iTunes Exclusive Episode You Were Never Really Here

How many people is this address?"
good reading.
and or members. If you're hearing the sound of my voice, it means the following conditions
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is Rob. I'm the executive producer of the clubhouse podcast. And if I had a hammer, I would
hammer in the morning. I would hammer in the evening. I would hammer all over this
land. I'd hammer out warning. I'm not alone. Joining me in the co-host chair is my co-host.
And a man who will stand up for what he believes in.
Mark, he is Chad. Welcome, sir. But you please hand me that hammer, so I could smack myself
on the forehead after that. You might want to hold on to that. Next to him is the official
fact checker of this show. And a man who still owns his hammer pants. You may know I'm
his fond Don Doe, but his mom and named him Don Ford. I'm going to call him Don Ford.
What's up, sir? What in the heck are hammer pants? Are you trying to make a construction
where you put the hammer with the bell? Don't you remember the pants? MC Hammer used to
wear back in the day where they were. Oh, I used to have a pair of, I used to have a pair
of parachute pants. Don't call them parachute pants. Parachute pants are not hammer pants.
Not the same. Not the same. You did, kid. Rounding out the day, this is the newest member
of this insane little family that we have. And a man who probably is figuring out why
he's here at this point. Alex is here. What's going on, sir? Well, I know why I'm here.
Oh, because I have a microphone. That's fair. And I get to talk. Whatever we do,
one of these is to review something. This is no exception. Brand new film with the
Joaquin Phoenix. It's called you are never really here. For what's up, this whole thing?
Yes, sir. We got to thank Brad and everybody at FontsPR. Hey, thank you guys so much.
They gave us a chance to see films ahead of time so that we can talk to you about it.
Yes, we're now for the first time. Look on chance, face. It's F-O-N-S for you guys playing
at home. So we can see movies earlier so we can tell you guys about them and our thoughts.
Now in this particular case, I'm the only one that's seen this film because I just happened
to be on vacation when they were screening this because of one of those middle-day screenings.
So I went and checked this out directed by Lynn Ramsey now to help you put this in perspective.
If you remember a song, a song, a film from the last few years that's called We Need
to Talk About Kevin. This is the same director. So if you want to put that in its own framework
so you can kind of compare it. This is based on a novella from Jonathan Ames and here's
what you need to know. The walking, by the way, the official hashtag for this is Bring
the Hammer. And that's all I'm saying about. That's why the hammer references have been
having. He plays Joe. He's a, I'm going to give you the official M-Dib description.
A traumatized veteran, unafraid of violence, tracks down missing girls for a living. When
a job spins out of control, Joe's nightmares overtake him as a conspiracy is uncovered
leading to what may be his death trip or his awakening. So now here's what you need to
know. So Joe's, Joe's job pretty well defined here. He's, he's basically a hired gun that
finds missing girls. Okay. Now if you remember, I mean, there's the, the, the only other
name you might know from this and make sure I get this right is John Domen. Does that
mean mean anything to you? Not ringing any bells. Let me tell you, because he's the only
other person I really recognized from this thing. He's been in a lot, he's, right, he played
Carmine Falcone on Gotham. Oh, okay, okay. So yeah, he's in this. He's kind of his
de facto boss, I guess you could say. Okay. He's also a Rosalie Isles SVU.
Mr. River. Yeah, he was in Mr. River as well. Great actor. He was the airplane captain
and Beavison, but he'd do America. He was. So he tells him that there's a daughter of
a guy that's running to be deputy governor or lieutenant governors, what they call that
I guess. Yes. And it's, it's a young daughter who tends to run away a lot, but she's been
missing for a week. Now you say young girls like these are like seven to ten year old girls
usually. From what we've seen in the film right around that age. Okay. There's only two
that you really see. Okay. Well, he goes after, but what he finds out is there's a lot
more going on and things get sideways pretty quick because there's only runs 90 minutes.
Wow. The best way I can help you understand this film. It's the French connection meets
taken. No, dear. Stay with the opposite reaction. It sounds like Chad's like, why are we doing
this? And I'm like, I'm going. Come on. Stay with me. Right off the bat, I got a real
70s detective film noir feel from this like down to the score, which is done by the guitar
player from Radiohead. It's got that real 70s kind of thing. All I kept think, all I kept
seeing was Gene Hackman in this because the opening scene is where he's wrapping up a case.
Literally. And I'll be another thing here. And if you know anything about Joaquin Phoenix,
this kind of makes sense. Not a ton of dialogue in this. Really? The visuals. This is very visual
over vocal. It almost plays out like a graphic novel in certain cases. And if you see
the poster, because the poster, the one sheet ends. And there's a reason. If you look close
enough, you'll see why it says, bring the hammer. I can see that.
Here's my conundrum when it comes to this film. Very well done. First of all, well shot.
You get kind of disorder. I can see you because I don't know what you would do. But I got a little
disoriented in a couple of spots because there's quick flashes in the flashback as you're trying to
piece together who this guy is because he's not normal. He lives with his aging mother.
And he's he's very to himself to the point where he actually has to have a conversation with
the guy saying, look, this person saw me. They weren't supposed to see me. So he's kind of one of
those. If you ever meet me, it's too late. Kind of guys. But this film is nothing short of
awesome. But I don't know that I could sit through it again. Interesting. It's that I mean,
it's intense. It's incredibly intense. A lot of the violence. It's one of it's it's not a film
where it's not it's more what you don't see versus what you do. But it's also not overly violent
if that makes sense. Like you see what happens. But you don't always see what happens. Does that make
sense? Yeah. It's just yeah. Oh, yeah, it makes sense. I'm having difficulty getting from my
brain to to the microphone. Because there are certain sequences where you see something happen.
But there are other sequences where like he goes into a house and you're seeing everything from
the security cameras points of view. And so some of it you see him beat the crap out of the guy
and some of it you just kind of see his arm flailing off the frame. So it's more letting your
imagination run wild. In some cases, yes. In some cases, no. Knowing what a nut walking Phoenix is
allegedly, allegedly, that's fair. He fits this role perfectly. So in other words, he wasn't acting.
I don't know though. I wouldn't say that he wasn't acting. But I think he really understood this
character. He plays unhinged very well. Like this was a film that when it debuted at Sundance
earlier this year, it wasn't even done yet. Yeah. Yeah. I saw that. Yeah. I saw that it was
entered in an unfinished. But I mean, they finished it up and they said, no, this is not the final
product. But he got bought up anyway. Amazon Studios, again, starting to up their game a little bit
more every time we see a film that they do. And that's two for two on their last two. I mean,
this thing is really, really, really good. But it's really, really, really intense.
There's a very interesting sequence that takes place in his kitchen that we're being
spoiler free. So I don't want to say you guys, you guys can ask me off air and I can tell you what
happens. But that gives a little bit of a breath of comic relief to it. But there were moments
that I cringed a little bit because I was, I mean, oh, oh, dear. Like there was a lot of that going
on in 90 minutes. And it's a quick 90 minutes. You remember the first time you saw taken,
and you were like, holy crap, that was 90 minutes. That's how this goes. But without all of the
bravado that taken had this is a lot more so it's understated. So it doesn't glorify it like
taken did it. It's more. This is a lot, this is a lot more understated in its violence. Now,
there is a certain level of gore to it, especially towards the end. But and there's a little
bit of, I mean, I hate to say there's a little bit of man on fire to this, but it's just because
of the whole little girl being protected by the older guy thing. That's really the only parallel
you can draw. I mean, this is a lot closer to me to the French connection in its style of storytelling.
This was, I was very much looking forward to this, but it still exceeded my expectations for it.
But it's so intense. I even knowing what's coming. I don't know that I could sit through it again,
which is, it's a good thing. That's a good thing, because that means it's doing its job. Yeah,
yeah, it's, it's making you uncomfortable on purpose. But I wouldn't call this, I mean,
the endib labels this as a drama mystery thriller. That's probably pretty close to what it is,
because I wouldn't say walking Phoenix action star out of this, because it's not really an action
movie. It relies on its storytelling to drive the visuals, which it does, even with the minimal
dialogue involved. And you see the character of Joe as a guy who, to do what he does for a living,
he has to be completely off of his rocker, to do his job effectively. And Joaquin knows where
that pocket is, where, you know, his pseudo boss is talking, and he's got a handful of jelly beans out
of a bar. He just, I just, I don't know, it's like, there's no green ones. I like the green ones.
And he's laying on the couch. So the, the pseudo boss, would you say that because he's so unhinged,
he's more of a handler in that classic style, where it's like he's more of the point, the human
weapon. Yes, yes, because what happens, he says, we got this phone call. Here's the thing.
It's going to pay us, you know, 50 grand. We get this 50 grand. I get my boat out of dry dock,
and we just sail off into sunset. Like I think that the handler realizes like he's the only real
stabilizing force he has. And so, you know, I've kind of kind of helped keep him under control. And
when you, because there's even, it's intimated, but it's not blatantly said, there's a couple of
flashbacks. So when he was in the war overseas, and what could be one of his motivations as to why
he focuses on rescuing young children, much less young girls, that's one of those moments,
where you go, ah, okay, you know, this is a really, really, really, really good movie. But it is,
you have to understand this. I mean, I'm pretty sure that this is rated R because there's the
gore alone would have gotten at the R. There's not a ton. Yeah, there's not a ton of language in
it, because there's not a ton of dialogue. But there's enough that it would have gotten the R in
the language too. This is really, really good. I can't say that enough. But holy cow.
It's an experience that you survive. And I also want to talk about something that we don't talk
about a lot on this show when we review things. I want to send a shout out to the sound designers
on this. The sound designers and the sound editors, the sound field on this film is completely
immersive. Like when he's standing at the subway station, the subway feels like it sounds like it's
coming through the room. Oh, wow. When there's, there's voices, whether they're in his head or just
little voices, they're coming from all over the auditorium, it's really, really well done. And I
was very much impressed with that. And it gives you enough of who he is as the story goes.
You get little inklings here and there that by the time the end of the film comes around, you have
a really good picture of who the character is. Any questions that you guys have that I haven't
covered so far? The comparisons I've been kind of reading up on this as you've been talking. I
keep seeing the title tags he driver getting thrown out there. I saw that too because that's on the
one sheet. I don't know that I would compare this to taxi driver because
deniro and taxi driver ends up in that place where has Joaquin here's already in that place from
jump. Like he doesn't need motivation. He already has it going in. There's not a breaking point
moment, if you will. You don't see the slow descent in the man. He's already crazy. Yeah, he's
already the mayor of crazyville at this point. Alex. I'm actually going through the notes,
listen to his violence and gore for why it was rated the way it was. And just reading this is
almost disturbing, let alone having. Oh, you're reading the instances of the content rating and
the explanations. And it's it's yeah, I mean, it's chilling. It's intense, man. But it's it's not
violent for the sake of violence. Like the violence that happens, there's there's something behind
it and it propels the story. Right, but just even the way it's written up sounds like it's
interesting just from a directorial standpoint. Just from the idea of there is more of the implied
implied. Yeah, but there is something to the story that I will say that there is one very quick
scene that I didn't understand why it was there other than to continue to show his nuttiness
where he's sitting in a stairwell. And that's that's all I'm going to say because I want to be
spoiled. And we can talk about it off air. But that was the only thing if I had to criticize
something like that one 90 second scene was where I was like, I have a question. But other than
that, I mean, this is a really good film. It's just it's it's not good for your blood pressure.
And it's it's one of those it does work itself out, but not necessarily in the manner in which you
think it will. Hmm, which I liked about it too. It took a couple of turns. I was like, Oh, okay,
you have me now. Don, what are you thinking? I just listened kind of getting a thing in.
I'm good. All right. Well, then let's get to the final analysis. The way we do the final
analysis on this show, I'm not going to give you thumbs up, thumbs down, I'm not going to give
you a letter of grades. It's not going to be a 100 bullets kind of thing. Two questions. Number
one is what I see this again, which I think we've really established. But I think we're going to
have established. We're going to have to modify the second question a little bit because I've
already said I don't know I would see I liked it, but I don't know that I would see it again.
How would you recommend that here's the thing? Yeah, so we're going to have to modify the
second question a little bit. For Pete, I would recommend for someone to see it for sure.
I would say this is really good at a matinee because you're going to need some decompressed time
after this. You're going to need some time to for lack of a better term kind of get this out of
your system because it's so dark and so intense. I mean, you look at some of the old school film
noir films. And especially when you're getting this stuff like double indemnity and things like
that where you finish the film or strangers on a train and you just go, it's one of those you
don't want to be left alone in the dark. I just need to go for a walk for a minute and just
process this. And it's not a bad thing. Again, this is a really good film. It's just really
flipping intense to the point where I mean, I squirmed a little bit. I'm not going to lie to you,
but it wasn't like I didn't feel they did it because they could. They did it because it was part
of the story. So it wasn't go for go or say not at all. Okay, not at all. So not an Eli Roth movie.
No, no, not even that, not even close. There, there, I wouldn't say there's a couple of
jump scares, but there's a couple of kind of loud moments that I would, okay, we're good. You know,
so it is directed by Lynn Ramsey. It is you were never really here for insolving. Yes,
I think Brad and your Bay at fonts PR. Hey, everybody's got to have a bit. I'm just saying,
thank you guys so much. Let us come see movies ahead of time so we can talk to you guys about them.
And we can help you spend your entertainment dollar wisely. That being said, let's do the plugs.
Visit our website. That's where you'll find my written review of this film at www.theclubhousepodcast.com.
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like this. So until next time, for Alex, for Don, for chat in the empire, I'm Rob. Clubhouse is closed.
I mean, you have to use Britney Palmer as an extra in this. I don't know if I'd want her in the
line of fire until I'm like this. I'm just saying.