A Merry Reference Christmas 2023 (Part 2)
Hosted by
KT & Oti
Show Notes
Thanks to all our friends and lovers for joining us to reflect on the year that has been! Just like the world we have the highs of highs and some low low lows! Grab a snack and a beverage for Part 2!
Full video available on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/95329266
Highlights include: Quantum Cowboys, Red, White & Brass, Bobi Wine: The People’s President, New Jack City, Cobweb, Swagger and more!
Episode Details
- Duration
- 0:00
- Released
- December 27, 2023
- Category
- Episode
- Hosts
Transcript
Transcript (7,508 words)
Full transcript of A Merry Reference Christmas 2023 (Part 2).
KT: This is, I would say my top, if not one of my top films of 2023. It literally blew my mind of what the possibilities and what the realms and coloring outside of the lines of films were. This is Quantum Cowboys Oti. What did you rate it?
Oti: I see that I gave this an eight when it came out or when we watched this. And
Oti: when I get here like at the end of the year and look back at everything we've watched, Quantum Cowboys is a standalone, is a standout in its own. Yeah. There's nothing that I've watched this year that just jumped out of the box. Yes and defined its own lane, set its own precedence, showed us that things can be different artistic style can vary from scene to scene and still be coherent in some way still tell a story that's interesting when it has to do with fucking time loops and time jumps yeah outside
Oti: of it by being fucking Disney and Loki and do it in an interesting way Quantum Cowboys, in as much as I gave it an eight back then, I cannot bear it in myself to leave it at that because it's a fucking 10. It is a show that just blows your mind on the capabilities of what artistic style is and and the direction and the writing and everything that you think you know we watched the what's the Time is Nonlinear movie? Arrival. We watched Arrival and people were jeasing over it because what? Some unstructured
Oti: fucking storytelling that wasn't even fucking coherent. Uh-huh. Quantum Cowboys comes into the picture and just delivers something that's outside the realms of my understanding of what was capable when it comes to animation when it comes to storytelling and just oh my god I cannot jizz on this enough it is just that good it is one of the best not only animations one of the best things I've watched in twenty twenty three Quantum Cowboys just is it It did its thing. It's Angela Bassett. Facts.
KT: Thank you, Ariana DeBose.
Oti: You're welcome.
KT: My Rotten Tomatoes was a nine, but I'm also gonna change it to a 10 because we make up the fucking rules. This is our house, friends and lovers. Mhmm. But literally, don't come and talk to me about a film that I don't care about. Unless you're talk about Quantum Cowboys, our DMs are close friends and lovers. Mhmm. Let's move on. This didn't get a lot of traction. It's interesting when we get the screeners because obviously we get it a little bit earlier. And it's interesting to anticipate
KT: whether it's going to be a talked about show or not. This is Bupkis. I enjoyed it.
Oti: Oh, okay. I did enjoy it as well. Pete Davidson, he feels a bit misunderstood, but I still enjoy his stuff the stuff he writes and the stuff he does. I give this an eight.
KT: Same. I feel like Pete Davidson is one of those people where people project onto him because I think, you know, even though he's misunderstood, I think he's made very clear who he is and the struggles he has. And people just wanna be like, why won't these why won't these supermodels fuck me? And it's like, who asks? Who's that's not even what we're talking about. Anyway, Slip. Quick one.
Oti: Seven.
KT: Six. The Other Two, season three.
Oti: Woah. Fifth 10 of the show. This season two, you know, there's a season two sort of boogeyman that it is fucking hard to follow-up a solid season. Uh-huh. And The Other Two not only elevated, it just delivered scene to scene laugh out loud moments. Yep. Just hilarious writing, and I cannot even think of anything better, man. Like, The Other Two is just it. As Cassidy ten ten. As Cassidy would say, don't get no better. Yeah. Who thought Canadians could be for this funny?
KT: Right? But it's also like humor around the industry and stuff, but I actually gave it a nine. Mhmm. Okay. So this is the Ivan Sen film with Simon Baker, Limbo.
Oti: Seven.
KT: Six. Oh, yes. And thank you to Ivan Sen. We had an interview with Ivan Sen. Also, we had an interview with Brandon Cronenberg for Infinity Pool.
Oti: Yeah. I'll give this an eight. I enjoyed it on my second watch more than I did on my first. Really good movie.
KT: And we also have our review as well as the interview friends and lovers. Feel free to check that out. We well, I was able attend the opening night for the South African Film Festival, and we're granted access to digital screeners. I'm going to start off this is Music Is My Life, and it is about the black South African artist Joseph Shabalala, and I believe Ladysmith Black Mambazo or something. I also believe that it's in the category for the Academy Awards.
KT: Alright. I feel like I was skimming the list, but I might be wrong friends and lovers. So on the themes that were discussed in the documentary, it deserves all the praise and that's where all my points are going. However, the lens at which it was targeting, I didn't necessarily care for, but it's a solid day. The Fragile King is one that I watched on my own. You know, I haven't really ventured outside of Kenya and I guess East Africa, like Ethiopia for example. So I don't really know a lot about South Africa
KT: outside of 90 Day Fiance which again isn't a great frame of reference. But it definitely gave me insight into, I guess at least how filmmaking is in South Africa and the positioning and the potential sort of differences between white and black South Africa was very like even through this film, I was like so I give The Fragile King a six. Go into films we watched together. Call Me Miles.
Oti: I'll give this a 7.5.
KT: I gave it a 7.5 as well. The Honeymoon.
Oti: I'll give it a 7.5 as well.
KT: I gave it a seven.
KT: Bama Rush. It's about the sorority yeah
Oti: I I give this a seven I think the aspects of the documentary they really want to delve deep into yeah and they just left it for us even though they mentioned it I was like why? Missed opportunities on all that seven.
KT: I agree with you, but I gave it a six. So that's just how my calculations went. Influencer. Really cool indie film. I still believe it's available on Shudder now.
Oti: I'll give this an eight.
KT: I gave it an eight as well. This is the year of sinking. Hey? Yeah. Again, go and check it out, friends and lovers. It's very good. We are getting into Fast X. We are now in May for those playing at home, friends and lovers. We're going to a quick lightning round of all of the Fast and Furiouses.
KT: There's no patrons here, which is also very interesting as well. Do you wanna just go back and forth, back and forth? Yeah. Fast and the Furious?
Oti: Seven.
KT: Seven. 2 Fast 2 Furious?
Oti: Seven.
KT: 8.5.
Oti: How dare you?
KT: Tokyo Drift?
Oti: 6.
KT: 6. Fast and Furious 2009?
Oti: 6.
KT: 6. Fast Five?
Oti: 7.
KT: 6.5. Fast and Furious six?
Oti: Six.
KT: 6.5. Furious seven?
Oti: Six.
KT: Six. The Fate of the Furious?
Oti: Six.
KT: Six. F9: The Fast Saga?
Oti: Six.
KT: Six. And Fast X?
Oti: Seven.
KT: Seven. Even Creed as well. To me, they're all in the same banding. Some might be incrementally
KT: better than the other. I would say 2 Fast 2 Furious again. We already have a full episode, but it is really the landmark of what made the franchise what it was. But anyway, rest the love and peace of power, John Singleton.
Oti: Yeah. Anti Reese bring John Singleton on the, you know, Wild. Franchise. Yeah. Wild.
KT: Yeah. But to me, they're all in the same sort of banding of ratings anyway. Anything you wanna say about Fast X? How's your mates, The Rock and Momoa?
Oti: I enjoyed Fast X more than I thought I would as well. I think it was a lot of fun. I'm anticipating a lot more destruction and familiar love in Fast X Part 2. I just love this series, man. Like, it's it's it's even though my average rating for this is a six, it's enjoyable. It's that kind of movie, you know. It's not going too hard to offend anyone or annoy anyone, but sit back, relax, and be taken for a ride even if it's out of space.
KT: Friends and lovers. I may not be Liam Neeson, but I do have a particular set of skills. They're not transferable or worth any sort of money, but you you could not tell me anything. The moment that I heard Gasolina by Daddy Yankee in Fast X and I knew off the cuff that that was not in any other of the nine Fast and Furious films, you literally can't tell me anything. That level of knowledge deep at fan. That level of knowledge that I had, you couldn't tell me anything
KT: even though Jesus is taking my daddy Yankee away. We will always have we will always have the fast franchise daddy Yankee.
Oti: Okay. Who's Yankee now? Really?
KT: Wow. Let's move on to The Little Mermaid.
Oti: I'll give this a seven.
KT: I gave it a six. Mhmm. Yeah.
KT: We've said a lot. Saying. Yeah. Yeah. We've said a lot, unless you wanna say anything else. SBS had a very short mini series that made it into it's like Cairns or Sundance. I think it was Cairns, which is very exciting especially for Australian show. I just wanna say it again. I love the themes that it addressed, especially in regards to the comfortability and the convenience for a lot of us to just go on an app and get a delivery food service, and also not acknowledging the potential exploitation because of the demand
KT: of that, particularly in regards to delivery riders, especially in Australia where there are so many deaths, like, surrounding it. So I really love that first off the show had a focal point in that and also the way it was addressed because it was addressed with a lot of care and I really really loved it.
Oti: I did too and I gave this show a nine.
KT: Well, you better pick up for delivery. I gave it a 10. Nice. It was so good. I really enjoyed it. Was it four episodes? 100 Years of Warner Bros.
Oti: I give this a six.
KT: I gave it a seven.
Oti: Just because I got some black people to say some wild shit out here. I'm like, bro, what are you talking about? Yeah. Why are you justifying people's fucking bad decisions back then?
KT: Why?
Oti: It was literal Shuckin and jiving for the portrayal of Shuckin and Back then, you didn't really mean that Blackface was supposed to be representative. Maybe don't take me verbatim, but fucking hell. Don't fucking justify this shit. Yeah. It does not fucking matter. Yeah. It does not matter. It did not matter in fucking King Kong. It did not matter now.
KT: Piss off. Because King Kong
Oti: ain't got nothing on me.
KT: Oh, my King Kong daddy. So the thing that I would point out just because of the current climate, especially in America and around the world. It was interesting in this documentary how they talked about the very deliberate ties for, German propaganda films.
Oti: Mhmm.
KT: Interesting. Yeah. That's all. Let's move on to The Swarm.
Oti: Oh, I'll give this a six.
KT: I give it a six too. Fuck you. I'm sick of it. Stop fucking doing, whether it's documentaries or whether it's films about climate change and not including The Pacific, specifically Tuvalu, also The Caribbean, and also coastal places in Ghana as well as around Africa. Fuck you. You can do it. Spin on it and fuck off. Nah. Sorry.
KT: Stop it. And stop making it like it's and it's like it's the it's the Don't Look Up of it all year. Mhmm. Because if you wanna do it on climate change and you're not gonna include black and brown people and indigenous people, fine. But don't overstate your importance and your struggle. Fuck off.
Oti: Fair.
KT: You know what's sustainable? Fucking off. Let's move on. We have fun here. Mad Heidi.
Oti: Oh, one of the best indies we've watched this year. One of the best. Yeah. Very fun. You could tell a lot of people had a hand in it. The storytelling was just hilarious. I gave it a seven and I think I took a point off because they did some bullshit.
KT: I gave it an eight. Oh, we're getting into the Sydney Film Festival Oti.
Oti: Oh.
KT: I'll try not to make the rest of this special about this film. Red, White & Brass.
Oti: I think this was one of the first opportunities not I think this was the first opportunity that FYR KT got to host the Q and A for this and to host a screening stop it a very monumentous occasion in our household. The movie was good. I watched it what three times? Three times. Maybe even more. I give this an eight.
KT: I gave it a 10.
Oti: Nice.
KT: But I need to I need to speak on something in my soul, Oti. Mhmm. Speak on it. The richness of storytelling leverages a lot of black cinema in America.
Oti: But
KT: unfortunately, benefiting however you wanna call it. Pasifika cinema is quite new, but I guess a lot of the tropes and stereotypes that get projected onto brown people can be residual from black cinema, for example. Yeah. But also, a lot of the richness in storytelling is also expected in a very young sort of industry. So I would say also cadences that Friends and Lovers, you'll notice we have not done an episode on the Young Rock.
KT: Mhmm. And I think when I get a bit spicy, I've probably shared my opinions throughout the podcast about the Young Rock. But it's something special to be able to center our people and our stories and have it through our lens and for our people.
KT: You talked about A Black Lady Sketch Show and how it was made for black women and everyone can watch it, it's fine but it was made specifically for black women. I feel like Red, White & Brass was made for our people. And when I say our, it's a collective our of Maori and Pasifika people. And the way in which it was able to deliver emotional resonance, we weren't made as caricatures. We weren't, as you were mentioning earlier, shucking and jiving.
KT: We could just be us. We could be us in all our glory and in all our faults as well. Yeah. True. And I really enjoy that. Shout out to Nua Finau. He'd be bringing it out. We even talked about The Panthers the other year. Yeah. It's it's a great time for if you know where to look, it's a great time for Pasifika as well as Maori storytelling and cinema. Mhmm. Let's move on. We're still in the Sydney Film Festival.
KT: The Last Daughter was just me. Great film. Again, check out all the reviews that we have on our feed. I give it an eight. Kindred, I give a 7.5. Also, thank you for the interviews, that we did. The Last Daughter was Nathaniel. Kindred was with Gillian, Tennessine with Amin Palangi, which go and listen to the review because I talk about a cute little anecdote that Amin and I have about his last name. Free Money, Oti. Oh, actually, Tennessine, I gave a nine. Mhmm. Free Money.
Oti: I'd give this a nine.
KT: I give it a seven. The extra point was being Kenyan. Yeah. Okay. Sisu, the flagship man movie.
Oti: I give it a seven.
KT: I'll it a six. Love Road, I gave a six. Past Lives, which you also again, I think the only thing you caught up was The Pope's Exorcist, but Past Lives, 7.5, The Wrath of Becky.
Oti: Oh, I'll give this an eight.
KT: What? Yeah. Who did I watch the film with?
Oti: I think upon reflection,
Oti: I thought I had a fun time out. I didn't even need to watch the first movie. They wrapped it up in a bowl for me in the first five minutes. Mhmm. And I felt part of the family. You know? I didn't felt like, you know, the odd cousin out. So they took me on a journey, and I appreciated it. Maybe immediately after the movie, I didn't really feel the love. But having stewed on it after a couple of months, I gave it an eight.
KT: Okay. Love Road. It's fine. I gave it a six. Yeah. Love Road, I also had the opportunity to chat to Ulysses. For Ajoomma, I had the opportunity to chat to He Shuming. I gave Ajoomma a 9.5. Oh, nice. Just just in case you need to hear that bass of my chest, I gave it a 9.5. Bobi Wine: The People's President, which timely, timely timely.
Oti: Very timely I'll give this a nine. Showcases and highlights the pop you know people struggle to to try and educate and shake things up in a country where democracy is not really laid out like that.
KT: What did you think about the current leader though in the interviews in Bobi Wine's documentary?
Oti: It could only be one way I felt a lot of the things that were covered I already knew just because of my connection to East Africa and the news these things are known but at the end of the day I knew of his struggles way before I watched this documentary and watching it I think the thing that got me was more the relationship with the wife aspect because that's behind closed doors and really don't really get to know about that and the support he gets from
Oti: his wife is is
KT: Is she like a Coretta Scott King or Michelle Obama?
Oti: She is man. I think I think majors is just missing a key out here. Yikes.
KT: You don't have to spell it out. The reference was there. I know. I know. Goddamn it. But also congratulations congratulations to Bobi and the team because the documentary won the prestigious international documentary award.
Oti: Nice. Because, like,
Oti: I don't know about you, but putting your life out there, knowing full well that the possibility of you getting killed is fucking high. Being shot at, your bodyguards being dropped, and you still are here fighting the good fight what can I say keep it up it's a good documentary but it's got to be done right? It's got to be done it's got to be done at the end of the day if leaving life without you know settling for shit
Oti: is not good and you've got to deserve better you've got to demand better for your country and for yourself.
KT: Wow. Power to the people, Oti. Power to the people. I gave it a 10. Did I say? Oh. Yeah. I gave it a 10. And that might just be because I learnt a lot of stuff that you probably already knew. But I really like I think it was a well done documentary. Spicy spicy We're talking about combinator and consolidated. This is New Jack City, bitches. We have another patron rating. Oh. Ben. Tell me. Tell me. Ben.
KT: I haven't seen New Jack City for a long time, but I always considered it so underrated it was painful. Having been waiting for the right moment and time to be brought up so we could cover it on the pod. I'm sure our appraisal now I'm growing a bit will graduate it up from my current eight status. But considering the time and love you guys dedicated to it, I'm going to perhaps prematurely upgrade it in advance. To what rating?
Oti: A nine.
KT: A nine. Well, I'm pretty sure he he could take his father to a 10, but Okay. I will not be greedy. I'll take a nine because this
Oti: I thought Ben also Ben also rated Soul Food last year as well yeah New Jack City sorry continue New Jack City is a 10 for me so good it just encapsulate all good cinema is it's p bullying
KT: Exactly. It's so good. Exactly.
KT: I gave it a 10 as well, obviously. Mhmm. And I don't count my tens. I just give tens where they deserve to be given. Just, oh, Wesley Snipes. I I'm not gonna say they don't make them like that anymore because I've got Oti right here. I've got Daniel Kaluuya hiding from my DMs, but they don't make them like that anymore. Mhmm. Nice. Nice. Nice. Talk to Me.
Oti: Oh, another enjoyable horror for this year. I give it an eight.
KT: I gave it an eight. A solid eight at that. Yeah. Congrats to Talk to Me because it's making a lot of, like, top 10 horror films. Nice. Nice. At end the year. Well deserved. Not well deserved. This is Barbie. Wow. We have another patron rating Oti. Mhmm. Talk to me. This is from Sam T. Barbie wasn't made for me, so I didn't really get into this film expecting anything. But man, KT was on fire with her review,
KT: which gave me a different perspective of this film. I appreciate the honesty because it really does highlight the problems of white feminism. You hear that? They need to put white there. Do you need do you need me to say it again for the people in the back? As KT says, miss me with that mess. Mhmm. What do you think Sam T rated it?
Oti: Six.
KT: An eight. Yes. Which means he's bringing up the rating, but I also love and appreciate you. So thank you, Sam T. As as we know, friends and lovers, because it's one of, if not the most popular episode of this year, I rated Barbie a five
Oti: Fair.
KT: Which is rotten in this household. Let's move on to Streets of Colour.
Oti: Oh, I give this a six.
KT: Yeah. I gave it a six too. Insidious: The Red Door.
Oti: Oh, another six.
KT: Yep. Another six. Oppenheimer, we have another patron rating Oti. We have a double patron rating Oti. Yeah.
KT: The first one's from Julio. Also, think it's very funny that you had an opportunity and you still didn't watch Oppenheimer, but anyway. So this is from Julio. Opie was face meltingly good, an entertaining depiction of a man's rise and fall of humanity's inevitable misuse of scientific breakthroughs. And of course, it also gave us that meme of naked naked Cillian Murphy with his legs crossed.
KT: How many how many points is a naked Cillian Murphy worth to you?
Oti: Oh, I think Julio overvalued the nakedness, and I think he gave it a nine.
KT: He did give it a nine. I don't know if that's credit to you, Julio, or Cillian Murphy's legs. The next rating we have is from Sam T. Mhmm. As someone who absolutely loved Oppenheimer, mainly because of the great cinematic experience I had, I really enjoyed KT's insight into the moral quandary and the way it wasn't really explored in this film.
KT: And it's true about the sex scenes being a, he's quoting me, vanilla swirl on a Wednesday. And how they were and how they were just there lol got me cracking up. All in all, I enjoyed this one as well as the Barbenheimer discussion in brackets, shout outs to KT being interviewed on BBC.
Oti: I don't know what that was. Cry.
KT: Thank you, Sam T. We love you so much, especially for all the years of support. We love and appreciate you as well as all of our patrons. What do you think Sam rated it?
Oti: An eight.
KT: An nine. Oh. I love these patrons, but they're changing my average. I gave Oppenheimer a seven. This is an independent film After She Died.
Oti: Oh, I'd give this a seven.
KT: Seven. Let's move on. Swagger.
Oti: Swagger. Sadly, it's not gonna get a new season, but it is Hopefully, the
KT: things don't die, hopefully. Hopefully.
Oti: It's a show that encapsulates a lot. I think it teach it takes you on a journey of self discovery learning and growing
Oti: and this show I'd give a nine.
KT: Yeah me too. We have a full review episode. Bye love, bye love, bye love.
KT: If you don't speak Spanish, I speak Spanish friends and lovers. Let's move on. Shout outs to Marcellus Cox and the team. We're talking about Mickey Hardaway. How many no. But how many films can you say, indie or otherwise, but more credit because it's indie. How many films can you say focus on not just mental health, not just mental health for black people, but mental health for black men?
Oti: I think this is the first kind of watch that does that, but Mickey Hardaway just takes us there. It highlights issues in society and things that we need to be able to talk about openly as black men and they show this movie does really a good job of it I give it an eight.
KT: Nice congratulations to Marcellus and the team they had a screening at Harvard They also were part of a series of the Criterion Collection as well. Oh, nice. And he's also working on his second feature film. So it's very exciting, friends and lovers. Speaking of the making of film, what what a back to back timing Project Greenlight.
Oti: Oh, when we got the screener for this, I really never really watched Project Greenlight back in the day like that.
Oti: So it was
KT: Based on the way it was made, it makes sense why.
Oti: Yeah really intriguing to watch how
Oti: the process of making a movie and what it entails I think it not only provided entertainment value but also some landings into people who are interested in behind the scenes stuff Mhmm. I give this a nine.
KT: I gave it a nine as well. Mhmm. It's so interesting friends and lovers because, you know, we do work fucking hard but we also like very honored by the achievements that we get in this podcast. But I appreciate our day ones or even, you know, new new day ones that come along and just see us for the nasty people in the dark corner of the studio. Right? Because that's how I always feel that we are.
KT: But the interesting thing about Project Greenlight is someone that worked on the team that potentially might have been in the actual series sent us a DM. Oh, really? To a Twitter thread about them talking about Meko, the director, about how potentially it was played for drama. Oh, so So I kinda wanna hear you know, we don't have to get, you know, salacious, but I just wanna get your thoughts on first the fact that we did a review because that's what we do.
KT: But someone involved in the project also felt the need to reach out to us to clarify. And what your thoughts are on like, does that change your opinion? Is that too close of the the world's melding? Like, what do you think about that?
Oti: First of all, the very few things that can be edited or made to seem as if it was made dramatic. I think the issues fundamentally for me with Meko the director was the inability not even the inability that the hesitance to use other black
Oti: people in a walk up and coming. She's been given a step up, but she did not want to give anyone else a step up. And that just irritated the fuck out of me. Yeah. I could not understand how Especially because you're on this show. Yeah. You were given a shot. There's no amount of fucking editing that can make those words come out your mouth.
KT: I agree with you. I don't think that people can review something without being challenged. But I think the very notion of us being contacted to be like, oh, no. You misunderstood the director because of editing, which maybe we did. But also, as far as I understood, people had influence on how the show was made. It wasn't like a a reality where they weren't in control. But anyway. Miss me, man. Miss me with Man, I never know what I'm gonna get with you, Oti, but I'm glad you went there with me.
Oti: No.
Oti: I need I need my people to stand over fucking people they've been given opportunities with. You've been given a platform to do something and you're like, bro, I I just wanna carry myself out of this mess. But if you acknowledge there's a disparity,
Oti: then, of course, people might not be able to tick every box, but that's okay as well. It's okay. We all come up together. We don't come up at all.
KT: Yeah. That's also what says as well. So what is this? Yeah. And in this review,
Oti: I think we mentioned a lot of the issues that we felt that were ongoing in the background process of this. Yeah. And I still stand by them. Like, we needed more transparency from, you know, Issa's company, whoever was dealing with our fucking project. Just be more involved, whatever, because it felt very disjointed to me. Yeah. It felt like a lot of things are left on Meequan, the producer's lap to do a lot of, and they only came into the picture once things are going haywire which isn't fair
Oti: and it's not 100% on Meko because she needed better direction than that.
KT: No but even her comments were her own.
Oti: But her comments were her own and that's why I said like come on now you you can do better than that shit. Couldn't be me. No. Not not not in this day and age of twenty twenty fucking three, man.
KT: Do you want some joy, my love? Give me some joy. We're talking about The Equalizer trilogy. That's Best protect your neck, Goatee. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. First Equalizer.
Oti: Oh, I give this a nine.
KT: This franchise exists on a banding to me. And when I say banding, I mean it stays within that realm. It doesn't mean they're bad films, but that's just where they stay with me. This is the highest of the trilogy for me. It's a eight. Okay. Two?
Oti: Equalizer 2, I give an eight.
KT: Six.
KT: See, this is where it drops for me. Mhmm. And The Equalizer 3?
Oti: Equalizer 3, I gave a seven.
KT: Six.
Oti: Yeah like I think going through from Fast to Fast, there's just quality decrease as you go along. You could see in our my and KT's rating like it's there, Denzel does an amazing job but the story is just yeah.
KT: Scrapper. Yeah.
Oti: Oh Scrapper. I give this an eight.
KT: Seven.
KT: Okay. It Lives Inside?
Oti: Missed opportunity. I give it a seven.
KT: Seven.
KT: I feel like that Tyra Banks, we were all rooting for you.
Oti: Yeah. You know, I think the first thirty minutes,
Oti: this movie was sitting at a nine for me and then it just did things that just felt a bit too commercialized or
KT: Eurocentric. Broadened. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, okay. Alright. Oti is coming with his full foot. Okay. Oh, Young Love. Shout out to Mathieu, Cherry, and the team.
Oti: Oh, I give this a nine.
KT: I gave it a 10.
Oti: Nice.
KT: Well deserved. Our Flag Means Death.
Oti: Oh, I give this an eight.
KT: Seven.
KT: Saw X. Oh, shout outs to Tim Provise. Our mate, who which was the main motivation for watching the screen is for Our Flag Means Death. I know a lot of people love the show, but like Rick and Morty in live action for me. Saw X.
Oti: I'll give this a seven.
KT: Five.
Oti: Five?
KT: Five. Okay. You gotta know, that's like after 10 movies. I'm not even gonna drill you. Like I don't even know how people enjoyed it. And even is this the one where you say you were getting emotional?
Oti: A little bit.
KT: And like other people will say, I just don't get it. Like, it just doesn't calculate to me. But anyway oh, Retribution.
Oti: I definitely enjoyed this more than you.
KT: You did. I gave it six.
Oti: Seven. Mhmm. Oh.
Oti: Adesanya, I gave this a nine.
KT: I gave it a nine too. Shout out to Zoe McIntosh. Shout out to Israel Adesanya. Shout outs to his therapist.
Oti: Yeah. Those therapy sessions, man. Far out. Yeah.
KT: Night Bloomers. Shout outs to Andy Lee, who I also had the opportunity to interview.
Oti: Really enjoyed this. I give it an eight.
KT: I gave it 9.5. It's cool. It's cool to see in the landscape of Australian media. That's all I'll say on that for now. Scarygirl, shout out to Nathan Jurevicius, who I also had the chance to chat to as well.
Oti: Give it an eight.
KT: Seven.
KT: Cobweb. Cobweb. Cobweb. This was another fun milestone for me watching this year. Very fun movie.
Oti: I give it a nine.
KT: I gave it a nine too. Look at us. Shout outs to Nora Niasari, who I interviewed for her film Shayda, which is the official foreign international category for Australia for the Academy Awards.
Oti: Nice.
KT: I don't think you had a chance to watch it, but I've rated it a nine. Nice. It's also there's been so many great interviews this year, but that was definitely one of the highlights for me. Because of how we could talk about making films and how our stories come at a cost and how it was a story in Australia.
Oti: Nice.
KT: I love that. Stories about Australia that doesn't center white Australia are my favorite sorts of stories. Let's move on. Oh, we've hit Top Boy, Oti. We've split them out only because the Rotten Tomatoes do it by separate seasons. So that's why we split them out. You wanna do a speed round?
Oti: Let's do.
KT: Top Boy season one.
Oti: Eight.
KT: Six. It's pretty much gonna go this way, I'm sure. Summerhouse. So Top Boy Summerhouse season two.
Oti: Eight.
KT: Six. Top Boy Netflix season one?
Oti: Eight.
KT: Six. Top Boy Netflix season two?
Oti: Seven.
KT: Six. Top Boy Netflix season three.
Oti: 6.5.
KT: Oh,
KT: six.
Oti: Yeah. I see that I gave it a seven, but there were so many missed opportunities with this.
KT: Wait. This is the first that you're revising that you're marking it down?
Oti: Yeah. I can't I can't sit here and say that third season was anything other than the 6.5. The seven there I think was just more emotions than anything else, but throughout the whole series I think I gave it a far enough high mark just the last season come on now. Okay.
KT: Again, this was another banding for me. I think I yeah. Well, I rated all of them six. If it came out like twenty years ago. No. But really, the richness and storytelling of that genre. Oh, so before Gangs of London. Gangs of London is better than this. I've said that. Yeah. I thought you'd I I'd try and get you to repeat that and you wouldn't, but there you go. You're gonna have to find the things that I don't say on the podcast if you wanna get a scintillating sound bite from Speaking
KT: of scintillating sound bite, you're not gonna find it in Foe. You're not interested in watching this, are you? No. Yeah. You can see why I gave it a five. That might be my third rotten, but I I also made it rotten on Rotten Tomatoes. Brand Bollywood Down Under, which you didn't have a chance to watch, I rated a six. Mhmm. The Big Dog.
Oti: Oh, I had the I had fun with the Big Dog. I gave it a seven.
KT: Considering, you know, and I feel like Dane will appreciate and the 2C productions team will appreciate this reference. Considering we just got a Cred South Park episode, and we literally had not just microwave engorged in large Randy Balls, but we had so much Randy Balls in that episode. There was definitely a pulling of a proverbial nudity and sexual punch in The Big Dog, which I really feel like it could have gone there. Mhmm. I don't know how nasty the rest of the audience was, but like, I'm like, let's get into it. Let's do it.
KT: So that's the reason why I gave it a six. Scavenger's Reign. Again, I talk about milestones of the year. I feel like Scavenger's Reign is one of them.
Oti: Yeah I think together with Quantum Cowboys, Scavenger's Reign storytelling just took uneven artistic style and direction amazing, breathtaking, just different and fresh take on sci fi I give it a nine.
KT: I gave it a nine as well.
Oti: It seems like animation really pulled up this year and just gave us something completely different.
KT: Yeah. Yeah. And you gotta praise that. Well you don't need to. I'm not like Oti, don't tell you what to do. No you gotta. Well yeah. It was really it was really interesting. I really enjoyed it. So let's move into we're in December now, friends and lovers. Bad Behaviour, which you didn't watch. I gave it a six. Mhmm. The Promise, I gave a six. Uproar, shout out to Phoebe for coming with me, I gave it a six. The Prince of Egypt musical.
KT: I gave it a seven.
Oti: I gave it a seven too. Yeah. Zipporah added that extra point in there.
KT: She really did. Yeah. The Angle documentary. I gave it an eight.
Oti: I gave it an eight as well.
KT: And Bookie.
Oti: Nine. Oh and I think.
KT: Nine's high? Nine's high?
KT: I gave it an eight but you told me let me bask in your nine glory.
Oti: Even up until the season finale I felt that this show just took us to length and just to be light hearted and fun and it wasn't scared of taking a chance to do something brave with a character or just to be silly in a moment where a lot of other shows would have taken a step back okay I think even in its silent moments it still delivers quite a punch that and the delivery with the two actors lead actors just the dynamism man like what can I say about this?
Oti: It's a really really good show and Nine is such a deserved mark.
KT: Okay.
Oti: Maybe just a little more
Oti: laugh out loud moments would have pushed it to a 10, but I can't be picky.
KT: Nine it is. It was a lot of fun. And just like the grandma said, how am I gonna watch my dragon shit? Yep. Shout out to Omar Dorsey. He retweeted us on Twitter. Yeah. I gave it an eight. I really enjoyed it. An eight's okay. We've come to the end, friends and lovers. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to get to Wonka. But since we did already watch it, do you want to quickly rate it?
Oti: Why not?
KT: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory the 1971.
Oti: Gene Wilder, we rewatched this recently before we went to watch Wonka and it still stood the test of time it was hilarious it was fun it was it felt like we've not watched a movie like that in such a long time right and I give it a nine because wow wow wow
KT: Wow, wow, wow. And it was like the white soul food because they were putting all their traumas onto that poor Charlie Bucket. I also gave it a I also gave it a nine. Yeah. Sometimes watching films like, I don't know. I don't I think it's more plagues me than it plagues Oti, but there's a certain level of cynicism or maybe it's just a higher level of analysis or maybe attention to detail. But I do, yeah, I just wanna fall in love again. I want to
KT: fall into the whimsy. I want to be immersed in cinema. I thought that was The Boy and the Heron realm, but fortunately, it wasn't that. But it was this year's Wonka, Oti. Mhmm. Give us your rating.
Oti: Oh, Timothy did his thing. Timofie. Timofie. I give it an eight.
KT: I gave it an 8.5.
KT: I wanted to give it a nine, but it's not as good as the 1971.
Oti: Yeah. Yeah.
KT: And shout outs to everyone that I understand because I am a heartless bitch, but shout outs to everyone that was surprised that I said I cried at Wonka. Can you let my masculine energy cry sometimes? Is that okay?
Oti: Cries a lot, man.
KT: It does. And I'm still a fucking bitch. So make that make sense, friends and lovers. But we've come to the end of the year. As you can see, we've covered a lot, but there's even so much that I feel like we didn't cover that I wish we covered. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The Wally mopping me. Because I was embarrassed to admit it because then people were like, why aren't you covering it? Into the Spider-Verse or Across the Spider-Verse. They Cloned Tyrone. Mhmm. The Burial.
KT: Like, there's so much that we've watched that we didn't get to cover this year. And, you know, maybe it's a rejigging of the format. But yeah. How has this year been for you, my love?
Oti: A lot of the things that we've talked about that happened this year feels like such a long time ago. Uh-huh. But it's a year where we've really enjoyed a lot of good shows and movies. We've got a lot of access to premieres and pilots that we never really thought we could get, which has made made it a bit more interesting to cover stuff, you know. And yeah, like, I couldn't be more thankful for this year. It's being Rotten Tomato certified, that feels like such a long time ago.
Oti: Papa Angel's this year. So there's a lot of things that have been made this year, especially new things that are still pending that will probably be announced next year that got us into big and better things and hopefully more to come in the future.
KT: Yeah. I absolutely agree with you. I think, you know, Rob mentioned that every time I do like a newsletter or we do like a Patreon thing, I say it's the biggest month yet. Every month just gets more busier and busier. But I do wanna lay my love and splooshes to you, Oti, because we are a two person operation and we love it. We love rolling around in the trenches if you're not too nasty, TMI nasty. But this is a labor of love and I love going through this journey with you. And I'm
KT: like, it's it's been a great year. It's been fucking tiring. Motherfucker's been tiring out here, but there's also a lot of love. And even being able to reflect on the year through the ratings. And we're going to be hitting our five years in February We are. Friends and lovers. So, you know, they say, what is it like 90% of podcast don't make a past 10 episodes? Mhmm. Yeah. So it's definitely a milestone for us and we love you guys so much and, you know,
KT: whatever your plans are, I'll be sitting and eating prawns and oysters all day because it's the breast milk of my people. But yeah. So we love you guys so much. Thank you for joining us in whatever capacity throughout the year. Thank you for hyping us up. No. Thank you for all the yellow face takes that you all wanna talk to me about, but I'll always have the DMs open. And we love you guys so much. We hope you have a very restful break, and you bring in, 2024
KT: with all of the energy and love that you deserve. And signing off from your delicious nasty friends and lovers in the For Your Reference household.
Oti: Oh for sure.
KT: If if if you've got some downtime on Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky and Spill, we're at fyrpod. Write us an email at hello@fyrpodcast dot com. We're also on all the love to you and yours podcast if you like to leave a rating and review. And we'll see you guys. Actually, we've got some interviews coming up for the end of the year. Of
KT: course, we do. But we love you guys. We love you guys. We love you guys. And just like our interview coming up soon, we'll see you in your dreams.
Oti: See you.
KT: Bye bye.
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