Press Play: Part 2
Don Shanahan, Ben Silverio, and Ansel Burch are pop culture observers/ content creators/ excellent friends who are making sure that every track of our playlist is a banger.
In this week’s episode, we are reviewing the movie, Press Play. We’ll talk about the importance of music in relationships, the time travel mechanism in the movie and the performances that stood out to us.
Find us online!
Don Shanahan is @CasablancaDon across the socialverse and you can catch his show Cinephile Hissy Fit wherever fine podcasts are downloaded. find more of Don’s work at https://everymoviehasalesson.com/
Ben Silverio is @BSilverio20 on Instagram, X, Threads, Blusky, and Hive.
Ansel Burch is @TheIndecisionist on IG, Facebook, Yowsa, Blusky, Reddit, and Threads.
Check out Ansel’s new TTRPG, Cards! https://the-indecisionist.itch.io/cards
Check out Ansel’s new time travel actual play podcast, For the Time Being!
Next week Professor Don Shanahan is in the house for an edutainment episode to knock your socks right off. It’ll be a real service to any one having trouble getting their sock off. Until then, make sure you’re subscribed, because it’s always #Time2Party
Transcript
Ben Silverio 0:05
Hey, I'm Ben Silverio,
Don Shanahan 0:07
I'm Don Shanahan,
Ansel Burch 0:08
and I'm Ansel Burch,
Ben Silverio 0:10
and it's Time 2 Party.
Don Shanahan 0:20
We are in Hawaii, wrong island, but we're there, you know,
Ansel Burch 0:24
it's an island movie,
Don Shanahan 0:25
yeah, I'm gonna sing, I'm gonna sing Ben Crosby's, like, the Christmas song, yeah, yeah,
Ansel Burch 0:33
that was good. My first thought was cheeseburger in paradise. So,
Ben Silverio 0:38
yeah, yeah. We might the tiki room, you know,
Don Shanahan 0:44
yeah, during Disney's land, I bet
Ansel Burch 0:46
we could do a sing along to the tiki room.
Don Shanahan 0:48
Oh, my God. The lyrics are simple. It's true.
Ben Silverio 0:50
Maybe if we had more tiki drinks, that would be,
Ansel Burch 0:55
man. I like it. I could break up. I mean,
Ben Silverio 0:58
yeah. Oh, Ansel is the expert here. Actually, I don't know that I'd say that,
Ansel Burch 1:05
but man, yeah, my tie would go well with this movie. It's been a while since we did a pairing for a movie, but this movie would do well with tiki drinks.
Don Shanahan 1:15
Sure would, yeah. And then yet, they're still just kind of hitting beers. I'm kind of disappointed by the drinks in this movie, if I may say, so Roman, random
Ben Silverio 1:23
beers. Like, come on,
Don Shanahan 1:25
yeah, we just need to find out where Danny Glover gets his weed, and then we'll feel a lot better. Like, oh, that's authentic. That's gonna have a great name. Like, you know, this is the I got the tiki room, except right here, man, you know this? I know a guy. Yeah, I know a guy. He raises it on the slopes of Mount Lua Yo,
Ben Silverio 1:45
man, I got that Lethal Weapon. There
Ansel Burch 1:47
it is. I got that Lethal Weapon. Yeah, I will say one of many things where I, I, I had to get to the end of the movie and confirm that they shot on location before I really felt like, was this actually in Hawaii? Like, what? Because there's only one like Hawaiian person in the film as well.
Ben Silverio 2:08
True. Yes, true. Uh, which feels
Ansel Burch 2:11
like wasted opportunity. Uh,
Don Shanahan 2:13
I wonder if that is the I'm not trying to get edutainment early here, folks. But like, I wonder what the racial and ethnic demographics are for, you know, mainland Oahu, Honolulu area versus, Oh, for sure, go to other islands where it may be a little bit more diverse, versus we're in, how the territory here, if I remember that being the term correct, so, like, we're probably in that, if you're in, if you're on Oahu and Honolulu, with all the tourists In the main city, it maybe is,
Ben Silverio 2:42
you know, yeah, I think it's probably
Ansel Burch 2:44
is representative of the demographics of the island. I think you're right about that. I just, yeah, I don't know, generally speaking, when, when people film in, in Hawaii, on any of the islands, there is, I think there's, like, a tax credit or something to, like, make sure that the the local community is represented. It in a well, that'd be, yeah, in a way that is, like, aware of the island's history and yeah, and colonial heritage, because
Ben Silverio 3:20
I think we only got the eye candy that Chloe was looking at her good husband and maybe the flower shop owner, if I'm not mistaken,
Ansel Burch 3:28
yeah. Oh, I forgot about the flower shop owner. She may have been
Don Shanahan 3:32
because her BFF is
Ben Silverio 3:34
Chloe is played by Lyrica ocano, who is Nico Minoru in the runaways, which I will get back to later. Oh, you're totally right, yes. But she, I believe, is Japanese, okay,
Don Shanahan 3:49
that makes it's, yeah, when you have that, you have that blend of different demographics there, especially in the main island, I have to think, well, in a while, it sounds main island, but yeah, I'm not surprised that you would get that cross section. Yeah, she didn't look like she came from at Walsh. That's all I know, right? That's fair. Like he's probably the one name in this movie. That's not Louis Pullman. So, yeah, true party
Ben Silverio 4:11
people. We already got the party started. Look at that. We're we're here with the incredible Don Shannon. Stop ourselves, and we couldn't stop ourselves from just getting right into it. Don, has an effect on people. Oh, gosh, that's me. All right. Welcome back, Don. We thank you. Had so much fun having him around for the first time, while we were talking about somewhere in time that we had to bring him back. We had to, we had to rewind,
Don Shanahan 4:37
I know, I'm happy to bring you this movie, you know, like I said in the first episode, you know, it's nice to shine a light, a little on a little indie. It matches the theme of your guys's show, great. So it's just a natural fit. So it's nice to, I appreciated what you guys just recently did with Back to the Future two where, like, you know, hit the big ones, but at the same time, like, hey, slide a little guy in here. So be fun to. Yeah,
Ansel Burch 5:00
I love and keep, keep them coming too, because we, we love the we love having you back, and we love the wreck of a little guy, absolutely.
Ben Silverio 5:08
So if you don't know what movie we're talking about right now, we are talking about the 2022 movie press play, and our good friends at Rotten Tomatoes, tell us this, Laura and Harrison have the picture perfect romance built on the foundation of a shared love of music. After a deadly accident, Laura is given the chance to save the love of her life when she discovers that their mixtape can transport her back in time, featuring a movie soundtrack with songs by Japanese breakfast, Father John, Misty day glow and more. Press play reminds you that love can always be replayed, except
Don Shanahan 5:48
she can't play the tape to it's true, yes, shit on that run to me, exactly. Nice try. Guys
Ben Silverio 5:57
had not seen the whole film. No, honestly brought it up. I think we should start there, because the rules of this movie take a little while to take effect, right? So, like, I did not think they were clear right away. You know, I didn't realize that the tape could not rewind until Danny Glover tried it. And by the point it was like, way too far into the movie that we should have known what was going on already, in my opinion. You know, I just thought that when Laura was like, YouTubing those videos on how to rewind a tape, that she just sucked at the pencil thing, which is right, right? You know, like, I get it, yeah, young people don't know how to treat a cassette tape.
Ansel Burch 6:38
No, that was a rude awakening when somebody had to google how to rewind.
Don Shanahan 6:42
Yeah, that's them all right, though, man, that's a 22 year old for you. You know,
Ben Silverio 6:48
they should have shown her trying to rewind it more they
Don Shanahan 6:51
did with the pencil. Okay, I know, yeah, in the
Ben Silverio 6:56
Walkman, or, like, on a stereo, or something like her and Harrison had all that stuff lying around, so, like, why not show her doing it before she got to Danny Glover? It would have cleared up some things. I think, okay, okay, but
Don Shanahan 7:11
it didn't lose me, but I it counts as a like you said a rule of dynamic, or how did, like you said that the mechanics in the movie? Yeah, very true. Very true. Yeah, yeah. If you miss that, you'll miss that, you'll miss a bit of movie well. And whenever
Ansel Burch 7:22
you introduce a new time travel mechanic that is like, that should be your first priority is like, Okay, how does this work? And how does it impact the story? And so, yeah, I agree with Dawn. I picked it up sooner than that, but I would have liked to see it immediately. I think when she got back from the first track, her first thought should have been like, Oh, I gotta go back. I didn't do that, right? It doesn't work. Say it out loud. We all get it. Yeah, that's
Ben Silverio 7:49
exactly what I was looking for. Really. I was like, Why didn't she just go back to the to the very beginning again after the first time? And like, it was something that it didn't really, like, pick up with me until later that, like, oh, okay, each song can only be played once. Another rule of the mechanic here is that, you know, rather than the whole body, essentially only the consciousness goes back, similar to X Men Days of Future, past, you know. So they do address, no, no, no, she leaves rooms entirely
Ansel Burch 8:19
in the very first scene, when Chloe comes into the room, she's gone,
Don Shanahan 8:25
which is a call, a call ahead to that last scene. Because that's like the movie takes place at the end with the beginning, like, yeah, it's the flat circle thing. Yeah, that's the Christmas party at the end. So, but you're right, there's she's leaving that room. She may come back to that room, but she's leaving entirely, yeah, I get that too. But Zen
Ben Silverio 8:44
Harrison is like, No, one minute you're here, and then when you come back, you don't know anything that just happened. Like, you
Don Shanahan 8:51
Oh, that part, like she's there, but conscious, she's
Ansel Burch 8:54
quantum leaping into her past self, yeah, but her body in the present is gone, which is confusing as a
Ben Silverio 9:02
choice. Yeah, okay, so that that makes it even more confusing for me then, all right? And then the last bit of rules in within this world is that when the past changes, the songs on the mixtape can also change, so Laura can lose a chance to go back in time, since the prime variant, then, didn't listen to that song with Harrison,
Ansel Burch 9:24
which is cool, but I think she solved it too easily. Exactly. I
Ben Silverio 9:29
agree what it is, okay. Okay. There were so many things there that she could have encountered and, like, really struggled with, but she didn't,
Ansel Burch 9:37
which, I mean, they've only got 85 minutes, so fair. I would have liked to see her need to provide Harrison with the list, yeah. Oh, these are the songs that are on the mixtape. Do not fuck with the mixtape. Yeah. Like, this needs to stay the way it is. Yeah. There are too many times where she was able to say to Harrison, like, don't change anything, when she hasn't told him what is. About to happen, like, he doesn't know what not to change in
Don Shanahan 10:03
the same time. I do appreciate the sense of urgency by you only have as long as the song plays. Like, half minutes. That was, that's a crusher. And I love that, because that's, there's some suspense to that. There's a I, you know, if you could sit down and hash out what you're talking about, like, Hey, here's the tape, here's all the things. Like, here's all the information I need to dump on you. I only got 45 seconds. Like, versus with Danny Glover's trying to push her to do all movie, but like, hey, just there's, there's a joy. Acclimate to the moment and enjoy the moment, which she doesn't do enough, but until she finally does when it's only two and a half three minutes. I do appreciate that you can't you over solve too many things, you know, like, it isn't for, like, she can't fix it too clearly, despite the things that she is fixing quickly other places. But
Ben Silverio 10:45
it's also funny to me, because Laura takes the time to, like, look up the science of it before she hits play again, but she doesn't think of the other stuff you know,
Don Shanahan 10:54
like, also classic, 22 year old right
Ben Silverio 10:56
there? Sure, absolutely. Yeah. It's just, like, something about Laura just, I don't know. I think the actress, what is her name? Clara rugar, yeah, perfectly fine. But some of the choices that she makes as Laura, for instance, and this could probably just be a script thing, Laura did not apologize to alternate Cooper for starting the fire. Yeah, she doesn't say she's sorry. Then
Don Shanahan 11:28
the dude, four years later, this is the girl's wedding. Isn't that sorry? Like she's, yeah, I get grief. Can hollow, hollow some people and some heart out of somebody, but you're, yeah, you're, you're skating on the bitch line. A
Ben Silverio 11:44
little bit, I know that there's romantic drama, but like, right? Laura shows a little bit more rom communists than than other characters in the genre, I think. And if she had just, like, showed some remorse, even if, even when Cooper was like, so are we just gonna ignore that you were going through my stuff? She doesn't even address, right? Like, it's such a, it's such a hard turn for the character, you know, and it's, it was just really jarring to see, because, like, I understand that she's very focused on, like, saving Harrison, but like, these are the people that she's asking to help her. Like, she should at least be a little kinder to them, especially after she burned down his store.
Ansel Burch 12:33
Yeah, when the implication of burning down the store comes up, like, Burch, yeah, you kind of take a step back. Okay, yeah, I'm moving too fast and making mistakes, because that is ultimately, like, she just made that fuck up,
Unknown Speaker 12:51
right? Yep,
Don Shanahan 12:52
it's not like, Oh, I forgot. I mean to Cooper, she's been blowing it off for four years, you know. But to her, it just happened in the tape, and her little, her little shift in moment. So, yeah, it should be fresh in her mind to be apologetic, and because she's quick and apologetic with with our guy, with Harrison, but like, those moments are like, Oh, I'm so sorry. I need to get this. I need to get like, the remorse is there, but hey, have it for your friends and neighbors and buddies that are trying to have gotten the people who
Ben Silverio 13:19
are left You're right. And in a moment of, like, you know, and How I Met Your Mother, when Marshall is getting married and he takes the the razor and, like, shaves his head and to cover it up, they were like, we thought of traditional Native American headdress before we thought of hat.
Don Shanahan 13:38
Yeah. Like, yeah. It's like, goofy way of Yeah. So
Ben Silverio 13:41
why didn't Laura and Harrison think to check the colleges in Hawaii for a medical program?
Don Shanahan 13:50
There's stuff like that? Yeah, there are college if that's parents desire stuff. Who knows? Sure,
Ben Silverio 13:54
but you know, Don as a teacher, you, I'm sure you know that colleges all over the country offer different things. Yeah, you take
Don Shanahan 14:02
an easy transfer to Honolulu. It could be done exactly.
Ben Silverio 14:05
It's like the classic case of Topanga Lawrence should have gone to Yale in Boy Meets World like, Well, I understand the young love doesn't necessarily make you think of these things, but it's just like small enough could have, yeah, you know, prevented something even, uh huh,
Don Shanahan 14:26
we're not quite How It Should Have Ended version of the movie, but you're close. Like, hey, just go to school here, dude, you know, solve that right now. Tell you or take a gap year if, see if you guys are for real, and then do something else. Well, actually, that's what it is that him not going to school is what spikes all this off so,
Ansel Burch 14:41
yeah, ultimately, yeah, that would not have solved their problem. No,
Ben Silverio 14:44
that's true. Good point. Oh, that's true too. I guess he'd still be there. Yeah. Well, that's, that's also true, but
Don Shanahan 14:52
it's just like, while we're on him, what do you think of Harrison in the movie and Lewis Pullman and his just performance? Is he worth all this effort in your. As a romantic lead.
Ben Silverio 15:01
You know, there was a point in the movie where I was just like, do I buy him as the romantic lead? He's kind of corny, yes, but once we start seeing the past version of him, you know, like during all the time travel bits, I think he redeems himself, you know, with some of the things that he's telling her, and I think the delivery of all that is very good. There's a reason why people are all up his ass right now about doing stuff because, you know, he's, he's clearly got talent. You know, we mentioned Lyrica a Cano, who plays Chloe Harrison stepsister. I think it's interesting that both of them are in the Marvel Cinematic Universe now, because Lyrica plays Nico in runaways, which was on Hulu, it is also one of the most underrated Marvel TV shows. I don't know why people don't talk about it more, especially because Elizabeth Hurley, in the third season is just, oh my God. They made more than one season of that they did and it, I liked it. And then, you know, I thought it's, it's stuck to, not, you know, 100% stuck to. But I think the way that it adapted the comic book storyline was, was done very well, even up to the up to the cloak and dagger crossover, because cloak and dagger was on ABC family at the time, or free form. I'm sorry, but yeah, just I have a soft spot for for young Marvel heroes, and I think runaways is some of the best execution of that. But now Lewis Pullman will be in Thunderbolts Asterix later this year, as Bob and I would talk more about Bob, but I don't want to spoil anything for anybody. So, okay,
Don Shanahan 16:54
Ansel, what did you think of Louis? You
Ansel Burch 16:57
know, I thought that Lewis similar to what Ben was saying, I thought that Lewis really grew over the course of the movie, because you start to see more and more how willing he is to be supportive of, yeah, of her as as things begin to spiral and then continue to spiral, you know, he's, he's, he's immediately willing to accept what's going on. He's immediately willing to go, Okay, well, if this is what needs to happen, I believe in you, and I care. And here's, you know, there's, there's very little of that incredulity once, once the earthquake comes in and justifies the belief. Yeah, so I think that that was really good. And he's, he's definitely a very believable love interest and lead for this movie, I will say. And this is not an acting thing, but I it it. I just keep coming back to if the future, if the if the timeline is movable, based upon Laura's actions, then Harrison should have run into more trouble between visits. Harrison stayed on his path, largely from visit to visit. You know, he still ended up in the same places. He still ended up doing similar things. She told him to stop surfing and stay away from the beach, which is what he mostly did, and somehow he still ended up in the same spot when she came back for him like that is wild. So so I think that there are, I have questions about Harrison as a character, and how he got from point A to point B, logistically, but performance wise, yeah, he was fantastic. I thought he really did a, did a, I love
Don Shanahan 18:49
where he got me was, I mean, he got me along the way where he's just charming, like early on the the art show scene, where he's, like you said, advocating for her and, like, trying to be a nice guy to some constituents at the show, and just to kind of, you know, brag about her art, with her standing there away a little bit, but, like, it's a charming scene, but, um, the scene that got me were like, man, you seal the deal, you you're romantic hero for me is, um, their last scene, their last song, you know, and that, that huge goodbye, where she finally says, where she realizes coupes advice was right the whole time. Like, man, I should have just enjoyed this. And he gives her the goodbye, goodbyes, man, like, romantic, romantic, good stuff, like, last scene of a movie kind of stuff. And we know there's, you know, if we got the DVD, we know there's 10 minutes left, but at the same time, like, if that's his swan song, if that's his bow out, like, man, that's, it's a great little scene. The light changes they you know, The Great Race, a great guest, just a nice and Lewis just zeroed in on her in that moment, just like nothing else is in the room but her. And that's really cool scene from him. So did
Ansel Burch 19:45
he had to know that that was his. He had to know that that was his. Like monolog to make the movie, I think. And yeah, it shows like, Yeah, I agree completely. Yep.
Ben Silverio 19:58
Did you. Think that the movie would not have the happy ending that it would have ended when she was walking away from the record
Don Shanahan 20:07
store. I I think there was a chance. Like, you could easily like, um, how does Cooper do it? Like, don't put that tape on the wall again, right? Like, like, and she just walks out of that record store clutching that tape and moving on with her life. Like, that's a heck of a way to end the movie, too, without the next scene, of course, which is a wonderful payoff all its own. But like, you could have gone with the Yeah, I'm just gonna live my life and get good advice and start listening to it. Like the movie could have easily ended there, and I wouldn't have degraded it at all. And
Ben Silverio 20:37
even if it went a little further to where she does the B side thing and she goes all the way back to the first song that they ever heard together, when Chloe was setting them up, when she just looks in and then walks away, like before the Christmas bits, I think that would have been a strong ending, also, like you know, would have gotten that message, you know, really would have gotten that heartfelt bit about Cooper's ex, Cooper's wife, which I want to come back to. But I think it might have been a stronger movie for me if it had the the not happy ending, right? Because it would have done something different with the genre. Because, you know, I still have all these other criticisms about it, but at least if it had ended in that way, it would have been like, oh, well, they really took a chance there with with that. Yeah, do you think that would have been satisfying Ansel?
Ansel Burch 21:34
That's good. So my concern is going you mentioned the message and and, like, what is, what is the thesis of this movie? Is it you should go live your freaking life and don't, you know, keep going back to the same cycle and fixating on, which, you know, we knew we were going to have to, brings me to talking about the greatest hits, which is, you know, yeah, basically the same movie done two years later. But I think in Greatest Hits, the message was much more clear. It was much more you know, yeah, you should live your life. You should give up on this thing that is holding you back. You should let him go and and be your own person. And in Greatest Hits, she does that. She she does the same sacrifice. She gives up the whole memory and all of the experiences, and she returns and and, and manages to still end up with with the new guy, whereas in this one, she circles back around to the same dude, yeah,
Don Shanahan 22:40
or reenter his life, which I assume is like three years of schooling later, because it's not like you would think if he survived, but they didn't meet the way they had their first he went off to school, like they right? They took that summer, went out to school, and this is him back for Christmas Three years later, where, like, which is because, if not, they would have seen each other. Friend would have tried to hook him up next week, you know, that kind of thing. Yeah. So I it's, it's an effective use of the time, and it is that have your cake and eat it too, where she does make the big play of, I'm gonna give up on him and not go in that store. So I admire that they still went there and save his life. But, um, and then, yeah, it's, like, the heavier kick you needed to is, like, Hey, we're getting, we're gonna cross them one more time years down the road and see if it can still work. And it's not. And that also, I mean, they meet really cutely, and they have their, probably the cheesiest lines in the movie, oh, we could be soulmates, you know, like, it's a soft ending at the same time, but like, it's not, also not the complete is foregone conclusion of, like, loving embrace. So my, oh, my God, it's you, you know, like, it's never, none of those movie endings where we're in the rain on a train platform or something, but yeah, yeah,
Ansel Burch 23:49
I've been waiting for you. Oh,
Don Shanahan 23:51
I know. Or like, or like, we're not meeting, you know, like in the movie I brought to you guys, it's not, we're not meeting Jane Seymour in heaven, you know, like with clouds and smoke and shit, you know. So it's not there, but we're, I did
Ansel Burch 24:02
think there was going to be an artifact left over. I really thought that we were going to get like, a painting or a photo or something, like, there were all of those Polaroids and all of the paintings the underpass,
Ben Silverio 24:15
um, or, like, one of the paintings was the mural, you know. And it was just like, oh, it was inspired by something I saw in a dream or something, you know,
Ansel Burch 24:22
I really thought that was gonna happen, and I guess kudos for not doing that.
Ben Silverio 24:30
So do you think overall that makes it well, I mean, I think I do know the answer to this. But like so, does that make press Play weaker than the Greatest Hits overall?
Don Shanahan 24:43
Yeah, I boy see. I'm biased because I saw this one first sure where Greatest Hits is, well, I got to grade it on two scales, like from a from a time travel standpoint, Greatest Hits is when. Bat shit crazy, like any song, head injury, you know, you have to live through your little world with your headphones on and like, it's more a more intimidating and fearful environment that the character is in. And it's just it's a little more wacky, whereas this is, this is really romantic. I think this is the more romantic of the two movies. Personally, I know, I know we love our guy. Justin Lim, is it? Limb rightly, yeah, like our guy from Greatest Hits, is it? Is it? It's nice that there's another there's another possibility and love interest in play versus, I need to get, get back to baby Superman. And so I like that Greatest Hits is probably a thicker narrative, so to speak. But, but I do like the straight simplicity and just simple romance of this one just a shade more, just a shade more, but appreciate both
Ansel Burch 25:49
equally. For sure, I agree on most points. I feel like, I feel like this is a more romantic film. It's a much tighter film, because it is. You know, we're following one playlist from beginning to end. We only got, what, six songs, or something like that. So you could, like, you could see the progress that she was making through the second and third acts. It's very tight in that regard, being that we are a time travel podcast, and I have built the instincts that I have, I will say the greatest hits is a better time travel movie. It's got agreed, it's got a more dynamic time travel mechanism. The metaphor is more clear with the record player and the whole situation, and it's more consistent in its time travel rules and the the effects that time travel has on the characters. But yeah, this is definitely the more romantic of the films, and when you're going hard on romance and less on the like, sci fi aspect of it, you're allowed to fuck up the time travel a little. That's okay. What was the one we watched with Kaylee Cuoco
Ben Silverio 26:50
and Pete Davidson? Yeah, meet cute. That's
Ansel Burch 26:53
meet cute. Oh, I will forgive a lot of the mistakes they made in that movie for the same reason. Yeah.
Ben Silverio 26:58
Okay. You know, I think I'm inclined to agree with Ansel there, I was leaning more towards enjoying the greatest hits a little more, just because things were more clearly defined, even though they were a little crazier in story, like, you know, Laura only had to follow that one playlist, whereas the protagonist in the Greatest Hits had to go in a wild goose chase to find the perfect song, and I think that gave it more urgency, that gave it more high stakes. So true. It is kind of funny that I did mention that I didn't want to talk about Lewis Pullman's Bob in thunderbolts, but now that we're talking about Greatest Hits, we are and how you have baby Superman in there, we do Louis Pullman's character in Thunderbolts is kind of like Superman. I'm not going to go further into it. There are
Ansel Burch 27:44
parallels. You've seen him in the trailers, so yeah, but you haven't seen all of the trailers. Yeah, oh no. Just a silhouette. Yes, enough to go, Hey, that guy's kind of like Superman
Ben Silverio 27:54
Exactly. The whole reason I'm dancing around it is because I inadvertently said too much about that character while talking to a friend, and he was like, I wish I didn't know that going into thunderbolts. And I'm like, oh my god, I'm so sorry. That's my fault for not shutting the fuck up. We'll
Ansel Burch 28:12
keep it out of the pod then, but just I'll bleep it if you say, if you say it by accident,
Ben Silverio 28:17
yeah, you know when I bring up, that's, that's when he gets beat.
Don Shanahan 28:25
That's a good, good casting for that. Oh,
Ben Silverio 28:27
but Steven Ewan would have been, like, would have killed Oh, my God, nice. Love. Yeah. Louis Pullman, I do fine. He'll be fine. Steven, like, would have, like, knocked it out of the park. Okay,
Don Shanahan 28:40
just, he's just got a, just a sterner gate, yeah, you know, hundreds. Lewis is, Lewis is this guy. Lewis's Bob from Maverick, and he's this cute guy from a record store. He's not, you know, oh, I know what you mean, yeah. And
Ben Silverio 28:53
as we believe, especially after beef, you know, I think Stephen Yun really showed that he could do that, like duality, type of character, you know, and so I'm very disappointed that he won't be in this but, you know, hopefully we can find another role for him in the MCU somewhere down the line. Yeah, switching gears a little bit. Okay, just the power of songs and how they can bring you back to moments and how they mean something to loved ones is, like, a such a powerful thing. And I think if press Play does anything, well, it's that it really integrates how important music is in a relationship, you know, whether it's romantic or not, you know, but it's just, I think that that's a big reason why I like movies like this, like, like the greatest hits, because I do strongly believe that music is such a powerful force.
Don Shanahan 29:46
Yeah, I'm with you. I'm, you know me, when I do my reviews, everyone has a lesson. Lesson number one is which songs take you back, because every couple's got one. If they don't have one, they got seven, you know, and then just the that, just that, that age and art. Making a mixtape, like you brought up before, like, it's so purposeful to sit down, like, like, like Harrison says in the movie, like, you got to really sit down and make one. It's just throwing out, you know, oh, look up this band. No, no, no. I curated you a playlist. Like, this is the order in which I want to receive this from you, you know, like, that sort of thing where, like, there was a different kind of intent than just, I like the song I'll share to you real quick, or iron drop it to, you know, like, no, no, no, sending you a whole damn playlist. Like it just meant more to that you went an hour and a half to make a move, you know, to do a 90 minute thing for somebody. So it's, yeah, it's, it is something, man, it is that is, that is easily the appeal of both these movies. That is, that is automatic plug for me, where, like, I want to think that this is universal enough that anybody can watch either. Can watch either of these movies, press play with the greatest hits and get something out of it, even if it's not your kind of music, but you would be drawn into what would it be for me? Or what would I do in this situation? Because you have it probably, you know, so I hope, or at least, I hope they do. So.
Ansel Burch 30:57
Do you think that they did a good enough job establishing their relationships with these songs.
Don Shanahan 31:06
Oh, fair question, yeah, maybe there's, there's patience that needs to be done in this. Because it, I think, well, the luxury is you get to see it more than once, at least in this movie, like being like, going back to that bowling alley conversation, going back to the earthquake, like the moments, if they seem thin in the first 25 minutes, they do come back and strengthen. So it takes a little patience to get it. The typicalness, I think, that you're wondering about is, like, normally there's, like, one song, you know, it's Casablanca, where it's the it's the one song I need to hear it every time we're around, like, versus a playlist of songs. So I guess I appreciate the variety versus the repeat nature of this has to be the one all the time. I guess for
Ansel Burch 31:47
for me, the the thing that stood out is that, you know, the music is diegetic, right? They're listening to it on the radio. They're at the concert. Whatever is happening, we're hearing the music we don't acknowledge in the moment that Harrison is going, this is a song. This is a song that goes on the playlist, or, Oh, I love this song. Or, yeah, whatever, whatever it is that makes it stand out to Harrison that he puts it on the playlist, or that, or that they put it on together because they're collaborating after the first was, yeah, three that he starts with, or whatever, however many are on there when he starts the thing, yeah, there's not an acknowledgement of, like, Okay, this is a moment that needs to be memorialized. What was the song that we were listening to? Or, okay, right now, this song, this is a perfect moment. You know, I I'm, I'm storing this, or I'm, I'm acknowledging this, this moment. And I think you're right coming back to it in the second round. Does a lot of that work for us? Sure we see that that happening, especially with the Flaming Lips. Way to be on the money like that, they had to have started from that and worked backwards. That's all I can figure but yeah, the other ones, I don't know that that there was enough, I don't know if there was enough weight given in the moment to,
Don Shanahan 33:04
I mean, other than what I guess it would be, the first one like that concert with Japanese breakfast is like, right? You could tell that's the moment, you know. And to get the band in the movie, you know, like, like to, it's one thing to be sitting in the car and get it, you know, get a nice single from Japanese breakfast, but to, like to obviously shoot at a concert that they're at, yeah, that's pretty cool. So good job on then, like, if you're gonna pick one, at least the lead with, they sure did pick one,
Ansel Burch 33:30
yeah, yeah, yeah. And it did establish the concept, right? Like, they had, yeah, they had that very significant moment. It was in the place at the concert like that. That one felt so crisp and pristine, yeah, yeah. And I maybe that's why I have a knit to pick with. It is that the rest of them did not carry on that.
Don Shanahan 33:52
Yeah? Was that your was that your teas nip from episode one here, that you're Oh
Ansel Burch 33:56
no, my teas nitpick is Cooper remembers what happened after they changed it? Yes. Good
Don Shanahan 34:03
point, that huge nitpick, like, yeah, he can't be in on it that way. Good point, Oh, yeah. He
Ansel Burch 34:10
He only lives in that house and has that conversation because she burns down his record store, and then she fixes it, and she goes to the record store, and he's like, Yeah, I remember that conversation we had, right, yeah, except for part of it, yeah, where he repeats himself.
Ben Silverio 34:28
I think that's fair for I think press Play is trying to skip steps, you know, in that regard, you know, because it's just like, these are where we need to be. And it's like, oh, the the crowd will get it. But it's like, no, some of these things are like, integral details, you know, like we, we probably should spend more time with those songs that are more significant, showing the moment of like, Nope, this is a this is mixtape song. There are moments where it's just. Like the rules of the time travel mechanism should be spelled out a little bit more, you know? And it's, you
Ansel Burch 35:06
know what it is? It's a math test. Yeah, they got the right answer, but they didn't show us their work.
Ben Silverio 35:12
Yeah, that's exactly what it is. Yeah. And I think that's right. It makes it appreciate that. That's what makes it a little weaker to me than the greatest hits, but I still, okay, enjoyed it, you know. Oh, you had a great time. Yeah, yeah. But, and I guess that leads into the question, is press Play worth your time? I and I think, yeah, you know, absolutely
Don Shanahan 35:34
as a buried treasure at Well, at this point now, it's a, it's a Netflix and chill couch movie for couples that are going across Hulu and sure, yeah, you can do worse on a Friday night for 85 minutes over a couple of drinks and or a couple of joints in this one. So, yeah, this would be, this would be an easy one to turn on, on a again, on a date night, home date night, totally. And for
Ben Silverio 35:54
the the run time, like you can't beat it. No, you can't, yeah,
Don Shanahan 35:59
yeah, cuz Greatest Hits is 231 minutes. It's, I think it's over 295 okay. Oh, both are tight as a job. Hey, that'll work. Okay, no, no argument there with either one then, because both are exactly what we're talking about here. A Friday night, Saturday night date movie. I guess it
Ben Silverio 36:17
just depends on how sad you want to get. That's true too. Oh man, if you're ready for it, like super sad, then the Greatest Hits is probably the one to go for. But yeah, and
Ansel Burch 36:27
do you want to see Superman or or beep die?
Don Shanahan 36:33
Good point. Yeah, after
Ben Silverio 36:35
comes up, we'll get the answer. That's true. Oh man, that I think, does it for our review of press play. If you want to check it out, it's on Hulu. You can find us on the internet. I'm at beast Vario 20 on Instagram and blue sky and letterboxed and some other stuff.
Don Shanahan 36:57
You can find my work writing and editing on film assessment.com the home website for other film work is on every movie has a listen.com. On the socials, between Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, blue sky. You can look me up at casa, blockadon, Tiktok, phone in there for fun. But yeah, oh yeah, we'll see for how long
Ansel Burch 37:13
I am at the indecisionist on all the meta properties, as well as blue sky, Reddit and Yowza. This has been an indecisionist production Special thanks to April maralva for our podcast arc and to Marlon longit of Marlon and the shakes for our amazing theme song.
Ben Silverio 37:28
If you're still on a social media app that uses hashtags, you can use the hashtag time two party. That's time the number two party
Ansel Burch 37:35
in order to join the conversation as well as time the number two party, all spelled out. Thanks to war
Ben Silverio 37:41
party people. This is a good one. This is this has been a good one, but we're not done yet. We're coming back at you with our edutainment. Next week, class is in session with Professor Don Shanahan, so please come back as we teach you a little something about some stuff. Until then, be excellent to each other and
Don Shanahan 38:02
party on dudes you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
