Sardonicast 164: Rebel Moon 2, Challengers, Magnolia

[@Firemandan86]

The absolute agony in Adum’s voice when he realized he had to watch Rogue One is why I listen

[@Tyler.the.contentcreator]

RIP Ralph. It’s a shame he died in the shootout against Zack Snyder

[@cinemacola6398]

There he is

[@P0rk_Sinigang]

Maybe if Charles Stiles and his ghost team show up, we can capture Ralph's voice for the podcast again.

[@Poetboyy]

Is there going to be one of these dumb comments every episode?

[@Tyler.the.contentcreator]

@@Poetboyy yes

[@belloutdoors5217]

​@@P0rk_Siniganghi Charles Stiles....mystery diners

[@LukeMossman]

Ending with Adum's crushed soul after Alex recommended Rogue One is just great

[@Mr_Monolith]

Biggest gigachad move from Alex ever. Adam must pay for his crimes against the OT, he will suffer and it will be glorious!

[@eamk887]

Cringe.

[@Mr_Monolith]

@@eamk887 it's a joke. I'm kidding, I think it's funny.

[@SuperBradical]

@@eamk887 Based w comment

[@ColombianThunder]

Comrade Yui on Letterboxd is such an interesting person. I will never understand their love for Rebel Moon. They have both set as a 10, with intricate essay length reviews of why both movies are special to them, and I still have no idea how exactly they saw any of it within the films.

[@battleupsaber462]

They gave Godzilla Minus One a half star too. An eccentric character for sure.

[@TheMikenanners]

They have an entertaining and seemingly authentically idiosyncratic perspective on movies, but I do get concerned reading through some of their reviews sometimes - it can devolve into the kind of intensely overwrought world salad that more screams “I’m way too online and know so much less than I realise” than something resembling a measured or convincingly well-studied voice in art or film criticism; comes off like someone in their 20s that’s in over their head and more driven by a desperation to stand out than they might care to admit I guess. Definitely plenty of similar personalities that certain Letterboxd circles embolden and attract, but these are mostly harmless I hope.

[@ColombianThunder]

@@battleupsaber462 kinda based

[@ColombianThunder]

@@TheMikenanners yeah I do agree a bit. I appreciate their perspective a lot and often times it can be pretty insightful, but then other times it just reads like those joke school essays where someone tries to make a thesis on how Sonic the Hedgehog is about fascism or something. They are a big fan of political and philosophical concepts, and I feel like they tend to project that onto certain films. Their Rebel Moon reviews read like an exercise in reinforcing their political beliefs rather than commenting on anything the film has to offer as a piece of entertainment. I still appreciate their perspective though

[@spencerlane415]

I remember Yui stating that Charlie Kaufman is their least favorite director, yet loves Rebel Moon somehow. Oh well I feel like Yui at least has a love for the medium. At least compared to someone like SupremeLemon.

[@Jormbis]

ALEX REFUSING TO LET THE SPITE ERA DIE WAS THE TRUE W OF THE EPISODE

[@cinemacola6398]

Challengers is the best movie of the year for me. It's going to be hard to top this movie. It's a complete packaged film. A perfect blend of style and substance.

[@eamk887]

I honestly think the best way to experience Rogue One is the Maple Films' fan edit of the movie, which cuts down the movie into a 40 minute short film (basically it's just the final battle). You literally do not miss out on anything important when watching it this way.

[@SonicHaXD]

Did not expect Alex to be the one to extend the spite era XD

[@alexmaverick6647]

This is now the second time that Snyder has been put in charge of making a cinematic universe and it will be the second time he fails lol.

[@ianfleischer3532]

third if you count Army of the Dead ...

[@greenentertainment3428]

Huge W for Alex for reading the Invincible comics, those comics are awesome. Up there with my favorite comics ever

[@Dethmaster64]

Potion seller really wrote the best tennis movie ever

[@Pagan_Fears]

You guys should talk about Mike Figgis’ Leaving Las Vegas with Nic Cage and Liz Shue. Best Nic Cage performance of all time.

[@ChappieCrosby]

PTA locked in a cabin writing Magnolia in a "weird haze" AKA a paranoid coke binge

[@tonywords6713]

Not to mention being high as fuck on his own ego in those days too. I like cocky hotshot PTA but it's seriously night and day how chilled out and confident he became after magnolia. His early stuff reeks of insecurity and trying to show off how smart you are.

[@jamesjarvis530]

⁠@@tonywords6713 magnolia is probably my fave film of his, there’s deffo youthful ambition and ego on display in this film but one of the rare cases where he has the talent to pull it off

[@SamL12345]

Alex is a fiend for making Adam watch Rogue One 🤣🤣🤣

[@AnoNymous-dh2sv]

Magnolia is probably one of the top 3 movies of the entire history of cinema. It's not just 10 on execution and 10 on every aspect of it, it's also so original and unique that after 25 years there's literally no movie that can mimic it and surpass it at its theme.

[@FraterSbeve]

Alex, you magnificent bastard!

[@albedo5455]

If Alex really wanted to be mean, he could've recommended The Clone Wars movie instead.

[@adamlouie1503]

Alex may be mean, but he's not THAT mean. Even I wouldn't wish that upon my worst memory Ok, that was a lie

[@waywardlaser]

Ralph will return in…Rebel Moon: Shart 3

[@Hi-zh6ss]

Glad for Adum to finally encounter not just cheeky in the standards of regular JAR Alex, but borderline full on crackhead era Alex at the end of this episode with his recommendation.

[@Notorious_BJC]

I cackled when Alex made the noises after saying it flies by.

[@davidaguirre452]

hearing adam say skibidi rizzlet made my day

[@boop7725]

Alex is so mean for that recommendation, worth it though LMAO poor Adum

[@S1nwar]

rebel moon made me appreciate even more how well paced the flashbacks in watchmen were spread throughout the story. mostly because they were dictated by the comic^^

[@cameroncorbin6952]

Disagree about the Zendaya injury being a twist (no pun intended). They show her scar in the opening seconds. She says something like "I would've killed to have the recovery you did" in the opening like 3 minutes. They told you about the injury in the opening minutes even if they didn't explicitly show you immediately.

[@JD-jz5gu]

Haven’t seen the movie, but wasn’t her being injured literally shown in most of the trailers?

[@cameroncorbin6952]

@@JD-jz5gu That was their complaint, that the trailers "spoiled" the injury. But the movie practically tells you in the opening seconds.

[@rhinocore]

As much as I really like Magnolia, I feel like you can tell that PTA was really trying to win an Oscar.

[@belloutdoors5217]

Agree..a bit too ambitious but it's still damn good

[@shannon8111]

My theory it's grain so they can say "an army runs on its stomach" in the movie. The male audience can then grunt approval with their deep military knowledge from sun zuo meme quotes.

[@GhassaneJabri]

Challengers is the best sexually charged tennis film since Balls Out: Gary the Tennis Coach (2009) On a serious note, Luca Guadagnino has cemented as the most versatile director working today. He's awesome. EDIT: given the recommendation, it is now only fair for Adum to recommend The Human Centipede trilogy lmao

[@1997residente]

Move out Dune 2 Move out Gladiator 2 Rebel Moon Part 2 is the REAL DEAL of the year !

[@bananaempijama]

Rebel Moon part 2.....IN THE HOUSE!!!!

[@Fray2221]

Of all of the great movies coming out this year, Rebel Moon is also a film.

[@williamw2529]

MG---Movie Goer A------Adum MG: "Hello, Movie Lover, I am going into the cinema and I want your strongest movies." A: "My recommendations are too strong for you, Movie Goer."

[@salehali9541]

shoutout to Larry Fong (dp on 300, watchmen, and sucker punch for carrying snyder movies on his back

[@sjoerddondersteen1337]

Alex with the oddly funny coincidence. Rogue One is the one & only time where I felt asleep during the theater screening. A friend of mine picking up on that was the reason why I wasn't invited for the screening of Episode VIII with the homies back then during the premiere. In retrospect, understandable from their end, but sure as hell dodged a bullet with that one.

[@EricWoodend]

I'm loving the mental image of your fanboy friends gooning to the newest Star Wars product while you drift peacefully to sleep.

[@finallyediting914]

thank yall so much for talking about the trailer weird to me that you said the hatchet job one was from the uk considering i saw it roll before civil war here in the states, but i was feeling legit crazy watching such positive critical reception roll in when the trailer made it look like some repurposed netflix sandler vehicle

[@auralunaprettycure]

Literally I recommended Challengers to my mom yesterday. Hoping it gets on streaming and hoping she watches it. I knew she liked Zendaya and she also watched Call Me By Your Name with me since I was a high schooler coming out during that time (sorry if tmi)

[@jonfro-mez]

That's cute that she watched cmbyn with you.

[@auralunaprettycure]

^^ thank you. Yeah she’s very open minded. She actually showed me some anime from her childhood also (Speed Racer, Gigantor) then I showed her some crazy movies from the 80s like Ai City

[@PauLtus_B]

At some point you just gotta own watching sex scenes with your parents.

[@stetsoncrobison]

I actually don't show up to the theater until about 20minutes after it's supposed to start, because I intentionally avoid all trailers for movies.

[@AlejandroSilva-mr7yy]

A thing that genuinely surprised me to hear nobody talk about in Challengers is that at the beginning when zendaya is talking to her husband, and their kid goes off to watch spiderverse, they use the score from spiderverse in the background just as the tension rises in their conversation, simultaneously, while not changing a single beat as far as I noticed

[@BillTettly-vc3hw]

Magnolia is a heavy 10/10. No contention. All time great. Violently legendary. They will know this from a rewatch. (I thought it was okay when I first saw it and in a second watch became my favorite)

[@abbeylou1941]

Thank you so much for that closing your eyes and humming comment, cuz theaters are the only way I ever see trailers and I despise them

[@abbeylou1941]

Will 100% do this :)

[@czbrat]

Anthony Hopkin's pronounciation of Gunnar is closer to the actual Scandinavian pronounciation which is where the name comes from.

[@tristanthecreator1552]

Gooner

[@GOLDFISH817]

The spite ERA lives on!!

[@DirtaDawg420]

39:14 Agreed. Trailers give too much away. I’d be fine with theaters having no trailers before a film.

[@jamesjarvis530]

Absolutely adore magnolia so happy it’s finally getting discussed on the pod

[@Mengha]

Luca has become a must watch Director for me. Suspiria was my intro and I've seen everything else.

[@ShadowRubberDuck]

Rebel moon directors/theatrical cut are essentially the Red Version and Blue Version of movies

[@attackofthecopyrightbots]

i like that alex has taken the laughing role over from ralph

[@bluechalk6275]

Netflix should give their users a free year's subscription if they sit through both parts of Rebel Moon.

[@inline885]

I think it’s fair to criticize younger generations. While I agree that it’s not always warranted, talk to any teachers today about what their job was like 20 years ago and they’ll scare you about the way things are going.

[@ThePianistDragon]

Ngl…I stopped watching the video before the movie recommendation. The new cast just came out on KZbin and I see “Rogue One” and I *had* to come back and see how the hell this came about. And it’s glorious. XD

[@nvlvs5937]

I think i died at the slang part of the Q n A

[@memyshadow2393]

Love Magnolia. Tom really is at his best when he does these dark character roles. Wish there were more instead of just action movies now. He is better than people give him credit for.

[@tonywords6713]

Id love to hear you guys talk about "The Master". I think thats by far PTAs best film and super original.

[@goregrindisthebestgenre]

Magnolia is PTA’s best film. 😤

[@clanofclams2720]

its not even his best movie that starts with an M

[@belloutdoors5217]

​@@clanofclams2720technically it's THE master 😅

[@clanofclams2720]

@@belloutdoors5217 when I categorize my movies alphabetically, I don't include the 'the'. maybe that's just me.

[@luiginastro8831]

"I disagree, Gary. I disagree"

[@eviee9693]

Not sure I agree but I like it a lot more than The Master which I don't see myself returning to.

[@Redditfanboy-v2s]

Great video bro

[@Randomshit2727]

If Lucas film rejected that is saying something because of what they have released

[@S1nwar]

what was the cheapest looking thing in Rebel Moon were these lenseflares. say what you will but JJ makes an efford with real in camera lenseflares. Zack's looked like they were ALL added in post by adding 1 gaussian blur layer + 1 horizontal motion blur layer evenly across every single light in the frame and thats it

[@ayeg-dp5to]

challengers earned more than its budget last weekend!! 🎉🎉🎉

[@CoooolRocks]

If that Netflix feature is a real thing, I hope it breaks and family movie night gets fucking wild

[@Mr_mateo]

DAMN ALEX WITH THE ULTIMATE SPITE RECOMMENDATION; MAYBE ONE OF THE GREATEST BETRAYALS EVER ON SARDONICAST'!! I EXPECT ADUM TO RETALIATE HARD ON THE NEXT RECOMMENDATION!!! THE SPITE ERA CONTINUES....

[@BillTettly-vc3hw]

I’ve been waiting since 2018 for the Magnolia review

[@lofibeat45]

3 cheers for the Sardi Boys!!!

[@ishaykuwithaSHDOCLAW]

Adum got what he deserves for slandering Star Wars out of sheer pettiness

[@zeebooboo9663]

I love it when you guys talk about dogshit it's always so funny and makes my day.

[@carwyn3691]

An early version of the Challengers script leaked, it isn't very good, most of the sauce seems to have been from Luca. A lot of cut dialogue, a lot of people explaining what they're thinking, the hotel scene isn't there at all

[@cardaderdention]

David Cronenberg’s Crash but with the Netflix skip sex option

[@superanxiety261]

I know Adum has his whole thing against star wars but he should still watch Andor, like it's just a phenomenal sci fi show

[@DinDagaw]

why they're still giving Zack Snyder money for his shitty movies?

[@ronaldyodersr]

We don't have paprika chips in the states, such a crime! Magnolia rocks! Thanks boys!

[@Opno]

Ive never heard a more broken man than Adum at the end of this video

[@tonywords6713]

The intro to Magnolia is heavily inspired by Charles Hoy Forts writing on synchronicities and anomalous phenomena.. by inspired by I mean the book literally appears in the film and entire sentences are lifted word for word from that book in magnolia lol... Raining Frogs came from Book of the Damned. Deviating from that, PTA basically got lost in the sauce. And by sauce I mean an incredible amount of cocaine.

[@fromvault801]

Paul Thomas has always been 1 of my fave directors and I respect Magnolia. But it's no Boogie Nights or Air Will Be Bud

[@coreyweber2340]

Hard Eight aka Sydney is really solid. Its hard to come by. It's on Prime to rent, but the HD versions are imports which means they might not be good. Hopefully, someone in here knows of a good version to buy.

[@attackofthecopyrightbots]

does that mean hes finally gonna watch andor

[@avengercannon]

Rogue One edited down to 60 minutes or so.

[@coleshilobrit]

HBO Max is Goofy’s favorite streaming service

[@TheChimbleySweep]

Challengers? You mean Dune 2 (Dudes At Once)?

[@Moviemakers05]

I saw someone say that no one wants true cinema anymore he was talking about rebel moon he called it cinema seriously Snyder fans are very weird people

[@kclink1579]

I remember Bogus, but I can't remember watching it, but kmow I did a couple of times.

[@Kellan__they-them]

I'm fully aware that I am in no way the demo they had in mind when making the "skip the foreplay" feature, but as an asexual person I would LOVE to be able to flip a switch and skip the sexy scenes in movies and shows because they make me uncomfortable and I can't appreciate or relate or even properly empathize with the characters in them.

[@andreiiancu2501]

Magnolia is a masterpice

[@P0rk_Sinigang]

This podcast is becoming Versus Wolves.

[@howiespancakeshack]

RE: MAGNOLIA - Alex's points are valid, but I feel without those other stories the film becomes less epic, less full of life, less ambitious. PTA cut a lot of stuff out, a whole thread with the black rapping kid, with a whole UFO plot and also the illuminati, the latter involving Robarts and Baker Hall as more of a child molesting duo. Implying Cruise was also molested. PTA was also going through loss with both his father and Robert Ridgely - both to Cancer. And also coming off the back of Boogie Nights success - he was also a coke head and super confident and just went balls to the wall straight again - going big - making his version of Short Cuts. Magnolia without the sprawling epicness is not Magnolia.

[@alyssacandle5106]

1:23:02

[@tofutoph]

Boom. Adum hit the nail on the head about why I get so peeved about “my generation was better” discourse. It’s the same rationalization as saying there are no good movies anymore. People just can’t adapt to change and want to be stuck in nostalgia.

[@killaspongebob666]

When you used transformers as an example of bad sex scene in a movie, I think you both kinda forgot that most film viewers are watching movies like transformers. Their complaints are not about Antichrist, it's about James bond. And in the context of their complaints, what they're saying is valid. The sex scenes in those movies suck. I don't know what to tell you guys. Like yeah It Follows has great interesting important sec scenes, but the horror movies that make big money at the box office? Pointless poorly shot sex scenes abound. If we accept sex as a normal part of life, then we should treat it like that in film, like breakfast, if there's no point to a breakfast scene and it's shot poorly then it's a bad scene, it doesn't matter how normal breakfast is.

[@ethanbrittain2699]

Alex should've recommended a classic like On The Waterfront or The Searchers or something instead of some forgettable D tier Star Wars movie. This podcast has gotten so boring recently partly for this reason.

[@sommelierofstench]

challengers was mad boring. so many of these slowed down shots where they were supposed to be showing emotion or detail that just wasn’t there or just isn’t interesting. missing focus pretty gnarly on a shot stood out to me. they were trying so hard to be clever and it just wasn’t… that goofy little theme coming back in so many times (i know it was reznor and ross but it was lame). the end match took forever and it wasn’t exciting, even though it was framed like it was something so dramatic. the water dripping off of them in close up shots like those old gatorade commercials lmao. i did like some of the shots, like maybe a split diopter shot where it showed all three of them simultaneously during the final match. but basically everything else was snoozeworthy to me. this is one of the rare things where i don’t know what the hell you guys are praising about this one haha. i think this director could have pushed it much further and maybe some more captivating lead performances. it’s it just wasn’t for me. i want to go back and rewatch it to see if there was something i majorly missed, but i doubt anything will change.

[@maxm.1974]

Sweet fawn Sofia with her teenage face, body and voice - stormtrooper-veteran...🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ Snyder, what a funny joke!👍👍👍🤣🤣🤣💥

[@gargantafunda]

im baffled at how someone sees something good in "challengers"

[@CatManThree]

WHERE RALF

[@quiltrowave]

He kicked sand on Cool Cat's face

[@Grogeous_Maximus]

drugs

[@hpalpha7323]

People love to shit on Rogue One but it is the best Disney Star Wars film by a country mile

[@Slop_Dogg]

the piece of shit that stinks the least is still feces

[@myurtl9825]

People are nostalgic for the spice girls??? I was dragged to their movie at 7 years old and despised it at the time

[@johnwise9811]

Day 76 of asking for an episode on the Evil Dead trilogy

[@MichaelMichael-us6wq]

ADAM HATES STAR WARS 👈

[@luiginastro8831]

OK? 👈

[@cinemacola6398]

Good 👈

[@JT-cx2ev]

🥺🔫

[@cbarcelos]

Challengers didnt go far enough, and Zendayas performance sucked. She sinks the whole film, doesnt sell any emotional moments

[@za-ir5ni]

I wouldn't say her performance sucked. For me all 3 characters just sucked in general and I didn't care what happened to them lol. They were all terrible people.

[@c.j.5604]

Nah rebel moon is good

[@WL1264]

Y?

[@c.j.5604]

@@WL1264 I like that the scripts are simple and straightforward. Plus it doesn’t look like any other sci-fi film I’ve seen.

[@eviee9693]

The sing along scene in Magnolia was definitely cheesy but what really ruined it for me was the show Community. Couldn't help but laugh during that scene.

[@andreiiancu2501]

600 movies they fell of

[@mildcartoonviolence]

I only skipped to the end to get the film rec, why is Adam so upset? Ik he doesn’t like Star Wars but why rouge one specifically?

[@clanofclams2720]

he despises star wars. he rated every single star wars movie a 1/10