

Kyle: 00:19:09

Yeah.

Nick: 00:19:09

And you could not. So I. It's like the nihilism reflected itself in this sense of like we're making fun of the fact that we're all just floating around on this planet.

Seth: 00:19:19

Like.

Kyle: 00:19:22

Yeah. Like an inherent darkness that you're trying to pinpoint the source of.

Nick: 00:19:25

Yeah, yeah. And I think, and I think that's why Saving Private Ryan works when it comes out, because it was like, oh yeah, these guys. This event.

Seth: 00:19:35

Yeah.

Nick: 00:19:35

You know.

Kyle: 00:19:36

Yeah. And this movie, I'll be honest, it pulled me back on track. Not that I was ever. I'm not gonna, you know, I'm a very.

I have no political affiliations at all. Everyone knows that. But I think it's interesting because I, I.

Not that I've toyed with the, you know, the, the World War II sentiment that you see today, which is definitely veers more negative. Definitely. I've just like, I feel like I'm steeped in criticism.

And you know, we have the Monday, Monday morning quarterbacking going on from a generation that wasn't even involved in the war. But they're now bringing more anti World War II sentiment to the mainstream conversation.

Not that I like bought bit into that, but I was like, this movie pulled me back. I was like, whatever you think, whatever the cause, whatever. These, these are some heroic ass men.

And I couldn't even get into the military because I have asthma.

Seth: 00:20:16

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:20:17

You know, so all love for the World War II veterans. It definitely was a nice reminder to watch on. I watched the rest. I watched it the day before 4th of July. I finished it on the 4th of July.

It was an interesting watch on the 4th of July.

Seth: 00:20:29

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:20:30

So maybe you are needing to find one man who lost all of his siblings because he didn't. Not because of a war, because they didn't listen to Movie wars podcast.

Seth: 00:20:41

Maybe for the fourth time, the US government needs to spend Millions and billions of dollars to save Matt Damon.

Kyle: 00:20:47

Yeah. Yeah. And, yeah. You know Matt Damon, right? He's in. He's just. They can't. They won't stop casting him.

Seth: 00:20:53

Yeah. He keeps going places where we got to save him.

Kyle: 00:20:56

Yep.

And if you are someone that knows somebody that has four brothers that didn't die but left them because they didn't listen to Movie wars, it's up to you now to save this country.

Seth: 00:21:06

We want you to save this country.

Nick: 00:21:08

That's right thing.

Kyle: 00:21:09

Yeah. Nick said do the right thing, so do it.

Seth: 00:21:11

We're doing that in two weeks.

Kyle: 00:21:13

Oh, that's right, Lee.

Seth: 00:21:15

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:21:15

Oh, so good.

Nick: 00:21:16

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:21:17

Love y'. All. The questions, the question, the question. All right. Be real.

Seth: 00:21:22

Yes. He did it.

Kyle: 00:21:23

Look, I love it. I love it when they do it. The guest. When the guest brings it.

Seth: 00:21:26

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:21:27

So sexy.

Seth: 00:21:29

You got to get ready for randos. Just be prepared.

Nick: 00:21:31

I'm ready. I'm red. No.

Kyle: 00:21:35

Yeah. I'm sweating over here. It's so good. So hot in here.

Okay, this is more of a serious question, and I'm gonna laugh if I'm the only one that can answer this question, but how many times you guys tear up? Not a full cry.

Seth: 00:21:46

I have. Oh, several.

Kyle: 00:21:47

You did. Okay, that's not just me. You.

Nick: 00:21:50

Yeah, I. I would say under four, but three.

Kyle: 00:21:54

Yeah.

Nick: 00:21:55

I didn't count.

Seth: 00:21:56

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:21:56

Any particular scenes or. Or maybe sentiments that.

Seth: 00:21:59

When Vin Diesel died. That was just.

Nick: 00:22:01

That's hard to watch.

Seth: 00:22:01

Yeah, that was.

Nick: 00:22:03

And. And the cuz. I don't have any kids, but I have a niece. And when he has the girl and he's like, yeah, she reminds me of my niece. Or like, that.

I could see I could really put myself in that situation.

Kyle: 00:22:16

Yeah.

Nick: 00:22:17

And. Yeah, so that was.

Kyle: 00:22:19

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Seth: 00:22:21

We both texted Drew Davis. We were just like, God damn it. Yeah.

Kyle: 00:22:24

Yeah. Vin Diesel making a weird appearance outside of the Fast and Furious universe.

Seth: 00:22:28

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:22:29

But this is before Fast and Furious. But, dude, that scene. Yes.

Seth: 00:22:32

Oh, my God.

Kyle: 00:22:33

I'm glad you brought that scene up, because there's a few scenes that do this up is another character. There's. There's some divisive moments.

Seth: 00:22:39

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:22:40

And I think they're by design. Whether or not it was by design, I don't know, but I think these characters.

I think Capazo, Vin Diesel's character and up them are intentionally divisive because.

Seth: 00:22:48

Was that Giovanni Ribisi?

Kyle: 00:22:50

No, but I love that.

Seth: 00:22:52

That moment. Especially. Oh, my God. When they're. When they're all. He's like, I just need some Morphine. He's like, nope, give it to him. Like, just do it. Oh, my God.

Kyle: 00:23:00

An already amazing cast. And we're just gonna attack on Giovanni Ribisi here just as a kind of an exclamation point here. Young. A young Giovanni.

But yeah, no, Upham is the translator.

Seth: 00:23:11

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kyle: 00:23:12

And I. It's easy to be a non war veteran. Someone that never even sniffed military action, who's really not faced that level of hardship ever or anything.

Close. Well, I know my knee hurts right now. I'm dealing with too.

Seth: 00:23:27

He ate some bread yesterday and his knees hurting.

Kyle: 00:23:31

Whoever snuck some bread into my carnivore diet. You're done. We're. We're over. He's coming after you at once this knee heals up. It's gonna be a three week process. But you can say something.

Nick: 00:23:41

No, no, no. I was gonna point at the. The dude off stage again. Yeah, we need to. We need to have him removed. Honestly.

Kyle: 00:23:48

Fourth from the back. I'm tired of your scowl. I love that this is now a thing. We have a mat.

We've imagined the audience so much that we're now vindictive towards these phantoms.

Seth: 00:24:01

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:24:01

Behind the camera.

Seth: 00:24:02

It could be the mushrooms I slipped in everybody's coffee.

Kyle: 00:24:04

Oh, please don't ever do that. I will.

Seth: 00:24:08

You don't want a midsommar.

Kyle: 00:24:09

Well, no, I'll definitely walk into traffic or something. I'll be that one guy that dies the first time. He doesn't hallucinate.

Nick: 00:24:14

Oh, no, man. You'll live.

Kyle: 00:24:17

You'll.

Seth: 00:24:18

They always say not real.

Kyle: 00:24:21

Yeah, but these characters. Because you're like thinking, like, when he doesn't go to. When Upham doesn't go to save the guy that's getting stabbed.

Seth: 00:24:29

Oh, my God, that was so annoying.

Nick: 00:24:31

It was.

Kyle: 00:24:32

But these were boys, man.

Seth: 00:24:34

Oh, I know.

Kyle: 00:24:34

Young men.

Seth: 00:24:35

I know.

Kyle: 00:24:36

That dude was a translator.

Seth: 00:24:37

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:24:37

And here's. And I had that thought process. What a pussy. Right? But then I'm like, wait a second. These were just boys. Yeah, for the most part, just boys.

They were playing with their friends, maybe going to go to college, maybe going to get a job, maybe work a dad's mechanic shop, maybe marry a girl. And then.

Seth: 00:24:55

Yep.

Kyle: 00:24:56

They're.

Seth: 00:24:57

Oh, yeah.

Kyle: 00:24:57

Evaporated into this scene, man. And I just. That's where I got emotional. Like, it's like, it's really easy to, like, respond with critique.

Seth: 00:25:03

Oh, yeah.

Kyle: 00:25:04

But then you're like, fuck, yeah. I thought about myself, like, I'm a podcaster, comedian, author, and then World War II.

Seth: 00:25:12

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:25:13

I wouldn't fucking do very well either.

Seth: 00:25:15

Yeah, I don't know. It is. It's. It's crazy to just see people's fight or flight responses because, like, I work downtown on Broadway.

There have definitely been moments where I've had to, like, be ready to, like. Because I literally.

I walked into the elevator in the parking garage once, and this dude was screaming at this woman, literally saying he was going to bash her face into the concrete. And I walked in as he's saying that, and I just stared him down. He was like, what the fuck do you want?

And I was like, am I going to have to call the police? Like, what the fuck are you doing? And he backed down so fast. But I literally. I called my dad right after. I was like, dad, I'm so amped right now.

I thought I was about to have to fight some guy.

Kyle: 00:25:53

That's awesome.

Seth: 00:25:54

Yeah.

Nick: 00:25:55

Have that cortisol dump. You ready to go, bro? Yeah.

Seth: 00:25:58

It's like, let's go.

Kyle: 00:25:59

You're convinced?

Seth: 00:26:00

Yeah.

Nick: 00:26:00

Yeah. No, I was gonna piggyback on something you was just saying, and I can't remember it.

Seth: 00:26:09

Sorry. It was harrowing tale.

Kyle: 00:26:12

The how it's easy to critique, but then you go through the cycle.

Nick: 00:26:14

Yeah. So. Because I feel like we're older now. Like, when. How old were you when you first saw this movie?

Kyle: 00:26:18

Oh, I was young.

Seth: 00:26:19

Yeah. I was, like, 18.

Kyle: 00:26:21

Yeah.

Nick: 00:26:21

And then you're just like, oh, man, I would have done a reverse backflip. And then.

Seth: 00:26:25

You know what I mean?

Nick: 00:26:27

And then now we're like, hey, I get it, son.

Seth: 00:26:29

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:26:31

Yeah.

Nick: 00:26:32

It's not okay, but I get it.

Seth: 00:26:33

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:26:33

You know, dude. Yeah. And you see. And now they're. I've seen.

They're starting to add color to a lot of The World War II footage and stuff that was black and white, like, the really old pictures and footage. And there is footage of. Of war. Of soldiers from World War II. American soldiers, like, wigging out with PTSD.

Seth: 00:26:53

Oh, I'm not surprised.

Kyle: 00:26:53

Shaking like this. Like, they're not in the middle of war. They're just sitting.

Seth: 00:26:57

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:26:57

And just, like, shaking like. Just the shit they saw.

Seth: 00:27:01

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:27:02

I just can't even fucking imagine. Even after watching this movie, I just can't imagine.

Seth: 00:27:06

I mean, that's something the Pacific like, covers really well, because the Pacific is part of the whole band of brothers.

And then there's one more Air Force One that Apple TV did, but they're all produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, and the Pacific goes over that shit so well, because literally One guy is. Is in the middle of the South Pacific and already has PTSD so bad that it's like every time he wakes up, he's pissed himself just because his, His.

His brain can't handle whatever the hell is going on that they're going through. It's. It's crazy. I mean, my, My. My dad's dad who. Who got hit with the shrapnel.

My dad would always tell me that his mom very much said that he was a very different man when he got back.

Kyle: 00:27:48

Yeah.

Seth: 00:27:49

Like, just night and day difference was very closed off. We found it very difficult to talk about the war. Like, I can't. I. As much as we can see, it's just like you can't even imagine having to be there.

Kyle: 00:28:01

Yeah. That first time seeing your. Your comrade blown up, or you're. Like that scene where Tom Hanks.

A lot of those deaths were purposely emulated after story. So, like him pulling the guy.

Seth: 00:28:12

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:28:13

And all of a sudden, his torso, he's just pulling a torso. That was based on, you know, one of the many experiences that were shared with him while he was making this movie. So imagine that.

Seth: 00:28:21

Yeah.

Nick: 00:28:22

Yeah. Yeah. I. I wonder, like, if you think about us growing up with movies and stuff and just at least seeing movies like Apocalypse Now, Rambo and.

Kyle: 00:28:35

Yeah.

Nick: 00:28:35

years old in: 1944

Seth: 00:28:43

Yeah.

Nick: 00:28:44

You know what? For your frame of reference are probably stories that your uncle told you that may or may not be true.

Kyle: 00:28:51

Yeah.

Nick: 00:28:52

And I don't know, I'm wondering, I guess out loud if we're more prepared for stuff like that mentally because we have a larger worldview through cinema of. Of what war is or Maybe.

Seth: 00:29:07

But at the same time, I wonder if people only say we're desensitized because. We're desensitized because we know it's fake. And then the moment you see a dead body in front of you for real, because even, Even like the.

You see on Instagram where people are just getting murdered on Instagram.

Kyle: 00:29:26

Yeah.

Seth: 00:29:26

There's still that separation of. There's a screen, someone else was holding the video camera. You're not physically there.

And as uncomfortable as that can feel, I just can't even imagine, like, right in front of you, you're looking at guts hanging out the bottom half of a guy you knew, a guy that you just ate lunch with like 30 minutes ago. Like, I think. I don't know. I feel like there's Just enough separation there that it would still be horrific for people to see it in real life.

Nick: 00:29:57

So it's a tie.

Seth: 00:29:58

Yeah, maybe. Yeah. I don't know. I. Yeah, it's a good question.

Kyle: 00:30:03

I think part of it, too, is, like, in the one thing that we count, aside from just the fact that we weren't there for it, the one thing that you can't really account for just watching something, even just watching a real documentary, is accountability.

Seth: 00:30:14

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:30:15

Because even though that you didn't shoot your. Your fellow soldier or someone else did, you still feel responsible that you didn't. Maybe. And same for the opposing. One thing that you read a lot.

And when I did Apocalypse now on Platoon on the podcast, I. Because I'm. I love those movies, I went deep.

Seth: 00:30:33

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:30:33

I went deep on research. The thing is, too, like you also, what they.

A lot of the soldiers say in the vets is that, like, they know for a fact that the people they're killing are not really different than them. They are also young men employed to fight a war.

Seth: 00:30:47

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:30:48

For whatever cause, whatever you want to say it was for the wealthy or for whatever the cause they think it is. The people that are on the other side, same situation, young men craft, you know, grafted out of the. Their existence into a war, told what's.

Seth: 00:31:03

Good and what's bad by their government and just go along with it.

Kyle: 00:31:06

Yeah. That's why the Upham scene's really interesting when he let. They let the guy go. They let that Nazi go. And it's crazy when he comes back later.

That was such a crazy movie when he goes up him. But, yeah, that was. It was humanity. It was just like, God, we're just people.

Seth: 00:31:20

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:31:20

You know, I mean, one's a Nazi, but, you know, again, I. I was curious about this myself. I didn't put this into question, but maybe because you're a professor, maybe you. You have more insight.

But I've always wondered, like, how much of that existed on the German side. Like, how many people were fighting but really didn't know or understand or didn't want to fight for the Nazi cause, but didn't really have.

Or maybe they just. Was that a thing? Like, did a lot of them also, or were they all. For the most part, they were in.

Nick: 00:31:46

No, because there were. There were folks who were like, in, like, Austria who weren't even, like, German.

I mean, they were German Germanic people, but I don't know if they were Nazis, but they were like, hey, this is our ally. So I think there was a lot of that. And then I imagine there were. There were Germans who were just like, yeah, this is just. This is my side.

This is the side that I'm on.

Kyle: 00:32:08

I'm in the military already. Yeah. I'm already enlisted.

Nick: 00:32:10

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:32:11

Yeah.

Nick: 00:32:11

Now I was. I get, like, YouTube videos. You know, we all get them and then.

But I've been recently getting them where it's like the YouTube shorts and it'll be like. Like a Navy SEAL talking about your morning routine or something like that.

And I was watching one, and this one guy, he was a former seal, and he referred to it as a sport, and he did it twice in, like, two separate videos. It was. It was something like that. You know, I'm. We're very well prepared for this sport. And I.

If you look at war as like, the highest sport with the highest stakes, I wonder if there is some sense from some of the people, both people who hold guns and people who make the decisions, who almost view it in some ways, like, alive.

Seth: 00:33:06

Yeah.

Nick: 00:33:06

You know what I mean? Like. Like. Like the. Like the ultimate reality show.

Seth: 00:33:12

Yeah.

Nick: 00:33:12

And then they're part of it. And so I guess there are some people out there like that where it's just.

It's almost like a competitive thing more than a nationalistic or anything else thing.

Seth: 00:33:24

Fascinating.

Kyle: 00:33:25

Yeah. Because I. I don't think, like, the Holocaust was not, like, on full broadcast internally in Germany. Like, I don't think everybody knew.

I'm not going to pretend to be a historian. I've read a lot, but I don't. I'm not going to sit here and pretend like I'm an expert. But a lot of the German people didn't know.

Seth: 00:33:39

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:33:40

The Holocaust was happening.

Nick: 00:33:41

Yeah. I know what you're saying. It's.

Kyle: 00:33:42

Yeah.

Nick: 00:33:42

It's not like news is now where everything is instantaneous and you might have heard something, but you might have heard something that contradicted what you heard earlier. So, yeah, there's a little bit of.

Seth: 00:33:53

Well, I'm sure a lot of them thought the camps were literally just prison camps. They weren't these horrific death camps that were happening.

Kyle: 00:34:00

Yeah.

Seth: 00:34:01

Like, because, I mean, that's. That's something that they talk about in Band of Brothers is. I think it's the second to last episode. They show up.

It's not Auschwitz, but it's a different concentration camp. And none of the Americans even knew that it was a thing. They just knew they were fighting Nazis.

And they show up because the villagers around the camp are like, oh, you have to. You're here for the. Oh, You've got to go over there. Like, but.

But they had never heard of it from any of the other French and German citizens up until they start closing in on one of the camps. Like, yeah. It's not like someone can just sneak a cell phone into a detainment center and be like, oh, see, here's what's going on.

We got people in cages or we're killing people or whatever.

Kyle: 00:34:44

Right.

Seth: 00:34:45

You just. Yeah, it's all word of mouth.

And if no one around is sending letters to other people in other parts of the country, like, you would have no reason to know.

Nick: 00:34:53

Yeah. But I. My thing is, I will say that, like, if you have, like, a. A death camp in Nashville.

Seth: 00:34:58

Yeah.

Nick: 00:34:59

And you live in Charlotte, North Carolina, and you don't know.

Kyle: 00:35:01

Okay.

Nick: 00:35:02

That's one thing.

Seth: 00:35:02

Yeah.

Nick: 00:35:03

But don't tell me. If you lived in Murfreesboro.

Kyle: 00:35:04

Yeah, yeah.

Nick: 00:35:05

You know, like, come on.

Seth: 00:35:07

Even if you lived in Knoxville or Memphis, you probably wouldn't necessarily know, except for the fact now, like I said, we have cell phones and it'd be so easy to get that information out there. But 80 years ago. Yeah. I bet you we could have. I mean, who knows?

Like, most people were very unaware of the Japanese internment camps that we had here.

Kyle: 00:35:26

Yeah. It's true.

Seth: 00:35:27

In the States, like, we knew. We. People kind of knew we were corralling Asian people, but didn't fully understand what was going on at those internment camps. Like, it's crazy how.

How much it takes for information to need to travel at those times.

Kyle: 00:35:41

Yeah.

Nick: 00:35:41

I mean, I know we had, you know, obviously a lot of newspapers.

Seth: 00:35:46

Yeah.

Nick: 00:35:47

And if no one's publishing that, I don't know what the secondary form of media would have been.

Seth: 00:35:52

Yeah.

Nick: 00:35:53

Because, I mean, TVs weren't normal at that point.

Seth: 00:35:57

Radio was. Was normal, but still kind of new. And. And at that point, they would only be reporting probably on the other side on how evil the other people are. Bu.

In Germany or here. So it's. Yeah, it's pretty easy to pick and choose what information gets out there.

Kyle: 00:36:13

Last question. Now, it's hard to put yourself in the shoes because none of us serve. You didn't serve. Right.

And for some reason I was like, I don't think Nick served it. Maybe.

Nick: 00:36:21

I almost read a book about the Navy once.

Kyle: 00:36:24

Basically. In the Navy.

Seth: 00:36:26

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:36:27

Yeah. He wrote the song in the Navy.

Nick: 00:36:32

Got a CO Write.

Kyle: 00:36:34

Yeah. It was a great book. I wrote a song about it. But you are one of these guys, and you. You're in the shoes, and you find Out.

This is your mission to go find a guy. You're. You literally, like, even just thinking about. I'm processing it even more. Like, these guys were already putting their lives in danger. Right.

And then they're going to do it even more with a minimal crew.

Seth: 00:36:56

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:36:57

And go find one guy to tell him he can go home.

Seth: 00:37:00

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:37:00

How do you guys react?

Seth: 00:37:02

I mean, you have two kinds of people, I feel like, who went into World War II. You had the people who were amped up and ready to go kill some fucking German. Germans.

And then you had the people who are just kind of like the trains under guy is just like, why the. Am I here?

Kyle: 00:37:17

Right.

Seth: 00:37:17

Like, why am I in the middle of this? So I. I think. I think watching, especially the. The guys that. That were like, you're telling me I have to leave my brothers.

Like you said to go find this and tell him he gets to go home. That would be so hard to know that if any of your friends die while you're gone, it's possibly because you were gone.

Kyle: 00:37:38

Yeah.

Seth: 00:37:38

Like, the guilt would weigh so heavily. I feel like.

Kyle: 00:37:43

Yeah. What do you think?

Nick: 00:37:44

was that if they made this in: 2025

Seth: 00:37:55

Right. So you would send SEAL Team Six.

Nick: 00:37:59

Yeah, it would. It would. It would be a very different movie, very different situation.

Seth: 00:38:04

Yeah.

Nick: 00:38:04

And so that was something that kept. I was just. I kept thinking about, but, you know, I feel like if you're in the military, you're used to getting asked to do a lot of weird stuff.

Kyle: 00:38:19

Yeah.

Nick: 00:38:19

And you're just like, all right, I guess this is what we're doing now. I mean, it seems like, yeah, you would have that. That debate, but, you know, with each other, like they do in the movie.

But I think for the most part, you.

Seth: 00:38:32

You still.

Nick: 00:38:32

Yeah. You kind of just do it because.

Kyle: 00:38:35

Yeah.

Nick: 00:38:36

It's probably not the. The. The weirdest sounding army mission that was handed out.

Kyle: 00:38:43

Sure. You know, so that's a great point.

Seth: 00:38:45

Yeah. The weird part was probably just the fact that they. They were bringing a guy to go home.

Kyle: 00:38:50

Yeah.

Seth: 00:38:51

And they were gonna have to stay no matter what.

Kyle: 00:38:52

Yeah.

Seth: 00:38:53

Just. Yeah. That was probably the weirdest part of it.

Kyle: 00:38:57

Yeah. No, that's. Those are really great thoughts. Yeah. I mean, I'm such a coward. I can't even imagine myself in the situation, but I definitely.

Like, one thing that was interesting to me was. And I like this about the movie, but I don't Know how realistic it was. But they. The soldiers kept trying to make Miller be more human.

Like, they wanted him to be more open, like the bed about where he's from.

Seth: 00:39:15

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:39:15

You know, And I love how Hank's played it. I think it's actually probably his best role. And I think he's exquisite.

Seth: 00:39:22

I think he's definitely up there.

Kyle: 00:39:23

If it's not the best, it's so fucking good.

Seth: 00:39:25

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:39:26

I. In fact, that was one of my big takeaways from a rewatch that I didn't necessarily remember. The first time was, fuck. Tom Hanks cussed, like, crushed.

Seth: 00:39:32

That, I will say this, I would say, is on par with his portrayal of Jim level from Apollo 13.

Kyle: 00:39:38

Yeah.

Seth: 00:39:38

Like, that's also every bit as good.

Kyle: 00:39:40

What a fucking repertoire, that guy.

Seth: 00:39:42

Seriously.

Kyle: 00:39:43

But I. I was like. I thought that was interesting because they want him. And I did wonder. And it did stimulate this thought in my mind. It's like, you're. You're.

You're at war for years in this area that you're. It's not your home.

Seth: 00:39:55

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:39:56

You're with these guys that are now family. You're gonna. That's probably gonna happen. That you probably are gonna, like, try to humanize. Like, it's chain of command going in.

But then you're two years in the unit, getting bombs thrown at you, and you're getting shot at every day for two years, you're gonna, like, start to break that down a little bit. So I thought it was interesting. And I was wondering, would I be a guy that chirps back and be like, this is a stupid mission. Like, would I.

Would I feel that level of comfort? I'm not a confrontational person as it is. You know what I'm saying? Like, sitting here, I'm just like, hey, yeah, whatever. Go ahead. That's cool. And.

But then it's like, maybe two years of gunshots going over my head, and I somehow am surviving. I'm gonna probably speak my mind.

Seth: 00:40:36

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:40:36

You know, you're probably gonna. It's probably gonna deride your sense of. Of. I'm trying to think caution.

Seth: 00:40:43

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:40:43

About threatening chain of command by voicing your opinion. You know what I'm saying?

Seth: 00:40:46

I do love that whole speech he gives, though, about the chain of command. Of complaining.

Kyle: 00:40:51

Yes.

Seth: 00:40:51

He's just like, you complain to your superiors, you complain to me. I complained. But you do not complain to anybody below you.

Kyle: 00:40:57

Yeah. You complain up. You don't complain.

Seth: 00:40:59

Yeah.

Nick: 00:40:59

That's a great line.

Seth: 00:41:00

Such a great scene.

Kyle: 00:41:01

Yeah.

Seth: 00:41:02

Yeah. I think. I think it would be interesting because it really depends on how close you get to your. Your captain or your superior.

Because that was something really that they showed in Band of Brothers really well was Damian Lewis's character starts off as just kind of a normal dude and then just by happenstance because everyone above him keeps dying, he just keeps getting promoted and promoted. So it's like he's technically above his guys in Easy Company, but he started with all of them at the same level. So it's like.

Yeah, I think you probably develop some sort of familiarity with your superior but also have to be re. Put in your place at times.

Kyle: 00:41:43

Yeah.

Nick: 00:41:44

Yeah. I would imagine that when you're out there, it's like the leader is whoever can keep everyone, the lot, keep everyone alive the longest.

Seth: 00:41:53

Yeah.

Nick: 00:41:53

And so I felt like whatever that distance that you need that, you know. But I do like how the, when he does tell, like he used to be a teacher.

Seth: 00:42:04

Yeah.

Nick: 00:42:04

He waits right in that moment where it looks like, you know, like using that as a, as a way to, you know, ease the tension in that moment. You know, that was, you know, a great example of leadership.

And I, and I was listening to a podcast and they were talking about how Harrison Ford was up for the role and.

Seth: 00:42:24

Oh, that could have been every bit as good.

Nick: 00:42:27

You know, it's, it's interesting because I, I feel like he's more. He seems like he would be more acerbic anyway.

Seth: 00:42:35

Yeah.

Nick: 00:42:35

Harrison Ford. You know, I feel like there's something about Tom Hanks that's very.

Seth: 00:42:45

Soothing almost.

Nick: 00:42:46

Yeah. That I don't know if Harrison Ford quite has earnestness.

Kyle: 00:42:49

There's earnestness about him.

Nick: 00:42:51

Yeah.

Seth: 00:42:51

I mean he definitely played the character like a teacher, like someone who's used to being the diplomat for children.

And in some ways you get like you said, these 18 year olds out in the middle of nowhere in, in France and he's just like, great, I'm back in the classroom having to reign in a bunch of 12 year olds. Like, and he played it so well because like you said, he used that moment of finally explaining his first name or, or his, the teacher or whatever.

Like he used it when he had to, but he's like, you don't need to know anything else about me until you have to know this.

Kyle: 00:43:24

Yeah. Did that hit you at all when he says he's teaching? Because I'm in cyber security during the day, so there was no cyber security back then.

But like for you, it's like, oh, like they like teachers, blah, blah, blah. They were. Everybody was gone.

Nick: 00:43:35

Yeah, I mean, it didn't. It didn't hit me like, in any emotional way, but I do like that he.

There's probably a handful of jobs where it makes his leadership ability, at least the way his style of leadership believable. Teachers, one of them.

Seth: 00:43:51

Yeah.

Nick: 00:43:53

So I like that in that sense. But.

Kyle: 00:43:55

Yes.

Nick: 00:43:55

That's really all the only connection, you know?

Kyle: 00:43:58

Yeah. For me, it was like, fuck, they were pulling the teachers out of the classrooms. That's. That's how it hit me.

It was like, God, like nobody was off limits.

Seth: 00:44:04

Yeah, yeah.

Kyle: 00:44:04

I'm in cyber security.

Nick: 00:44:05

You're going, everybody. Can I see what you say? Okay. Yeah, yeah.

Seth: 00:44:09

At least they probably put you with a drone operations system. Like, yeah, you're a nerd. You get the joystick.

Kyle: 00:44:15

That's a job today. Yeah, yeah, that's a. That's a legit drone driver. I don't know.

Seth: 00:44:19

There's a whole other type of PTSD that these drone pilots are getting because they're still killing people. But there is again, there's that disconnect of a screen where they're not technically the ones doing it, but they're also technically the ones doing.

Kyle: 00:44:34

I read about that. That's wild. Like, that detachment they feel because it's like a video game.

Seth: 00:44:38

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:44:38

For them.

Seth: 00:44:38

But they also know it's real people.

Kyle: 00:44:40

Yeah.

Nick: 00:44:41

Yeah. It seems like you couldn't do that too long without it affecting you in some way.

Because I think even if it doesn't affect you, I think the fact that it doesn't affect you would have to affect you.

Seth: 00:44:53

Yeah.

Nick: 00:44:53

You know, you're like, wait, I don't feel nothing.

Seth: 00:44:55

Yeah.

Nick: 00:44:56

Am I a sociopath? Like, yeah.

Kyle: 00:44:57

You know, how do they coach those guys? Like, mash that square button, bro. Just mash that button. Okay. I'm sorry, Captain.

Nick: 00:45:08

Your commanding officer is just this 15 year old dude. Just played every game.

Seth: 00:45:13

Aaby, come on. You know the combo, bro. Damn it.

Kyle: 00:45:16

There's lag on this server. All right. Randos, Randos, Randos. I like that approach. Went higher, but I liked it. Usually we like chesty, but that was beautiful.

That was a great discussion, by the way. Thank you. Usually. Usually our questions are more comedic, but I just didn't feel like this was the time. Yeah, this is maybe one of the best.

I'm going to have to start stack ranking these randos, because sometimes they just hit you. Spielberg. And so they had a boot camp for all the actors, so they wanted to make them feel like they were going through a boot camp.

Like they were really Being trained. They purposely excluded Matt Damon.

Seth: 00:45:52

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:45:53

From that.

Seth: 00:45:53

Yeah. I heard about.

Kyle: 00:45:57

They wanted the disdain for him to feel natural because. And what Spielberg said is he didn't want it to seem like he had endured the same trials as them.

And so there was this natural tension between the actors and they.

Nick: 00:46:08

That's really good. Yeah, that's. That's.

Kyle: 00:46:11

I mean, it's top level shit right there.

Seth: 00:46:13

Yeah, it's some Kubrick level shit. It comes to the point where it's like, okay, yeah, sure, I could explain to them.

But there's also something to be said about the absolute natural camaraderie you build when you're making a movie like that and when you're going through the same shit. So he's like, you know what? Whatever's gonna make it easier for everybody.

Kyle: 00:46:29

Not really a Spielberg thing either to do. You don't read a lot about him with hijinks.

Seth: 00:46:34

I mean, he, he doesn't fuck with people to the point that Kubrick did, but he has his methods. He knows how to get people in. In the zone however he needs to do it.

Nick: 00:46:44

I say Matt Damon, very likable. Right. In terms of a listers, he seems like very cool hang.

Seth: 00:46:51

Yeah.

Nick: 00:46:52

But if you got it in your head that you were not gonna like him. Yeah, he seems like he'd be easy not to like as well.

Seth: 00:46:59

He'd be such a prick if you already hate him.

Nick: 00:47:02

Yeah. You could definitely talk yourself into like, what did he just say to me.

Seth: 00:47:06

That Boston just say hello.

Nick: 00:47:09

You know what I mean?

Kyle: 00:47:10

Yeah.

Seth: 00:47:11

He asked me if I want Duncan.

Kyle: 00:47:13

There's definitely like a Dimitri Martin level chart out there about like some. Some variable versus punchability of face.

Seth: 00:47:19

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:47:22

It's like, he's a nice guy, but you're in war and you now got to go say, I want to punch the out of that guy. This is crazy. They. They thought Spielberg was really concerned about the rating of this movie because war movies were typically just R and.

And even older ones were PG before the PG13 rating came along. Yeah, but he thought this was going to be an NC17, and it easily could have. And honestly, compared to some other movies, it really should have been.

But the reason the MPAA never questioned it, which is funny because RoboCop that made Vorhoven go through five edits to get it out of an X rating because that's what NC17 used to be with X. And he had to re edit it five times here. It's just, you know, it's a history movie.

Seth: 00:48:02

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:48:02

And because of the historical relevance. They never even pushed him.

Seth: 00:48:05

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:48:06

So it just came out rated R and never had to re edit.

Seth: 00:48:09

Weirdly. That's the only reason why I love the movie Pain and Gain so much is because that story is up.

That if I knew it came from someone's brain and didn't come from real life events, I would not love that movie the way I do. So I kind of get it. Especially. Especially in the 90s when.

When, like I said, the patriotism is so high in America, it's like, yeah, It's World War II. You kind of just got to let it happen.

Kyle: 00:48:37

Yeah. Yeah.

Seth: 00:48:38

It could have been significantly worse. There's. There are some moments in Band of Brothers in the Pacific that just. It. It makes my. My stomach just drop.

Kyle: 00:48:47

Yeah.

Seth: 00:48:47

With how hard it is.

Kyle: 00:48:49

Sometimes the worst. The most violent scene to me actually in Ryan, it's very fast, but I. I didn't notice it until now, but it's when they're. They're in.

They're trying to blow up the bridge at the end.

Seth: 00:48:59

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:48:59

And when they first. What's the caliber gun? The 20 cal. Is that what it was? The giant. And they were the.

Seth: 00:49:04

Probably the 50 cal.

Kyle: 00:49:05

The Germans had it. And if you. You barely miss it. I don't know if you guys caught it, but one guy's head gets shot and it explodes that.

Seth: 00:49:11

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:49:12

I had never seen it. I've seen this times. It was the first time like, oh, his head exploded.

Seth: 00:49:15

Yeah, it was.

Kyle: 00:49:16

Did you see it?

Nick: 00:49:17

No, I missed that.

Kyle: 00:49:19

Yeah. So when he first. When the Germans start first unloading that. That gun into the alley between the buildings and the guys are on the tank.

Seth: 00:49:25

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:49:25

The American soldiers. Yeah. One of the guys head literally. And like their chests are exploding. Like it's very fast, but holy.

Seth: 00:49:30

Yeah, there's some. There's some moments like that in Bandit Brothers where one dude gets his leg blown off and it's in slow motion and it looks so real. It's painful.

Kyle: 00:49:40

Isn't it amazing the difference between.

Seth: 00:49:43

Like.

Kyle: 00:49:44

Isn't it amazing how context matters, though? Like, take that and then like, think about terrifier.

Seth: 00:49:48

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:49:48

The. Or some horror movie, you know, Like.

Like there's a scene like that in like one of the Halloween movies where some woman's crawling on the ground, her legs literally just attached by a piece of skin like that. But this is like, oh, it's war. So I mean, it is.

Seth: 00:50:01

I've. I've seen that attitude other places.

Like, not to bash on my dad, but my dad always had this thing where if it was like, war movies, suddenly violence went out the window. He didn't care. But if it's. If it's like John Wick. He hated John Wick because it's just so violent.

And I'm like, dad, this is so cartoony compared to this other stuff. He's like, that's different.

Kyle: 00:50:23

It's a. It's a Christian homeschool thing. All of my Christian homeschool friends have the same story. We weren't allowed to watch.

Seth: 00:50:28

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:50:29

Unless it was a war movie of any magnitude.

Nick: 00:50:33

Braveheart. Yeah, that was one.

Seth: 00:50:36

Yeah.

Nick: 00:50:36

Do Braveheart.

Kyle: 00:50:38

The Patriot.

Nick: 00:50:40

You know, we aren't talking about the Patriot. Earlier, I was like, should I make a Steven Seagal joke and, like, pretend. Because, you know, he had a movie called the Patriots.

Kyle: 00:50:48

Yes, he did.

Nick: 00:50:49

And I was gonna.

Kyle: 00:50:49

And it's bad.

Seth: 00:50:50

Oh, yeah.

Nick: 00:50:50

I was gonna pretend like that's what y' all were talking about.

Kyle: 00:50:53

Yeah. Yes. In my research, I. And I. I grew up watching Steven Seagal movies, but I had never seen that. The Patriot. I've seen all the Under Sieges, but.

Nick: 00:51:02

Yeah, I never saw it either, but I remember it coming out.

Kyle: 00:51:04

Yeah.

Seth: 00:51:05

And that's funny.

Nick: 00:51:06

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:51:07

It's a much different movie. This is pretty cool. You know, I. I don't. We've done a lot of Matt Damon movies on this podcast. We did the Martian. We did Rounders. He.

You know, it's not hard to do a Matt Damon movie because he's in every other one of them.

Seth: 00:51:21

Kind of.

Kyle: 00:51:22

I'm starting to come around on Matt Damon a little bit.

Nick: 00:51:24

Working guy.

Seth: 00:51:24

He's so good.

Kyle: 00:51:25

Yeah. He was Pedro Pascal before.

Seth: 00:51:26

He's gonna be incredible.

Kyle: 00:51:27

It will be.

Seth: 00:51:28

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:51:28

There's no way it won't be. But Matt Damon actually improvised that monologue when he says that she was. You know, hit every branch on the way. Dialogue.

Yeah, he actually improvised a lot of that, so that's cool. And they kept it, so. And it wasn't scripted, but Spielberg was like. That felt very organic to what the conversation would actually be like.

So they kept it. But I thought that was pretty cool, man.

Seth: 00:51:50

I. I feel like Spielberg is a very collaborative director. Like, obviously has his vision, but when he can sense that someone else has a great idea for it, he's just like, let's do it. Come on. Bring it over.

Kyle: 00:52:01

Yeah, I think Jaws will do that to you.

Seth: 00:52:03

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:52:03

I mean, that. That was. He. They literally. People were losing their minds making that movie.

Seth: 00:52:08

Oh, yeah.

Kyle: 00:52:09

Dark didn't work, and they were 100 days over budget. And Filming. And it's like, fuck, just say whatever you want. We'll keep it.

Seth: 00:52:15

I love that story about when he was editing Jaws, he and his editor were having a massive disagreement over one particular cut. And she had a spot where she wanted it. And he kept being like, no, no, no. It needs to be like 10 frames longer.

And she goes, okay, tell you what, we're gonna go over there, and you're just. By hand. You're gonna hit stop when you think you should. And so he did, and it was exactly where she marked it.

And so he was like, fine, I'll never argue with you again.

Kyle: 00:52:39

Yeah.

Seth: 00:52:39

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:52:40

That's wild. I already alluded to this earlier, but final rando. So World War II veterans across the board pretty much agreed that this was a very realistic movie.

Seth: 00:52:48

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:52:49

It didn't really experience a lot of controversy. The only controversy actually came from our allies in the war who felt like, we've only folk. Like, we almost.

This movie almost made it seem like it was just an American victory. That was like. That was one story.

Seth: 00:53:01

The whole war.

Kyle: 00:53:01

Exactly. And that's what they came around to was this was a focus on an American story.

But that was like the mini controversy pretty much was widely accepted as a great movie. Movie.

Seth: 00:53:09

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:53:10

But they. The Department of Veteran affairs said they had to set up extra nationwide veteran hotlines.

Seth: 00:53:16

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:53:16

Because people were in the theaters having PTSD flashbacks. Veterans were. Were just. They were having reactions to the movie. So apparently they flooded the hotlines.

It said there was an unprecedented spike in calls From World War II vets moved or disturbed by the memories that the movie provoked.

Seth: 00:53:32

So, I mean, as. As heartless as it sounds to say this, that kind of means you did it, right.

Kyle: 00:53:38

Yeah. When you're.

Seth: 00:53:39

When you're making something like that. The same thing happened with Dunkirk. Like, the people who were at Dunkirk had to walk out of the theater because they were just like, it's.

It's too real. Like, I can't go through that again.

Kyle: 00:53:49

Yeah. This is weird to say, but. Shall we war? Shall we World war?

Seth: 00:53:55

Oh, God.

Kyle: 00:53:56

Shall we knock out the Nazi bastards?

Seth: 00:53:58

There we go.

Kyle: 00:53:58

Let's go. Let's war. You ready?

Nick: 00:54:00

Yes.

Kyle: 00:54:01

All right. Nick, the scorecard. It's seven categories. The first five are pretty traditional filmmaking shit.

You know, cast, writing, directing, cinematography, stuff like that. The last two, we call them bro categories, are typically either funny or specific to the movie. There's a yes and a no.

2 out of 3 wins it the yes category. Sticky bomb. So if you dig it, if you love it, sticky Bomb. Because I love those. That was so cool. Except the guy that blew himself up.

Seth: 00:54:22

I mean.

Kyle: 00:54:23

Yeah, that sucks. Happens if you didn't like it, if you didn't dig it. Nazi bastards.

Seth: 00:54:27

Sweet.

Kyle: 00:54:27

Okay. Yeah. Top Bill cast, first category here. Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore.

Seth: 00:54:34

I mean, Yeah, I don't, I think we're gonna be very hard pressed to go negative on anything with any of these categories. Obviously, every single one of them brought, brought a hundred percent of themselves to this role.

Kyle: 00:54:44

So.

Seth: 00:54:45

Yeah, it's a sticky bomb.

Nick: 00:54:45

Sticky bomb.

Seth: 00:54:46

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:54:47

Yeah.

Seth: 00:54:47

There's not even much to say. I feel like we're just gonna blow through these because. Yeah, that's just. You could tell the, the, the respect and the fervor was there.

Like, everyone really was ready to make sure that, that they were doing justice to the story they were telling.

Kyle: 00:55:03

Yeah. So sticky bomb. Sticky bomb. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I go sticky bomb.

I, I, in as much as I, I want to praise Tom Hanks, because I do think it may be probably his best role.

Seth: 00:55:13

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:55:14

Tom Sizemore.

Seth: 00:55:15

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:55:16

And he was, I didn't put. There were so many interesting things I could have put in randos. I had to leave a bunch out.

But he was still at the height of drug addiction here, and so in. Spielberg knew it and he still wanted to keep him. What a great decision, dude. He was.

You talked earlier, kind of piggybacking on what you said earlier about they're like a leader arises, you know, it's like, who shakes out to be a leader even if they're not like a captain. Right.

And I loved how much of a hard ass he was and how he demanded respect and even like, his character was so consistent because that's how he was with the other soldiers. But then he gets shot a bunch of times.

Seth: 00:55:44

Yep.

Kyle: 00:55:45

He's like, oh, just out of breath. Just have my win. And he's literally got shot. He's like, oh, just knock my breath out. I was like, what a badass, yo. So sticky bomb.

And I get, I joke about Matt Damon. Listen, this is a great performance here. Yeah, I, I thought it was really believable. He's on the rise here. Right.

Seth: 00:56:02

I mean, just came right off of goodwill hunting right into this.

Kyle: 00:56:06

Kind of crazy that this caught him right on the ascent.

And yeah, it's always funny because I always kind of deprioritize the character of Ryan in this movie, like, because even though it's Saving Private Ryan, to me, it's so much more about everyone else.

Seth: 00:56:17

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:56:18

But this is the first, first Time where it kind of stuck. You know what? Matt Damon crushed it too, you know.

Nick: 00:56:22

So, yeah, it kind of became a Matt Damon film in hindsight, like it wasn't at the time.

Seth: 00:56:27

Well, I don't think anyone. I mean, obviously he only had the one real movie. Like no one knew he was about to become Jason Bourne.

Nick: 00:56:33

Yeah, yeah, I agree.

Kyle: 00:56:35

Yeah, Absolutely. One to zero. We're throwing sticky bombs all over the place. All right, supporting cast.

Seth: 00:56:42

And this is so many.

Kyle: 00:56:44

Okay, bear with me, audience, because I don't even know again, I mean, Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, Adam Goldberg, Vin Diesel, Giovanni Ribisi, Jeremy Davies, as up him. Holy. Ted Danson, Paul Giamatti, Dennis Farina, for crying out loud. Let's see Max Martini, Dylan Bruno. Keep going down the list.

There's a bunch that are going to be good, that are going to be buried because a lot of them only had a few seconds. I think that's good. I think that gets. I think that gets a lot.

Seth: 00:57:12

Was Colin Hanks in it at one point? I feel like he was, but I.

Kyle: 00:57:16

Could be his son.

Seth: 00:57:17

Very wrong.

Kyle: 00:57:17

Yeah, No, I don't think he was, but Colin Hanks was in a war movie, I think. But hold on, let me triple check.

Seth: 00:57:24

I think Colin Hanks was in Band of Brothers.

Kyle: 00:57:27

There's nine Collins partaking in this movie, and not a single one of them is a Hank.

Seth: 00:57:30

Okay, fair. Yeah. Obviously, sticky bomb like it was. And as fun as this movie can be, it was fun to see people pop up before they. They really popped off.

Vin Diesel being one. Paul Giamatti being one. Adam Goldberg, I've seen him in so much stuff. Same with Giovanni Ribisi. It was fun.

Like Ted Danson in there, because I'm pretty sure that was like, kind of the peak of his career was. Was around that time. So that was really fun. I don't know. It's just. And again, every.

This is, I think, one of the most important things for us when it comes to. To supporting cast. Everybody was. Even if you can't remember their name, everybody was still members. Memorable.

Kyle: 00:58:08

Yep. Even people who. I don't recognize their name. There wasn't a drop ball.

Seth: 00:58:11

Exactly. And again, everyone did. Did their absolute best. So, yeah, it's 100 is sticky bomb for me.

Kyle: 00:58:16

Yeah.

Nick: 00:58:17

Yeah. I mean, this will be. You talk about best supporting actors.

Seth: 00:58:21

Yeah.

Nick: 00:58:21

And even the. The that guys are.

Seth: 00:58:24

Yeah.

Nick: 00:58:24

Are still kind of. You know, it's. It's like when. You know, it's like when an all star takes less money and goes to a.

You know, and now he's the, the third or fourth option.

Seth: 00:58:36

Yeah, yeah.

Nick: 00:58:37

You know, on offense and, you know, it's like that. So.

Kyle: 00:58:40

Yeah.

Nick: 00:58:41

Sticky bomb.

Kyle: 00:58:41

Yeah. I told you guys both nailed it, man.

I mean, I, I am, I was trying to think when I was right, writing the scorecard, I was like, oh, just one person that didn't freaking bring it. But, like, literally, even the women typing up the letters, like, and, and the way she, like, carries. I'm just like, even she crushed it.

Seth: 00:58:56

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:58:56

Maybe it's biased at that point, but I'm just like, she's even nailing it. Yeah, I, I, Yeah, I, you know, and I. One actor that I've grown on who I. It's not that I didn't like them early on.

I just wasn't as aware, but was Giovanni Rubici the past few years, I just kind of caught on.

Seth: 00:59:10

Yeah.

Kyle: 00:59:11

And I was like, God, he can act.

Seth: 00:59:12

He's so good in the Ted movies. That dance scene where he's watching the 80s workout video and Ted and he's like drinking the drink and it's like almost pole dancing with his straw.

It's the funniest.

Kyle: 00:59:25

Yeah.

Seth: 00:59:26

He's so underrated as, especially as a comedic actor.

Kyle: 00:59:30

Yeah. And again, a lot of these guys are early, but you can still say it's a big cast. I mean, even though they're early.

I mean, obviously a lot of them became great, but you can get a big cast together and get a bunch of empty, hollow performances.

Seth: 00:59:39

Oh, yeah.

Kyle: 00:59:40

To me, it feels like Spielberg set the vision everyone was in. Everyone knew this was a big message to deliver, and everyone got the emotional gravitas. I mean, just completely nailed it.

Seth: 00:59:49

Do you, do you happen to know when the Thin Red Line came out? Let me check.

Nick: 00:59:53

Oh, so right around that time.

Seth: 00:59:55

Yeah, I think it may have been 98. Yeah. So was that the same year this was 98? Damn.

Kyle: 01:00:00

Damn.

Seth: 01:00:01

God. And that one also had a stacked cast. Jim Caviezel, Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Jared Leto's in it. Adrian Brody's in it.

Like George Clooney, John Cusack, like, God, this Saving Private Ryan. Ten times better than Thin Red Light.

Kyle: 01:00:16

Oh, absolutely.

Seth: 01:00:17

I couldn't finish Thin Red Line.

Kyle: 01:00:18

I was so bored easily. Yeah.

Seth: 01:00:19

And even though a lot of people gave good performances in that, it, it just didn't feel the same. I don't know. It was very strange.

Kyle: 01:00:26

Yeah. And Giovanna Rubici's character, when he died, it set the emotional low.

Seth: 01:00:30

Oh, God.

Kyle: 01:00:31

It was just like. Oh, my God.

Seth: 01:00:32

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:00:33

It was so hard.

Nick: 01:00:34

Yeah. I'm wondering what you're saying about the Thin Red Line.

It's like, I think this happens sometimes where you watch one action movie or one type of movie that is so good that you, you know, a good. Another good movie in the same genre.

Seth: 01:00:52

Yeah.

Nick: 01:00:52

Just sucks in comparison.

Seth: 01:00:54

Oh yeah. I mean, it's like Armageddon versus Deep Impact or like any of those movies came out of around the same.

Nick: 01:00:59

Right, right. Yeah, I remember. God, there was a movie, the one with Jet Li in it.

Seth: 01:01:08

Okay.

Nick: 01:01:09

And then, but then it was like, then we saw the Matrix or something and it was like we couldn't watch the one anymore because of the Matrix, you know, and. Yeah, and so I feel like the similar thing with the Thin Red Line because, I mean, that's pretty stacked.

I mean, if you're, if you're saying, hey, that cast versus the Saving Private Ryan cast have to make five movies and compete. That cast might win with Adrien Brody.

Kyle: 01:01:33

George Clooney, you know, so it's so crazy. Two to zero. We're getting sticky bombs knocking the tracks off that mother effort.

So writing Robert Redat and we actually, if you've listened to the other episodes this month, the Patriot, he wrote that as well. So this guy has a penchant for writing war movies.

Seth: 01:01:56

What? Yeah. What an incredible script. Like, like we've said before, there's. There's not a bad moment.

There's not a moment where I don't believe the things people are saying. The, the non war moments just rip you emotionally every bit as much as the war moments do. Like. Yeah, it's 100% a sticky bomb. This is incredible.

Kyle: 01:02:16

Yeah.

Seth: 01:02:16

Did. They did. I'm assuming this, this story was something that actually happened.

Kyle: 01:02:22

It wasn't a mixture of things. Yeah, there's no say, there's no Ryan story, but it's like. Yeah, there's a lot of like research that came together.

For example, this is a rando I had to get rid of because of time. But yeah, like, for example, that ending scene where he's there at the grave with his family.

Seth: 01:02:36

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:02:36

That was based on like Steven Spielberg actually saw a man kneeling and crying and sobbing at a cross in the same cemetery. And so he grafted that. So he's pulling and kind of combining stories from all over the place to create this work of fiction.

Seth: 01:02:49

But. Okay. Yeah, yeah, incredible. Especially. Yeah. If it's historical fiction technically, then. And yeah, even better.

Kyle: 01:02:55

Yeah, exactly.

Nick: 01:02:56

Yeah, yeah. Sticky bomb for me too. I wasn't familiar with the screenwriter, but yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kyle: 01:03:05

Sticky bomb. I mean, I'M not. War is not a genre. I gravitate towards you just because of the.

This, the emot and the nihilism that it instills in me when I watch them. But this guy's written two war movies that I actually really love and enjoy and can. Even though they're hard to watch and emotional, I. I enjoy them.

And I, like you said, I think, I think as. As gut wrenching and emotional as the. The war scenes are the dialogue, especially in that last. The third act where they're.

They're fixing to blow up the bridge. It just reminded you that these people had jobs, they had lives, they have family that they left. They've been there for two years.

They've already been away. They've been gone. They're having a hard time. Maybe even remember what home life was like.

Seth: 01:03:46

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:03:47

And that, that could have very easily not have been written. That could have been just kind of an after effect. We're just gonna focus on action.

Seth: 01:03:54

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:03:54

We're gonna focus on explosions and then dialogue be damned. No. This is a complete vision. And I just couldn't believe.

And maybe because I'm older and I have kids, but just some of that just resonated more than ever.

Seth: 01:04:06

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:04:06

This time. So, dude, huge sticky bomb. 3 to 0. Directing a man named Steven Spielberg. He has directed. I'm just kidding. Hold on. I can't find him.

Seth: 01:04:17

He's directed every movie.

Kyle: 01:04:20

Friends with George Lucas.

Seth: 01:04:22

I mean. Yeah, obviously I like, like we said when we were texting like this and Jaws will. Will make it so that I will never.

I could never say he's a bad director because I, I know that these two movies exist.

And the fact that he could do this one and Schindler's List so close together, but hit such a vastly different psychological parts of World War II, I think is just such an incredible move for him. The fact that he could do that so well. So. Yeah. 100% sticky bomb. This is incredible. You can't, you can't point out anything wrong with it.

Kyle: 01:04:58

Yep. Love it.

Nick: 01:04:59

Yeah. Sticky bomb as well. I mean, I feel like there are artists who, who kind of just like do like variations of the same thing.

Seth: 01:05:10

Yeah.

Nick: 01:05:10

And not in a messed up way, but like if, you know, like, like Spike Lee, his movies are almost always set in New York.

Seth: 01:05:17

Yeah.

Nick: 01:05:17

Right. Like that's his.

Kyle: 01:05:18

The.

Nick: 01:05:19

And so he's, he's doing different things, but it's, it's very, it's within a certain.

Seth: 01:05:24

Yeah.

Nick: 01:05:25

You know, whereas I feel like Spielberg is the artist who does a Bunch of different. Yeah, like, you know, this is the.

Seth: 01:05:34

Same guy who did the bfg, y'. All.

Nick: 01:05:36

Yeah, it's a. It's a whole hedgehog and fox thing.

Seth: 01:05:39

Yeah.

Nick: 01:05:40

You know, I'm talking about.

Seth: 01:05:41

This is the same guy who did: 1010

Kyle: 01:05:43

Oh, that movie.

Seth: 01:05:44

He hated that movie. He's wrong, but he hated it.

Kyle: 01:05:46

Adventures of: 1010

Nick: 01:05:48

I never saw it.

Seth: 01:05:49

It's a great movie. It's incredible.

Nick: 01:05:51

You know, it would have been great if Spike Lee had done it. Yeah.

Kyle: 01:05:54

I love Spike Lee. Everybody's taking a break from Madison Square Garden in Brooklyn. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we. We.

We said on a podcast a couple podcasts ago that we did Collateral, and no one does LA like Michael Mann.

Seth: 01:06:08

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:06:08

No one does Brooklyn or New York like Spike Lee.

Seth: 01:06:11

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:06:12

He's got that type of ownership over movies. Yeah. Love it. So. Sticky bomb.

Nick: 01:06:17

Sticky bomb.

Kyle: 01:06:18

Yeah, I agree. And something you said was kind of what I was thinking. I was like. I was just kind of refreshing myself just on all the things he's touched.

It's just like he has stuck himself into so many different worlds.

Seth: 01:06:27

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:06:28

Adventure, technology. You know, he executive produced the new Twister movie. Like, he's like. He's not afraid to just venture into new territory.

Seth: 01:06:36

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:06:37

And then at this point, you're thinking like, you did Saving Brad Ryan, Indiana Jones, Jaws, Color Purple.

Nick: 01:06:42

Like, bro. Like, he's like. In fact, when.

Earlier, when you were saying you were like, Spielberg and Hanks, them working together, and then you said Band of Brothers, and I literally thought you were gonna say catch me if you can, just because. Just because it was.

Seth: 01:07:00

Yeah.

Nick: 01:07:01

That could apply to.

Kyle: 01:07:02

To the.

Nick: 01:07:02

To that film as well. So anyway.

Seth: 01:07:04

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:07:04

Yeah. There are moments in his. In his career where I think he didn't quite put the toe over the line far enough. But it's.

It's more than balanced by Jaws, where. Where I just have so much respect for the filmmaking process of Jaws. And second, for this movie. I mean, I. I think. I hate to say it because it's.

It's not my top 50, but I think this is a perfect movie.

Seth: 01:07:24

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:07:24

It's actually veering on perfect, so.

Seth: 01:07:26

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:07:28

Yeah. Sticky bombs. We're having a hard time finding anything wrong with this movie. Somebody come up with something negative, please. For God's sake.

What's in front of us? Oh, I couldn't wait for this category.

Seth: 01:07:38

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:07:39

What's in front of a cinematography, production design, sound. I want to include the score into there.

Seth: 01:07:43

Yeah, 100%.

Kyle: 01:07:44

We have to. Costumes, editing.

Seth: 01:07:46

Who did the score?

Kyle: 01:07:47

John Williams.

Seth: 01:07:48

Okay, that's what I thought. Yeah.

Kyle: 01:07:49

At this point I want to refer to him as John fucking Williams.

Seth: 01:07:52

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:07:53

Because every time his score comes up, just so good. Out of this world, dude.

Seth: 01:07:57

Oh, my God. Yeah, this obviously, obviously it's a sticky bomb.

Like down to the technical aspects that I was talking about earlier where they were very picky with, with how the shutter speed looked with the rest of it.

Like every now and then when Tom Hanks is supposed to be really disillusioned, they would actually make it almost look like an old camera by going down to a lower frame rate. So they'd probably shoot at like 17, 18 frames per second instead of 24. So you kind of get that like lagging webcam look.

That's how old footage actually looked because you were hand cranking cameras. And so the, the, the frame rate was inconsistent. So it's just. Oh, my God. The score is incredible. The sound design is absolutely flawless.

All of the sets, like, it's, it's just perfect. It's beautiful. Yeah. Sticky bomb. Incredible.

Kyle: 01:08:51

Love it.

Nick: 01:08:51

Yeah. Sticky bomb. From the moment you're watching, you don't leave the world.

Seth: 01:08:57

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:08:57

Yeah.

Nick: 01:08:58

You know, nothing takes me out of that world. So. Yeah, everything that they use to keep you in the world, the music. Yeah, yeah, everything.

Seth: 01:09:06

So good.

Nick: 01:09:06

And, and John Williams. I mean, could we argue that John Williams is better at what he does than Steven Spielberg at this point?

I mean, I mean, that's how, that's how good John Williams is.

Seth: 01:09:19

John Williams saved the prequels of Star Wars.

Kyle: 01:09:22

Like he came up with the Jaws. Boom, boom. Yeah, I mean, that's enough right there.

Nick: 01:09:27

Yeah.

Seth: 01:09:28

Et's Superman, Jurassic park, like all the Patriot.

Kyle: 01:09:31

Remember we said last week that might be the best score he's done. Then we did this and I was like, well, I don't know.

Seth: 01:09:36

Yeah, it's fun to walk around Universal Studios because it's basically just walking around to a John Williams score the whole time. Like, it's so much fun.

Kyle: 01:09:44

Yeah. So you go sticky bomb.

Nick: 01:09:45

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:09:46

Oh, yeah, yeah, same. I, you know, John Williams, I just.

And one thing I read that was that Steven Spielberg, for that final scene and going into the credits, he purposely wanted Williams to be restrained. He said he wanted to be beautiful, symphonic, slightly victorious, but really wanted him to, to do restraint because he wanted the.

That moment to breathe more. And so tell me I'm a good man. Yeah. Oh my God, please. God. I. My wife was there and I had to walk.

I was like, please, I don't want you to see me right Now.

Seth: 01:10:13

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:10:14

I was like, this is God. And that guy. I mean, I don't even know what his name was. That guy should get credit. He. Yeah, he destroyed me. I don't even know who that was. Right.

Seth: 01:10:25

But I'm pretty sure he's a fairly famous TV actor.

Kyle: 01:10:29

Yeah. Probably. They ran out of people.

Seth: 01:10:31

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:10:31

They had to go to tv. It's like, who else is. Who else is there?

Seth: 01:10:34

We don't need that guy. Oh, he's in Thin Red Line. Fine. We'll get this other guy.

Kyle: 01:10:37

Yeah. Just. And the editing man. Like, I want to know what got left on the cutting room floor.

Seth: 01:10:44

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:10:44

That's the thing we talk about a lot with editing. What the Got left because. So this is the thing. Another. Again. I couldn't put all these in randos. But they didn't storyboard the Normandy scene scene.

Steelberg. Spielberg didn't want to storyboard it. He wanted to go in.

Seth: 01:10:57

Ballsy.

Kyle: 01:10:58

Yeah. He wanted to go in and just put it together based on research and just get a feel for it.

Seth: 01:11:02

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:11:03

That scene cost $12 million to make.

Seth: 01:11:05

I'm not surprised. But think about it took like a month to shoot.

Kyle: 01:11:07

We did Superman Returns. Yeah. And there was a scene that they. With the original opening, and they didn't even use it. And that scene is $12 million. I mean, it's just.

But I just want to know what it was like to be in that editing room picking and choosing. They're. They're zoomed in on violence. I just think there's. There's a rhythm to this movie.

And like you said really well earlier, like, I'm just never. I never find myself leaving this world. I'm just in it. I feel like I'm in the driver's seat the whole time.

So all that comes together, then you wrap around this beautiful Williams score. Who. I just don't even know what to say about him anymore. John Williams. What a. What a fucking.

Seth: 01:11:42

There's a reason he's a legend.

Kyle: 01:11:43

Yeah. If I could triple sticky bomb this thing, I would. What? This is a. This is a blowout here.

Seth: 01:11:48

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:11:50

Five to zero. And I always use this for war movies. This category is called War. What is it good for?

Seth: 01:11:58

Absolutely nothing better than Snyder Bailey Nowhere.

Kyle: 01:12:01

Yeah, it is. Yeah. War. This was hard to do. I. I did a bunch of stuff to compile research about what.

What are considered the best war movies of all time for before I announce where this came in. Based on the consolidation of, like, Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes, where do you think this movie falls?

Seth: 01:12:19

I mean, definitely top Five. If not top three. Yeah.

Kyle: 01:12:24

What do you think?

Nick: 01:12:26

Wait, top five or repeat it again?

Seth: 01:12:29

More movies.

Kyle: 01:12:29

I'm curious where you think this comes in when you, when you like. To me.

Nick: 01:12:33

Okay. When you get. I think it comes in at number one.

Kyle: 01:12:41

You think?

Nick: 01:12:43

I think it's one. And then what was the John Wayne movie you were talking about?

Seth: 01:12:47

The Sands of Iwo Jima.

Nick: 01:12:50

That one's probably two.

Seth: 01:12:54

Now I name name the other ones don't tell us the order, but I want to know what the other ones are.

Kyle: 01:12:59

Wait, wait, wait.

Nick: 01:13:00

I feel like we can guess this.

Seth: 01:13:01

I mean, Platoon's probably up there.

Nick: 01:13:03

I think Apocalypse now is on it. Probably before Platoon.

Kyle: 01:13:10

Okay, I didn't write this list, so nobody at me. Okay. This is.

Seth: 01:13:15

Yeah, Instagram.

Kyle: 01:13:15

This is the data consolidation. Saving Private Ryan is number 24. What? Apocalypse now is number 25. Dr. Strangelove is 26.

Seth: 01:13:26

What's number one?

Kyle: 01:13:28

Platoon is 30.

Seth: 01:13:30

Fuck.

Nick: 01:13:31

So let's remember.

Kyle: 01:13:33

Here's what I will say though. And again, I, I agree with your sentiments, but war, the genre of war film is one of the oldest.

Seth: 01:13:41

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:13:41

It's not just in the US but like Japan. Like war films.

Seth: 01:13:44

Oh, yeah. All Quiet on the Western Front was done in 33. Sergeant York was done in 33. Like, yeah. Since World War I, war has been a huge topic.

Kyle: 01:13:53

Yep. Number one is grave of the Fireflies.

Seth: 01:13:55

I've never even heard of that.

Kyle: 01:13:56

Yeah, I think it's a Japanese film.

Seth: 01:13:57

Okay.

Kyle: 01:13:58

They Shall Not Grow Old.

Seth: 01:13:59

That is a documentary. So as great as that movie is, that shouldn't count.

Kyle: 01:14:03

Okay.

Seth: 01:14:03

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:14:04

and are all quiet. And that's: 1930

Seth: 01:14:10

Yeah, that one's insane.

Kyle: 01:14:11

Yeah. Paths of Glory,: 1957

. The. The newest ones. Night: 2018

Seth: 01:14:29

Jesus.

Kyle: 01:14:30

So the.

Seth: 01:14:31

Again, which one?

Kyle: 01:14:32

In: 2018

Seth: 01:14:35

Okay.

Kyle: 01:14:35

Yeah, yeah. So all that to say. Yes, I agree. This is probably should be higher. Yeah. This is a long standing genre. It's.

This is right up there with westerns in terms of the volume.

Nick: 01:14:45

Yeah.

Seth: 01:14:45

h this movie that It's. I did: 2024

Kyle: 01:14:55

Yeah.

Seth: 01:14:55

That's insane.

Kyle: 01:14:56

I know, I know. And the fact that apocalypse now and Dr. Strangelove is all after. But anyway, let's get to the category then.

Seth: 01:15:02

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:15:03

Should. I guess the question is then, should this be in that top five? Like, did it earn.

Seth: 01:15:08

Yeah, absolutely.

Kyle: 01:15:09

Okay.

Seth: 01:15:10

Yeah.

Nick: 01:15:10

Well, I mean, I can't. I haven't seen the movies. I haven't seen the movies in the top five.

So I think from that, if I look at it from that perspective, that I haven't watched enough of the genre to really. I think from. If I look at it like that, then maybe I could say, I. I don't know it. To me, it's hard to see something topping this movie.

Seth: 01:15:33

Yeah.

Nick: 01:15:34

You know, because I mean, even if you take it out of the war genre, just put it in 90s movies.

Seth: 01:15:40

Yeah. Oh, my God.

Nick: 01:15:43

It may not be number one, but it's. It's probably top three. Top five.

Kyle: 01:15:46

Yeah.

Seth: 01:15:47

So one of the most defining movies of the decade.

Kyle: 01:15:50

Yeah.

Nick: 01:15:50

And so I. It would be. It'd be hard for me to even think of it. Just. If you just do American movies.

Seth: 01:16:00

Yeah.

Nick: 01:16:00

It's. It still could be up there.

Seth: 01:16:02

Yeah.

Nick: 01:16:02

So I think if you just. With. Within the war genre, it feels like it would. It would float higher to the top.

Seth: 01:16:08

Yeah.

Nick: 01:16:09

Then that's crazy.

Seth: 01:16:11

I will say shout out to Peter Jackson for getting number two. They Should Not Grow Old is probably the best documentary I've ever seen.

Kyle: 01:16:17

Is that the one where they added color?

Seth: 01:16:18

Not only did they add color, he restored the footage to the point that it looked. Everything is shot in or is like brought to 24 frames a second and looks easily like it was shot in the 80s.

Kyle: 01:16:29

I didn't know Peter Jackson did that.

Seth: 01:16:30

Yeah, he directed and produced it.

Kyle: 01:16:31

I remember when it came out.

Seth: 01:16:32

But, yeah, that's what got him.

The whole Beatles thing with Disney was because they saw what he did with the World War I footage and they were like, can you do this with the Beatles?

Kyle: 01:16:40

What a guy.

Seth: 01:16:41

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:16:41

So sticky bomb for you two.

Nick: 01:16:43

Sticky bomb?

Kyle: 01:16:43

Yeah, yeah, Sticky bomb. I. It's interesting because Apocalypse now is a top 10 movie for me. Has been for a long time. But I actually respect its place on this list.

Seth: 01:16:53

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:16:54

Because. And this is what you get into. And this is why I kind of prefaced it so much with consolidating this list from all the data.

Because it's like you have war movies and then you have political war movies, and then you have like, acid trip war movies, which. Apocalypse now is like a political acid trip movie.

Seth: 01:17:10

And I mean, World War II could be its own subgenre. Genre, like really so easily.

Kyle: 01:17:14

Civil War.

Seth: 01:17:15

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:17:15

Revolutionary War, Napoleonic War.

Seth: 01:17:17

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:17:17

They literally could be their own genre. So like, you know, Lawrence of Arabia is like a subset of a World War I movie. You know what I mean?

So it's like I, I actually respect it, but I do think, if not top five, absolutely top ten for Saving Private, mostly just because of this. No one had ever seen such a realistic depiction.

Seth: 01:17:35

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:17:35

And I just think, I just think. And it's just also a master class in filmmaking.

Seth: 01:17:38

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:17:39

So I give it a sticky bomb.

Nick: 01:17:42

Yeah.

Seth: 01:17:42

Yeah.

Nick: 01:17:43

I would just be interested to hear the arguments. Like one of the, you know, hearing one of the critics is.

Seth: 01:17:50

Yeah.

Nick: 01:17:51

You know, rationale behind it.

Kyle: 01:17:53

Yeah, yeah. And I do think with, with war movies in particular, just like Westerns, there are entire schools of thought around them.

Like, Westerns are like a religion in filmmaking. That's like the, the, the evolution to spaghetti Westerns.

Like, you meet people that specialize like, like education wise or what do you call it scholastically there, There are like fucking. They're like librarians on that shit, dude.

Seth: 01:18:15

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:18:16

So I imagine someone with more knowledge than I has reasoning, but I don't.

Seth: 01:18:20

Know, come at us in the comments.

Kyle: 01:18:22

Yeah, yeah. Prof. Not you, Prof. But you, Prof. You second to the left. Fuck you.

Nick: 01:18:27

Hey, you know what to do in academia. You know, more and more about less and less. Do your thing in the comments.

Kyle: 01:18:32

That's right. That's right. Trust the experts. Last category, your history.

Seth: 01:18:40

Okay.

Kyle: 01:18:41

I always do this too, for historical. So what do we think about kind of the history fact? The fact this is fiction, but it's based on a bunch of reality, how it depicted history.

Like, what do you guys think of.

Seth: 01:18:51

It as a historical piece, especially comparing it to the Patriots, since that's what we did last week.

Obviously, this being historical fiction, they, they probably took liberties with the characters, but they didn't do anything like, like adding a whole massacre just for emotion's sake. Yeah. Like, I don't feel like anything was overblown.

I feel like everything was pretty accurate and realistic as far as, like the, the strategies they were taking during the battles, the way different types of people in World War II were portrayed in this small group. Like. Yeah, I, I think, I think it's just so good. Yep, it's so good. And yeah, I think it, it pays very good homage to. To. Or homage? What to?

To the people who fought and died in that war.

Kyle: 01:19:42

Yeah, yeah.

Seth: 01:19:43

Sticky bomb.

Kyle: 01:19:44

Love it.

Nick: 01:19:44

Well, I think when it comes to like studying history. Right. You got the political history. Where you study the major figures of that time period, the presidents, whoever.

You have the social history, which is the everyday people. And I think, even though this is fiction, the fact that it's more social history, because no one in it is a historical figure, no one is famous.

I think that it works like. I think if. If this had Churchill in it.

Seth: 01:20:10

Yeah.

Nick: 01:20:11

And then. And then it had a bunch of fictionalized characters and fictionalized dialogue, I'd be like, all right, you know, this.

It's a little bit different, but the fact that it's regular people.

Seth: 01:20:22

Yeah.

Nick: 01:20:22

And it's fiction. I still would look at it as a. Almost like a World War II document.

Seth: 01:20:28

Yeah. You know, did you do any research on whether or not they would actually pull people from the field if the rest of their family had died in the war?

Kyle: 01:20:36

That was a thing.

Seth: 01:20:37

Okay, that's what I thought. So. Yeah, so. So that makes sense. Like, they clearly did stuff like this in the history.

So you're just picking a version of that story and are telling it in a fictionalized manner with people who didn't necessarily exist.

Kyle: 01:20:51

Yeah.

Seth: 01:20:52

But types of people that did exist. So. Yeah. I think it's incredible.

Kyle: 01:20:55

Yeah. It's interesting they did that then, but now we, like, we. We don't have a. A good replacement birth rate. So right now we don't.

We're not birthing enough people to replace the aging population. But during World War II, they're like, keep one boy, Keep one man. Keep that sperm flowing. Now we're just like, it. No more kids. Except for me.

I got four of them. Yeah. So what do you think? You. Historical context.

Nick: 01:21:19

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:21:19

You think?

Nick: 01:21:19

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:21:20

Dig it. Yeah, I do, too. Sticky Bomb, man. And I love what you said. That was my biggest rub.

Well, it's my biggest rub with the Patriot and Braveheart, both incredible films.

Seth: 01:21:29

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:21:30

But, you know, there is a balance. It's like, is the history interesting enough to not have to add a bunch of crazy shit.

Seth: 01:21:37

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:21:37

To it. And the Patriot was great, but my one thing was like, God, you added a bunch of weird stuff. And then. Same with Braveheart. Braveheart was so.

It's just Pulp Fiction, but it was great. But it was just. Yeah. But here, like, I feel like Spielberg knew, like, I've got to respect veterans.

Seth: 01:21:52

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:21:53

You know, I got to respect my grandfather, like, and he did that by not adding to those elements. And the piece that drove the story with Ryan was. Was just realistic enough and relatable enough to.

To say that this isn't so fictionalized, that it's. That's Pulp Fiction.

Seth: 01:22:08

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:22:09

It was very, very well done. So I give it a huge. Especially compared to movies like epic movies like. Like Braveheart and Huge Sticky Bomb.

Nick: 01:22:16

I had a history professor in college who referred to Braveheart as an amusing little skit.

Seth: 01:22:23

Fantastic.

Kyle: 01:22:25

It's true. I mean, you know, and. And some of that's. Mel Gibson has a.

Seth: 01:22:29

He.

Kyle: 01:22:29

He loves the fantastic when he directs. He really loves to lean into. A lot of his films are like that where.

Seth: 01:22:35

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:22:35

I don't know what it is. Cocaine. I don't know. But it's like.

Nick: 01:22:41

I think a big part of it's just being Australian. Yes.

Kyle: 01:22:44

That's. Yeah, that's a good point.

Seth: 01:22:46

I always forget he's Australian, dude.

Nick: 01:22:48

I mean, they got everything we got. Everything is just bigger.

Seth: 01:22:52

Yes. And more. Wants to kill you.

Kyle: 01:22:55

Yeah. Spiders that will kill you.

Seth: 01:22:56

Yes. Well, it's like, I always forget that Russell Crowe's not Australian. He's a Kiwi.

Kyle: 01:23:01

Oh, yeah. Really?

Seth: 01:23:01

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:23:02

Yeah, That's. Which is even crazier.

Seth: 01:23:03

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:23:04

You ever hung out with Kiwis, man?

Seth: 01:23:05

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:23:05

Oh, my God.

Seth: 01:23:06

Absolutely. Some of my favorite people.

Kyle: 01:23:07

I know, but wild, too. Seven to zero. Clean sweeps. Sticky Bomb. And, man, I really enjoyed revisiting this movie. I was really worried because it just. And I did.

I had nihilism. I was just thinking, you know, there's gonna be a bomb. We're just gonna die. But kudos to Mr. Spielberg. I. I think a near perfect film.

Seth: 01:23:27

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:23:27

And we're gonna go take a break and we're gonna do Mr. Smith goes to Washington next.

Seth: 01:23:32

Come back next week. It'll be a good time.

Kyle: 01:23:33

What shows do you got coming up?

Nick: 01:23:36

I got smokes and jokes in Murfreesboro at Liquid Smoke.

Seth: 01:23:40

That's every second Monday.

Nick: 01:23:42

Every second Monday. So July 14th and then July 18th, third coast comedy.

Seth: 01:23:48

We'll both be there. We're both on that show, so it'll be a good time.

Nick: 01:23:50

Yeah. Shout out to Allison Summers. Booking us on that show should be good.

Kyle: 01:23:53

Yeah. Smokes and jokes have been around for how long now, bro? Coming up on our seventh year, Matt Taylor still doing. Yeah, Matt. Shout out to Matt Taylor.

Nick: 01:24:01

Yeah.

Kyle: 01:24:02

Great show. It's one of the best. It's one of the longest standing Nashville shows.

So if you're in the area, which we have a strong Nashville contingency, please go out and support local comedy.

Seth: 01:24:09

Yeah.

Nick: 01:24:09

Love on us. Yep.

Kyle: 01:24:10

I'm Kyle.

Seth: 01:24:10

I'm Seth.

Nick: 01:24:11

I'm Nick.

Kyle: 01:24:13

Gotta take a piss.

Movie Wars

Episode 98

22nd Jul 2025

Saving Private Ryan with Nick Bush

Transcript

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About the Podcast

About your host

Kyle Castro