255: M3GAN (2023)

SPEAKER_05 0:04

Hi, I'm Megan. Wanna play?

SPEAKER_02 0:10

Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hack or Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. Away we go! If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether our movie is a hack.

SPEAKER_05 0:24

A total joke? A waste of time.

SPEAKER_02 0:26

Or a slash.

SPEAKER_05 0:27

Totally killer. Unintended.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with the perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, and I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the Superfly Space Guy Mac.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

I have a new primary user now.

SPEAKER_02 0:44

The classic horror connoisseur Sean.

SPEAKER_05 0:46

Look at that face. That kid's not just surviving, she's thriving.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

And the paranormal paramore, thanks. Katie, seriously, flush the toilet. This week we all went to the theater to check out a Blum House film that's given us a new doll to rival Chucky. Before we unbox this new toy, though, we have some follow-up.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Let's follow up on some stuff. Alright, so we've been talking about this for a little bit here, but the meetup. We've got a week left to submit your feedback to help guide us in planning the first ever live in real life, totally fun meetup. Hackerslash the gangs all all together. I think it's going to be really cool, but we need that last little bit of feedback to make sure we're getting things right. So visit links.hackerslash. So kind of important. I know everyone else here has been talking about it for quite a while. We are all stoked to see some beautiful humans in real in real life. Um so yeah, links.hackerslash dot live slash 2023 meetup.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

And I'm really excited for everyone to get to see the beautiful Android Mac in real life. It's gonna be great. Can't wait for you all to uh, you know, unscrew his panels and get to see the wiring. It's pretty sophisticated.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Oh my. Wow. All right. You better pay for that. That costs extra.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

I think a funny development was the idea of uh, you know, reminding people that people get tattoos on Friday the 13th. So is anyone gonna get a tattoo during our meetup? Who knows?

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Not me, I can tell you that much. I did it this far without any.

SPEAKER_02 2:18

Of course not. It's kind of like the same principle I have for coloring my hair. I've gone 33 years of life without ever once coloring my hair, so why bother at this point? I at this point I I'm going gray. I'm just gonna pray I turn into silver fox and just keep it pushing.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Well, we also have a new patron. Welcome to the family, Annie D. I'm so happy to have you with us, and hopefully maybe you can join our meetup, you know, this year. Think about it. See us in person, see you in person. It'll be a lot of fun. And that's our follow-up.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

Well, this week we're checking out a $12 million baby brought to you by James Waught and Jason Blum and starring Allison Williams. The film is a science fiction horror movie that features an artificially intelligent doll developing self-awareness and taking her role as a physical and emotional protector a little too far. This movie, though, has managed to earn a 94% certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a feat it accomplished very quickly after its release. This week we're talking about the girl who's taken America by storm, Megan. What were you all expecting going into this?

SPEAKER_01 3:16

I'm I come on, I love sci-fi, right? So I was expecting like one part predictable sci-fi, and then based on the trailer, the moments we get one part wild ride. So I felt like I'm gonna see things that I've seen before, but at the same time, I was it got my hopes up. I really thought it was just gonna be a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_05 3:35

Yeah, I I remember when the trailer for this first came out, I know people were raving about the dance this doll was doing in the trailer. My wife, I think, saw it before me, so she's like, Oh my god, did you see this dance this doll was doing? You gotta see. I'm like, what are you talking about? So I had to check out the trailer. I you know, I had mixed feelings about it this one going into it. I wasn't sure if it was going to be good or or not, to be honest. I felt like it could go either way. I did expect to see some creepy moments uh from this Megan doll, but I wasn't sure how the plot was going to be or how the movie was going to progress overall. What I thought was really cool though was the was the uh there was like actors while I was watching a football game. There was actors that dressed up as Megan, showed up to the Los Angeles Rams versus Chargers game on January 1st to promote the show and even did a dance in midfield during the halftime.

SPEAKER_03 4:24

No way.

SPEAKER_05 4:25

Yeah, yeah, it was wild.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

Man, the lengths that they're going. My dream is gonna be seeing Sean dress up as Megan to promote the podcast one day.

SPEAKER_05 4:33

Oh gosh, I gotta get the dance down.

SPEAKER_03 4:35

That's gonna be great. That's gonna be great. No, you know, just like your wife actually, I saw it online and like I saw just the dance. And at first, when I had just seen the dance, I think this was on TikTok, I thought it was a joke, like a parody film, you know, was very wrong. At that point, I was like, all right, I'm I'm in. I'm I gotta see this movie. Looked entertaining as much. I wasn't expecting a lot in terms of the plot, kind of like you were saying, because really it was just giving child's play. I mean, you know, it's just like a modern day version of Chucky in some ways. At least that's you know, based off of what I could figure out from the trailer. But I was really looking forward to it. And then opening weekend, of course, we see these Rotten Tomato scores, and I'm like, okay, all right, now this it looks like it's gonna be a good time, entertaining as much. So I was I was excited.

SPEAKER_02 5:21

So a few things that really set the stage for me. One, obviously seeing the trailer, but then two, the dancing in the trailer made me think that this movie was gonna have a lot of camp in it. Not over-the-top slapstick humor kind of camp, but I figured there'd be a lot of comedy weaved in there. And the other element of it is like, yeah, absolutely. Binx, you talk about child's play. I immediately thought of the 2019 child's play and think about how closely the two concepts feel in in terms of relationship to one another. But then the other thing I thought was Allison Williams, and I've only seen her, to my knowledge, in two, maybe three things, but the two things that always jumped to mind immediately for me are the perfection and get out, and then I think she seems kind of like a serious lady. So I'm sure that whatever camp there may be at the surface, I thought there might be a little bit more substance to this movie, but I don't think I ever could have been as prepared for some of the things I felt during this movie because you heard it here first, folks. I cried a little bit. Cried. They shit got me. Cried. I teared up. Wow. It it got me good. The whole premise of this movie is a young woman who gains guardianship of her niece. And I think the trailer makes it very obvious. We won't go into exactly why or the circumstances, but grief is a very big part of this movie at all in in all aspects of it, right? And just how we go through processing that, how we go through aging, how we go through, you know, considering our attachment styles. This movie had a lot of substance to it, and I did laugh a lot like I expected I would, but I didn't expect to fucking cry. That shit caught me off guard. This is why I can't see Avatar yet.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

You know, the I I was not expecting the deeper moments, and it had some really deep, really emotional stretches. They were able to sprinkle in that lighter stuff like here and there, right? So it kept me entertained, it kept me interested. But what's nice for me is that moments it it did let me laugh. And I think you need that with such kind of hard-hitting depth. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:28

Yeah, I think that it like it was um kind of extreme on either ends, right? The the discussions and the dialogue surrounding grief made me feel, you know, very emotional. Sure. I didn't cry, but you know, we're here. This is a safe place. I'm I'm glad that you cried. A little good tear here and there. That's good for you. That's healthy. But on the other side, I was laughing like big time. Some things were ridiculous in this movie for sure, and I can't wait to get into it, right? So I think that's kind of it was uh the mix of both feelings, of those extremes that I wasn't necessarily expecting and glad that I was feeling through.

SPEAKER_05 8:05

Yeah, I think I think you all make a really good point. There was a lot of mixed emotions, which I think is really good. I think it makes for uh an enjoyable film. When it hit it can hit you, it can, it can make you cry or or relate in some ways, and it can make you laugh at other times or maybe in just the right moments, you know. Um I know that there's a lot that's in this movie that, you know, whether it's loss, whether it's um, you know, having to deal with therapists, whether it's, you know, all kinds of different things, right? I feel like there's there's there's stuff that people may be able to relate to. I know there was stuff in this film uh that kind of hit home for me too, because I I had times in my life where I had to deal with child protective therapists and things like that, and and eventually led to like foster homes and weird stuff like that. So like a lot of these kind of undertones really hit home for me. It didn't make me cry, but I I famously don't cry in movies, and my wife like yells at me for it every time. So whenever I see a moment like that, I just look over to her and then she yells at me. But you know what? The movie, outside of the emotions, the movie was very blue, was it not? It felt very blue. It it was it felt like it was giving the early 2000s vibes.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

You know, it's because of the coldness of technology and the binary of ones and zeros.

SPEAKER_05 9:25

Was that it? Was that it?

SPEAKER_02 9:27

No, I don't fucking know. I'm just watching.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

You know, we've we've talked about like expecting the comedy here, expecting the camp. I was not for whatever reason. I just thought it was gonna be fun. I didn't know we were actually gonna get comedy, like comedian starring in the movie comedy. Like Ronnie Chang being in this movie was such a pleasant surprise to me. I had no idea they were gonna go this hardcore. They didn't do it constantly, which is good. They spiked it in to get that balance, but I was not prepared for some of the lines that they came up with because they just fired them off just randomly in the middle of like a serious moment. And it was complete, complete jokes and comedy kind of sprinkled in. And I I loved it. I wasn't ready for it. And then I think I think that actually helped.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

Yeah, see, that's an area where I was also pleasantly surprised because I expected way more comedy than there actually was. And again, I think I attribute that all to the swaying, sashing hips of Megan in the in the trailer. But I was floored by how fucking funny the little bits of comedy we got were. And I'm not someone like if we use a food analogy, right? I'm not someone who likes to mix sweet and savory. But this movie is, I think, what I would imagine people are satisfied by when there's like a healthy balance of sweet to savory, like just enough to cut the edge of the salt and and really kind of like raise everything else up together. Because this movie, with the range of things that I felt, you know, I I wouldn't say that any of it was particularly scary to me, but I was surprised by the emotional range this really put forward.

SPEAKER_05 10:59

I think the the big thing for me was it wasn't it wasn't as much surprising that the humor was there. It was surprising on how tasteful the humor was, and not like tasteful as in like how tasteful the jokes were, but how like perfectly timed the humor was, so it didn't feel overly comedic. It just felt like the right type of humor for the right type of time, and it just uh it was really enjoyable, and I was truly surprised through that. Like I it started off like I don't know if the I wouldn't say like maybe the pace was was was bad by any means. It just started off in a way where I felt like I didn't know how the film was gonna progress and if I was gonna really enjoy the film, but once it started moving, uh that you know, that kind of thing just really uh picked up for me and the humor and uh the emotions and the you know, the story developing in the characters, I think that was really surprising and it took kind of took me off guard and I ended up really enjoying it.

SPEAKER_03 12:02

Yeah, you know, outside of the comedy, because I think that's definitely surprised all of us, and I know that we'll get more into this in the second half, but for me, what surprised me the most was all of the incredible shots and visual effects that made this movie come to life. And Megan herself, the actress, and how they made her be the way that she is. I it's just I was floored, completely floored, watching some behind-the-scenes stuff after I had left the theater and how that came to be, how they made her, and um having a voice actor for Megan, just wow, I was really, really impressed. I think for all it's worth, at the very least, that was something that really stood out outside of everything else, the dialogue and whatnot, how this movie was made, and specifically Megan was really, really cool.

SPEAKER_05 12:45

Yeah. You know what though? You know what the biggest surprise is is just how great Gemma's hair was right after getting out of bed. Like she wakes up, her hair's all messed up, she gets out of bed, walks into the other room, and all of a sudden it's perfectly straight.

SPEAKER_02 12:57

That is the power of Alison Williams, that fucking goddess. Gotta do anything to marry her. I need her to teach me the ways, truthfully, she says with perfect hair. Right.

SPEAKER_03 13:06

Okay. All right, guys. All right. All right.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

But it wasn't scary. I can say that very, very, very honestly. Because some of the some of the stuff that is not necessarily scary but worrisome would be some of the data privacy things they go over, like a toy manufacturer using their AI-enabled toys to record the reactions of children and stuff. That that's a bit next level, and I'm sure we could get there in real life if we wanted to. So it's not scary, but you know, it makes you think a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 13:38

Yeah, I was gonna say, I mean, I think what might be scary about this film is if you're afraid of dolls, truthfully. Like if that creeps you out, then definitely this movie will do that for you. Because again, I'm just talking about how uh fascinated I was about how they created Megan, and I was a little like, if I saw that doll in my house, I'm out of there. So that's really cool. That's the frightening, eerie part, right? But I have to agree with you, Mac. What was most frightening is definitely like the future of technology and parenting as well, and parenting through technology. I think that was the most scary thing. But the traditionalness of you know, jump scares and all that, not as much, no.

SPEAKER_05 14:18

That's a good point. The uh the the film, I agree, overall isn't isn't too frightening to be honest. There, there's definitely a couple jump scares sprinkled throughout the film, how effective they are, depending on the person, that's up for debate. But overall, I agree, Binks, right? The real horror here is probably the technology and where it's going. Or maybe it's just what's happening with this generation where they can't even lift their head out of the iPad for five seconds.

SPEAKER_02 14:45

Yeah, that's uh definitely problematic. I think one of the other things I found frightening, again, not that the movie itself is, but the exploration of possibility. And it is the the central relationship in this movie is between an aunt and her niece and the idea of guardianship so unexpectedly. And I think I found myself as someone who has several nephews and a niece thinking, well, first, if if anything happened to one of my siblings, I would be the last one to get guardianship because we have so many proven parents already. And then I have an older brother who does not have kids but is so well equipped to provide and God, he's gonna be an amazing dad one day. But man, if I was ever in a situation where I had to take over guardianship for that, that'd be a frightening experience, not because of a lack of relationship or anything like that, but just like, man, I hope I I shape this person's life well. And I think the responsibility of that so unexpectedly and so tragically can can really pull some emotional heartstrings that it set me in a spiral for sure. But I think that dynamic of that relationship is what makes this movie different because we've seen robots, we've seen dolls, we've seen AI, we've seen the continuous scope creep and the evolution of technology and how dangerous it is and consumerism and what are we doing these days, but we haven't seen exactly this relationship shown and the processing that is done through that. And I appreciated at least that element that it brought.

SPEAKER_05 16:16

Yeah, I I I think that's a really great point. Uh, I was thinking those same thoughts when I was watching the film, or especially towards the beginning, is I actually have scenarios where something like that could happen, right? Like I am the the the next legal guardian for my niece, right? And so I'm me not having any kids at the moment, uh just thinking about uh how it would be for a situation like that to be kind of like put upon me and having to deal with that. And and uh it it is interesting to think about for sure.

SPEAKER_01 16:46

Yeah, I think this is this is a really fresh take on some of the concepts here. Like, you know, you can get the whole moving, talking, haunted doll thing. You can get robots and androids coming to life and being bad or whatever. But I think just this combination that we get in the movie really touches 2023 in a way. We talk about smart home stuff, we talk about AI stuff, we go over children's addictions to technology, which is really troublesome right now. So I think this fresh take is just it's in the zeitgeist and it's really made for right now, so it feels good.

SPEAKER_03 17:19

What I think is very interesting, because uh there have been movies where they're in a situation where, yeah, like you guys are saying, the guardianship situation is is played out. We're you're talking about this, and the movie that comes to mind for me is Mama, um, which is a good example of someone who like in some ways has to, you know, take care of these or this little girl and in that or these little girls in the and that movie specifically doesn't really know how to. Um in this case, I think it's an interesting element to see someone who has such an analytical mind. You know, she's an engineer, she is so focused on her career and getting these products out. I don't know, I just think it's so interesting to have to tap into an element of yourself where you have to care for a child who's grieving. It's like two different sides of your personality and your psyche are playing out. That part's original, I would say. It's something that you don't see.

SPEAKER_05 18:12

I agree. Like it's a fresh take for sure. I don't think it really makes up for like how much original the story is. Like, I think it's a fresh take, but you see a lot of these bits and pieces throughout other films. You see the the guardianship, you see shades of child's play. Uh, in fact, you can probably sub in like, hi, I'm Megan, wanna play? Like anywhere, and it would fit, right? It has heavy undertones of that. I think you said it earlier, Mac, that 90s movie Smart House, right? Like it has it has tones of these different movies. You mash it all together, give it a modern day twist, and you've got this movie. What I will say is I I did really enjoy the story. The originality being in question doesn't really take away from the enjoyment of the film by any means.

SPEAKER_02 18:58

You know, yes, it doesn't take away from it doesn't take away from the enjoyment of the movie, but I do think, you know, in considering what Binks you were saying, this idea of someone who is so analytical and having to tap into things, I absolutely adored that we didn't also fall into any like crazy tropes of needing to be some like maternal image. You know what I mean? Like this is a movie that, as complex as Gemma is, she was allowed to be herself, right? And we got to see her the cause and effect of all her decisions without her having to mold herself into becoming someone else. Like she was able to grow in what I perceive to be a very authentic way that remained true to herself without, you know, uh compromising to any like societal norms of who she's supposed to be, or what we've seen women so often be forced to conform to be in movies for like a quote unquote, if they want to have some kind of quote unquote happy ending. So I at least really, really appreciated that. And I think it's what made the ending feel so much more satisfying in this movie. I think you know, you think about any kind of killer doll movie, you can probably think, okay, this can end one of like two ways, but I think this one gave us not only the goods of a good plot, but also just like the emotional satisfaction as well.

SPEAKER_05 20:17

Yeah, I agree. I think the ending, you know, just like the movie itself, I mean, it follows a formula, and I think it's a successful formula. I think it was satisfactory for sure. Like I didn't feel like I wanted anything uh more or less from the ending. I really enjoyed watching how it all unfolded and especially um, you know, the the very end, is it just enough to keep you thinking, right? I I really thought it was very successful.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

I love the end. It just goes out with a bang.

SPEAKER_05 20:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

In the in the best way possible. It's so this is what I was expecting. I was expecting fun. And when we get to the end, we get that fun. We get a lot of action packed into a short period of time. So you have that slow build, we get there, we feel like we've earned it, and then the payoff.

SPEAKER_03 20:59

Right. And I think ultimately, like in a movie like this one, you kind of might predict what the ending might be, but the way that it's played out is what you can't expect. And I thought that was so much fun. I I was enjoying it. I was even loving the monologue that sets off, you know, the ending for us. Just so many bits of the ending were very memorable for me. And I had a good time with it. And at the very end, it left me thinking this question of accountability that I can't wait to talk further about, you know. When we get to the second half, but I think it was just so much of, you know, this technology conversation we keep wrapping our heads around, right? And like the accountability of the actions that someone takes. So I I loved it. I think it was really, really good end.

SPEAKER_02 21:42

Well, obviously we've all felt a range of things for this movie, but let's see how those feelings shape our scores. Before we actually rate it though, Sean, how would you describe the gore score for anyone going into this?

SPEAKER_05 21:54

Uh well, we definitely we get we get some blood in this one. It's not a crazy amount by any means. And the kill scenes are not particularly brutal or anything. And so overall, you know, I would have to give this one a logo or score. I mean, it's tough, right? I think, you know, it's enough blood to make it work, but not enough to bring it out of that PG-13 realm. And funny enough, the film was originally shot as a rated R movie. It wasn't until the producers felt like it was close enough to being a PG-13 film during editing that they decided to change directions a little bit and resulted in reshooting some of the scenes to tone down the violence a bit. And so it's got to be a low gore score. The producers knew this film was going to appeal to teenagers, which is why they wanted to make it a PG-13 rating, and they really hit the nail in the coffin with that one, I believe.

SPEAKER_03 22:44

And what about the animal report? Oh well, you know, wish I could say we were safe with this report, but um unfortunately Megan had other plans, so not so great here.

SPEAKER_02 22:54

The disrespect in this household. Well, let's go ahead and get into our ratings then. Megan from 2023, now newly released. Was it a hack or slash?

SPEAKER_05 23:02

You know, this one was really well-rounded, in my opinion. It had moments where I felt empathy for some of these characters, some moments that really hit home for me. Uh, it had it also had moments that made me laugh at the perfect time to really lighten the mood. It it was serious when it needed to be, it was effective. The film had me drawn in from the majority of the film, and it was genuinely entertaining. I have to give this a slash.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Yeah, I mean, this movie was w a wild ride. I really enjoyed watching it, especially in theater. The audience reaction sold it. Laughter at the right moments, ooze and ows at others. It was just fantastic. An antagonist who's got haunted doll creepiness and technological danger, and protagonists who pull at your heart strings a little here and there, it just builds towards a fantastic close. And overall, I left feeling very satisfied. It's a slash.

SPEAKER_03 23:52

Yeah. For me, I, you know, I left the theater and I have to say I actually was, you know, a little disappointed by certain elements of the movie that I didn't get, you know, that didn't meet those expectations I had. You know, some things were definitely cringe, um, some things didn't feel as gory. But, you know, at the end, I have to say that I was extremely entertained. Um, I felt all the feels, and that's important for me, you know. I I was creeped out. Um, it left me questioning technology. And really, you know, the point of the movie is to do that, and it landed very well. It it did that for me exactly. So, you know, yes, there are things that are ridiculous in the movie, you know, and things that you're gonna be looking to your partner or your friend, or you know, just wanting to text someone and being like, you can't believe this. Certain elements of this movie that are definitely gonna be gifs for sure, but it's such a blast. I had such a good time, and you know what? It's gotta be a slash.

SPEAKER_02 24:51

So I mentioned earlier that this movie made me feel such a wide range of things. You know, when you go into a movie about a doll, I'm not someone who finds dolls particularly frightening, and and you see, again, how Megan sways those hips and flings those arms around, and you think, how could how could this possibly be a movie that I take seriously? But beyond the comedy, beyond the creepiness that comes inherently with dolls for a lot of people, this movie did such a masterful job of working with such layered subtext of not only technology, but also humans and just relationships and grief and and love. And what does it look like to be someone who is so focused on their career, but also working to create space for other things in their life? And listen, this is another movie that just extends my crush on Allison Williams because I thought she delivered a absolutely stunning performance in this. And I think it goes to show you that this is such a tightly produced film. It felt like there was a very clear vision with where it wanted to go. And as I review my notes, I don't have many negatives at all. This is easily a slash, and probably one I'll be talking about in our 2023 recap at the end of the year. And so far, Megan has earned a universal slash, at least from us, but we actually have one of our patrons who's called in with a score all their own.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

Hey Hackerslash team, it's Brittany here, and I'm with my daughter Aria. And today we just saw Megan in the theaters. Now, this movie was highly anticipated in our house. Every morning, every evening, we'd be watching trailers and videos and the viral Megan dance all over YouTube. So we were really excited to go check it out today. This is Aria's first horror movie that she saw in theaters. How old are you, Aria? And she did an awesome job. She wasn't even afraid. We had a great time. And we gotta say, kind of controversial, we love Chucky, but Megan is the killer doll of 2023. She's taking the cake right now. We really loved how spooky and creepy she was. And you know what? She's the reigning killer doll for now. I think it's safe to say this movie is a slash. It's a slash, guys. We loved it. We hope you did too. Thank you so much. Can't wait to hear the episode.

SPEAKER_02 27:16

Oh my gosh, Brittany, thank you so much. God, that was so adorable.

SPEAKER_03 27:20

Arya is so freaking cute. That little voice.

SPEAKER_05 27:24

Oh, it's so cute. It's so amazing. Uh, it really makes me want to have my own little toddling tin to watch horror movies with.

SPEAKER_03 27:31

I know.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

I love I love that you guys were so stoked about it for so long leading up to the movie. Like you were hype about this every day. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 27:39

Honestly, the the the pregame activity here is unparalleled, Brit. You're really doing it the right way. And you know, I think you had made a joke at one point about yes, I took my six-year-old to go watch it with me, don't judge. But amazing time to start. Uh, I'm sure you haven't just started now. You know what I mean? It feels like you've been you've been doing all the right things with your child. But also, what a great, great movie to bring her along for. You know what I mean? It's PG 13, it's safe for kids, but also pretty serious, got some emotional topics. I hope she hugged you a little tighter at the end of it. Now, thankfully, both of those slashes mean that this is not only a universal slash, it's like a super universal slash. So go check this movie out in theaters, then join us in the second half so we can unpack what this doll's up to together. We'll see you in a bit.

SPEAKER_01 28:36

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SPEAKER_02 29:47

Welcome back, folks. You're now entering the spoiler zone for Megan, which has earned a universal slash. Now we have a lot to unpack here, but before we get into the specifics of our ratings, let's go through the kills.

SPEAKER_05 29:57

Alright, so there's a total of six kills in this film, three of which are not technically by the hand of this little android killer. You know, cars really did half of the work in this one. But nonetheless, let's talk about them. What were y'all's favorite kills in this one?

SPEAKER_03 30:14

But speaking of cars, you know, I'm actually gonna pull you, Sean, and with the baby, but this time with a child. Ooh. Because it's definitely Brandon, that young boy. Spicy. Because you know what? He was such a royal pain in the ass, truthfully. He disrespected his mom so much so that I looked at my mom and she was like, if you ever would have done that to me, and I was like, I wouldn't, it wouldn't even dawn on me, mom. Like, come on. And then when he mounted Megan, right, the whole theater gasped.

SPEAKER_04 30:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 30:42

They were like, Don't don't tell me this is about to happen. I was holding on to my chair. It was the mounting, but then taking the shoe off.

SPEAKER_02 30:50

Yeah. And taking the shoe off. And it was just like, where is this fucking movie going? It was a moment of concern.

SPEAKER_03 30:56

It had me very scared. And then the ear stretch was nasty because I was like, Oh, it's gonna pop off any moment now. All of that loved it. I was like, all right, what is she gonna do to him? Was not expecting him to get hit by the car and for us to see it.

SPEAKER_04 31:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:12

When you just see that shoe and all that blood on the ground, I was so amazed. I was like, you know what? Thank you for that satisfaction. Again, young boy, controversial, but also fuck that kid, really, is what I feel like saying.

SPEAKER_05 31:25

A shoe for a shoe.

SPEAKER_03 31:26

A shoe for a shoe. You're so right.

SPEAKER_02 31:28

You're so right. I'm right there with you. Brandon was absolutely my favorite kill in the movie because really he had it coming once again. But it also was this interesting moment for Megan because we see him being a complete dick to Katie. And we and we think about the slippery slope of things, right? Her primary function is to protect Katie from physical and emotional harm. She's just out here doing her job, you know? She's letting it happen. In the trailer, it talks about the fact that Brandon gets hit by a car. I did not think they were actually gonna kill that kid. I thought he was gonna get hit by a car, but like that the car had stopped quickly enough to do less severe damage than death. Uh, but that that was really a shocking moment.

SPEAKER_01 32:14

I I don't know. I wasn't it wasn't a surprising kill to me because I think, like you said, the trailer really kind of spoils it a little bit. I think the thing that surprised me were the kills that I can't list as my favorites because they were too brutal. You know, nailing down an elderly neighbor and then poisoning her, I don't I'm not I'm not here for it. But the ones that I wanted to happen, those are my favorite. So when we get to the very end of the film and we're taking out the boss, yes, let's do it. I'm down for that. But I can't decide. There's two kills that happened right there at the end. I couldn't decide. I think though, that the boss is still gonna be still gonna be my favorite, my favorite kill. So that whole sequence leading up to David being killed is what makes it such a great kill because he is the comedy in this movie in many places, and his death also has to be the comedy in the movie, and it was a nice pairing there as well. He didn't go out in a super serious way, it was still kind of funny. So enjoyed it. The paper cutter, what a unique tool.

SPEAKER_05 33:11

Right.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

Loved that, right? Great choice, Megan being resourceful. Um, so yeah, just overall a really solid ending to a funny character.

SPEAKER_05 33:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:21

Those paper cutters scare the shit out of me often because A, have you ever used a paper cutter on a boat that's rocking back and forth? It makes you a little concerned for your fingers, even when you're being very careful. There's also a paper cutter at my current job where the little bit of a the latch that's supposed to lock the pin in place so that you don't fucking slice a finger accidentally with that thing swinging around, it's a little bit too loose. We need to really get an Allen key and just tighten it down. But those things are so it's absurdly fucking sharp. And I thought, damn, Megan, you're really out here doing the work.

SPEAKER_05 33:54

Yeah, I I think David was a really good one. Uh, I think to your point, Mac, like leading the whole scene leading up to his death was great with the with with Megan doing the infamous dance and grabbing that paper slicer blade thing and chasing David down the hall. It was such a great scene. But you know what? My favorite kill was the neighbor. Okay, that neighbor was annoying as shit. I mean, here's the thing R.I.P. Dewey, that one was uncalled for, but Celia, on the other hand, absolutely needed to go. I could tell she was one of those neighbors that just gets under your skin, she does annoying ass shit and doesn't care who she bothers. Um, but I I loved the whole kill scene, the creepiness of her walking up to the gate, the creepiness of Megan impersonating the sound of her dog, Megan emerging out of the shadows, nailing her hand down with the nail gun, and then poisoning her with that fucking spray bottle. I mean, I whatever. I think she had it coming. She was annoying as shit.

SPEAKER_02 34:54

Okay. So my heart hurts for Celia in some ways, but I do agree with you that she was annoying. Here's where I join you in this argument. One, of course, the fucking dog's name was Dewey, of course. But two, first, you know, we see we meet Dewey when he is like really going hard at jumping at the door and scaring the shit out of Katie. And I believe in my heart, right? Like when you when you socialize dogs, when you raise dogs well, they're very sweet. They're very sweet creatures, right? And so when we finally get that moment where Dewey bites Katie, wow, how fucking terrible. And the second I saw that he was biting her, I thought he was gonna get put down. I didn't think that Megan was gonna kill him. But also, I blame all of those issues on the neighbor. So, you know what? Fuck it. Good riddance.

SPEAKER_05 35:47

That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 35:48

I do feel bad for Dewey, even though Dewey was a little bit of a dick. He was just doing what he was raised to do. You know, he was existing within the the parameters that he was allowed and and raised in. And I feel really bad for him.

SPEAKER_01 36:00

I don't think Dewey deserved it at all. I don't think it's his fault at all. I don't think it's even his owner's fault. I think when you stick your hand through someone else's fence, you don't know what's gonna happen. And that's a big risk. You can't take it unless you're ready for that pain. So, no, I don't think it's their fault. I don't think he deserves, I don't think she'd even deserve it. I think for her to go out in that way, like being sprayed in the face and all that kind of crap, it's just so extra. I mean, I get obviously why they did it. I understand it, but I don't place any blame on them.

SPEAKER_02 36:28

No.

SPEAKER_01 36:28

The the dog was defending his domain. That's just what was up.

SPEAKER_02 36:32

Here's what I'm gonna say. Anybody comes into my yard, my dog's gonna hop over him, frolic even, lick him on the face and say, Hey, can I show you around? Can I like show you where the backyard is? Do you want something to drink? We got a full fridge. Don't mind the neighbor cat. Uh, this is the door that locks properly. Here's some windows that maybe are a little sus. You know what I mean? Like, you should give the full ass tour.

SPEAKER_05 36:54

Yeah, that's hilarious.

SPEAKER_02 36:56

Again, I feel badly for Dewey. I don't have many complaints about Dewey, except that what a hilarious fucking name for a dog.

SPEAKER_05 37:02

It's amazing. But here's the thing: I said it early on. A few wooden planks would have saved this whole scenario from happening. Just fix your fence, be on top of it. Where's the HOA with this one? Uh, but hey, uh, Dewey, I agree. Hilarious name for a dog. The reason that it's really great for me is well, one, obviously the little Easter egg from Scream, but we have a dog staying at my house right now. It's my sister-in-law's dog, it's a hound dog, and he just uh he just gives me Officer Dewey vibes, and so we nicknamed him Dewey, and then we go and see this movie, and now we get another Dewey dog. What are the odds of that? What are the odds of that?

SPEAKER_03 37:44

That is nuts. Yeah. I look, let me just say super quickly, I have to side with Sean. That neighbor is the worst, the worst. And in the culture, we would say that she's unachimosa because she is in everything. She was really asking a lot of questions that were none of her business. And you know what? That hole could have been saved by a very large rock if she couldn't even put two planks of wood there. So, you know what? I was waiting for her demise. Not Dewey's though. It bore. But her, she had to go. Thank you. I have no sympathy. So, Sean, there you go. I got you.

SPEAKER_02 38:19

I guess my other question is what good would that fence have done because the front of the fucking yard wasn't fenced.

SPEAKER_05 38:25

It wasn't gated. You could just go around.

SPEAKER_02 38:27

We have a fully gated, fenced situation. What is what is Dewey gonna do? Walk up to this fence. Oh shit, I clearly can't go around this, walk out, cross the street, and not see that it's a viable option to just go around? What the fuck?

SPEAKER_05 38:42

Alright, too much logic. Too much logic.

SPEAKER_03 38:44

Hold on. This is not how dogs work. No, but you know what? So then she couldn't like if you know that your front yard is open, get it together, ma'am. You're the one with the dog.

SPEAKER_01 38:55

Well, they put she put the collar on the dog to keep the dog within the confines of the lawn.

SPEAKER_02 38:59

She didn't turn the fucking collar on.

SPEAKER_05 39:01

Oh, and that's the other thing. A shock collar, a shock collar on the dog, that's another strike. That that girl's gotta get it.

SPEAKER_03 39:07

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:07

That that is true, though.

SPEAKER_03 39:08

Don't defend her. Don't defend her.

SPEAKER_01 39:10

Enough about dogs for a minute. Can we talk about the damn robots in this movie and how beautiful they are?

SPEAKER_03 39:15

Oh my god, gorgeous, incredible. Shout out to your boy Bruce.

SPEAKER_01 39:19

Bruce, like what a what a just an Apollo of robots. Bruce, when when Bruce shows up, especially when we get Bruce at the end, it really felt like a proper kid and their robot kind of movie. It felt like like Bumblebee in a way, where it's like, oh, these two were meant to be best friends.

SPEAKER_05 39:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:37

Not the creepy Megan doll.

SPEAKER_05 39:40

Right. I gotta be honest, I forgot about Bruce until that popped up. And it was a really good surprise for me.

SPEAKER_02 39:46

I had a low-key worry that Megan would power Bruce and like turn all the technology against Gemma, you know what I mean? I'm so glad it didn't go down that way.

SPEAKER_03 39:55

Well, I mean, not with Bruce specifically. Right. I think that Bruce's purpose at first was just to show like the obviously the memory processor, whatever, like that that specific chip, I guess. Um, that was Megan's demise at the end. Yeah, that's where the thoughts go. Where the thoughts go, exactly. But I didn't expect that they were actually gonna use Bruce later on, so that was very cool. I agree.

SPEAKER_02 40:16

Yeah. I also love the foreshadowing we got when Katie shoots Megan through the glass with a rubber arrow and she says, Gotcha, and that's exactly the spot where she ends up stabbing her for real. So I really enjoyed that.

SPEAKER_05 40:27

Oh shit, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:28

But I think my favorite visual element, you know, in consideration of the robots is the first shot we have from Megan's perspective as the silicone skin is being wrapped around her head. Such a fucking cool moment. And I feel like obviously we get so many moments like that in movies, and they all end up looking very, very hokey. It all ends up looking very early 2000s sci-fi, maybe a little bit of sci-fi channel. But this was viable. You know, I loved the fucking heads-up displays. I loved the ranking of emotions as she was assessing everybody that she was sizing up. It was just Chev's kiss.

SPEAKER_05 41:05

Yeah, there were so many good visuals throughout this film. Uh, I agree, Chris. I think the early stages of Megan's development as an android was was visually pretty cool. Um, the visual of uh Megan throughout the film was really great, but especially I loved that scene with what we were, and I'm not trying to bring back the dog situation, but the aftermath of the dog attack, and Megan is like staring at the neighbor, all beat up, and her hair is messy with the leaves entangled in it. Like I thought that was visually really cool. I even Megan sitting around the huge tree, surrounded by all those stuffed animals, was visually great, right? And I don't know, even I think close to that scene as well, like the subtle touch of seeing Megan's reflection in the car window was a great visual. I mean, there were so many cool visuals throughout this film. But you know what was really hilarious, and I don't know why my mind went here. I really enjoyed the look of Megan after being attacked with that hedge trimmer. She had that gash in her head, but specifically the top of her hair was ripped off, and my mind immediately went, and it's probably only me, it's probably only me, but my mind immediately went to that she looked like one of those old metal heads that had just been feeling it too hard for way too long and just won't let go of the hair, even though the entire top of their head has gone bald. That's what I that that was the the comparison I got there. And I don't know, that's just me going there, probably. I don't think anyone else is getting there, but I thought that was hilarious.

SPEAKER_03 42:32

Megan's metal, she's she's death core.

SPEAKER_02 42:35

I'm so glad you went there. I went for the more obvious direction, which I feel very basic about now, but obviously she looked like Chucky, you know what I mean, with like the stitches up stitch up face with um the receding hairline and all. So good. But damn, you know, you heard it here first, folks.

SPEAKER_03 42:52

It's fantastic. Yeah, no, I have to agree. The the shot of Megan, I I mentioned this earlier of Megan within the toys was wow, so impressionable. And I we get it very briefly in the trailer, but I think in the movie you're really like just watching it slowly. Um, it was very unsettling. But I think my favorite has to be that monologue that she gives at the end to Gemma when she's approaching her slowly. The lighting in that scene is insane because it it's almost like when the light hits her face, she's saying like the most sinister parts of her monologue and like the most like real jabs to Gemma as she continues to progress closer and closer to her. And I thought that was really, really cool. And like, ooh, that had me wrapped around her finger for sure. I was like, Yeah, Megan, you tell Gemma. Yeah, you let her know.

SPEAKER_01 43:42

To go more into some some Megan love, my favorite scene in the movie is when Megan is finally unleashed in the office. And that is just the whole sequence of events is where all the action really kind of takes place and the dance scene finally happens at every Everyone was waiting for, and it's ridiculous and for some reason compelling, and you want to watch more of it.

SPEAKER_05 44:05

That was uh yes, that uh of course, that is an amazing scene in the movie. I I had some subtle ones, right? Like I feel like one that that really uh got me laughing uh early on was the scene where they're at the like the little school thing, and uh that mom, Holly, I think it was, is just talking about her son Brandon, right? And saying, Oh, he's such a sensitive soul, and saying hi to him, and Brandon responding to her and saying, Fuck off, Holly. It was just so good. It made me laugh, and then it was even better when Holly was like, Oh, it's such a fun age. Pure comedy, pure comedy.

SPEAKER_03 44:41

I'm telling you, my mom was like, Is it? Is it a fun age? That was good. That was good.

SPEAKER_02 44:47

As good as that scene was, my favorite scene comes in what I think is one of the saddest scenes, and that is during the demonstration in front of David for the first time, and Hady breaks down crying, and there is a sentence that is uttered that has been haunting me every single day since watching this movie on Friday with Sean and his wife.

SPEAKER_04 45:07

Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 45:08

Ooh, okay, and I'm gonna try not to get choked up. I'm worried I'll one day be looking at my pictures of my mom like she's a stranger. And that ooh, just fucking got me. And to then see the potential of Megan's technology, yep. The capturing memories to keep it there and then creating that bond, and to see how there is some good programming in Megan from Gemma to be able to turn on a dime and then recognize the nuance of human grief and processing after only just recently learning what death is. It was so masterful and to have that emotional weight and consider the possibilities of that, but then also thinking about the danger of that moment. Fuck, it was just sensational.

SPEAKER_03 45:51

Yeah, that that was actually my favorite scene too, because I think we talked so much about how the movie has those comedic bits to it. You know, obviously we know the plot of the movie, but I didn't expect that we were really gonna dive into it as much as we did. And I think what's surprising the most is that it's such a interesting way to talk about grief with a child, but we're exploring it through AI. You know, how a machine, a robot, is literally being able to have this conversation where Gemma cannot or has not. And so that also was a little bit eerie too, I think, because it's it's literally capable of having these conversations where that should be coming from your aunt, essentially. But that depth of that moment was very, was very nice. Granted, there's a small bit of um of a little something that pulled me out of it, though. The singing in that scene uh killed the moment for me just as a smidge, but you know, it's okay, I'll forgive it.

SPEAKER_05 46:48

Yeah, but see, so it gives you the feels and then it places the comedic value right where it needs to bring you back out of that to be able to enjoy the rest of the film so you're not just bummed out the whole time. It was perfect. Okay, it was perfect.

SPEAKER_01 47:03

And I think it was also playing to the idea that this is a toy that a toy company wants to sell, and it was almost like she was making herself more sellable for them.

SPEAKER_05 47:11

Yeah, definitely. Uh, but you know what? I gotta say, uh, and this might tie to you know, uh one of my favorite scenes and tying back to one of my favorite visual elements, but kind of combining the two, right? And and I don't know, this hits me every time. But when you're going back to the scene where Celia is looking for her dog, right? And she's approaching the gate, and it's it's nighttime outside, it's dark, the wind is blowing, the leaves are are blowing around. Like, I don't know what it is, but the way they shot the scene is she's approaching the gate, it looked eerie, it looked creepy. Um, I just don't know what it is about chilly fall night vibes that really gets me every time.

SPEAKER_01 47:49

Because chilly fall nights are the best, that's why. That's true.

SPEAKER_02 47:51

This is true. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 47:52

They're either very creepy or very comfortable.

SPEAKER_05 47:54

Uh both are great.

SPEAKER_01 47:56

Exactly. You know what's funny is we we've barely I feel like we've barely talked about Katie this entire time.

SPEAKER_03 48:01

Yeah, I guess we've kind of like skirted around it, but never really don't like dived in. I think she was incredible. I know her from Haunting of Hill House. Yes. From the trailer, I was like, oh, we're about to get the performance of a lifetime. Also a show about grief. This is about grief. I'm ready. Strapped in. Let's go.

SPEAKER_02 48:19

Yeah, she delivered such weight. She was really just punching above her weight class this entire movie, but in a way that shows her potential and her range. She was absolutely phenomenal. And the way she swings the tantrums to the really deep emotional pain that she was enduring, and then trying to like pull it together, it really, you know, made me think about like even just the way that I grew up, right? I was surrounded by siblings, still felt a little bit like disconnected or a little alone in some moments. But there's a times when, like, you know, I had one of my grandfathers pass away. And I don't know that I ever really processed that correctly because we think about like talking about death, sometimes we don't always sit down and have the real deep conversations that we probably should. We say the things that try to soothe the pain and put band-aids on things, but maybe we don't dive into the real processing of things, and that's what you have to learn to process as you grow up. And so to take Katie into the situation where she gets none of that, she gets the you know, the simple platitudes, but it's almost as though Gemma also doesn't know how to process this, right? We don't know much about her parents at all. We know that Katie's dad's parents are in Jacksonville. So it leads me to think that Gemma and her sister were the last ones standing in their family, no extended family or grandparents there. But to even think about where she is in her life and to think about how she is processing the loss of her sister, who I think it sounds, it seems like they had a good relate, a positive relationship, if you know, not strained by distance and schedules, etc. Man, it was just so fucking good. Like I loved their dynamic together.

SPEAKER_05 50:07

Yeah, I agree, right, with that with that statement right there. I thought I really enjoyed the work that both um Allison uh Williams and Violet McGraw did in the film. They worked really well with each other. Um, I got all the emotion out of Violet. I don't know if I I mean, outside of that, I don't know how much uh I was sold on the emotions coming from Allison on the death of her sister, but I definitely got the emotions of having to deal with the aftermath and having to take care of a child and maybe, and I'm not one to speak, right? I don't I haven't been put in that situation, so you know it's up for interpretation, I guess, if you haven't gone through it. So I don't know if it's you have to put more focus on taking care of this kid and less focus on grieving in that moment in time, and so maybe that's the dynamic. But I thought the two of them did such a great job, they worked really well chemistry-wise together in the film.

SPEAKER_02 50:53

Yeah, and I was also just thinking, though, about even some of the comments that you know Gemma's sister was making about Gemma as they were driving and how she didn't have to pay for shipping because she works for the company, and obviously her parenting style is not compatible with Gemma's choice of career and her goals. You know what I mean? So to see the difference in those two sisters, I still got the vibe that they had love for each other, especially if you know she felt good enough leaving her in Gemma and leaving Katie in Gemma's custody, you know, to even think about the differences there and and and to consider how on her own Gemma has been. And now having to raise a child who has been raised with very strict regulations on screen time, all the more impressive.

SPEAKER_01 51:40

I think their conversation in the car there really to me felt that they thought she was kind of detached. You know, she's on her own, like you said, she's obsessed with work. That's really all she does is live her work. And everyone, every one of us has been there before where you are so detached from your family because that's all you have is work. I don't think it was necessarily judgmental, but I think there was some sort of strain where it's like, ah, she's off just doing her own thing, whatever. And then when you see the two of them connect, you realize that they're not wrong here, that she is really in her work. She's not not processing what's going on, but it's it's a delayed processing. It's like put it on the back burner because I have to do these things and I don't really have the time to deal with what's happening. And so when she's taking Katie on, she hasn't, she needs to make that space, but hasn't made that space yet. And so how can she help her if she hasn't even made the space for herself to process what's going on? And she's really not helping her create that space to talk about things. She's not letting Katie bring this stuff up and really process it with her until trauma, of course, happens later in the movie when she like just completely unfurls a com like totally reasonable thing to say in that moment and and tells her, like, yeah, I'm gonna miss them too. Yeah, I know you want to see them. I want to see them too. We can't. That's over now. She should have done that from the the beginning of the movie, except there would be no movie.

SPEAKER_02 52:58

Hurt people, hurt people.

SPEAKER_03 53:00

I find this so fascinating because I have a very different opinion of Gemma than you all do. I did not get the vibe whatsoever that they had a positive relationship at all. To me, it was just like, I mean, I have a sister. Why wouldn't the daughter just go to my sister? You know, who obviously has a very well-off career, so she's gonna be taken care of because my sister works with it with this big company, like that kind of vibe, right? Not that there was any like emotional tie. Sure, I can see that, yeah, she's off doing her own thing, like you were saying, Mac, but nothing about even the phone call or like, you know, her in the hospital when she finds out, nothing about Allison's acting evoked to me that she was really sad or that she was really grieving. I think about how relieved she was that Megan could do all of these things and all these parenting things for her while she can quite literally, her own words kick back and relax and do what she and you know, have time for all the other things that you want to do. What I received from the movie was ultimately at the end of the day, Gemma is a parallel of Megan, this robotic nature that has one, a one-track mind. You know, her input is to create this robe robot or to create this product for this company. And she has to do whatever she has to do to make sure that that's done. You know, Katie is not a part of her system, her operating system, it's not a part of her tasks that she needs to complete. That'll that's a project for another time. So I thought that parallel was really unique. But in terms of her, like, you know, having any emotions towards Katie or anything like that, it throughout the movie, I it just seemed like Katie was a nuisance to her. You know, you can clearly see that this young kid is not doing well, but you're forcing her to do these presentations and kind of like, you know, guilt tripping her a little bit, or just like, if you feel okay, I mean, this young girl literally got bit by a dog. Clearly it hurt, and you're more worried about making sure that you can have her do this presentation. So I think going back to one of my favorite scenes, which is that talking about grief with Megan in that presentation, when she's just staring and seeing this, I was like, Yes, I hope that you feel like shit, truthfully, because that could have been you. And I know that you have it in you to kind of do that and talk about your emotions, but you're too busy thinking of something else. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:24

First off, what a great take on Katie. Didn't pick up on the like the analytical and binary like parallel there. Absolutely love that. It's like uh she knew how to code Megan to perceive the nuance that she couldn't really do on her own. Separately from this, perhaps about a bit of this is me doing my own projections as being the sister who is away. Like I was I mentioned earlier, I have several nephews and a niece. And when most of them were extremely young, some of them mere months old, I left for 11 years. So I would come back and see them on holidays, and everything is cool. And while I had a positive relationship with my sisters, we weren't and my brothers weren't like texting every day, catching up. I'm not seeing like a whole lot of like pictures of them growing up, and to the point where you you come home one day and then it's like, wow, this child is a full ass grown child now. Or like my nephew is an adult. It's kind of fucking wild. And so I aligned with Gemma a lot in the suddenness of things, in the understanding that their relationship may not have been perfect, but it doesn't mean that it was bad. You know what I mean? Like at least that's that's just me. But I think what's really interesting is that the the curiosity of where did this store where was this story before the opening of this movie? I want to know the character work. I want to know what Alison Williams imagined for Gemma and you know what maybe her and the actress who played her sister collaborated on with their family history to deliver the nuance of their lines. I want to know what all that was because it was clear that Allison as Gemma really portrayed a lot of you know, a severe lack of emotional intelligence, extreme intellect, extreme intellect, but a severe deprivation of like emotional intelligence. Right. So I'm curious what on their backstory, right?

SPEAKER_03 57:19

It's a lack of empathy. Typically, AI, they have to learn that. You know what I mean? That's something that they aggregate with data. And it almost seems like Gemma also had to do the same eventually with the therapist telling her, like trying to get her to realize the way that she was acting, her friends or her coworkers that were saying, Don't you realize what you're doing with Megan? Like is kind of crossing a line here, and then all culminating into that big scene where she's um, you know, where Katie is talking to uh Megan and Megan is helping her process this. She has to learn empathy through all of these experiences versus having it already. Yeah. I completely agree with that.

SPEAKER_02 57:58

Yeah. And it's wild though, because I think, you know, I think about so many people I know right now who do lack empathy. Not because of a coldness of their hearts, but a lack of experience in conditioning by the world. You know what I mean? And I think about like there's someone I know in particular who finds the human mind so fascinating, but it's more like he studies it at a distance instead of feeling like he can relate to it. And I think that's a really interesting observation, too. So damn, Allison Williams really just delivered.

SPEAKER_05 58:31

Absolutely. Man, this got way deeper than I thought it was gonna go, but I love it. I mean, I think it was really great. I know honestly, Binks, I think your take on it really opened up a whole different view, which I thought was really cool. But I gotta I gotta say, I think also when we look at um really what they did with Megan overall, I think that was like two different girls that worked with Megan, right? Like there was one girl that played Megan, and then there was one girl that did the voice of Megan, right? And I thought the both of them did a really phenomenal job when you think about how that came together.

SPEAKER_03 59:00

Yeah, incredible. And I I'm telling you, I saw the behind the scenes immediately after, and I and I was almost like, wait, there's two of them. Yeah, like this is how this was done. It's so cool, incredible.

SPEAKER_02 59:11

You know, for as deep as we've gotten here, I think we can all align on the therapist being a bit much, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 59:17

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 59:18

The worst, absolutely the worst.

SPEAKER_02 59:20

The worst.

SPEAKER_05 59:21

Absolutely. It was the so judgmental, you could feel the negative energy coming from that therapist, like wanting to pick apart the negatives and find you or catch you in something or some reason to do something to take this child away. I fucking hate that shit. It hits home for me. I fucking hate that shit. I hate these therapists that are out there just trying to find the negatives and not looking at the whole picture and trying to really establish what's going on here. Fuck that shit.

SPEAKER_03 59:48

Right. At the very least, like be helpful. Because okay, if we want to say that Gemma was grieving, which I'm sure she was, right? I'm not trying to, you know, remove that element to it. But ma'am, this person also lost their sister. Like, could you have a moment? Could we have a B? Like, so sorry that this isn't Toys R Us in my house. Right off the bat, like, let's let's calm down here.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:10

Absolutely. You have to be careful when you're when you're playing with like the livelihood of children, when you're playing with the livelihood of families being together, you have to make sure you're analyzing things correctly before you potentially tear something apart, right? And and that's what I'm saying, like it I, you know, I don't want to dive too far into it, but like shit like that had happened to me as a child where I was like taken away from my family, had to spend months in a foster home, and my family had to fight to get me back into the house. And like, is every family perfect? No. But I don't think like when we jump the gun and jump to conclusions and toss you in an unknown environment where people don't necessarily give two shits about you, like it's not a good experience. So I it just that was the part that really hit home for me. And I just like the therapist was like the ultimate villain in this film for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:01

I just didn't appreciate how judgmental she was when she's in the house watching them, really kind of taking over how they're playing. Okay, let's take out one of my collectible toys. I'm sorry, you're how old? You know what a collectible is. You know that these old things are worth a lot of money. Or are you judging me that I haven't opened them up and started playing with them with a child? Okay, first of all. Second of all, let me show her how to play with it, right? Well, let's see how she wants to play with it. Okay, that's great and everything. She's not though, so I'm gonna help her out a little bit. That's like, that's like, hey, here's some Legos, right? Here's the instructions on how to build the thing. No, don't give her the instructions. Just let her do it.

unknown 1:01:39

What?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:40

Yeah, so there is that moment where Katie finally comes around to where Gemma is working and her eyes light up, and Gemma gets like she gets to see Gemma in her natural habitat, right? And I think obviously, you know, the therapist was treating this as I'm gonna treat you like any pair of adult and child, and I'm gonna apply very broad generic strokes to how I think you should interact, instead of letting Gemma and Katie find their dynamic together. Because you can see that when Gemma was able to spark Katie's interest, and when she was able to start figuring out who she is and what parts of her she can share, they were off to a good direction. Now, again, had we just stopped one step short of AI robot that is in beta right now, maybe things would have been very different. Let me just also say I open all my collectibles.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:33

But also, like, it's okay to not fucking open collectibles. That person needs to just be okay with the fact that not every toy is for a child to rip open and play with. Like, it's okay. That child can learn to appreciate things and not open them.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:45

Right. They've been in the house for what, 24 to 48 hours, and she's like, Where's all of her toys? Yeah. Well, she's of what age now? She's probably not even playing with toys anymore. All she's doing is playing with the iPad. Stop judging us, get out of the house, chill. To me, I mean it's uh it's maybe a bit harsh, but that was some of the worst parts of the movie. Was it just those interactions were really rough? And I know it's on purpose, but it really kind of sours it. It really kind of makes you hate that character a lot. Now that's perhaps on purpose. Maybe it's because I don't have a lot of negative stuff to say about the movie, aside from sometimes the comedy gets a little too campy, but they reel it in so it's well balanced. But no, I'm I'm I'm sorry. Lydia just was like so toxic. And that that really sour some good moments in the film.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:33

You know when I think about the the moments that soured the experience, I think back to before the movie really even started playing. And I think back to the Evil Dead trailer, uh, Evil Dead rises trailer playing in the theater, and how Sean, his wife and I were just all sitting here vibing, enjoying the gore fest that was on screen, and then we see a gaggle of teenagers, maybe even, dare I say, preteens, enter so loudly, announcing themselves from seven miles away, with their gigantic with their gigantic backpacks, paying no mind to anyone else in the fucking theater in our experience. And then I thought, oh no. It was a wave of dread that rushed over me because then I had to look up and verify that this movie is PG 13, and there was no barrier to these children being in this room with us. But it wasn't as bad at once the movie finally started, but the worst part of the actual movie watching experience was the musical breakdowns and musical moments and the kids fucking singing along with it. Because listen, I love a good musical, I love a good sing-along, I sing along to a lot of bullshit. Was I singing bulletproof in my head? Yes. However, they all broke out unanimously, and while it was a cute, unifying moment, it was also excessive.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:56

Okay, and so we are a hundred percent aligned with this because that's exactly what I was gonna say is that I think that the worst part of this film was having to sit through the movie with an entire row of fucking teeny boppers. The worst, I mean, literally, they just uh the sing-along moments, the the getting up and doing musical chairs and switching between and sitting on each other's laps and the cell phone lights and all the dumb shit that I get it. I was that age once, I probably did it, I get it, but like now sitting in the seat watching it unfold, it was super annoying.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:29

But did you do it in a horde of 50 other people? What the fuck? Like two to three kids, tops, I get it. Where are my introverts with my close little friend circle? Nah, this is like a field trip. This was a full class. Why the fuck were they not in school? And I get it, yes, technically, school would have been dismissed by the time our 445 showing rolled around. Go to some fucking after school program, go read a book, go play a team sport. Not the after school program.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:57

Oh, it's so good. Yeah, what did I say with their fucking giant backpacks looking like a bunch of little like turtles walking around?

SPEAKER_03 1:06:07

It's concerning that they brought large backpacks, truthfully. What is happening there? They they brought every snack that their mother packed for them for lunch. They didn't eat it at lunch, and then they brought it to the theater, is what they did.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:17

See, I'm sitting here thinking they brought vodka.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:19

Or that. Ah no. The sprite bottles, you know. I love how I didn't go to the movies with you all, but I had a similar experience except they didn't sing. In our row, there was also a large group of teenagers, and then another smaller squad at the front of the theater. And I was like, all right, these people to my left, they seem like they're kind of calm. It was like a girl gang, you know, and I'm here for that. Um, the ones at the front of the screen, they're problematic from the concession stand all the way to the theater. But I was like, you know what? They're far away, maybe they won't be so bad. They did not sing during those um, you know, those musical moments, but they were like, this is gonna be a jump scare. This is gonna be a jump scare. And I wanted to grab my popcorn and just throw it at them. Be like, that's a jump scare for you. Could you please just stop? That would be great.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:09

Rewind less than 30 days ago when Binx and I were saying that to each other alone watching the mean one. Honestly, though, it's different when kids do it.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:17

Yeah, no, it's different, it's different. But okay, to get to the worst part though, it is still the singing bits for me. It is still the musical moments. Although I didn't have teenagers singing, um, I did not like the musical moments. And I get it, you guys brought it up earlier. It is to pull you back into the comedy. But I wasn't singing along. I was like, wow, I I hate these songs. Actually, I was just, it was like nails to a chalkboard. I was like holding on, like, let this end. And if I was home, I would for sure that that would be the moment where I fast forward them. I I fast forward until it's over.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:52

Okay. What if in that moment Megan instead opened her mouth and said, There's a possibility.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:59

If it was, look, you know that if it was, if it was Paramour, if it was Lincoln Park, we'd be talking a different thing. I'd be in there. I'd be like, Yes, go for it. Yeah, it'd be different. Yeah, that was rough. That was rough for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:11

This this brings up a good point to me, though. I actually cannot wait to watch this again, but at home, with headphones on, sitting in the comfort of my own couch, getting all that sound design squeezed right into my ears.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:22

Yes, definitely same.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:24

It was great to watch it in theater, but I I think I I wouldn't buy another ticket. I can't, you know, I can't wait to watch it actually at home where I can really soak it up.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:33

Yeah, I can't wait to watch it at home as well, and maybe have like a stuffed animal or like, you know, like one of my Funko Pops nearby and just think about like, ooh, what if it just turns its head, you know?

SPEAKER_05 1:08:43

Oh no. Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:46

What if it blinks? If it blinks and I'm throwing it out the window or telling Cullen to eat it.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:50

Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:51

I really want to watch a double feature of this in the 2019 child's play.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:55

Interesting. That would be good, actually. I I definitely wouldn't mind watching this one again for sure. I I probably will end up watching this as soon as it releases, um, because I think it was a it was a fun movie, and I I I know that I have uh friends, even family members that probably would enjoy watching this film. So I definitely see myself watching this again in the near future.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:16

Actually, I I think it would be fun for a triple play, child's play, this movie, and AI.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:21

Oh. Ooh, that'd be good. It's a real culmination.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:24

Well, I think the fact that we all want to re-experience this movie is certainly in an indication of how strong our universal slash rating is. And listen, folks, we've had a lot to talk about here, but the discussion doesn't end here by any means. There's still so much to unpack. You know, we we didn't even go into the depths of Katie's grief in a way that I think you probably could in watching this movie. So we want to know what you think. Please let us know.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:48

You can join in on the conversation by hanging out with us for free in our Discord. Click the link in our show notes to sign up.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:53

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SPEAKER_02 1:10:04

We'll see you next time, folks. And remember, in this family, we don't run from drama.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:08

But also, this is the part where you run.