M3GAN – Demo baby

Full transcript of M3GAN – Demo baby.

0:00KT: It's another week in the For Your Reference household, and it is another For Your Reference edition of Killer Doll Action. obviously we're talking about the beloved Big Ol' Tilly's Chucky's franchise. That was a whole mouthful. I couldn't even murder boat it. Right.

0:17Oti: Clearly

0:19KT: I, I, I wouldn't necessarily consider Annabelle. Would you? Are there any other killer dolls

0:25Oti: Talky Tina from The Twilight Zone.

0:26KT: You are a man of quality

0:28Oti: Mm-hmm.

0:30KT: questionable in every other way, but a man of quality.

0:32Oti: Always.

0:34KT: Let's get on with the show. Hey, friends and Ronny Chieng lovers. Welcome back to the For Your Reference Podcast. You got your host, KT

0:56Oti: and Oti

0:58KT: upload dance sequence to the rhythm of consumerism. Cutie bosses and childhood tears. Create technology to fill the very gaps that make us human with M3GAN this week.

1:11Oti: Woohoohoo.

1:14KT: Woohoo. Wow. Wow. Hmm.

1:17Oti: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. In those three sides. You've summarized the movie

1:23KT: Well, let's get into. Let's get into general stats and information. Thanks to Universal for inviting us to the preview screening of M3GAN. Uh, this film James Wan. If those that are fans of Malignant, we love Malignant don't wear.

1:39Oti: We do.

1:40KT: Um, we didn't cover it on the main podcast, but just rest assured friends and lovers, we are the Atomic Monster of it all. Um, if you are ever so learned, I guess while we are here, the, the dream team of Leigh Whannell, James Wan. Um, we weren't into the Saw go, so we didn't cover that, but very early, um, we did do Upgrade and eventually we will cover The Invisible Man. Yep. Aldis Hodge. Better Hawk roll. Am I. He was packing a hawk in those sweatpants, but who were my But a humble film person.

2:11KT: Wow. Well maybe the Rock's boulders do it for you. I don't know. Oti

2:15Oti: They do just like it does for many other millions of people. That's why the Rock is in everything literally. So,

2:20KT: But we did say in the Christmas rankings that just happened, that Bautista and um, John are at the top.

2:28Oti: Yeah, oversaturation is a thing.

2:31KT: we do have valid criticisms, um, of M3GAN and obviously things we enjoyed, but more Bautista, I would say would always, never hurt.

2:39Oti: a hundred percent.

2:40KT: So this film was directed by Gerard Johnstone. It is a story by James Wan, ever so lovely, beautiful quality. Uh, write a screenplay, Akela Cooper in regards to stars Allison Williams. Violet McGraw, Ronny Chieng. Need to give more and more. A shout out to the actual M3GAN team. Um, Amie Donald is a very young girl from New Zealand who convincingly did the physicality of M3GAN.

3:10KT: Yeah. And Jenna Davis did the voice of M3GAN. Wow. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. Um, I would say that M3GAN was a film that was most anticipated for us to watch at the top of 2023. Mm-hmm. So let's get into, and don't worry, Oti, I do have separate themes where we can talk about horror and dolls and all that sort of thing, maybe even toys if you're feeling.

3:35Oti: it.

3:36KT: I think that's more with the Chucky franchise, right? It is with Redman, it is. People don't give Redman enough respect for the Chucky franchise.

3:42Oti: He was there for about a second.

3:45KT: more than Busta Rhymes in Halloween.

3:49Oti: Oh wow.

3:51KT: We're horror heads and hip hop heads, friends and lovers. So, spoiler, spoiler, spoiler. Malfunction, malfunction, malfunction. Uh, so let's get into your first impressions. My love.

4:03Oti: I was eager, I was excited to watch this movie. You know, ever since we watched the trailer, we were in it. We were sold

4:11KT: straight away.

4:11Oti: Straight away. I was ready for something to, to rival Chucky. Whoa.

4:16KT: Oh, it's a,

4:17Oti: It's a space dominated by Chucky, and I was ready for a shakeup.

4:21KT: But you feel like the team had the Khans to pull it off? Is that what the difference was? Or were you just putting all of your hopes and.

4:28Oti: You know how the, the most recent Chucky, where they sort of made Chucky a bit more AI forward? Yes. So I expected something of that scale

4:37KT: less voodoo, more technology. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

4:39Oti: And I was there for it. You know, it's a space that's super ignored and those room for something else, and I felt M3GAN was ready to come and take it. So when, when I had to watch it, you know, it was, it was an hour screening, we, it was a mood, which was good. Then it started so promisingly, but halfway through you realized that the target audience was casted much larger than what I thought it would. And that just diluted the movie a bit too much for what I thought it would.

5:10Oti: Cause I, I was ready for it to just skyrocket. But it reached the stratosphere and thought, I ain't going farther. I'm coming back down

5:19KT: Yeah.

5:21Oti: And I wasn't, I wasn't for that. I, I felt like there was a really big. Missed opportunity with this. I was ready to just go noter level, but just don't donker tail, don't hold yourself back by a PG-13 rating.

5:36KT: Mm.

5:37Oti: Um, and I felt like M3GAN was a movie that had to be, R-rated for it to be a. A fully recognized franchise launch.

5:47KT: Okay. Okay. I'm downloading what you are uploading. Oti

5:52Oti: Mm-hmm.

5:53KT: Art. Oti, the clown. If you're nasty. I think the skeleton of this film definitely works. There might need to be some QA testing cuz there's a little bug. Um, there's some bugs in the software, there's some bugs in the hardware. I would say that li exactly like you said, there needed to be more market research because it wasn't necessarily, it wasn't necessarily all the way to a Chucky, for example.

6:23KT: Um, but it was also mature enough to be able to go there. And I, I think, yeah, the, the rating definitely didn't suit the subject matter in which they could have gone

6:33Oti: There were some scenes that I think the red flag was when the dog sort of, when M3GAN sort of killed the dog or there was an insinuation that the

6:42KT: dog lovers in this house there? Yeah. Yeah.

6:44Oti: I wasn't looking for seeing a, a M3GAN kill the dog live, but I just knew that, okay, so they're not gonna show. They're probably not gonna show us a lot of other things. Oh, M3GAN will do offscreen. Yeah. And we'll make it offscreen and make it all PG. And I was like, oh, that's sort of such a, that's sort of bummer. You know, I, I expected, I expected them to dive right in with the, with the goriness and even the ness of it all.

7:11KT: Yeah. I think the, the ingredients of the film afforded for a more mature content, but it was hampered by the rating. I would say

7:22Oti: It did. And I think one of the things that I try and avoid are interviews, especially with the cast, you know, and

7:29KT: you're like, act you dumb babies. I don't wanna hear you

7:34Oti: I dunno. I'd wanna know if you're a real person. Um, no. Like Ronny Chieng mentioned that, Hey,

7:41KT: whoa, I didn't like this association. Thank you. very

7:43Oti: No, no, no, no. Ronny mentioned. They had filmed everything and it was gory and they just scaled it back. Yeah. And I'm like, why the hell did you do that if it, if you film that way? We need a director's cut.

7:54KT: Mm-hmm.

7:55Oti: We need for them to go back and show us everything that they intended with the movie. Forget the rating, forget, try to get everyone to watch the movie. Know, the worst thing you can do is try to get, make it generalist and try and get to the biggest sort of audience because then again, you water down. You don't get a fan base, you don't get a super, you know, you don't get the M3GAN heads waiting for them to go off. They

8:18KT: sound like they were storming the capitol? That doesn't They would've had killer dance moves, but they don't sound like they would be someone.

8:26Oti: this movie will never cause an insurrection. They needed to make something that will make a small section of people love it so much they would fucking storm the Capitol.

8:35KT: Just tell us, you're replacing, just tell us you're replacing Delroy Lindo on The Good Fight.

8:40Oti: Ah,

8:43KT: There was an air of potential in the earlier prototypes of this film and in a world where we have. Chucky, this kind of felt like a regression, right? And if this was for a younger audience, then the themes were too nuanced for a younger audience to understand it. But the

9:05Oti: a hundred percent,

9:06KT: the maturity of the themes weren't fully realized because of that. So again, I would say go back to the market research and let's try and understand who this is for.

9:15Oti: I put that better myself. Like it felt very lost by the end of it. I was like, who is this for? Because it felt, it alienated the super horror.

9:25KT: or are we the equivalent of the brownies? Are we taking up space in a young No. Well, really

9:31Oti: Let's,

9:32KT: let's evaluate ourselves. Are we taking up space in a young fan base? Maybe that's what this film was supposed to be, but I, I'm hard pressed. To, to understand if you also want adults to watch this film, and some of us have grown up with Chucky like you, or most recently, fallen in love with Chucky like me, it doesn't do to serve well this film.

9:57Oti: it doesn't. I think Yeah, I, I, I see what you're saying. And I, and I, and I hope, and I reckon this is just somewhere, someone up there thinking, oh, we need to make it open to everyone. This is quite a cool idea. God. Open source. M3GAN. man, Um,

10:11KT: I wanna, I wanna touch on something that you said, um, and friends and lovers, we did enjoy the film. It just seems like this is the discussion we're having today.

10:19Oti: No, we enjoyed the movie, but the qualm is, we expected so much more from it. We expected it to be our Chucky when in reality, I'd, by the end of this year, I'd probably forget that I watched M3GAN. I'd feel like, wow, oh yeah, it's good, but am I really looking forward for sequel? If it's still PG,

10:38KT: I'm not even thinking about a sequel, to be perfectly honest. Let films be films.

10:43Oti: Bloody hell no,

10:44KT: You are the journalist that asks Michael Jordan what's next after he wins all the

10:47Oti: the film

10:49KT: like just see. And that's me making a sports reference that I don't understand

10:54Oti: but

10:55KT: like my, I wanna go back to something that you mentioned before we dive into the actual film. You, you mentioned it a couple of times how it's too general and I just wanna clarify. do you mean general? Because all ages can watch it. Or all types of people, not just like doll Horror heads for ex. Again, that sounds like a January 6th. That doesn't sound like a great group of people.

11:19Oti: I think all ages and it's more those very little sort of bloody scenes, you know? It felt very, it felt like very early Dragon Ball where you'd get stabbed and no blood would sort of appear. Yeah. I'm like, okay, cool.

11:35KT: I think it was that Sam Worthington movie, Clash of the Titans, where the blood was like gold to do away with the rating.

11:42Oti: Mm-hmm. Yeah, like and as much as I enjoyed the movie, I felt like there's just a missed opportunity for me to be a M3GAN Head and to feel that I'd want more from

11:53KT: M3GAN Head Sounds like the crew in jail that wouldn't let you be friends with them.

12:03Oti: I won't even be hanging out with anyone because I'll be holding T bug's.

12:08KT: Well, in some case, you are hanging out for something. Prison Break. Friends and Lovers, we promise. Eventually, um, we will cover it, but let's get into the themes, um, of the film. And we've kind of, we've kind of talked about it, but I wanna talk about the Battle of the dot. Um, well, I guess you kind of already summarized it and saying you don't see yourself remembering this.

12:34Oti: Better

12:35KT: question. If an R rated cut does get released, do you then give graces or does it just make you more mad that this is what it could have been?

12:44Oti: It probably make me more mad. Okay. That it had so much potential in legs and it took it away. You know, even the metaverse now you have legs, so I don't see the reason why you'd cut them off.

12:55KT: got legs. Yeah, she got the Meese

13:00Oti: Um, it probably be a situation where, you know how we got the Snyder Cut. Mm-hmm. and you're like, where was this? Because the movie made so much more

13:10KT: Yeah, but I think those special

13:12Oti: I agree.

13:13KT: around the film, I think it's, this is the opposite of where we heard that Tarantino had a rougher cut of Django and we're like, yeah, nah, we don't need that,

13:22Oti: Yeah. There's some things we don't wanna see. there'll probably be a 32nd, a 30 minute cut of Dral being tortured. No, we don't want that.

13:33KT: Exactly. Um, okay. Well, I guess it's, it's a tall order because, you know, Don Mancini has done a beautiful thing and continues to do many beautiful things, um, with the Chucky franchise. Some might not agree, but we fucking love the TV show.

13:50Oti: There's a reason why it span so many years. Yeah. It's his vision and him wanting to not hold back and knowing that in as much it'll push people off or some people off. You'd get a really huge following. That would be, yeah. That would be super Chucky fans,

14:06KT: or as Americans say, niche.

14:07Oti: Yeah. You gotta cater us to the, to the niche. Yeah. You know, uh, outside of that then, what are we doing here?

14:14KT: I think you just need to commit, like whatever you're going to say, whether it's Rob Zombie cut or otherwise, like you need to say it with your full chest. And I guess while we're talking about, you know, Chucky, the, my, my favorite moments in Chucky are the campy ones, like Seed of Chucky. Beautiful, right? Yeah.

14:31Oti: And, and there's a reason why people are not on Facebook anymore because you've got everyone on there, your aunties, your uncles, your whatevers.

14:38KT: Wow. You really are the emo MySpace Galanter. Wow. Do you still have your Tumblr, Oti? Even when they banned your favorite content.

14:49Oti: Ah, sad Day. David

14:54KT: um, cause there was a lot of campiness in M3GAN, which I really enjoyed. So you have a film that has a lot of camp in it. In M3GAN. It's a film that isn't as gory. due to the rating. But how does it have less heart than Chucky? As ridiculous as a character, as Chucky is, there's a lot of fucking heart that goes into, as you say, decades long of love and SPEs to the franchise because I really didn't feel like there was a lot of heart in this.

15:22Oti: Yeah, like even, okay, so here, here's another qualm, right? We know they're trying to make this a PG movie, right? All ages. The score and the music in this is from way back in the nineties where most people who they're trying to cater for right now, Wouldn't even fucking understand what this, what this song is. What is this?

15:43KT: Okay. Oti, Gran Torino, Are you yelling at furniture as well?

15:49Oti: Yeah. no, it, it's just the expectation that I had going in and maybe that's folly on me. Um, but definitely moments where I love the movie, you know? Ronny Chieng's David character was amazing. Allison Williams, what can we say about her that I think she brings a lot of heart to this movie. I know you said you didn't feel like those heart, but I felt actually brought emotion and feeling to

16:20KT: Okay, well, well let, let's move on from that and we'll go to one of the other themes that I have, cuz it kind of covers what you're saying now, and it's, it, it, it's kind of the same sort of sentiment that you see, you know, even in the eighties where they talk about AI slash robots, you know, taking over the function of humans.

16:36KT: And there was a particular sentiment about AI or M3GAN in particular replacing parent. I wanna get your thoughts on it, but I also want to share Gemma's character. I didn't like and I, I guess, you know, like the therapist was there for M3GAN. I absolutely understand that. I didn't like how easy they leaned into the haha, she's an adult and she has collectibles type of narrative.

17:02KT: You know, like, can we get some sort of depth? And also at the same time, yes, it happens to be collectibles, but at the end of the day, gem. Hold some sort of sentiment to it, so it's okay for her that she wants to create that space between M3GAN and her.

17:19Oti: True. A hundred percent agree with you on

17:21KT: Like what if it was a stolen Benin artifact that was previously in the British Museum and M3GAN wanted to play with it?

17:28Oti: her

17:34KT: But you know what I'm saying? Like I, I don't know like far be it from me to look for depth in this specific sort of storyline, but I also didn't like how, I think it was Tess when they were in the lab and Tess was like, this is replacing parenting. And it's like, are you also the one during industrialization yelling about how cars are going to take over horses as well?

17:55KT: Fuck off. Like grow up. And at the same time, there can be different levels of parenting and no shade for no shade, but there are many parents that throw iPads at their kids too. Mel Gibson style. Naomi Campbell style. You can decide,

18:10Oti: I understand the concern that, hey, you can't delegate everything that is to be a parent to AI. Cool. I can understand that sort of facet of this.

18:19KT: I don't know. Some seem to delegate it to teachers, to parent their.

18:23Oti: say less

18:26KT: or the TikTokers.

18:27Oti: Yeah. Like there's always a version of something that right now be like you said, TikTok par teachers, you know, even when during the pandemic we, we, people realize just how. Teachers actually do part of the parenting where parents are like, what the fuck? What is this? Yeah. You know? So it's not to say just because M3GAN is AI, that it's bad. No. There'll always be different forms or something that where Cady will, would always need from Gemma in one form or another.

18:56KT: Yeah. Friends and lovers. You can neglect your kids in traditional ways too. Yeah.

19:01Oti: man, men like children are meant to be seen, you know, in a, in a typical African household, not hard. So all this growing up and watching TV and seeing how kids were with their parents, I was like, what is this? You know

19:14KT: that's the reason why M3GAN's not black Now. Now I know what you mean when you say you want it to be more niche. Hey,

19:27Oti: we probably get, we probably get complaints about, damn no Black Dolls. What do you mean?

19:34KT: the black AI.

19:36Oti: sad doesn't go through that man.

19:41KT: the filter doesn't recognize it.

19:44Oti: Oh fact.

19:45KT: while we're here, I'm very much looking forward to American Auto season two coming out soon. they had a very funny storyline about racist AI and smart cars. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I, I think, it seems like we have very strong opinions about the replacing of parenting, um, you know, in this film, but also it wasn't necessarily dug deep or explored it to anything beneath the surface. So really any further discussion is just depth. We're gonna be giving it. Right?

20:14Oti: Yep.

20:14KT: Something I do wanna, um, talk about is the childhood.

20:18Oti: Mm-hmm.

20:19KT: because I did feel emotional, um, watching I, I would say earlier parts of the film. Um, and a lot of it had to do with Cady processing. You're not about to. Will Smith slapped me like she slapped Allison Williams Bra. Bra,

20:36Oti: I guess otherwise she couldn't be black because that doesn't happen. That doesn't happen. You know Cady wouldn't be here anymore. Cady?

20:43KT: yes. Cady disappears and Gemma blames it on. M3GAN. Yep.

20:49Oti: Aquila. Hi.

20:53KT: Wow.

20:54Oti: There's a killer.

20:55KT: the dog to cover it up.

20:56Oti: Yeah. Matt Fact,

20:59KT: You can't just say facts in the. But yes, I, I think it's becoming increasingly clear that M3GAN can't be black.

21:08Oti: Yeah. Like that just doesn't happen.

21:09KT: Oh. But if we do have a black M3GAN as a spinoff, can it be Regina King?

21:14Oti: Yes, please.

21:16KT: And she'll just get out of the way. Boondocks, reference friends and lovers. Okay. Um, let's lay a little bit more love for the actors in the film. Um, and then we're going to finish off with a theme that I have. Um, we kind of talked about Allison Williams, but I would say she is, she's understated in a lot of ways, and I think because of the nuance that she. Her performances might not be given its due.

21:44Oti: Uh, yeah, like,

21:45KT: like, because it feels so effortless and natural, it might not necessarily get the praise that I guess other actresses might get. You know what I mean?

21:54Oti: Yeah. Like there's, there's, there's a reason why she excels in these roles.

22:00KT: Oh, yes.

22:00Oti: And it comes off as, like you said, effortless, but the level of her performance she gives is. And so understated it. It's fucking wild. When she was like, even if you think of Get Out. Yeah. Outside of Kaluuya's, exciting and brilliant performance. I know it was, um, Katie's up and comma.

22:20KT: Mm-hmm.

22:21Oti: but Allison Williams in that as well. You know, we, I didn't hear a lot of praise for her. It was more me. This shit wild.

22:28KT: this is not the Rainbow Coalition. Like, I don't know why,

22:32Oti: I

22:32KT: know why you feel the need to take up the plight for her character, but

22:35Oti: nah, I'm just saying

22:36KT: Were you in one of the photographs in Get Out

22:42Oti: I'm the Grand Papa

22:46KT: I absolutely understand, um, what you're saying. And you know, I will always talk about Ronny Chieng, friends and lovers. I said I would open a petition for Ronny Chieng to play Shang-Chi and Shang-Chi 2. And I'm also gonna open a petition for Ronny Chieng to play M3GAN again and M3GAN 2.

23:04Oti: You're silly

23:05KT: We can have, we can have an Asian me,

23:08Oti: We can.

23:08KT: I will leave the floor for my Asian friends and lovers. Cause I'm a PI, but I'm not a AA.

23:14Oti: Wow. Yeah. Alright, alright. Right. Bring your PI card up here.

23:19KT: You don't get a brown. Me. You know why? Lack of representation. We laugh but it's still sad. Friends and love, isn't it?

23:29Oti: Yeah, true. Um, I found David's character, um, quite a hilarious, I think I chuckled most of the time. He was on screen

23:38KT: and he had the line about kicking Hasbro in the nuts or something like that.

23:41Oti: Yeah. Oh, look at you now. Yeah. Lacking matter conversations when it's only coming from Ronny Chieng's mouth.

23:49KT: Oh, absolutely. From vine babe's lips to my ears.

23:54Oti: Wow. Yeah. But I found him interesting. I think he, he sort of acted as, uh, comic relief, which was cool.

24:02KT: when you have celebrity talent that perhaps aren't necessarily actors first. But I would say International Student, Ronny Chieng, when he was still here, even though he besmirches Australian TV and film, which he absolutely should.

24:17KT: Um, that was a very good series and he's a very good actor. But usually when you have talent that aren't necessarily known for their acting, they can become. Cardboard or, you know, maybe not offer a lot or maybe stick out like a sore thumb. But the way this script was written, the way that Ronny Chieng performed it, when you bring someone like Ronny Chieng in, you've got that snarkiness, you've got that snideness, and it was really a lot.

24:42KT: I had so much fun watching him in this film. Um, again, there was just some, there was just some missing tones that would've made this a whole holy realized film.

24:53Oti: Yeah, I, I'm with you on that.

24:54KT: Let's quickly talk about Tess and Cole. They were kind of, I don't know, they didn't really get a lot of time on screen. Tess was kind of just whining every time. No offense,

25:04Oti: The whining woman is an important role in film industry. Man. Mm-hmm.

25:08KT: Too much representation. Hey, Promising whining women. Am I right?

25:14Oti: Oh, you said it.

25:16KT: You started it. Um, what do you think they offered anything in any way? I would say because they are creating realities and, and AI that I would never be able to comprehend. I still fight with our smart home devices trying to get the right information. Um, I feel like they were too dumb in moments that would render them smart.

25:41Oti: Yeah. They were so, they were too slow to realize that a, something was wrong. Yeah. Especially when it's all evidence based. Yeah. Gemma was like, here's the data. And they're like, yeah, now it's not gonna work. Yeah. It doesn't happen like that. Yeah. So you see everything. You, you helped build this thing. Yeah. And yet it takes you, you know, buy-in is, so, is so, I. You need to jump in and then you get these two characters who are questioning Gemma every turning point.

26:10KT: Yeah. And do they even help build it or.

26:12Oti: They did. They did. Apart from Cole's sort of ridiculous nonsense where he forgot to put some gadget in M3GAN. which caused an explosion. Yeah. You know, that's how we were introduced to them. Like the fumbling assistant, idiots

26:25KT: Scrappy-Doo, or the new Velma,

26:27Oti: uh, Scrappy-Doo will be too harsh. So in the new Velma um, but they didn't really add anything to the show and the fact that they both survived at the end Yeah. Is kinda wild. Yeah. Especially when M3GAN is supposed to be this, she is this.

26:45KT: Well,

26:46Oti: Ultimate if she wants to kill you dead.

26:48KT: Yeah. But she was only programmed to protect Cady. So if they

26:52Oti: not, at the end she was like going through and killing she, she was like, I don't care.

26:57KT: but do you see how I'm not earnestly trying to break down these sort of threads? There's even, um, Kurt as well being the, being the Sami Fis. To Ronny Chieng, like, I don't know. And, and maybe, maybe it was to get away with because the, they knew, or they were hoping for a lower rating, so it wasn't going to give us full resolution to the storylines. Um, or maybe it's just because I, I feel like it failed to deliver, so it's hard to pick at the bones, you know?

27:28Oti: Yeah. Yeah. Um, you can't carve something that is already bare bone, so Yeah.

27:36KT: You might think I'm referencing Lion King, but what did I just do? Oti.

27:40Oti: Oti. Just call me stupid.

27:41KT: Are you sure?

27:42Oti: Yeah. looking.

27:48KT: maybe M3GAN can be Kenyan specifically.

27:50Oti: that will make the movie 10 times more interesting right off the bat.

27:53KT: Good, because I'm selling Your voice podcast to James Wan, It's in progress. Mm-hmm. It's Darrylin 3.0.

28:03Oti: Wow.

28:05KT: Uh, well, let's finish off with this theme and it, it becomes, Depending on the film, like Riders of Justice, it becomes a triumphant exaltation. Um, in other instances, like Shang-Chi for example, um, it becomes a disappointment and I'm talking about the power of friendship.

28:24KT: I wanna talk about like, the ending plot for this film. I didn't necessarily care to talk a lot about storylines, but this one I wanna talk about in particular. Um, we were introduced to like the first sort of iteration of like a robotic still controlled, um, you know, through those gloves, but it's, it's the first sort of robotic project that Gemma does in university, right? come on, Oti, we, we've, we've been around. This merry-go-round. We've been on this rodeo many times. You knew that that robot was going to save the day, right?

28:57Oti: Yeah. Yeah. Like and I, and this is where it's hard, right? Because if, if, if you bring in expectation plus predictability, then what do you end up with at the end of it?

29:08Oti: And I don't really wanna look at M3GAN through that lens then for something that I saw, I truly did enjoy to a. and I really wish that it was more, I knew for a fact that the minute they introduced that roboto and she was explaining it to me again in, so in such a technical level at what Edge component does and what it, and how it functions

29:30KT: and it can smell.

29:31Oti: Yeah. I knew it was important as hell. Yeah. For for the moment you knew that she needed to remember. Yeah. You know, they panned in, zoomed in a bit. Yes. You know, but it is what it is. And I think, and I think the, the sort of final battle in as much as it was predictable, I, I found it a bit ex not exciting.

29:51Oti: Exciting is too strong a word. I enjoyed it to a degree. It was fun seeing M3GAN go head to head with just a robot, you know, and see how it'll just stretch her to bit.

30:03KT: You know, what also makes me sad is there are so many fun giggle gaggle moments, um, in this film when, like, for me it's like there are too many qualms, quarrels and quandaries to get through that we don't even get to live and satiate ourselves because, you know, first off, I have a. because they didn't even have Ronny Chieng in the first trailer. Um, and second of all, it was good to know that the reason the initiation of the dance was in reaction to Ronny Chieng's character

30:34KT: So, I don't know. There were many delicious moments, um, in this film, but neither does a delicious moment of a film mate.

30:41Oti: Mm-hmm.

30:44KT: sad, isn't it?

30:46Oti: Yeah, I was. Yeah. Under the end of it, you sit here thinking, you know what? We knew this was coming, and I wanted to recapture that moment. You know, if it was, you know, a reverse pre. This, it wouldn't be a reverse phenomen notice of the first moment I watched this, it would be the first moment I watched the trailer and what joy I got from it.

31:08KT: We're not doing awards categories for trailers. Oti.

31:11Oti: we should. There's a, there's a, there's a niche for it.

31:16KT: And if you've been listening, friends and lovers, when Oti says niche, you mean something else. There's colorism in niches, friends and lovers. Wow. Ooh. Thank you friends and lovers for joining us another week in the For Your Reference household. We're gonna finish off in a segment we call For Your Reference. Oti.

31:39Oti: It will be remiss if I didn't reference Chucky. Ooh. It's one of my favorites. The avid listeners know this already, and it, it won't disappoint you. It'll play around with everything It can. It'll push the boundaries of what you think is deemable and acceptable and what is even just. Yeah. You know, they'll be hit and miss, but they won't shy away. And that's what we wanted, you know, and hopefully they follow the Chucky blueprint because there's a gem yet to be uncovered with M3GAN.

32:10KT: Nice. Um, I guess closing off this episode in general, which will roll into this recommendation, um, I would say as lovers of the Chucky franchise, we were already bought into the premise of a Balls to the Wall Doll thriller.

32:27Oti: mm-hmm. you had me a balls to the wall

32:30KT: and if I may quote Woodhouse, she is tripping balls. I made a reference inside of my recommendation, but that's not, I'm not referencing Archer. Um, I would take a balls to the wall and would you believe it's an in between Ben balls to the wall reference? Cuz Ben loves Chucky. He also loves Takashi Miike's Visitor Q.

32:56Oti: Yo, you're crazy.

32:59KT: I crazy or am I just elevated, man? So I would, I would recommend Visitor Q if you can get your nasty hands on it. Friends and lovers, you will understand exactly what I'm saying about being ready for it to go balls to the wall and being ready for the rat.

33:18Oti: I don't think you can be ready for that, but you know what, more power to you

33:22KT: If you'd like to ask Oti where his M3GAN heads were on January 6th, you can find us on Twitter and Instagram @ForYourRefPod.

33:29Oti: Write us an email at hello@fyrpodcast.com.

33:32KT: We're also on Ronny Chieng for every film podcast, if you like to leave a rating review and we'll see you guys next week.

33:40Oti: See ya.

33:41KT: Bye.