The Dog Stars(2026) - Cinema Social Special

Darren: 00:00:00

Like it means both loneliness and hope.

Or they just heard Keanu Reeves band.

I was like, that's fucking lush.

Let's just call it.

Marc: 00:00:07

That's a great name.

Darren: 00:00:08

I don't like those movies, but I get why they exist.

Paul: 00:00:11

I like Bad boys.

That sounded wrong.

Darren: 00:00:14

It sounded so cool.

Marc: 00:00:16

That is the intro.

Hello and welcome to Movies in a Nutshell.

Darren: 00:00:30

With me, Marc Farquhar, myself, Darren Horn.

Paul: 00:00:32

And I, Paul Day.

Marc: 00:00:33

Here's why you should tune in every week.

Darren: 00:00:35

We help you make better movie choices on films you haven't seen with quick spoiler free breakdowns to help you decide if they're your kind of movie.

Paul: 00:00:42

And we help you get more from the movies you have seen with things you missed and details you probably didn't notice.

Marc: 00:00:47

Plus there's movie facts, trivia and behind the scenes stories.

Paul: 00:00:50

There's also your chance to choose the movie.

Marc: 00:00:52

So grab some popcorn and let's crack open this week's movie.

Here we are.

Dog Stars: 2026

This one was chosen by us.

Paul: 00:01:02

Is it not the Dog Stars?

Marc: 00:01:04

Yeah, it is the Dog Stars.

Did I not say that?

Paul: 00:01:06

No, you said Dog Stars.

Marc: 00:01:07

Is it the Dog Stars?

Paul: 00:01:07

Just in case there's another film called Dog Stars?

Marc: 00:01:09

Probably.

There might be.

It's hard to come up with anything that in this day and age that hasn't been done before.

Darren: 00:01:13

It's very random title, Keanu's Band.

Paul: 00:01:16

Ah, Dog Star.

Marc: 00:01:17

Okay, so let's begin with the nutshell.

Who here is best qualified to give this movie in a Nutshell?

Darren: 00:01:23

Well, it's just a post apocalyptic movie where loads of people have died from flu.

And it's about the survivors.

Marc: 00:01:28

Yes, pretty much, yeah.

Directed by Ridley Scott.

Paul: 00:01:30

Yes.

Darren: 00:01:31

It's a story we have seen 7,000 times before.

Marc: 00:01:34

Yes.

Darren: 00:01:35

Every episode of the seven seasons of Walking Dead.

Speaker D: 00:01:38

Yeah.

Paul: 00:01:38

Is there not more than that?

Darren: 00:01:39

I have no idea.

I haven't seen Walking Dead.

Marc: 00:01:41

In that case then, let's start with films that could be compared to.

Darren: 00:01:44

Okay, I got 28 days later, the Road, the Book of Eli and the Walking Dead.

Paul Go.

Paul: 00:01:50

I am Legend.

Darren: 00:01:51

Oh, nice.

Paul: 00:01:51

That's all I've got.

Marc: 00:01:52

I'd leave Leave the world behind.

That in there?

Yeah.

The road and 28th day.

I haven't seen the Road, but it's a bleak, bleak.

Darren: 00:01:58

I read the book as well.

Written in a really strange style.

I've got no way to explain what I mean other than that's what it is.

Marc: 00:02:05

So I haven't seen 28 days later or the Road, but reading the synopsis for Them and like, people's thoughts on them.

I've come at The Road meets 28 Days Later.

Darren: 00:02:13

Yeah.

Post Apocalypse.

Paul: 00:02:15

I've thought of another couple, maybe Resident Evil to a certain point, but there's.

Marc: 00:02:20

That many of them.

Paul: 00:02:20

I don't know which one you compare it to.

Marc: 00:02:22

I haven't played.

Only played the game.

Yes.

There's a similar theme to that.

Like you were kind of on your own and you don't know what you're going to come up against sort of thing.

Darren: 00:02:28

But this isn't.

This also isn't a horror, really.

Marc: 00:02:30

Not really, no.

Darren: 00:02:32

It's more of a thriller, I guess.

Marc: 00:02:34

Apocalypse.

It's a viral drama.

Paul: 00:02:36

It's.

Marc: 00:02:36

Is it science fiction?

Darren: 00:02:37

No, because they die of flu.

Marc: 00:02:38

Yeah.

There's definitely a bit of mystery about it.

It's very atmospheric.

Paul: 00:02:41

There's one called Children Of Men with.

Marc: 00:02:43

I know the name.

Paul: 00:02:44

Clive Owen.

Darren: 00:02:44

Yeah.

Paul: 00:02:45

That's kind of a bit of a poster.

Darren: 00:02:46

Yeah.

That's pretty cool.

And that's a good example because it's just people being idiots for the dumbest reason.

And the reason in that is people aren't having children anymore.

All right, let's all turn against each other and kill.

Who's left then, shall we?

More ones?

Paul: 00:02:58

Yeah.

Marc: 00:03:00

I had written.

It's tense, it's bleak, slow burning in places and it's suspenseful.

Paul: 00:03:04

From what you've just said, that almost matches that other slow, bleak one we went to see at the cinema, which is.

Just popped into my head with Mark Hamill and a megaphone.

Marc: 00:03:12

The longest.

Paul: 00:03:12

The longest walk thing.

That was a bit true.

Post apocalyptic as well.

And that was bleak.

Darren: 00:03:17

Yeah.

Marc: 00:03:17

So obviously it's about people learning to survive or we join them sort of surviving when we don't.

You don't really know what's gone on.

You just join the journey of them beginning to survive and trying to work out who they can trust.

Paul: 00:03:28

So what we've got in terms of characters, we've got.

Marc: 00:03:29

So the main character.

Remind me.

Paul: 00:03:32

We don't want to give it away.

Yes.

Darren: 00:03:34

Played by Jacob Elordi.

And then you've got Seema C I M A, which is Margaret Quiley, which I believe is Andrew McDowell's daughter's daughter.

Paul: 00:03:43

And I think she's married Jack Antonoff.

Is she?

Darren: 00:03:46

I don't know.

You've just broken my heart that she's married.

Paul: 00:03:48

I feel like she's married to Jack Antonoff, who works for Taylor Swift a lot.

Darren: 00:03:51

I don't know why, but I feel like she should be married to Dennis Quaid's Kids.

Paul: 00:03:58

That's very random.

Darren: 00:03:59

It just feels like a match somehow.

They should be together.

Marc: 00:04:01

Thomas Brolin.

Darren: 00:04:02

Josh.

Yes, Josh Brolin.

Marc: 00:04:03

Josh Brolin, sorry.

Darren: 00:04:04

Plays Banglade.

And then you've got Guy Pierce, which I haven't seen in the movie.

Marc: 00:04:07

Just thinking some time, I was like, what was the last film?

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

Paul: 00:04:12

That was a few decades ago.

Darren: 00:04:14

He is part of the Neighbors alum.

No.

Was he homing away on Neighbors?

Marc: 00:04:17

He was Neighbors along with.

Darren: 00:04:19

Who else?

We got Kylie Minogue, Margot Robbie, Jason Donovan.

Paul: 00:04:22

Anyone?

Australians Been Delta Goodrum.

Darren: 00:04:26

Why do people not make it out of EastEnders?

Marc: 00:04:28

Some people have made it back.

What's his face?

Get out of my pub.

Paul: 00:04:31

Danny Dyer.

Marc: 00:04:32

Danny Dyer, yeah.

Darren: 00:04:33

Yeah.

Marc: 00:04:33

Because he didn't used to be in the eastenders.

Paul: 00:04:35

Is he back again?

Marc: 00:04:36

He's just like.

He never.

When he first went into it, he wasn't an actor in EastEnders who went off to be an actor in Hollywood.

He's an actor in Hollywood who just decided to do EastEnders.

Everyone's like, what?

Darren: 00:04:45

Also Alison Janey, who plays Darlene, I just want to give her a shout out because she's also in West Wing and she's also in some kind of cool movie where she's like a disgruntled grandmother.

She's like Taken, but her version.

Marc: 00:04:57

So it's a good cast.

This is a good cast.

Oh, it's a strong cast.

Yeah, very strong.

Anything else for the Nutshell?

Paul: 00:05:02

And of course directed by Ridley Scott.

We can't pass that.

Darren: 00:05:05

Ridley Scott, famous for the Hovis Bread advert where he yeets the bike on the hill.

Paul: 00:05:10

That's his biggest hit.

Marc: 00:05:12

That's what he's known for.

Top of the list.

Darren: 00:05:14

Blade Runner, Martian, Thelma and Louise, Alien, Black Hawk Down, Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven.

And what's weird is he's a hit and miss director because I could easily list the same amount of films and they're shit.

Gladiator 2, Exodus, gods and Kings, his version of Robin Hood.

Black Red Pain.

I like it, but it's not good.

Paul: 00:05:33

His version of Robin Hood.

The first time I watched it, I hated it.

Darren: 00:05:36

And then you never watched it again.

Paul: 00:05:39

I gave it.

That was almost it.

But then I did give it a go when I thrifted it on Blu Ray for a quid.

Darren: 00:05:44

I can't be having Russell Crowe coming over here and playing womanhood.

Paul: 00:05:48

Like I just comes over here.

Darren: 00:05:50

Yeah.

Paul: 00:05:50

He plays our character.

Darren: 00:05:51

Then they watch Legend of Robin Hood.

Guess who that's played by?

Or Death of Womanhood, rather.

Paul: 00:05:55

Oh, yeah.

Darren: 00:05:55

Hugh Jackman.

Bloody Australians coming over.

Do we go and play?

Okay.

Yeah.

Tom Hardy was Mad Max.

Marc: 00:06:01

Yes.

Kevin Costner.

What do you mean he's not English either?

Paul: 00:06:06

He's the most English Robin Hood we've ever.

Darren: 00:06:09

His accent was very convincing.

Mark.

Not sure what Robin Hood you watched.

Marc: 00:06:13

So it's hard to give too much away.

It's post apocalyptic.

People are surviving.

We can't really say much more than that, can we?

Darren: 00:06:18

No, we can't.

No.

Paul: 00:06:19

All I can say is in terms of this.

No, I don't want to give anything away in Spoilerville.

It's a Pokemon post apocalyptic survival, survival story.

Marc: 00:06:28

Yeah.

It's tense, it's a bit bleak.

And we've listed the movies it could be compared to, so give you a feel for it.

Okay, let's move on to part two, the unboxing.

So spoiler warning ahead.

From this point forward, there is going to be spoilers.

So if you haven't seen the Dark stars and you listen to this as this comes out, it might still be in some cinemas.

But if you listen to it two years down the line and you haven't watched it and you feel like you should then go do so and come back because we're gonna have some spoilers.

Okay, what did you miss?

I'm gonna go to Mr. H first.

Did you.

What have you got?

Paul: 00:06:57

Have you got anything Spoilers if we can remember them?

It's a couple of weeks since we went towards.

Marc: 00:07:01

Yeah, it is.

Darren: 00:07:01

Well, when I was watching it, I was like, oh, there's nothing going on in this.

And this is kind of dull now.

And I've seen every one of these cliches in any other post apocalyptic movie.

But then it kind of something clicked in me and it was.

There's kind of two elements.

One is just how heartbreaking it is that we just can't trust other human beings.

Paul: 00:07:18

They're the worst.

Marc: 00:07:18

When we.

When things become scarce, resource, resources become scarce, we become very insular and untrustworthy and selfish.

Darren: 00:07:25

And it was kind of heartbreaking to watch the.

Like, Josh Brolin's character is banging this response and just being like, no, anyone comes near us, we kill him.

Like, that's it.

That's it.

That's how we survive.

But then later on in the movie, I kind of agreed with him.

I was like, yeah, you got to if you got something.

Marc: 00:07:37

Actually, the bits where he's snipering people reminded me of the Long walk.

Paul: 00:07:41

Yeah, he's just taking them out straight.

Marc: 00:07:43

Too far gone.

Darren: 00:07:44

Totally.

But so what occurred to me is like, wait so you've got a fairly good life and you're alive.

So you're alive in a world where there's an apocalypse, which is total blessing, but it's not enough.

Marc: 00:07:54

Well, you think about it though, anyone that came near them, they weren't trying to make contact.

They were literally.

You could tell by them, they were just scavengers just going to just take whatever, whatever they could.

So what are you going to do?

You can let them come out.

You're going to come?

Darren: 00:08:03

Yeah, sure.

But they might not know there was anyone alive.

But you just, you don't know, do you?

But then you are literally based not on what people look like.

So it almost becomes a race thing because later on, when Jacob Elordi's character here finds another group, he doesn't kill him straight away.

I know he was saying earlier that.

Paul: 00:08:17

One of them, Margaret, and she's lovely,.

Darren: 00:08:19

So they look pretty.

So I, I think they're going to be okay.

They look friendly.

Paul: 00:08:23

She probably did that lip bike thing that she does that's so adorable.

And he was like, yeah, I can't kill her.

Far too adorable.

Darren: 00:08:29

But then it's a whole.

He didn't want to be treated the way he'd been treating other people, you know, so hopefully they won't kill me.

But anyway, the point I was going to get to is he has this thing like, oh, I need to get out of here.

I'm going to go like, there's a call on the radio.

There's better, there's better ways of living.

And Josh Ronnie's another fucking.

Isn't like it's not the grass is always greener.

And then I read this when I was going through like a self help thing.

And I think it was the book the Alchemist, but it might have been something else.

It's one of those stories where there's like a mole.

So I guess it's a parable or something.

And the whole thing is this guy goes on a journ, seeking whatever it is, like wisdom or riches, whatever.

And then he realizes by the end of the book that it's back where he left.

And then he goes back and I think, I'm fairly sure he goes back to being a shepherd in the Alchemist.

And then he trips and he basically falls over.

Hidden treasure.

But it was at home the whole time.

And I think there's like a lesson in there for us in the, like, the call is coming from inside the house.

It's, you've got to do the inner work.

The solution isn't out there isn't in some.

Paul: 00:09:23

Never focused on now, always looking to the horizon.

That's it.

Darren: 00:09:28

And that's what they're doing.

And I think.

And it was quite nice.

He goes on this journey and then he realizes that actually it was pretty good where he was with a few modifications.

Marc: 00:09:36

And I think that's about perspective, isn't it?

Darren: 00:09:38

Yeah.

Like we've talked before when we did the beach episode that I went to Southeast Asia and I was really struggling with mental health at that period in my life.

It was like late teens, early 20s.

But then I was just a depressed guy on a beach in Thailand.

Marc: 00:09:49

It didn't change your perspective or your mentality, not at all.

Darren: 00:09:53

It's like you can't escape it.

You've got to sit with yourself and work on who you are and stuff.

Paul: 00:09:57

It's often wonder that with holidays, because holidays can be nice, can't they?

But if you're not in a good headspace, you're doing exactly what you just said and then people somewhere else and people escape and even if that week's really good, like, oh, we've escaped and we've gone wherever for a week, they then still come back and the life is still.

Marc: 00:10:13

It's the same.

Paul: 00:10:13

The same problems are there and all right, they've had this kind of respite from it, but like you say, if you're not dealing with them bit.

So, yeah, it's a good message that maybe it's actually on your doorstep the whole time.

Darren: 00:10:23

That's why I get a little bit irritated with the wellness community and things like meditation, because it's, oh, you know, going to go to a retreat on this beach or this forest and I'm going to do this meditation.

It's going to be really deep and I'm going to build my resilience.

Say, no, you've got to be able to do that on the go.

You've got to be able to do it at work or be mindful in the car.

You know, you got to do it under fire, otherwise what's the point in doing it?

Like anyone can relax on the fucking beach.

Got to be able to calm yourself.

Marc: 00:10:48

It's like Jordan Peterson's book.

Have you read that?

Darren: 00:10:50

No, I haven't, but.

Marc: 00:10:51

No, but the first rule is clean your room, which is basically there's all this stuff you can do, but you're not going to do at all or efficiently if you haven't sort yourself out.

Paul: 00:10:58

You have to get through a whole chapter on lobsters before you get to, oh, yeah, but.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Marc: 00:11:02

So it's one of the early chapters is like, you've got to sort yourself out before you can start.

Darren: 00:11:06

And also having a messy room triggers for a lot of people, like an underlying anxiety because it's like you're in a threatening, untidy environment.

Marc: 00:11:13

Yes.

Darren: 00:11:14

And if it's clean, your body, your nervous system will relax.

Marc: 00:11:18

It reminded me of Limitless.

Yeah.

Paul: 00:11:20

Oh, Bradley Cooper.

Marc: 00:11:21

Yeah.

Yeah.

So when he first gets a clarity, what's the first thing he does when he goes back to his flat?

Paul: 00:11:25

Cleans everything.

Marc: 00:11:25

Everything clean, perfect.

Everything ordered.

And he takes over the world.

Darren: 00:11:28

Yeah.

Paul: 00:11:29

But I. I'm that tidy all the time and I still haven't taken off the world, so I don't understand what's going on.

Marc: 00:11:34

So there's a good metaphor in there of like, that was the first step.

One was just sort himself out.

That was him sorting himself out.

And then he just.

Then he went forward.

Darren: 00:11:40

Absolutely.

And that's a common.

I think I've talked about this before as well, but the old show 24 in between season one, season two, I think at the very opening of season two, he's like be draggled and he's got like a beard and stuff.

Paul: 00:11:52

He does.

Darren: 00:11:53

And then he gets called into action.

Paul: 00:11:54

Try to ring Kim and Kim's house.

Let's not go into this because I'm going to go into.

Darren: 00:11:59

But the first thing he.

He does, he's like.

He sorts his out, you know, he shaves and washes.

Marc: 00:12:03

That's a common metaphor, isn't it?

Someone like totally disheveled and overgrown and unkempt,.

Paul: 00:12:10

You're letting in Jack Bauer.

Good times.

Darren: 00:12:13

So.

Yeah.

And so then it becomes a story of trust and knowing how, even just how to communicate with human beings, how to be vulnerable.

That's the other thing I think comes about, is it to build a community, you have to be vulnerable.

And it's not until he and Seema kind of open up to each other and he's like, look, here's my pain.

My wife died and actually I killed my wife to put her out of her misery.

And it hurts.

And then my dog died.

And that was even worse than my dad.

My wife died.

Paul: 00:12:37

Yeah.

Darren: 00:12:38

And the whole dog dying thing, like, it's apparently in the book, he dies of old age, so it's a bit harsher in this.

But that's the last bit of hope that goes for him.

The only.

The last reason for him to go on living was that dog.

Paul: 00:12:49

What is it with dogs in this film?

In the film to see thing that's.

Marc: 00:12:52

That dog is more than just his dog.

It's like.

It's his connection to the past.

Darren: 00:12:56

Yeah.

Marc: 00:12:56

And it's his probably only connection to anything that can trust.

Yeah.

Nothing else you can trust in the world.

Darren: 00:13:00

I'm not totally sure I would have forgiven Banglade for that.

Marc: 00:13:03

That did kind of get glossed over.

That didn't.

It didn't really.

Because it was his fault.

Darren: 00:13:06

Yeah.

100%.

He's fool.

He's trying to teach him a lesson.

Marc: 00:13:08

So.

Darren: 00:13:09

Yeah.

It made me think of the Alchemist, if I'm remembering that correctly.

And it just made me reflect on who I'm.

It's that whole thing.

Oh, I would.

I would just be happy if so.

Oh, I would just be happy if I can find a community and there's more people to talk to.

I would just be happy if I can find a farm or I could just be happy if I find a secure bunker.

It's.

That's not how it works.

Sadly.

It's.

Then there's so many examples.

There's Viktor Frankl' book Man Search and Meaning, and he was a psychiatrist who was in.

A psychologist and he was in the concentration camps.

And he was like, you know, some of us were happy and we would laugh.

Once you adapt to a piece of bread a day, sleeping on the slats of a bunk bed and you knew which guards were going to hurt you, you knew which ones were going to be kind to you and you got on with your day.

Unless you didn't have a reason to live.

And he's like.

And you could see it when it happened with people and they would just shut down and give up.

They had no reason to.

No meaning in their life.

Which is the other thing this made me think about is what do you do in the apocalypse?

You know, 28 days later, the soldiers turn into raping pedophiles.

After 28 days later, just init.

Marc: 00:14:02

Survive.

Darren: 00:14:03

Yeah.

But then you're surviving just for survival's sake.

Paul: 00:14:05

And that's why in this film, I suppose it has that scene at the end where they're having a bit of a party.

Darren: 00:14:10

Yeah.

Paul: 00:14:10

And Josh Brolin's joining in on the guitar.

It's like, oh, okay.

So there's purpose, there's community, community, hope, family and enjoyment of it.

Marc: 00:14:19

The hope is maybe this humanity can survive this and maybe sort of kind of start regenerating.

Yeah.

Paul: 00:14:23

Because if you comparison that to him, just taking enough people as they try to break in, that's survival for survival.

Darren: 00:14:28

Say, like, you Said they've also got kids.

So, yeah, they've got hope in that setting.

But also it's weird because, like, DAR community is more toxic, but they've got the right idea.

They're like, you only come in if you bring value.

And I'm sure you guys have all spent quite a considerable amount of time working out who your apocalypse team would be in the past.

Paul: 00:14:45

Well, you've always said I'm not strong enough to be on your apocalypse team, Darren.

Darren: 00:14:48

I know.

And then I. I think I've rejected myself now because.

Oh, no, that was when I had the MMA studio and I was expiring.

That's right now.

Not so much.

I'm 50.

I bring nothing to the table.

Paul: 00:14:59

I'm still taking you on as my leader in my apocalypse team.

I feel like you've still got enough zombie apocalypse knowledge to get us through.

Darren: 00:15:06

I don't want to be the grand vizier, like, the second in command, like the advisor to the thug or something.

Okay, that'd be me.

Paul: 00:15:12

Grand visier.

We'll get you a power.

Darren: 00:15:13

But her thing is, like, you know, there's only a certain amount of food you've got to pay your way.

We don't need laborers so off, but we'll take a doctor.

And, you know, at the end, they.

They kind of should have the same thing.

Like, those kids need to be given different skills.

They need to make a community.

Marc: 00:15:26

Not forced at gunpoint, though.

No, as in just let everyone focus on everyone's strengths, and that's how you're going to grow.

Darren: 00:15:31

Yeah, exactly.

But we should also be living like that.

We should be living in communities of, like 150 or so where we.

Like, I had this recently where I got these, like, they look antique chairs, but not really antique.

And one of them broke, and my friend was around.

I was, oh, can you give me a hand fixing this?

I'm just going to super glue it.

I don't super glue it.

That's awful.

Like, you need to get clamps and push the arms together and stuff like that.

And I was like, dude, I'm not going to do that.

It's taking me three weeks to get to this stage.

And he was like, well, I'm taking it with me.

And he.

So he just took it and took it around our friend Chris.

And Chris loves that kind of stuff.

And he just turned up, was like, hey, Darren needs us to fix this.

And he was like, no worries.

Fix it in about five minutes.

And he had, like, tension things that go around the chair and hold together.

He had actual wood glue.

Not like his daughter's super glue.

That was Pritt Stick.

Whatever I was going to use.

But the point is like him fixing that was like no mental load or stress.

And yet for me it would be.

It was big enough that it was on my to do list for a long time.

That's the communities we're supposed to be living in.

We're supposed to.

I'm supposed to garden.

You're supposed to be the doctor to look after us.

You're supposed to be fixing the machinery.

Speaker D: 00:16:33

Yeah.

Paul: 00:16:33

We've become too big in that sense.

So now it's all this big corporate wheel.

And we can't operate without the big corporate wheel.

But like you say, if it smaller.

Darren: 00:16:40

Yeah.

Paul: 00:16:40

And everyone's doing their own little piece of it.

Marc: 00:16:42

Maybe everything's like more people, more problems.

Darren: 00:16:45

Yeah.

Marc: 00:16:46

More money, more problems.

Paul: 00:16:47

Matrix was right when it said: 1999

Darren: 00:16:50

That certainly feels that way.

Paul: 00:16:51

Yeah.

Didn't they say what height of human civilization or something?

I keep thinking about that line recently where it's a term flick of it.

Darren: 00:16:58

I don't think it was at the height because they didn't they create like a paradise, but they realized humans distrust.

Paul: 00:17:05

That's right.

So they brought it back to.

Darren: 00:17:07

Yeah, you need a different pain and struggle to have life and meaning in your life.

So yeah, that was my main takeaways.

Oh, and Dog Star.

The first time I searched it, I thought it was a sun or star that had no planets.

So it was like a lone.

Marc: 00:17:19

I was going to ask why is this called Dog Stars?

Darren: 00:17:21

Sirius is the brightest.

It's called the Dog Star and is the brightest star in the night sky.

So it could also be that like this symbol of hope in the darkness.

Marc: 00:17:28

I haven't known here about.

The stars do appear a lot in this.

There's a lot of scenes where they're looking up, up at the stars and the camera focuses on the stars because again, that's another connection to what they.

What they used to.

It's only constant still there where it was before, whereas everything else below has changed.

Darren: 00:17:42

Is that why you were thinking it might be sci fi potentially?

Yeah, it is asking kind of bigger.

Marc: 00:17:46

Questions, like a hint.

Not necessarily sci fi, but like it's all hints of it.

Yeah.

Darren: 00:17:50

The other thing I had is it felt like Darlene's community was almost like a maga cult.

Like they were just a little bit too insular and into themselves.

And so then it became.

It felt like the poor versus the rich.

And it feels like That I don't know why this perception of what Elon Musk and those guys get up to behind closed doors, but I picture drugs, this cult, like they're just too into staff.

They.

They don't really have any imagination or creativity, so they just recreate fucking tea parties, whatever the hell they were doing.

Marc: 00:18:18

They got so much money, they're ruined.

Paul: 00:18:20

Yeah, that was the podcast that got us canceled.

Who thought?

Marc: 00:18:24

But also going back to the stars thing there was the.

The very end.

It gives that recurring detail, like an emotional, emotional payoff when Haig connects Jasper to the stars.

The stars and the dog were very prominent in it.

Well, the dog obviously died, but to a point.

Paul: 00:18:37

And I suppose there's a bit of corporateness in that, isn't there, with Darlene's thing.

So the flying towards what they think is the new Mecca and the new hope.

Marc: 00:18:44

Something's going on the land and it's.

Paul: 00:18:46

Like, oh, the welcoming is in.

And then it starts to slowly get creepier and creepier.

But is that what we're living in with the corporate stuff?

Like, oh, yes, you need this and you need that.

And now we're so into that.

Marc: 00:18:57

It could have been a metaphor for.

Paul: 00:18:59

Even, like the Internet and stuff like that.

Now it's like, strip out the Internet, we're all screwed because we've become that reliant on it.

Is it going to be like that with AI, where we just become that reliant on it?

If they strip it out, they can't.

So we just.

We adapt to.

I'm thinking of thing Jimmy Carr says about hot showers, where they say, 100 years ago, hot shower wasn't even a thing.

Now it's just taken for granted.

And it does feel like that's humankind, doesn't it?

It's like I often walk past the castle where we live in the small town we live, and I think, yeah, they used to live in a castle in the bleak of winter, where like, oh, it's freezing.

And I'm thinking, what was it like in that castle in the bleak of winter?

Darren: 00:19:31

Yeah, a bit nippy.

Paul: 00:19:32

Bit nippy.

But then we get central heat and we get used to that.

We have fireplaces, we get used to that.

So, yeah, humans seem to adapt, don't they?

So then the apocalypse hit and then we almost have to go backwards a little bit.

But then do we go in the same patterns?

I don't know.

Darren: 00:19:44

And a lot of people aren't used to discomfort these days.

Really don't like discomfort.

Marc: 00:19:48

Lack of resilience.

Paul: 00:19:50

I don't myself.

Marc: 00:19:50

But you need to struggle and overcome an obstacle to a sense of achievement and actually grow and learn something.

Paul: 00:19:56

I don't think the next generation want that.

No, I don't think I want that anymore.

Marc: 00:20:00

But this, all this movie also come back to what you said earlier, is it highlights the human condition.

It both highlights the good and the bad in equal measures.

Paul: 00:20:07

Yes.

Marc: 00:20:08

So those guys were trying to survive, generally trying to live like a good living.

But obviously he was killed killing anyone that came anywhere near them.

Whereas the other guy was a bit hick, was a bit more.

It would have been a bit more forgiving.

So they kind of put their heads on that clash of personalities.

But it was working.

Darren: 00:20:19

But it is that whole, like, Bangladesh, like, why are you continuing to live?

Like, what?

That's kind of.

I think Alan Watts has this thing where I think he went to LA and it was a fitness culture period.

So people were like, oh, you know, they're doing freaking yoga and running and eating healthy.

And he's like, you know, there's no joy there.

Like, have a takeaway.

Get drunk with me.

Like, have fun.

And he's like, you know, they're eating healthy and living their life cleanly so they can keep on living longer.

But living cleanly with no fun.

It's like you're just living to live.

It's all like existing to exist.

Yeah.

There's got to be more to that in life.

Paul: 00:20:53

Shout out to Alan Watts.

He's awesome.

Darren: 00:20:55

Yeah.

Marc: 00:20:56

The other thing I picked up on was the.

The radio was another bit of a plot device on this.

It was another thing where it wasn't.

Well, it wasn't just a plot device.

It was like there was long periods of listening and static and uncertainty before anything useful.

Useful came of it.

Darren: 00:21:08

Do you think that's almost like a metaphor for God?

It's just like the radio is impressive praying, because it kind of is a prayer.

If you keep checking the radio, you're basically saying, please, someone answer me.

And it's somewhere out there in the.

Paul: 00:21:20

Way some I call answer my prayer.

Marc: 00:21:22

I don't know if necessarily God, but it certainly is a beacon of hope if you hear something, some civilization.

Because he was very curious while he was flying out there.

He was looking for things.

Whereas Thomas Brolin.

Darren: 00:21:30

Josh Brolin.

Marc: 00:21:31

Josh Brolin was happy to stay exactly where he was and just survive and carry on as normal.

Darren: 00:21:35

And he seemed quite happy.

Speaker D: 00:21:36

He did.

Marc: 00:21:37

He did.

In his own miserable way.

Paul: 00:21:39

Enjoying his misery.

Darren: 00:21:40

Yeah, he's kind of like that guy from Tram.

He was just like, delighted that it's all happened.

Marc: 00:21:44

The radio was also evident he was trying.

Obviously evidence of other people existing.

But it still became a symbol of hope and uncertainty.

Paul: 00:21:51

Yeah.

Marc: 00:21:51

Because eventually it led them to when it all went wrong.

Paul: 00:21:53

I'm thinking of even Star wars where, you know, Luke wants to go out and adventure.

And the uncle's like, no go.

And so out them power combiners and do the farm.

You know, he's pulling him back because there's too much of his father in him.

There's always one who's like, no, no, stay on Tatooine in your little farm.

It's fine, Luke.

And Luke's like, what's over there?

What's going on with the Alliance?

Because all my friends are going over there.

Yeah.

The grass isn't always gre.

You said that before, didn't you?

And I think there's a big bit of that in this film.

Marc: 00:22:17

Anything else on?

What did we miss?

Darren: 00:22:18

I don't think so.

Marc: 00:22:20

So have we surmised why we think this movie's called the Dog Stars?

Darren: 00:22:23

I suspect it's to do with either the brightest star in the night sky.

So it's the symbol of hope.

Like a community of hope.

Or it's a dog star.

If it's true that Dog Stars don't have any planets around them.

So it's a symbol of loneliness.

Or it might be the two sides of that coin.

Like it means both loneliness and hope.

Marc: 00:22:39

Interesting.

That's good.

Okay.

Darren: 00:22:40

Or they just heard Keanu Reeves band.

I was like, that's fucking lush.

Let's just call it.

Marc: 00:22:45

That's a great.

Darren: 00:22:46

Yeah.

Book by Peter Heller.

Apparently.

It's nothing like the book.

Paul: 00:22:49

Oh, interesting.

So you'd have thought maybe they'd have changed the name to make it more marketable.

Darren: 00:22:53

I don't think Ridley sort gives a fuck.

Paul: 00:22:55

There is that.

There is that.

Marc: 00:22:56

I thought it was quite an intriguing title.

It didn't sort of put me off.

Paul: 00:23:00

It just doesn't seem a match with what you kind of see.

Darren: 00:23:02

Could have just called it Another Day, Another Apocalypse, something like that.

Paul: 00:23:07

That's nice.

I like that.

Darren: 00:23:08

Because it's got these kind of brackets,.

Paul: 00:23:10

Like, Ridley doesn't give a fuck.

Marc: 00:23:12

Yeah.

Yeah.

Darren: 00:23:13

Because it's got a kind of.

What's the word I'm looking for?

Common, ordinary vibe of an apocalypse.

It's like.

It's like mundane.

It's like housework.

Paul: 00:23:20

Yeah.

And you're seeing it through one person's eyes.

A bit like Berg.

War of the Worlds where you see it all through Tom Cruise's eyes.

So you don't see all the big Independence Day stuff blowing up.

You all.

You just see it through one person.

This is like.

Because we never really see the apocalypse bit of this, do we?

Don't know what's happened through this one.

Focus.

Marc: 00:23:37

Oh, the last.

The last note I made was to do with the.

The ending.

Obviously it was a bit anticlimactic.

There wasn't.

It felt like it stopped just before there was going to be something happening.

But I was thinking maybe that is the point.

But maybe that maybe the movie was just hinting at.

That's just.

That's the life.

Like something.

Some battle will happen, then you'll conquer that and then it'll go quiet again and something else will happen.

Paul: 00:23:55

I think it was.

They got to community and it was just them finding the place within the community of this apocalypse almost.

Darren: 00:24:02

It's also weird that at the beginning they go to that community.

They keep making jokes about him being Mormons or something that worked, but they go to that community so they know they're there.

And Josh Brolin didn't want to go.

And then it feels like he kills his dog and he feels bad.

So he's ah, they should probably go to that community now.

Like it's.

Yeah, he could have just gone to that community at the beginning and everyone would have been fine.

Paul: 00:24:20

The end.

Darren: 00:24:21

Yeah.

Marc: 00:24:22

My point was though, that it's obviously they had.

They've had some battles.

There were some big battles and some small battles and then it would go quiet and then there'd be something else.

This movie could have also almost been called One Battle after Another.

Let's just make me think of that.

The way it played out or the.

Darren: 00:24:33

Grass is greener or let's just end it all and nature take over.

Marc: 00:24:38

I think that's a good way to end.

Okay, thank you, gentlemen.

That takes us perfectly into Paul's Facts of the Day.

Paul: 00:24:45

Composer Harry Gregson Williams performed all his piano parts himself in his Los Angeles studio and programmed the synthesizers there separately from the Abbey Road orchestral sessions.

So he must have done a lot of it on its own and then built in the.

But it was one of them sort of scores on it where it jumped about quite a lot.

I found one minute it was quite heavy orchestration and other times it was very ambient and trying to pull you into it.

Higgs dog Jasper was played by three different dogs.

They're all based near Rome, with each dog trained for a specific type of scene.

One for Rolling on the Grass with Jacob Elordi, one for sitting quietly and one trained for attack sequences.

And all three dogs were visually identical.

Marc: 00:25:24

Interesting.

Paul: 00:25:24

The Grand Junction airport set was built entirely on soundstages at Rom's cinnicencinity.

I'm saying that completely wrong.

Studios the largest film studio in Europe where Federico Fellini shot the majority of his film.

The screenplay for the Dog Stars was written entirely on spec by Mark L. Smith before any direction was attached and was then brought to so.

Oh, I forgot, he's a Sir Ridley Scott now, isn't he?

Marc: 00:25:48

Oh yeah.

Paul: 00:25:49

Sir Ridley Scott's Attention by Michael Prose of Scott Free Productions.

After Scott completed Gladiator 2 and was looking for a new project.

Darren: 00:25:56

I like Scott Free's logo.

It's pretty cool.

It's like a mixed media kind of tree and a bird or crow or something and it's a squawk and it's lush.

Paul: 00:26:03

I've had that for a lot of years now as well.

Darren: 00:26:05

There's a couple that I just like when they.

When it comes on, you're like, oh, I'm in good hands here.

Paul: 00:26:09

So Paul Mess Pascal, who's in Gladiator 2, I believe he was originally cast as hig, but he had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts with the quartet of biographical films about the Beatles.

Directed by Sir Sam Mendes.

Sam Mendes is a sir as well.

Darren: 00:26:23

Now.

Paul: 00:26:28

This would have been the second consecutive collaboration with Mescal and to Ridley Scott Fallen Gladiator 2, which I still haven't seen because I just disagree with the whole premise of it.

But let's leave that ramp for another day.

Darren: 00:26:38

If they're knighted, I want like Alan Moore to be united.

That you can't just have people go make a lot of movies and yeah.

Dominate Hollywood and so then they get a knighthood.

Paul: 00:26:47

Knighthood.

Darren: 00:26:48

It's not.

It's not cuz Riddy Scott's like given loads of money to charity or anything, is it?

Marc: 00:26:52

It's not.

Darren: 00:26:52

I haven't missed anything.

There's not like the Ridley Scott Cure for Cancer Foundation.

It's like, oh, you made some really good movies.

Here's a knight head.

All right.

That's the world we live.

Marc: 00:27:01

Don't know.

Paul: 00:27:02

Amazing.

Marc: 00:27:03

If anyone knows, let us know what's going on.

Paul: 00:27:05

What's going on out there.

Darren: 00:27:06

Yeah, knows school.

Paul: 00:27:09

The dog that Jacob Elordi worked with most closely was a Belgian Malinos.

Why are all these things so hard to pronounce Tonight I'm very tired.

Named Raschka.

And Elordi noted that when the dog would spontaneously run off to chase something during A scene.

Those unscripted moments were kept because they added authenticity to the footage.

Sometimes the dog ran off and Ridley just said, fuck it, leave it in.

I've got this picture of Ridley Scott now.

He's like, yeah, yeah, fuck it, that's fine.

Darren: 00:27:36

Yeah.

Paul: 00:27:37

How old is he though?

He must be.

Darren: 00:27:39

He's in his 80s.

Paul: 00:27:40

Yeah.

Marc: 00:27:40

Who is?

Wow.

Darren: 00:27:42

Yeah, sounds like Clinton.

His 90s and made a movie.

It's like, will you guys sit down?

Paul: 00:27:47

Have a day off.

Darren: 00:27:48

Leave room for the youngsters at the cinema.

Paul: 00:27:51

They just love it, clearly.

Darren: 00:27:52

Yeah.

At this point it does feel like Ridley Scott's just making movies for the free healthcare or something.

I don't know what he's doing.

Paul: 00:27:58

The movie begins with the: 1980

Marc: 00:28:04

Why?

Paul: 00:28:04

I don't know.

Doesn't say.

Probably just to set in a different time, I guess.

Higgs shows Seema what he calls the Elvis constellation in the sky.

Elvis Presley in Priscilla in: 2023

Elvis link.

Okay, one more.

This is the third collaboration between Sir Ridley Scott.

I keep saying sir now just to annoy Darren and Benedict Wong.

Darren: 00:28:25

Oh, nice.

From Riddy Scott.

Been.

Paul: 00:28:30

Yeah.

So we've got Prometheus.

Marc: 00:28:33

Is this Benedict Wong?

Darren: 00:28:34

Yeah.

Paul: 00:28:34

Oh yeah, the Martian.

Darren: 00:28:35

I forgot the Martian.

Paul: 00:28:36

He must be on land.

Darren: 00:28:38

He must be in NASA.

Speaker D: 00:28:39

Yeah, yeah.

Darren: 00:28:40

Okay.

Paul: 00:28:40

So while since I've seen it.

Darren: 00:28:41

Oh, yeah, he was.

He's one of the people who were trying to use all the parts too.

Paul: 00:28:45

Yes, that's right.

Darren: 00:28:46

Recreate what he's got on Mars.

Martian's a great movie.

Paul: 00:28:49

ot scenes in the counselor in: 2013

Marc: 00:28:54

And he was also in 15 stories high with Sean Locke, which is one of the funniest TV series I've ever seen.

Paul: 00:28:58

Oh, you told us about that a while ago.

Marc: 00:29:00

Yeah, worth checking out.

15 Stories high.

Thank you very much, Paul.

That takes us into hate it or rate it.

And I'm going to go to Paul first.

Darren: 00:29:09

Oh, hello.

Paul: 00:29:13

I'm going to use Darren's line.

I'm much like Natalie and Brulio on this one and I'm torn.

I feel like it's down the middle for me.

I feel like it was okay, but it didn't blow me away either.

I felt like there was bits in it I liked, but then there was bits in it that was a bit like I got what they were trying to do with the whole tone of it.

But I seem to remember watching the trailer and it was a very different film from the trailer, it felt like it was going to be more like a Resident Evil type thing.

And then obviously the first half of this film especially is very kind of what we said in the nutshell about it being like a day in the life of.

And sometimes I like that because I like For Sunset and Boyhood and the sort of films where it's just about life unraveling and things.

But I didn't go into expecting that.

So it was a bit like, oh, are they not going to get zombie attacked soon?

Oh no, he's going to fly to the city and get some supplies and then he's going to fly back and then we're gonna have some flashbacks with his misses who he's not with anymore.

And so it just felt dragging places.

But then it grew on me a bit.

And then obviously when he met Guy P. I like the characters that Guy Pearce and Margaret Qualy were playing.

That endeared me at the film a bit more.

And then eventually it became a different movie and it all of a sudden became like a 28 days later and everything starts kicking off and they're.

But it's like the first bit seems to build for too long before it gets to that bit.

The pace, pacing.

That's the word, isn't it?

The pacing of it felt a bit uneven.

And then when they go off jet into the weird Alison Janey land camera.

Remember what they call that?

The airport place.

Now that felt like a surreal.

Another movie within this movie.

I'll give it 5.5.

Okay.

In the sense that there was bits that I thought were quite creative.

I actually quite like some of the stuff we've discussed tonight that made me sort of think about the film a bit more like oh yeah.

But as a film experience I was a bit underwhelmed, which I hate saying because I know how much goes into.

Marc: 00:30:58

Them as you know, just want to be whelmed, don't you?

Paul: 00:31:00

I be whelmed.

And I just felt like it was missing.

I can't put my finger on what it was missing.

And I came out thinking like, yeah, it was all right, it was all right.

But I can't see myself rushing to like watch it again.

No.

Marc: 00:31:11

Yeah.

What are you, 5.5.5.

Paul: 00:31:14

I've give it up higher just because I thought the cinematography and stuff in places was nice as well.

Marc: 00:31:19

Cool.

I'll go next.

The first hour was a bit slow for me.

It was an interesting that the movie in general was quite interesting.

I like the concept.

I do love a post apocalyptic survival movie.

I obviously Definitely.

Movies have done it better than this.

It's visually.

I thought it's visually quite.

Yeah, some of the parts were really good.

The cast was really good.

I thought Guy Pearson, Thomas Brolin were fantastic.

Paul: 00:31:37

Oh, yeah.

Joshua Brolin was good as well.

Marc: 00:31:39

I really.

I keep saying Thomas Brian.

I mean, Josh Bro.

Paul: 00:31:42

Yeah.

Marc: 00:31:42

I don't know why.

I don't even know who Thomas Brolin is.

Darren: 00:31:44

I don't think it's even his dad, is it?

Marc: 00:31:46

No.

Darren: 00:31:46

Josh Brolin's dad's a famous actor.

Maybe he was approached for oh no.

Country for Old Men and they thought they'd hired him, but they accidentally hired Josh Brolin instead and they just went with it.

Marc: 00:31:57

So the first hour was slow, but I still found it quite interesting.

It didn't.

It didn't lose me.

Second, I was a bit more action, a bit faster, and it did.

Parts of it did feel like a different movie, but without really substantial end to it.

It felt like it ended without a real payoff and the final battle or without, like a big climax.

So it left me a little disappointed, underwhelmed by the end.

But then I thought, maybe that's the point.

Maybe that's just normal life after apocalypse.

Like there's something happens and then nothing happens for it.

Then something happens and nothing.

Like I said, one battle after another.

So, yeah, I did.

Overall, I did quite enjoy it.

I didn't.

I would never check the time.

I wasn't bored.

But for me, the way it ended really took this wind out of my sails for that.

So I'm going to give it a 6.2.

Paul: 00:32:37

See the ending, Weirdly, for me, I quite like the ending.

Marc: 00:32:39

I know I get the sense of community in the sense of that.

But I just wanted something epic.

Paul: 00:32:43

Yeah.

Marc: 00:32:44

I want to be, like, amazed at the end.

I was surprised even, but didn't get any of that.

Paul: 00:32:49

And Josh Brolin's dad, before I forget, James Brolin.

Speaker D: 00:32:52

That's it.

Paul: 00:32:52

And he's in stuff like Traffic and Westworld and like the original Westworld.

Darren: 00:32:56

Yeah.

Marc: 00:32:56

Okay.

Over to the horn section.

Darren: 00:32:58

The thing it was missing, Paul, is a reason to exist.

Paul: 00:33:05

Thanks, Darren.

I knew you'd.

Marc: 00:33:06

As were the people in the film.

Paul: 00:33:09

I knew you would finally tune what I was trying to express there.

Darren: 00:33:12

It was like this wasn't asked for.

It doesn't do anything.

It doesn't do anything new with the genre.

No, it doesn't say anything new.

It doesn't.

It's not characters that we like.

It's just you watch the images move for a while on the tv, and then it stops and you go home.

That's it.

Speaker D: 00:33:30

So.

Darren: 00:33:31

Yeah.

Paul: 00:33:31

Is this why we couldn't remember a lot of it?

Yeah, we all got together and said it was like.

Was it two weeks ago in the cinema?

Maybe more three weeks ago.

I mean, also, can we remember this?

Darren: 00:33:40

I watched Mark Moe's review of this today to try and help me remember this, and he says, I wrote notes as soon as I came out of the cinema because I knew I was going to forget it immediately.

Fuck.

It's the only reason I can see this existing is because Ridley Scott was bored then he's a project full through.

If he's a biography or I know something, maybe.

Paul: 00:34:03

And then someone slid him this and.

Darren: 00:34:04

He was like, you got anything to do for the next three months?

And he was like, yeah, give me.

Well, the budget was 110 million, so I'm thinking they spent about 10 million on the film.

And then Ridley Scott smoked the rest of it because.

Where's that budget gone?

110 Million.

What the.

Paul: 00:34:23

Well, they only went to the Apocalyptic City, like, once, and I thought there'd be an attack there.

Marc: 00:34:28

There's no CGI or 20 days later.

Darren: 00:34:30

Wasn't that, like.

I know, something dominant.

12 Million or probably less.

Paul: 00:34:34

Yeah.

Darren: 00:34:34

Well, no.

110 Million.

So this is just a movie to help make Americans even more paranoid and hateful of each other when their apocalypse inevitably comes.

So it's just to make it all worse, really.

So I haven't really got anything to say.

The cast are phenomenal.

Every single one of them.

Like, no notes.

Paul: 00:34:51

Yeah, because, like, phenomenal.

The film was wasted on the cast in that sense.

Darren: 00:34:54

Yeah, exactly.

And it's more, you know, Black Rain, Robin Hood, Exodus level.

Because, like, okay, you could be.

Oh, yeah.

Some of the fight scenes are good.

Yeah.

But they're shitter than Black Hawk Down.

Like, at least do it as good as, like, what you've done in the past.

And, yeah, it's kind of tense in places.

Yeah.

But it's tenser in Alien.

Oh, there's some nice scenes.

Yeah.

But there's nice dialogue scenes in Thelma and Louise.

It's.

You've really.

Scott has done every single element of this movie better somewhere else.

Paul: 00:35:21

That puts the finger on the nail of what was missing.

Speaker D: 00:35:24

Yeah.

Darren: 00:35:24

And the dialogues, dodgy.

They're talking like.

They're like.

It's almost like it's a play.

And they're doing, like, an aside to the audience to get the exposition out.

And they go, let's throw in some backstory.

And hey, let's have a conversation now.

Which we clearly would have had before, like in the first six weeks of us starting this journey.

Like, it just.

It was just dumb.

The first hour was slow.

But then I started to feel and be like, oh, yeah, there's some sad feelings and I feel sympathy and empathy and stuff.

But no, I'm never ever going to watch this movie again.

Marc: 00:35:54

I don't think I will.

Paul: 00:35:55

I won't.

Darren: 00:35:55

So purely for the acting.

And there was a dog 2.2 okay, I've spoken, I've spoken.

Paul: 00:36:03

The horn section has been laid down.

Darren: 00:36:06

But I bet Ridley Scott did say they were like, oh man, we've got this script.

Would you mind making it?

And Ridley Scott would have been like, as long as you stay the fuck away from me.

Just let me make it how I want.

Let me go to.

Did they shoot in Italy?

Is that what you're saying?

Yeah, with my family.

I'm gonna eat well, drink wine and then just play with my friends and the dog in a field and occasionally.

Marc: 00:36:28

Set off explosions because I'll have a spare hundred million to do that.

Darren: 00:36:31

Yeah, totally.

It's like we're staying five star hotels.

Marc: 00:36:34

The dog stars.

Like, is it 13.9 which puts it in 77th out of 89.

And it's just ahead of Godzilla and Bad Boys and just behind Big Trouble in China and the holiday.

Darren: 00:36:46

See, I get why God said them and Bad Boys exist.

Okay, fair enough.

I don't like those movies, but I get why they exist.

Paul: 00:36:53

I like Bad Boys.

That sounded wrong.

Darren: 00:36:57

It sounded so right.

Marc: 00:36:58

That is the intro.

So that's what we thought of the movie.

That's what we gave it.

Well, if you have an opinion, we'd like to hear it.

What did you get?

What did you rate it?

What was your score?

Send them in and we'll read them out on the show.

Show.

So episodes in our back catalog that might fit after this.

The only thing that we've done that we mentioned was leave the world behind maybe.

And the longest walk, I guess.

Yeah.

So feel free to dig in our back catalog and check out some of those episodes.

Darren: 00:37:19

Also, what was that train station thing?

Marc: 00:37:22

Train dreams.

Darren: 00:37:22

Train dreams.

Paul: 00:37:23

Yeah.

Darren: 00:37:23

That's a good call because it's about.

It is kind of about finding meaning.

Like why, why are you going to stay alive?

What's the point in still going to just exist?

Paul: 00:37:32

I did think about trying dreams when I was watching this one.

It was in the sleep slow bit and I thought, oh yeah, it's got a train.

Dreamsy sort of Thing.

And just as I'd got into that rhythm of that's what the film was going to be, that's when it's shifted into the apocalypse zombie takeover.

Weird airport bit.

Marc: 00:37:47

I'm like, yeah, okay, thank you, gentlemen.

That takes us nicely into part three, the inbox.

So before we go any further, I just want to give a shout out to Joe Lamb, Rob Walker, Scott Van Wigglesworth, Pete Pemberton, Matt McSaully, Ryan Hogarth, Helen Romanis, Ben Smith, Gary Davidson, A.D. willen and Ollie Cake.

Those are people who've been with us either since the beginning or some of them joined us recently.

But they've always commented, shared, got involved since, since they've, since they've discovered the podcast.

Like Joe Lambs, Joel Arm is day Day zero.

Darren: 00:38:19

Nice.

They are like, ow.

Oh.

What they called disciples.

Paul: 00:38:24

I thought you were going to say groupies, but no, no, you got more religious.

That's, that's fine.

Darren: 00:38:28

Which one of them's Judas?

Marc: 00:38:30

But also, if you're listening to this, you go, I listen every week.

Well, I didn't get a mention.

Then let us know.

Send us a message.

Let us know who you are, where you're listening from.

And we, we'll, we'll mention your name.

Darren: 00:38:38

To those velocipasta ladies.

But they're not deserving of being mentioned.

Marc: 00:38:44

They only have a message into, like for your benefit.

Darren: 00:38:46

I think they do it know you torture me.

Paul: 00:38:48

I, I think they deserve a mention just cuz that episode was hilarious.

Marc: 00:38:52

It was good.

It was good.

Okay, so let's have a bit of a recap on the cinema social itself.

How was it for you two?

Darren: 00:38:57

Oh, awful.

I hate people.

Paul: 00:39:00

He hates people.

Why do you drag us through these things?

I thought it was fine they were.

Darren: 00:39:04

Lovers, they're lovely people, but I just get crazy social anxiety.

Marc: 00:39:07

I enjoyed it.

Yeah, I like some of the people I've not really spoken, I've spoke to online, but the only time I get to speak to them in person is at the cinema social song.

It gives us a reason to do that, and I feel like it strengthens our relationship with people who are generally found to the show.

Darren: 00:39:21

It was nice to have a lady come along so she could be the Smurf.

Speaker D: 00:39:24

Yes.

Darren: 00:39:24

To our Smurfs, the Black Widow.

To our Avengers, the Amy to our A team.

Marc: 00:39:29

Yeah.

Paul: 00:39:29

You did that all off the top of your head.

That was impressive.

Marc: 00:39:32

That was good.

Darren: 00:39:33

I was proud of Amy.

To our A team.

As I was going through it, I was like, I'm sure there was one in The A team.

What was her name?

And literally my brain was like, it's Amy.

Just as I needed to say it was Amy.

Right.

Paul: 00:39:43

I just felt like they needed to know that you literally did that off.

Darren: 00:39:45

I'm sure it was Amy.

Paul: 00:39:46

I think.

Keep moving.

Darren: 00:39:47

Yeah.

Like Face would always flirt with her.

Paul: 00:39:49

Well, Face float with everyone, didn't he?

Darren: 00:39:50

He did.

Paul: 00:39:51

Sorry, we've gone off on an 18.

Marc: 00:39:53

I asked everyone to send in a message or a voicemail on what they thought.

Speaker D: 00:39:57

Rob.

Marc: 00:39:57

Well, we've got quite a few messages.

Paul: 00:39:58

Okay.

Marc: 00:39:59

Rob Hancock actually sent us in voice.

Voice note.

Darren: 00:40:02

This is not as good as Hancock says.

Rob Hancock.

Marc: 00:40:07

Yeah.

Paul: 00:40:08

Hashtag.

Marc: 00:40:10

This is what Rob Hancock had to say.

Speaker D: 00:40:11

Hello there.

Dog Stars is a beautifully shot, a post apocalyptic film with some strong performances and generally touching moments.

I liked the quieter, more human side of the story and the relationships between the characters.

Although it can feel quite slow in some places and some of the story feels familiar, especially if you've seen a lot of post apocalyptic films.

Overall I enjoyed it, but it probably could have done with a little more pace.

If I had to rate the film, I would give it 6 out of 10.

Darren: 00:40:39

That's way too generous for the cinema Social.

Speaker D: 00:40:41

I really enjoy, enjoyed it.

A lot of us met up beforehand and we had some food and got a chance to have a chat before heading in to see the film.

I particularly enjoyed hearing about different films that everyone was into and seeing how varied everyone's tastes were.

Especially when it came up to the listeners choice, which I chose.

Hancock.

It didn't really fit everyone's cup of tea, but it's great listening to why people think it didn't work, what bits they did like and what wasn't interesting.

The film.

So yeah, it was a great way to get to know people before watching the film and it was quite relaxed and I would definitely go again.

So I guess I'll see you on the next one.

Marc: 00:41:21

Nice.

Paul: 00:41:21

Thanks, Rob.

Marc: 00:41:21

Thanks, Rob.

Darren: 00:41:23

All right, thanks Rob.

Thank you for your service.

Marc: 00:41:27

Thank you for your service.

Yeah, so I've got some messages now from some like written.

Written messages from some people.

So we'll start with Joe Lamb.

I enjoyed the.

He just goes straight.

I enjoyed the characters, the acting was good and the film looks fantastic.

It's just a shame there was no real story.

Slash build, slash payoff.

6 Out of 10.

Darren: 00:41:46

Why are they giving them sixes when they're.

They're like literally being like, oh, this was kind of slow and no good stuff happened in the pace.

Marc: 00:41:52

They're not you because they're not you.

That's what you do.

Like if it's mid, you think it's okay.

That's a five.

Darren: 00:41:58

Yeah, but they're talking about it like it's below mid.

Marc: 00:42:00

No, I don't think they are.

Darren: 00:42:01

The second guy will was he uses.

Marc: 00:42:03

Word like good, fantastic and 6 out of 10.

Helen Romanis on the Cinema Social she says friendly, relaxed and a great way to support local cinema and the most excellent movie podcast.

Thanks.

The dog stars she as she put a a beautifully filmed journey through grief, loss and choosing your future when your heart has been completely broken.

Reminded me of the road but without the need to rock back and forth in a corner at the end.

Sobbing.

Six out of ten knocked.

Darren: 00:42:29

Jesus.

Speaker D: 00:42:30

Wait.

Marc: 00:42:31

Six out of ten knocked a point off for the dog death and another for implying there might be zombie like creatures in the trailer.

No zombies lose a point.

Have considered adding a point back for Guy Pierce who was ruggedly beautiful though.

Good thing this isn't a voice note.

Ha.

There you go.

Another six out of ten.

Darren: 00:42:45

Nice.

Marc: 00:42:46

Yes, she was Bed Smith, another new one of our who's just moved to the area joined the crew.

Darren: 00:42:51

Didn't like Aata.

Paul: 00:42:52

Didn't like Akata.

Darren: 00:42:53

No, I didn't.

Paul: 00:42:55

That's the one you really like.

Darren: 00:42:57

Court of Throne and Roses.

Yeah, he only read the first one.

It gets really good in the second one.

Onwards.

Marc: 00:43:02

Well, maybe he will now.

Darren: 00:43:03

I gave him a talking to so.

Speaker D: 00:43:07

Okay.

Marc: 00:43:08

Ben said the Cinema Social was cool.

Enjoyed meeting a group of cinema fans and having niche nerdy conversations about all things film and physical media.

I thought the Alhambra was great.

I love the old school indie vibe and the accessible ticket price.

Big cinema chains don't have the charm and their ticket prices are at a point that they can be prohibitively expensive.

The film itself was.

Wasn't great.

The high point was the cinematography.

The scenery was stunning and but apart from that it wasn't for me.

My biggest issue was that the film didn't really know what it was trying to say.

It was a collection of post apocalyptic tropes that have all been done before and done better.

I was just counting down for the cannabis to be introduced and then they were practically.

And they were practically signposted.

Darren: 00:43:45

If the number six comes out your mouth in a minute.

Paul: 00:43:48

Wait, wait, wait.

Marc: 00:43:50

I said it on the night, but it's also the cleanest post apocalyptic film I've ever seen.

Speaker D: 00:43:54

It was.

Darren: 00:43:54

Yeah.

Marc: 00:43:55

I never really got the sense of dread or hardship that the script was trying to convey.

Perhaps due to the product placement and the seemingly endless supply of Coca Cola cold.

Overall, four out of 10.

Darren: 00:44:05

That's better.

Paul: 00:44:07

Now we're talking.

Marc: 00:44:08

That's it.

There we go.

So that's.

Paul: 00:44:10

That's very good.

Thanks, everyone.

Marc: 00:44:11

Yeah, thanks for your feedback.

The majority of people were around about five or six out of ten.

So Darren is wrong.

Darren: 00:44:17

I'm comfortable with it.

Marc: 00:44:18

No one is wrong.

Because it's all about our opinions.

Paul: 00:44:19

Darren was wrong when he said Jurassic park was mid.

Darren was wrong when he said Ghostbusters was shit.

Marc: 00:44:25

Here we go.

Here we go.

Paul: 00:44:26

I feel he may have been all right on this one.

You know, I can.

I can comfortably back him with what he's saying on this one.

Darren: 00:44:32

Yeah, because it's not a beloved film from your childhood.

Speaker D: 00:44:35

Correct.

Darren: 00:44:35

Correct.

Paul: 00:44:36

I have to draw a line somewhere.

Marc: 00:44:38

Right.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

That takes us on to next week's movie, which is over 2 me.

Paul: 00:44:45

Oh, I thought you're gonna point me then.

And I had a slight small panic attack.

Marc: 00:44:50

Might do that next time.

Yes.

It feel like September was lesser known movies without us really intentionally doing that.

So I'm gonna start October with something a bit more box office.

Paul: 00:45:00

Okay.

Marc: 00:45:00

I'm gonna go for the original Mission Impossible because I have never seen a single Mission Impossible movie.

Paul: 00:45:05

What?

Darren: 00:45:06

Who's the director of that first one?

Paul: 00:45:08

Brenda Palmer.

Darren: 00:45:08

You're kidding me.

It's Brian De Palma.

Paul: 00:45:10

No.

Darren: 00:45:10

Oh, okay.

I keep seeing things that.

That movie is shot way back.

Better than it has any right to be shot.

It's just way more beautiful, way better directed.

What would Mark know that?

But harm has done Untouchables.

Paul: 00:45:21

Yes.

Darren: 00:45:22

Snake Eyes.

Marc: 00:45:23

I really like not seen that.

Oh, probably nothing.

Paul: 00:45:26

Well, you'll see this one.

Marc: 00:45:27

I'll see this.

Yeah.

So yeah, next week's movie is Mission Impossible.

Thanks for listening.

This is the end of the show.

If you want to support us, please give us a rating, review, whatever app you're listening to, it really help us.

Okay, this episode is officially over.

This is Mark saying good goodbye.

Darren: 00:45:41

This is diamond saying goodbye for now.

Paul: 00:45:43

Is it possible to love so desperately that life is unbearable?

Darren: 00:45:47

What?

Marc: 00:45:48

I don't even remember.

Paul: 00:45:50

I've googled it to be fair.

Marc: 00:45:51

Sounds like a line I would remember.

Darren: 00:45:52

I know makes no sense now.

I'm sure it made no sense then either.