SPEAKER_04 0:00

On the love booth.

SPEAKER_05 0:02

It's exciting and new.

SPEAKER_04 0:05

That's our new intro, by the way.

SPEAKER_05 0:28

Greetings andor salutations and welcome to Imbibe Cinema. The Imbibe Cinema podcast is brought to you by the Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival, otherwise known as Bwiff. We are currently accepting submissions for our festival. We seek independent character-driven films of all lengths, styles, and genres. To learn more, please visit us at Bwiff.com. I am the Festival Operations Director and MC, Jonathan C. Leggett, along here with my co-hosts, Executive Director Michael Nowens. And Cinema Centennial Program Director Trisha Leggett. In this episode, we're going to be discussing Lucky Number 7, which oddly enough comes up as the wrong man when you're attempting to uh digital download off uh uh Apple. So that's weird. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

There's so many better names for the film. Like you could even call it the Kansas City Shuffle.

SPEAKER_05 1:18

You could. Uh speaking of which, that is the cocktail that we are buying. Uh and and no more uh can I say about this drink than um you look right and it goes left.

SPEAKER_04 1:31

For sure. I thought it was gonna be one thing and it ended up tasting like something entirely different.

SPEAKER_05 1:37

Yeah, it definitely looks like it should be this like almost sweet, fruity, cocktail-y kind of drink. And no, no Mescal and ginger. Um I mean it's it's it's tasty. Bitter?

SPEAKER_02 1:50

No, almost like a grenadine kind of feel. I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 1:53

It doesn't look very difficult. The pineapple also helps on the that does.

SPEAKER_04 1:58

You you know, it fools the eyes, it fools the nose, you think it's gonna be sweet, and then you're just like, oh.

SPEAKER_05 2:04

I've already drained mine, and the skull is really kicking in. Just saying. Um the recipe as well as pictures are available on our website, uh, imbibesinema.com. Um so lucky number 11. I absolutely love the twists and turns that this film takes. Um, the second time watching it, because I watched this many moons ago. Uh, but the second time watching this specifically is even more enjoyable because you get to see all of the tricks that they take, all of all of the breadcrumbs that they lie. Um and uh it's it's honestly a solid story from the start to finish. Um, Michael. What was the hook specifically for you in this film?

SPEAKER_04 2:44

So the hook for me, as strange as it may seem, it's probably because I'm a filmmaker. The seemingly never-ending list of executive producers on this film. I was like, hold on a minute. I have to back up because I feel like there has been over 20 producers on this film.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

You know what you don't know is it takes a village to produce this film.

SPEAKER_04 3:07

Absolutely. And I'm so glad that each of those producers did what they did to make this film happen.

SPEAKER_05 3:13

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 3:14

Even if one of them was I am grateful for all of the producers on this film except for one.

SPEAKER_05 3:21

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

Yeah. Alright, so what are we talking about?

SPEAKER_05 3:25

Oh, we're talking about Lucky Number 11. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:28

So what was the hook for you guys? What was the point where you're like, you know what? I'm in for the long haul. Yeah, well, and I mean I'm in for a movie I'm really gonna enjoy.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

I would say Bruce Willis. There was a time. No, you want the time? No. Just saying there was a time. You see, like, you know, that that oh is it Foxy lady back there? She's 70 if she's a day, but there was a time. And you're like, what the I have to watch this.

SPEAKER_05 3:54

Specifically for me, it's the moment where he snaps the dude's neck. Because again, you're sitting there going, like, what Bruce Bruce Willis is doing an awful lot of talking. This is this is kind of I mean, it's it's funny. Bruce Willis just gives this information. Oh, the reason I'm in town, in case you're wondering. It's like, I wasn't wondering what the hell is wrong with you, and then all of a sudden you look left, and they go right, snap. I'm like, oh shit, this is gonna get interesting. Literally, oh snap. No?

SPEAKER_02 4:23

And the the dialogue, oh my god, the writing for this movie. Uh I'm a big film noir fan. Yes. Uh I love the way they talk, and Bruce Willis's opening monologue to me just is beautiful. I love all of it. And part of the um part of this reminded me of like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang or Long Kiss Goodnight, which are things that Shane Black has written, and they're just very tongue-in-cheek, and yet they're very violent dark films. Like this is a very violent dark film. Oh, yeah. But the the energy and the the silliness that kind of goes with it, the humor, doesn't make it seem so.

SPEAKER_05 5:05

Well, but they even call out the fact that uh they rewrote uh Lucy Liu's character um a after she got cast, because Lucy Liu has a particular type of energy um that I mean she absolutely killed this role. I mean, it was beautiful. Her w her playing as Lindsay, her dialogue, her her pace, her energy, everything about it really sold.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

And you don't realize it because it's so well done, but in the beginning, you're seeing like there are there's like two different kinds of uh points of view you get. You get the general audience like observing the world at large kind of thing. Like you're on the street, somebody gets shot, uh, or um somebody shaving in front of the mirror. It's not like somebody's telling you a story or you're seeing their perspective, it's just general, hey, this is happening in the world. And then there's uh Lucy Lou's character, and basically the part of the Kansas City shuffle is you think you're following Josh Hartnett's story where you're really following Lucy Liu's story because all the information you're getting from him, you're getting from him sharing with her.

SPEAKER_04 6:18

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02 6:19

And that's the that's the that's the shift because you here you you you're not directly being lied to. It's not like they're playing a cheap trick on you. They literally have like it's set up where you just don't realize you're not following one, you're following the other.

SPEAKER_03 6:37

Right.

SPEAKER_02 6:37

And it's so well.

SPEAKER_04 6:39

Oh yeah. Yeah, very, very smoothly done from a uh a writer who you know has been working on this for a very long time leading up to this to a director that really embraced what the writer was going for.

SPEAKER_02 6:52

Everybody got it, and a lot of people uh seem to have joined the project because of the script, because of the directory.

SPEAKER_05 6:58

A lot of the big actors because of the script.

SPEAKER_02 7:01

Right. And I mean like Lucy Liu uh came after it for the script. Yep, yep. Uh and then Bruce. Like the production design is so unique and so amazing. And it's very it's funny because it's like a little 1970s, but then it's very art deco, which is very film noir. In fact, there are a lot of his old apartment, the black and white.

SPEAKER_05 7:30

Yes, or no, that's his girlfriend's apartment. This is his girlfriend's apartment, you're right. But the black and white patterns.

SPEAKER_02 7:35

Yes. But if you look at like the the place where uh Lindsay and uh Nick live, that apartment complex, the hallway there, uh, or uh the boss or uh the rabbis uh uh penthouses. Yes, if you put it in black and white, you're like, oh this is the nineteen forties. Yes. Even though our tech books are pretty much the nineteen twenties, but it doesn't matter. It's famous in the film no more.

SPEAKER_04 7:59

I wonder what the experience of this movie would be like in black and white. Right. Because of the contrast. Right.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Like the mist. Just some of the uh the shots like uh the the point where the uh the rabbi sends for him and uh he has uh two thugs coming to pick him up, and they punch him in the gut, and then he's like bent over, and then the shot is him bent, you're like looking up and you're seeing him bent over and the guy leaning over next to him going, I think you just want to get in the call. Like you just want to do what you're told. But it's such a weird shot, and it's so cool.

SPEAKER_03 8:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

And there are there are lots of shots like that, like the weird angle in which you've got uh Morgan Freeman and uh Sir Ben Kingsley when they're talking to each other because their backs are to each other on the way the camera angle. And then some of the shots where they go from one penthouse to the other, that kind of movement reminds me of uh is it Richie? Is it uh Guy Richie? Guy Richie stuff where it's like that speed up slow down.

SPEAKER_04 8:57

Yeah, right. The the yeah, it's like crazy speed ramps that he does. Yeah. Um with the cinema on the cinematography note when we were deciding to do this movie, and then you know, taking a look at some of the cinematography, the name of the director. I was I was like, I've seen this name before. And and uh Waker Park.

SPEAKER_05 9:22

Four episodes of Sherlock, specifically Study in Pink and Hounds of Baskerville. And that was He also did Luke Cage, he did Victor Frankenstein.

SPEAKER_04 9:32

But it was a couple episodes. It was Sherlock that was the click for me, and the reason actually going off of the cinematography, which is I think a lot of uh a drive from him would be my guess, because he is a clearly a very like out-of-the-box thinker when it comes to visual, you know, how are we going to explain this moment, share this moment? Because Sherlock that that grabbed me, I think, even before you know I really got into the show was how it was shot and how they presented um that story. And I feel I feel that with this movie it's very, very, very similar. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:15

The Study in Pink specifically is the pilot of the the the resurgence of Sherlock. And so the how how he handled text messages um specifically in that when when uh um uh oh crap, who's the Benedict Cumberbatch? Well, no, it is Benedict Cumberbatch, but it's specifically um the uh the the chief of police um Lestrade. Uh Lestrade is is doing like a press conference and he says something, and immediately all of the press's uh you know, phones start chirping because it's like, nope, that's wrong. He's got that fact wrong. It's like what the you know, like but like how he he shows the the words that everybody is then looking down at.

SPEAKER_04 11:01

It's just such a which is being done a lot now in TV and film and being done in the very similar way that Sherlock did, which I think is extremely interesting.

SPEAKER_02 11:11

Well, yeah, because you're inventing what texting is a new obviously relatively new thing, uh, especially in in uh representation of film. Yeah, uh, then this makes complete sense. It's it's a new form of grammar, like you know, just like a jump cut, and and that translates to to novels now. You know, when you write, you can write a jump cut and people follow it because they're it's like following a movie. Yeah. That didn't exist before.

SPEAKER_05 11:36

Though at the same time, I do say that uh uh Peter Sova, uh who is the cinematographer uh for this, uh has worked on Push, Gangster Number One, as well as Wicker Park. So these two have actually worked on a number of films together.

SPEAKER_04 11:49

Has anybody seen Gangster Number One? I've never heard of it until now. And now I immediately want to go see it. I don't even want to see a trailer or anything, I just want to see it.

SPEAKER_05 12:00

Well, I mean uh talk about this. Uh uh Malcolm McDowell.

SPEAKER_04 12:04

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05 12:05

Uh Paul Betney, Saffron Burroughs. I mean, there there's a there's a number of names on here, but I mean Malcolm McDowell, like that's that's a reason to watch a film right there.

SPEAKER_04 12:16

Right. Uh yeah, I mean I I I that's that's a movie I'm gonna be seeing in the next couple of weeks.

SPEAKER_05 12:21

Yes, 1990.

SPEAKER_04 12:23

I liked Wicker Park. I really enjoyed that movie. It was not a movie that was, I think, very well received, but um I do see I do see the connection from an artistry standpoint. Um, but I wouldn't have connected the two because obviously they're extremely different kinds of movies.

SPEAKER_05 12:43

Yes. So the next question that we have is uh uh at what point did you realize that there was going to be a twist?

SPEAKER_04 12:53

Trisha, I turn to you because you're the one that figures these things out.

SPEAKER_05 12:56

It was so long ago I don't remember. No matter how many times I I tell this story, it it it still hurts my soul a little. We're watching um episode seven of Star Wars in in the theaters. We're we're just yeah, spoilers. If you haven't seen it, honestly, one, I have no idea why you're listening to us talk about film if you haven't seen Star Wars. Like legit, not not because of us, but like if you're listening to a film podcast and you haven't seen Star Wars, I'd have to question. So we're in the theater and we're watching it, and I'm enjoying my popcorn and I'm enjoying the movie, and and Trisha just goes, oh no. And I went, What? And she goes, Nothing. And I'm like, What? No, what do you mean? You said oh no.

SPEAKER_02 13:43

Yeah, well, we just brought an old man to a Death Star to rescue a girl, and that normally doesn't work out well for them.

SPEAKER_05 13:48

And I went, No.

SPEAKER_04 13:51

Oh shit. And from that point on, John just enjoyed the popcorn.

SPEAKER_05 13:56

Yes, because all of a sudden when Han Solo died, I'm like, she she knew it. She knew it. How did she know?

SPEAKER_02 14:03

My father always used to say, You've seen this one before. And they're like, no, I was just paying attention. And I'm guessing. I'm guessing. Blinken, get down from that, you'll hunt yourself.

SPEAKER_05 14:17

Um random Melbrooks reference. Or is it? It was Plenty of the Foundation. Actually, I feel like all Mel Melbrooks references should be random. That's true. I think he would appreciate that. That's true. All right. Anyways. At what point do you feel that you realize the difference?

SPEAKER_02 14:33

I don't remember my first viewing of this. I just remember I fell in love with it. I loved every everything, every aspect of this film. Well, let me ask you. And the writing was especially uh amazing to me because most films I don't notice the writing. And in this one, I was like, the dialogue, oh my god, because films are a lot of show me, show me, and plays are a lot of tell me, tell me. And yes, that was redundant, redundant. However, well done. Thank you. Um, but yeah, movies, you know, especially like, you know, uh, speaking of random references, Eddie Izzard will tell you is American movies are like, you know, you fuck my wife, you fuck my wife, the explosion. Popcorn, popcorn, popcorn, popcorn, exactly. Meanwhile, Great Britain is all like, oh, Sebastian. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:19

Stacking matches.

SPEAKER_04 15:21

And you're like, do I eat the popcorn or do not eat the popcorn? Do I eat the popcorn or do not eat the popcorn? No, there's no rhythm to this.

SPEAKER_05 15:27

You had a you had a question you wanted to ask, Trey. In regards to this.

SPEAKER_04 15:30

Oh, yeah, no, I was just gonna say, all right. You may not remember the moment where you were like, oh, there's a twist here. Right. Were you surprised when the twist happened?

SPEAKER_02 15:39

I think I was. I feel like you need to because it wouldn't have been like such a great movie in my mind. Like exactly. But like in David Gale. Not a great movie for me because I figured it out in the first 30 minutes.

SPEAKER_04 15:48

Then I was like, well, I know what happened to David Gale. Because the moment you figure out something, you're like, oh, and then when it and ends up playing out even similarly to that, you're like, well, this movie was predictable. It was fine, but it was predictable.

SPEAKER_02 16:03

No, and uh, you know, here's the thing. I think a lot of them aren't predictable per se. Some great twist movies or you know, uh twist movies that I have figured out um are simply because they do an amazing job of foreshadowing and of uh symbolism, and I'm a I'm a junkie for that shit. Sure. So um, like David Gale, there were so many beautiful visuals that gave away what was going on that I was like, oh there are movies with plot twists that I did not want to watch because the trailer tried to give nothing away and therefore made it look like a dumb movie. Like, well, I remember seeing the trailer for Fight Club and went it's a bunch of guys are punching each other. This is a stupid idea. I do not get toxic masculinity. This is dumb. None of us do. And then it took somebody going, Well, if you're never gonna see it, can I just tell you what happens? And I'm like, Yeah, I don't care. And then they told me, I'm like, I need to see this movie.

SPEAKER_03 17:00

There you go.

SPEAKER_04 17:01

And then I ended up getting dragged to the movies. I ended up coming down to the city to meet with Trisha. Movie was amazing.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

I saw it for the first time in Paris, France. Ooh, Paris. Yes, because they don't they don't dub like the Germans. They uh they don't I guess they're dubbed. They subtitle? No, they subtitle. Yeah, because that's so French. Yeah, right. And so it was like, here's how I got cultured in Paris. I saw a fight club.

SPEAKER_05 17:26

See, now now I'm I'm I guess I'm just one of those people who does not overanalyze the film. Right. Um I I'm I'm just along for the ride.

SPEAKER_04 17:37

I try to be the exact same way. And and you know what? One of the things, like, especially from you know, as an actor and me as uh a filmmaker, um, I feel like I haven't lost my love for the craft. That's good. If I have the ability to just be in the moment and not think about it. However, there are movies that you do watch where you're just like, oh man. And then this is gonna happen. And then this is gonna happen, and then this is gonna happen. But I try not to I try to go into it and going, all right, I want this to be a great movie.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

Uh I I had uh we all watched um Lord Almighty give us strength. Can you start that again? Right. We went uh no, we watched the behind the scenes before uh doing the podcast. And Sir Ben Kingsley said one of the things that he loved about the film was, you know, I love that you you as a as a film goer, you don't think I'm an idiot. The director doesn't think I'm an idiot. Yeah, you know, that you have to be spoon-fed everything that you have to, you know, because some of the best films to me are the ones that make you go, wait a minute, what's going on? And you try to you're engaged and you're following. To me, I mean, again, it depends on the day. There are days you want your brain to be off. Yeah. And you just want to enjoy and you don't want to think. But there are great films. Like one of the things I I remember uh in the theater seeing where I hadn't seen a movie that engaged me so much in a very long time was when Matrix came out, and I was like, that movie made me think. I want to see that movie again. I don't think I caught all of that. What was your favorite plot twist film?

SPEAKER_05 19:14

Uh to me it's Sixth Sense.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

Oh my god, that was a good one. I loved it. And they did such a brilliant job of using symbolism throughout the like the red was all the hints along, and there were so many cues, and I missed all of them because I was so in the movie. It was great.

SPEAKER_05 19:32

I don't think I caught red until she just said it. Yeah, anytime there's close, there's red.

SPEAKER_04 19:36

You didn't know that? Oh, you're gonna have to watch that movie again. See, that's the best part I think about movies though with twists, is they're so much more enjoyable a second, third, fourth, fifth time. It's like an onion. There's so many layers to it.

SPEAKER_02 19:48

Uh I would say, like uh I The Usual Suspects was a big impact when we were kids. We watched that movie I don't know how many times.

SPEAKER_04 19:56

I remember watching this movie, The Usual Suspects, for the first time in uh my parents' laundry room sitting on God knows what. It was like a box or a treadmill or something, and it was like the old TV with like the door and and like it was one of those like old TVs where you could like the channel actually like turn the knob and something that would confuse the hell out of a millennial.

SPEAKER_05 20:24

Did it actually have bunny ears?

SPEAKER_02 20:26

Uh I don't think. We had one that did at one point.

SPEAKER_04 20:29

We did, it was the larger one. One in the basement. Yeah. And uh, but I do remember that that's how I saw the movie was on a a maybe 13-inch TV.

SPEAKER_02 20:40

And for anybody who uh was questioning why you keep your exercise equipment in your laundry room, I think it is the most practical place because this is where people hang their laundry.

SPEAKER_03 20:49

True.

SPEAKER_02 20:50

Uh what was the other thing? Oh, we watched the fugitive on HBO when it was in reverse. Remember that? Where it was like we didn't have HBO. But technology at that point it was like a reverse exposure, whatnot.

SPEAKER_04 21:05

Oh, reverse exposure. It was like um Oh, it was But we were so engaged in the fugitive.

SPEAKER_02 21:10

Like, it's not like you're actually watching.

SPEAKER_04 21:12

But here's the question did we have we'd seen it yet?

SPEAKER_02 21:15

I think we'd seen it already. All right. And we were like so ex so hooked on it, we had to see it again that way. The twist movie, the one that I really I think uh that I remember going, oh my god, I did not see that coming. That I really, really loved was the others. The others were. Oh, that was good. Nicole Kidman. So good. Yeah. Oh my god, I love that movie. And then I think I dragged you that movie after I saw it too, and I was like, come see this movie. And then there were teenagers talking, and I was like, shut up. Oh my god, I'm that person.

SPEAKER_05 21:42

I can't actually fathom the idea of you watching a quasi-horror film.

SPEAKER_02 21:46

You're talking about the same woman that like watched medium and even Ghost Whisper because they ran out of medium.

SPEAKER_05 21:54

She's not lying.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

It wasn't this has been confessed.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

Guilty pleasure confessions. But no, I mean, ever since I was a kid, I have all the like the dollhouse murderers, uh, which I highly recommend, by the way. Uh, if you want to traumatize your child, the best one ever would be Wait Till Helen comes. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 22:17

Oh yeah, you kept telling me about that one. So the movie for me, uh it's hard to pick one with a twist because nothing is coming to me where I I remember sitting in the movie theater or at home or wherever, basically engulfed in a movie and being blown away by a twist.

SPEAKER_02 22:37

How did you feel about Gone Girl? Did you see that coming?

SPEAKER_04 22:39

I was um very much disturbed by that movie. So I think therapy. I blocked it out until you mentioned it. That's a big adventure.

SPEAKER_02 22:47

Um marriage? Maybe not.

SPEAKER_04 22:51

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

Seven.

SPEAKER_04 22:54

Seven isn't so much a twist as it is like a surprise ending, like a the last movie that I saw that I can remember being so surprised by Inception. And it was because I knew nothing about the movie, really, um, going into it. And I saw it, it was one of the probably one of the first movies I remember going to alone because I just really wanted to see it. That ending shot I remember gasping, like, holy crap.

SPEAKER_02 23:29

I thought of another one. What lies beneath.

SPEAKER_04 23:32

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

You haven't seen that?

SPEAKER_04 23:34

Yes, of course I've seen what lies beneath. I'm surprised, like, oh, tell me. Tell me more.

SPEAKER_02 23:39

I mean, there's a twist.

SPEAKER_04 23:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

Uh, and there's a ghost, so I'm happy both ways. And there's lots of like Hitchcock references that make any Hitchcock fan go, oh, I know that one.

SPEAKER_04 23:49

And that was the goal.

SPEAKER_05 23:50

I'll add a second one to really mess with everyone's head.

SPEAKER_02 23:54

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_05 23:54

The Pokemon movie. The game. Uh-oh. That was a good one. We watched that one over and over. I watched that over and over and over.

SPEAKER_04 24:03

That is the third David Fincher film reference, by the way. We made tonight. Yes. The game, fight club, gone girl.

SPEAKER_05 24:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 24:11

Wow, we're Venture fans.

SPEAKER_05 24:13

We're gonna take a few more moments here to refill our glasses and get ready to imbibe more after this.

SPEAKER_04 24:19

Hey there, this is Michael with Imbibe Cinema, and I'd like to invite you to check out the horror thriller Johan from filmmaker Santiago Tamagnon. This film tells the story of a child-minded man named Johan, played by Norberto Trujillo, and he's guided by the voice of his father to defeat the demons that have taken over their town and save it. However, whether his father can actually be trusted is something that Johan has to figure out. It's visually stunning, and Norberto's performance is a must see. This Spanish feature film is playing on Imbibe Cinema through October 31st, 2022. And if you uh don't get a chance to check it out, I highly recommend you visit facebook.com backslash johanfilm. Learn more about it and support this incredible independent film. Now, let's get back to the show.

SPEAKER_05 25:16

You're listening, Imbibe Sinim. I'm Jonathan C. Leggett. I'm here along with Michael Noins.

SPEAKER_02 25:21

Trisha Leggett.

SPEAKER_05 25:23

And we are discussing Lucky Number Slevin. Are you enjoying this podcast? Please subscribe or follow us with all your favorite podcast providers to get all the new episodes as soon as we release them, which is every fortnight. Uh, rate and or leave us a review and help our show reach that larger audience. You can also follow Imbibe Cinema on Facebook and Twitter. And Instagrams. And Instagrams. Oh, we're new and sexy. At the Grams. We're on the Grams.

SPEAKER_02 25:51

Is it so it's not the Snap Grams or the chat grams?

SPEAKER_05 25:55

You heard her. Uh before the break, uh we we we had a number of conversations around twisty movies and uh uh what specifically drove the hook. Um but uh uh one thing I think uh you know the the cast in this was absolutely stellar. Um yeah w just an Oscar-winning Oscar-winning uh you know cast. Um is this or is this not the best Josh Hartnett movie that you have ever seen? Uh Halloween Sin City H2O. Wait, that's the first? Yeah, in 1998. That's the first film reaction.

SPEAKER_02 26:36

So I said Sin City, but it came out Sin Silly. But yeah, you're Sin Silly. It's the only one I know about. You're Sin Silly. And they were that one was good, but this one is better.

SPEAKER_05 26:46

He he's he's done a number of things since um this this movie. I but most of them I don't well I don't want to say that necessarily they're obscure, but they're not mainstream. He has kind of gone to like an independent world.

SPEAKER_04 27:04

When did this movie come out? I can't remember. 2006.

SPEAKER_05 27:07

Lucky number seven, two thousand slicks, eh? Slicks. Lucky number seven, two thousand slicks. You heard me.

SPEAKER_02 27:14

We have a lot of fun with our S words today. Best Lucy Lou film.

SPEAKER_04 27:20

What's your favorite favorite Lucy Lou role?

SPEAKER_02 27:25

I won't even film this one, hands down. And one of the things, and I'm gonna go off on a little preachy thing. Do it one of the things that I think is uh sad is this is an amazing fucking role, and she knocks it out of the park, and it's sad because she doesn't get the opportunity for that that kind of role, that uh uh rom com kind of role very often. Oh, the rom-com in the leading lady sense, but also that the leading lady doesn't get that kind of a fucking meeting role, like she's Columbo, right? Like her character is so she's the one who's placing everything together. It's it's no, her character is so cool. She's a coroner, she's not like, and here's the thing the if this is a uh film noir, which it is, uh or neo film noir, as it were, uh the thought is you look back at a lot of film noir, and the women are femme fatale.

SPEAKER_03 28:18

Right.

SPEAKER_02 28:19

They are either the devil or they're innocent, but they're not like non and layered and exactly and quirky and fun, and she is amazing. And what's sad to me, and here's where I get on my little women rant, is that women don't get the kind of roles like this very often because they're not written very often.

SPEAKER_04 28:39

Yeah, exactly. And what I would say is, as we learned from the behind the scenes on this film, she is a whole huge part of the reason why her character is as good as it is. They rewrote it.

SPEAKER_02 28:50

One thousand percent. She's the only female character in the whole movie. And you can count about the mom, but all she does is go ah and then die.

SPEAKER_04 28:58

In retrospect, is there another character in this movie that you think could have been female that would have maybe even added another layer to the movie?

SPEAKER_02 29:09

Uh the boss versus the rabbi. If the boss was a woman, that would be interesting. Or the cop, Stanley Tucci's character. A lot of them could be switched out gender-wise.

SPEAKER_05 29:20

Stanley Tucci is uh Burkowski. Oh, yeah, by the way, we've talked about Stanley Tucci, he's amazing. We love Stanley Tucci. Everything's Stanley Tuci.

SPEAKER_04 29:27

I mean, he even makes the movie the core better.

SPEAKER_02 29:29

Yeah. We have no notes. Stanley.

SPEAKER_05 29:32

Other than he could do this in blue.

SPEAKER_02 29:36

Which is a movie that he's also in, and we love exactly.

SPEAKER_05 29:40

Uh uh, yeah. If you haven't seen that movie, watch it. America Sweethearts. America Sweethearts.

SPEAKER_02 29:46

I meant to bring this up earlier. Bruce Willis. Uh one of the things about this film that is so amazing is his performance. Yeah. And the fact that he's very unsettling. Uh, and here's an actor that we've grown to know and love through Moonlighting, Die Hard, you name it. The man is got this great sense of humor, and it comes across in moments in this film where his timing is just beautiful, and it's you know, like you enjoy him, but at the same time, you're like, I think this guy could kill anybody. Like, yeah, he scares everybody in the film, and legitimately so you believe why they're scared. Right. And I think he does such an amazing job of being scary because it's very hard for I think a good guy to become the bad guy without us going, eh.

SPEAKER_05 30:33

Well, see, the comedy, of course, is is it is Bruce Willis. And and one of my favorite stories of all time when it comes to my young my formative years, um, uh was I went to uh the cinemas uh with my girlfriend and her friend uh at the time, uh, and we went and saw Armageddon and we're watching Armageddon and Ben Affleck draws the short straw, and both of them start legitimately sobbing in the movie theater, and I looked at both of them like they had grown two heads and went, you know Bruce Willis is in this movie, right?

SPEAKER_02 31:14

Ben Affleck is not saving the world, yeah. Ben Affleck will never save the world ever. He barely saves Gotham, maybe? Not really, no.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

He doesn't do that. In fact, no Batman ever has saved that. Hold on a second, hold on.

SPEAKER_04 31:30

Hold on a second, hold on a second. Before we knock this shit out of Ben Affleck, I have a theory that Ben Affleck is strangely enough at his best when he's directing himself, which makes no sense because that's usually when you're not good. Yeah. But if you watch Argo, I've heard uh have you guys seen that? No. Yeah. Oh, we have to watch Argo. Okay. Watch Argo, and then shit, what was the movie he made right before that? Shit, what was the movie? I haven't seen the movie.

SPEAKER_01 32:03

No, no, no. This is the one I know what you're talking about. It's the town. The town. I was like, it's named after location.

SPEAKER_04 32:09

The town. But I highly recommend it. It's really, really good. So back to topics, sorry.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

Yes, topics. What were we talking about?

SPEAKER_04 32:17

So Bruce Willis, you were talking about.

SPEAKER_01 32:19

Yeah, he's very good at being creepy in this film.

SPEAKER_04 32:21

See, the thing about Bruce Willis in this movie, though, is his performance is extremely different. I mean, not just because of the dialogue, not just because of character, it's it's it's deeper than that. He's very cold in this movie, but there is like this sense of warmth about him.

SPEAKER_02 32:40

It's in his storytelling in the beginning.

SPEAKER_04 32:42

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 32:43

It's in uh the way that he deals with the kid.

SPEAKER_04 32:46

Yes. Well, it's that moment in the hallway when you all of a sudden realize Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:52

Or at the very end when he's like, I didn't think you would understand. And he's like, I would have understood. But it's like uh when you have a really well-developed or written villain, I think, has gotta be uh where they believe that they're doing the right thing.

SPEAKER_03 33:06

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 33:06

Uh that they believe their course of action is righteous, and that there's layers to it. I think if you know, I've I know I've preached this to you guys over and over again. It's like uh Don John the Bastard Bastard from Shakespeare versus Iago. Don John just says I'm a bastard because I'm a bastard. Well, that's the stupidest idea being a bad guy. Iago does everything out of love, and it's so tragic. There are so many villains that we see in film and in uh television and in novels and so forth that are just one-dimensional. And that's I'm bad because I'm bad. It's not scary. I think the scariest you can have a villain is either where they are so self-righteous that's terrifying. Uh or if uh they are not seen where the the villain is most scary when you don't see them. In fact, they reference that in Lucky Number 7 because they're talking about James Bond.

SPEAKER_03 34:09

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 34:09

And it's like they know you don't even see him in the movie. The villain is most effective when you don't know what he looks like. Yep. And it's what a relationship between the two of them. Of making of hinting at the whole plot. The villain is most effective when you don't know what he looks like. Yep. Well done. All right, so poking the bear.

SPEAKER_05 34:26

Hey Michael, would you like to poke the bear?

SPEAKER_04 34:29

Film Journal International says in the end, lucky number 7 is like the guy you knew in high school who seemed cool and interesting until he opened his mouth.

SPEAKER_02 34:40

Dear Film Journal International writer. I am very sorry that the most interesting kid in high school did not live up to your expectations or rejected you outright, and you have found a way to just take this movie and beat it up over that kind of heart that doesn't heal because let's face it, adolescent pain never heals. It just morphs into other shit. So I just want to wish you the best of luck in therapy.

SPEAKER_05 35:10

Shit.

SPEAKER_04 35:14

Alright, the the next one is from New York magazine. It shrinks your perception of what movies can do. Do with what?

SPEAKER_05 35:23

Go go watch Blues Clues, you idiot.

SPEAKER_02 35:26

No, this film is smart and it encourages its viewers to think, and it is a great homage and uh contribution to Noir. It is well written, well performed, well directed, uh everything, music, all of it is beautifully done. And I don't know what you expect film to do, but I think that's what it was supposed to do.

SPEAKER_04 35:51

Final one uh from Metromix.com. It's the hipster that you try to ignore at the party, knowing he's got one good story, but we'll keep talking until you agree he's cooler and smarter than you.

SPEAKER_05 36:07

This has no man bun. Don't call this a hipster. This has no man bun.

SPEAKER_04 36:14

Were there any man buds in this movie? I can't remember.

SPEAKER_05 36:16

No, there were not a single man bun.

SPEAKER_02 36:20

I think that whoever wrote that article should get together with the the person that wrote the first article because they both have trauma from high school about being rejected, and they need to get together. I think I've just matchmade two critics.

SPEAKER_05 36:38

Oh dear. We greatly appreciate all of our listeners for choosing this podcast and supporting independent films. Keep an ear out for our next episode and to check out our show notes or to just drop us a line or a note, please visit us at imbibesinema.com. Once again, I am Jonathan C. Leggett, and thanks for imbibing with us. Cheers.