The Terminal (w/ Jen & Sarah of Movies & Us)

Eli (00:01.448)
Hello and welcome to the establishing shot a podcast where we do deep dives and two directors and their filmographies I am your host Eli Price and we are here on episode 86 of the podcast In our still in our Spielberg series And will be for still a while. So just trucking along but I have some new guests on

With me this week, I am excited to welcome Jen and Sarah from the Movies and Us podcast. Welcome guys. Thanks for joining me today.

Jen (00:38.86)
Thank you so much, Eli, for having us on. We're really excited to dive into this. mean, diving into speedbook films is always so fascinating because there's so much to talk about. So yeah, thank you for having us. We're excited to be here.

Eli (00:48.799)
Yes.

Yes.

Sarah (00:53.368)
Yeah, this will be fun to talk about this Spielberg film. There's some Spielberg trademarks that we'll get into, but it's definitely not like top of the filmography. So I think this will be a fun conversation.

Eli (00:58.655)
Mm-hmm.

Yes.

Yes. Yeah, I think so too. I forgot to ask you guys if you actually liked the movie before we jumped on. because, I have my thoughts, and I would, yeah, I'll be interested to see, we'll just find out as we go, how much y'all liked the movie. I'll be surprised as long with our listeners to find out. but yeah, do y'all want to share maybe a little bit about yourselves and obviously your podcast?

Jen (01:21.282)
you

Eli (01:34.996)
that people might want to, I guess, know about you. And yeah, I would love for you to share a little bit about your show and what you do there too. I don't know, Jen, you can go first, I guess.

Jen (01:48.258)
Sure. Yeah. So hello, everyone. My name is Jen, a fellow film lover, kind of discovered film. I mean, I always grew up watching movies like everybody else, but kind of discovered the whole world of film in college through watching Birdman really just blew my mind. So that's my kind of like film love origin story, I would say. And then took some film classes in school, which is really fun just for fun. And then, yeah, we have a podcast now, Sarah and

Eli (02:03.199)
Mm-hmm.

Jen (02:18.454)
And Sarah, if you want to introduce yourself as well, before we share about the podcast.

Sarah (02:22.894)
Yeah, I'm Sarah and I'm the other part of Movies and Us and I have also been just a film fan my whole life. I've always loved movies and it's been really fun since we started the podcast and started talking regularly about films, how that love for movies and stories has only grown along the way. yeah, Movies and Us is a weekly film podcast and we are all about stories and connection. That's why our

Jen (02:26.528)
you

Sarah (02:52.852)
name is Movies and Us, because there's something magical that happens when you watch a movie and then you talk about it with other people. And so you can learn not just about the movie, but about each other and the world around us. And so that's that's some of what we get into on the pod.

Eli (02:55.2)
Yes.

Eli (03:09.645)
Yeah, yeah, I love that and I know if people were looking for I guess somewhere to start This I'm trying to think when this episode will be releasing it'll be Obviously, you know peek behind the curtain people know we record in advance, but it'll be It'll be beginning of March when this releases so It'll be yeah, it'll be Oscars coming up. So

Jen (03:27.82)
Yep.

Sarah (03:36.74)
Mm-hmm.

Jen (03:36.898)
Woo.

Eli (03:37.416)
y'all had a recent episode as of now where y'all shared kind of some of your favorite movies you watched in 2020. They're not all 2024 movies, but some of them are. and y'all talked about those. So that would probably be a good place to jump in. And I also know we're in a Spielberg series. I did some, digging into y'all's episode list and found that y'all covered Raiders of the Lost Ark back in the day. So that might be a good starting.

point to jump into the podcast to check out. But yeah, do y'all have any like episodes that are y'all's favorite that y'all are like, they should listen to this one. I know that's weird, but a weird question. It's like, no, we just record and release them.

Jen (04:23.18)
No, it's a great question. There's an infamous one that both Sarah and I have a soft spot for the stuff that we recorded. In fact, every year on our movies and us birthday, we do kind of a reflection episode where we pick our favorite moment from the past year of episodes and then our favorite episode. And I think it was this past birthday, maybe the one before it, where both of us picked this.

same episode, one for favorite moment, one for favorite episode. And it was reviewing Winnie the Pooh, Blood and Honey. And it's just one of those episodes where we just went off the rails and just for being absolutely silly and ridiculous and having the best time. We rewrote the movie a couple of times. We picked our favorite Winnie the Pooh horror character to do battle with that we'd want to go up again. yeah, absolute chaos. lot of fun. Yeah.

Eli (04:55.228)
Okay.

Sarah (05:05.06)
Hmm.

Eli (05:05.279)
Yeah.

Eli (05:11.904)
Ha ha.

Eli (05:16.348)
Yeah. Yeah. I haven't, I haven't seen that. It's one of those movies that it's like, you know, I would probably have fun watching that, but also should I watch that over all these other movies? I don't know. So yeah. Yeah.

Sarah (05:16.42)
You

Jen (05:27.842)
Right? Yeah. You might lose brain cells while watching it, but you will have a lot of fun. So. Yes, definitely.

Sarah (05:28.014)
Mm-hmm.

That's a good question.

Eli (05:35.848)
Yeah, it seems like I need to watch that with other people, not just like by myself. Yeah. Yeah, that that's fun. so yeah, maybe, maybe listen to the Raiders, maybe listen to the 2024 or maybe listen to Winnie the Pooh, Blood and Honey, you know, whatever that I feel like that's a good wide, like gamut of episodes. Like that should cover everyone that might want to dig into y'all's y'all's show. So,

Sarah (05:35.982)
Mm-hmm.

Yes.

Jen (05:49.826)
you

Sarah (05:50.951)
You

Jen (05:57.398)
Yeah.

Sarah (05:57.698)
Mm-hmm

Jen (06:02.902)
Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep.

Eli (06:05.94)
But yeah, one thing I love to ask my guests when we're in the middle of a director is what your introduction to that director was. So I know I've shared multiple times that mine was kind of like Jurassic Park was definitely one of the first ones. ET was one of the first ones. But what about you guys? Do y'all have like first memories of seeing a Spielberg movie from your childhood?

Sarah (06:35.79)
I don't have a clear memory. My best guess is that it was probably Hook. I remember distinctly that we owned the VHS of Hook, and I watched that a lot as a child. But I know that I watched Jurassic Park pretty young, Indiana Jones pretty young. But my best guess is that Hook was the first one.

Eli (06:41.918)
Okay.

Eli (06:46.016)
Mm.

Eli (06:55.506)
Mm-hmm Yeah, that checks out what about you Jen?

Jen (07:04.298)
Yeah, that tracks. I also don't remember. But I think it had to have been Jurassic Park. I think I remember them, you know, just being at school or at your friend's house, and it's just a great time. probably that one. Yeah.

Eli (07:08.415)
Yeah.

Eli (07:14.662)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mine was actually my grandma showed me Jurassic Park and I was like young and my, I don't remember if it was both my parents or my dad were like a little bit like upset like he's too young to see that. But my grandma showed me of all people. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks grandma. Yeah. So that was, yeah, it, I guess like

Jen (07:33.91)
Love that. Good job, Grandma.

Sarah (07:34.148)
That's awesome.

Eli (07:42.794)
probably from our like generation. It's like, Jurassic Park are like the go-tos. So that seems to be the case from people that I've talked to kind of around our similar ages. So, so yeah, that's, that's awesome.

Eli (00:03.831)
So we are not talking about those movies, we are talking about The Terminal today, which is definitely a movie that Spielberg directed starring Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones, of course, and Stanley Tucci. That I'm not sure is a very good movie. I don't know what you guys thought about it, obviously, as we said earlier, but...

Sarah (00:18.79)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (00:33.783)
But yeah, before we jump into like the production stuff, just like your general, like when this movie, was this your first time seeing this movie or had you seen it before? yeah.

Sarah (00:47.618)
Yeah, I had seen it before. I distinctly remember that we owned this on DVD, and it is one that my mom often wanted to watch. And I was still, I was a teenager. And so I was like, ugh, I don't want to watch this movie. But I had seen it before. So it was interesting revisiting it now as an adult. And I am inclined to agree with you that this is not a very good movie.

Eli (00:54.722)
Mm.

Sarah (01:14.822)
I was digging parts of it. I was like, yeah, these plucky airport employees, they're so fun to hang out with. But there were just elements of it, especially in the third act, that I was like, ugh, no. I don't want this. Get this out of here. So yeah, this is not one of his finest works, I don't think.

Eli (01:18.486)
Okay.

Eli (01:23.277)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:31.159)
Yeah.

Eli (01:35.849)
Yeah. Are you going to save the day, Jen, and say that you actually really enjoy this?

Jen (01:43.374)
Okay, here's the thing guys. I think objectively there are parts of this that are very problematic. However, I am a sentimental human being and Spielberg does a great job at tugging on heartstrings. And so by the end of the movie, I didn't want to myself over to it, but I did. So here we are. And I was thinking a lot about the movie, The Fableman's, one of his recent films, because I came out of that.

Eli (01:50.252)
Yes.

Yes.

Eli (02:06.54)
Okay.

Jen (02:11.168)
movie feeling the glow of like the world and the kind of this the headspace that Spielberg allows you invites you into. And then as I sat with it longer, I was like, this is maybe not the best movie, but the effectiveness of like the kind of movie magic. And I think that the score is doing a lot of heavy lifting, by the way, which I'm sure we'll talk about. But yeah, I would say it's objectively in all of its individual parts, not the best. There's some parts that are problematic and have not aged well, but

Eli (02:40.941)
Mm-hmm.

Jen (02:40.963)
Some of those like heartstring moments definitely worked on me.

Eli (02:44.725)
Yeah, that's, I'm glad to hear that because we needed someone to at least say that they would say like a thumbs up maybe for the movie, like per at least if not objectively, at least like personally. So yeah, my, my in-laws hadn't like, when I was like, I have the terminal coming up. were like, we love that. And then after I watched me and my wife watched it and she felt very similar to me. And,

Jen (02:50.062)
you

Jen (03:08.462)
you

Eli (03:14.317)
We both told them, we were like, uh, they were like, really? They were like, we love that movie. And I was like, yeah. Have you seen it recently? Um, but yeah. Uh, what, before we jump into all the reasons, um, let's, let's talk a little bit about where the story came from. Cause this is really interesting. I don't know if y'all are aware of this because I was not, um, but it is without a doubt based on.

Jen (03:22.414)
Yeah.

Eli (03:43.647)
A real person, Miran Karimi Nassuri, who was an Iranian refugee. He had kind of bounced around some places. the, when I was looking at like the information on him, it's kind of like, no one really knows, like if he really was a refugee or not, like some, some like institutions thought he was lying about being kicked out of.

Iran, some didn't, but anyways, at some point in the seventies, he left Iran. He ended up, getting a passport from like Belgium or something like that and somehow lost all relevant papers and ended up getting stuck in the Paris Charles de Gaulle airport in France. and he, at the time of this movie, which came out in 2004, he had been living at terminal one.

since 1988. yes, and continued to live there until 2006 when he was hospitalized, which is the only reason why he left the airport. And then apparently returned back to the airport in 2022. After like, what would that be like? 16 years, I guess, I don't know if he was hospitalized for that long or what.

Sarah (05:06.118)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (05:10.253)
Um, but he returned in September, 2022 and died there in November, 2022. How wild is that? Um, but yeah, so this movie is obviously not based on his story at all or his life at all. It's just kind of like, that's an interesting situation. Uh, and so, um, yeah, they didn't really like mention this guy at all, like in the promotion.

Sarah (05:32.123)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (05:39.541)
but they did pay him for, Dreamworks paid him, I guess, for rights to his situation. I don't know, how you would phrase that, but they, they sent him a considerable, check from that's, that's the research. That's what the language it used a considerable amount, that they paid him. Yeah.

Sarah (06:01.093)
Hmm

Jen (06:03.052)
surprising. I wouldn't have expected they would do that. I would expect the powers of forces of capitalism to be like, yeah, it's not really related to you. It's inspired by you, not directly related you. We don't need to pay you, So good on them, at least.

Eli (06:11.405)
Right.

Sarah (06:12.687)
right?

Eli (06:17.323)
Yeah. Yeah, there was a French film based on the same story called Tom de Siel. The English title is Lost in Transit, but it literally translates Fallen from the Sky. It was a 1993 film. So Spielberg didn't even know about that movie until like after making the movie.

But yeah, the original story comes from Sasha Gervasi, who co-wrote The Big T's and also Andrew Nichol. I don't really know how to pronounce his last name, but he wrote The Truman Show. definitely some writers of note to movies that are well regarded. But Gervasi had, I guess he had learned about

Nasuri and spent two days in the airport with him, kind of researching and observing him. He also like got permission to live in JFK for five days to research for this movie. and yeah, I wrote the script. obviously came across the desk of Steven Spielberg, who thought it looked like a fun movie to make.

Sarah (07:26.886)
out.

Eli (07:42.945)
You know, he's coming off of a bunch of serious movies and then catch me if you can. so I think he made catch me if you can. And it was like, I want to make another just like fun movie after all these like serious movies that I've made. So this is definitely not a serious movie, but, yeah. but yeah, Spielberg, read the script, didn't think it was like,

Sarah (07:46.79)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah (08:02.374)
Yeah.

Eli (08:12.097)
He didn't think it had enough, I guess, like energy to it. felt very static. And so he brought on his pal, Jeff Nathanson, who's written some movies for him in the past. And yeah, Nathanson apparently used like narrative strategies of prison movies, which I didn't know that going in, but in hindsight, I was like, okay. I can kind of see you've kind of got like.

Sarah (08:15.91)
Hmm.

Jen (08:36.941)
Yeah.

Eli (08:39.959)
the Tucci character who's the head of customs as like the warden. And then you have this guy that's coming in and you have the people that are already like aware of all the rules and he has to kind of like learn how to navigate the rules, learn how to like use them for his advantage, that sort of thing. So I was like, okay, I can see that. but yeah, that's kind of where it all got started and very interesting.

origins for this film or movie. But yeah, just to run through, go ahead, Sarah.

Sarah (09:14.182)
I would really love to just pitch. Could we get a version of this that's maybe closer to the actual story and make it like where this dude is trapped in an airport and he starts to go mad? Cause you would, like if you were trapped in JFK for nine months, you would not have it together. Like Victor has it together in the terminal. And I would maybe.

Eli (09:32.202)
Yeah.

Eli (09:40.171)
Yeah.

Sarah (09:42.02)
be more interested in watching somebody's descent to madness being trapped in JFK. Cause that just also feels more relatable. If you've been to an airport, you know. Like, I don't know. I would be curious about that. Yeah. Right? How are you there for nine months and you're still cheery? Like what?

Eli (09:46.529)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (09:54.379)
Yeah. Yeah.

Jen (09:55.604)
Mm-hmm. I'm there for like three hours. I'm already going mad, you know? From a flight to bed.

Eli (10:00.141)
Yes.

Eli (10:06.391)
That's a very good point. Yeah, this was like, this could have been Spielberg's like shot at a horror movie, you know?

Sarah (10:13.638)
Honestly though, I'd watch that.

Eli (10:15.565)
Uh, yeah, Spielberg's horror movie of a guy stuck in an airport. Like, yeah. He even has like the, um, the gate under construction, you know, gate 67. It could have been named gate six, gate 67 sounds like a great horror movie name, you know? Um, yeah. Uh, yeah, just to run through the crew. Um, obviously Spielberg.

Sarah (10:26.694)
Mm-hmm.

Jen (10:27.714)
Hmm.

Sarah (10:33.798)
Yeah, I like it.

Eli (10:42.337)
Produce this, Laurie McDonald and Walter F parks produce with them. parks seems to be a regular collaborator around this time. producing a lot of his movies. yeah. So we mentioned Sasha Gervasi and Jeff Nathanson wrote the screenplay. And then you've basically just got like a bunch of like regular collaborators, that he's just kind of on a run with. So Janus Kaminsky is obviously his guy.

for the whole second part of his career. Michael Kahn and John Williams, editor and the composer, they just do all of his movies basically. And yeah, even like sound, Rod Judkins and Charles L. Campbell just like working with them all the time. Alex McDowell doing the production design, which we'll definitely talk more about that.

yeah, Christian, Berian Moore and Brad Ricker do the art direction. the hair by Kim Santantone, yo, and costumes Mary Zoffress, I'm pretty sure they also worked with him on catch me if you can. So kind of coming off, I feel like those are two fun movies for like hair and makeup and costumes, like in a row because they're like.

Sarah (12:02.084)
Mm-hmm.

Jen (12:05.038)
Mm.

Eli (12:06.829)
You got a decades movie and then you have a movie where you just have a bunch of like random extras that you get to dress however you want. so that's gotta be fun for, especially like for a costume designer. It's like, it's just people in the airport. and it's modern. Yeah. I can just dress them however I want. That that'll be fun. but yeah. and then yeah, Michael Lanteri is a regular special effects.

Sarah (12:20.102)
Mm.

Eli (12:35.167)
Guy with him. and Debra Zane does a lot of his casting. So just like a lot of regular collaborators, which leads us into the cast. I will say it is a really fun cast. really, really fun. Tom Hanks, obviously this is his third collaboration with Spielberg. you got save in private Ryan and catch me if you can. So.

Sarah (12:50.938)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (13:04.609)
Yeah, he's, and they're like buddies. So, you know, it just makes sense. Tom Hanks apparently was interested in this even before Spielberg was involved, which also makes sense because it feels other than like the weird accent stuff. it's, definitely feels like a Tom Hanks character. so that makes sense. But Tom Hanks is just like,

And I feel like I've talked about this in a couple, the couple of episodes we've done so far with Tom Hanks in it. And he's just like money for whatever movie he's on. Except for he's he that run. He had like a long run of like, I think it was like 13 out of 14 movies in a row made a hundred million dollars or more.

Sarah (13:43.226)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (13:59.861)
in the box office. And so he's just like, if Tom Hanks movie, that's a moneymaker. the lady killers by the Cohen brothers broke that streak. which obviously was broken in the middle by that thing you do, which I've never seen. But yeah, so he's just a moneymaker. So, yeah, it's, it's when you go and look at his filmography, like from basically like a league of

Sarah (14:20.4)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (14:29.111)
their own through like, I guess like this movie and maybe a couple more. It's like, it's just super impressive. yeah. Yeah. He, he did, he did do like eight months of training with a Bulgarian translator named Peter Budovsky. And that guy was like on set helping him. And I don't know.

I don't know what it is with Tom Hanks and doing weird accents. The best thing I can say about this one is that it's better than whatever he was doing in Elvis. I don't know what. Yeah. Were you guys thrown off by the whole like accent thing for this?

Jen (15:09.742)
I about that. I forgot about that.

Sarah (15:10.746)
That is accurate, yes.

Jen (15:16.75)
1000 % yes. And then I just told myself it's Tom Hanks doing an accent and immediately the movie works because I think like seeing him as Tom Hanks as this character makes the movie better. You know what mean? Like this movie I don't think works without the Tom Hanks earnestness charm, you know? So, but for the first probably like 90 minutes of the movie, I was so distracted by it the whole time. It's it's Tom Hanks doing an accent.

Eli (15:18.359)
Yeah.

Sarah (15:25.222)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (15:37.136)
Mm Yeah.

Eli (15:46.699)
Yeah, yeah, it's yeah, it's a I guess it might even be more surprising that he did eight months apparently of training for the accent Because I'm like it still sounds like a fake accent But hey he's coming off of doing a fake Boston accent for catch me if you can and then I Guess he just really loves doing accents at this time in his career. So

Jen (15:46.892)
Not very well.

Jen (16:01.73)
Yeah.

Sarah (16:15.126)
I'm like, you're Tom Hanks, like, the draw, like, you don't need to transform into a character. We just want you to be Tom Hanks in everything.

Jen (16:18.722)
your American stack.

Eli (16:21.387)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Jen (16:24.748)
And well, that's the thing too, is that like visually you just can't unsee. He's not one of those actors that transforms. So you're just like, I don't think any of us are gonna buy it, but you can try. We will earnestly advocate for you to try, suppose.

Sarah (16:28.55)
Yeah.

Eli (16:29.472)
Right.

Eli (16:36.342)
Yes.

Eli (16:40.267)
Yeah. Yeah. yeah. He, I mean, he comes in and he's like, Crocosia. And you're like, it's like, is it Italian? Is it Eastern European? I don't know. but you know, it's Tom Hanks. We still love him. So you just, you just got to roll with it, I guess. But he does like specialize in insignificant heroes, which is kind of what this character is. It's kind of like.

Jen (16:47.062)
Yeah.

Eli (17:10.157)
nobody but ends up being like a hero in either like a big way or a small way, you know? And yeah.

Sarah (17:18.17)
Yeah, the character makes sense for Tom Hanks. It's the accent that doesn't make sense for Tom Hanks. So like, it mostly works, but I agree with you, Jen, that you need to just be like, it's Tom Hanks with an accent and then, okay, now I can watch this movie.

Jen (17:22.732)
You

Eli (17:24.843)
Yeah.

Right.

Jen (17:31.712)
Mm-hmm. That's great.

Eli (17:34.733)
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. So you've got Tom Hanks and then you've also got Catherine Zeta Jones, who at this point was like still pretty early in her career, but also like had done the mask of Zorro, which Spielberg kind of cast her for. That was an Amblin produced movie and Spielberg was the one that had seen her in a BBC version of the Titanic and like wanted to

see like audition her, and cast her in that. And then she had won an Oscar at this point for Chicago. So she was, she was like out there well known at this point. but yeah, this is, this is a different role for her at this point in her career. Cause she's usually playing kind of like a femme fatale sort of character. And then this character is kind of like,

like the unlucky and love kind of woman that doesn't have anything else defining her. So yeah, an interesting kind of switch up for her to especially like, I get it's like a Spielberg movie. So you're like, yeah, I'll, I'll be in a Spielberg movie, but also like a very weird switch up for her, but she's not bad in the movie. I don't think as like in her acting.

Like she's, I don't know, she's not working with a whole lot, so it's hard for me to, it's hard for me to like blame her, you know? I don't know, I don't know, what did you guys think of Catherine Zeta-Jones in this movie?

Jen (19:22.031)
She has barely scraps to work with, but it's the 2000s and it's a romantic comedy in the 2000s. So I'm like, this is nostalgic for me to see these like very thinly written female characters that like you mentioned, truly she's defined by her unlucky in love. And we know literally nothing else about her. They throw in there like a pity. Yeah. was gonna say like, she's in history. Yeah.

Sarah (19:25.292)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Eli (19:43.745)
nothing. She likes Napoleon.

Sarah (19:46.854)
Mm-hmm, and she's a flight attendant.

Jen (19:51.052)
But pretty much she's just like a classic female lead in a romantic comedy movie in the 2000s. And she does it with the flair and the charisma that she needs to.

Eli (19:55.991)
Yeah. Yes.

Yeah, I mean she's doing what she's supposed to do, I guess is what you could say. yeah, what she's supposed to do is debatable as if that's great or not. But again, it's not entirely her fault.

Sarah (20:20.294)
Yeah, think I just, I obviously this was made in the early 2000s. And so I tried to be gracious to this film, but I couldn't. And I just, she's a good actress and I'm like, I just, want more for you and I want more for this character. So I was just so frustrated anytime she showed up. I was just like, just go away. We don't need this. We don't need a romantic subplot in this film. Just, just.

Eli (20:37.25)
Yes.

Eli (20:43.509)
Yes.

Sarah (20:49.402)
Go away, go make a more interesting film. Go be a more interesting character. I was so frustrated every time she came on. So I just, I struggled. Even though she's a great actress. And I was just like, I want better for you.

Eli (20:52.247)
Yes.

Eli (21:03.211)
Yes. Yeah, and it's it is frustrating but you know, yeah it's It's the problem too is it's Not really it's a rom-com, but it's like a quarter of a rom-com movie because she shows up like what every 20 minutes and Yeah, she's not really like a thread through the whole movie. She just kind of like pops up as As she I guess like as a flight attendant would

Jen (21:22.668)
Yeah

Eli (21:33.771)
But yeah, it doesn't make for a great story. yeah, speaking of thinly drawn characters, we also have Stanley Tucci playing Frank Dixon. I guess he's like the head of customs for Homeland Security at this airport that I think is supposed to be JFK. Yeah.

Sarah (22:00.164)
I think so. That's, I'm assuming, cause they're in New York, right? So I just assumed that it was JFK.

Eli (22:03.999)
Right. Yeah. But yeah, it's, he was Spielberg's first choice for the role and he is known for playing like at this point, like not very likable characters. So it makes sense to cast Stanley Tucci. And I feel like it's a very similar thing though, with to with Catherine Jada Zeta Jones. It's like, is he, is he bad in the movie? It's like not really, but he's not working with a whole lot. It's, it's like,

Jen (22:24.302)
Yeah.

Eli (22:33.611)
He's doing the most with the little that he has to work with. yeah, I, I read some things that we're talking about, like, he injects like this kind of doubt and frustration into the character that makes you seem like, he's not purely a bad villain. But I didn't really, I wrote that in my notes cause I read someone, some other like critics say that, but I didn't really agree with that. It just feels like a.

classic like villain character I don't know did y'all enjoy it Tucci I saw I saw Jen like you it seemed like you were maybe disagreeing with me about Tucci in this movie but I don't know what did you think

Jen (23:20.138)
No, I think for all of the characters in this movie, like they don't have a lot to work with, you know? But I think that's kind of the tone that the movie is also playing in. Each of these characters aren't meant to be that complex or multi-dimensional. They're written as these archetypes. so I was just honestly surprised at how

Sarah (23:24.644)
Yeah.

Eli (23:26.445)
Okay, yeah.

Jen (23:49.048)
star stud at this movie was when we talk about some of the other characters and actors that are in this. just surprised to see some familiar faces that have truly gone on to do some incredible acting work and just to see them in this movie where they're just, it's like another Tuesday for them as far as like how much acting capacity that they're actually able to use in this movie is kind of comical to me. So I agree there's, I don't think there's a complex like deeper layered.

Sarah (23:50.896)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (24:13.389)
Yes.

Jen (24:17.77)
reading of his performance. think he's just the stereotypical like big loud powerful white man role that he's villain that he's supposed to

Eli (24:26.199)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah (24:28.27)
Yeah, I definitely viewed him as like, just like a bureaucrat, basically. So maybe I was a little bit more sympathetic to him. And I appreciated kind of towards the beginning of the film, he really is that bureaucrat. And he's like, I just, need this off my plate. I don't care how this guy like gets out of here. We just need him gone. And I need to, I need to get him out while still following the rules. And so like, I...

Eli (24:43.895)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah (24:55.598)
I appreciated that about that character and it felt not comical, but I feel like as the movie goes on, then he becomes like comically villainous. So I almost wish that the film had picked one or the other, like either make him this like cold calculating bureaucrat the whole time or make him just this comically villainous character from the jump. That transition I think was probably the hardest part for me with that character. I was like.

Eli (24:58.273)
Yeah.

Eli (25:18.113)
Yeah.

Sarah (25:24.016)
Wait, what? Now we are full on villain instead of kind of like almost detached bureaucrat. And I struggled to reconcile those in my brain.

Eli (25:24.033)
Yeah.

Eli (25:32.641)
Yeah. And now that you're saying that I'm remembering like, yeah. At the beginning of the movie, he's like, there will be no guards at this door at this at noon today, you know? And he's like, actually like trying to like not help him, but like get him out of his hair. in a way, which is like not making him a good person, but also like not necessarily like the bad guy either. He's just like,

Sarah (25:41.062)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (26:02.047)
a problem in the system. yeah, it definitely would. And when you listen to like the, like the behind the scenes stuff, that's all the, the, like the extra features, that's how like. Tucci and Spielberg and others talk about the character as if he's supposed to be that the whole time, but he doesn't stay like that the whole time. So I'm like, I think y'all are just, I think y'all are forgetting where you take this character in the end.

Which is like, if I'm not leaving, you're not leaving. It's like, but why? Yeah. yeah. I guess just run through these, the rest of these, kind of side characters. Barry Shabaka Henley plays Thurman. I did enjoy Thurman. I thought he was, I thought he was pretty good. he's kind of, he kind of like understood the assignment. You're supposed to be the guy that like.

just kind of like does his job and kind of rolls his eyes, but not literally. You can just tell that he wants to roll his eyes at Dixon. and, yeah, it kind of has the moment with him, with, Victor at the end, you know, which was kind of sweet. Like, I see Jen like shaking her head. That must've been like a heartstring moment for you. Yeah.

Jen (27:24.396)
ate it up. yeah. Yeah. Guilty as charged.

Eli (27:30.773)
Yeah. which, yeah, which funny enough, I realized earlier today that, Henley was also in, collateral, this year, which also deals with, in that scene, they're talking about jazz with Tom Cruise, and Jamie Foxx. so it's a, that's an interesting, a little connection there. but yeah, him, I don't really know.

I feel like Kenley's kind of like a that guy in movies. He's in like a few Michael Mann movies. But yeah, I don't think he's ever been like the guy in a movie that I've seen anyway.

Sarah (28:04.986)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (28:17.751)
But yeah, we also have Diego Luna playing Enrique Cruz. he's a character, in the movie, Kumar Pallana playing Gupta Rajan, which I didn't know he had a last name, but apparently he does. which I really, really like Kumar Pallana. I think he's such a cute old man and, and funny and

Sarah (28:40.449)
Mm-hmm.

Jen (28:42.945)
Yes.

Eli (28:46.613)
He's in Wes Anderson's Bottle Rocket, which was one of the first episodes on the podcast, because that was the first director I covered. And he's like perfect in a Wes Anderson movie. But here he's a little inconsistent as a character. But again, not his fault. He's just kind of doing what he directed. I did love this. He, in the extra features.

Sarah (28:50.416)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah (29:09.531)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (29:15.745)
He was talking about Spielberg and he said, I call him Steven because I feel close to him. I was like, he's so sweet. yeah. and then the few others, Zoe Saldana, as which. Do maybe y'all can, y'all can fix this for me. I am, I'm not sure if it's Zoe Saldana or if there's the N yay over the N. Do y'all know?

Jen (29:22.414)
Eli (29:43.307)
Is it Zoe Saldana or Zoe Saldana? I've always been confused. Yeah. Okay. Well, if you're listening out there and you know the correct way to pronounce it, just give us grace. Cause I did forget to look that up beforehand. but she said she plays officer Torres. actually, honestly, one of the characters that I liked more that I wish we had more of in the movie.

Jen (29:47.054)
feel like I've heard it with the NU, but I could be wrong.

Jen (29:54.562)
Yeah, we're sorry in advance. Yeah. Yeah.

Eli (30:14.017)
And she's just really, she's, she's feels like the only actor in the whole movie that's kind of like elevating the character and making the character a little bit better than it should be to me. I don't know if y'all felt the same way, but yeah, this is early in her career too. This is like before pirates and yeah.

Jen (30:26.817)
Hmm.

Sarah (30:35.674)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (30:40.715)
I don't know, what did y'all think about her?

Sarah (30:44.806)
Yeah, I think she... Oh, go ahead.

Jen (30:45.006)
She really... Go ahead.

Sarah (30:49.358)
Yeah, she gives a great performance. think my issue, my big issue with her is the storyline. That's my issue. But she does a great job. She gives a great performance as this character. And I loved all of those interactions with her and Victor and just even the way that those are filmed and the process that he has to go through each time. And then how you see her

Eli (30:58.945)
We will definitely touch on that.

Jen (31:00.756)
Yeah.

Eli (31:04.567)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (31:09.505)
Yeah.

Eli (31:14.721)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah (31:18.596)
like warming up to him throughout the film. So I feel like she does a very, very good job in this. But yeah, the story with her is just not great.

Eli (31:20.598)
Yes.

Eli (31:32.013)
Yeah, and we'll definitely get to it because she's in one of my favorite moments in the film. Like if there's one like heartwarming moment that like worked for me, it was involving her. And we'll talk, we'll get to that when we talk about some of our favorite moments. But yeah, she's, she's in the movie. I think she's good. You also have a Shy McBride playing Mulroy. I don't know what his character is.

Sarah (31:36.645)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (32:01.271)
But he's definitely in the movie. He plays poker for lost and found items. That's about all I know about that character. Yeah. And then a couple of kind of fun cast members. Sasha Spielberg is Spielberg's daughter. She's the girl that Victor breaks her suitcase. So that's a fun Easter egg. And then of course, Benny Goulson, the

the jazz saxophonist is playing himself in the movie. And apparently he was like one of maybe at the time two musicians from that photo, which is a real photo that was still alive. So that's kind of cool.

But yeah, so that's the crew. That's the cast. Let's talk a little bit about the production. Cause honestly, this might be the best part of the movie. I would think, if I have to say like there's one like bright spot in the movie, it is the set, which honestly is really incredible. but yeah, it became very apparent early on that they could not film in an actual airport.

It's post 9 11 and also like logistically that really doesn't make sense. Um, so they were like, we're to have to build a set and yeah, Alex Mcdowell is the production designer and he takes this task and runs with it. It takes like six months to build this set. Um, and yeah, it's, it's really incredible. Um,

Sarah (33:44.847)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (33:45.865)
It's, would imagine it's, I think this was like a $60 million budget. I would imagine the set is like the majority of that. it's probably like the set and Tom Hanks salary is probably all of that budget. but yeah, so, just before we get there, this is one of the, I feel like this is like one of the fewest.

Sarah (34:01.084)
Yeah.

Eli (34:14.911)
locale. This might be the Spielberg movie that has the fewest locations that it was shot. So really they go to an immigration office to film. That's the first place they film. It's in the vicinity of the LA International Airport. They film at a hangar in Palmdale.

Sarah (34:21.414)
Hmm.

Eli (34:41.036)
for the scenes at Gate 67, it's kind of its own set. That whole like broken down gate that he kind of lives in is its own like little set. And then of course the vast majority of the filming is at hangar 703 of Palmdale Airport, which is in the Mojave Desert. It was like a Air Force complex where they built 747s. And they basically like filled this whole hangar

up with this terminal set. They built it from the ground up. Watching the time lapse videos on the extras is really, it's just cool. It's cool to see it go up. And yeah, the only other thing they did was they shot at the Montreal Mirabelle International Airport to get the immigration hall scenes at the very beginning. And then some of the scenes in the extra

exterior that are at the end. So really like not very many locations. So they spent like most of the filming, which was from October to December in 2003, at that set. And so, yeah, let's talk about that. Let's start with that terminal set. What did you guys think about this set? Sarah, when you saw

I know you've seen this movie before. Jen, did you ever share if you had seen this before? I can't remember.

Jen (36:13.324)
Yeah, I watched it when I was much younger and I remember it very distinctly surprisingly, which is Yeah.

Eli (36:16.0)
Okay.

Eli (36:19.349)
Yeah, so you both had seen it before. This was actually my first time seeing the terminal. I never shared that. And so when I saw the set, I was like, this is actually like really impressive, especially like once you see them like making it and see like, this is like literally built from scratch. It's really impressive. But what were your guys thoughts on that? Before we jump into the details of it.

Sarah (36:48.26)
Yeah, I thought it was so impressive. my favorite part is that they had a Borders in the middle of it. And that just brought such joy to my heart. Like, I spent so many hours in a Borders bookstore as a child. So it was just so cool to see this store that I don't think exists anymore just in the middle of this airport. But yeah, like what an incredible feat to build this giant thing from scratch and just the

Eli (36:55.978)
Yeah.

Eli (37:07.776)
Yeah.

Eli (37:15.788)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah (37:18.134)
level of detail and intricacy, like you do feel like you're in an airport. So I, it's, yeah, this is, like you said, it's one of the best things in this movie. It might be the best thing in this movie. yeah. What an incredible testament to everybody on that production team to be able to pull this off.

Eli (37:39.201)
Yeah. Yeah, what was a standout from the set for you, Jen?

Jen (37:46.594)
Yeah, I think some of those like textural details, I thought they nailed really well. So for example, the way that the chairs look and feel at the airport, at the dining establishments, like that silvery, like it's really hard to sit on and you can hear it scratching as it's like running across the ground. thought all of those textural pieces, they nailed really well. It reminded me a little bit of the way that we all talked about the Barbie set design of like,

Eli (37:56.77)
Yeah.

Eli (38:15.085)
Mmm.

Jen (38:15.818)
If it's a little bit off because we've all spent so much time in an airport or playing with our Barbie sets that we can quickly feel the difference. And I didn't know that this they built a whole set for this until afterwards. So knowing that they nailed so many of those details. The other thing that really stuck out to me was like the exact shade of yellow of the airport signs from that era pointing to which gate again, nailed it. So I think all of those things coming together.

Eli (38:37.74)
Yeah.

Sarah (38:38.074)
Mm-hmm.

Jen (38:44.174)
texturally feel really lived in and feel familiar. And that's hard to do in a place that we've all spent likely a lot of hours and time in.

Eli (38:52.649)
Yes. Yeah. And that's a great segue because they, they did actually like use, there's this, trying to find it in my notes. There's like, this in JFK, they kind of like had redesigned the signage, based on this design from Amsterdam. and so, I'm trying to find the guy's name.

that yeah, here it is. Paul, I don't know how to pronounce that last name. It's, it's a very, Netherlands last name. So I'm going to say mix in our, that's the best I've got as far as that. but he had designed the signage. It was like carefully color coded and, it was based on like psychology of passengers in an airport. And so.

They took kind of that idea and they were like communicating with this guy, I think when they were designing the set of like, are we getting these signs, signs, right. And everything. and they also used, this, that like mechanical, like split flip board kind of like, sign that like flips the like letters and numbers and stuff, which was really cool. they had like salvaged that from a Milan airport.

Sarah (40:07.739)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (40:19.541)
but yeah, they, they really like spent a lot of time researching this too. So they looked at like the Denver airport, a couple of airports in Japan, like Osaka. they looked at the Frankfurt airport. and they, they're like, they took some of the similarities of all those, which was like natural lighting with skylights and unique architecture. kind of like old mixed with new.

You see a lot in airports because like it's I would guess it's probably because like there's a lot of like renovation you have to do over the years in airports. So you have kind of have like some old looking stuff, but also very new looking stuff. and so like all those detail tells really like came together, from all the research and yeah, the funny thing, one of the funny things was that, he designed it on a computer and then you made a model.

and he sent the model to Spielberg and Spielberg said that he spent a whole summer playing with this model. Like he had this little like periscope camera, he said, that he was like planning shots with, like playing on with this model. yeah, that's Spielberg for you. So honestly, like very similar to what he did with Raiders.

Jen (41:24.866)
Yeah.

Sarah (41:38.982)
You

Jen (41:41.742)
That's fascinating.

Sarah (41:45.958)
Mm.

Eli (41:46.497)
He they had like they would build models of this like like the town for example where the chase the big chasing ends they had built this model and he had like planned out all of his like camera moves and stuff by like looking at that model. So very similar thing here is very a very Spielberg thing to do. But yeah, it's.

This thing is the only thing not real in this set that's not like self supporting are the roofs because they didn't have to be. and you obviously it's a film set, so you have to like do stuff with lighting, with up there. So yeah, just really impressive. there was like 200 people working on it at a time. They had working escalators. they had

35 stores with like real brands like you mentioned borders. There's a Starbucks There's a Hugo Boss. There's a Burger King obviously And yeah It made me wonder like I wonder how much of the budget was recouped by product placement in this movie. I would imagine Yeah

Jen (43:03.158)
Yeah, I thought too.

Sarah (43:05.346)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I did wonder like, is this like a chicken or the egg situation? Were they like, my gosh, you know what we should do? We should make a product placement movie. It's like, hey, we could do one in an airport. Let's go. She's like, wow, this is advertising for all of these brands.

Eli (43:17.911)
Yeah.

Eli (43:22.369)
Yeah.

Eli (43:26.667)
Yes. Yeah. My, my wife was very disgusted by the way that Tom Hanks ate his Burger King burger. but I was like, he's really hungry. You know, it's gotta give them some grace there.

Jen (43:41.912)
Well, I was wondering where it was going because he consumed about half of that thing. His cheeks did not puff down. He did not swallow. so like, where did it go? Where did it go, It's great.

Sarah (43:51.662)
Yeah.

Eli (43:51.667)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She was not having, she was like looking away. She was like, cause he does it and then he does it again. And when he's, when he's getting the next burger, she's like, please don't eat it like that again. And he does. but yeah, a lot of product placement. they also had like that huge window as you do in airports where you can see out onto the runway and then like,

Sarah (43:59.248)
Mm-hmm.

Jen (43:59.852)
Yum.

twice as big. Yup.

Eli (44:19.405)
40 feet from that window, had like a huge painted fresco that was like the painting of the runway. so I love that stuff. love, a lot of Spielberg movies have those like big painted backdrops like the Indiana Jones movies do. And so it's fun to see after a lot of like digital movies to see

Sarah (44:32.858)
Yeah.

Jen (44:47.149)
Hmm.

Eli (44:49.195)
Like just a practical painted backdrop for a runway. that was, that was fun to find out afterwards. Like, that's, that's like just a big thing. Yeah.

Sarah (45:04.024)
Yeah, and it looks great. Like you wouldn't know unless you know.

Jen (45:04.212)
Mmm, it really does.

Eli (45:09.451)
Mm-hmm.

Jen (45:10.062)
Mm hmm. To nail the lighting and perspective of that for that to look and feel the depth is an artistic challenge. So you know,

Eli (45:17.717)
Yes. Yeah. And they said, they were talking about, they did a lot of like previsual pre visualization for the shots. so that they could kind of already be planning. Okay. Like when are we going to be seeing out of the windows so that we can plan for, you know, just plan for all that they did do some like post production stuff enhancing that obviously you have to like add some digital lights and maybe like

digital airplane like blurred out in the background every once in a while because it is supposed to be an active airport and not just a painting and so they did do that but like they even talked about how they did way less of that than they had planned for because the painting looks so good so they didn't have to enhance it a whole lot digitally so very impressive but yeah and I did love they they talked about how when

Jen (45:48.558)
Yeah.

Sarah (45:54.842)
haha

Eli (46:16.363)
McDowell like showed up on the first day of shooting on that set with Spielberg. Everyone was like waiting for him and they like were like cheering and applauding him as they walked in. So I was like, well deserved, you know, well deserved. yeah, this movie, that I think is the, the bright spot for me. The set is really, really good. it just looks great. kind of on set stuff. That's fun is.

something that, you know, you don't think about watching it, but like hearing Spielberg talk and like the producers talk about how this is like a movie. He just came off of catch me if you can, which if you don't know, catch me if you can was shot in 147 different locations. Um, and so yeah, a lot of locations and now you get to just chill out in one location for this movie. And so they talked about how.

It allowed for like a ton of improvisation and like they could come up with an idea and be shooting it 30 minutes later because you, just have a lot more freedom being in one location, which I thought was cool. You probably have a lot more like, camaraderie with your cast and crew and stuff also when you're just staying put in one spot. but yeah, one of the things though that came out of that was.

There wasn't really a whole lot of like stunts, like stunt gags in the original script. and they kind of like, as they were working in the space, they were like, what if we did this? And so I think a lot of like the stunty kind of slapstick gags kind of came out of just like improvisation. And I'm not sure that they should have done as much of that as they did. Cause I'm not sure how much of it was funny. I don't know. I don't know. did you do?

So what did you guys think about the comedic elements as far as some of the slapsticky stuff and all that?

Sarah (48:24.774)
Yeah, so like slapstick tends to not work great for me just in general. Sometimes it works great and it's hilarious, but a lot of times I'm like, okay, let's keep it moving. So it is what it is. This came out in the early 2000s, so that's going to be in there. I think it's just part of that era, I think.

Eli (48:31.36)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (48:43.371)
Yeah.

Eli (48:47.543)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah (48:53.616)
For me, a lot of the, I don't even know if it's funnier, but like the more fun moments I think were just that core crew of airport workers just hanging out together. That was fun for me. I was like, I'm having a great time with this. So I didn't need a lot of the extra stuff, but that's probably more to do with my comedic preferences than anything else.

Eli (49:07.723)
Yeah. Yeah.

Eli (49:12.482)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (49:18.805)
Yeah. Yeah, comedy is so subjective. yeah. What did you think about like the comedic elements, Jen?

Jen (49:28.878)
Yeah, honestly, think the funniest parts for me were with Gupta. Honestly, I he's just a hoot. Like, I just want to sit and chat with him and like eat some pizza at Svarro with him. So they were more written into the characters. I think a lot of the comedy in the movie is more like those endearingly sweet clumsy moments, you know, like it's got that like cheese dripping from it. And I think that works for a certain audience. But yeah.

Sarah (49:33.37)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (49:36.982)
Yes.

Eli (49:50.893)
Mm-hmm.

Jen (49:58.466)
It's not laugh out loud funny. It's more like, you get a little chuckle under your breath kind of. Yeah, you know, it's lighthearted perhaps.

Eli (50:00.342)
It's not.

Eli (50:04.213)
Yeah. Yeah. I think the funniest moment. Yes. Yeah. I think the fun, like one of the funnier moments to me that again, like you were saying, it's not like laugh out loud, but like, yeah, that's kind of funny. is when Gupta is like just sitting there watching people slip. and he was like, Americans don't read the signs. And I'm like, okay, that's funny. You know? but yeah, no, we don't. He's right.

Jen (50:20.662)
Yes.

Jen (50:28.398)
Because we don't. Yeah.

Sarah (50:29.548)
Yeah, it's funny because it's true, yeah.

Eli (50:33.741)
We don't. Yeah. I think that.

Just for a moment, we can talk about the camera work on this.

It's pretty hit or miss for me, think. So like there's some, so they use this like thing called a Spider Cam, which is like a remote control camera that's like on a cable. And so they use that for some of the shots where like it's moving around the set a whole lot or like zooming way in and out on characters from afar. And I think that's okay.

There's like a 360 shot of I can't remember who was in that shot I know Victor is in it, but I can't remember who's in it with him I think it's maybe Tucci But I'm like that was a little bit weird. I don't really know why we needed a 360 shot other than like oh We're in the very center of the terminal. Let's do a 360 shot around these characters so you can see Yeah But yeah

Jen (51:42.232)
Gotta show off our set that we built.

Eli (51:48.459)
I thought it was fine. I don't think it was like Kaminsky and Spielberg's like best work as far as that goes. but you know, definitely like passable cause how could it not be? Cause it's Janusz Kaminsky and Spielberg, know? but yeah, he does do like a lot of work with the lighting of trying to like, you have to light for day and night and you have to light for all the different seasons because this

apparently spans 11 months, which you would never know unless Catherine Zeta-Jones literally says, it's been nine months. And you're like, it has? Okay. thanks for telling me. but, yeah. So yeah, you know, I think it's passable. I don't know. I, was there any like standout like,

camera moments for you of like, I really enjoyed the way they shot this or that sort of thing that comes to mind.

Sarah (52:54.756)
I think the part that I enjoyed was some of what they did in the security office and how some of those things were framed and the way that, how they were looking at the monitors and then how we would see what's going on from a different perspective and some of the camera work of the cameras. Like I appreciated some of those.

Eli (53:02.624)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (53:08.109)
Hmm.

Sarah (53:24.506)
details, but yeah, think mostly the stuff in the security office. That's what comes to mind for me.

Eli (53:33.121)
Yeah. Yeah. I hadn't really thought about that, but yeah, that is, I think that like, underline Spielberg's like very good sense of geography. like he just really knows, like for the most, he has a couple of movies where I think he like, isn't really doing his best as far as that goes, but in general, like most of the time he like is really good at like knowing where everything and everyone is and

Sarah (53:45.263)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (54:02.785)
how to move the camera around that space so that you can keep a good sense of that too. And I think that is probably still Spielberg doing his best work as far as that goes in this movie. And I think the monitor scenes kind of show you that. It's almost like a look into Spielberg's brain. They're watching the monitors and it's basically like.

Sarah (54:28.122)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (54:31.093)
all the shots that Spielberg's filming. But yeah, yeah, I hadn't thought about that until you said that. I think that's a good insight into Spielberg now that I'm thinking about it and the way his brain works, I guess.

Sarah (54:33.498)
Yeah.

Eli (54:50.849)
Yeah, was there anything that stood out for you, Jen?

Jen (54:54.382)
One of the moments that stands out to me is when, towards the end of the film, Victor walks out of the airport and the camera kind of pans up and John Williams' score is like soaring and I thought just like from a pacing and like letting that moment breathe and letting the emotions of that moment breathe, they really nailed that and that feeling of like...

Eli (55:10.646)
Yes.

Jen (55:19.916)
we made it to New York and you can kind of feel the expansiveness of that because we've been stuck in this airport for so long and kind of mirroring that feeling of like, we made it, that our main character's feeling I thought was a really effective moment. So I think when the camera's working well with the score is when some of those moments really shine the most to let those sentimental moments breathe and have space.

Eli (55:42.753)
Yeah. Yeah. And that was, that was one of the ones that stood out to me too, because, I noticed the camera kind of like, and I feel like a normal director would just like have the camera follow him out, but Spielberg instead had the camera like go out with him. Like you can even see the door frame in between, Victor and the camera, cause it's going out like the door beside him. and like out into the S the New York snow.

Um, yeah, that really is like a, a classic, phenomenal Spielberg camera work right there for sure. Um, yeah, I love that. Uh, yeah. So you mentioned the score. Um, John Williams, I think had, he had, I think he has fun with most of his scores. Um, but he was really enjoying, trying to, trying his best to like, get some Eastern European instruments in, like he talked about.

the clarinet's big in Eastern Europe, which who would know that except someone like John Williams. so he did a lot of clarinet, this instrument called the cymbeline, cymbeline, which is indigenous to Hungary, apparently. and then he had this like subtle use of accordion cause that's a very like Eastern European instrument. so yeah, I think he was having a lot of fun, like working in some like different cultural.

elements into his score Which honestly like I didn't notice that but I don't know that I should notice that It's kind of like if it's working Right, then you notice it the score when you're supposed to and you don't notice it when you're not supposed to so yeah, pretty like classic John Williams solid score in this movie for sure Yeah

This movie released in June 18th, 2003, 2004, think. I wrote the wrong number down. June 18th, 2004. And yeah, what's interesting about that to me is we don't really get this sort of movie as your big summer blockbuster anymore, but back in 2004, this was still like a big movie of the summer. And this movie just like wouldn't be.

Eli (58:10.507)
released in that slide, I don't think anymore.

Jen (58:13.378)
This movie wouldn't be made today. Maybe if you got a big director on it, but.

Sarah (58:15.918)
right?

Eli (58:16.447)
It feels like, it feels like this would be like, yeah. Yeah. It feels like it would be like a Netflix movie. Like it would just show up on Netflix and like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it like, it might maybe like be the number one trending film on Netflix worldwide for a week. Yeah. but yeah, spi- when Spielberg makes it.

Jen (58:24.022)
Yeah, yeah. And like poorly made. Like interesting premise, poorly made.

Sarah (58:24.846)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah (58:30.864)
Yes.

Sarah (58:38.434)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, for a day.

Eli (58:46.445)
It, it makes $218 million worldwide in 2004. So yes.

Sarah (58:51.142)
Yeah. And when it stars Tom Hanks, like, feel like this was also like, maybe not Tom Hanks at the peak of his powers, but like, he was still like, I mean, obviously people will still come out for a Tom Hanks movie, but like, wow, especially in the two thousands, especially in the nineties. It's like Tom Hanks movie. Yes, I'm there.

Jen (58:55.405)
Yeah.

Jen (59:01.944)
breaking it in.

Eli (59:04.321)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (59:10.035)
Mm-hmm Right. Yeah, he still definitely has that pull at this point He starts to lose it a little bit like post this But yeah Yeah, this movie Got it also made 72 domestic so to 18 worldwide 72 domestics But it did not open at number one, which is surprising having made that much it it opened

making 19 million. and I don't know if y'all peeked ahead in the notes to see what the movie that opened number one that weekend was. but it was dodgeball, which made 30, $30 million its first week. Yeah. I have fond memories of watching dodgeball at an age when dodgeball was probably at its funniest for me. so.

Sarah (59:51.418)
You

Jen (59:53.602)
as it should.

Sarah (59:54.726)
Mm-hmm, yep.

Jen (59:58.574)
love it.

Jen (01:00:05.324)
Yes.

Eli (01:00:09.733)
Um, but yeah, even I would say this like still like falls pretty short of what you would expect from a big Spielberg summer blockbuster movie, even making $218 million. Um, but yeah, I did want to read a few quotes from critics at the time, cause these are always fun to read. Um, this one is from Premier magazine in France and they said that the movie

quote, destabilized those who see Spielberg only as a director of spectacle and bombast unquote. So that's kind of like, I don't know if that's like a positive or a negative. It's more like a neutral observation of like, this is a more, this really is a more intimate movie in a sense than a lot of his movies are. so

Sarah (01:01:00.622)
Yeah, it's a backhanded compliment for sure. It's like, I'm going to say something negative about you, but I'm going to say it in a way that's really classy. So you're going to question it.

Eli (01:01:03.552)
Yeah.

Eli (01:01:10.165)
Yeah. Yeah, for sure. so you have that, you have like Roger Ebert who was also touched by the sentimentality. he, he, he liked to like the sympathy inspired by all the characters. I was surprised that Roger Ebert was like really went for this movie, honestly. and then you have entertainment weekly, which says,

It's hard to shake the feeling that Spielberg in essence is doing what you do when you sit around in an airport. He's killing time." Like brutal.

Jen (01:01:45.236)
Wow.

Eli (01:01:48.439)
brutal. did not get who wrote that in Entertainment Weekly, but I'm sure you could find out if you wanted to. Yeah. Yeah.

Jen (01:01:53.868)
Love the packaging though, it's clever. Well done. If you're gonna hit someone in the jugular, I'll still do it in an elegant way. wow.

Sarah (01:01:55.803)
Yeah.

Eli (01:01:59.831)
Bravo.

Yeah, but it might not even be as bad as this guy's take. This guy, Paul Bergzeller, who was a screenwriter and actor in this movie, Here to Where, from 2001, which was a movie about a director's obsession with the Nasiri story. So I think it's like sort of set up in a mockumentary kind of way. But he had befriended Nasiri for about a year, I guess, while they were making that movie. And his take in The Guardian was quote,

Jen (01:02:23.842)
Mm.

Eli (01:02:32.493)
A load of puerile crap unquote. so, yeah. So you have everything from Ebert who let his heartstrings be pulled by this movie like Jen, to people like Paul Bergseller who just. Yeah. Didn't I would say he did not like the movie.

Jen (01:02:53.838)
Did not let his heartstrings be pulled. Nope.

Sarah (01:02:55.673)
You

Eli (01:02:58.157)
Yeah, no Oscar nominations for this movie Not too surprising there, honestly But yeah So we've talked a lot about like characters and themes already But one thing I do like to do is I have a lot of we've already also talked a lot a lot about our quibbles with the movie But yeah

Jen (01:03:06.487)
Yeah.

Eli (01:03:27.309)
I have a lot written down in the notes. Um, I'm going to share, I'm going to share a few and then I'll see if y'all have any extras to add. Um, one of the big ones is there is no way that even in 2004, you're laying down 75 cents at an airport Burger King and getting a burger and a penny back. Like those, a burger is at least over a dollar still in 2000, at least 99 cents, you know.

Jen (01:03:32.152)
Love it.

Eli (01:03:57.448)
2004. Like, I don't know. That was one of my quibbles.

Sarah (01:04:02.598)
No, I wrote down the same one. I was like, how was that burger 74 cents? Like I know inflation is a thing, but like, really? No, I call BS.

Eli (01:04:07.725)
Yeah!

Eli (01:04:11.885)
I was, I was eating Burger King in 2004. Um, and yeah, I know how much things cost from that time period and it was not 74 cents.

Jen (01:04:15.246)
Yeah.

Sarah (01:04:24.55)
Well, and it would have been so simple to fix that too. Like just have him return one extra cart. Like that's it. 99 cents, I could believe that. 74 cents, I'm not believing that.

Jen (01:04:25.486)
and just throw a couple more coins, right?

Eli (01:04:27.979)
Yeah! One more.

Jen (01:04:31.19)
Yes, yes.

Eli (01:04:34.829)
No way. another one, he learned English from reading some, an English and a Bulgarian travel guide. And I'm just like, I'm not buying that. yeah, I did. I did also write down that like, I like how this movie starts off with some old fashioned racial profiling. He's like Chinese people without a camera, not buying it. And I'm like,

Jen (01:04:59.042)
Yo, come on.

Eli (01:05:04.237)
Really? That's how we're going to start this movie? This is 2004 now, Spielberg. It's not in 1979 anymore. yeah, 1979 was when he released his worst movie. I don't know if you all have seen the movie, 1941, but I do not recommend it. This movie is pretty good compared to that movie.

Jen (01:05:10.382)
Great.

Jen (01:05:32.942)
man.

Sarah (01:05:34.412)
Okay, noted.

Eli (01:05:36.811)
Yeah. and this racial profiling is not as bad as the stuff that's in that movie. yeah, I won't say anything else as far as that goes. yeah. we talked about, okay, we have to talk about Enrique and officer Taurus getting married. they haven't ever spoken to each other.

Jen (01:06:02.702)
Sarah Popoff, this is your moment.

Eli (01:06:06.637)
and she like holds up her like live long and prosper with her ring on as if to say yes i do i i don't know like have them talk a few times maybe it's yeah it's an easy fix you know i don't i don't know what they were thinking with that

Jen (01:06:18.998)
It was unnecessary.

In one scene at least.

Sarah (01:06:23.973)
Yeah.

Sarah (01:06:31.174)
Because like the go between business is, it's bad enough. It's so high school, y'all are grown adults. I need you to step up and I need you to have a conversation. This is not okay. You are stalking by proxy. This is not okay. And so like, but I get it. He's shy, whatever. Okay, so you can do that a couple of times, but then you need to talk to the person. What are we doing? This doesn't make sense.

Eli (01:06:38.849)
Yes. Yes.

Eli (01:06:54.678)
Yes!

Sarah (01:06:57.434)
Why are you agreeing to marry this dude who has never had the courage to talk to you? Ugh, I was so frustrated. I was so annoyed. And I'm like, I like both of these characters and Diego Luna is just so endearing. And I'm like, why couldn't we have had a better story for these two? That's not problematic. Ugh, was just, I was so frustrated.

Eli (01:07:04.876)
Yes.

Jen (01:07:12.108)
Yes.

Eli (01:07:18.743)
Yeah. And it's not even like Victor and officer Torres interactions are bad because the, have the montage of him like going back and forth and like, like you said, like that's fine. Like it's, it's kind of enjoyable. Like it's one of the more enjoyable parts of the movie, but then like, I, yeah, I did not expect it to go there, especially. Yeah. Yeah.

Jen (01:07:28.856)
Let's go.

Jen (01:07:38.987)
Why marriage?

Jen (01:07:42.776)
Like let's ask her on a date. That's very exciting. Okay.

Sarah (01:07:45.028)
Right? Hey, let's go to a Star Trek convention or whatever.

Eli (01:07:47.935)
Like, like maybe pass him and pass her instead of a box with a ring, maybe a note that says like, meet me at Sabaro for a date. Okay. Yeah. Okay. man.

Jen (01:07:50.702)
That's good.

Sarah (01:07:57.126)
Yeah, yeah, great. Approved.

Jen (01:07:57.48)
Right?

Sarah (01:08:03.558)
And then did they get married in the airport? Like what? I don't understand. I was so confused.

Jen (01:08:07.19)
Yes, at the chapel.

Eli (01:08:07.703)
Yes!

Eli (01:08:13.289)
Yeah, wasn't going for that one. Yeah, that was one of my biggest quibbles. My other big quibble, I don't know, I feel like we haven't quite talked enough about the Victor Amelia relationship. Like we touched on it, but like, I just like, I don't know. just, it's 2004.

Jen (01:08:21.774)
you

Eli (01:08:41.015)
Can we give her like something? Can we give this female character something other than like, I'm like giving this married man marriage advice while dating him and still meeting up with him every time I'm back in the New York. I don't know. It's just, and then like, it doesn't resolve that. She's like, I left him, but then she goes back to him.

Jen (01:09:09.358)
you

Eli (01:09:09.461)
And then they meet eyes at the end. what it's like, it's supposed to be like, it's supposed to be like the end of like umbrellas of Sherbrooke or La La Land. Is that what they're going for? Like they meet eyes and go their own way.

Jen (01:09:23.285)
if we could have had.

Eli (01:09:27.725)
I don't know.

Jen (01:09:28.844)
It's all just so dramatic. Like the part where she asks him in their very dramatic moody moment where she's like, what have you been waiting for your whole life? And he goes, you. And I'm like, okay, this is not the right movie for this. Like maybe by the end, just ask her out and that'll be a win, you know? More of a story. Everyone just needs to meet, talk and ask each other out after having a conversation and talk to each other.

Eli (01:09:44.685)
It's not.

Eli (01:09:51.489)
Yeah.

Jen (01:09:54.21)
because I think they played up to be them to be these like soulmates that found each other and were waiting for each other. And you're like, my gosh, this is so dramatic.

Eli (01:10:04.183)
Well, too. like they so like she has the whole thing with with Tucci's character and then she like goes and she's like, you lied to me. And I'm like, I mean, Diddy, though, he said I'm stuck in an airport and you just like ignored that and thought he was joking.

Jen (01:10:20.385)
assumed.

Sarah (01:10:23.404)
Yeah, I was like, he did tell you! Were you not paying attention in that previous scene?

Eli (01:10:26.849)
Like language barrier too, like he doesn't speak like great English. I'm like, you're like yelling at this guy. And then he's like, but wait, let me show you a fountain. And then you're like, okay, like we can kiss now.

Sarah (01:10:42.854)
just nothing she did made sense to me in this film. And I'm just like, this is just way too melodramatic. Every time you like breeze into the airport, it's like, oh my gosh, I have this thing going on and these men in my life and stay away from me, but come close to me. It's just, it was just too much. I was like, I don't need this drama in my life, ma'am. Like, can you go take your Napoleon book and just go sit down over there?

Eli (01:10:45.771)
now.

Jen (01:10:59.638)
No.

Eli (01:11:08.182)
Yeah.

Jen (01:11:08.814)
Well, I love that she also does the classic rom-com story type of like, I told you to stay away from me and you didn't listen. It's like, oh my God, we really are in the 2000s. I'm broken and wounded. Don't come near. Now I go, right. I do love that they don't want to end up together at the end. I appreciated that. I mean, she doesn't, I would have liked her to grow a little bit, but I think it would have been so cheesy if they like.

Eli (01:11:18.017)
I'm sick.

Sarah (01:11:21.336)
Yes.

Eli (01:11:26.775)
Yeah, I don't know.

Eli (01:11:34.562)
Yeah.

Jen (01:11:37.582)
kiss at the end and he gets thought a graph and it's all beautiful and tied up in perfect

Eli (01:11:41.185)
I don't know. Honestly, that might've been better than what we got. Cause at least it would've went somewhere. I don't know. Probably not. I'm just, I don't think there's really any fixing that I did. So I did listen to, I don't know if y'all have ever listened to the blank check podcast. but they, they like do a similar like filmography thing and they did like a second half of Spielberg, thing like

Jen (01:11:51.726)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:12:10.943)
a few years ago. and so they were talking about like, what, what would have worked is if like you get rid of like Stanley Tucci and just put Catherine J. Jones in that role and kind of have it like, you can maybe do a like, will they want they thing, but also like, you can have her be like the bureaucratic, like she's trying her best, like to do what she can for him. And like,

Jen (01:12:29.548)
Hmm.

Eli (01:12:38.007)
just take like the whole like rom-com thing out of the movie and just like combine those characters and I was like you know that's actually like a pretty good rewrite for that I could see that working because Catherine J. Jones is a good actress so

Sarah (01:12:54.678)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, let's give her more to work with, please.

Jen (01:12:55.202)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:12:58.485)
Yeah. another quibble, the, the planners can like, why are we only talking about that for like the last 15 to 20 minutes of the movie? and, and like, I know Spielberg is obsessed with Rosebud from Citizen Kane and I'm like, is this supposed to be like his, his Rosebud? don't like, I don't know what's going on here. And, and did his dad actually like jazz or did he just like this picture?

because I could not tell from what you, how Victor explains it.

Sarah (01:13:33.062)
That is a good question. I had that same question, because especially as he was listing out these musicians, I'm like, this is jazz royalty. I would be losing my mind about this. But he was so focused on the photograph and not about the musicians. I was like, I'm not connecting to this maybe the way that I'm supposed to, because I'm too wrapped up in the details. But yeah, I had a similar question. So I don't know.

Eli (01:13:41.942)
Yeah.

Jen (01:13:51.842)
Yeah

Eli (01:13:58.317)
Yeah.

Sarah (01:14:02.594)
I appreciate the sentiment, but I wondered if there was a better way to maybe work that into the plot. Like, maybe let's remove some of these other things and, I don't know, make that a little more of a through line rather than like, we're in the third act. We need to go somewhere here. The splinters can, let's go.

Eli (01:14:12.589)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:14:19.937)
Yeah. Yeah.

Eli (01:14:24.567)
Yeah. Yeah. And he has it early on too. Like they show him like sleeping with it on his chest and you're like, honestly, like I was kind of thinking, and my wife said the same thing afterwards. Like when she says your father better not be in that can, I was kind of thinking like, maybe his father isn't that can, you know, which would have been very strange. but yeah, I don't know. I don't know, Jen, did you have any like.

Jen (01:14:29.054)
beginning.

Jen (01:14:44.184)
you

Eli (01:14:53.429)
strong thoughts about the planners can.

Jen (01:14:56.908)
I just like that it meant something because I noticed it the first time in the first time we see it at beginning. was like, that's interesting. And so I felt rewarded that it at least went somewhere and there was such an intentional shot for it. I would have liked them to remove the whole bit where Dixon's like, why do you think like what's in the can? Because I think it just like overemphasized. I think it would have been a nice little like sweet set up and payoff for the people that noticed it to be like, yes, it means something sentimental about this very sweet character instead of like.

Eli (01:15:00.055)
Mm-hmm.

Jen (01:15:27.022)
Dixon making a big deal about it too and everything. So could have been a little more elegantly done, little moment.

Eli (01:15:34.859)
Yeah, it is like a very sweet plot point. I don't know if it's like a great explanation as to why this guy spends nine months in an airport.

Jen (01:15:46.822)
See you.

Eli (01:15:51.337)
yeah, I don't know. It would be different if his dad was on his deathbed and he was trying to get this to him before he died. That would have made sense of why he's staying there, but also maybe not also because why aren't you with your dad? I don't know.

Sarah (01:15:58.992)
Hmm

Sarah (01:16:08.976)
But that could be like some emotional turmoil that you're like working out. You know, this was supposed to be a quick trip and now it's lasting for months and months and months. And what do I do? Like, is my dad okay? Like there could have been a lot of interesting like character work in that scenario and it could have ended in a tragedy if you wanted to go the really dark route with that plot idea. Or we could go the sentimental happy Spielberg way. But I think that could have been some interesting character stuff.

Eli (01:16:12.279)
Sure.

Eli (01:16:19.639)
Mm-hmm.

Jen (01:16:19.95)
no.

Eli (01:16:23.618)
Sure.

Jen (01:16:29.908)
No! Please!

Eli (01:16:30.157)
Yeah.

Jen (01:16:35.885)
You

Eli (01:16:38.454)
Yeah.

Sarah (01:16:38.564)
I mean, we get very little character, anything in this movie, so that might be better.

Jen (01:16:39.47)
Yeah, I would have been a good movie.

Eli (01:16:42.764)
Yeah.

Yeah. And I'm also not sure if Victor is like, a buffoon or like a pretty like intelligent guy, but just like in a different cultural situation. Cause there's sometimes where like, you could see like, there's just like, it's just like this different culture. He's not sure how to like communicate, but then there's other times where they're like, where Stanley Choo Choo is like popping chips and covering him with chips. And then he's just like, cocosia.

And you're like, surely you can see that there's something wrong here. You know? so I feel like that was inconsistent too. Like, is he smart or is he not smart or what is this character? know? also me and my wife both noticed another small quibble is when he goes out at the end and he calls for a taxi, he does not have an accent. It's just Tom Hanks saying taxi.

Jen (01:17:20.366)
Mm.

Eli (01:17:45.953)
Did you notice that?

Sarah (01:17:47.654)
huh. Yep.

Eli (01:17:50.189)
We laughed about that. Yeah.

Sarah (01:17:53.04)
Yep. Yeah, it is, it's 2004. it's, yep, that's what you get.

Eli (01:17:56.907)
Yeah.

Yeah. I think maybe. Yeah, sure. Yeah. Yeah. He now has an American accent. yeah. My very last quibble was that they get in it. He gets in the taxi from the Ramada end and then they pull off and he's in Times Square. And I don't think it takes someone that lives into New York to know that like.

Jen (01:18:00.308)
By that point, I'm like, this is Tom Hanks. So yeah.

Sarah (01:18:05.966)
Over those nine months he's transformed. He went from Victor to Tom Hanks.

Jen (01:18:08.97)
into full tom hanks yes yeah

Eli (01:18:29.653)
Leaving the Ramada Inn on Lexington Avenue does not lead right into Times Square. And I was so bothered by that. I was like, how are they pulling away from this Ramada Inn and being straight in Times Square? I am so angry right now. But yeah. The question is, is it still charming despite all of these problems? Were you still charmed at all by the movie?

Jen (01:18:45.569)
you

Eli (01:18:59.499)
I know Jen was, because she's admitted to as much already. I'm not sure about you, Sarah. Were you charmed at all by the movie or was it just like not doing it for you at all? I'm putting you on the spot.

Sarah (01:19:15.11)
I think there are some charming elements. I think for me, the most charming moments are with Victor and his friends, basically. I think that is the charming part of the movie, and I just kind of wanted to hang out with them. But I think a lot of the rest of it, I was more focused on the quibbles than the charm.

Jen (01:19:19.682)
You

Jen (01:19:25.592)
crew.

Eli (01:19:39.147)
Yeah.

Sarah (01:19:40.804)
So there were moments where it broke through, but I think for the most part, I would have like a nice little, like, that was sweet. And then there would be like a scene with Amelia or Enrique stalking Torres, you know? And then I'd be snapped right back out of it. So it was kind of hit or miss for me.

Eli (01:19:50.871)
Yeah, or Dixon.

Jen (01:19:51.662)
Like, God dang it.

Eli (01:19:56.555)
Yeah. Yeah. Or Stanley Tucci yelling, him.

Sarah (01:20:02.566)
It's just, what are we doing? Also, you mentioned the bag of chips earlier. Who packs their lunch that is primarily a bag of Lay's and then you smash it and just, there goes your whole lunch on this dude's shirt. This is impractical. What are we doing?

Eli (01:20:17.068)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I felt the same way. I'm like, didn't you want to eat those chips? I guess maybe not.

Sarah (01:20:25.156)
right? Why did you pack the giant bag of chips? If you weren't going to eat the giant bag of chips, I'm so confused. It's fine.

Eli (01:20:32.353)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I feel similar. I was very hung up on all the quibbles, but there were a few moments I thought, I've mentioned it earlier, but the moment where, so he's kind of like built this relationship with, Zoe Saldana's character over the course of the movie. I think that was like one of the best, I feel like developed relationships. because like you can see she like early.

over time grows like affection for him and wants him to get out and then that moment where like he finally brings all the right paperwork and she like she first takes it like Here we go again like doing our normal thing and she goes the way she says like what's this? What's this and it's like, that's so sweet And then you like get the shot of like her hand moving she had like

Sarah (01:21:11.558)
Mmm.

Jen (01:21:22.51)
you

Eli (01:21:30.241)
by habit went for the denied, but you see your hand like moving over to the like accepted and you're like, such a sweet moment. And that moment did get me. I was like, that's so sweet. And then it's ruined by the box that comes out.

Sarah (01:21:43.768)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Instantly ruined.

Jen (01:21:44.279)
you

Eli (01:21:47.469)
Yeah, I don't know. Was that one of your heartwarming moments, Jen?

Jen (01:21:53.548)
That actually wasn't the one I think that we mentioned earlier is the it's snowing in the city. You're going to need that. tucked in all my heartstrings. Yeah. I also just in the ending scene, seeing like his whole crew and community just be like so excited for him. I'm like, man, you know, the world is a cold and hard place to live. And we just need some of this, you know, that like community, the connection, the like rooting for each other just.

Eli (01:21:54.925)
Sarah (01:22:00.091)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:22:00.523)
Yeah. Yeah. From Thurman. Yeah, that was sweet.

Eli (01:22:23.639)
Yeah, I'm glad you felt that way, because I was annoyed by that, because why weren't y'all giving him this stuff when he was like struggling in the airport? Like now that he's leaving, you're gonna give him some shoes and food for the road?

Jen (01:22:24.12)
Got a little dose of that from Spielberg.

Sarah (01:22:32.634)
Well, yeah.

He wasn't the goat originally though. He had to become the folk hero of JFK. And now they have to bring him all of the things. But he was just a nobody, yeah.

Eli (01:22:42.347)
Yeah, that's true.

Yeah, with the handprints, photocopied handprints. Yeah, that was ridiculous. Yeah. But I am glad you, that is a good takeaway, Jen. I'm not going to say that. That's not a good takeaway because it is. I didn't get it, but I'm glad you did and shared it with us because yeah.

Jen (01:22:48.578)
What the heck?

Jen (01:22:59.374)
You

Jen (01:23:06.83)
I'm glad John Williams ushered it into my heart and soul, This movie does not work without that score at all. my gosh, it'd be terrible.

Eli (01:23:11.777)
That's fair. Yeah.

Eli (01:23:17.997)
Uh, yeah, John Williams does. I, did too. I thought the moment where it was another, like you mentioned earlier, like kind of a slow down moment. Um, where like, he's like, finally gets to the Ramada in and he's like, can you sign this for me? And he's like, Oh, hold on. We've, we're about to start playing. And so like it slows down and you just see him like watching him play, uh, for a moment. He kind of like is tearing up. I was like,

Okay, like that's a really sweet moment. Like it's working a little bit for me, you know, in spite of all the quibbles. So yeah, I would say there are like two or three moments that are charming in this movie. And other than that, I was just very annoyed. man. Yeah, I was trying to think if there were any other

Okay. So one of the things I always like to point out is Spielberg distinctives. so we talked about like a sense of geography. That's a Spielberg distinctive. We, we haven't talked, we've talked about this element, but we haven't, I haven't mentioned that this is definitely a Spielberg distinctive, which is he has a great inability to do good love and romance stories. Like Spielberg just can't do that. and I hate it for them, but like,

It's just, just stay away from the romance, Spielberg. It's just not your thing. I don't know if y'all have ever noticed that about Spielberg, but he just can't do it. I don't know what it is about, about him. I guess he just has that like boyishness to him still that he can't, he can't do like real mature romance for some reason.

Jen (01:25:12.654)
Mm.

Eli (01:25:15.093)
but the other thing that he does have a couple of like really good shots of are like reflections. He has like this thing with doing reflections and so many of his movies. And I remember two, one is early on Victor's like looking out of the window onto like the bustling New York street. And it's a shot of him through the window. So you see they're like the reflection of the city and what's happening in the city on in the reflection in the window.

And then like his face, you can still see his face like behind that. I thought that was actually like a really, really well framed shot. like a meaningful for what he's trying to portray. and then the other one is just kind of like more comedic when he's like trying on the suits by walking up to the windows and you see his reflection on the suits. thought, I thought that was like a decent gag, you know?

Jen (01:25:47.214)
Mm.

Eli (01:26:13.355)
Out of all the gags, that was like probably one of the better ones.

but yeah, was, was there anything that like, when you were watching, you were like, that's so Spielberg. I don't know if that I'm like inundated in that right now. So it, yeah, it popped. really pops for me, but yeah. Was there anything for you guys?

Jen (01:26:30.412)
Yeah, you're steeped in it.

Jen (01:26:38.808)
The one that was jarring or noticeable for me compared to a lot of other directors is just how the camera's constantly on the move. We can not sit still. And the playing with overhead angles, low angles, constant camera movement with the characters in really mobile ways, I think, was something that I felt distinctly. And it was interesting in this film because it kind of added this sense of

Eli (01:26:54.316)
Mm-hmm.

Jen (01:27:06.882)
fantastical whimsy to a place that is very drab. So I think it works for this film to try and make it feel like, the swirling bustling terminal, right? So I thought that was interesting and notable, just like we are not still ever.

Eli (01:27:25.003)
Yeah. Yeah. And you, it's a very like, it is a set, like it's a built set. So there is a sense in which like, you have to like use all the extras and the camera movement to like kind of inject life into an otherwise just like empty set that someone built, you know? so yeah. And that reminds me to the other, like probably the iconic shot from this is like where it zooms out.

Jen (01:27:40.824)
Yeah.

Jen (01:27:46.093)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:27:54.561)
Like the camera like pulls out from Victor where, you lose them in the crowd. Like that's a good, that's a good shot. And it's like exactly what you're talking about. The camera, like being in motion and finding different ways to like move around in the set. and not just like move for moving sake, but like do it with a meaning. Like you're trying to show like, he's just one person in this big terminal full of people, you know? Yeah.

Jen (01:28:22.158)
One of the one of the camera work pieces that I thought like worked really well and this scene was like really emotional for me and I didn't expect it in this movie but it's when they have the Russian man in custody. I don't know about y'all but that scene was hard hard to watch. just the rest of the movie so like lighthearted generally and that one just kind of like tugged on heartstrings I did not expect to be talking about this movie and the use of the

Eli (01:28:23.766)
Was there any?

Eli (01:28:36.557)
Hmm.

Eli (01:28:40.801)
Yeah.

Jen (01:28:52.194)
like an overhead, like a high angle shot kind of from the perspective of Dixon. And then when the man is on his knees, it cuts to a low angle shot. And I thought that was really effective for like nailing the like power dynamics of that moment and kind of hitting home the emotions of that moment. So yeah, that scene in general was surprising, but then also I really noticed the camera choices and the meaning behind that in that scene too.

Eli (01:29:16.609)
Yeah, that's really good. We didn't really talk about that scene, but it is jarring in the middle of this movie, because I feel like in a different movie, it would have really hit a lot more. And honestly, it might be one of the best scenes in the movie. It just doesn't fit. it feels like it's not good, but it actually, feel like if it were...

Jen (01:29:29.806)
Yeah.

Eli (01:29:45.879)
just like taken out and put in a different movie, I feel like that would have really worked for me. But it still kind of does. it definitely like is tense and emotional and like emphasizes like the kindness of Victor and is one of the more like intelligent moments where it's like showing like, this guy like is not just like a buffoon, but he's like pretty intelligent.

Sarah (01:30:14.106)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:30:14.645)
He's figured out a way to like save this guy. yeah. Yeah.

Sarah (01:30:20.324)
Yeah, and that he wants to save this guy too, you know, like he has this deal and he's willing to potentially risk it to help this dude. So it's also like character revealing, but like you said, it just feels out of place.

Eli (01:30:23.051)
Right.

Eli (01:30:29.365)
Yes.

Eli (01:30:34.421)
Yeah, yeah, it's unfortunate because it is a well constructed, well acted scene all around probably, I would say. Yeah, did you have any any camera Spielberg-y things that you noticed, Sarah?

Sarah (01:30:53.028)
Yeah, I wrote down a few of them and I guess you can tell me if they are distinctives or if I'm ascribing things to Spielberg that maybe I shouldn't. But just I think the opening of the film just kind of dropping us into the action. We don't have a lot of time to set up. We're just, here we are. We're in the airport and we're going. And then another one that I wrote down was just.

Eli (01:30:58.348)
Okay.

Eli (01:31:13.729)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah (01:31:20.068)
And I think that goes to the sense of geography that you were talking about, but in the frame, there's usually objects in it so that we can kind of feel our sense of place. And I think one of the ones that really stood out to me is the security office, because there are some parts where you can see like part of a monitor in the frame. And you're like, okay, I understand what this office feels like because objects are in the frame.

Eli (01:31:31.287)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:31:48.439)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah (01:31:49.03)
maybe wouldn't normally frame a room that way. And then another distinctive one for me, I think was the lighting. There's one scene, Victor's in gate 67 at night and you just see like his face is like partially lit by this like really like bronzy or like a coppery color light.

Eli (01:32:02.509)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah (01:32:14.424)
And I don't know why, but that shot, was just like, my gosh, this is totally a Spielberg movie. So there's just little things throughout where it's like, that feels like Spielberg. And those were the ones that I wrote down.

Eli (01:32:18.914)
Yeah.

Eli (01:32:24.011)
Yeah. Yeah. Like efficiency and action is definitely one that, that I didn't think about, but yeah, it does like kind of drop you right in. It's very like, like the iconic example of that would be Raiders of the Lost Ark. You're just like dropped right into this adventure that he's on that Indiana Jones is on. and you like, you bill like usually like he does that, that well with

Sarah (01:32:28.986)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:32:52.375)
character building efficiency too. That's not really like so much in this movie, unfortunately. But I feel like that is a case of like, it depends on who he's working with as his writer. Cause Spielberg is admittedly like he has admitted himself that he's not the best writer. He's like the idea guy.

and so he really needs like a good writer to like rein in all of his ideas. And I feel like on a movie like this, like he could have done well to have a little bit better writers working with him that. And it's not necessarily like that the writers themselves are bad, but maybe just like not a good fit for Spielberg with all of, cause he has so many ideas. Like if you watch behind the scenes stuff with him, he's just like.

Sarah (01:33:36.431)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah (01:33:39.866)
Yeah. Cause, yeah.

Eli (01:33:45.921)
Like if you watch like the Jurassic park behind the scenes, he's just like throwing ideas at the wall and you have this like room of people that are just like writing them down, but they take all of that and weed out all the stuff you don't need and take the best ideas. And here it seems like they're just like, let's use all the ideas. but yeah. Yeah. What were you about to say?

Sarah (01:34:09.282)
Yeah, I think it's, it's the, story needed a point. Like is like, cause like, what is this about? Like it's a great premise dude trapped in the airport for months. Great. Okay. What's the point? Yeah. Like, so I feel like they didn't get past the premise and then they just added all those ideas on top of it. And so it feels good.

Eli (01:34:19.969)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:34:25.805)
Where are we going? Yeah.

Sarah (01:34:36.878)
you know, it's Tom Hanks, so it's nice. It's Spielberg, so it's nice. But the story doesn't really go anywhere and the characters don't really go anywhere. So I think if they had fixed that, then this would be a very different movie.

Eli (01:34:37.485)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:34:52.813)
Yeah, for sure. Um, they do talk about how like this movie is supposed to be like a microcosm of society because it's in an airport. And so you have like all the different cultures represented from that, from America, all in this airport. And you have the immigration thing too, going on, which it's 2004. you're not far removed from nine 11. So immigration is also a big deal then.

And honestly, like it is again now, it's a big deal right now politically. and I'm just not sure this movie really says anything about it. Like it's definitely there and you can see it's an issue, yeah, I don't, I don't think this movie really has anything to say about immigration or like what America is other than maybe like,

America is a bureaucratic mess.

Sarah (01:35:54.786)
and capitalism. So, mean, bureaucracy and capitalism.

Eli (01:35:59.307)
Yeah. If, the whole point is America is a bureaucratic political mess, like, yeah, yeah. Okay. You nailed it. Like, and also true, you know? but yeah, I don't know. Yeah. Thematically.

Jen (01:36:16.494)
Yeah, I think it's also giving like too much credit to the film to even assume that it wants to do that, you know? think it just wants to be a fun time.

Eli (01:36:20.779)
It is, but they, but they talk about it in the, they talk about it in like the making of stuff. They talk about how like they were thinking about a microcosm of society and like immigration and different cultures. And I'm like, okay, but you didn't do anything with that. Like, I don't know.

Sarah (01:36:42.886)
One of the lines that stood out to me, it's when Frank's boss or former boss or whoever, he says to him, compassion is the foundation of this country. And I was like, what? It was one of those moments where I was like, wow, this was 2004, okay. We were having much different conversations then.

Eli (01:36:50.848)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:36:59.479)
Hmm.

Eli (01:37:07.244)
Yeah.

Eli (01:37:12.009)
Yeah.

Sarah (01:37:12.312)
So it just felt like such like a quaint moment. But I think if they were trying to say something, that line could have been in service of that if the script had been a little bit stronger in saying like, hey, we're going to say something about immigration and being a melting pot and celebrating cultures and all of that. That would have been awesome.

And then that line would have made more sense, because it, I don't know, it kind of felt weirdly out of place to me in this, in that conversation too. It's like, where is this coming from?

Eli (01:37:42.925)
Sure.

Eli (01:37:47.541)
Yeah, no for sure. I don't know. Jen, you have something to say, I can tell.

Jen (01:37:53.196)
Yeah, I was gonna say, I almost want the version of this movie that's like escaping indictment of America and just kind of, kind of, underlying, I don't know, and I was like teasing this a little bit while watching it, but like, so many of the characters in this movie are people from, people of color and from people groups that are,

Eli (01:38:08.513)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:38:16.364)
Yeah.

Jen (01:38:18.478)
being oppressed in the movie and having to work really hard jobs and being kind of like used in that way and feeling stuck. lot of them, Gupt does a great example of like being really like stuck between a rock and a hard place and getting the short end of stick in life and like having to just accept the circumstances that he has. And like all of that's like kind of looming in the distance.

You know, right over head over this movie and the movie isn't like not interested in dressing it at all or whatnot, but I would love the like updated scathing modern version of this. That's just like our bearded cat system suck. The people that are really like getting the short end of the stick are the people that can't have a platform to advocate for themselves and just have this like scathing indictment version of the terminal. think that'd be really fun. And an airport's like a fascinating place to set it. So I think that would be neat.

Eli (01:38:44.343)
Yeah.

Eli (01:39:07.041)
Yeah. Yeah.

Eli (01:39:12.513)
Yeah. Which Spielberg could, he could totally do that movie because we've seen him do those movies. Like we've seen the post and we've seen like movies like that that are more like kind of drama, like drama with like thriller aspects to it. Not exactly a thriller, but kind of has some of that tension built into it, into the drama. And yeah, it's just.

Jen (01:39:13.73)
Who should make that movie?

Eli (01:39:41.579)
not this movie. It's just not where I guess Spielberg was in 2004. He wanted to make a fun lighthearted movie and yeah, it was definitely lighthearted. And I'll say this, after all of my complaints about this movie, it's honestly like, I'm not upset that I saw the movie. It's not like...

Sarah (01:39:57.977)
Yes.

Eli (01:40:10.945)
You know, don't let this like turn you off from watching the movie at all. Like it's honestly still like me and my wife still had a pretty good time watching the movie. Like it has a lot of issues, but you can still have fun watching it. And like you might even get some heartwarming sentimentality out of it. Like Jen, which yeah, let, so let Jen be the inspiration for you to check out this.

Spielberg movie for sure. We really appreciate you having that take, Jen, because without you, this would have just been like a hate fest.

Sarah (01:40:46.79)
Yes.

Jen (01:40:48.12)
Ha

Jen (01:40:51.995)
You two just ripping. Yeah.

Eli (01:40:55.693)
But yeah, I I don't really have a whole lot more on this movie but I thought it would be fun to end as the the kind of making of documentary ends on the extra features which is some of the the cast and crew sharing their air some airport stories So Catherine Zeta Jones

talks about like how she was duty free shopping in Singapore and almost like delayed a flight because she was late for the flight. McDowell talks about how like he arrived at JFK in a winter blackout and was stuck there for a long time. And Kaminsky Kaminsky talked about he has like nightmares every time he's coming to the U S because he has, he has nightmares about like not being allowed back in. and

I'm like, well, that would have been the movie to make about that nightmare. John Williams told a story about losing, his checked, case that holds like, that holds his like score. He's like coming in to like conduct somewhere that night and like they lost his case that has his score in it. he said he'd never checked it again. So.

Sarah (01:41:54.06)
Yeah, that sounds great. Can we get that?

Jen (01:41:54.872)
Yeah.

Sarah (01:42:14.566)
Why would you check that bag?

Eli (01:42:20.749)
I don't know and then like it all ends with Spielberg just saying I've never had any trouble at an airport and you're like Who are you like you're not normal spill if you've never had any trouble at an airport So, I don't know do y'all have any like just to to close out do y'all have any like memories of an experience at an airport

I know I'm like putting you on the spot because I didn't really warn you about this ahead of time, but would you like me to share one while you think? Yeah. Okay. So mine is like a pretty typical, like, so my grandpa worked for Delta and when I graduated high school, him and my grandma wanted to like take me on a trip for graduating high school.

Jen (01:42:58.99)
story.

Eli (01:43:18.049)
He had done it with the other grandchildren. And so we went to San Francisco and that was really fun. Well, but we rode on buddy passes, which if you don't know what a buddy passes, it's basically like you're on standby and if there's open seats, you get on the plane. So went there, no problem. And it's also like a priority thing. So my grandma, grandpa and grandma have like high priority for, for standby. My dad has like.

Jen (01:43:20.302)
Hmm.

Eli (01:43:45.175)
kind of a secondary one, like my mom and me and my sister have like the lowest cause we're like, you know, removed family wise from my grandpa enough. so coming back, we were probably stuck in the San Francisco airport for like over 24 hours. was awful. We would just like flight after flight. were like, no seats for you on this one. No seats for you on this one. And,

My dad and grandma actually ended up going ahead and getting on a flight because they were like, we can take two of you on this one. So they got on and went on home. And it was to the point where my grandpa was about to just like, I guess, like swipe the credit card and buy us tickets for something. But we finally got on this like weirdly routed, like we had one layover and then ended up on this flight to like nowhere.

town, Alabama on this tiny plane that was like not fun to ride in. And my dad like drove from I'm from Georgia. So he drove from like the Atlanta area over to Alabama to pick us up. So that's my like airport horror story, riding on buddy passes and them saying over and over, like, you're not getting on this plane.

Jen (01:44:58.446)
24 hours.

Jen (01:45:04.594)
Now multiply that by that one 24 hour experience by 11 months and I would love to see that vlog series that we can cut into like a Blair Witch project style handheld horror movie.

Eli (01:45:18.347)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, that would be fun. Yeah. Yeah. Did y'all have any that y'all y'all can think of? It could be a good experience. I don't know. Like.

Jen (01:45:27.118)
Airport stories.

Jen (01:45:33.922)
Well, I have an experience of me being an idiot at the airport. So it was a college trip to Cuba for a class. Really fun, an incredible trip. And obviously you go on to another country and you buy all your big bag of souvenirs and whatnot. So I board the plane, I my carry-on suitcase in the suitcase bin. I put my big heavy bag of souvenirs up there. We land, everything was growing great, going fine.

Eli (01:45:43.307)
Okay.

Eli (01:45:50.957)
Sure.

Jen (01:46:01.838)
Uh, we get off the plane. grabbed my big bag of souvenirs and I walk off the plane and we're about like halfway to the baggage claim. And I'm like, my hand feels really heavy. So I feel like I have all my bags that I would normally would have, but I realized that I don't have the thing that's supposed to roll with me. And so I totally forget my carry on suitcase on the plane. So I rushed back and there's a whole policy where like, once you exit the plane, you can't get

Eli (01:46:19.272)
no.

Eli (01:46:25.546)
Jen (01:46:29.486)
You can't get back on for safety reasons, all that goodness. So I had to email the airline and be like, I forgot my bag. And it's not because they lost the bag. So they're like, we don't know where it is. Lo and behold, about a week later, they find it. I don't know where they put it. And I get my bag back. I definitely, I had my souvenirs from Cuba. that over my clothes, kind of a win.

Eli (01:46:31.948)
Yeah.

Eli (01:46:36.738)
no.

Eli (01:46:58.251)
Yeah, I could see how that would be an issue because those have like no tags on them or anything. Your carry on. Yeah. Yeah, that's rough.

Jen (01:46:58.252)
Yeah, but we got it all back.

Jen (01:47:04.95)
Right? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So I was like trying to describe like a anonymous black suitcase that everybody has. So that was fun. Yeah.

Eli (01:47:15.009)
Yeah.

that's terrible. Did you have anything, Zara?

Sarah (01:47:22.662)
I feel like I don't have distinctive airport stories. The only one that is really coming to mind is there was a stretch a few years ago where I was having to, so I live in Texas, I was having to fly to California every week for work. And there was one week, it was the Friday, so we were flying back from California to Texas.

the plane just kept getting delayed and delayed and delayed. And it was just like hours of waiting in the airport. And it got to a point where I was like, you know what? I have to be back here Monday. Like, can I just stay in California over the weekend? I don't want to get on a plane. You've made me wait too long. Like I was just so frustrated and desperate. was melodramatic like Amelia, but not about men, just about wanting to be somewhere that I could sleep.

But eventually, the plane did show up and we did get back to Texas. But I just remember that desperation of like, my God, I don't wanna be in the airport anymore. Right? I did not wanna learn to wait after working in another state all week and having to wait hours to come home.

Eli (01:48:26.081)
Yeah.

Jen (01:48:26.798)
Sarah, did you not learn the thesis of this movie, which is that you need to wait. We need to learn to wait. Yeah.

Eli (01:48:31.425)
Yeah. Yeah.

Jen (01:48:41.642)
They play it plays with your emotions too, because they're like, it's delayed two hours and you're like, great, we're gonna be fine. And then another an hour. You're like, it's fine. It's It's fine. And so the continuous pushing is that's the mental game that's rough to

Sarah (01:48:44.526)
Yes.

Eli (01:48:51.863)
Yeah.

Yes. Yeah. If only we had the, the like compassionate kind fortitude of Victor Navorsky, you know, there's none of these things would bother us. We would just, we would just learn another language, push carts around, you know. Yeah. Yeah. you did remind me of another bad story.

Sarah (01:49:03.193)
Mm-hmm.

Jen (01:49:04.854)
I swear he's a superhuman. He is not human.

Sarah (01:49:07.206)
Yeah.

No big deal. Get our Burger King burger for 74 cents. It's fine.

Jen (01:49:13.966)
Alright.

Yes.

Eli (01:49:22.325)
which was my wife on our first anniversary. had plans to, we flew to actually the Dallas area, to my, one of my best friends was getting married and I was in the wedding party. So we were there in Dallas and we had plans to fly to New York, for our first anniversary and we had tickets, to go see the lion king on Broadway. We were so excited.

So we get on our plane in Dallas and we sit in the plane for hours. Like they just have us sitting in the plane and it's like, it's one of those things where it's like, it'll be an hour. it'll be two hours now. And you're like, why are we still just sitting here on this plane? Yeah. And so we eventually get to New York and we missed the show. So we have.

Jen (01:50:13.45)
At let me off. Yeah. Get me out of here.

Eli (01:50:21.121)
We have still yet to this day not seen the line came on Broadway. yeah, fast forward seven years, still haven't seen it. So that was still sad. That was like, yeah. Yeah. That's the horror movie version of the.

Jen (01:50:23.64)
Go and see the Lion King.

Jen (01:50:32.078)
That's rough.

Sarah (01:50:38.648)
Yeah. Yeah, missing out the Lion King on Broadway? Yes, that is a horror movie.

Jen (01:50:39.51)
Yeah, yeah, or when people like... Yes.

Eli (01:50:42.123)
Like we still got to spend like a few days in New York. So it wasn't all bad. Like we still had a good time, but that was like the main reason we were going. but yeah.

Jen (01:50:53.878)
One year for my dad's, I think it was his 50th birthday. He's a big Celine Dion fan. So she was doing a whole gig in New York. She doesn't do a lot of concerts anymore. So we bought tickets, we bought the flights to Vegas, we bought the hotels, and then we're sitting at dinner the night before the show. homegirl has a cough and she's sick. I'm like, well.

Eli (01:51:13.613)
Wow.

Jen (01:51:15.128)
So he still hasn't seen her yet. So one year, Eli, you're gonna go see the Lion King. I'm take my dad to see Celine Dion and I'm gonna fulfill these goals. It's gonna be great.

Eli (01:51:19.618)
Yeah.

Eli (01:51:23.02)
Yes.

Eli (01:51:27.019)
Yeah, well, thank you guys so much for going on coming on the show. I really appreciated it. I appreciate you sharing some airport stories here at the end with me Yeah, I Honestly like not the worst movie in the world just But just like I don't know it just has a lot of problems it's one of it's not I feel like it's one of the worst Spielberg movies and

That you could take that like as not so bad because there's a lot of great Spielberg movies. but yeah, I would definitely have it towards the bottom of, of the list of all the Spielberg movies I've seen. but yeah, just, I appreciate you guys coming on and talking about this movie with me for sure. and yeah, I, I would love to highlight where people can

find you guys? know probably just searching on your podcast app that you use, but is there any like centralized place where you guys are most active?

Eli (01:52:36.097)
Like maybe, Instagram or a website or something like that.

Jen (01:52:36.578)
Yeah.

Yeah, you can follow us on the socials on Instagram and threads. think we're the most active and engaged there. Yeah. So.

Sarah (01:52:47.718)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:52:50.219)
Yeah. And is it just, movies and us? I'll, I'll make sure to link it in the episode description, but is it just like at movies and us at movies and us pod? There you go. Cool. Yep. So that's where you can find them. yeah, that's really all we have for this week. next week we are going to be, we have an interview with a past guests, on,

Sarah (01:52:51.194)
Yeah.

Jen (01:52:57.324)
Yes, at movies in us pod at movies in us pod. Yes.

Eli (01:53:18.177)
Films for all seasons by Abby all Chessie. so she was on a couple of weeks ago for catch me if you can. And, next week, I have the episode where I interviewed her about that book. So that's coming out next week. And then the week after that, we're going to jump into war of the worlds. So that will be fun. yes, the second Tom Cruise Spielberg collaboration after minority report. So that'll be fun.

Jen (01:53:38.21)
noise.

Eli (01:53:46.657)
That's what you have to look forward to the next couple of weeks, but yeah, that's all we have for this week. I've been Eli Price for Jen and Sarah. You've been listening to the establishing shot. will see you next time.