A Merry Reference Christmas 2020 (Part 1)

Full transcript of A Merry Reference Christmas 2020 (Part 1).

0:24KT: Festive tidings, friends and lovers. It's a Merry Reference Christmas, friends and lovers. Welcome one. Welcome all. If you have perused the For Your Reference podcast, you may have already heard our first Christmas special in 2019, and that was a whopper. A whopper indeed. The podcast episode got broken up into two one hour episodes. Shout out to certain levels of our Patreon that can see the video version of our Merry Christmas special this year. But, essentially, strap in, strap on of the festive kind because we are going to get into a very fun and tantalizing

1:12KT: time Oti. Mhmm. All of our episodes are reviews of TV shows and also movies, but we don't like to give our rating out of 10, mostly because as soon as you say the number, there's nothing really else to say. Right? And we really like to get in and discuss stuff. And even if things aren't particularly perfect, we still find a lot of fun discussing it. And sometimes things are perfect, but they still don't have that much to say. So again, get yourself a beverage, get yourself a snack. Oti is mine. He is reserved forever.

1:53KT: But it's going to be a good time. It has been a long year. And especially if for whatever reason, pandemic or otherwise, you were spending it alone, Let us be your For Your Reference family. We're going to get into some good time. I don't think we're gonna spoil anything, are we? No. I'm not spoilers. Okay. So it's it's fun for all the family of appropriate ages. Theo is here, but he's not very useful, but he is getting in on the festive cheer as well. Something very interesting before we dive in, Oti. Last

2:26KT: year was our first year of podcasting, and we did about 41 review episodes.

2:32Oti: Wow.

2:33KT: This year, the year of all of the years, we've done 50 review episodes. And the way we've done this spreadsheet is if we've covered franchises, like in the first year we did John Wick, for example, We split it into the individual movies so we can rate them appropriately. So with this spreadsheet of 50 episodes, we have almost 70 rows on this spreadsheet. So I think this was our year of trilogies and franchises, Rush Hour particularly being a highlight of that. Alright. So let's get into it, Oti. Let's get into it.

3:13KT: Again, we fucking love our beloved friends and lovers, our patrons. As a Patreon benefit, they have the opportunity to submit their ratings on episodes that we've covered throughout the year. We've also had a couple of guests this year, so they've chimed in as well on their corresponding episodes. Brilliant. So with our patrons and with our guests, say, there's about 13 out of 50 episodes that they've provided our ratings. And, also,

3:43KT: our Splooshies awards is coming up. And we have the Sploosh Mountain, which is the most coveted award in the Splooshies awards, and that will be awarded to the highest rating movie or TV show that we've covered. So patrons definitely have the power. Very nice. But unfortunately, we didn't cover Power even though Power Book II is getting into a good time. Mary J. Blige and Tariq is a fun old time. But Oti, first episode in January, which feels like a very long time ago, we covered Succession. Succession became a fan fave in our household.

4:22KT: It was we had a list of TV shows to watch, and we ignored all of them and just decided to watch Succession. Yep. And we were absolutely blown away by it. It does sound like they're going to start production of season three of Succession. So whenever it's going to come out, done doodly hardest. We will be covering it on the For Your Reference podcast. So let's do this first rating for 2020, the Merry Reference Christmas special. No pressure, Oti. Take it away.

4:57Oti: So Succession just I felt all the other shows we covered last year were very lucky during the Splooshies.

5:04KT: Because we knew. We knew. Yes.

5:09Oti: And by the mere fact we didn't cover Succession in time of the Splooshies just tells you everything because it's a 10 of a 10 of a 10 show. Oh, if this is any indication,

5:22KT: high five, my love. Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. You kinda stole my thunder, but I like it that way. You're like Gerri and I'm like Roman from Succession. I also give it a 10, by the way. Oh. Just to make that very clear. I don't know how. I don't know why. But the next episode that we did for 2020 was You with your Gossip Girl. Yeah. Yes. And Oti. Yeah. We have our first patron rating. We do. Yeah. I don't know why they wasted it on you. It

6:01KT: is Brandi from the Book of Lies podcast. Shout out. Also shout out to Sunni. We love you too. So do you wanna hear the rating first, or do you wanna hear the reasoning?

6:01Oti: I wanna hear the reasoning, and I think I can I can get her rating based off that?

6:01KT: As far as stalker slash murderers go, Joe Goldberg is one of the most endearing. I only wish he would stop picking these broken girls that need to be fixed and pick me. Heart eyes emoji.

6:33Oti: She called Brandi. I think she gave it a nine. She absolutely gave it a nine.

6:41KT: Brandi and Sunni also came onto our podcast in our first year to cover The Big Short. So how the quality waivers, I don't know. But we love you. Thank you. I do not agree, but thank you so much. My rating, seven out of 10. Wow. I think that's quite high.

6:56Oti: If you listen to epi, Katie is really just a hater because that's nothing short of an h show. Oh, okay. Yep. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it for what it was, and Joe just ticked all the boxes. So that's that's an eight average. Okay.

7:15KT: By the power of you and Brandi, I suppose. Alright. Let's get into one of the first franchises that we've done on the podcast definitely for 2020. We did Bad Boys, Bad Boys Dos, Bad Boys Tres. For too long apparently. Alright. So let's do it. You wanna just go what you rated one, two, and three or you wanna alternate?

7:41Oti: One, two, and three. I gave Bad Boys 8.5. Bad Boys two a 7.5. Nice. And Bad Boys for Life a 7.5. Oh, okay.

7:52KT: I was edging, and I almost met to completion. Unfortunately, not. So I gave Bad Boys an 8.5. Mhmm. Bad Boys two a 7.5. Okay. I gave Bad Boys for Life five.

8:04Oti: Oh. Michael Lowrey. No. The sodium got to Michael Lowrey as well. Because I think the nostalgia played a big part in my rating. It it's been years since we saw that. And grew up growing up watching Bad Boys, and it was just one of those things that seeing them now, despite its obvious flaws, I just couldn't give it any lower rating than that.

8:35KT: Like, I get the nostalgia, but it didn't need to be made. But I will maintain all of the Bad Boys had one of the best soundtracks on anything that we've covered this year, Even with the most recent one with will.i.am. Because you're gonna spend your Mhmm. You're gonna party to the ex

8:53Oti: You keep on looking at me as if you're waiting for me to finish that line. I ain't got it. Hey. We're La Casa de Spanish, are we not? Mhmm.

9:01KT: Alright. Let's continue on. We have another patron rating, Oti, and this is for our Luce episode. I think you can guess who rated this.

9:01Oti: Kolby.

9:01KT: No one other than Kolby. Yo. Yo. Yo. Yo. Kolby. Absolutely. Because I think you remember our Twitter threads with Kolby. So let's see what Kolby had to say. This is not your average teen drama. It's something more, something spectacularly special, unafraid to speak on the uncomfortable conversations buried within political correctness and sensitivity that roam our school halls or our homes.

9:39KT: Every compositional element at work in this film is simply perfect to me. Perfect direction, script, cast, performances, all culminate to deliver something wildly different and my number one movie of the year. Yep.

9:54Oti: Yep. I knew it.

9:56KT: Oh, okay. So what do you think he rated it?

9:56Oti: 10.

9:56KT: Yeah. If he could rate it more than 10, he probably would have. So I'm a bit scared to give mine. So you go first.

10:07Oti: I'll give it an eight because I know that in as much as I had qualms with it, it still was an entertaining movie. It was a good movie, and I enjoyed it. It was entertaining.

10:19KT: It was good. I agree. I know you yourself and Kolby will probably have qualms with mine self. I gave it a 6.5.

10:28Oti: Jesus. Really? Yeah. That is ridiculous.

10:32KT: I'm the fucking Grinch. What do you want from me?

10:35Oti: Wow. What movies do you want to rate higher? Well, we'll get to it.

10:40KT: So, you know, even before March hit, we had a lot going on with our podcast. Mhmm. So we started this podcast in February 2019, which meant February 2020 of this year marked our first year of podcasting. And we celebrated with a month long celebration of Miyazaki masterpieces, otherwise known as our Reference Degustation. Mhmm. Mhmm. Mhmm. And at the end of that celebration, we had our first annual Splooshies awards, Oti. Mhmm. That was all this year.

11:19KT: Yeah. It was. Wasn't it? Isn't that wild? We went for, like, a week holiday, and I'm glad we did that because, well, we all know how the story goes. There's no spoiler alert there. So let's get into our month long of Miyazaki masterpieces. The first one we had was Spirited Away. 10. 10. I like where this is going. This is a tantalizing degustation, Oti. Porco Rosso or what Oti likes to call me, Scarlet Pig.

11:48Oti: 10. 10.

11:50KT: Alright. Princess Mononoke, otherwise known as Mononoke Hime. 10. 10. And then we have Nausicaä, Valley of the Wind.

12:06Oti: Nine. Just wasn't there, man. Like, I really, really tried to love it as much as the others. I just couldn't get that at the end. And for that, it just failed a point shot.

12:19KT: But given that it was early in Miyazaki's filmography, it really did become the foundation of, you know, a lot of the themes that he is known to to this day.

12:23Oti: Oh, a stepping stone indeed into what is now known. And we could see it so clearly having watched the other the Spirited Away, Porco Rosso, his later works, how much Nausicaä was really the foundational sort of piece that just launched everything?

12:43KT: Nausicaä upskirted so Mononoke could steal Ashitaka. But with the themes of environmentalism, it was very heavy handed in Nausicaä, but it definitely set the tone throughout Miyazaki's filmography, and it was very pointed and very deliberate in Mononoke. So definitely it was a good pairing to have that particular week. I rated it after all that, I just wanted to justify myself. I gave it an eight.

13:13Oti: Oh,

13:16KT: I know. Alright. Alright. That's fair enough. Don't kick me out of the fan club, weebs. Alright. And then we have the last dessert course of the Reference Degustation. Howl's Moving Castle? Nice. That is a very expensive and very quality degustation. And hopefully at a time that is appropriate and we can enjoy it again, I would love for us to go to those wankery cloth napkin dinner stations again, Oti. For sure. For sure indeed. Okay. So March kicked off our second year of podcasting,

13:57KT: and it was just as fun as the theme song, Living Single. Because you're living

14:04Oti: single.

14:06KT: Yes. We're living the single life. Yeah.

14:11Oti: That that was a a really, really good throwback for us. And I would be remiss if I didn't give it anything other than a 10. Oh, okay. It's 10, bro. Alright.

14:25KT: Okay.

14:26Oti: Kyle Barker, 10.

14:30KT: Oh, Kyle Barker. I gave it less of a rating because of Maxine Shaw, Attorney at Law, or the OG Molly, if you're watching Insecure. Mhmm. I gave Living Single, you're not even letting me give my reason. Fine. I'm giving Living Single an 8.5. But I also wanna put it on the record that we watched this over holiday for no reason. We didn't have it in our schedule, but I found out I think we're watching some Queen Latifah interview clip, and she talked about Living Single being the genesis

15:03KT: and Friends spawning off on that because the NBC president liked it. So while I do give Living Single 8.5, I also wanna put it on the record that I'm giving Friends a zero.

15:16Oti: You wish. Both of them exist in their own right.

15:20KT: Yeah. They can both exist and you've continuously proclaimed your love for Friends, and we're still together. So that's growth on me, really. Speaking of growth, whether admirable or not, we are moving into Queen and Slim. We have another patron guest rating.

15:41Oti: Oh. Oh. Kolby again?

15:45KT: It is Kolby. Look at you knowing our patrons. I didn't know that was part of the benefits, but that's good to know, Oti. Mhmm. Alright. Objectively, this film has some very strong direction that knows how to slickly capture the beauty of black skin. The camerawork is stylized as such, and the music sets the mood appropriately. The performances are great for the most part despite a lot of issues I have with the narrative construction and the screenplay as a whole. Subjectively, I've never been more soul broken and conflicted after watching a film.

16:20KT: I feel this is one of the most socially irresponsible films I've seen in a while. Oh, this is some fire. And it's painful to vocalize this. However, I have a responsibility to not fully allow my unmet expectations to unfairly color my critical analysis or ignore how this film will and has affected its intended audiences. Wow. Yeah. So we're seeing the highs and not so highs of Kolby. What

16:49KT: did he give it? You don't even wanna guess?

16:49Oti: I'd say a seven.

16:49KT: A six. If Kolby rates your film a six, then you've got a problem.

16:49Oti: I I wholly agree with everything he said there. Uh-huh.

17:03Oti: Everything was working for it. Everything. But the execution and I I really did expect more. And to me, I rated it a seven because that's just where it fell. Oh, okay. Without any sort of at least bias from my end or negative or whatever it might be. Mhmm. I really wanted to love it. I really did.

17:03KT: Okay. I also rated it a six with Kolby.

17:03Oti: Wow. Who knew? I'll be the most generous one here.

17:33KT: Yeah. This year, not last year. Yeah. We in the cinema, it's you know, we look back on films that we watched in the cinema, and I also think that Queen Slim was the last film that we watched in the cinema this year. And it was very confusing because we knew how we felt about Queen and Slim, but everyone was cheering.

17:58Oti: And I think there were lots of black loves being shouted from the audience as well.

18:03KT: So, you know, not to take away from the audience experience. It was a very I think we felt like Kenya Barris from BlackAF. Everyone was praising the movie. But again, you know, with Lena Waithe, we've seen qualitat. We just don't necessarily agree that it was poured into this cohesively. Okay. The next episode that we had covered the TV series, the HBO series, the Tres Comas series, Silicon Valley, and we have another patron rating, Oti. Oh. I don't know if you'll be able to guess who this is.

18:41Oti: I'd say Julio.

18:43KT: Wow. You deserve a prize, Oti. I do. Your prize is the end of 2020. I'll take it. But the It's a Wonderful Life prize is it might it may continue in 2021, unfortunately. Okay. So Julio said almost perfect. There was something off in the finale.

19:06Oti: I wouldn't even say just the finale. I would say the final season alone just fell a bit short of what we knew Silicon Valley could be or at least where the direction we thought it would take and the finale, man. Jesus fucking Christ.

19:22KT: It's hard to top dick-to-floor ratio because I think for the most part, the way that Rick and Morty fans reference Pickle Rick all the time, I think, you know, dick-to-floor ratio is Oh

19:32Oti: my. Everybody in the office was just shouting that the whole day after that episode aired. Just to just to save time. Yeah.

19:39KT: But, yeah, dick-to-floor ratio, I think, is the most closely associated reference to Silicon Valley, and it is hard to beat that because that was brilliant. And even the fact that academics got in on it and it's actually accurate. Oh, you called me an academic. How dare you besmirch proper academics in the world out there? Okay. Let me give my rating. Not as generous as Julio. What did Julio give it? So Julio rated it a 9.5.

20:09KT: Oh, interesting. 9.5 is very high. Interesting. But I'm also not going to fight you, Julio, at least not in this regard. I rated it 8.5.

20:20Oti: You snooze, man, because I gave it a 9.5.

20:20KT: No, you did not.

20:20Oti: I did. It was deserved of that. It would it it was a 10 show up until its final legs. And just because it fell a bit short, as any show would with its run time, It just no. It deserved so much more credit for that than me giving sitting here and giving it anything less than a nine would just have felt wrong. I'm brave.

20:54KT: Oh, clearly you you also something It's not I I couldn't give it more than an 8.5 because Richard just kept meandering for two, three seasons. And you also forgot the whole Jared story arc, which we're not gonna spoil. Yeah. Exactly. So the fact that you gave it a 9.5 is a mystery to us all, Oti.

20:54Oti: I'm just remembering the first three seasons.

20:54KT: Alright. Well, speaking of first three, let's move on to what are the most fun episodes that we've had recording, but also watching and anticipating and even listening back to the episode. Yes, motherfuckers. That's what I do.

21:31KT: I really loved it. We're talking about the masterpiece trilogy of Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker.

21:39Oti: Wow. I the first Rush Hour was great. I think it got me at a really nice start in my childhood and I'd give it an eight. Alright.

21:50KT: Yeah. I give it an eight too. And I don't need a nostalgic spiel because if it's great friends and lovers, it's fucking great.

21:57Oti: Rush Hour two, I went with a seven. Rush Hour three, I also gave it a seven.

22:00KT: I gave Rush Hour two seven point five. Okay. And then Rush Hour three seven.

22:08Oti: Cool. So pretty much the same, you know, across the board.

22:12KT: Nice. To round off March, we covered Lindelof of all of the Lost islands, The Hunt. Do you even remember we watched that? It it feels like ages ago, doesn't it? Yeah. And it was one of the first video on demands that we watched, you know, when studios was trying to decide whether they were in a release. Right to Amazon, I think it was. Because we watched Invisible Man and we watched The Hunt. And for some reason, we recorded The Hunt before Invisible Man. And then because of life and and 2020,

22:51KT: I think our memories became invisible and we forgot to record Invisible Man. Yeah.

22:56Oti: The Hunt. I give The Hunt a seven.

22:56KT: Yeah. Me too.

22:56Oti: You had some fun aspects in there, but nothing really to write home about. I know people really had problems with it, but that's not for us to say. The the movie is the movie. I understand why they chose to

23:14KT: change the release schedule of it. But, yeah, I try not to do this, but just watching interviews with Lindelof and him kind of backing down from a very specific and very purposeful messaging. Stunned by your workmate. Yeah. Yeah. Whatever it is, just fucking stunned by it. It's out there. Yeah. And I don't think it was even that powerful of a message, but then we're not Americans. So we don't have that context where it is, you know, going to be more specific. But,

23:48KT: yeah, like, I try not to let, like, outside of what the movie or the TV show is. But in that particular case, I did rate it based on interviews I was watching because of it's not like you're accidentally stumbling on political messaging. No. Yeah. Well, especially with Lindelof, even though it does get wiry, but let's continue. April.

24:11Oti: Oh, we started April strong.

24:13KT: April. April started off in the most tantalizing, the most splooshiest of ways. We covered La Casa de Papel all the parts up to part three in our first year of podcasting. And in the first episode of April, we covered La Casa de Papel part four. Also, I don't know if this is going to influence your score, but Netflix recently announced that part five will be the final part of the series.

24:46KT: But then with GLOW, they did have a final series announced and then they canceled it. So hopefully that doesn't happen too much is too big a show for them to do it like that.

24:57Oti: And, man, I it took me down to the feels part four.

25:02KT: So last last year, overall, you rated it a nine just to give context. So how does your rating for part four go?

25:09Oti: It did not change. It's still a nine.

25:14KT: Okay. A proud nine. A proud proud as a peacock, baby. Mhmm. That's the first 30 Rock reference, I think.

25:22Oti: What did he give it?

25:23KT: I gave it an eight. I gave it an eight. I gave it a 10 last year. The feels though. Yeah. I I don't wanna spoil La Casa de Papel because branded by us, we are the unofficial official La Casa de Papel podcast. And, yeah, I I gave it a 10, and I don't wanna spoil part four, but I feel like the momentum didn't really move as much as we wanted it to.

25:50Oti: But it did set up for a grand final season if it does Yeah.

25:58KT: But if you're not a 20 episode sort of series, you shouldn't be setting up for eight episodes.

25:58Oti: No. It had to happen like that. I was done by it, and I loved it.

25:58KT: Okay. Settle down. Proud me. Well, maybe you can be Lagos.

26:15Oti: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Course, they need a prince in there.

26:18KT: Okay. I'm just going to leave it there. I love that. Mhmm. I love the idea of that. The next episode that we have was Bend It Like Beckham. It's funny. It's funny going through this and realizing what we covered through the year. Yeah.

26:34Oti: Bloody hell, man. It's weird. Bend It Like Beckham is one of those childhood classics that I think everyone in my neighborhood.

26:41KT: Childhood classics. How do you do, fellow kids? It's not you were in your childhood when this came out.

26:50Oti: Dear lord. It's one of those that you just like, pretty much everyone knew what it was. Mhmm. Everyone watched it multiple times, and I give it an eight. It's rewatchable throughout, like, my adult life, and I just loved it. Oh,

27:05KT: okay. I I'm the one rating things lower this year, it seems. Tell me what you got, Scrooge. Scroogem?

27:14Oti: Scrooge McDuckney.

27:16KT: I rated it 7.5. It was okay, it was never gonna be a 10, let's be fair. No, I'm not telling you. It was never gonna be a 10. So that's just where I landed.

27:26Oti: It lives in the plateaus of the eights,

27:28KT: which is fine. Well, you live on the plateau of my heart. How about that? You also live on the plateau of my life. Oh, wow. You also live on the platform of my life.

27:39Oti: Oh, El Hoyo.

27:41KT: El Hoyo. And that rolls into another patron rating rating Oti.

27:46Oti: Oh, I think this is Julio again.

27:49KT: It is Julio. This is so cute. I love that you know who's rating these. Yeah. Okay. So Julio's comment, as of vio, it was so much fun and so inventive.

28:03Oti: A 100% agreed. And I think the messaging, nay, El will take you to fucking church. And for me, El Hoyo was just a bloody 10.

28:16KT: 10, son. Well, Julio, you might need to reconsider. He gave it a nine. Oh. I gave it a nine.

28:25Oti: Idiatas.

28:29KT: The candles. Well, I don't wanna spoil it, but the ending, the ending bothered me.

28:36Oti: The ending does the end that was the perfect ending to any movie I've seen this year. So for you to be bothered by that, you gotta piss right off. You had a great ass.

28:52KT: Well, you know, I think it should be studied in schools. Think It should. It should be It should be a set book. We used to have this Do you think we should have a For Your Reference curriculum and try and sell it to schools? Oh, for sure.

29:05Oti: I'm trying to reenact it and go and do plays in schools.

29:09KT: Wow, Otispy.

29:10Oti: Yeah, man. Got my career trajectory lined up, mate.

29:17KT: Oh, but El Hoyo was amazing. I am Katie Tremagasi. Before we move on Oti, if you haven't watched The Platform El Hoyo, we definitely encourage you to go and watch it. But when they are introduced to the vertical self management center, I think it's called, they're allowed to bring one possession. What would you bring? It can be like even based on the movie or just you in general, what would you bring?

29:47Oti: Oh, heaps of beef jerky. Okay. So I can just eat a jerky a day.

29:51KT: I think there no, but I think there are like limitations.

29:56Oti: No, there are no limitations. Literally anything.

29:59KT: You wanna bring them with a cow? Come on came with a fucking set a suitcase full of money. That did shit all. So you're come with a suitcase full of jerky? Yeah. You're gonna be that guy?

30:09Oti: It's gonna last me the whole bloody year. Alright. See, what are you gonna come with?

30:19KT: The knife, the samurai knife. And then I'll make my own jerky. Oh, wow. Okay. We are going to cover the film Alive next year. Alright.

30:28Oti: I'm not even going to bring levity because that's fucking life. Alright. Let's move on.

30:35KT: Oh, speaking of levity, after El Hoyo, we covered The Inbetweeners.

30:38Oti: Oh,

30:39KT: football friends. Football friend. No patron ratings.

30:42Oti: Oh, that show is amazing. We've what? How many times have we even watched it? Too many to count. Bloody hell. Like, yeah. 10. 10. 10. 10. Wow.

30:52KT: 10. 10. 10. 10. I gave it a nine. Woah. But to me, nine is high. For a show like that, a nine is very high for me. Say what? Well, I gave 30 Rock a 10. So it's not better than 30 Rock or the same as 30 Rock. To me, it's fucking head, hips, lips, limbs, and bounds better than 30 Rock.

31:10Oti: That's because you're Simon and I'm Carli. Oh, bloody hell.

31:18KT: Alright. We're now moving into May, Oti. And, you know, we're all here to wank each other off and pat ourselves on the back, but it has been a wild fucking year. Right? For the most part, we've delivered an episode every week. Even when we missed one, we were still able to roll out the same amount as we would within that particular month. And it's crazy that we got so far into the year. We just kept our head down, trying to focus on recording an episode.

31:48KT: And then by the end of it, we realized it was, like, October. It's crazy. Not to say that, you know, well, maybe I feel like my worth is in whether we can release it or not. But, like, we didn't have a hard goal, but I like that we kept to it. Yeah. Me too. And I appreciated it. So after Inbetweeners rolling into May, we covered BlackAF, which we referenced not so long ago.

32:13Oti: Kenya Barris.

32:15KT: A lifelong friend of yours. Yeah.

32:18Oti: I gave it an 8.5.

32:20KT: I gave BlackAF an eight.

32:22Oti: I felt like it was better than eight. It lost its way later in the in the season.

32:28KT: Well, you said it kind of copied black-ish. Felt felt very black-ish in some aspects. Internally, it turned into divorce and and and breaking up. Yeah. I think I think when you I don't think that's a spoiler. Your black-ish episodes,

32:43Oti: when you watch black-ish merely for escapism, then they bring the heavy shit, then I don't know. It just felt weird. But still, I enjoyed it and 8.5.

32:53KT: Well, he was talking when the title was like, because of slavery, because of slavery again. Yeah. So it wasn't necessarily light. It was just the tone of it was very, you know, satirized and there was comedy in there, even in the dark sort of comedy. But then, yeah, it felt like he wanted to put it in so we put it in. But yeah, so I guess that also reflects our ratings. Oh, Oti, are you ready? Are you ready for the trilogy? I'm ready. I say trilogy, but I'm only talking about the first two.

33:29KT: The Godfather, The Godfather two, The Godfather three.

33:34Oti: Alright. I love a good Don Corleone.

33:36KT: We all do. And a Vito Corleone.

33:39Oti: I gave Godfather a nine.

33:43KT: I gave it a nine too, but thinking on it, I don't know why I didn't give it a 10. Can you can you

33:50Oti: Because when you thought you'd watched an amazing movie in The Godfather Mhmm. And then you watched The Godfather Part two, you're like, something that you thought couldn't get any better, got heads, shoulders, heaps and bounds better than anything I could have imagined. And the Godfather part two is nothing short but a perfect 10.

34:12KT: Wow okay so in the newly formed completely legitimate For Your Reference curriculum We will have the foreshadowing oranges of the Godfather trilogy. In this curriculum, we also regard part one and part two as an entity. And in saying that, I rated both of them a nine. I think they both worked well together. What was missing or what was lacking emotional attachment because it was missing in part one was filled in part two. Any of the furthering of the universe, come and fight me motherfuckers. Come and fight me, buffangles,

34:57KT: was met in part one. So they're very symbiotic in nature and, again, in our curriculum that will be accredited and recognized nowhere. We regard part one and part two as a singular entity. Part three, don't necessarily care about. I know Julio does enjoy part three of Godfather, but he also knows that he's not gonna be able to influence our ratings. So he probably didn't rate it. What did he give part three?

34:57Oti: I gave part three a seven.

35:29KT: I gave part three a seven as well. Alright. Okay. We're calibrating. You know what's interesting? When we recorded our first Christmas special, you were rating off the cuff. This time you actually prepared your ratings and you came here. Yeah. So I think when you have some time to think about it, you're more gracious it seems.

35:49Oti: Probably. If not, I'd probably give it a two. No. I'm kidding. But, yeah, it's a seven. Yikes. I do. I I was not in the room when you said that. Yikes.

36:00KT: We are still in May, friends and lovers. The next episode that we covered, I really feel like describes the breadth because we covered BlackAF, we covered The Godfather trilogy, and then we covered Itaewon Class. If that doesn't give you a snapshot of the breadth of what we watch at For Your Reference, then come and sit on our Jupiter's cock. Shout out to our Spartacus episode, rest in love and peace and power, Andy Whitfield. Mhmm. So let's talk about Itaewon Class. It's a South Korean Netflix

36:36KT: original series, and it's actually a Netflix original series, not like they slap it on your mama's ass every time.

36:36Oti: Based off a webtoon?

36:36KT: Based off a webtoon. Aren't we learning? Mhmm. Just gonna put it out there. I subscribed to the Oti manga. Mhmm. Okay. We loved it. We absolutely love this series.

36:58Oti: Has one of the best intro songs ever.

37:01KT: I can fly the sky. Hey. Never gonna stay. Ho. Yeah. It was it was breathtaking,

37:09Oti: amazing. I love the characters. If you want to dabble into Korean drama and you're feeling a bit iffy about it, you're not sure whether you need to take this leap of faith, Itaewon Class will deliver and you will never look back. Yeah, absolutely. And for that reason, I gave it a nine.

37:32KT: I gave it a 10 motherfucker.

37:34Oti: Oh, I give it a nine because that was just more of a personal bias where the the ending just like I felt other people just needed to get some comeuppance that it didn't, but that's fine. I give it a nine for that.

37:50KT: Hi friends and lovers, it's Katie from the For Your Reference podcast, possibly the last PSA of twenty twenty. I get that people talk a lot about diversity. We're talking particularly in the realms of entertainment, TV, and also movies. Like I know people are championing to have not only diversity in front of the screen, but also behind the screens, whether it's writing, whether it's directing. But what I would say on that,

38:24KT: you know, when like people are going through a diet and they start to write down in their diaries of everything they're eating in the day and they can evaluate it, I would implore all of you friends and lovers and in some cases, motherfuckers to write down actually, in some cases, just be conscious of what you're watching. Because if you keep saying you wanna see more female directors, if if you're so happy that Parasite won Best Picture and you're we are watching really generic stuff

38:54KT: all weekend long, I'm not necessarily saying you're the problem, but that's also a reason why industries continue to churn out the same Fox, NBC sort of shows. So like I said in our Splooshies awards, watch some more foreign shit and we can cover more foreign shit. Right? Mhmm. And Itaewon definitely deserves it. You know, I don't watch a lot of South Korean movies and TV. Well, fuck that. Go and watch it. Like, I don't like, even with Attack on Titan, I don't watch anime.

39:34KT: Fucking watch it. Like, just watch it. It doesn't I don't know. Animations can't be perfect films for adults. Well, fuck off. Fucking watch it. You know what I mean? I'm just getting I'm getting sick of people saying that things can't be things.

39:51Oti: Yeah. Yeah. I'm with you on that. In all their shows, just transcend. Mhmm. They transcend their little containers that they're meant to be in. Yeah. That the society has put it in. Mhmm. And Itaewon does a really good job at breaking breaking the boundaries. Absolutely. We got to see Kim Toni. Mhmm. And true the truth is that Katie has started watching this before I saw Kim Toni and I was like, what the fuck? In a k drama? Rewind that shit. Well, not rewind, but start over. We need to get started with this together because

40:32Oti: the I've never seen a black guy in in a k drama and that was just mind blowing for me. And I loved it. And he wasn't just a placeholder. He wasn't just a talking guy. He disappeared later on, but that was

40:48KT: They more covered like prejudices against other races, particularly black people in Korea. Yeah. They also tackled transphobia as well.

40:56Oti: Itaewon is a Kill great me, man.

40:59KT: Yeah. And Park Seo-joon, yes, please. Like I said, I follow him, but only through the podcast account. Therefore Uh-huh. Therefore, it is professional. So if I keep liking his pictures, mind your business. But it's a great show. I I don't know. If you don't wanna watch it, don't watch it, but don't give me your excuses because it is a great show. Yes. It's from South Korea and it can be regarded as a K drama, but it explores so many themes and that's why it's a fucking 10.

41:29KT: Fair enough. You better watch out, Oti. I've got lots of tens coming up. Don't you worry. But I can give you a spoiler. It's not gonna be for the next episode. As we learned, Oti is the real McCoy and the next episode that we covered was Baby Boy.

41:49Oti: I think Singleton was just subliminally talking to us in this movie And I resonated with every bloody secret message in there. You don't

42:00KT: need to tell people that we have embryo sex playing.

42:06Oti: Baby Boy. I gave it an 8.5.

42:09KT: I gave it a 7.5. What? It kept highlighting a baby man. I didn't need to see. It changed how I felt about Tyrese. It changed a lot. Know, Taraji P. Henson, her role was amazing in this film. I do love that we covered John Singleton twice. Whoo. May he love him, rest in peace and power. But yeah, no, 7.5 for me and we've got an episode on it so you can definitely go back and have a listen. At the start of June, we participated in Podcast Blackout so we didn't have an episode for that

42:55KT: but I just wanted to highlight that on our Christmas special as well. Well, you know, I I put the emotion there. Now it's getting sucked up by the first episode that we had of June, and it was Whiplash.

43:11Oti: Whiplash. Woo hoo. J.K. Simmons.

43:14KT: J.K. Simmons. And like I said, I feel like everyone's kink is J.K. Simmons shouting at them. Bloody hands are optional, but J.K. Simmons shouting at you is a kink. Maybe I'm just speaking on behalf of myself. But I'm also speaking on behalf of another patron rating, Oti. Oh, we have a rating. We need like a like a little sound effect going on. Little hot man. Do you wanna guess out of our patrons?

43:45Oti: Oh, I think Ben.

43:47KT: Not Ben.

43:47Oti: Paul?

43:47KT: Paul. Paul. Okay. So let me read it and you can guess what the rating from Paul was on Whiplash. I was clearly not in the right frame of mind my first watch, but I adored Whiplash on my second viewing. J.K. Simmons' presence on screen is phenomenal. His tight black top and shaved head is a look of menacing power or sexual splooshes I would like to say it was very much at my temper what do you think our beloved Paul rated it?

43:47Oti: I think Paul give it a nine.

44:24KT: A fucking 10.

44:24Oti: Paul, you cannot give something a 10 if you didn't appreciate it the first time and when I have to go back to it.

44:24KT: Oh, controversial friends and lovers.

44:24Oti: I feel like if if you get one chance, mate. But don't you believe You get one shot of the king, you best don't miss. If you miss your first attempt, I'll have to come at you for me to fully appreciate you. I'm not giving you a 10, mate. The one, that was a wild No, Paul. No.

44:55Oti: No. That being said, I gave Whiplash an eight.

44:59KT: That's an interesting theme that you gave. So you're saying if you watch something from the start and it's not a 10, then it can never be a 10.

45:09Oti: Can't be a 10 in my mind. No. No. No. No. No. Spicy. Spicy. Wow. Everything needs to gel for me in the first watch for it to fully sync, for it to be a perfect movie. If I if there's something missing and there's something I don't connect with and I have to come back for me to get it, you've done your job and it can't be a 10. And scene. See?

45:33KT: That's how you do it. How come you don't want me, man? Was I was feeling some Fresh Prince. I was feeling some Fresh Prince vibes. That is interesting. Paul, you've been called out. What did you give it? YouTubers are boxing now, so maybe you and Oti can box each other.

45:57Oti: I'll be the Jonesy's guy. What what was his name? The one that I was Nate Robinson. Wow. Something special. Yeah.

46:03KT: Alright. It's something. Okay. I I've danced around it too long. I gave Whiplash a five.

46:13Oti: What?

46:13KT: It was I didn't like it. I didn't what? Why is that a surprise to you? You listen

46:13Oti: Three three three points more than Jesus Rolls?

46:13KT: Three more points than Jesus Rolls. Correct.

46:25KT: Wow. You were there when we recorded the episode. You were also there when you edited the episode. So this should not be a surprise

46:35Oti: For some reason, I didn't take it as if you had qualms.

46:35KT: I had all

46:35Oti: But not that enough qualms to make it into a five rating. Wow. Okay.

46:43KT: It was a five rating. I Miles his name is not Miles Teller. Miles Teller? But Miles Teller's character, sorry, I know it's not Miles Teller, but the character, he was a fucking incel. He had delusions of grandeur. He was never going to be, you know, like the brothers said, art is subjective. Like, he was never going to be that savant. J.K. Simmons, as much as I love him, I'm sure I can get off sexually in his role in Oz as Schillinger. So I don't really need Whiplash. Yeah. Just the five.

47:20KT: Just the five. I I I don't wanna see it again. I'm never going to see it again. Again, if you're good at playing the drums, are you supposed to bleed? Like

47:30Oti: Again, I explained that scene to you in the episode. If you're if you're keen to get stuck on that and if that's the reason why it's on a five, maybe even boost it up a point then. Give it a six.

47:30KT: How dare you?

47:30Oti: Massage it up a bit.

47:30KT: Oh, okay. You said massage, so you've got my attention now.

47:49KT: No. It's a five. Let's let's continue. Let's continue on to this the redemption arc of Katie. We are covering season four of Insecure. Oh. Oh. So let me remind you. Let me remind you. Last year, you rated the first three seasons of Insecure a nine, and last year, I rated it eight. So you rated my lady love Issa Rae's creation, you rated it higher than I did. So how did you feel just season four? What did you rate season four?

48:27Oti: It all had to be for a reason. The first three seasons and that's how you write. You're building up to something greater and season four did that abound. I cannot think of a better a show that in season four should not be getting fucking better. Based on history

48:48KT: Based on history. Season four of any show is not that great. This is also part of our curriculum.

48:55Oti: I've I've watched a lot of shit and I know about season four of anything. I'm just It like knows that. Yes. I'm just, you know, I'm I'm I'm just treading in water at that point.

49:05KT: You're just holding on for the characters that you've grown to love, not necessarily enjoying it. But Issa fucking elevated it. We're just talking about Silicon Valley. Lifted.

49:14Oti: We're talking about Silicon Valley in its third season and its fourth season he was struggling as. Mhmm. But Issa had a vision. Yeah. And that vision gave it a 10.

49:24KT: Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Ten, ten. 10 for Insecure. Oh, Christmas Oti is my favorite collectible.

49:36Oti: Wow. What what did you give Insecure?

49:39KT: I also gave it a 10.

49:42Oti: Oh.

49:45KT: Well, I'm lucky we can find our solace in my lady love Issa Rae. Mhmm. Continuing on halfway through the year in June, we had the FX not FX Mhmm. Series, Snowfall.

50:02Oti: Oh.

50:04KT: Snowfall. Mhmm.

50:07Oti: Wow. You're Idris guy.

50:09KT: Damson Idris if you're nasty.

50:12Oti: Wow. Wow. Wow. I love I love Snowfall. I had qualms in its final season. Not final season by its latest season. No. The the finale. Yeah. The finale. Okay. Little lincumps. I'll give it a nine.

50:27KT: I gave it a nine as well.

50:31Oti: It could it could probably be that 10 if he didn't piss me the hell off in the final episode.

50:36KT: Yeah. But I also didn't like Teddy. He's part of the But then, like, they they forcefully made us feel sorry for him without spoilers. But that's why Snowfall is getting a nine for me. I don't I don't subscribe to Oti's very negative view of once it starts that way, it just all goes downhill. So I am looking for onwards and upwards with Snowfall. But, yes, Snowfall, I guess, you know, wherever we can.

51:08KT: Obviously, a lot of the things that we cover, we do love, so we would want you guys to tune in and and and watch it so you can giggle, gaggle fully on our episodes. But if if I could only urge you for a handful, obviously, we talked about Itaewon Class, but Snowfall is definitely quality. It's it's it's right on the cusp at the beginning of the crack cocaine era in California. So it's very

51:40Oti: people sleeping Why on it? Mate, this is a great show. It's a great show. It's a great show.

51:46KT: So again, we hope to continue. It was nice that they had paying homage to John Singleton. I think it was in season three as well. A budding John Singleton in the hood trying to capture memories that no one wants memories of. Oh, but Snowfall definitely. And Leon, a true a true two I c if ever I have ever asked. Character

52:11Oti: development of footmate.

52:12KT: A foot? Absolutely. Oti. Mhmm. We love our podcast, and I guess people can poo poo the genre of our podcast. But I do feel like, you know, aside from being something that we enjoy, I do feel like we are having important conversations. We are. We do. Mhmm. And we closed out pride month in June with the Kenyan film from Wanuri, Rafiki. Yes. We did. We're dead indeed. Has the account is the accountant Oti in the building? Have you got your taxes?

52:53Oti: I've got my taxes. And I gave Rafiki in as much as I wanted to give it who am I kidding? I gave it a 10. I can't even pretend. It's a 10 movie. Rafiki is amazing. Go and watch it. It's on Amazon.

53:13KT: You deserve an Oscar, sir. Did not expect you to even try and feign that it wasn't gonna be a 10 in your eyes. Oh. That's a high premium tax you've got there.

53:29Oti: Not that premium. What did you give it? Let's hear it.

53:35KT: I also wanna preface it with the fact that I have watched Rafiki before we covered it on the podcast, so I've watched it two times now. The first time I watched it, I think I was not necessarily unfair in my opinion of it, but I guess I also needed to be more conscious of the fact that, you know, homosexuality being queer in any way is still illegal in Kenya.

54:04Oti: So,

54:05KT: you know, the the hesitancy that I felt the first time I watched it, like, obviously, I wasn't going to get something that I saw in Western sort of cinema, and I shouldn't have felt umbrage against that because I needed to be more conscious of the fact that it is actually still illegal so I have grown as a person

54:05Oti: alright show me show me how that growth relates to the rating

54:05KT: well I can show you that growth but it will be after this podcast We are revealing all our kinks today. Mhmm. My love.

54:39KT: I gave Rafiki a nine. Oh.

54:43Oti: I did not see that coming. You weren't expecting it. No. No. That that that is good. Rafiki is a good movie. Not that we're giving it extra bonuses and premiums and taxes that that it doesn't deserve. It's fully deserved. It it stands by its own right. Its storyline, the way it's shot, the intensity, the actors I could go on about Rafiki, but this is not the Rafiki podcast.

55:10KT: It can be. It sometimes is. I'm glad. It was the first Kenyan film or TV show that we covered on the podcast as well.

55:19Oti: Yeah. Yeah.

55:21KT: And it was also a queer film. And if you're interested as well, we also covered A Single Man for the first pride month of our podcast. And I think using our little platform

55:33Oti: to highlight the work that goes into African productions Love it. Love world. Mhmm. You know? It made me feel happy. It made me feel proud covering it as a Kenyan, and I just love it. It was the first Kenyan film to be aired in Cannes. And we had friends who went out of their way to actually watch it, which was fun, which was really good. Otherwise, it will never have gone to the radar.

55:59KT: So it's Yes. Yes. That is an absolute shout out to our beloved Seth from the Thanks For Coming podcast and also Jamal from the Thanks For Coming podcast as well. Mhmm. If you love RuPaul's Drag Race, you should definitely listen to their podcast. Uh-huh.

56:17Oti: Alright, Katie.

56:19KT: You wanna go on? You wanna continue? Mhmm. You ready for some more? Ready for some more. You might regret it after I tell you. We are now in July, Oti, and we covered Avatar.

56:30Oti: Oh, man. I loved Avatar.

56:33KT: I think everyone did. I I think because of the sheer advancement in technology that it introduced with the legitimate three d experience that you could have with Avatar, there was a lot of due respect for it. However, watching it now was a completely different experience

57:02Oti: for me. I think this is one of those movies where rewatching it multiple times actually did it didn't do it as much favor as I thought it would. I if you'd asked me after watching it the first time, it would have been a 10, but I gave it an eight.

57:19KT: Okay.

57:20Oti: Which isn't bad. I'd still probably rewatch it in a few years.

57:24KT: Well, Avatar two is scheduled to come out if schedules mean anything anymore. So we're definitely or maybe going to cover it. Definitely. I I guess the example that I will give this is another KT story time. You know, when you first start watching films, you you follow where popular things are and you mostly agree with what popular things are, and then you start to get a feel of what your niche, some some American friends and lovers we've done multiple polls on the word niche and some Americans

58:01KT: will not claim that they say it so they say it's only some parts of America that say niche and not niche But in any case, when you start watching films, when you start watching TV shows, you usually start with what's popular and then you move on. And, you know, for a long time, like, I thought Pulp Fiction was my whole personality.

58:23Oti: I remember those days. Bloody hell.

58:23KT: Alright. Settle down. It's not part of the For Your Reference.

58:23Oti: I suffered through it. I can raise it to you.

58:33KT: Not part of a few minutes. It's not part of the For curriculum, how dare you? But what I will say in regards to that is by default, everyone loved Avatar. I know there's a lot of undue, I would definitely say hate against Avatar. I didn't like it. I had qualms with it, but I wanna make it clear that I'm not in the same camp that those people are in. Oh, you're just in a different camp that hate on it. It's from an artsy point of view, and it's also because James Cameron

59:06KT: also mentioned that he took ancient Polynesian words, and then he went to create the language. But then to the public, was saying that they wanted to create a language that didn't sound like anything.

59:18Oti: And, you know Mate, you left it out from another another language.

59:22KT: On some days, I can ignore the colonialism effects that my life has, but then on some days, I wanna go on an archer as, Like, how the fuck you're going to say that you you didn't want it to sound like anything, but you actually have scribbled notes on a fucking napkin or whatever saying that you've got these words from ancient Polynesian languages. But, anyway, credit to James Cameron because some of the people in the Star Wars, not the baby Yodas before then, they completely took like cultures of Mongolia,

60:00KT: Natalie Portman, for example, if you look of her headdress. And they didn't even credit that at all. So I guess shout out to James Cameron for at least giving us the breadcrumb that he did get some sort of inspiration. I rated Avatar a seven. Fair enough. Yeah. I I I don't think I was too harsh on the rating. I definitely could have given it lower, you know for my ancestors for the culture but yeah so if you if you're all caught up particularly in our December episodes we did talk about how

60:41KT: to the pod gods, one of our recordings was sacrificed, and that was to the film Ghost. We tried recording that for our sixty ninth episode, if you're nasty. We also tried recording Basic Instinct. We did do a Reference Plus, which is a Patreon exclusive show talking about it. So I guess there's more details there if you're interested. But it just felt like sweaty men fantasizing about a pretty little blonde. And that's essentially a scene that was in Basic Instinct, and I didn't care for it. So

61:17KT: because we couldn't really settle but then again, we're very sexual sexual in in nature, nature. A Did you know that? Is that an announcement to you?

61:17Oti: Yeah, that's news to me, mate.

61:17KT: Do we need to add that as part of our FYR curriculum? Yeah. Well, because of that, we did have a early release, a very early release to our patrons of Uncut Gems.

61:41Oti: Mhmm.

61:43KT: We had recorded this a long time ago and we decided to release it in July of this year. So that's a lot to say. I feel like we feel safe in sharing how we really feel on our Patreon. So that's probably why we've held on to this recording for so long. But we let our qualms fly.

62:11Oti: We sure did. And I think man, I had so many qualms in this movie, and I can't even remember. I can't remember why it just granted every sort of gear in me.

62:11KT: Is it because Adam Sandler is known for being a comedic guy, or that didn't bother you?

62:11Oti: That didn't bother me. I think it was just to do with the fact that I felt like I needed to pay a 110% attention to it. Otherwise, I'd miss something. Everything

62:43Oti: was moving so fast. Everything was shouty. Everyone was just it was just fucking chaotic. I was trying to provide that experience while you were talking, but I felt like a dickhead, so I stopped. And for that reason, I gave it a six. Oh, okay. What did you rate it, Katie?

62:58KT: I gave Uncut Gems a five.

63:02Oti: Yeah. I don't know why I gave you the fucking six. It could have been a zero for all I care. Wow. But it was just next level mind numbing shit, man. Jesus Christ. I get artistry, but if artistry has to be fucking one career at the same time, then count me out. I just did not ride with this.

63:26KT: Yeah. Because a lot of ratings from our fellow friends and lovers and also critics on Jackie Chan's Rotten Tomatoes, like, they were talking about how it was so chaotic and it was so anxiety inducing. And I was like, yeah, it was. But is that it? Like, is that enough to make a film? Well, you can fuck right off. Like, I will go and watch Itaewon. I will go and watch Snowfall. Why the fuck would I watch this? Anyway, we,

64:00KT: again, like all of these, we do have an whole episode on it. So you can go and get our, you know, more detailed reasons on why we didn't like this film, but it felt good. It felt good to rage against the Adam Sandler. Yeah. And against the machine. Our terrible, yeah, our terrible tribute band. Yeah. Our our pseudo tribute band on Rage Against the Machine.

64:30Oti: And that's it for part one, folks. Tune in tomorrow for part two.

64:34KT: What? What? On Twitter and Instagram, we're at @ForYourRefPod. Write us an email at hello@fyrpodcast.com. And if you're into the apples and the ratings and reviews, we would appreciate that too. See you. Yuletide cheer.