Transcript
Frankenstein, Chocolate, and the Art of Cinema (Hour 2)
Nite Lite with Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach · Tue Oct 28, 2025
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Welcome back to Nightlight, folks.
Tuesday night edition, we are kicking off act two here.
Rob Thomas will be here at 720 talking movies.
He's a Madison based film critic and a very much a frequent flyer.
Would you call him a frequent flyer here on Nightlight Conrad?
Oh, definitely.
Rob's on quite a bit.
We love talking to Rob.
And Max Hay is also here.
He's agreed to stick with us through the news for a few more minutes.
We'll get back to Max in just a minute.
We talked about, in the first hour, if you missed it, our question of the night is, how do you like your chocolate?
It's National Chocolate Day, so let us know at 855-752-4842-8557.
You can also text us on the app, or if you're watching the radio on the stream, drop us a stream comment on YouTube, Facebook, or X.
And Dave on the stream, by the way, says, I like this answer.
He said, 50% cocoa, caramel, crunchy bits of toffee.
There you go, Conn.
Yeah.
Bring enough for everyone, Dave.
Melissa from Willy Street in the 608 says, Ollie is so wonderful.
I love her stories.
She always makes me smile.
I am totally with you, Melissa.
Ollie, I hope you're still listening.
And John from the 608 says, Ollie's new Delta Taukai name is Gwani.
Wow, grandma?
I don't know, what if Ollie's like 39, John?
I don't know if you wanna, she said she's a little bit older.
We also talked about a movie I saw that I really like, Truth and Treason, based on a true story, a teenager in Nazi Germany in 1942, stands up to Hitler, and boy, I really wanna say what happens, but it would be a spoiler alert, but it's a very, the main character's very courageous.
It's a really good movie, definitely recommend it.
And with that in mind, let's get back to our guest.
Max Hay directed a movie called Now More Yes, a documentary that he shot with a subject actor, whatever you want to say, a very interesting person named T.W.
Hansen, who is a blind picture car purchaser.
Max, thanks for sticking around.
Yeah, happy to hang around with you guys.
It's been fun.
Yeah, I want to ask you, are you committed to documentaries or do you want to dip your toe in the narrative waters?
I definitely want to do narrative stuff down the line.
I think a lot of what keeps me interested in doing docs for now, I think, is just how
How interesting the real world is and I think there's just like so much so much to tell From what already is happening that right just seems like a weird time to even generate Some some new idea.
I'm so overloaded.
I you know is I'm also really broke so It's way way cheaper to just you know take out your phone and and and see what happens then you know
Did you film it on your
phone?
Did
you
film some of it?
Nice.
Yeah, not a lot of it, but I'm not a shooter.
I'm an editor.
So a lot of the stuff I shot was kind of hard to color correct.
It's funny.
Andrew Swant did the color and he said, what camera did you use for this scene?
This is like the best color you, you know, this is the best shot stuff you had.
And I was like, oh, that's my iPhone.
Like, thanks.
Hey, you had the I saw you had mark board chart in the movie to love mark I actually cast him in something I did years ago He was such a joy and I've become pretty good friends with mark over the years.
He shares all of our posts He's such a just a salt of the earth guy and really knowledgeable about film.
How did he find his way into your project?
Oh, yeah, he's he's a total treasure.
I've known him a long time.
He actually
He was part of a film that T.W.
was wrangling cars for when I met him for the first time.
And, you know, he's just all around just a huge supporter of the arts in general and also just the film scene here.
So he's gonna, you know, it's such a tight-knit arts community.
And I think...
his perspective on things and his relationship with Tim kind of holds, kind of helps hold the story together a little bit, I think.
Right.
That's great.
Well, before we let you go, I have two questions for you, Max.
Do you have a favorite location in Milwaukee or Wisconsin where you look at it and you go, man, I'd love to shoot something there?
Not really.
I'm more a go-in-the-woods kind of person.
I really like the trails in downtown Milwaukee or east side, River West area.
If you go down there, I think there's a lot of cool little spots that merge urban infrastructure.
while also like showing the wildlife we have still here in town.
And I think there's there's no like, you know, particular coordinates that I would like share.
But it's like, you take a walk down there and you're like, this is cool.
Hmm.
That's good.
I think sometimes you see a location for me anyway, and I'm like, oh man, a scene would look great right there.
It almost can inspire an entire idea if you find a cool enough location.
And it sounds like you have one there.
That's pretty interesting.
All right, last question for you, buddy.
What are you watching?
Anything you could recommend?
Do you binge watching anything?
Uh, lately I've been trying to keep up with, uh, I'm not a big TV show person.
I am bad at committing to stuff, but, uh, so far, uh, chair company, or wait, I think that's what it's called.
The chair company with Tim Robinson.
Yeah.
We've
been
watching that too.
Very funny.
And when does that, is the new episode out?
Is it Wednesday?
Sundays.
Oh, it's Sundays.
So
there's
a third episode out.
Yeah.
Oh, I
totally forgot about that.
Okay.
Yeah.
Great choice.
That last episode where he leads that girl.
He's trying to lose her and she almost gets killed in the middle of intersection.
So I hope we didn't just spoil something for you, Max.
I assume you were up to date on the show.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, we're good.
All right.
Fantastic.
Hey, thanks for your time tonight, Max.
Best of luck with the film.
Keep us posted.
If it gets up this way in Northeast Wisconsin and down in Madison, we'd love to know about it.
So keep us informed.
We'll do.
Thank you so much for having me on.
Very welcome.
Have a great night.
All right, you too.
All right, that's Max Hay.
Check out the film.
If it comes to a theater near you or a streaming platform, we'll do our best to let you know, but it's called Now, More, Yes, and that was Max Hay.
Rob Thomas is coming up at 720.
We're gonna talk about the new Frankenstein movie, see what Rob thought about that, and one battle after another, because last time Rob was here, he hadn't seen it yet.
For once in my life, I beat Rob to a movie, so I'm anxious to talk about that with Rob.
You watched Beetlejuice to gear up for Halloween.
You say you watch that every year?
I really like the original Beetlejuice.
And this time I actually watched it at Timber Tap in Kimberly.
Oh yeah.
They had a movie night and it was, you know, Halloween theme.
So I had a couple drinks and watched Beetlejuice with my brother and my sister-in-law.
So yeah, it was fun and I just really enjoy the film.
Yeah.
You want to hear something?
I've never seen it.
Really?
Never seen the original I think it just did not appeal to me when it came out, you know, it's not scary, right?
Well, that's not
Okay Yeah, I would I'm a huge Michael Keaton fan.
Love.
Oh, you love
Yeah Let's get to some texts here our question of the night is what how do you like your chocolate?
It is national chocolate day And that's a great topic
I love talking about things I try not to eat, like booze, chocolate.
I find some connection to them just by talking about them.
I really do enjoy that.
Paula Conrad's mom checks in from the 920 and says, raspberry chocolate martini.
Oh my God.
You know, never tried one of those.
god.
How good was that
right now That sounds so delicious, and I don't even this chocolate raspberry martini I've never tried it like the chocolate martinis it never appeared like they sound gross But I'm sure they're good because people love them.
so sweet,
good.
But the key lime, that's good with anything.
Oh,
good.
Jack from Merrimack says, how do I like my chocolate?
The best combination I've ever had is vanilla chocolate cake ice cream from Babcock Hall.
I don't know Babcock Hall, but I love chocolate or ice cream cake.
We've talked about that recently on the show.
That's Jack from the 414.
Thank you, buddy.
Appreciate the text.
Lori from Haywards.
She's in the 715 says, in my mouth.
Well, maybe I should have clarified what orifice I was speaking of, but I thought that was understood.
In Lori's mouth is what she's saying there.
Great text, Lori, thank you.
Tyler, we read Tyler's, we read Ross's, we took Ollie's call.
Pamela from Wisconsin Rapids, she's in the 715 says, in chocolate chip cookies, nice.
A long time listener of WFHR just brought in fresh baked chocolate chip cookies this afternoon.
She brings us cookies every month.
We are so fortunate to have such great listeners.
Pamela, that is great.
Thank you.
Boy, would he kill our listeners to bring us some cookies once in a while?
I mean, I'm not trying to.
I gotta be honest with you.
That was a joke, obviously.
If someone showed up here in the studio with cookies, I wouldn't touch them with a 10-foot pole.
diving.
I'm diving in.
Well, I would probably depend on who it was, but some guy just moses up with a plate of cookies.
I'm not, I'm not gonna partake.
You want some cookies?
Yeah, I'm not going to look.
I do.
Conrad will eat him, so if you're listening.
John from the 608 says, love the show, Conrad and Peter.
Conrad spelled with a C. You guys are the best.
How do I like my chocolate?
Rich and delicious and right next to me in hands reach.
Total chocoholic daily user.
Nothing wrong with that, John.
And John's a very honest guy.
He also says it's loaded with benefits.
Right,
Well, those benefits are just that it tastes amazing.
Dark chocolate has, has anti-accidents in it.
Exactly.
Truly a superfood.
John also says, oh, I read that.
He loves Ollie.
She's the sweetest thing.
Ollie's getting a lot of love tonight from the couch potatoes.
Steve in Florida says, I love all types of chocolate, just like Frito-Lay chips.
You can't eat just one.
Yeah, chips are the same way.
I'm going
Frito?
Fritos?
can't believe I'm going to come after you over Fritos, and that's going to cut into our Norm McDonald time.
Do we have time to play the Norm clip?
Uh, yes, yes.
Let's play it.
Yes, we do.
We'll pick up the Frito argument later.
This is a funny clip of Norm.
Listen, the gals are in the news a lot.
What about Kate Goslin?
Yes.
Kate
Goss is someone who people are talking about.
Yeah.
John and Kate plus eight.
She's in the news.
She says she's very lonely now.
She wants to date.
And this is an interesting coincidence, Conan.
Cause just the other day I was saying, Hey, I wonder if I could ever hook up with a middle-aged bitter lady with seven, eight
kids.
I love Norm McDonald.
His kid, I'm in the algorithm.
They keep popping up and they're so damn funny.
I don't want to give people norm fatigue.
But what really Fritos you don't how do you know they're too salty?
They're salty, but they're corn.
They're like the most those and potato chips are like No preservatives, I mean they're the healthiest chip you can have
it's delicious.
All right, we're coming back.
Rob Thomas is going to be here.
We're going to talk movies.
He saw Frankenstein.
Stick around, folks.
It's Pete Schwabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio
Network.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.
Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get
started.
Nightlight, you've got the Civic Media radio network.
I just got a Facebook friend request from someone who has one friend.
I never call people losers, but it's got to be a thing, right?
That's like, how do you have one social media friend?
I can see in real life, it's hard to make a social media.
Everyone should have tons of friends.
That's why I think it's some kind of scam.
I might think it.
All right, we are going to turn our attention now, folks, to the wonderful art of cinema and talk movies with our pal Rob Thomas.
He is the CityCast Madison newsletter editor and a Madison-based film critic, and we love having him on Nightlight, as always.
And that's why we have him on so much.
Rob Thomas, hey, buddy.
Hey, Pete.
How are you?
I'm doing well.
How are you?
That's awesome.
Well, you look great.
Your office looks great.
I like the wall color.
That's very slick.
I won't say anything because I did the same thing with my son.
Well, he was done with college and he left and I said, do you mind if I use your room?
You know, I was going to do it anyway, but I wanted to make him think he had a choice.
And
said, you know, it's still your room, but I'm just going to put a desk and a mic in there.
And he goes, yeah, he goes, dad, do whatever you want.
All right.
So I did that.
And he's like, he had a bunch of baseball cards on the wall and I took him down.
He's like, you took down the baseball cards.
Yeah.
I mean, you know.
Yeah, he was 23 or 23 when I did that I couldn't do it to my daughter's room right now either.
No way Hey, it's good to see you buddy and thanks for being here Do you have a do you have a you know favorite way like your chocolate Rob?
clarify that.
I
what people are doing out there.
I agree because there's a little bit more chocolate.
That's great.
That's a great call.
Um, well, let's jump in because I'm excited.
You've seen a lot of these movies I haven't seen yet.
And I don't, you know, is, you saw Frank, is that in theaters yet?
I think a lot of theaters still don't play them, but it's playing at Flix Brewhouse here in Madison.
Here's on Netflix, like November 7th, I think.
So it was one I really wanted to see on the big screen because it's Guillermo del Toro who makes these great movies like.
shape of water and pans labyrinth and you know
let's save uh let's save frankenstein for after the break because i'm very eager to hear what you have to say and i'm sure listeners are too but let's start with the film that uh we didn't discuss last time one battle after another uh your thoughts
Yeah,
and it was but what I was not expecting is how funny it was like I was like we were laughing a lot in the movie.
It's so Like you know, Caprio is so funny he plays this
Ex-revolutionary and you think he's going to be kind of the hero and he's really kind of a bumbler.
You know, he's he's trying to rescue his rescue his daughter who's much more well equipped.
And then Sean Penn plays the villain this really right wing army guy who's very scary but also very funny and sort of just bizarre and right.
You know, it's a movie.
It feels very rewatchable to me.
There's so much incredible.
Sequences like I mean there's an actual car chase at the end like this.
That's like a car chase.
I've never seen before Yeah, I just thought it was incredible.
I know you saw it as well, right?
I did and I liked it a lot and I agree with you and I
You know, some people are saying it's a political movie.
It has a message.
There's no question about that.
And there
white supremacists are the bad guys and this weird club they have.
But I tell friends of mine on the right, I go, well, you know, it does poke fun at the left too.
I mean, it's a little, they're not saying the left is evil, but there's a lot of stuff to laugh at.
It's just a good movie.
And I don't
people are going to be offended when they see it.
I think even people on the right would go, yeah, there are bad people like that.
And I was, I was thinking it would be much more 20, 25 centric.
And there's certainly things in the film that remind you of what's going on in the news now.
But it's a much bigger story about fathers and daughters and the struggle that's been going on.
And we'll probably always be going on.
So it's a much bigger scope.
I, like I said, good.
Oh, no, I'm sorry, Rob.
Go.
I didn't mean to cut.
Correct.
And that's a great way to put it.
And I did think I loved how, like you said, how funny it was.
Like he gets reactivated.
He can't remember his password.
He's yelling at the guy that his daughter is dating.
Very funny.
But the physical comedy, when he fell off that roof, I was
out a bathrobe
He steps up.
Yeah, it was great.
I would say that and Sinners are probably my two favorites, and I would lean toward this one.
I loved it.
Now, I haven't seen Frankenstein yet, and I'm sure I'm forgetting one, but yeah, great
that's up there too.
Yeah.
All right, that's the voice of Rob Thomas, folks.
He's joining us tonight over the stream from Madison.
We're going to take a quick news break here.
And then when we come back, Rob is going to tell us about Frankenstein.
It looks great.
Is it?
Rob will tell us when we come back.
It's Peach Wabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Tonight with Pete Schwabba, starting off the fourth quarter here.
Tomorrow night on the show, John Roach will be here.
TV producer, screenwriter, and director of the outstanding film, A Road at Night.
John's been on before.
He's gonna talk about a screening they have coming up at the Driftless Film Festival.
And then we have Carl Serecki, who is from Door County, Trolley, and tells really great ghost stories about Door County.
So that's tomorrow night on Night Light.
Right now we get back to our friend Rob Thomas.
Madison Bay Film Critic and City Cast at Madison Newsletter who joins us from Madison.
Rob, how you doing?
You good?
I'm great.
I'm glad to hear that.
It's always fun when you're here.
I love talking movies with you.
Tell us about Frankenstein.
So Guillermo Dottoro has like wanted to make Frankenstein for like literally decades and like he's kind of made
Kind of versions of this story like shape of water was about you know a monster and men and and like his last movie was Pinocchio, which was sort of a sort of a Frankenstein story, right about yeah maker and its creation and so this idea of like the monster and and human beings and who's the real monster and so he's finally got a chance to make it For Netflix and it's a he's obviously spent a long time thinking about this movie and
this book and loving Mary Shelley's book because it's a very faithful adaptation in a good way, I think, for the most part.
Oscar Isaac plays Dr. Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi plays the monster.
His performance is
really incredible because uh he doesn't you know he doesn't have the bolts in the neck like Boris Karloff.
Right.
He plays him like a giant infant sort of who's just like just the way he uses his body as he's sort of discovering existence is so different than anything you've seen in a Frankenstein movie.
It's really cool.
Um and Oscar Isaac I think is pretty great.
He like he plays him as uh kind of like uh
I mean kind of like an Elon Musk tech tech bro who is like pursuing all these, you know radical medical developments and not thinking about the consequences I would say it's a little long and the third act focuses mostly on the monster As he escapes and it's a little dry after after what's kind of gone on before But in general, I liked it and I was really happy I saw it on the big screen because like don't hurry uses the
build these huge sets and there's all this detail.
And so it's really, we're seeing on a big screen to sort of drink all that in, if you can.
I assume there's no bathtub scene with Jacob Elordi and this with him as Frankenstein.
good.
All right.
Well, what did you think of Shape of Water?
That movie, when I was done watching it,
I liked it.
I thought it was interesting, but man, I didn't know what the heck was going on.
I mean, I could follow it, but I just didn't love it at the time, I guess.
And I was, it was probably one of the most surprising best picture wins in the last 20 years.
I never thought the Academy would go for a movie like that, where, you know, a hot fish man seduces a woman, you know, basically, right?
But yeah, I mean that's kind of like I said it was sort of a Frankenstein story about this creature and it's like more human than I remember the Michael Shannon character was sort of this government agent and Yeah, I really liked it.
I haven't watched that.
I don't think since I saw it in theaters 10 years ago
Rob, I want to ask you about what do you think a roof man?
I was quite honestly a very pleasant surprise like I've always liked Channing Tatum
but he's often not really gotten roles that kind of, I don't know, he's so like, he's such a hunk, but he's also such a goofball at the same time.
I think the 21 Jump Street movies caught that.
Magic Mike a little
bit.
And this one, he plays a real life character, this sort of gentleman burglar who would rob McDonald's, but was very nice to the employees as he was robbing them.
There's a story.
It's the beginning of the film where he hurts all the employees into the freezer, but gives them a big coat.
Keep them warm.
Yeah.
It's so great.
Like he's like, you just won over by this guy.
And
then he calls the cops to go and get them outright.
to freeze.
Yeah.
and
So cool.
And then, you know, I mean, the one thing is that like he has this romance with.
a woman who works there plays by Kirsten Dunst, who's great.
But it's hard for me to believe that nobody figured out that this was the guy.
You know, like he basically lived this whole double life where he was like going to church and going on dates and stuff like that.
But it's just a very winning sort of comedy drama, kind of like they don't make him any like that anymore kind of movie that I'm really happy to see.
Yeah.
Yeah, he was good.
And I liked the message at the end, like, you know,
I don't want to give spoilers, but he said, you know, I wanted to get all this stuff for my daughter and my kids and material things.
And he goes, and all they really needed was time with me.
And it's such a heartbreaking message, but it's so it rings true.
And it's, uh, yeah, I really, I was surprised by how much I liked it.
so let's get to another one that you saw Rob blue moon I this looks so good and it's reviewing really well at this is This is Ethan Hawke who is playing Lauren's heart who was the kind of the Pete Best of the Rogers and Hammerstein He left I can't remember which one he was paired up with but
Uh, he was no longer, or he went off on his own, I guess.
And Ethan Hawke plays him at that kind of at that time, right?
When he was readjusting to life by himself.
Well, I mean, Rodgers and Hart had been together writing songs for musicals and movies for like 25 years.
And when he wrote like.
my funny Valentine and he wrote, well, Blue Moon, the title, like he wrote all these songs that are considered standards today.
But yeah, this film takes place on the opening night of Oklahoma, which was Roger's first musical without him with Oscar Hammerstein.
Theater kids know all this.
I was in that show.
That's the only really.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
It was a big hit, right?
Yeah.
So and so heart sees it like, oh, this is passing me by, but this is going to be the biggest hit in Broadway history.
And I'm being left behind and it's set.
It's all set basically one set or one location, this bar where the rap party is going to be or the opening night party.
And, like, Hawk is like, I've never seen him in a movie like this before, where he plays like a totally different kind of character than he is.
He's like this, you know, kind of needy, you know, quippy, but really desperate and sad man who, you know, is sort of lurking in the shadows as his former partner gets all this glory.
The film, like, he looks different, he's trans, and...
you know, Laurence Hart real life was like 410 or something like that.
So they shoot him.
So he's very small in a way that's kind of distracting, but also kind of convincing and kind of helps you let go of it being Ethan Hawke and making you believe it's this different person.
Kind of a Clifford
vibe with Martin
I'm excited to see that.
Rob Thomas is my guest.
He's a Madison based film critic and is the editor of the city cast Madison newsletter, a great read.
So definitely check that out as well, as well as Rob's work on on his sub stack.
So is this like a potential Oscar role for Ethan Hawke?
Yeah.
Like I just saw, I haven't reviewed it yet, but I just saw the new Sydney Sweeney movie, Christy, where she plays at Pro Boxer.
She's really good in it and is completely different than you've ever seen her before.
And that's the kind of thing that Oscar voters seem to really like is when
You could really catch somebody acting, right?
I hope that doesn't affect your soap sales.
That's my biggest concern.
saw sweaty your boxing.
What better way to soap up the luffa with your own soap.
So you said I read your sub-stack review of ballot of a small player with Colin Farrell.
You seem kind of lukewarm on it.
And yeah, like I said in the review, I was never bored, but I was never really satisfied.
It's Colin Farrell plays this high-rolling gambler in Macau, which is, I think, a province in China, which is basically the Vegas of that part of the world.
It's just all casinos and these luxury hotels.
And at first, you think he presents himself like this.
upper crust bread but then you start learning more about who he really is and it's him trying you know he's losing badly he's trying to get you know that one big score to kind of you know pay off his debts um and the film is like beautiful it's like pink you know all these neon and it's really fast moving um it was shot by the guy who made conclave which is very strange it feels like a totally different looking movie um
But it's just there's kind of not much there.
Like it's like he's not that sympathetic a character.
And at some point you're like you don't really care whether he gets his money back or not.
And then even he doesn't seem to really care.
So like Farrell is good.
But it's like, you know, I think you could start watching it and within five minutes you would know whether it's be for you or not.
Well, Ethan or I'm sorry, even Colin Farrell.
seems to have that issue in a lot of movies.
He doesn't often play really likable characters.
Is that on purpose, do you think, or is it just him?
I mean, he's in like every frame of this movie, like his front and center and close-up.
And, you know, I think they're trying to make him this interesting, dark character with a lot of shades to him.
And, you know, it just...
I just wasn't interested in them to be honest with you like I like it's like I've seen a variation in this movie a lot of times where somebody is an addict in this case to gambling and it's kind of like going down You know going down the tubes basically and Yeah, I was just it was just sort of strange.
So like this is like this is the whole movie that like it's not gonna be anything other than this and there's some some fake out
plot twist in the middle which I sort of thought they were like kind of getting a little desperate to have something happen and
So yeah, I mean, like I said, it's a beautiful looking movie, but I just didn't have much substance to it.
Rob, what about another film, The Mastermind you reviewed?
This fascinated me.
I want to hear your thoughts on the film, but on Rotten Tomatoes, it got like mid-90s critics and the audience meter was 32 percent.
Where is the discrepancy there?
Yeah.
uh, and that was the movie a couple of weeks ago and like I could tell the audience was just not into it because it's like it's sort of like a heist movie um, but then it's sort of peter's out becomes something different and um, it's I think it's kind of based on a true story back in 1970 where this guy stole a bunch of paintings from a from a museum in massachusetts and so it's sort of set up like a heist but then he gets con has to go on the run
I mean, I loved it as sort of a character piece.
The director Kelly Reichard is one of my absolute favorites and it's just I mean, it's just so good at like Getting the vibe and the details of 1970 America, right?
It's like during the Vietnam War and the protests but this guy played by Joshua Connor Is just very focused on like his own thing So it's like it's kind of a movie that I think promises more of a genre
Thriller than it ends up being and I bet that probably frustrates some viewers.
I mean, I really, I really vibed with that.
I've got one more movie to ask you about after this very short break.
And then Rob is going to tell us about one or two things that are happening in our state's capital before Halloween.
We'll do that next on Nightlight with Pete Schwabba 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.
We're in the homestretch here at Night Light on a Tuesday broadcasting statewide from beautiful downtown Green Bay.
This Tuesday night, JB Thompson, guy behind the guy, Conrad.
Behind the guy.
Says he likes chocolate in his belly.
I have to be much more specific with my questions moving forward.
We will get to the rest of your text in just a moment, folks.
We have a few more minutes with our pal Rob Thomas.
who is a Madison based film critic and the CityCast Madison newsletter editor.
Check it out.
It's a great read, folks, in a terrific site.
Rob, you saw the John Candy documentary and you said, if you like John Candy, you'll like the film.
Does that mean it's not a great film or it's just all things John Candy and it's great?
And also, how could you not like John Candy?
Exactly.
Who doesn't like John Candy?
Yeah.
Right.
I mean,
incredible brilliant comic performer.
And by all accounts, a very genuinely nice guy.
And like, the film does a good job.
It was actually made by Colin Hanks, the son of Tom
Hanks.
right.
I think volunteer.
They did two films
Yeah, but splash was the big one, I think.
And and Tom Hanks is in the film talks about like
John Candy really taught him how to like, do like improv and scenes and like play off each other and be kind of loose in a way, you know.
But the film like, you know, looks at his private life, his public life.
You know, he was a family man.
He got really famous.
There are some incredible clips from SCTV, which I not see.
So funny.
And he's so good.
Yeah.
Like just so many different.
characters like I forgot when he played Pavarotti like so funny and you think like he was probably like in his 20s when he was like he was just he wasn't that old and he was just brilliant so um yeah it's on prime video I think and definitely definitely worth a while I have to check it out I still haven't seen it
I can't believe he's been gone 31 years
died a year that's just doesn't seem right um
Rob, let's get to a CityCast Madison article you wrote.
Can you tell for those of my listeners, and there's quite a few in Madison, what's happening this week leading up to Halloween?
It sounds like there's some cool stuff going
There's a lot of good stuff.
Yeah, there's, I think, tomorrow night.
Yeah, tomorrow night, Wednesday night is the sort of the big downtown Halloween thing where you bring the kids.
You can go trick-or-treating at local businesses.
The whole square is set up with like all kinds of events and cool stuff.
And it'll be a little chilly, but that's how it should be in Halloween, right?
So that's really good.
And then I don't know, this is the same in other cities, but there's like a tradition in the local music scene that on Halloween,
local bands like will play as other bands like they do cover like an entire set pretending to be like a tribute set so like that the Atwood Music Hall their bands pretend to be like Wilco and you know I think there's Queens of the Stone Age and a whole bunch of different ones I think and I always think that's really cool because you can kind of see like you know who these bands really love
right?
Very
And real quick just slow horses season five.
How are you digging it?
tomorrow.
Yeah,
I agree with you.
Yeah.
I'm enjoying it too.
Uh, great stuff, Rob.
Can't wait to do it again.
Uh, enjoy your, your office until your daughter gets home and, uh, let's, uh, let's talk again soon, buddy.
All right, you too.
That's Rob Thomas.
Check out his work on his sub-stack.
He's so on movies and he reviews just, I went there today and I'm like, I can't even talk about all these movies.
He's really a hardworking guy and does great work also at CityCast Madison.
So let's close out with some Texcon.
What do you say?
Yes, I agree.
I like that enthusiasm.
John in the 608 says John Candy is special.
Is that what he said?
John just dropped.
Oh, he saw the John Candy special.
Amazing man.
Lots of circumstances.
If you didn't love him before, you do now.
I think everybody already loves him.
And then John says, great guest in regard to Rob Thomas.
Couldn't agree more, John.
And John says, this dude talks like everyone I met in the 70s.
He's awesome.
Do you think he's talking about Rob Thomas or John Candy?
Probably Rob Thomas, right?
Yeah, I think so.
I never thought of Rob as a retro.
I always thought Rob was kind of a contemporary guy, but you know, retro's good.
Thank you, John.
Steady Eddie chimes in and the 608 says, my dearest chocolate, how do I love thee?
Let me count the ways.
My dear sweet M&Ms, you are crunchy and sweet and so neat to eat because you melted my mouth and not in my hands.
I love you so much.
I'm starting to feel uncomfortable reading this study.
He says, sweet Hershey bar, you were my first true chocolate love since the day you arrived in my life all the way from Hershey PA.
You used to cost me a nickel when we first met and each bite was an inspiration.
But that was long ago, and now I must pay more than a dollar for your chocolate deliciousness.
But love, you are still a bargain at 15 times that nickel price.
Please always be true to me, and I will always be true to you, steady Eddie.
Do you think he meant to send that to us, or was that?
That's a beautiful text.
It was.
I was starting to think there was, but a nickel.
How old is steady Eddie?
gonna say low 70s.
Would that be right steady?
He let us know, buddy.
Bridget in the 818 says, in a cookie, I love chocolate chip cookies.
I agree, Bridget in the 818.
And that's our second chocolate chip cookie text.
That's great stuff.
Anna from Madison says, Pete, please ask Rob.
Oh, I just saw this, dammit.
Pete, please ask Rob if he saw a song sung blue, the movie with Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman.
I wish I would have seen this, Anna, I'm sorry.
I really wanna see it.
I don't think Rob has seen that yet.
And then 608 says, hey guys, lightly salted.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
They have lightly salted fritos.
Thank you for, no, no, no, that's good stuff.
I'm with you 608.
Thank you very much.
We got to get out of here.
We'll be back tomorrow night to do it all again on behalf of the lovable producer Conrad.
Thank you to Rob Thomas.
Thank you to Max Hay.
Good luck with the film.
And thank you for all your texts.
I'm Pete Schwab.
This is Nightlight.
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