This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Nik Walker: Hey Nick.

[0:01] Alex Smolowe: Oh shit.

[0:02] Nik Walker: I thought I'd beat you to it this time.

[0:03] Alex Smolowe: You know, you're always greeting me first, and then I have to respond, and I thought I'd change it up.

[0:09] Nik Walker: Are you surprised?

[0:10] Alex Smolowe: I'm super surprised, dude.

[0:12] Nik Walker: I'm super surprised. I'm super thankful.

[0:14] Alex Smolowe: Uh, you know.

[0:16] Nik Walker: Uh, it's such a lovely day. Uh, you know, we'll get into that a little later. But, uh, it's a new day.

[0:20] Alex Smolowe: It's a new day, it's a new dawn, it's a new day. Why not have you be the first to speak?

[0:26] Nik Walker: Yeah. We can do whatever we want in this new world. Joseph R. Biden has brought us possibility.

[0:32] Alex Smolowe: What other things do you want to do now that Joseph R. Biden is president? What's on your mind?

[0:38] Nik Walker: I've always wanted to learn how to scuba dive.

[0:42] Alex Smolowe: Yeah.

[0:42] Nik Walker: So now that Joseph R. Biden is the president, I may try, but I'll be honest with you, I've already tried scuba diving, but I have a weird inner ear problem that if I get too deep, if the pressure gets too intense, I get vertigo, so it's unsafe, and they couldn't actually license me. So I went through the whole process of getting certified to be a scuba diver, and I couldn't do it. But now that Joseph R. Biden is the president, I may give it another shot, and maybe my ears will work with me.

[1:14] Alex Smolowe: I mean, that's great. I was more just talking about like getting some ice cream or some shit, but good for you.

[1:21] Nik Walker: America.

[1:23] Alex Smolowe: Little Just.

[1:26] Nik Walker: Little Just.

[1:29] Alex Smolowe: Little Justin. Uh, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, welcome, welcome, welcome to the first Little Justice episode recorded in the new presidency of Joseph Robinette Biden. Welcome, Mr. Biden. Welcome, Mr. Biden. It's so nice to have you all here. It's so nice to be with you in this country that is still the same, just has a better paint job on it today.

[2:00] Nik Walker: So paint job is an astute metaphor.

[2:04] Alex Smolowe: It is. It is. Well, can I tell you, I will say this. Uh, it was so, you know, I've so obviously—did you watch the inauguration? You watched it?

[2:11] Nik Walker: Parts of it, yeah.

[2:13] Alex Smolowe: The important parts.

[2:14] Nik Walker: The important parts. You watched J Lo, you watched Lady Gaga, you know, you watched the speech. Um, I gotta say, definitely teared up when Kamala's getting sworn in. That was a big old moment. I mean, that's a big moment.

[2:27] Alex Smolowe: It's a big moment. And then Biden's speech, chef's kiss. Uh, I feel—

[2:32] Nik Walker: What do you feel about that?

[2:34] Alex Smolowe: Uh, well, I mean, obviously, but he's been on point, you know, understanding that he's not writing these things. He's got a team of people who know exactly what he needs to sound like. I think they've done a really good job about making sure the message is consistently unifying.

[2:51] Nik Walker: Yes.

[2:52] Alex Smolowe: Um, you know, I was worried when Biden became the front runner and through this whole process that there would be sort of an aura of backsliding, right? Back into politics as usual, and I think that they have recognized that. And while I assume there will be a lot of politics as usual, um, I also think that there's a lot more Bernie in the Democratic Party right now than there would have been otherwise had, you know, the whole Trump thing never happened.

[3:22] Nik Walker: So, oh no, Bernie is all over this, and it's interesting too because he is, you know, I feel Biden is coming at this with such a—it really is the decency president. Like that's what it feels like. I'm not trying to, you know, coin a phrase before it becomes a hot thing, but I did, so you're welcome, news media. But, uh, he—I mean, it just feels decent. Everything he's saying is coming from a place of decency.

[3:46] Alex Smolowe: He told the White House staff today in his speech to them that he would fire them if they treated anyone with disrespect, that it was like automatic. And like part of that is for show, it's for us, he knows we're watching, but it's also just a nice thing to hear. Like we're coming back to transparency and decency. Uh, you know, and I still have complicated feelings about everything that's happened in the past two weeks, but this was just a—it was a nice day to just be like, oh my god, okay.

[4:19] Nik Walker: It's amazing how much normal can feel special.

[4:24] Alex Smolowe: You know, just by doing things the way they should be done without too much weirdness and too much fanfare. Uh, it feels good. It feels really good. It feels like—which is not a feeling that we're used to as a country.

[4:39] Nik Walker: At all.

[4:40] Alex Smolowe: At all. And it really is a special thing. I feel lifted. Like I really, you know, today we did Chaos Twins and we're done, you know, recording Little Justice this inauguration day, and it does feel like, oh yeah, we're—let's get back to it.

[4:49] Nik Walker: Let's get back to it.

[5:01] Alex Smolowe: He signed, you know what I mean?

[5:03] Nik Walker: No, yeah, completely, completely. Um, and I think there hasn't been as much—like for the past two weeks, there was so much just like negative energy. Everyone was assuming that this week was gonna be a crazy thing, right? That there were gonna be mobs in the street and every capital in the country, um, that there was gonna be violence, that there was gonna be this and that. More what I'm seeing is a lot of people online recognizing that Trump is gonna abandon them, that he has abandoned them.

[5:34] Alex Smolowe: It's the people really fighting for him were under the assumption that his term would not end, that even if Biden took the presidency, there would be a big fight that Trump would be at the head of, uh, and it would go on, and Trump's out. Like he made all his money off the pardoning. He like charged, basically sold pardons, has made a ton of money off campaign financing, and I would be surprised if he felt the need to get back, especially, you know, the way that he's left now, feeling like a loser.

[6:06] Nik Walker: Well, uh, why would he come back?

[6:08] Alex Smolowe: It's interesting, right? Because I think that, you know, I never count him out of anything at this fucking point. I'm just like, you are a little snake or something. It's like muscle memory. It's just like, yeah, I'm not gonna be surprised. I'm just not gonna be surprised by anything. But what I will say is if this impeachment trial goes through and they're able to stop him from doing that, I think that's great. I think there's always the chance that one of his kids runs. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's an inevitability that one of his kids runs for something. So that is something we've got to keep our eye out for.

[6:35] Nik Walker: And I think that's what I appreciated the most about Biden's speech and all the speeches today, were speeches that were like, hey, we're here, but like now there's work to do. Like there's actual—we have issues. We have a lot of issues that we need to reconcile with, and Trumpism is not gone, right? Those people that did this still exist. It's not like they're just blinked out of existence because Biden won, you know, and I think that is a huge thing to remember as we go forward in these next couple of weeks.

[7:05] Alex Smolowe: Absolutely. You know, absolutely. Well, my perspective on it, and again, maybe it's a little bit naive or hopeful, is that Trumpism really only exists in the kinetic energy of the present moment, right? Like as a side culture, it has no power. It's only because Trump was in the presidency and saying all and blowing up the norms, literally and figuratively, that that's what gave it power. And that's what people cause 'cause the people behind it are sucked into these social media bubbles, right? It's people getting fed all this fake news and all this and that. Trump himself, like without the daily reaffirmation of what they're for, I really don't think it holds nearly enough power to sustain for four years.

[8:04] Nik Walker: Well, and I—but maybe it'll come back in a new form. I think, you know, that dark side is still there, but I don't think Trump himself is the thing to worry about.

[8:15] Alex Smolowe: Well, we'll see. And now we've been made very aware of the white supremacy to have the president-elect get up and on him being sworn in talk about white supremacy is a crazy thing.

[8:25] Nik Walker: It's a huge thing.

[8:26] Alex Smolowe: It's a big thing, and we shouldn't take that for granted. I will say, however, I think that, you know, what's sad is, right, you're dealing—you're talking about a thing that has always been there, and we are calling it Trumpism, but it has been with us since the dawn of the country. In fact, you know, there's that—we had Diane Morales on our show for Chaos Wednesday, who is one of the candidates for mayor of New York City, and she said something about how it was so astute. She was talking about the idea, her and Sasha were talking about the idea that, you know, we have to get away from the education that tells us that the system isn't working, and to the education that says the system is actually working exactly as it was designed to work.

[9:12] Nik Walker: And that's the issue, right? Is that this system was built for white men in seventeen seventy-six and has not been sufficiently updated since, and now we're just—it's just a—we are trying to open the iris. So I think to remember that Trumpism is baked into the very fabric of this nation, and we just have to keep our eye on it and reckon with it. And I think it sounds like we are starting to do that work, and I'm very excited to continue.

[9:42] Alex Smolowe: Um, but you know, bring us back to the purpose of this thing, which is, as always, to talk. Guys, we are so sorry. You know, we realize that like, you know, we just talk about this—the world. It's what there is to talk about.

[9:55] Nik Walker: And it always—we find a way to tie it in to what we're actually here for.

[10:01] Alex Smolowe: You know. Uh, this one especially. I mean, I think we've started choosing topics just based on how we feel or what's going on. It's a nice flow because it gives us an excuse to talk about politics.

[10:12] Nik Walker: Yeah, you know, and stuff. But this is definitely—we wanted to choose for this first Biden-Harris episode, choose a topic that went with that. So this is, you know, we're calling this the first day on the job movie.

[10:26] Alex Smolowe: Is that what we call it? The new job movie?

[10:28] Nik Walker: The new job, first day on the job. I think it's open to interpretation as most of our stuff is.

[10:32] Alex Smolowe: Yeah.

[10:33] Nik Walker: How did you look at it?

[10:35] Alex Smolowe: You know, it's interesting because I was thinking about, you know, as always, there's the two ways to take it. There's one—a movie that is literally about somebody's first experience with a job, right? Which is, I think, you know, a very cool idea. There's also that idea of, you know, a movie that could inspire you or a piece that could inspire you on your time.

[11:00] Nik Walker: Oh, interesting.

[11:01] Alex Smolowe: You know what I mean? Like what's a movie that you would watch on your first new day of a new job? Hopefully, if you're on your first day of a new job, you're not watching a movie. You're doing a new job that you're there for.

[11:15] Nik Walker: Yeah, hopefully, unless you're a film critic, in which case—best of both worlds.

[11:20] Alex Smolowe: Best of both worlds. And I think that for me, I tried to find something that was like a little bit in the middle. I mean, like a movie that to me would inspire me both as somebody who is coming into a new job, like I would watch it maybe the night before and get pumped up and be like, okay, and as somebody, you know, coming into—um, or somebody, you know, a movie that is about a new job.

[11:51] Nik Walker: Right.

[11:52] Alex Smolowe: Um, you know, I think both are viable options. Uh, you know, and I think that—I mean, my approach to it was similar, but I took the job part into consideration too in terms of like what a job is, right? Like why we start a new job. So not just like a new job someone starting one. I wouldn't call my choice inspirational at all, except to a very specific type of person.

[12:19] Nik Walker: Interesting. Um but uh it is about someone starting a new job but it's also about why who are like what does it take to do a job right like what is what is the mindset and the ethos and the uh the drive behind working yeah in a way like and and and what is expected of somebody uh moving into a job what is you know what are the limits to it like how hard should you push how far can you go um you know what kind of person do you need to be do you need to change stuff like that yeah uh which you know I've I've spent my entire career freelancing and I mean more or less so have you right bouncing from thing to thing right moving into a new environment giving it what you've got moving on to the next thing so you and I collectively have had dozens and dozens and dozens of new jobs.

[13:13] Alex Smolowe: Dozens.

[13:13] Nik Walker: 100% 100% and and that's kind of I I think that's the artist's life, right? You know that's that's kind of what we do. We create these little families and and we we we have we do what we got to do with them and then we uh then we move forward. So that's that's part of it. That's part of it. Now did you did you find when you were so so this movie you say is not inspiring at all.

[13:33] Alex Smolowe: To me it would be inspiring but that's I'm a very specific type of person.

[13:38] Nik Walker: I'm disturbed.

[13:40] Alex Smolowe: I'm very exactly well exactly uh no you know it it's it I don't think a movie needs to be like I it a movie about a new job you figure is going to be inspiring in the sense that it's some you know what the movie's gonna be before you start right someone comes in and they struggle and then they finally come out the other end better than they they came in, right? They understand something, right? Like Devil Wears Prada kind of like I'm having trouble this whole time, but at the end I have this growth that allows me to be me more presently and do my job better. And you know, there's a million and one movies like that. Um my film does that in the weirdest possible way. Um we'll talk about it, but it's wanna dive in?

[14:28] Nik Walker: I mean, let's not let's dive in. I'm I'm very interested to um Yeah, we can. It's a little early to do the dive, but we can we can do it. Let's we can do it for sure. Let's dive right in, because I I have wanted to talk about this one for a while, and I'm glad that I finally got a good excuse. Uh and as I watched it, uh this is my third time seeing it. Um in the guise of of new job and thinking about new job movies specifically, right? Like the tenor of what these movies should feel like the triumphant moments and the despairing moments and the where you are at the end and all of that. It actually fits it very perfectly, but wrapped in a completely different package.

[15:08] Alex Smolowe: Okay.

[15:10] Nik Walker: So we open on shots of Los Angeles. You're gonna get this shots of Los Angeles, nighttime, basically the whole movie takes place at night, except for a few instances. Uh full moon over LA, the observatory, desert city, very kind of barren, will even when we're we're in the downtown Beverly Hills, it's it's a little wildernessy. And then we cut in, we're somewhere uh along the canal in the arts district, something like that, uh, on a work site, and there's a guy clipping at a fence. Clipping away at fencing, stealing it, right? Middle of nowhere, no one's around. Kind of a weird guy, greasy long hair. Clip, clip, clip. Carpal's up. Private security officer gets out. Excuse me, sir. Who are you?

What are you doing here? I'm lost. Guy turns around. He's got he's got a creepy ass smile on his face. In the headlights of this truck, he has a creepy ass look in his eye. Big smile. He's put the clippers away. He starts talking to the guy. I didn't know I wasn't allowed in here. I thought this was a detour. Okay, buddy, let's see some identification. What's that outfit? Oh, you're a security. Oh, private security. I tried to get one of those jobs. I like guarding things really gets closer and closer, sees the guy, has a nice watch on. I'm so sorry, whatever. Wham. Knocks him out. Cut to the next shot. He's driving, driving down the highway. He's got all the fence. He's gone through and continued to clip all the fence off, and now it's in his car. Uh, and he's wearing the guy's watch. The movie is Nightcrawler.

[16:57] Alex Smolowe: Excuse me, sir. I'm looking for a job. In fact, I made up my mind to find a career that I can learn and grow into. Who am I? I'm a hard worker. I set high goals, and I've been told that I'm persistent. Now I'm not fooling myself, sir. Having been raised with the self-esteem movement so popular in schools, I used to expect my needs to be considered. But I know that today's work culture no longer caters to the job loyalty that could be promised to earlier generations. What I believe, sir, is that good things come to those who work their asses off. And that people such as yourself who reached the top of the mountain didn't just fall there. So what do you say? I could start tomorrow, or even why not tonight?

[17:36] Nik Walker: No.

[17:37] Alex Smolowe: Oh, good lord. I don't know why. You that is so gross. How have how have you never? How have you never how could you not get that? I I'm not because I wasn't even thinking that you would go. I was hoping it's it's Biden's administration. It's Biden's administration. And if you go to like the most sociopathic movie. This is not the this is not the Biden's administration movie.

[18:03] Nik Walker: Okay. This is the new job. All right. I'm I'm stripping away all the other elements. I'm looking at the core of what we really wanted to figure out. Damn idiot. What is a movie about somebody starting a new job? This is the movie.

[18:16] Alex Smolowe: No, that is not the movie.

[18:20] Nik Walker: That is this is this is absolutely no. Think about it. Think about it. Okay. So for those of you who don't know, Nightcrawler it's a film by Dan Gilroy, starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a guy who who starts working shooting crime scenes, right? He gets a police scanner and he starts, he's looking for any job he can get. Like I said, we found him, you know, stealing wire, trying to sell it to a guy. He tries to get hired by the guy who says he doesn't hire thieves, and and and you know, the main character, he's kind of Lou is his name, like Lou. Who's name Lou? Who's name? Kind of like respects him for it. Like okay, yeah, that's that's a good way to run your business. He's like a very self-starter. He's always talking about something he read in a book, how his mindset in terms of business and growth, like psychotically. This man is psychotic.

[19:07] Alex Smolowe: Sure.

[19:09] Nik Walker: Uh, in his determination, right? He is he is everything about he is Tim Ferris or whoever, you know, amped up to the max, uh, with zero of the success, right? It's all work ethic mindset and zero product. And he he gets sucked into this thing think, think you know, starting following uh accidents, crime scenes, shootings and things, and going and trying to be the first one on scene to film it to sell it to the news station and build his business that way. Um over the course of the movie, he actually, because of his kind of like psychotic, sociopathic nature, he's able to really, you know, you know, build this thing to what unfortunately it needs to be. And it becomes this huge conversation about about media consumption and the news and productizing really bad stuff that really is happening to people.

[20:03] Alex Smolowe: I got no call fair spot. That's the lead. I want to break it up into a wraparound from the scene. I want a walking stand-up, t-shirt five, repeat on the half, and I want the copy to start with a warning. You're gonna show this? With a warning. It's excessive. We should have packages like this every day. People are eating breakfast. And they'll talk about it at work. So here's here's again. I just, you know, I just want to point out to everybody listening that, you know, on the day of like pregnant, the day of like our the our last day with like the most fascist, narcissistic, like truly tyrannical president that we have ever had outside of, you know, like maybe like an Andrew Jackson. Do you know what I mean?

Like, we are we have uh escaped the the madness for now. For now, but we've escaped it. And this motherfucker who I host the show with goes to like the darkest, most like like truly like capitalism, you know, greed is good, Wolf of Wall Street movie, like on a vendor.

[21:18] Nik Walker: I don't I don't see it that way. I think this movie does, it's it's completely inverted in such a poetic way where it's not it's not saying it's not in support of this, right? Like, how many movies have the main character, it's not he's not an anti-hero. You never root for this guy. You hate this guy the whole time. You hate what he's doing. You're just kind of morbidly curious about seeing how far he'll go, which speaks to what the film is actually about. But like the the actual character and the story is not trying to get you to support what's going on.

[21:55] Alex Smolowe: No, it's not.

[21:56] Nik Walker: It's not trying to get you to it's just presenting it in a way, and and again, like in terms of how they uh lay out the music, how the music comes in and out, how they portray him from his perspective, when he does something good, which is something bad, the music is triumphant, right? The shots are slow motion, the the world is is a good place. When he's angry, it's it's the opposite. Um and they they follow like if you really like structure it out scene by scene, they follow it's pretty formulaic, but it like I said, it's completely inverted. And it's so interesting. But you here's here's what I would say you cast an actor like Jake Gyllenhaal, who is I I truly believe he is one of the most talented people we have out today.

And um, and and it and it took me, I'll say it took me a second to get there. It took me a second to get to a place where I was like, this is this dude is next level. But um, he there's just such a freedom in his work. I I find that he just doesn't he kind of reminds me of a it's so funny. I was gonna say Heath Ledger, or even like a younger Brad Pitt when Brad Pitt was trying so hard not to be just the pretty boy and like you know was doing like the 12 monkeys of it all and you know and like and would pull out a legends of the fall and then would jump right back into you know a fight club like like it's it's that it's that that that search to be like yes, I know I'm a very beautiful person, but like let me let me act.

I'm not just here to be like eye candy, let me act. And you know, this performance that he gives in Nightcrawler is I mean it's his Travis Bickle, and that was said when it absolutely is the correlation. It's it's Taxi Driver. I mean this this movie is is Taxi Driver, which has a similar it has a similar tone, except in Taxi Driver, he redeems himself to an extent, right? There there is that like he does a little bit of good. This this guy, there's there's no good. By the by the end, he's even worse because you realize how settled he is, how comfortable he is in what he's doing.

[24:00] Nik Walker: Um so so I mean in in terms of approaching it like a new job movie. Um yeah, what's always interested me about this film is is that ethos that I was talking about, is is that mindset because there's so many, especially this day and age, where people don't know why they're working, right? Like we've built a culture where you have to go to school and then you have to get a job. But like before, in the history of humanity, uh the work you did directly contributed to uh survival.

[24:40] Alex Smolowe: Right? It was like you go farm, you go bank, you go even even things like banking, even things like entertainment, all of that, like it was more geared towards smaller set communities. Now, because we have access to the entire world, working is so confusing. Like, what are you what how in turn you need money to survive, but especially in America, how are you supposed to get there? So there's a, you know, billion dollar industry built around these books and motivational things to try to put you in the mindset of working hard. You need to be working harder, you need to be working smarter, you need to be working longer, you need to be working shorter, you need to go do this and that and build passive income and active income, and you need to like there's so many things that like completely shroud the simple chaos that is like the world working system.

[25:37] Nik Walker: Yes, and every country does it a little bit differently, but we and now we've gotten to this point where like we've lost perspective on it, which kind of draws in a lot, right? Like the minimum wage hasn't changed in 20, 30 years, but the cost of everything has gone up. We've been fighting for a minimum wage increase to a point where now that doesn't even cover what it's supposed to anymore, and we're still fighting for it. So, like we've lost sight of what it is. So what I love about this character is that he reveals the stupidity in that. He reveals the craziness of this mindset of get up and grind. When am I gonna get my raise? That's reasonable, right? You keep talking about this performance review. When's it gonna happen? I've been out here two months already, busting my ass every night. I'm tired of your promises for more pain, man.

[26:24] Alex Smolowe: Rick, trying to leverage your salary in this economic environment is near impossible. Most firms have set starting wages. Ideally, you could leverage with other offers, but that's just not the case in your situation right now. Right. Of every waking second should be about how can I go kick ass? How can I go do better than the other person? How can I get mine by working harder and working smarter, working all that? Because he's somebody who's doing that. He's living that and failing miserably. And the only way that he can transform that water into wine, right? He can take that energy and apply it to something is by being scum, is by going and filming these people dying in car crashes and setting up like by the end of the movie, he's setting up. He's like pulling strings so that he can get the footage, letting his friend slash employee, you know, literally get shot so that he can rise a little bit higher.

[27:19] Nik Walker: And I think it's so, and especially I mean as a freelancer, I kind of look at working life from the outside in because I don't have that normal nine to five, but it reveals to me the absurdity of it.

[27:19] Alex Smolowe: Yes. Yes. Yes, it does, it's certainly, I mean, it certainly acts as vicious commentary, almost satire. I mean, would you call it satire?

[27:41] Nik Walker: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely, yeah. Yeah.

[27:44] Alex Smolowe: Yeah, I would call it dark, dark, dark comedy satire for sure. It certainly falls, it I mean falls in that category where it's just trying to really trying to make you look at it. What I will say though, I you know, I don't it doesn't it doesn't because I uh again going back to my examples, I consider Wolf of Wall Street satire. I consider all these things, right? You are you are letting these systems and people who love these systems play out to their inevitable conclusions. And I think what Nightcrawler is incredibly successful at is like you said, showing us the logical conclusion of a person like this.

[28:20] Nik Walker: My question to you though is as a first day on the job movie, um, you know, is it do you find that with Nightcrawler you're you're you're yes, he is, he is jumping, like he gets in, he gets a new job and he's like, I'm gonna be the best at it. But is it I don't know. I I find I I I have always I've always thought like it's gotta be. I'm about to answer my own question. I was I was about to say it's gotta be somebody coming into a larger world. There were there's such a motor on this guy. There is no question to me. Not not that he that that this that this person from the beginning of the movie won't do the disastrous things, do you know what I mean? That that he's going to do.

[29:02] Alex Smolowe: And that absolutely that's the element that's missing a little bit for me as as a as a you know, there where I guess my question to you without ruining the movie for anybody, where do you think the point is where he passes the threshold, right? A new idea of the wrong thing.

[29:17] Nik Walker: Well, so here's who the here's who Lou is, right? Is like I said, he's somebody who has this mindset. He's somebody who's committed himself to doing stuff and and can't do it. He they don't, you know, the only time you see him doing anything is stealing. He's a thief and he's very committed to it, but that's kind of on his own terms, and it's what you do when you can't get a job doing something. It's not because he doesn't want a job. He literally, the guy he sells his stolen goods to, he asks him for a job. He says, I'll work for you, I'll work really hard for you. Like I can start tomorrow. Like he it's not that he doesn't want to partake in the system, it's that he is completely outside of it. So when he it's because he hasn't found something that fits like there is no job that he could do besides this one, right?

[30:05] Alex Smolowe: And he lives in a world and the guy he hires, right? He brings the guy in, and the guy he hires, who's played by Riz Ahmed, who's great. He's um he's amazing. Um tells him in the interview, like, I worked as a landscaper for a week, you know, week here, week there. I've never really been employed, but I'll work hard for you. And he hires him. Like, I think he maybe he sees a little bit of himself in it or or something. So I I think the transition is is the first time he sees that this is a possible thing, right? He pulls up Bill Paxton, guy's his soul. Oh, is his competition, right?

[30:41] Nik Walker: He's the guy he he like de facto learns from. They're they're rivals, but he, you know, he shows up to a crime scene randomly and sees a guy filming, asked him what he's doing. He's more interested in how this job is working, realizes you can make money doing this stuff, uh, and immediately sets about. He like steals a bike and goes and sells it to buy a camera from a pawn shop, and then goes and and he builds his R. You know, first it's a shitty camera, and then he gets a better one, and then he hires help, and he does everything you should do for a small business, right? So it's this it's this moment of realization that he has that like if he has to survive of his own accord, and he's too nuts for anybody to hire him for anything else. Here is something where every ounce of sweat you put into it will come back if you're willing to do it.

[31:27] Alex Smolowe: And that's his whole thing. Nobody's willing to do the actual work, no one's actually willing to do what it takes to get it done. So I I think I mean, I I completely disagree with your assessment um for for those reasons. Respectfully.

[31:42] Nik Walker: I don't know. I mean, well, I'm not I'm not saying it's uh that's why I asked, because I'm not saying to be fair, I'm not saying it's not a first day on the job movie. I'm just saying I I wanted, I mean, you answered it. What is that, what is that moment of threshold? Because that's for me the first the the key element of a first day on the job movie is the character steps into a larger world and makes and makes the decision to do so and but absolutely that that's what it is.

[32:06] Alex Smolowe: I mean, that's the sunshine, that's that's you step through the door and you see what you're what you've gotten yourself into.

[32:12] Nik Walker: Yeah. Um and then and then you run with it, right? And you deal with the consequences of it.

[32:16] Alex Smolowe: Yep, yeah, you make your mistakes, you try to grow, uh, you you push back, and by the end, you're in a better place than than when you started.

[32:26] Nik Walker: Um and it and that's what I'm saying about the structure of it too, right? The emotion the story structure and the emotional structure of it, it follows all of that.

[32:34] Alex Smolowe: Oh no, no, it's it's just yeah, those plot points are completely demonic. And and you know, his yeah, his barometer of success is uh is skewed.

[32:43] Nik Walker: No, it is, but and and and to be to be fair, I think that once you, you know, from the opening, now thinking back, it's been a minute since I've watched it, but now thinking back the opening shots, I mean, everything about it tells you that you are in a world that black is white, up is down. Do you know you are not dealing with uh we're not even gonna try to deal with morality? Do you mean like we are we are truly just going with this guy on what he's trying to achieve and these things, and it's so funny because uh one of my favorite shows, I won't say which, well, I guess I can say which 'cause it doesn't ruin anything, but uh the fifth season of The Wire actually deals in a very similar thing.

[33:19] Alex Smolowe: Um have you have you finished it yet? Did you I know you I l I literally after we had our conversation months ago about how I need to finish it, I can't get past the second season for some reason God damn dude you gotta I think MA won't watch it with me so I watch it on my own and then it's hard it's hard to consistently watch on my own so I just I lose it after a while.

[33:38] Nik Walker: I get you I really need I really need to to get in there. Without ruining anything there is a very similar setup that happens because the the fifth season is all about journalism, right? It's about the journalism as an industry and um and what it means to be a working class journalist and all these things.

[33:56] Alex Smolowe: So um you know read into that what you will about how it connects to Nightcrawler but the it it was almost like um it almost becomes a meta commentary for the show because it it deals in sensationalism and and making up stories and the idea that in a society which is built on producing work and being the best in all these things that that Lou holds so dear um the there there is almost no choice um for for a newspaper for an individual journalist for for a policeman to not try to do something sensationalistic if only to be noticed um because when you have this kind of you know uh reward based society um it kind of fucks you in that way so it I mean it it is absolutely a an American story and and uh and a story of somebody going going I mean yeah the the most fascinating thing I think about this movie is is I mean the character obviously is fascinating but it's his interactions with everybody else and seeing how you know, they present him as somebody who is is inevitably blown off all the time, right?

[35:06] Nik Walker: He gets ignored and and people just don't want to deal with the intensity. They don't want to deal with him. Um and watching once he's in a place where he can really execute again, literally and figuratively, um, he sucks these people in, right? The the lady, the producer at the news station who he starts to, played by Renee Russo. So, you know, she starts off as kind of just this like, okay, like sell me what you got. Okay, this is great. If you can bring me some more, whatever. By the end of the movie, he's pulled her into this thing. He starts a relationship with her, negotiated on getting her more footage, which she she's not the kind of person to do that until he's actually gotten under her skin.

[35:44] Alex Smolowe: He says, There's certain good things about being alone. You have time to do the things you want to do, like study and plan, but you can't have dinners like this or be physical with a person. I mean, outside of flirtationship. Where are you going with this?

[36:05] Nik Walker: I want that.

[36:05] Alex Smolowe: With you.

[36:05] Nik Walker: Like you want to keep your job and your health insurance.

[36:09] Alex Smolowe: Look, just for starters, I don't need you to keep my fucking job.

[36:15] Nik Walker: You're the news director on the vampire shift of the lowest rated station in Los Angeles.

[36:25] Alex Smolowe: We have what could be considered an almost exclusive relationship. There are many other places I could go.

[36:32] Nik Walker: I have to think that you are invested in this transaction.

[36:35] Alex Smolowe: I've done enough research on you to know that you are not somebody who can sacrifice what I'm willing to give, and all what I want in return is this.

[36:44] Nik Walker: Which is like a personal relationship.

[36:47] Alex Smolowe: And she says that's crazy until he doesn't relent and she realizes that he's absolutely right. And he does this to a bunch of people, and it's it's it's I don't know.

[36:57] Nik Walker: It's creepy and it's scary, but it's watching somebody work. He's working, uh, it's I don't know, it's crazy. It really is, and yeah, you got me thinking about all the people Riz Ahmed is truly wonderful in this film and heartbreaking. Um, yeah, there's so much that goes down. Um, there's a lot, yeah, good, good, good pick. I'll give it to you, it's a good pick. I think it's a good pick. I understand your reticence about it, but I think especially if you went back and watched it in the guise of a new job. I mean, it's about somebody who is constantly looking for a new job. Like literally, he starts the movie looking for a job, and this is the job that he finds. Like, it is, it's true. No, it 100% is about that.

Um, yeah, man, all right, Nightcrawler. Nightcrawler, so I had a couple of thoughts in my head. I was gonna, there's a couple ways that I was gonna go with this, and, um, you know, there was a dark thought. There was a world where a talented Mr. Ripley came into this, and because that is very much about somebody who, you know, takes on a new persona, but it wasn't exactly a job. There was, there was, did you think, did you think about, sorry, let me ask you, did you? Because my mind immediately went to a detective movie, which like an Insomnia or something where it's about the new case as a new job. That's where my mind originally went.

[38:22] Alex Smolowe: Well, kind of, I mean, I actually, the one that I was going to do, uh, until I really thought about it and was like, ooh, no, I want to do something a little more fun than that, uh, was kind of a detective story in that, uh, Men in Black. That was, that was where, like, oh yeah, that would have been great. Spot on, spot on.

[38:42] Nik Walker: Spot on.

[38:43] Alex Smolowe: And I was like, oh yeah, he's, I mean, it's the, you know, but I was, as I was thinking about it though, you know, I think that because I love Men in Black, the first Men in Black, it's fucking hilarious. If there's one, if there's one narrative weakness that I actually wanted to bring it up to you and talk to, and I'm, you know, let's talk about it before I bring my actual choice up.

[39:03] Nik Walker: We got time.

[39:04] Alex Smolowe: We have, we have plenty of time. What is it that, um, you know, Lieutenant Edwards, John Edwards, uh, uh, agent, agent, agent J needs that like, like, okay, if we're, if we're plotting this out, story structure, Joseph Campbell, uh, you know, story circle, right? Why him? Why him? What is his, what is, what does the open, you know, bringing him into the unfamiliar world of aliens and all this stuff, how does that fulfill the character's need other than, or, or put them in a, like, you do know what I mean? Like, what is, what, because like I was thinking back to it and I was like, okay, so we know he's a cop, we know that he is not, like we get the sense he's not taking seriously his job. But like, what about it is it just drives him?

[40:00] Nik Walker: Yeah, what drives him? Is it just like he doesn't have, like, is he just lost? I mean, did you see how fast he could run?

[40:07] Alex Smolowe: Yes, I saw that. No, we know why I'm trying to think of it and I can't think of the name. He ran, he ran down that cephalopod.

[40:16] Nik Walker: That's the only thing.

[40:17] Alex Smolowe: He ran down the cephalopod, and that was it.

[40:19] Nik Walker: That's the whole reasoning. Totally blocked the test, but outran the cephalopod.

[40:24] Alex Smolowe: So you know what? That actually, that actually answered my question because I'm just now realizing the lead character of that movie is not Will Smith. It's, it's, it's, it's Tommy Lee Jones.

[40:35] Nik Walker: That's, that's the thing.

[40:36] Alex Smolowe: He's got a hell of a story in that.

[40:38] Nik Walker: He's got a ton. It's, yeah, it's, it's, you need to, you need to find a replacement. And so you're looking, and so you engage with this person who is, you know, not, uh, not like your usual replacement, not your usual Men in Black. And because he's an old white man, he sees a fast black guy and says, well, that, that must be the guy.

[40:56] Alex Smolowe: That's the guy. New, next, next case.

[40:59] Nik Walker: Next case. Uh, no, that's, but yeah, it was gonna be Men in Black. Um, and then there was also, I'm gonna take you, I'm taking you on a long and winding path.

[41:07] Alex Smolowe: Yeah, please walk me, walk me through your...

[41:07] Nik Walker: There was also a world where I was like, do I break with tradition and do an episode of a TV show? And I couldn't bring myself to do it. Um, did I do that one? I did that for Star Trek one time, right? Didn't I bring an episode of Star Trek in?

[41:23] Alex Smolowe: What? Yeah, what episode did I do? Uh, the first, the pilot of Star Trek Next Generation? Didn't I?

[41:26] Nik Walker: Oh, you did. You absolutely said, yeah, Final Frontier.

[41:31] Alex Smolowe: I might, so I could have done this. It would have been the West Wing, uh, Two Cathedrals.

[41:36] Nik Walker: You just start a whole new podcast if you want to talk about the West Wing.

[41:40] Alex Smolowe: Oh, dude, I mean, the West Wing Weekly is one of my favorite parts of the podcast. If you had, it's a West Wing podcast, but there needs to be a Nik Walker talks about the West Wing.

[41:48] Nik Walker: I wouldn't even about like the actual content, just how much you love watching the West Wing.

[41:53] Alex Smolowe: I watched, I watched an episode to fall asleep to last night, and it was the first thing I watched this morning before the inauguration, and it made...

[41:53] Nik Walker: I bet you did.

[42:02] Alex Smolowe: See, I fell asleep to Star Trek last night.

[42:03] Nik Walker: Like, uh, yeah, P's.

[42:04] Alex Smolowe: That makes sense.

[42:05] Nik Walker: Tracks, tracks, it tracks.

[42:05] Alex Smolowe: But then I was like, no, let me do something that I really, really like that is like new job, and strangely, sadly, um, has all to do with, uh, with this, the, what has happened today, this inauguration, a very cathartic, uh, look. And I, you know, so I'm, I'm gonna tell, I'm gonna go in. No, you, you know exactly what this movie is. You know exactly I'm gonna, I'm gonna describe the first shot to you, and you're gonna know exactly what it is.

[42:35] Nik Walker: I won't.

[42:36] Alex Smolowe: Watch, you won't. We open with title cards. Yellow writing on black. And, uh, that should tell you everything right now, by the way.

[42:45] Nik Walker: We open...

[42:45] Alex Smolowe: I can't even tell you. I, it's, it's so, it's so hard. I can't even tell you what the actual title card says because it will tell you exactly what the movie is.

[42:57] Nik Walker: So I'm not even gonna tell you what the opening title, there's an opening title card that like sets up the scene.

[43:02] Alex Smolowe: I'll say that. Uh, you open on a beautiful French farm.

[43:10] Nik Walker: Yep, okay.

[43:11] Alex Smolowe: There's a man chopping wood.

[43:13] Nik Walker: Yep.

[43:13] Alex Smolowe: Wanna say it?

[43:14] Nik Walker: Yeah.

[43:15] Alex Smolowe: Uh, it is Inglorious Bastards.

[43:17] Nik Walker: Yes, it is.

[43:18] ⚠ About 3 minutes of audio could not be automatically transcribed.

[46:33] Nik Walker: There is nothing more film school than like this is like the first I would say this is the first movie of the second generation or third generation, even of Quentin Tarantino, right? He's like reached this status where he's done his Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs and Jackie Brown, and then he's done Kill Bill and kind of evolved a little bit. And then this is like a complete shit. This is the first time he's done like a genre film, right? Like a real hard genre film. And so I remember watching this trailer a thousand times. Oh, yeah. Um it was and it was it was right at that start of people picking apart things on YouTube.

[47:07] Alex Smolowe: Yeah.

[47:07] Nik Walker: Right? Like film essayists and all this stuff. So like people were breaking down this trailer like nobody's business. And it was, you know, I mean, truly, it was one of those, you know, it it started a new era for him of revenge films. Um, because after this comes Django, after that comes Hateful Eight, which, you know, there hateful eight was supposed to be the sequel to Django. Um I would even say in a lot of ways that's a revenge film. That's a very very much a kind of a an American satire. And then on top and then we we have the latest, which is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which is absolutely a revenge film and uh revenge fantasy.

[47:46] Nik Walker: Um I mean he's always dabbled in revenge, but this was like his historical revenge period starting. And I mean the way it had ended too, like it seems obvious now, like it it doesn't seem out of the ordinary that Tarantino would do something like that. And he repeated the trick in Once Upon a Time, right? With with the ending, if you haven't seen Inglorious Bastards by now, shame on you.

[48:07] Alex Smolowe: Shame on you.

[48:07] Nik Walker: Um but killed Hitler, right? Shot and like brutally tore him apart with machine gun. Because you're expecting, okay, like Hitler survived. So actually, this whole plot to like get into this theater and kill Hitler, it can't work because Hitler didn't die that way. We know that historically, and then you know, he subverted it, same way he did with with Charlie Manson. He um murders the fuck. I mean, literally, guys, it's that m that killing of Hitler and Goebbels and Bormann, it is literally it's beautiful. It's truly like as a movie, it gives you this this excuse to just erupt in triumphant.

[48:45] Nik Walker: I remember the movie theater just losing it. It's insane. It's a fantasy you have, like if you got a time machine, everyone's first thing they do with a time machine is go back and kill Hitler. Kill like that's fuck out of time. Um so it was cathartic to see that. Let me ask you this.

[49:02] Alex Smolowe: Please.

[49:04] Nik Walker: Uh, in term in terms of a new job movie, yes.

[49:07] Alex Smolowe: As I'm thinking about it, this film really.

[49:10] Nik Walker: Yes.

[49:11] Alex Smolowe: Everyone is.

[49:12] Nik Walker: There is a new mission, right?

[49:14] Alex Smolowe: If you look at a mission as a job.

[49:16] Nik Walker: Yes.

[49:20] Alex Smolowe: My thing about a new job is there's gotta be some kind of learning curve.

[49:25] Nik Walker: Yes.

[49:25] Alex Smolowe: Right? There's gotta be some kind of I feel like these guys come in and everybody comes in and does their job the best that they know how without really much drawback up until the conclusion, right?

[49:36] Nik Walker: They're more following orders.

[49:38] Alex Smolowe: Yes.

[49:39] Nik Walker: This gets us to the I think the major flaw of this film.

[49:42] Alex Smolowe: And it's so funny because did you ever think there would be a day when I would say Tarantino and flaw in the same sentence?

[49:49] Nik Walker: Um, and you are hearing, ladies and gentlemen, you've heard here first. And I say this again as somebody who truly, you know, the only person who loves Tarantino more than me is my wife.

[49:59] Alex Smolowe: And she loves it.

[50:00] Nik Walker: That is Tarantino is I mean her everything, and I love him to death. I love his work to death. Um, but this film does fall a little short for me.

[50:10] Alex Smolowe: It's not, it's just not my favorite.

[50:11] Nik Walker: And why it's not my favorite is because there is nobody you there's, I mean, I, and he fixes it going forward. Um, it's really the only film that he does this. None of these characters have a full arc, right?

[50:26] Alex Smolowe: The emotional trajectory of failing at something and then getting better is placed on one character.

[50:34] Nik Walker: There's one character who fails so that you can, and it feels like they have failed, but really they didn't fail. Do you mean like, like it's, um, it's Michael Fassbender's character, um, makes a mistake and it gets him killed.

[50:49] Alex Smolowe: And right.

[50:50] Nik Walker: And he is literally introduced to make a mistake. Do you mean like he's not, we don't, we meet him and then we see the scene in which he makes a mistake and then he comes out of it, uh, or he dies and, you know, and Hans Landa kind of goes forth without doing that, you know.

[51:09] Alex Smolowe: You could say Shoshana has an arc, but like, I mean, I would say it's her move in terms of an emotional core.

[51:15] Nik Walker: I mean, she's the string, right? Like she's the one we follow.

[51:17] Alex Smolowe: She gives the purpose.

[51:19] Nik Walker: Yes, she gives the human purpose behind it, and so it's not just, you know, Americans killing Nazis, which is satisfying to watch for sure, but you kind of need a little more than that.

[51:30] Alex Smolowe: And I, you know, in the script, they even say when Brad Pitt is first introduced, he's got that big scar across his neck, right?

[51:37] Nik Walker: Like he's like someone tried to slit his neck, uh, and he's like, he has a big scar across the front of his neck, it will never be discussed ever.

[51:44] Alex Smolowe: So like he builds in this idea that that the backstory should be obvious, right?

[51:49] Nik Walker: These every character here, uh, and it's World War II, and it's a very black and white, good and evil sort of thing, especially like in historical zeitgeist, like you know why everyone is here and why they're doing what they're doing already, so it almost doesn't matter.

[52:05] Alex Smolowe: Yes.

[52:06] Nik Walker: Um, but it does leave a little bit lacking for sure.

[52:09] Alex Smolowe: It does, you just, these are all very, it's the, you know, I think it was a moment you, you know, watching, watching, especially coming off of the Kill Bill, uh, you know, right dual duality, uh, it's not a trilogy, it's a, you know, two movies that really share one movie, you know, uh, the whole bloody affair.

[52:26] Nik Walker: Um, you watch this woman literally dig herself out of a grave and come and like attack and fail and and succeed and fail again and succeed.

[52:39] Alex Smolowe: You watch her like struggle tooth and nail to get her daughter back, and it is so satisfying when she finally does.

[52:46] Nik Walker: Because you, you know, when she's on the bath, I have that image, I'll never let it go to my head. Like out of my head is that image of her on the bathroom floor crying that next day, and it's, and you just, you just see that she's been through so much to get her daughter back, and you just feel so good for her.

[53:01] Alex Smolowe: Um, but with this movie, it just feels disparate, and it just feels like a lot of very cool characters circling the wagons to end who to eventually kill Nazis.

[53:12] Nik Walker: And I love that. I love it. I think it's great. I'm like, oh yeah, let's have a bunch of cool characters.

[53:19] Alex Smolowe: You know, even, I mean, Hans Landa, that first scene with Hans Landa is literally legendary.

[53:25] Nik Walker: I mean, it's one of the great monologues of all time scenes in film history.

[53:31] Alex Smolowe: It really, if you haven't seen this movie, this, so the first scene with Hans Landa is, um, you know, it's just a perfect encapsulation of what Tarantino does best.

[53:40] Nik Walker: Hans Landa played by Christoph Waltz shows up at this farm, and, uh, he is talking to this farmer, and it seems like they're having a nice conversation.

[53:48] Alex Smolowe: And Hans Landa's telling him, you know, I'm just looking for Jews in the area.

[53:51] Nik Walker: I know that we hit your house already. I'm just going, you know, whenever there's a new administration, we always gotta go back over things and double, double the efforts and whatever.

[53:59] Alex Smolowe: I'll be out of here in two seconds.

[54:00] Nik Walker: And they're having this like conversation, and in that very Tarantino way, just talking about everything, like literally, you know, whatever that comes to their mind, they just talk about, and you're kind of unsure.

[54:11] Alex Smolowe: You know there's a power struggle going on, but you're not sure why it's happening until that camera pans down into the floorboards, and you see that underneath the floorboards of this farm are like ten, um, Jewish refugees hiding out.

[54:26] Nik Walker: So this, so now all of a sudden in the middle of the scene, this scene becomes about this farmer trying to protect these people under his floorboards.

[54:35] Alex Smolowe: And it's just the tension of this scene is, it's master.

[54:41] Nik Walker: I mean, it's like exactly like you said, Alex, it's masterful.

[54:43] Alex Smolowe: Masterful.

[54:45] Nik Walker: Um, and it, you know, but I think, but to your point, it is a combat, the movie is just moments.

[54:53] Alex Smolowe: It doesn't ever feel like you get to, there's a character that you care about that you can follow all the way through.

[54:58] Nik Walker: Um, it does, it does feel disparate, and I think that that's its biggest flaw.

[55:03] Alex Smolowe: Um, but in terms of a movie that is about people starting a new mission, new job, and doing away with goddamn racist Nazis.

[55:12] Nik Walker: Um, that, that's where it really fits into this whole thing.

[55:15] Alex Smolowe: If we're equating it to new job being like new administration, then yes, a movie about a group of people coming to kill the Nazis that we already know are dead in a whole new way.

[55:25] Nik Walker: Yep.

[55:26] Alex Smolowe: Right? Because it, it kind of like with that ending, rewriting history, it's, it's not that whole world then is not the world that we know.

[55:33] Nik Walker: So it gives you a whole fresh chance to kill the Nazis all over again.

[55:37] Alex Smolowe: Kill them all over again.

[55:42] Nik Walker: We get to identify and attack Nazis again.

[55:45] Alex Smolowe: So, and it's interesting to me, right? Because, you know, uh, Django, which, you know, follows this, uh, you know, three years later, um, comes out, and he's not, he doesn't do right, he doesn't, he doesn't use, I think, I think he learns, it seems like he learns something from Glorious Bastards because Django is not about taking down the institution of slavery, it is a revenge fantasy that happens within the world of slavery.

[56:11] Nik Walker: So this specific slave plantation gets destroyed.

[56:15] Alex Smolowe: And you get the sense that he's gonna go around and do some more damage.

[56:18] Nik Walker: And you know, and, and you know, subtle nod that, uh, eventually his great, great, great grandson is, you know, John Shaft of the Shaft films.

[56:28] Alex Smolowe: Um, yeah, dude.

[56:31] Nik Walker: His, so his, so, uh, Kerry Washington's character's name is, uh, is, is, uh, oh my god, Brumhilde von Shaft.

[56:39] Alex Smolowe: That's the point.

[56:41] Nik Walker: Like she, so it's like he, they are no idea there was any kind of connection to Shaft.

[56:47] Alex Smolowe: Shaft.

[56:48] Nik Walker: Oh yeah.

[56:48] Alex Smolowe: Oh yeah, it's Shaft, baby.

[56:50] Nik Walker: I guess Django was sort of the same era, huh?

[56:53] Alex Smolowe: Yeah, well, and that's, and exactly, and, and I think that, um, you mean Django, like the original Django, the movie.

[56:59] Nik Walker: Yeah, Django, yeah.

[57:00] Alex Smolowe: It was, yeah, it was.

[57:02] Nik Walker: It wasn't a black exploitation movie, but it was in that same, in that same area.

[57:06] Alex Smolowe: But, but, but I think that that is what is so interesting, is that here he like literally decimates the Nazi machine and, and, and kind of goes, it's almost like he goes too wide, and then with Django, he says, I'm not trying, uh, you know, slavery still happened in Tarantino world, but this guy was at least able to cause some fucking ruckus and, and light some fires, and that was awesome.

[57:35] Nik Walker: So, you know, I, I love it. I really do, you know, in Glorious Bastards it's again, I'm not, it's, it's not his best, it is a fun watch.

[57:43] Alex Smolowe: It's also, I think Inglorious was the first movie, maybe I'm wrong, where he lost Sally Menke, who was his editor, and no, that happened after, I think.

[57:52] Nik Walker: Sally Menke was, yeah, did she do Inglorious?

[57:57] Alex Smolowe: She died in two thousand ten.

[57:59] Nik Walker: Uh, maybe it's a good one.

[58:01] Alex Smolowe: I think it was because I think, I think that I, that was, it's also the movie.

[58:01] Nik Walker: No, she did Inglorious.

[58:10] Alex Smolowe: She did her last film.

[58:11] Nik Walker: Oh, sorry.

[58:13] Alex Smolowe: It's okay.

[58:13] Nik Walker: And then she did a film called Peacock, and then she lost.

[58:16] Alex Smolowe: What an amazing editor.

[58:18] Nik Walker: Um, but you know, it, it, it's from there that you, you know, as his movies start to start.

[58:23] Alex Smolowe: Fun fact, she's married, he's married to the director of Galaxy Quest.

[58:27] Nik Walker: Oh wow.

[58:29] Alex Smolowe: Look at that.

[58:30] Nik Walker: Full circle, full circle.

[58:32] Alex Smolowe: Kinda, yeah, full circle.

[58:34] Nik Walker: Yeah, I love, I love Inglorious. Like I was, you know, I was gonna say it just feels, it feels like we're getting with Inglorious into like the Tarantino, it's a little too long.

[58:44] Alex Smolowe: It's just, it's just too long.

[58:45] Nik Walker: It was exciting for the time.

[58:47] Alex Smolowe: I think it goes back to like when it was released, like it was really good, but it is, it's very, it's episodic, like almost to the scene.

[58:55] Nik Walker: You can tell he had a lot of fun writing it.

[58:57] Alex Smolowe: Yes, um, because I also, I think it, it gave him an opportunity to break out of his box, right?

[59:01] Nik Walker: He got to make a World War II movie, like somebody who's seen every World War II movie ever.

[59:06] Alex Smolowe: Um, he got to go do on the wings of an eagle or whatever that movie, you know, all these classic war two movies, Dirty Dozen.

[59:13] Nik Walker: Yeah, exactly.

[59:14] Alex Smolowe: He got to put it in his own, his own thing.

[59:17] Nik Walker: It behooves one's self to keep his wits.

[59:21] Alex Smolowe: Long story short, we hear a story too good to be true.

[59:25] Nik Walker: It ain't sitting in your chair would probably say the same thing.

[59:31] Alex Smolowe: And nine, nine point nine nine nine times out of a million, you would be correct.

[59:37] Nik Walker: But in the pages of history, every once in a while, fate reaches out and extends its hand.

[59:49] Alex Smolowe: What shall the history books read?

[59:52] Nik Walker: And again, be like some brilliant sequences, but I think, but they are sequences.

[59:57] Alex Smolowe: And as a full movie doesn't quite come together the re, the way the rest of it does, but in terms of what we're talking about today.

[1:00:04] Nik Walker: So here's Nik Walker, uh, shitting on my choice.

[1:00:07] Alex Smolowe: Saying, I don't know, your film's not really a new job.

[1:00:11] Nik Walker: Like, why would you pick this thing?

[1:00:12] Alex Smolowe: And then it gets to your choice, and you're like, it's not really about a new job, and it's not really the best.

[1:00:17] Nik Walker: I didn't say there that your thing wasn't about a new job.

[1:00:19] Alex Smolowe: I said your movie's not hopeful.

[1:00:21] Nik Walker: Your movie makes me feel like shit.

[1:00:24] Alex Smolowe: That's what I'm saying.

[1:00:24] Nik Walker: This isn't the Biden movie.

[1:00:25] Alex Smolowe: This is the new job movie.

[1:00:28] Nik Walker: The new job movie.

[1:00:29] Alex Smolowe: Well, the new job.

[1:00:30] Nik Walker: I hope, I hope we're gonna, what was the first one you or Men in Black.

[1:00:33] Alex Smolowe: I think that would have been, that would have been the one that would have been clean.

[1:00:37] Nik Walker: Well, let's, let's do, let's come, let's find another clean one for Men in Black, another clean entry point.

[1:00:42] Alex Smolowe: We'll bring that back.

[1:00:42] Nik Walker: But, uh, let us know.

[1:00:45] Alex Smolowe: All you guys out there what your, what your choice is, if Nick is wrong, uh, or if I am right.

[1:00:49] Nik Walker: Don't tell me that it's wrong.

[1:00:52] Alex Smolowe: Um, you believe it.

[1:00:54] Nik Walker: We believe it.

[1:00:56] Alex Smolowe: But go watch Nightcrawler.

[1:00:57] Nik Walker: Yeah, go watch Nightcrawler.

[1:00:59] Alex Smolowe: My god, I might, my, I just hit puberty.

[1:01:01] Nik Walker: Go watch Nightcrawler.

[1:01:02] Alex Smolowe: Uh, let us know what you think, and, uh, you know, and, and, and get, and get at us.

[1:01:08] Nik Walker: And welcome to the new presidency.

[1:01:09] Alex Smolowe: Let's, let's, let's see what this brings.

[1:01:11] Nik Walker: Let's, let's keep working, guys.

[1:01:12] Alex Smolowe: And welcome back, America.

[1:01:14] Nik Walker: Welcome, welcome back.

[1:01:15] Alex Smolowe: The fuck back.

[1:01:16] Nik Walker: All right, guys, stay safe out there. Little Justice, Little Justice, Little Justice, fuck yeah.