Hello and welcome to Movies on the Side,
this is Stephen Robles.
And this is Nate Baranowski.
And today we're reviewing the 2026 movie Project Hail Mary,
starring Ryan Gosling and many others,
and most of all, Ryan Gosling's glasses on his face during this movie.
feel like we're a video podcast.
We are a video podcast now because podcasts needed video to become TV.
You just made so many enemies right then.
You can't talk about that. Yes.
So if you want to watch,
That's right.
Steven is
wearing two pairs of glasses the way Ryan Gosling did in this,
which is not on the eyes, but everywhere else.
That's Not on the eyes. That
was one of my favorite parts of the movie.
It's like the memes after the movie of people saying,
you know, the increasingly bizarre ways Ryan Gosling wore a glass.
I'm gonna take this off now because I can't.
Yes.
A, I can't see and B, I can't move because they were hanging precariously
on my head. Anyway, Nate, before we jump into this movie,
That was good.
I have an important question for you.
Well, I have a warm up question and then a more important follow up.
Do you have a toaster oven?
Ready?
No, I do not.
Okay, well, it might not apply as much,
~ well is this
but still.
one of those dead end should I yes and?
Yes. And I have an oven.
No, no, no, no, it's fine to me.
You have an oven, like you have a big oven.
All right. Okay.
I have a toaster. I have a microwave.
I would love to have a toaster oven.
It is a counter space issue for me.
Yes.
It takes up a lot of space, especially if get,
we have like a big air fryer slash toaster oven,
which is very complicated. But anyway,
Mm-hmm. I mean leftover
the...
pizza, I just have cold because I can't.
I can't with all of it.
Really? Well,
that's thanks. Thank you for saying that because it leads me right into
my question because at times I'm constantly just flummoxed because
should I microwave or should I toaster oven is the question and it feels like
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
a metaphor both for life for everything for AI.
Hmm Hmm Please make this deep,
It's everything. Well, well, no,
yeah. I don't know how you're gonna make this an allegory for life.
I'm just saying no, no, no, we don't pick it deep,
but the microwave is fast.
~ huh.
And I had a limited
Yes.
amount of time because we were recording this podcast and I wanted to be ready.
Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
And so I said, the microwave is fast,
but the toaster oven is good to reheat things.
Right?
Mm. Mm. ~
And I was reheating. My wife made chicken Parmesan last night,
which was excellent. And I felt bad about it,
but I was like, I'm going to do this in the microwave to save some time.
And they, as you know, is when you microwave things,
you got the cold spots, you got the hotspots.
It's not even.
not good. Whereas if you reheat leftovers in an oven or a toaster oven
it takes significantly longer but it is significantly better.
How do you decide Nate? How do you decide what to do?
Hmm.
Well, thanks for coming here. I would love to be a microwave life coach because
I feel like I have all the answers,
which I think is maybe a a symptom of my brain that I think that I
can just solve all this right now.
But here's what I would say. This is a great PSA for those out there.
Mm-hmm.
If you want things hot,
but it's already mushy, I feel like this needs some sort of rhyme.
Like if hot and mushy, microwave squishy.
yeah, if it's hot. Yes. Have
you seen the lady that makes songs about air frying instructions on social media?
No Okay.
I'll send you her account. She's very good.
She goes viral often for that.
Excellent. Well at least in your algorithm.
at hope no
she got to sing at a hockey game or something anyway i'll say i'll send
you her link yes yes please
Okay, back to my life advice. If you
don't care about things having any crisp to them,
there are certain things that doesn't matter.
I mean, your mashed potatoes and gravy,
~ I would say even the chicken parm,
like if it was already coated in sauce,
you're never getting that crisp again.
But here's the thing for microwave,
I
you have to go over you have to overdo it because you need everything
You have to overdo it.
to become lava.
That's right.
And then you're gonna need to
wait, which again is more time to wait for it to come back down
Yes, yes.
to non-scalding temperature. Because getting something halfway hot,
but then there's some cold spots,
no good. You have to take whatever friends at home,
No, it's not good.
take whatever you're gonna microwave it for,
add 30 seconds, add a minute. it's if you're an adult,
Yes.
Hmm.
if you're a kid, don't do that.
But if you're an adult.
Don't do this at home. Don't try this at home,
kids.
And you're willing to have oven mitts because that bowl you didn't think that bowl
was gonna get hot, but that bowl is also gonna be lava hot.
~ no. It's true.
Do that. But if you want anything to have a bit of crisp,
It is true.
if you want your leftover fries to have a semblance of the their former glory,
Yeah, yeah. Mm.
Mm. That's right. Yeah.
you need a toaster oven and you need like life is not just about ingesting food,
it's about enjoying your food.
Mmm, yes, yes,
So if you have the time and yet
And you have the the wherewithal to do it.
yes. Sure,
sure.
Toast
if you want some crisp, toaster oven with a lisp.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
If you want it mushy, no I'll figure it out.
No, you gotta workshop that. Anyway,
I'll fig I'll workshop it. Yeah,
I chose
next time.
poorly and turned into a skeleton as they do in The Last Crusade.
But, you know, the chicken parmesan,
it had crisp in places, but there were just,
there were cold spots and it was not fun.
Now, when I reheat queso from Chipotle,
I'll do that in the microwave,
but I do the two rounds. I do the 30 seconds,
Yeah, store
you stir it, you heat it again.
Stir the stir
the ashen molten top layer into the cold depths.
Let me do the do it again.
Exactly, then you then you do it again,
but anyway, we got to talk about a movie,
Do you put a lid on things when you microwave it?
but I just needed to hear from you
~ I should probably do that but I don't.
I just let it pop and spray everywhere,
you know, as you do.
you you live your life
just seasoning the inside of your microwave?
I mean, my mom has one of the like bespoke covers that you put on top
Mm. I do too. I do too.
of the plate and it is very use-
it's very useful. I- with three kids,
they're not all gonna do that and so I just-
I give up, you know what I mean?
It's like-
Yeah, you
can rain you can either have it splatter everywhere or you can rain down just
That's right.
a little bit of microplastics on everything you toast or oven.
I mean, everything you microwave,
I can't, I can't, I can't get it.
but that's just that's just how it's gonna be.
You just said microplastics and I can't,
Sorry, sorry, triggered you.
please, please,
you're just tricking me a little bit,
please don't. We need to talk about this movie because I drag,
drug, drugged, no, not drugged my family.
Dragoned.
I dragged into my family four hours away from home to watch this movie
on opening night on the largest screen in Florida,
which is not saying much, but I did it.
Ooo are you gonna
d are you gonna drag in your family to the Odyssey later this summer?
I
thought about it and when I went to look at tickets they're all sold out
for all the big theaters so it's like well I guess I'm gonna use AI
to check some websites regularly and let me know when there's tickets available
Some agents are gonna be out there c scrolling through the internet.
but I'm not gonna I'm gonna use some agents I'm gonna use some agents
but I wanted to do it and then I well anyway we went to the Fort Lauderdale Science
Museum which is apparently the 70 millimeter the biggest screen you
Yes.
Yes. That's the way
can get in Florida
Christopher Nolan wants you to watch the Odyssey.
I
know, but it's the way I watched The Gaz and do Project Hail Mary
~
and it was wonderful. I did it for my birthday.
It was my 40th birthday trip. You know what mean?
I don't get a lot of times where I can say,
family, I'm dragging you four hours away to watch a movie.
You can't do that very often.
I'm not sure
there is anything more you than for your fortieth birthday than heading
Yes.
to a big big big theater and watching ~ a cool sci fi movie.
That's right.
It was great. And it did not disappoint,
which we'll get into. But I need to know,
because you have now seen this movie.
I've been waiting for you to see it.
I have. I have it.
You, I assume, did not consume this on the biggest screen in Florida.
You probably watched it on your phone in the bath.
I saw it on no,
I saw it on a MacBook Pro thirteen inch
as Christopher Nolan intended.
and the No,
13-inch. Not even the new ones,
I don't know. No, it actually might have been an air.
right? You gotta older micro-proof.
It might have been my wife's air actually,
but
goodness as Phil Lord, the director of this movie intended.
Just as he would yeah.
So wait, did you and your wife like watch it in bed?
You just did the laptop thing.
Yep. Yeah, the laptop right there.
Just watch it right there. Do you not?
I don't get too personal. Do you not have a TV in your bedroom?
We do not now, now, I need to pause here for a second.
Okay.
Sorry, I derailed this a second time.
No, because I need to confess to us confess to us,
To us. us. To everyone. To everyone.
to myself, to everyone, to the listeners,
to the viewers. When we got married,
Yes.
we thought to ourselves we're not gonna be people who put a TV in our bedroom.
It felt like one of those things that people wrote on a note card at our wedding,
like
That's right.
A marriage advice is don't
put it in your room. Okay. And we thought,
Right, and you want to feel better than everybody else.
So yeah, you just gotta do it.
this is great. We prioritize ourselves.
Yeah.
Now, how much screen time have I watched
in my room on a small laptop or an iPad
on an iPad stand trying to balance on a comforter on a squishy comforter?
Ugh.
Steven, a lot. A lot,
See, this is a thing.
a lot.
And here's thing, it is completely hip it's hypocrisy at this point in time
why I don't have a TV in my room.
Because we watch plenty of movies in there.
We watch like Yep, but it's imagine right around Imagine
a MacBook Pro kind of right around belly button level between
Mm-hmm.
the two of us as we kind of crank our necks to try to like look at it
Sure. ~ my word.
at the same time. That is how we are watching.
are adult movies after the kids go to bed.
don't know.
And I mean that from a non-kid movies,
not the other way. Thanks.
Yeah, no,
I understand. Listen, Nate, just stop it first.
Just stop. Number one. Number two,
Right. Right.
just put a TV on the wall like an adult being an adult.
Right. We have we literally
have a wall across from our bed that would be perfect.
see just do it no stop with the Samsung frames okay
I could put a Samsung frame there.
I could run the cord back behind the wall and I could put it in the closet
so that the whole like system I mean it could all be there.
You don't have to think. You should do it.
But at this point in time, it almost feels like there's a type of sunk cost
Yeah.
to it of like if I put a TV in now,
~
I will mourn
The ten previous years when I didn't,
for some reason.
That is the worst sunk cost fallacy.
Why would you even do that? That's like saying I haven't exercised my entire life,
It's the worst fallacy.
so I shouldn't start now. Because I've invested so much in not doing it.
Why would I start now?
Yeah. Yeah.
No, that doesn't make any sense.
You should do it. We have one in our bedroom because A,
the only time we watch stuff together as a couple is there in the bedroom.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep.
Because if we watch in the living room,
then all the kids complain that there's like loud noises.
And it's like, we're not going to watch the AirPods in the family room.
So yeah, you should just do it.
Mean we
we could. My my one benefit that I have other than I mean,
we do at times try to not watch as many movies at night and like,
hey, let's play a board game instead or do a puzzle.
We currently have a puzzle out and about here.
~ okay.
~ so yeah, obviously like I do not believe that watching movies or T
V shows every night is the greatest of spousal activities.
No, but it's a thing you're gonna do.
But but the one positive to have an a a a laptop in between us is that
Now that we have kids that can sneak in or like
try to come into our room because they can't sleep,
instead of seeing someone get shot in the face on a big screen,
'cause you know how all our movies are hyper violent that we watch,
Hmm. That's right.
I am one reach away from that laptop screen going clonk.
You only watch. Yeah.
He just slammed the lid. Just slammed the lid.
What do you want, buddy?
There were a few times in our old house,
because that's when the kids were at an age where they came in,
Yeah, yep.
that we were watching something and they walked in and it was like
a fumbling for the remote. Not because it was inappropriate,
Yeah.
but it was like maybe there's blood,
maybe it's gladiators beheading somebody.
Yeah, it's
You know what I mean.
I think the ages like four through seven might be like the worst time
to like I heard something from my room.
What was was that a secret agent sneaking in and i is that guy choking that other
Yeah, yeah. Exactly.
guy from behind? Yeah.
the Venn
diagram of I'm going to wake up and go to my parents' room versus like curiosity.
Yeah, it overlaps. Anyway, this movie you could watch with the entire family,
Yes. Yep.
which we did, because Project Hail Mary is a wonderful movie.
Mm-hmm.
I don't know, I'm just gonna say it right now,
Nate, I'm a fan of the gauze, of the gosling.
Mm. Mm. Yes.
I'm a fan of all the things the gosling does.
And I feel like this was his like castaway moment.
It's like, can gosling talk to a puppet for an hour and a half
Mm-hmm.
and remain entertaining
And we have found that he can and he is he is that guy.
Yes. The answer's yes.
He is the answer is yes. I love everything about this movie.
I'm going to struggle to the only thing that I would say that I would maybe
be different. It could be a little slow in the first half a little slow.
Uh-huh.
But other than that this movie is wonderful.
And I feel like it came at a time when the world needed an ounce
of hope a buddy comedy with lighthearted humor.
that was also hopeful about the outlook on things.
And I feel like that this movie did that.
Why are you giving me a look? Why are you doing this?
Well, for th for those eagle eyed viewers who are watching this podcast,
you could see me incredulously looking at Steven because I would not call this movie
Yes.
a lighthearted movie at all. The earth is freezing.
Really?
The earth is dying. This a lighthearted buddy
Yeah, the earth is dying.
But listen,
cop comedy. It's all happening.
the earth is dying in real life,
too. You know, a couple billion years,
we're all toast.
It's all happening.
Not the microwave toast either.
This is like nuclear option toast.
You know what I mean? I'm just saying.
I mean, it is called Project
Hail Mary because this is basically our last chance as a people to not go extinct.
That's right.
So just a nice
Listen, you gotta have conflict,
you know, gotta have the inciting incident.
But then, yeah.
by the way, speaking
of lighthearted, he goes on this mission against his will.
spoilers for this whole movie.
He is literally... yeah, spoilers,
Sorry, spoilers, spoilers, spoilers.
yeah there are spoilers, yes.
He goes on this movie against his will because there is no return flight.
Yes.
They will all die in space. That is the plan.
None. That's right. That is it.
And when he shows up, everyone the two other people on this flight have died.
And he is drugged.
They have died. He is alone like Castaway.
He is alone.
Here's the thing. When did you know this movie was funny?
Like when did when did was there a moment where you're like,
~ this movie is going to be funny?
I think when I saw long haired Ryan Gosling screaming
and wandering around the ship,
Sure, sure, sure.
popping his head up through different holes,
I thought, okay, alright. I'm with you here.
It's a very serious situation.
Because I don't actually think it's very funny before he gets before it shows
him I mean, it cuts back and forth to serious moments.
It cuts back and forth, yeah, yeah,
Right. But like the funny stuff is him alone and him like
right.
Talking to the computer system and with Rocky and it is not like it is pretty grim.
Yes.
I actually think that makes it more funny because of the grimness of the earth,
Sure. Yeah, yeah,
the grimness of like the situation that he's in,
makes you like so ready to laugh and enjoy the levity.
Hmm. Sure, sure.
Cause that's like, ~ a little a little fun,
a little sad.
Yeah,
there is a moment when Rocky's spaceship arrives on
the scene and Ryan Gosling like moves his spaceship like an inch or
two forward and back and you see Rocky's spaceship exactly mirror
Yes.
Yes. Yes.
the like little like cat and mouse game and it was at that moment I was like
oh okay this is going to be funny and then this is not a spoiler I think it's just
Uh-huh.
a fact but Rocky voiced by James Ortiz is hilarious.
and the ability to be sarcastic,
not so, yeah sarcastic, but just dry and funny and also win over
Mm-hmm.
all the viewers. Like all my kids loved Rocky and I ordered Rocky plush toys
Mm-hmm.
and pins as soon as I got home.
Cause what? Why am gonna face?
I d
I don't like the feeling of a Rocky plush toy.
Do it how how quickly can you get a Rocky plush toy on camera?
Do you have one? They never can Yeah,
Well, spoiler, I ordered four and they got cancelled because they didn't make them.
Why? It's a stuffed animal.
of course they didn't. Yeah, Steven.
It's can you imagine what a Rocky plush toy would look like?
Why is that weird?
It would just look like a squishy tarantula.
Like he's He
Yeah, so? He's very...
I like how he looks.
~ listen, I'll I'll tell you about Toymetic marketing here.
Toymetic? Toy Medic.
What did you just say?
I don't know. Am I making that up?
Maybe. Let me tell ya, Rocky,
You are definitely making that That's not a word.
while cool in this movie, does not make for good merch.
He does not make did did McDonald's,
I disagree.
did Burger King put a plastic Rocky out there?
He is just a rock with spider legs coming out of him.
If
you're watching this podcast right now,
which you can do on Apple Podcasts or Spotify,
Yes. Is g it's
this, look at this. This is a rocky plush toy.
that's a poop log.
It is Rocky, and he is endearing,
Uh-huh. After
and I love Rocky.
eating peas, yeah.
For a while after the movie, there were like not official Rocky animals,
but there was like rainforest stone creature items or whatever.
Yeah. ~ huh. Look how
much fun they're having in those AI images holding that thing.
Nate, don't get me started on the AI.
Amazon imagery, it is ridiculous.
my goodness, it's getting it's getting bad.
It's out of hand, it's out of hand.
But
that's something that your kids said,
Yeah, I'd love to have. You know what,
Yes, yes they did. And I.
you know what that looks like?
Put that up one more time. Put that up one more time.
Hold on, on, excuse me, you're directing the show now,
Yeah. Here's here's what the Rocky plush toy looks like to me.
okay, here we go, here it is.
Yeah, go ahead.
My I told my kids long ago,
please don't mix the play-doh.
Eventually they started mixing the play-doh.
And I gave up on my rule and I said,
Yeah.
Mix the play do all you want. It all becomes this.
Just kind of a brown, goshed out and I think my kids could make this
Yeah, it becomes brown, yeah.
toy out of Play Doh pretty easily.
I think my two year old makes Rocky every time she works with Play Doh.
Listen, I think you're body-shaming Rocky,
to be honest, and I feel like just because he is shaped like a rock spider doesn't
mean he can't also be a beautiful plush toy.
~ yeah, let me tell you the positive things.
Okay.
While he does
not make a good toy, nor merch,
he makes for a great alien in this movie because
Great, great alien.
he doesn't fit into what Hollywood has imagined aliens to be.
And because he's so far off and he's not a water-based life form
Yes.
That's right.
that like it makes you feel like,
~ yeah, I guess if we found an alien
far off. It would be something that we couldn't imagine nor sell toys of,
Yeah
which is this thing. So I think that is a great way of of kind of depicting.
That's right. That's right.
I mean, I guess Andy Weird, the author,
first described it and everything,
Yes.
but I think it's cool. I think the way that the the talking happens,
which is like rubbing the rocks together,
I think, kind of cricket esque,
Yes.
I think is very cool. I have a couple bones to pick with this movie,
Very fun.
but I've talked for long enough.
Go ahead.
No, you shouldn't have bones to pick.
I started being a little slow.
I think it's a wonderful buddy comedy,
almost, for a long time. I think Rocky's Lair is when the moment where Grace
Mm-hmm.
is talking about his... I forget if it was an ex-girlfriend or somebody,
Mark, and Rocky just flatly says,
hate Mark. It's just the inflection,
the delivery. He's so good when he's rolling around in that little ball.
Did you know that Rocky in many shots was puppet?
He was a puppet.
Yes, yes.
And that was,
you know, because when you're seeing it on this massive screen,
like it looks really good. Like Rocky himself looks good.
Right.
And obviously there's a ton of CG because of space and different things.
the way like Rocky's movements and everything,
it's because much of that is puppetry.
yeah.
And there's a bunch of behind the scenes videos,
could, you know, on social media,
whatever of like the puppeteers moving Rocky's every limb,
you know, every limb is on a stick.
Right.
Beautiful way. love again, not to be too deep.
But in the age of AI imagery and generated stuff,
Mm-hmm.
I do kind of love that there's also this comeback of like puppetry
and natural stuff. I also saw,
I don't know if you've seen the Mandalorian and Grogu movie.
Did you see that? Why would you?
No, no. Why would I? Why would I?
Why would I?
It was a good, fine movie.
It was fine. Anyway, Grogu in that movie is a mixture of puppetry and animatronics.
So the head is animatronics for like ear,
eye movements and mouth, but then the body itself is largely puppetry and then
a few scenes are CGI. But I think that's really cool and I think,
Yeah. Yeah. Cause
you know, people are something.
I I think if even if they're just using that puppetry for like a plate
and they recreate it all with CGI,
Yeah, sure. Yeah.
it still has a better look because they have the the like perfect lighting already
like baked in. I don't know how CGI works,
That's right.
but from the videos I've watched it seems so much easier,
even if they end up doing a complete digital replacement.
Yeah, yeah,
By working off of the thing, like it ends up just looking a lot better.
Yeah.
Now this is a very sciencey movie.
And I, you probably know, I'm very into Hank Green and his world of science.
Uh-huh. Mm-hmm.
Now there's one part of this movie that many people had took issue with when
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
it comes to the science of this movie.
Not the astrophage and traveling at near life speed,
none of that. There was one particular moment that bothered a lot of people.
Do you know what that moment is?
Can you guess? Towards the beginning of this movie,
No, no.
when Ryan Gosling is studying the astrophage,
he puts two test tubes into a centrifuge and he puts the two test tubes right next
Mm-hmm.
to each other in a centrifuge and apparently the internet lost its mind because
in a centrifuge it always needs to be balanced and Hank Green had pointed
~
out while there are self-balancing centrifuges a good scientist will always
try to place whatever opposite balancing
centrifuge. Now that did not take me out of the movie at all because
Yeah.
I didn't even know that was a thing.
I didn't know exactly. No.
was a thing. But then I just felt like I needed to mention it because that bothered
Yeah. man.
a lot of people, let alone astrophage and destroying the universe and
all that kind of stuff. Anyway,
Yeah, okay. Well, I'll tell you my I'll tell you my bone to pick on it.
that's, you know, point. Okay,
yeah, tell me about it.
It felt like this is one of those movies where if you had read the book,
a lot of the gaps would have been filled in for you in a satisfying way.
Mm.
Some of these ~ for example,
Yes.
I'm thinking about him trying to translate Rocky's language to his.
And also, does Rocky understand him?
Yes.
That
A lot of things happen in this movie conveniently fast.
And I don't mean that it needed to be slower.
Hmm.
I mean I didn't have a good sense of time.
It it b so it seemed like he was like,
Mm-hmm.
show a clock and he pointed and it was like one and and my initial thought was,
he says math is a universal language.
Are we sure?
Also a
clock is a 12 hour measure of time based on earth rotation.
Right, right. So it did feel a lot of convenient
Okay.
the the language passover and then he immediately like writes a code like
Yay-o.
all right time to now we can speak to each other.
There was a lot of for a movie that in a lot of ways tried to
be like smart and sciencey, vis-à-vis the Martian,
Yeah.
I had a lot more interstellar vibes than Martian.
Vibes when it came to like I was letting myself be a little bit more sci-fi
and a little bit less. I think because there was a lot of it's not hand wavy,
Yes.
it was just we'll put in a line that like we figured this out.
And if I were to read a book, I would have a satisfying,
~ this is how he was able to do that.
Yeah.
But in this movie, it was a little bit like,
all right, so now we did this and the astrophage,
we figured this out, and it worked.
Like the plot of this one.
Yeah, yeah.
Of how like I watched this movie a week ago,
maybe. Like, I'm still not exactly sure how they like solved it,
but and a lot of like,
There's a lot of house missing.
at the end, ~ his whole ship is made of the thing that the xenonite
Yes. ~ there you go.
or whatever that this will eat.
Yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah, that's right.
And so it wasn't where the Martian gave me a lot of like made me feel smart,
even though I wasn't.
sh
sh sh
about this because
they made me feel like, okay, logical,
logical, logical. This one's adventure was so much bigger and outside
of my comprehension that it felt a lot more like,
and then they did this and I was like,
wait, okay, I'm gonna turn off my brain.
Just enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.
Yeah,
and I think as I did not read the book,
but Hank Green talked about those who had read the book It does fill
in those gaps and there is more sciency type Reasoning in there the movie
Right.
the movie is also like two and a half hours long Like it's not a short movie
and I feel like to explain more would have probably made it drag on even further
Maybe so. At the end
Rocky is going a different direction back to his home planet and Ryan Gosling
That's right. Yes.
is heading back to Earth in in ~ in space in a way that
That's correct. That's correct.
we can't even comprehend the speeds and distances,
That's right. That's right, because astrophage,
right? But but at some point in time he chooses to
that's right.
not go back to Earth and with his fuel he is going to go rescue Rocky.
That's right. Yes.
And I cried. Yes.
Okay.
Alright, well, okay. Well, I feel like you really just stabbed into
Why?
my air balloon of of silly point with your seriousness.
Yeah, that's right. Yes. Why?
So ~ okay, I'm gonna say this real quick and then we're gonna go talk about Steven's
Why is this silly?
crying. The I just felt like he was like,
OK.
All right, go find Rocky's ship in space and it just felt like,
Yeah.
of course. Just you you know turn around,
~ well he knew he knew the direction.
do kind of a U-turn and then you yeah,
You do a U-turn. Yes,
he grafted out like a triangle
Like a
so it looked like a cyber truck in the sky.
You you just see go this direction over here.
He knew. Nate, you're so focused on this constellation.
He was going this way, as if we were all on just a nice plane.
Nate, sacrifice. Listen, this was the whole movie because Ryan Gosling,
Yeah. Let's yes, yes. Yes.
Rylan Grace, he didn't have anyone at home,
particularly to go back to. He had students.
I think he was a great teacher in the few shots.
that, you
Wait, was
Ryan Gosling called Ryan in this movie?
Ryland, Ryland Grace. But I think they just called him Grace.
~ okay. Grace. Okay, Grace.
Yeah, yeah, which I have, look,
I have a Grace pin. See the Grace pin right there?
Wow. Look at you. Okay. Tell me about the emotional
Look at that. I can't believe I chose that.
moments from this movie. What gotcha?
I mean, whenever someone is self-sacrificial,
you know, it's emotional. We saw Toy Story 5 this past weekend.
I've been seeing a lot of movies,
I cried like probably 60 % of the movie just because,
you know.
Did you cry during
Mandalorian and Grogu?
That's good point. No, I don't think I did.
When Mandalorian
had to eat Grogu at the end? That was a sacrifice.
No, that didn't happen. You've not seen the movie.
~ okay. Okay.
There is a jacked job of the Hutt character though,
which is kind of hilarious. Just throwing that out there.
~ But even though it's just a self-sacrificial thing,
that always gets me. It's like Ryan Gosling choosing not to go home,
but to save his friend. And that's,
I don't know, that's poignant.
That's the, you know.
Would would it
have been more poignant if that actually meant that he sacrificed himself
and he didn't get to live in rock teaching rock kids?
Yes. Listen,
listen, the Rock Kid's kind of hilarious.
~ But here's the thing. There were several moments where I fully expected this movie
to pull like the ultimate price card.
You know, there's after the incredible scene where Grace captures
Yeah.
the predator to the astrophage,
you know, they go down to this planet,
Mm-hmm.
they skim off. It's an incredible scene.
Super fun to watch. On that massive screen that we were watching,
it was like
wild just to experience that fun music
Fun music throughout this. There was a lot of choral music throughout,
yes fun music also the uh at &t lady is
which is fun.
now she's a full-on actress and she was in this movie do you recognize
her that she was i pointed i leaned over to whitney i was like hey do
~ yes I did.
you know this the at &t lady she said who's that i said never mind it's okay i'll
tell you later because she didn't we haven't seen those commercials
If if
we see flow in movies soon, so help me.
Yes,
Milana veintrub is her actual name.
I'll just throw that out there Not as on a screen time,
She didn't get a ton of screen time.
but she was definitely in this movie,
but there was after that Well,
Her corpse was in this movie for a bit.
yeah, that's where I feel so after that The scene of them like skimming
the planet or whatever, know rocky breaks out of his shell to save
the gauze Best Sizzly the ammonia or something like he
Best part of the movie for me.
Yeah, he's all sizzly.
Yeah.
is and that's self-sacrifice like that gets you and like you don't want rocky to die
And I fully expected them to do like just to do it like Rocky's gonna die here.
He's gonna have paid the ultimate price and whatever like that would have been it
Right. Right. Right.
No no one does. No one pays the ultimate price.
but he does not die.
Ryan, but that's again, goes to my original point where I feel like this movie
wanted you to walk away just feeling good and not,
and like earth was saved and they got their astrophage taken care of.
Ryan Gosling found purpose by teaching some rock kids life
and Rocky got to be back with his rock lady.
I just
don't believe that Ryan Gosling has much to teach these this what seems like
a much more intelligent life form.
The speed of light. He's teaching teaching the speed of light.
I don't know, he was teaching Rocky plenty of stuff.
Well, and all the things about
Earth. You could tell them all about Earth,
Earth history, tell them about the great names like Nate Baranowski that existed
yeah. Yeah, that's true.
on Earth before that. Let me ask you this,
since you want to get existential.
If you were on Earth in this movie,
Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
and you knew that Earth only had about five to ten years left,
what would you do? Like,
what would you do yourself? What would you do with your family?
As in
like if I've been asked to man this crew or if I'm just like out here
No, no, you're
just living there. Like, your kid came home from Ryan Gosling's class and was like,
hey, do know the Earth is gonna end?
And like, we're all done for. And you're like,
okay, well, do I keep making chalk art?
Do we go somewhere? What would you do?
Yeah, I think you ~ would have to enjoy the most beautiful parts
of living as best you can. You would definitely say a lot
of I'm sorry's and all the unspoken things to the people you love.
Hmm. Hmm.
I would probably ~ in a new,
maybe more serious way, really consider afterlife stuff
and talk about religion more.
Okay, sure.
I would definitely like
all right. All right, God. We need to talk.
~
See, because it's
a harder question than like all the disaster movies that I've watched
and we've talked about on the show.
Like when there's the tidal wave coming,
It's quick.
like it's so clear what you do.
You hug those around you and you just,
Yeah. Yeah.
you're just there. You just exist in whatever the few moments you have left.
Yeah.
But when you have like five to ten years and the earth is just slowly getting
colder, like that's a different time line.
Right.
Right. In a combination of like what combination of doing your best to survive,
like trying to like full on bunker in and create a food source and
sh doing your best to do that versus like Yeah,
I don't know. Listen, that's I with young kids especially,
that's a a terribly sad thought.
It is. See, and this is why, see just wanted to prove my point,
that this movie, this is an optimistic,
That this is a light hearted rom.
it gave America hope. Okay?
Did it?
Well, as much as it could. You leave it feeling positive that there
are people out there who care and albeit reluctantly sacrifice for others
Uh-huh.
and you might find a friend like Rocky who's funny and sarcastic and he
can make a friend. I don't know.
And apparently out
of the whole world, they needed Ryan Gosling the most.
Listen, I think I need Ryan Gosling.
I went back and I watched Drive after this movie.
The most. man.
I watched... It's ~ he does go...
Blade Runner twenty forty nine.
You ever see La... yeah, I'd seen that.
I feel like of all... I mean, he's great in that movie,
but of all the movies... La La Land.
Have you seen La La Land? We should do that on this show,
I have seen Lala Land. Should we rank Ryan Gosling movies?
because...
I would put La La Land as number one.
I'm just going to say it outright.
I love him in crazy stupid love.
You know I how much I love this movie.
He's top notch in that. How do you feel about him as Ken and Barbie?
I don't know if I have I seen that movie I
think he's great as Ken he's just Ken I would I would probably
How do you feel about him
and Fall Guys? One guy? Fall Guy?
How many guys were there? There's the Try Guys.
The Fall Guy? The Fall Guy? There's the other guys.
There's the smart guys.
No wait. Other guys.
There's... Stepbrothers. And then...
What's the... he... He's in a movie with Russell Crowe.
Is that the other guy? The Nice Guys.
I that's the other guys. Nice guys,
That's the Nice Guy. Those are the Nice Guys.
not the try guys. That's a different thing.
Try Guys. Those are the guys...
Those are the guys in the Super Mario Brothers movie,
right? The Try Guys? No, those are the Shy Guys.
I don't know.
Those are the Shy Guys. was trying to...
I was trying to... I was trying to get you.
All right, let's get back to it.
Anyway, I would put...
Back to it here. Real quick question.
Yeah, go ahead.
My wife saw it and said that there was a romance corner in this movie.
And I want you to tell me,
was there? Between the German woman who brings Ryan Gosling
Right?
on and ~ what do you call it when you sacrifice someone else?
I think it's just murder, but it could also just be ~ other sacrifices
You trap them. They are taken hostage but forced to do something good.
in Right.
Okay.
Yeah, between Ryan Gosling or Ryland Grace and the woman that kidnaps
him into space, d did you think there was romance?
There was like, not romance,
I wouldn't put it in romance. I thought about bringing romance corner.
Was there chemistry?
I thought, see I thought about bringing,
Or friendship, camaraderie.
there was friendship camaraderie,
maybe with some admiration because she liked how smart he was or whatever.
And he was pretty goofy, like he was goofy with the world leaders at the beginning.
And he looks like Ryan Gosling.
I mean he looks like Ryan Gosling so,
No one ever comments on that.
I mean it's just right there, it's right in the name,
it just says it. But.
I was going to try and introduce a new corner for this movie because
we have romance corner, but what about bromance corner?
The chemistry between the two buddies in a movie like this.
I think it was very good and before people think that I'm a rock hearted person like
Rocky, I thought it was I thought it was truly touching when Ryan Gosling says
I have to end the show right there.
to him, like, Hey, it's okay, buddy,
I'll watch you sleep 'cause that's what they do in the other is they like stand
I cried then too. I cried then too.
guard stand guard while they sleep.
Yeah. Yes.
I thought that was beautiful.
It was. So bromance. I mean,
this may be unfair. I should have come up with more comparisons,
but I feel like Ryland Grace and Rocky versus Tom Hanks
and a volleyball versus...
Rocky. I mean,
yeah, we need yeah, we need Rocky.
Versus like Dwayne the Rock Johnson and Kevin Hart in whatever movie you want
to put him in
Uhhuh. You haven't thought through this premise enough,
have you? You didn't you didn't do the pre work for next time.
I needed to I should have watched water good I didn't do that I just it just came
Yeah, yeah. Why not yeah.
up now what are what are
good buddy comedies turner and hooch tom hanks on a dog
so we're
you're trying to yeah, you're trying to compare not two humans together.
Mandalorian and Grogu.
Well, it can be...
Nah, not... No, no. Rocky and...
Ryland Grace. I don't why it's so hard to say that name.
They win most. They win most. But you also have Will Ferrell and ~
the other guy from Talladega Nights.
What's his name? John Searod,
John C. Riley.
thank you. Rekka Brauf. You know.
Anyway. You're not playing this game with me.
Look at you looking at it. No,
I ~ I think
That's fine.
I think the game is good. It's just too broad,
so it it scares me 'cause I feel like,
too broad. ~
there's good answers out there.
We just haven't we can come
Okay, okay,
I got one that I think might win.
I'm looking at this article right now from Rolling Stone of the
Top 25 Buddy Comedies. And there's movies like Dumb and Dumber,
Mm-hmm.
which, you know, okay. Tommy Boy,
Mm-hmm.
sure. But I also feel like you could do ~ Marvel with like Loki and Thor.
I feel like there's some chemistry there.
The Blues Brothers. I think...
I need
you to be able to sacrifice for the other.
I need to believe that you will sacrifice for the other.
Okay,
thank you for saying because I was gonna put Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith
and Men in Black as maybe one of the top buddy comedy pairs.
that's very good.
The chemistry, the humor, I feel like that might beat Rocky
Very very good.
and Rylan Gray's. We'll come back to it,
We'll come back we'll come back to this at a different time.
we'll come back to it. This won't be the last episode,
Yeah, exactly.
even though the rumors of our death have been greatly exaggerated.
And people think this podcast is over.
You got it. Much like any character in this movie,
No, because Apple has featured us.
We're going to keep doing it.
you can't
get rid of us no matter how many times we are sacrificed.
I do I do have to say,
That's right. Yes.
I do have to say, in this movie,
the fact that he doesn't literally
has no one to go back to on Earth makes the choice
to sacrifice himself when he was already kind of
For many months viewing himself as going to die anyway,
wasn't quite as strong. And maybe that was with purpose,
Yeah.
or maybe that was just written into the book.
The fact that like they said literally,
like, you have no niece or nephew to go back to.
And I was like, I'm yeah, I think we as the viewers have to really feel like,
They want to cover all the bases.
well, he shouldn't go after Rocky.
Even if we loved Rocky, there's still an element of if there was a human back
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
on earth that was waiting for you.
Yes.
Yes. Yes.
You probably should go back to the you know,
Yes.
that kind of thing. I like this
movie just clears that whole forest down and says,
I think... Yeah.
Not a single person actually cares about you.
and in fact that German woman is like it's not that yeah,
Hahaha
She betrayed you too. She's gone.
it's like you don't even have to go back to her.
She she'd be happy that you went to the rock people.
Exactly, but I think that it makes it real clean Where you you don't have
~ yeah, super clean. No conflicted feelings at all.
to have any bad feelings about it?
Because what do you not talked about that it was like if you had even
one person back on earth Then he should have gone back to her,
but they set it up where he has no one Not even a volleyball like
Nobody. Which I'm not
I'm just not sure how that is possible.
Like he seems like someone I mean he show he showed great friendship
I do wonder like his parents maybe?
capabilities with Rocky. Could he he just couldn't relate to humans?
Sure. Listen,
he might struggle with you. I think that ~ could be a lot of us,
know, struggle with you.
Yeah, everyone yeah,
said yeah, exactly. If we all wear our glasses the wrong way.
Anyway,
that's exactly right. That was the best part.
All right, let's rate this movie.
On a scale of one or zero to five,
Mm-hmm.
Rocky Plushies, which I might get you for Christmas this year.
Mm. please don't. That's
I'm just going to send it up to you.
a nightmare fuel.
I'm gonna give this movie, I'm tempted to give it a perfect score,
because I feel like it's gonna be,
You you can. No one's stopping you.
I'm gonna give it five Rocky plushies.
It high rewatchability, it has heart,
it has humor, it's got the gauze.
I'm gonna give it five out of five.
What's better this movie or Interstellar?
That's a tough one.
recently watched Interstellar a couple months ago,
probably my fifth or sixth rewatch.
Mm-hmm.
If I had to choose one to exist,
I would choose Interstellar. But I don't know if it's because it's better
or if it's just so it looms so large in the mind,
you know? I don't know. It sounded like Yoda there for a second.
Okay. Mm.
I don't know.
I don't know, dude, I'm sure I gave Interstellar a super high score.
Yeah, you had to be four and a half or five for Interstellar.
Interstellar probably needs to be a five if I didn't say it already.
Is this a top
It's a five.
ten movie for you ever?
That's a good question.
Lot of hard hard hitting questions here.
These are hard-hitting
questions. expect you to answer all of these as well.
No, no way.
I mean,
I would say it's in a top 10 because so much goes into like,
was this one of your top 10 movies?
Like you're watching experience,
which yours was on a laptop in bed,
whereas mine was on a four story screen with my entire family.
Uh-huh.
Celebrating forty years of life.
So, you know, that oeuvre of the movie plus it was...
all the whole family enjoyed it.
You know, it's rare when a family of five can see a movie and it's like everybody
loved it. Everybody wants to see it again when it comes out on streaming.
Sure. Right. Just like Mario Galaxy.
It was great.
Which we've watched that too. We've watched that too.
Yeah, you did. Is it a movie?
I I have heard complaints that it's not a movie.
What like
what what is a movie Nate? What?
I think something
with plot and character and so yes,
There's plot and characters, there's things happening.
It's a movie, yeah, Super Mario Galaxy is movie.
you're answering yes. It is a movie.
It's a movie. It's not just a bunch of TikTok things all smooshed together.
There's so many... No,
I mean,
it's a bunch of references that if you don't play the games or have
at least played Smash Bros, you'll have no idea who anybody is.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
But that's fine. It's a movie.
Anyway.
Yeah, yeah. Now
now that one is toy medic.
What does that mean?
What are you saying? Are you looking up a word right now?
That's not, that's the word you tried making up earlier.
Uh-huh. ~ No,
Anyway, I would put this in one of my top 10 movies,
I
I think. I think this would be in one of my top 10.
I think so. I have to revisit a bunch of movies.
I got it wrong, but I was one letter off.
Toy Toyetic. Toyetic is an entertainment industry term describing a movie,
What is the word?
It's so, so, so,
television, show, or character designed in a way that makes it highly suitable
for merchandising, licensing, and selling associated toy lines.
Oh, I didn't realize that.
Toyetic Toyetic.
Toyating.
OK, I'll give you some credit for that.
Man,
there was somebody shouting throughout this whole thing,
It's Toyetic S Sorry.
Anyway, all right,
how do you rate this movie? Is it in your top 10 and whatever else you asked?
I'm gonna give this movie four out of five.
It was a gr it was a very good movie.
I'll accept it.
I enjoyed it. I don't know how much rewatchability it has.
I'm glad I've s I saw it. I think it's very good.
Yes.
~ it is not in my top ten movies.
It it hit a bit of an uncanny valley for me,
honestly, between wanting more sci fi whimsy and
non realistic fun things.
And like the real like the Martian,
which to me has a diff. I it is not what it means,
I don't think that's uncanny valley.
I don't think that's that word means.
but I'm using it in a way that's shoehorn it in.
Like you want, okay. I see.
It's an awkward middle between sci fi and sci non fi.
It is a- yeah, sure. Sure.
And so it is right there that gave me a little bit of
Something, okay.
~ I might want you to go all the way one way or the other,
Mmm.
but four out of five, it was still great.
Ryan Gosling just
carried this movie and maybe Rocky too and maybe the puppeteers behind Rocky.
He did, he did.
So
No, Rocky
did it. Yeah, Rocky did carry it.
Yes, I also enjoy that like there's no chance for a sequel.
I very much enjoyed it.
Like this is the movie. That's all it is.
There's no sequel in a world of sequels.
This is going to stand on its own.
It would
involve him writing a new book with the same characters.
That is true. That is true.
And I don't know, do you know if the does the book end the exact same
way as the movie? Okay. Okay.
I don't know that I don't know.
Yeah, I have no idea. But I'm yes.
comment. ~ give us five stars.
Is that what they give us in podcast world?
Rate us five. And then when you do that,
I don't know why people say we were fake.
~ yeah. Give us a five star review to our video podcast
in Apple podcasts. Yeah,
in Apple Podcast.
that's right. Yes.
And tell us, does the movie
Project Hill Mary end the same way as the book?
Isn't this how people do it, Steven?
But yes. But if you don't, if
They ask them the thing.
you don't, yes, but if you don't know the answer to that,
still leave us a five star rating in review and let us know would you take
And tell us the best romances in movies.
a Rocky plush toy? I do like that.
I want to know specifically between a human
That right there. That right there.
and a non human. That's what I want.
That is the the the the smaller subsect that I really want.
I feel like
Rocky is too anthropomorphized to say he's non-human.
Well he is by he is scientifically non human.
He is definitely an a person a personhood.
What other buddy, what other non-person buddy talks?
Hey, c comment it in Apple Podcast after you give a five star review and say,
Does Rocky have a soul? Thanks.
Come again and we'll talk to you next time.
Why is it? Yeah. That's right.
We have a lot more movies we have seen recently,
which are a lot worse than this movie,
and I'm very excited to talk about them.
Yes. Okay, bye.
Until next time.
Bye.
Deuces.