Yeah.

It's not these anti-heroes and...

I love The Sopranos, I love Breaking Bad, I love those shows.

I love these complicated figures, but I, I, I maybe there's an...

I, I'm just, I'm, I'm spit balling 'cause I just...

The reaction was just so overwhelming.

Listen, it's a, it's a charming film.

Hmm.

But I guess, I guess Zach Bryan is still, like, uh, off, living off a residual high from that.

Yeah, and listen, it's the same playbook.

It's what is the approved cause? What is the cause that everyone in your industry, uh, endorses, supports, and doesn't really give a second thought [laughs] about as far as intellectual curiosity? So they pick that, and then they shout it, and then they get a whole bunch of attaboys from their friends, and then the media trumpets it as some sort of, you know, truth teller, and they will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, and add about 16 evers, get a tough question asked about them, about their thinking.

They will never be challenged.

I don't, I don't want to attack these people as a journalist, but I'd ask them some maybe tough but fair questions about why do you think that, what about this, what about this, what about that, and just see what they say.

And when they deconstruct and d- disassemble, and when they, they ask me to go away, then, you know, or any other journalist who dares to do that, then you have your answer.

But, um, what is, what is LA, I mean, you know, Tinseltown, what are they doing to try to retain and sustain, uh, that industry there? Because as you point out in your piece in The New York Post, more and more movies are being made not in LA.

Yeah, you know, I think there have been some efforts made as far as incentives, things like that.

it is and i am i am never going to forget so there you go like that means anything so so the new tom cruise movie the new tom cruise movie could be the biggest bomb that he's ever done and and he hasn't done many of those but you're saying this is the digger it's called digger right i've seen i've seen the promo for it i'm like trying to figure it out but yeah go ahead what is it tell me about it

yeah i mean we're looking at possibly 250 million dollars lost that's pretty darn big now listen he did the mummy a few years ago that was that was a dud i could go back on his resume and see films that weren't as successful but this one just makes no sense because it's basically an art house film that has a very very very small audience we should all know that you don't need to be an expert to know that and they spent so much money, could be up to 180 million to make it.

And then you have 100 million more in marketing.

That's a big pile of money you've just thrown away.

Yeah.

A, I felt woke was dead.

Me too.

Clearly not.

Yeah, yeah

... at least on a good day.

So the movie is about how basically he thinks that Facebook and its ability to lie, and its ability to spread misinformation led the way to January 6th.

The movie comes out next weekend, not this weekend.

And, uh, Aaron Sorkin's a very talented screenwriter, but he's very politically minded.

So it, it, it looks to be a bit of a screed.

We'll have to wait and see.

Yes

They use the name of Chris Hansen, but it doesn't necessarily stick to the actual story, or does it?

You know, I don't know the whole story, the full story.

They've made it pretty clear that this isn't a beat by beat, blow by blow account of what he went through over the years.

They're admitting that there's some creative license here, and that's fine on paper for sure.

Sure.

But I think this conversation really gets twisted with this particular movie, which is opening this weekend, by the way, because we've seen movies that twist the truth and arrange things.

You know, everything we saw in Argo wasn't exactly how it went down.

But apparently they never even told Hansen they were making the movie.

Yeah.

It was, it was mostly a nothing burger.

But he's like, "No, I, I can't have that.

You can't insult my fans," blah, blah, blah.

Which she really wasn't, and she's gone.

And no one's talked about it, no one's made it a free speech issue.

Now you got Macklemore doing something much more divisive, much more corrosive, much more energetic and angry, and all, the whole world is collapsing 'cause he got kicked off the Ed Sheeran tour.

Oh, really?

So what is your prediction? Is it going to be kind of like Eddington, which was a little bit questiony, genuinely of the orthodoxy of liberal Hollywood, or is it going to be something else?

Well, I'm reading tea leaves and looking at some of the early reviews.

It was just screened for select critics, and we've gotten kind of a snapshot of what they had to say.

And it sounds heavy handed.

It sounds like everyone's saying the same thing.

It's a big swing.

And I appreciate a big swing movie where they're just trying for something big and bold, exciting, different, something novel, something radical again as a movie person who sees a million movies and they're often very quick cookie cutter i don't mind that at all i think that's great but the early notices which tend to be much more positive overall have been pretty darn negative so listen it sounds like a climate change themed movie uh some critics have said just that it's about he plays a oil tycoon uh his company creates an eco disaster and only he can save the world potentially that's kind of the rough thumbnail sketch of what we're looking at here but the early buzz is not good.

They're trying to do this deep cultural stuff and it just doesn't resonate at all.

Was that move for Paramount to Nashville, was that real? Was that a bargaining chip to try and get these states to drop their lawsuits? Yeah.

I suspect it was all of the above.

I think they were ready to do it.

I think it made sense to do it on some levels.

And it was a bargaining chip for sure.

And I think that's one of the reasons why the possible settlement here has been happening.

So, listen, Hollywood is in a weird place.

Why can't Warner Brothers find a partner that works for them?

But it is, it is very interesting and compelling and connective to hear what, you know, the next generation, uh, what they experienced.

You know, and that's why pop culture is important and why it matters, because the headlines fade, the news clips go away.

We don't see them again.

But these kind of documentaries, these stories, these films, they live on.

Tubi, Netflix, wherever you're gonna see them, you're gonna see them.

And new, new generations and new people who weren't a- alive then, who were too young then to process it, or even just forget some of the i- incredible details, they're all gonna relive it, and that's important.

You...

The things that I've been through just the last two years, you, you have to be able to find it within you to not only, uh, continue to, the show, make the show go on, but also it's cathartic for you to create humor, you know?

That movie was, it really, it was one of the movies that came right along like Guardians of the Galaxy that saved superhero movies for me because I was really getting tired of, you know, the Hulk and the, thing, and the stretchy guy, and the Spider-Man, and the, you know, I was really kind of tired of it.

Yeah, no, he came along at just the right time, and he was smart, and I don't think that he's a bad guy.

I just think it's a weird move.

And it's really weird coming from him.

You'd expect it from Marco Ruffalo.

He's going to trash America and trash the 80s.

But the movie itself does celebrate 80s culture.

I think that's the way it is still.

He'd make fun of politicians all day long.

long.But they were never mean or cruel, or you could tell that there was a purpose behind it.

The thing with late night TV now is it's always a purposeful comedy, and I use those terms loosely, comedy.

But it's, it's mean, and it's cold, and it's not riffing on something.

And listen, there's plenty of things you can make fun of Trump about.

Jimmy Fallon, who's a very funny guy, does it all the time.

And, and Trump loves him, 'cause it's not, it's not meant to take him down.

What else is going on here? I see, uh, what is, is How to, How to Rob a Bank really Hassan Piker the movie?

I, I mean, what a dark soul this woman has.

Yeah, and that's why the queen of nice shtick was so fascinating looking back in retrospect.

This is...

I mean, listen, I could disagree with her politics.

I don't care.

I'm a grown-up.

I can, I can have different debates.

I know you are.

[laughs]

It's amazing.

You know, it's actually been a really...

I'm, I'm glad she's here and I'm glad she's doing lots of news interviews because it is exposing all these different journalists who talk to her and sit there with a smug look on their face, or they don't fact-check her, or they don't say, "Excuse me, Ms. O'Donnell, you just said this.

I don't think there's any basis in reality.

Can you maybe back that up a little bit?" They just sit there nodding along and absolutely destroying their own credibility while she goes cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

It's amazing.

I don't know.

allison camarada on the cnn news desk um over uh uh out doing julia roberts and talking uh and this isn't that the thrust of mandates and people not being able to see their dying relatives in the senate and they're giggling about brad pitt being nominated for a daytime emmy for his portrayal of fauci and and how much of an honor that was and do you want to accept the daytime emmy when he wins it with him and All this giddy nonsense at this at the same time that Fauci and those collaborators, those covid and collaborators were like materially decimating people's lives.

Well, let's not forget that I think I believe it was Kimmel, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert were mocking the people who were protesting the lockdowns.

These are people who are losing their businesses, were worried about their next paycheck.

People were suffering.

And you can argue back and forth.

Maybe it's the right idea.

Maybe it's the wrong idea.

You know what I'm talking about? Megan and the Six or something like that.

Oh, my gosh

... couldn't be more damning.

I mean, this is where we are.

And the fact that there are still people out there, and I heard some news clips this week, I couldn't believe it, I think you just played a couple of them.

The fact that people still insist he was this heroic figure, I, I mean, I, you know, it's, it's one thing to, to, you know, to absorb two different news feeds, but this is two different realities.

We know more now.

We know what he was up to, and the fact that he couldn't say a word on Capitol Hill speaks volumes.

I'm not gonna watch this crap," right? But my son is a very, uh, very learned with film, and he, he loves film, and he says it's a, it's a darn good movie, so we'll see.

Tell us about this piece, please, Christian.

Yeah, you know, in the beginning, I think we all were.

On Team Fauci, you know, we were scared.

We were confused.

This man comes along with a lot of experience.

He's going to steer us in the right direction.

He's going to keep us safe.

Yeah, listen, I'm not

Exactly

... bigger issues.

You know, he's doing the, the, the, the sequels to Passion of the Christ.

You know, he's very methodical, he's very thoughtful, he's very auteur driven.

And he's not just gonna take a big check from someone and say, "Oh, I'm gonna do that." Listen, I think Elon Musk has his heart in the right place often.

I think he's a little [laughs] a tad eccentric sometimes.

Yeah

...

Yes

... over the last decade, and they're going away, and, and people are realizing that this forced diversity often leads to shoddy storytelling.

I don't know why it is.

I know, I mean, it shouldn't on paper.

The stories are the stories, but it i- is often the case.

And listen, there are, you know, Heated Rivalry is one of the biggest shows on HBO Max.

It's about a g- a couple of gay hockey players.

Christian Toto, have you heard about I Am Rocky?

Did it detract from the movie? How noticeable was it?

It's distracting for sure, but the movie is almost three hours long and there's so much there.

There's so much to enjoy, so much to savor that you really can't hold those moments against the film.

You can't listen.

Why did he cast Elliot Page? I don't know.

Uh, You know, they've worked together before.

Is it a camaraderie thing? I can't say, I can't get in his head.

Do you think that Hollywood is going to learn from that trend? Is there any evidence of that?

Uh, is there any prospect of the late night scene opening up at all, or is that industry just going away?

away?Well, I think the late night format may be just dying on its own accord.

It's just not the way we process entertainment now.

We're on YouTube.

We've got social media.

You know, the, the immediacy of late night doesn't really click.

Having said that, I think it's sort of a [laughs] there have been so many self-inflicted wounds.

How about for people, uh, looking for conservative content or at least content that's not overtly insulting to their worldview? Do you have any recommendations, maybe even studios other than The Daily Wire, of course, uh, that are under, uh, the radar that you recommend?

Yes.

Boy, I was very impressed.

Listen, you've got a couple of big names in smaller roles, Ben Kingsley, Kelsey Grammer.

Uh, they work beautifully here.

But, uh, this is a movie with stirring action scenes.

You really get to know George Washington as a young man, his flaws, his hubris, the way he grew, the way he used some of the early defeats.

I, it's, it's terrific.

[sighs]

What do you make of Supergirl? Because on paper, that's a good idea.

On paper.

Can it stay on paper? It's coming out in a week.

I haven't been intrigued by the trailers.

Millie Alcock, who's the new Supergirl, seems to have Rachel Zegler disease where she keeps putting her foot in her mouth.

i don't sense a lot of anticipation i i didn't love superman last year so we'll have to wait and see i don't think that's going to be the big superhero movie this summer that's going to be spider-man brand new day that's coming out later this summer july 31st i think that one's going to be a banger at least the box office i you know it's a good franchise tom holland is terrific as spider-man yeah i think that's the can't miss of the season

That's 2,000 years old.

It's so old it's new, so I'll take that.

It's about 11 holes long.

That's right, exactly.

And you know what? It's charming.

It's neat.

It's funny.

It talks about missing your father when he passes, about the legacy, about love of the sport, about family ties.

It's got some good stuff in it.

Toy Story 5? Toy Story 5? How about this?

[laughs]

I, I mean, that is so beyond the pale, I can't believe he said it.

But these, these people are so insulated, they don't realize who they sound like, why it's so embarrassing.

But it is...

Listen, this is the kind of shtick that Jimmy Kimmel should be teeing off on nightly, but he doesn't.

He ignores it.

What's that all about?

So he finally, finally, finally brings up the fact that, hey, there's a candidate out there who's got a Nazi tattoo, and has got about a, a bucket load of scandals behind him, and there could be more.

Uh, can you speak to that process and how it's changing things?

Yeah.

You know, uh, when movies like this come out and are very successful, we think, "Well, what happened? What did we miss?" Basically, this is someone who's been kind of working in different media platforms, teaching himself along the way.

It also speaks to the technology that's available to young filmmakers.

You know, back in the day, you had to have a clunky camera and then get the film processed.

Everything is so, is so sped up now.

Uh, the tools are very powerful and robust.

What's made Obsession stand out so much?