Episode 88

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Published on:

27th May 2025

Speed Racer with Will Abeles

Got it! Here's the corrected version with Seth as the Speed Racer defender instead of Will—and still optimized for SEO and your voice:

🎙️ Speed Racer: The Cult Classic That Was Too Ahead of Its Time (ft. Will Abeles)


Start your engines—because this episode is pure candy-colored chaos. Touring comedian Will Abeles joins us as Seth defends one of the most misunderstood movies of the 2000s: Speed Racer. That’s right—Seth’s calling it his third favorite movie of all time, and he’s ready to die on that rainbow-striped hill.

We dig into the Wachowskis’ wildly ambitious adaptation, from its unapologetically cartoony VFX (2,000+ shots!) to the way it wears its anime roots on its sleeve. This episode covers everything: John Goodman going full WWE dad, the monkey that tried to maul Christina Ricci, and why modern anime adaptations—especially Netflix’s—keep failing in comparison.


And yeah… we also talk about lost boobs, dad arrests, and why John Goodman might secretly be one of the greatest actors of our time.


📝 Show Notes:


00:00 – Will Abeles returns: from Collateral to Chim Chim


04:30 – Seth makes the case: Speed Racer is a top 3 movie


07:50 – Why the Wachowskis were way ahead of their time


12:10 – How the film nails the anime-to-live-action formula


15:20 – The monkey that terrorized Christina Ricci on set


18:00 – The 2,000+ VFX shots and real-time editing chaos


21:30 – John Goodman, ninja-tossing, and unexpected emotional range


25:10 – Roger Allam’s villain Royalton: the capitalist king we hate to love


27:00 – Why Netflix anime reboots fail where Speed Racer succeeded


30:00 – Musical rants, dad horror stories & Arkansas drug busts

💥 Key Takeaways:




  • Seth argues that Speed Racer is a visionary masterpiece that critics and audiences just weren’t ready for in 2008.



  • The Wachowskis committed hard to an anime-faithful style—vivid colors, cartoony edits, and surreal VFX—with zero compromise.



  • Behind the scenes, the cast got physically wrecked: vomit, bruises, and a monkey nearly detaching Ricci’s chest.



  • John Goodman’s performance blends cartoon absurdity with heartfelt family drama—and somehow, it works.



  • Netflix’s adaptation pipeline could learn a thing or two from Speed Racer’s focused, fan-driven execution.



  • The film holds emotional weight beneath the spectacle, exploring family, competition, and identity in ways few adaptations even attempt.



Transcript
Kyle:

Foreign. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Movie wars podcast. The shame of Hagerstown is back.

Seth:

He is.

Will:

He has risen to the shame.

Kyle:

Last time he was the pride in the 13 minutes. We all took a piss in between doing these episodes. He became the shame.

Seth:

The weeks.

Will:

The 13 weeks.

Kyle:

13 weeks. So glad to have you back, man. He just did Collateral with us. Now we're doing Speed Racer.

Seth:

Speed Racer. My third favorite movie ever made.

Kyle:

Yeah. And I have to admit, I'm a Wachowski fan.

And the Matrix is not only one of my favorites, but I just think it's one of the most important movies ever made.

Seth:

V for Vendetta. Also insanely good. Insanely culturally impactful. Yeah. And then, then they put this out and no one knew what to do with it.

Kyle:

You described it to me and I never. I knew of. I had seen images of the cartoon I had never spent time with. And I'll be honest, the way you described it to me, I was like, I don't know.

Yeah, but I'll save my thoughts for later. But no, go ahead.

Seth:

I mean, here's the thing that, that, like, you have to understand. And I don't think the world was ready for this movie when it came out.

Will:

I don't think the world was ready when this movie came out.

Seth:

Yeah. Because statement. Yeah, we have.

Will:

Obama was the president. We were still just trying to wrap our heads around having a Kenyan in office.

Seth:

The Dark Knight just came out.

Kyle:

Coldplay did Viva la Vida.

Seth:

Ye.

Will:

I do know what. I do know what you're saying, though. Yeah, I know what you're saying.

Seth:

People weren't ready for what this movie was. And I don't think especially reviewers knew what to do with it because no one had really tried.

I mean, really, I think up at this point, correct me if I'm wrong, dude, check the date. When did the Dragon Ball Z movie come out? The live action one? Because I'm pretty sure it came out right before this.

And that was really all the world had as far as like anime live action adaptations.

Will:

And it was like the world of epics still. Like a lot of epics were still happening.

Seth:

Oh, yeah, absolutely. And so then you have this where it's. It's. It is the most traditional version of an anime TV show, but done so weird in. In live action.

But also, like most of the set pieces aren't even there. They're animated, but purposefully cartoony.

But it's like they're consistent with the style all the way throughout the down to the way, like the editing was done and the transitions were done where like people are floating across the screen.

And that's what's transitioning us from shot to shot, I just think was so far beyond what people were used to from movies at the time that it just didn't do well. But then you look at the live action animes that we're getting today and they all look like utter.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

In comparison to this. As much as I enjoyed the Avatar, the Last Airbender, live action, and they're getting a second season.

Like, it's, it's fine, but there's something, and, and I saw a video about this a while ago.

There's something that's missing and it's especially having to do with like, the costumes because even though when you watch Speed Racer, the costumes are all very vivid, very bright, they still look like real clothes.

They still look like people are, are wearing them and they went to the store and bought them, as opposed to most of these other remakes that are being done where they just look like they went to the costume store and, and pulled the costume straight out the bag. Like they don't look real.

And so for whatever reason, this had such a solid melding of everything it needed, but just at the worst possible time for it to come out, I.

Will:

Think, is part of that. Not the timings part, but is it like the. Okay, so like, like everyone loves Last of Us because of how many shots in it look like the video game.

Is it one of these? Like, it's just like fans weren't making, aren't making. Like, I don't know who, I don't know who made Last Airbender, but like, is it not.

Are they not a fan of the genre or a fan of the show? No, the anime, the people making it.

Seth:

From what I can tell, as far as the, the Avatar one is concerned, the people involved loved the original.

But it's Netflix that I think is the problem because they've been the ones who keep doing these, these live action reboots, but then they only do one season and then they cancel it because it is do well. And part of it is it comes down to the writing.

Netflix, as we've discussed on the show before, has a mandate that any of their original material now, basically the characters have to narrate what they're doing. So people who are listening but not watching know what's going on. It's. It's designed to be on in the background.

It's absolutely insane and it's stupid. But that I think is one of the Biggest problems. But also, it's. It's this idea of, like I said, the. What you're seeing looks completely manufactured.

Will:

Yeah.

Seth:

Whether or not it is, it looks that way. It looks like set pieces. None of it looks like you're in an actual world. Yeah. And so even with how cartoony the.

The animation looks in Speed Racer, it was done with such a purpose. We have clear examples of. Of. Of King Kong and Transformers even at the time, like, a couple years before, where the animation just looks incredible.

They had the technology.

They could have made it look more realistic if they wanted to, but it was such a specific artistic direction that they went in that I think is what made it so good.

Will:

Talladega Nights. But it's Speed Racer.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

Amazing.

Seth:

howskis did this perfectly in:

Will:

See, I used to love films that had a narrator up top, like Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. I loved that he was, like, narrating up top and just be like, how'd I get here? Bo Love Robert Downey Jr.

So, like, it might have just been him, but, yeah. Now that I know that, it's like they're doing it just to be like, okay, you're. You know.

Seth:

Yeah. Well, it's not even having a narrator. It's. The characters will literally be like, I'm going to walk over there and get milk over here.

Will:

Yeah.

Seth:

Literally, it's like, down to that.

Will:

I'm going to not be able to not see this now.

Seth:

Yeah. Yeah.

There's a reason I don't really watch Netflix originals as much as I used to is because they've just devolved into being the elevator music of tv.

Will:

Wow.

Kyle:

They never land the plane. There's a lot of really strong premises that, like, the first 15 minutes, like, ooh, this could be good. And then halfway through, I'm like, they are.

They have just given up.

Seth:

Well, even they've worked with. With the Wachowskis, because the Wachowskis did Sense eight, and that was beloved by the Wachowski fans and just fans of the show.

And then Netflix, from what I can tell as the show went on, because I think it went three seasons, and then they finally let them do a finale episode, but they just kept getting too involved and not letting the Wachowskis cook with it. And then it ended it. And then the fans revolted and got them to let them go and make a final episode to close the series out.

Will:

It's like, what was Firefly?

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

The fans were like, Just give us something.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

Literally.

Kyle:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, you know, I was, I was, I was kind of shocked because I, I got into this movie kind of not knowing what to expect.

Having loved the Wicked, I fully expected.

Seth:

You to hate this movie.

Kyle:

Really?

Seth:

Absolutely. Your reaction to Tin Tin, I fully expected you to be like, this is.

Kyle:

I. For whatever reason, that they don't feel even in the same ballpark to me. Yeah, I know what you mean.

Because they're both like, pushing the boundaries of animation.

Seth:

That. And I consider them both to be very family friendly action movies despite having adult themes in them. They're very family friendly.

Kyle:

Yeah. I could get down with a family friendly action movie if. If. But still. Yeah. I don't know. 10. 10 just rubbed me the wrong way.

But I didn't react like that. Aside from a few.

Seth:

Like, you just didn't like the enabling, alcoholic dog.

Kyle:

That's true.

Will:

That's also funny. Like the Family Man's like, I don't like that. Tin Tin.

Kyle:

Yeah, yeah, that guy. Bring the Terminator in.

Seth:

Yeah, yeah.

Kyle:

No, I like. I, I like violent, scary, dark, depressing movies.

Seth:

Your wife agreed with me. So I'm right.

Kyle:

This is true. My wife. My wife hates my taste in movies. This is true. And I hate hers. Love you. Love you, hon. Happy Mother's Day.

Will:

Yeah.

Seth:

Call your mom after this.

Will:

I actually am. I am calling her after this. Part of my schedule today is talk to my mom after the podcast.

Kyle:

Mom of the pride of Hangerstown.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

Yeah. The true pride of Hagerstown. Of Abels.

Kyle:

Yes. Love your mothers and. Yeah. But no, I was. I found it to be refreshing. I hadn't.

I came to it later, but I was actually kind of like, really into the visuals.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Part of this too is like, I like, for some reason the past few years has been a journey of me, like, realizing John Goodman is maybe like a top five actor for me.

Seth:

I have just like, he's so good.

Will:

Yeah. That was a slow burn though, that career.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

Because it was like one of those days. Like, and fairly recently too. I feel like in the last couple years where you kind of went, man, this doesn't miss.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

He's been doing nothing but bangers for 50 years.

Will:

Yeah.

Kyle:

I'm about to finish up the righteous gemstones. Yeah. Everything. He. Even within that show, he has shown so much range.

Seth:

Absolutely.

Kyle:

Because he plays young Eli. And now I'm in for season four, spoiler alert. Where he's. He's like hippie Eli.

Seth:

I'm just like retired Eli.

Kyle:

He's just he's got so many shades and everything he's done with the Cohens. And I was kind of wondering, like, well, what's John Goodman gonna do in Speed Racer? And like the part where he is spinning the guy above his head.

And if I were good, if I were to read that on paper.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

That John Goodman in a Wachowski film is gonna spin a guy above his head, a ninja, and throw him across the room and beat up all these guys. Like, that's.

Seth:

But the thing that sells it is, is the ninja backs up and he's got his gigantic arm there. And then it focuses right on that ring that's like World Wrestling Champion. And it's like.

Kyle:

Oh, it just works.

Seth:

Such a little detail that gives you such insight into the past of this character. Like, that's. That's another thing that they just do so well in this movie is.

Is, you know that every single shot is so meticulously planned out because the majority of the movie was shot on green screen, obviously. So when you're doing that, you have to think through every single layer of the background.

There's very little room for accidents to happen in that kind of situation. So when you watch it, you can tell every little detail is something that is adding to what is going on. Nothing is there needlessly.

Kyle:

Yeah. There's over 2, 000 VFX shots.

Seth:

Yeah. I'm not surprised.

Will:

Geez.

Kyle:

Yeah. I think. I think what part of it. What it comes down to. First of all, the performances are. Are spot on.

Seth:

What a stacked cast.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

I mean, every single person.

Kyle:

What I'm gonna say is that the performances, although they don't necessarily, like, push the boundaries of film or anything like that, they serve this story so well. Every character is bought in. And I think also it just comes down to the Wachowski is just executing.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

They just. They take on grand visions.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

You could boil it down to the Matrix. We'll just say one for now. V for Vendetta in this. Like, you look at these three movies, like they don't, like, take small bites.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Like, they're like, we're going to do this and we're going to do it right.

Will:

Well, like V for Vendetta. Just. Just even that one, like, it had such a ripple effect for like later years. Oh, yeah. Of like, just fans being like.

Like it create its own culture.

Seth:

Absolutely.

Kyle:

Yeah. They do these movies that just leave marks.

Seth:

Yeah. A hundred percent.

Will:

How many. How? I mean, I've probably said the phrase red pill.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

3,000 times the last two years.

Kyle:

And no one, no one ever said that before. The Matrix. That was not a phrase.

Will:

Yeah, like I literally was reading an article about Whitney Cummings being just the worst.

But they were like someone, I think someone tweeted back at her being like, can you just stop being this like red pill, I want the boys to like me comic. And then I was like, man, this, this phrase is everywhere. Yeah, yeah, but I know it. I get it. I understood it because it had. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kyle:

They bring stuff to life that. That's hard to imagine. Like the bullet time scene, this whole film with the. The. And I have a lot of randos about how that almost didn't happen later.

But like, and then the V for Vendetta thing, there's so many things that they've just visually ingrained. Like the mask, the Viva Vendetta mask. That is also, that's also like the, the costume version of Red Pill.

Like you see that everywhere, like in memes and gifs and. Is that how they say it? GIFs or gifts?

Seth:

Gifts.

Kyle:

I always forget I'm old.

Seth:

I don't care what the creator says. It's a gift, you asshole.

Kyle:

If it was a gif, you'd put a J in it, you J hole.

Seth:

Yeah. What are we talking about? A giraffe?

Kyle:

Yeah. What the. What the crud?

Will:

This, this turns so quickly.

Kyle:

Fuck you, man. Gift creator. But no, yeah, I know. I fully. I was. I fully expected not to like it. There's just a lot of things on paper.

When I was just reading about, I was like. And I don't usually. When Seth suggests a movie, I typically don't read about it. But because it was a cowski, I was like, oh, how did I miss this?

Will:

Yeah, yeah. I was like, oh, know it was them.

Kyle:

Yeah. I was like, I don't think I'm going to like this. And then I ended up really liking it. So maybe you don't really like us, which is why you haven't.

Maybe you really don't like Will special, which is why you haven't shared that either. I don't care if you like it or not. It is your job. Cuz you're listening to it again today. If you hate us so much, why are you here today?

Seth:

Yeah, you. You hate listeners.

Kyle:

You J hole.

Seth:

You rage people.

Will:

Yeah. Yeah.

Kyle:

Is it cu. It's Mother's Day. We're here filming on Mother's Day. What are you doing? You're not going to listen to this on Mother's Day.

But we don't care about our mothers we care about you.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

And you hate us.

Will:

Yeah.

Kyle:

You share. Love you.

Will:

It's funny because it's like. It's like, it's like doing your ads, except for you're just insulting the people listening.

Kyle:

Yeah. That's kind of what it's divulged to.

Will:

Yeah. Instead of. Instead of, like, buy this dick pill. You're like, you know what? You do need a dick pill.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

Yeah.

Seth:

We're the dick pill.

Kyle:

Yeah. Most. Last time you even saw it.

Will:

Soft.

Kyle:

Yeah, Soft gel.

Seth:

Normally you need the blue pill for. For dick stuff. We got the red pill, too.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

Nice. Nice.

Seth:

Thank you.

Will:

Good work.

Kyle:

You still here? Okay.

Will:

Not anymore.

Kyle:

No. We love them. We know we love them. That's just like. They know we're comedians. We love you. We're just joshing.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

That's another. We're just giffing.

Seth:

We're willing around.

Kyle:

Willing, willing, giffing. Jiffin. Oh, my God.

Will:

Renowned Emerson alums.

Seth:

Oh.

Kyle:

Oh, wow.

Will:

ow that they did this because:

Kyle:

Really?

Will:

Oh, wow. Yeah, man.

Kyle:

I didn't realize Emerson. I'm not gonna lie. I went to Arkansas Tech. I have no prestige.

Seth:

I went to Belmont.

Will:

Yeah. It's a good film school.

Kyle:

Okay. Yeah, cool. I'm gonna go to Emerson now.

Will:

They rejected me from the film program, put me in tv, and now I do nothing involving. I mean, actually, that's not true. I started comedy. I started stand up at Emerson. So I guess.

Seth:

Oh, there you go.

Kyle:

And this podcast.

Will:

And I did work in TV for a bit. So I did do my major for.

Kyle:

A while, but hell, yeah.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

The questions.

Seth:

Here we go.

Kyle:

Am I the only one that. Until I saw the first bubble, I texted you when this happened, I was like, is it just me or all these drivers dying in these explosions?

I, I, My first thought, and eventually they finally did show the bubble thing pop up. But I'm like, man, a lot of drivers are going to die in this PG13 movie. Or is it PG?

Seth:

It's PG13.

Kyle:

I was like, a lot of.

Seth:

There's a middle finger in it. So it's PG13.

Kyle:

I was like, there's a lot of people dying in explosions now. Eventually they show the safety bubble and they do talk about the safety features in the cars later.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

But at first I was like, oh, my God, all these people are dying.

Seth:

That's the thing, though. Like I said, there's just. There's so many details. Because next time you watch it, you're gonna see the bubbles at the. From the whole time.

Like they're there. They just don't show them directly until they need to show them directly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's. There's so much thought put into this.

Like, you can tell they absolutely adored the source material. Material. Like, there's so much love and care put into how this movie was made. It's just. It's so good.

Kyle:

Yeah. Yeah.

Seth:

There's a reason it's my number three.

Will:

I can tell. I mean, I can. You know, it's. It's one of those where if I wasn't on camera, I'd scoot over just a little bit.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

Bricked up. You are about this movie.

Seth:

That's why we got the couchesy in between us.

Kyle:

A lot of weird things happen on the Emerald couch.

Will:

Yeah. J.D. vance. It. Everyone's this couch.

Kyle:

I just had a funny thought. What if we combined every person that sat in that chair into one entity?

Seth:

It'd be quite a few.

Kyle:

That would be a wild person. Yeah, that would be a wild, wild person.

Seth:

No black people yet.

Kyle:

I know we ask.

Seth:

We've had some native. We've had a Native American, a Mexican.

Kyle:

A woman.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

We've even had a woman.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

The girls really say no. Except Mariana is always on board. But the other one, like, that's.

Will:

But she's personality. She's always like, yeah, I'm down. She's always there for her.

Kyle:

All the other ones are like, you want to talk about what?

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

Anyway, I'm going to get out of here.

Kyle:

Will's.

Seth:

We love all people.

Kyle:

No, we. Invites open.

Seth:

Yeah. So when are we voting for. For Chim Chim and Spridal for president. President.

Kyle:

That's a good question.

Seth:

The monkey.

Will:

Oh.

Seth:

The greatest use of Freebird in a movie, in my opinion. During the scene where they're riding the cart around. Oh, my God. So good.

Kyle:

Biggest surprise of the movie was bridal.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Hilarious. And. And you and I were texting. It's like now we're. We're used to good actors, like kid actors. Strange Stranger things just kind of change that.

And they just managed to group a bunch of really good child actors there. Yeah. But for most part, aside from, like Danny in the Shining, like, kid actors sucked most of the time.

Seth:

So bad. And especially when you can tell that they had to get an older person to, like, ADR their. Their child dialog.

Kyle:

Is that what they did?

Seth:

Oh, a lot of times. Yeah. You'll see some, like, little Children and you. The audio just sounds weird and it's because they probably could barely say the line.

And it was even worse than the shitty ADR they put over it.

Will:

Working with child actors is so. I worked on the Sound of Music. I mean, those kids were great and I loved all of them. But like, it is.

Seth:

You worked on the One in the.

Will:

60S, though, no, yeah, I worked on the 60s. I'm a time traveler. But it is like, it's bizarre because, like, some of them are very much kids.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

Like, you're like, oh, this is your first role and you're doing your algebra or pre algebra homework or whatever. And then some of them, like, they've been in it for a while.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

And they're like these jaded 13 year olds, like, smoking a cigarette on like every break we. You know, and it's very strange.

Kyle:

Yeah. That was Polly Litton. He stayed busy. Jersey Girl. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind.

Seth:

Oh, nice.

Kyle:

Yeah. And he's. He's continued to do things, so.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

Still acting now.

Kyle:

Yep, sure.

Seth:

One of. Here's the fun thing about the entire cast. Emil Hirsch is really the only straight character in the. The whole movie.

Everyone else is just cartoony enough that it feels. It makes the digital background feel real somehow, but they're not so over the top that it becomes the Super Mario Brothers movie. Or it's just weird.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

So my personal favorite character in the whole film is Royalton, played by Roger Allum, who. Are you familiar with theater?

Will:

A little bit.

Seth:

He was the original Javert in the London. Les. Mischievous then.

Will:

No, I'm not that familiar with theater is what I just learned in that moment.

Seth:

Yeah. Yeah. That's where he kind of got his big start. Acting was in. In. Or at least his big break acting was. He was Javert in the 80s when the.

When the play first started. And he is so menacing in this.

Will:

You guys probably have a lot of Les Mis fans, especially the London production of it.

Seth:

Maybe. It's my favorite musical, so.

Kyle:

I don't think I have a favorite musical.

Seth:

Well.

Will:

Oh, come on. Yes, you do.

Kyle:

Why sing a song. To quote Jerry Seinfeld, who sings why?

Will:

I mean, it is like. That is the funny thing about musicals.

Seth:

Your favorite is Joker too.

Will:

I haven't seen Joker too.

Seth:

I haven't either, but it's a jukebox musical with Lady Gaga. It's gonna be terrible.

Will:

Yeah, I do like that about, like, musicals where it's just like a plot point's about to happen and we're gonna tell you about it. And then they just.

And honestly, the way my brain works is I, like, zone out for, like, the whole song because, like, I just, like, want to watch the rest of it.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

You know what I mean? So I'm just like, all right, song time. Let's get through and. Okay, now we're back to it. I'm like, wait, all the plot was in there?

Seth:

Yeah. Well, that's the thing is, back in the day with, like, Rogers and Hammerstein. None. There was no plot in the songs.

They would take a topic from a moment and then riff on that for six minutes and then get on with the rest of the story. Now they've got to the point where, like, no, you're going to listen.

You're going to listen to every fucking word that we sing, because that's where all the important shit is.

Kyle:

Where did I put my vape pen?

Will:

Goddamn Hamilton. Yeah, okay. Fun, fun, fun fact.

Julie Andrews, they had to rewrite all the music to fit her voice because she couldn't do the range of the original score for From Roger and Rogers, Hammerstein. Carrie Underwood, though, adjusted her voice to do it the way the original score was written.

Seth:

Interesting.

Kyle:

Wow.

Will:

Yeah.

Seth:

So you worked on that one. Okay. The TV one. Okay. I didn't know if you were talking about, like, just some. Some, like, New York production.

Will:

No, no, no, no.

Kyle:

Sorry.

Will:

I should have clarified that.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

I worked on the Sound of Music Live on NBC.

Seth:

I didn't know if you were again, going back to a high school.

Kyle:

No.

Seth:

Now instead of throwing out the first pitch, now you're helping with the school play.

Will:

Yeah, I mean, they have asked me to come back since he's moved on.

Kyle:

From being the shame of Hagerstown to being the burnout.

Seth:

Yeah, listen, kids, now, they have no expectations.

Kyle:

He's just sitting out in the park. Crap.

Will:

stant. Sound of Music Live in:

Kyle:

The evolution of this man just before our eyes is amazing.

Will:

I didn't carry underwear when she was a liberal. Oh, that's share Brussels sprouts. Just constantly, just, like, starting a new cigarette every time, not even finished the same one.

Seth:

Anyway.

Will:

Yeah, you're all shit. Your parents are shit.

Kyle:

Just 15 partly smoked cigarettes in an ashtray.

Will:

A dare. A dare officer walks in, he's like.

Seth:

No, they're all camel crushes, but he hasn't crushed the bulb.

Kyle:

Funny thing you say about dare there. Like, in high school, one of the most notorious drug dealers in my school wore a dare T shirt.

Will:

Almost every dude, I wore a dare T shirt for, like, all the College. I thought they were the best. The best shirts. Yeah, I would if I can find one. Now for 57 at Buffalo Exchange, I will spend all 57.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

I was homeschooled, so my drug dealer was the pharmacist.

Kyle:

There you go.

Will:

Oh, my God. You wearing a. The idea of your parents doing, like, the DARE program for you would be so funny.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

Your dad's playing like, your dad's strung out. Like, you're like. This is what happens when, like, she's, like, cracking the egg. Like, this is your brain on drugs. That just makes you an omelet.

Seth:

I think I've got a new bit. Thank you, Will Ables.

Will:

You're welcome.

Kyle:

Yeah, my dad being a narcotics officer was enough to share that stare at.

Will:

You know, your dad does the same.

Seth:

Thing, but it's, like, way too intense.

Will:

Like, he brings in, like, an actual, like, crackhead.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

He's like, you see, I arrested.

Kyle:

I did go to the jailhouse. I did meet people my dad arrested a few times. And it was. I mean, of course my dad's job was to pretend to be them.

Seth:

Yeah, but you were also in small town Arkansas, so you probably knew them already.

Kyle:

Yeah, I did. I was like, oh, you arrested? No. This is a funny story. It's funny you guys keep talking about. I know it's a movie podcast, but, hell, we're comedians.

My dad, one of the biggest drug busts he ever did. So my dad came. This is thinking about this now as a wreck. I can't believe they let my dad near a school.

Dude drank a liter, a handle of whiskey a day, didn't brush his teeth. Dip just. He was a wreck. I mean, he was a true wreck. And they let him do your father.

What do they call it when your dad would come and talk about what he did?

Will:

Like, yeah, and my dad came. Whatever.

Kyle:

My friend Ashley comes up to me. We were friends. I didn't have many, but Ashley was my friend and she came up to me. She's like, your dad arrested my dad.

Funny enough, my dad arrested her dad. He was a huge drug dealer and they seized his houseboat. It wasn't a yacht. It was like a redneck version. It was a giant houseboat.

Seth:

Like a hundred foot houseboat.

Kyle:

Yeah, Luxury. And we freaking use the water slide on her dad's. After they seized it, my dad took us to the lake. We fucking water slid off her dad's houseboat.

And she walked up to my dad and she was glad. I guess she knew her dad was a bad. But he arrested her in an undercover sting. And I fucking water slid off his boat.

Will:

Small town, Arkansas. You can't beat it.

Kyle:

No.

Will:

That's amazing.

Seth:

This is so good.

Will:

I also, I just like, because we established when we're talking about this during Collateral, like, your dad looking like Matthew McConaughey.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

Detective. Like, I love the idea of that guy now trying to speak to, like, elementary school students and, like, while still drinking the whiskey.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

Like. And, like, yeah.

Kyle:

Drunk in the school. Not joking. Drunk.

Will:

Sir, can you please just put the flask away?

Seth:

Cigarettes. Medicinal. Yeah.

Kyle:

And my dad didn't know how to tie a tie. And he was wearing a suit as I. I think he borrowed it. And, like, it looked exactly like. You would think that, like, in a movie.

Like, the tie was dangling. It wasn't even. The knot was bad. It was like halfway down his chest.

Seth:

He's just staring into the distance, chain smoking cigarettes. How could I die?

Will:

One day. Yeah, yeah, Just your narcotics father just coming. It. I mean, it's a short film right there.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

Is this what your book is about?

Kyle:

It's a book. Yeah. Yeah. I've got a literary agent. We're selling the book right now. So. Yeah. Godspeed. We'll see. But, yeah. Randos. I love.

This is why I love having comedians on the show. We just go wherever.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

Chip. Someone had hoped her, like, just paused it or just muted it, and they're like. I think they're talking about the movie again.

Seth:

That looked like his rando's face. Yeah. Some people have an O face. You have a rando face.

Kyle:

Oh, rando. They can feel, even if it's on mute, they feel that vibrancy in the chest.

Seth:

To him.

Kyle:

We all.

Will:

Their pants.

Kyle:

We all love chim chim, right?

Seth:

Yes.

Kyle:

The monkey, real Chim chim, was a. Was a gnarly beast on set.

Seth:

Oh, I'm sure.

Kyle:

Apparently on day one of filming, attached him. He lost it. Attached himself so hard to Christina Rishi's, Reese's, Richie. Richie. Her left breast.

So hard that she said that she thought he was going to tear it off. And she was on. She actually had a. She feared monkeys before, and she was interviewed and instead of validated her fear of monkeys.

Will:

Yeah, she thought.

Kyle:

She thought the monkey was going to tear her breast off.

Seth:

Here's the thing. We should have learned this years and years ago when Ronald Reagan worked with the chimp, y' all. It's never a good idea.

Will:

Whatever.

Seth:

I mean, same thing. Chimps are just so temperamental that, like, they're always a nightmare on set. Like, but it's just like.

That's one of the earliest instances of, like, I forget who. This guy who used to interview imitate presidents.

He would get up there, and he was Arnold Schwarzenegger, and he's just like, I don't get why I can't be president. Ronald Reagan worked with a chimp. I worked with Danny DeVito. It's the same thing. But it's like, yeah, we've known this for years.

Chimps are the worst to work with of all the animals. Like, they're even worse than horses. Yeah, yeah. And they're.

Kyle:

They kill people.

Seth:

They're just like us, and they want to fuck everything. Like, chill. Let's stop bringing chimps on set.

Will:

Funny.

Kyle:

Poor Christina Ricci.

Will:

And she's had, like, a. Like, Christina Ricci is like one of those. That's like. She's been in Hollywood since, like, day one.

Seth:

Oh, yeah.

Kyle:

The Adams family.

Will:

Yeah. So you just have one of these, like, it's another story where she's just like, casper.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

Monkey almost ripped off my boob.

Kyle:

Yeah. War stories.

Seth:

Oh, my God. Yeah.

Will:

That's wild.

Kyle:

The actors described. They used these gimbals that were like, these racing rigs for the actors, and they strapped them in, and they.

They said that they got beat by them, basically. Emile Hirsch was interviewed, and he said, they slammed you around. You get bruises.

And while shooting Christina Ricci, once again, not only is she about to miss a boob, she vomited several times and got motion sick from being tossed around. And the actors all said they were getting slammed around in these things.

Seth:

Yeah. I'm not surprised. I've seen the footage. I remember when I was a kid, we watched all the behind the scenes, and, yeah, it's.

It's crazy what they were doing, but, I mean, clearly it worked for what they ended up putting out.

Will:

That kind of focus is so wild to me is like, being able to be like, got to do the lot, you know? Like, I couldn't get through venom drinking a beer while my. My seat was moving, you know? And now. Now it's like, I have nothing to complain about.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

ey had so many vfx shots over:

Seth:

Oh, yeah.

Kyle:

And so they were filming, and they would send to the editing room because they knew if they knew that they waited till the end, they would have zero money to edit the film because they had. They were. So they were doing it coincidentally, VFX guru John Gator Called it a nightmare to shoot that many VFX shots and to edit it real time.

Seth:

Oh, yeah, yeah. This was before we were used to it with, like, all the Marvel shit, so. Yeah, like that too now, huh?

Will:

Do they also do that? Oh, is that how they turn around so quickly?

Seth:

Marvel? Yeah, probably. I mean, 90% of what they do is visual effects shots.

Will:

Oh, my God.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

The things you learn.

Seth:

It's so weird when you watch the actors talk about being on those sets. It's like they're not even really acting. They're just given a line.

Will:

Oh, yeah, right there. Always suck.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

Yeah.

Seth:

It's so strange.

Will:

Yeah, it's just like them strapped to something and then like. Yeah, like, they have, like, balls all over them and then just, like, whipped away.

Seth:

Yeah. And the only thing that's going to be on camera is their face. They animate their hair, they're going to animate their body. Like, it's so weird.

But, yeah, this was kind of the beginning of that. But this, again, this was done which. With such particular artistic direction that it worked for. It's kind of like Spy Kids 3D or.

Or Shark Boy and Lava Girl. Like, the animation is purposefully shitty because he was trying to emulate a certain style of video game.

Or, like being in a dream world with Shark Boy and Lava Girl. Like, it's done with specific intentions, so it tends to work.

Kyle:

This is crazy. So I didn't know Matthew Fox, who played Racer X. I guess he's famous for doing Lost.

Will:

Oh, yeah, he is.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

I haven't seen Loss, so I haven't either.

Will:

Oh, my God.

Kyle:

He said this was one of the most terror. What?

Will:

I think he's Jack. I gotta look that up.

Seth:

I heard the ending was shit, so I just didn't watch it.

Will:

Yeah, you guys are. How about that? How about that, huh?

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

No one's ever defending the end of Lost, but I'm over here. I'm gonna defend the end of last.

Kyle:

Go ahead, do it.

Will:

It was fine.

Kyle:

Yeah, do it.

Will:

It's like Seinfeld. You're just like, yeah, it's over.

Seth:

I mean, don't get me wrong, I feel the same way about Game of Thrones. I thought it was fine. Like, there was just people who hated it were just bitching the.

Will:

Well, no, Game of Thrones did suck.

Kyle:

I still haven't seen it.

Seth:

No, my name was perfect. I figured the ending was going to happen that way. Like, it's so obvious. If you pay any attention, like, well, the people.

Will:

The reason people got mad with Lost Is there were so many, like, storylines that just never ended.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

They just were like, yeah, we'll just move on. We'll do a new storyline.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

So that's what, like, really started upsetting people. And then the end was sort of like that, where they're like. Because you just kind of went, what the fuck is the island?

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

You know, so that's really what. People were mad. But I was kind of like, yes, is fun.

Kyle:

Yeah. It was a burned down waffle house.

Seth:

Yeah. My directing professor in. In college, he assistant directed the final season of Lost.

Will:

So it's his fault.

Seth:

It's 100. His fault.

Will:

Interesting.

Seth:

I was. It just. It always tickled me that that was, like, his big claim to fame.

I'm like, your big claim to fame is you assistant directed the worst season of Lost?

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

Not. Not to make this a Lost podcast now, but that. Yeah, my. Like, that was one of those. I don't.

I mean, there's shows like that now, but because we can stream them. There's a little. Because, like, Lost, you had to, like, wait.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

And then you'd, like, watch the next week. Like, we had Lost parties in high school.

Seth:

Like, oh, yeah.

Will:

Show up and watch it. And then they'd be like, all right, now we're on Wednesdays. We're moving back to Sundays.

Kyle:

Okay.

Will:

Now we're on Tuesdays. And, like, it would. It was. Or they'd be like, okay, you're not getting an episode for three weeks. You're like, what is happening?

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

We are trying to be consistent here. I just want to watch it. But, like, it was. I mean, I can't think of anything since then that people like, yeah, I guess Game of Thrones.

Seth:

But that was definitely the last one.

Will:

Yeah. Where it's like, people, like, got together to try and, like, watch this. Yeah, we have to see this.

Seth:

And I think. I think people got so furious with the ending that it kind of stopped. That kind of ruined culture.

Kyle:

Matthew Fox was terrified. I guess he grew up on a ranch in Wyoming with no tv. He had never even heard of Speed Racer.

Seth:

Oh.

Kyle:

And he said he was terrified to work with the Wachowskis after he read the script, but he had complete faith that they would make him look good.

Seth:

Hell, yeah.

Kyle:

But he was actually petrified to make. To just do the movie.

Will:

What made it so scary? Just because he was like, what is this?

Kyle:

Yeah, I think just seeing what it was and. And knowing, like, how they were going to make it and the intensity and knowing who the Wachowskis were before I.

Seth:

Need to read the screenplay because I want to know how they described this on paper. Because it, I'm sure if, if you just had what was on screen described on the page, you would be like, what the is going on?

Kyle:

And you, you have to have gravitas because the way screenplay, screenplay writing works, you can't describe this in a screenplay. Because if you're a first time screenplay writer and you're trying to sell, like, why do you have all these descriptions?

Seth:

Yeah, you're like, tell me what happens. I don't care what the, the surroundings look like, just tell me what happens.

Will:

But then if it's your movie, like, have you ever read Tarantino scripts? Yeah, they're so funny.

Yeah, like I, I read the Inglourious Basterds and like there was also like parts of that that like there was a narrator they cut out.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

Like, I mean, the whole thing. But it's funny, like listening to his, seeing his direction where he's like. And then just get in there.

Kyle:

Yeah. Really, really hit him hard. Yeah.

Will:

You're like, Jesus.

Kyle:

It's not just hit him with bad. It's like he hits him with a bat and then he like smirks and then he like gets blood on his face. Then he snorts coke and then he hits him again.

Will:

Yeah.

Seth:

You can hear his voice. He's writing for himself.

Will:

Right.

Seth:

He did write other things and sold them and that's cool. But like, I feel like he understands the difference between like, I'm writing for someone else to direct this and I'm writing for me to direct.

Will:

So.

Yeah, I mean, I'm not surprised that like a lot of the, the films and TV shows and comics that we watch, like, they're, they are the way they are because it's like it's, that's a money game.

Kyle:

You know, they're picking actors that way now.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Ethan Hawke just did a. He had a clip go viral because he was.

Seth:

Well, because Maya Hawke was talking about it. She brought it up in an interview and then Ethan Hawke was like, what.

Will:

The, what was the, what were they talking about?

Seth:

Maya Hawk was talking about how she doesn't have social media.

And so that has affected the roles that she can get because the execs and, and people casting have a quota on how many followers their actors are supposed to have? Social media.

Will:

I mean, how many musicians do we see in town that are absolute dog and they're like, I mean, you could take 10 of them, line them up and oh yeah, this is the same person. I don't know any difference between these 10 people.

Seth:

Yep.

Will:

But then you go on social media, and you're like, oh, yep, six million followers.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

Okay. And, like, I couldn't tell you their songs. I couldn't tell you anything about them, but I just know that they're on my. My feet. Yep. Yeah.

I'm not surprised that with. With. With celebrities and actors and stuff now. Yeah.

Seth:

But she's saying that she's expensive now because she doesn't have followers, but her.

Will:

Dad is Ethan Hawkeye.

Seth:

She's really proven herself.

Will:

Yeah.

Seth:

Like, she's had her own career, and it's just like. Yeah, it's hard for her to get roles because she's taken the healthy decision to not be on social media.

Will:

You know, I've always had, like, the few agents I've worked with, not.

Not as a performer, but just like, in my TV days, I used to work under a director, and then I would work with his people, and they were all, like, not the agents, but the agent assistants. And those people were, like, lovely. Like, I enjoyed working with them. But I do always question what mindset you have to.

Have to get into that side of it where you just go, okay, I can't. It's like. Like the. You know, those that can't teach. Teach gym or whatever it is, but, like, way darker.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

You know, and I do wonder how you get to this thing where you're like, is it.

Is it a group of people that are so bitter about not making it as an actor that they're like, I want to destroy this thing that I love from the age of, oh, there's, you know, and there's some people, I don't think. I think they're just like, no, I just like this job. I like entertainment industry, and I just like being a part of it.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

Because there is excitement around there, you know, getting a deal done no matter what the job is. It's exciting.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

But I think there has to be, like, especially now, there has to be a huge group of people just being like, I just want to destroy this.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

You know?

Kyle:

Yeah. I mean, that was.

I mean, my agent liked my book, but ultimately it came down to the fact that this podcast has such a big following because, like, without my social media followers, even though he loved the book, it wasn't enough. It wasn't necessarily sell it.

Will:

Right.

Seth:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kyle:

That was what it came down to him, like, really? Can you just say you like the book? Like, you can pretend like social media, nothing. Could you just say you liked it?

Yeah, like, not tell me, oh, you have 70,000 tick tock followers. Like, oh, fuck. Okay. Yeah, so.

Will:

And it's so wild because, like, just as someone who's trying to be more serious about their social media, it sucks. Yeah, it's exhausting. And like, I posted a video the other day. My friend, she's fairly popular and Instagram, Instagram.

And she like messages like, hey, you cut this thing too quickly. Because, like, so we missed the joke. And I literally just put it up there because I knew I needed to post that day. I didn't care what it was.

And I was like, yeah, I'm literally just posting the post. She's like, well, that's stupid.

And I started the rant and be like, no, this is stupid that I'm doing this right now so I can promote something that hypothetically exists in three years. You know, I was like, this is crazy. Like, I just want to go tell jokes and write.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

And then I was like, I'm not going to fight with this person. They're my friend and they're trying to help me, you know. But I did have that moment of like, yeah, this is just.

You know, I have a friend that back home, he's a follower and he just posts a tick tock because it's fun. Like, he literally just plays the games on it. And I was like, God, I wish I could just do that.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

Like, I'm so envious of the people.

Seth:

That get to just use these tools.

Will:

As just what they're supposed to be, which is entertainment, you know, like, oh, it'd be so nice.

Kyle:

Last rando, the Wachowskis. It's really interesting to me how much because you suggested this movie and I just thought, oh, it's the Wakowski. They get to do whatever they want.

Will:

Yeah.

Kyle:

The studio was not happy about the anime. They weren't excited about the vfx. They pushed back a lot and they. They wanted this movie to be more anchored in reality.

And you'll love this because you like anime more than I do. But they want even.

Seth:

I'm not even that deep into it. I just dipped my toes in.

Kyle:

Matthew Blevins is deep into it. He came on the Kill Bill podcast. That dude knows his. If you want to hear about anime, go back to our kill.

Will:

My brother's really into it. Then, like, when he starts talking to, like, I don't know anything about anime. Truthful. And same when he.

My brother starts talking to someone that knows it. You're like, oh, this is a culture. It's yeah. Like where it's like, like people say, like, like right now it's a fad to, like, Lord of the Rings.

It's just like got together and we just watch men being honest. Yeah, all right. Yeah, that's true.

But, yeah, but like, when there's, like, when you meet, like a real Lord of the Rings fan, they're like quoting stuff about Faramir and you're like, oh.

Seth:

Hell yeah, that's me. I'm. I'm that guy.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

Yeah, Feanor.

Kyle:

But they knew how important this. The anime roots were going to be and they wanted to honor those. So they fought back.

Seth:

Because you're adapting an anime.

Kyle:

Yeah. So, I mean, they went to bat for it and it turned out well. Even though at the time. Yeah, that's another thing too. I'd have a random for this.

But it got absolutely lambasted by critics.

Seth:

Yeah. Again, they didn't understand it. Nothing like this had ever been done before.

Kyle:

Yeah. $120 million budget. 93 million. A lot of that was global. But now it has a cult. It has a cult following.

Seth:

Massive.

Kyle:

People have caught on later and really love it.

Seth:

You go on. On. On Reddit and the Speed Racer subreddit is just blowing up with people who absolutely adore this.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

What was this around the same time as this is the only movie? I generally have a hard time saying, like, I hate a movie.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Right.

Will:

And I think Sky Captain in the World of Tomorrow was one of the few movies that at the time that I saw it, I was like, I hate.

Seth:

I've never even heard of this.

Will:

Really. It was. Because I think it's around this time. It might have been a little bit early, actually.

l, so it would have been like:

Seth:

Okay.

Will:

But it was like Jude Law. And I think it was around the time that. Sorry, I'm forgetting what the movies.

Kyle:

That was:

Will:

2004. And the big. The one of those genres that was coming out at that time was. It was Frank Miller, Sin City. Sin City.

Seth:

Oh, yeah.

Will:

Around the time of Sin City. So they were trying to, like, capitalized in this, like, sort of cartoony.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

World. So that's why I'm sort of surprised that Speed Racer didn't pick up because it was sort of like that era of like.

Seth:

ber in City Stuff came out in:

Will:

Oh yeah. Ironman:

Seth:

You had two of the biggest movies ever come out within a month or two.

Kyle:

Genre defining films.

Seth:

ro craze really, beginning in:

Will:

Yeah. The pride of cocaine, Robert Downey Jr. Made. That was like the start of his just like absolute ascent.

Seth:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I mean, and I'm sure there's enough. There's a whole list of other.

Because:

Just disappointed that this got buried the way it did just because so much other big shit came out at the same time.

Kyle:

Yeah. Shall we erase.

Seth:

Let's do it.

Kyle:

Shall we pretend to not be a brother and fake our death, but secretly long to be reunited with our families?

Seth:

Shall we get sucked up with bubbles?

Kyle:

So we get sucked in with bubbles and not actually die?

Will:

The neighbors got sucked up by bubbles.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

Jesus.

Kyle:

Yeah, we didn't really comment on that. I, I, maybe we should. I don't know if I'm going to edit it out or not, but during the podcast it sounded like someone died next door.

Will:

Fell down the. There was no bang, though.

Kyle:

No bang.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

Oh, we were talking about Hitman last time. Maybe the best hitman came in. Maybe it's all together. Yeah. Maybe you guys are like actually getting way too into this and you planned.

Seth:

All of it and Harrison Ford's a hitman.

Will:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Will's going to go tell all the other comedians name.

Will:

Do not do that podcast. It's weird.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Will's going to tell everyone else that Seth and Kyle are just out here killing people.

Seth:

But with my.

Will:

But I find that it's someone that I want dead and I'm like, oh, man, I do like it.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Yeah. It was Tony Hinchcliffe. No, just kidding. I knew, I knew the exact name that would get Will going. All right, if we dig.

If you dig it, if you love it, if it's a yes. Pancakes are love. That was one of my favorite.

Will:

Pancakes are love.

Seth:

So good.

Kyle:

That's one of my.

Seth:

That whole scene is incredible. Quick side note about the movie.

Last time I watched this movie before this time I was tripping so hard on mushrooms really, that literally like people's faces were like bubbling and morphing and shit.

But I Realized as I'm watching this, it was like this was made for people tripping because it is nothing but flashing moving lights and close ups of the most delectable looking food you've ever seen. That scene in particular. Masterpiece.

Kyle:

Anywho, I'll have to watch it on club soda.

Seth:

Yeah. On top of Chico on ayahuasca.

Kyle:

Boy, it's bubbly.

Will:

I'm on Benadryl. I'm feeling great.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

I actually not to, but I have had Benadryl. Like, it's like when you have nothing in your system. Like, no alcohol. Nothing was great.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

Because I was like, stuffy. I took a Benadryl and I was like, I got the best sleep my entire life. And I was like, man, that really hit me hard. I was like, oh.

Because I've had nothing in my system that's like, not just water.

Kyle:

Yeah. Benadryl addiction's on the rise. I just read about it. It's a thing.

Seth:

I got it. You take too much at once and you can trip balls.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

Well, that I knew. But I just. I just meant, like, I've never had it hit me as hard as it did, except for the one time I had a.

Like, I think the doctor gave me a shot of Benadryl.

Seth:

Nice.

Will:

That's the best ever felt. Yeah.

Kyle:

If it's negative, if you don't like it, if it's a big no. Spear hook.

Will:

Spearhook, Spear hook.

Kyle:

Top bill cast. Here we go. Speed racers. Top Bill cast. That would be Emile Hirsch. This menu needs to get. On my way. Matthew Fox, Christina Ricci.

Seth:

That was it.

Kyle:

Yeah. Surprising. John Goodman's not in the top Bill.

Seth:

Or Susan Sarandon.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

Fascinating. All three great. Everyone again. Speed. Like, Emile Hirsch played such a great straight man that even. Even the subtle cartooniness of.

Of Christina Ricci's Trixie was just so good. Like, everyone complimented each other. Everyone fit in this weird, fantastical world they created but never felt over the top.

So, yeah, it's absolutely Pancakes or love for me.

Kyle:

Boom.

Will:

Yeah, I'll say Pancakes. And I think Matthew Fox in that role was like that Drew in the Lost People. Yeah, right. Because that's that era.

Because I was thinking, I was like, man, I don't think he's ever been top Bill since then.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

You know, but yeah, that's. I mean, the whole. I mean, yeah, just those three alone is great.

Kyle:

And I loved it. I absolutely loved it. I was really shocked. And Emile Hirsch does play it very even.

It took me a minute to adjust because I was like, he's not showing a lot of dynamic here. But then I started to seeing how all the other characters are more, like, you said, cartoony, that you actually said it perfectly.

Will:

Yeah.

Kyle:

So it's good that we had one person to kind of anchor, to kind of be a counterpoint.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

To the craziness.

Seth:

And I. I haven't seen it yet, but I'm pretty sure it probably is mimicking the way the cartoon was done with that just a position.

Will:

Ash Ketchum's kind of like that, too.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

Pokemon, where he's sort of the anchor.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Anyway, it kind of feels like Christina Ricci could have been in one of the greats. Like, I think she's good, but I just don't think people talk about her often. But every time I see him, like, she's great.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

Yeah.

Seth:

She's been in some incredible movies, too. Like, she's. She's had a very solid career.

Will:

So I have a friend that worked. I forget. Oh, remember, she was in. I don't think it was talked about much, but she plays Zelda Fitzgerald. And it's basically like.

I think it was a miniseries. I don't think it was, like, a full series, but it was on Hulu or something like that.

And my friend worked on it as, like a second or something, but he was like, after working with her and, like, kind of just picking her brain and like, she. She's like, really knows the, like, Hollywood well.

Seth:

Oh, yeah.

Will:

Like, she's very. And he was like, I have, like, so much respect for her.

Seth:

I mean, like you said, she's been in it since the beginning, so.

Will:

But, yeah, I agree with you. Like, I don't think she's talked about enough, and maybe she kind of wants it that way.

Kyle:

Yeah. It's interesting. Like, her life. And then I just listened to the Billy Corgan, Corey Feldman interview. Corey Feldman, on the other. Did not fare. So.

I'm not laughing because it's funny. My God.

Seth:

So it's laughing because it hurts.

Kyle:

It hurts.

Will:

I mean, it's. It all comes down to the. Their. Their. I don't want to say home life, but, like, their support system.

Kyle:

It absolutely does.

Seth:

100%.

Kyle:

Yeah. All right. One to zero. Supporting cast. We got John Goodman with that spreadsheet. I love it. It's so good for me. Two for two keeps me on rails.

Oh, are you. Oh, Two for two spreadsheets. Oh, don't throw more numbers at me. One to zero. No, I just mess around. John Goodman, Susan Sarandon. We got.

There's so many people Roger alumni as Arnold Royalton. Fantastic. Polly. Yeah, Polly lit as spriteal. There's so many people to talk about. The inspector was Bano Ferman, who I really liked, who was the.

Oh, Tejo. Rain is his name.

Seth:

Yeah, Rain, yeah.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

I'm pretty sure he's a. Don't know which country he's from, but he's like an Asian music celebrity.

Kyle:

Ah, he was really good.

Seth:

Yeah, he was fan tastic.

Kyle:

And anyone else. There's a lot here.

Will:

I think that's isn't the guy from Shogun. He's in it. I saw that when I was.

Seth:

I think he's Inspector Detector. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kyle:

What do you think?

Seth:

No, I. Look, the fact that John Goodman is considered support. Fine, whatever. Holy shit. Just him alone would make this incredible.

But Susan, see, here's the other thing. John Goodman had the big over. Not over the top, but like louder than life kind of personality.

And Susan Sarandon had that calm serenity that made speed not seem so weird. For being as straight and calm as he is, their juxtaposition together of being both sides of speed was really good.

Roger Alum is one of the most terrifying villains I've ever seen in this without being. Again, over the top. He was just perfectly menacing, but also a little wacky with the way that he would give his soliloquies and his speeches. Yeah.

Obviously, Chim Chim's bridal completely stole every scene they were in. But even down to. Yeah, the other racers, like just the other side characters. Everybody was memorable for some reason or another, so.

Absolutely pancakes of love for me.

Will:

Yeah, I, I, Yeah, it's. And I miss that era of like, just, like, just, just throwing 20 celebrities at us.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

20 actors at us all in, like one movie.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

Like, I don't know if we have that now.

Seth:

Every now and then, one movie will pop up where it's like, what the. But, yeah, it's, it's not as often.

Will:

And it's like if they do it, they're like, hey, we're doing. We're getting the band back together. And it's like Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and George Clooney.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

Like, all doing something.

Seth:

Yeah. I feel like Christopher Nolan at this point is the one doing that.

Will:

Yeah.

Seth:

Like, with everybody who's gonna be in the Odyssey, it's just, it's, It's.

Will:

Oh, yeah, yeah. The Odyssey. Right. But anyway. Yeah, Pancakes for me, that's. I mean, the supporting cast is just. That's phenomenal. And like.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

If you had just had John Goodman and that was it. Because I would have been intrigued. You know what I mean? I've been like, okay, why John Goodman signing up for this.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

And no one else.

Seth:

Yeah. You know. Yeah.

Kyle:

He does pick interesting work. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I go supporting cast. We were talking about before we hit record, but I. I want to talk about how, like, my 30s have been.

A lot with film has been about realizing John Goodman's like, a top five actor for me, like, because I've watched him and we talk. When we talked about Big Lebowski, one of the. The things that we talked about was how he was really insecure.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Because he was on Roseanne and he felt like he could never. He could never not be a sitcom guy. And, like, that was incredible because he's.

Will:

He's so good in Roseanne too.

Kyle:

Yeah. And he's just very self critical. He actually was quoted saying he thought he ruined the Big Lebowski.

Will:

Really?

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

Because he's like. I mean, he. I'm not gonna say he steals it because obviously.

Kyle:

Oh, he. I think he does, but, I mean.

Will:

But it's like his character's iconic.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

He's the perfect counterbalance to Jeff Bridges, the dude. Like. Yeah, it's. It's every scene they're in together, you can tell they're just feeding off each other's.

Kyle:

Yes.

Will:

Did you. Have you seen that new theory that Donnie is a figment of John Goodman's imagination?

Kyle:

Yeah, I did see that because he's.

Will:

Only addressed one time by. By another character, Jeff Daniels. Yeah, that's the only. He only says it, like, one time. Sorry, Jeff Bridges. Yeah, only one time he says.

He just says, like. But he's like, he's commenting after the.

Kyle:

Fact, and it would make sense with his nom. Background and maybe his PTSD and.

Will:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, like, oh, I like that.

Kyle:

But, yeah, I think one thing the supporting cast does, too is that everyone is. Is fitting into the scheme. You have this crazy hyperbolic anime going on and these saturated colors. No, everyone is playing into it really well.

And it feels like they're almost part of the art. And I don't think. I don't think without the Wachowski's direction and without these actors doing that, I don't know that I.

They may have stuck out, like, sore thumbs, like, you might have noticed, but everyone blends in.

Seth:

There's a lot that had to come together to make this work as well as it did.

Kyle:

Yeah. All right. Two to zero writing the Wachowskis, and obviously the original Creator of Speed Racer, the cartoon. But.

Seth:

So this is only speaking as someone who. Who loves the movie, has no prior history with the show. The writing is so good. It's like, down to just the simplest of lines.

But it'll do the thing that I love where it'll subtly give you something that someone says near the beginning of the movie and then actually impactfully bring it out in the end, not make it sound cheesy. The big one that I love is when his mom is talking to him and she's just like, the things you do is art.

And it's like when I see you do the things you do on the racetrack, it takes my breath away. And then bringing it back in that montage when he's about to win the Grand Prix. And it's just. It's so well written and so well called back. It's.

It's so good. So it's pancakes for me.

Will:

Yeah.

I mean, I was reading a little bit before we started just to, like, kind of freshen up and like, I thought that was wild that this has been in what they call it. They call it production hell or pre production hell since 92. And I. So, like, just.

That alone, the fact that they presented something that finally Hollywood was like, all right, we'll do this.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

Like, I think that's just so impressive. So.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

Did you have any research on. On who it started with and, like, how. Why it's been. Why it was in production hell for so long?

Kyle:

Well, the. The. Basically the IP was. The hardest part was that once it became available, it's just they didn't have. Know who, like, was gonna do it.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

And then I. Beyond that, I really don't know, but I just know it got kicked around as a property for a while.

Seth:

Okay.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

Yeah.

Seth:

Okay.

Will:

Interesting. But, yeah, pancakes for me. I mean, it's.

Kyle:

Yeah, pancakes are love, man. And I. I think my first thought is that Spridal had no business being as funny as he was.

Seth:

Yeah, his.

Kyle:

His dialogue, the lines. They had to find the right kid to do it, the right adr, whatever, you know, that was.

Seth:

Well, he. No, that was his voice.

Kyle:

Oh, okay.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Okay.

Seth:

No, I'm talking like, old movies, like, from, like the 70s earlier. Half the time you see a kid, it'll actually be an adult doing the kid's voice.

Kyle:

Yeah. Because you see the bad lip syncing.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Like, you see it. Yeah, he's. He's hilarious. Like, in. In a lot of this dialogue, like, is. Is really good. Like, it serves the film very well.

And I always love it when the directors are the writers. Like, I love that.

Seth:

Like, when he's talking about throwing chim chim cookies at him. Yeah, it's just. It's so good.

Kyle:

Yeah. I just. I just think it's top notch. I think it serves the story really well. And I think the characters develop really nicely and they're all very.

Even the. The family that. Who is it? How do you say his name? Rain. The actor Rain.

Seth:

Yeah, yeah. The Tokokan family.

Kyle:

Yeah. Like, they're. I love their part in it. Like, I think every character, sir. Like, nothing stuck out to me as a bad character.

And that goes down to writing. I think it's very consistent. So 3 to 0. And we can really thank the spreadsheet for that. Yeah. Directing the Wachowskis.

Seth:

Yeah. Obviously, for me, it's their best film. Shockingly underrated. I wish more people knew about it when it came out.

I wish it had done better in the box office. Clearly, once they got a hold of the ip, they had a vision and they delivered the vision to the letter. Like, it is so well done, so well thought out.

The crazy transitions and shots. Like, it's almost as if there's no cuts in the movie. It just feels so fluid.

Even though you're going to tons of different places all within like a three minute scene, it just. It feels so seamless. So, yeah, for me, it's Pancakes. They did such a good job with this.

Will:

Yeah.

I mean, I feel like I've been influenced by Seth and his love of this movie because I do remember, like, in college, specifically with the Wachowskis, like, almost like mocking the movie coming out.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

Like, I've been really college film nerds. That we know everything.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

You know what I mean? We were. We were the Next generation.

Seth:

The greatest film ever.

Will:

Yeah, it is.

Seth:

No.

Will:

Okay. But I do remember being like, they're doing Speed Racer.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

But, yeah, I think they did a great job. And they like. Yeah. I mean, honestly, if I hadn't heard Seth say, like, how much of the vision that they had that they. Now I'm like, seeing it.

I'm like, yeah, okay. Yeah. So I'll. I'll say Pancakes.

Kyle:

Yeah. I go. I go Pancakes too. I just love that they big. They take big chances.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

You know?

Will:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess that's how I was sort of saying.

Kyle:

Yeah. They put themselves out there. They're not afraid to talk to studio down.

And it's still amazing to me that they had to, like, earn the cred to, you know, after the Matrix to do the CGI and.

Seth:

And V for Vendetta.

Kyle:

Yeah. It's like, you don't trust these guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Will:

That is crazy to think even just the first Matrix tricks, that's it.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

You don't just go, yeah, do whatever you want.

Kyle:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. If they hadn't earned the trust by now. Yeah. No, I think it's fantastic. And the only problem I had was I think it could have been a little shorter.

Seth:

Sure.

Kyle:

There was a little bit of a lull at the 75 mark, but that's literally. That's it. Like, I just. I. I have, like, two qualms, and that was the first one, so. And. But no, not. It wasn't enough to take me out of it.

But once it picked up again at, like, the 95 mark, the close was super strong and I thought it was great. So.

Seth:

Yeah. That whole final race scene is so good.

Kyle:

Yeah. Yeah. My favorite scenes are all when the family's together.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

It's actually not even the racing, I just think. And that. And that goes back to the writing part, too. I mean, it's like, those scenes were really well written.

Will:

Yeah.

Kyle:

The interactions were fantastic. Like, all my favorite. Like, the garage.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

At the beginning. I love when they're in John Goodman's garage and that bomb comes in and he, like, breaks the mop stick. Like, just funny little decisions like that.

That were big, big character moments in simple times.

Will:

Yeah.

Kyle:

So.

Will:

Well, and, like, going back to the casting, like, everyone had some pretty decent chemistry.

Kyle:

Yes.

Will:

You know, like, they all understood their assignment with the roles.

Kyle:

Yes.

Will:

You know, they weren't just like. And so, like, what's the. So what's my motivation behind this? It was just like, hey, here's what we're telling you. Here's a script.

And they were like, got it.

Kyle:

We're in, like, Speed and Trixie never felt like a couple. Like, they're together, but they met when they were kids and they do a good job kind of just making them seem like, like. Like lifelong friends. Like.

Yes. They're. They're in a. They're in a relationship, but.

Seth:

Well, that's kind of the thing when, you know people who've been in an actual healthy relationship since they were literal children.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

It just. That's how it goes. They just seem. They seem like family because that's what they are. They have become each other's person.

And while they're still very, you know, individual characters, they are very much extensions of each other in a lot of ways.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

Yeah.

Seth:

It plays so well.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

That is something that you see in couples, for sure.

Like, I remember, like, not to dump on my ex, but there was like a time I would like watch another couple interact and be like, we would never fucking do that.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

And I mean, it's a negative on our side and a positive on their side. I was like, they seem so silly.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

I told a joke once that we didn't talk for two days.

Kyle:

Let's dump on your ex. What's your biggest insecurity?

Will:

No, I don't. I'm not, I'm.

Kyle:

I'm just messing. But really, four to zero. What's in front of us? This is going to be an interesting category because there's a lot in front of us.

So much cinematography, production design, sound, costumes, editing, stunts. And we should add visual effects here for sure.

Seth:

Yeah. And. And I think, I think y' all know how I'm gonna go on this. Like, it's just.

Will:

I would love if you didn't though. I would love if you were just like. You know, actually this is my biggest qualm.

Seth:

Yeah. Just the animation was too cartoony. I wish they had actually filmed in like real sets. Like, how did they not build the Grand Prix? Like.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

Fuck is wrong now?

Will:

Come here.

Seth:

Fucking incredible speedway. Yeah.

Kyle:

Craig Head Street.

Seth:

Yeah. Oh, my God. Just like the, the. I love, I love the three act structure and how every different location that they go to looks so different and unique.

Like it just. Every part of the design of this movie, the way the camera is moving between characters during my.

One of my favorite parts as far as just like a conversation that has no business being this interesting is when Trixie is driving in the cross country race and going up those. Those. The hatchbacks and the cameras bouncing between the cars. But it's all technically still one shot.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

What a. What a fucking unique way to do that.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

There is so much visually about this movie that no one, no one did before. And I cannot think of many people who've even tried to emulate it today.

Kyle:

Right.

Seth:

Especially in the live action anime genre. So, yeah, 100%. This is some of the most incredible creative visuals I've ever seen in a film. So it's. It's. Yeah. Pancakes for me.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

Yeah. Same. I mean. Yeah, I mean, yeah, you don't have.

Seth:

To love it as much as I do, but.

Will:

I mean, I don't love it as much as you do for sure, but.

Kyle:

Like, the Emerald Couch has vibes, but.

Will:

No, I mean, it'd be weird for like us to get this far into it and then just be like, yeah, but I couldn't stand watching it.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

You know, but yeah, I think everything was shot really well and all that.

Kyle:

No, I, My. The only negative I had was that there were not.

It actually wasn't many, but there was just a few scenes in the racing where I kind of lost track of what was happening.

Seth:

And that's fair.

Will:

Yeah.

Seth:

And there's a lot going on.

Kyle:

There's a lot of colors. There's a. The track is cgi. I mean, there was just like so much that there were just a few times.

Luckily it wasn't a lot because I think if it was a lot, it would have been a problem. But there was just a few moments like where's happened?

Like I thought people were dying for a minute and then I was like, oh, okay, I see what's happening there. They have these bubbles. And then for a minute I was like, are these real cars? Is this. Are these virtual cars? Is this VR? Are they playing VR?

But aside from that, I give it a total pancakes for love because I, I think, I think it's an incredible feat. Again, they did it with the Matrix and they're doing it here. They're pushing the boundaries. And like you said, it was not well loved at the time.

Got a 42% on rotten tomatoes, which was generous because stupid. Some of the critics really hated it.

Seth:

That's so. And dumb.

Kyle:

But now it's. It's copied. And it's also.

What's funny is it's copied in a way that makes it look really good because the new, like you said earlier, the new stuff that's kind of imitating it is not as good.

Seth:

No.

Kyle:

So I think people are kind of looking back like, oh, I think we should have appreciated that more.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

But I think you. I think you might hit the nail on the head when it's like if. Now that I.

Now that I remember that like Iron man came out and Dark Knight came out, it's like, oh, yeah. Why would I have gone seen that movie?

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

Why would I appreciated that?

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Yeah. Five to zero. And I need your a little bit of your help because this is your category idea enemy or anime. And a you.

Seth:

So yeah, for basically the idea I had behind this is like in terms of live action anime adaptations. Like how does this stack up? And obviously we've had plenty of discussions about this already.

Kyle:

Can you give us a few other films to counter? Like maybe.

Seth:

I mean the Dragon Ball Z is definitely the biggest one that people just lamp Bastard. The The M. Night Shyamalan Avatar, and even the new version of Avatar, Cowboy Bebop that Netflix did. One Piece. That Netflix did. One Piece is actually.

Of all of those that I just named, One Piece is the only one that people kind of liked but did. Still, there were so many problems that people had with the live action that I don't think. I don't even think One Piece is getting a second season.

I know Cowboy Bebop got canceled after the one season because it just got so hated.

Will:

Was that Netflix?

Seth:

Yeah, yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like, at this point, Netflix is kind of the only one trying to do these live action remakes of animes, and I just don't like them.

For me, I mean, even if you haven't watched them, I'm sure you've seen clips of things. I never watched the M. Night Shyamalan Avatar, but I've seen enough clips to know it's horribly done.

I've seen enough clips from the liveaction Dragon Ball Z movie to know it was. It should never have been made. How the fuck do you literally, like, make a prosthetic hair for a character? Like, it's just insane.

And looking at the ones that have been coming out recently, there's this weird, uncanny valley with them where nothing feels natural. Yes, they're real people. Yes, they're wearing costumes, but they don't. They don't feel like they belong in a world.

They look like they're a set piece. They look like they've been placed in this completely artificial viewing space.

And so comparing a lot of those looks to what they did with this, like I said earlier with the costumes especially, as vivid and bright as the colors are, they look like actual clothes. They look like a real suit or a real polo that someone would wear. Even if the colors are very kind of Tim Burton esque as far as when he.

When he goes extra colorful. So for me, it stands up above any of the other live action remakes that I've seen just because they.

They somehow found a way for this entirely artificial world to feel natural somehow.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

I mean, honestly, it's almost impossible for me to have a opinion on it because I don't have anything to compare it to. Yeah, because I haven't seen Dragon Ball. I haven't seen Last Airbender. Did I see them? Night Shyamalan1. I might have seen it.

So if I'm comparing it to that.

Seth:

Yeah, yeah.

Will:

But yeah, I mean, it's hard.

Kyle:

I mean, maybe another way to spin it is, does does this open your mind maybe to being that.

Will:

I would say yes. Yeah, that's also. Yeah, yeah. That, that I'd be like. Because now I kind of want to be like, all right, well, what is being compared to this?

You know what. What is? Or not being compared to. Trying to emulate it. That. Yeah. So in that way. Yeah, sure.

Kyle:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. This one's a skosh over for me or a squeak over because I love it and appreciate it.

But it's funny, I was wondering, I was like, could this maybe get me into that world? Because it's a world I've been curious about, especially since we have blevins on for Kill Bill. Because he was like describing it.

I was like, wow, it's this whole world and.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

But it's funny. Like, you're gonna laugh at this.

When I, When I turn on the TV for my kids to watch, like, there'll be the Samsung whatever is on the Samsung channel. Live streaming.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Sometimes it's anime and I instantly get overwhelmed.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

I'm like, oh my gosh, I don't know what this is. It's like, yeah, yeah.

Will:

I remember that with Dragon Ball. Cuz I had some friends that were really into it. My brother was really into it.

And I remember like, it was one of those things where I was like, there's too much for me to try and catch up on.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

And like, so that's why my two brothers are able to talk about anime. Because they're a part of the whole thing. They take the time to watch all of it.

Like, what's the one that's like, considered like one of the best ones? And it's on TV shows or movies. I think it's a. Well, I think the books are considered excellent, but I think now the show's going well. I don't know.

And it doesn't matter, but like, it's very long and there's a lot of. There's a lot.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

You know, and yeah, I completely. I understand what you're saying where you just go, I. I can't so much.

Kyle:

Yeah. And when you meet someone that's really into it, like, I'm afraid to like, say the wrong thing because they, they're.

Will:

Oh yeah, they get mad.

Kyle:

They get mad.

Will:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

I mean, I just did a couple weekends ago, did comedy at the Nashville Anime Convention, the Middle Tennessee Anime Convention. And yeah, I felt like such a poser just coming in. Because as much as I do appreciate anime for what it is, I'm a very surface level anime guy.

I like the American animes, which would specifically be for me the Avatar series and the Last Airbender in the CORA one. I love Studio Ghibli. I think everything that they have put out is just such a testament to artistic vision.

They've created some worlds that even other animes have tried to emulate and just don't do as well. But the moment you start getting me beyond things like Attack on Titan.

Will:

Attack on Titan. That's what it was.

Seth:

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I've seen most of that one. It was. Was good. Didn't really make me want to finish the whole thing, but it was.

It was solid for what it was.

Kyle:

Right.

Seth:

But yeah, there's just a style with anime that.

That when you try to get into something like Pokemon or Dragon Ball Z, where there's literally 10 different shows, that each one has like 300 episodes and action figures. Feel like you could get into it. But when I looked up the show of Speed Racer and so it was only 52 episodes and that's it.

Like, that felt approachable for.

Kyle:

ly. That's a very early, like:

Seth:

6,000, 768. It's. It's. I'm not going to say it's one. One of the original animes, but it's definitely one of the early ones.

Kyle:

Yeah. Yeah. It's a whole world and so I give it a squeak over. I. I really liked and appreciated it, but I. I still don't feel this urge to go.

Seth:

It piques your interest, but nothing beyond that.

Will:

Yeah, cancel my. Yeah, cancel. Cancel everything I have going and just be like, I'm watching this for the next two months straight.

Kyle:

Yeah. And it really does speak to how good the movie is because I. I don't like the genre, I don't like racing movies, and I don't really.

And I don't like anime.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

But I still was like, I like this.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

So it speaks to it. But it's a squeak because I'm not. I'm not gonna go crack open the. Yeah, that. So six to zero until I make.

Seth:

You for a movie.

Kyle:

Yeah. That's the only way I encounter. Is Seth throwing me into the Snyder verse here. Race ism.

Will:

I really was like, oh, here's how we wrap it up. Yeah, here we go.

Kyle:

How do we feel about this as a racing film?

Seth:

I mean, I don't know if. If Fury Road's considered a racing film, but it feels like one for me.

Will:

Yeah.

Seth:

I put this up up in the same category as that. As far as quality. Fury Road is my number six movie ever made. I've just recently, within the past week, decided that interstellar little better.

So it's my number five. Fury Roads, my number six. Equally well done for such vastly different reasons. Where Mad Max goes minimalist with the dialogue.

This has such a unique way of, of expressing the world of racing, but also giving us all of the backstory we would ever need without ever feeling like it's just two characters. Plot dumping.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Seth:

Like, in terms of the races themselves, I'm on the edge of my seat the whole time, and I've seen the movie a hundred times. Like, every time I'm watching just, just like speeds going down the mountain and then, oh, he's got, he's got the tire, like, tracks out.

Now he's climbing up the side of the mountain. Like, I just, I'm all in every time. Like, it just gets me excited every time I watch these movies. So, yeah, for me, 100%, it's, it's pancakes.

Will:

I mean, I think the greatest racing movie of all time is clearly the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I think that's obviously number one racing movie ever.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

And then, you know, number two, Talladega Nights Fair. Yeah, I, you know, you said that and I was like, I had to start thinking. I was like, what? Racing. I thought when I had to think about racing movies.

Seth:

Rush is a big one.

Will:

Rush. I was, I thought of the Phantom Menace.

Seth:

Now this is pod racing.

Will:

I was thinking of that and I was like, well, compared to that, it's pretty good racing.

Kyle:

And that. What's that? Christian Bale, Matt Damon.

Seth:

Oh, the Ford v Ferrari.

Will:

Oh, yeah, yeah. And then the other one with Chris Hemsworth. And that's Rush. That's Rush. Okay.

Kyle:

Fast and Furious.

Will:

Yeah, you said. I don't know what I was thinking.

Kyle:

All 17 of them.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

Yeah. But it's, yeah, it's a good racing movie.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I, I, until you said that, I have not thought about racing as a genre.

Kyle:

Yeah, it's a thing.

Will:

Yeah, no, it is. It's 100 thing. And I just, I just genuinely wasn't like. And I was trying to, like, rattle my brain.

I was like, what are, like, some of my favorite racing movies? And I like. Yeah, I don't know.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

But, yeah, this is great.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

I have a. It's hard to strip out my bias in this category because growing up in Arkansas, maybe this happened to you guys too.

But in high school, I remember Like Fast and Furious came out.

Seth:

Well, already I'm, I'm out because I go to high school.

Kyle:

That's true. That's true. Oh, you didn't go to high school. And you. You were. I think you went way after those movies came out, right?

Seth:

I never went to high school.

Kyle:

I mean, you were homeschooled.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

You, you, you, you. You accomplished the grades.

Will:

You.

Kyle:

You were in 10th grade. You. You went to a school, just not the high school. You went to a home school. Okay, sorry. I got to break it down for everybody, homes.

Seth:

Like home school.

Kyle:

So maybe you remember this. Remember when. Maybe this is small town Arkansas, but Fast and Furious came out. Everybody was putting spoilers on their cars. Spinners.

Will:

Oh. It was a personality.

Kyle:

It was a thing over. And they were racing at lights. They were racing out of the school parking lot. Racing became this pissing match thing.

Will:

You went to the duel. We had the dual highway in Hagerstown. Oh, yeah.

Kyle:

Yeah. And it was the most annoying. And I blame Fast and Furious. I blame racing movies.

And anytime today, because it happens in Nashville too, people get arrested all the time for street drag racing. I'm like, I hate it.

Will:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Maybe because I drive a Camry, I. I have a hard time with racing movies for that reason.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

This will be another squeak over. I think it's really well done.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Just sometimes racing just gets to me. I don't know. I'm just like, yeah. I'm like, yeah, a bunch of. Just get the pissing match here. You gotta race, gotta drive.

Gotta put a spoiler and spinners on your car.

Seth:

Yeah. It's just a real race dash ist.

Kyle:

Yes. Hey. Hate it again. I drive a Camry.

Will:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Yes.

Seth:

Not to be confused with a racist. A race.

Kyle:

Racism's bad. We hate it. It's horrible.

Seth:

Yes.

Kyle:

But yes, I. I do give it a squeak over because well done. It's again, kind of like the anime category. It's not gonna.

It's not gonna make me a race movie enthusiast again. It speaks to how well executed is the fact that I did like it.

But I'm not gonna go out and watch all the Fast and Furious again or anything like that. Yeah. This is one of those that looks it. Posthumously is respected.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

But, you know, at the time, they hated it. But we gave it a clean sweep here. This was great. Thank you for introducing us.

Seth:

Absolutely. You guys enjoyed it.

Kyle:

Totally redeemed us.

Will:

Been opened.

Seth:

I do that quite often.

Kyle:

Yeah, it's great. It's fantastic. Thank y' all. Make sure to go see, will you? Can check out the last podcast. He actually laid out all of his dates.

Would you have a website with those?

Will:

No, but you can go to bandsintown.com.

Seth:

He'S a band.

Will:

Yeah. Well, I mean that's what it's used one man band. Even in the in there's no. Yeah, comediansintown.com. everybody gets on.

But no, bandsintown.com is where I list all my ticket dates. And once I get back in at the end of June, it's continues on into July is kind of a.

And then it continues on into August and September and October and November and then. And then December.

Seth:

Nice.

Will:

Well, then I quit comedy.

Kyle:

Oh yeah.

Will:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Isn't it funny?

Seth:

That was an old Nate bar.

Will:

Yep.

Kyle:

That is stand up to a T.

Will:

I quit and I build myself a theme park.

Seth:

There we go.

Kyle:

Quitting standup is always on the table. I've quit three times.

Will:

I. I've like, I've never like. I haven't like quit quit but like I've had like breaks.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

Where I like even like what? I wasn't trying to take a break. It was just kind of like, maybe I'll just like spend time with my. Well now ex girlfriend.

Because that wasn't worth it. Should have been. I should have been at the mics, man.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Will:

But you know, there are times where you're just kind of like, oh, maybe I'll just like go enjoy the company of another individual that's not running a bit by me.

Kyle:

Yeah, yeah. It is fun. It's not an art form. Like I get home from the podcast, I'm like, that was good.

But when I get home, even if I killed, I get home, I'd be like hunched over like, oh my God.

Will:

So, so many times that. Yeah. I leave a show and I'm like, well, the fun part of my life is over and I'm just in my car like.

Seth:

Like, yeah.

Will:

Rehashing like even like the. Yeah, yeah, you can crush and you're still rehashing like yeah, but I missed that one.

Seth:

Yeah.

Kyle:

Said that wrong. This girl had cross eyed in the front seat and then blah, blah, blah.

Will:

Yeah, yeah. I was doing a show. Yeah.

Friday night we did stone cold sober and I like at the end we bring up an audience member now and I do like a almost like a trivia for the show and then like give them prizes. And I was trying to get this girl to come on and she was like, just didn't want to do it. And so I jokingly was like, you're a coward.

And like Someone yelled. They were like, no, she still wanted to. I was like, yeah, I know. I'm kidding.

Seth:

Kidding jokes.

Will:

And, like, you know, so I. And, like, the person. The other flame part was like, the person. This was fine. They're like, no, no, it's fine. I just don't want to do it.

Yeah, no, I got it. And so I brought someone else on, and then I gave them a drink ticket afterwards.

I was thinking about it later, and I was like, yeah, that really wasn't like, you really shouldn't have tried to force them. And then I was also like, shut up. Yeah, everyone had fun.

Like, you know, like, it was a moment in time where, like, someone was upset for a second, and then even they were like, no, I don't care. We're just telling you they don't want to come on stage.

Seth:

Yeah.

Will:

And I've been thinking about that for, like, three days.

Seth:

And on that note, I have to piss, so. It's great to see you all.

Kyle:

Love y' all. I'm Kyle.

Seth:

I'm Seth.

Will:

And I'm Will. Thank you so much for having me.

Kyle:

Guys, check his special out. Love, y' all.

Seth:

Movie horrors.

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