Project Hail Mary

Hello everyone and welcome to Unspooled. Emergency episode. That's right. Every now and then. We get a chance to talk about a movie that just came out because we feel like it's in the zeitgeist. Everyone is talking about it and everyone's seeing it. And Amy, that movie is Project Hail Mary. Yeah, let's get into it, man. I saw this movie a month ago and I've been so stoked to be able to talk about it with people because I just, I don't know. My intro of my review, I said that this is wholesome science fiction that satisfies like a jumbo serving of apple pie and milk. And I thousand percent stand by that. I just needed this as a big, big snack. I love that you said that and it really encapsulated something that I felt, which was where are these movies and why are we not making more of them? It's a cheat to say that this is Spielberg-esque, but that's what it made me feel like. It made me feel like the movies from my youth, it's funny, it's dramatic, it's beautifully shot, it's adventure. It has this charismatic lead. Everything about it really works. It just feels like it's not doing anything different. It's just doing everything that we love all together in one film. Yeah, it really got me thinking about how most of our movies about space and sci-fi are pretty depressing. And I love them. I love Alien, but Alien is all about we go off into space and we take our problems with us because we are a plague. And this is like, you know what? What if we just went up to space and really did our best and made it work out? No, we will be talking a little bit of spoilers here. But just we'll try not to actually. Right. We'll just kind of talk about things that people are talking about. But if you want to bookmark this and come back to it after you've watched it, you might enjoy it more. I found it really interesting that this is the first movie in recent memory that I can think of where we are trying to solve a problem and the entire world is chipping in. Right. It's not just America solving this issue. It is, I think in many respects, like the most realistic version of a disaster film. Right. How would we approach this as a world? And I think that's really part of the important message here. Right. It's about saving the world, but the entire world is taking part in it. Well, yeah. I mean, the entire universe, because this is affecting lots of people across different solar systems, different spots in the galaxy who are all being affected by this one plague. These like astrophages that are gobbling the energy of all of the suns, except one, which is where he goes. But he goes there and he realizes it's not just an earth-wide crusade. There's other people who are also trying to solve it, who are all confronted at a specific moment in their evolution. And let me tell you, Amy, I know that you're probably talking around it, but now I think it is very much a part of all the marketing. You're talking about Rocky. Can I talk about Rocky? Okay. Rocky was just surprised to me when I saw the movie. I was like, oh, I agree. And I just watched an interview with Ryan Gosling the other day where he said, for the first wave of press, we were told we couldn't talk about Rocky. Then we realized that would be like talking about ET and saying it's about divorced parents. Right. And I'm glad that talking about Rocky at the premiere, they had like a 3D hologram of Rocky. We have Ryan Gosling posing with Rocky in a La La Land pose. Rocky has been out and about. They're selling shoulder Rockies at Regal cinemas like Rocky is here to stay. And let's just say two things about Rocky. He is an alien and he has no facial features whatsoever. He is a mound of rocks and it is a character that is so fully formed, so emotional that you don't need a face. I mean, that kind of blew my mind. Yeah, that he has a personality. I mean, I think I wrote that he's basically a combination of Boron, the element in Borat, the character. Because he's just like, what's happening? Blah, blah, blah. Tell me about this. He's rampaging through the world. I mean, he has just the same loud, likable, funny, which you get to know him personality as Ryan Gosling's character in this movie. But he, I don't know, there's something about the likability of this movie. Where in other iterations, other moods, I might have said, okay, okay, I get it. We're cheerful. We're happy, blah, blah, blah. What I think is so special about this film is that it isn't just Armageddon style. We've got to save the world because I love my daughter. We got to save the world for this reason. It's like we should just save the world because the people, the creatures who make up these worlds that we all live in are all important, even if they look like rocks. Like there's this humanistic, I guess, not beyond humanistic, I'm using like my human words because that's all I've got. But there's a love of life in all these scales. Society. Community. Yeah, that's bigger than my daughter, my sister, whatever. What I really love about this film is, yes, it's a movie about teamwork. But it's also a movie with a reluctant hero. And that's part of the mystery of the film. Why is Ryan Gosling's character there? Because he's not Matt Damon in the Martian. This movie is very different than the Martian. Yes, it has some similarities written by Drew Goddard, who wrote the Martian, which was based off an Andy Weir book. This has the same lineage. But this movie, I think, is different in the sense that Matt Damon had a purpose. He had knowledge. Ryan Gosling isn't a scientist. He's a middle school teacher. Very smart. Very smart. Very smart. Yes. But he's approaching things in a very different way. Right. And what we find out in the opening scene of the film is that his crew is dead. Like the experienced experts are dead. And he is left there to figure out why is he there and how can he get home? And that, to me, is really interesting. I think it gives the movie another level of humanity because he's not a superhero. He's not having these moments of sacrifice. As a matter of fact, when there is this moment where he has to confront a potential sacrifice, it's the first time I've ever seen a hero of a movie, a moat in a way where he's like, I don't want to do this multiple times. He's incredibly vulnerable. Like really vulnerable in a way where you warm to him instead of being like, I look up to you just because you're strong and you're going to save me. It's like, I understand where you're at. I mean, I disagree with you a little bit. I think he's very Matt Damon-y. He's smart. He would make a great TV host. He can explain things to the camera, his little diaries about like, here's what's going on. And he has that same sense of, well, this is my situation. I'm just going to dig my shoulder in and figure this out. And you're going to be interested in all of the nerdy science stuff I'm doing because I can explain it so well and I'm so likeable. Can I just say that every now and then you get a product that is advertising on your show that you connect to so deeply. And this is one of those products. I am thrilled to tell you about the world's number one expanding garden hose and their brand new product. I am talking about the pocket hose ballistic. Okay, look, I bought hoses. They are hard to manage. And it makes no sense that hard rubber it makes it kinks, tangles. I'm like unwrapping Christmas lights just to get a little water out. But the pocket hose is the number one expandable hose in the world. And you know why? Because it's lightweight. It's easy to manage. It's easy to store. 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Explore the mechanically magical vistas of veil, the paranormal mysteries of liminal London, and the cyberpunk chaos of cyborg. Be awed by our incredible guests from familiar shows like Ox Venture and No Rolls Bard. Search realms of peril and glory to find out more. I definitely think the movie makes the science very palatable. This is a movie that is a very complex, you know, problem. And they serve it up so easily. I think that Ryan Gosling also plays it differently than Matt Damon. I was reading an article with Drew Goddard where he said, you know, Matt Damon would know to make logs, would know to do these certain things. Ryan Gosling is he's very playful in this world. And I got to say, I love Lord Miller so much because they know how to make movies, and they know how to make a movie star. And whether that's an animated movie star or a real, you know, real person, they their characters are so front and center in a way that I think is refreshing. They're not just pushing plot forward. And I think a lot of the times you watch these movies are like, OK, this is the wounded person. This is what they're going to overcome. And here we go. And this movie, yes, they're all these characters as an arc, and it's very well defined. But I think what people forget is the personality of the humanity again. And this movie is all about humanity. I described this movie as like 2001 meets planes, trains and automobiles because it is it is at its root, a buddy comedy about trying to get somewhere and do something. Well, yeah, I think that my favorite scenes were all really small. Like, yes, there was that moment where he's still on earth. He's trying to figure out the science. He goes to, you know, a chain hardware store with his mind and they buy candy and sunglasses that the government has to pay for because they're just putting it on the same government. Yeah, they're getting snacks. Yeah. And that's that little thing where you're like, aha, that is how a human would behave. Right. And everyone's like eating the Skittles later. Everyone who's watching him do this experiment that he went to the hardware store for. Like you could see everyone is just munching on those Skittles throughout the day. Yeah, exactly. But they understand how little bits of cheating away, getting away with tiny things, not doing everything exactly right is what makes you in dear to a character when they're not perfect. But they're not like, here's my one flaw. I mean, that is actually my one couple. I have a couple quibbles with the movie, despite loving it. One of them is what you're just alluding to. Why is he on the ship? Why him? I did I got zero drama out of that. I was like, I'm glad he's here. He's the perfect person. I couldn't imagine anybody else. I I thought the ending of the film and the reveal of the situation that he gets in was one of the most like affecting moments of the movie. Oh, I just thought it was without spoiling it. I really just found myself like, wow, what a choice that is. I mean, those that scene and I also think the scene where they're doing karaoke are really just interesting moments to me of just two characters because we didn't talk about Sandra Huler. This is not a one. Yes, it is a one person film in the sense that Ryan Gosling's our lead. He's alone in space, but he does pair up with Rocky, who is a puppet and is voiced by the puppeteer. And so Ryan and the puppeteer are doing these scenes together. And apparently there is a lot of improv and they are finding each other. And so that feels really alive. But the movie is interspersed with a time before he's on this ship. And that's where Sandra Huler is. And she is, I think, amazing. And you're watching these two people wrestle with the fate of the universe. And you find these moments of humanity and these moments of, yeah, just because it's the end of the world, we can still sing. We can still have some candy, right? These that even in the worst moments in your life, there are these human decisions, not always heroic, not always meant to be more than just embracing being alive. Yeah. I mean, I definitely a thousand percent agree with that. I kind of felt like that thing we're not talking about specifically is like, no, that's not the same guy. I don't believe it. Oh, wow. Interesting. But maybe that's just me. Maybe that's just me. Well, also, you know, the movie does it by that point, we are watching two versions of him, right? We are watching the one version that gets to that situation. And then the version that is in that situation. So I think it is a different way of looking at the character. I saw the movie three times. Wow. And I've seen it. It is. And by the way, it moves by quick. The best compliment I can give, and I may say this in an upcoming episode as well, because we didn't know we were going to record this, is I went into the film and I was like, oh, I got a P. And Phil and Chris were like, just so you know, the movie is about three hours. And I was like, oh, what should I do? The movie started. I never thought about peeing the entire time. I watched a longer cut of the film. And was completely hooked. So that's the best compliment I can give. I brought my kids to it. They did not complain about the time at all. My youngest son looked at me and says, the funniest movie ever. I cried five times. And I don't know. There's just something that like really just pulled me forward. I have never felt the length of it, even when it was longer. I mean, I think you should just take my job and be a film critic and your views will just be how much you did or did not have to be. I mean, look, that's a lot of the time is where, you know, I have to applaud myself three hours without peeing is pretty impressive. But I did get to see an early cut of the film. And it was really interesting. Yeah, what change? Not much, but a lot. And where I guess the 20 minutes that I saw more of the film. It's really just more moments. And what Lord Miller did, and I hope I'm not talking out of school here. I don't think I am is. I think they're always testing the film. Where does it work? Where do you lose people? And what do we need to see? What do we not need to see? And it just got cleaner and sharper. So that's just from looking at it from a creative point of view. Somebody writes and directs. It's like, oh, wow, they weren't just throwing the baby out with the bathwater. There is something really good here, but it just needs to be this. One of the things I can speak about that was an element of one of the cuts I saw was it was established that Ryan had a girlfriend and he was going through a breakup. And that was part of it. And there was something about that. And I remember I was like, oh, I just don't know if you need that because we don't need like that was again. I don't think that my opinion swayed anything. I'm just saying that like it was something that gave him another connection to Earth. But I also think it complicated some of the other relationships because I think you would think of him as maybe a worse guy to leave people behind. I don't know. There was something about him being alone, a loner and being a little bit more isolated. I think made the character better. But that's like the only thing and it was really a sliver in the very opening that you saw. You didn't have much explanation to it, but it was established that he was with this person very quickly. And the scene is still there, but that character is not. You know, I'm glad actually, apologies to the actress, but that must be a bummer to be cut out of this movie. But yeah, I liked just the platonic nature of this movie. I mean, I was almost wondering if they cut out some sort of romantic subplot between him and Sandra Hewler, which would be kind of weird and totally unnecessary. But they just keep giving each other these looks. I was like, that's a really intense look. What is a really intense look? I love the two of them. She obviously anatomy of a fall. I was like, who is this person? She's amazing. And she's so funny in this and she's so dry and you need that kind of like ying to his yang. And they again, it's another buddy. Like you have two buddy comedy movies going on simultaneously. She's the straight man and he is this gregarious, sweet guy who is very smart, right? And I love the way they play off each other and the way that they do rub off each other. And I think that like there are some moments where they're not even on screen together. Again, I'm thinking back to the ending in the future, not the ending of the past, where she's on the ship. And it's just a moment of them talking, but they're not actually talking like she's getting a message from him. And there's so much there and it's amazing to be able to have a really beautiful closure to that relationship that I think feels satisfying without having them standing next to each other saying it. Like the movie does so much of letting the audience be smart. And I think that we talked about the Martian too. It's like, no, no, the audience is smart. We'll just treat them as smart. We don't have to dumb it down. Like it to me, it has all the elements of a comfort movie. It's like centers. It's like one battle in the sense it's a movie and a film. And I think it's not like F1 in the sense that this is more than the popcorn movie. But you know, kind of falls in between. I don't think you have to understand the of the science in particular. No, you just feel the science. And they don't burden you with it, right? They don't over, they don't over explain it. Like you don't have to know every little detail. And I think that we get so caught up in that. Like, well, what's really happening? Tell us more, tell us more. And I have to say, without talking about the real end, what a crazy, wonderful ending that I was like, holy shit. I cannot believe they did that. Like that seems like the most anti-hollywood ending I've ever seen. But yet also like perfectly fulfilling. Well, yeah. I mean, I think that they also find really smart ways to make points that are, you know, elbow-y points, elbow-y points. Like, you know, the project, how Mary, it's named in that way in part. There's like a intelligence aboard the ship, kind of an AI whose name is Mary. And I love that the AI is pretty stupid. That the AI is not like, I've got this or let me help or here's some advice on how to do this. The AI is like, record a diary. Hey, you should record a diary. And it's otherwise just nagging you and pretty useless and he just ignores it at a certain point. I like that version of like, AI is not going to jump in in any sort of a way. It's just going to tell us what we already know for the most part. Yeah, I didn't think about that. And I love that idea where it does also feel like at the end of the day, this is a movie where you have to reach out. You have to trust. You have to work together. You have to brainstorm with people who are people like to be a creative thinker. You can't be a programmed creative thinker, right? When you need a creative solution to something. I mean, overall, what we've seen with this film is very much, in my opinion, what we saw with Sinners, a movie that comes out in March where the directors are very forward facing in the sense of we shot it like this. We want you to see it in these formats. I would say definitely see it in IMAX if you can because the special effects in this movie are amazing. I know they got a little bit of attention when they said they use no green screen. They were able to tell you exactly what that meant, which was they didn't use the traditional green screen. They did a lot of special effects on this film, but even the guy from Mythbusters, Adam Savage, showed you how they actually did the outside the spacious stuff and it looks amazing. This stuff made me think about 2001. How do we show space in a way that's engaging and exciting and beautiful? To your point, we haven't seen that. We haven't embraced the fantasy of sci-fi in such a long time. Yeah, the pink glitter stars. It's beautiful, but also, 2001, it puts these humans up into space. I think the deliberate joke of that movie is that the humans are as robotic as Hal, maybe even more robotic because Hal is like, I'm sad. I don't want to die. Will you play chess? And the humans are like, whatever, here I am going through the drones of just existing on the spaceship. And so this movie is like that, but with such a humanistic element. And I like that they figure out ways to show all of the ranges of what Ryan Gosling can do because the one thing he does have on Matt Damon is I think he's a much better physical comedian. I mean, he's a dancer. He came out of being like a comic dancer when he was a little boy. So he can do the wriggling out of a cocoon moonwalking nonsense of this. And he's perfect. Like he is an excellent physical mover. Absolutely. The war is over and both sides lost. Kingdoms were reduced to cinders and armies scattered like bones in the dust. Now the survivors claw to what's left of a broken world. Praying the darkness chooses someone else tonight, but in the shadow dark, the darkness always wins. This is old school adventuring at its most cruel. Your torch ticks down in real time. 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Inspired by the beloved children's book of the same name, this podcast vividly brings Patrick's tales of deduction and everyday adventures to life as he unravels baffling enigmas and solves clever cases. Patrick Picklebottom, everyday mysteries is perfect for kids and is just as entertaining for grown ups who love a good mystery. The whole family can listen now wherever you get your podcasts. You know, it was so smart to also ground him with a physical companion too because Rocky is puppet and you know, elements are CGI. And when I saw the first cut, I think there were wires still in certain scenes, but and there's no music and the special effects weren't done. But like the movie held together with all of that because they're really interacting, right? And that's so like, I think he really is somebody who plays so well off of other people and he's just got a unique charm that even with all the press and I was talking about this to a friend. This movie has been out there in such a major way for the last three weeks, you feel like I have. How have I not seen it yet? It's just came out, right? It had the largest opening of the year on its preview night. It has a rotten tomato score that I think is like 96 or 97%. And it just feels like this big movie that could make like $60 million. We don't we're recording this before we know what the actual totals are. Some say low 60s, some say mid 60s. That's huge. But all the advertising for it, all the work around it, because he is so likable, it doesn't feel like you're feeling like bombarded by bad ads. He's so interesting. It's like he's doing all these different sketches. He's performing with an Alexa. He's with Rocky. He's tossing footballs and soccer balls. There's something like you can't beat that. Like it doesn't it feels like he loves the movie. And there's a real genuineness to how it's being marketed. And I think that that flavor of him marketing it is the best advertisement for the film. Like go see it. Go go in there. Well, yeah, I mean, this is why I want to still even even in the popular. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Why I want to do a slightly even more popular thing. I just like say I hate that everybody's met it to Mithy Chalamet for going on such a marketing thing for Marty Supreme, because honestly, especially like a movie of hit of that scale, you need the actor to be willing to love their movie so much to go out and promote it. Absolutely. You have to. The only way to break through. It's because I hate that he's like that they're like you promoted your movie too much. No, your job is to like help promote the movie so people go see the movie. And find ways to get people's attention, especially his audience who may not be going. Right. And and I think that that's part of the deal. Yeah. And I think Gosling does it really, really well too. And so I just say to now to like protect him from any sort of just God, we're so negative all the time as people on that note, I'll kind of pivot and say away from the negativity about how we handle celebrities and press cycles. I thought my favorite moment of the movie. And remember, we this is not a spoiler. We know that his colleagues are dead right when they wake up on the ship from scene one. I love when he gives them a eulogy and he has no memories of meeting these people, but he looks through their stuff and he figures out how to honor who he thinks they were with like real sincerity and he cries for strangers. Yeah. That moment is so beautiful because I think it is exactly what this film is about that all lives have an importance on on our planet on other planets. And that if we just pay attention even to a little bit of them, like we can care about them individual and on mass without even having to know them. And like that was so beautiful. And I think that Gosling is a great kind of hero for that because he can do the cool stuff. He can sing on the outside of the ship. He can do the funny stuff, but he can also nail those scenes. That's a very rare leading man who can do that. And again, I think this movie takes everything that we love and creates something like you said, it's apple pie and a big glass of milk. And for me, lactate or almond milk. In the sense that. I thought about the blacklist community before saying that. But I do think that there is something about. Yes, we can be optimistic. We can be hopeful. We can have fun. And we can make you cry and we can make you laugh. This movie should be everything and big blockbusters should be everything. I think we've lost that along the way that blockbusters are spectacles. This is a spectacle, but it also is an emotional spectacle. It feels. I know that Ryan Gosling said we hosted SNL. People are comparing it to ET and interstellar. Yes, I think that's a fine comparison. But movies can be and they used to be all these things, you know, everything movies. Yes, I think that's why you're comparing it to centers, especially it's an everything movie. And it's important to. For the next generation of film lovers to see this, I hope that this movie. Affects people be like, wow, I can do all of this. Right. I end and yes, it's IP, but it's not. I mean, yeah, I mean, whatever. It is such. I think confident directing and writing and working together on this idea. And I think when you look at Phil and Chris's track record, it's great. It's obscenely like amazing. Like I'm just like, wow, from Lego movie to 21 Jump Street to this year. Like they're all over the fucking board. They nail everything they're trying to do. And I can't help but say, how did Star Wars fuck up so bad by firing them? Oh, I know. Yeah, I'm glad we're getting that dig in, but at least they got to go into space on their own terms. And yeah, I really think what makes them special is I think they just like people. Like I think they just really like people and it shouldn't feel as rare as it does in movies. But I think a lot of our space movies in particular, they like epic and scale and size and awe and majesty, but not necessarily the people in the middle of all of that. We forget about the humanity. We're doing too much about the special effects. And anyway, I'm so happy that we just can talk about this. Maybe we will talk about this again at length where we can kind of dig in. But I just, I felt like it was important because it feels like one of those movies that is potentially going to be around for the next handful of months. I would like that. Well, hopefully longer because I like that your kids like it too. That is a great sign. Like the next generation needs their ETs. And so I guess I should say thank you Paul for telling them to cut the girlfriend. Because I think that really was smart. I will not take credit. All right, Amy, you can catch our regularly scheduled episode later this week. Bye for now. And make sure you check out our sub-stack each and every week to go a little bit deeper on the movies that we talk about here. It's always free. So join in the conversation. Un-Spooled is produced by Amy Nicholson, Paul Shear, Molly Reynolds and Harry Nelson. Sound engineered by Corey Barton, music by Devin Bryant. Episode art by Kim Troxell. Show art by Lee Jameson. And social media production by Zoe Applebaum. This is a realm production. See you next week. Bye for now. Legendary stories, awe-inspiring sound and endless adventure. Welcome to the realms of peril and glory. Explore the mechanically magical vistas of Vale, the paranormal mysteries of liminal London and the cyberpunk chaos of cyborg. Fall in love with our core cast or be awed by our incredible guests from familiar shows like Ox Venture, Three Black Halflings and No Rolls Bard. 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