Step into the narrative ring with us and special guest Adi Aishua as we explore the emotional landscape of "The Iron Claw," a film that brings the tumultuous tale of the Von Erich wrestling dynasty to life. Zac Efron's portrayal of family and fame dives deep into the Von Erich clan's journey, marked by patriarch Fritz's heavy hand and the brothers' search for validation amidst the chaos of the ring. Listen closely as we dissect the actors' stunning physical metamorphoses and the poignant depiction of brotherhood that resonates far beyond the wrestling arena, a testament to the film's powerful storytelling.
The conversation takes an unexpected turn when we geek out over a He-Man cameo, playfully considering digital wig makeovers and the alchemy behind the iconic transformation. We waltz through the film's soundtrack, lose ourselves in the era's beats, and unpack how music underscores the emotional pulls of the narrative. With Adi Aishua's fresh perspectives and our shared enthusiasm, we peel back the layers of the on-screen relationships that amplify the drama and tug at the heartstrings.
Wrapping up the episode, we venture into the broader realm of cinematic storytelling, drawing parallels with Brendan Fraser's return to the spotlight in "The Whale" and the artful direction of movies that leave a lasting impact. Our musings wander into the daring territory of "Epstein the Musical" before grounding back to the reflections on the Von Erich saga, offering listeners a hearty mix of history, tragedy, and the riveting complexities of family legacy. Tune in for a discussion that's as gripping as the wrestling moves it depicts, and stay for the unexpected detours that make this episode truly one-of-a-kind.
Step into the narrative ring with us and special guest Adi Aishua as we explore the emotional landscape of "The Iron Claw," a film that brings the tumultuous tale of the Von Erich wrestling dynasty to life. Zac Efron's portrayal of family and fame dives deep into the Von Erich clan's journey, marked by patriarch Fritz's heavy hand and the brothers' search for validation amidst the chaos of the ring. Listen closely as we dissect the actors' stunning physical metamorphoses and the poignant depiction of brotherhood that resonates far beyond the wrestling arena, a testament to the film's powerful storytelling.
The conversation takes an unexpected turn when we geek out over a He-Man cameo, playfully considering digital wig makeovers and the alchemy behind the iconic transformation. We waltz through the film's soundtrack, lose ourselves in the era's beats, and unpack how music underscores the emotional pulls of the narrative. With Adi Aishua's fresh perspectives and our shared enthusiasm, we peel back the layers of the on-screen relationships that amplify the drama and tug at the heartstrings.
Wrapping up the episode, we venture into the broader realm of cinematic storytelling, drawing parallels with Brendan Fraser's return to the spotlight in "The Whale" and the artful direction of movies that leave a lasting impact. Our musings wander into the daring territory of "Epstein the Musical" before grounding back to the reflections on the Von Erich saga, offering listeners a hearty mix of history, tragedy, and the riveting complexities of family legacy. Tune in for a discussion that's as gripping as the wrestling moves it depicts, and stay for the unexpected detours that make this episode truly one-of-a-kind.
Hey everyone, and welcome to another episode of Movies Worth Seeing. On today's episode, I'm joined by Adi Aishua. Hi Aishua Aishua.
Speaker 2:Aishua, aishua, aishua, nice to meet you.
Speaker 1:I'm Michael Pishneering and I'm the host, and today we are talking about the Iron Claw, the latest wrestling. What do you call this? A biopic? I mean it's based on a true story. It's starring Zac Efron and everyone else's names I forget, but they're really good.
Speaker 2:What's his name? Again, the Bear. What's his name? The Dude from the Bear? I'll say I'm going to have to look that up because that's going to be too embarrassing.
Speaker 1:I love how we're just like. All the performances are really great, but we can never fucking remember any of these actors' names.
Speaker 2:Lily James. I remember Lily James.
Speaker 1:Oh yes, lily, James, jeremy.
Speaker 2:Allen White. That's right, jeremy Allen White.
Speaker 1:Jeremy Allen White. He looks like a beast.
Speaker 1:And Zac Efron. Zac Efron looks like a jacked Matthew McConaughey, like on steroids. He looks like Matthew McConaughey from Dazed and Confused. But if he was on steroids, pretty much this whole movie kind of reminded me of Dazed and Confused because I think it's set around that same time frame of like 80s, seven, late 79 to 86. This is a time period, yeah, anyway, the iron claw stars those people and covers the emotional kind of conflict involved with Fritz von Erich. He is the patriarch of the von Erich family and he has an iron claw over all of his children where he pressures them into fitting into his little mold of becoming professional wrestlers. And we say we see the cracks in the family relationships form as a result of this unbelievable pressure that he puts on his children to to try and achieve his dreams that he never got to achieve pretty much. And, yeah, the horrible effects that happen when parents pressure their children beyond their limits.
Speaker 2:That's a very nice spoiler. Free synopsis of the whole movie.
Speaker 1:Is it really?
Speaker 2:Yeah, pretty much. That's actually literally what the movie is about. It's about the family dynamics and how it breaks down due to the pressure of the parent of a it's also a tyrannical dad in a traditional family setting of the 70s, 80s, 90s. That's exactly what the movie is.
Speaker 1:And it's also about wrestling, which is funny because Addy is not a wrestling fan at all. I am a massive wrestling fan. I'm actually going to WrestleMania this year, which is the biggest wrestling event in the world. Yeah, and Addy, I didn't know anything about the Von Erichs, though I knew that there was a lot of horrible things that happened to this family, but I didn't know specifically, so I went in, similar to you, not knowing a lot of how this was going to play out.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And it was fucking amazing.
Speaker 2:It was really funny because, when we walked in and I started watching the movie, I was like oh, this is really good. The first shot, absolutely amazing. And then they started wrestling and I was like fuck, these punches are fake. And then I figured out it was WWE.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wrestling is scripted.
Speaker 2:Corey, I know that I just didn't put one and one together. I thought it was actual wrestling, not WWE, so I thought it was boxing or something like that. I knew it was some sort of fighting, but I didn't expect the fake one.
Speaker 1:You're going to be careful using that word fake around a wrestling fan bro.
Speaker 2:I'm going to get some negative comments from wrestling fans.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just blip that out. It's scripted, it's choreographed. Anyway, one of the interesting things was, as soon as we started watching this, all the wrestling scenes felt so visceral and raw to me, and it's interesting because it's a choreographed fight, you get the emotions and intensity behind.
Speaker 2:It was just so real, mm right and you felt like you were in really in the ring.
Speaker 1:There was lots of close up shots that really immersed you into the ring.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it was really nice because, like, when you see the WrestleMania, like in real life, like on TV, it's they're acting, of the actors, of the restless is Average at best, you know, just like a speech, but it's like OK, cool, interesting. Sometimes they're like really good bits. But in this movie, even though the talking was a bit, yeah, you can, you can see, it's scripted, but the fighting, even though it was scripted and choreographed, dude, it was intense, it was real, it was sincere, it was real emotions, real rawness coming through it.
Speaker 2:It was actually really nice to see.
Speaker 1:And I think that was because the actors knew that everything we do, even in the wrestling scenes, it's not just us wrestling. There's always got to be emotion behind it and pretty much the whole film is them trying to impress their dad and get that validation. So when they go out wrestling they're 100 percent trying to sell it, trying to sell the intensity because they're they're fighting with all this raw emotion of I'm going to be the best at this, I'm going to suck the crowd in.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And like speaking of the dad, like you were saying before, I thought what they movie did so well is embracing the masculinity of the era. It's. This is the hard reality of traditional was a traditional family of that time. This is the harsh truth, this is, this is just the fucking way it is, and there was no sugarcoating it. It was just realism. And it was hard, real, hard, real pressure from the dad to achieve his dreams. It's the tyranny that drove this family from greatness of the potential greatness to its absolute demise.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the kids have like a strong respect for their dad. Yes, sir, Like well, yeah, that's like soldiers, they just take commands. There's no arguing with any of his rules or instructions, but that's the way it was then, no matter how much you disagree you shut the fuck up and you do it.
Speaker 2:Yes sir, no sir, it's like the army kind of thing, which he treated them like as if they're his army.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's brutal. The interesting thing about the story is it covers this. There's this myth in the family legacy that there's a curse, and the whole movie we see why they believe that there is actually a curse on this family because of all these tragic things that keep happening, one after another. And you start to see how it affects them, in that some of these people don't want anyone to be close to them because they're actually afraid that they're going to infect other people with their curse.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Kevin's real fear is, yeah, each child has their own fears, which is explored extremely well, even though Kevin is the main character and the others are like the side characters. Every single child's fear is explored so well and for Kevin, it was the curse which gives him the issues in his life that he has, which comes in between his relationships with the people around him, whereas for the other children, for David, what was it for David? His fear it was.
Speaker 1:I think David's fear was that he wasn't going to live up to the potential because he ended up surpassing his other brother. Yeah, there was still not enough. And his father was like he's going to be champion first, then this one's going to be champion, then you, then you. He's actually saying like all my children are going to be the top 1%. They're going to reach the absolute pinnacle of this sport, one after another, and it was meant to be Kevin. Yeah.
Speaker 2:It was meant to be Kevin from the beginning. It was meant to be Kevin and then spoiler alert it turns out to be David who's going to reach the top first, and that just broke him. He did everything he could to support his brother, get there, and then he overtakes it, and then the fear of the family, like his fear, was the family falling apart, and he was the cause of it because of his dad's pressure. Then you got Kerry, who just wanted to do the Olympics. He just wanted to do what his dream was, which was the Olympics and the Discus, but gets pressured into wrestling and wrestling and it was like a big honor for him.
Speaker 1:Well, it wasn't, but it is because it's of his dad. It feels like once the Olympics doesn't work, the father's just like all right. As soon as you found out that the Olympics isn't going to work, all right, you're coming to do wrestling, whether you like it or not, because you've got to do something. And he was just like okay, I guess I'll do wrestling.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, yes, sir, yes sir. And then you have, of course, mikey the little one. Yeah, well, he was just, I'm pretty sure he was homosexual. He had like a few very homosexual moments, like very flamboyant, but he was like closeted, definitely holding in Really.
Speaker 1:I didn't think I was going to. Yeah, you didn't notice it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but then when they were playing the music in the garage and his brothers picked him up, the way he was walking out is like cool. He just came out of his element where he was himself, and then he covered it up.
Speaker 1:Oh, very interesting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he was a closeted homosexual wanting to make music in his life and follow the arts. But again he went into wrestling because the pressure of his family, mainly of course from his dad, from a tyrannical dad who again pressures on what he wants for that, just from the way he was walking out of the garage.
Speaker 1:He just was like you made the full, like he is definitely closet homosexual.
Speaker 2:The way he was walking, the way he was talking, there was little little intonations the way he was talking, a few little word choices that he had.
Speaker 1:But you do that. You walk like that all the time.
Speaker 2:Stop it. Okay, that's going to be good.
Speaker 1:No, but maybe they should have made that more obvious. Had him like reading a Playgirl magazine with like no?
Speaker 2:no, they shouldn't, and that's why I fucking love the movie so much is because they didn't. It was just such as little subtle moment and I could be wrong as well, but it was just like cool. It's part of it because it would never be an accepted by his dad. So it's not even a point of bringing up. It was such a secret even for the audience it's kind of like a secret. But if you pay attention, I just noticed it I have a very strong gator.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've noticed that you're very good at picking up any kind of gayness. It's almost like you've drawn.
Speaker 2:You've been up from this side here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because anywhere there is gayness, you're like, hey, I'm here, oh good, maybe it's me this whole time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, no, so yeah, like, and then he won't just want to go from music and I guess what he ends up in wrestling and that becomes his demise as well. So everybody has their fear and has their, has their fear, and everybody has their, their dreams. But they have to give up their dreams and they have to, you know, just deal with the fear of the things that they don't want to do because of their, their tyrannical dad.
Speaker 1:You know, this kind of reminds me now of the more we're talking about it, of previous scenes and I'm thinking like, oh, that makes more sense. Like remember when so we're getting into spoiler territory Kevin's first date with Pam. They have a conversation and Pam says what do you want in life? He's like I want more ribs, and then even though it's, funny we had ribs after the movie.
Speaker 1:But there was like now that I think about it, that was probably the first time anyone was like what do you want to do with your life rather than just being? And it actually caught him soft guard. He was like I want ribs.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And he wants to become the best wrestler, but he wants more than that he wants to be with his family, all right. So it's like, yeah, he starts up with a joke because he doesn't know how to handle that question. It's a very loaded question. It's never been asked before, probably and then joke, and then what he meant to say and then what he really wants.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, oh. The chemistry between Lily James and Zac Efron was great too.
Speaker 2:I still can't get over the fact that he is going to be he-man soon. He just looks like he-man.
Speaker 1:He does. Here's a photo. He is he-man. Yeah, you can't just have it be me.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, you'd like the hair I can wear a wig. I'll Photoshop a wig on your head.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I'll do that.
Speaker 1:AI wig with like can you do AI wigs Someday? We can.
Speaker 2:I probably could just upload a photo of you and be like add a he-man wig on top of this guy. Yeah, I'll try, we'll come up with something.
Speaker 1:We'll come up with something Especially.
Speaker 2:Shove it into a chat, gpd4, and they'll do it for you. Yeah, yeah, no, but he just looked like he-man Fucking super big real round. I don't know how he got such a round head. He didn't have a round head.
Speaker 1:It felt like a stretch to image a little bit. He got some kind of surgery done, did he, yeah, and are just fine, smooth enough to look like an owl.
Speaker 2:That should be fine.
Speaker 1:Do you like it? I don't know. I don't know how it's like. Like for real for this man. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, I don't. I don't know if it was not for the movie. He actually did get some kind of surgery, something to do with his jaw, cause it's. It's different If you go like, go into when you edit this, look out like photos of him, cause I swear he is definitely. There's been articles and stuff about it that he has gotten surgery done.
Speaker 2:Yeah, cause it felt at times where they just he's big but they like stretch the image a little bit sideways to make him look even bigger, cause everything was a little bit out of proportion. Everybody was a little bit fat at the normal. Everybody's a little bit wider than normal. Don't want to get cancelled. Everybody was a little bit bigger than normal.
Speaker 1:You got to base someone to get cancelled first of all, so I don't really care.
Speaker 2:Everybody's fucking obese. Everyone's a fat fuck. That's it Now. Everybody's a little bit bigger than normal Cause it felt like it was just stretched a little bit sideways. But anyway, how good was the music choice.
Speaker 1:Oh, like Russian or these cool bands, dude went to the lobster Fuck, it's so good.
Speaker 2:You know what the lobster? Which one Everyone fears the reaper.
Speaker 1:Oh, don't fear the Reaper by blue oyster cold the fuck, did you say Red lobster? Were you thinking of rock lobster?
Speaker 2:Rock lobster. I was thinking of rock lobster, what the fuck is happening.
Speaker 1:That's a completely different song.
Speaker 2:That's rock lobster Wow.
Speaker 1:Anyway, yeah, the song choices in this movie are fantastic because it's set in a time frame, a period of time when music was actually fucking good. I'm just flustered, it's okay. It's okay.
Speaker 2:Why don't you say the lobster? Have you seen the lobster in the movie?
Speaker 1:Yeah, column Farrell. Yeah, so good, I don't know why that just.
Speaker 2:I don't know why that just grouped up my mind Anyway.
Speaker 1:Each actor's performance added depth and likeability to their respective roles. I feel the film effectively illustrates the different personalities of the brothers. But one thing the film does exceptionally well is all the guys playing the brothers like. Their chemistry, their love for each other, their compassion towards each other is so abundantly clear that when it's all crumbling, it feels you really feel the emotional breakdown. You feel it. You feel like that sadness.
Speaker 2:But it was just such a good relationship between the three, four brothers. It was just there were such good friends. There was no bad blood between them, not naturally. The bad blood started to get between them when the dad started to press on them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there was manufactured competitiveness between them. Yeah, but even then they weren't as competitive with each other. No, they were still very supportive.
Speaker 2:And that was made. That's what made it so good, because, like, the dad is just not directly but kind of try to break their relationship as much as possible because he wanted to excel and want to be, want to excel and then the others live up to it. So he just tried to pull them apart from us in a way, and then, but their way of staying together and supporting each other has made it so good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, fritz von Erich has this weird strategy of like I'm just going to focus on the top child push them up into the stratosphere, get the others jealous, and then the others will get jealous and they'll all crawl up to him.
Speaker 2:Which kind of worked? If you think about it, it kind of worked, as they're all.
Speaker 1:Well, they're all dead except for Kevin, so it didn't work.
Speaker 2:It worked to a degree, like Kind of didn't work. No, no, it worked to a degree. But then they grew and then Holt didn't Holt's character right, what's the name, fritz? He didn't grow. So he kept on putting the same pressure, even though the brothers were ready for something new, like for their dad to grow with them and accept the way everything is and just keep building on each other, because that's not their strength. But their dad kept pushing the same thing and then eventually that cracked the relationship between the brothers and that went wrong.
Speaker 1:And also, even when a brother reached a level of success, they knew that I have to hold the success now forever. It's not like I can reach the success and now relax and the pressure of having to maintain that now to keep their father happy, and also knowing that even once you reach this goal for example, kerry winning this title belt he just knew that the father was like, oh yeah, but when are you going to win this belt?
Speaker 2:After every peak of a mountain is a higher mountain, kind of thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and he's just always got a higher mountain ready. Yeah, definitely. It always feels like what's the point if there's always a higher mountain? Yeah, exactly, I liked your interpretation of the whole because the mother of the family doesn't really have much of a role and she's not really there any kind of support. She doesn't provide any support to any of the children, which causes more of a breakdown, because now you've got the father always pushing them and no one's stopping him and saying you're pushing them too hard. And when the eldest son, kevin, says this to his mother and says I think that my father is pushing Michael too far, she gives him no reassurance or support at all.
Speaker 2:Yeah, let them figure it out between them. Yeah, and I don't want to interfere.
Speaker 1:So it gives the impression that, like for a family to succeed, you need a balance from both parents.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's a very strong element in a movie that, yeah, it's. You need the woman of the house, the mother, the mother, to step up, take action, step up, stop the dad, like. There needs to be a balance between the mom and the dad of the woman and the man of the house to create, to give that safe space, kind of.
Speaker 2:Thing as well, to grow, not just a tyrannical dad of keep going, you're better than him, so you should work harder, kind of thing. It's like the mother step in and just give a little bit of care. It's okay, because the dad just created wounds, created wounds and the mom didn't heal them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that was the biggest shock for me watching this, because I didn't know what to expect from this film. And the first big scene where all of the children are sitting down together having breakfast. The father clearly says now this is the ranking of how much I love all of you. Kevin is number one, david's number two, carrie's number three and Michael your last. I was like what kind of a piece of shit. Just ranks their children but also tells the children the ranking. And he's like, oh hey, hey, the ranking can change though.
Speaker 1:I was like what a fucking piece of shit. Yeah, and the movie becomes this whole journey of will this father ever realize that their parenting caused all of this?
Speaker 2:Well, the mother kind of realized at the end.
Speaker 1:But what?
Speaker 2:makes?
Speaker 1:she think she realized it Because I spoiler alert once again when Kerry kills himself. Yeah.
Speaker 2:When the last of the children dies. But besides Kevin, she's like she blames the dad. Like, is that why she's so distant? It's like I didn't cook. I'm not hungry, I'm doing what.
Speaker 2:I want to do Okay, that's good you wanting us to do anymore, because look what it brought us. But so, speaking of the ending, right, because it's like that bit Now that I'm saying this out loud, I realize that I love that little, tiny little scene, because the only thing you see is the dad coming home, like always, but this time there's no food ready. He's like what are we eating? And she's like I don't know. It's like have you made anything? No, I haven't. What are you doing? That's it. That's pretty much the whole dialogue.
Speaker 2:But that said so much because she was like I'm not fucking doing your chores anymore, that's it. You can cook for yourself. I'm not going to be the lady of the house anymore like I used to be. I'm not going to be run over by you like a tyrannical bastard that you are. Like all that is just unsaid, but it was just in actions and the silence of it, right. But then you get to the very, very ending, where between Kevin and his children, it's like they had to just say exactly what the message was and it's like not needed you could get that message without the children having that shitty dialogue.
Speaker 1:But isn't, couldn't, an argument being made that the children, like they instinctually, are just like, like there's no filter, they just say it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but, yeah. But I mean there should always be some kind of filter, because you're writing a movie, you're writing a message, like you can get the kids to say dad, man up, like I could say that too, because there's no filter, right.
Speaker 2:So as a writer I would say, like, cut those children lines out and do that through physical behavior or emotional behavior. Give the dad, give Kevin are these finally for the first time or second time? Because he had one tear when Kerry died Not only finding cries. Let the kids not say it's okay, dad, everybody cries. No, just let him cry, give him a hug. That's the same acceptance. You just don't have to fucking say it Same as, like the mother, didn't have to say anything. She just did what she wanted to do.
Speaker 1:I think that was more that they were worried the ending wouldn't be satisfying enough.
Speaker 2:I didn't think it was satisfying at all now.
Speaker 1:I didn't think it was satisfying either because I wanted to see more of a happy ending, Like I wanted to. But I mean because it's based on a true story, and a very tragic true story, Because the movie is so focused on all the negative stuff that happened that it's like how do we put it back into balance with all this positive stuff? That can be the final note that we leave the audience on to get them home happy.
Speaker 2:I understand what you're saying. I feel they didn't need to make it a happier ending because, like you, have the very, very ending one day, like after credits, we're like, oh, and Kevin is not this old and there's seven kids and 13 grandchildren. They're all live on the ranch, like they said they were going to do. They kind of have that kind of happy ending. They could have filmed that too. They could have realized that it's more in the movie, kind of thing. Make that ending. I feel like that's like a closed ending, whereas now they have a bit of an open ending. It's like, oh, he finally learned to accept his feelings, his emotional side, not just a fucking physical masculinity, but also like everybody can cry, kind of thing. You know, like you can be emotional, you can feel.
Speaker 2:You're allowed to have sorrow or guilt or something like that, or fear or or sadness, whatever sadness, you know that's. That's a beautiful ending. I just feel like the lines from the kids just ruined that moment, because it was horrible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's more the kids acting that pissed you off.
Speaker 2:The kids. I hate child actors that can't act yeah.
Speaker 1:Like it was a really important scene. So for the kids to not nail it was disappointing because it's like the last scene, it's so important and Zach Airfront's fucking bringing it. He's bringing like emotional machine guns in that scene. The other thing you reminded me of with the with the mother, remember how the mother was not in the shot. She was purposely blocked out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, she was out of his life. Yeah, yeah, you're, you're right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Shit, that's good.
Speaker 1:That was good shit. Yeah, this movie had a lot of moments like that where it could have. It could have just done what every other movie does and show Okay, spoiler alert this character gets into a motorbike accident. All right, how are we going to show that? Okay, he said that he's gone to go for a ride. He's on the motorbike. We're seeing closeups of his eyes, kind of like darting around, and then it shows like the motorbike is going in a straight line rather than on one of the other streets, and then there was like a jarring cut and we just see someone waking up from bed. We have no idea who it is.
Speaker 2:It was in that shot at night. You saw something moving in the background.
Speaker 1:Oh, you saw a light.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you saw a light it was moving and it was like uneven kind of thing. So you knew he was going straight towards it and you saw the emotion in his eyes. You knew he was on a self-destructive mission.
Speaker 1:So you feel we did it on purpose?
Speaker 2:Yeah, none of the. He did it on purpose, but he was purposefully careless, like.
Speaker 2:it's not like he ran into a war, hit the car on purpose, but it's more like if I do, I wouldn't care because, I just want to get all my anger out on the road instead of having a conversation with his dad and tell his dad to shut the fuck up, because even though he got the fucking title, it was still not good enough. He achieved everything his dad wanted to achieve in his lifetime and it's still not good enough. So he got so upset, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, no, no. I'm just thinking about it. I'm like, wow, yeah, it's full on, it's full on even as we talk about it. I'm like, fuck, what a movie the way it did that and I just, yeah, I just love the way that you weren't. You kind of knew what was going to happen, but you weren't sure how it was going to show up, and then it kept you guessing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, like it was actually a little bit predictable to a certain degree, like certain moments were very predictable, yet they still came as a surprise. Yeah, because it just wasn't. It was a very quick set up payoff kind of thing. It's like oh, it leaves you a question like oh my God, did he just really do that? We don't know. And then he did, but fuck, he actually did it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's just a fucking great. There was lots of moments where and I think the wrestler uses this technique as well where there's lots of like, crowd noise and like the aura and atmosphere of the ring, the epic breakers and then a jarring jump cut to like silence in a different scene, to like show purposefully how jarring it is to just go from like this peak to all right. Now we're going to go to the harsh reality of the spotlight to life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the wrestler trust of it does that so fucking well. You'd love the wrestler If you loved this. You would love the wrestler.
Speaker 2:I don't like wrestling, but I love the movies.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm keen to watch the wrestler, definitely.
Speaker 1:Were you like the whale.
Speaker 2:Right, I haven't seen the whale yet. I know, bro, I know it's a stand out. I've seen the whale. You like it. I fucking loved it.
Speaker 1:I thought it was great.
Speaker 2:I want to see Brandon Fraser so bad.
Speaker 1:His acting is incredible.
Speaker 2:What does it have to do with wrestling?
Speaker 1:Because Darren Aronofsky directed the wrestler and he directed the whale. So I thought, if you've seen the whale and you liked that very similar style, I'll love the whale, regardless of what it is, because Brandon Fraser no matter.
Speaker 2:Hey, that doesn't matter what how shit it would be or could be, it's Brandon Fraser, I would love it. If it's a porn with just Brandon Fraser getting a Bukaki for 17 guys, I'd still watch it. It's Brandon fucking Fraser.
Speaker 1:So, like Dudley Do-Right, monkey Bone Bedazzled all those shit movies he did. You loved them.
Speaker 2:Since his comeback. Since his comeback, I just like his story of his come. You know the story right, yeah, why he's been away for so long.
Speaker 1:It's just like the fact that he gets back into it.
Speaker 2:No, he got sexually harassed by people in the Hollywood circle and then he voiced that and then he got completely blacklisted and nobody wanted to work with him anymore for like 10, 12 years or something like that, since Mummy, and then now he finally made a comeback.
Speaker 1:Who harassed him Wednesday.
Speaker 2:No, it was some director. He was like kept on slapping his ass and grabbing his ass kind of thing. He's just like dude, don't fucking touch me. And then he tried to talk about it publicly and then they completely blacklisted him.
Speaker 1:He should have went all fucking, jerry O'Connell.
Speaker 2:Well, he tried, but nothing worked. But he tried to keep his acting career as well. I don't know exactly.
Speaker 1:The fuck is his name in the Mummy. Anyway, he should have went all fucking.
Speaker 2:Chuck Norris on a? Yeah, Chuck Norris.
Speaker 1:And just punched their dicks. Just a dick's the sole problem. Yeah, but like punched them, so they won't like it.
Speaker 2:Punch hard.
Speaker 1:So they'll feel pain.
Speaker 2:Talking about a Weinstein circle. Like they would love being punched in the dick.
Speaker 1:There's lots of guys who are going to be more than happy to punch them in the dick in prison. That's true.
Speaker 2:So if they love it, then they'll love it even more in prison.
Speaker 1:No, anyway, you're making it really hard to see any like karmic value from them going to jail.
Speaker 2:Epstein, the musical. This is included.
Speaker 1:Fuck no.
Speaker 2:On that note.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like overall we are. I highly recommend the Angkor, I think, if you love tragic movies similar to the Wrestler by Darren Aronofsky, or if or the Whale, another very similar type of film. Like these depressing movies, but also there's a shining light at the end of the tunnel and I think that the iron claw has something for everyone. Wrestling fans are obviously going to come to it to want to see wrestling history, but they'll also be entertained by the great chemistry between all these actors, the hard hitting performances by Zac Efron and Jeremy Alan White, yes, and solid visual storytelling.
Speaker 2:But, he was Lance from Eric.
Speaker 1:Oh, so he is an actual wrestler.
Speaker 2:I don't, but he was in it.
Speaker 1:He, he was playing a backup wrestler.
Speaker 2:OK.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's the guy that played Ric Flair.
Speaker 2:He does not look like him at all.
Speaker 1:No, he doesn't.
Speaker 2:They did really well Aaron Dean Dean.
Speaker 1:They just put a wig on him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, he does have muscles. That's real cool. Dick Harrison yeah, david, and Mike Fenarex, danny Simmons.
Speaker 1:Oh, the chick from Lyle Lyle was in this movie. Which chick, that chick.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's the mum. That's the mum from Lyle Lyle Dores. Oh shit, and they even recognize her. Anyway, one to five, what would you? What score would you give the iron claw? Four and a half.
Speaker 1:Only thing was similar to you I felt like the ending just lacked a real punch, and I asked me first.
Speaker 2:I was going to say the exact same thing, Dick.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there was something about that ending that just didn't leave me completely satisfied. But the more we talk about it, the more I'm like oh, this part was really good too, and this part like. So I know, overall it was a great movie, and I just didn't see myself going back to it, though Like maybe one other time, to really analyze things at the start and see what I missed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because, like, everything we talked about now is like, oh yeah, cool, you're saying things that I didn't realize. Like the moment with a camera would go out of focus. Those little bits is like cool, I didn't even notice it. I'm keen to see that now. I'd love to go to see it again, not in a cinema, I'll probably wait for it to come on streaming, so it's anything.
Speaker 1:I'm more interested in seeing the real life footage of like how the fuck was Keri Von Erich wrestling with one foot? What did he look like in real life? Or what did Kevin Von Erich look like? What did all three of them look like when they would wrestle in the sportatorium in Texas, like in this three way matches and stuff like that? That's what I'm more interested in.
Speaker 2:So question actually see, if you know it. By the way, why is it Kevin Von Erich, keri Von Erich, david Von Erich, mike Von Erich and whatever the youngest brother said that early? Who's Lance from Eric? Why is it a different name?
Speaker 1:I don't know he was playing like a backup wrestler or some shit, so he must just be like a less important character. He was only like in one scene.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it's the same name.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't know, maybe he's a cousin or some shit. He's actually a really good wrestler.
Speaker 2:That's what Jacob Friedman.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's a fucking great bad guy.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you should watch his stuff. It's hilarious. What was your final rating?
Speaker 2:I would very similar to what you were saying. Give it a four and a half out of five. Pretty good, pretty damn near perfection, because I thought it was actually a lot of really, really, really fucking good material in the movie Absolutely brilliant. Only thing I would say it did leave me a little bit of a sour taste the very end, like I was saying before those kids, that final lines. It just was not necessary.
Speaker 2:The final scene between the mom and the dad, doris and Fritz, is so good because it sets you to think and realize, now that we're talking about it, what that scene actually meant.
Speaker 2:It sets you to think, it sets you up to continue to think about the message of the movie, whereas the final scene between four Kevin, which is the main character, leading, leading character of the whole movie, is chewed out. It just chewed and surf to you on a silver platter of like it's okay, dad, everyone cries. It's like, yeah, if, if, if the kid didn't just say that but he just hugged his dad and gave that acceptance through his just just accepting that from who? He is not wiping the tears away, it's letting it be and the kids is loving him regardless of it and accepting and being proud of that, that, regardless of him crying or not, that would set you to think. It's like, oh, I could actually think about that and be like fuck, that was good, I can see that and then we'll be at an open ending and it gives you something to talk about because it's in silence.
Speaker 2:It is story told through behavior and not just through the words, because the behavior told the story and the words just left it with a sour taste. But for the rest, I don't change or take out anything or add anything out of the movie. Getting it, stepping into it not knowing anything about it, only knowing that Zac Efron looks like he man and that he put on some muscle and looks like a beast. And then, two seconds before the movie, you told me that Jeremy Allen Widerson from the bear, not knowing he was going to be jacked up, just like that, I caught on to what the movie is about real quick. Like I was saying before, I love that when that happens in a movie. And then the twist and the turns and the demise of the family. It was just so well done. Not knowing anything prior to it, I would give it a five out of five out of five stars if the kids were just to be told to shut the fuck up.
Speaker 1:So this is what I'm getting right. This is Addie's magical ending that he wanted. The father, kevin, is crying by himself. The two children come up what's wrong, daddy? And he pile drives both of them through giant tables, flaming tables, and then you would be on the line. Shut the fuck up, that's what you were.
Speaker 2:Masculinity? Yeah, no, look, I wouldn't change much. It's literally the small little thing that comes to me. What's going on? That he tells that same story that he was saying, because I thought it was really touching, it was really nice, and then the kids just didn't say anything afterwards instead of saying it's OK, daddy, everybody cries. Now just shut up, give him a hug and just let him sit there in his emotions and tears and give him that acceptance and love.
Speaker 1:Maybe he could have said to them shut up and just give me anything to make those children shut up like honestly really have it in for these children. Fucking hate you now You'd love Jurassic Park because children are just constantly in danger the part in shreds. Not, not on camera. Well, they don't like, like. They're constantly in danger of being annihilated by dinosaurs. Love it and screaming like as it almost slaughtered.
Speaker 2:So it sounds like your kind of movie. Epstein the musical is going to be.
Speaker 1:Why are you bringing that back. People are just going to be like why the fuck do you keep randomly bringing up Epstein, the musical oh?
Speaker 2:shit, you're going to cut that out, right? I?
Speaker 1:don't know, I don't know. No one listens, so I don't care yeah cool awesome. Awesome. If you enjoyed this video, please like, share and subscribe for more videos like it. All right, guys, that is it from us.
Speaker 2:There's a good. I was Cut.