iTunes Exclusive Episode Woman In Gold

The following is a sooner orgator production.
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Welcome Empire member and or members!
If you are listening to my voice right now, we hope it means at least one of the following couple of things.
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It might also mean that you subscribe to the show on iTunes because it is time for another iTunes exclusive.
We welcome you each and every one of you individually.
My name is Rob and I am the executive producer and the guy that kind of keeps things moving on the show.
Any time that we do, and iTunes exclusive, it's usually to review something
and today is no different.
Joining me for this particular episode, iTunes exclusive number 990 is a man who could have been anywhere in the world right now, but he wants to be right here with you.
He is the king of bowling.
You may know him as Andrew Beckham.
Thank you.
Great to be here.
You and I got to check out a movie last night courtesy of our friends at Allied Integrated Marketing.
Kelsey and the gang over there.
Some of our best friends in the entire world want to thank you.
And the movie they let us watch last night is called Woman in Gold.
starring Helen Marin and Ryan Reynolds.
Based on a true story about Maria Altman.
She is an older lady who is a Jewish refugee, where she had to escape Austria.
She was in Vienna with her family.
And the Nazis came in basically doing what they do.
And stole all of their stuff.
And one amongst us is a priceless painting of her aunt.
That was painted by a very famous painter.
And she's getting on an age.
And she wants her belongings back.
She believes that she has rights to these belongings.
According to letters she's received from her aunt and things of that nature.
So she hires her friends son as her lawyer played by Ryan Reynolds.
And we go from there.
Actually go to Vienna when she says she doesn't want to go to Vienna.
To try to get these priceless works back.
Problem is Austria is not going to give up.
It is a national treasure basically.
Again based on a true story.
A very interesting storyline for me.
I found this.
I always like courtroom drama kind of kind of stories.
Definitely.
But when you're talking about things like art reparations and things of itself.
It just fascinated me.
Because I was totally glued to the story.
Yes.
It's something you don't get very often.
You really have to enjoy it while it's there.
Like that type of story.
Yeah.
Reparations.
Reparations.
Which is basically like she doesn't really want to catch for it.
Right.
She just wants her family's heirlooms back.
Exactly.
Taking from these horrible horrible people.
Yeah.
You know.
That's like her family was just a family trying to make it buy.
And these horrible horrible people came and took everything from them.
And a horrible time in history.
If nothing else.
It goes back and forth.
It's hard to try to keep to from knowing the complete story until things move along.
Which I really dug.
Yeah.
Director Simon Curtis here.
Not much in this country.
He did my week with Marilyn in 2011.
Which I've heard good things about.
It was good film.
I hated the BBC version of David Copperfield in 99.
Not a lot on what the kids like to call this side of the pond.
But I felt that his direction was very solid here.
It was.
I thought that the feel of the film really captured the story well.
I thought this scene that they shot in Vienna were beautifully shot.
Oh yeah.
I mean, that's one of the places I've always wanted to go.
And I really felt that it gave me a feeling of what I see in my mind when I think about Vienna and everything that it has to offer.
And they did film on location in both Vienna and London in California because that's most of the story takes place in California where she lived.
Right.
Of course, I'm not spoiling anything and she did pass away a few years ago.
But this is actually based on a documentary that came out a few years ago that I'm going to go back and watch because this story just fascinated me.
I want to know more about the struggle there.
How did you feel the story was told Andrew?
Oh, it was.
I enjoyed it.
I don't think it could have been told any better than how it was.
Like he's mentioned earlier the I guess to go in back in time to kind of progress the story of how of where her character is now and why she's acting the way she is.
I just felt it was.
It was the right amount of information to keep me wanting to know more fair enough fair enough.
I didn't feel like the story dragged.
I think, although I do think there was a lot of setup that had to happen.
Right.
The first half an hour, if I've got it, have any pacing issues.
The first half an hour does crawl a little bit, but it's because there's so much story and so much backstory that they have to set up for you to understand what's truly going on.
Right.
So the pacing there was fine for me.
It's right at an hour fifty.
Yes.
So it's a solid, you know, it's a solid two hour film.
Yeah.
But it didn't feel like it though.
Not really.
It's that's what the first thing you said to me when the movie was over.
Right.
You said, hey, this didn't feel like two hours to me.
No.
And it really didn't.
I felt like the story was told that had to be told.
It was.
You could, you're always kind of left with wanting more.
You know, I think I would have, I personally, I would have liked to have seen more of.
They end up going all the way to the Supreme Court.
But I wanted to know more about that journey.
Exactly.
Yes.
But I think they were kind of like, look, you know, we got two hours to do this.
Exactly.
That would be a three and a half hour movie.
But I think that you might get that from other sources.
Maybe this documentary that we made that we're going to have to check out at some point from.
And it's done by BBC films.
And I'm pretty sure that the documentary was done by BBC.
Yeah.
Fascinating story.
You get to the performances.
Helen Mirin.
Like, what else do you need to say?
That's this woman.
If I were to like,
make a list of like,
older actresses that I just put in that pedestal.
It's like her and Judy Dench.
That's the list.
It is.
And there's no beer.
See, they're just a.
That's it.
Hey, what?
One and one.
Exactly.
Yes.
You know, I could watch Helen Mirin read the phone book.
She is that good.
Yeah.
She has an amazing stage presence and amazing screen presence.
And she owned this role.
Owned it.
Yes.
To me, she, she didn't really say anything like right off the bat.
Her facial expressions are what drew you in.
And you really wanted to hear what she does.
Yes.
And it drew you into the words she was saying and you really felt,
you almost, I almost felt as she did.
She sells it completely and totally.
Right.
You know, you just like you said,
it's a lot with her.
It's the emotion that she portrays.
Yes.
Like when she was angry,
I felt angry.
Yeah.
But she's got an Oscar.
And that's why.
Yeah.
Amongst the thousands of other reasons that she's just amazing.
And I would put her in every movie ever.
I don't care what it was.
Right.
Because she's got range.
She did red and red too.
And she was, I just watched red too again last week.
She's so great.
But she has this amazing ability.
Anybody else doing what she did.
I'm trying to put it in the words because anybody else doing what she does is
chewing scenery.
Yeah.
But she knows how to command a presence.
But it acknowledged the actors around her.
Right.
Because that's to be honest.
Ryan Reynolds, not the Lawrence Olivier of our time.
I enjoy his work.
I'm a huge fan of the Ryan Reynolds.
I'm one of the 19 people on the planet that actually enjoyed green lantern.
I've been a fan of his since two guys a girl in a pizza place.
Wow.
So I loved that show.
And I thought he was great on it.
Yeah.
It's going to be Deadpool for God's sake.
She raised his game.
I'm not saying put him on the Oscar ballad for this.
Right.
But he acted his tail off in this.
Yes, I know.
For Ryan Reynolds.
Yes, for Ryan Reynolds.
I'm not a huge fan of his, but I walked out and I was like,
God, I have to have a new respect for him.
He doesn't give you the choice.
He's that good.
Yes.
And again, I'm not saying that he stretched his acting chops beyond what he could do.
But for me, for Ryan Reynolds, this is a strong performance.
Indeed.
And I think that he's finally at the point in his career where he can go,
Okay, let me take on some more challenging roles.
Yes.
Neither myself nor my wife are hurting for cash.
Exactly.
Those of you that don't know, he's married to the great Blake Lively,
who he was in Green Lantern with.
I liked that he's taking roles that aren't just the smart me Van Wilder guy.
He loves Van Wilder.
Don't get me wrong.
But I liked that he's, he's realizing, you know what?
I'm not getting any younger.
I need to find roles that are more going to be suited to who I am.
He took waiting and threw it out the window.
Which is still a good film.
Yeah.
Sure.
Katie Holmes places wife as she's trying to resurrect her career,
post crazy and that her, I don't mean she was crazy.
Exactly.
I thought she was good in this.
I don't know that I thought she was great.
She wasn't.
But she was good.
Like she was, she plays his wife and she plays that supporting wife role.
Well, that role of the woman that keeps you grounded.
Yes.
But still kind of like she got, okay.
It's kind of like what I say about my wife.
She accepts me for the man that I am.
But she encourages me to be the man that I want to be.
Exactly.
That's the kind of role she plays in this and I think she plays it very well.
She does.
If she had more screen time and just more lines in general,
she may have put out a better performance.
But the question is, did she mean a bigger role on the film?
Because I think her performance was right right needed to be.
Yeah.
That's true.
Especially since they didn't show as much as on their way to the Supreme Court
and on their way to Austria that struggle.
So I guess she really didn't need to be in there for that reason.
Also a performance for me that made me happy.
Jonathan Price.
Yes.
Please play the Supreme Court judge who I am a huge Jonathan Price fan.
Huge.
The guy did Lexus commercials.
I would watch those.
I would not afford them because Jonathan Price was in them.
Yeah.
Huge fan.
Not a big role.
Not on the screen for very long.
But he really helps move that story along a little bit with his line.
He has a great line and I don't want to spoil it because I want you to see the film.
But he has a great line when he asks Ryan Reynolds a question.
Yes.
They do show you at the end of the film what happens to the main characters.
And you see the guy that Reynolds portrays Randall Schoenberg.
And you go.
Twins maybe?
No.
Not even close.
For a turtle maybe.
Right.
But if you're him, you're going to let Ryan Reynolds play me?
Sure.
I see it.
I'm good with it.
Yeah.
He has more hair than I do.
Yeah.
That's great.
But it just.
This movie tears it down on multiple levels.
It really does.
I don't think this is going to be in in Oscar.
Contention in any way shape or form.
No.
But a movie doesn't have to be Oscar worthy to be good.
I know it doesn't.
It kind of.
It was kind of a.
Lefty with a feel good feeling but.
And also told a story really well kind of like.
A movie that's kind of in the same vein.
Big eyes.
Yeah.
With Amy Adams kind of that same.
I got to had that same feeling as the film went on.
Just on a different level.
Right.
Because with those two women went through, we're too completely different experiences.
Exactly.
But I thought there was the perfect blend of flashback and current.
Yes.
And there was a big guy's reference in that movie in the film.
Was there?
Yeah.
Like a Hill and Mary's character like pointed in a painting.
She's like, oh yeah.
Or like we had a painting and it had big eyes.
And I know.
Okay.
That's that.
The thing I liked about it was the World War II stuff wasn't just constantly being
preached to you.
No.
It's like you know what happened.
Right.
We just wanted to tell you what happened to this family.
Exactly.
Which I thought was good because I think it might have gone a little bit too overboard.
Had they got it that way.
Right.
But I thought that they told the story very, very well.
And they did.
And they showed it too.
Like they.
They kind of held back but they didn't.
They showed the forcefulness to really promote.
What happened and we're not going to lie to you about it.
Fair enough.
And also with Ryan Reynolds.
Like when when he went to the memorial wall there in Vienna.
Mm hmm.
Like at that point it's like he realizes I have to do this.
And it's to me he was going to be unstoppable until he got the outcome that he wanted.
But for me I saw him more as.
Finally embracing.
His heritage.
Yeah.
And his lineage of going.
Because he comes back and he says something happened over there and it affected me.
Right.
Well because you finally got to see what your ancestors went through.
And you finally got somebody who was there that could tell you that.
Yeah.
And and that was a powerful moment I think for the for me in the film as well.
Yeah.
All right.
So let's get to the final analysis.
When we do the final analysis on this show.
We don't give you thumbs up thumbs down.
We don't give you letter grades one to ten whatever.
Our audience the empire better than that.
It's a two-pronged question.
Pressing number one is would you see this film again?
The answer is no.
Then we're done here.
If the answer is yes it turns into how far would you be willing to go.
Would you pay full price in a theater?
Would you pay twilight, mattenang, early morning?
Would you see it in second run?
Would you wait for it on Netflix?
Would you get it from red box?
Would you wait for it on cable?
Andrew?
I will ask you would you see this film again?
Yes.
How far would you be willing to see it?
I would say this is like an in-home date night movie.
Okay.
Fair enough.
Watch it.
For me I would definitely see this film again.
I would see it again with my wife if we were in the mood for something that's serious.
Because it's kind of heavy.
It's a very heavy story.
Right.
And it's not a first date movie.
Let's put it out there right now.
Exactly.
Go with somebody you've been with for a minute.
Right.
But it is an excellent film.
It tells an excellent story with some amazing performances in it.
Congratulations to everybody involved with this.
Go check out woman in gold.
Thank you again to our friends at Allied Integrated Marketing who gave us the opportunity to see this early enough to tell you about it.
So you'll know if it's good worth spending your hard earned money.
Right.
There are a lot better than us than they to us than they ever have to be.
And we could not thank them.
Yes.
Thank you very much.
Let's do the flux.
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