Movies on the Side

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.