Fede Alvarez - The Girl in the Spider's Web

0:00 Dave and I just the other day came back from a late night Imax showing of Alien Romulus. Oh you're brave Imax. Imax Zeno morphs on like a forty foot screen. Oh lord, so awesome. I have to ask you because you love the Alien franchise. Oh my god, yes, I did you? Are you seeing it this? Did you already see it this weekend? Or are you going to see it? No? I was waiting for you guys to give me a little spoiler free review because I've been burned before. Well, I don't want to spoil my spoiler free review, but you can go to a film by podcast dot com right now and read our quick spoiler free review.

0:48 And if I could a quick shout out to one of our listeners, Martin Bennett. He reached out to us on our Facebook page We're talking Alien Romulus, and he had some amazing site to this, to this film, and I just wanted to say Martin, thank you. I enjoyed our conversation about Alien Romulus and I hope you're listening because Amber I kind of got the feeling that, like me, Martin also is a fan of Fed Alvarez. I don't trust this director one hundred percent. He's shifting this guy. You don't trust Fede Alvarez. I hate that Don't Breathe movie.

1:29 Okay, so we don't get to talk about Don't Breathe today. That's fine, that's fine. In that case, let's talk about a different title. Let's talk about it. Let's I do want to talk about a film by Ede Alvarez, So let's let's talk about it. Twenty eighteen underrated cybercrime thriller The Girl in the Spider's Web. Hello everybody, and welcome back.

2:12 I'm Jeff Johnson, I'm Amber Lewis, and this is a film by podcast Amber. Twenty eleven, David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is released to critical acclaim, but fails to make it big at the box office. And then twenty fifteen, plans for the sequel are shut down and Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig are openly upset to learn they won't be called back to reprise the roles because they had fully committed to the series. Yeah, they had. Sun contracts and everything. Like I read the books and watched the original Swedish version of the movies and enjoyed both, so I was a little skeptical of Runey Mara as Elizabeth Salander. I was like, I don't know about this one, but was pleasantly surprised. I mean, Fincher made one hell of a movie, and I would I would have signed.

3:13 Up for the sequel. I don't understand. I know that Sony spent a lot of money. Bomb was it, Like how much money will I need to make? My God? The problem was they I think they spent ninety million or more on the budget and it made It made a little more than half of that, And I have no idea why. I saw it in the theater. Thing was awesome, but a lot of people blame the failure on the overblown budget. But I mean, it's all right there like you can. It's not like you are wondering, what the hell did he spend this money on. I get that, I just I don't understand. I love it.

3:53 I think it's one of Fincher's best movies. I don't know. I was so excited for like the entire trilogy. You know, didn't get it though, Well, you have read the original three books, You've watched the Swedish version of the of the films. You've seen the Fincher film, and today we're going to talk about The Girl in the Spider's Web, which is a story from the fourth book. Overall, for those that are not familiar with The Girl on the Spider's Web, you want to give us a little little synopsis. It's basically a cyber thriller that continues the story of Lizabeth Slander and her ultimate hacker skills, and there's you know, spies and chases, and it's very much more of a thriller than I think. The first three stories are more tied into more human storytelling, and this is more action and event driven.

5:08 Your synopsis there is both intriguing and vague. And I question whether you're writing for IMDb, because I just looked at IMDb's uh and IMDb says computer hacker Elizabeth Salander and journalist Mikhail Blumkis find themselves caught in a web of spies, cyber criminals, and corrupt government officials. That's almost word for word. What you what? You just what you just said? Well, I think. It's a challenge to describe it because if you are going into this expecting more of and we'll just take the Fincher movie. But if you're expecting more of that, that's not what this movie is.

5:55 It's not. Now to your point, I will say that Fede is definitely capturing the the visual style and the color palette of the Fincher movie. Like this movie a lot of a lot of a lot of dark at a lot of a lot of a lot of grays and blacks, whites, the occasional pop of red. I love the color palette to this movie because it plays to the characters. But even like his Fee's visual style, which he he has a style all his own. I love his shots. You know, we'll get this photography later, but I love his his use of the camera. But I also watching this, I can see where he's trying. I'm not I'm not gonna say he's trying to copy Fincher, but he's definitely trying to make it feel like it's well.

6:47 He definitely he's making this. He's definitely wanting you to feel that this is in the Fincher world, right, not that this is a remake or a reboot. That this is It's just been a couple of years and here's where our characters are from Fincher's movie. That's that. That's how I look at it. Yeah, and we might as well just launch right into it. I wish that this movie was called anything Else and the characters were named anything Else, because it would have been a much better movie. You don't feel it, So you don't you're saying you don't feel like it. It feels like a Elizabeth Salander film that. Was not Lizabeth Salander. I don't know who that woman was. She was very cool and interesting, but no, it was like it was like a teenager version of a David Fincher movie.

7:34 A teenager's version of a David Fincher movie. So, yeah, it's too shiny, it's too pretty. Claifoy is not that character, you know, the guy that played Michael bloom Twist is. Not that guy. You're just jumping right to the cast. Okay, yeah, I'm. Just launching right into it. Like if this were called anything Else, you know, and well, these characters were not trying to be those characters, it would have been a more fun. You know, cyber thriller. All right, you're you're you're calling Clairefoy out. Let's let's talk about her. So she's a longtime fan of the Steve Larsen Millennium Trilogy before she signed the studio is looking at Queen Amidala, Nally Portman, Black Widow, Scarlett Johansson, Jen Urso, Felicity Jones, and Lara Croft, the tomb Raider Alicia Vikander. All of those ladies are heavily considered for the role, and all of them either pass or it doesn't work out. And we get Claire Foy, who is actually Fede Alvarez's pop choice because he enjoyed her performance on The Crown, which I've never seen that series. Did you ever see The Crown?

8:48 Oh my gosh, I've watched The Crown so many times. Who does she play on The Crown? She plays Queen Elizabeth. Oh okay, so so not not a not a bit player, she's Oh no, she is. She is all of season one and season two. So how how is Clairefoy on The Crown? Is she is? She a great, amazing okay, And I've seen her in some BBC things, some Masterpiece theater things. She's incredibly talented. It's not okay that she can't do the job. It's I think if you think about that list of actresses that they were considering the studio did not want the Elizabeth Sounder that's on the page that Ruoney Maara did that even that, Nomi repasted like they wanted shiny, pretty healthy, she did not want this edgy.

9:46 Yeah, but is she shiny, pretty and healthy? Because oh, for the love, put a picture of her an act to a picture of Ruoney Mara and tell me that's the same character. Like, she's got this boring average Dorothy Hamil hair cut. Well, okay, well her hair so. She doesn't wear any makeup, she doesn't shave her eyebrows, like. Okay, so she they they purposely cut her hair all jagged and uneven, and that's a story. That's a character choice because they want you to think, read that cuts her hair. I read that and I felt like that was a hairstylist opinion of jagged hair, Like that's not really jagged hair. So you're saying, you're saying that if she's cutting her own hair, it's not gonna look that good. You know, Rooney Mara famously shit, you know, shaves her eyebrows, she gets real piercings, a couple, she gets inked a little bit.

10:42 Boy not doing any of that. Her stuff in the movie is I mean, I don't. Think you have to get the real piercings. But I don't think so. But Rodney Maura got. The point of Lizabeth, which is her whole aesthetic is to make herself into a occupying and keep people away. It's all about putting you on your back foot and making you unsettled the minute you look at her, so that you'll stay away from her. And the only people to get close to her the people that she allows. And Clairefoyd doesn't just a. Cute, healthy, little chubby cheek sweet pie.

11:23 Well okay, how about okay? So she's English. Hone bar is a honey badger, Like. Uh, I feel like we're I'm gonna ask you. I'm gonna ask you a question here in a minute, but I feel like I'm going to get the answer. I know the answer already, but before I ask it, let's talk Claifoy. She's English. She works tiresly with a linguistics coach to nail down that Swedish accent. I thought she did a great job. With that with the accent, it was very subtle. Yeah, well, I mean she doesn't need to sound like the chef from the Muppets. There's a happy meeting. I'm sorry, I can't. I can't tell you how well. I saw the original movies with Nemi Rapace and loved them and thought she was just amazing, and I didn't really want to watch the Runey Mara version, and I.

12:12 Went for Daniel Craig, and like my mind. Was blown, Like Ruoney Mara is so good in that movie, and she's so perfect as that character that like anything that really isn't that. I'm like you and I are of a like mind because I went into the Fincher movie saying, Rooney Mara, who I just saw in the Social Network, That's. What I was gonna say. She's, well, the cute girl from the beginning, will never pull off this role. But I'm a fan of David Fincher, I'm a fan of Daniel Craig. I'm still going. And she blew the doors off that role.

12:52 She's still good in that role. That when you get to the end and she is in disguise because she's still in the yeah, like she puts on what's probably in her own closet at home, like a Chanelle suit, and she's got like the perfect makeup and a wig and everything, and you're looking at her like, ew, what what happened to you? Like that's how good she is as Lizabeth. But when she looks quote unquote normal, it's off putting. One other thing, I gotta I want to ask your your thoughts here. Alvarez suggested that, you know, he's talking to Clairefoy about the role, and he suggests that she watched al Pacino and Marlon Brando films to prepare for the role. What's going on there?

13:37 And that makes me feel like he doesn't get it, because why would you tell a woman who's playing a strong female character to watch a man? Is he? Why isn't he telling her to watch Barbara Stanwick? And you know jennie'suer. Is his advice absurd? Or is it genius? Though? Because like I don't know, because I love that day Alvares so well and. Misha hell to do either of those two men have to do with this movie or this character, Like, I just I don't get that direction. Well, I'll tell you what they have to do with it. They have absolutely nothing to do with it. I thought that was a strange, a strange piece of advice.

14:21 I mean, I'm sorry I'm researching Germo del Toro for. The Docking Day podcast, and he was giving his actors like movies to watch that fit with the you know, it made sense, like we're making a haunted house movie. Watch the Changeling, you know, like that makes sense. But this, I don't know where he was going. I don't know what he what he wanted. I think you've made it clear your your thoughts on Clairefoy's performance. But here let me just say this though, Okay, this is what I'm saying. If she's not trying to be e Lizabeth's, she's great in this movie.

15:02 Well, unfortunately Isabeth, though she's. Not Queen Elizabeth the second. You know, she's this really interesting character that could do all these things, and you know, just don't call her that because that's not who she is. So I don't want to say it's a bad movie or she's bad in it, because that's not true. Listeners later will paraphrase Amber Lewis speaking about Clairefoy as she's great, except that she isn't great, all right. So I think our listeners get me. Claire Clairefoy aside. Yes, if you're if you're choosing one woman to play the role of Elizabeth Salander. Are you are you going? Are you going to the original with a new memorpace? Or are you are you calling up Rooney mar Who who is your definitive Elizabeth Salander? At this point, I.

15:54 Think for this story, which is very different than the first three stories, I think Repace would have been better unless you got like the other two. Well, I'm just saying, like overall, who who embodies Elizabeth Sounder? Hard? You get one pick? No mirror pace? Okay, you're going, you're going with You're going with the o G. I respect that. I absolutely respect that. Let's move on. I did want to spend a lot of time talking about Claire Foyd because the movie is Elizabeth's story. It's all about her characters, all these all these books are Let's talk about the guy taking over the Mikhil Blomkus role from Daniel Craig. His name is Savier good Nutson, Swedish actor. I'll go ahead and say that he's he's more or less a placeholder. Honestly, I didn't. I didn't really buy into his character. And maybe that's because he's he's in Daniel Craig's shadow. I don't know, but I just I don't know. He was like an excessery more.

17:01 Than Yeah, I totally agree. He's like a poor man's Dan Stevens from Downton Abbey. Yeah, Like I was like, is that, No, it's not him. This guy is not good. But but more and more in the books, Yeah, Michael Bloomquist is kind of there to kind of help her out and sneaker things and give her information, like he's not as big a player as he was in the first book. Okay, So that so by so the character in this movie. That's my design then, because I feel like the girl in the Dragon Tattoo story, I feel like Mikail is our our main character, and Elizabeth is kind of like a supporting player that's helping him all along. And I don't know how I feel about that, because I feel like it's it should be the other way around. I feel like it should be her movie, and this time I do feel like it's it's it's Lizabeth movie, it's her story. So I do I'm hoping that you at least appreciate this film for that, because it should be her, her story, and she should be the main character. And so I was kind of happy to see Michael take a back seat here.

18:15 Honestly, yeah, he It definitely fits with the rest of the trilogy as it was. Okay, a couple other people I want to talk about. This comes out in twenty eighteen, and I'm pretty sure this is my first look at the amazing, the incredibly talented Lakeith Stanfield. Oh my gosh. I was so happy when he came on screen. And I'll be fair, I went in with high expectations when I saw this at the theater back in twenty eighteen, and I'm a little let down as it's opening because it's just not the David Fincher movie. But everything Lakeith Stanfield is doing I'm a fan of, and I'm like, I hope this guy's going places and will come to find out he obviously does. He's big star now. He's done some amazing work. I've spoken about him multiple times on this show. But his role here as NSA agent ed need him the perfect amount of Lakeith, I think, yes.

19:22 And a really great character, and I love the way he. And Elizabeth interact and his ability and like he's just super spy awesome. Yeah, I feel like if the girl with the dragon tattoo was a team up between Lizabeth and Michel. This time, I feel like the team up is need him and Elizabeth, and Michel's just there for show because he's he steals the scenes in all the everything he's doing. I love the air Getaway, which I kind of tell me that didn't remind you just a little bit of the Matrix.

20:06 When Morpheus is getting Neo out of the office, He's he's on the cell phone and she's like opening doors and hacking into the airport security to get him where she'd eased him. There definitely had to be a little bit of that that DNA there when they were writing this one. But like, Keith's fantastic in this I would say maybe even one of the better reasons to watch this film. Yes, absolutely, his performance is so much fun. You're not gonna find a lot of comedy in this film, uh, for given reasons. But we got a great comedian playing Franz Boulder talking. I'm talking about Stephen Merchant. Yes, very weird to see him in this role because Steven, he's so goofy and so fun in everything he does, and all we had to do was give him a scruffy beard and now he's this dramatic, tense actor who's on the run.

21:03 Well, and you're always so concerned in one of these movies because almost to a man, every male character is just toxic and dangerous and disgusting. So he came on and I was like, oh no, I can't do this. He's basically he's like an updated version of Falcon from wargames. He creates this incredibly dangerous technology, this computer software that can control nuclear weapons. He's got a little boy who he's trying to look out for and protect, and then does the right thing. He's like, Hey, this is I've created something that can't be uncreated. So I better, I better find a way to get rid of it. And who better to get rid of something for you in the cyber world than Elizabeth Salander. So you know, he calls her up. Let's you know, I'll help you know, steal this thing. I'll pay you to steal it and then get rid of it. And then we're off to the races with you know, the NSA and the Swedish government and you know everyone, everyone's after this. You under yeah, the spiders, this network of this cable of assassins and evildoers.

22:20 You went to the eighties with Falcon I went to Rogue One and I thought of Galen her. So they like, I made this thing and now they're gonna blow up planet. A lot of a lot of Rogue one chat in this this, uh, this Swedish cyber crime thriller. Didn't I didn't. I didn't see that coming. Uh. I'll tell you who else I didn't see coming. I've never seen her in anything. Well, I take that back. I've seen her in one thing, but you know, it's kind of like a blink and you miss it moment in that movie. But Sylvia Hoax is playing Camilla Salander, who is the fraternal twin to Elizabeth. This woman is positively beautiful and frightening at the same time. And I don't know how she's pulling that off.

23:15 Yes, she was very intense and very unexpected because if you know the story, like we all thought. She was dead. Yeah, we get that little background, you know, that little prequel you know to at in the beginning there you know, see him playing chess. We assume that she's dead. But lo and behold, she grew up to be just as evil as their dad and and psychotic, and she's running this gang this, Uh you know these spiders. He's assassins who will stop at nothing for you know, control over nuclear weapons. I said, you know, like I said, blink and you miss it. Like she's in Blade Runner twenty forty nine playing the character love but I just don't remember, like she didn't make it impression on me.

24:01 I haven't seen it so well. She certainly makes an impression here. She is striking like I'll tell you right now, and we you know, we've been talking about other other movies, that moment on the bridge when they see each other as adults, and she's in that. I mean she is just like a siren because she's in that. She's in all red, that bright red outfit. That gave me a real Winter Soldier vibe, Like when when the first time Capsi's Bucky is alive after all these years. Yes, And I think the best scene that Clairefoy has in the whole movie is they're scene together. At the end. Okay, well, uh, you know, you are a lot of premonitions here. You're reading my mind. You're you're you're jumping ahead.

24:48 I'm sorry you are, No, you're you're clearly your. Scenes together are amazing and that scene in particular is just overpowering. Now you are you are clearly uh maneuvering through the spider's web pretty good today, I would I would say that's the pivotal scene. Right, Let's just talk about the pivotal moment. It's the best scene. It's the it's the one that's the most impactful. I think their moment at the end, face to face, and it's a moment where I feel like you have to you have to empathize for the villain. Am I wrong? No, No, not at all. But I do love that they I love that they give clarify that line. You know you didn't come with me, you didn't follow me.

25:35 Yeah, you understand. I had to leave, you know, Like, but I was out. I saved myself. I couldn't, you know, force you to save yourself and I can't be responsible for you. Like that's heartbreaking, it is, but it's also the the rebuttal is justice heartbreaking because she's like, aren't you Lizabeth Salander, the savior of of of. Of women and the protector of women against evil men? You've saved all these women and you never you never thought to come back and save me. And I thought, Wow, that's I mean, she's got a point. Mm hmmm. Right, So it's kind of like, you know, you always hear the am I my brother's keeper? But is that not this? Is that not also true for am I?

26:22 Am I my sister's keeper? You know, I stick together? Right? To be fair, Elizabeth did try to kill their father, and she like got eighty percent of them, so. She would not do anything. A couple other seeds, I we kind of we're we're doing a Tarantino thing here, We're chopping and cutting, we're you know, we did our pivotal moment. But there are a couple other scenes I want to talk about. No, we're no, we're This is fluid man, This is this is where where in the web. Where in the web. Sometimes you get stuck in a certain spot, and sometimes you're able to get yourself free. So turn the hourglass over. Yeah, I'll say this, and I think you kind of you kind of you know, you alluded to this earlier.

27:09 This is more of a action paced film rather than a spy computer hacking type of tense drama like we used to. But I absolutely love when she takes that dacati and jumps it off the bridge onto the frozen and it's cracking under her bike as she's driving with the bikes so fast that the ice can't crack fast enough. Yes, stress, Yeah, that scene is so awesome. All the action scenes, Like, I really like the fight scenes, and. You know that's usually not the high point for me, but I thought they were really well done in this.

27:54 I'll tell you an well another one that's really well done. I'm a big fan of the close quarters combat. Yeah, the bathroom fight where her and the assassin are just slugging it out. Poor Stephen Merchant is just cowering in the shower like a fragile little thing. Look his son, his his like the ten year old boy should be hiding and and taking cover. Steven Merchant get up and do something. He picked up something in it and with it. Yeah, that he got his ass handed to him again.

28:35 I mean, you know, I don't know, but that that moment, here's something that I thought that that does really well. The assassin gets the upper hand, he jams that hypodermic needle into her with god knows what, and the sound kind of goes away and all we hear is a heartbeat, and it's getting slower and slower and slower, and I think Foy is doing some damn good acting here because just like she's just she's a mooting with just her eyes, because like her body's kind of getting rigid and stiff, and you're like, is she what's gonna happen? Is she gonna black out? Or is she gonna make it? And then we get this brilliant thing where she takes the amphetamines and crushes them, you know, with the with the pillow capsule, and and snorts it, and all of a sudden, her heartbeat, like the heartbeat noise, just starts getting faster and faster, and now she's back up. You know, She's like she's like Mario or Princess Peach. Yeah, capturing the star.

29:29 Now now she's like invincible. She goes she's ready to get up for around two. I love that moment. Bathroom scene is awesome, absolutely awesome. One more scene. We'll take a break here in a second, but one more scene I do want to talk about, which was kind of like a ah, kind of a kind of a moment when they when Michale goes to he's like doing his investigative journalism thing and he goes to visit that guy in the arcade to find out about the spiders, and you find out that the guy it's not that he was a former member, it's that he would a victim. And then he says, this is what the spiders did to me, and all of a sudden, his face is actually like a uh, this connection of a uh it's a prosthetic, prosthetics, prosthesis. Yeah, and like he doesn't have a news, he doesn't have an upper jaw, and he takes everything off and it's like, look what you know?

30:22 This is this is what happens when the spiders come for you. Ye. Holy shit, Like I mean, that's like his doctor. Uh. That guy definitely worth the bill, but man absolutely terrified. That harsh way to live after that. Well, and the scene, though as shocking as it is, it does it does a great thing of show me, don't tell me how bad the bad guys are. Mm hmm. Brilliant, brilliant piece of writing. I thought, right there, Amber, let's take a break and we'll get back. We'll talk a little bit about this film's background and our director Fede Alvarez.

31:09 Welcome back, Amber Lewis and I discussing fed A Alvarez's The Girl and the Spider's Web. Can I just say one thing, one more thing about Elizabeth And I don't know if you caught this, and I know I caught it for a very specific reason. Elizabeth always wears dark, shredded clothing, right, like she's she's on the fringe, right. I know Rooney Mara had this amazing T shirt that she wore in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I don't know how they did that, because that is a T shirt that has been worn for like twenty years straight. Yeah, but it's awesome, right because I.

31:51 Used to have a couple. We're in that condition and you can't get rid of them. But I don't know how they were able to make that look like that, like that was just. A Elizabeth loves her slogan T shirts and The girlth of Dragon Tattoo has a great one. I'm watching this and I immediately as soon as I saw like some print on the one that that Claire Foy was wearing, I was like, Oh, that must be some kind of profanity laced thing like Rooney Mara's. And it's not. And I'll apologize for being crude. The shirt that Claire Foy is wearing, says give me head till I'm dead. Amber.

32:32 I only bring it up because I've never seen it. But I know. Elizabeth is a She's a hacker. She's you know, you can argue the point that hackers are nerds and she is not. She is not the first nerd in cinema history to wear this particular shirt. Do you know that there's another nerd? It's from Revenge of the Nerds. I don't know who wears it. This is the T shirt that Dudley Dawson, otherwise known as Booger whears in uh in Revenge of the Nerds. You said you haven't seen Revenge of the Nerds. I can't and get conscience. Watch a movie where a character's name is Booger like that's. Oh, you can absolutely watch in good Well they got they have one name. They have another guy named Ogre.

33:16 So it's fine. It bounces God. I think this is just it's just it's such a coincidence because Jason and Dee at the show that you Can't Be Serious podcast they had, they just did their Animal House versus Revenge of the Nerds. Oh, that's so funny. So I and I went back and I watched Revenge of the Nerds, and I was talking to Jason because you know, there's quite a bit in Revenge of the Nerds that does not hold up well to today's standards. And we were talking and he was like, you know, I'd love to know what Amber Lewis thinks about Revenge of the Nerds. And I said, I'll tell you what. Next time I record with her, I will ask her.

33:57 And let's hope she doesn't blow her top. But you haven't seen so now we now it's I haven't. But I mean I can just imagine that if you're pairing it with Animal House. Yes, it's just. A lot of misogyny and no just men being dufices. Yeah, yeah, so you have seen it. All right, let's move on. Let's move on. I feel like she stole that shirt from somebody. Oh I see her in something like that. I'm like, clearly this is some some girl that she picked up at the club, wore it, and then she she claimed it. You know, yep, girls are girls are known to take take T shirts as trophies. I know that, so true T shirts and hoodies. You watch out, gentlemen.

34:48 So before he died. Steve Larsen had mapped out ten stories for e. Lizabeth Salander and Michael Blancus for his Millennium Novels. He wrote the first three books before suffering a fatal heart attack in two thousand and four. All of his notes for his remaining work are in the possession of his partner, Eva Gabrielson, who was not married to Larson at the time, and meanwhile, his father and brother inherited the rights to his literary estate. Sadly, both parties chose not to come to terms about the direction of the series and this that's just that's terrible. Yeah, it's never an easy stretch when you know an author has a lot of things mapped out and they're not able to finish it themselves. I mean, sometimes you get lucky and the new books under a new author, you know, sometimes are better, but more often than not, it's just a mess. And what you love about the what the original author did, can't be replicated.

35:54 I just the tragedy here is that we're dealing with three people who clearly loved Steer Glarsen, you know, his his partner and his brother and his father. I would think that they would come together in the hopes of bringing his his vision of this stuff together and and and get it out there, and and you know it's gotta be about money, obviously, that's that's what the situation is. Well, hear that you can be a partner to somebody, and because you don't, you know, accept this piece of paper to connect you, then it's like it never happened. I would I get it. I get it. So the family hired a new writer, David Legerkrantz. He creates all new stories for Larson's characters, and the Girl in the Spider's Web is based off his first book, which we we know is the fourth one overall, and he's already done his own trilogy. Have you have you looked at any of these books Y had Amber?

36:52 Nope, I read the first three. I liked him, and I didn't want to have anything to do with anybody else's vision. All right, Well, someone who does want to have something to do with someone else's vision is Vee Alvarez. This is the guy you call. I feel like this is starting to become the guy you call when you need to infuse some new blood into a popular franchise. So let's talk a little bit about him and he guests. Now, now keep in mind he he kind of has made a big name for himself in the in the world of horror, and he guesses what his favorite movie is. Probably something horrible like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre or something.

37:33 Again with the premonitions. We'll get that, we'll get we'll get the we'll get to TCM in a minute, but they very frightening film. Back to the Future is his all time favorite movie. That doesn't seem to match with his sensibilities. But no, no, but hey, at least he likes a good movie. Yeah, let's talk about just hitting the express el to Hollywood. You know. He releases his short film on Tique de Pannicle Panic Attack on YouTube, and within a few weeks he scores a deal with Ghost House Pictures to direct a sci fi film. That deal eventually evolved into writing and directing The Evil Dead. So again he's he's the guy you call to revive a franchise. So The Evil Dead had been kind of lingering for a while. We love the Evil Dead.

38:30 I was gonna say I didn't see it because I like the originals. Okay, so here's what I'll tell you. There's only so much you can do with that franchise. It's awesome, but if you're not gonna get Bruce Campbell back, But but you are going to get Sam Raimi back as a producer. Your only choice is to try to capture a little bit of the magic that the first one had, and you've got to go straight out, balls to the wall scary, and his version of Evil Dead is exactly that, and it it kind of works. It's not it's not necessarily a remake or reboot. Uh, You've got You've got a group of friends going out to the cabin. They it's and basically they're they're trying to stage an intervention for one of their friends that's got a drug problem. Sadly, the ecronomicon is there right and hell literally breaks loose.

39:23 You just just your hearts were in the right spot. You just picked the wrong location to pull this thing off. I mean, who could know. In twenty sixteen, Marvel offers him a chance to direct an unspecified movie and he says, no, we which blows my mind because Dave and I just talked about this a week ago when we were talking about m Knight doing doing Split. Oh that's a great episode by the way. Oh well, thank you, thank you very much. I enjoyed it so much. Thank you. I love that trilogy anyway. Oh, such a great trilogy. If I can find a way to do the other we can talk about the other two. We will, But you know we Dave and I discussed how M. Knight famously told Marvel, No, I don't want to direct anything for you. Why do my own thing?

40:18 That a little more sense? This guy like talk about at the money tree. I mean, Evil Dead remake is not like you were making some arty in house. Nothing, you know. Yeah, and here's Marvel saying, hey, come on join the Marvel team. He declined, and he stated that he knew that he would have little to no creative control over the project, So you got to respect to him, you know, not just cashing in. I don't know what the story is here. But in twenty seventeen, he was confirmed to be co writing and directing a spinoff to the nineteen eighty six fantasy hit Labyrinth, and then three years later he stepped from directing the film.

41:01 So he's still attached as a writer. But I don't you know, there's been no movement on the project, so I don't know if we'll ever see that, you know, but can only imagine what a Labyrinth spin off. We talked on our nineteen eighty six series. We talked about you know, sequel, prequel, remake, you know, like the what ifs, and we talked about how you could do a sequel with an adult Jennifer Conley and how it would be a huge success. But yes, no one's paying attention. Maybe Fee is paying attention. Maybe maybe maybe he's going for something like that. I don't know. Well, without further ado, let's let's talk about this man's filmography, not too you know, he's he's just now making his way through Hollywood. So we already we just discussed The Evil Dead, Right, let's talk a little bit about his next feature. I'm gonna go ahead and say this is a divisive film, at least in the the offices of a Film Buy twenty sixteen.

42:01 He does this thriller this uh just trapped in a house horror movie called Don't Breathe, starring Stephen Lang. Let's just set it up. Okay, let's just set let's be fair, let's let's se let's set this up. Let's be fair. Before someone someone out there's listening going, well, what's what's don't breathe about? So we got three delined yes you do. Three delinquents break into the house of a golf war veteran who is blind to steal his money because allegedly there's like a fortune inside this house, and much to their horror, they discover that he's not this defenseless old man that you know that they thought of. They get in here and this house becomes like a one large booby trap and he's basically hunting them because they can't see anything because the lights are out. So it's kind of even terf except for this guy's a you know, he's trained to kill people and he's just hunting these these uh these little ship bags that broken to his house.

43:13 Movie was. The words that want to flow out of my mouth right now. If that is all that movie was, And the first like two thirds of the movie. That's what it is. And it's great and you're having a good time, and then it takes this evil twist in the middle and. I'm like, he's spoiler free here, Okay, thank you, you're you're. I will never watch this movie again. I have to. I have to echo a little bit of Amber's uh commentary. Here, you are rooting for the blind man. That's that's the character's name. You're rooting for this guy for the whole movie because you're like, yeah, screw these kids. You're empathetic to the girl because she's in a horrible homelife.

43:56 She's trying to save her sister, you know, yeah, but she's making them for kind of a good reason. She's doing okay, So this there's there's kind of like some uh remember Wes Craven's The People under the Stairs. Yes, same same concept. It's, hey, we're gonna we're gonna break into this house of this person that we know there's a bunch of rich riches in there, and we're doing it because we got to save our mom. You know in that movie, they're they're trying to there's their moms sick and they're trying to help her out. Jane Levy, you know, she's she's got like a little brother that needs help. And but you know what, you don't just go break into people's house.

44:38 You're still breaking and entering and stealing things. It's not okay, But it's not okay. They're not just horrible. Kids that you want to see, you know, die in this horror film, so you feel bad. For you know, the blind guy. You're on the side. Up until a certain point, and so you're not. Yeah, the movie has as you cheering this guy on wholeheartedly. You know, these kids are getting what they deserve, until you find out he is not the hero of this film and you are. It really messes with you because now all of a sudden, you can't you can't empathize with him, you can't follow him, you can't like him, and you want him to meet a a terrible ending.

45:22 And I honestly I kind of dig that about the movie because for two thirds of the movie, Jane Leavy's character Rocky, I want her to be punished. She's doing something bad. But then all of a sudden, I'm on her side. I'm on her team, and I'm desperately hoping that she gets away with it. And she she she beats the blind man. So that's I think we've said enough. I own the Blu Ray Collectors Edition. Head to your local store, your Barnes and. Noble money for this piece of girl. Oh oh, I know I did not pay money. I paid good money for this awesome.

46:05 Movie Lord in Heaven. Yeah, all right, listeners. Amber Lewis is the voice of reason, and this is a defining moment where we can find out if that's true, that's a true statement or not. So you watch Don't Breathe, or if you've seen Don't Breathe, you got to let us know, email us, hit us up on social media, let us know what you think of Don't Breathe, because Amber clearly does not want to breathe another word about this movie, So we'll find out. Let's move on. We've been talking about The Girl in the Spider's Web, which came out in twenty eighteen. He did an entire television series, nine episodes. It was like a mini series called Calls. Did you catch that? I think we need to look into this one. Listen to this, Listen to this synopsis. Told through a series of intricate concted phone conversations, it chronicles the mysterious story of a group of strangers whose lives are thrown into disarray in the lead up to an apocalyptic event. Sounds kind of cool.

47:13 I'm intrigued. I'm very intrigued now because the top two stars that are attached to it are Clancy Brown and Aubrey Plaza. I love both of them, so seriously, we got homework. We have got some homework for sure. All right, Well, he does this television series right, and then he does something that I just I can't get on board with. I'm sorry. I was excited as a fan of horror films. I was super excited about this until I wasn't. In twenty twenty two, he does a little bit of the writing and I guess producing of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which was the Netflix original. Ah, this movie is hot garbage.

48:04 Why I hate any and all iterations of this movie. I that is like my litmus test for if people are serious or not. I feel like if you say that this is your favorite horror movie, you're just trying to sound edgy and cool and like you've got a dark side. And because it's ridiculous, because every version of this movie is terrible. Well, some versions of this film are terrible. Some versions of this film are awesome. You cannot deny it. It's placed in cinema history as a classic horror film. It changed the landscape for horror when Toby Hooper did this.

48:44 That this is true. It still doesn't mean it's any good. Well, watch it, you should. You should definitely Amber, You should definitely watch Texas Chancelmasker Part two because it's from nineteen eighty six and it's awesome. Other than that, you know, Platinum Dunes when they did the remake with Jessica Biel, that one was pretty good. This one, however, is awful. This is the one where social media influencers are heading out to this Texas, this forgotten Texas ghost town to start up like a utopia with all their bullshit, and leather Face get kind of is still hanging out, but it's a it's a terrible version of leather Face. He's still I mean, he butchers all of them, which makes you very happy. Like, the one good thing I can say is watching him just mow down a bunch of dipshit kids that are trying to video like they're let's not help each other or stop the killer, let's just film him for Instagram to get likes and oh lord. Yeah.

49:51 So it's in that regard, it's great. But other than that, what's the one where the. Girl is like Leatherface's cousin at the end. Uh, you're talking about the lovely Alexandra de Dario. That was Texas Chainsaw Mascer three d. Okay, that one came out, That one came after I like. Her and I did enjoy that one day kill us, but I enjoyed it. You'll find that one on my shelf. Of the little concern that I'm gonna find a lot on your shelf that's worrisome. Of the of the eight or nine Texas Chancel Master movies that are out there, you will find the one that you like on my shelf. With Alexander d Dario.

50:36 You'll find the Jessica Bill version, and you'll definitely find the original and uh in part two, which stars Bill mostly Uh, it's fantastic. We gotta talk about what's next for this director. Uh we are we already at the top of the hour. We said it. Alien Romulus has just taken the number one spot at the box office from dead Pool and Wolverine. It's bound to happen. Really, it beats It beats Dead Pull and Wolverine. It's it's number one. And I'm telling you right now, go if you're a fan of the Alien franchise, go see this on the biggest, loudest screen possible. It will freak you out. The Xeno Morphs are just terrifying. You know, hr Geigers design is flawless in this movie, the execution is flawless.

51:26 You've got a great cast of respectfully, I'll say, are unknowns, which which in a movie like that? And I feel like you have to say that the alien is the star, right, I mean, yeah, yeah, So I can't say enough good about it. It's you know, and I'll keep it spoiler free. I'll just say I'll put it top three. It's a top three alien film, So you know, I'm gonna go Alien Aliens in Alien Romulus. That's my top three in this franchise, now. I mean that's pretty impressive, No, considering we got a David Fincher alien you know.

52:08 Me, I don't know. Well, no, we're together on this. I love. I think it's called the assembly cut, you know Fincher. Fincher doesn't own you know, he doesn't own it himself. He doesn't call it his director's cut. It's known as like the producer's cut or the assembly cut. I actually discussed it with our friends on the show You Keet Me Serious podcasts, one of our famous what the Heck happened episodes. Yes, I tried in vain to to win Jason and d over to the fact that Alien three is an awesome movie. If you watch the Assembly cut and still waiting, you know, they and I even I would so far, Amber, I know there. I hope. I'm hoping they're listening to this.

52:49 I went so far as to send them a copy of Fincher cut, so just to prove my point that that, guys, you'll love it because they've seen the theatric version, which is right, it's awful. So I was I was already sledding uphill with these guys on that episode on the show you can't be a serious podcast. But I'm hoping for a little bit of validation. I'm hoping that they'll they'll get time to sit down, watch and go, you know what, the producer's cut, the assembly cut. It's damn good movie. Right, yeah, definitely not the worst of all the Alien movies we've had. Well, it's not. And speaking of all the films in a franchise, you have watched the three Swedish films, you've watched the Fincher film, You've now watched the Fete Alvarez film.

53:39 Amber your final thoughts. Is this one you would tell fans of the of the Millennium series? Would you tell them to check this one out? No? But I would tell people if you want to watch like a fun cyber thriller, like you've watched all the Mission Impossibles and you want to watch something kind of like that, a little different than watch this one. But if you go into it thinking it has anything to do with the other, you know stories, I think it'd be disappointed. I was not disappointed because I feel like, keep in mind, this is Feede Alvarez's first non horror film, but quietly I feel that this is his first James Bond film.

54:25 Felt like even with the opening credit sequence. I thought that too. If you didn't if I didn't know, if I just walked into the room and I saw this credit sequence happening on the screen and I wasn't like a major James Bond fan also, and I said, what is it? Is this a James Bond movie? And you said yeah, I would just absolutely assume it was. The opening title sequence is amazing, the graphics, the music, everything works, and it is straight out of a James Bond movie. So I'm gonna say if you if you like fed A Alvarez and you would love to know what his James Bond movie looks like, check out The Girl and Spider's Web. Absolutely, it is streaming on Stars and you can rent it.

55:13 It's on Prime. I watched the I watched the four K version on Prime. Is that where you got an Amber? I watched it on Stars? You watch it on Stars? Yeah. Amber Lewis is a subscriber to Stars. Yeah. On the Hulu. Yeah. If you got a favorite show you can't find it, just call Amber up show show much over. It's on the Stars network. Listeners. We want to know what you think of feed A Alvarez. We want to know what you think of this film, and I definitely want to know what you think about Don't Breathe. You can let us know on social media. You'll find us on Facebook, Instagram, and x. You can check out a Film by Podcast dot com for all of our episodes streaming free on the platform of your choice, and you can write to us at a Film by Podcast at gmail dot com with your questions, comments and concerns. Amber.

56:03 I love more and more this is happening and I'm loving it. But I'm also like I'm starting to pan it because I'm like, oh, we said we'd do this movie, we said we do that movie, and you know, but but keep them coming, keep them coming, because you may not know it, but you're building our our next season in twenty twenty five. So yeah, it's exciting because it's movies that maybe I haven't seen before. Yeah, that's happening more and more. We just did it. We just our Patreon. This past Saturday, we released Silent Running. That was it was a request, which was which is funny because because Nan Lewis gets a gets a shout out in it. But yeah, we we had we had a listener, Tracy, Tracy Claire. She's a she's a subscriber to our Patreon. She take she took advantage of the tier that lets you choose a Patreon episode of your choice, and she one of the nineteen seventy two films, Silent Running with Bruce Den and I was I was stoked because I had never seen it and I was not prepared for what I watched and I love it. Thank you, Thank you to Tracy for that.

57:10 Thank you, Tracy. Yeah, so yeah, listeners reach out to us, you know, I tell you all that to tell you this, reach out to us, let us know what you want to see, what you want to hear, and uh, we may just read your response on the show. We may we may talk about you on the show and uh and send you some a film by Swag next time on a Film by court is in session with a special episode. Join us as we make a case for our top five Courtroom movies. I am so excited for this episode. I had dinner with Dave the other night. Like I said, we went and saw Alien Romulus and we were talking about this. He's like, okay, so this I gotta know.

57:52 Did this make the top five. I'm like, hey, dude, just just wait listen. I can't I can't tell you do your way to spoil it. He's like, yes, Like, well I won't, so Amber. As always, I appreciate you joining me for a spirited conversation. Uh we disagree. Yeah, Well, I knew going into this is like, you know, we might have a pleasant conversation until we get to don't breathe and then and the gloves are coming off. But no, nonetheless, nonetheless, I'm glad. I'm glad you're here. I'm glad because I know When we get past this courtroom episode, Beetlejuice, Beetle Juice will be out and you and I are gonna be talking about Tim Burton film. Yes, a film by Tim Burton. I believe we're doing big Fish, aren't we?

58:42 Absolute favorite big Fish? Your favorite Tim Burton film. Big Fish is up next, So listeners definitely come back for that one and uh and keep coming back. To all of you out there listening, following, and sharing us as well as subscribing to our Patreon, we thank you.