Well, here we are. Look at us. Who would have thought?
I’ve been thinking about The Hip Pocket as a podcast idea for at least two years now, and we’ve been piecing this experimental first season together for over a year. It’s pretty amazing to me to finally be wrapping up the warm-up season, and even more amazing that I really like the way it’s all coming together.
I am very lucky that Craig Ceravolo and Aundria Parker decided to work with me on this idea, and I am very grateful to every single one of you who have tried it out so far. I would ask you to please start rating and reviewing the film on platforms like Apple and Spotify because it will help us expand the show’s reach. I’ll be back at the end of the episode to tell you when you can expect the premiere of season two, and at that point, I’m going to need all of the help you’re willing to give.
For our final warm-up episode, we picked movies from the current decade, so these are films that we feel strongly about that are still fairly fresh. It’s a great way to end this introduction to the three of us as a group, and I am very happy with the way the entire first season played out. Great picks, great conversations, and it genuinely feels like we’ve clicked as friends. I can’t ask anything more than that.
Let’s jump right in!
[the Hip Pocket theme plays]
DREW: Welcome, everyone. I'm Drew McWeeny, and this is The Hip Pocket.
What is a hip pocket movie? I think they're the films that we hold close to us. Movies that we love for whatever reason. Movies that we share with people. Good movies, bad movies, blockbusters, forgotten indies. What matters is the reason why these are the films that stick to us, and there is no better conversation to have with another movie lover to get to know them. I particularly love having these conversations that would not work without my dear friends. First up, as always, there's my band leader, my longtime buddy, Craig Ceravolo.
Craig, good to see you, man.
CRAIG: Good to see you. Thanks again for wrapping this up. I'm very excited.
D: Yeah.You having a good summer?
C: I am. I'm ready for it to… I'm ready to… I'm ready to wrap that up too, but I had a good summer.
D: It was… I feel like when my… when our kids go back to school… when that begins, our summer's over as well. It's like…
C: Yeah.
D: … in… in some ways, I like that shape to the year. In other ways, it seems to get faster every year, so it's a little terrible.
C: The problem down here in the South is that it won't get fall until October 31st…
D: Yeah.
C: … so it's gonna be hot for another couple of months.
D: Well, listen, there is no way we're gonna make it to the moon without Mission Control involved, so here's my cohost, Aundria Parker!
A: Major Tom, I've lost my way. Hi, guys. How are you?
D: Good. Good. Good.
C: Can I just tell you that throughout the season, I've enjoyed the intros for Aundria the most?
A: I’m always like, what am I going to be today? I love it.
D: That's right. You do a good job every time. Yes.
C: I love it. It's good.
D: Well, it's crazy. Doing this episode feels a little bit strange, because the 2020s are still undefined. Is this the season finale for America, or are we gonna pull back from the brink? Tune in next time to find out on Holy Shit! Let's Hope Democracy Works. Movies have been on their back legs since the pandemic began, and there is no clear indication that the industry is gonna pull out of this death spiral anytime soon. But there are good movies being released; great ones, even. And it is worth highlighting some of these recent gems as we finally bring this opening “Get To Know You” season of The Hip Pocket to a close. I can't believe we did it, guys. I… this… when I proposed this at the beginning, I did not realize quite how big a conversation it was going to be. How do you feel now that we are finally here at the finish line?
A: Dehydrated, a little bit hungry, very excited.
C: Yeah. What people don't know is that Drew made us do these all in secession.
D: Yes. Yeah. So it's just been one long day.
A: Several hours of…
D: Mhmm.
A: … discussion. I'm psyched. I can't wait. Like, I don't wanna say I can't wait till season one officially launches because this has been so much fun.
D: Yeah. I was worried that it was… that it would feel like we were treading water until we got to the real show, and I think this is the real show. I've had a very good time doing this version of it, you know? And with the decade not even being halfway over, it is fun to see what we're already feeling strongly about. Like, what is already important to us over the course of this decade? And the film that you picked first, Aundria, for this episode is written by a guy who I feel like is going to be one of the names at the end of the 2020s that will help define how we think of the decade in terms of pop culture.
I don't want him to hear this episode because he's gonna get such a big head if he does. And God knows we don't need that. But we definitely need to talk about the work of Brian Duffield and this movie. Craig, were you familiar with Love & Monsters?
[trailer for Love & Monsters plays]
C: No.
D: No.
C: Not at all.
D: Not surprising, considering it was supposed to be a major theatrical event for Paramount, and then the pandemic hit. And this was one of the first major casualties that got pushed straight to VOD. And Paramount at that point had no idea how to even tell people where to go see it. So I feel like it it is the proverbial tree that fell in the forest by itself.
C: And I'm so… I'm so glad it did.
D/A: [laughing]
C: No. No. Wait. That's not what I meant. I'm so glad that you picked it.
A: “I’m so glad no one made it.”
D: “Craig was so mad at this movie.”
C: Yeah. That was not… that… that didn't work. Sorry.
D: Aundria, why did you pick it?
A: I think you just stated a lot of why. This movie… to me this is, like, pandemic movie, right? Not only is it about kind of an end of the world apocalypsey thing, but it also came out during our old… our own end of the world apocalypsey thing. And I had not heard of it. I had not seen anything about it. And all of a sudden, one day it appeared. And as a monster lover, a kaiju lover, I… did I say that right? Or did I say… I don't know…
D: Kaiju.
A: Kaiju. Yes. As a lover of monsters, creepy crawly things, all that, I was like, shit. This is right up my alley. Where did this movie go? Where did it come from? Cotton eyed Joe. So I… and then I found out no one else knew about it. No one else had seen it or heard it because it was just lost in the pandemic shuffle. Like you said, it didn't go to theater. It went right to VOD, but there was, you know… everyone was watching fucking Tiger King. So no one… no one saw this movie coming down the lane, and it’s… it's fucking great. It's warm, and, you know, I also thought this… I've picked a lot of movies that I would describe as warm and sweet and fun and kind… and people are going to get the wrong idea about me. But this movie really is all of those things. Like, it is deeply funny, it's got some great effects in it, there's some good tension. Love a story about a man and his dog. Anything with Michael Rooker, I'm always gonna be in. This is a fun one. This is a fun one to share and show, for sure.
D: It is a, you know… there's a lot of post-apocalypse stuff. It is a really charming lo-fi feeling movie. Even with all the giant monster effects and everything, there is still something about it that feels kinda handmade, and it feels small-scale and intimate. And it was interesting to see this come out when we were all basically still in our houses and afraid of each other…
C: Right.
D: … and you've got everybody communicating from these little cloistered communities on the radio. And it was really hard not to kind of feel some connection to this when it came out. It's strange that Brian doesn't love this movie. I think like a lot of writers… like a lot of writers, I think the films he directs are the purest expression of this is what I meant. And I think the films that he has not directed, he has varying degrees of love or, or dislike for… and I think that's probably always gonna be true of anybody who both writes and directs. This one, Underwater… these are movies that… I think they have a lot of Brian Duffield in them. I think if you've read his work on the page, and I've read pretty much everything he's written, he has a very particular voice, and he's got this very fun pop sensibility even in his more serious work.
I almost picked Spontaneous for this episode. I did the first time around. And I realized if we did two of his movies, oh my god, he'd be insufferable forever. So no way to do that. But I think this is the point. He's going to end up being one of those guys who's inevitable. We'll see so much of his work this decade. If you haven't seen No One Will Save You, his alien invasion movie from last year, it's a groovy little nightmare. And right now he is working on an adaptation of a book that is a phenomenal read that came out last year called Whalefall by Daniel Kraus, about a guy who, as a tribute to his father who's a scuba diver who's passed away, he goes on a dive to retrieve something that his father had lost and… or to get his father's remains, I believe… and in doing so, he is swallowed by a whale. And it is not the Jonah version where he goes inside and he's got a boat and he's got a campfire and… it's none of that. This is what would happen if a human being was swallowed by a whale. And it is…. the whole thing is just, I'm swallowed and I have to get out or die. And that's Brian's next movie as a director. I think it's gonna be remark… I think it's a great piece of material. I think it's a huge challenge, but I also think it's gonna be one of those movies you can't avoid when it comes out because it's gonna be so unique. So it's great that we we have this conversation. He is a guy who I absolutely believe will be a big part of this decade’s story. Nice pick. And I think this Dylan O'Brien kid… I, I didn't see the Maze Runner movies. I, I know I sound a thousand years old when I say that, but he's a charming kid. He’s, He's a… he's a really charming young lead.
A: Super. Super.
D: And having not seen him in a ton of stuff, this is a really nice showcase for him.
C: Mmmhmm.
D: I feel the same about Jessica Henwick, but I do know her a little bit more because of, like, Royal Hotel and Matrix Revolut… Matrix Resurrection, where she was awesome. She's done really good work so far. I think she's had a lot of good showcases.
C: Where… where did this stream? Like, what was… who had it?
D: Paramount. It wasn't Paramount Plus yet.
C: Was it Paramount Plus? Okay.
D: They, they didn't even have a streaming service yet. I think it went to Paramount…
A: Like, CBS was the…CBS whatever?
D: Yeah. Like, CBS on demand or the, the CBS app. Something like that.
C: Oh, okay. I mean, that thing really went somewhere to die, unfortunately.
D: It did. It just disappeared. And, and it's a real shame, man. I, I do think you can find it fairly easily at this point. Netflix has it for a lot of places now.
C: Yeah.
D: Or Paramount Plus probably has it on their…
C: Probably Paramount Plus. Yeah. It, it… you know, I'm surprised that in… in record reviews or whatever… if you like this, you'll love this. If you love Zombieland, how would you not love this?
D: Yeah.
C: Like, it's that same spirit. It's funny, but the, the…
D: The stakes matter.
C: They do matter. Yeah. And, and I'm in… I mean, I was… like you said, I was impressed with the effects, and it's such a smart construct, or, or the universe that's built, you know, in the intro, and then you're off to the races. I love movies that set up your universe and say, here's what it is, and then you just buy it because that's all you need.
D: That’s the most Duffield stretch of the whole film. That is… his voice is 1000%…. It's kinda sassy. It's kinda funny. It's also great at world building. I think that's the thing. He is definitely the child of John Hughes and Steven Spielberg and…
C: Yeah.
D: … several of those guys jammed into one bag is what Duffield is wanting….
C: … and let me be clear. It's not a rip-off of Zombieland. I'm saying it's in the spirit.
D: Yeah. Yeah.
C: Okay.
[clip from Love & Monsters plays]
A: It's also… he's also really good at doing those, like… that kind of conversationally, like, super pop-culture saturated, but not… it's never, like, a pandering… it’s always like you're just talking with a friend or you're, like, overhearing a good conversation on, like, the subway or something… it’s…
D: It's Joss Whedon without the ick.
A: Yes. Yeah. It, it's just… it's approachable. It's conversationable. It's conversational. Dear god…
C: That's a word. You just made up a word.
A: Alright. Sure. You know what I mean? It’s, it's just approachable. I don't know how else to say it. You immediately… like Craig said, you… that, that intro starts, and you're, like, okay, this is the world we're in, and this is… this is what the rules are. Let's go. Without a exposition dump over three scenes, you know what I mean? It all just… it gets out there and…
D: And anything he does need to tell you later, he finds a very nimble way to introduce it when he needs to. Like, he doesn't do a ton of it upfront. It's just enough. And then the rest of the world-building kinda happens on the fly, whether it's conversational… like, I love all the stuff that Michael Rooker brings up when they first meet about, you know, why he… “You got kicked out for this. You're a food stealer, aren't you?” There's a… there's this whole world that is implied, that has become codified already. They've been doing this long enough that that you know what a food stealer is. You know exactly what kind of person that is. Yeah. It’s… I like that. I really think he does a nice job of suggesting that the world is lived in.
[clip from Love & Monsters plays]
D: Craig, I… your movie, which we're gonna talk about next, the only way to put it is I am haunted by this film since the first time I saw it. I've seen it three times. It's gonna be a while before I see it again. And it's because I, I find it just overwhelming. Let's talk about the lovely, intimate Charlotte Wells masterpiece, Aftersun.
[trailer for Aftersun plays]
D: I’ve got to imagine as a father of a daughter that approaching this material at all is tough.
C: Guys, I have been preparing myself for this talk for a while, and I'm gonna make it through. I give you a guarantee I will make it through this. Yes, Drew. And I know, again, I… kidding/not kidding... what I've learned from this pre-season is I think I need therapy.
D: Yeah.
A: Everybody does, baby. Everybody does.
C: I think I need to talk to someone.
A: I mean…
C: No, it’s…
A: Save yourself some money. We're… you got an avid listener…
C: You guys have been my… I'm gonna Venmo you. No. It's, yeah… it’s, it's Paul Mescal, Frankie… Corino…
D: Corio.
C: Corio. I, I don't even know what to say about it. Yes. I know that I’m, I've, I, I am… I hit it on the nose. A divorced dad taking his daughter on a vacation in Turkey, which was fascinating just as a, as a place…
D: Yeah.
C: It's set in the ‘90s, and, and that's important to know because of the, the structure of the story. And not to give too much away, but, but the child is basically… this is basically a fuzzy dream memory. I, I don’t… wouldn't you agree that this is… this is… this is an unreliable narrator of what happened on this trip?
D: It’s… the whole thing is on that dance floor.
C: Yeah.
D: This whole thing is just, she's dancing, she's trying to lose herself, and she's thinking about this trip and her father and those feelings. And it's the dancing that does it. It’s, it's that Proustian moment… yeah, I, I hate to sound like a big pretentious piece of shit, but that idea that Ratatouille does so well, when he takes that bite of the ratatouille and he flashes back to when he's a child and his mother made the perfect ratatouille, and it is an out-of-body transportation. That's what the dance floor is for her, and it's always going to be. There's never gonna be a time in her life where she's able to go on that dance floor and not think of her father and him trying to lose himself and all the stuff that's around that. And that’s, I think, all the movie is, and those final moments of the movie where you're not in the past, you're not in the present, you're just on that floor.. and it’s… he's back and forth, and she's there, and, I mean, it… it's gorgeous and incredibly experiential. You feel like it's happening. It's not her trying to tell you something. This is how it feels.
And I think that's all of Aftersun. And it is a incredibly specific movie about anxiety and about the way unregulated anxiety for… whatever the… we never hear a diagnosis of this guy. We don't know what his thing is. But clearly, there is a disorder of some kind, a, a anxiety disorder of some kind, and I certainly relate to some of the moments and the feelings in this movie, and especially as a father trying to make something happen for your children. We went… here's a good example… the other night, we went to go see Deadpool & Wolverine…. Wolverine. And because of the way the tickets work… we normally go to the Drafthouse for movies… I have a season pass, so we can get two… but that night, it didn't time out right. They wanted to see it while they were here. And so I got tickets at one of the big downtown theaters, the LA Live. And from the moment it started, the entire experience was a fucking shitshow. Everything about the ticketing, the parking, the going into the theater, the crowds… there was a fire in one of the other theaters. They started our movie a half an hour late. They turned it on and off.
C: Wow.
D: They told us this… nobody came in to get us. We were in the theater for 40 minutes waiting for somebody to decide to tell us that there was something… it was insane. The whole thing. And I'm getting madder and madder about the money I spent and about what I wanted to have happen and about, this was supposed to be a good night, and all that. The boys loved the movie. They didn't give a shit about any of the other stuff. But I was, the whole time, simmering with disappointment and frustration with myself for booking this theater and that… and I put that all on myself. None of that is real. None of that matters to them. They love the movie. They saw the movie. They didn't give a shit. But I had a terrible fucking night because of all the other stuff and the evening that I had in my head that I wanted them to have. And this movie… maybe the best film I've ever seen at the way children start to see their parents as the real people they are… that moment where suddenly you're not seeing them as a child sees a parent, you're seeing them as a person sees a person, and they're disappointing in some way, which is a fucking devastating thing and and real. And we all kind of go through it when we realize our parents are human, fragile, and making it up as they go. And I, I think she's incredible in the movie. I think Paul Mescal is truly one of the best guys working right now.
C: Oh my god. All Of Us Strangers last year. Goddamn.
D: Fucked me up. Fucked me up. It was such a great film. And this one fucked me up.
C: Yeah.
D: I, I saw this movie, and at the end of it, was just shaken. And it's him. It’s… there's something about him and his big fucking dewy eyes and his, his soft, somewhat featureless face. Like, he is weirdly kind of handsome and kind of molten and kind of… and there's something about that that makes him so compelling. And…
C: Mhmm.
D: There is a sadness to him, a real melancholy, and even from Normal People, like… it's just a big part of what he's done so well in film. But, yeah, I… it's so simple. It is a sketch of a movie. It is barely plot-driven at all. It's all behavior. It's all just observational. Watching Sophie watch her father, watching her father watch her, seeing how much he's struggling with just holding his shit together so her trip doesn't stink… it, it's heartbreaking.
[clip from Aftersun plays]
C: Aundria?
A: I don't wanna talk about it because I'm gonna cry. Yeah.
C: You can’t, because I'm on the verge, so go ahead.
A: So I had seen it once before, and…
C: Mhmm.
A: … it did not fully connect with me. But I know why it connected for everybody else. I appreciated all the elements of it… the beauty of it, the performances of it, the subtlety of it… but it… for some reason, it didn’t, it didn't hit me the way that every… I, I think I said, like, I wish I could see the film that everybody else is watching. So when I watched it this time, I saw the film that everybody else is watching. And I don’t… I'm not… I don't want to cry about it. Instead, I'm going to say that I will probably watch it again sooner rather than later. I will probably take a few edibles first. Because I think I need to experience it, um, in a different way, if that makes sense. I need to, kind of, experience it with a little distance, maybe, because it is fucking brutal.
D: It is.
A: But it is brutal and beautiful at the same time. Yeah. So, thanks a lot, Craig.
C: My god. Yeah. Sorry.
A: That's okay.
C: Sorry.
A: It's okay.
C: Here’s… here… if you want me to start crying, I’m… this is gonna be a good show.
A: Let’s cry together. Sure. Let's do it. Therapy.
C: We should've brought Kleenex for this one. It is… it’s, it's, it's Man in the Moon all over again. Seriously. It’s, it’s, it's similar to that. Goddamn it, Aundria.
A:Okay. You, you get your shit together. Listen, I don't have a daughter…
C: Yeah.
A: … but I do have a dad. Right? I am a daughter.
C: Yeah.
A: So…
C Right.
A: … from that perspective, forget… forget it. Forget it.
C: Well, here, let me say this to let you get it together… there is a moment that, that's specific about this film to me… as a dad of daughters is…. there's a time when… she’s, she's 11. She's turning 11 in this film. He's turning 30. He’s, he was a young dad clearly, but…
D: Yeah.
C: … but she…. but she's turning 11, and throughout the film, she's on the cusp of, of many things… of, of the change of, of becoming a woman, a young woman. She's still… this is… might be the last summer of kiddom, right?
D: Yep. And the, the worst part of those summers is you want them to stay the child. They are…
C: Right.
D: … so hungry to be the adult.
C: Exactly. I remember specific… here we go…. I remember a specific time when Veda was… she's gonna, if she ever listens, she’s, she's gonna kill me… she was 11 or 12, and she got sick. Like, not, like, bad sick… like, with a cold… asnd she had been pulling away from me this entire year…
D: Yeah.
C: … because that's what you do. Well, she just crawled up and, and, and lay… and she was like, can you come lay with me? And, like, I don't feel well. [choking up] And I knew… I'm gonna make it through this… I knew that that was the last time…
D: Yeah.
C: … that that was gonna happen.
D: Yeah.
C: And it was the last time it was gonna happen. And that is why that moment of my real life, I attached… that was the last time Sophie and her dad had that moment.
D: 100%. It…
C: Yes.
D: … it’s… and it's truly… everything about that trip is transformational, but it's by microns, you know?
C: Yeah.
D: From the outside, you don't see… you wouldn't see it. But the person who goes back from that vacation, the little girl that we see going down that hallway at the end of the movie, is so transformed by everything she's seen and experienced with her father, and it is a terrifying walk because she's walking away from somebody who really needs her not to go, but at the same time is in no condition to take care of her. It's just…
C: I mean…
D: … wrenching.
C: He’s…
D: It's such remarkably mature work from him. And as a young actor to… out of the gate, just start giving these performances… there is something about him that… he has this ability to just open up and let you see all that shit that's going on in there.
C: Well, and, and she's an amazing… I mean, to… for this to be, out of the gate…
D: Yeah.
C: … come on. Oh, I just meant the director. Yes. Of course. Frankie is amazing. That… I mean, but… but just… for this to be your debut feature film…
D: Oh, yeah.
C: What the hell? It was nominated for Best Picture, right? It was, right? Wasn't it?
D: Was it?
C: I don't know. I, I, it… it doesn't matter, but, yeah, I feel like it, it, it got recognized.
D: I know it was nominated for some things and it… and definitely deserved it.
C: And, and, and I had that camera, and I have all those old videos of the girls from that time period. Yeah. And the whirr of that startup of the lenses, like, it, it, it's so triggering to me. I just fucking… I love/hate this film so much.
D: It’s..
C: But I'm gonna do… I didn't wanna cut you off. What did you… had you… did you have a… no?
A: Nope.
C: Okay.
A: I’m… no, I’m, I’m, I’m, I'm good, thank you.
D: It, it happens with movies where, when you… when you get that kind of connection and it's almost impossible to talk about… when I saw Blue Valentine for the first time…
C: Oh, fuck that.
D: … it was as our marriage was ending.
C: I know. I remember.
A: How many people do I know who had that same exact experience, by the way?
D: So I'm at Sundance. I'm watching this movie. I am melting down in the theater. And I get up and I gather my shit, and I'm like, I just gotta get to my room so I can go write. I, I'm done for the day. That fucked me up. I'm done. I go to walk out of the theater. I think I'm holding it together. And as soon as I step out, a friend of mine, Anthony Timpson, is standing there and he looks at me and he goes, oh my god, what happened? And I just burst into tears. And it was like, I, I wish… I thought I had my shit locked down, but no. No. Thank you. No. Yeah. There are movies that do that to you, man. They are just shrapnel, and it just bounces around in here.
C: Yeah. And my, my… yeah, and the last thing I wanna think about is, is I love movies that have these heavy subjects in the starkest beautiful light possible.
D: Yeah.
C: Like, like this… I recently watched The Swimmer with Burt Lancaster, which I've never seen before.
D: That's a wild one.
C: Anything. Yeah. And Midsommer. Those are the three that I think of where there's this stark beautiful light and scenery, where the content or the story is just falling apart, so I love… yeah, that’s…
[clip from Aftersun plays]
D: So now we're gonna get get to my last pick, and, like I said, I almost picked Spontaneous, but when we decided to to shift and I, I was gonna let Aundria pick the Brian Duffield movie, I went looking and I had a couple of titles that I, I ran by them. Neither of the titles you guys had heard of, and it got me so excited thinking about the experience of you sitting and watching this movie with no context or warning that I had to pick Riders of Justice by Anders Thomas Jensen.
[trailer for Riders of Justice plays]
D: This is a film that… again, a 2020 movie, and I think that year just ate movies. Like, movies disappeared into 2020 and were never heard from again, and part of what I would love to do is help some of these films get the spotlight they deserve. This one already had an uphill… uphill battle because a lot of Danish films don't get released here. Anders Thomas Jensen is a guy I have been a big fan of for a while now as a writer. He's got a wicked brain, and he builds these lovely airtight little screenplays where everything kind of pays off in ways you don't expect. I can't think of a better example of that than this movie where the theft of a blue bicycle sets an unbelievable series of events into motion and brings together a family that would have otherwise never met. It is a lovely, funny, heartbreaking, crazy film, and I'm just gonna ask you guys, what was your reaction? Craig, having no context for this movie, how did Riders of Justice land on you?
C: Heavy, and I loved every… it was just like Wild Tales. Like, I loved every second of it. And it's funny ‘cause Becca is a screenwriter, and she dissects everything that I pick. And she was like… I was like, I’m gonna watch this movie. She's like, I'm not… you know, writers… the title is so…
D: I know. It’s a terrible title.
C: It's a terrible title. But my point is…
A: I thought it was about motorcycles.
C: Me, too! I thought it was, like, a gang movie, a Danish gang movie.
A: Exactly.
D: And it sort of is.
C: But, but she slowly was walking back and forth, and I said, just sit down and watch this. And she goes, damn it, you picked a good one. I was like, well, I didn't pick it, Drew picked it. But there was a little bit of, of justice, so to speak. But, I, I just adore it. And Mads… what's his name? Mads Mikkelsen?
D: Mads Mikkelsen.
C: That guy just can do no wrong.
D: This is a phenomenal performance by him.
C: Yeah.
D: Visually, he's amazing in this movie.
C: Yeah.
D: That beard!
C: Incredible.
D: The moment you see him, you're like, oh, he will kill people.
A: He means business.
D: Yeah. Very scary.
A: Yeah.
D: Very frightening Mads Mikkelsen. And then he is that guy. He is such a great coiled, horrifyingly tense, violent thing in this movie that when it uncorks, it's really frightening.
C: Yeah. But… and, and, and, and danger… like, it's dangerous.
A: It's very dangerous.
C: No one's safe. There's no plot armor here, right? Everybody's in trouble. But, yeah, I, you know, I, I watched Danish movies… I really gotta start watching more Danish movies…
D: Danish crime films are kind of the shit quietly. They're one of those things that a lot of people have never dabbled in because they don't get a big release here. But you look up stuff like Just Another Love Story or anything starring Kim Bodina… Pusher or anything…
A: Oh my god!
D: Yeah. I, I saw Kim by the way… I saw Kim Bodina in something recently. I, I don't remember what right now, but Kim Bodina is in something, and we watched the whole movie, and I was like, whoever this guy is, he's like Santa Claus. I love this man. Who is this man? At the end, they say Kim Bodina, and I'm like, what?! Oh my god! He is the most terrifying, like, crazy animal in those early Danish crime films, and in this, just the most lovable Santa Claus of a man. I gotta remember… it, it was so wonderful to see him in something out of context like that… but this film, Riders of Justice… I just watched it again last night with Lisa, and I wasn't sure I'd shown it to her. And then as soon as we started watching it, we got, we got about… we got to after the train, and she's like, I've seen… I know I've seen this. And I said, oh, we can watch something else. She said, no, no, no, no. I don't remember it. You can't turn it off now. And every time something happens, you go, that's right, that's right, I have seen this. So what happens there? I don't know. I don't remember. And then the whole way through, she was just on the edge of her seat for a second time. The movie is so well constructed. And it's a… it's a… one of those stories where, no joke, it is… all… it all hinges on a blue bicycle gets stolen, and then all of this other stuff happens, and the entire idea of the movie is, is there such a thing as coincidence? What causes something? How do these things connect? Is there any cause and effect? Is it all just accidental? And I don't think I've ever seen a better expression of those ideas dramatically. Like, they tell you what they're doing up front. There's literally a lecture where he's trying to sell a thing, and he's like, the algorithm could do this and blah blah blah.
C: Yeah.
D: We could take… and then the whole movie is that, but it doesn't feel pedantic. It doesn't feel like they're trying to do something sort of… like, a it's very organic… it's a great yarn on top of being this very airtight screenplay. The thing that is difficult about recommending this one or Wild Tales… and it's something, with you guys, I'm not worried about, but sometimes I do worry about these things is… they are violent. This movie is truly violent in a lot of places, where it's a little shocking how they handle stuff, and it's frank. I, I do sometimes wonder about recommending stuff to audiences who are unsuspecting. And something like Wild Tales pushes you… pushes you out of your comfort zone. This definitely pushes you out of your comfort zone. I enjoy that. I don't know that everybody always does. There are times where I recommend stuff to people and I, I get the look when they report back on what they saw. And the look is, I don't know. It was a lot. I hear that frequently with these things.
C: Yeah.
D: So did this one seem like… because it is… it doesn't pull any punches. Did it seem excessive, or does it seem…
A: It's excessive in its violence, but it's a… the story necessitates that violence. Like, when you were, when you were intro… introing it… you said it's lovely, and I'm like, is it? Is it, Drew? But it is. How it has a, a sweetness and a loveliness to it… but, shit…
D: It is strangely charming.
A: It is, right? But shit gets real. There is, like, point blank to the face… like, things happen, and, and no one is safe, like Craig said.
D: And, And I think emotionally…. some of the conversations…
A: Yeah. Oh my god.
D: … I like… I, I always like in movies where you break down an asshole, where there's a, a guy who is a complete asshole, and by the end of the film, he is somehow mellowed, and you have gotten through to him, and you see a real change. Now a lot of times, it's very artificial. It's just, they… you change because they have to. It's the Scrooge thing. Oh, it's time for him to change, so he, he changes, and, and he's redeemed. Marcus’s redemption in this movie is hard-won. There is never a moment where it is a 100%… oh, he's a cuddly teddy bear now. Like, even when these people start to get vulnerable and he's trying to be vulnerable, he still is a wrecking ball emotionally and hurts people. The, the best example is… that was… is when he's super vulnerable with the guy with the arm, and he’s… Otto… and he's told Otto all this stuff, and Otto's being very vulnerable back with him. And he just makes a shitty comment about Otto's wife. And that take, the reaction by Nikolaj Lycosse who plays Otto… when he looks back at him, it's a good fifteen, twenty seconds before he speaks. And it's one of my favorite reactions I've ever seen an actor give, because he says nine things before he opens his mouth. You see it all play out on his face, and it hurts him. It is such a pointed thing to say, and you really see it land on this guy. That's what the movie does so well is, even though I think a lot of it's funny and… Emmenthaler might be the craziest character in a movie… but…
A: “A delicious cheese.” Yeah.
D: And Emmentahler's an insane character. He's great. I, I love… I love his desire to get weapons in his hands, and I love… I, I like how very good he is at building the gun the first time he does it.
C: Yeah.
D: Emmenthaler's crazy. But for a movie with him in it, and a movie that goes as cartoonish and big as it does, man… it is truly an emotionally difficult film, and, and then pays all that off. The, like… I think the difficulty is worth it for what they get at the other side of it.
C: Yeah. I mean, it… to me, it’s… not to give it away, but it really is about how you have no control over your own grief, and you've really got to… you, you can’t… bad things happen, and we always wanna make sense of it, and sometimes, there’s… you can't make sense of something horrible happening.
D: Yeah. This came out the same year as Another Round with Mads Mikkelsen, and I think that one…
C: I was gonna say…. I love that movie. But, yeah, that one’s…
D: … a lot of the same… it's a lot of the same people behind it.
C: Mhmm.
D: It, it’s… and I just think that movie got the attention that year, and it kind of pulls attention away. You… there's only room for so many Danish films in kind of American pop culture each year, you know?
C: Yeah.
D: And it does feel like that year, that film broke through. And I, I just hope that this is one that has a shelf life, and I hope people find it. And it's just a couple of years old at this point. It still feels very contemporary. It still feels very new. I really hope it gets legs as a Christmas film.
A: Yes. Yes.
D: This is a movie…
C: Yeah, I can see that.
D: … that, like Die Hard, enters the oddball Christmas canon of movies that aren't on the surface Christmas movies, but it is set at Christmas time. And, I mean, the first and almost the last thing we hear are Christmas carols, and they're very emotionally resonant when they happen. It's fascinating the way this movie really delves into ideas of forgiveness and how you get past terrible things. Yeah. I’m, I'm so glad that this was one that, that you guys watched and that I was forced to change. I don't think I would have done this if we hadn't kinda had that last thing.
C: I’m glad you picked it. Yeah. It was a good one. Everybody picks good ones.
[clip from Riders of Justice plays]
D: We did it, guys. We, we did it. And I wanna encourage you. If you are, for whatever reason, starting with this episode, or you haven't listened to all of it, I, I want you to go back and listen to all of the warm-up episodes. We've covered so much ground. We've talked about movies like Five Corners, Imitation of Life, Bringing Up Baby, Mildred Pierce, Fun & Fancy Free, Out of the Past. We've covered Altman, Mary Poppins, Jerry Lewis, Keith Gordon, Jim McBride, Carl Reiner. We talked about Jaws, but not the Jaws that you would think. Early nasty Curtis Hanson. And I love how the movies that we picked like Grace Of My Heart or Dogfight or Man in the Moon led to some very emotional conversations.
And I genuinely feel, guys, like I know both of you better now. And I think that that is the whole point of doing this. So the next time I think you guys hear all three of us together, we will be here with our first guest. We'll introduce you to the show's full format. We're gonna start digging in. We're, we're also gonna start talking about what the bonus content on Patreon is gonna look like. I think we have some really good ideas and some really good plans, and we are just warming up.
Aundria, thank you so much for all these warm-up episodes.
A: Oh my god. I thank you. Thank both of you. I… it’s… I, I keep saying it's an honor to be here to to get to talk with you guys about some amazing films and just get to know you guys better, and I, I love you both.
C: Awww. That's so nice. But, you know, and… that’s, it’s… it… and it is a shortcut to getting to know somebody, really. This is the purpose.
D: Absolutely.
C: Aundria, I feel like I've known you for years now.
A: I know. I know. I know. I know. It's crazy.
C: And it's nice. I love that. It’s, it is, it is a… it is a, a, a shortcut right to somebody's heart and soul, and I love it. So thank you for letting me experience all that.
D: Alright. Well, listen, guys. I will talk to you very soon. Thank you.
C: Oh, I'm excited. I'm ready. Let's get it.
D: I I have already got at least five or six people who are eager to sit right here in this seat next to me…
A: Oh god, I’m nervous.
D: … and talk to you two. And I can't wait to start doing these picks and start getting into people's loves and their fetishes and all the weird things they love about movies.
A: Okay, DePalma.
D: It's gonna be great. Yeah. It's gonna be great. I'm as excited as I've ever been to kick things off on The Hip Pocket. So we'll talk to you guys very, very soon.
[the Hip Pocket theme plays]
COMING SOON on The Hip Pocket: We’re going to take a few weeks off to let you guys chew on the first season now that it’s done, and then at the end of this month, I’ll be back in this Friday morning spot to bring you the very first episode of season two!
Our first guest is a terrific guy who built one legendary career for himself before starting over online and doing it again. His work on The Simpsons would make BILL OAKLEY a comedy icon by itself, but he’s still incredibly busy. His cult favorite Mission Hill made a comeback and he continues to tour with the show and his longtime writing partner Josh Weinstein. He’s got an ongoing Audible SF-comedy show that he’s writing and producing, and he’s become an Instagram fast food expert.
We’ll be talking about three films that Bill chose, two of which are longtime favorites, and one of which was brand-new to all of us. Which one is his favorite comedy of all time? You’ll have to listen to find out, but make sure you see Cold Turkey, Who’s Minding The Mint?, and It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World before January 31st.
We’re also discussing the Sylvester Stallone comedy Oscar and Monty Python’s controversial Life of Brian, so buckle up. It’s a great way to kick off our first full season with guests joining us to talk about films that matter to them for any number of reasons. You’ve got twelve great conversations to look forward to in Season Two, and I can’t wait to start sharing them with you soon.
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and spread the word on social media. If you want to support us via Patreon, we’re about to record a special episode where we discuss the movies we’ll all be adding to our personal hip pockets after 2024, and you’ll only be able to hear it there!
Thanks for listening, and let’s have an awesome 2025 as people discover The Hip Pocket!
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