The Best Wisconsin Cities(Hour 1)

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Broadcasting live from the Civic Media Studios in Green Bay, this is Night Light with Pete Chwabba.

Your inside source on everything entertainment from Wisconsin to Hollywood.

And now, a guy who writes checks his mouth can't cash.

Pete Schwabba.

Welcome to NightBike.

Ladies and gentlemen of Wisconsin and the world.

It's great to have you here tonight on a blustery, if I can quote Winnie the Pooh or Christopher Robbins.

A blustery day here in northeast Wisconsin.

And it was blustery in Madison today where I started out the day.

Got rained on I don't know what is going on, but we are having some weather in this state Hope you're staying dry and out of the wind for the moment and listening to the radio and nightlight.

It's great to have you Welcome to the show great show tonight great guests a good question lots of chances for you guys to weigh in We're gonna follow this up with a great show we had last night from Madison

which was always fun doing the show over State Street and back here on the home court tonight.

Conrad, how's it going?

I'm wearing pants tonight.

Yeah, let's hope so.

That was the first thing I checked.

So thanks for going the extra mile.

Yeah, of course.

So we have, boy, there's a lot going on tonight.

I don't even know where to start.

So I'll start by saying Happy Pride Month, first of all.

I don't think I said that last night because I was out of my element in Manhattan.

Wow in the show from that happened last night.

That was a big commute.

It was a big commute I barely made it here in time It from Madison, of course, so happy Pride month everybody I know civic media had a great presence at the Pride parade the other day I think in Milwaukee and around the state so that's that's exciting

And we've got, let's do this first too, because it's June 3rd.

This contest just started yesterday.

It's the Civic Media Scotty Summer Text-to-Win Contest.

Our text contest are so much fun here at Civic Media.

So you guys have to partake in this.

They keep getting more and more popular.

There's a lot of winners.

That's the cool thing.

Here's what all you need.

All you need is the Civic Media app.

Then you listen at 7 a.m., 11 a.m., 2 p.m., and 4 p.m.

Get the keyword and text it in on the text line, or not on the text.

I'm sorry.

The text line is not the app.

That's a different thing, Conor.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right.

I just figured that out a year and a half in.

And then just text in.

via the app, what the keyword is, and you are entered to win an hourly prize and a grand prize.

And our hourly prizes include a hundred bucks cash and a pair of Milwaukee Brewer's club level seats.

And that's every hour.

And once you enter for the hour, you are enrolled in the grand prize drawing as well.

What is the grand prize drawing?

That's like at the end of the contest, right?

Everybody who plays hourly.

has a chance to win the grand prize.

And there are two really cool grand prizes.

A trip to Dork County right down the road here.

I would probably opt for that.

I'm a huge Dork County fan.

But Baraboo, Wisconsin, very, very beautiful part of the state as well.

So the grand prizes are Wisconsin Summer Vacations in Dork County and in Baraboo, Wisconsin with gas money to get you there.

That adds up.

four daily chances to enter beginning yesterday, Monday, June 2nd, and it goes through June 13th.

So make sure you play, folks.

It's so much fun and good luck.

Hope you guys come away.

I hope everybody wins.

I know that's not possible, but we're all winners.

So I was leaving today.

I did some work at PBS Wisconsin today.

And the last two times I went out in Madison, I got horribly sunburned.

So today,

In Vilas Hall, which has no windows, and it's just like probably weighs as much as the earth.

It's like this huge stone structure.

I think they built it in the 60s to make it bomb-proof with all the protests.

So I can't see.

So I'm slathering on Sunblock.

And do you use Sunblock?

I don't use like the...

Like the lotion stuff, I just spray it on real quick and

go good.

Today I did the spray.

The lotion works better, I'm told, but I sprayed the living daylights out of my neck, my face, my arms.

And I'm like, all right, at least I'm not, you know, I got fair skin.

I walk outside pouring rain.

And now I'm walking around in this mess and I'm getting rained on.

It's like, it's like a.

Sunblock rain, gross mixture all over.

It's going down my shirt.

And I know there are people with real problems in the world, folks, but this set me back.

It's like, and all I thought about when I went outside was this is so Schwabba.

Remember your sunblock and then get rained on.

So cobbler.

So cobbler.

PGC.

And then this happened.

Okay, this is interesting.

Last night, I'm in my hotel room in Madison, and I call the wrong number.

And the number calls me back.

Do you answer that call?

Well, do

you think that it's somewhat like...

I don't know who it is.

I made the mistake.

But I caught myself, and I hung up, and they called back.

And all I can think about is how bored is this person?

Like if somebody called me on a number and I didn't recognize it and they didn't leave a message or hung up I would not call them back unless I was just So bored with my life Hey, who is this?

Hey, what's going on?

Why'd you call me?

Who are you?

I didn't think of is this this was your cell phone not the phone that was provided with the hotel

No cell phone.

Okay.

No, I don't I haven't got a call in a hotel room in 30 years I don't know what I'm

saying if you get a call from the like the hotel phone you're like, ooh

Yeah, well that I might answer just because who the hell is calling me here unless it's an

emergency.

You don't know what's going to happen with that.

But you're not calling that number back, are you?

No,

no.

Definitely not.

And if they don't, I don't even, you know, 90% of the people that leave messages, I don't even call back because it's like, Mr. Schwabba, your loan has been approved.

I'm like.

For what?

It's urgent we hear back from you.

I don't care.

Stop calling me.

I don't have a loan with you.

But it's nice to be approved.

So anyway, that was kind of weird.

Hey, I think it's time kind of, but we gotta get to our question of the night.

We got a good one.

Let's talk about the question.

Okay, question.

Question.

Question.

Question.

Question.

Okay, I have a question.

Questions.

This question.

Domanda.

Question.

Questions.

What city?

What is your favorite Wisconsin city, excluding the one you live in?

And if the one you live in is not your favorite Wisconsin city, just tell us your favorite Wisconsin city.

What is your favorite Wisconsin city excluding the one you live in?

You can't count that one.

And our question tonight is inspired by this study they did in US News and World Report.

They ranked 250 of the top places to live in the country.

And nine Wisconsin cities made it.

That's pretty good.

That's

like,

what is that like 10?

I think we're above average Wisconsin with the livable cities.

I tried to figure that out on the air, and I'm not good enough at math to go nine cities out of 250.

Well, let's say if there were 500 cities and we had 18, that would be 20%.

That's about 4%.

So Wisconsin has roughly 4% of the top 250 places to live in the country.

And this came out late last week.

Here's how each city in Wisconsin was ranked from highest placement to lowest.

Eau Claire was ranked the highest at 49th.

That surprised you.

You know, I thought we

would have won a little higher, to be honest.

Well, I thought that too.

And Eau Claire is great, but I'm surprised it wasn't like, you know, Madison or Appleton is second.

All right, here, let me get through the list.

Eau Claire was 49th.

Appleton was 53rd, this is out of 250, best places to live in America.

So Eau Claire's 49th, Appleton's 53rd, Waukesha 87th, Oshkosh, Todd Michaels, if you're listening, 114th, Wausau, Brittany Merlot, if you're missing, if you're missing, if you're listening, 125th, Green Bay Conrad, if you're listening, and you better be.

Yeah, I was gonna say, I should.

170th, Sheboygan 185, Janesville 186, and Kenosha 214th.

No Milwaukee, no Madison.

There must have been a criteria for the size, right?

I'm confused because I mean, a couple years ago, I think like two years ago, Green Bay was like number

one place to live.

Yeah, what happened though?

Under but that was there was a criteria.

Okay,

so it's all criteria based.

Yes for more information on how we rank and I this must have been Traverse City is 250th That's weird.

That's a gorgeous

area.

So what was number one?

Are you gonna make me scroll?

Sorry, that's all right.

I don't have it here It's like one of those websites.

We have to keep clicking.

So I don't know

okay

And if I was a real journalist, I would have looked that up before I came on the air, but I didn't.

All I will say is Skokie, Illinois, 230th.

Our neighbors to the South, Grand Island, Nebraska, 229.

Nashville.

Nashville's a big city.

228.

That surprised me.

So there you go.

So that's our question tonight, folks.

Let us know.

What is your favorite Wisconsin city excluding the one you live in?

Tell us 855-752-4842-855-756.

You can text us on the app.

Or if you're watching the radio on the stream on YouTube, Facebook, or X, you can message us there too.

All kinds of ways to get ahold of us.

Just please get ahold of us and be part of the show.

My guests tonight include...

The wonderful Rob Thomas.

He is a Madison based film critic and the city cast Madison editor.

And I'm getting addicted to the city cast publication.

They put out so many cool things about the Madison area.

And we have a ton of listeners in Madison.

So Rob is going to come on.

He's going to talk about some cool new films he saw.

And we're going to tell you about toxic traits in Madison.

The whole staff did this podcast and they listed their traits about Madison they don't like.

So we'll talk about that with Rob.

And then at 720, our pal, Todd Michaels, who is the producer of the Mino and the Mayor show here on WGBW in the morning, Todd is also a paranormal investigator.

And he is going to come on tonight to talk to us about lake monsters and vampires and a flight that disappeared if we have time to get to that.

So lots of fun tonight on Nightlight.

Let us know your answer to the question.

And we have a phone call, Conrad.

Yes, Cindy from Appleton.

Cindy from

Appleton.

How are you?

Pete, how are you?

I'm good.

Doing great here, too.

Thanks for the call.

What's going on?

Well, I don't know if Bayfield is a city or a village, but Bayfield is one of my faves.

You know, I'm kind of ashamed.

Pardon me.

I'm kind of ashamed.

I've never been to Bayfield.

And all I hear is amazing stuff about the natural beauty in Bayfield and how gorgeous it is.

So I have to get up there.

So you've been there, obviously.

Oh, yeah, many times.

I love it up there.

I haven't been up there for a while, but I used to when I was a little younger spend a lot of time up there.

So,

okay.

So how far of a drive is that city from where you are in Appleton to Bayfield?

Well, when I go up to Bayfield from Appleton, it takes me a good five hours.

Five hours.

Wow.

Yep.

Okay.

But worth the drive, obviously, right?

Oh, God, yeah.

Definitely.

Awesome.

Cindy, thank you for the call.

Have a great night.

Yep.

All right.

Thanks.

You're very welcome.

All right, so that's good.

What would you say, Conn?

I don't even know.

I think I know.

I was going to say some city in Door County, but I think I'll go back to a little bit of my roots.

And I really like the, I would say the village of Dundee.

I don't know if it's a village or whatever it's called, but it's close to Qoscom

around that

area.

And it's right by Kettle Moraine.

Okay.

Oh, that's beautiful

area

and

the Long Lake is right there.

Okay.

Comfort food.

You got the hamburger house and then you got the Tiki bar resort or something like that beach resort and that's on the Kettle Marine Lake, too.

What do you want?

Like the welcome wagon or something?

That's

a lot of

info.

I really, that place

is awesome.

I

always go back there in the summer and visit because I, you know, I got friends back in Qoskin.

We go out

to

the beach resort, have a couple of drinks and then go to the

Hamburger house

and eat

some comfort food.

I'm gonna say I'm gonna say city Madison But I also I got to put door County in there, too, and I'll figure out my city maybe egg Harbor I'm gonna say egg Harbor door County in door County or Madison.

Those are my two faves, but let us know what you're

favorite, what is your favorite?

Wisconsin City, excluding the one you live in.

This is Pete Schwabba in Nightlight.

We read your texts next and I play a really cool clip on Nightlight with Pete Schwabba on the Civic Media Radio

Network.

Well,

What is your favorite Wisconsin city excluding the one you live in?

Tonight's question is inspired by a list that came out from U.S.

News and World Report that ranked nine Wisconsin cities in the top 250 best places to live in the country.

According to U.S.

News and World Report, here is how each city was ranked.

In Wisconsin, Eau Claire was 49th, Appleton 53rd, Waukesha 87th, Oshkosh 114, Wausau 125th, Green Bay 170.

You're right, Green Bay.

I mean, it was a separate report, but to go from number one to 170, what

the hell happened here?

The draft, I guess, I don't know.

But I thought it came out okay.

Sheboygan, 185th, Janesville, 186th, and Kenosha, 214th.

My favorite, I think I would say Madison, but I also like Egg Harbor, and I'm totally choosing that randomly in Dork County, because I like Sister Bay, Fish Creek, they're all great, Ephraim.

Conrad said Dundee, Wisconsin.

Yes, I have not heard of that's kind of cool So let us know what you guys think on the we posted the question today on social media Mike DeSatell on Facebook says Pine Lake home of Rocktoberfest, which is a well I thought when I picked Pine Lake as the town name in Wisconsin for the movie in my movie the Godfather of Green Bay I thought it was a fictional town.

I guess there actually is a Pine Lake, Wisconsin so

But Mike says, home of Rocktoberfest.

It certainly was in the movie.

Sarah Jean says, recently I've been enjoying Wapaka.

In the last year, there is a record store that opened back to vinyl Wapaka.

On my last trip there, I explored some of the other shops as well.

Super cute area and only an hour-ish drive from me from Green Bay.

Have you ever been to Wapaka?

I think once.

It wasn't memorable for me though, I'd say.

There's a lot of lakes.

My wife's family had a cottage there.

And I guess the water, she always describes like, you could see the bottom of the lake in like eight feet of water.

It was very clean.

That's awesome.

So I've only been there a couple of times, but beautiful area.

Matt Harper, rock rap artist, Matt Harper.

We gotta get Matt back on the show.

Oh yeah.

Is it about time?

It's about time.

Okay.

Matt says Milwaukee.

Not a big surprise for a rock rap artist.

Thank you, Matt.

Daniel Wheeler says, Daniel is stealing my heart right now, Conrad, with his whimsical writing style.

He says,

Yeah, yeah, I've never been there that looks gorgeous though It's right on yeah on the actual lake not the bay and it looks very picturesque.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, I gotta check that out.

That's on my list that in Bayfield Monica Hale says Bayfield another vote for Bayfield I had one of the most relaxing vacations of my life there and the view of Lake Superior from the hotel was amazing All right, that's definitely on my list So keep those texts coming folks.

We'll go to the text line here and start with

Sydney from Oregon.

Sydney from Oregon also says definitely Bayfield, Wisconsin.

Bayfield's rocking it tonight.

Ed from Madison says Milwaukee and Spring Green.

Well done, Ed.

Spring Green.

Only been there a couple of times.

House on the Rock?

Yeah, another gorgeous area of our state.

Rain from the 920 says Hewley.

Where's

that?

I would have to go to the Google.

Go to the Google for Dave's too on the stream line.

I don't know where that is.

But that was interesting.

I never even heard of that city that Dave mentioned, but we'll read that one soon too.

Al from Madison says, Sister Bay, I'm with you Al, gorgeous Dork County.

Tyler from Wisconsin Rapids says, Pittsville, the geographic center of the state, its name says it all.

Pittsville, yes.

I assume it's beautiful.

But based on its name, it sounds like it's not.

But that's Tyler Tyler's got cheeky texts.

I've been watching a British show called line of duty lately So I'm starting to talk like a Brit and I think Tyler's texts have been very cheeky Tori from Kiwani says frog station which soon will be everyone's favorite city as soon as Mino opens the abandoned bar.

I Don't know about that You produce the morning show sometimes what's going on there Mino opening a bar.

I guess so.

Does that surprise you?

Uh, yeah, yeah, I didn't know if he was, I didn't know he was getting into the bar business.

Why not?

Might as well open a bar, he knows everybody.

Yeah, that's a good point, yeah.

That's the guy who should open a bar.

Anna from Madison, she's in the 608, says, Hi, Pete and Conrad, my favorite Wisconsin city is Sister Bay, I love Dora County.

I would say right now we're in a runoff between Sister Bay and Bayfield.

Right?

Yeah,

yeah, I would say Bayfield.

And just, yeah.

Yeah, Steve from Florida says, if I had a place in Wisconsin, that would be my favorite would be Northern Dork County, Washington Island.

Steve goes even farther north.

So we are all caught up in the text line.

Sarah Jean on the stream says, hey, sorry, I missed it.

When are you dishing out the code word tonight?

Sarah Jean, you can tune in at 7 AM, 11 AM, 2 PM and 4 PM for the keyword.

Give it out on this show.

The contest is not eligible during nightlight.

But good luck tomorrow.

Definitely play.

And thanks for reaching out.

Dave says, Paioli.

I don't know if I'm saying that right.

But I pulled it up on Google.

It looks beautiful.

It looks like it's down by Kettle Moraine.

Oh, OK.

And it looks like some sort of historic village.

Very nice.

Thank you, Dave.

Hey, we have time to play that clip.

Dana Carvey, I know that oh come on Conrad you're killing me.

Sorry How long is it?

It's like a minute

minute 30 all right.

I'll have to save some time Coming up in just a few minutes folks our pal Rob Thomas.

He is the city cast Madison newsletter editor They do some really cool stuff.

I love that little that little rag as they call it and we'll talk about some movies too Rob has some new movies.

He's reviewed on his sub stack one of which I've never heard of

So, we'll talk to Rob about that, and what's going on in Madison, including the city's toxic traits.

I wish I'd known that.

I was just there last night, and I have to admit, nothing really looked toxic.

I love Madison.

And it's good to be home in Green Bay, and Conrad is wearing pants.

All is right in the world.

Welcome to Nightlight, folks.

We have a really fun show.

Way in with your thoughts and your favorite Wisconsin cities.

Text us your thoughts throughout the show.

Always more fun when you guys are part of the show.

We're coming right back.

This is Pete Schwabba in Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.

She could fire.

This is Nightlake.

Great to have you with me on this Tuesday night.

Is it weird that it already feels like Thursday?

I

don't know, because last week was a short week, so, you know,

maybe that's why.

So it seems like a long way.

I feel like I've already done eight shows this week.

Maybe it was The Driver or something.

I don't know.

So we will read your texts coming up soon, folks.

I did look up that Paoli, and it's a gorgeous little historic town, and it says 12 miles from downtown Madison.

I've never even heard of it, but it looks beautiful.

All right, keep those answers coming, or those questions coming, I'm sorry, those answers coming, folks.

Our question of the night is, what is your favorite Wisconsin city excluding the one you live in?

So far, I would say Bayfield.

And was it Sister Bay?

Yeah.

And Sister Bay.

Mine was Agar Harbor because it's a little closer to civilization than Sister Bay.

But they're all good.

Dore County in general, probably gonna get a lot of votes tonight.

So keep those answers coming.

Right now, I'm very excited to welcome back tonight, one of our favorites.

He is the city cast Madison newsletter.

Check it out if you haven't.

And he's also a Madison based film critic.

And he joins us now over the stream, our pal, Rob Thomas.

Hey, Rob.

Hey, Pete, how you doing?

Good.

How are you?

Hey, how was your vacation?

It was mostly great.

We went to New York City for the more than a long weekend.

I was the victim of a crime, which is that I was scammed on, well, I was scammed on tickets to see Othello with Denzel Washington, which was like the whole point of the trip or our main thrust.

It's my own fault.

I waited till the last minute, was looking for deals on StubHub.

Got a nice one.

Went to the theater and the guy was like, yeah, those seats don't exist.

That's not real.

And luckily, StubHub was on it.

They gave us a full refund.

But it was sold out,

so

we were out of luck on theater, but, you know, we found a bar, we found a bookstore, we had a perfectly great time.

So next time Denzel Washington does a fella, we'll be sure to be there.

You did what any good Wisconsinite would do as a backup option and find a bar.

It's

always a plan B, if not a plan A.

If Denzel wasn't in a fellow, the bar probably would have been the first option.

But I can't even imagine seeing him on stage.

That must be something.

So

I'm sorry that happened to you.

And we'll have to imagine

it.

It looks like you had a nice yoga work out there too, Rob.

I saw one of your posts.

I went to Peloton.

I'm in the Peloton.

I'll say it up front.

And the spinning class, the bikes.

And I've been, since the pandemic, I've been pretty avid.

And I went to, they have the studio where they live streamed the classes to like all the members.

And so I got in and was, you know, pedaling away.

And you can see like, mostly my head was cut off on the stream, but you could kind of see me and

I sent a video to my kids and they were suitably embarrassed.

Which is really the whole

point, right?

I have to ask you, as a guy who saw those commercials over and over, it's an exercise bike.

What is it about Peloton?

Is it because there's someone kind of steering the ship in a Peloton headquarter location?

What is it that's so special about Peloton?

I think that's...

the big one is like it's sort of halfway between just like messing around at home on a you know an elliptical and like actually going to the gym because they have set classes at a certain time or they have a bunch on demand as well but it's it keeps just enough of a motivation to get you in the seat and also like you know you have other

people, you sort of friend and high-five virtually and nice.

So it's a very, you know, my wife is a big gym goer.

So she loves the in-person experience, but I like to stay home.

And this is, this gives me what part of that I need, I guess.

That's excellent.

You know, I remember from the Peloton ads during COVID where, and this shows you where my brain was at during COVID and how little I was working out.

All I remember thinking was, I had Peloton girls more attractive than the other Peloton girl.

How sad is that?

They're

all in excellent shape.

True.

They're all in better shape than me.

I have to.

OK, before I want to ask you about some movies, but before we start, did we talk severance last time?

Yes, although I think we weren't that far into it.

We just like my wife and I just finished season one and we're taking a little breather.

because the rest of the world had to wait, what, three years before season two, so we don't want to jump right into it.

And I loved it the whole way through, and she very slowly came around and was very into it by the end.

That's kind of how I was.

I don't know.

I still don't know how I feel about it.

I felt like it was so slow and overly stylistic almost, and I know the story grew, and then I got more into it, but I think it lost me a few times, and I didn't go back.

and catch up and i think that's my problem because and you know rarely do i do this but there's so much hype around the show i feel like i have to go back and watch the whole damn first season over again

yeah it's pretty dense i guess i haven't like i said i haven't watched season two yet so i don't know but i can't like i can't imagine

a three-year cliffhanger like that after the end of the first season.

But honestly, I just kind of enjoyed the vibe of, like, I didn't need that much story.

Like, I thought it was very funny, like, sort of the satire of the workplace and the melon party and the middle management, all that stuff I thought was really interesting and funny and the relationships between the characters.

And I didn't need too much of the, I guess, the conspiracy part of it of what's going on.

Oh, interesting.

OK.

Yeah.

Seems like a pretty good place to work.

I don't know.

This is from a guy who likes his gig, too.

That's right.

All right, so let's jump into some movies, Rob.

You wrote about Jane Austen wrecked my life.

This is interesting to me.

I haven't seen it.

I've read about it.

You said you were calling it lit.

I assume that you liked it.

I thought

you

was really well written.

Tell us about the film.

Oh, thanks.

Yeah, I liked it well enough.

It's it's.

It's a very kind of quirky, low, let's say low energy, but just sort of take on the rom-com.

It's in French and English, and it's about this woman in Paris who works in a famous bookshop, Shakespearean company, who's sort of a wallflower, writes in secret but never shows anybody, and her best friend sends it to this.

Jane Austen residency, like this, where writers go with this, this beautiful country house and write for two weeks.

And so she goes and kind of gets out of her comfort zone, but there's like, it's just so quirky.

Like I think I wrote, like my lead was like, you know, not a lot of rom-coms have the heroin fantasizing about slow dancing with the naked man in the Chinese restaurant.

And I was like, that was just so odd that I was like, okay, that's that.

Bridget Jones never did that.

So it was like,

There's a little low key.

Low key is probably the word I would use.

And it's a

little more low key than maybe it should be.

But it's interesting.

Yeah, it's an indie, so it's in some theaters now.

Probably be on streaming pretty soon.

Okay.

I thought something was, this was really funny, Rob.

You wrote, you made a joke about one of the main characters playing out or typewriter and writing in the movie.

And they never do this in movies about writing.

Writing is not very exciting to watch, is it?

No, it's not very cinematic.

Yeah, right.

Um, so it's a keeper though.

Thumbs up.

Yeah, it's pretty good.

I think if you, if you think that I might like that kind of movie, you'll like that kind of movie.

Yeah.

I think I, I think I would like that movie because of another line in your review that I really liked.

You said it may be a little too muted for traditional roundcom fans, uh, and a little light on Austin for Jane Austen fans.

That's

a great

line.

Oh, thanks.

Yeah.

All right, so we'll put that in the category to see.

I did not read this review, but I saw that you wrote about the new boy starring Kate Blanchett.

Tell us about the new boy.

Yeah, that's a very, like, I think it's on streaming.

I don't think I've played in theaters even in Madison.

And usually, like, it's a new Kate Blanchett movie.

You'd think it would play fairly big.

Yeah, I didn't even hear of it.

But it's like her.

So she's Australian, which I keep forgetting.

But it's like her first...

Australian movie in like, I think like 20 years.

I was looking at her IMDB It's it's a she plays a nun in very rural Australia and looks like the 30s or 40s And there was this kind of very shameful thing which happened in a lot of colonial cultures where they would basic kidnap kids and convert them to Christianity and you know and sort of rub out the old culture and they

they snap up this one nine year old boy who just, you know, resists and apparently has some sort of like supernatural abilities.

I guess I would say like healing abilities.

And so it's kind of like the war of wills between the two of them.

It's like an unbelievably beautiful movie.

Like it like every shot is like a painting.

So if you like keep my chat and you were you know, I we just are in black bag, which is one of my favorites of the year This is a completely different role for her playing a playing a nun But I do recommend it.

Let's that's a great segue actually because

We might have touched on black.

I don't think you had seen black bag actually.

Maybe not.

Took a little while before I saw it.

Same here.

And I think you saw it very shortly after I did, but you kind of did a deep dive in your article on your sub stack.

And by the way, check out Rob's sub stack, not that Rob Thomas sub stack.

He does great work there.

So your entire article, I equated it to, you talk about the Blu-ray extras, your article was like a Blu-ray extra.

You had some great stuff in there about just a creation of the film and what David kept.

Talk a little bit about David Kep and where he's the screenwriter, where his inspiration came to write this movie when he was working on another project.

I found that really

interesting.

So David Kep, UW-Badison graduate, has come to the film festival a couple of times with his movies.

He wrote the first Mission Impossible back in...

1996 he's a big-time screenwriter.

That's where Jurassic Park is written the new one that's coming in the summer, but he was talking to CIA guys and like They were telling him about you know their job unless they could about their jobs and like and he was like, okay, but what's it like to be married when you're CIA agent when you spend your entire day lying and then you go home to your husband and wife and you know, there must be a lot of Infidelity going on there because you're all really good at lying

Right.

And so he's been working on this movie, the screenplay for like, yes, ever since 20, 30 years.

And it's a, you know, British spy.

I would say thriller.

I mean, there's very little action.

It's all dialogue and, you know, tension and as.

Michael Fassbender is trying to figure out who in there who in his team is a traitor and his wife who's played by Cate Blanchett is one of the suspects And just I thought

it

was great.

I might be

yeah

that is sinners and this other movie I saw last night is a sneak preview called the life of Chuck Those are kind of I think those are all vying for my favorites of the year so far nice

Yeah, you're right and I that

It wasn't a complaint.

I was expecting a little more action in Black Bag.

Sure.

There is a scene where a drone, it's really cool the way it's shot too.

It just bird dogs this van and blows it up and it was like, whoa, like that kind of came out of nowhere because a lot of it is dialogue.

And you talk about in the film how, you know, them sitting around the table talking about their private lives is almost

more interesting than them talking about the office, even though they work their spies, you know,

so I

thought that was really cool too.

Yeah, it's really interesting.

There's like two dinner party scenes, one at the beginning, one at the end.

And yeah, I loved it.

I can't wait to see it again.

Do you think you can beat a polygraph test?

Well, I learned a good tip from the movie.

I won't spoil it, but I think I would need to practice.

I would be so

scared.

I think I would wet myself if I had to take a polygraph test.

That might be a giveaway if you wet yourself.

That screams guilty conscience?

Yeah, maybe.

Maybe.

I don't know.

Great point.

All right.

Rob Thomas is my guest.

He's the editor for the CityCast Madison newsletter.

Check it out.

And a Madison-based film critic.

We will come back and talk more movies and some toxic traits of Madison.

That'll be an interesting conversation with Rob.

That's coming up next on Night Light with Pete Chihuahua on the Civic Media Radio

Network.

You're listening to Civic Media.

Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.

with Peach Waba on a Tuesday night here.

We are broadcasting live from beautiful downtown Green Bay after another lovely and successful run doing the show from our state's capital, Madison, Wisconsin, which is not on this list.

I find that strange.

I'm not going to lie.

My guest is Rob Thomas.

He is the editor for the CityCast at Madison Newsletter and a Madison-based film critic and a proud Madisonian.

Rob, when places put out these lists,

What is going on like a couple years ago Green Bay was the number one place to live in America And it's a lovely town here on this list US News and World Report.

It's 170th Madison is not on this list.

It's the top 250 cities supposedly Madison has been the number one place to live according to Forbes and various other publications Multiple years in a row, and it's not even on the list.

What do you think?

I think I think Madison has

yeah

Oh, great.

I think Madison has a housing problem, so they're trying to tell people not to go.

Not to go.

Quite frankly.

The restaurants

are too crowded.

Don't tell people we're so great.

I think that's what it

is.

Well, I wonder, because they're all over the place, these lists.

I feel like something's going on here.

You know, how much to put you on the list?

I mean, Displains, Illinois was on the list.

I've been to Displains.

It's not bad.

Yeah.

It's fine.

But

come

on, top 250, give me a break.

Kind of French.

Exactly.

It's

worldly.

Rob, do you have a favorite city in Wisconsin that is not Madison, Wisconsin?

That's our question of the night.

I'm

just curious

where you would fall in that.

That's a good question.

I mean, honestly, I would say Milwaukee.

Milwaukee is a great city.

If you're talking small towns, probably Spring Green.

Yeah.

So much less to do there and very close to Madison.

A

couple people have mentioned Spring Green.

Sure.

Yeah.

That's great.

Before we move off of Black Bag, I just, I read in your article too that, and I was surprised by this too, the Too Flat where Michael Fassbender and Kate Blanchett lived was a set you wrote.

Where was

that filmed, you know?

I

think it was London, but they just built a set inside a studio in the like, yeah, it blew my mind because when I saw that,

movie I was sure that was like what how much that cost for this beautiful two-story apartment and there's a street out front all fake all all built in a studio I guess so they could shoot wherever they wanted to and not damage it but movie magic

I'm telling you I always love when they film on location but sometimes a set you're right can be so magical

It just makes you want to move there like I remember seeing pictures of rear window and how they set that jib like that camera coming over the whole courtyard to film stuff and that was just It's really spectacular when you see those things.

The last thing is Soderbergh Did his own camera work?

I

didn't know that.

I think he always does that.

Under maybe an alias, he always does the camera work.

He does the editing.

So you're watching the making up, and usually the director's way in the back watching what's being shot on a monitor.

He's right up in their faces with the camera, with the actors.

And it seems like a very different process.

He's a lot more intimate and maybe

I think gets the actors very engaged when the director's like literally right their face.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Great point.

Um, before we get to toxic traits of Madison, which I loved reading that, um, what, uh, what did you think of Mission Impossible?

To me, this is like the biggest film for adults, probably all summer, and it opened well.

It, uh, was dwarfed by Lilo and Stitch, but that was kind of expected.

What was your take on Mission Impossible?

Well, I love those movies like I I mean I love the last I mean I think only two was like the last one or is like that wasn't so good, right?

And I think I said this is like a three-star movie in a four-star series, you know, it's it's good.

Okay held my attention, you know Incredible sequences towards the end But a lot of exposition especially in the first half a lot of backstory a lot of flashbacks

It takes a long time for my mind to start getting fun and, you know, kind of that mission impossible fun with like, you know, the intrigue and the suspense and kind of the trickery and stuff like that.

Like the moment I really locked in was when, speaking of severance, when Tramiel Tillman who plays Mr. Melchek, I think on the show.

He's the sub-commander and he is so funny and missional possible.

Every line is hilarious.

That's the guy from Severance?

Yeah, yeah.

I loved that guy.

I thought he was going to be the president's son or something, but then he was, that's so great.

I'd never put

that

together.

Yeah, he was very funny.

I mean, just every line, he just made a meal out of it.

Okay, this is going to be fun.

And from then on, and that's probably the main way through the

movie,

I was really enjoying it.

So, you know, I think.

I think they kind of pushed it as far as they can go, and maybe a little too far.

Too big.

Yeah.

The only argument I can make, and it's not a good one, because I've talked about this film now with Ben Reiser.

I think Matt Miller and I discussed it, and no one seems to like that sort of recap.

And I didn't love it, but with eight movies over 30 years, and most of us don't have time to go back and watch every movie.

I watched part of seven and part of three.

Yeah.

It's tough.

I mean, I didn't think it needed to be that long.

But I thought for what it was, it was OK.

But you're right.

It wasn't like when the movie gets going, it gets going.

Yeah.

And I agree.

It was OK.

It was engaging.

I thought the way they brought three in was pretty interesting.

But I think too often it brought stuff in and then it didn't really pay off.

Correct.

In a way like the Shane Wiggum character.

We find out.

And, but that doesn't really pay off, right?

Like it doesn't, you know.

It was not

necessary, I thought.

I'm like,

he doesn't need to be

related to, you know, John Voight.

Yeah.

And I love

Shea Wiggum, but come

on.

Absolutely.

But yeah, if you're going to, if you're going to spend time at the beginning to set that up, then have it pay off later on.

And a lot too often, many of those things did, I thought.

No, that's a great point.

Do you have a, now that you've seen all eight, how would you, give me your top three, Rob?

Ooh, that's a toughie.

Fallout is my favorite.

Is that five?

That's six.

That's the one where he broke his ankle in pairs.

After I saw Final Reckoning, I was like, it was OK.

These movies are a little overrated.

And then I watched a two-minute clip of him running across rooftops.

I was like, oh, no, these are the best movies ever made.

This is incredible.

I probably would go six, and then five, good nation, the one who was hanging on the side of the plane.

Hold on.

Hold

that thought.

Hold that thought.

We will get

Rob Thomas' favorite Mission Impossible movie after the news, and we're going to talk about toxic traits in Madison.

It's time for intermission, folks.

We're coming right back.

This is Peach Wabba and

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