Cast Away - In A Nutshell

Marc: 00:00:12

Hello and welcome to Movies in a Nutshell with me, Marc Farquhar, myself, Darren.

Paul: 00:00:16

Horn, and I, Paul Day.

Marc: 00:00:18

We help you spend less time browsing and more time watching.

Darren: 00:00:21

If you've seen the movie, we'll reveal what you might have missed.

Paul: 00:00:23

If you haven't, we'll give you a quick spoiler free breakdown.

Marc: 00:00:26

We've got behind the scenes trivia, including.

Paul: 00:00:27

Paul's facts of the day, host ratings.

Darren: 00:00:29

And a legend league table, plus your.

Paul: 00:00:32

Chance to choose a movie.

Marc: 00:00:33

here we are, cast away. Year: 2000

Paul: 00:00:44

This was your choice.

Marc: 00:00:44

This was my choice. Yeah.

Darren: 00:00:45

The year: 2000

Marc: 00:00:50

It's unbelievable. It was 25 years ago there fully grown adults that have been born.

Darren: 00:00:54

I was a fully grown adult when this came out. That's.

Marc: 00:00:56

Yeah, me too.

Paul: 00:00:57

I was like 5. Don't do the maths.

Marc: 00:00:59

Okay, listener, we are in part one, which is the nutshell where we will break the movie down, spoiler free to help you decide if it's your kind of film. Okay, so how do we, how do we break this down?

Darren: 00:01:09

Well, it's really about to say that he gets cast away.

Paul: 00:01:11

Oh, no. It's a modern day Robinson Crusoe.

Marc: 00:01:16

Okay, so how do we break it down? Obviously, that's it. Lots of people will know about this movie. Some people won't have seen it. But how do we break it down? What's it about?

Darren: 00:01:22

It's a Christmas movie about. It genuinely is. It's a Christmas movie. Yeah, it starts. It's set at Christmas.

Paul: 00:01:30

That's true. Because he's going to come back for New year.

Marc: 00:01:32

So if 30 seconds of the movies at Christmas. It's a Christmas movie.

Darren: 00:01:35

No, no. But it depends on the themes. And the theme is. I don't think we can call this.

Paul: 00:01:38

A Christmas movie going, yeah, yes, it's.

Marc: 00:01:41

A very thinly veiled Christmas movie.

Darren: 00:01:42

Because. Because it's the same as for life or it's the same as your die Hard. Yeah. It's about a guy realizing the importance of family and.

And being in the moment.

Marc: 00:01:53

I've written this movie's about isolation and what happens when everything you depend on is suddenly taken away.

Darren: 00:01:58

What movie did you watch?

Paul: 00:02:01

And I put it's about time.

Darren: 00:02:03

Yes, about time.

Marc: 00:02:04

But yeah, definitely about survival.

Paul: 00:02:06

It's a modern day Robinson Crusoe. I don't think. Like you say, spoiler alert. Yeah. He is cast away. So it's someone stuck on an island.

Darren: 00:02:13

The Martian is about survival. I don't think this really is him surviving is just the tool to get him to have the growth that he's needs to have.

Marc: 00:02:22

I think it's about rediscovering what really matters.

Darren: 00:02:24

Yeah. Which is a Christmas theme.

Marc: 00:02:27

Stripped of possessions, routine, control, and how hope can keep a person alive when nothing else can.

Darren: 00:02:32

Also kind of. Actually, the first note I wrote was the title, obviously. I wrote Cast Away. And then I looked at it, I was like, that's not how you spell cast away.

Because it's separated into two words.

Marc: 00:02:42

Cast Away.

Darren: 00:02:43

So I was like, oh, I think I'm already finding some meaning in this movie. What is he going to cast away? Is he the one being cast away? What is going on here?

Paul: 00:02:52

He's casting away his life for a new life for a new.

Darren: 00:02:55

Yeah, but then I realized something else, and it made me really, really angry. But it's a spoiler, so prepare yourselves.

Paul: 00:03:00

Okay, so that's coming soon, then.

Marc: 00:03:01

Did you have a Meets, Paul?

Paul: 00:03:03

Did I ever meet. I did.

Darren: 00:03:05

Robin Crusoe meets Anything. With Tom Hankston.

Marc: 00:03:08

I had Robinson Crusoe meets Forrest Gump.

Darren: 00:03:10

That's good. Robinson Crusoe meets Joe versus a volcano. Please tell me you've seen that, Paul. Yeah, yeah, really nice.

Paul: 00:03:17

Long time ago.

Darren: 00:03:17

Have you seen the guy with the red shoe?

Marc: 00:03:19

No.

Darren: 00:03:20

Okay. No, I'm not entirely sure.

Marc: 00:03:21

What do you got, Paul?

Paul: 00:03:22

I've got it. It's a bit like a film called the Shallows, where.

Darren: 00:03:28

Yeah, yeah. About sharks.

Paul: 00:03:29

Yeah. She's like, stuck.

Marc: 00:03:30

I said, did you have a meats, though?

Paul: 00:03:31

Yeah, I haven't really got meats.

Marc: 00:03:32

The answer is no. Then.

Paul: 00:03:33

I can't beat your meats one.

Darren: 00:03:35

The answer is no.

Paul: 00:03:36

I can't meet your Forest Gump.

Marc: 00:03:38

What could it be compared to? What is the elements of.

Paul: 00:03:40

That's the question I was waiting for. That was very politician of me, wasn't it? Like, I'll just keep. I'll just keep answering what I'm going to answer without changing the thing.

Darren: 00:03:47

Here's your big, beautiful answer.

Marc: 00:03:49

This is my answer, regardless of the question.

Paul: 00:03:51

Yeah. So obviously there's the ones we've said, but also I put the shallows because she's kind of stranded on the thing and the sharks.

And it's a bit of a survival thing as well. I put the beach to a certain extent because he goes different place. Obviously there's different. There's more people in that.

It's not isolated like he is.

Marc: 00:04:03

But I mean, if someone went visiting that It's a paradise. But if you're stuck there, it's a hell.

Paul: 00:04:09

Yeah. And then the other one was Life of Pie, which is very much sort of a survival. Obviously starts in a boat.

Darren: 00:04:15

Yeah.

Paul: 00:04:16

Things like that.

Darren: 00:04:17

With a little dash of Glengarry Glen Ross. Because at the beginning he's basically Alec Baldwin and Glen Gary Glamos.

Paul: 00:04:23

I never thought of that.

Darren: 00:04:24

Because he started. Have you seen Glenn Gary Glenos?

Paul: 00:04:26

No. Oh, that's probably why.

Marc: 00:04:28

I know. But I've not seen it.

Paul: 00:04:29

It's probably. I'm looking blank.

Darren: 00:04:30

Yeah. Alec Borden just stands up and. And he's giving this motivational speech about selling more stuff.

Paul: 00:04:37

Oh, that makes sense.

Darren: 00:04:38

And they're like, who are you? He's like, fuck you. That's my name. You know how much my Rolex costs? This is costing more yearly. More than your yearly salary.

And he's just full on in their face the whole time.

Paul: 00:04:46

Like Tom Hanks at the start of this.

Darren: 00:04:48

Yeah.

Paul: 00:04:48

So it's Glenn Garrigan Ross meets Life of PI.

Marc: 00:04:50

Yeah. How would we break. I mean, how would you break the plot down? How would you break the.

Paul: 00:04:55

Well, I. I must admit, I watched the behind the scenes DVD on this one for you.

Marc: 00:05:00

Of course you did.

Paul: 00:05:00

Because there was a divine. There was loads of behind the scenes stuff for this one. And even Robert Zemeckis is like. It's very simple plot. Christmas, he gets stranded. He never.

Robert Zemeckis did not say Christmas movie.

Darren: 00:05:12

Drop the ball there.

Paul: 00:05:12

Maybe he should have done.

Darren: 00:05:13

Yeah.

Paul: 00:05:14

But, yeah, they basically seem stranded on island.

Darren: 00:05:16

Yeah. It's a guy.

Paul: 00:05:18

How he survives.

Darren: 00:05:18

A guy who works for FedEx and is obsessed with getting parcels there on time. And he's so obsessed with time that that's his priority. And he does not prioritize his family and his friends.

And so this one, it's one of those things where it's kind of a storytelling tool. You start with a character and you give him a flaw. And I think this happens in life as well.

And then the film or the universe or the movie gods will throw you into a quest that makes you address that flaw.

And I think that happens in our own life as well, that when we need to learn the lesson, the universe forces us into a situation and will put us through it over and over and over again until we realize that lesson. And that's what happens in this movie.

Marc: 00:05:57

Very good. I might put that at the beginning.

Darren: 00:05:59

Yeah, Just cut all the stuff out.

Marc: 00:06:01

That was a good way to start that. The other thing I didn't mean I'd cut it out. I just put that first.

Paul: 00:06:06

Darren's just winding me up early. I can tell he's trying to trigger me early on the podcast. I can tell. There's some TV shows I wrote down as well, like Lost.

Marc: 00:06:15

Lost, of course.

Paul: 00:06:15

Obviously, that's an obvious choice, which came out five years after this. And another one called Arrow, which is obviously based off DC character Green Arrow. And he gets stranded on the island for five years.

Darren: 00:06:27

Is it the Gray with Liam Neeson?

Paul: 00:06:30

Oh, I haven't seen that, but possibly. Is he, like, stranded in a place?

Darren: 00:06:33

I think he's stranded in a snowy place and there's wolves.

Paul: 00:06:35

I think I have seen a Liam Neeson in some snow, but that was more snow plowing.

Darren: 00:06:40

Yeah, he was doing so many movies like that. He's like the Ryan Reynolds of churning out nonsense.

Paul: 00:06:45

That's true.

Marc: 00:06:45

This is definitely a film about someone who's just had everything stripped away from them. They're basically just basic human survival.

Darren: 00:06:51

Yeah, I love it.

Paul: 00:06:52

And most importantly, it's a beard growing movie, which I knew you both would approve of.

Marc: 00:06:56

After our beard is on to us. Yeah, I've got the poll ready for the listeners.

Paul: 00:07:01

There's this beard. There's beard growing in this film for your beard growing fans.

Marc: 00:07:05

If he doesn't grow one, I'm going to have to AI him a beard armor. Oh, no. Cool. Okay, that takes us into part two, which is the unboxing. Okay, so this is part two, which we call the unboxing.

And in part two we have what did you miss? Where we highlight things you may have missed even if you've seen the movie many times.

Then Paul has his facts of the day and then we finish off with Hate it or Rate it where we each give the movie a rating at 10. We combine the score and see where it lands on our Legend League.

If we've piqued your interest and you feel like you do want to go and watch it, if you haven't seen it, then go do so now because from this point forward there will be spoilers. So let's. What did you miss? I'm gonna go to you, Darren, first.

Darren: 00:07:42

There's quite a bit.

Marc: 00:07:44

It is set, like you said. Like everyone says, it's pretty basic, but I'm sure there must be some stuff in there that seems isn't obvious.

Darren: 00:07:50

Yeah, well, one, it's kind of interesting because at the beginning he's not a very likable character. And that's okay because that's the whole point that sometimes in the Hero's journey is they go on a quest that kind of.

They have self awareness and they learn about themselves. But it's really. It almost felt like an 80s movie in the way it was representing kind of Russia.

Because at the beginning he goes to Russia and he's like. Yet basically yelling at them. And it's. Russia's shown in like a very 80s kind of way where they're cold and they're almost like peasants almost.

I know they're not, but, you know, it's. It's done in that way. And then he's got this bag of treats that he's brought from America and he's kind of buying them off.

He's like, hello, young boy. You've delivered your first parcel for. He doesn't say for America. For American democracy and capital, nationalism and liberty.

Paul: 00:08:34

But he could have done.

Darren: 00:08:36

I think they cut that line out.

Paul: 00:08:37

Yeah.

Darren: 00:08:37

And he's got this bag of like, Western treats, like peanut butter Snickers. Look, Russians. Look at my CD player and my Elvis Presley cd. Like, what are you doing? Like.

And that also got me thinking about how kind of globalization and global postal services have done that. Like, that's how, you know, America infected all these other countries with pop culture and junk food.

Paul: 00:09:02

They brought it to Russia. You know the bit where he's doing that speech at the start, though, and he's off screen because he's quite exacerbated. Is that the word?

Darren: 00:09:10

Yes. Hard. It sounds like Woody.

Paul: 00:09:11

Woody?

Darren: 00:09:11

Yeah.

Paul: 00:09:12

That's all I could hear.

Darren: 00:09:13

Oh, come on, guys.

Paul: 00:09:14

And I'm like, it's Woody from Toy Story giving a pep talk. I was expecting it to cut there. And, you know, Mr. Potato Head would be stood there with his FedEx thing.

Darren: 00:09:23

So I kind of thought that was interesting because he's. He's the symbol of evil in a certain sense.

Marc: 00:09:27

Corporate.

Darren: 00:09:27

Yeah, absolutely. And he doesn't care about people's feelings. And we see. I think. I don't think this is hidden, but we see that he didn't really.

He forgot to ask or didn't realize his co worker and friend's wife has cancer. And it's a scene where he's like, oh, I didn't ask. I didn't realize.

Paul: 00:09:41

Yes. When else does, don't they. Yeah, you see him sort of thinking.

Darren: 00:09:44

Oh, and then he finds the body of one of the pilots and he didn't know the pilot's name.

Marc: 00:09:49

He looks at his name, his idea, and he's like, oh, it's Albert, not Alan.

Paul: 00:09:52

As if he's been calling him the wrong name the whole time.

Marc: 00:09:54

Yeah, that's classic, that.

Darren: 00:09:56

So it is kind of dark in that way. And then obviously he goes to the island and he has to reflect about who he is as a human being. And I love all that kind of stuff.

And I liked it at the end where he's almost found as close as he can to this island. Like, he hasn't left it. Because that final shot isn't like a South American state.

Paul: 00:10:14

It's like Texas, where he's at the crossroads. Yeah, yeah.

Darren: 00:10:16

But it's just. It's just the horizon. And then if he looks the other way, it's just the ranch, which is like the island. And it's like he's almost.

He doesn't want to be in the city. He can't be in a city anymore. He must have been so uncomfortable at the airport scenes and the house scenes and stuff.

Marc: 00:10:30

Just.

Darren: 00:10:31

So. Yeah, that was my main thing. But the other thing I noticed, which I liked, is I do think this is a really spiritual movie.

And I think that, you know, I talk about the universe kind of playing chess with me with you guys quite a bit. But the opening shot is like a parcel's eye view. And we go to the ranch, and the woman's working on a pair of angel wings.

Yeah, that's not by accident. They don't like. They're like, what could she possibly be working on? It's angel wings.

Paul: 00:10:56

I put down guardian angel.

Darren: 00:10:57

Guardian angel, yeah.

Paul: 00:10:58

Led him through the film.

Darren: 00:10:59

And then that symbol is on the parcel, and it's the one that he then brings back to her. And then she gives him directions at the end of the movie as well.

Paul: 00:11:06

And she has it in a garden as well. Like these giant angel wings as well.

Darren: 00:11:10

Like, she's. It looks like she's metal working, creating them. So I'm like, okay, so this is a movie where this guy is living his life wrong.

So he's like Scrooge or whatever. And the guardian angel is being like, we need to freaking shake this guy's life up.

So I'm gonna slap him about the head and I'm gonna send him to an island until he freaking learns. And then I'm gonna bring him back and he's gonna live his life properly. I'm totally here for that.

Paul: 00:11:33

So it is like a Christmas carol. Yeah, it's a Christmas movie. You're right. You're so right.

Darren: 00:11:39

Nothing. He's at the Christmas dinner, and he checks his pager during Christmas dinner, and he's just not present. He's Not a present person.

Marc: 00:11:47

He's a workaholic.

Darren: 00:11:48

He's a workaholic. Yeah.

Marc: 00:11:49

But he's one of those people who's prioritized his career, of his family.

Darren: 00:11:51

Yeah, absolutely.

Paul: 00:11:52

I mean, he's trying. He's scheduling with Helen Hunt is. And he's trying to.

Marc: 00:11:55

But he has to make. He has to make the call to stay with the family dinner or go and do this thing.

Paul: 00:11:58

Then he goes and does the thing.

Marc: 00:11:59

Yeah.

Paul: 00:12:00

So.

Darren: 00:12:00

Yeah. All right. So there's this other thing I noticed. Okay, so it gets to the end of the movie, and he gets to the airport, and he's gonna meet his.

Is it Kelly? His ex. Girlfriend. His girlfriend.

Paul: 00:12:10

This is the Helen Hunt character.

Darren: 00:12:11

Yeah, Helen Hunt. And then. And then he. The husband comes through, and the husband is Mr. Big from sex and the Sea. So I'm like, I hate this guy.

I'm like, oh, this guy's just a git. And then he's like, oh, I don't know if you remember me. I was your dentist, like, five years ago. I was like, o. Okay, five years ago.

And then I kind of forgot about it for a day or two. And then I was like, wait, five years ago. That means one year before he went missing. Wait, so you knew him one year before you went missing?

And this is America. So she was probably his dentist as well. Right. Because they probably got the same dentist because they'd be on his.

Paul: 00:12:43

Oh, so she already knew him.

Darren: 00:12:44

Yeah, yeah. So she knew him already. Yeah. They've got kids and he was supporting.

Tom Hanks was supporting her because she was doing a dissertation or she was supposed to be a Ph.D. by this point, so. So he was funding her lifestyle. There's a scene, which I didn't think anything about, where she's watching him sleep. And it just looks sus.

I'm like, why are you watching him? Like, are you watching him because. Oh, he's a workaholic or I'm not.

Paul: 00:13:05

I can see where you're leading with this.

Marc: 00:13:07

This is.

Darren: 00:13:08

Then I.

So then I kind of did some quick Google, and somebody online has said that she looks pregnant in the wedding photos on the cupboard, on the wardrobe, on the shelves. He goes and sees her at her house, and they're kind of chatting. She's been, like, really sweet. Like, I was awake. I was awake.

And he says, let me get one thing straight here. And she looks guilty as all hell. And there's this really tense moment.

Paul: 00:13:28

Oh, yeah, yeah. The awkward moment.

Darren: 00:13:30

Yeah. And then he says, right, so we've got An American football team that. Blah, blah. I don't understand. They're talking about American football.

So I'm like, wait, how old's your kid?

Marc: 00:13:37

That's just what I was thinking. I did have that thought at one point because, like, three.

Darren: 00:13:40

Yeah. Like, it's walking. Right.

Marc: 00:13:42

And you have to add nine months onto that.

Darren: 00:13:44

Right.

Paul: 00:13:45

So either she did.

Darren: 00:13:46

She spent no time waiting, or she just was having an affair. Like, which is.

Paul: 00:13:53

But she got the engagement ring at the airport and all that.

Darren: 00:13:55

Yeah. I think she was going to probably break up with him at New Year anyway. Oh. Once she got a dissertation and she didn't need his funding. But also.

But even before this, because I started not.

Paul: 00:14:05

This is gone dark. This has gone down.

Darren: 00:14:06

After seeing, like, Mr. Big for sex in the City, I was saying. Right. Okay. Because she then runs out the house and kisses him. And I'm.

And I'm like, if I'm the husband looking out the window now the locks are changed before you get to the door.

Paul: 00:14:19

But she gets in the car as well.

Marc: 00:14:20

Yeah.

Darren: 00:14:21

I'm like, that's done. Like, am I being too harsh? Then, like, oh, but that's her husband.

Paul: 00:14:26

Well, is it a husband? No, they weren't married.

Darren: 00:14:28

Because then fiance, from his point of view, I'd be like, oh, I was. I was a rebound. You were settling for me. Like, what the hell? Like, you don't get to go and kiss another guy like that because you missed him.

Nah, I ain't having it.

Paul: 00:14:40

Well, that's harsh.

Marc: 00:14:41

That's deep.

Darren: 00:14:42

So anyway, I think she was either having an affair or was not committed to this relationship and did not love.

Marc: 00:14:47

Got over him quickly.

Darren: 00:14:48

And then I find it really weird because I started to think about why is all. What's the significance of all these parcels? And then I kind of find it works. I was like, wait, so parcels, the.

Paul: 00:14:56

Ones on the island.

Darren: 00:14:57

On the island.

Marc: 00:14:58

Right. Because I thought significance is just the irony of it being FedEx.

Darren: 00:15:03

Yeah. But also narratively, why put that stuff in them? So, like, one is a dress. That's kind of funny. But he gets to make a net out of it.

And then, like, the.

Paul: 00:15:11

The ice skating shoes.

Darren: 00:15:12

The ice skating shoes help him do that.

Marc: 00:15:14

Oh, yeah.

Darren: 00:15:15

Did you spot that divorce papers turn up?

Paul: 00:15:17

No, no, not.

Marc: 00:15:18

Not his.

Darren: 00:15:18

No, not his.

Paul: 00:15:19

But some divorce papers. That's interesting.

Marc: 00:15:22

I didn't see that.

Darren: 00:15:22

So it's like.

Paul: 00:15:23

So you hint in the.

Darren: 00:15:24

His marriage was over, so there were his divorce papers. No, they weren't. But it's kind of like a symbol.

Paul: 00:15:30

Symbolism of why them in the package?

Darren: 00:15:33

So, yeah, I think. I don't know. Am I reading too much?

Marc: 00:15:35

I don't know, but I love it.

Paul: 00:15:37

I feel like there's two movies now.

Marc: 00:15:39

Yeah, I need to go watch it again.

Paul: 00:15:40

It depends which way you look at that awkward pause because he also.

Darren: 00:15:43

They talk at dinner and they're like, when are you gonna make an honest woman of this person? And he's like, oh, she's not an honest woman.

Paul: 00:15:49

But, Julie, that was just banter. Just couple de banter.

Darren: 00:15:52

And then she's like, she's already got one failed marriage. I'm like, who is this woman? We're following the wrong person.

Marc: 00:15:57

Yeah, I wanna follow this towel.

Darren: 00:16:00

She's killing her husband or whatever.

Marc: 00:16:03

By the way, listener, if you suddenly now really wanna watch it because of Darren, that's good. Well done, Darren. Yeah, let us know if it suddenly make you wanna go and watch this movie.

Darren: 00:16:11

Did she have an affair? Was she sleeping with. Because it's Mr. If it wasn't Mr. Big, I wouldn't.

Paul: 00:16:16

So if that had been cast by anyone else.

Darren: 00:16:19

Yeah. If it'd been like, Paul Rudd.

Paul: 00:16:20

Yeah, you're safe for Paul Rudd.

Darren: 00:16:22

Yeah, exactly. Or Keanu Reeves. No, Keanu Reeves would have waited a perfectly acceptable amount of time before moving in on Helen Hunt.

Paul: 00:16:29

That's true.

Marc: 00:16:30

uld have been in his prime in: 2000

Darren: 00:16:32

Oh, yeah, I know. She'd be lucky to have him.

Marc: 00:16:33

Anything else? That was good. Well done. He hasn't even spoke yet.

Paul: 00:16:37

I have one. But it's diminished completely by that bombshell and moving on. Yeah. The only thing I wrote was. Yeah, I can't compete with that.

The Mr. Big theory is just mind blowing. But I put value.

So the sense that stuff that was value in the first bit, the movie time, money, credit cards, all that sort of stuff means absolutely nothing. And suddenly it's string, shelter. The value of everything shifts completely. Because when he's.

When the pilot, he's going through everything, he gets the wallet, doesn't he? And that would have made. That would have had value in the real world or on dry land, if you will. And then all of a sudden, here, it's.

Marc: 00:17:14

It's like currency in a different country.

Paul: 00:17:16

Yeah, completely different. So he's having to, you know, use the laces. And the shoes are more important than the wallet all of a sudden.

And he's having to saw off the shoes so they fit. So, yeah, that was the only other thing. I kind of picked up this stuff.

Darren: 00:17:27

As well, that happens later on. Like he turns up at her house. And he's standing in the rain and she's, oh, come out. Coming out of the rain. He doesn't give a fuck about the rain.

Paul: 00:17:35

Doesn't look bothered, does he?

Darren: 00:17:36

You call this rain? Yeah, Are you kidding me? But then she's like, oh, I've only got this milk or this milk, but I know you like this milk. Is that okay?

And he's like, yeah, I can't possibly have my coffee with like this without this type of milk. We're so entitled.

Marc: 00:17:49

But these are hints of the person he was.

Darren: 00:17:50

Yeah, exactly.

Marc: 00:17:51

And she doesn't realize. She hasn't got a clue what he's been through.

Darren: 00:17:53

But he's also nice in that he's not preaching at anyone with what he's learned. And, you know, I think he's twigged she's had an affair. I think that's what he was going to ask.

Marc: 00:18:01

That's. That could be part of why he's all like this. But I think he's just come back as a sponge. He's like realizing he was part of this now. He's just.

Paul: 00:18:08

Well, there's not. The party scene isn't there?

Marc: 00:18:10

He feels removed.

Darren: 00:18:11

Mm.

Paul: 00:18:12

Yeah. Cuz after the party scene, everyone leaves and then there's that massive table of totally overwhelmed. And he picks up. Was it like a lobster thing?

Marc: 00:18:18

Something.

Paul: 00:18:18

And it's just. Yeah, you can see it on his face. Like.

Marc: 00:18:21

Yeah, it's excess.

Paul: 00:18:22

The excess.

Marc: 00:18:23

Yeah. Which is something he's never had for years. This movie is definitely about contrast.

Yeah, well, contrast and like the being someone was, you know, he was an analyst. Analyst to crying at losing your ball.

Darren: 00:18:36

Yeah.

Marc: 00:18:36

Like that's what he was reduced to.

Paul: 00:18:37

One ball, that's his mate.

Darren: 00:18:39

But going back to his, you know, his ex, he also says to someone else, you know, I did the math and she did the math and we can't be together. He says that he's like, he's worked out the months, right.

Paul: 00:18:52

This is a whole other level. Blowing up minds here with this.

Marc: 00:18:56

Wow. I think I'm going to watch this. You've made me. I'm going to watch this again.

Darren: 00:18:59

Yeah.

Paul: 00:19:00

It's making me very sad.

Marc: 00:19:02

There's the moment where when he's back and he's got a lighter.

Darren: 00:19:05

Yeah.

Marc: 00:19:06

And he's flicking it on and off and he's just like, oh, yeah, Fire on demand. Look at that. Like.

Darren: 00:19:10

But also he's. Because he's got the pic, he's got the time, the watch he got from her. And when it's actually weird.

He just started the divorce paper, I think, where he's laying there just flicking the light on and off, looking at her like he's like he's going through a breakup.

I've been through breakups where you're like Mark Zuckerberg at the end of Social Media Network just refreshing your page or you're looking through your old album.

Paul: 00:19:32

But that could be him just going through the breakup as to. Because she's moved on.

Darren: 00:19:35

Yeah.

Paul: 00:19:36

Not necessarily the fact that he's thinking she's cheated on him before.

Darren: 00:19:40

Yeah. I think it's an awareness that. That relationships over because he's not getting home, is he?

Paul: 00:19:45

And that's the interesting bit about this film, isn't it? You see the return trip, you see that you've been gone for four or five years, but that was. And you've kind of died and reborn. And he is.

Darren: 00:19:54

Yeah. But also that was it. Like he gets home and I was ah, the end of the movie then it keeps going.

Paul: 00:19:59

Yeah.

Darren: 00:20:00

Yeah. And I was, okay, so this isn't what the movie is about. It's. It's about that last 40 minutes. It's about them.

Paul: 00:20:07

Bookends are the bits that are probably the important bits because then you see in the character. Well, it's two different characters, isn't it?

Darren: 00:20:13

Yeah.

Paul: 00:20:13

It sandwich between his experience on the.

Darren: 00:20:16

Island and then just going back to the kind of Guardian angel stuff. I'm sure. What isn't Robertson Crusoe kind of about God or religion or something. I remember it was being Christian in some way.

This movie isn't at all like he doesn't. He doesn't like pray at all. He doesn't beg at all. It's like he doesn't find God on the island. There's no mention of religion or Jesus or anything.

The best he does is creates his own idol in Wilson.

Paul: 00:20:42

Yeah.

Darren: 00:20:43

And then he becomes God because he's like, look what I have created. I have created fire. So can. Interesting.

Marc: 00:20:50

It's basically human traits. You reduce to primal man.

Paul: 00:20:53

And the only bit of time that you've got, which I not tweaked when I watched the film. But when Robert Zemeckis was on about in the behind the scenes thing was he's mapping out when the tide's gonna be there.

Darren: 00:21:03

Yeah.

Paul: 00:21:03

And that's why he's kind of keeping track of time more for tides. And he's obviously very clever because he's talking about where the plane's gone down and he's doing all the maths. And things, isn't he?

So, yeah, he's got the skills of being brainy, but if he hadn't have got that gift. Again, this is guardian angel stuff, isn't he? If he hadn't got that gift of. What was it like, a port, a toilet door that ends up as his sale?

If that hadn't washed up.

Darren: 00:21:25

And that's the theme, like I may have said before in other kind of movies like this, that my thing is it's all just seasons. Like, it's just if you're going through a winter right now, it's going to pass.

You're going to come to spring and really, really just value the fuck out of the spring and the summer, because autumn, winter is going to come again.

Paul: 00:21:43

The Notting Hill scene where he walks through and it goes through the scenes.

Darren: 00:21:46

Exactly. But the way they phrase it in this movie is, I think he says, you've got to keep breathing. Who knows what the tide will bring?

And it is like we've said before, that we've got almost no control over our lives. And it's up to you. It's up to chaos or it's up to the universe, or it's up to a God, or it's up to fate. That's what's going to wash up.

Like, this came out and this podcast came out of nowhere for me.

Marc: 00:22:08

We didn't ever predict this, would we?

Darren: 00:22:10

You were just like. And likewise with Paul, like, And so spoken to you in like, no, it's.

Paul: 00:22:14

Been a few years.

Darren: 00:22:14

Yeah. And then random message, hey, you want to do a podcast? And you said, yes. What the fucking chances of that?

Paul: 00:22:20

What was I thinking, Right?

Marc: 00:22:21

Yeah.

Darren: 00:22:22

But what's also funny with the universe is there's a bit where she's dropping him off and she gives him the keys and they've got a knife on so he can open up the Christmas present. Which is also why I hated him, because he got a shit presence. And then they kind of pull it back. I have to scribble out my notes.

And then he hands back the keys with the knife on, which would have been the one thing he really could have done with. And then at the end of the movie, she gives him the keys with the knife on and he's got. Now I've got a knife and a lighter. My life is easy.

Paul: 00:22:49

His life's easy. But he doesn't need them now.

Darren: 00:22:51

So, yeah, I like the gratefulness. I've got this BBC archive thing occasionally popping up on my social media and it'd be a very people Used to speak better English back in the day.

But it'd be like a working class woman in like the East End, London being like, oh, yes. I remember when the television came, it was ever so exciting. And we'd sit around and we'd. We didn't mind watch.

We watch even the highbrow stuff like the ballet. We would give it a go because it. It was such a novelty and it would bring him, bring us all together to watch it on our 12 inch TV.

I'm like, 12 inch TV? What? That's, you know, my parents lifetime.

Paul: 00:23:22

That's the privilege thing, isn't it, though?

Darren: 00:23:24

Privilege.

Paul: 00:23:24

Once the bar is raised, though, it's not going back.

Marc: 00:23:27

Well, you get another generation raised on that.

Darren: 00:23:29

I remember Louis CK did a bit where he was on a plane and the pilot said, just an announcement, we are trialing like WI fi on the plane. And everyone was like, yay. And he was like, oh, unfortunately, the WI fi is not working. And people. Oh, God damn it. He's like, what?

Internet in the sky? And you're just like, oh, this is the worst. We are privileged as hell.

Marc: 00:23:50

I didn't realize this was another Bob Zemeckis Alan Silvestri combo again, which I wrote down.

Paul: 00:23:54

Alan had quite a fun time on this film, I'm guessing because the whole middle of the film there's pretty much very little music. It's all ambient.

Marc: 00:24:02

Yeah, well, yeah, I made a note of that. There's almost an hour passes before he speaks to another human. So the sound designs kind of uses silence as a tool.

It makes no score during most Allen scenes for island scenes. Forces us into Chuck's Solitude.

Paul: 00:24:14

Because you've got the rain, you've got the waves, you've got the reality of.

Marc: 00:24:19

What you make put you in there.

Paul: 00:24:20

Alan must have been like, so, what do you need for this film? And he's like, oh, just like a couple of minutes there, A couple of minutes there. I mean, it's effective what he does.

Darren: 00:24:26

As usual, but it's also annoying. This guy's a dentist and he had dental pain. It's like the guy fucking your girlfriend.

Marc: 00:24:38

Allegedly. Potentially.

Darren: 00:24:39

Maybe he was. The more I think about this, the more I'm getting angry.

Paul: 00:24:42

Oh, that's brilliant. Yeah. The one bit of pain he took to the island was caused by the guy who's possibly been screwing his.

Darren: 00:24:49

What?

Marc: 00:24:49

Yes, listeners, please message and let us know what you think because this is. This is good. This is deep. Darren's got his teeth into this one.

Paul: 00:24:57

Yes.

Marc: 00:24:59

I didn't realize this was Produced by Tom Hanks.

Paul: 00:25:02

Yeah.

Marc: 00:25:02

Yeah.

Paul: 00:25:03

So I think he had quite a big bit in the story.

And then this isn't facts of the day, but on the documentary, the writer of the screenwriter of the script, they very much put him in the situation that Tom Hanks is in in the film with some survival guys.

So a lot of the stuff you see in the script of him try to open a coconut and him try to make fire and all that stuff is something that the screenwriter actually did. And then he used that to put in the film. And they were talking about the whole volleyball thing that came across in that as well.

Like, they just had one at the time, Wilson. And that came out of the writer with these survival guys in the behind the scenes sort of prep for writing the script.

He went through a lot of this stuff, which I thought was interesting.

Darren: 00:25:43

Also the parcel that we follow at the beginning when you're probably not even paying attention to the movie because you know what I'm gonna say. So it gets taken by the FedEx guy, goes to another country, gets delivered to a guy who's like, kind of answers topless.

And then another woman comes up behind him and hugs him. And he says, it's from my wife. Leave that silence in there.

Paul: 00:26:09

You're implying that this again is in hint in that.

Darren: 00:26:13

Well, he's having an affair. So the opening scene of the movie is a guy having an affair. This movie is about cheating.

Paul: 00:26:21

It's turned from Christmas very quickly here.

Marc: 00:26:23

That at the beginning. What's this movie about?

Darren: 00:26:27

Wow.

Paul: 00:26:28

Levels.

Darren: 00:26:28

What's weird is I'm just looking at my notes and putting stuff together. I was like, oh, man, this is.

Marc: 00:26:33

This is deep.

Paul: 00:26:33

He's doing like a Sherlock Holmes thing. If you've seen the Benedict Cumberbatch Sherlock Holmes where there's all the writing around his head.

Marc: 00:26:39

It's like, that's what Don's wall looks like. Like he's in some sort of investigation. Yeah, Bob Zemeckis lied. There's a lot to this movie. It's not just simple.

Darren: 00:26:48

Like also when they get back, because I'm curious as to whether she does love him or not, or whether it was like a cash cow and she. She's got smitten and slept with Mr. Beer because, you know, he's a notorious kind of charismatic, kind of womanizer in Sex and City. She.

He's like, hey, you've got a nice house. He's just been living on an island. And she's just like, yeah, it comes with a nice mortgage as well. Because now she's having to pay bills.

Marc: 00:27:09

Yeah.

Darren: 00:27:10

She's had to get a job. She hasn't been able to finish her PhD because she doesn't have a cash cow to kind of look after her. This one was a bitch is what I'm saying.

Paul: 00:27:17

See, the problem is, I was just taken in by Helen Hunt, who's normally so nice in the movies.

Marc: 00:27:21

Yeah.

Paul: 00:27:21

How good does it get?

Darren: 00:27:23

Killed her previous husband Tom Hanks, for everything he's got. And now she's milking this other guy.

Paul: 00:27:28

Mad about you.

Marc: 00:27:29

Wow.

Paul: 00:27:31

I can't look at you the same anymore, Helen.

Marc: 00:27:33

This is.

Paul: 00:27:34

This is deep stuff. So we found some layers there, I think I say that Darren found some incredible layers. Wow.

Marc: 00:27:41

Wow.

Paul: 00:27:41

Mind blowing. I hope your minds are blown.

Marc: 00:27:43

Also, listeners never really thought about that crossroads scene at the end. Like, there's different ways people could interpret why that's there and what it means. It's not about decision. It's more. It's about peace.

Like, Chuck no longer needs it, doesn't need direction anymore to move forward.

Paul: 00:27:59

I read it like he's still got. He's got to choose a new path now.

Marc: 00:28:02

No, I think he doesn't need direction to move forward.

Paul: 00:28:04

I see.

Marc: 00:28:05

You can just go with the flow. He can just. Yeah, he's, like, learned that he doesn't.

Paul: 00:28:07

But you think he turned the car around and went back to the angel wings lady?

Marc: 00:28:10

That's the main question.

Paul: 00:28:12

It's obviously hinted at, isn't it?

Darren: 00:28:13

She's adorable.

Paul: 00:28:14

She is adorable.

Darren: 00:28:15

I took it. He's kind of got, like a Jack Reacher vibe that now he needs nothing. So he can just take a toothbrush and a backpack and just explore.

And also, even when she's saying is. She's like, well, this is down there. That's down there. Like, he doesn't care. He's like, I'm gonna go whatever way the wind pushes me or whatever.

Like, it doesn't matter. It's liberating. And also, how gorgeous. Isn't there a quote in one of the.

Like, a card he opens, And I can't remember what it says, but it's like, the most beautiful thing in the world is the world or something like that.

Marc: 00:28:44

Yeah.

Darren: 00:28:44

And that end scene is like, well, look at this. Look at where you live. And we. I mean, we live. We're so privileged with where we live. And I'm all the time.

When I'm, like, driving with my daughter, I'm like, look at where we live. Live. Like, just look how particularly now it's autumn. It's Stunning.

Marc: 00:28:57

Yeah. The sunsets right now are amazing sunrises sometimes.

Paul: 00:29:00

If this is your first podcast, just to let you know, we're based in the Lake District in the northwest of England. Northwest of England.

Darren: 00:29:06

If you're American, think Winterfell in Game of Thrones. We're up by the wall.

Paul: 00:29:11

There you go. We. We are by the wall.

Marc: 00:29:13

There's a reference way there.

Darren: 00:29:14

And we're a small country on the western edge of Europe.

Marc: 00:29:18

An island.

Darren: 00:29:19

Yeah. Between. Yeah, exactly.

Paul: 00:29:22

They're now just picturing us by the wall, aren't they?

Darren: 00:29:24

Yeah. Good. Picture me like Jon Snow.

Marc: 00:29:27

Let's move on to Paul's facts of the day.

Paul: 00:29:29

Okay.

Marc: 00:29:29

There must be loads for this.

Paul: 00:29:30

Welcome to the Wall. There is loads. Like the. The documentaries. I watched one of them properly, but there was about three or four.

Marc: 00:29:37

Was this a big movie at the time?

Darren: 00:29:38

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Paul: 00:29:39

Big hit at the time.

Darren: 00:29:40

Yeah. I remember it being at the cinema.

Paul: 00:29:41

So to make himself look like an average, out of shape middle aged man, Tom Hanks didn't exercise and allowed himself to grow pudgy.

Darren: 00:29:48

When has he not looked like an average middle aged man? He's the everyday middle you go to.

Paul: 00:29:53

I know. That's why it was. He actually said that in one of the interviews as well.

He's like, well, I wanted to make myself look like an average middle aged man.

Darren: 00:29:59

What movie have you not been?

Paul: 00:30:02

I'll let you interview him. Production was then halted for a year so he could lose 50 pounds and grow his hair for his time spent on the desert island.

neath, which also came out in: 2000

Darren: 00:30:17

Wow.

Paul: 00:30:18

So they took a bit of time off. He went and filmed that and then they came back and they did the pickup.

Marc: 00:30:22

Did you notice he was like super thin after it said four, three years later?

Darren: 00:30:25

No, not super thin. I would not say that was.

Marc: 00:30:27

I noticed a massive difference in him.

Paul: 00:30:29

Well, 50 pounds.

Marc: 00:30:30

Other than that hair grow. He just like lost a lot of weight.

Paul: 00:30:32

The actual lines of dialogue were written for Wilson the volleyball, to help Tom Hanks have a more natural interaction with the inanimate object. The lines for the volleyball were cut from the final film, obviously, because they probably wanted to make this film realistic rather than weird.

Darren: 00:30:46

Felt like he'd gone mad.

Paul: 00:30:47

Exactly.

Darren: 00:30:48

I'm just like.

Marc: 00:30:48

So I get why they'll have the ball speak.

Darren: 00:30:51

Yeah.

Paul: 00:30:51

Well, on set, I'm guessing it'll give him some playoff. I did it for that.

Marc: 00:30:56

It was more realistic the way it was.

Darren: 00:30:57

Yeah, it Was.

Paul: 00:30:57

But that. So, yeah, that implies that they were thinking, oh, should we have that? I'm glad they didn't.

Marc: 00:31:01

No.

Paul: 00:31:02

Job applications for FedEx went up by 30% after the release of the film.

Darren: 00:31:06

Why?

Paul: 00:31:07

Maybe they thought they were going to work with Woody from Toy Story and were excited by that fact.

Darren: 00:31:11

I mean, I get people wanting to join the Air Force after top gun.

Paul: 00:31:15

But FedEx, they got some good plugin in it.

Darren: 00:31:17

I guess the traveling seems quite nice.

Paul: 00:31:19

But here's the weird thing. Contrary to popular belief, FedEx did not pay the filmmakers anything for the presence in the movie.

The Mekis had made it clear in several interviews.

And while they were very concerned when they heard about the project, they had no objections to the finished script and offered support during filming.

Darren: 00:31:34

That's cool that there's integrity in doing that. It's like it's still the director's artistic vision without being swayed in any way.

Paul: 00:31:40

And the bit I also took away from the documentary with this facts kind of alludes to is the crew were very much living like him on the island when they were filming and stuff. There was no amenities. They were about, I think they said an hour and a half or something on a boat away from civilization.

So there was a lot of them being cast. Castaways within. Within the crew. So it made it very challenging to film stuff. So it kind of give me a new appreciation for the film.

Thinking like, yeah, they're not on a set. They're literally. No. Some crew members were left on the island for a few days to survive and learn some skills.

They use some of the survival techniques in the movie for the character of Chuck. And they were having trouble lighting a fire, opening a coconut, talking to volleyball as well. Yeah, that's what I said.

Marc: 00:32:20

They were having trouble talking to a volleyball.

Darren: 00:32:21

See this?

Paul: 00:32:22

Said some of the crew members. But on the documentary it's pretty clear it was like the writer mainly of the film. Maybe some of the producers as well.

So one of the volume one of the three volleyballs used in the film to play Wilson. That sounds weird. Was sold at an auction for 18, 400 US dollars.

Darren: 00:32:43

I wonder who. What dicks kind of spend their money on that. But if I had the money, I would have spent my money on that.

Marc: 00:32:48

Oh, would you?

Paul: 00:32:48

oom. Art Wilson from the film: 2000

Darren: 00:32:54

Yeah, I would love that. I'd have it in my own personal museum. Would be insane.

Marc: 00:32:58

Tom.

Paul: 00:32:58

Tom Hanks said the hardest part of losing so much weight Was not eating any french fries for a long time.

Darren: 00:33:04

And the thing American isn't he?

Paul: 00:33:06

And the thing that helped him in the most in the process was drinking a great deal of coffee every morning. Well done, Tom. Although it sounds like Darren thought you were ripped enough. Just saying. Just saying. Darren wanted Christian level.

Christian Bale levels of being ripped.

Darren: 00:33:19

Yeah.

Paul: 00:33:20

Chuck Nolan's name can be abbreviated as C. Noland or See no Land. Which is clearly fitting given the circumstances of the movie plot.

Marc: 00:33:31

Thank you very much, Paul. Okay, that takes us on to hate it or rate it. So I guess we'll go to me first because it was my choice. Your choice. Yeah. I really enjoyed this movie.

However this movie falls apart for me when it skips four years. Really the only people who have ever survived anywhere near that length of time are experienced travelers and survival experts.

Paul: 00:33:53

And Tom Hanks.

Marc: 00:33:54

And apparently Tom Hanks. Because I'm. I'm. I don't know. I've never said this but I'm obsessed with survival. Like I've read about it. I watched documentaries on it.

And when they got to that bit I'd forgotten about that. And I was just like no, that just. Even if he'd made it a year that would have been fantastic. They could have. It would have been the same impact.

Darren: 00:34:13

Yep.

Marc: 00:34:14

But skipping four years, there's literally a handful of people who've ever survived that long. So it just. I don't know that grained on me. And the other thing was when it skipped four weeks when he got discovered. Like why.

Yeah, those are the moments when he's first human interactions. Returning to civilization. We never really got to see how he. His first reaction to that. Yeah.

Paul: 00:34:34

Jumped over it.

Marc: 00:34:35

What happened in that four weeks? Why. What was the point of skipping four weeks? How does it help the story?

Paul: 00:34:40

Unless it was more to do with the relationship bit. Try to make that what happened. But we don't know. Yeah, I just didn't see her. I guess annoyed me.

Marc: 00:34:48

But other than that like the story of how it all happened and his time on the. On the island. I did really enjoy it.

The being stripped back to you bare bones and taking all your superficial shit that doesn't matter anyway away from you and just. Yeah. Going back like making fire and just having to fish and just learn basic life skills. I really enjoyed that. It's a good story overall. Is it.

Is it based on any true. Was there some. Some experiences that happened to someone who.

Paul: 00:35:13

Said they kind of pulled it from various experiences but not one in particular and it was very much. Let's just do a Robinson cruise.

Marc: 00:35:20

Happened to some people who have survived for a while, then been discovered, other people have happened and then just died.

Paul: 00:35:25

But yeah, no, it wasn't like specific story.

No, it was just they picked off different things and said, let's do a modern day Robertson Crusoe where all of a sudden the guy who's all about time and getting things to run is stranded.

Marc: 00:35:35

Yeah, I really like the lack of score in this. Even though I love score, I do love movie scores. It really added to the. He felt like you were there with him.

And his experience, like I mentioned before, experiencing the solitude added to the whole experience that he was going through. And when there was music, it was where you would expect music to be. It's very apt for that. So, yeah, I really enjoyed it.

So that's all I've got to say. I'm gonna give it. It would have been higher, but I'm gonna give it a 7.8 for me. I'm gonna go to Darren.

Darren: 00:36:01

Me, not so much. I was kind of bored for like the beginning bit and I was just like, yeah, okay, I get it, you're not very nice and okay, whatever.

And then he got to the island and like, you know, I was just thinking I could go make a cup of tea and come back and I wouldn't have missed anything. Like if I was watching this at the cinema, I could probably dip out for 20 minutes and come back and be like, what I miss? And she'd be like, nothing.

Paul: 00:36:22

He's still on the island.

Darren: 00:36:23

He's still on the island. He's now just worked out how to, I don't know, make a shelter or something. Like it's. And then I was thinking, why?

Because I remember liking it when I watched it in. In like when it came out and I think the world has just moved on too much.

s into: 2000

But I think there's a big movement now where we're all doing that and we're all trying to be more. Be more grateful for what we've got. Where lots of people are struggling with mental health.

So we're trying different strategies and one of them is to be grateful and focus on what's good and to accept compliments and things like that. And there's a lot of people who are also not waiting around is they're kind of getting on and living their life now.

message is as hard hitting in: 2025

Paul: 00:37:22

2000.

Marc: 00:37:22

Yeah.

Darren: 00:37:23

I was kind of bored and I don't think I had an emotion. I know I did well up a bit. I think I welled up when. When he realizes he's saved. And I was like, jesus, I thought.

Paul: 00:37:34

You were gonna well up. When Mr. Big came on screen.

Darren: 00:37:36

Like.

Marc: 00:37:38

That ship that came behind.

Darren: 00:37:40

Yeah. And then when she hugged him, I was like, I would not have survived that hug. I. I kind of touched on what, Mark?

Marc: 00:37:46

What? You would have just fell apart.

Darren: 00:37:48

I think if you have not had a human contact for four years. And I know I've talked about this with you guys before, maybe on some episodes I have.

But, you know, when I'm going through a period when I'm single, I might not have, like another adult, like, hug me for more than like the polite. Or how you doing? Three second. And that wears you down. Like, just having the human contact is such an important part of being alive now.

Paul: 00:38:15

You get used to it. Just lean into it.

Marc: 00:38:19

We're gonna have a good hug after this.

Paul: 00:38:21

Okay.

Darren: 00:38:22

So I just think. Think that that could expl. I think the psychology of it could have been explored more.

I think there could have been a bit more kind of depth to it, I think. I mean, the Martian is kind of. The caster, is set in space, really. And I think the Martian does it much, much, much, much better. And.

And that's more of a movie about survival and human ingenuity and stuff like that. This. I mean, it was fun analyzing it for sure.

Marc: 00:38:44

And yeah, you had a ball.

Darren: 00:38:46

But in terms of like, did I enjoy it? You know, I think I was watching it on like a weekend morning. No, I wasn't really enjoying it. So I'm gonna go with a four.

Marc: 00:38:55

Paul.

Paul: 00:38:56

I enjoyed it. It's a solid film. I'm gonna pick up on some of the things Darren said because I. Darren said because I thought similar to you, that maybe since.

Because: 2000

And since this one, I think there's lots of other films that have done it better or more interestingly, like some of the ones you were saying, Life of PI as well, where there's like more Things going on on the island. It's not just even water Mitty.

Darren: 00:39:24

It's not exactly the same, but it kind of is.

Paul: 00:39:26

Yeah, it's like that.

Darren: 00:39:27

Save your life.

Paul: 00:39:28

Yeah. But I can imagine because I remember enjoying it when I first saw it as well, so it was maybe more of a novelty.

And then of course, I've watched Lost and then other series that I was on about before. That's all on an island, so. But there's lots of different things happening on the island. So you didn't know what was going on. Whereas the.

Like you say Darren, it's like, oh, he's got fire now.

Darren: 00:39:45

Yeah, yeah.

Paul: 00:39:46

Whereas back in: 2000

Darren: 00:39:49

Why hadn't you tried making fire on day one?

Paul: 00:39:51

Yeah, that's true.

Marc: 00:39:52

Because he's not a survival expert.

Darren: 00:39:54

But making you try something.

Paul: 00:39:57

But it was when he opened the packages, he found something to make the spark, wasn't it? Like, didn't he have something.

Marc: 00:40:02

If you're. Yeah. If you're not training, you wouldn't know about how to do it. Although he did figure out how to do the. He didn't use that. He used the.

He just used the classic.

Paul: 00:40:11

Yeah, but so I enjoyed it. I think it is still a really solid film. It's. It's well made.

Darren: 00:40:17

Oh, yeah.

Paul: 00:40:17

It's great performance by Tom Hanks. The plane crash bits, all very realistic and quite thrilling. And it doesn't Hollywood it very much.

It's quite gripping on the plane crash cinematography we were talking about. So, yeah, it's well filmed. It's obviously very similar.

I think I had a new appreciation for the film when I watched the documentary after it as to how tricky it was to actually film it and things. So I'm gonna go in the middle, you two. I think I enjoyed it more than Darren. Maybe not quite as much as you. So I'm gonna give it sort of a 6.5 say.

But I still think it's a really good film. But there's maybe other ones I've now put above it. So I've kind of knocked it down a little bit because of that. But yeah, well, well made film.

Great in its time. I can see why it was a big hit. But now. But now, Darren, there's a whole other level to this film.

Well, maybe that would boost it up where I'm watching it, seeing these. Then it's like lost. It's like, what's going on? There's all these threads.

Marc: 00:41:13

Okay. So that puts it in 27th out of 43.

Darren: 00:41:17

Not bad.

Marc: 00:41:19

So it's just behind Empire Records and BlackBerry and it's just above Snatch and Born Identity.

Paul: 00:41:25

That's somewhere in the middle, I'd say that's about right.

Marc: 00:41:27

Decent. Yeah, solid.

Paul: 00:41:29

It's a decent film.

Marc: 00:41:30

So, listeners, what was your opinion on the movie? Have you already seen it? Have you not seen it? Have we made you want to go and watch it? Is it a Christmas movie? Is Darren correct?

Paul: 00:41:40

Is there an affair or is he dead wrong?

Marc: 00:41:42

Was the wife hugging affair? What do you think? Let us know. Okay, that takes us on to part three, which is the listener lounge.

Okay, so in part three, we have the lobby where we share your comments, your questions and your messages. And then we ask our question of the week and we finish by revealing next week's movie.

So if you want to join the conversation, you want to send us a voice message, you can go to movies in a nutshell.com and there's a button there to send us a voice message and we'll read them out on the show. You can email us. Hello, Movies in a Nutshell Dot com. So one thing we didn't quite do.

Well, the last episode was give Joel Robertson and Scott Wigglesworth enough of a shout out for a quote for their choice of Walter Mitty getting. We never really. After we'd done it and we'd done the scoreboard, we never really. And also tell what else we didn't do.

We didn't do the Listener League.

Darren: 00:42:28

Oh, okay.

Paul: 00:42:28

Well, that's still a new thing, you know.

Marc: 00:42:30

Let's address that right now. Okay, so in the Listener League, the Secret Life of Walter Mitty is at number seven of ten.

So it's just below falling down, which is 19.4, and just above the born identity, which is 18. So it's 18.1. So that's ten movies, ten months.

Darren: 00:42:47

Nice.

Paul: 00:42:48

Wow.

Marc: 00:42:48

Let me just add in his name before I forget. Joe Robinson. And it's a long one in the. If you put the full name in. So we're in the lobby, so let us know what your thoughts on the movie.

Do you agree? Do you disagree on our scores and where it's landed? And if we move as we move on, we have an email. Oh, about to read out an email.

Paul: 00:43:08

Is it fan mail for Darren? He likes fan mail.

Marc: 00:43:11

rk with Paul in Corfu back in: 2005

I enjoy movies of all kinds and thought it would be nice to hear your Thoughts on some of the movies below? Some, maybe not that well known. I mean, we can't go through them all. We haven't got time. But that thing you do, is that Tom Hanks?

Paul: 00:43:29

That's Tom Hanks, yeah.

Marc: 00:43:30

Yeah. Wing Commander. I've never heard of that.

Darren: 00:43:32

Wing Commander.

Paul: 00:43:33

Isn't that Mark Hamill?

Darren: 00:43:34

Yeah, it's my camel.

Marc: 00:43:35

There you go.

Paul: 00:43:35

I haven't seen it, though.

Marc: 00:43:36

Face Off. We all know that classic. Classic. Good Morning Vietnam. Robin Williams. I've not seen it, but I know another famous line. Tin Cup. Is that Kevin Costner?

Paul: 00:43:44

Oh, such a good film.

Darren: 00:43:45

The famous line being Good Morning, Vietnam.

Marc: 00:43:47

Yeah, I've heard that a lot.

Paul: 00:43:50

Is Tin Cup a brilliant film?

Marc: 00:43:53

Not seen that.

Paul: 00:43:53

It's a golf film.

Marc: 00:43:54

Unstoppable. That's Chris Pine. Denzel Washington.

Paul: 00:43:57

Yeah.

Marc: 00:43:57

Unstoppable Train.

Darren: 00:43:58

Yeah.

Paul: 00:43:58

Yeah. You've seen that one. I think that's a Tony Scott job, then.

Marc: 00:44:02

He's put any Star Trek? Any Star Wars?

Darren: 00:44:04

No.

Paul: 00:44:04

There you go. It's gonna be Pete, isn't it?

Marc: 00:44:05

But he's put. Keep up the good work. I really enjoy listening to your podcast. Regards, Pete Pemberton.

Paul: 00:44:10

Oh, Pete. Lovely man. Yes, lovely guy.

Marc: 00:44:12

Do you know him as well?

Darren: 00:44:14

No, I know nothing.

Marc: 00:44:15

Okay. There you go.

Paul: 00:44:16

You don't know the Pete. Yeah, Top man. Hi, Pete. Lovely to hear from you. Thanks for listening. Yeah, we used to talk movies quite a lot, as you can imagine.

Marc: 00:44:23

There you go. So that was. Regards, Pete Pemberton.

Paul: 00:44:25

Ah, Pete. Love the guy. Love the guy. Used to work with him back in the day.

Marc: 00:44:30

Okay, let's move on to the question of the week. Anyone got any thoughts what this question of the week could.

Paul: 00:44:34

It's gonna have to be to do with desert islands, isn't it?

Marc: 00:44:36

Well, I've thought, yeah.

Darren: 00:44:37

What would make being on the desert island bearable?

Marc: 00:44:39

I was gonna say, you can only take three movies to a desert island. What are they? We kind of touched on that before, but we kind of glazed over it.

Darren: 00:44:45

You want long ones. Samurai. We'd have to be there three hours.

Marc: 00:44:49

But would you not want. Really uplifting one?

Darren: 00:44:51

Yeah. Pitch Perfect. No, actually, movies where you survive on a. Yeah.

Paul: 00:44:56

Would you want Castaways?

Darren: 00:44:58

That's not like a How to one one. You want one that. Where it's like, this is. This would work. I have no idea what movie.

Paul: 00:45:05

Are you not taking your three favorite films, then?

Darren: 00:45:07

No, that changes all the time now. I get sick to death.

Paul: 00:45:10

That's my problem. Well, I suppose whichever three films you took, you'd have.

Darren: 00:45:13

I'd Want something with a little bit of nudity, you know?

Paul: 00:45:17

So one of them is X rated then.

Marc: 00:45:19

Yeah, well, he's a big Ryan Gosling fan, so there you go.

Darren: 00:45:22

Love and Other Drugs with Anne Hathaway. Highly recommended.

Paul: 00:45:25

What about you, Matt? What are you taking?

Marc: 00:45:27

Probably just. Yeah, movies that I'd never got bored of watching.

Paul: 00:45:29

Like Back to Back to the Future. Yeah, that'd have to be in the mix.

Marc: 00:45:32

But anyway, I'm not interested what you guys think. I'm interested in what the listeners think.

Paul: 00:45:34

So to hell with us.

Marc: 00:45:36

That is this week's question of the week. You can take three movies to a desert island. What you're gonna take. So you can email us.

Hello, moviesinutshell.com or the links to our socials are in the show notes and I'll look forward to see what you guys have to tell us. Okay, that takes us on to next week's movie which is gonna be Darren.

Darren: 00:45:54

Oh, God.

Marc: 00:45:55

But before you do that.

Paul: 00:45:56

Oh, yep. That was very Chris Taryn of you. But we don't want to give you that.

Marc: 00:45:59

It's November. This is the first November episode. Therefore the listener choice is now open.

Paul: 00:46:04

Oh.

Marc: 00:46:05

As people listen to this right now, if you go into our socials, there will be a it is open requests. You can go onto our socials, click a box, give us a movie that you want us to break down.

So you could either be your favorite movie or a movie that you've never heard of and you want our opinion on it to help you decide. If it's for you. We can do all of that you've got. So today's Tuesday when this is going out.

So you've got until the end of tomorrow, Wednesday when you listen to this to get your question. If you listen to this three years down the line. Oh, well, just skip on to the next episode, find out what it is.

Paul: 00:46:31

Someone asked, someone asked me the other day, they said you should do this film. And I said you have to vote out on the thing.

Darren: 00:46:36

Yeah.

Marc: 00:46:36

You have to put your request in.

Paul: 00:46:37

You have to put it in and get it on the wheel.

Marc: 00:46:39

Yeah, I get it all the time. The request is open now so you can get your choice in. So it'll be in our socials. If you want to email us, you can email us.

Hello, Movies in a nutshell dot com. You can do it the old school way. Find out. We had a record 27 last time so I'm not going to read them out anymore. It's too many, it takes too long.

Paul: 00:46:54

It's exciting.

Marc: 00:46:55

Bit I'll put them in the show and also people can see what they were. Okay. And then we'll do the wheel still when the time comes. So basically people have.

Darren: 00:47:01

Have.

Marc: 00:47:01

When this episode goes out, they have 48 hours to get their movies in. And on the Wednesday, it will be a timer counting down the last 24 hours, which is usually when we get the most in.

Well, there's a time when you put a timer on things. People. People start putting them in, so it works well. There we go, Darren. So what have you got for us? Where are we going?

Darren: 00:47:16

I've still got like a short list of movies I want to go through and I've been trying to think of one that's got a better female character because I feel like we've had. Well, this was a very boy film and the last few ones felt like they were very boy, like Hudson Cork. Hudson Hawke was as well.

Running man had a good female kind of co. Lead, but on the whole they weren't good.

And I've got a couple of shortlisted movies, but then I stupidly mentioned Romance in the Stone in this episode and was like, I want to watch Romance in the Stone again. And that's Kathleen Turner and that's her kind of hero's journey kind of growth from one version of herself to a different version.

In fact, it may even have the same kind of themes as a person going on a quest to evolve, I guess.

Paul: 00:47:57

So we're going further down the Robert Zemeckis rabbit.

Darren: 00:47:59

Yeah. So it's still Robert Zemeckis. It's one of his earlier films, obviously, that, as we were saying, just after Used Cars and just before.

Before Back to the Future.

Paul: 00:48:08

Yeah.

Darren: 00:48:09

Have you seen Romance in the Stone?

Marc: 00:48:10

No, I've not. I know of it.

Darren: 00:48:11

anny DeVito, Kathleen Turner.: 1980

Marc: 00:48:18

The Future was what, 85?

Darren: 00:48:20

Yep. So I'd be before then. Sweet.

Paul: 00:48:22

83.

Marc: 00:48:22

You see it, Paul?

Paul: 00:48:23

I have not for a while, though. I look forward to.

Marc: 00:48:25

You own it.

Paul: 00:48:26

I may do on DVD with the Jewel of the Nile, which is the sequel, which I've. Oh, is it not seen yet?

Darren: 00:48:31

There's also a third which is also relevant. This is also maybe why it was on my mind is there's not a third in this.

In this series, but there's a movie called War the Roses that has exactly the same character.

Paul: 00:48:43

Yes.

Darren: 00:48:43

Who could believe would be these characters a little bit older? And there's now a movie out, which is a remake of War of the.

Paul: 00:48:50

Roses with Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman.

Marc: 00:48:56

I look forward to watching that. It's kind of on my list of things. It's a well regarded film and it's kind of a classic. I've always wanted to watch that. So there we go.

Next week's movie is Romancing the Stone. Okay, this episode is officially over. This is Mark saying goodbye.

Darren: 00:49:09

And down saying goodbye for now.

Paul: 00:49:10

Tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide will bring? Stop laughing at me. End it with a.