Transcript

We just watched Panic Room. We have Annie Hamilton on the Zoom call here. How's it going, Annie? I'm scared shitless. I don't know what more to say. I know it wasn't a scary movie, but I am... We'll get into it. I'm okay. And this is a Guardian exclusive special episode. Annie, we could not go to the actual theater with her, so we did a Zoom call episode. But don't worry. To watch the movie, you still need to be 17+. So she virtually was our Guardian. We're not breaking the rules. It's still Guardian level. So I think... What did we all think of Panic Room? I thought it was epically terrifying, and I need to hear why I can tell that you both don't think so. I mean, I truly did the sneakiest thing, which I think James might have caught me on, but hopefully you'll be honest, which is that within 20 minutes of that movie, I was like, Kristen Stewart's gonna die. I absolutely can't handle this. And I just fast-forwarded through the whole movie to make sure Kristen Stewart would be okay, and then I went back. So I really cheated so hardcore on this movie, and I will have real thoughts about it afterwards. But that's how much I was bleeding from the insides. But you guys are Los Angeles kids, so perhaps... There's no excuse for me. James, did you catch her? Did you catch her doing that? I did. I mean, I saw you hovering your eyes at a point in the movie. I did see that, but I mean, yeah, I guess you kind of sold yourself out. We would have never known. We would have never known if you didn't say it. My heart is beating so fast that I'm in confession room right now. I just can't not be honest with you guys about the full-body experience I just went through.

I honestly feel like, I don't know, I don't feel, I mean, I think it was like a, I liked the movie. It was good. I just didn't feel like very scared. Obviously, like we were talking about like a couple minutes ago, like it's very, you know, bright out for us right now. It's only like 7 p.m. in May, so. Don't be nice to me. That wasn't a scary movie. I just need to talk about what a scary movie is in order for us to like first, like what is the scariest movie both of you have ever seen? And let me think of what mine is. The scariest movie, well, honestly, I don't think I really get that scared by movies. With Whitmer Thomas, we went to see Bring Her Back, and that was really scary. That was really scary, actually. Bring Her Back was really scary. The directors of Talk to Me, that's really scary. It's because it's like the body. Talk to Me is scary too. I saw Talk to Me. I think the scariest stuff for me is probably the body horror stuff. Because like this like five-year-old like eats a knife, and it's like it just explodes his jaw, like stuff like that. The body horror stuff really gets me. That's the really scary stuff. But isn't that more grossed out than scary? Yeah, I guess it's like. I mean, I guess how do you classify scared? That's more grossed out. What gets your heart, like do you ever have the impulse, maybe this is the difference between men and women, but to like turn on the lights, but you don't. But like you're kind of like, ooh, I'd pause this. Never have you experienced that? I don't think I've ever experienced that. I don't know about that, but I know that a lot of the times, not really anymore, but like probably like two, three-ish years ago when I started to watch more of like, you know, like movies, like radar movies, I definitely was like sleeping in my parents' bed like half the time after I watched some of those movies. I'm trying to think like if I know that I've slept in my parents' room before after movies, but like those.

When I was really young, and those were like Ghostbusters and stuff. So it was like, I don't know if those really count. I think probably the scariest film I've ever seen. I mean, I remember the jump scares get me a lot. I know, I think The Ring, I think scared me. The Ring scares the shit out of me. I saw it around your age. Yeah, that scared me a lot. But I don't know if I would classify this as like a horror movie. It's definitely not a horror movie. It's just really, it's so my worst nightmare that I didn't know existed until I watched this. But I also am relating to a billionaire, which I am not. And I am relating to like being a mother, which I'm not. Like, I don't know why this just, but I also, as I was telling Max James, I just saw this movie. It's like Stanley Kubrick's maybe third or fourth movie. Maybe it's a second, I don't know, but it's called The Killing. And it's about like a race horse track. And I was scared in that too. So we can move away from scary and I will try to legitimately talk about the film. I just like, I mean, you don't think that they intended for a bit of a heart racer there? They're like preying on us with a child. They definitely did. I mean, I can definitely say for sure. I was for sure like, I was definitely invested in the movie. Like, just like you, I was like, yeah, please don't die, Kristen Stewart. I was like, yeah, but I feel like the whole movie, I think really the scary part of the movie was like Raul's character because I mean, he's just kind of a loose cannon. So he would like, I was like, okay, he might slip. I think the movie probably intended for people in the theater to be like, no, don't go in there. That kind of like a horror vibe. I think they wanted some heart race.

I think that's why they added Raul in there, just to be like, oh, something could go wrong at any moment. Having the father show up is imagining watching your father in the security camera getting beaten the shit out of, and also they don't think he's going to come, because the divorce is the background of the tale, which I think this is probably an extension of what I haven't resolved yet from my own parents' divorce. I have no good excuse for why this was that bad. Have you guys seen Zodiac? Yeah. Did that scare you? Zodiac, I remember I watched Zodiac on Christmas when I was really young. I think I watched it with my cousin when I was nine or ten, and I don't remember it scaring me. I just remember it being like, this guy's crazy. He's sick. He's an anonymous guy. I just remember it being like, whoa, this guy really thought this out. I don't know if I thought it was scary. Yeah, I guess. Well, I mean, there's that one scene where, do you guys remember that scene where the couple's having the picnic? The picnic! That's my thing, too. Yeah, that's the scene I remember the most. That's the one where everyone kind of remembers it, and that one definitely freaks me out, because that one's rough for me. That one is incredibly painful for me, too. I also think that scary movies have become a little dull for our generation, especially in a time of being on social media and stuff. And it's like having paying attention to the news with such an easy access through social media. It's like we know this isn't real, because we kind of see real stuff all the time on social media. So it's like we kind of know this isn't real. So we kind of filter the scary part out, just being like...

Oh, like real worst stuff. I mean, whenever I'm in the AMC, I would say like there's maybe 10 trailers and probably like six of them are horror now. Oh, they're all horror, yeah. And then they start out, it's always like, oh, like happy vacation or like honeymoon. And then like the music just switches. And I feel like that's changed a lot. Like there's a lot of horror movies being made now. Yeah, all of them have like a remix of a popular song to be scary. They're all, I mean, if you look at any horror movie trailer, it's all just like it switches up from like a romance to a horror movie. And they're using like a popular song with just eerie music in the background instead of. Yeah, like that or of the songs, it's always playing the song and it's like, and then like the song. That's like, yeah, I mean, I don't know. But you could just tell like when I'm with a theater with you, Max, we're always like, yeah, this one's definitely a horror movie. First two seconds. So, yeah. But what they do with horror movies now, from the very few I've seen, is they try to make them humorous at points. What I appreciate about this number is that at no time was there a time for a joke. That was the most serious. There was never like some, I mean, it was like Jodie Foster being like, I've done it now. But like it was never the only time I laughed was when Jared Leto died because it's Jared Leto. And like, thank God he's dead. That's the part I laughed at. That was the only part I laughed at is that he had cornrows. What did you say? Oh, my God, the cornrows. Yeah, that's the only part I laughed at is when he walked in and he had cornrows. I couldn't tell it was him at the start until they did the zoom in on his face. I genuinely thought it was like a person of color at the start. So I was. I truly.

thought that all of the performances were so impressive besides Jared Leto to single him out because he did not come from a rich background. He chose, he should have been a rich kid who like tries to like act like he knows shit. He did come from a rich background. He did come from a rich background. With all the loans. It's his money. He was breaking in. It was his. His family's money. But then why didn't they recognize him? Very confusing. Why didn't they give him, so the grandpa died but they just never gave out the inheritance money or they never knew. That was the father. Unfortunately, he did look very old. But that was the divorced dad. But then, so the guy living in that house died and then Jared Leto was his grandpa basically and then he wanted like his fair share of the 22 million but then he only told him there was like 3 million so he could take like 20 million. Yeah. Perfect plan. Yeah. They wouldn't find out about it when they get into the safe. I mean, it's crazy. I think the scene, I mean the last scene is pretty powerful when all the bonds just fly away into the air. That felt, that was like, oh yeah, this is supposed to be poetic. Yeah, a little forced, a little forced but I see it was like, that's pretty cool. Imagine like walking down the street and you get a 1 million dollar bond. Yeah. What's the process for going to the bank? I don't know if you could just walk into the bank with a bank bond in someone else's name and get dollars in cash. I feel like in those days you could get on a plane easier. There are things, he has friends in the dark webs who know how to translate the money.

I'm not worried about that. The scene that is like the most insane to me is when he, that I didn't think was heavy-handed or I feel like I'll make it sound cringe, but when Forrest Whitaker is giving her the shot and says that he couldn't give his kids the life that she has and things weren't supposed to turn out this way, did you guys, did that feel forced to you or did you like that? Well, honestly, like during, I was like thinking about why one spends five years of their life making Panic Room. If you're the writer, you know, like why you would spend two years writing this and two, like what are you going on, what's going on in your, in that beautiful mind of yours? I really loved it. The entire movie was shot on a set. So they built, so from what I've learned from Alex Huggins' ex-Guardian who taught me this, not past Guardian, not ex-Guardian. Past, past Guardian. Yeah. It's a Guardian, always a Guardian. Yeah. He told me that they basically built an entire street on a set and like that's like a, they built like the apartment and they built the entire street on a set. So that whole thing is a set, which I find pretty crazy is that they just built an entire street on a set. And even though it was just those two houses, they still built the entire street, which is kind of crazy. They built brownstones, like actually? I mean, you can look up the photos. There's a, well, now what I've learned is there's a documentary about shooting the movie because this is also one of the first movies. It is the first movie, I'm pretty sure, to do those special effects with going through rooms, like going through the floors and stuff like that. And you can kind of tell that they were, they love their special effects and that they were doing anything with the special effects. But...

Yeah, so I can tell it was a Fincher movie for sure. I mean, it felt like green to me, like the movie. I don't know. That's like the color I got from it. And I feel like it reminded me of like Seven or something. But then also like the actual house itself, for some reason it really reminded me of like the house that they all live in in Fight Club. That one. It's very late 90s, early 2000s looking. I was just more impressed by the social network is my favorite movie, which you can judge me for. I go down with the ship on that one. And that feels very fast paced because there's so many. I feel like Fincher movies take place in a bunch of cool locations. And for it all to have, I wasn't ever needing to leave that house. I never found my mind being like, I can't wait for the shot where she runs down the street or even at the very end. You know, I was happy to just be in that godforsaken home. And so I'm sure the jockey new camera movements that he was trying out were very helpful to that. I don't know. I usually make fun of camera movements like that because I'm like, OK, we get it. Like, we're just trying to I just want to like I want to be with the actors and have a good time and a needle drop or two. But I thought the fancy camera work was cool. Yeah. Was there even a lot of music in the movie? I don't even think I noticed. It was just that sort of like, yeah, undertone score. Yeah, yeah, yeah. In the bottom. Yeah. I mean, you really you look at the backrooms movie now. I don't know if you've seen the trailer for it. I saw the trailer. Yeah. Really utilizes that going through rooms effect when they go through into the backrooms.

Totally. You can thank Fincher for that one. The guy who made Backrooms obviously has only seen the movie. That's how he learned to direct. He's watched Panic Room like over 400 times. This is his inspiration. I know, yeah, of course. He probably saw it with a guardian because he's only 19. So he probably saw it with a guardian. Maybe we could do an episode on that movie because I'm pretty excited. I mean, it looks really... I mean, yeah, it looks good. I don't know too much about it, but... I'm so excited. I think it looks really... Yeah, I think I'll see it even though it's scary. You asked us... That one's supposed to be scary for sure. That one is supposed to be scary. You asked us what the scariest movie we have seen is, and I want to know what's the scariest movie that you have seen as someone who is very anti-scary movie. I want to have the stomach. I really wish I had that gene. I don't have it. I can watch Holocaust movies up the wazoo. I can watch sort of very sad to the point of sort of like the white ribbon extremes of psychological scares and sadness. Am I even speaking English? But I guess the scary... What is the scary movie I've seen? I haven't seen The Shining. I'm telling you. I know. That one's not even scary. I tried it. It scared me so much. The Ring was really scary. The Signs was really scary for me. Have you seen Signs? No. What is that? M. Night Shyamalan. Oh, M. Night Shyamalan? Okay, yeah. Maybe we have to see it. I just saw Trap for the first time. Wait, is it called Trap? It's about a guy... So it's about a dad taking his daughter...

to like the equivalent of Taylor Swift concert, basically. And he's a serial killer. No, wait, who plays it? It's not Josh Brolin. Josh who? Yeah, just search it up. Okay. Oh, Josh Hartnett. Josh Hartnett. Cool. They lock down the arena, basically, and it's like him trying to escape, but he's also there with his child, and she doesn't know. The entire concert has been set up to catch him. Yeah. Wow, wow. Yeah. I didn't really like it that much. I loved it. I loved it. I can't believe you didn't like it. I thought you did. I thought you loved it. I mean, I honestly just, it felt so weird that like his daughter was there, and then he's acting like he's the most loved. The whole time he's trying to act like he's a super loving father, but then you see like flashbacks of him like just pumping someone's head in with like a huge horn. Yeah, I know. But yeah. Yeah, it was weird. I didn't like it. Is the little girl in that movie very feminine? Let me see. Does she have a dolly? I mean, she likes Taylor Swift. Yes, yeah. She's very feminine. She's very feminine. I appreciate that there was a Paper Moon thing going on with Kirsten, Kristen, Stewart. She had a full, I thought her acting was so impressive, and she wasn't the kind of, I would have, she didn't have like blonde ringlets. Like she wasn't signaling to me that she, in fact, she was, she knew more than her mom in the beginning. She, that was, it was cool to watch a kid that I wasn't that scared about. I was more scared for the mother having to see the kid, but I was pretty confident in Kristen that she would get

Out of there, or if she was being tortured, she'd really take it heroically. And I appreciate that she was an old soul, little girl. Yeah, I think, I mean, this is definitely a suspenseful watch. I didn't really feel bored at any time by it. I felt like it really kept the pace with the movie, even though it's in only one location. It was almost two hours as well, so I didn't feel bored either. I can't remember the last time I saw a two-hour flick. Me neither. We're all in shorts all day. I totally watch them all the time, yeah. So if we were to give this movie a ranking out of five, what are we giving Panic Room? I'll give it a four. I'm throwing up a five. I truly am throwing up a five. I have already ranked this on Letterboxd. I have already seen it, unfortunately, and I also gave it a five. So it is, we're five and a four, four and a half. I think that is the highest Guardian average that we've ever had. It just puts the problem, you know? You have everyone, my bar for movies has gone down so low recently that I feel if my attention is zapped in and I feel something, anything, why am I, I like a lot of things besides scary movies. And so the fact that I made it through this one makes it just one of the best movies I've ever seen. Yeah, I mean, I guess I can't really find, I don't have a major problem with it. It's just like, it feels like a big deal. Four is high, four is high. You don't need to. I know, it's just, I don't know, for me, I guess, I wouldn't say my bar is high, but it's just harder for me. It has to be more like, I don't know.

It has to be more of a thing to give it a five. For me, it's like, I don't know. It feels weird giving a movie a five for me. This would never come on my Letterboxd 4. I will never watch this again, to be perfectly clear. This is the first and last time I view Panic Room. I gave myself the gift of seeing it, and now I'll put it away. But I just thought it was so engaging and so simple. It's entertainment. It's good entertainment. Have you done a Letterboxd top four? Have they interviewed you yet? They have not. I have nothing to be interviewed as of yet, but I have a really good answer for when they ask me. Okay, we're not going to steal the shine from Letterboxd for when they ask you. Can I please steal it? Okay, great. All right, here we go. Welcome to the Guardian podcast. We have Annie Hamilton here, and she's about to do her top four favorite movies, Letterboxd style. Annie Hamilton, what are your top four favorite movies of all time? I'm going to go with A Star is Born, 1941. I'm going to go with A Star is Born, 1957. I'm going to go with A Star is Born, 1973, and A Star is Born, Bradley Cooper. I didn't know there were four of them. Why has no one given that answer? It's such a good, but I didn't do the delivery well. The bit I have to do like, oh, what's my next one? Ooh, ooh, ooh, and I didn't do that. I see. I have never even heard of A Star is Born except the one with Lady Gaga or whatever. There's a Kris Kristofferson and Babs, like, get in there. I got the years wrong. I just tried to say it with confidence, but they're around that. There's a 70s one. I think there's a 40s one, but my real Letterboxd 4 is

Is that not a horror movie? I mean, I guess it's whatever scary.

Science fiction, but that's very adjacent. Mulan was the first movie I ever saw in theaters, and that scared me, but I'm not counting her as a horror movie, because I know that she's Disney. I get very caught up in, not once I've been on some movie sets, not once do I, I try to train myself to say, Annie, those are people who go to work, and imagine the scene is over, and they're getting food at Crafty, and I can't take myself, it just feels that the new reality is there, and I've never been able to separate the movie from my living room. It just is happening. James, I don't know if you know this, but I once PA'd on a film that Annie Hamilton was in. That was... You sure did. Have you seen it? No, I haven't. What is it? We gotta get you a link. I don't even know what it is. You didn't read the script? No, I mean, I never got one. I had no idea. What are you doing? I'll get you a link. I'll get you guys a link. All right, guys, watch out for that, Annie Hamilton. Watch out for that. New movie soon enough. Yeah, I mean, I feel like it'd be actually a good thing. I'd prefer it if I was able to, if I wasn't able to separate myself from a movie, because I don't really cry during movies, but my parents are like, oh, you're insane. You should be able to cry. My dad's like, yeah, that's the best part of movies, and yeah, I feel like it'd be better. You haven't seen the right one yet. That's not your fault. You haven't seen the right one. I haven't seen the, yeah, I guess I haven't seen the right one, but honestly, I feel like it'd be more fun to really not be able to separate yourself. Then you're fully in it. What movies have you cried to? My dog Skip. My dog Skip, yes.

Is it about a dying dog? I'm not going to say anything, fellas. I think you should just give My Dog Skip a quick... My Dog Skip. Wait, is that not the guy from Malcolm in the Middle? It sure isn't. Is it? I thought it was Toby. Oh my god, is it Frankie Muniz? Yeah. It is Frankie Muniz. Yes, sorry. How could I think he was Toby? Wait, is that the guy? That is the guy. Oh my god. No way. You got it. I got it. I got it. Yes. Okay, I have to watch it. That and Seabiscuit. That's Toby. Those are two, I think, male... What about the horse? Yeah, it is. Wait, what is it? Which one? Seabiscuit. I've read a book about Seabiscuit, but I haven't seen the movie. The book's not going to make you cry like the movie will. Yeah. I mean, animal stuff, yeah, that's some sad stuff. I mean, I've seen A Dog's Life or A Dog's Tale, I think is what it's called, but I don't... Yeah, that's probably... Yeah, I guess. That's rookie shit. No, no, no. You need... Because these animals mean financial collapse. They mean families torn apart. The animals are just a poetic little piece to shatter someone's home life. So you're just going to tell them, well, we'll keep in touch and you'll let me know. I know, I'm scared. I don't know if I'm ready. Doesn't sound like you are. I know. If you don't think you are, you're not. What are the movies that you guys most enjoy watching? Comedies. Comedies, for sure, are where it's at for me right now. I mean, if I'm watching something, I like it to be fun. That's where I feel like I can put the most attention into. But I'm sometimes down for a drama, but I don't love it. I don't love it. I could definitely speak for you. Whenever I'm at your house and we're trying to find a movie...

I'll suggest like super dark movies and then we'll just end up watching some YouTube videos. Classic. I mean, we've rented probably, I remember I was at his house once and I rented The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and then we watched 15 minutes of it and then we were just playing GTA for like three hours. I mean, when I'm with you, it's like I'm not trying to watch a movie that's not in English, that's black and white. You're not trying to watch like, are you guys really into PTA and Martin Scorsese or not really? No, I'm into PTA. I mean, I've been trying to watch Battle Royale with you, Max, for like two years now. You say no every time. Well, I mean, you're making me seem like I'm like superficial, like shallow minded. I'm not. I love film. I understand. It's probably weird to watch that type of movie with someone else. I don't know. I just prefer watching like more serious movies with someone else than just myself. No, I have to watch them by myself. If I'm sitting next to you, like I want to watch something that will like make us laugh, like Eastbound and Down or something is what I would want to watch. But like when I'm alone, I'm down to watch like whatever. I just saw this movie. Shoot, Alex Huggins again suggested it. That was in Japanese. No, it's all shot on. No, no, no. It's all shot on these. I think it's like My Girl Pop or something. Hold on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've seen that. I haven't seen it. That's not what I'm talking about. I'll cut this part out because I need to find it now. It's like My Father.

Or pop or... Oh, Love and Pop. It's called Love and Pop. No, Max. Love and Pop? No, I haven't seen this. Yeah, this is one that you suggested we watch together. Oh, wow. This is a Japanese experimental film. Yeah, but Alex hadn't suggested it that I should watch it, and it was so good. It's all shot on these mini digital GoPros, and they're very good. So, James, I'll watch whatever. I don't need to just watch YouTube. No, I guess... I remember you told me about this, but yeah, I haven't seen it. But I do really like watching a lot of movies from Asia. I feel like right now, I really like watching movies from Hong Kong for some reason. I really like those type of movies right now. Wong Kar Wai is my favorite director right now. What was the movie No Other Choice? Did you see that? My favorite movie of 2026. It was so good. I didn't get a chance to see it. You gotta see it. Have you seen any Park Chan-wook movies? They're too scary. They are pretty scary. He did The Handmaiden, yeah. He did Oldboy, Handmaiden, but this one's so good. You watch some of the other movies that come out in 2025, and they are just not... You can just tell that this is more than what appears on the surface, this movie. It's all about... For a sound movie or something. He has to be an assassin or something like that? No, the basic premise of the movie is that he gets fired from his job, and then he's up for another job, but there's a bunch of people ahead of him in line, and he has to kill all the people who are ahead of him in line. But yeah, it's so good. You have to watch it, James. Have you seen any other Park Chan-wook, Annie? Can't believe I'm being honest. I don't think I have. I don't think I have. I couldn't make it through... Hold on. Have I? I couldn't make it through...

Old boy? Yeah, I haven't seen Decision to Leave either, no. And I really had to go to the movies with someone that I am scared of and respect too much to not have... I can only be held at gunpoint to watch a series, which I'm including you guys doing a podcast. I won't watch, I won't put myself through anything that makes my heart race. I like comedies too. I just want to, at the end of the day, I'm just wanting to laugh. And then I chickened out on Birdcage because I thought that it might be too slow for Jen Youngs. Yeah, we were originally supposed to watch Birdcage and James was about to rent it and then got... Two clicks away. Two clicks away. If you actually did though, I will happily... Oh, it's Nathan Lane. Nathan Lane and Robin Williams. It's amazing. And also Mike Nichols is my favorite guy. I just got scared that my taste wasn't going to be... My dad told me that he loves it, so I'm probably just going to watch it soon anyways. So, yeah. It's really the best movie. What year did that come out? Like 19... Was it 90s? 90s, yeah. I think early 90s, yeah. What is it about? So we can get ready to watch it. It takes place in Miami and it's about a kind of nightlife dancer whose son shows up and the nightlife dancer is gay. It's like giving away... There's not really anything to give away in the setup, but for some reason I feel protective of explaining the Birdcage correctly. Yeah. Robin Williams is a nightclub dancer. He's in a relationship with Nathan Lane. They have to pretend...

that they're straight because the son is going to visit, I think is what's happening. But also, you could just be on Wikipedia right now being like, Annie, you remember the birdcage absolutely incorrectly. My fear is talking about movies, guys. You're getting me over. Pretty much every time I see a movie, I see it alone because I don't like the experience of sharing what I feel about a movie afterwards with somebody else. I don't like giving away what I just experienced, but it probably is more of a cover for the fact that I don't have the language to... I know what I feel. I know when I laugh. I know when something really makes me happy or sad. And other than that, I have very limited movie talking resources, unfortunately. But I must not... Now I'm making excuses. I'm like, I'm a writer, so I definitely know how to talk about movies, but only you two will be the judge, and you can talk about that after we get off the Zoom. There was a question I wanted to ask. Oh, have you guys seen Mike Nichols' movies? He did The Graduate. He did... Someone just gave me a gift of the vinyl of the soundtrack. You guys haven't seen The Graduate? No, I haven't. What are you doing? I had a movie-themed bar mitzvah, and my parents dressed up as a graduate. Everyone would dress up in different things. So I'm yet to watch it, but I have to watch it. It's incredible. That I can actually tell you the setup for. Maybe that will make you cry, James. Yeah, hopefully. It's long overdue. Have you seen Broadcast News? That really makes me cry. No, what is that? That's a comedy by James L. Brooks, but it's so warm-hearted, it makes me cry. It's about a bunch of newscasters getting ahead in the workforce. James L. Brooks executive produced The Simpsons, but he also directed... Oh, Albert Brooks.

Yeah, Albert Brooks is wonderful in it. Are you guys fans of his movies? Yeah, I don't know if The Producers holds up, though. I don't think so. That's Mel Brooks. Oh, wait, who's Albert Brooks? Albert Brooks did Defending Your Life, which is... Oh, I love Albert Brooks. I love Defending Your Life. Yes, I love Defending Your Life. Defending Your Life is great. That used to be one of my favorite movies. Yeah, it's such a good movie. I don't know why I thought it was Mel Brooks. I think I thought it was Mel Brooks because I'm watching Curb Your Enthusiasm, and in the same season that... Have you seen Curb Your Enthusiasm? Of course. Yeah, the same season that Larry David does the Producers musical, he also goes to Albert Brooks' fake funeral. So I think I got him confused because I'm watching Curb right now. It is a common mix-up. Albert Brooks, so you remember him next time, his real name is Albert Einstein. That's what his parents named him. Is it actually? It truly is. Siblings go by Einstein. It truly is. Which you would think would backfire on a kid if he had to grow up with that name, but I think it propelled him to be a perfect, special, unique, singular comic genius because he was simply, get me out of that guy's lane. I got to do something just as memorable. That's his last name. Did he change his last name? Is it his real name? He changed it. He full on changed it. I think he changed it. I mean, anyone with the last name Epstein right now is probably trying to change it too. Weinstein, Epstein. You got to go. You would think my last name has to go too because of the hit musical Hamilton. Well, I was actually thinking about promo that I had to do on the Guardian pod, and I did a bunch of different designs for it. I put you on top of the...

...from Hamilton. Whenever I do a Guardian, I make like just like ten different... You wouldn't be the first to do that, and it cackles me every time. I haven't seen Hamilton. No, you have to do it. It's not online or anywhere. I won't see it. Oh my... Wait, you haven't seen Hamilton? My name is two musicals. My name is Annie Hamilton. Two hit... Yeah. Oh my God. Has it propelled you in life? I chose Annie was the first movie that I really fell in love with. My real name's Antonia. And so when I was five, I decided that I was going to go by Annie because I felt like an orphan, even though I have both parents living to this day. And a brother. And I just loved her so much. And then when Hamilton came out, people started to tell me that my name was two musicals, and I felt a little bit of shame, but I've gotten past it. I now just think it's funny because I'm Jewish, and it's a very like American... Are you a big advocator for album music? I'm a... Yes, I am. I sure am. Very simple to use. Love a clean layout. The Spotify, it gets all... I don't want people to see what I'm listening to. That's worse than seeing my bank account. I don't think people can see my playlist. That's the one part I don't like. I've made so many playlists where it's just like... Like where I make like... Or like I just quickly make a five song playlist for something I need to do or like going in the shower or something like that. And then I don't want my friends... I mean, it's totally public. I don't like when people see my playlist from three years ago when I was listening to like anime intros. So, yeah. No shame in listening to an anime intro. I mean, some are really great. I just watched sort of an anime. Is this an anime? Have you guys seen Perfect Blue? Yeah. Is that anime? Yes. I would say so. It's one of my favorite movies. Yeah. It's really... That scared the crap out of me too. That...

That was really scary. Satoshi Kon, yeah, he's anime for sure. I saw it in the theater and it was a very cool crowd in London and I was dodging. Yeah, that one's surprisingly dark. Yeah, I mean, that scene is insane. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's insane. That is insane. Or I don't know if insane is the right word for it, but that really haunted me. That's crazy. I realized, I looked it up, I actually haven't seen Perfect Blue. There's an animated rape scene in it? There is. But it's so weird because when I suggested, probably about a year ago, I was like, oh, dad, let's watch this. And it looks like... It looks cute. It looks like Kiki's Delivery Service. It looks really cute. And the description does not do the movie justice. It's just like, oh, murder, whodunit. It really does. It seems like a nice anime. And then it's probably one of the darkest movies I've ever seen. Max, I can't tell you to watch it because I would feel uncomfortable doing that. But one day if you watch it, let me know. I had to see... Sorry, what were you saying? Max, you've seen Paprika, right? He did that. I saw Paprika. Yeah, I love Paprika. Paprika's great. And he did something called Actress Girls or something. I just watched his anime about this girl. I don't know, James, if you've seen it. But it's about a girl whose superpower is that she can get really drunk. Wait, I just watched it. It was super good. I'll find the name and send it to you guys. But I don't know if I don't really watch that many animes. I'm getting in. I watched Tokyo Sinks. Have you heard about it? It's a Netflix show. No, I haven't heard about it. I haven't talked to a single soul about my late night habit of watching Tokyo Sinks. Now I feel self-conscious. But it's about if Tokyo were...

A natural disaster to sink. It's one little girl's day of the world completely environmentally shuts down and everyone's going to die. And it follows one little school girl as she tries to find her family because they're separated. It's really, it's a meaningful thing for me. Is Miyazaki anime? Not really. That's just cartoon. I mean, he makes some of the best movies. I feel like... Have you seen Porco Rosso? No. It's apparently his only, I just saw it, and it's the only one he classifies as his adult movie, which is why he's disappointed in it, because it's not for children. It's for everyone. It's not an adult movie, but it is a love story, which the rest are not. Michael Keaton plays an ex-army flying pig. It's so, so great. And it's only an hour and a half. I mean, yeah, I'm looking at some Reddit thread right now of a child who posted on the Reddit thread r slash Ghibli, who said, can you help me understand Porco Rosso? I'm 12 and don't understand it. So, yes, now I am seeing a bunch of stuff saying, as I've grown older, I understand Porco. Yeah, yeah, I see. You see, that's a little misleading, an adult movie with a pig that's named Porco. I would never think that this was an adult movie. I really think it's an everyone movie, but I guess I'm glad I saw it at 33 as opposed to 13 before I'd ever fallen in love. That's probably cool. Why is it adult? Is it like about politics or something? Like, what is it? Why is it classified as an adult? It's about love. Oh, whoa. Yeah, yeah, but it's not, there's no sex scenes or anything. It's just a pining for each other. Maybe Miyazaki taking a weird turn.

Perfect Blue of Miyazaki. The other ones scare me, besides Kiki's. Sorry. Yeah, they definitely get away with... They could definitely get away... I mean, I never really dove deep into the niche subculture of super horrible exploitation anime, but I know... Hentai? Isn't that just hentai? Well, I mean, there's also just a bunch of anime because they can get away... Like, in Japan, I know they're supposed to be more censored, but then there's also just more Reddit groups and sections of the internet where it's just dedicated to anime. Not even hentai, which obviously is just porn anime, but there's... I didn't know that. Oh, whoa. Okay, I guess we're teaching Andy something today. I'm learning. Yeah, they could just make... I mean, anime, they don't really have censors because it's animated, just like in Perfect Blue, how it's just an R-rated movie, but then if it was live action, it'd be basically just gore. So there's certain things that I guess they just can get away with because it's animated, but it's still pretty bad. I find it worse. Perfect Blue, because you can see more in a cartoon. I don't know if I find it worse. I just have no stomach for... Truly, at your age, I was exclusively watching... I thought I was incredibly a serious film watcher, and I only watched Scorsese and Polanski and The Night Porter, just Holocaust movies exclusively, straight to the veins. What's your favorite Holocaust movie? The Basketball Diaries. What's your favorite Holocaust movie? My favorite Holocaust movie is obviously The Pianist. Well, I've never seen The Pianist. I'm wondering if you... I mean... If I made you guys watch The Pianist tonight? I mean, I'll watch it tonight.

Isn't the pianist, I've only ever heard the pianist, like our teacher talked about the pianist and everyone just laughs in class because it sounds like she's saying the penis in class. That is a problem with that. That was like, what's his name? Yeah, the, yeah, wait, what's his name? The lead guy. The pianist. Miyazaki? No, in The Pianist. Oh, Adrian Brody. Adrian Brody. That was like his like best role and then the whole big thing was like that he came back like 20 years later and it was like a full circle moment or whatever. That's like what I remember of it. This is his best role as far as I'm concerned. I saw, I don't know, I saw him in a Venmo ad and he was really good in the Venmo ad. I don't think he ever misses. He's amazing as Dolly in Midnight to Paris. I think, what did you think about The Brutalist? Did you like The Brutalist? I loved it, but this is, I love Holocaust times. What do you think, did you like Zone of Interest? I liked that a hell of a lot more, yeah. I thought that was one of the more, it's my favorite Glazer, I think, shockingly. Every time he makes a movie, Jonathan Glazer, the director, every time he makes a movie, I'm like, this is my movie. And then the next one, I'm like, no. Absolutely love it. He did Under the Skin. Oh, yeah. I don't know why, but when I, everything was Jonathan Glazer. There's this other actor named John Glazer, who's like, he's in like this show Delocated that I watched and now I can never disassociate the two. Great, great show. That's if I can't recommend anything more. I think of Jonathan Franzen who wrote The Corrections. So it's a confusing world for these Jonathans. Well, before...

Will you guys tell me what comedies are cool amongst your people? Like, what are the ones that you guys are like, this is the funniest thing ever? I mean, the funny thing is that at our school, the only people in our grade who actually watch movies is me and Max, basically. So what's you and Max's consensus? I don't, yeah, what do you think, Max? Comedies that, I mean, the thing that makes people laugh in our grades is basically just like Instagram reels. Like, that's like what people find funny, of course. Honestly, like. That kills me hearing that, ugh. I mean, it's true, and the only things that will, Instagram reels are pretty funny, but they are, you don't think they're funny at all? I'm deciding they're not, but also I mostly look at clothes and things. I use it very, I'm a utilitarian on Instagram. I get my food on there. No, I don't grocery shop on Instagram. Anyways, what were you saying? We're gonna put, I'm gonna just put a Instagram reel that I think is funny up on the screen, and I'm gonna, when I'm editing this, and prove you wrong, that there are some funny Instagram reels. Of movies, taken from, no, I'm sure people are out here being funny on Instagram reels. The thing is, anyone can be funny for 30 seconds. Come on. You're just breaking my heart because I truly imagined all the children of the world going to the movies and loving movies, and now I realize that no matter how much I try to appeal to the youth, and no one your age is gonna be into it unless like Sabrina Carpenter is in the movie. Do you have any advice to any young filmmakers, playwrights, or just anyone out there who needs some advice right now? Yeah, I do. You might have noticed, boys, I didn't mention it to you, but I was vaping this entire time. It's nicotine, it's not marijuana.

Don't ever take up smoking. I can't quit and I'm scared. No, now it's getting so serious. Don't smoke. It doesn't make you cool. It makes you really lame. Thank you so much, Annie. We are never going to smoke ever, and we don't want any of our eighth grade listeners to smoke either.