EP.40 Amanda Seyfried

In this episode of the Newbies to Movies Podcast, hosts Tyler and Justin are joined by special guest Laura for a deep dive into the career of Amanda Seyfried, contrasting her lighter musical roles with more intense acting projects. The discussion centers on the 2025 folk-horror musical The Testament of Ann Lee, analyzing her lauded performance as the Shaker leader and the film's unique approach to movement and song, while balancing it with a nostalgic look back at her role in Mamma Mia!. The episode concludes with a fun, competitive draft where the team selects their top musical movies, showcasing a range of cinematic picks.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:13

Hello, hello. Welcome to Newbies to Movies. I'm Tyler and I'm Justin. This is a podcast where we like to talk about new movies that we're watching. And this week we have a special guest, my mother, Laura Dindle. Welcome to the podcast. Just give us a rundown of your favorite movies and what kind of movies you'd like to watch.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Thank you very much, guys, for having me on. I'm really excited to be here. Um, I would say probably my favorite movies, believe it or not, is musicals. I love musicals. They usually make you feel very happy and carefree and like there's not a care in the world. So I would say those are pretty much my favorite.

SPEAKER_04 0:46

Okay. Awesome. Yeah, so this is like a Mother's Day theme episode, but uh also around the fact that like Amanda Seifrid is like the main actress that we're focusing on this week. She's known for doing a lot of musicals because she's musically really talented and then also a really talented actress that she brings into it. So both the movies that we're doing this week, which are Mama Mia and Testament of An Lee, are also musicals. One of them's not a very typical musical, while the one is like to the T what you think of when you think of a musical. Um, and then we're gonna finish it all up with a musical draft. But let's first start off with like something that you watched this week or anything that you want to shout out, Justin, if you want to go first.

SPEAKER_03 1:24

Yeah, I uh I finally got to get into euphoria and I'm caught up to episode three at the time of filming. Definitely very interesting. I think they're definitely taking a very different approach to what the first two seasons were, which is cool to see. I mean, especially seeing them all grown up, basically, and being adults rather than being in high school. I'm definitely interesting. Rue is still on one all the time, which is really fun. But yeah, really cool. Good great cinematography is one thing that's really stood out to me, but I'm interested to see where they go with the rest of the season.

SPEAKER_04 1:56

Yeah, I haven't gotten to watching all three episodes yet, but I definitely want to check it out. Um talked about it last week a little bit with Page, but it is interesting that you bring up that they've gone a different route with Euphoria because it's kind of known for being this gritty high school-esque one, and then they went straight into like drugs and owing money to like mafia kind of stuff. So kind of a jump of a conflict, you know. All right, mom. Uh, what did you watch?

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Well, I would say that I did watch the Double Wears Prada 2.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

I watched that with um both my kids, and that was kind of nice because especially it's like Mother's Day's coming up, so it was a nice event, and we watched it in the theaters, and I thought it was really, really well done. I really did. Um, the fact that they had a lot of innuendos from the first movie, I think really kind of kicked it off. It wasn't like a completely different story, it definitely took off from where the other one ended. But I really enjoy it.

SPEAKER_04 2:55

Yeah, I I watched Calvary's Prada 2 as well with you, and I really enjoyed it as well. I really enjoyed the first one. Um, I don't think it's quite as good as the first one, just because there's a little like cliche sequel things that don't really add up plot-wise, like bringing Emily's character back in kind of seemed forced. But I did think it was interesting to see a more of like a human side to Miranda compared to the first one. Uh, not as many one-liners, so her as a character, I feel like isn't as memorable in this second one as it was in the first one because she isn't as mean, it's kind of gin zified is what I've heard it called, where they like do a lot of like uh HR things, so she isn't just mean the whole movie like she was the first one, but rather nice and stuff. So I think that was a little different for me. Um, a lot of cameos. Somehow Carl Anthony Towns shows up in the movie that I was just like that zesty dude, dude. I was like, of course you would try to get into that, but yeah. Overall, though, I did enjoy it as well. I'm trying to see what else I watched this week. Well, my diary. I watched a lot of Pixar movies, but we'll talk about that on the next episode with Pixar movies because I want to associate with that. I'm trying to catch up. But I watched, oh yeah. So Monday I watched like an unreleased movie that just came out like this past weekend. But I watched One Spoon of Chocolate. It's a movie by Riza. Justin knows him pretty well. But I thought the movie was interesting. Definitely made white people like the villain of the movie, which I like. I mean, I ended up hating all all the people in the movie as well, so I thought it was quite interesting. I think the acting was kind of subpar, but the story itself was pretty pretty cool. And then he's just beating up a bunch of like KKK members at the end of the movie. That's pretty sick. And it and the movie ended and like everybody in the theater is just clapping.

SPEAKER_03 4:42

That's cool.

SPEAKER_04 4:42

When does it release? I think it releases next week. Okay. But it was cool to like because AMC does every Monday like an unreleased film that you can go see. Um if you're a list member and I I've been doing that for the past couple weeks. And interesting movies that I probably wouldn't have gone to the theater to go see this, but I thought it was decently good. Give it three out of five stars. Awesome. So yeah, this actress this week is Amanda Seifridge. She is from Pennsylvania. She's an actress that's really started like in the mid-2000s, late 2000s. Um, a lot of rom-com, like comedy kind of movies, and they kind of escalated to more musicals. And then lately she's been in a lot more serious films, it seems like, and they're really challenging herself as an actress, which I like to see from any kind of actors. But yeah, uh, let's start with mom. What do you think of Amanda Seifert?

SPEAKER_01 5:31

I like her a lot. I like a lot of her her movies. She's just very fresh, very, I don't know, very just she can really make you feel good depending on most of the movies that I've seen of her. You know, one of my favorites is Letters to Juliet that she did, and that was like a rom-com, you know, and then of of course, you know, Mama Mia that we that we're seeing, and she's she's got a beautiful, beautiful um voice. And the ranges that she can get is just it's pretty amazing, depending on, you know, each different movie that she's been in on those. So I really do like that.

SPEAKER_03 6:02

Yeah, you just yeah, to kind of add to that, I didn't know much about her, but I'm like questioning how she hasn't been in like a live-action Disney princess movie because to me she just has that voice. It's really, really, really good. Um, you know, no matter how I feel about the movies that we watched this week, yeah, amazing singing by her. And I think she can go a lot of places with that.

SPEAKER_04 6:24

Yeah. A tangled role would be really cool, I think. I think she would be really good as like uh the Princess Entangled. Um, even though I think Princess Entangled is a little younger, but I feel like they could make it work. Um Yeah, I think she's quite interesting. She's her first movie ever, or at least role, was in Mean Girls, which is one of my favorite cult classics. I think Mean Girls is a very good thing. I love that movie. Such a rewatchable film. Yeah, she goes into like making Mama Mia four years later, Dear John is another big popular rom-com movie. She makes Lesnar's Rables. And then she does some comedies. She did like Million Ways to Die in the West, Ted Two, I love the Coopers. I thought, and then she did a year later, First Reform with Ethan Hawk, like a super serious, like religious form. Which you can kind of see how she got herself back into one of the movies this week with Testament and Van Lee. Uh another movie that she did this past year was The Housemaid, which I also saw in theaters and I really enjoyed her performance in that. Uh I think she's a really controlled actress and honestly one of the more underrated actresses I think working right now. I think she really stands out in her roles, especially both of these movies, to me at least. I think she was a standout role. Cool. Yeah, so this week we did Mamma Mia and The Testament of Ann Lee, and we're gonna start with Mamma Mia. So Justin, go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 7:44

Yeah, obviously Mamma Mia is a very popular musical, uh, definitely a cult classic. You know, it has its following for sure. Kind of getting into it, the plot follows uh Amanda Seffrid uh Sophie on a Greek island, and she secretly invites three men who could potentially be her father that she's never known, and doesn't tell her mother, Donna, played by Meryl Streep, to the wedding, hoping to kind of discover who her actual father is before she gets married. Overall, with the plot, I gave it a six. I thought it was cool, but I thought the plot didn't move that much throughout the movie. It kind of was just stuck on that that one premise and uh didn't go too far after that. I watched this with uh Madison, obviously, and I was kind of asking Madison, I was like, what could the plot possibly be of the second one? Because I felt like this one kind of just had that one storyline. And then I was like, is that just the whole plot of the second one as well? But yeah, what did you guys think of the plot? Mom, you want to go first?

SPEAKER_01 8:42

Sure. I thought, well, obviously the plot, you know, is exactly what you stated that, you know, this this uh 20-year-old girl is getting ready to go move a the step forward in her life to become, you know, a bride and then, you know, a wife. And while she's doing this, she's thinking, wow, she's thinking about her past and how she never knew who her father was. And wouldn't it be nice to have him here and be able to give her away at the wedding? So I thought that the plot was really good as far as that goes. It was kind of silly in a way, just to, you know, you've got these three different men that come from completely three different types of worlds that they do. You know, you've got one who's a banker, you've got one who's an architect, and then you've got one that's basically just travels all over the place and uh rides by the seat of his pants, I guess you could say. And uh so that was kind of interesting to put that in there. And but I I liked it. I I definitely did like it. Obviously, I love the music too, because it's it's all music from ABBA. And I kind of I grew up with ABBA. So to me that a lot of those songs were great to be able to to you know sing along with or dance to, and and it was so it was very, very energetic and just you know, like the idea that it showed about friends and love and you know. So I thought I thought it was really good.

SPEAKER_04 9:57

Yeah. I think I get what you're saying, Justin, with like the plot being like just center on that, and uh that's like pretty much the whole story itself. I guess I wish it saw a little bit more with Sophie and her mom. Like you don't really see like this real relationship, you just kind of infer that there's a tight relationship because she was a single mother, like growing up with her. But like I maybe it was just like there's no chemistry between Streep and Cypher for me at least, and maybe that gets more into characters, but I feel like that was a big hit on the plot that I had. It was just like there's no real chemistry between them that is kind of like the center of the whole plot line itself. Like she kind of goes behind her mom's back to get these three guys, and really I for again maybe getting into characters, but I wasn't really as much into each of the fathers as much as I thought I would be. I didn't really care all that much about each of their like lives, you know?

SPEAKER_03 10:48

Yeah, but yeah, I mean, yeah, kind of getting into that characters. I gave it a five. Besides Donna and Sophie, I felt like the characters were kind of just really one-dimensional, right? Like the the three guys just had their archetypes. Um, same with uh Tanya and what was her name, Rosie, the two other singers that were, you know, with Donna in the band. Yeah, they all kind of just felt really one-dimensional to me. They had like their stereotypes as characters, and then that was it. There was no real development for any of them, which I get. I mean, side supporting characters, but again to what Tyler was talking about, I kind of wish there was more interaction between Sophie and Donna, especially, I mean, singing scenes. I think we got one with them the whole movie together, singing together.

SPEAKER_02 11:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:35

Which to me, your best two singers, you should carry that through the movie all the way also.

SPEAKER_04 11:40

Yeah, I just wish I saw more. Yeah. I just wish I saw more out of the fathers to see like parts of them in Sophie. So like the whole movie, you're still guessing on who the father is, because that's like the whole question, right? It could be any of them. And then like they're the conclusion, spoiler alert, if you haven't seen a movie that came out in 2008, but it's uh they don't even want to learn. I I actually don't think I've seen the second one. Maybe that's like they actually learn who the father is. They don't okay. Well, like that's the whole point.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Now come on, it's it's like they don't they don't care because now they're all into in this together, you know, this whole togetherness, right?

SPEAKER_04 12:16

Yes, I get that.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

A little sappy, but that's okay.

SPEAKER_04 12:19

What I think would add to that is showing little parts of them as like people in Sophie, if that makes sense. So like you could show more background to them, and then you're like, oh, okay, yeah, it really could be any three of them the whole time. You know, kind of like that development of the characters itself within Sophie, the main act, the main character of the film.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

Well, they did show one thing, but remember when she was on the um when she was on the ship with them and spending actual quality time, she was drawing and he was drawing. So that was kind of one way, right, where he realized, hey, you're really good at this.

SPEAKER_04 12:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

And that maybe could have come from his side, right?

SPEAKER_04 12:58

Yeah. So that was was that that was Harry, right? Yeah. No, I don't Colin Firth.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

No, it wasn't. It was uh it was Pierce Brosnan's role.

SPEAKER_04 13:07

Okay. Yep. And then she's like adventurous, so that's like kind of Bill's role, which also like I forgot that Stellan Skarsgard was in this. I was just like after seeing him in like super serious roles, and then the same guy that's in like Dune 2 as like evil warlord, it's the same guy just singing along. It's kind of funny to me.

SPEAKER_03 13:26

We just saw him and a girl with the dragon tattoo. Yeah, and he's like an evil murderer. Yeah. And then in this, he's just yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

And Pierce Brosnan was a 007, so seeing him singing, I mean, even though I've I saw the movie long time ago as well, it was just like, wow, seeing him singing again, going, okay, that's interesting.

SPEAKER_03 13:45

And Colin Firth was a Kingsman.

SPEAKER_04 13:47

Yeah. Yeah. Kingsman and and the King's Speech won like an Oscar for that. So wild. Yeah. From those three.

SPEAKER_03 13:55

Getting into cinematography, I gave it a seven. I thought this actually this movie actually looked really good. Great use of color, obviously, in a lot of the um the dancing scenes was uh big use of it too. But obviously, such a bright island, right? Such a bright uh setting with the Greek island. Um, I just thought overall it looked really good, looked very joyous and very spontaneous as well.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Oh yeah. I would give that a 10 actually when it comes to that kind of stuff, just because it's so gorgeous out there and they did all their filming out there. It's not like they were inside a a building or anything. Everything was done there on the Greek islands.

SPEAKER_04 14:28

Yeah, I thought it was really cool looking too. I mean, it made the med it's the Mediterranean. So just put a camera out there and you're gonna make the make it look beautiful as long as you don't do some crazy shots. Yeah. But yeah, bringing together all the pieces. That's a cool thing about musicals, is like this the camera work of it all, of like bringing in the choreography of it all, like the quick cuts in between singing actions to like people dancing. I like that as well. So yeah, I'd like the cinematography.

SPEAKER_03 14:54

Getting into dialogue, I gave it a six. I thought the best line uh was life is short, the world is wide, I want to make some memories. Um I thought that was good. Although I know the point of the film is to kind of be a cheesy musical, the dialogue definitely felt very cheesy at some points, which is just how it is. But also, I guess this will count as dialogue as well. The three guys could not sing for crap. I don't want to crap on them too much, but Amanda Seffred and Meryl Streep really blew them out of the water when it came to that. Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_04 15:25

Uh the three guys are not good singers, in my opinion. Um, don't want to go on them too much, but like maybe it's just because Amanda Seifert and Meryl Streep are just insane and like really good singers, and they just can't match. I think there's a reason why I have why we haven't seen them at any other musicals before. While Streep and Amanda Seifert have done multiple musicals. What do you think, Mob?

SPEAKER_01 15:48

I agree, definitely. I mean, I I didn't like I said, I was kind of like, hmm, okay, they can't really sing very well. Yeah. But that's okay. But you know, and in all honesty, there were some of the songs that I didn't think Meryl was doing that great of a job either. Um, you know, and she can be a very comedic, very serious actress, but again, this role is someone who's very, you know, again, flies by the city of their pants and they do what they want to do, and which is you know the whole reason for being on that island and and doing what she wanted to do with her life. So so now I I agree.

SPEAKER_03 16:24

Yeah, getting into uh set design, I won't harp on it too much because we kind of just talked about it, you know, how they filmed there. But um, I thought it was real yet uh a little bit heightened and overplayed, especially with the costume design, everything like that, which is good, right? For the for the musical aspect of it. So yeah, I thought it looked good.

SPEAKER_04 16:41

Yeah, I thought the set design looked really cool. Again, it's in the Mediterranean, feels like a Mediterranean movie. It feels like an isolated island kind of feel to it. Um Manuscip just looked absolutely stunning the whole movie.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Well, yeah, but the costumes too, just it's interesting how they went from not just wearing regular wear to all of a sudden they break into song and they're wearing 70s. I mean, from the platform heap shoes to the bell bottoms and everything, all completely, you know, sparkly. And if you watched the movie up until after the credits, when you think it's over, they all start singing again and they're all back in the 1970s garb of of what ABBA would wear when they did their concerts. So I thought that was kind of like, okay, all right, that's kind of interesting going back and forth there.

SPEAKER_03 17:27

Yeah. Getting into acting, I gave it a seven as well. Um, really good musical performances. And I know this was kind of I don't want to knock the actors based on the characters' writing, but obviously we just talked about how stacked this cast is, and I feel like it's just really underutilized here, just with the characters kind of being one-dimensional. I know that's not the point, right? It is a musical to you know, kind of use music to tell stories, but yeah, with characters being one-dimensional, I can't give the actors that eye of a score here, even though it is a really star-setded cast. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:03

No, I I definitely agree. Like I said at the beginning of the podcast, I think Amanda Seifert's like the shine. Like I think she shines the best in the film to me. I think she's the best performance in the film, which is crazy because she's going against like people way more experienced than her, and this is like her fifth movie. But for me, she really stood out. Maybe you think that moment.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Nothing except for the fact that, you know, it it was interesting that it was a star-studd cast. But at the same time, those that were that were brand new were really shining, you know, because I mean, technically, I mean, Amanda really hadn't been this was I think I believe this was her first musical that she's ever done. So she was really able to, you know, go from a great dialogue, then all of a sudden just belt out a song and lead right into it, which I thought was, which I thought was really good. So yeah, I mean, I I I definitely think that she's the one who shines more than anything. I mean, but um the one of her friends, one of the one of her friends, the one that's played by uh is it Christine? I think it is.

SPEAKER_04 19:02

Yeah, Christine. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Yeah. She is amazing. I've seen her in a lot of musicals, so she's like a pro when it comes to this. So I thought I thought she was really good.

SPEAKER_04 19:13

You know what else she's in, Justin? She's in How the Grinch Stole Christmas as Martha. Hmm. Yeah, it's the same girl. I was I was looking at her, I was like, she looks really familiar. Why does she look really familiar? I was like, wait, she's a who.

SPEAKER_03 19:27

She's a who on the how the Grinch Stole Christmas. I was like, that's crazy. With directing, uh, I gave it a five. I know I keep harping on the one-dimensional characters, but it started making sense when I found out Felinda Lloyd directed this, same person who uh did the Iron Lady, which we did a couple weeks ago, and we had a lot of the same complaints in that movie. So it kind of makes sense. Uh, I think that all the music aspects were done really well, and that's what kind of pulled this movie all together. But yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:55

Mama Mia is the reason why she was even given the chance to make the Iron Lady, and we had a lot of problems with the Iron Lady. Yeah, it made sense when I looked at her as a director, too. I was just like, oh, okay, this is who she is. Just didn't know how to write side characters well at all. At least she doesn't go time jumping all that much. I think if she did that, it would have been a total shit show. So I'm glad that she wait, wait, wait till you hear the plot of the second one. She's only producer of the second one though. So like but she's she shows her imprint on it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Yeah. No, I I mean that surprises me to go. I mean, because musicals, again, most musicals are supposed to be lighthearted and fun and make you leave the theater just wanting to sing the songs that you heard and just feel good. And so it kind of surprises me going, I mean, you know, that she's that she's that that she has the ability to be able to do something serious and then also do something that that's you know lighthearted and fun.

SPEAKER_03 20:54

Yeah, getting into soundtrack can't help but uh give this a 10. I thought it was pretty amazing. Obviously, all ABBA songs, can't be mad at that. Really good singing. Did a little bit of digging on how they kind of got ABBA to sign up for this. So that was kind of neat, just to basically be like, yeah, we're just gonna take ABBA's greatest hits and you know, write a story around uh their songs rather than a lot of times we see it done the other way around, right? W you write the story and then kind of fill in with songs as needed. So that's pretty neat to see how that was done.

SPEAKER_04 21:24

Yeah, and it's also it gets based off the 1999 musical that was or the book from the 1990 musical I thought was really cool. And yeah, the Abbas songs are really well done. Uh yeah, do you think Bob?

SPEAKER_01 21:37

Well you always know too that any books, you know, you know, when you have movies that come from books or movies that come from something that was on Broadway, I mean it's never going to be exactly like what you've what you've seen before, what you've read. So you're there are gonna be some things that may be added or some things that may even be cut. So I'm actually interested in wanting to see Mamma Mia on state, just sort of I can see, hmm, I wonder what was missing or or what should have been added to the movie.

SPEAKER_04 22:04

Yeah, isn't it like the second longest run of like any musical like on Broadway?

SPEAKER_01 22:09

Yeah, it is. It is. And and the gross of um money for it is like it's amazing. But oh yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:17

Yeah, I just read the plot for the second one. Sorry. And holy crap, that seems sure.

SPEAKER_01 22:23

Really? Yeah, the second one is is all over the place, just so you know. We're not reviewing that one, so I guess we can't go into it too much, but it jumps all around.

SPEAKER_03 22:33

Yeah. I was kind of but you know, I was like, Matt, if the father gets revealed in the second one, just tell me. She was like, it doesn't. I'm like, well, what's the point? Like, what could they possibly be doing in the second one that would have me interested enough to watch it? Kind of with that, getting into theme, I gave it a four. I felt like I had to really think about the theme. I know it's supposed to be lighthearted and you're not supposed to think too much about it. Would guess one of the themes would just be love and escapism is kind of what I took from it. But besides that, that might even be a reach in itself as well. I know it's kind of a film you don't want to think too much about. You just want to kind of enjoy and everything like that, but I can't reward it for a good theme when there wasn't a lot to grab onto there.

SPEAKER_04 23:17

Yeah, you bring up a good point because like, yeah, just because it's light-hearted and all that, it could still draw out a theme. It's a problem with I have with some animated films that don't usually draw out a theme. And that what I think what we're doing next week with Pixar is so good at, it's a light-hearted film that still draws out a really important theme in all the movies. I think it can be light-hearted and still have important themes in it. I don't think you could just like go half-ass with your themes. So I I had the same hit on it as well.

SPEAKER_01 23:43

I definitely think that when it comes to theme, I don't know. I mean, I'd probably give it maybe a six instead of a four, but that's just because again, I like these type of musicals. So I like these types that you mean you you knew what the theme was around. It was about family, it was about love, it was about moving on, or in this case, possibly going back, right? Because at the end, they end up getting married. She ends up marrying him. You know, the mother ends up marrying, you know, who we think may be the father. And so it's just, you know, I think there, I think there was just a lot of, you know, just back and forth as far as far as that goes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:19

Can we just talk about like a jump in character development of being like, I don't even want to see you to like, no, I came back for you. Okay, let's get married right here, right now.

SPEAKER_00 24:27

Yeah, I know, right?

SPEAKER_04 24:28

That's enough for me. It is like, okay, that came out of nowhere. I was like, and then the other guy's like, yeah, I'm gay, by the way. But you guys are all doing nice.

SPEAKER_01 24:40

Like, and then apparently she was the last woman that he ever had. Okay, what does that say for her?

SPEAKER_04 24:46

And then her like best friend is like, you know what? She may be the father of your child, but like I'm not, I'm trying to get with that guy too. In the movie, I'm like, all right, worked. All right. This is like a uh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:59

Yeah, it was the ending was messy, that's for sure. Yeah. For editing, I gave it a six. I thought it uh had a really fast-paced design, obviously, to keep up with the high energy of the music, which I thought was cool. Though it I think it did occasionally cut away from musical numbers really fast. Some of the songs it felt like they were going on for like six minutes or so. And then some of the songs it felt like a minute, and I was like, oh, I thought that one just started. But um, you know, there's probably tons that goes into the decisions of you know how long to keep those songs going on. But other than that, I thought it was fine.

SPEAKER_04 25:35

No, yeah, I agree too, for the most part. I think the editing I gave a little bit higher score just because of like the quick shot cuts in between like music, like when they're starting a number where they like pan away and then cut right back to them in like a different outfit or something. I think it was like really cool camera work, also added in with some editing.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

Okay, well, I I guess I would say that, you know, for editing for me would be probably about a four or five. And the only reason why I'm saying that is some of the stuff that they showed when they were looking at pictures of each one of the, you know, each one of the male characters with Donna when she was young, and they all look like the same picture of her like it was yesterday. Yeah. She didn't even look much younger in any of them. So I was like, okay, that just doesn't seem to work out very well, but all right.

SPEAKER_04 26:19

Yeah, and then the second one, they just do a completely different actress that looks nothing like Meryl Street, it looks like. So if it's even about Donna. I I I think I think I'm pretty sure it is, but yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

The second one is definitely about her life, it's more focused on her, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:35

But but like, yeah, uh I don't know why I keep bringing up the second one.

SPEAKER_03 26:39

If the second one looks like a mess. So overall, I gave it a score of 6.1 out of 10 or 61. I know that might seem low to compared to what a lot of people feel about it. Obviously, just not made for me. Um, I I get it's uh, you know, really lighthearted uh musical. Just I wish uh I kind of was left wanting a little bit more out of the plot and the characters, but I think 30 more minutes of this movie could have done a lot when it came to that. Definitely felt like some points that maybe some plot points got cut. And um, like Miss Laura said, I think you know, seeing it on Broadway and the full scope might bring a little bit more to the characters, to the story and to the themes as well.

SPEAKER_04 27:18

Yeah, I gave it a 7.1 out of 10. It sounds like I was like not really liking the movie the whole time, but I actually really liked Mamma Mia. I just uh looking at it from like a critic lens, I think the ending was super rushed as one of my biggest hits on it, where I think they could have extended that ending to actually be like I I give this like a ro like a romantic comedy kind of thing, but like you could draw it out a little bit, actually give us like some character development of like making those kind of decisions rather than just being on the whim decision-making kind of thing. And then the theme itself I also took off of.

SPEAKER_01 27:50

Yeah, I would say that I would have given it I would have given it an eight, and it's just because one, the music. The music just really gets you into the movie, the and the scenery, just being able to be there and you know, the whole time you're thinking, gosh, I want to go there. Now I'm ready to get on a plane. Right. I want to I want to go to Greece because it's so gorgeous out there. And you know, it's and it seemed so carefree. And so so I think that's but I didn't, you know, it when it came to the ending, the one thing that bothered me about the ending was it was like they were pretty much saying goodbye as they go away on on the boat somewhere, but it's like, well, okay, what do we they didn't get married. Yeah. Amanda and you know, I mean, they they didn't get married. So it's like it was usually you see things like that as when they get married and you're like, oh, they're starting their life. But I don't know, I just I thought it was kind of interesting. I thought it was a little dark too, that you couldn't really tell who who was it that was in that boat at first, you know. So, but yeah, I would definitely say an eight just because again, I like the music and the scenery.

SPEAKER_04 28:47

Awesome. Um, so yeah, that was Mama Mia. And let's get right into it with uh the next movie being Testament of Van Lee. Very untraditional musical, where my mom said earlier where it's supposed to be lighthearted and stuff. This one is not very light-hearted, I would say. This one's a lot deeper, a lot of deeper themes in this movie, a lot of uh kind of a dark tone to the movie as well, and definitely not usual music, musical like numbers that you usually see in a lot of musicals where they just break out in song, it kind of develops itself. Other than like one scene, there's definitely like a musical cut to the scene where I was like, this doesn't even feel like it's in the same movie. But uh cool. Yeah, the plot starts off kind of looking at the Quakers as a religion itself, and then it introduces you to this character, Ann Lee, who is starting to join the Quakers with her brother, William, played by Lewis Pullman, and then right from there she meets Abraham and she turns into his husband. Um, they have some sinful kind of sex, it seems like, just not normal kind of sex, where like a lot of like ropes and stuff, and then she has four kids, and then they all die, and it kind of progresses into her thinking that God is punishing her for having the evil sex, and from that she cre creates like a different faction of Quakers, and they call the Shakers, um, because every time they spiritually um give sermon or something, they are literally shaking. And that but in this film it's demonstrated as like dancing, um which I think is quite an interesting take on it. But then they're persecuted from not just the Quakers, but like the English or like from the government, and then so then they go across the Atlantic Ocean, like most people did back then, and create like their own society, and even there they get persecuted itself, they create like the Shakers there, building up to like a bigger religion, and yeah, and Lee is like the founder of the Shakers, so that's like the whole point of the film. But yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:48

All right, Justin, let's hear it. I think this plot had no backbone and was heavily relying on the narration. This is all over the place. It's like you said, it started with the Quakers and then it had to do with her and her sinful sex. Before you know it, she's in America telling people that shit they have to practice abstinence, which if that's cool if that happened, but also like how do you expect to keep your religion alive if nobody's procreating? I think that was done very poorly as well. Um, because like nobody in that whole room was like thinking at all. Like, that's kind of strange. But yeah, it just felt like it was meandering around the whole movie into a bunch of different like subplots and never really got going for me. I just couldn't get into it at all. Yeah. What do you think, Mom?

SPEAKER_01 31:33

I um hence the wind. It definitely started off very, very dark, and I wasn't quite understanding, especially with my love of musicals and all the musicals that I've seen in my life. To me, I was like, this is not a musical. This has got a song here and there, but more than anything, it was more like a chant. There was always a lot of the music in there was chanting, which kind of reminds me of, you know, of the religious of uh, you know, speaking in tongues and, you know, things like that. Um, and at first I was just like, what am I watching? Who picked this? And then I found out you picked it, Tyler. Sorry. But then I started it was really strange. I'm I mean, I think maybe it was when the scene where she was arrested and it was almost like she and then she wasn't eating, so she was starving herself and she was seeing things and and metamorphosizing the whole religion and what sh what she has been brought there to do, right? And to do with this this religion. And I don't know, for some reason, from there on, I really started kind of getting into it and started thinking, hmm, okay, all right. Yeah, I mean, so you know, I definitely wouldn't say I hated it. At first I was like, this is so strange, I don't know about it, but then I I don't know. It's one of those situations where it was like, well, it's a thin line between love and hate, right? Because it was really, I mean, there was a lot of information in there.

SPEAKER_04 32:56

Yeah. I think for me, at least the first part of the film, I was in the same aspect where I was like, where is this going? What what what is happening? But I think it's all supposed to build up this exposition to like an enlightenment scenario for that religion, which that's what what happens in that prison where she starts to get those scenes after losing her kids and being like, Okay, this is what God is telling me is the right way, or at least, but maybe she was just crazy. I don't know. The Shakers isn't a big religion anymore. There's only two people left that actually practice it. So I don't feel like I'm going against the grain of like calling it out, but like probably wasn't in the right of right state of mind when she came up with this, but like that is like how it started. And then people were like, you know what? I get I can get along with this. Her brother just unwillingly just like supported her the whole time without testify testing against her kind of thing, while like he was also, yeah. But then it goes over. I think for me, where I really liked the history, the religion history of it was like on the sale over. And I'm like, why are they all following her just out of like what she's saying back in like in Europe? But then everyone's down to their bouts, and then she like is very joyful about it, and I could see okay, that's the leader in her, why they all followed her specifically.

SPEAKER_01 34:10

Uh yeah, they lead yeah, but they were following her for her visions, right? And where she feels that God was talking to her and telling her this is the way you need to go, and you need you need to take these people and you need to share them my story or share them of of what what it means and what you can do for their lives.

SPEAKER_04 34:28

And I get what you're saying, Justin, when we're like that without the narration, the film would be even more lost than it already seems like it is. I agree with that statement, but I thought the narration sometimes was a little much. It like was trying to walk me through in the movie that I didn't need to be walked through personally. But that's just my take on it. And then getting into characters, I gave this a five out of ten. And Lee is like the only character that you really know deeply about. The rest of them you don't really know anything about, other than like one of them decides to leave off with a significant other, and then William is gay, but not allowed to be. So yeah. Oh yeah. So that's like the only two things, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:07

It's just such a weak ass interpretation of like so you showed that he's gay, and then that he's basically just Anne's follower. Yeah, you know, we'll do anything that she said he's wiping her ass for, and then you never bring it up again. Like what a dumb pop. Just don't put it in there. Like it means nothing throughout the whole movie. So why are you gonna even yeah, I don't know. It's it was a really things in this movie kept doing that to me, and I was like, why did I see that? Why did I need to see that if it's never gonna get brought up again? They go they brought up the revolutionary war and how the war was coming, and then it got brought up once more, and then that was it.

SPEAKER_04 35:45

Yeah, they brought the whole William side plot for me, it was really a big like hit on the character for me, and that's why I gave it a five. Again, it's all about An Lee, but like you gotta give some side characters. I think both films just have a really big side character problem where they're just super one-dimensional.

SPEAKER_01 36:01

Yeah, I I definitely feel though that there was a time and there was a point when William wanted to try and take a stand to try and tell his sister, hey, look, this is probably not a good idea. You know, you've got to be careful of what you do and what you say here. It's just as bad here in the Americas as it was, you know, across the pond. So you've got to be careful. But she was like, no, I don't care. I I'm here. This is what I'm this is my calling, this is what I'm supposed to do. So I know that had to be frustrating for him as well, you know, wanting me to do that. But, you know, he always followed his sister from day one. I mean, they showed in the very beginning of the movie how he was younger and was basically on on her coattails all the time. Yeah. So that kind of set the precedence, you know, of this is how the movie is gonna go, right?

SPEAKER_04 36:47

Yeah, it's definitely like she abused that relationship and that trust that he had for her. It's pretty shown. Cinematography, I gave it a nine out of ten. I thought the cinematography was of this movie was really great. Like the shot scenes of turning into like it doesn't even seem like a normal musical number, but the next thing you know, it's like crazy choreography that starts from them trying to do a sermon and like starts off with like the idea of like, oh, they're called the Shakers because they would shake vigorly, but it turns into like dance forms in this movie that I think was really cool.

SPEAKER_03 37:15

Yeah, I thought this movie looked uh really stunning, especially like you're talking about with those uh choreographed scenes. I think about the one uh kind of towards the end where everybody's kind of going in circles. I thought that was such an amazing shot, like the overhead shot of everybody moving around. Yeah, it looked stunning the whole movie. Uh I thought it was great.

SPEAKER_01 37:34

Yeah, I agree. I probably would have given I thought the cinematography was amazing, just the fact that they were the dancing, you know, which looked again like it was, you know, chanting and then they put movements to it. And there for times to time I would I would sit there and all of a sudden I I myself was doing you know hit my chest as well sometimes on it, just because you were getting into the music with it. So which I thought that was strange that I was doing that, but I did. But yeah, but that just shows you how it it was the viewer was definitely paying attention.

SPEAKER_04 38:08

Yeah. Um yeah, it was shot in Budapest and as well as Gothenburg, because very gothic feelings in like the first part of the movie. That was really cool. Yeah, very clear movie, which is like weird to like describe it, but it's like very clear looking to me. Like it's like very dialogue. Another big hit on this movie was I give it a four out of ten. Without the narration, like you don't know what the what the hell they're talking to each other about.

SPEAKER_06 38:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 38:34

Sometimes you're just like, Where where are they going with these conversations? And then the narration's like, okay, this is what's happening. And you're like, was I supposed to get that out of it? And then sometimes you're like, they're very clear in dialogue with what they're doing, and then the narration backs it up, and I'm like, okay. So you're gonna make it clear sometimes, but not clear some other times. I don't know. That's where I felt like a lot of the mismatch of like the plot dialogue for me.

SPEAKER_03 38:55

To me, it felt like they filmed 10 hours of this movie and then started throwing darts at the film reels, and that was their cut points. Because most of the times, yeah, it would just be randomly discussing something, and then next thing you know, it's on to the very next scene, like on a completely different plot point, which just felt so odd at so many different times.

SPEAKER_01 39:16

Yeah, no, I can completely agree with that. In fact, it was interesting how it you would think would be at the end of something, and then all of a sudden it just stopped and then it went dark and then shows these insignias, I guess, that that they had on there. And it was like, okay, what's gonna happen next? And then it would open up. And in fact, in the very beginning of the movie, some of the dialogue was just so low that you couldn't hear it. And I thought, well, okay, can we turn it up a little bit? Like once it's so low. But then, which is kind of interesting because then it kind of went into a much louder, um, not louder, um, not only just the volume, but also the the temperature, so to speak. I mean, it just seemed a lot more in your face as the movie went on.

SPEAKER_04 39:57

Yeah, yeah, I just think it's all over the place script-wise. I think that's like probably the biggest hit why people either get lost in the movie or just don't really care for it at a certain point because the script just isn't all the way built through. I gave the acting an eight out of ten. Another shout out to Amanda Seifrid. Like the film is her as a main character, and she's actually she's absolutely a killer in it. I think it's her best performance I've ever seen of hers. Yeah, she's really good.

SPEAKER_03 40:22

Yeah, no, she was a pretty great at I just wish the the writing was better for the rest of the characters, and who knows? It might have heightened her up to a best actress nomination or something like that. Yeah. Because it was definitely really good. I just kind of wish everything around would have helped push her forward more.

SPEAKER_01 40:41

I definitely would have given it a nine out of ten, just because the fact that, you know, of everything that I have seen with her, and then to have her do this kind of a role, and even in some scenes in the movie where she was very stoned-faced and this is the way it has to be, and this is what we're gonna do. You know, if you don't like it, leave. But then when they had that one scene with her husband where her husband was telling her, Look, I want my wife back. You need to be with me in the marital way, and she's like, I can't. And you could tell that she was sad that she couldn't do that because she chosen this this way of life, which does not involve that.

SPEAKER_04 41:18

Yeah, then he just they just have sex like as her she's in the room. I was like, uh, tells her.

SPEAKER_01 41:24

I mean, I'm assuming it was a whore. I don't know who that woman was saying, okay, you're now my wife. I'm like, okay, is that how it works?

SPEAKER_03 41:31

I can't believe you just said that. Yeah. Blue balls got the best of them, man. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 41:38

Yeah. Sound effects, I gave a six out of ten. This isn't normal musical numbers, too. I think as the movie goes on, the music gets better for me. I think the first half of the film, the like the music scenes and like songs for me are just not that good. Um, and then like the second half of the film, I actually enjoy them a lot more.

SPEAKER_03 41:56

Yeah, I agree. Um I think the music overall was really well done. It's definitely interesting to kind of show um, you know, the shaken Quakers in in this kind of light. Uh, because from the outside looking in, you everybody thinks these people are crazy. Obviously, you know, music has always had like a big connection to the church and everything like that. So it was cool to see it depicted that way.

SPEAKER_01 42:16

Yep. No, I agree too. Most definitely.

SPEAKER_04 42:20

Set design, I gave a seven out of ten. I think it's really unique how it looks very old, sorry, colonial right at the beginning of the movie, and then it develops into like American colonial in in the second half of the movie, and it looks very realistic. The wood scenes of like the Northeast was really beautiful as well. So overall, I think the set design was really well done.

SPEAKER_03 42:42

I think it was well done too. Obviously, uh kind of get into costume design too. I think all their outfits looked uh very traditional and looked great as well.

SPEAKER_01 42:51

Yeah, no, I agree too. And it's interesting how it like starts out in England and you could just tell you could see all the oppression going on, and then it patterns out to to the you know, going to the Americas, right? Before it was United States of America, and how it was right before um right before 1776 and that they were there that they'd first started. So I thought that was very interesting. And the period pieces from the bonnets on the hair to um you know, to the military shots. I thought I thought it was really nice. I thought it was really good, very authentic looking, very cold. Just seemed very cold all the time back then.

SPEAKER_04 43:28

Mm-hmm. That's a good point to point out. Directing, I gave this a three out of ten. I think directing is where they miss on a lot of stuff, especially like the script itself, because she was also was co-wrote it. So uh you got to hit on the director for having a lot of plot points and the dialogue not being all that best. And I think a lot of the plot points is that plot misses is her fault as a director.

SPEAKER_03 43:52

Yeah. I mean, I keep hate to keep harping on it, but I texted you earlier this week and said, Hey, you know, I have a lot of the same issues that the iron Lady has. I think when telling a biopic, you need to uh take a stance, you know, tell the tell the audience how you feel as a director. Um, but I also think you need to narrow it down into what you want the audience to take away. And I think uh this movie just tried to fit way too many things and still a long ass movie, but yeah, it was just too much in one place, and I think that's where this really misled the storytelling.

SPEAKER_01 44:23

Yeah, no, I definitely feel that there was definitely storytelling, but again, you had to really pay attention in order to understand exactly where the story was in the beginning. And then finally it started again with the narration, you know, the whole, you know, the whole focusing on celibacy and gender equality and and et cetera. It was just okay. It just it seemed to jump a little bit and was was a bit much for me, but that that's just me.

SPEAKER_04 44:49

Yeah. Editing, I gave a six out of ten. I thought editing, just like a lot of musicals, it a lot of like shot pieces were like rather this editing style was a little different from Baba Mia. It was more drawn out into bringing showing the choreography scenes instead of quick shot cuts, which I think was quite quite cool as well. And then I I'm iffy, I hit on it just because of like the slow shots of like the col the colonial like army coming. That that was a miss for me. I don't know. I don't think that was cool. They were just riding on horses slow, and I was like, okay, like what's supposed to be scary about that? I don't know. For me, that was a miss.

SPEAKER_03 45:25

Yeah. Uh there was a couple of scenes like that where I was like amazed at how beautiful they looked, and then a couple things where I was like, is this supposed to be special? Like they're building it up to be a special thing, and it just felt like nothing to me. But yeah, I was right there around six as well with the editing.

SPEAKER_01 45:40

Yeah, I would say probably for me, I would say about a five for editing just because of the empathetic portrayal of this historical, you know, uh figure, you know, where it was basically, I think, and again, it you know, this was a this was a female director, right? So she was really throwing her femininity in there as a female and as a mother perspective, right? So there was just a lot of emotional themes in there from from how the sexual intercourse was to just how the celibacy was and just how each one was very guided with a notion of you know empathetic, of empathy more than anything.

SPEAKER_04 46:20

Yeah. Yeah, I agree with you as far as like that. I I just think some of it was just missing for me. And then some some of the dialogue could have been, I think, cut a little bit better. And I think part of the editing is also narration into it. Um, because you have to edit that into like where you want to in the story. And for me, sometimes the narration didn't back up what they were actually what was actually going on in the movie. Overall, I or the theme, I gave a seven out of ten where I draw out a theme of like I I asked this question right after I was like, what's the difference between a cult and a religion? I was like, what is like the key difference between the two? Because I was like, this feels like a lot like a cult movie, you know? Like she's doing a cult. But when I looked it up, it was like cults keep you in. They don't allow you to go out at all. They don't let you leave, and they're supposed to isolate you while religions are supposed to, you're supposed to be integrated in the world and like it's kind of your choice, you know, of where you go within that religion. And the Shaker Quakers does allow them at 21 to be able to decide to leave. Other than that, for me, the Shaker seems a lot like a cult. I think that's quite a little bit of a difference for me. Like only one age you're allowed to decide when you can leave. I don't know. And I even that point you probably feel guilty to stay. So I think that was the main difference of like what is the difference between like a cult and religion that I don't think is a normal theme to maybe draw out from this movie, but that's what I'd yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:40

No, that's definitely a good one. I think there is a lot of themes, and I think that's a problem with the storyline too, is it's just kind of overwashed with themes, kind of like we talked about, you know, having that community, but also being a woman in a male-dominated era for sure. Obviously, sexuality is a huge theme. It just got really overcrowded to me. And to me, when you're doing a biopic, you know, pick those strong stances that you wanna you want to target and make those the focus of the movie because I felt like a lot of them got lost in kind of the side the side topics that we were talking about, like the Revolutionary War, would just randomly pop up again um 30 minutes later than it was previously talked about. And it just got to be a kind of a maze of a movie.

SPEAKER_01 48:26

Yeah, I would definitely though, but the theme, I honestly thought the theme was obviously what we do for God and how we will be feel normalized. And I think when she first went to that to the to the one house that she went to and discovered these people able to just let go, right? Even if it was by chanting or screaming or, you know, that kind of stuff, it brought her back to the one thing, always went back to the whole thing with sex. You know, from when she was young, she had first, you know, caught her parents having sex and her mom had no pleasure on her face. It was like it was a duty. I mean, you know, when they were all sitting around the table and there was like what, like 10 or 11 kids? I mean, it's like she had a baby every year, like that was her mom's job. That's it. Boom. That's what you're there for. You're not there to enjoy it. You're not there, it's a job. And then the fact that she felt like she had no mothering instincts in her to be able to keep her children alive that she had, but yet she was a mother to all of the people that followed her. So ultimately, even though she couldn't be a real mother, she ended up being a mother.

SPEAKER_04 49:33

Yeah. Interesting. Interesting, I think how us three just took way different themes out of the one movie. Overall, I gave it 6.2 out of 10 or 6 62 out of 100. I think it's a good, good-ish film. I don't get it did give a very high rating, high rating, like probably one of my lower ratings of most of these films that we've done. But I could see why the things that they were trying to go after this movie. It's not a movie I'm gonna revisit because it's a lot going on in it, and it's just not my cup of tea necessarily. But I don't necessarily think it's a bad film.

SPEAKER_03 50:06

Yeah, this is uh I gave it a five, probably the most mid-film I've watched on here. I think it's more interesting to discuss than it was to actually watch.

SPEAKER_01 50:15

So for me, it started out as a two, and believe it or not, ended as a seven for me because I really I I felt like I learned a lot. I felt like there was some education, especially when it came to the scene where they were making furniture, and then I realized, oh my gosh. So that's where the shaker boxes came from and the stuff that that you see a lot of the Amish make, you know, because you know, it's basically the Amish of today. You know, they have a lot of the same values, right, as the Shakers did. But so that kind of was interesting to me. That was educational, that I felt like I had to get on my phone and and look it up, go, oh, okay, now I get it. Now I get it where it came from. So I'd say seven.

SPEAKER_04 50:54

Awesome. So yeah, that was uh concludes our movies about Amanda Seifert itself, lead actress in both these films. I'm interested to like check out more movies from her. Uh maybe not another musical at least, but like just anything else. I recommend The Housemaid for you too if you haven't seen it. I think she's really good in the film. Sydney Sweeney's in the film too. So you can see the difference of Amanda Seifert's a really good actress, and Sydney Sweeney is an alright actress. You could just see the difference in that film. You're just like, oh wow, yeah, there's levels. Um, but cool. So now we're gonna kind of drive it into a musical draft, as both films were musicals, and we don't really feel comfortable rating Amanda Seifert movies because we haven't seen enough, in my opinion, um, for us to properly rate her movies. So yeah, we're gonna get into a musical draft. Uh the categories for the musical draft are going to be Oscar nominated, box office over 300 million, because when I was looking at the box office, I was like, holy crap, a lot of these movies have made a lot of money. I had to choose some number, but I was like, dude, I could choose like half a half a billion, and it would still be a lot of movies available. A standout performance from an actor or actress in a musical, drama musical, an animated musical, and wildcard. So with that being said, let's do the Wheel of Names, and this is just a regular snake style draft. I already know what the number one pick is if Justin gets it. So let's see. Mom, you get to go first.

SPEAKER_01 52:22

Oh, so I get to pick what? Any of these genres or just uh one?

SPEAKER_04 52:26

Any of them. Any of them. Well, you guys can do the oh yeah, dude. We got an audience. Yeah. Maybe what second trying to see who goes second.

SPEAKER_06 52:38

I got second. That's cool. Take it, man. Take it.

SPEAKER_01 52:43

It's all about the dendles. All about the dendles.

SPEAKER_04 52:45

Mom gets to go first, I go second, and then Justin goes third. All right, mom, you get to choose any of the categories.

SPEAKER_01 52:51

So I would say, you know, dealing with categories for a musical draft, I would say Oscar nominated. So one of the most amazing Oscar nominated is the sound of music, and that was in 1965. And I think a lot of people have seen that movie. It's almost like part of your life every fall or so, right? Right around Thanksgiving, Christmas time, you know, they show it. They uh they have the movie, you know, because there's so much into the sound of music dealing with the war, dealing with family, dealing with growing up and doing what's what's right for you.

SPEAKER_04 53:25

Yeah, I need to wait, wait a second. Let me make sure that this was actually nominated for an Oscar before we keep going. I have it as it too. Where though?

SPEAKER_01 53:34

Where the Sound of Music?

SPEAKER_04 53:36

I don't see it nominated for an Oscar. Yep. If it has five Oscar wins. Yeah. Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 53:40

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 53:41

Sound of Music 1965, which won five Academy Awards. God damn.

SPEAKER_04 53:46

Fucking Wikipedia fucking me up.

SPEAKER_01 53:48

And then you should just ask your mama.

SPEAKER_04 53:50

This the Sound of Music, yeah, this was a mandatory watch for me in elementary school. I think I need to revisit this now that I'm a grown adult because I just remember watching this as a kid and being bored out of my mind and hating this because they're like, pay attention to this part, kids. Pay attention. I'm like, I don't want to. Like, F off. And then I need to re revisit the Sound of Music. Just because that I need to get out that image of my head of this movie because it's just they made us watch it probably every week in music class. Like, do you need to see the sound of music every week? I don't think so. But anyways. Cool. For the fun of the draft, I I could take La La Land just to screw over Justin and then see if Justin crash out for a second. But that wouldn't be going to like who uh who what musicals I actually like. So like I won't do it just out of to go against Justin. As funny as that would be. For me, I'm gonna take a standout performance first. I'm gonna take Judy Garland and The Wizard of Oz as Dorothy. I think one of the most iconic roles of any musical as Dorothy, one of the most iconic musicals of all time. I thought about just taking The Wizard of Oz as being like one of the first color pictures to be popular. But I was like, dude, Judy Garland is so good in this film. And like the horrible set procedures that went towards her during the movie as well. But yeah, taking Judy Garland.

SPEAKER_03 55:09

Uh-huh. All right. I'm taking Lala Land for Oscar nomination. I think my favorite musical of all time. I think, you know, kind of what we talked about this week being a lighthearted thing, this movie goes a lot deeper than that, which is what I enjoy in a movie, so that's why it's such an attractive movie to me. With my second pick though, I think I'm going to take give me, I can get that later. Give me drama, and I'm gonna take Grease. Great movie, more kind of my style when it comes to these musicals. Fun musical, obviously great soundtrack, kind of like uh headlined by Frank Valley, which is a great artist. But yeah.

SPEAKER_04 55:53

Yeah, John Travolta coming on the scene, doing his thing. Grease lightning. Probably the most iconic song from that. Uh yeah, I haven't revisited this film either since I was a kid. So I need to rewatch this as like an adult. I heard there's a lot of a lot of adult parts of this film that you don't really notice as a kid.

SPEAKER_01 56:11

So here's some history for you. When Grease was filmed, it was actually filmed at a high school close to where I lived when I lived in California. So I actually went to we actually got to go to and see the scene of where they do the whole amusement park at the end. So it was like all up and there, it was like at a high school before it was it was filmed, which was close to me. So that was kind of interesting. Interesting.

SPEAKER_04 56:33

My mom always likes to pull out fun facts about her growing up in these random places and then movies were filmed by. That's kind of cool. Yeah. Where do I go next with this? I'm gonna go with drama next because I'm gonna take this away from my mom. Um, I'm gonna take a stars born for drama.

SPEAKER_02 56:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 56:53

Um, for stars born. Um I looked up if it was a musical because I was like, Is it? And then it said Google was like, yeah, it is. And then like it's described as a drama comp musical. So I was like, all right, fair enough. Like some of some of it's to crowds, but then some of it's to themselves and to like the you as a viewer. So it's kind of like the Elton John one a little bit. But Stars Born stars Bradley Cooper, directed by Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. So the new one, not the original one, because the new one is really good. Um, a lot of that music I would actually listen to for like a couple years afterwards. Bradley Cooper is surprisingly a really good singer. Recommend this movie because it's a really good drama set piece of uh of the musical.

SPEAKER_01 57:32

So I would recommend that you actually see the not the first one, but the second one, because actually a starsborn was done back in, I want to say it was like the 1950s. And the one that was one that I grew up with before seeing this one with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga was the one with Chris Christofferson and Barbara Streisand. And I thought that one was really, really good for that time frame because again, the time frame was supposed to be the 70s for that. So but with a very different twist on it, very different twist.

SPEAKER_04 58:01

Yeah, the movie gets really dark really fast, though. Like full warning about that, about the stars born. The ending is super fucking depressing.

SPEAKER_01 58:09

Yeah, it does.

SPEAKER_04 58:10

All right, mom, it's your second pick.

SPEAKER_01 58:12

Okay, so I'm doing wildcard, and I've been thinking about this, and Tyler's gonna laugh when I say this, okay? But how many musicals do you know that a lot of people didn't know that this actor did a musical? And it kind of blows your mind. And I'm gonna say the musical is Paint Your Wagon. And Paint Your Wagon. Paint Your Wagon. Yes, Paint Your Wagon was in the 60s, I believe, the 1960s. And it starred Lee Majors and Ready for it, Glenn Eastwood. That was his first and only musical that he ever did. And he actually has a really good voice. The Paint Your Wagon is all about back in the days of the Gold Rush days, and you know, where people came from different areas, and it also showed a lot of Mormonism of having where, you know, where a man could have two wives. And in this case, for this movie, it was a woman could have two husbands, which happened to be the Lee Major's rule and the Clint Eastwood rule. And it was, I I really like that movie. I mean, the the music is great in it, and I definitely recommend seeing that because the whole time you watched it, you're gonna be like, wow, okay, didn't realize he could sing.

unknown 59:24

Interesting.

SPEAKER_04 59:25

And it's your third pick.

SPEAKER_01 59:26

I would say, let me think here for a second. Well, I I think I would want to mention, just to make sure, just because when you think of box offices, box office movies, over 300 million. You know, it's interesting how one of the tops is the one that we saw, which was Mamma Mia at 609 million, is what I was finding. I thought that was really interesting.

SPEAKER_06 59:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:48

Even though what we thought about it, whether it was good or bad, or you know, it made a lot of money.

SPEAKER_03 59:54

I think that's a key point in why they made a second one too. I mean, they know people are gonna go see it, right?

SPEAKER_01 59:59

Yeah, keep keep it going, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:00:01

For sure the second one made more than the first one too. So I'm surprised they haven't made a third one yet. It's about some bullshit.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:07

I think it made more money than Lola Land, too, didn't it?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:10

Probably. Honestly, probably.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:12

Sorry, Justin. Had to had to throw that out there.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:14

It's fair. A lot of good movies don't make a lot of money.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:17

Alrighty. Where am I gonna go with this one? I think animated is such a deep field. So it it really is. But I'm gonna go with Oscar Nom. And I'm gonna go wicked for Oscar Nom. Oh yeah. Just just came out last year. The first one, not the second one.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:39

The first one's actually really good. I highly recommend it. Uh but then I read up on the play because I've never seen the play. And I was like, all right, the second movie's just not gonna be as good, and it's gonna be really hard to adapt to like an actual film. And I heard that's exactly what happened. The first one's really well done, and then the second one's just kind of a mess. But the first one was really good. Ariana Grande, Cynthia Vivio. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:00

Oh, yeah, most definitely. And I actually saw it on stage, so it was very good. And I mean, yeah, again, another another feel-good movie that makes you going away and makes you want to buy the soundtrack. All right, Justin.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:12

All right. Um, I'm gonna take my standout performance. I'm gonna take Taryn Egerton um in Rocket Man. I really enjoy this movie, you know. Although it might not be the best biopick ever, I think he is a standout for sure when it comes to one, his vocal talent, but two, just his acting as Elton John in general. Very interesting fella. So to be able to, you know, play that character and sing as well as he did, very, very cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:39

I think it's kind of like a controversial pick, too, because like either people love Vacuman or people kind of hate it. I got a lot of hate when it came out, if I remember right.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:48

Yeah. Um, and you know, honestly, I preferred that when it comes to a biopics than you know, the stuff we've been watching. I I want the director to take a stance on the storytelling, which is cool to me. My next one, I am going to take this is also one that I don't think a lot of people loved, but made a bunch of money. The Lion King 2019, the live action looking one. Um I'm gonna take that in my box office. Yeah. Um I thought it was really good. I thought the the vocal talent was really well done in this movie. You know, a lot of huge artists kind of contributed to that movie. Let me see if I can think of some of them here. I'm pretty sure Childino was involved.

unknown 1:02:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:30

Beyonce was the big the biggest one. Yeah. Edge of four, the guy from uh Children and Men.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:36

Yeah, yeah. Uh Eric Andre, Chance the Rapper, a bunch of huge artists, which I just thought was uh really neat, and I that's how I enjoyed it so much. Interesting.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:45

Chance the rapper, I didn't remember he was in it. I think the problem that a lot of people have, and even I have in most of these live action films taken from animated films is I just don't see the point like for a lot of them. Like the jungle book, I have the same problem. Moana, I have the biggest problem with, because Moana just came out and they're making that live action. Yeah, and I'm like, dude, what are we doing here? So I think that's the biggest problem I have with Moana specifically, but Lion King, I guess there's like 30 years in between, so I get it. I mean, also like if you can have Beyonce, it's like why not?

SPEAKER_03 1:03:18

Yeah. Also, Pharrell Williams and Elton John also helped write a lot of the music numbers on this as well, which I thought was cool. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:28

Um it'd be interesting to how see how this would look on the graphic itself. But for box office over 300 million, I'm gonna take the original Lion King. So it'd be interesting to see where how people vote or look at that based off of the live action one or like the the original one. So um one of the OGs, such a good movie.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:53

Fuck scar, piece of shit. Yeah. All right, mom.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:58

I think a lot the standout performances, I honestly feel, you know, again, going with Julie Andrews. I mean, she is the queen of musicals in my mind. Just and which one? Everything that she and everything that she's done, like when she did Sound of Music, but most specifically in Mary Poppins. I mean, she was a standout performance in Mary Poppins. And a lot of just every I think, you know, in fact, I think I read up on it that the whole idea of of you know, she wasn't allowed to do certain things in in other movies that she wanted to do, but Mary Poppins, she had a lot more creativity in.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:34

Oh, is that lady that she could bring to she's in the sound of music too?

SPEAKER_01 1:04:38

She did sound of music too.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:39

Yeah, the old lady and all these things. Interesting. Uh uh, what's your other pick?

SPEAKER_01 1:04:47

I think my other one would be a drama, which would be West Side Story.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:53

Which one?

SPEAKER_01 1:04:53

So what well, um I'm gonna pick the 1965 because again, that's that's the one, the very first one I ever saw. And I think it was 1965. It might have been a different year. I'm not quite positive, but it was the one with Natalie Wood. And, you know, it it was it really brought together and during that time frame that it brought together, showing the differences between not only ethnicity of either being being Hispanic and being, you know, and being white, and then also dealing with gangs and how and how that was brought into, you know, whether or not you could have the interracial, so to speak, because the whole the whole premises on that movie was that there's no way that you can do an interracial between Hispanic and White. That that can't happen. But yet these two individuals fell in love. And so I would definitely say that one. There was just so much drama in it from the fighting, the knife scene. Just, you know, if you haven't seen it yet, I would definitely recommend, recommend seeing it. And just with between the dancing and the music, it's

SPEAKER_04 1:06:00

just it's very intense I think I think I'm gonna see the new one because there's a Steel Spielberg one and I heard really good things about the new one. I need to watch I'll have to see the new one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:10

I'll have to see the new one. And these are with characters that aren't well known, correct?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:14

They're characters?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:16

I mean I'm sorry not the characters the actors that are well well known actors or actresses.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:20

One of them one of the actors is kind of canceled now Ansel Elgert the guy from Baby Driver. He's kind of canceled.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:26

Oh that's right that's right.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:28

I forget what he did. Oh you think he did like a lot of sexual allegations. And then Rachel Zegler did this did the Snow White movie. Got really bad publicity from that. But 2021 they were on top of the world with West Side Story two years later shit fell apart for them real quick.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:43

Yeah that can sometimes happen.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:45

All right for animated I am going to go Moana actually probably my favorite film out of this entire list I really like Moana really unique. The first one is so good. The songs are so good really cool to bring like Hawaiian life into it like Dwayne theRoc Johnson actually does a good job in some in a movie so it's like oh good for him.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:08

Cool my animated I'm gonna take one a little different that nobody probably has on their list um I'm gonna take piece by piece this movie is a Lego animated movie it's kind of a documentary biopic kind of the telling of how Pharrell Williams came to be a music producer and artist. Yeah. I think it's music in it? Yeah yeah it's wow yeah it's set up like a musical so it kind of tells uh the history of how his big songs came to be how he worked with the artists that he worked with but all the music is kind of played towards the audience and you know set behind these very really interesting um Lego designs right uh he has a couple songs with uh Gwen Stefani those are pretty interesting sets uh like Lego you know kind of jumping all over yeah um Snoop Dogg's in it Kendrick Lamar's in it they kind of tell him their stories of working with Pharrell which was uh really interesting I definitely recommend it it's a neat way to go about making a biopic I guess you could say yeah and it's kind of interesting and then my wild card I'm gonna take my boy Timmy and I'm gonna take Wonka. I really enjoyed this movie I know a lot of people aren't a big fan of him but I think he's super talented in doing so it kind of definitely shows his range as an actor um and I thought yeah I thought it was pretty well done.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:32

Yeah I haven't seen it yet but I have heard good things about his performance and then some people don't like the movie. It's funny because I almost thought about taking Charlie in the chocolate chocolate factory because I was like technically that's a musical it's like it moves a lot of the story from each location in the chocolate factory.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:51

It's funny awesome now have they done a have they done a a redo of Charlie and the chocolate factory Wonka is like the newest one of it yeah but it's like a it's like a prequel it's like telling the story how he came to rather than like you know him late in his career with at the chocolate factory.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:10

Yeah because I know the one that I thought they did was the one with Johnny Depp, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:09:13

Isn't that yeah yeah that one is yeah that's his version yeah yeah and he just seems so weird in that one but okay I dig it for wildcard for me I'm gonna take because they came out with like an actual like film version of it on Disney Plus I'm gonna take Hamilton here for Wildcard. Even though it's just a recording of of the play it is specifically made to be coming out as like a film slash documentary type of thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:38

Interesting.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:38

That's fair. Because Hamilton itself is really hard to get tickets for super expensive but one of my dream plays to go to because Hamilton is the music is so good. And then I watched that entire play and I was like yeah dude it's just as good as I thought it would be really interesting story. All right Mom what are you going to take for animated?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:56

So I have to admit that one of my favorite animated is The Little Mermaid. And I'm talking about the little yeah exactly animated. So it's a little mermaid. I have to admit that it, you know, my daughter who's a redhead um and she loved Little Mermaid as well. You know and I swear I don't think I had any influence on that. I really didn't she always loved Little Mermaid because she always wanted to be Little Mermaid because she was a redhead just like just like the character. Just the music in it and all of the just I mean I think I think the whole all the colors the cinematography of it the whole wanting to be something that you're not but then realizing you know what I like me just the way I am kind of a thing. And yeah I definitely like the Little Mermaid was one of my favorites. Yeah awesome my team before we go over honorable mentions uh my team was wicked for Oscar Nom box office over 300 million Lion King standout performance Judy Garland at Wizard of Oz drama star is born animated Moana wild card Hamilton yep uh for Oscar Nam mine was Lolland Box Office uh the Lion King 2019 standout Elvis Taryn Edgerton from Rocket Man animated was piece by piece drama was grease and wildcard was Wonka and for me the Oscar nominated was The Sound of Music and Box Off over 300 million was Mamma Mia standout performance from an actor or actress was Julie Andrews from Mary Poppins animated Little Mermaid and the drama was West Side Story and then my wild car was Paint Your Wagon with Clint Eastwood.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:36

Awesome so yeah some honorable mentions that I have I think one of the biggest surprises was Beauty and the Beast I feel like it's one of the most popular animated musical films. And then as well as some standout performances I had was Amanda Seifert as Sophie and Mamma Mia and then Zach Efron as Troy Bolton that just had as like something to note as like somebody could do that performance and then also do the Ironclaw kind of maybe just an underrated actor. Animated I had K-pop demon hunters kind of a new movie so I get why somebody wouldn't take it it's brand new and then Aladdin as well and Mulan. There's just so many like really popular and animated films. And then drama I had Footloose as well I'm surprised uh footloose wasn't taken I really like footloose both versions of them and then the wild card lastly I had the Muppets as the Muppet movie uh the Muppet movie the one where they go to New York any of them honestly they're all they all turn into musicals. Oh awesome well thanks mom for coming on hopefully you had a fun time um I did thank you for having me yeah and happy mother's day even though we're recording this a little bit ahead but happy mother's day okay I appreciate it thank you yep awesome well see you guys next time alrighty bye