"Hit Man"

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[00:01:38] podcast and this is our review of hitman no no no I don't buy it what you're not a hitman you can't be I tried looking you up nothing it's like you don't even exist I guess I'm

[00:01:54] just a fantasy so what's the biggest difference between the real you and your occupation by the way my name is Gary Johnson and I'm a fake hitman all right buddy you just listening to the trailer for hitman and the story is as follows an undercover Houston police officer

[00:02:17] poses as a reliable hitman to arrest those trying to hire him until he tries to save a woman in need the film is starring Glenn Powell, Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio and Retta. It is written and directed by Richard Linklater co-written by Glenn Powell here to join me

[00:02:38] today for this podcast review I have Emma Sasek. Hey everyone. Alyssa Christian. Hello everyone. Danilo S Castro. Hey everybody. Josh Parham. Hello hello. And Lauren La Magna. Does anyone have some pie? All pie is good pie.

[00:03:02] So I have one question for all of you to start us off here. What kind of a pod man are you? Or pod woman? I don't know anyway. Hitman finally it's about time. It had its world premiere at the 80th annual Venice International Film Festival where it

[00:03:23] had no distributor. Then it went on to play at Toronto New York got picked up by Netflix for a streaming debut which has now come to pass. Got a limited theatrical run a couple of days ago and right now it's this very moment you

[00:03:38] can stream it on Netflix. The new film from Richard Linklater and fervor proof that Glenn Powell is a fucking movie star based on the 2001 Texas Monthly Magazine article the same name by Skip Hollinsworth.

[00:03:55] This is a story that Richard Linklater has talked about in many a Q&A about a personal friend of theirs also named Gary Johnson who had a very very interesting life and they

[00:04:09] wove into this story here that examines hitman in the modern age if you will or the lack thereof because as this movie comes to tell us hitman don't actually exist. It is a myth but yet because of movies television all forms of entertainment people seem to

[00:04:28] think that they are real and they will indeed call up thinking that they can hire someone to whack someone that they know and get rid of their problems only to realize later on

[00:04:38] that a lot of their problems are caused by this very very decision in the form of an undercover cop. You know it's like interesting because when I hear stories about hitmen myself I never hear any stories about actual hitmen pulling off jobs and whacking people.

[00:04:54] No no no it's always an undercover cop. So I love that this movie is breaking down the aura the myth of what a hitman is while also continuing the rise of Glenn Powell and also to introducing a lot of people for the

[00:05:10] first time maybe in some cases to Adria Arjona. So what you get here is one of the more entertaining films of the year. Let's talk about it starting off first with the man who saw the film first at its world

[00:05:23] premiere in Venice Josh Parham Josh thoughts on hitmen then and thoughts on it now. Yeah I was very fortunate to be one of the very first people to see this movie at Venice all the way back in last September of 2023.

[00:05:42] That was an incredible experience it really was watching it with a crowd. They were just so tuned into the energy of that movie there were applause moments in it too and it was very very invigorating to be a part of that.

[00:05:56] And I am a little sad that for a lot of people they're not going to be able to experience that I'm sure the vast majority of folks are going to watch this on Netflix but at the same time I think they're going to watch a good movie.

[00:06:07] I liked it back then and I watched it recently for a second time and I still enjoy this movie. I think it is very very fun and having this Glenn Powell performance at the center of it

[00:06:21] really makes up a lot of that and not only is his performance just so captivating but my God the chemistry he shares oh my God with her is just so great too.

[00:06:33] I love both of them and it's just really like the romance in this movie I don't think is the most exciting thing I've ever seen but I just think that him and Arjona just have

[00:06:45] such a great dynamic with each other that I just really bought into everything that they were doing and I really did like that. I think the movie to be fair is a little slow in the beginning.

[00:06:58] I will admit that the first like 30 minutes of this movie I think is a little bit of a slog to get through there's still some good elements there but it doesn't really start

[00:07:07] to really invite me in until the romance angle starts up and I think that's when it becomes far far more compelling so it's a little bit of a slow start for me but once it gets going

[00:07:18] I do have a really good time with it and I think it's a pretty good film. All right awesome kicking it over next to Emma Sassick. Emma what did you think of Hitman? I really have to echo a lot of Josh's thoughts here.

[00:07:34] I too really wish that I could have seen this in the theater because I feel like people would just love seeing the montage of all of the Hitman characters that Glenn Powell takes on including Tilda Swinton Hitman and Severus Snape Russian Hitman and the works

[00:07:54] I mean that it was just such a fun time so I'm sad that it wasn't you know in theaters long enough and it wasn't playing where I live but so I wish that that would have changed here

[00:08:06] but yes regardless people still get to see a really fun film honestly it reminds me of a lot of like adult comedies of yesteryear in terms of like just some silly situation

[00:08:23] in this case one that is inspired by a real life person but just one that just has so much fun and you feel that chemistry between the two leads in the film I literally would give up my entire

[00:08:37] life for Glenn Powell and Adria Arjona in this film because I am just falling in love and oozing in the palm of their hands after watching them in this film but it's so funny it has a great pace

[00:08:51] yes the beginning is a was a little bit of slow for me too but once Adria joins the scenes here I mean things just pick up and get so exciting there's twists there's turns there's

[00:09:06] enemies at every corner I mean this is just jam-packed and a really fun time so I was a big fan and I was happy to see that all of the positive reviews that I'd seen earlier actually

[00:09:19] were what I thought too that doesn't always happen but I'm very happy to report that it did for this film so this is an awesome awesome one one might say it's a hit man man

[00:09:34] all right let's hear next now from Danilo Castro so I'm a huge Linklater person and I actually had the benefit I know I know I do have something unexpected to add though which is that last

[00:09:49] January I had the benefit of going to a screening of his previous film Apollo 10 and a half and I actually got to talk with him for a little bit and I was always curious why the name of his

[00:10:02] production company's detour productions detour named after a film noir from the 40s and so I finally got a chance to ask him you know are you ever gonna like delve into that style you're

[00:10:13] gonna attempt a noir at least your version of one and he said hit man my upcoming film is going to be sort of my spin on that and so with that in mind and with sort of the fun of getting to kind

[00:10:26] of talk to him about it very high hopes for this movie and very pleased with it it's such a fun time everything that everybody has said positive about it couldn't agree more with I also do think

[00:10:40] there is sort of a shaggy component to it that is it's not a perfect film but I would say the things about it that are good are so overwhelmingly just charming that they sort of it's the sort of

[00:10:57] film that encourages you to overlook flaws I agree that it's a little slow out the gate and I think there are some like specific structural things that are a little odd if like held up to

[00:11:07] very close inspection but man just the chemistry is so good just the I would say that the humor gets sharper as it goes on I think the very sort of clever plot components that the script has

[00:11:23] all sort of kick in towards the end and so I think it's a movie that gains momentum as it goes on and it's just I can tell even though I've only seen it one time that it is going to be just

[00:11:34] eminently rewatchable all right let's hear next now from Melissa Christian yeah so I echo a lot of what other people have said I wish I could have seen it in a theater and not just on Netflix but

[00:11:48] I'm glad I was able to catch it so yeah I really liked it overall I wouldn't say that I loved it necessarily but yeah I found it to be pretty engaging and entertaining throughout it's

[00:11:58] definitely not perfect as has been said I did actually notice that for me at least I could really pinpoint the twists and turns a mile away I was like oh that's happening oh yeah of course

[00:12:10] I figured that out and I did enjoy when it was really I thought it was at its best when it was trying not to be too serious and yeah obviously Glenn Powell just really oozes movie star charisma

[00:12:23] so I'm loving seeing him in that element I even found his you know Gary Johnson character to be really charming but yeah obviously the main draw here is his chemistry with Adria Arjona and their scenes are just so electric and you can't really look away from it

[00:12:42] I did feel kind of like the film lost steam towards the end I had the opposite opinion where I didn't think it was slow at the beginning it felt kind of slow at the end but that's just

[00:12:51] my opinion I will say that I loved the notes app scene I'm sure we'll get into that some more but that was really cool and I would also like to do a shout out to Austin Emilio he did a really good

[00:13:03] job with a fairly one note character so he's kind of a scene stealer for me but yeah I'm excited to dive more into this and overall I would say I was a fan. And finally Lauren LaMagna. So first off I

[00:13:17] think Glenn Powell is a very good actor and this is essentially his walking resume which I think every actor would love to have and I understand why he was so in love with this story overall I

[00:13:30] think it's a good movie I'm not in love with it as everyone else um is echoing unfortunately I think again the story is good the story is insane I think the screenplay is so so where

[00:13:42] Glenn Powell thrives in it whereas other actors may not and I didn't become as invested as everyone else's until we reach the second act where conflict does ensue I wasn't really a fan of

[00:13:55] the first act because it's just a little too silly for me and some performances in some lines just don't hit as well to be in that environment but I will say the performances are what makes the film

[00:14:10] for me enough to recommend it so I would say again dialogue is good performances are great on Powell's side but everything else may be a little less so because it's just a little too

[00:14:21] cartoonish for me. I don't know what you all are getting on about the pacing of this movie I thought this movie was such a breeze from beginning to end and a lot of that has to do with Linklater

[00:14:33] just has this very chill cool factor about the way that he goes about his storytelling sometimes it's meandering as has been in the case in several of his films before but here I found it

[00:14:49] to always move with a sense of purpose and not have it feeling like it was meandering in any way if it ever did come across that way it was always in service of either something that was

[00:15:03] an entertaining gag like Glenn Powell dressing up in these different disguises for these undercover busts or to just relish in the sexual chemistry between him and Adria Arjona I mean like my god

[00:15:19] I know some people were saying out of Venice last year and we're continuing to say through the fall film festival circuit that this was one of the sexiest movies that people had seen in quite some

[00:15:29] time and it's a very sexy movie that has you know very very little nudity in it but it's really just a way that Powell and Arjona like lock eyes with each other the way their lines bounce off of one

[00:15:44] another in this teasing sort of like a sensual sort of way of how they're like just alluring each other constantly in and bringing not only each other but the audience like into their their

[00:16:01] like bubble of just cool and suave and that just it's like amazing aura that you kind of find it intoxicating or at least I do and it's a film that quite frankly I didn't ever want it to really end

[00:16:18] because I just found it to be so entertaining throughout whether it was the way that the film was plotted which I actually think is quite smart at times um I do think that where the film

[00:16:31] maybe underperforms a little bit for me and this has always been a thing I've always had with Richard Linklater is that he's not the most stylish director in terms of visual aesthetic and I

[00:16:43] have to say this was my first time watching the movie on Netflix the previous two times I had seen it I had seen it with crowds in a movie theater and there was for me on this latest viewing

[00:16:55] that feeling that one gets when they watch a streaming film of oh yeah this this feels like it was a movie actually made for streaming when before Netflix picked this up we were we were all

[00:17:06] saying anything but we were all saying this movie deserves to be seen with a crowd and oh my god this is so much fun and people are so into this and you got to see it with an audience and I do have to

[00:17:17] admit while it plays better with an audience and that does I think create um its own aura that can mask maybe some of its issues watching it at home with this kind of you know competent visual aesthetic and without that reaction definitely didn't give me the same effect

[00:17:41] I still think it's a damn good movie I still very much enjoy my time with it but there's something to be said here I think if you're examining today's modern age of what constitutes as a

[00:17:54] streaming movie and what constitutes as a theatrical experience Hitman is a very very interesting movie to discuss amongst that topic I find

[00:18:25] And I think that Linkletter has always been somebody who as you said Matt I don't think that his filmmaking has ever been very stylish or notable in in that regard but I think he usually does a really good job of setting mood and tone really well and especially

[00:18:54] establishing that with these very intimate character studies I think that's what he's really exceptional at and oftentimes that is an undervalued element of directing is the way that you direct your actors and actually create these scenes that are really dynamic between them as they're just

[00:19:09] talking to each other and and I think that is what he really brings to the material and I think that for me it really only gets showcased once the romance gets going I think that the first half

[00:19:22] hour of this movie when we're just establishing what Gary Johnson is doing with this new line of work and kind of feeling through all these different characters I think it is fun I do

[00:19:31] have a lot of enjoyment sort of watching that parade but it also just feels like it's just a collection of gags it doesn't feel like it's really moving towards something in anything

[00:19:42] significant for me on a character or story level and it's not until the romance is introduced that it finally feels like some momentum is being introduced and we start to really pick up more like engaging elements within the actual storytelling whereas before that point

[00:20:00] the movie kind of feels like it's just spinning its wheels a little bit and waiting for something more exciting to happen and that's why I have some difficulties in the first act and doesn't really

[00:20:10] get going for me until a little bit later I do like our introduction to him stepping into the role of a hitman at that one diner when he has the first meeting his first ever meeting with

[00:20:21] someone I do think that that is a standout in that first act where I do agree with you Josh where it does take a bit of time to build up to you know really that smooth sailing momentum but that is fun

[00:20:35] because you know obviously you see who Gary is like moments before and just how he changes at the drop of a dime and even the dialogue there is like kind of funny because he's I don't know

[00:20:48] he's being so mean and such an asshole and then like just throwing out these crazy ideas of how he would dispose of the body and what a bio burial is and this and that so I do think that that is a

[00:21:01] standout among that first section. I think all this is essential in deconstructing the idea of what a hitman is and also establishing the Gary Johnson character doesn't need to be a half an hour long is I think the real question that we're all probably wondering to ourselves here

[00:21:20] and for me I think the answer is a very obvious no but also at the same time I am quite entertained by it all so I don't really care as much but I do agree wholeheartedly that the movie kicks

[00:21:35] into another gear once the romance between Gary and Madison begins. I would agree with that I mean I think it was either you or Josh Matt who said that he's not you know he's not a stylistic

[00:21:48] flourishy type of filmmaker he's an observer he likes to plant the camera he you know he likes to service the performances and so I would say that generally I think his films I do find as

[00:22:01] much as I do enjoy them they take a little bit to develop momentum I think everybody wants them as much as I like that movie you know as another collaboration with Glen Powell. I do think the

[00:22:11] opening minutes of that are a little bit awkward a little bit broad and I came across a similar feeling when Gary is in the car with his two uh I guess their co-workers and he's commenting about

[00:22:23] the birds it just feels a little sitcom-y and a little broad and I feel like the humor gets sharpened um the the further the film goes on and especially knowing that there is sort of this bombshell

[00:22:34] romantic tension around the corner it is it's like it I think Josh said uh gear spinning a little bit is a good way to describe it so it's not bad but it it does feel like you're waiting

[00:22:47] for the next gear you know you're waiting for the the roller coaster to take off. I also found what really like spoke to me about this movie wasn't the sexual chemistry and romance between

[00:23:01] its two lead stars it wasn't the comedic sight gags of Glen Powell and all these disguises it wasn't a deconstruction of a hitman it was this examination of self and this underlying

[00:23:18] theme of what the movie is ultimately trying to say about not just Gary Johnson but maybe about humanity as a whole and on each viewing that I've had of this I've remained entertained by

[00:23:33] its comedy but I've found its uh exploration of who this man is and what he's willing to do all in the name of love and how the movie seems to give us the answer to the question of

[00:23:47] what he's talking about with his ex-wife or ex-girlfriend I can't remember during their scene together about can a person actually change the movie seems to tell us well yes and love is probably the strongest factor that will make a person change yeah I thought that

[00:24:07] was a really interesting take on that especially when it's interspersed with his lectures to his class and you see him evolve through those lectures which is really interesting as well yeah because in the beginning he starts off so nerdy and he's still pretty cool like I would

[00:24:24] love to have him as a teacher. He's definitely cool I mean he's a cat lover so I mean what else does he need to know? I do love his transformation which is noted by students in the film where they

[00:24:37] look at each other and they're like when did our professor get hot and the class just gets bigger and bigger as the semester goes on and they're and they're going outside I'm like that's the

[00:24:47] cool teacher on the campus we have outdoor classrooms. True story but that's the thing that I kept on latching on to every time here was how the self is a construction that you've created

[00:25:04] and are living as a form of role play in your daily lives and I don't know about you guys but I eventually came to a point in my life it took me many years you know now that I'm thinking back

[00:25:16] on I can't remember if I was in my late 20s or early 30s but I was finally able to let go of a lot of shit in my life and I was finally able to just like live honestly and truthfully and

[00:25:26] not be afraid of speaking truth and worrying about how that would make other people feel because it's like I wasn't wearing like any masks I wasn't like trying to be a people pleaser or

[00:25:37] anything like that and so when I think a lot about how Gary is living his life in the beginning of this movie you know it's like he himself is obsessed with examining human behavior and

[00:25:52] understanding what drives people I think he I think he says it's like the eternal mystery of human consciousness and behavior he calls it and so I'm just curious like if anyone else here has

[00:26:06] ever like had that aha like epiphany moment of really really discovering yourself your your true self and understanding who that person was because I think that's what this movie is about is about

[00:26:20] it's about a guy who is rediscovering who he is as he's leading this double life yeah that's the central conceit you know the the overarching theme of the movie is about that kind of reinvention

[00:26:34] and self-discovery and and looking inward and I think as the movie goes on and it starts to really indulge in these very big dramatic choices that we know actually did not happen in real life I think

[00:26:47] that's when it becomes even more apparent that it that the metaphor that it is presenting you is becoming even more apparent and like the big actions that are taken are really kind of meant

[00:26:57] to symbol yes his changing attitudes about himself the leaps that you go when you choose to enter into a new relationship and sort of the new person that you have to become to meet that

[00:27:08] other significant other on that level and I think you can track that pretty easily and I think sometimes your mileage will vary on how much that is effective for you but I can see that that is

[00:27:20] the central message to the film in terms of reaching a a more significant theme outside of just having fun with this you know very endearing romance at the center I would agree and that's the difference between a filmmaker like Richard Linklater and somebody else who

[00:27:40] would have taken this material and just made an entertaining hitman romance comedy you know yeah because I would say I mean I think that theme of finding oneself or coming to grips with

[00:27:52] oneself kind of runs throughout I mean you could you could read that in dazed and confused waking life everybody wants them it comes up he does do that it's fun to see him

[00:28:02] I would say broaden it a bit by sort of putting it within this more exaggerated sort of crowd pleasing arrangement of like genres you know we talk about the romantic component the crime

[00:28:15] component but but it does it still has that thread that makes it feel like a him a him film which is fun and and I think you're right Matt I think that's something that's going to

[00:28:25] really service like the rewatchability of it that's the thing I was also thinking about a lot as well I don't know if you guys remember this when it premiered at Venice but do you guys

[00:28:34] remember people saying oh my god this is one of Richard Linklater's most crowd pleasing and like broadest movies he's ever made and I kind of found myself sitting back and asking myself

[00:28:49] when hasn't Richard Linklater made a broad movie for a wide audience it's just that you know he doesn't make big blockbuster films but I've always found his movies to be very watchable yeah I don't

[00:29:02] really remember that sentiment out of Venice myself I just remember thinking this crowd I saw it was just had a blast and was eating up scenes so much and having such a good time with

[00:29:15] it but yeah you're right like I think that there's a lot of evidence in Linklater's career that he can do both these kind of somber character studies but also have just a broadly appealing sense of just

[00:29:28] wanting to have fun with these stories too and I think that he can run the gambit in terms of that and I think that there are moments in Hitman that definitely hit with a very large impression

[00:29:39] in terms of how kind of fun and engaging it can be but I don't find that to be like an anomaly in his career at all you know what you know what I think it might be now that I'm thinking about it

[00:29:49] before this movie premiered we didn't know what it was gonna be that is true yes it was very mysterious there was no trailer there was the one still image of Glenn Powell with the glasses

[00:30:01] and everybody was wondering is this a comedy is this a dark character study like and then what we got was just like it was like yes romantic movie which nobody anticipated I think the

[00:30:13] accessibility also though is sort of the fact that it is more high concept you know it's not a before movie where it's just people talking I can see where that doesn't connect with like a white

[00:30:21] audience or like everybody wants some where it's a bunch of guys talking exactly is a lot of his movies are people walking and talking and there's a lot of that here and there's a lot of that that

[00:30:30] actorly appeal here but it's also placed within this framework where there's twists and turns and it's sexier than a lot of his movies and so there's that and I so I get I do I personally

[00:30:41] think his movies are very charming and very easy like you know they go down smoothly but I can see where maybe this one would connect closer to like School of Rock then you know Waking Life or

[00:30:52] something like that so I know it's I know we've been talking about Glenn Powell a lot lately that's my favorite topic it seems like with every single project the guy is just reannouncing to the

[00:31:04] world hey I'm the new Tom Cruise like I I'm the guy you know and I'm curious for all of you just where this performance like ranks for you within his young but very much alive filmography here

[00:31:22] because I feel like what I'm trying to think back now I guess 2016 was where a lot of us really started to notice him in movies like Hidden Figures everybody wants some and it just feels

[00:31:36] like it's been on this very very steady upward incline and now it feels like it's all about to explode between this Anyone But You and now Twister is about to release yeah he's having a very good

[00:31:52] last what is it six months in terms of the releases I mean I would say that this is definitely a standout for him obviously he's leading this film and we've gotten to see a

[00:32:04] little bit more of that from him recently but I mean he gets to showcase how charming he is how he can just kind of take on all these different personas honestly I would love to see like a

[00:32:18] a series where every single episode is dedicated to like one of these hitman characters yeah I think he would do a great job with that because he could just like dive into like some Russian accent and then Tilda Swinton and then this like country guy who's like

[00:32:34] shooting beer bottles with someone in the middle of the field I just think he showed a lot of versatility in this film yes it was a little bit limited but even going back from Gary and Ron

[00:32:47] that was fun to see and I just he just is so confident and I I will admit I have a crush on him sue me what can I say you're not the only one I know but he's just he's just so charming and

[00:33:04] I mean anytime I listen to him in interviews he seems like a really sweet charismatic guy who knows what he wants so I adore him all right Danilo you with me on Adria Jonah to balance

[00:33:16] things out here oh I like her too yeah she's good like don't we don't the girls like her too we like her too I fell in love with her as well I mean yes she definitely has as much charisma

[00:33:28] as he does for sure she was like the real surprise of this for me because I mean I think we all expected Glenn Powell to be charming and fantastic here um I know that she's been around I know this

[00:33:41] is not a debut performance I've noticed her and stuff in the past before but here it was it was like we were all rediscovering her yes you know very much like this felt like a real

[00:33:52] leap in her career as as far as you know movie star potential and what doors this may open up for her in the future with future projects I would agree I would say like you said pal I he

[00:34:06] delivered on the level that I wanted him to I think he's great I think Austin Emilio was really fun I think Alyssa said that but yeah Arona she popped in a way that I didn't realize like

[00:34:17] previously on I think I'd seen her on and or I didn't know that she had this sort of movie star wattage within her and and so that was my big takeaway in terms of the performances as

[00:34:29] well she definitely has that standout scene I know we're gonna talk about this but yeah the the airplane scene or whatever you want oh my god already talking about it all over twitter

[00:34:43] I mean I knew about it before I even saw it I see it everywhere it's on TikTok it's on YouTube yeah man I'm about to see a billboard on it I'm sure at some point I know it's already iconic

[00:34:55] and for good reason I mean she's just so captivating and they just like I said before they just have this amazing chemistry that really can't be taught I would say that's also like a

[00:35:07] just I guess to tie back into like the the sort of thesis that this is one of his more like accessible movies he's always been good with romances link later I mean but there is a

[00:35:18] there's a there's a hotness to this one that's not really present in his other ones and I feel like that really makes it stand out yeah there's more of a uh there's more of like a longing of

[00:35:30] connection and there's like something a little bit more less set less less sensual yes but it's more like it's more subdued and it's like all about like the words that are like unsaid

[00:35:42] and what's unspoken more so than anything um here it's like yeah I agree it's like he he I can't say it's like he saw poor things because those movies came out around the same time but

[00:35:54] like it just feels like he wanted to do something that was more risqué I'll say yeah it was it was weird I didn't know he had this gear in him but I mean he got the right actors to execute it

[00:36:07] because they are they're they're electric whenever they're on screen together and like uh like Alyssa said I'm sure we'll get to the the notes the notes app scene well you have Gary Johnson in the movie actually saying that you know this Ron persona of him which

[00:36:22] is the best one because my god is Ron very hot yeah he's definitely the hottest one oh my goodness I'm glad somebody finally said it yeah oh Jesus it's it's not just like the confidence as Emma

[00:36:33] said but it's also like little things like the ring he wears on his finger the fact that his shirt is always unbuttoned the way he has to push his hair up yes the way he does his hair

[00:36:43] oh my god like I'm fanning myself right now it's getting hot in this podcast right now oh my goodness I think the the way both him and the Maddie character are looking at each other

[00:36:55] and just looking in the the bar scene in particular is is it's pretty powerful even without kind of hearing what they're saying Maddie in that red dress they could have had a scene with no dialogue

[00:37:07] and they could have just been staring into each other's eyes and I would have been seated and glued yeah I mean my god it is nice when you put two hot people in a movie

[00:37:17] and they just do hot people things yes and they do that oh yes that that's great and but what I also think is the reason why this seems to have more resonance in terms of like the actual like

[00:37:31] hotness in this relationship as opposed to the other link letter romances that we see is because they actually do say that there is this more animalistic quality that Gary is trying to tap into with this other persona and it's like and that's again kind of that reinvention

[00:37:47] that you sometimes go through with a new relationship trying to find these different qualities within yourself to match the energy of this other person and I think that feels a little bit more singular to this movie and it's what gives that relationship I think this extra bit

[00:38:03] of flavor that we don't normally see explored and why it feels so so captivating here and that's also hot when people are both hot and then one's just a little bit more freakier than the other

[00:38:16] and then the person decides you know what I'm gonna match you and I'm gonna up you yeah this film is the Tinashe song is somebody gonna match my freak yes they do that's exactly

[00:38:27] yeah now I want to just examine this a little deep here for a brief moment do you guys think that Gary taking on this rom persona do you think it's because he regrets

[00:38:41] the way his previous marriage went like he regrets essentially like the person he is as this uh kind of a nerd I think as he kind of says a little bit in voiceovers and as we see him

[00:38:59] talking with his ex-wife um I think there is definitely a little bit of you know hurt in terms of she told him like you really weren't up for change and yes you're great but you know it's

[00:39:12] not it's not bad to change every once in a while or do something different and I think those words probably like really stuck with him and hurt him and maybe he didn't know how exactly to do that

[00:39:23] until the opportunity came about where he could try on being a hitman and then in being able to take on a whole new persona he like intrinsically was able to let out these things and these

[00:39:38] feelings and maybe these dreams that he had for himself um that he didn't even know existed in terms of like what kind of cool guy would I be and if I'm not nice all the time am I a little bit

[00:39:51] of a asshole and do I have a little bit of bite to me so I feel like these were all things that he didn't even know he wanted until the opportunity came about which is understandable.

[00:40:05] I definitely agree with that. Matt how how spoilery can I get? Oh let it fly. Okay so the reason I think the answer is definitively yes to your question is because in the one scene he has with

[00:40:17] his wife he explains sort of the frequency with which couples sort of you know um exhibit the passion to want to kill each other and she makes kind of a snide remark about how you never really

[00:40:28] seem like you would do that for me or or do that to me and it comes back in the end obviously because he commits murder for the sake of preserving this relationship with the Maddie character so I do

[00:40:40] feel like it is a direct sort of setup and payoff in that way. And he does also stand up for her in the alley yes uh scene earlier with pointing the gun at her uh well I can't say ex-husband but

[00:40:51] whatever he is to her in that moment uh and and you know I was thinking a lot about this too because there's been a lot of dare I say misreadings yeah I'll say misreadings of the

[00:41:05] ending of this movie and I don't think that Linklater is trying to condone murder and say ha ha isn't this hilarious and they lived happily ever after uh I don't think that's what he's

[00:41:20] getting at here I think Linklater is too smart for that but I do think that there is a deeper conversation to be had here with regards to Emma you mentioned before like a cool guy uh and like

[00:41:32] I think this idea of our interpretation or perception of what is a cool guy and here it's displayed as quite frankly something that is stripped right out of the movies a hit man someone who is calculated and cool and relaxed and just carries himself with supreme confidence

[00:41:57] that he does but then it's like looking at that I think that people are misinterpreting then the actions of the ending of the film and kind of like labeling it like as problematic that's

[00:42:14] a term I've been hearing get thrown around a lot the last couple of days and I'm just curious to know if anybody else had a reading of that I'm not going to sit here and tell you I think you're

[00:42:22] wrong necessarily but I would like to just hear that argument if anyone has it well I don't personally even though I understand how people can come to that conclusion but I think what

[00:42:37] unlocks it for me is that right before the act to commit murder is shown in this movie from from Gary Johnson he says that he's doing this out of an act of commitment and to me that automatically

[00:42:51] says that okay what we're seeing here obviously didn't happen we it says that at the very end of the movie you know the murder we made that up and what it's showing is like this giant you know very

[00:43:02] dramatic action being taken is meant to symbolize the grand statement of commitment that a person would make to another one when you're going to pursue a relationship obviously in this moment

[00:43:15] it is heightened it is not meant to be super realistic and yes in this context that we see it in can be looked at as very like upsetting and troubling but I don't think you're supposed to read

[00:43:27] it as like literally he's you know committing a murder right now it's like you would commit a murder to you know in the name of the person that you love but more so as like the the theoretical

[00:43:39] act of how much you are committing to that other person and that's how I read it I can understand that for some people it seems maybe a little bit messy just in terms of the execution and I think

[00:43:50] that is where this you may lie but the actual underlining message of what the movie is trying to communicate I don't think is being nefarious at all I think it is using this action to to instead

[00:44:03] communicate the links that people say they will go to in order to commit themselves to another person and it's just being presented here as this very grandiose metaphor I would also say too that

[00:44:15] like it kind of shows his I guess full transformation from the beginning of the film too like he's sure committed to being like a better guy unfortunately that means he doesn't murder

[00:44:27] somebody but like you know as you were talking about what a cool guy is you know it's someone who's confident someone who knows what to do who doesn't like freak out in the moment and he

[00:44:39] doesn't freak out in that moment I mean he's kind of confused a little bit but once he gets his bearings he's like all right here's what we have to do here's how it's going to work and that's

[00:44:50] going to be that and I just felt like that was also kind of like his transformation into being Ron but also may you know in integrating Gary and Ron into one persona I think it's also

[00:45:03] important to remember here too that if you find yourself drawn to the Ron persona I don't think that that's necessarily a problem because at the end of the day it's a fictional

[00:45:17] freaking movie you're supposed to be drawn to Ron exactly that too right yes it's okay to be drawn to Gary because I think the movie is also kind of explaining that there's nothing wrong with

[00:45:30] being drawn to a Gary in this world Gary's a very seemingly nice individual who lives a very peaceful calm life he's got a nice job he's a he wouldn't harm a fly right they say that like with with all

[00:45:45] the certainty in the world Jasper tells him I know that this man is incapable of killing anything or anyone so that's all well and good but I do think that there is something very very important to

[00:45:57] remember here and that is that Madison herself is somebody who is definitely capable of doing dangerous things for self-preservation and as a result it makes sense then for him to meet her

[00:46:15] at her level and for them to ultimately commit as Josh said to this relationship by the end of it all if she's willing to commit murder or she's willing to poison a cop for the sake of like you know

[00:46:27] whether it's her relationship to him or self-preservation or whatever you want to call it he then has to meet her there as well and I think that for two fictional characters it's okay if we're drawn to that because it makes sense for us to be drawn to

[00:46:44] uh lifestyles of crime and doing things that we are not supposed to do and like isn't this every like Martin Scorsese gangster film like ever created sort of thing right we're living out

[00:46:53] the fantasy of people whose lives we'll never be able to live out and in this case too a hit man who aren't even real so I do think this movie has a bit of like an escapism like element to it that

[00:47:07] is uh fascinating in many ways but also I think there is like this very interesting introspective conversation that one could have with regards to are you drawn to danger are you

[00:47:19] drawn to dangerous people and is that okay or is that not um I at least listen I might be getting deeper on this than anyone maybe even anticipate before they hopped on this podcast but these are

[00:47:32] the things I've been thinking about three viewings in I would agree with Josh's perspective on it that it is sort of just like a metaphorical carrying out of that but again it's like

[00:47:41] it's in the genre prism of it's almost like um it's like Chekhov's hitman like he's pretending to be a hitman the whole time it's like it feels like almost there's there would be an unfulfilled

[00:47:54] thing if he didn't kill somebody in some capacity um especially given the films I think like increasingly dark sense of humor as it goes on and the fact that Madison kills somebody off screen

[00:48:04] yeah it does it matches it they match each other's freak like Alyssa said in that way at least um and so I do think uh it operates in the same way that I think like something like Phantom Thread

[00:48:16] does oh that's a comparison obviously there's I guess or wait a minute maybe I should say okay Daniel Day I love that line reading that was right yeah that is a good line I think there is

[00:48:32] there's obviously less of a uh it's less of a crime being committed in Phantom Thread but it is a similar like extreme narrative way to get across the idea of committing to someone um

[00:48:45] I think it's effective though I can see like Josh said I can see why some people would have qualms with with Gary becoming an actual murderer but I think it's effective within the world that

[00:48:55] the film sets up I mean that's the thing too is that like people like I remember somebody asking me like doesn't that ending disgust you that they have a kid and they got away and they're all right

[00:49:05] and I was like I don't care also the murder didn't happen they literally said we made the murder up yeah which is very funny closing credits yeah yeah the closing credits for this movie are

[00:49:18] are excellent yeah with all I like like I would rather see them be hot parents together than in jail yeah I don't want to see that ending no the ending makes sense plus they have a little

[00:49:31] cute moment where they reminisce about how they met and they're trying to you know be secretive with the kids it's adorable do you guys think that it could be like the link later of it all

[00:49:42] like this isn't what I want out of my link later film this like a moral ending quote unquote I mean I I think that's a good point since you know just just looking at the before trilogy I mean those

[00:49:55] films are like built on the purest most beautiful love that you could stumble upon in your life versus this being all like very messy and built on lies for the most part I mean I look at it as

[00:50:12] link later looking at the before trilogy or other romances that he's done before and saying I've done that already yeah I want to do something different yeah and one of the things I admire

[00:50:22] about link later is that he finds a way like almost like Steven Soderbergh to constantly reinvent himself a little bit with each with each film and that he tells like a very different story

[00:50:37] but it does have that same distinctive quality about it that makes it feel like a Richard Linklater film it does and I really really appreciated that about him but the movie I would actually compare this to the most in his filmography would actually be Bernie I was just

[00:50:52] about to bring it up yeah oh yeah if any of you have never seen Bernie this is a very very dark comedy crime film with one of Jack Black's best performances ever and is also uh you know a film

[00:51:07] that's a very very much about its central relationship between him and uh Shirley MacLaine's character and it's also based on an article by Skip Hollinsworth like this oh there you go the

[00:51:18] spirit of successor continues yeah all right uh my next question for you guys oh you know what actually yeah let's talk about him a little bit here actually uh Alyssa I believe it was you who

[00:51:30] brought up Austin um Emilio uh earlier I've seen him on The Walking Dead before I remember seeing him and everybody wants some what a great like what's where I'm looking for here I don't want

[00:51:45] to say character actor because he's still he doesn't have that many credits for me to say that in his filmography but yet there's something about this performance that is never drawing attention to itself but every time he's on screen you are drawn to him regardless he definitely

[00:51:59] looks like a man named Jasper he does and I mentioned earlier how he's a scene stealer but he's a scene stealer without actually seeing the scenes if that makes any sense no it definitely does I think he's like such a stealth performer in this movie where every

[00:52:15] time he's on screen there's always that aura of danger about him that something is going to get derailed or he's getting closer and closer to uncovering what Gary's been up to and you're

[00:52:26] always on edge every time he's on screen maybe it's because his jawline is just so intimidating I don't know what it is but or his bone structure something I do love that scene where he's with

[00:52:37] Glenn Powell and he's like sniffing him and you know really sucking him out oh I found the boyfriend yeah the good thing about what he brings to this movie is that he absolutely is this

[00:52:52] unpredictable element that you are on edge constantly when he shows up but he's also never portrayed as so like hyperbolic or over the top and like just a a person that is incredibly loathsome

[00:53:06] that you just can't wait to get rid of him I mean they do say that he basically is involved with police brutality so you do know that he's not a a great guy but the way that he presents himself

[00:53:16] is still somebody that you can kind of understand knows how to read social cues and knows how to maneuver through these very tough situations and that makes him more dangerous but it also makes

[00:53:29] them more more interesting to watch and it doesn't feel quite as one note as I feel like that character could have been and I think the performance really matches that energy in a really

[00:53:39] great way the screenplay is literally going out of its way constantly to call out that he is a misogynistic racist like homophobic like terrible dirty cop I mean the screenplay pretty much

[00:53:52] says it almost every scene that he's involved in but yet his performance I agree with you Josh never dials it up to a notch where it comes across as oh yep stereotypical dirty cop

[00:54:04] no he plays him so much more like grounded and believable and that just makes him all the more as you said unpredictable I particularly love the moment where he is toying with um with Gary

[00:54:21] during one of the debriefing uh scenes and talking about the night that Gary was with um Madison and then Gary in that moment then turns around and goes actually that was the night I ran

[00:54:36] into you yeah yeah you talked to her too and then you see everybody's heads in the room go from Gary over to Jasper that is such a great moment that I remember like every time I saw this film in a

[00:54:48] theater with an audience the audience reacted so strongly to that moment because the tables are turned on Jasper in that scene and that's like something that you haven't seen up until this

[00:54:58] point in the film and I love that the movie is playful in that way of these two characters constantly sussing each other out and trying to figure out because I feel like that's also something

[00:55:07] Gary's constantly doing too is constantly like asking Jasper what's your angle here bro what are you getting at like what do you want from me uh and Jasper is never really letting on until he

[00:55:18] absolutely has to and I love that that kind of playfulness exists within the two characters I like that Jasper is not stupid you know he yeah he is trying to figure stuff out obviously but he

[00:55:31] has an awareness of his surroundings for the most part like he knows how to be a cop he knows how to suss out a quote-unquote bad guy and yeah there are certain scenes when we know that he's going

[00:55:44] to be a step behind Gary but he knows like something is up he's not an idiot and I actually do think that that makes your villainous character so much more fascinating when they have that

[00:55:56] complexity to them where it's like yeah they're trying to catch up but they can do it if they want to and if they have the determination to do so and I think that the writing of that character is a lot

[00:56:07] smarter than you would expect and the way that that he plays him is also kind of subversive at the same time and it makes this really interesting portrait and I love that this all kind of

[00:56:18] culminates in a scene that we've already alluded to here which is the notes app scene my god will probably go down as one of the best scenes of 2024 one of the best usages of cell phones in a movie

[00:56:32] ever the notes app the notes app needed something better than celebrity apologies and this was like copier execution someone who uses the notes app all the time I loved how it was used here yes

[00:56:45] it's pretty ingenious and I've never seen it done like this before in a movie I don't think ever it was one of those oh shit moments where the two characters of Gary and Madison find themselves

[00:57:02] really with their backs against the wall and you're left wondering how are they ever going to get out of this so whether it was Glenn or Richard or both of them together who figured out

[00:57:14] this solution kudos because what it also does that I love is I love how especially like yeah actually both of them really now that I'm thinking about it both Glenn and Adria have to

[00:57:29] play their real selves like trying to non-verbally communicate with one another what they exactly need the other to say and like what she's trying to figure out what do you mean and then they are

[00:57:42] also playing these roles of having to act out this scene for theater and it to me I just love that they are constantly having to shift gears back and forth within the scene and the editing

[00:57:54] of that too is also pretty immaculately well done and it all culminates in Glenn Powell's a wink to the camera as he walks out the door holy shit like stand up and cheer when people talk about

[00:58:07] this is a movie that you need to see with a crowd it was this scene this was the moment oh yes because this moment just blew the roof off when I saw it or the crowd in Venice it was so electric people

[00:58:20] were so into it every new note that you got you were just so invested you loved that the energy that both of them were feeding off of each other and yeah when it was done and he walked out that

[00:58:29] door there was just this eruption of applause and it's the moment that I so desperately wish more people could have gotten to experience because it was really really something special when the entire crowd was just leaned in to every single step that was being taken forward in that

[00:58:46] moment and it's oh it's so so well done and it balances the line between the comedy of it and the drama of it pretty well in my opinion I think that's the strongest element of the film itself

[00:58:58] and I want to agree that the editing in that scene is so amazing how it just cuts back and forth to them from each phase to the note so quickly so you see exactly how they were reacting to it in

[00:59:11] real time where as a viewer you may be holding your breath trying to see if these guys can get it done yeah and that kind of scene requires a lot of rehearsal to make sure everything is precise

[00:59:22] and it just you know shows how perfect those two are together and how well they play off each other I mean it's just immaculate Matt you mentioned all the layers that they have to play my favorite

[00:59:32] little like extra little spice on top is just when they like when it cuts to one of them being impressed with the other's performance is is just so satisfying and just oh my god the the whole he

[00:59:43] was a really good dancer yeah it might be the sexiest part of the movie because it is kind of like them four playing in this way where they're trying to one-up each other like guys you're

[00:59:53] trying to evade the law cool it already yeah oh yeah yeah sorry Josh sorry in advance um not a false note in that scene I see what you did there all right you're not sorry though am I ever no

[01:00:15] that's the problem there's a lot of really great lines of dialogue throughout this movie that I particularly love for many reasons I mean I do think this is a very quotable movie in many ways

[01:00:33] whether it's the where do I sign or chivalry may be dead but I didn't kill it is a good one I also love the line that redda has about her iud that was so funny oh my god I'd let Ron fuck me

[01:00:50] I'd rip my iud out for Ron and then we mentioned that okay Daniel Day that made me burst out laughing the first time I heard it you know what got me um speed bolt like Miami Vice

[01:01:07] there's so many good ones I mean like all those scenes that he has where he's in disguise I mean the Tilda's Tilda Swenson one especially like with pleasure I can't that was just uh even just watching at home I was laughing like crazy during those scenes

[01:01:25] that and the Patrick Bateman one those are my favorite spot on Christian Bale impression seriously like really yeah it is oh so so good I loved each and every single one of them

[01:01:39] I am in service business I do wish that we had gotten a little more with the disguises but understand why it had to be so quick I think it works better as montage probably personally

[01:01:51] yeah and they do come back to it like it's not just one moment in the movie they spread it out over the court like I remember there was like a few scenes later and then he would do another one

[01:02:04] and I remember thinking oh we're doing another one of these again um and then of course they always have the freeze frame of the uh guy that he like busted in the jail cell yeah

[01:02:17] the dumb looks on their faces I will admit for me I wasn't a big fan of that particular choice I know it's very small but that was a little bit more of like a broadly comedic choice that

[01:02:30] I personally wasn't that big of a fan of but fortunately it's so minuscule within the entire framework of the movie that it doesn't bother me too much but every time it did happen

[01:02:38] that did feel very like sitcommy level humor that just didn't really work for me all that much do you think it's moments like that that can contribute to the whole oh this definitely

[01:02:50] feels like a streaming movie kind of argument that I've been hearing over the last like couple of days I think maybe I just think that I think people definitely have an expectation that

[01:03:01] especially when it was first seen and people were saying like the crowd reaction so great you got a scene in the theater how sad it will be not to have that and I do admit that when you just watch

[01:03:10] the movie you might be hit with oh well but this isn't like a a flamboyantly directed and constructed movie it doesn't really seem like it has a cinematic quality to it but I think an important

[01:03:21] element of something feeling cinematic is the feeling that you just get in a crowd watching a movie and that obviously is very difficult to replicate at home and I think this movie even though visually may not have many of those flourishes that seem like it would be quote

[01:03:39] unquote cinematic I think what it does indulge in is just the overall atmosphere and and feeling you get when you watch a movie with a crowd and I think that is the element that it taps into

[01:03:52] that is just harder to also get when you're streaming it at home I think there's also something to be said too for how excited and energetic festival crowds are compared to general audience crowds sure and also to like there's never a guarantee that a general audience crowd

[01:04:12] especially in this day and age is going to be a full house of people but you know you're going to get that with a film festival where there's not an empty seat anywhere to be found so

[01:04:23] I don't want to get too far off on discussion with on this topic necessarily but at the same time like I said I do think hitman is a very very interesting example of a movie that can spawn a

[01:04:34] lot of discussion here with regards to the communal experience of watching something in a theater and then also watching it at home and contrasting those two experiences with each other and seeing how does that affect one's overall perception of the movie yeah I mean film festival hype definitely

[01:04:54] is a thing I absolutely recognize that but I also feel like the fact that when I saw this movie in Venice the applause lines and and the engagement that I heard from my audience seemed to be at

[01:05:07] the example almost the exact same places as it was with other film festival audiences just at least told me that while yes there is always going to be a guaranteed big crowd at these things and

[01:05:18] that's not always going to be the case if it's just out in regular theaters the fact that everybody is having the exact same reactions at the exact same moment does tell me that people are into

[01:05:27] that movie's frequency and are feeding off of it within that environment and I think that is apparent even if it is yes a particularly special audience that is watching it in those venues

[01:05:39] all right we got to make sure if this podcast is airtight so final thoughts passing it over first to Lauren LaMagna we are audio stack.ai combining AI writing the best synthetic voices with

[01:05:57] production and delivery be it ads podcasts or VOs for video just like this ad how would you utilize AI audio for free go to audiostack.ai forward slash contest give us just a few details

[01:06:11] and you could replace this spot and be heard by millions see web page for t's and c's audiostack.ai forward slash contest and also too did nobody get the joke no one no one caught that

[01:06:24] line sorry there are a lot of great lines it's hard to remember all of them Lauren LaMagna final thoughts not much final thoughts I just want to say that Glenn Powell kind of embodies this southern

[01:06:37] gentleman really well I think that's kind of his movie star magic where when you place him you know somewhere in the south plane a southern character it really spices up his charm I guess and you can

[01:06:50] kind of tell that he co-wrote this and serves on the creative team of this film and that really does make him stand out in this film so just phenomenal performance from him all around and I would love

[01:07:02] for him to only play southern characters or cowboys so yes twisters may end me he is a good old Texas boy after all I will say that the one thing that got me most excited watching hitman and with regards to his performance those brief moments that he has

[01:07:22] where he is donating the disguises the costumes putting on the voices it made me realize oh you you you could if you want to one day shed this movie star persona and you could truly

[01:07:37] lose yourself in a character and we would not notice it was Glenn Powell on screen and I can I can tell you right now he I can tell he's just he's saving that he is saving that

[01:07:49] the way Chris Hemsworth saved it for Dementus the way that Chris Evans saved it for uh wait what am I thinking of of Chris Evans? Knives out? No. No piercer? No. What was the movie with Michael Shannon? It wasn't good. Not and not knives out.

[01:08:10] The one where he had like long hair. The ice cream man or something? I don't remember that one. The Iceman! Oh. Oh wow. Okay. Wow. I just had to dig real back for that one man.

[01:08:24] Another hitman. No but this is definitely like a walking resume for him which I think is really cool. Yeah. Yeah. It shows me that he's capable of so much and listen I'm okay with living in this

[01:08:38] age for a little bit of movie star Glenn Powell. I'm okay with it but I will forever look at hitman and I will forever know now Glenn you don't need to do this forever you can take risks and you can

[01:08:51] do something silly or something completely transformative and people will be here for it so the potential is there and that's cool. Emma on to you final thoughts. I just think it's really cool that he wrote co-wrote the

[01:09:09] screenplay with Richard Linklater. I kind of love that it's a continuation of Richard collaborating with his stars in the writing room very Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy of him

[01:09:20] um so yeah very much his walking resume he can act he can write he can be funny he can be charming and uh my goodness this man has me in the palm of his hand so be careful Glenn Powell

[01:09:33] be careful with what you do with me next. Also too you left off his uh one of a credit here he's a producer on the film too. Oh yes look at that so he is a well-rounded man.

[01:09:45] Mm-hmm which I was gonna say which movie industry job are you? Yeah right. Take the BuzzFeed quiz for Glenn Powell which one which role? That would be good for his hitman characters. Yeah right all right let's hear now from Alyssa Christian.

[01:10:10] Yeah so he covered a lot and I did mention on my opening thoughts how I thought that some of the twists were like a little too easy to see such as you know oh okay

[01:10:20] of course the husband is gonna ask for you know her to be killed and oh of course you know the Madison ends up killing him but I actually didn't mind once I thought it over I was like I don't

[01:10:33] really care because it's just so entertaining so I got over that eventually but yeah so obviously Glenn Powell is just amazing and Adria Ojona I feel like I hadn't seen her in very much I think she was in Andor didn't she have a small role in that? Yes.

[01:10:49] Yeah so that's where I had seen her before but I was obviously really impressed with her in this and I'm excited to see what she does next but I'm even more excited to see Glenn Powell

[01:10:58] in Twisters especially you know with the footage that we've gotten so far it's just yeah I am he totally here for him being a movie star and I really wish I had been able to see this

[01:11:10] in the theater with a crowd because I feel like I didn't get the same you know effect watching it at home with my dog not quite the same but I did still really enjoy it and I feel like it's something that I can easily rewatch so.

[01:11:24] Hitman is for cat lovers Alyssa sorry. I'm sorry well hey I really loved when he went to the rescue event he was. I was gonna say. I would just about died during that scene. Glenn Powell cuddling a cute puppy I'm sure made everyone melt.

[01:11:39] Yep and then the fact that you know it was rescued puppies I was like ah please kill me now. No no no no the fact that he did it as Ron. Yes I know. Just another layer of hotness on top of everything. Seriously.

[01:11:57] Um I do want to ask though because Alyssa when you brought that up earlier about the plot maybe being a bit predictable did anybody else feel this way um and and the only reason why I'm

[01:12:07] asking and kind of harping on it a little bit is because I will never forget and I don't know if anyone else experienced this but when Breaking Bad had its final season I'll never forget the

[01:12:21] final episode airing and people saying oh well it kind of went how I predicted it would and then a friend of mine butted in and said just because it's predictable doesn't mean it's bad storytelling. Yeah exactly.

[01:12:38] And sometimes I find the worst storytelling is when a risk is taken to subvert expectations not because the story calls for it but because the writer or whoever it is thought to themselves

[01:12:51] I think that everyone thinks that this is what's going to happen and I need to do something different to throw them off you know. But I'm and that's why in that regard here I'm kind of okay with Hitman playing out the way that it plays out.

[01:13:07] The one area that did take me by surprise and that I did not expect was I did not fully expect them to murder Jasper at the end of the movie but then again it's like once the scene presented

[01:13:23] itself and he was in the house with them and once he made the demands then I could make the prediction but like if you told me a few scenes before that that that was how the movie was going

[01:13:35] to end I don't think I could have told you that. Yeah I think the plot being kind of predictable is one of those things where you know I have a good enough time with the overall narrative as is that I can just sort of go with it.

[01:13:48] I think I have more issues with just like when the husband does show up he is the most cartoonishly like evil husband that you could possibly imagine like I feel like that is more

[01:14:00] problematic to me because it's just like and I understand we got to get to a point where we're not sorry that he's dead but at the same time it was just like okay yeah this guy is

[01:14:10] obviously bad with a capital B and that felt just kind of lazy to me and I didn't care for the characterization there like that bothered me more than any like predictable route that

[01:14:21] the story would actually go in because I was fine with that just because I was having a good time with the characters but it was like that section was the part that I didn't really find all that interesting. Some people need killing.

[01:14:34] Well we definitely were not sad when he was killed off that's for sure. All right Danilo over to you final thoughts. We hit the main beats I think the initial scene between Ron and Madison where she starts asking

[01:14:50] him questions and then he sort of loses sight of what he's there for I think it's just great the way they sort of fall into that chemistry and convincingly kind of throw each other off

[01:14:59] each other's games I think is really good and really establishes like this is you know this is a good connection that I'm sort of bought in on for the rest of the movie.

[01:15:08] I feel like every other every other thing we've checked I'm I want to see both of these people in more movies so them they have my tickets sort of indefinitely as of right now. All right Josh.

[01:15:22] I think the last thing I would add is just one other scene that I really did like which was when Madison does confess that she killed her husband which then leads to the scene where

[01:15:34] Gary confessing his own secret identity and I just I really did love that scene too even though you know it's coming you know that the lies are going to get revealed at some point I just

[01:15:44] really loved the interplay between them and then when he reveals his real name is Gary and she's like who the fuck is Gary. That delivery was also just so incredible too and like I said even though you know this scene

[01:15:59] was going to be happening at some point in this story I just loved the execution and I loved the interplay between them and it was just yet another example of what great chemistry they

[01:16:07] have because that's another thing it's not just the chemistry that they have with each other when things are good it's also when you're fighting too like that's another mark of good chemistry and it's really shown well there. Okay for my final thoughts here.

[01:16:20] The montage of all of the clips of Hitman throughout entertainment which clip stood out the most to you when you saw it utilized here I'll tell you this I definitely cheered when I saw in Bruges. Oh yeah. I was like oh that's cool Linklater likes McDonough.

[01:16:42] It's hard to recollect all of them. Yeah no I kind of figured that would be like a deep question to ask here where it's like I'm really drawn upon someone's memory but at the same time I thought that montage really

[01:16:54] just stood out a lot because of how many different clips and it illustrated its point very very well to me in that because I gotta admit like I don't know about you guys but I think secretly deep down I always did know that Hitman don't exist but yet

[01:17:15] at the same time I do think I bought into the lie that entertainment has fed us over the year that well maybe they do. I still believe that they exist. I mean it can be fun to believe that they exist.

[01:17:31] I choose to believe that they exist because because why not who's gonna stop me if Glenn Powell wants to stop me go ahead. Well let's put it this way there's definitely organized crime and there's definitely

[01:17:43] definitely somebody who can be told by somebody else hey kill this person but somebody going around as like a gun for hire and this is their career I don't know that's that's all too much.

[01:17:56] Well I'll tell you what complicates it even more is even just at Venice itself we all saw Hitman but we also saw David Fincher's The Killer about the Hitman so it's just a further

[01:18:08] continuation of this of this myth within our culture that even the movie that we saw that calls it out we still saw another movie about a hit man. What a great double feature idea. Both on Netflix. It was pretty good. Oh my god.

[01:18:23] Not a film that was in the montage. No yeah retroactively should be edited in that's the George Lucas cut right there of Hitman. Right. I do like how when Gary's in the courtroom and the lawyers are constantly calling him

[01:18:38] out for being dishonest and inhuman and it sounds so intense but obviously then as the movie you know goes along you realize yeah he is dishonest and a bit inhuman for what he does

[01:18:57] by the end of this movie and once again it is something that even though I think the film is playing into this whole white picket fence hey they lived happily ever after like kind of happy

[01:19:11] family sort of ending I do think that there is a darkness to it that is also very clever because at the end of the day that is going back to the whole in an ego that is going

[01:19:25] back to the duality of man that is going back to so much here of what this movie is commenting on and that is the masks that we wear that is concealing our hidden selves and what the

[01:19:36] truth is as to who we are and what roles we want to play for others in our lives. I think this is a very very smart movie. I think it's a very entertaining movie. It's one of my favorite films I've seen this year.

[01:19:51] Hell it's even one of my favorite Richard Linklater films. I gave this movie this rating back when I saw it almost a year ago and I'm standing by it still today. I'm giving this a very strong 8 out of 10. Alyssa what about you?

[01:20:07] Yeah I'm not quite that high I mean maybe that's because I didn't see it in the theater but I am at the moment at a 7 out of 10. Danilo?

[01:20:16] Yeah I mean I feel like Linklater really has to miss the mark for me to not sort of be on his wavelength. I enjoyed this a lot despite some of the structural and maybe comedic things that didn't hit but this is an 8 for me.

[01:20:29] This was a great time. Emma? I am also giving it an 8 out of 10. Is it like one of those things where it's a 7 but it becomes an 8 because of Glenn Powell? You can tell us the truth it's quite all right.

[01:20:40] No no it was always an 8 because of Glenn Powell how dare you think. Adria Arjona gives it a that bumps it up to an 8 for me. Yes. I am teasing I am teasing which is why I do want to know Josh are you still standing by

[01:20:55] your 7 from Venice last year? I am going to still stand by that. It's like a strong 7 it's a very high 7 but I do think that that first that first third it's what tough to get through for me I'm not gonna lie and I remember when I first

[01:21:11] saw it back in Venice I was like oh I don't I don't know about this if the whole movie's gonna be like like this kind of energy I don't know if I'm gonna be so into it and

[01:21:21] as I said some of the comedy is a bit hit or miss for me I think sometimes it really works but in other times it does kind of fall flat but that that romance in the center is

[01:21:30] just what really pulls me along and especially Glenn Powell's performance like so I I really do like the movie but I do also find a ceiling with it that I can't cross over into 8 out

[01:21:43] of 10 territory but 7 out of 10 still a movie that I would very much recommend people go out and see Lauren LaMagna. I am also a 7. Okay lucky number 11 it is so Oscar potential for Hitman I was not thinking this back when

[01:22:05] I saw it during the fall film festivals however after Netflix acquired it and then I found out when they were releasing it which was now and then I started to see the way the rest of the

[01:22:22] year was potentially playing out I really truly believe that this has a lone screenplay potential what do you guys think? There's potential I don't deny that and I you know it will always depend on how the year

[01:22:38] shakes out you know adapted screenplay it feels like it's always one of those categories that can be pretty barren or it could be very overcrowded with a lot of best picture contenders

[01:22:49] so we need to see how the rest of the year does shake out in that regard but it does have a great concept it would be a way to get both Linklater and Glenn Powell nominations and Powell is really

[01:23:00] going to have this really great year that'll be kind of the crowning achievement of it so there's potential there but I think it will depend on a lot of factors in terms of how competitive that race ends up being.

[01:23:12] I think Josh is right and I think that'd be the only one I'd feel confident even like throwing out as a possibility given there's a precedent with Linklater films and Linklater in particular in that category.

[01:23:23] Yeah because he's been previously nominated for two of the three before movies Boyhood and am I forgetting something else? I believe that's all of them. Yeah right yeah still you know pretty good. Yeah that's that's there's a track record there so that wouldn't be too shocking.

[01:23:43] I also think Josh's point too about the hey let's just get Glenn Powell to the dance of it all. Yeah yeah it's it would it would be smart. And honestly you know Netflix is one of those studios where I just think they if you know

[01:23:58] with all their resources and they've got some really smart people working on these campaigns if any studio could make something like that happen it would be them. I mean it's definitely a best comedy actor.

[01:24:09] Yes I was also thinking that too yeah Globe potential for Powell like that feels like a certainty right? 100% I can definitely see that for sure I mean I would be surprised if he didn't get in for that.

[01:24:21] You know that best actor nomination will one day come and it will be for him playing one of the characters that he disguises himself as in this movie I'm sure of it but it's not gonna be for this. The Russian you gotta look out for the Russian.

[01:24:36] I get awards. Oh man all right well I do think that is the ceiling for awards potential for Hitman here although like I said I don't think it's impossible I think it's actually a pretty

[01:24:51] strong contender here and don't be surprised if that is the way that this ends up going because you can't deny that it plays well you can't deny that it has an extra layer to its entertainment with this exploration of self which I think some writers will appreciate

[01:25:10] and you also can't deny that even though I do agree like it does play itself out rather predictably it is also extremely well structured of a movie in terms of like we said before

[01:25:22] like the notes app scene and how that is all played out like there are some real gems of writing that I think could help this get over the finish line by the time we get to the end of the year.

[01:25:35] Yeah I think that there's a lot of elements that could help it there and you know I don't think Glenn Powell get a Best Actor nomination for this but I could imagine a world where

[01:25:46] maybe this is one that gets kind of an early push in the early phases that we go through and maybe he does show up weirdly it may be like Critic's Choice or maybe SAG kind of likes the

[01:25:58] whole actor transformation thing and throws him something there maybe he could even win The Globe that kind of feels like something The Globes would do to award a rising star in this multifaceted turn and maybe it starts to have us believe that there's more traction for a

[01:26:14] Best Actor nomination than there really is there and it doesn't happen in the end but I could almost see a scenario where there's more pieces that fall into place that make us think that it's more of a possibility than it is right now.

[01:26:27] That line you said Josh about it doesn't happen there in the end, emphasis on that please because people are going to get carried away into believing that it will happen it's not going to happen.

[01:26:38] Yeah and I don't think it would happen either but I am just expressing the possible scenario in which I could imagine the conversation starts for it and you know it's just good to be prepared for that now.

[01:26:50] I do think that this movie was one maybe two scenes away from a possible makeup bake-off nomination it would not it would never have gone all the way to a makeup nomination at the Oscars

[01:27:05] but a bake-up showing I could have seen as a possibility just for the amount of disguises that Glenn Powell has in this but I don't see that happening in its current state so. No because they're not used that much throughout the movie. Right exactly.

[01:27:20] It would need to be more prominent because you know the transformation into Ron is basically just him losing the glasses and you know smoothing his hair. Yeah he's superman to it a little bit. Clark Kent is superman. I mean it works.

[01:27:36] Have rip open the shirt a little bit show a little chest hair let's go. Yeah yeah fix the posture. Oh man all right good note to end on here Emma Sassick tell everyone that's listening right now where they can find you on the internet.

[01:27:49] You can find me on Twitter at Emma underscore Sassick and on Letterboxd and Instagram at Emma Sassick. Alyssa Christian. You can find me on Twitter and Letterboxd at Vegan Movie Snob. Lauren LaMagna. You guys can find me on the Twitter at Lauren LaManga. Danilo Castro.

[01:28:07] You can find me on Twitter at Danilo S Castro. And Josh Parham. You can find me on Twitter and Letterboxd at J.R. Parham. And you can find me in Next Best Picture.

[01:28:17] Thank you so much everyone for listening to our review of Hitman here on the Next Best Picture podcast. We are proud to be part of the Evergreen Podcast Network and you can subscribe to us anywhere where you subscribe to podcasts.

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