The Power of Friendship with Matt Mueller (Hour 3)

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

Your inside source on everything entertainment from Wisconsin to Hollywood.

And now a guy who still likes to build a fort Pete Schwabba

Good evening.

Welcome back to our three or act three of nightlight.

I am not Pete Schwabba, but I do also enjoy building forts I do too.

Yeah, Pete is sorting out some internet issues right now I'm joined by comedian Dobie Maxwell who was with us a little bit last hour talking about some of the latest stuff He's been up to Hopefully Pete finds his way out of the fort shortly

Yeah, I think he's up there in Marinette.

I don't know what kind of

Connection he's got up there.

I know it's not always been the the strongest of connections But we'll get that all figured out later later on this hour at 720 we will have Milwaukee film critic Matt Miller here to talk about some of his latest work some of the best stuff he's seen recently And also this hour we're going to have another keyword for civic media's grown-up gift list text-to-win contest I imagine Pete wants to give that out himself though, so I won't spoil it, but in a few minutes we'll get to that

We will.

I just want to say I love Matt Miller, too.

He is, I knew his dad was a broadcaster and he's following in his footsteps, doing him proud.

Matt is a talented cat and he teaches me what movies to see and what one not to see.

Absolutely.

Very helpful to hear from him for sure.

I think Pete's back.

There's the man.

Pete's setting his camera up, but he is here.

He

has

returned.

I've had all kinds of technical problems.

So I apologize for that.

Are we

good for malfunctioning?

Then Apple 2e it has always served me.

Well, buddy.

I've got a Was Tim Walker a comedian out Chicago said it's got windows 58.

They're painted shut

Am I back?

Can everybody hear me?

Yes

All right, fantastic.

I apologize for the technical difficulties, but it's great that you stuck with me.

Welcome to hour three of Nightlight.

The other voice you just heard is Aaron Zommer, sitting in for Conrad tonight.

Conrad will be back tomorrow.

And my old pal, Dobie Maxwell, who we will be back with in just a moment to talk about a very cool gig he has coming up here in just a few days in Port Washington, beautiful Port Washington, Wisconsin.

Dobie's a very funny man coming up at 720 Matt Miller will be here Milwaukee Film Critic.

We always love talking movies with Matt and It's a text-to-win hour folks.

So I'm gonna give you a keyword this hour in our multi-state text-to-win contest here at Civic Media We love our contest and they are so much fun when you guys participate all you need is the app really to participate and When you text in the keyword on the app

We are going to, you'll be eligible for a present from our grown-up gift list.

So all you have to do is listen for the keyword, text it in on the app, and you are eligible to win 200 bucks in cash, and you will automatically be enrolled in the grand prize drawing, which will be coming up closer to, well, December 12th.

It goes, it's the first through the 12th, right, Somers?

Yes, that's correct.

That's our text those are the dates folks.

You get a lot of chances to win You just need as I mentioned the free civic media app to play our multi-state text to win the contest so the keyword will be coming up in just a few minutes for this hour and Good luck everybody.

It's a fun contest Coming up on Wednesday.

Lauren Holly will be here to talk about this great screening.

We have Thursday night in Madison for the godfather of Green Bay 20th anniversary Screening part of the proceeds go to the Dane County Humane Society.

It's for a good cause

The Baudin's did the music.

Tony Goldwyn is in it.

Lauren Holly, Tomlin and Lance Barber, they were on the show last week.

I make a brief appearance as well because I couldn't afford John Cusack.

And

it's a fun movie.

So come on out to the Atwood Music Hall on Thursday and say hello if you end up showing up.

So with that in mind, oh, and our question of the night is what is your favorite kind of pie?

It is National Pie Day.

So we will read your text as.

as we move forward here.

But right now we've got a few more minutes with our guest, uh, Dobie Maxwell, who is here.

The very funny Dobie Maxwell, who you can see this weekend at memories ballroom with Jeff LeFleur.

And who is the MC you said was very funny?

Rob Haswell from Fox six.

He's a meteorologist.

So why a meteorologist funny?

What is the deal?

There's like a lot of, you know, and not, not like maybe I'm not saying like Al Roker has hilariously funny, but they have great, uh, they're just jovial.

I guess it goes with the territory.

He's Canadian, too.

So he's like south for the winter.

Anything under three feet of snow, he's like tropical.

He's in shorts

and

gloves.

All right, so I want it.

So check, how can people get tickets, Toby, for this weekend?

Oh,

you had

a

ask, Pete.

I

think you got, I think you trade pelts at the door.

I think there's a memoriesballroom.com.

I believe that's a good question.

I should know that.

Trouble before it's probably a good place to start though, right?

The venue limit on Jim McHugh.

He's had me.

Yeah, I think the venue should have it.

It's very yeah

Yeah, reach out to memories ballroom and they'll at least hear you in the in the right direction So I wanted to ask you so sometimes I'll get a friend request on Facebook dope and it'll say you're both members of the Maxwell method and You know, you and I have been friends for so long.

I didn't realize till like a year ago that

that that's your method.

Like, I'm like, oh, that's Dobie.

That's what he teaches.

So if people are interested in learning more about stand-up comedy or trying it or whatever, where can they go?

Like, do you still teach and what is the

Maxwell method?

Well, there's a Facebook group.

It's called the Maxwell Method of Comedy.

And the reason I did it not to be egotistical, but Colonel Sanders didn't invent fried chicken, but he put his face on the bucket

and it was his

recipe.

I have made every mistake there is to make on stage and off in 40 years now.

Where did those years go on stage that I've taught classes?

It's like, who's the carpenter you want to learn from?

The one with the least amount of fingers.

I just saw those three off.

I just talk about it.

So we've got a lot of newbies that come.

I've got, I think 14 countries, 6,000 people all over the world.

And Jimmy Brogan.

in the group.

He is a writer and a lot of great long time comedians.

It's just a place to go to ask without being, when you started out, who were your mentors?

I didn't have anybody to ask.

I had to go up there and saw my fingers off and make every mistake.

Right.

That's a great answer.

And so what you're saying is, check out Dobie's bucket of comedy and you can have your face on the

finger

licking funny.

So there is no, it's just about giving people confidence to try it, I'm guessing that kind of thing and finding their

voice.

Question of the day, you know, people, you know, how much time should I do or how can I start?

What are

the

mistakes that you made?

And I ask these things about on stage and off stage things.

Everybody thinks they go on stage three times.

I said, go on stage 100 times.

If you want to do this full time, 100 times.

And that could take you.

a year, two years to try to get on stage, you know, and open mics as you started out.

We all start out at an open mic.

That's what usually other comedians want you to die of a rare tropical fungus so they can drag your smoking carcass off stage so they can have your remaining two minutes.

Listen, I've had two sporting events in my life where a comic got injured, just like comic pickup basketball behind Zanies and Mount Prospect.

Some guy

goes

down with an ankle injury and there's always another comic go, where are you working this weekend?

You won't be able to make it.

Uh, and the other one was during comic softball.

You remember A.J.

Lentini?

I do.

Yes.

He was rounding second base.

We were playing at some park in the valley and he rounded second base and his ankle snapped in a horrific way.

And he was laying on the field and like his one foot was up in the air and the other foot was like flat on the dirt of the diamond.

Like

a Joe Thysman.

Do you

remember that?

Yes.

And the ambulance had to come out onto the field and they loaded poor AJ into the ambulance and he was in shock.

He didn't know what was going on.

Sure.

And as the ambulance pulled away, one of the comics goes, see you next week, AJ.

Like, wow, he's not playing softball.

And there were the jokes.

Where are you working?

You know, and

I'm sure AJ would appreciate that.

That's just like a brotherhood, right?

Comedians have cruel senses of humor to the outsiders, but those are the funniest jokes.

Can you share with us a Mr. Lucky story back?

You had this great screenplay called Mr. Lucky Yeah, and that's about two or three minutes if you could share with us a story I would love that

okay Well, I was a kid.

I was raised by my grandpa and my grandpa was treating me back the badge to support your you know military

I walk

up and

this is Vietnam time.

Thank you for supporting our country and they cry and give me because everyone else was spitting at him.

So one time I'm in traffic and there's this Winnebago that's blocking about five lanes and we're trying to get around it and I can't and I'm beeping and he won't go.

So I finally find a way to get around him and I, you know, break check and he's trying to change lanes and I'm not and this guy gets out and he wants to just totally fight and it's a it's a Marine.

He's about 80 years old, about 6'6", with these big hearing aids coming out of his ears.

And I start laughing.

I'm thinking, I can't win here.

If I lose, it's an 80-year-old guy kick my butt.

If I kick his butt, I just beat up an 80-year-old Marine.

So I just got back to my car.

Thank you, sir, for serving our country.

And you swear, and it's like, boy, you've got to keep your mouth shut.

That's a short version.

I have a book.

It's called Monkey in the Middle about my best friend robbing a bank that he used to work at and trying to blame.

He robbed it twice, tried to blame one on me.

Anybody that listens, send me an email.

I'll send you a PDF copy for free.

How about that?

You did that last time, and that's fantastic.

I got a lot of

responses too.

I'll do it again.

Good.

So yeah, send Dolby an email or, or how can we facilitate that dope too?

Because there's a lot of laughs in that book.

Okay.

Dolby J. Maxwell at gmail.com or if Aaron or Conrad, whoever sends me a list of them, I'll send them all out immediately.

And there's great stories in there.

All

other stories into two bank robberies, not one, two,

near death

car accident, getting heckled, telling Jeff Fox worthy his idea was full of beans is a redneck idea.

That'll come back.

You know, oh, that's so funny.

You say that because I talked about this on the air to when Dan Whitney was a friend of mine got Dan Whitney got me into the comedy cafe in Milwaukee when I was just kind of starting out It became

my

favorite club in the world Dan Whitney famously became Larry the cable guy.

Well similar story to yours We're at Zany's in St.

Charles and Whitney shows up He got me on the show too and the two of us are working together He puts on a yellow like two-dollar construction hat.

He goes I'm doing this new thing Tell me what you think and he goes up and does like two jokes

about cable.

And he comes off and he goes, what'd you think?

And I was like, within a year, he's selling out arenas.

I mean,

it was ridiculous.

Yep.

I said

the

same thing to Fox ready.

So who knows?

It's so great.

Doby, thank you as always.

Thank you.

At memories this weekend.

It's going to be a great show.

You and Jeff LeFleur and chicken.

So go check out the show.

Stop billing chicken is headlining that

gig.

Gold's law and pie.

Blow the roof off the dump and have a great time.

Let's do it again soon, buddy.

Love you, buddy.

Thank you.

All right, you too, dope.

Thanks.

That's Dobie Maxwell.

Check out, you know, he did a Drybar comedy special too that I meant to get into, but check out Dobie's Drybar special.

Those are a big deal, folks, because the guys that do Drybar comedy specials have to be clean for like 30 minutes.

And I typically worked clean way back in the day, but it's very impressive when you can do that kind of time and get your own special.

And Dobie's is very funny.

So check out.

You can't make it to memory's ballroom this weekend.

Check out Toby's drive our special and just go to the Google.

Where is it that memory's

ballroom?

Is that again?

Port Washington, Port Washington.

Okay.

What did I say?

No, I think you said the right thing.

I was just asking for myself to be like, do I can I make that this weekend?

And I might be able to.

Oh, dude, it's, it's a, it's, I've never been to the venue.

I hear it's fantastic though.

Um, and I have to clarify, uh, little herb, Dave said, Jane hates it too.

She's too chicken to admit it.

He was talking about Gene Wells, our guest.

I'm totally discombobulated tonight.

First of all, I don't remember anything from two minutes ago.

I'm having a computer that I'm just hoping hangs in there till the end of the show.

So I got that stress.

But thank you for clarifying that.

And Sidney Frankenstein on the stream says, shout out, Zomers.

You're doing great.

You're doing great.

No disrespect to the great Conrad.

About the great Conrad.

Thank you.

Yeah.

And I agree.

100%.

How we doing on text?

Am I even close to being caught up?

I know you wanted to catch up starting with Ed.

Let's go back to Ed's text because I got to find out where it is.

Let's see.

Somebody said chocolate silk pie, but Ed and Madison said cherry pie with a damn good cup of coffee.

Oh, pie with any cup of coffee is fantastic.

I'm referring, of course, to our question of the night, folks, which what is your favorite pie coming off Thanksgiving?

Maybe you'll say pumpkin.

Rick and Madison from the 608 says Mr. Pease from Milwaukee makes by far the best key lime pie.

used to come to the North Side Market on Sundays.

No, Rick, thank you, sir.

Appreciate that.

Or

he later corrected, he meant Mr. Dyes rather than Mr. Pease.

So I just told people to check something out that doesn't exist.

Thank you for clarifying that, Zomers.

That's why you're the great Aaron Zomers.

Conrad is the great.

You're equally as great.

We're coming

right

back.

Well, thank you, sir.

Matt Miller is coming up next to talk movies.

It's Pete Schwabba in Nightlight.

So glad you're here, folks.

We're coming right back.

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.

Welcome back Okay folks, this is the moment you waited for I got a little out of sorts Early last segment when my computer went on the fritz, but we are back and I am playing catch-up here So I apologize I'm just about to give you the keyword in our multi-state text to win contest here at civic media And you if you are a winner we'll get to pick a present from our grown-up gift list

be listing for your chance to win our text to win contest, which happens today through December 12th.

Just listen for the keyword texted in and you could win 200 bucks cash and you will automatically be enrolled in our grand prize drawing, which will feature a brand new snowblower, a stainless steel cookware set or a portable air conditioner.

All you have to do is have the Civic Media app, which I'm guessing most of you have.

And if you don't, very easy to download, check it out.

And you'll be happy that you did so because you can take all your favorite civic media shows with you wherever you go.

And this hour's keyword is candle.

C-A-N-D-L-E.

C-A-N-D-L-E candle.

So go ahead and text that keyword on the app to us and you will be automatically enrolled for our daily price of 200 bucks and also our grand prize.

Good luck, everybody.

Good stuff.

All right, it is very exciting to me when I get to welcome this next guest.

Periodically here on Nightlight, we talk movies and TV regularly with our pal and Milwaukee film critic, Mr. Matt Miller.

Hey, buddy, how are you?

Hey, howdy, how are y'all doing?

We're doing great.

Do you have a favorite kind of pie, Matt?

I have to ask you a very personal question like that before we get into movies.

Oh, yeah, really personal.

I am a big sucker of a lemon meringue or a key lime.

Those are two big ones for me.

And I will also say shout out to the person on the line with the Twin Peaks reference with the cherry pie and the damn good coffee coffee.

So

yeah, I totally agree.

I like coffee regardless, but especially with with pie.

And I love that you pulled the Twin Peaks into it.

So great stuff, Matt.

Hey, it's great to see you.

Did you have a good Thanksgiving?

Wonderful

Thanksgiving saw a lot of movies.

The Packers won eight way too many starches and carbs.

What could be bad?

Yeah, no kidding.

Now, listen, I don't know if we've ever gone down this road before or if I've told you that I'm a bear fan, but I hope you'll still come on the

show.

Devastating revolution.

All my Packer friends are like, oh, it might be up.

The bears look for real.

I'm just I have so much trauma from the last, you know, 20 years or whatever.

I can't believe it.

You have a prediction for the game this weekend.

I will say, I do think the Bears are going to win this game.

I think the Packers, as a Wisconsin fan, I just wait for all the highs to go down like a roller coaster.

So we're really hot right now after beating the Lions.

And the previous win after that, I think maybe a brief come down to earth is going to happen here.

But then again, the Bears beaten the Eagles last week.

That was pretty surprising.

And I think maybe the bears are a little high on their own supply.

So we'll see what happens.

It should be a good game.

It's been a while since Packers Bears was like a truly relevant game in terms of the standings.

So this is going to be kind of fun that there's actually some skin in the game.

Very well said, and I could not agree more.

So let's jump in, Matt.

I think the last time we were here,

You had not seen, was it Predator Badlands maybe?

Did you just see?

It was either

brand new or it was just about to come out.

I believe that was the case.

It rules.

I think that movie absolutely rips.

It's funny because on paper it absolutely should not.

A movie about the predator, learning about the power of friendship in a PG-13 movie with a cutesy sidekick and a little Disney-approved stuffed animal friend.

should be the worst predator of movie of all time.

And instead, that movie absolutely rips.

I think the action is really well done.

I think the worlds, the planet that is involved, this like planet of death where everything is designed to kill you is really clever and fun.

And I I ended up caring about a predator I ended up caring about the character development of one of the great sci-fi villains in cinematic history And I think it's really impressively done and it's a tribute to Dan Trachtenberg the kind of the commander of the new predator franchise He's now three for three on predator.

Yeah, I Haven't see I know he did predator prey which I thought was great, too I

love the

idea of the monster or alien whatever going back

to prehistoric times or whatever and but this one really was the first one where the predator was like the good guy, right?

It's and again it should be a terrible concept and they've actually tried something like this in the alien versus predator movie.

You remember that one where like the predator was basically like

the buddy cop character to a human.

And everyone was like, this stinks.

This isn't why we wanted to see an alien versus predator movie.

So it's wild that 20 years later, they're like, we're gonna not only make a predator the main character of a movie, but you're gonna like root for him and care about him and cared about his character development into somebody who learns about literally the power of friendship.

And it totally works.

Like I said, Dan Trachtenberg is a really good writer, a really good director.

I think he's got the right idea of what to do with this franchise.

And I did not grow up a predator fan.

That was not one of my movies.

But I'm really loving what he's doing with them.

And again, if you like.

Badlands, if you liked Prey, there's an animated kind of anthology movie that he made earlier this year that released just a Hulu called Predator Killer of Killers.

That's really great.

If you loved what he did with Prey, where it was like, what if Predator showed up in a different timeline?

That is that movie.

It's like Predator shows up in a Samurai movie.

Predator shows up in World War II.

Predator shows up in Viking times.

I think he's really finding some interesting ways to tap into a franchise instead of

just doing the same thing that they've done before.

Right.

Yeah.

Very well said.

And they set this one up perfectly for another predator at the end.

And I think it's going to ride that tide.

It's still in theaters, folks, if you want to check it out, but definitely check out predator.

Matt Miller is my guest.

He's a Milwaukee based film critic.

We will have more with Matt after the news.

Matt, I've got a lot to ask you.

Great that you're here.

Jim from Appleton and the 920 says favorite pie is salted caramel apple.

Or banana cream or pecan chocolate.

Sounds like Jim is having trouble making a decision, but he says maybe the old standby pumpkin.

All right, we're coming back with more from Matt Miller after the news here.

Again, tonight's keyword or this hour's keyword is candle.

C-A-N-D-L-E.

Good luck, folks.

It's Pete Schwab in Nightlight coming right back.

Welcome back.

Whoa.

Yeah, trailer or song sung blue because I wanted to ask you about it and my computer just blew up.

So that's what everyone was listening to.

Hey, welcome back to Nightlight.

I'm Pete Schwabba and it is great to have you here tonight.

You still got time to get in on our question of the night, which is what is your favorite pie?

It is National Pie Day.

Big week of shows here at Nightlight.

Lauren Holly will be here Wednesday night talking about the Godfather of Green Bay Screening at the Atwood Music Hall on Thursday.

I'll be there.

Hope you will too.

We've been talking incessantly about it, but it's going to be a fun night.

The Bodines did the music for the film.

Tony Goldwyn, Lauren Holly, Lance Barbara Tomlin, and they were on the show last week and me because I couldn't afford John Cusack.

Come on out Thursday night at the Atwood Music Hall.

If you a it should be a fun night.

Go to the Dane County Hum we'll be here Wednesday a and Bill left will be on celebrating helping us ce your anniversary because

Right now, we've got our pal Matt Miller here.

I love talking movies with Matt.

And Matt, since my audio gaffe sort of started the segment off, let's ask you, what do you think about Song Song Blue?

How's this movie going to do?

Yeah, I'm very interested to see this one.

This is the new movie with the local tie, the Milwaukee tie, about thunder and lightning, the Neil Diamond kind of cover band, beloved local...

local band, starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson, directed by Craig Brewer, who you may recognize from Hustlin Flow.

He also did, I believe, uh, uh, Dynamite, uh, or Bola, Dolomite, the Netflix movie with Eddie Murphy.

Good director, good writer.

I'm interested what they do with the story.

And I'm interested to see how it does on Christmas.

Obviously, it's up against the other big blue movie Avatar 3.

It's up against the Housemaid and SpongeBob and all these other movies.

But, you know, last time Hugh Jackman had a movie on Christmas, it was great showman, greatest showman, obviously was a surprise hit.

I think this could be the kind of movie that brings adults out.

There's a little bit of Oscar buzz about it.

There's so few awards prognosis.

who are kind of like, hey, you know, we think this might have a chance.

I'm not so sure about it just because it is a little crowded this year.

And also like Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson are classic like Oster prognosticators.

One of these years will be their year actors.

And it just never kind of clicks for them.

So I'll be interested to see if maybe this is the time.

But I think it's going to be good.

And obviously they're coming to town this week.

I believe tomorrow Hugh Jackman is going to be scooping up ice cream at cops in town.

So that's going to be very fun.

And I believe they're doing a premiere over at the Oriental as well.

So really, really cool that Milwaukee is going to potentially get some shine here.

All right.

When do you think you'll be able to review that, Matt?

Hoping that'll probably come out.

I believe it comes out Christmas Day, so probably late December early January They don't really do screenings here in Milwaukee anymore.

It's potential They might do some for press considering it as a locally tied movie Yeah, but but we'll see but definitely for sure late December early January.

I really want to like that movie.

It's so great.

It's a true story.

It's really likeable.

Yeah,

it's exactly what we need right now

So, all right, so you've got Song Song Blue opening on Christmas.

Let's talk about House of Dynamite.

I saw that two a while ago and I was kind of mixed, but overall I liked it.

How did you feel about it?

Yeah, I wanted to really like it.

I'm a big Catherine Bigelow fan.

She's the director of Zero Dark Thirty, Hurt Locker, Point Break, really great director, kind of her first movie in quite a bit, I think almost 10 years.

basically a modern failsafe where it's you know a nuclear bomb is coming towards America and all of our various offices are trying to figure out what to do and who it's from and what they should you know should they retaliate what's the plan I think that's all great for a half hour I was totally locked into the movie and just like wow this is great and then the script does this very odd thing where it basically resets

and tries to do like a Rashomon type deal where it's like, okay, you're getting this 45 minutes or so from this room's perspective.

And then it jumps forward back in time.

And okay, you're getting a different room's perspective on those 45 minutes.

And I don't think each perspective merits a different look.

Like you don't really gain much from each perspective.

So instead of this really intense, boiling pot,

You end up taking it off the stove and then just putting it back on and restarting the whole thing again And you're about to know took it off the stove again putting it back on I just think it kind of is momentum killer and makes the movie kind of feels slight Makes it feel like they maybe made a short film and then just tripled You know copy and copy and pasted it three times over so I like the performances love Rebecca Ferguson love interest Elba I think bigelows really got a handle on the procedural tension of it

But I think I think the script is kind of really empty.

You know, that's great.

It's interesting you say that because I like Idris Alba, too.

And I like the dilemma he as president had.

Do we retaliate without knowing anything?

A pure week?

Or do we just, you know, blindly send missiles out to show us a sign of strength?

So I like that whole dilemma.

But I agree with you.

I it was weird how they did that nonlinear thing where they kept bouncing around.

I didn't

think it was.

Also, the movie has these interesting dilemmas.

And the the movie's kind of answer to these dilemmas is kind of to chicken out and not answer them.

So like just kind of like not a spoiler alert, but kind of like it kind of says like, well, who knows?

Yeah, yeah, that's a great point.

It feels less of a interesting debate.

This movie afterwards decision and more of a the screenwriter didn't have the confidence in choosing a decision.

Right and it what I liked about it was kind of like the Gorge like I thought oh, I need a good streaming movie Maybe something I wouldn't go see in theaters, but I wanted to and for that it's fine people might like a house of dynamite

It's not bad.

It's if you there's been worse ways to spend two hours, especially on Netflix for Considering the potential that premise has and the cast I mean like Caitlin Deaver

who's a tremendous young actress.

I forget what she's I can forget what she's been in off the top of my head.

She's great.

She shows up for maybe five lines as somebody's daughter.

And it almost

feels like

there's a whole nother like act of the movie that they kind of cut out because she's way too big of an actress to just show up for five lines.

Right.

Yeah.

Great point.

What did you think of Running Man?

Matt, the Arnold Schwarzenegger remake from 1987.

Yeah,

I really wanted to love this.

I've been a big proponent of Glenn Powell as a movie star.

I love Edgar Wright, Scott Pilgrim and World's End are two of my favorite movies.

I kind of think this is less than the sum of its parts.

For a movie called Running Man, it kind of really stumbles getting out of the gates and then really stumbles at the finish line.

I think the middle of the movie where it is the Running Man show where he has 30 days to survive the world hunting him down, I think that's where the movie kind of finds its rhythm and finds its groove.

I was kind of surprised how little new energy Edgar Wright brought to the movie.

Such an energetic director, you know, stuff like Scott Pilgrim and Sean of the Dead are so, you know, energetic and such a pep to them.

And this movie is kind of sluggish in a lot of spots.

So I want to love it more.

You could do far worse at the movie theaters.

But and I will say also, I missed Dawson.

I missed Richard Dawson.

Oh, yeah.

The host in the original Running Man.

And I think he gets what the the kind of tone of that movie is.

And I think Coleman Domingo is a really good actor, but he's almost not big enough.

He's not, you know, for a movie that's supposed to be kind of a satire, supposed to be kind of a hunger gamesy kind of thing.

It just doesn't have that kind of punch that I wish it

did.

Should they have gone sea crest?

That's my

question.

I was trying to think who would be a campy person to like put in that role.

And God help me Pat McAfee might have had the right energy.

I actively dislike watching Pat McAfee, but I think he would kind of capture the kind of pro wrestling as entertainment vibe that the running man is supposed to have.

That's great.

My guest is Matt Miller, a Milwaukee film critic who joins us here to talk movies periodically.

Matt, what did you think of Wicked?

I still haven't seen Like Running Man.

I still haven't seen it yet.

I liked the first one, but I haven't been to the theater to see this

one yet.

Yeah, first movie, really good, really impressive.

I think any Wicked fan would tell you that the second act is not...

the better of the two acts.

And you really feel that in Wicked for Good, they're taking a second act, they're stretching it out, which does not do the kind of narrative clunky, the clunky narrative of the second half of Wicked much, much favor, doesn't help that all of the banger songs are in the first half of Wicked as well.

And the second act is a lot of fairly forgettable numbers other than the big final for Good, which honestly,

That was like my grade school graduation song.

So if you do for good, I'm going to cry.

It could be the

worst.

It could be Roseanne Barr's national anthem version of that song.

And I'd still be like, oh, beautiful.

But yeah, I love the performers still.

I think all of them are still good.

I like the production of it.

I think it's like, I love the costumes and I love the sets.

But yeah, I just think it really

kind of clunks and clangs around.

And I wanted to have a better time with Wicked for Good.

So before I want to do a quick holiday preview, Matt, but you also saw Wake Up Dead Man.

This is another

Knives Out

movie.

How did you, I love, I like the Knives Out films.

I don't love them, but I haven't seen this one.

Was

this a good one?

You might love

this

one.

This is, this may be recency bias coming in.

This is my favorite of the three Knives Out movies.

And I've liked them all, but I've kind of been with you where I'm like, they're they're really good.

I want to think they're great.

And this one, I really like this one a lot.

First of all, I mean, obviously the cast is great.

But Joshua Connor, who's kind of been on the precipice of stardom for a while, he played one of the tennis guys in Challengers last year.

He's tremendous in this movie.

He is so good.

He plays kind of a priest at the center of the big murder in Wake Up Dead Man.

And.

The movie basically gives him the first act.

Benoit Blanc doesn't show up for quite a while in this movie, and I think it's a credit to Joshua Conner that you really don't miss him, that he's so gripping in the role.

I think the mystery is really fascinating, fun.

I think Ryan Johnson, the writer-director, loves playing with the structure of a who-done-it, and I think that really pays off well here in a way that maybe in the other ones it doesn't as much so.

I think it's conversations about faith and religion and the weaponization of it are really really well done and pointed I would say if you liked glass onion and knives out politics I think you'll be a fan of this one as well in terms of what it's saying in terms of people abusing the good nature of faith and using it for for kind of ill.

I think it's really good.

And I also, it's gonna come to Netflix later in December, I believe in two weeks.

It's showing at the Oriental Theater Night right now, and I think maybe that's gonna be it.

If you have a chance to see it on a big screen with a crowd, it is such a big screen movie.

It is worth, like, the crowd I saw it with was totally on board with it, was weaving with all the twists and turns, was laughing at all the jokes.

It is such a crowd movie and it's such a shame that the last two Knives Out movies have been Netflix releases.

So if you get a chance to see it on the big screen, definitely do that.

I'm a big Wake Up Dead Man fan.

I hope you like it as well.

It's my favorite of the three right now.

Well, that's the one I'm going to take away out of this conversation is one I have to see.

We got a phone call from Rita in La Crosse, Matt, who says you guys need to see Nuremberg.

I've heard pretty good things about that as well.

Have you seen it?

Yeah, I did see Nuremberg.

I like it.

That was one that I really wanted to love because it's the director of the movie also wrote Zodiac, which is one of my favorite movies of all time.

And I think he's got the thing here where he's very good at the procedural and making that snap, making it not just court documents.

I have some issues with how it tells its story, but let's talk more about Nuremberg next time.

Let's

pick that up, and Matt's going to give us a preview of what's to come.

Just a reminder, folks, our keyword in our multi-state civic media text-to-win contest is candle for this hour.

C-A-N-D-L-E.

Text that in, and good luck.

It's Pete Schwabba in Nightlight.

We are coming right back with Matt Miller.

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.

Compliments of Aaron Zomers I'm gonna live till I die by Frank Sinatra part of the soundtrack for the first knives out and Zomers Matt says I really need to see this one.

I loved the first two We can debate that but also Sydney politics on the stream says Glenn Powell might be the most unlikable lead actor I Don't know if he's the most unlikable, but I'm kind of on the fence about him, but you like him

I like him in the right stuff.

I actually think he's miscast in The Running Man because the movie keeps saying like he is the most angry, rage-filled man we've ever seen.

And Glenn Powell's too slick to be that.

Like he's too polished.

I think if we lived in times where we made more romantic comedies,

I think he would be doing great right now.

He would be like a new Matthew McConaughey, but we don't make rom-coms anymore So I think he's kind of in no man's land.

I am excited He has a movie coming out next year called how to make a killing About like an heir to a massive million dollar fortune who starts killing off family members one by one to get the that is I

could be, I'm really hoping that's good.

That seems like a perfect use of Glenn Powell, where it's like this guy is too polished, too slick.

What's his deal?

So I'm kind of interested to see that one.

Well said.

We've got about three minutes or so left, Matt.

I want to know, is the box office back A and B, what movie before Christmas do you think is going to just crush?

And maybe that movie, which I think you might say, is part of the reason the box office is coming back, so to speak.

Yeah, so Box Office was down this year from last year over Thanksgiving.

Part of that was because last year you had massive monolith that was wicked, and you had the massive monolith that was Moana too.

And, you know, just because we didn't break that record again this year doesn't mean that we're doing bad.

You know, Wicked For Good is still making a ton of money.

Zootopia, you know, making a ton of money, and it will continue to.

I think what is promising to me is something like Nuremberg making 12 million dollars and I know that's not a sexy amount of money like you know the studio probably isn't shooting off champagne corks because of

12

million dollars but that's the kind of movie that needs to start making money again because that's the kind of movie that's struggling right now.

Movies aimed at adults are just not performing the way they used to.

adults just generally aren't going out to theaters as much anymore.

But the fact that that movie is performing better than a lot of other ones like it, it's nice to see.

The fact that something like The Running Man is doing okay, it's going to be a flop technically, but it's starting to make some money back, that's nice to see.

I do think Five Nights at Freddy's 2 is going to make a ton of money when it comes out next weekend.

And obviously you have Avatar coming out on Christmas.

That's going to be a pretty big deal.

I also think The Housemaid, the new Sydney Sweeney Amanda Safried movie, I think that's going to do really well as well.

That's based off a very popular mystery book.

It is aimed at women audiences and women like to see movies.

Hollywood doesn't always forget that lesson.

I think

women.

And perverts are going to go to see that movie, Matt, because of the soap and all that other stuff.

But

I do think, yeah, there's there's that.

But I do think that movie is going to do well.

That book is very popular.

They've been selling it well.

You've got two good young actresses in it.

So I do think stuff like that brings makes me heartened.

And the only problem is Warner Brothers is on the chopping block right now.

There's a lot of talk about them getting sold.

and losing another studio, losing another major studio is going to be terrible because right now the big problem is they're not releasing enough movies in the theaters and definitely not enough movies of variety and genres.

Well,

hopefully the way we're headed, everything in the world is going to be owned by like three people.

So that can't be good for movies either.

But

yeah, Disney Paramount and Netflix, those will be the studios at some point.

It's great.

I think it's a great future.

We all

love

it.

Matt, love your insights.

Have great holidays.

Hopefully we'll talk before then, but always enjoy, my friend.

Yes, thank you for having me and see some movies out there, folks.

Absolutely.

All right, Matt Miller.

Thank you, sir.

All right, so let's get, how are we doing?

Zomers, am I caught up on text?

I got a couple, I think, right?

I believe you are, or just about at least.

Or almost.

Yeah, let's see what we can do here.

This is where am I here?

Almost at Blue

Street.

Yeah, we got steady Eddie Melissa from Willy Street in the 608.

I hope I see Melissa Thursday night Maybe we will maybe we won't if they didn't have plans.

She says my favorite pie is key lime My husband's is French silk pie, but please Pete tell me this about this satin pie Melissa chocolate satin if you go I see it in the grocery store Marie calendars has like a chocolate satin pie.

It's very rich, but it might change your life, but

Don't hold me to that.

Adam in the 608 says pecan pie from batch bakery on willy street in madison They bake with dark chocolate chunk mixed into the pecan filling.

Oh my gosh Thank you, Adam Al in the from the 262 says chocolate silk pie chocolate making a comeback here at the end John from Oshkosh says blueberry with vanilla ice cream.

Love the combo John.

Thank you Lauren from Eau Claire says which oh, I she just said Boston cream pie is her favorite

We haven't heard that one yet, Somers, have we?

I don't think so.

That's kind of an old school.

That's another one I haven't had.

Yeah, I'm not a huge fan, but I do appreciate the text.

Pete, this time of year, there's nothing better.

This is Steady Eddie, our pal.

He says, in my opinion, in my humble opinion, then a swanson turkey pot pie with two scoops of candy cane peppermint ice cream right on top.

Nice that Steady Eddie's trying to make us puke, right?

Before we sign off here.

He says it's a big unconventional culinary Wow really makes you want to start rocking around the Christmas tree when my grandma first tried it She couldn't stop crying with holiday joy.

I'm pretty sure the steady Eddie I'm gonna call you steadfast Edward for that one buddy.

That is pretty good.

Yeah

steadfast Edward.

That's a great one Zommer's been fun, man.

I'm gonna miss you pal.

I'm not going anywhere.

Just be around always appreciate your help with this show in any capacity

Join us tomorrow night, folks.

Bill Leff will be here.

We'll be talking about our first show that Bill was on, and he helped us celebrate our first-year anniversary, and he'll be here tomorrow to help us celebrate year number two.

Lots to come on Night Light this week and throughout the month of December.

All kinds of fun stuff.

Join me tomorrow night on behalf of the awesome Aaron Zammerz.

I'm Pete Schwab.

I'm saying good night, Wisconsin.

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