Rob Thomas on Movies, Reviews & What to Watch (Hour 2)

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editor.

That's right.

Yeah, there it is.

Okay.

Thank you.

Right.

She will be on the show in just a little bit.

But before we go anywhere else, a couple of things we want to do.

First of all, we want to restate the question of the night.

So let's do that real quick.

Let's talk about the

question.

Okay.

Question.

Question.

Question.

Question.

Question.

Okay.

I have a question.

Questions.

This question.

Question.

Question.

Questions.

Question of the night is what is your favorite knock-knock joke?

I did that one up quick here in the second hour because it's taken some time for people to write them out.

I want to make sure to give them time for them to type them all out.

If you text it to us, leave a comment on the live stream.

You can call and let us know your favorite knock-knock joke.

Remember, we're FCC compliant, so please don't be dirty or, you know, undercover dirty.

Just, you know, tell us a fun knock-knock joke.

That is our question of the night.

Also, don't forget, this Thursday, our movie club pick is the classic John Hughes

legendary film, The Breakfast Club.

We'll be talking about that in the second hour.

So watch it now.

That's right.

We're giving you some homework, but you're going to like it.

It's fun.

And this is a pick from our dear friend, Dom, who is in Madison.

He is our tech producer.

Actually, tonight, it's very special because I am in Radio Park in Racine.

Pete Schwabba is in Madison at World Headquarters HQ for Civic Media.

And so is Dom Lee.

And that is, we're usually the Yadra Hei triangle.

But tonight, we are the Yadur Hey One Dimensional Continuum, which is a band that I would totally listen to.

I already forgot what that... Well, you got to send that to me, so I know how to say it.

I already forgot what we were going to write it down.

Love it when things really, really matter.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Stick in your brain.

Stick in your brain.

We are the one, we are the Yadar Hey, one dimensional continuum tonight because we are, we are forming a straight line between Madison and Racine.

And you can always be part of the conversation.

8557 5248 4285 575 civically that comment on the live stream, or you can get in touch with us via the civic.

Media app and of course we're going to round everything up with the nightcap to to close it out find out what we've learned and go over some more text messages if we have any to give speaking of Text messages dumb who are we hearing from from the people tonight regarding?

Anything we've been talking about this evening.

We have a few yes Let's start off with some with some knock knock jokes for the night Roger from Stevens Point said knock knock who's there cargo Cargo

Cargo be beat.

Oh, yeah, it is.

Oh See that okay That's what I like in a knock-knock joke simple setup punchline.

That's it like No sentence.

I'm having

yeah, I mean you can't you can get weird with it I don't mind that but I but when it comes to a knock-knock joke There's something pure and beautiful.

It should make a four-year-old laugh.

It should make a

400-year-old person laugh if they're still alive, but dear god, why?

Vampires, basically.

But like, that's what I love about a knock-knock joke.

It makes everyone laugh.

So thank you very much, Roger.

Thank you so much for

that.

Wait until you hear this one.

From Brett from Brown Deer.

My favorite knock-knock joke goes like this.

Knock-knock.

Who's there?

Epstein.

Epstein who?

What are you, Trump?

All

right.

I don't remember that one from when I was a kid.

I gotta

be honest.

No, I

did not hear that one on the electric company.

Not bad.

Um, all right, we also have, um, I don't know who this is, but it says knock knock.

Who's there?

Grandpa.

Quick stop the funeral.

Quick stop the funeral.

Okay.

I thought you were supposed to read that part.

It's tough when you break down the knock knock jokes.

Here's the thing about knock knock jokes, Greg, is I'll say, I don't, I don't think I ever laugh, but I go, ah.

You know what I mean?

Like, have you ever heard a knock-knock joke where you're doubled over and laughter?

The only

time I

do that is when I hear little kids try to tell a knock-knock joke.

And that's just, it's just wonderful.

I'll share my favorite one.

This is like, I said earlier in the show, my kids and I used to make up, we used to try to make up our own knock-knock jokes.

And the best one, this is my son, Joe, knock-knock.

Who's

there?

I have a Tagope.

I have a to go poo.

Oh, the bathroom's right down the hall on the left.

Oh, man

Fill right in that one.

It's like a 11 year old.

That's here's here's what I heard and I came from a social media post, but I think it's just funny here Dom this one's for you Knock knock who's there?

Yodel a Yodel a who stop yodeling man.

What's up?

I stop it.

Just why are you doing?

That was a good one.

Yeah.

All right.

What else we got on the text line there, Dom?

We have a few.

Let's switch it up a little bit.

Yeah, Dom asked me if I would come out of the bullpen occasionally because we got a lot of them.

But you could read the one from... Here, I'll do the one from Chris because it pertains to my meal later.

He said, Pete, try Butterbird on Regent Street.

I'm sorry, Bomb Chicken Sandwiches and Chicken.

I've never heard of that place.

Thank you, Chris.

Much

appreciated.

Okay.

All right.

And then Monica from Mount Horrib.

Great suggestions.

Not upscale, but I'm currently eating leftovers from David's Jamaican.

It was supposed to be jerk tofu, but my order and my friends got a little jumbled.

So I wound up with pineapple tofu.

It's delicious and one order was big enough for four meals.

I got fried plantains too.

There you go.

Thank you,

Monica.

If there's Ethiopian food in the area too, check that out, because Ethiopian food is amazing.

I don't know much at all about Ethiopian food.

I will definitely do that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Craig.

Here's another food one.

Anna from Madison says, Pete, since you were downtown, go to Cooper's Tavern, heard of that place, or the Old Fashioned, been there, which are both on the square near you.

They're both great places.

Those are outstanding suggestions.

Thank you, guys.

Thank you, Anna.

The Old Fashioned is so, it's so good.

Yeah, I like the Old Fashioned.

I do.

I have not been there in a spell.

Very,

very long time.

Yeah, that's kind of cool vibe.

Tom from New Berlin says, while serving and taking acid in the 80s, was that pre-treatment?

Yes, Tom.

Yes, it was, Tom.

I just say yes.

Yes, yeah.

And luckily, thanks to Joe Rogan, Tom, now you can have all the psychedelics you want, because that's what happens in this country.

We're great.

He just picked up his phone.

Here's

one for you, Greg.

Our pal Brett says, yes, preach, brother, Greg, I need more psychedelics.

I'm a veteran and I love tripping.

It really does calm my nerves and puts my head in a positive direction.

Legalize peyote.

Okay, there you go.

I mean, I am not a person

who does any

of this.

Yeah, but I am for, I am personally for...

Whatever helps people get through their days,

especially

those who are suffering, whether it's PTSD, whether it's cancer, whether it's pain, whatever.

But also, you know, we live in a day and age.

You're an adult.

You tax it correctly.

You regulate it correctly.

And treat it like alcohol and just let people do what they want to do with it.

And I'm not going to bother them.

That's about as libertarian as I get.

Well said.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

920 says knock, knock.

Who's

there

drew no not gonna read that one?

You're

supposed to hit me off at the past there You're

gonna of course two six

two.

Oh, that was fun.

Okay, Chris says knock knock Who's there

who's there

cow says?

Cow says who no a cow says moo

Nice.

It's a good one, too.

It's a good one.

Nice.

Ah.

See, that's

what a great knock-knock joke does.

It's just simple.

It makes you go, oh, it makes you feel like you almost stepped in some poop.

You're like, I missed it, but that's that would have been a funny story.

Love it.

I love it.

I love it.

John, why don't you take over again?

Yeah, John Murray from Addison said, this is a yadur-day communion.

This is a yadur-hey communion.

Communion?

Ooh,

I like

that.

He said oradot.

He got bread and wine.

He got bread and wine.

Awesome.

He said oradot, then he said notadot.

John,

are you taking that abode-john-jo-rogan-drug thing?

Because I don't know what's going on there, buddy.

Oradot?

Notadot.

Notadot.

Or Dom, can you get me some X-Files theme song right now?

Or maybe we're all the dots.

Oh my god.

How did you have that?

Dom is actually humming that.

That's how we found it so quickly.

He brought in the entire original symphony who played that track way back in the early 90s.

I know them personally.

That's

fantastic.

Well done.

We also have Tyler from Wisconsin Rapids said, from Pulp Fiction, knock, knock.

Who's there?

Zed.

Who's Zed?

Zed's dead.

There we

go.

Boom,

there

it is.

I think you actually have to add

a bit.

Zed's dead, baby.

I

love that.

And before we know it, Pete Hegseth will be quoting that line from Paul Fuchsian as well at his little speeches with his

tiny little... It's for

breakfast.

Yeah, exactly.

Let's see here.

I see here, Chris in Madison suggests sake sushi for dinner.

$30, all you can eat sushi.

Would either of you guys do that?

I would.

$30,

all you

can eat.

No, probably not by myself if my wife was with me on this trip or something We'd probably or one of my kids would probably go there or somewhere a little spend a little more money, but not just for me No,

I would I would totally do it.

I love sushi.

I love sushi.

I'm going to

I Want to know what the parameters are because there was there I think there still is a sushi place or just a Japanese place in Chicago on Lincoln Avenue,

okay,

and they had a thing where it was

All you can eat sushi for a specific price.

And I can't remember what it was.

Now I'm probably 20 bucks, but here's the catch.

You cannot, you can, you can take the leftovers home, but they will charge you.

You have to eat what you can eat.

Yeah.

Exactly.

Yeah.

So it's all you can eat sushi.

And, and, and I was, I was dating somebody at the time.

We went there and like, Oh, I'll, I'll just, I will, I will ruin this restaurant with their plan here.

And I got, I got two roles.

I finished the roles and she said, would you like another one?

I said, yeah, I think so.

And just as she was bringing that, that third role, all the seaweed, all the stuff, all the rice started just exploding in my stomach.

Like, you know, you know, just that thing when you eat a lot of bread or something, you're just like, Oh, I'm very full now.

And she put it in front of me and my girlfriend at the time, she was like, yeah, if you don't eat that, you gotta

You can't even say, you have to pay for what you don't eat or take it home.

Either way, you're paying.

That's the fine print.

So I had to eat that whole roll right there.

And I thought I was going to die.

It's like John Candy in the 96er.

Yeah, the old 96er.

Yep.

Just get a couple of desserts.

That's worth checking out.

Maybe I will check.

I'll put that in the catalog.

That's a good one.

Uh,

how

we doing, Dom?

We got more

here.

Yeah, we have Andrew from Maine.

He said, for the theater crowd, knock, knock.

Who's there?

Toby.

Toby who?

Wait, sorry, not Toby.

Make up your mind.

Make up your, make up your mind.

Who's there?

Toby or not Toby?

That is the question.

There

it is.

Here's one from Brett in Brown Deer, another one from Brett.

He says, Hey, I've got a movie suggestion.

1969.

Peter found at Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholas, Easy Rider.

Yeah, that's you know

folks if you have an idea for us for a movie for us to see or a guest or a topic you could always get in touch with us

email us nightlight at civicmedia.us So if you have an idea for a movie you want us to watch or you want us all to watch nightlight at civicmedia.us Plus also if you think there's a great guest or hey, there's a new story here that we'd love you to talk about Send it to us.

We'll take a look and we'll see and who knows if we pick your movie there could be some fun there We

got to figure that out because that's a cool deal if we do use someone's

suggestions Oh, yeah, and I think I think we're gonna be introducing a listener quiz in the next few weeks as well because

we

want to really involve the people as part of the show in the

Because we're all part of the movie club, my friends.

Indeed.

We're all part.

Before we get out of here, do we have time for one more knock, knock joke there, Dom?

Yes, we do.

We have Andrew from Maine says, knock,

knock.

Who's there?

Yaher.

Yader who?

Yader hey, one directional triumferent, also known as nightlight.

Thank you, Andrew.

That works.

We're putting that whole thing on a t-shirt.

Let's save John's, and I've got some social media ones here for a minute.

Yeah, absolutely.

That's awesome.

Absolutely.

When we come back, we're going to be talking to our friend, Rob Thomas from this, from, uh, from Madison citycast, talk about his articles, talk about what's going on, talk about their newsletter, all that coming up in just a few moments.

So don't go in there.

Feel free to keep sending us your favorite knock, knock jokes, civic media, uh, or, uh, nightlight at civic media.us or text it in or send us a comment on the live stream.

So don't go anywhere.

You are listening and or watching nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach here on civic media.

Stay tuned.

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started.

No, I was, I, all of a sudden, all these things popped up on the live stream.

Welcome back to Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach here on the Civic Media Network.

We're coming to you live from Radio Park in Racine and all the way at World Headquarters of Civic Media in Madison, Pete Schwabba and Dominic Lee.

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Really quick here.

Sydney Politics says, Happy New Year.

I sent contact information and interview the people of Atlas Improv.

Should I email?

Yes, you can email at Sydney.

Nightlight at civicmedia.us.

Send us all that information.

We'll take care of it from there.

Thank you so much for getting in touch with us.

And happy new year.

Guys, it's time for our second guest.

Are you all excited?

What?

Yeah.

Oh, wow.

Time has gone way too fast.

I'm excited.

I'm excited.

Oh, OK.

There we

go.

Our next guest is a regular guest on the show.

He is a contributor to CityCast Madison.

He's also the newsletter editor at CityCast Madison.

Welcome back to the show, Mr. Rob Thomas.

Hey,

buddy.

Great to have

you.

I'm in Madison.

We're in person.

Yeah, this has happened before you've been here before but it always feels special Yeah, I agree.

It feels like you've had me over to your house Which is which has never happened, but if it yeah, if it did, I mean you'll feel like this

absolutely.

Yeah,

it's I

know the feeling Rob Hi from Madison if I from Racine

Greg

feels left out.

Yeah,

you're here

in

spirit.

Yeah,

thanks

Uh, it's great

to

have you, buddy.

Thanks for having me.

Uh, do you have a favorite knock knock joke?

I can think of one.

And I hope you baby stop.

Don't stop me if you know it, but, um, knock knock.

Who's there?

The interrupting cow.

Interrupting

cow.

Oh, he.

Really good.

Fished me in, Rob.

It's still a

good, it's still a great joke.

It's

good.

Every once in a while adults forget it.

I know.

for completely forget the setup and then when you say move so satisfying they just melt into a puddle of shame and realization

and the kid telling it cracks up like it's the greatest that's right exactly

exactly I'm I think I'm done I think that I'm not gonna talk good talking you up send that one to

WBA we are good to go

What's going on, Rob?

We haven't talked to you in a few weeks now.

What is the happening all of Madison?

This is a very Madison-centric episode of the show this evening.

So, like, what's going on?

What are you seeing out in the world?

I saw an article about bagels, so, you know, there's big news happening here.

Yeah, it's a beautiful day here in Madison.

It just got off the Wisconsin Film Festival, sort of going back out into the world.

We got graduation coming up around the corner at UW.

It's one of those times a year where it feels like everything's happening all at once.

Absolutely.

There's actually, Greg, I want to piggyback on what Greg said.

You wrote about Gotham bagels.

I have heard nothing but great stuff about Gotham bagels.

But I also know CityCast Madison did a thing and I love the way you guys approach these community based things.

Favorite bars in Madison.

I don't think you wrote that one.

But do you have a favorite bar and what is your take on Gotham

Bay?

Well, it's interesting because it was like neighborhood bars.

So it wasn't like, you know, best drinks.

It was like the place you go to see other people in the neighborhood, you

know, a

neighborhood bar, right?

Not even necessarily a dive, although it's often a dive.

For that, I would say players on the East side, it's kind of around the corner from the Barrymore.

Great sports bar, the best bar burger in town by far.

I think they make them literally one at a time on a tiny little grill, but they're so worth the wait.

So players is the

one.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah.

Because I've had Bob's big bread.

big bad breath burger, but I guess they got rid of that.

Maybe

the weary traveler that can't stand.

That was on the list of best burgers, but now you're saying players is better.

I think players.

I mean, I mean, for a bar burger, best bar burger.

Yeah.

Well, let me let me ask you a question real quick.

I will be in Madison with my wife and some friends going to a show at the Sylvie.

OK.

Anything around that area we should check out for dinner.

For pizza on the spot.

Yeah, there's a sales Pete tomato pies is really good.

That's sort of kitty corner There's one called palette that we ate at that was nice.

There's a super if it's a nice weather.

There's the Attico lounge on the roof of one of the hotels near there is great for like drinks after But you're in a good spot there.

You should be all right.

Great.

Excellent.

Awesome.

Cannot wait

Rock I'm gonna go see Steven Wilson, Jr.

Oh

Yeah, I heard that sold out.

So that's great.

You got Oh

even better

and those

tickets and what's what's funny about that show is that we bought tickets back.

I think this is okay.

This is April.

We bought tickets.

I think in November and

I remember buying a ticket and going, huh, only $75.

And then part of me died inside.

When I said that out loud, I'm like, I was impressed that it was $75.

I know.

I know.

I know.

Anytime it's not triple digits, you feel like you got away with nothing in my stays.

Exactly.

Oh my gosh.

Yes.

So it'll be fun.

We'll have a good time.

And we'll take pictures when I'm in Madison and none of you guys are there.

Well,

Don will be here.

You and Don can pal around.

Even if you're not on the air, I just make things awkward between my two coworkers.

Tom's like, oh yeah, I got the food, Tom.

Oh my gosh,

come on.

I gave them your number.

They're going to call you when they're in town and you can guys go out dinner.

Thanks, Mom.

Rob, before we got to do a break in about a minute or so, but I want to ask you, we put the question out there, where should Pete eat tonight?

Or what genre of food should I go for?

Because I'm kind of overwhelmed because where I live, there's not, there's slim pickings compared to Madison.

Oh, interesting.

Just down the block, Chento, great Italian food, if you want to try something like that.

Yeah, block away.

C-E-M-T-O?

Correct.

If

you like Italian food, Dom's favorite place is Jimmy John's.

He

always,

when he comes to Italian, fine Italian cuisine.

Jess, you cannot go wrong with the James John's.

It's just absolutely wonderful.

The best bread.

He says get better than me.

He's not wrong.

He's not wrong.

They just love the way you do it.

It's the best bread.

I'll probably end up with Jimmy John South.

I can't make up my mind.

Well, we'll talk more about this and other things, including we'll talk about the Wisconsin Film Festival with Rob Thomas, who is our guest this evening.

He is from CityCast Madison.

He is the newsletter editor.

He's going to be here when we come back from the news break.

So don't go anywhere.

Feel free to still send us your knock, knock jokes, your favorite ones.

That is the question of the night.

8557 5248 4285 575 civic.

You can leave a comment there on the live stream or you can send us a message.

to the Civic Media app.

But don't go anywhere you're listening to and or watching Night Light with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach on the Civic Media Network.

Stay tuned, stay close.

Welcome back to Night Light with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach here on the Civic Media Network.

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4-8-4-2-8-5-5-7-5, civically a comment on the live stream.

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So get that Civic Media app and yeah, be a part of the show.

We are talking to our guest.

He is the newsletter editor at CityCast Madison.

Mr. Rob Thomas is back on the show talking about, you know, what to do in Madison.

Basically, we're getting the ideas of what we should do while we're in Madison at various times, whether we're eating, whether we're enjoying things.

But Rob is here.

and has all the great selections.

Rob, you said earlier that you went, you just wrapped up the Wisconsin Film Festival for yourself.

What were the highlights?

What did you love about it?

What were the things that you really were excited to see?

Yeah, it was really good.

It was, it ran Thursday through Thursday and it was like, it said the Barrymore, which is a great old theater here in Madison and then a bunch of venues on campus.

There's one that's in theaters now actually called Normal.

And it's really fun, action comedy.

So the guy who wrote the first three John Wick movies is from Madison, Derek Colstad.

He also did, at least he had a hand at the two nobody movies with Bob Odenkirk.

And this is one where Bob Odenkirk plays like a, the interim sheriff in

a

very small Minnesota town dead of winter.

He's just there to kind of, you know, keep the chair warm until they elect the next sheriff.

Uh, discovers the town is hiding this, uh, big secret in the bank vault.

And it turns into an action movie where like the entire town is basically trying to kill him.

It's like, it's like a reverse high noon where instead of the townspeople not sticking up for them, they're actually trying to shoot them.

It's really fun.

Like it is.

It's a, it's, uh, like I said, it's an action comedy with both sides of that.

Odin Kirk's really good.

And, um, yeah, I just had a really good time.

It's so funny like

Bob Odenkirk.

It just gives that movie kind of a soul.

Yeah, it's like a folksy kind of guy But he's kind of a badass too and I really liked it.

It got pretty crazy But you just go with it because it's so much fun and it's a it's a shoot them up.

I

mean, it's like a

really

There's violence, the Yakuza is in it.

And it's just like insane in the small town of Minnesota.

I mean, my favorite Minnesota fight was the fight with a woman in a yarn store who uses like every implement at her disposal, like a, like a ninja, just very silly, very funny thing.

So I think that's really, yeah.

I was gonna say, what's really funny now is there's a whole generation of kids who only know Bob Odenkirk as the guy from Better Call Saul and he's now an action star.

Whereas like,

He's been around for, well, now 40 years, like between SNL, Mr. Show, his TV, his movie work, like he's so wide range now, where the time was, he was just one of the best comedy sketch writers who ever lived.

Now he's...

Bob Odenkirk as Mel, as Mel Brooks, but he's Bob Odenkirk.

Like,

I love that.

And you watch him snap somebody's neck on screen.

He go, that's the guy who wrote Chris Farley's van down by the river

sketch.

That's

like a

Jeopardy question.

Like

he could

never.

No one ever would have guessed the trajectory of his career.

He was that guy in Chicago I remember he was leaving right as I was starting and he would Go up on stage and make the back of the room left.

He didn't care.

Oh,

yeah And I was like, oh god, why would he do that?

That was terrifying to me But you know, he just became a comedy icon and now he's doing movies like this.

It just doesn't make any sense.

Yeah And I'm pretty sure he

was nominated for a Tony for for

Yeah

Oh,

another thing.

Yeah.

And

a great

guy.

You couldn't wish it on.

He's just well deserved.

Absolutely.

He's a phenomenal

dude.

Yeah,

yeah.

Rob, you wrote, well, you didn't write it yet.

This is a teaser.

OK, you're going to write.

Follow Rob, by the way.

Rob, it's R.O.B.T.

77 or not that Rob Thomas.

Not that Rob Thomas.

OK, not that

Rob Thomas, not the

Matchbox 20 guy.

There you go.

Not that Rob Thomas at Substack.

Rob's movie reviews are there and they're great.

You have one coming up tomorrow for a film called Fuse directed by David McKenzie, who directed Heller Highwater and Relay.

Yeah, loved them both.

This film has been on my radar.

Can you give us a teaser?

what you're going to write.

Yeah.

It's another thriller.

I write in my review that like, like right now in the world were ruled by nitwits and grifters and like just seeing guys on or women on screen who know what they're doing, like Dr. Robbie on the pit or high skies.

Like, like that's entertaining, right?

Yeah.

Smart people dealing with problems.

And this is kind of like.

two versions of that where there's a old, unexploded World War two bomb found in downtown London.

Love that.

So right.

Great idea.

Yeah.

So they've got to clear the area.

This bomb disposal team comes in to work on it.

Meanwhile, there's a group of bank robbers who are using the distraction to break into a bank.

So you're kind of watching these two suspense things going on simultaneously.

It's good.

It's really good.

Like it's very

sort of, you know, lean and mean and you don't get much character development.

You're just kind of watching these all these people go through things and kind of wondering what the connections are, where it's going to go and who's going to who's going to screw who over and stuff.

So I thought it was really fun.

So, yeah, it's confused.

It's going to open on Friday.

And I think pretty wide in theaters.

Just a quick follow up, Greg, for Rob, his first movie and I didn't know this.

I had never heard of this was called Start Up.

From 2014 this director got a 99% on rotten tomatoes.

So now that's on my radar too, even though

I've never heard

of that.

Okay,

yeah, yeah

cool

I'm gonna take this opportunity.

I'm gonna I'm gonna put two questions from listeners into one question really quick

so

Sydney on the live stream wants to know if you've seen exit 8 and have any thoughts and then Anna in Madison listening asks if you have seen the new Michael Jackson movie

Interesting.

No, I have not seen either one.

Exit eight looks really cool.

It's like, like, like there's two movies, like this one and this other one.

I saw the trailer for back rooms where really it's like just these weird landscapes that people get stuck in, right?

Like exit eight is like somebody's at a train station and just endlessly lost.

And back rooms is this, I think it's based on a video game.

They just seem really cool.

Different when we get like a horror movie every week in different horror movies at least Michael have not seen I I mean this it's it seems kind of Wild because like they didn't have the rights to talk about basically Anything that the family didn't want him to so it seems like an extremely sanitized version of the Michael Jackson story

Sort of like if a Bill Cosby biopic ended in 1985.

So I don't know.

I don't know if I'll say that one or not.

Our guest is Rob Thomas.

He is a Madison-based film critic and the CityCast Madison newsletter editor.

Follow him.

Read his sub-stack.

That's where all his reviews are, folks, not that Rob Thomas on sub-stack.

So, okay, so you have, all right, so Fuse, I'm excited to see now this exit eight.

I haven't heard of that, but Project Hail Mary.

Big Time, another movie that's not a franchise, that's a studio film, you know, a vehicle driven by a huge star, Ryan Gosling, but still, love seeing a movie do well that is not tied to a franchise or anything.

What did you think of Project Hail Mary?

Absolutely loved it.

I've already seen it twice, saw it on IMAX a second time, telling my daughter, let's go see it, she hasn't seen it yet, I'll see it a third time, easy.

Nice.

And like you said, like it's like,

It's like everything you want out of a movie.

It's it's based on a book.

You saw that original story, but not IP nine.

That's something you have to watch six other TV shows and nine other movies to understand.

It's like, I think good for kids.

Like, like there's a little scary, um, but also really involving for adults.

Like, and it's just so.

cool and beautiful to watch.

Gorgeous movie.

Yes, exactly.

And in a different way than a lot of outer space movies like Interstellar and things like that are.

So I love it.

I mean, I think it's one of my favorites of the year.

That's a great point what you just said.

In this movie, Greg and Don, they have

like a spacecraft like I've never seen before, just the design of

it.

It's

like, oh, thank God, something outside the box, not a huge metal lung going through space, you know.

Yeah, it was really cool.

And it's really colorful.

Like a lot of space is like black and some white dots, but it's like, it's like, you know, it's like your poster on your door on your dorm wall in the 70s or something like that.

Was there.

Was there anything that at the Milwaukee, I'm not Milwaukee, that's happening right now.

Milwaukee Film Festivals right now.

By the way, we are sponsoring that.

So you're welcome.

Plug.

But

the Wisconsin Film Festival, was there anything that stuck out to you that made you say like, Oh, you guys need to see that?

Or like something that really, you know, because there's the film festivals, whether it's Milwaukee or Wisconsin, they have, you know, those big films that are out there and people know about them.

And then there's small films, but is there anything that stuck out that you're like, Oh, you guys need to see this?

Put this on your list.

Speaking of the Milwaukee Film Festival, there's one called 25 Cats from Qatar.

That was

here too.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I don't know if it's the Milwaukee Film Festival this year, but it started when the director and the subject met at the Milwaukee Film Festival a couple of years ago.

And the subject is this Milwaukee cat cafe owner.

It's called Sip and Purr, who goes to the Middle East to rescue cats on the street and follows her.

Rescuing as the film says 25 cats from the streets of Qatar, which has like like three million stray cats or something like that.

And it's a great like, like I thought, oh, this is a worthy cause and I love cats and that's going to be great.

But it's actually quite moving and suspenseful as she's meeting all these other.

cat rescuers who often have to do it under the radar in the government there, and she's trying to kind of smuggle them back.

She's sort of got permission, but it's a little hazy.

And it's really interesting.

So like it's a very small film.

Like it's just hitting festivals at this point.

But if you ever play near you and if you have even one percent love of cats, you got to go see it.

Yeah.

There's a cat in this movie called Dr. Garfield, which looks like if Garfield was a doctor and he is my favorite cat of all time now.

We had the director on director's

cut at

PBS and we showed a clip and there's one clip where you see like three million cats on the streets in this Middle Easter.

It's like what how did that happen?

Like that alone made me want to see the film, but I didn't get to it, but

well Pete when a cat a boy cat loves a girl cat

slow down talk slow Let's really drag this out

You wrote about another film, Rob, on your sub-stack, The Christopher's.

Tell us a

little bit about that.

That sounded really good.

Yeah, I saw that at the festival and also is now in some theaters.

I think it's a smaller release than normal was.

But it's a new Steven Soderbergh, one of my favorite filmmakers.

I was thinking, I've seen movies by him in theaters since I was in college 35 years ago.

And he still makes great ones.

This is like Ian McKellen plays this.

old, semi-retired artist, once famous, can now kind of forgotten.

And Michaela Cole, who is on this show, HBO, I may destroy you, I will destroy you.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

She also

was on a chewing gum is where she

got that notoriety.

Yeah, she's in a new movie with Anne Hathaway, Mother Mary.

She's excellent.

Anyway, she's hired, ostensibly to be his assistant and kind of go through his things.

But in fact, she's an art forager who has been hired to finish some

unfinished paintings that he's made so that when he dies, his kids can sell them for like millions and millions of dollars.

And it's this sort of battle of wills between the two of them and like who's going to get one up on the other.

But they're also kind of a bond because they're both artists, even though they're very different.

For me, like it's Ian McCown's best role since Gandalf.

Like he's so good in it.

And it's a really, I thought it was a great, great film.

Caper film?

Kind of.

And then it turns into something else.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Nice.

Well, we're to check all of those things.

I'm going to write them all down because I wanted to see a bunch of movies this spring because I feel like I'm not watching anything good.

But we could talk more about that next time, Rob's on the show, because this has been so fun hanging out with you, Rob.

If you want to check out his work, go to city.

Check it out in CityCast Madison.

He is the newsletter editor.

He's also a Madison based film critic.

You can check him out at Not That Rob Thomas on Substack, correct?

Correct.

All right.

Cool.

Thank you so much for being here tonight.

We appreciate your time and we hope you have a wonderful, wonderful evening.