Crying During Movies Now: Best Movie Endings and the Childhood Icons We're Losing | EP. 026

Kill Bill, Toy Story, Mrs. Doubtfire — the movie endings that wreck you now that you're older, and the childhood icons we're suddenly losing. Schee and Kong get nostalgic and a little vulnerable in this one: why movies make you cry more as you get older, the endings that stay with you for life, and the strange grief of watching your childhood icons start to pass. It runs from Tarantino's Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair — which Kong argues is one of the most underrated endings ever filmed — to the scenes that scarred them as kids, to Toy Story, Mrs. Doubtfire, and the Robin Williams and Tim Allen movies that shape how they parent now. CHAPTERS 00:00 - Crying at Movies, and Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair06:54 - Childhood Nightmare Scenes: Terminator 2 and the Melting Face11:05 - Kill Bill's Ending, and the Icons We're Losing18:09 - Toy Story and Saying Goodbye to Childhood23:17 - Tim Allen, Tom Hanks, and Robin Williams The spine of the episode is a deep appreciation of Kill Bill. Kong has just rewatched Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair — Quentin Tarantino's combined, extra-gory cut that stitches Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 into one film — and argues its ending belongs among the all-time greats even though it almost never makes anyone's list. They break down the buried-alive coffin sequence, Pai Mei's brutal training, and the final confrontation with Bill (David Carradine) and the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique — the rare movie death that lands as catharsis instead of cliché. That opens into the scenes that scared them as kids and never let go — the nuclear nightmare and endoskeleton imagery of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and a half-remembered Chinese kung-fu movie with an acid-melting-face scene Kong still can't quite place. It's an honest, funny riff on how movie moments imprint on a child's brain, and on the strange ethics of showing your own kids the intense films that shaped you. From there the mood turns reflective. In their late 30s and 40s now, Schee and Kong sit with the wave of childhood icons passing — Chuck Norris and Hulk Hogan among the most recent — and the real, disorienting grief of watching the action heroes and legends of your youth reach the end. Bruce Lee, Tupac, and Biggie come up as talents taken too early, alongside the larger question of what it feels like to grow old enough that the stars you looked up to are mostly gone. The back half is all heart. Schee makes the case that Toy Story 3 was the perfect goodbye — "So long, partner" — and admits Toy Story 4 (and Forky) still makes him cry every time, with Toy Story 5 not having seen yet-- and the familiar fear that a beloved ending will get undone. They hand Zootopia a genuine surprise-hit endorsement, geek out on rewatching Home Improvement as adults — including a young Dave Chappelle and Jim Breuer's guest spot on Tool Time — and land on Mrs. Doubtfire and Robin Williams: the Aladdin-voice, do-the-voices-for-your-kids inspiration whose loss still stings, and whose movies these two are now passing down to their own children. 🎙️ Yada Yada Gold is a culture commentary and deep-dive podcast exploring modern life, society, entertainment, and the human experience. New episodes weekly on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and all major platforms.