Cold Open And Cocktail Pairings

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Wait, which one am I drinking? You had the astrophage and I drank the vodka one.

SPEAKER_03 0:05

Wait, you drank it already?

SPEAKER_02 0:06

Oh, I drank the vodka one.

SPEAKER_03 0:07

The podcast just started, John.

SPEAKER_02 0:09

I know.

SPEAKER_03 0:09

But oh, yeah, brand.

SPEAKER_02 0:32

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 BWF. I'm Jonathan C. Leggett, along with my co-host Trisha Leggett, as well as our producer, Michael Dones. And today we are joined with our special guests, Chad Camello and Kevin Burkle.

SPEAKER_06 0:55

Woo! Thanks for coming on the show! Woo! I'm so glad we got that studio audience. It's so worth the money.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

Yes. But filmed in front of a live studio audience. In this episode, we are going to be discussing the 2026 Sci-Fi Project Hail Mary, which recently came out and is now available for purchase. The cocktail we are imbibing is actually two different cocktails. We have uh the Astrophage Elixir as well as the Petrovia lime. One is bourbon, port wine, and compare. And the other is vodka grenadine, cranberry juice, ginger ale, and lime juice. Both are absolutely tasty. Look for this episode's recap link uh in our show notes where you'll find a written summary of our discussion, along with a picture and ingredients uh for the cocktails needed to make your own astrophage or petrovioline uh at home.

Meet Cinema Sugar And Sci-Fi Love

SPEAKER_02 1:57

Uh so uh, gentlemen, I wanted to uh uh quickly let you guys introduce yourselves uh as well as uh Cinema Sugar. What gets you guys so giddy about films uh and why you are excited about to talk about this particular film?

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Go for it, Kevin. Well, uh gosh, yeah. My my name's Kevin Perkle, as you said, one of the the co-founders of Cinema Sugar. Uh we started it just based on a pure love for movies and a desire to talk about it with others who who feel the same. Um as far as is my reaction and and why I love this movie. Gosh, I I don't know what to say. I have a pulse, you know. It was uh that's fair. It was everything I hoped it was gonna be in more thrilling and funny and emotional. And you know, it's not a five-star movie for me personally, but there's so much to recommend about it, and I'm sure we'll get into all that.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Yeah, I'm Chad Camello, other co-founder of Cinem Sugar. And um, yeah, like Kevin said, I just I I can't help but talk about movies, quote movies to to my wife and kids' chagrin. It's just it's just in my blood for for as long as I could remember. So having this outlet um that we created um and able to do our own writing, but then also host a bunch of contributors and do great interviews and things like this. Like it's just such a fun thing to be able to do. Um, and then to be able to talk about uh movies like this, which is just like a you know, a four-quadrant hit that has so many things that I love and in movies of of uh, you know, uh it has ideas, it has action, it has uh heart, it has all those things. Like that's this is what this is what it's all about. So yeah, I'm I'm excited to talk about it.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

One of the things I think uh uh Trisha and I specifically love is films where math is involved. Oh yes. Um it is uh uh a lot easier to talk to your children about why it is important to study math when you have Buzz Lightyear writing uh time dilation in a Pixar movie.

SPEAKER_06 3:51

Very helpful on a uh on the windshield.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

Yeah, windshield before he you know tries to apply.

SPEAKER_06 3:57

Yeah. Uh and and Spider-Man beating um Doctor Strange with geometry. I mean, come on.

SPEAKER_02 4:03

Yeah, you really can't go wrong with those. So uh we you know, we know that uh you gentlemen have children, uh, and uh uh you know that this is a great

Sharing Project Hail Mary With Kids

SPEAKER_02 4:12

film. Uh did ha have your children seen uh this particular film?

SPEAKER_01 4:16

You know, they're not quite at the age yet. You know, our kids are are pretty young, and you know, I don't necessarily want my kid going around saying fist my bump, you know, to her friends at school. And you know, they like dead bodies and stuff like that, that kind of thing at her age would really keep her awake. So we're not there yet, but it's really we're not far away from it. They they she just watched ET for the first time recently and was totally it was she was totally swept away by that. So like the groundwork has been laid for Project Hail Mary.

SPEAKER_02 4:46

Yeah, but at the same time, there's some scary elements to uh E.T. I know that um our nephew like almost had a panic attack when the the men in the in the latex suits try to capture ET. Yeah, right very scary.

SPEAKER_06 4:59

Well, and then like when you're watching uh movies that you grew up with with your kids or thinking about introducing them to them, and you're like, there's a lot of adult content I didn't realize I was watching as a child. Was it limited in how much we had variety-wise? Um, probably. Flight of the Navigator was a big one when we were little, and um Less Starfighter.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Less Starfighter, yeah, classic.

SPEAKER_06 5:21

Especially when Robert Preston takes his eyeballs out and then cleans them. That was just that was disturbing. I actually kind of forgot entirely about I'm now enjoying my trauma. I'm gonna have nightmares now. And then I saw the music man. Oh no. But the idea of all these movies that were um all about the wonder of you know the universe, that special kind of magic with aliens and uh and in a in a such a positive light instead of the horror movie kind of way.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

Chad, have your kids seen the movie? No, yeah, the same boat where yeah, my oldest is seven, so I we're not quite there yet, but he so he he loves science. He wants to be a scientist when he grows up and he loves space and stuff. So when I told him the next day when he asked about what the movie I saw was, I was like, I told him, so it's about a scientist who goes into a space into space and meets an alien and they work together to save the world, his eyes lit up. And I was I was like, I cannot wait to show you this movie. Because yeah, in a couple years, it's just gonna hit so hard. At least that's my my hope, obviously. We'll see how it goes. But um, yeah, I just I I can't. It's I think it's a great gateway for those younger kids into you know the the genre, which I'm sure we'll talk about. Um I I texted Kevin after right after seeing it. Actually, it's it's almost like if Interstellar were an MCU movie, kind of has that vibe. I think that that opens it up to a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

Yeah. Now, I mean we we re-watched it today with them over dinner.

SPEAKER_07 6:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 6:47

Uh, but we also took them to the theater, and I I was absolutely floored with how engaged uh both of them were. There's moments where it gets a little heady because there's a lot of science that's going on, especially like even today. The kids were asking, like, what happened to the pilot? And so I had to explain, like, oh, well, we know what what an induced coma is. And I'm like, all right, well, this is getting a little like in the weeds.

SPEAKER_07 7:12

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:13

Yeah. But uh what I love most about this film is the hope.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

I think Gosling was saying on on the press tour for this, he talking about the the hopeful philosophy of the film, he said, What if the future is not something to fear, but rather something to figure out? And I just love that mentality of just about the future, you know, and I feel like that that's something like that with respect to children, is a really important message to expose them to.

SPEAKER_06 7:39

Right, right. Especially with the world being what it is today.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

Exactly, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:43

So what other uh uh movies, I guess, are are your kids uh into or ones that you want to have your children watch?

SPEAKER_01 7:51

In terms of the movies that that they love, might they really loved kind of like um slower fantastical movies. So like Totoro, my neighbor Totoro is a big one. Song of the Sea is this beautiful animated movie that came out gosh 10 years ago now. They love that one. Yeah, I think those are the those are the two big ones for them right now.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

Chad, what about you? Yeah, we've definitely done Miyazaki and those have gone over well. Um I mean it and again for our oldest one, he's he's cycled through a lot of of the Disney ones, and then the like uh for Pixar 2, Wally and Ratatouille are definitely at the top, which we're on on repeat a lot, which it's like these are some of my favorite movies too. So this is this is great. This is a win-win. Um so yeah, I'm definitely strategizing what what what are the next steps for where he's at now and yeah, when so something like ET is definitely uh makes sense and other speelbird like and you know Jurassic Park minus a few dicey spots there. Yeah, uh it's yeah, it's like things like that, and you're years down the line, Back to the Future is is my sort of uh cornerstone movie, so I but I have to be really careful about when I'm gonna when I'm gonna bring that in. Like I don't want to do it too soon, it's gotta be the right time.

SPEAKER_06 9:08

We just did yeah uh this summer they ate it up, and oh my we really thought, no, they're not oh no, they really got into it. Yeah, and it was interesting the things that they got shocked about. Like a lot of things go over their head, but the things that they get were like, she's smoking and drinking, not that she's hitting her son.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

I was wondering about hook. Is the time for hook literally being abducted out of your bedroom?

SPEAKER_02 9:33

I probably wouldn't play well for a seven-year-old, but see, but at the same time, like again, you know, maybe that was just our youth and just uh what what was available, but like I I don't think that thought ever crossed my mind. I was too in yeah, you know, too wrapped by what else was going on.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

I don't know. I feel like a little bit of a a little bit of controlled fear is good for kids and their imaginations. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A big one that hit recently. We were on vacation and we stayed uh at a hotel. We got in a little bit early and we wanted to have a movie on. Uh, my wife was excited to show our kids the parent trap, the 90s. Okay. Oh, okay, yeah. Parent trap played over really well. She loved the concept of just mischievous kids outsmarting their parents.

SPEAKER_02 10:17

Oh, no, that's dangerous. Yep. That's that's that's a loaded weapon right there.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Movies are very powerful. That's true.

SPEAKER_02 10:27

Inspirational, in fact.

Rocky, Puppetry, And Pure Charm

SPEAKER_02 10:29

Right. Speaking towards uh especially the mischievous, uh Rocky. Um, the the absolute wonderful gem that is Rocky.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

As I was watching it, we're talking about kids. Like, I was like, this is like interacting with my three-year-old. Once he gets on the ship, and once they develop that that banter, how direct he is, and Grace's commentary about him about how how he's hiding from him, and and it's like, I can't get away from him. You know, it's like that's a little bit more. I can hear you.

SPEAKER_06 11:01

It turns into the odd couple, the terrible roommate situation in the middle of space.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

Exactly it. Yeah, it's it's it's um it's all there. So that that was my first uh thought with that, and just how how charming that that is, and how much of uh uh how fun it is to be around him, even when it is exhausting. Like that's uh it's it's that's what makes him so compelling, I think.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

I love the character Rocky, and I love the balance that he brings to Gosling's character. And I'm obsessed with the fact, as we mentioned, that Lord and Miller committed to puppetry over CGI. I think like that very decision, that very decision is ultimately what's gonna make this movie timeless. It's not gonna look dated 20 years from now.

SPEAKER_06 11:42

Well, and then there was the whole thing about the uh the voice of the puppeteer not being initially supposed to be the voice of Rocky, how the puppeteer knew that this was he was just doing it for you know Ryan and filming, but it would be something else. And and then they went with his voice. You look historically in movies where that's not it's like like the poor Darth Vader situation, famously the uh the reverse. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

Right. I I I love that they committed to that and and decided to take a different direction and still prove that it could it could it could work and work so well.

SPEAKER_03 12:20

Did they go into any detail in the book, Tricia? Because I know you read it. How did like Rocky from the book to the movie translate?

SPEAKER_06 12:29

Oh, perfect. It's just visually stunning and uh it's like all the the the feels you get from the book are beautifully done in the film.

SPEAKER_03 12:39

I think that's great. That's great, because that's that's that's very rare, I feel, from from from most. And I know like Chad, like you have you you have a perspective on this, which is probably not not like I feel common. I feel like what you usually hear is the opposite.

Book-To-Movie Expectations And Advice

SPEAKER_03 12:57

Can you share? Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

Well, you s you said rare, and uh that's what exactly I was thinking. That that sort of relief that you felt uh seeing the movie after having read the book and hoping that it would live up to that. That is that is a rare feeling with with book-to-movie adaptations. Usually they are different in bad ways and ways that are very disappointing. So yeah, I just and uh so I'm I'm a librarian by trade, I'm also a cinephile. I love books and I love movies. I I do not recommend reading the book before going to see the movie, because I think you're setting yourself up for disappointment, no matter what, even if the movie is good, like this one is, and it and if it lives up to the book, they are completely different experiences. They're they're totally different mediums. So you're gonna be if you have the book uh freshly in your mind. I you know, if you read it years ago and don't really remember it that much, like that's one thing. But if it's if you see a movie's gonna be coming out soon that's based on a book, you say, Oh, I gotta read the book to get ready for them for the movie. Don't do that. You you're you're gonna you're gonna be ready, you're setting yourself up to fail. You're gonna not enjoy it as much as the book because there's just so much more going on in the book, so much so all those details and character development that just can never make it onto screen. So uh yeah, I get I get fired up about it because again, I love books and I love movies, and I want people to to enjoy both in the best way possible. Um, so you know, you ever everyone can do it their own whatever way they want to experience it. That's totally fine. I've done it both ways, like it's it's it kind of depends on on the book and the movie, but uh to me seeing the movie um first, and then if I if I love the movie, I can go read the book and it's just almost like a director's cut of of the story. You you get you get so much more. It's like, oh, I didn't uh there's all these details that didn't even make it on this onto the screen that I can kind of link back to it. And I know some people don't want to have the the movies version of the characters and the actors in their head when they're um yeah reading the book, but like I I I personally don't care about that. I I that's not a big factor to me. Um, but anyway, yeah, I I could go on and on about this, but yeah, that's this is another thing, an another example of one that is uh very uh well done and and is an exception to to to that adaptation.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

We did something fairly interesting. Our children did watch I think the first two or three Harry Potters uh a ways back. Yeah, and then what we did as a family was we would do story time right before bedtime, and we read each book, and as we finished that book, we would then watch that movie uh you know immediately afterwards. And I know that at least from that perspective, they really enjoyed uh knowing peeves uh and all these extra characters. We're on that ride right now. Oh that's so wonderful, and it's like a great thing. And again, I mean, if you can do a decent uh Alan Rickman uh you're you're gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_03 15:54

Right, the pressure to put all the voices on. Where where are you guys at right now?

SPEAKER_01 15:59

We finished the second book with them and we watched the second movie. And man, the Dementors are no joke in terms of like scary things for little kids. So so if she can handle that, I'm pretty sure she can handle Hook. Yeah, right? Yeah, yeah. Kidnapping in the middle of the night, nothing after Dementor is kidnapping. Nothing.

SPEAKER_03 16:15

Um, I haven't read the book to Project Hail Mary, but something that I found out that really speaks to like that philosophy, Chad. Uh in the book, I guess, you learn that Rocky has been out in space, stuck there for 46 earth years. Yes. I was like, wait, what?

SPEAKER_06 16:37

Like, that was not information I got from the movie, but it does explain a lot about why he's like all of a sudden he's moving in. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 16:44

And I was like, that's the extended edition. Oh my gosh. Like, I want to know more about

Why Gosling Can Carry It

SPEAKER_03 16:50

that.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

How did how did uh Gosling hold up as the person for this role? As you know, having read the book.

SPEAKER_06 16:58

I think he was perfect.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 17:00

He he has a very unique voice, and uh and Ryan is the perfect one. And I believe he was always the person who was supposed to like they had nobody else in line. It was always gonna be Ryan Gosling. If Grian Gosling didn't want to do the film, I don't know what they would have done.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Yeah, I'm I'm not sure. I'm I'm glad to hear you say that. I'm not sure another living actor could have pulled this off to the same effect. I mean, Glenn Powell is maybe the closest next bet, but he just doesn't have the same like dopey, floundering everyman coolness that Gosling has. Yeah. Even even when Bal Powell is self-deprecating in his uh performance style, there's still like an inherent uh like bro-iness to him. I guess I don't have to make a case for that. It was showing both of these guys, Gosling and Powell, were stars of sci-fi movies from the past year. Project Hail Mary and Running Man. One made 700 million worldwide and the other made 67 million. So like people just want to hang out with Ryan Gosling for two hours at the movie theater. He just has that quality, you know, and and not too many people can literally carry a movie on their own with a puppet.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

Yeah, I mean the the one comp that came to mind that that I don't think it would be better, but you know, you could imagine it is someone like Adam Driver, who kind of can can go back and forth between the dramatic and the kind of goofy. But I mean gosling is the one, and I think it's it's his sheer commitment, whether it's a movie like Blue Valentine that will just rip your heart out, or it's a SNL sketch that he is just so embedded into, or a role like Ken, and and just like and coming from the Mickey Mouse Club and doing but doing all the dramatic roles, like he's he's he's the total package, and he can he and this role needs to be able to toggle between both those to have these super emotional, sincere scenes. Um, but then also yeah, just just goof off with a a rock creature and make it be believable. Like he's yeah, he's the one. Obviously, he's he's the star and he's a big draw. You you also need the the filmmakers to be the right fit, too. So Lord Miller, and he and the comp of Running Man 2, you know, Edgar Wright is an incredible filmmaker. Uh so that's it's it's not even the necessarily the filmmaker or the star themselves, it's the combination of everything, right? It's the source material, it's the it's the artists and the performers and everything else. So you just never know what can when it can hit like this.

SPEAKER_06 19:19

Right. The recipe comes together just right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:22

Like lightning in a bottle.

SPEAKER_06 19:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

There you go.

SPEAKER_03 19:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

I'm sure someone in the you know early stages of production of this movie, like threw out the name Leonardo DiCaprio, right? He's just like one of the names. But like someone like Leo is just not really interested in entertaining audiences in the way that they want to be entertained. And and honestly, I love that about him. But I feel like I feel like Gosling is able to be himself and give audiences what they want, and that's that's that's a hell of a gift to possess.

SPEAKER_02 19:51

Uh, I I think a perfect example is um Gosling in one of the uh interviews for uh for Barbie. It was an interview where it was like all uh an a number of the actors there, and including America Ferreira. And uh Gosling starts you know talking about America Ferreira's TED Talk, and she's like, Wait, you you you saw my TED talk? And he's like, Yeah, and he starts like quoting it to her, and like you see her like genuinely going, like, what the hell is going on right now? And it just seems that like Gosling is such a genuine human being.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

I think he's just not like a he's not a capital C celebrity, right? He like he pops up in movies, he does a charming little press tour, and then he's gone. He's from our lives, right? He's he's not in social media, people aren't obsessed with with his personal life, he lives in our movies, and that's it, and that goes a long way when it comes to the box office numbers. But but but also people show up to see him because they just like they have a cherished history with them. He's been he's been starring in in movies now for quarter century, you know. Chad, Chad, you mentioned Blue Valentine, you know, beloved beloved Indies like Drive and Lars and the Real Girl and Blue Valentine to major films like The Notebook and La La Land and Blade Runner 2049. He's he's he's not only beloved as a movie star, he's like dependable as a movie star. And like people show up because they know what they're gonna get from him, and that's just uh that's that's really powerful.

SPEAKER_03 21:16

Well, and range, like I mean, people I mean, I feel like lately he's a very like funny, like kind of quirky nerd, but at the same time, yeah, like you look at like some of those indie films like Drive. I haven't watched that movie in years now, and I was like, wow, I forgot that Ryan Gosling was in Drive and the place behind the pines. Um, like that, that wait, behind, behind, beyond, beyond. That's the right word. I was like, wait, that wasn't right. Uh Astrophage. Shh.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

Um I feel we're not gonna get Drive era Ryan Gosling ever again, I don't think. I feel like Ryan Gosling the Dad is making his movie choices. Now and like that makes me really happy knowing that like my kids are gonna have these movies accessible to them if he keeps making decisions like this because like I said, he's such a dependable person to have have in movies. So the nice guys, anyone one of the five. I love that so underrated. Yes, he gives one of the funniest performances of the century, in my opinion. He's just that that that was a movie I was like, Whoa, this this dude is really funny. Like he's uh he was always gravely dramatic, you know, in these movies that we were referencing. But then when he like brings in the slapstick buddy comedy uh energy, it's like okay, this dude's got it.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

Yeah, his timing, his willingness to be the idiot, yeah, to play that role. Like yeah, yeah. The the total humility about even though he's an A-list, you know, handsome man that that everyone loves, like I'm I'm just gonna be this this schmuck and just flopping around. Um, yeah, that again just getting back to the commitment. I think that's so admirable. And then I mean the nice guys in Lala Land came out the same year, 2016. We're at we're 10 years from both of those. What what what a what a uh double feature right there. Like that's that's just again indicative of his range.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

The uh the the bathroom stall scene and the nice guys is like I have that queued up. It's just one of the funniest YouTube clips whenever you're having a bad day.

SPEAKER_03 23:25

Like, yeah, when you when you brought it up, I'm like, I'm thinking of that scene where he's struggling with the door. Like it's just it's brilliant.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

Cigarette, the door, and just how many takes they did, I don't even know. Like I don't know how anyone could have maintained a straight face.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

It's effortless. I don't know, like not everyone can just do that.

SPEAKER_02 23:44

No, correct? And yeah, and that again speaks, I think, to just his commitment to entertaining. I'm watching clips of of nice guys right now from TV while having it.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

Should we all take a break?

SPEAKER_02 23:58

Should we all take a break and watch some nice guys' clips? We're we're gonna we're gonna take a few moments to fill our glasses and get ready to imbibe more after this.

Voicemails, Subscribing, And Community

SPEAKER_03 24:08

Hey Michael, I got some cool news. You got some cool news? I love cool news. What's the news? Our listeners can actually send us a voicemail now, and I'm thinking that maybe this will work better than text.

SPEAKER_02 24:21

You think you think that the reason was because they had to actually like type things where now they can actually speak to us.

SPEAKER_03 24:27

Right. The cool thing is now they can actually leave us a voicemail and then we can play that voicemail on the show. And then answer that voicemail. In real time. In real time. So well, almost real time. Yeah, so well. Sub-real time. Sub real time. In in our real time. Yes. Not their real time.

SPEAKER_02 24:47

Not their real time.

SPEAKER_03 24:48

But yeah, so they can leave us a voicemail with their film suggestions or what they think that we should cover on the show that we haven't yet.

SPEAKER_02 24:54

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 24:55

I think that would be pretty cool. Or they could even like just say, hey, you know, you talked about this movie and you didn't talk about this, and I think you should be talking about this.

SPEAKER_02 25:04

That's more than fair.

SPEAKER_03 25:05

And but then we can address that. So yeah, they should totally do that.

SPEAKER_02 25:09

It's audience interaction. All right, so so uh yeah, not only can you leave us a text, but you could also leave us uh uh a full voicemail, and we will be able to uh hear and respond to either your text or your voicemails.

SPEAKER_03 25:25

Perfect.

SPEAKER_02 25:27

I'm Jonathan C. Leggett, and I'm here with Trisha Leggett, Michael Noens, and our special guests, Chad Camello and Kevin Perkle. Uh and we are discussing Project Hail Mary. Enjoying this podcast, please subscribe or follow us on your favorite podcast providers to get new episodes as soon as we release them. Rate and leave us a review to help the show reach that larger audience. And you can also follow Imbibe Cinema on Facebook, Instagram, threads, and letterboxed.

SPEAKER_01 25:59

I'd like to pitch you right now to write an article for Cinema Sugar called How to Parent Your Kids in Movie Quotes. Sold.

SPEAKER_06 26:06

Done.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

Thank you very much. Look for those listening, look for that on cinemasugar.com.

Cinema Sugar’s Origin And Pairings

SPEAKER_06 26:11

Now, what is the origin story of cinemasugar.com?

SPEAKER_01 26:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 26:15

Like how did it come to be birthed?

SPEAKER_01 26:17

The origin story of cinemasugar.com was approximately three weeks old because we just got that domain.

SPEAKER_05 26:25

Well, congratulations, Mazeton.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Thank you. Yeah. Before that it was it was hey cinemasugar.com. Oh I don't know. It just like uh just the idea of it came when I was making my my kid toast with cinnamon sugar on it, and I thought, hmm, cinnamon sugar, there we could have a lot of fun with that conceptually. That's when I made a little pitch deck and sent it to Chad, and within like a month, it was an actual thing.

SPEAKER_00 26:47

Yeah, that was an immediate yes from me. With it, there's the little pitch deck I was like, yeah, this is this already exists. This is this is our this has existed for for for uh a long time in in in our hearts and minds, and now we get to make it a reality.

SPEAKER_03 27:00

Yeah, what what I love about it too is it's like with that just hearing it, before you even go and start checking out the content, you immediately know that you're gonna get a warm, like fun, gooey, loving feeling about movies. And and then you go there and you're like, yep, the they love movies as much as I do.

SPEAKER_01 27:21

Great name. Yep. Thank you. Yeah, warm, fun, gooey. Yeah, that let's add that to our list of subheaders for whatever the gooey center. Thanks, Michael. Appreciate that.

SPEAKER_06 27:35

Hey, sure.

SPEAKER_02 27:37

No, no, I I specifically love the pairing uh uh section where you have the authors in their books.

SPEAKER_01 27:44

You know one of our favorites of that was someone named Taryn Smith. She's a a young uh athlete who rode um across the Atlantic Ocean uh on her own. And so we pitched her like, what are some movies you would pair with rowing across the Atlantic Ocean? And uh she she took to task. It was it was really wonderful. And what I love about this is it's evidence to our theory that movies make uh life sweeter. And movies, movies live in the hearts of everyone. But it doesn't matter if you were rowing across the Atlantic Ocean or you just wrote a book or who you are. Like we all have uh movies live in everyone's hearts. So it's been a really fun series to see people's emotional connections to movies.

SPEAKER_02 28:25

I love Legally Blonde and Indiana Jones uh uh Raiders of the Lost Ark are are two that she equates with rowing across the and that makes sense, honestly, when you think about it, it totally makes sense. Pride and Prejudice and MIDI.

SPEAKER_04 28:39

Yeah, well, um Pride and Prejudice is uh I got nothing for that. I don't know why.

SPEAKER_01 28:44

She would she would literally watch that on the boat.

SPEAKER_04 28:47

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_01 28:48

Like that was that was her comfort movie in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

SPEAKER_04 28:51

Mr. Darcy does center us all, you know.

SPEAKER_01 28:55

I'd like to pitch you here now for an article on Cinema Sugar called How Mr. Darcy Centers Me. Um movie quotes, back to that. Uh Dumb and Dumber, our pets' heads are falling off is something I say often when everything's going wrong.

SPEAKER_02 29:14

Okay, that's that that's a I I should probably use that one more often. Yeah, that's a great one.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

Kid kids are crying, smoke alarms going off, dinner's gone to hell, our pets' heads are falling off.

SPEAKER_06 29:24

Dogs and cats living together, massive stereo.

SPEAKER_00 29:27

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, Dumb and Dumber is a is a formational one for me too. I if if I hit an awkward moment in a conversation or set home, I'll go, I'll go, big gulps, huh? All right, well, see you later.

Mood, Criticism, And Comfort Movies

SPEAKER_00 29:42

I did for Project Tale Mary, I went with a couple of my um dad friends. So we we were it was like a dad's night out thing, like finally making it happen. We it brought we uh I brought brought my snacks and like it was it was just a fun thing and it and it ended up ended up being perfect because this is such a dad-coded movie in a lot of ways. Yeah, really. So it really it really hit the spot for all of us. Yeah, exactly. And just and you know, space movies and and there's there's the kind of the father-son-ish dynamic with with with the two leads, and um anyway, yeah. So that that definitely influenced, I think, my enjoyment of it as well.

SPEAKER_01 30:20

My my story with seeing Project Hay Mary is just a little bit little bit more grim. Um, I had been like I'd been taking care of a sick family member, and it had been like a week straight of that, and got to be a little just kind of emotionally overbearing, and I was like, you know what, I need to get out, see a movie. I could not imagine like a more perfect movie to kind of just like pluck me out of that world for a little bit and and fill me with that hope that you were talking about. So yeah, the circumstances around which I saw definitely enhanced my experience watching it.

SPEAKER_03 30:51

I, you know, it so many movies, I don't think much about like my mood going into a movie until you know somebody tells me they don't they don't agree with my perception of whatever that movie is, whether I thought it was great and they don't think it is good, or vice versa, you know. Um, and I wonder how much of what did I bring into that theater that I wasn't really even conscious of. It was just subconsciously what I brought into that theater that that made me react to that movie maybe differently.

SPEAKER_06 31:22

Right.

SPEAKER_03 31:23

Had I not brought that baggage in there.

SPEAKER_06 31:25

And that's why I always wonder about how hard it is to be a film critic. Because A, you have to like really love movies to make it your job and not dislike them afterwards and not make it feel like it's work.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

Yeah. But all not watching it when it's specifically on a laptop in front of you and you're alone in an office or and and people are human and they have bad days, and it will affect how you see something.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

Yeah. We we have a uh a a chief critic at our site, James. Shout out to James. He's really good with this. This is exactly why I don't like writing reviews, because I don't trust my initial reaction to to a film. Like my opinion about a movie changes over months, years, and I'm uncomfortable with having how I was feeling in one moment be the published thing that's uh that's on the website. So that's just my own person that's just my own personal thing, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 32:18

To me, there are movies that I would give like one and a half stars or like one star, and I will watch that movie over and over and over again. I love that movie. It's not good, but I love that movie. Are there any do you have any of those movies? Like I without like having to say, oh, I don't like this movie, but like a movie where you're like, I don't understand why I like this movie.

SPEAKER_01 32:43

That's fair. I I have a lot of movies that are widely considered to be bad that I love, but they just like for whatever reason resonated with me personally when I first saw them, and then it just kind of stuck with me. There's a movie called Elizabeth Elizabeth Town by Cameron Crow. But yeah, something just about the tone, the characters, the music, the I don't know, just the whole atmosphere of that movie is just a comfort. But like you re look up any review about that movie and it's panned.

SPEAKER_02 33:11

Mine, speaking of Kirk Kirsten Dunst, uh uh would be bring it on, and that's not because it's a bad movie, but just not you I I don't think I would be like, oh, cheerleading, that's a movie for me, and yet that movie is a guilty pleasure for me. It's cold in here. There must be some Tauros in the atmosphere. I mean, like it's just highly quotable, just enjoyable for tip to tales. It's yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:33

That movie's smart.

SPEAKER_01 33:35

Yeah, that movie's smart, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:36

Yeah, I don't I don't believe in guilty pleasures. I get this but gets back to my librarian uh take, but like you like what you like, and other people don't have to like it, and that's fine, but um you don't have to feel guilty about watching something that that you enjoy. So um, yeah, I mean I think that version for me would be the movie National Treasure, which again as a history nerd, it's just just like it's just like crack. So I keep coming back to that. It's like this is a completely ridiculous movie, but I absolutely love it. So shout out National Treasure.

SPEAKER_01 34:09

A lot of times for me, it's not a quote, it's like someone will be describing something, and I'll be like, oh, that's just like and then I'll just say the movie and I'll and I'll reiterate the entire plot. Like just trying just trying to eat their sandwich in peace. They're like, Why are you talking about this movie that's like very obscure? That's why I needed to start a cinema sugar. I needed an outlet.

Nonlinear Story, Endings, Oscars, Wrap

SPEAKER_01 34:34

I don't know. Project Hail Mary, if I if I were to have like another just tiny critique of it, I would say that like the the non-linear storytelling of it didn't totally land for me. I don't know what how did that how did that hit for you guys?

SPEAKER_02 34:50

Having watched it a second time at least for myself, knowing that he doesn't uh like doesn't know who he is. The fact that it does start with him waking up and not knowing who he is or where he's from or why he's suddenly in space and having it kind of bring back those moments of him regaining that clarity. Um, I do feel that him remembering that he's a coward and that he's stuck in space doesn't hit until the end, but that narratively I think makes a lot more sense. But Chad, thoughts by you?

SPEAKER_00 35:25

Yeah, yeah, it's it's an interesting thought. I I have kind of soured generally on the technique of starting a movie or whatever with a flash forward or some point in the middle of the story and then jumping back and then oh, how are we gonna get there? Because it yeah, it does kind of take the steam out of a little bit. That's what I was gonna say.

SPEAKER_01 35:43

And like anytime it caught momentum, it killed it. It was like it never kept you in one.

SPEAKER_00 35:48

Yeah, and and and thinking about yeah, when they decided to do when the to to do those time jumps in the story, and just thinking about yeah, what's the story logic of doing this at this point. And I think it does come together well and and build towards it. Um, even though, yeah, I guess it's you know, seeing it a second time you'll have that understanding. So I I think it's fair. I mean to me it it still worked. Yeah, it definitely still works.

SPEAKER_06 36:13

Yeah, I feel like the um the the way they tied it in was always visual. It was a certain angle or something like the one that's real obvious is the the ocean where he's sitting with his feet on the screen and then the waves over laugh his feet and now we're in the past. They did a lot of those visual moments where it was a visual transition into a memory, um, which was nice. And I know amnesia is so overdone, um, but I do understand, I think if you had done it chronologically, it would have been like everybody on earth was like its own movie, and then this and and as it is, yeah, it is two separate stories, kind of. Um, and I think this was a way to keep it from not being like, who are those people again? We saw them in act one.

SPEAKER_01 37:00

I mean, don't ask me how I would do it differently, you know. Uh it's just like just watching it, I just I was just wondering, like, would that would some of these would would this have hit harder if there was like a few memorable flashbacks that happened in really, you know, meaningful moments rather than the whole thing just being a kind of a cut back and forth? But who who who am I to say made shit ton of money?

SPEAKER_06 37:21

Well, and then I think about like what if it if he hadn't been the one to to live? What if it had been the Russian engineer that survived? Would we all die? Would she make it through?

SPEAKER_02 37:31

Um she know what she was needing to do.

SPEAKER_06 37:34

Yeah, would the pilot be able to figure it out?

SPEAKER_01 37:36

Like they pull a scream. You remember how Drew Barrymore was on the cover of Scream and then she died within the first 10 minutes? They do the same thing, the gosling. He's yeah.

SPEAKER_06 37:44

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 37:46

And r so related to the story structure though, I'm I'm curious about your thoughts of the ending, or in other words, the endings, because I think there's a few spots that they could have ended it. Um and I don't I'm not even mad, like, and the the the length of the movie too, I think a common criticism, or like there's probably some stuff they could have cut. I mean, I I kind of love how the it they just went for it, ending on on the alien planet of him as teaching a bunch of alien kids. Like it's just so goofy, and like I figured that was probably the the true ending for it, so I I don't I don't begrudge that, but like there were a few moments, like even with the again, the the two of us by the Beatles, where he's he's going, he's they decided he's going back, he's he's reconnecting with Rocky, like that could have worked as an ending, or and there's a few other spots where where it's it just kind of almost like a hat on a hat where um I would have I would have been just as happy with with a little bit tighter ending, but I don't know what you guys think.

SPEAKER_05 38:43

I agree, I think it did have several endings.

SPEAKER_06 38:44

I mean it wasn't Lord of the Rings level, it's like swear in the movie 17 times, but or even Star Wars, the last Star Wars movie in the last of the trilogies, where it was like the 30-minute curtain call for the entire 30 years.

SPEAKER_02 38:59

Bring old yellow ragged Abraham Lincoln when he ended up on the planet.

SPEAKER_03 39:04

I was like, Oh, I I I I feel like this is where he belongs.

SPEAKER_01 39:08

Like he felt home. Did he though? It's a nice storybook ending. How happy can he really be? Oh, he wasn't happy to begin with for the rest of his life. Yeah, for the rest of his life. He didn't even have a dog. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:20

I mean, you know, he he he went from nothing to something. I mean, he was still teaching, so it's roughly the exact same life. Uh he knows an entirely different language that nobody else could speak.

SPEAKER_03 39:31

Yeah, because that was something that you know, like there's no there's no translation anymore.

SPEAKER_02 39:35

And that's something that is lost, I think, just from the book.

SPEAKER_03 39:38

He just understands.

SPEAKER_02 39:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:40

So he speaks that language now.

SPEAKER_06 39:42

Like, oh, thank god they ended up on Eric because I believe Rocky's people are better. I feel like if Rocky had ended up on Earth, I'd be like, no, poor Rocky.

SPEAKER_02 39:51

Yeah, no, at least he is so fucked.

SPEAKER_06 39:53

Like that's not gonna go well.

SPEAKER_02 39:56

Yeah. I I think I also appreciate the sheer fact that it feels like a Hollywood ending for him to be heading home. And for that not to be the last decision or the last realization that that that has to be made, it almost kind of gives this that that additional breath of of non You know, your character is grown, they're not in the same place they started.

SPEAKER_01 40:19

It only works with him going home if he has something or someone to go home to, and they didn't really set that up. If he like had a a child or something, you know, like how heartless would it would have been to be like, sorry, you're going anyway. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I was gonna say that's uh that's the plot of Interstellar. I mean or like let's say he had a kid, but he still decides to go to the alien planet and then it ends with his daughter crying. Peace. There's an there's an alternate ending for you.

SPEAKER_06 40:49

I would love to see more. It's a whole level of abandonment.

SPEAKER_01 40:52

But daddy's happy with all the alien children. I mean, some of these movies that come out are not too different from like that level of uh terrible the way they make you feel, you know.

SPEAKER_02 41:06

Well, especially if they're trying to vie for an Oscar.

SPEAKER_06 41:08

Well, and they're talking about it. Oh, yeah, because you can only do that if everybody has cancer and and they're Nazis and there's abortions, and and you know, no comedy is ever winning best picture. That's ridiculous. Because how could that be good?

SPEAKER_01 41:21

What are the Oscar chances for this movie?

SPEAKER_02 41:23

Uh I'm excited the fact that uh Rocky could be up for a nom. Yeah, yeah. Because that to me would be huge.

SPEAKER_01 41:31

Yeah, he's eligible. I right. I I would I would love to see that as well. Nomination for directing and obviously one for for gossip. This the score, like you were saying too, Chad?

SPEAKER_00 41:40

Yeah, I think it'll get a lot of craft ones. Uh, there's a lot of big movies to come out this year, though, that are gonna suck up a lot of that space.

SPEAKER_01 41:47

So um I yeah I'm already annoyed with like the Odyssey takeover. I hope it's not as big. I hope it's not as big of a th of a of like a steamroller as Oppenheimer was.

SPEAKER_00 42:00

Oh, there's the Odyssey, there's Dune 3, there's I mean I mean Disclosure Day. Disclosure day does. Yeah, I mean there's there's a lot to come, so yeah, we'll see. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:10

Gents, uh, tell us what you've got coming out, articles you're about to write on on cinema sugar, things that uh we should be looking forward to, or our listeners should be keeping an eye out for.

SPEAKER_00 42:20

Yeah. For um we'll we'll we'll do occasional themed months or weeks, and for June leading up to the uh 4th of July of uh 250th anniversary of these here United States, we're gonna be doing our top 76 movies that define America. Ooh, it's not necessarily a celebration, it's just uh kind of a warts and all, for better or for worse, movies that really capture the American spirit, American history, uh, you know, notable figures throughout the country's history. So um, yeah, it's been really fun putting that together um with with some help from our uh our regular contributors. Um, but then Kevin and I ultimately uh trying to just whittle this this beast down into uh this the final 76. A lot of second guessing, a lot of in and out. So um, but that's that's why we love it, that's why we do this the the kind this kind of stuff. And we had a lot of fun with our uh top 50 movies of the 20th cent 21st century. That was our last big uh list. So but then this one we figured would be a good time to try to hash this out. So yeah, it's been a blast been together, and we're excited to roll it out leading up to the fourth. And yeah, curious what people will think. Um I'm sure it won't be all uh Star Spangled praises. It'll be a little bit of uh little bit of uh dissent as well. But that's that's the big thing coming up for us. But yeah, I'd I'd say I'd say yeah, checking out our website. We're on um Instagram and then uh Substack as well. We'll do a regular newsletter there just so if people want to just see what's what what we're up to and the reviews that uh uh that our chief critic James has has been cranking out uh really well, and then along with other features like pairings and uh other lots of great stuff that uh we're really proud to put out there. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:04

This is a big deal for Chad diving into American history through film. This is like what his life has been leading to, and I'm just really I'm very very happy for him. Um it it's coming together really nicely. It's it's been a fun project.

SPEAKER_00 44:21

Yeah, you you you say that you I was I was I was born for this kind of list, so it's it's been fun blurbing all these. Totally.

SPEAKER_01 44:29

Uh John and Trisha, thank you for for taking the time. And Michael, you're off up the screen there. Yeah, thank thank you all. Yeah, thank you. This is a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 44:37

Uh, we greatly appreciate all of our listeners for choosing this podcast, supporting independent films and the Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival. I'm Jonathan C. Leggett, and thanks for impibing with us. Cheers.