The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - Christmas Podcast

00:00:00.000 well merry christmas everyone and this is a special christmas podcast uh a bit of levity

00:00:18.980 here today on the lotus eaters i thought we'd talk about top five in no specific order and also

00:00:25.040 there's many more than this top five christmas movies why not just a bit of fun bit of fun so

00:00:32.060 some some of these are a bit out there a bit whimsical uh i just thought we'd talk about it

00:00:36.760 are these movies about christmas or movies that you watch not necessarily right okay that's fine

00:00:41.980 that's fine because i i actually i i'm not really a fan of movies about christmas yeah okay yeah fair

00:00:48.480 completely fair it's it's not there's anything wrong with it it's just they don't generally

00:00:55.180 it's it's a bit gimmicky 100 normally like a christmas movie about christmas fits very um

00:01:03.980 isolated criteria normally like rom-coms you know they're very specific of family uh slapstick

00:01:12.580 comedies things like this so i completely understand yeah i don't mind movies that are

00:01:17.920 set at christmas you only got one of them

00:01:20.780 so i think first on the first on the block back to the future oh it's a banger but like

00:01:30.320 is it a christmas movie well is it set around christmas so no i didn't think it was no it's

00:01:35.420 not been a while since i watched it i always used to watch this at christmas it was always on tv

00:01:39.560 it was a christmas movie for me and some people believe it or not have never watched this

00:01:45.740 i imagine that there are uncontacted tribes somewhere in amazon even english people really

00:01:51.300 even english so there are some people that have never watched this um and it's just it's such a

00:01:57.920 good movie it's wholesome yep it's 80s it's also interesting exactly it's very well written yeah it's

00:02:07.060 got a really great premise which you know the uh the idea of accidentally getting sent back you know

00:02:12.120 he nearly dates his mum or something right i know weird it's like oh yeah you know like there's there's

00:02:16.880 all sorts of weird stuff that happens in it but it's a great idea and at least you know it it keeps

00:02:22.460 you engaged throughout the nature of the film it's it's not necessarily a predictable uh story it's

00:02:28.540 not predictable i don't think it's that predictable at all it's also you know it comes out of time

00:02:32.440 like it's good good bang for buck two hours long then they get attacked by libyans yeah yeah yeah

00:02:38.000 libyans yeah at the start libyans were always and they were the terrorists they were the terrorists at

00:02:43.340 the time yeah which is there's a funny little reference for anyone watching this like a libyan

00:02:48.120 truck or something wasn't it yeah yeah yeah they come out of a minivan

00:02:51.440 what's happening with ak40s before hollywood was politically correct

00:02:57.300 oh dear but it's great uh it's got the dmc delorean in it yep famous flop of a car

00:03:04.720 and they're really rare now if you can find one of them but it was cool though with the car with the

00:03:09.100 the the doors that raised up yeah yeah very unusual very cool oh so good the the action set pieces

00:03:16.340 are brilliant yes the whole the whole set design is brilliant i mean christopher lloyd looks as old

00:03:23.680 as he as he as he does now there yeah like ageless man yeah it is weird isn't it but the the the dynamic

00:03:30.260 between him and marty uh what's his name michael j fox yeah um that was really great you know and

00:03:36.680 biff as well yes like man right so 80s bullies like they knew i had a bully

00:03:43.180 biff was basically a rapist and murderer in potential yeah he was yeah he was he just

00:03:52.700 happened to not actually do it but he was definitely trying to the threat was there

00:03:57.480 he was about to the attempt was there i think and it's just like okay yeah because there's the

00:04:03.760 backseat of the yeah like full blown yeah yeah yeah and and so it's just like jesus christ

00:04:09.940 i remember i remember watching as a kid not really thinking about it there i remember watching

00:04:14.100 it as an adult being like jesus there yeah there are a lot of movies like that to be honest yeah

00:04:17.720 come back to you and you're like hold on the 80s bully is gonna murder some guy right

00:04:21.200 that 80s bully's about to get some poon um but it's just a great movie um i mean michael j fox

00:04:29.460 was a 17 year old apparently he's a young looking guy yeah yeah uh but it's a fantastic movie it's

00:04:38.640 great and i just remember watching it what's the depiction of the future where hoverboards

00:04:43.780 hoverboards that was it yeah yeah hoverboards what else was there i can't remember now it's

00:04:47.980 been a long time since i watched it there was two different phases of the future wasn't there

00:04:51.120 because there was the one where biff took over yeah yeah and it's like this nightmare future

00:04:55.120 basically where he's like he rules over everyone because he got the gambling book um yes yeah yeah

00:05:01.780 yeah and so he made his wealth yeah um yeah no it's classic definitely recommend so i i also love

00:05:09.760 the fact that the dmc they're like the dmc you get like 88 miles per hour and you're like wow

00:05:15.260 yeah okay very fast that's a weak source but yeah all right but also it's just great you know it's one

00:05:22.680 of those movies that you look at and you go they don't make them like they used to because they

00:05:25.420 well they don't yeah that's my bar humbug what what i liked about the um i i guess yeah it literally

00:05:33.480 it's just like 80s movies right what i liked about the bullies in particular is there's genuine malice

00:05:38.260 under it like these are evil people truly evil people oh yeah and so you know and they love it this

00:05:46.100 yeah yeah like the the best villains are the ones which enjoy what they're doing yeah like

00:05:53.640 yeah yeah absolutely right because because then you you actually love to hate them yeah everyone

00:05:59.040 loves to hate biff yeah everyone hates biff and for good reason yeah he's awful psycho yeah absolutely

00:06:05.240 but now you know the feminization of society overall not to get too into this but you know every

00:06:11.100 every villain is like a oh well you know he's just a bit mistaken well that's the misunderstood

00:06:15.760 no i want someone evil yeah we've got humanized the villain so it's it's this uh you know uh it's

00:06:22.980 shades of gray it's like no no no no the villain is evil and he must be defeated yeah that's good

00:06:27.960 yeah love it love it so back to the future there's one recommendation that you should watch

00:06:32.800 yep this christmas and definitely watch it with um if you're a family watch it with your kids

00:06:38.940 because unless you've obviously shown them already they wouldn't have seen it before

00:06:42.540 yeah because it is not you know kids don't was it 1985 1985 and children don't watch tv like they

00:06:48.440 that they did um back in the day so these reruns don't get shown so introduce them to a really

00:06:53.740 good as well you know yes and it's a safe pg you know there are some pgs yeah there's not

00:06:58.400 yeah so watch it your kids will love it you'll love it yeah and the music's good i can't remember

00:07:05.280 well it's just it's like 80s music well yeah i guess it would be it's great music great music

00:07:09.420 good there you go first first recommendation uh gremlins banger now this one um is actually set

00:07:19.440 at christmas this is a 15 as well yeah well yeah it's really gory i know there are like

00:07:26.780 and on also weird because there's there's the there's the uh the there's the implication that one

00:07:33.180 of the blokes gets it on with one of the gremlins which again one of those things you watch as a

00:07:38.400 kid you're like oh i don't think anything you watch it as an adult you're like what that's a bit much

00:07:43.020 what what's he doing with that female gremlin but but also like like like with biff the gremlins

00:07:49.820 themselves are just an unmitigated evil oh they're actual psychos horrific they are trying to kill you

00:07:55.660 yeah yeah genuinely horrific so when one gets whizzed up in a blender yeah exactly it's like yeah that's

00:08:00.340 fine yeah yeah exactly yeah kill them all good yeah yeah you know they murder they murder a chap

00:08:08.040 with a snow plow at one point as well yes early on yes yeah oh mad but uh but the whole story i

00:08:14.680 love the uh you know mysterious chinese shop oh yeah i'm gonna do that anymore yeah no no i'll be

00:08:19.940 racist yeah um and the the the the totally arbitrary rules it doesn't make any sense yeah

00:08:26.600 don't make it after midnight or something what time zone yeah exactly yeah like my breakfast is

00:08:33.300 after midnight yeah like so at what point is it yeah like hey then yeah exactly so is there an hour

00:08:38.580 window after midnight smelly is gizmo as well no idea but i can't get water on him yeah can't put water

00:08:43.640 on him because i must think um it's it's just like it's it's such a completely arbitrary sort of mystic

00:08:51.000 sort of uh set of rules for it that it was obvious that it was going to end up uh breaking

00:08:55.880 yeah yeah obviously yeah but it's genuinely uh again another just complete banger though isn't it

00:09:01.280 yeah oh it's a brilliant movie i mean it's not very christmasy oh i mean it's set at christmas

00:09:05.920 yeah it's ruined christmas well yes chaos and murder is afoot um i also like this because

00:09:11.740 you know like it's a good family unit as well yep you know yeah the father's a bit

00:09:17.940 he's entrepreneurial he's an inventor and the wife like puts up with his silly inventions that

00:09:24.000 basically just don't work but she tries yeah he's trying he's out there trying to do these things

00:09:28.320 yeah that's a great point actually representation of a family you know it's actually not denigrating

00:09:33.580 yeah oh it's it's very wholesome i think it's a movie that you probably couldn't make today

00:09:38.260 because everyone's well for many reasons but i think also people would probably look at the

00:09:42.600 father and go oh he's a bit you know they've made him a bit too silly and a bit too much of a failure

00:09:47.820 but back in that day it was still a wholesome yeah sort of experience um the practical effects

00:09:55.960 yep uh stand up today like yep they are superb gremlins themselves are genuinely funny as well

00:10:02.940 yeah that's the thing genuinely funny well they're they're having the best time of their life yeah

00:10:07.120 being evil little arsehole yeah basically so when he yeah doesn't he put one in the microwave as

00:10:12.080 well yeah in the microwave in a blender yeah so when he actually just kills one it's like oh thank

00:10:17.280 god yeah because they're like ha ha ha like running around they're smoking yeah yeah yeah

00:10:21.540 mad little things absolutely mad little things wasn't that one with makeup on yeah i think that's

00:10:28.200 the one that that weird guy cops it off with honestly that this movie is is out there like

00:10:35.640 but what i what i love about it is it's genuinely instructive though isn't it it's like look you

00:10:40.340 know evil things i would say people but they're obviously not people do all of these terrible

00:10:45.460 things the good people are in the wholesome families yeah that's true that is there is a moral

00:10:50.480 lesson here yeah yeah yeah and music's good uh it's well directed so i'll get i mean spielberg's

00:10:57.320 in his prime as well yeah i'll get my mood i'm surprised it's got 7.3 out of 10 on imdb to be honest

00:11:03.960 that's brutal why i'm gonna you find this actually on on a lot of the older movies why is that only

00:11:10.000 not yeah so imdb ratings and rotten tomatoes for older movies uh they have way worse ratings than

00:11:16.300 you'd expect really yeah genuinely we don't have like actual reviews on this uh no i mean if samson

00:11:24.980 pulls up rotten tomatoes for gremlins we might be able to do that um but that's fine yeah it is it is

00:11:31.420 one of those quite rare sort of surprising phenomena is that the older the movie a lot of

00:11:38.080 them just don't they don't have high reviews or ratings on there oh yeah yeah there you go so

00:11:46.220 that's nines and tens but like i want to see some of the bad reviews i think if you click on the one

00:11:51.180 on that on that there yeah click there you can get some of the bad ones how does this exist i saw this

00:11:57.840 when i was little and it made me angry then because you can't feed them after midnight oh

00:12:01.420 my god don't think about it it's really not a big it's always after midnight so you can never feed

00:12:05.160 them well that was my point yeah we just don't why would that annoy you that much it did always

00:12:10.360 bother me i know but to the degree i didn't leave a one star review i didn't leave a one star are you

00:12:15.580 sure but like so now i'm watching it years later and they get wet they multiply these things are

00:12:21.060 running the snow running in the snow drinking beer and then i got thinking they're in saliva

00:12:24.320 so this is this is a really really uh missing the point yeah review like just i mean this is just

00:12:35.220 trivial right and this is it's boringly bad shows its age it is a prime example of the really bad

00:12:41.280 things the 80s gave us the plot is nonsensical and the effects are reminiscent of 50s sci-fi

00:12:46.040 an amazing waste of cinematic resources that's i mean i would argue that's completely not true

00:12:51.500 the effects are brilliant yeah and and also this was a hugely popular film in its day

00:12:55.680 yeah hugely popular the stupidity of this movie is enormous terrible like the gremlins are gross

00:13:01.660 that's the point yeah the point is the gremlins are gross yeah i don't like horror well then why

00:13:06.860 did you watch it it's also not really a horror but it kind of is it lives in its own

00:13:13.380 um this is a movie a child gets nightmares of it's a 15

00:13:18.180 oh my god scared me when i was 12 you shouldn't have watched it yeah exactly you shouldn't have

00:13:23.900 been watching it oh these people so but i strong recommendation on gremlins it's good fun it is

00:13:30.140 yeah i'm gonna go for the the 10 reviews now let's see some

00:13:33.080 exactly 20 years ago today oh sorry i just want to like get shorter ones but these are like

00:13:41.620 a wonderful nightmare fueled classic gem i got to see gremlins in the theater today which was

00:13:46.880 thrilling and very enjoyable especially since i've seen the film a few times i absolutely love

00:13:51.620 the soundtrack and all the scenes with the gremlins uh phoebe cates is precious i love the rest of the

00:13:57.200 cast too legendary joe dante experience among many others i like this one uh remember that old

00:14:02.640 bugs money looney tunes short gremlins yeah that's exactly it had this kind of mad cap

00:14:06.980 yeah yeah obviously like taking it seriously is why would you why would you take a movie called

00:14:12.780 gremlin seriously exactly it's obviously not like the point of the movie the point of the movie is

00:14:18.480 what happens when you have these evil little shits yeah running around doing evil things and this lad

00:14:23.500 has to you know when there's a scene where like the entire town is in chaos yeah yeah well they've

00:14:29.180 overtaken a um a movie theater at one point as well it's it's it's mental they're ruining all the

00:14:35.260 christmas decorations and cars are crashing and stuff like that and it's like you know that it's

00:14:39.480 it's chaos it's not you know schindler's list you know like come on oh dear i love it i think it's

00:14:49.440 brilliant yeah it's well worth checking out and i think to be fair although it is a 15 i think

00:14:55.000 again i don't have children so i wouldn't you you i defer to your uh thing here but i'd say i think

00:15:00.440 it's okay for kids to watch i watch this as a kid i think it's okay to watch i mean i did watch it as

00:15:05.440 a kid oh you're fine uh yeah i don't know if i'd want my kids watching it though all right fair fair

00:15:11.800 not my younger ones anyway yeah yeah i think yeah there's definitely a an age appropriate point

00:15:16.780 um but i think you could watch it under 15 yeah if you're like 13 14 maybe you know i've seen a 10

00:15:23.120 but i don't know i think my 10 year olds get scared of this stuff still i think i think my 10 year

00:15:27.280 old would be uh oh fair it's very sensitive yeah no that's fair that's fair but brilliant movie

00:15:32.380 yeah definitely up there uh and a seldom seldom forgotten one i think on christmas lists actually

00:15:37.840 and it's fun for uh i'm trying to i like to sort of scenario um movies sunday afternoon when you've

00:15:49.080 had the big christmas dinner yeah and the kids have gone to bed yeah the kids are having an apple playing

00:15:52.880 and the toys okay you've had a couple of uh brandies or something you say shandy's then i was

00:15:58.500 i was gonna say sherry's oh i changed it to brandy oh okay but you know you know a couple of drinks

00:16:04.220 and you know you've just you're just dozing such a good filter bomb yeah brilliant uh so again these are

00:16:10.820 in no particular order at all ladies and gents uh the next one is die hard controversial i know i i did

00:16:16.640 that just because it is controversial is it a christmas movie set at christmas i would agree then

00:16:20.980 you know by what metric is a movie a christmas movie if it's set at christmas is it a christmas

00:16:27.000 movie yes well that's the point is it a movie about christmas or is it a movie set at christmas

00:16:33.060 yeah um and obviously this is set at christmas is this a movie that you'd watch at christmas i'd say

00:16:38.600 so it's a good movie for the evening with some beers in you some wines took a bit of good old

00:16:44.360 brucey on yeah like i mean one one thing that i like about it is um isn't he just trying to get

00:16:50.400 back to his family uh so it's been a year since i've watched it by the way yeah so um he's yeah

00:16:57.580 but basically he's he trapped in a building and yeah like he no they're trapped in a building he

00:17:03.680 breaks into the building um to save them basically so you know heroic straight white man action star

00:17:10.180 well yeah i mean this is so this is there's a theme here they're all 80s so far i know um

00:17:15.660 it it it's that sort of quintessential 80s action yes uh we don't have them anymore really uh action

00:17:24.760 stars and bruce willis was an action star and bless him very unfortunate uh turn of events oh yeah

00:17:31.560 it's tragic mine's just he's got dementia on yeah i think it's something worse than that

00:17:36.880 um but yet to that effect like he's he is not himself anymore um and genuinely tragic and that

00:17:42.880 that is actually why so a bit of trivia yeah for anyone watching if he was randomly doing really

00:17:49.140 terrible movies for quite a long period of time people were like why is he in this why is he in

00:17:52.780 this he was he was doing that because he was aware that he was losing his mind and he was trying to

00:17:56.940 earn as much money as possible before he lost his mind so he could give it to his family so they

00:18:01.120 were secure yeah so you know a bit of festive feel yeah that's nice that's the gift of giving

00:18:06.920 you know a man responsible for his family he realized he obviously knew what was happening

00:18:11.780 diagnosis um so that's why he was in a slew of terrible movies really yeah he was in some

00:18:18.600 god-awful lumps of crap for a very long period of time and it's just because he wanted to make

00:18:23.580 as much money as possible so his family would be fine for as long as possible which is lovely i mean

00:18:29.020 yeah that's wonderful that's really nice of him obviously um very responsible of him as well

00:18:33.560 but die hard's great two hours 12 minutes and 18 so probably don't watch it with your kids

00:18:39.620 yippee-ki-yay probably best not to

00:18:41.880 a lot of people getting shot um it's bombastic it's huge it's good it's a great movie it's brilliant

00:18:50.780 they used to make good movies in hollywood i know i realized there are going to be zoomers

00:18:54.440 watching this and they're like no they didn't you know they really did movies have always been

00:18:57.420 shit no they they really weren't movies didn't used to be uh the subversive nonsense that we

00:19:02.700 have now even disney used to make good movies oh amazing movies yeah genuinely amazing and you

00:19:08.160 know i mean it used to be that straight white men could be the hero yeah like literally that was

00:19:12.640 what the 80s were straight white men kicking foreigners in the face like basically every film

00:19:17.940 like think of all you know it's commando rambo uh predator even you know like it's non-stop

00:19:23.900 you know big chad straight white guys beating ass it's like yeah that used to be what we grew

00:19:29.600 up watching actually yeah you know don't get to watch anymore now you get to watch you know

00:19:33.640 trans-inclusive black feminism in yeah black woman spartacus is yeah oh god yeah that is actually a

00:19:41.260 thing but what really have you not seen this no let me have a look side note segue there is a black

00:19:46.180 female spartacus show about to drop at some point soon i can't believe you've not seen this

00:19:51.120 spartacus house of asher yeah a woman named achillia played by there you go powerful gladiatrix

00:19:58.200 challenging male dominated arena i can't believe you didn't know this i did not know this oh man

00:20:05.540 such drivel that's coming out soon i know i know i'm gonna hate watch it so am i i'm gonna hate

00:20:12.660 watch it like i did with alien earth so we used to get bruce willis and now we're getting

00:20:16.980 beating up terrorists and shooting black gladiator female so die hard's great it's a great movie

00:20:23.460 it's a good throwback it's a good feel-good movie as well because it is you know a man going out

00:20:28.760 saving the day um very well directed great music again uh the action is very well coordinated um

00:20:37.520 you've also got really good set sorry sorry i've got to read you still get on about that yeah yeah

00:20:41.400 achillia's character is significant not only for her role as a gladiatrix but also for her

00:20:45.760 representation as a strong black woman in a franchise that is historically focused on male

00:20:49.140 characters well yeah because 13 well yeah but also because of well why it's gladiators and spartacus

00:20:56.520 so so we need a black woman yeah it wouldn't have black people in it well obviously yeah like

00:21:01.200 apparently there's a lesbian kiss which adds depth to her character in the narrative oh yeah it's so deep

00:21:05.580 brilliant i can't wait for that i just absolutely shite anyway moving on as the last decade not

00:21:12.940 taught them anything yeah what are we doing here this is going to have millions of dollars are going

00:21:18.140 to have been spent on this all right back back on the christmas yeah so why is die hard so good

00:21:22.620 right great set pieces uh brilliant you can see the thing you know the thing exploding that's another

00:21:29.620 thing before computer graphics things actually had to blow up yeah there were there were actual

00:21:35.280 pyrotechnics going off like it was genuinely movies were better when things actually got blown up

00:21:40.500 yeah what do you mean it well cgi has ruined movies well they've ruined it for a few reasons so

00:21:45.860 side note on movies i guess is that the ability to instantly change stuff and instantly add stuff

00:21:53.620 um it it removes the the pressure of the one-time shot it it breeds complacency uh and and that's an

00:22:04.380 issue when when when things can just be changed and adjusted you know it breeds a level of

00:22:09.460 complacency which has crept in all the time i mean jaws is famous for being such a great movie

00:22:14.140 because basically nothing worked yeah and they really struggled to make a good movie but they

00:22:19.860 really tried same with star wars yeah stars because like george lucas is completely constrained

00:22:25.700 by the fact that he has to shoot this in a desert on a really tight budget yeah like you just have to

00:22:31.100 make it nothing is wasted yeah exactly nothing messing around no shots for shot's sake oh we'll

00:22:36.340 fix it in post no that nonsense it's no we're gonna do it right it's genuinely art from adversity

00:22:41.240 yeah yeah yeah so die hard watch it yeah cracker it's brilliant um all right so this one

00:22:48.020 this is another controversial take so what so in my defense i put this one in here for a laugh

00:22:55.500 i like and the i like it too but i also think there are genuine critiques oh massive critiques so

00:23:02.940 this this to me one is actually set at christmas oh is it yep yeah uh yeah so yannick um idris

00:23:09.940 elba's character puts up a tree in it oh right it's at christmas uh christmas day christmas day is

00:23:15.360 the end of the movie when shaw says you know the year of our lord blah blah blah blah blah and they

00:23:20.520 jet set off so it is actually set at christmas so it meets that on a technical level same as die

00:23:25.500 hard but i also thought i'd put this in here right because this this is uh emblematic this is the

00:23:31.640 perfect example one of those christmas presents that you see under the tree and you're like that's

00:23:35.840 a that's a big that's a big present that that looks great you start unwrapping it and you see

00:23:40.840 little bits and you're like oh that looks good oh i wonder what this is and you open it up you're

00:23:44.340 like oh wow this looks great and then you open the box you're like oh it's a bit shit

00:23:47.420 so it's a bit disappointing because this movie i really like this movie this is my guilty pleasure

00:23:55.380 i say guilty pleasure because everyone else hates it i really like this movie there's so much set up

00:24:00.460 yep there's so and there are massive plot holes there are massive issues with the movie

00:24:06.160 but it's everything else is so good that i overlook those things yeah right so i've okay so there's a

00:24:13.480 lots to say so the alien franchise generally um has not been well served we've talked about this

00:24:19.420 at length on camera uh alien earth being a profound disappointment yeah um but prometheus got slated

00:24:26.400 and i don't think it deserved it because actually um it did try and do something new right it was

00:24:32.520 trying to expand the universe right and actually i thought that the way that they dealt with this

00:24:37.280 space jockey was was actually a lot better because there are there are other interpretations good and bad

00:24:42.320 the space jockey is good and bad because obviously you look at the space jockey and then you look at

00:24:46.280 the engineers you're like but they're obviously not the same well that's the thing like to have it

00:24:50.160 is actually this is a a suit or a mask or whatever because there are other interpretations where they're

00:24:55.640 they've taken the suit in like the comics or whatever and they've turned it into a creature

00:24:59.700 yeah it's a giant elephant time yeah yeah creature yeah exactly yeah and so i like i think

00:25:04.520 i remember rightly so to actually have it so that no no this was a suit you didn't know what it was

00:25:09.700 was quite creative yeah it's a nice reveal there's a lot of creativity behind this and and the actual

00:25:14.700 um the engineers themselves look interesting yeah they're very memorable i agree and i agree they're

00:25:21.220 very interesting and so when they actually go and free the guy and he goes on a rampage i mean

00:25:26.120 okay whatever but like it's big brain ike i'm just gonna smash people up yeah but the the whole thing

00:25:35.220 is actually an interesting story the problem with prometheus really is the way it's told

00:25:39.300 like sorry is the biologist just touching the weird snake thing is what i mean the plot holes

00:25:44.540 like it's the narrative plot holes yeah lots of things you know the geologist that relies on the

00:25:49.300 things that go around like there's lots of issues wrong with it like silly reasons silly things as

00:25:54.820 well because actually you didn't have to have that in there and if you just had them acting like in

00:25:58.720 the previous aliens films all of the the characters who are basically there to die act normally right

00:26:05.200 yeah they do normal things yeah they do normal things they don't seem stupid and so you're like

00:26:09.600 okay that's fine and then you've got like oh we've got some scientists who are kind of stupid

00:26:13.360 like they're taking off the helmets it's like wait why are you taking off your helmet yeah what

00:26:17.040 are you doing you know like even if it is breathable atmosphere you don't know what's in it

00:26:21.040 yeah you know it could be you know microbes in it exactly you can bacteria or something

00:26:26.720 no okay we make another stupid decision off stupid decision and so it's it's the bad writing

00:26:32.000 that hinders prometheus not the concepts of the actual film itself yeah yeah i mean yeah yeah i i

00:26:39.040 agree broadly for sure i do agree broadly um so and like you say the the sort of high concept of it

00:26:45.840 it's actually a cool idea and it's it's actually not terribly told when you get to the good bits like

00:26:51.440 where he's in the um in the control room whatever yeah yeah you know you figure out how the

00:26:56.400 alien ship works and stuff like that david is is is an inherently interesting character super

00:27:02.080 michael fassbender i think will will pretty much forever be known uh for that because it's great

00:27:07.520 acting yeah you did michael fassbender it's it's superb um so i i mean i view i view prometheus um

00:27:18.160 again like i said like that present that you sort of you begin to open up and you're like you're

00:27:22.240 excited there are things that you see as you open it that's very very good i.e the movie you know

00:27:26.320 you're watching you're like oh some of this is really really good but then ultimately it's a

00:27:29.200 bit disappointing yeah as well so it's kind of my the more the more you think about prometheus

00:27:34.960 worse it gets but also i view so the things that they got wrong with prometheus they could have

00:27:40.880 corrected in alien covenant but they did it's even worse oh i know that's having sure die off camera

00:27:46.000 no i know so so so they keep doing this did they not learn from alien three yeah exactly it's just

00:27:52.640 i stop having people die off camera i view prometheus and alien covenant like um like a massage and and

00:28:00.800 and you're you're half expecting a happy ending but you don't get it

00:28:06.480 so the ultimate cocktease that's that's a weird frame well no because you're constantly being edged and

00:28:12.240 then you don't get your yeah i mean look at some of these that's amazing some of these set pieces

00:28:18.480 are genuinely incredible they're superb you know and it like it's and like cinematography is great

00:28:26.480 is superb and then when they actually um there was a bit that was cut out wasn't there about the the

00:28:31.440 guy when he's translating there's a few there's a few things and and it actually explains what the

00:28:37.280 engineer is doing or whatever right yeah and so it's it's just one of those things where it's like

00:28:41.200 okay why did you cut that out yeah exactly why did you cut that out that was genuinely interesting

00:28:46.400 and actually shone shone some light on it yeah but look the aesthetic of it is great the whole thing

00:28:51.280 is fantastic it's just really let down by ridley scott being i don't know what to say like he's

00:28:58.320 obviously declining as he's old getting older yeah which is genuinely sad um you know like his his

00:29:05.040 obsession with like jesus and creating life and all that like in covenant in the beginning

00:29:11.200 where you've got david in that big white room all right excellent okay i'm i'm i'm up for this

00:29:16.640 this is totally interesting totally well it brings me into it completely but you gotta pay stuff off

00:29:23.840 but yeah you never did and it's the courage to pay it off and just just be like yeah no i'm gonna

00:29:29.520 go to that place i'm committing the engineers jesus yeah exactly we murdered jesus yeah that's that's

00:29:34.480 basically what he was trying to get is it yeah and he didn't really like have the balls to nail it down

00:29:39.520 it's like well like for example when the engineers on the on the um waterfall that drinks the thing

00:29:44.720 and then falls in that's fascinating that's a great piece of cinema yeah like why why not just commit to

00:29:49.680 this yeah and again yeah the sign of a movie with great cinematography is you can take out each frame

00:29:57.760 and chuck it on the wall as a poster yeah and ridley scott you know regardless of his writing abilities

00:30:04.480 and the stuff which he approved script wise he's a fantastic cinematographer oh yeah his

00:30:10.320 cinematography is second to none it's beautiful um all of it all of this would be a poster it's

00:30:15.680 incredible absolutely incredible so controversial one but prometheus now

00:30:21.680 last but definitely not least is it an actual christmas movie snowman been a while since i

00:30:31.600 watched this i love the snowman but i also hate it why that bloody song comes on

00:30:38.080 i i can't actually remember the plot of the snowman snowman comes to life takes this kid out

00:30:43.440 it's like the kid builds the snowman the snowman comes to life takes him on adventures it's just it's

00:30:49.120 lovely and wholesome and it's all hand drawn yeah it's beautiful it's 82 absolute okay pretty much

00:30:57.440 all 80s it's just it it's it it's quintessential english christmas yeah like it's it's brilliant

00:31:07.040 it's absolutely brilliant he's went to the north pole to meet father christmas yeah and then he

00:31:13.200 i think he melts at the end if i remember rightly yeah because there is a bit of sadness to it it's

00:31:18.240 just such it's it's brilliant it's wholesome there is a bit of melancholy isn't there yeah

00:31:22.800 because i think he i think he melts yeah yeah it's um yeah it's genuinely like you know childlike

00:31:28.560 innocence and wonder but also yeah childlike innocence and wonder it it's technically great

00:31:36.160 because it's all hand-drawn you know sort of pastels um thrown in there it's the song itself

00:31:45.120 walking in the air you know we're walking in the air i'm not gonna do it incredibly famous

00:31:49.680 it's incredibly famous but also you know it's memorable for the right reasons you know it's not

00:31:55.040 irritating it's not one of those i don't know like everything's become and no doubt this is probably

00:32:02.320 commercialized at the time i would imagine to some degree and there's big things been sold about it

00:32:07.280 but it's not it's not the over commercialization of christmas that we have today yeah where we need

00:32:14.640 a christmas number one and oh we need this and we need that it's there was a a certain element of

00:32:22.560 innocence to it i think yeah yeah no i i'm totally with you know this i think became popular for the

00:32:30.240 right reasons and became if it was commercialized was commercialized for the right reasons as opposed to

00:32:36.000 um astroturfed commercialized products which we have today like the the hunt for the christmas number

00:32:42.480 one like i hate all of that i don't we're just stepping way far away from what christmas should

00:32:47.280 be and why people like it you know yeah yeah no i'm i'm totally with you on this like there is a kind of

00:32:54.080 um purity in it that i mean like i mean look at the guys uh look at the kids like pajamas and

00:33:02.720 dressing gown you know yeah this is this is a kind of nostalgia you know it looks it looks kind

00:33:09.520 of harry potter right it's the touching the same sort of tone in your mind yeah where it's like you

00:33:14.560 know this is normalcy this is um innocence and it it's not i don't know how to describe it like

00:33:23.920 but it's it's not without a message like say you know the you know he melts right so there's something

00:33:29.360 dark you know so it's not it's not trivial right so like i can see why like the the feel of it and

00:33:36.640 the aesthetic of it being hand-drawn gives it a really unique look so yeah no i agree i think it's

00:33:42.640 a great christmas film it's only 27 minutes long yeah well yes it's a tv short thing but if because

00:33:50.800 no doubt there'll be american viewers if you've never seen this honestly chuck it on with your kids

00:33:55.760 it's it's it's fantastic it's brilliant it's it's kind of haunting right it's kind of again

00:34:01.040 especially with the lyrics yeah the song and how the song is um that is quite quite a haunting song

00:34:08.320 but overall it's just it's just lovely yeah it's very gentle very of its time as well like if you were

00:34:14.640 to make this today but it wouldn't it certainly wouldn't be a ginger white boy yeah yeah which is

00:34:19.680 just sad yeah and there's no dialogue is there no nothing so it's it's all done through sort of

00:34:25.680 music and sound effects and visuals like so but it it creates this kind of ethereal otherworldliness

00:34:32.800 in it where you know it's how to describe it like you are you are taken into a journey that is just

00:34:42.400 it's completely divorced to the real problems of real people in real life right this is something

00:34:46.800 genuinely quite magical and i think that's why it resonated with people as i know this is something

00:34:51.040 completely outside of normalcy but it hits that that that really sort of it's kind of like hobbity

00:34:59.120 sort of uh i don't know that's probably like so there's there's the element of melancholy in it

00:35:05.600 that's you know sort of bittersweet as well and it it like i said it was haunting and so you've got

00:35:12.080 what what it is is an experience unlike any other i can't think of anything that has created the kind

00:35:17.440 of experience that you have when you watch this no no and i think as well to sort of add to that i

00:35:21.920 think it's you know it's told from the child's perspective so it gets it to me it gets to the

00:35:28.400 nub of what christmas is about right christmas is for children you know and this is a a fantastical

00:35:34.080 journey that this child goes on that this little boy goes on and you know it again it's not without

00:35:42.560 consequence um but it gets to the very nub of what christmas is which is for children and it's magic

00:35:48.640 yeah it is a magical journey for this child to go through that that's that's that's the right frame

00:35:53.520 magic because it's not it's not just like with kids cartoons and kids you know shows on youtube

00:36:01.120 where it's just everything's uh excessively saturated and everyone's really nice all the

00:36:06.320 time no there's there's loss in it right there's the it's it's not just insulating you against like

00:36:13.280 the real emotions you will feel throughout your life but it's not perverse and it's not distorting

00:36:20.880 you know it's it's kind of i don't know say a warning maybe i don't know what i'm trying to say

00:36:25.760 but like there's you know what i'm saying though right there is magic to it but it's it's not

00:36:30.400 it's not trying to sell you anything yeah it there's no greater greed or or hubris or ego

00:36:37.280 you know it's just a child going on a on a very wholesome adventure with a magic snowman yeah it

00:36:43.680 sounds silly unfortunately does disappear at the end so it but it's a snapshot in time it's it's i think

00:36:52.880 by its very nature of the snowman melting as well is is indicative of christmas being

00:37:00.400 a magic snapshot you know it is yeah it comes around once a year it's lovely it's wholesome

00:37:07.280 and then yeah it does go you are right when yeah exactly the nature of christmas goes as you mature

00:37:13.520 out of it as well like for for a kid who still believes that father christmas is real which he

00:37:19.120 is by the way of course um but unfortunately we've got so many deniers now i know it's insufferable

00:37:25.360 uh but the the the feeling of magic of christmas is genuinely something special and this does a

00:37:30.480 really good job of capturing that but also capturing the kind of um the the the aging into wisdom

00:37:37.680 where it disappears as you get older yeah and so the nostalgia that it invokes is the nostalgia of

00:37:44.960 when you were like eight years old and you know your parents are like we'll put out the um stocking and

00:37:51.120 go to bed and you know you might hear the bells and then you wake up and it's all falling oh my god

00:37:55.280 you know like that that that is a genuinely beautiful thing and i get really annoyed of those people who

00:38:00.560 are essentially like oh we shouldn't lie to kids it's like no we're not lying to kids you don't

00:38:04.720 understand what we're doing is making the world enchanted right yeah i think well definitely reasonable

00:38:09.920 it's it's a more children should not be exposed to the horrors of the world it's not even the horrors of

00:38:15.520 the world it's the the blandness of the world right well yeah well like it's it's not even that like

00:38:20.080 if you shouldn't lie to kids then you would you'd still remove all of the horrors from them but

00:38:23.920 children should be as innocent for as long as possible part of the innocence is to believe

00:38:29.520 in these things like tooth fairy santa claus what it does is it creates a magic that allows them to

00:38:35.280 actually love their own world and also have an imagination yeah but but i i mean this though like

00:38:41.920 the the world is actually kind of boring right it's not very exciting you know actually look what this

00:38:47.280 is portraying is mundanity in the beginning it's just a mundane life you know but actually

00:38:53.600 the way that the thing builds up it and this is this is indicative of the whole nature that we've had

00:39:00.640 with the christmas spirit anyway is to make the world enchanted for kids so they can genuinely love

00:39:05.920 these things yeah before they are old enough to realize that we were just doing something kind for

00:39:10.960 them yeah and so this this is why i hate it when people kind of attack the christmas spirit it's like no it's

00:39:16.960 it's it's not for you yeah it's it's so the our kids can genuinely love their own societies yeah so

00:39:25.040 watch the snowman and watch it with your children because it's a beautiful film yes

The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - December 24, 2025

Christmas Podcast ｜ Top 5 Christmas Movies

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