The Hughes Brothers: From Hell

0:00 What would you say is your favorite graphic novel adaptation when it comes to films, And I'm not talking about the heavy hitters like Batman or Superman or spider Man. Yeah, yep, I'm talking like I'm talking about indies. I'm talking about Underground. The one that surprised me the most and the one that just sticks with me is Sin City. Good choice. Knowing that Robert Rodriguez, which is a director I've had mind for a long time, collaborated directly with Frank Miller to do a true interpretation of that was groundbreaking. Honestly, I love when they take graphic novels and tournament into movies, especially like these underground comics, these indie comics that a lot of people mainstream doesn't know about.

0:54 Let's talk about a film by the Ughes Brothers. There are two thousand and one underrated crime classic from Hell. Hello everybody, I'm Jeff Johnson, I'm Scott Hoffman, and this is a Film By Podcast. Before we get into today's discussion, I want to call out one of our recent Patreon members, one of our newest and most recent Patreon members, Steve Cooley. Scott, I think you might know this guy, right, yes, Steve, how you doing man? This episode is being brought to you by Steve Cooley and Scott. I know you're excited about another recording that we're going to do later. Steve has requested a very specific movie for his exclusive episode on Patreon.

2:14 Yep. I can't wait. Thank you to Steve. I can't wait to talk about Bubba Hotep and that's gonna be a fun on Scott, how do you get an exclusive episode on Patreon? Well, you do what Steve Cooley does. You find us on Patreon and you subscribe. It's that easy, that's right. I have been looking forward to discussing the Hughes Brothers specifically so we could discuss this movie, Scott, you want to tell our listeners what this one's all about. After five ritualistic murders are committed in eighteen eighty eight, London Inspector Aberlein's assignment is to investigate the Jack the Ripper murders. Along with the string of mutilated prostitutes. He incurvers a conspiracy involving the government that goes all the way to the crowd. So the Jack the Ripper murders occur between August thirty first and November ninth, London, Whitechapel District, eighteen eighty eight. The film would kind of have you under the impression that maybe this is all happening in like the same week or so, but you know, in reality, this this took several months real quick. I want to discuss a couple other Jack the Ripper movies or Jack Ripper themed movies. Okay, does any is there a movie aside from frum Held? Is there a Jack the Ripper film that comes to mind for you as one that you're like, you know what, I like that one or that one was was pretty damn good. The one that comes to mind for me is one that I'm actually interested in digging into that I haven't seen, and it's a series about

3:44 Jack the Ripper featuring Michael Kane. Now, is it called Jack the Ripper or is it Guy? Is it under? Does go buy the other name because that's just Jack the Ripper. Yeah. Well, I'm surprised because I thought if there was one surefire answer that you were gonna give the Scott Hoffman answer, it would it would be Batman got them by Gaslight. I was going to say just one answer because it's a Scott Haffin answer, so it's going to be really complex. Now, Batman Got Them by Gas. That is such a great I mean, well, it's a great graphic novel that became one of the better DC animated projects, and in my opinion, I think it. I think it's the best Batman one I've seen. Yeah, I love the exploration of things that I don't know if they still call it else Worlds, but it was definitely that start of that kind of line where you could see these staple characters appearing in different time periods and yeah, gotam by guess that is a great call. It's streaming on Max right now.

4:46 Listeners. If you have not seen it, I strongly recommend it. It is fantastic. Uh, not as fantastic, but enjoyable. Do you remember one called Jack's Back from nineteen eighty eight? It feels familiar, but no starring the awesome James Spader. Interesting. All right, well, no, that's too that I gotta check out. You got to check that one out. I know you saw Shanghai Knights, not that that's a Jack the Ripper movie, but yes, I remember they kind of bumped into Jack the Ripper. That was kind of cool thing. Which I think is underrated. It's you know, it's you know, not necessarily you know, thought provoking. Fair, But damn, that's a good movie. Yeah it is. It's fun. I'll tell you what else was fun. This past Christmas, we had we had a managanic on the on the show and we talked about Bob Clark's Black Christmas. Bob Clark also did a Jack the Ripper movie called Murder by Decree with Christopher Plumber. Have you seen that one? No? But I mean you had me at Christopher Plumber, so well, hopefully I have you at this. It just happens to be a nineteen seventy nine film, so maybe maybe you will find a way, maybe you'll find a way to cover it on a film, right, all right, Scott, let's talk about this cast and crew. Johnny Depp as Inspector Aberline. So he turns this down at first because he had just played icobat Crane and Sleepy Hollow.

6:17 And I don't know about you, but like, I'm watching this recently and I almost feel like it could have been the same character. Not that ikobad Crane was smoking opium and chasing the dragon, but you know, same time period, same style, stylistic choices. Yeah, pretty similar. Look right, they could have at least been you know, twins separated at birth, Yeah, just in different parts of the world. Yeah, glad he did take the role though it was actually it was meant for Danield Lewis. The Hughes brothers had him in mind when they got their hands on this script. So you know, he's famous for being being very choosy about his projects.

7:02 Yeah. And according to Alan Moore, uh, Sean Connery was cast for a time, and after he drops out, Hughes brothers meet with Brad Pitt and Jude Law, but ultimately they go with Johnny Depp. Yeah. I think they made the right call. I give you all those names? Is that the right call? I do? I think so? Yeah. Now I'm curious Sean Connery in Johnny depth Roll very interesting because that makes me think about what the dynamic would have been with Mary, right with Mary Kelly Graham.

7:44 Obviously they have they have a lot of chemistry in this one. But I don't feel like it's over. You know, it's not like you know, star cross lovers and they're destined to be together and Audiens like that. It's just circumstances where they happened to make a connection, we'll say, And I don't know, I can't see that happening with well, not really with Sean Connery. That seems like quite an age gap. At this point in his career. Connery is working opposite like Catherine Zita Jones yep, trapman, Yeah, you know, Alison Duty in Last Crusade, yep. I mean, he's still I'm not gonna say it's believable that these these younger, beautiful women are fawning all over him, but it's possible. It's possible. I mean, don't get me wrong. He's got the charisma and the look too to certainly pull that off. But it does seem like there's just a bit of a disparity, and I think I can't really I'm trying to picture Sean Connery in Opium Den just you know, with the the eight ball contact lenses kind of you know, sitting back and getting lost in the visions, and it just doesn't feel right. He couldn't do it. That would feel cartoon, That would feel cartoony. And I know this is based off a graphic novel, but it would it wouldn't feel right. I believe Johnny Depp as an addict in this movie. Yeah, I believe his chemistry with Heather Graham

9:16 absolutely right. I also feel like as a as a younger actor, him not necessarily knowing as much about the Freemasons and kind of getting deeper and deeper into that world as the movie goes on. Is it's more believable or seems to fit when you have a younger character versus if Sean Connery was there. It feels like it would be, you know, somebody who's seasoned and has probably worked with these inspectors and has known about this stuff all along. Good point. What do you think of Robbie Coltrane as Sergeant Godley Is. I mean, he answers to Inspector Aberline, but he also he kind of keeps him in line, right, he does. I thought he was fantastic.

10:00 He's perfect in this role. He really is, you know, obviously he's He's very well known and loved as Hagrid in the Harry Potter series. But for me, it makes me think of his role in GoldenEye. It makes me think of his smaller role in Was It Ocean's Twelve? I think he does a great job of being kind of the the number one to inspector Averline. Right, It's interesting that he continues to kind of drop Shakespeare in references, almost like he's trying to kind of up the intellect of conversations with Averline.

10:45 That is probably my favorite aspect of the character is how he quotes Shakespeare, you know, because he, I think, if I'm not mistaken, he quotes Hamlet, he quotes Romeo and Juliet, he quotes Henry the Fifth. He doesn't quote a fella, but he does mention that Depp is kind of becoming Othello with all his paranoia, and yeah, that was a great drop. Yeah, He's a fantastic character in this film. Yeah, we mentioned Heather Graham. She plays one of the one of the White Chapel prostitutes Mary in the late nineties. She is on a white Hot streak Boogie Nights in Scream two in ninety seven, Lost in Space in ninety eight, Austin Powers The Spy Who Shagged Me, and Bowfinger and Eleni Kravitz music video in nineteen ninety nine. Yep, this woman is doing no wrong at this point, right, Yeah, Yeah, And I think it's a very smart choice to take this movie in particular because of you know, a lot of the other things that you mentioned, especially Boogie Knights. It feels like this is a bit of a left turn for her. It feels like a role that she can get pretty deep into the character. And it's a it's a pedal character in the movie obviously, and it's an interesting take on the character or the person because it's you know, as we're as we're going all through this discussion, people like Mary Kelly were actual people that lived at that time,

12:20 but as kind of a what I want to say, kind of like a almost a redemption for that person's story or kind of an alternate what if where we come up with a better ending. I like that. I like that very much. Yeah. I remember they're they're filming this in Prague in the Czech Republic, and on the on the sound stage right next door, they're filming another movie. She happens to meet Heath Ledger and they begin dating for a time. What he was he was doing A Night's Tale? Yeah, talk about Yes, it isn't you know what that that Scott? That is an underrated movie. Yeah, it's got a lot of people we like in it, and I'm sorry I'm I'm ashamed to say I don't know who the director is right right off the top of my head, but we might have to look at that one here, I think we will. Yeah, all right, Scott, let's do thats pay attention to that one, yeah, Alan Tutic, Yes, pay a whole lot of attention. Yes, one guy, one guy you always got to pay attention to in a movie Ian Home. Oh, he's he's playing doctor Goal in this. Interestingly enough, Nigel Hawthorne, who we loved his voice work in Black, Black Cauldron and Watership Down. You guys talked about him on the seventy eight year for a film at forty five. He was originally cast in this, but he had to withdraw from the project because of a terminal cancer diagnosis. Interesting, and

13:54 it was his his buddy from the Madness of King George Ian Home that he he gets they get to replace him. This was a This was a time capsule of a viewing for me because for some reason, as soon as I saw Ian Holme, it brought me back to fifth element of all the things, of all the things, all the things. Now he's got a breadth of work obviously beyond that, but just thinking back to this kind of this time period or this kind of era in film. It just wouldn't made me want to see that all over again. But obviously we've got a very different character here. And one of the first things I noticed. It's kind of an odd thing to pick out, but the height difference. Yeah, I home and certain characters, like there's the there's a hospital scene where you're first introduced to Sir William, I would say, and you can see that he's he's looking up at most of the other characters, but know somewhat happens with his character. And we're not spoiling anything here, right well, you know that's before we before we go forward. Let's just do this because I don't want to restrict us and our our our our comments. So let's just say this. Listeners, if you haven't seen from Hell, go see it and then come back to us, because we're definitely gonna give away some spoilers.

15:22 I think we don't have a choice, So spoiler warning right there. Scott, back to the conversation talking about the height difference. Think about this. Nigel Hawthorne was six foot and he they were pretty far along in pre production, so the Hughes brothers even even have commented on this. Actually they speak about this on the audio commentary for the DVD. They were ready to go, and then when they had to bring Ian Holman, they basically had to rethink a lot of their shots because of the drastic difference in height, because Ian Holme's like five foot three. And then the immediate concern was how do you make him? How do you make him fierce? How do you make him intimidating when it's when it's necessary for his character to be fierce and intimidating, right, Well, the great thing is about that is you don't have to because his character doesn't need to be intimidating at all. In fact, he probably has to be somewhat disarming. And I think ianholm has that great range. And you know I've seen that pops into my head is in Lord of the Rings when he's talking with Fredo and you know they're kind of exchanging in the Ring, and there's a moment when he kind of goes into like this large marge kind of Gollum moment, right, and his face just transforms completely. You see that transformation play out at a longer at a slower burn

16:56 here, but you definitely see range of this, this person that you'd probably go for, you know, a cup of tea, no questions asked, Sure, I'm not in any danger. And then when he goes into the snarl, it is terrifying. You're talking, Bilbo. I watch this movie and I'm thinking about his performance as ash an alien. Oh my god, where here's someone, here's someone that we need their counsel. We we we trust them because why wouldn't we trust them? And then we find this and then the reveal hit hits and then we realize why we shouldn't trust them, and then we're terrified of them. Yeah. Yeah, this this old expression, this flat expression, that's just you know, uh jarring very much.

17:47 So Scott, let's take a quick break. When we come back, let's get into the background of this film, talk about its production history a little. We're back, Scott and I are talking about the Hughes brothers from Hell. So this initially, they have a deal with Disney through one of the EASTA Pictures and they offer him a choice of From Hell or con Air. So they pass on con Air, but they're unhappy with the From Hell script, and you know, by their own account, they deem it. It's rather corny, and it has this happy ending where Johnny Depp and Heather Graham end up in Ireland, you know, dancing in the in the courtyard.

18:34 No no, no. So they spend several years working on rewrites, and it's at this time that Disney moves on. The Disney's like, we're not doing this anymore. The film kind of bounces around from a few studios, new lines involved. It ultimately lands at Fox. Fox offers them the plan of the Apes remake, and when that falls through, they move on to do from Hell. Now before we go further with this, none of this is happening without Alan Moore, right, Yeah, absolutely so, Scott tell us tell us a little bit about Alan Moore and why his name. We've referenced him several times already. Who is Alan Moore? When you dig into Alan Moore, get comfortable because there is a big collection of work to pour through, and his contributions to storytelling, specifically illustrated storytelling, is one of the most important in the field. He's an author from Northampton, England, responsible for groundbreaking work in comics, including Watchman obviously, from Hell v for Vendetta, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, work that helped to redefine key characters at d C, including Batman, The Killing Joke, Superman, whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow which Jeff is a Superman fan. I really hope you've read that. I have read it, I own it, and I happen to love it fantastic. He also had a big giant contribution to the

20:07 eighties run of Swamp Thing, where he breathed new life into the Specter, the Demon, the Phantom, Stranger, dead Man, and he created John Constantine with Stephen Bissett and John Ridgeway. Name any comic based award and he's won it several times over. But he's famously not a fan of adaptations of his work in movies, television, or other media outside of their original art form. It seems like anything I've ever read he comes off as pretentious to me. And I'm not trying to discount the level of his craft, because he is one of the best of all time, But I mean, has he ever, like, has he ever supported a single film out adaptation that has happened from one of his books, Not that I know of. In fact, it seems like he's wanted to distance himself from them. One quote that I found and said that as long as I could distance myself by not seeing them in terms of the films that are made based on his comics, he would be assured that no one would confuse the two. He's stated that he wants to make sure that his name is is not associated with certain work.

21:18 Obviously, we've got the Watchmen movie, we have the more recent Watchmen series on HBO. This is the first. This is the first from Hell's the first Fox movie, right, Yeah. The next time that Fox would take a run at an Alan Moore story, they went to the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in two thousand and three. No, so he ultimately he does get Sean Connery as in the lead role. So that's right. Be satisfied, Alan Moore. Earlier, you mentioned Johnny Depp starting to learn about the Freemasons in the film, So I'd be remiss if I didn't if I didn't mention this. You know, I wanted to about the Freemasonry connection that the movie has. Obviously it's in the source material, you know. The plot suggests that Jack belonged to the Freemasons. Uh, and it depicts Masonic imagery and themes. It also suggests that the Freemason's new Jack's identity and quietly resolved matters on their own. Yeah, I gotta tell you, I get a kick. You know, this isn't the first time we've seen the elusive Freemasonry thing happen in movies. I'm I'm a third degree Master Mason, So you know when I see all this stuff about secret societies and you know this is that I won't. I won't, I won't. I won't say what I'm thinking, but I will say that it's always, uh, it's always amusing

22:51 when I when I see see certain things, you know, and you see like the triangle with the eyeball in the middle, well you know, I mean the all seeing eye and the compass in the square. There's there's a lot of Masonic imagery in this film. You know. Don't ask me, Scott, you know, if you want to, you want to find out that maybe we'll talk about you. Initially, there's just there's just a knock at my door. Ye one person who is not a free Mason talking about Marilyn Manson. Surprisingly, he slated to work with composer Trevor Jones on the film score, but Once he realized he couldn't meet the film's release date, he opted instead to remix his song The Nobody's for the end credit sequence.

23:34 It just so happens to be my all time favorite Marilyn Manson song. And having said that, I can tell you it absolutely does not fit into this film, even with the end credit sequence. I don't I kind of wonder what the Used brothers were thinking with that, because this is this is London, eighteen eighty eight and it just doesn't fit. I do kind of wonder if maybe that wasn't the director's choice, but maybe more a studio choice, maybe more a studio recommendation that got kind of forced on them. Could be Uh, let's I know, we gotta get to the pivotal scene, but before we do, there's two scenes I want to I want to get your your thought on. Let's talk for just a moment. Let's talk about this lobotomy scene. Sure, or scenes, I should say scenes. They are barbaric. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well it's interesting that you're you're talking about pivotal scenes. What happens with Ann and her entire arc from the moment she introduces her baby through the lobotomy is whiplash and brutal, absolutely brutal.

24:45 Think about this. They were doing this, this, this procedure was being done right up until like the late seventies. Yeah, I just I don't understand how modern modern medicine held onto something so grizz so obscene for so long, you know, Yeah, and how many people would perform it without flinching. Like when you see it happening, it's it's almost like, you know, hammering and nail on the wall, Like you're pounding into somebody's brain in three different directions with a tool that looks like what I usually used to, you know, carve out the hole for a doorknob. Right, Yeah, this this woman's hysterical. Quick, get the hammer in the spike. It's god. Sorry, It just really frames up the struggle for women, especially in this profession at that time. They're horrible mistreatment and the empathy, the empathy that you build for Mary Kelly and her friends because you have somebody who is almost out and then goes way in the other direction to ending up in an institution. Yeah, I'll tell you the The coincidence is not lost on me that we just talked about night shift. Uh Amber Lewis and I were talking about Night Shift, and Amber gave a really good opinion at the beginning of that episode about about the treatment of women. You know, when we're talking about when we're talking about prostitution and how some movies Hollywood, I you

26:18 know, we get the Hollywood treatment and it's glamorous and it glitzy, and then and then we see that it's in reality it's not that case. And man, the the lives that these these poor women have in this film, it's it's heartbreaking. It's the total opposite of pretty women and trading places. It absolutely is. I'll tell you you know this. This movie is not without its grisly moments. The Morga scenes, I mean, talk about ambiance. It is. It's scary, looking like the Morgue itself. In reality, it was filmed in a basement of an old brewery and I don't know, I don't know why they would have chosen that, but man, does it work. Yeah, definitely definitely has one of my favorite moments for depth, he has the line the butcher is a rational yet meticulous and deliberate I'm talking about you know, because at this point Robbie Coltrane's basically like, hey, it's it's these pimps from the East East End and you know they're just slaughtering these girls and depths like that. No, this is someone that's methodical, someone that is patient, someone that's skilled. The morgue especially is one of those places where I think the Hues have that mastery of atmosphere, right, Yeah, absolutely, because there's so much kind of implied gore here that works so well without really having to see any of it. Like I don't remember many scenes where we actually saw what they would see when they peeled the

27:52 curtain back or they you know, drew back the fabric, but you feel it, you know, when every one of those doctors is repulsed and has a hard time seeing it. That to the you know, the cavernous kind of setting of that moorg it all just adds to the grisliness of the situation. But you don't actually see any gore. A lot of the gore is implied, and what we don't know, what we don't see, our imagination makes makes it so much worse, right, Yeah, But when you got these you know, like onceing where the doctor like they pull the pull the sheet and the doctor himself like he pulls back and wretches and vomits right there and then and then k it takes like three steps and then faints. Yeah, and from the midshot we can just see a cadaver lying on the on the table. We can't we don't know what he actually saw, right, And the Hughes brothers do such an amazing job making you feel sick to your stomach, you know, making you nauseous, making you horrified at what we're looking at. Yeah, they do it just with you know, the actors, I should say, do it with just their performances, how they are just they they withdraw in terror at what they're looking at. Yeah. It sharply reminds you of the state of medicine at that time and what these poor doctors had to see and go through, especially during these murders. But you know, day to day life in eighteen hundreds England. All right, well,

29:26 let's move on because we might have a lunch crowd listening, Scott. Let's talk. Let's talk about the pivotal moment. Is there a moment in this movie that and I'm not talking about the epic climax or you know what you saw on the trailer I'm talking about a scene where you just said, you know what, this particular moment, this particular scene says so much about the movie or the story or one of the actors performances. What do you got? So to me, it's the first meeting between Sir William and Everlin because it works very well in a detective thriller type movie. It feels to me like that moment when you get the hint that Aberline suspects that Sir William might be the person he's looking for, but he's not quite ready to do so. He's not quite ready to piece all those together, but you get those kind of hints just in the look of his eye. To me, that helps to kind of reset this. And I think it feels like when it first came out, is set up more as a horror movie, which I think is a bad representation of it. It's it's a grizzly thriller, it's a grizzly detective story, but it doesn't feel like a horror movie to me. Even though it has gory elements, it just doesn't fit in that category. So when I think of something that kind of helps to define what kind of movie you're looking for that to me? Does it great? Analysis?

30:48 More great the phrasing of Grizzly Detective thriller, and I wish I would have used it in the opening of the of the of the show. That's fans just edit it back in there. Yeah, what about you? What do you think is the pivotal scene that that there's watching? Well, I gotta tell you, this movie takes an unexpected turn towards the middle when we start to see a relationship developed between Inspector Aberline and Mary. Because up till this point, we've seen Johnny Depp. You know, we know his wife died. Whether it was six years ago, six months ago, we don't know, but we know that she recently he's he's he's still mourning and he's he's coping with her with his loss. In the Opium den. I think the pivotal moment here is the first kiss between Aberline and Mary, because there's this gentle moment where she's she's fallen for him. She moves in, he kind of recoils. She takes it the wrong way, like, you know, he was just trying to get you know, she was trying to use her services. So she's offended. But then he lunges in and it's like that passionate kind of kiss. I think it's fantastic, and then you know, we got the the police. The policeman interrupts some the cinematographer on the audio commentary, he kind of makes the comment about how Johnny has this method

32:19 of withdrawing into the alley shadows, almost like he's been caught doing something. But then he quickly re emerges, unashamed, and then you know, the cops like, oh sorry, I didn't recognize you, inspector. I love that moment for the movie because it gives Mary the opportunity to have something that's that's nice, something that's good, something that's pure in a life that's so awful, right, yeah, yeah, And it also gives the inspector an opportunity to move forward, you know, to heal, even if it's for even if it's not gonna last, because we know where his story ends.

33:02 But I don't know. I love that moment, Scott. Let's take one more break and when we come back, we got to talk a little bit about the Hughes brothers and their filmography. Hey we're back, all right, Jeff, So what can you tell us about the Hughes brothers. Well, before we get into their filmography, I will let you know they were born in Detroit, Michigan, in nineteen seventy two. Talking about twins Albert and Allen, who were raised by their mother. She was very supportive of their filmmaking ambitions, gifting them a camera when they were twelve years old, and like a lot of directors that we've talked about on this show, they spent a lot of their free time making short films. Both twins dropped out of high school at the age of eighteen and began shooting music videos for artists like Tone Loke and Tupac Shakur. And because of their experience co directing music videos, they become the first duo since Jerry and David Zucker to be given a waiver by the Director's Good of America to take co credit as directors. On set, Alan usually works closely with the actors. Albert typically looks after the technical aspects of filmmaking. He is the one that took filmmaking classes in school.

34:22 So let's talk about their filmography, Scott, and we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna stick to the movies that they did together because they have done some solo projects, but uh, let's let's stick to their team efforts. Nineteen ninety three Menace to Society. This is This is teenage crime and coming of age in the neighborhoods of Watts and Crenshaw. Yeah, this is one that I have not seen in a long time, and after watching from Hell again, after kind of into their filmography, it's absolutely one that I read when to rewatch now. One of the main reasons that I want to see it again takes us back to an alien three conversation that you recently had.

35:12 Because Charles S. Dutton, I think has a great role in Menica Society. Oh, fantastic role. I'm not mistaken. You've got the introduction of Lorenz tape, You've got Samuel L. Jackson, You've got Glenn Plummer, a huge cast, and I think a groundbreaking movie at the time that it came out. If I mean everyone, everyone has seen Boys in the Hood, and if you told me, hey, if you like Boys in the Hood, here is a movie that is much more visceral, much more impacting, I'd say, you're out of your mind. But Menisa Society is that movie. I would challenge anyone that's a fan of Boys in the Hood to and I love Boys in the Hood by the way, big John Singleton fan. But I would challenge anyone that hasn't seen Menaced to Society and have that kind of reaction because it is such a it's so it's such a fantastic film, and you gotta remember this is their directorial debut. That blows my mind right there. Yeah, absolutely, like that is a that is a great way to come out of the gate swinging. Absolutely. It's also you know, talking about some other kind of debuts and where people started to really kind of stand out. I'm remiss if I don't bring up Jada Pinkett Smith Jada Pikett at that point. Yeah, and she is. I mean, listen, I'm not gonna get into the whole, the whole Jada Pinkett Smith

36:43 as we know her now, but if you want to see some some very fine acting, she is doing it in this film. Absolutely absolutely and one of my one of my favorite parts of Tales from the Kirk Demon Knight, by the way. But that's let's uh, that's that is another discussion for another podcast. Let's Talk nineteen ninety five, they re team with Lorenz Tate do a movie called Dead Presidents, great film about Black War vets post Vietnam era. You know, they have nothing, you know, society has not given much opportunity. They start Robin Banks. This one not as critically acclaimed, but still a really good film. Yeah, this is one that I want to rediscover, just because I'm looking at this cast and you've got Lorenz Tate again, but you've also got Keith David, Keith David, best presences in the industry, voiceover acting, you name it, Chris Tucker, Terrence Howard, Clifton Powell stands out. I always remember Clifton Powell in the Rock Sorry, in Rock. Now we're going to talk about another broadcast member.

37:57 When we talked about Bubba Hotep. But when I see the trailer for this one, I'm absolutely captivated by it. Nineteen ninety nine, they do their first documentary, American Pimp, which is all about the underground pimp culture and the exploitation of women. I would like to see this one. I have not yet, though, have you? No, I'm in the same camp. All right, let's look for that one. We've been talking about two thousand and ones from Hell. After this they take a little bit of an extended break. I think at this point they were kind of doing some solo work, hadn't really got together, and then twenty ten they're back together.

38:39 We have The Book of Eli Scott Denzel in a post apocalyptic drama where Gary Oldman is the villain. M Yeah, yeah, that's that's all you have to say. This is probably my favorite Hughes Brothers movie. It happens to be also one of the more recent entries that we're talking about. My God, Like, when I think of From Hell and I think of a Book of Eli, it just shows how again they have that mastery of atmosphere and perspective. There are so many shots in both where you can just see them letting the characters kind of step into the shadow. They're using the perspective.

39:21 It's kind of draw you in to various scenes. I think that one's fantastic. It took me by surprise your thoughts. Recently, they've announced that we're going to get a Book of Eli television show. It's like a prequel series, okay, and John Boyega is in the Denzel role. I think John Boyega could do a great job in that story. I'd be much more fascinated to find out what the story is and how far back it goes before a book of eli. That's part of what makes me a little hesitant, Like are we talking about when this apocalypse first hit or are we talking about something that's earlier days in the apocalypse. Yeah, I'd be interesting to see where it goes. In that case, would you be interested to see what's next for these directors? I would tell me about what's coming. Albert Ughes is in pre production on a film called North Hollywood. It's basically bank robbers versus cops in the nineteen ninety seven shootout he was like in the San Fernando Valley yep. Meanwhile, Allen has two biopics. First film, What's Going On, focuses on the life of Marvin Gay, and the other is an untitled Snoop Dogg film. Interesting, very well, I'll tell you what I'm interested in. Let's hypothetically, let's get these guys back together, Scott, if

40:52 they were going to tackle another graphic novel, what would you want to see them adapt? So this is an interesting question because it's making me think, you know, I'm going up and down the shelf, which honestly is filled with a lot of you know books by Alan Moore. There's a lot of mainstream books up there. But the one that I'm interested in is inspired by one of the many comic book comic based conversations I've had on Docking Base seventy seven, specifically talking to John Wright of the jw Ort Studios. But we had a chance to talk about Something is Killing the Children created by James Tynan the fourth and We're there dellaed Era, published by Boom Studios. Their use of atmosphere lighting perspective to step the stage for a thrillian brutal story would add a unique perspective to that novel. Just to give you a quick synopsis, when the children of Archer's Peak begin to go missing, everything seems hopeless.

41:57 Most children ever returned, but the ones that do have terrible stories and possible stories of terrifying creatures that live in the shadows. Their only hope of finding and eliminating the threat is the arrival of a mysterious stranger, one who believes the children claim to see what they can see. Her name is Erica Slaughter. She kills monsters, that's all she does, and she bears the cost because it must be done. That is an excellent choice, Scott. I remember that episode. I remember telling Dayton Johnson, you know, I would have liked it a lot more if I knew the source material. Two days later he gives me like six books and says, get to work, and Dayton, I will return those very very soon, I promise you. Yep.

42:39 All right, So Jeff, what about you? What would you do well? I know you mentioned Constantine was one of the characters that Alan Moore created. I loved the Constantine film, the Warner Brothers film with the Keanu Reeves. Yep. I know they've talked about obviously, with the popularity of John Wick, they've talked about bringing that character back. I would love to see what the Hughes Brothers could do with a Constantine story, something like Hard Time, when Constantine kind of went to jail and we don't know why he's in jail until the you know, they explain it later, but it almost was like, you know, and we mentioned Watchman. I love that. One of my favorite scenes in Watchman was when Rorshak was in prison and he's like, I'm not in here with you, You're all in here with me.

43:25 And Constantine goes to some really dark places in that storyline, and I think it'd be really cool to see what Albert and Allen could do with that. Yeah, i'd pick that up, all right, Scott, Well your recommendation when it comes to From Hell, I'd definitely recommend taking another look at From Hell, and specifically, I would say watch it as a standalone movie and if you're interested enough in seeing more about the story, then pick up the book. Just treat them as something that's that's separate. I think it's definitely worth a rewatch. I think it definitely holds its own as a as a as a thriller What about You? During its opening weekend? From How Outgrossed, Writing in Cars with Boys, The Last Castle, and Training Day, Wow, I absolutely recommend seeing this film. If you're a fan of true crime, horror, Johnny Depp, the Jack the Ripper stories, you're gonna love it. And I absolutely recommend the DVD. It has a fantastic audio commentary that features both Hughes brothers Robbie Coltrane, as well as the screenwriter and the cinematographer. Scott, Where did you see this one? Do you have a Do you have a copy of it or did you you stream it somewhere. I was lucky enough to be able to pick up a DVD because I reserved it at my local library. And the library is a great way

44:59 to pick up some of these these movies that might be a little harder to find. I know it's in a lot of places in streaming, but you get so much more when you're able to pick up that physical copy. What's that library card cost you, Scott? Not a dime? What's the rental costume? Not a thing? And no overdue charges if you are if you're like us, if you're looking for a movie you haven't seen a while and you know it's not available, and you're like, oh, it's not streaming anywhere, the library wants you to show up watch the movie on their dime. That's fan I love. I love when you come up with that kind of stuff, Scott, because it you know, I often forget that and it just reminds me I got to get to my local library or for sure for sure? Listeners, what did you think of the Hughes Brothers Jack the Ripper film from Hell? Let us know on social media Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Check out www dot a film by Podcast dot com for film and TV articles and our entire library, which is streaming free. You can write to us at a film by Podcast at gmail dot com with your questions, comments and concerns. We may just read your response on the show and send you some A film by swag Scott. Always always a fun time talking movies with you. You want to tell us a little bit about your various film by series that are going on. Yeah, SO two in particular,

46:29 I just want to make sure people know about so A film at forty five. I'm back with David Burns to talk about a focus on nineteen seventy nine in Films, their forty fifth anniversary, and I'm very happy to be a part of Phasers Set to Stun, which is already well underway. I'm joined again by David Burns and Wayne Whited to explore every quadrant of the Star Trek universe, from movies to animation and beyond. Our next episode brings us to season three, one of the best and certainly most pivotal in the series, if not the franchise, you're talking about, the series Season three of Star Trek the Next Generation. Right, that's right, yep, all right, awesome, and you guys and your first film of forty five episode was like, what last week you guys had a patche Ramos. Oh, you guys did The Warriors one of my favorite movies. Oh my god, bless and honored to start that series with such an enormous movie and a huge part of that movie, I've patchy. Thank you so much for joining us listeners.

47:32 If you have a chance, do yourself a favor and check that out. Hell of a show, hell of an episode. This Friday, ninety Days in the Nineties, author Andy Frye returns to the show and kicks off our latest limited series, nineteen ninety six. We'll be discussing the cultural significance of the nineties in the poly Shore comedy bio Dome. And next time on a film buy, Amber Lewis and I will be debating investigative journalism, death row and Nicole Kibmen's method acting when we talk about a film by Lee Daniels, his twenty twelve crime drama The Paperboy. Thanks for listening.