To celebrate Sam Raimi’s return to cinemas, we hit the theater to check out Send Help, the new survival/horror film that Martin best describes as Misery meets Castaway. We talk about the hits and misses, including the intimate two-character study, the focus on survival techniques, and the twisty ending that reveals some structural issues with the script.
We’re also drinking Genesee Brewing Company’s Dry-Hopped Cream Ale, which makes its return after nearly six years!
Approximate timeline
0:00-10:00 Intro
10:00-18:00 Beer talk
25:00-end Send Help
Hit that play button above to listen in.
Transcript – Send Help (auto-generated)
Click to expand full transcript
0:01
No help is coming, this is the way things are now and you need to just accept that you are stuck.
No power, no end of the totem pole with some asshole boss just like I was.
0:22
Although I’m betting I am a much nicer boss than you ever would have been, except for maybe this part.
1:03
Hey guys, welcome back to the Blonde Micron Podcast.
I’m Ryan from coltsplitation.com and I’m joined with my Co host Mark.
How’s it going?
We’re doing pretty well, I think this time around we decided that we were actually going to go to the movie theaters and see a movie, which we don’t generally do, which was nice.
1:22
I haven’t been to the movies, I think since the last time we went to go see a movie for the podcast.
I don’t even remember what what that was, but.
I don’t know what you did last summer.
Oh, that’s great.
That’s no wonder I.
Blocked it out.
Yeah.
See, I saved.
I saved the stubs.
I have, like, all my stubs since, like, 2006, you know?
1:41
So as I was putting in my little chest of movie tickets, that was the one right beneath.
And it was like, oh, Jesus Christ.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I forgot about that.
Blocked it out of my memory.
Yeah, we, we went to the movies.
1:59
It was like a Monday matinee show, like 4:00.
There was no one there.
No one there.
And this was the best.
This movie is one that just released, too.
I mean, it’s not like this movie’s been out for a few weeks or anything like that.
2:14
This, this it just came out.
This it was opening weekend and then we saw it on Monday and there was just no one there.
I think there was another two people behind us in the theater.
So which is not not uncommon for our little theater.
2:30
We can’t speak for big theaters around the area, but for our little theater, it’s, you know, sadly becoming more and more common that people are just not showing up to the theater to see movies.
But it’s nice for the people that do go because you get basically your, your own little, you know, theatre all to yourself.
2:49
So it’s very, very, very nice and fun.
And you can pretend like you’re the old guys in The Muppets.
That’s the best parts, yeah.
They’re just.
You.
Know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, for this episode, we wanted to see this movie because again, you know, we have covered a couple other Sam Raimi movies in the past.
3:14
One, I think we actually maybe we’ve only done 1 No, no, we’ve done Army of Darkness as well.
I forgot we’ve done Army of Darkness and we did Doctor Strange too and I think those are the 2 Sam Raimi movies that we’ve done surprising like we haven’t gotten to the Evil Dead or anything like that.
3:34
We’ve.
Done the the better ones.
Yeah, drag me to hell.
You haven’t watched that either.
So interesting.
But anyway, we we wanted to check out Sam’s new movie.
He doesn’t come around a lot, right?
3:50
He he doesn’t do he hasn’t been working on a lot of movies recently.
It’s been 4 years since Doctor Strangelove not.
You keep doing that.
You do that a lot, actually.
You’re the dude is Doctor.
Strangelove, Doctor Strangelove and the multi university man.
4:12
Has it been four years already since that released?
Yeah, it has.
And I was really surprised by that because when I was like, this film for me wasn’t on my radar at all because I didn’t even know about it until you said something about it.
And I was like, OK, And then, you know, checking Sam’s filmography again real quick.
4:34
And I was like, holy shit, it’s been 4 years since Doctor Strange.
Yeah.
Oh God, it feels like it was just yesterday.
I know that’s surprising.
I, I didn’t realize it, but I mean, there has been a slew of Marvel movies that have come out, so I guess it makes sense.
4:52
You just can’t keep up anymore.
I can’t keep up even though I know that there’s been kind of a pause on some of them.
I’m just way, way behind that where I don’t even really care to catch up anymore.
For Raimi’s filmography, again, the the man is really weird about how when he how and when he takes on movies.
5:09
I, I don’t really know what goes on in his head when he’s just like signs on for a movie.
It’s seems like really hit or miss.
I don’t know if he’s just, you know, every now and then he goes to his agent and he’s like, yeah, I’ll take another one.
5:25
Like.
And then they just grab something off of like, you know, the white list of things that are like, yes, we’d like to make it at some point, but not sure when or who will take it.
And then just give it to Sam and they’re like here.
I think it’s more that Ted and Ivan are like, hey Sam, we’re on money.
5:43
Can you?
Supporting the Ravens clan.
Yeah, yeah, sure, sure.
Yeah, I don’t know.
I don’t know.
It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s interesting.
I’d like to know what goes through his head when he just, you know, decides there.
Or maybe he just seems like he just really resonates with a script and he’s just like sitting around like, you know, ’cause I do know that there’s this, you know, this like this list of scripts that are, you know, people put on and they like kind of grade them and they’re like, yes, this is going to be a good one.
6:13
We just not sure when we’re going to make it, you know, and then just goes on to the list and it’s, you know, it’s it’s greenlit for somebody to take.
And so maybe Raimi is just sitting around and looking at that list and reading the scripts and then eventually he finds one that really resonates.
6:28
I mean, I’m I’m not saying that about Doctor Strange, Of course, like Doctor Strange is was not a script just sitting around on a list that was Marvel probably optioning it to Raimi.
But for anything else like this, like this film, like just where did this come from?
Why did Raimi take it?
Not really sure.
6:44
Don’t don’t really.
I don’t know, like, what specifically stuck out for him about this movie.
Maybe he’s a big Survivor fan.
I don’t know.
Maybe that’s, you know, maybe that was the.
I think that’s what it was.
You know, him and Bruce had a a falling off because Bruce is more of a Big Brother guy, you know?
7:04
Yeah, either that or CB.
You know, it is the 50th anniversary of the Survivor.
Like not it literally anniversary in that that they haven’t been on 50 years of course, but fifty seasons of the show, which in itself is like what’s?
How?
Ridiculous.
Like 20 something years and you’ve already ripped out fifty seasons.
7:22
I know.
Well, that’s that, that’s the thing that’s like so awful about, you know, reality TV.
It’s like you get Four Seasons like in a year and you’re like, why?
Like, you know, like it’s got to feel bad for Jeff Probst.
Actually, you probably don’t feel that bad.
7:37
He’s basically just spending his days in like some sort of resort on islands and then every now and then makes it look like he’s a little bit haggard.
Like they say, hey, Jeff, don’t don’t shave as much.
Don’t he pays like?
Probably $5,000,000 a year, just, you know, to be like, all right, guys, yeah, go.
7:57
Watch a couple people throw up because they ate some bugs and stuff.
Yeah.
But yeah, maybe Raimi is a big Survivor fan and it’s the 50th anniversary.
CBS called him up and said, hey, I want to make this movie for the 50th anniversary or 50th season.
8:12
We’ll make it worth your while.
I don’t know.
Those are all just speculations.
But what we are covering for today’s episode is the new film that just released from Sam Raimi called Send Help with Rachel McAdams and some other douchebag looking dude.
8:32
A guy that’s literally there to look like a fret.
Fret bro dude.
Just be a jerk off.
I’m just just playing.
It’s Dylan O’Brien.
I don’t really know this guy very well.
I did see that he’s been in a few things, like the Maze Runner trilogy.
Never saw that, never really resonated with me.
8:50
So I haven’t seen that.
Also see that he was in like the Teen Wolf TV series that they did for MTV, which I watched one episode and I was like, no, that’s just what I said.
I after I watched it and finished the episode, I said no.
And then I never went back to it.
9:08
So I don’t recognize him from that either.
But yeah, those are main two people.
Like this movie, you know, it has a couple other people in it, but you know, because it is sort of a survival film, it’s really only got those two people.
All right, so I didn’t know this was the thing I’m looking at like Survivor and apparently started giving out cars at some point.
9:30
What shitty Carter is like, hey, you’re on Survivor.
Australian Outback.
Congratulations Colby Donaldson, you win a Pontiac Aztec.
Oh, like in the reward challenges and things like that, they started getting out cars.
9:46
Sure.
You win a Chevy Avalanche, you win a Saturn ion Saturn view like good Lord.
Again, I think that’s.
See, that’s see, that’s why Walter White and the see it’s all tied together.
He’s the one that won that fucking, you know, mint green Pontiac Aztec and he’s.
10:08
I think it’s just whatever CBS is getting partnered with at any given time and they they get together and they just say, all right, we’ll give away one of these shit bag cars and.
As Detroit is burning and falling apart, they’re listen we got CBS is helping GM offload all their fuck.
10:28
Pretty much.
Oh God.
So you said you really didn’t have any idea about some help, right?
No.
And I will say that it was a bit of guerrilla marketing because it really flew under I think everybody’s radar.
10:45
I just happened to be, I think I was tuning into either a basketball game or like the football game.
And I happen to see a trailer for it that came out.
But I really hadn’t heard anything else about the movie.
You know, it’s possible.
Again, I don’t watch like, television, so I, you know, no cable TV for me really besides like sports.
11:05
So I don’t see commercials or trailers or anything like that that play on TV.
But I normally hear about stuff through other means, you know, through the Internet.
And I really didn’t hear anything about it until very late before, right before it was going to release.
So it’s very, very hidden.
11:21
I don’t know about it for anybody else, but I didn’t see too much about it.
Yeah, I didn’t happen to see.
Oh yeah, it was literally like after you said something.
It’s when I started getting every now and then a trailer on Facebook like for a video of like the new Sam Raimi Phelps sad to help getting rave reviews.
11:41
Yeah, I don’t.
Yeah, I don’t.
I don’t know, maybe it wasn’t worth their while to try to promote it until later on.
I don’t know.
But whatever the case, when I saw that was coming out.
So do you know what new Sam Raimi movie kind of seems interesting?
12:03
Rachel McAdams.
Let’s check it out.
You know, can’t be too awful bad.
So so that’s why that’s that’s kind of the whole idea behind it.
And you know, again, it wasn’t something like we had super high expectations or anything like that.
Just thought it looked interesting from rainy.
12:19
So here we are.
All right, let’s take a break real quick to talk about the big we got on the show before we go directly deep diving into send help.
I’ll let you take it.
What’d you pick up for us?
So after taking the piss out of Rob Schneider’s Tears to the Left whiskey, I made it my goal to go out and find some and use stolen money to buy it because I will not do it on my own.
12:55
I’m just kidding.
I would.
So no, no.
Well, as you know, if you are a tenured listener to this show, we’re big Tennessee brewery fans around here.
13:12
And though we haven’t been sponsored by them yet, we just like plugging the product.
It’s true.
And they have a new new specialty out, new Genesee specialty nom.
It’s new in the sense that it’s got new can, but it’s been released a couple of times, I think the last time being like 20/17/2018.
13:40
Yeah, I was just actually looking up the last time I checked into it, which I believe was in 20/20, it was 2020.
So they’ve done like a different a couple of different like takes on cream ale.
14:02
They’re you know, Jenny Cream ale is 1 They’re really known for because it’s a one of the very few original American styles and it’s a delightful cheap beer couple like a decade ago they did a cream ale variety pack, which was really good.
14:23
It had dry hopped Mosaic cream ale, an imperial cream ale and an orange honey cream ale.
And the dry hot mosaic was really good, and so was the orange honey imperial.
Yeah.
Well, I like the fact that they take this, you know, unique American beer that they’re known for and do every now and then go into doing something unique with it.
14:48
Sure, they’ve done before.
Also a lemon strawberry cream ale that was pretty good.
That was also like a decade ago was like, you know, like the lemon strawberry taste of like the your grandmother.
15:03
So like strawberry candies that you’d find stuck on there like a mattress when you were a kid, you know, and another one that they’ve done before and that was released probably around the same time is just a right year old dry hot cream ale.
15:19
And that’s what’s back now.
So they don’t specify what hop I don’t think.
No, not like unlike the dry hot Mosaic, they don’t say what the hop is on the website.
It just says bright modern hops could be anything.
15:39
Yeah, but it’s definitely it’s not a bad brew.
Little I think misplaced on the release schedule.
15:57
Maybe it’s just because it’s bad, you know, below freezing for two months up here in upstate New York, that bright hotness.
I’m not really appreciating as much as I probably wouldn’t like the mid spring.
16:15
But it does have like a pretty pretty big like hot profile and presents.
It’s like a mix of like a, I’d say, like a Mosaic and like a Nelson.
16:30
It’s got like a pininess to it, but also a, you know, roseniness to it.
For cream ale, they’ve shrunk it down.
It’s not like 5 1/2 percent.
They made it more sessionable, so the body’s a lot more thin, you know, easier to go.
16:51
It’s not bad.
I just think I’d appreciate it better if it was released in the spring, closer to summer where you know, you’d be able to appreciate it a bit more.
It’s not bad.
17:08
I’d say give it a shot, but I I’m not like enamoured with it I’d say.
Yeah, I don’t.
Did we have this on the show?
Before I think we did.
I think we did it when it came out.
17:23
Once before on the show when we and we had it on there before.
I remember liking it then and I I like it now.
I think it’s really tasty.
It’s a sessionable ale with, you know, a little bit of hot bitterness to it that pairs with the cream ale.
17:40
It’s kind of like a light bodied taste that I think works really well for this.
Again, it’s similar in style to like what you might expect from a pale ale at times, probably a little bit less hopped than, you know, a a general pale ale.
17:58
But I think they do a really good job of managing the the the taste of the cream ale with this little dry hopped element to it that gives it, you know, like a kind of unique blend between their cream ale and their, you know, more IPA or pale ale styles.
18:14
I like it.
I think that they’ve done a good job with it.
I’m glad they brought it back.
I think it’s again, it’s hard to believe that it’s already been five years since we had the last time.
But having it now again, I think it’s a really solid beer.
And I like the fact that they keep bringing these popular styles back again and again.
18:32
You know, they they they take them away for a little while.
They don’t brew them all the time, but they bring them back.
And it’s fun to kind of relive that experience of having it, you know, when it’s not around a whole lot.
So I think it’s pretty good.
Definitely check this one out.
I don’t think they’re that expensive either.
18:47
For a 12 pack they’re not.
It was 1249, a 12 pack.
So not bad at all really, you know, considering.
So really, you know, again, sessionable might go through a couple, but I think they’ve done a good job with these.
Closest, let’s say closest comparison I can make is like session IPA or just because it’s got like the same kind of characteristics, but with a more of slight cream male nuance And like the thing like the thing about it that like I mean, again, I think it is good.
19:19
I do appreciate.
I think I would more because I’m, I think I’m also starting to come down with a cold because my nose is like starting to get stuffy.
But oh boy, yeah, I know.
Sorry.
I couldn’t be a plague bringer.
But like when I think, I mean, it’s been like, like I said decades since I hit like the dry hot mosaic one.
19:38
I think the fact that like you like one specific hop, you got that.
And then an actual like, you know, like 6 1/2 percent like cream ale to kind of, you know, give it a whole body, you know, in my head at least, maybe if I had it now again, wouldn’t feel the same.
20:02
But I, you know, of that being like, oh, that’s, you know, that was so damn good.
I even still have the can for that one.
So you know.
There you go.
In my Jenny paraphernalia but.
All right, well, let’s talk about send help.
20:21
Are we are we are we giving help or do we do we need to send help for Rainy here?
Does he need some help?
Yeah.
So I guess the First things first here is to talk about the fact that, you know, again, this movie, like I said it it it only really has two people in it, Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien.
20:42
They’re the two main characters.
Because the ultimate crux of this movie is that they crash landed on an island and they’re stranded there sort of like a Castaway sort of thing, right?
Like, but in Castaway, Tom Hanks only has Wilson at his disposal and so it’s really just Tom Hanks himself.
21:01
In this movie, at least there’s two people to share the the brunt of the frustrations.
But, you know, the movie starts out by setting up Rachel McAdams character as sort of like this, you know, hard working, very successful in like she’s really good at her job.
21:20
But you know, the actual merits of her being very good at her job are not seen by the rest of the the people that work in her office.
And and so Dylan O’Brien becomes her boss.
His name is Bradley Preston.
So if you didn’t know you had a douche bag on your hands.
21:37
His name is Bradley.
OK, so.
Right up there, right up there.
I mean, his name.
His name is Bradley.
He likes golf.
The stereotypes are rife throughout this movie of just what kind of person you can expect.
Is this please tell me like I hope to God it’s not becoming a thing that these kids coming out of college with business degrees are saw Wolf of Wall Street and thought that was like the truth or saw just Wall Street in general.
22:06
You know the 1980s.
You know greed is good, good gecko and was like yeah, I got to bring that look back, you know we’re.
Going to do the whole that we’re going to do it.
Yeah, look, I mean, I saw him.
I saw him, you know, Christian Bale and American Psycho.
22:23
That’s that’s that’s right, man.
Suspenders, hair, you know, slick back like that.
Yeah.
Yeah, and I mean, so that’s the that’s the whole idea.
And I think, you know, again to this, the stereotype is sort of the point, right, Especially at the beginning.
You know, of course Rachel McAdams character is named Linda.
22:41
You know, you’ve got they’re they’re from both sides of things.
They’re playing off of this idea of the stereotype of Linda being, you know, the office worker, kind of the loner type, very, you know, kind of standoffish and strange to her Co workers.
22:58
They, you know, somehow make Rachel McAdams look very plain and frumpy looking.
It’s all it takes is a pair of glasses.
I like that.
Well, it’s the tear of glasses.
She doesn’t wear makeup.
And then not only that, but I, I really like the fact that like in the the office, they show she’s wearing this like really oversized looking dress that’s like tucked into her.
23:18
She’s got her, her shirt tucked in or like a blouse tucked in.
And it does look like a very like large like skirt that she’s wearing.
So all of that gives the, the appearance of Rachel McAdams being frumpy and people don’t like her.
And I will say too, I completely understand Bradley’s disgust with tuna salad on her lip and then on that and accidentally ends up being on his hand.
23:48
I would I would probably be the same way.
I would definitely be like, what is that?
Is that tuna?
I hate tuna because I can.
I mean listen, listen.
I feel bad but at the same.
Time.
You know what you shouldn’t be eating in any setting?
24:04
Tuna.
Well, fish in general.
Like it’s true, it’s true.
Like, and, and you know, he brings up a good point later on.
He’s like, well, you know, listen, the the office cubicle isn’t for eating your lunch, especially when you see her house.
She’s like, do you know, she puts the sandwich in her drawer and she’s like smooshing it around and her drawer and stuff.
24:22
Like, OK, I, I kind of agree with him there.
He’s a douchebag boss.
But I got to, I got to give it to him.
There.
Hold on, workers rights here.
Eat at your fucking desk if you want to, OK?
Just don’t don’t be have it be fish.
OK?
24:38
This like whole like oh, it’s for the break room.
You know what?
I go to take a shit.
It’s on to pay, get paid.
Shit.
If I’m going to eat, I’m going to do most of my eating on your time.
It’s true, yeah.
24:53
Especially if she’s the one that’s running the books around there and running laps around all these assholes.
I’d be like, listen here, like hey, hey, I’m doing this.
Not even looking at my God damn tuna sandwich.
Shut the hell up and go away.
That is definitely a concern though is the the tuna.
25:09
I I can understand why it’s it’s a problem.
So, but anyways, yes, they make her, you know, out to be very frumpy, unliked at work and you know, she doesn’t get the promotion that she’s been looking for, which is basically, which is pretty crazy actually.
25:25
She wants to.
She’s going to be vice president of the company.
Well, there’s like 7 of them.
It’s a big.
Yeah, I know.
So there’s like, it’s like, you know?
It’s no small step here, you know, It’s it’s.
Well, that’s the thing though, because we see the excuse me, that like the father, you know, apparently promised her the promotion.
25:48
So why the hell didn’t he just promote her then?
Was he just being nice?
Was he like he was waiting to die like.
You know, for his son to do it like.
He had to promise it and then just had to die instead of giving the promotion.
Yeah, so the whole idea here that sets it up is that she didn’t get the promotion, but so she goes to Bradley and she basically says, like, why didn’t you give it to me?
26:13
And he says, prove that you’re worthy of it.
So come with us on this trip.
We’re going to Bangkok to to, you know, to do this gobbledygook corporate lingo thing that they’re going to be doing.
I don’t even know what the office does really.
26:28
It’s, you know, it’s sort of that’s corporate jargony.
We kind of work in finance or something.
I don’t I don’t know what we do like it’s.
You got to go and close the.
You got to go and close the account.
Yeah, movies love to do this.
26:43
They love to say like either finance lingo or something and make it sound like this company does something of value when you’re like, I don’t know what this fuck this company does at all.
What are they doing?
No, no one knows.
What’s worse?
What’s worse?
Technobabble.
Or, like, you know, generic corporate slop.
27:00
Yeah, it’s both.
I mean both of the both movies do this a lot.
They just love to just make up shit about the company without having to actually give any credit or value to the company.
There’s something about setting up like a new spinning up a new LLC for the company so that they don’t have to file a taxi.
27:20
I don’t know, blah blah blah.
Long story short.
Listen, listen, listen, listen.
All you’re doing is like, maybe like are, are the Reuters doing a nice Marxist critique of, you know, corporations and capital not generating anything of use?
Maybe it’s all just a bunch of.
27:36
Bullshit.
I feel like it was more lazy.
They didn’t want to give us any any actual details on it.
So yeah, so they go, they’re going to Bangkok.
It sets you up for there’s going to be a long ass plane ride.
And that’s where we get, you know, the first part of this survival story, which is we find out Linda loves survivor.
27:58
She, she tried out for Survivor, she, she made an audition tape and everybody starts laughing at it.
That happens to happen on the plane where it’s shows like how good she might be at Survivor because she’s practices all the time.
And then the plane crashes and it’s it’s, it’s a pretty exciting plane crash sequence.
28:18
Unfortunately, some people need to take the CGI keys away from Raimi because.
I don’t think it’s his fault though.
I don’t know.
I I, I like, I mean, we’ll talk about it more when we get more into the film, but I mean, like, yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s a nice bit.
28:33
It’s got like that Final Destination ask like tension and drama with some like, you know, everyone being douchebags and like it’s like, you know, gods, you know, smiting these assholes.
28:51
Survival of the fittest sort of things where even in their their dying moments, they like are the worst people imaginable.
Yeah, there’s.
Like so like the guy can’t just the guy just can’t fly out.
You know, after you’re like, she saves the one guy and then he’s like, give me your fucking seat, Give me your fucking seat.
29:07
And she’s like, no, and he’s trying to RIP her out of the seat And then like, you know, she has to kick him out.
No, that’s not good enough.
No, no, no, no.
He’s got to get his tie also stuck in and he’s like smashing and getting grounded up onto the aside, you know, So it’s like, that’s awesome.
29:23
Like, yeah, you know, but like the CGI for the effects and stuff is like it’s.
Kind of interesting.
I can’t believe that, you know, in 2026 we are having such issue with some of the very obviously for CGI choices because if you watch some older movies, even from the, you know, 2000s, twenty 10s, there was a point where CGI was actually doing some pretty good work.
29:57
You’re not over the top unrealistic like we get from this movie.
And I don’t know, I just feel like, again, like I said, I, I think that there’s, it goes a little bit overboard in the way that it utilizes some of that CGI that’s super unnecessary.
30:13
The other thing that’s Raimi’s been doing in his later output, even in stuff like Dragging Me to Hell, which I think was, you know, at this point almost 20 years ago, I think came out in like 2009, is using a lot of CGI blood, you know, which we see a lot in this movie too, or you’re just CGI spew effects.
30:36
Because one thing that is really fun about Raimi’s movies is that he’s not afraid to do some of these more gross out antics, You know, like people bleeding on each other, vomiting on each other, which we do get a nice sequence in this movie of vomiting.
You know that that occurs.
30:52
But the problem is that a lot of it is done very questionable CGI elements right Like and and it.
Wouldn’t it wouldn’t make like APS?
Three-game yeah.
And, and I think the biggest problem that I have with that is that it’s a lot of times it feels really unnecessary.
31:09
Doesn’t feel like it needs to be a CGI bloodshot.
It, it or, you know, a spew effect.
It could be real.
It it doesn’t need to be like that.
And you know, the yes, it does in you sort of add an additional amount of absurdist comedy.
31:27
But at the same time, I think it would be a little bit more fun and gross out if it was actually looking like it was real.
No offense, but I mean, while I do think those sequences are fun, I just, I can’t help but wonder like, why, why did we get to these like CGI blood fountains?
31:44
Why can’t we just do it the the practical way in a lot of these scenarios?
You would almost think it at this point be even cheaper to do it like practical Yeah like and it like no I mean this film has a lot of on over saturated use of CGI that it didn’t need and couldn’t even be a practical effects without a billion ties back now.
32:15
Also, too, I didn’t realize it until I saw the IMD poster for this thing.
There were a lot of shots in this film where I’m like, this feels like somebody shot this for 3D and yeah, no, it’s also in 3D, so.
Oh, OK, yeah.
32:31
Because like, you know, like for like the weird.
Thing now too.
I know because no one does a 3D like, you know, it’s not, it’s not the late 2000s.
Yeah, that that is actually pretty bizarre and like you said, sometimes it feels 3D, but sometimes I can imagine that this film is really not that amazing in three DI don’t know like like you said, there’s a couple of scenarios where like the.
32:55
Boards had like a slide like that, you know?
A couple, but not like, oh, I guess I and I can see like I just saw in the trailer too, of like the jet engine shooting out towards the screen.
But other than that, I feel like this would be a really sort of unremarkable 3D movie.
33:12
You know, it would definitely wouldn’t show, especially not like in the 2000s where when you were watching movies that were made to be 3D there it was very obvious, like here comes a fire poker to your face.
Because just because we can, you know, or I don’t know, I just I feel like it may not be as interesting in 3D as it would seem.
33:31
And that’s just a weird thing too.
I just I didn’t realize it was supposed to be 3D either.
It’s crazy, which is funny.
Like I said, I had like, I never would have thought of like, I mean, I like I said, there’s some shots that are like that, but I’m like, no one’s made like a 3D film in like 20 years.
33:47
I know.
Like, who would, who would go through, you know, be bothered to do that now?
Yeah.
Least say studios aren’t trying to bring that back.
So I guess, you know, that brings us to when they actually have the plane crash and they they wash up on shore and they’re, you know, they’re in some sort of like unnamed Asian island and they’re stranded.
34:10
And we find out very quickly that Rachel McAdams character is like the ultimate survivor contestant because she she would have dominated she and this is always something that I’ve wondered about when people go on Survivor too, is a lot of times it sounds, it feels like people go on Survivor, at least in the earlier season, and they were like extremely unequipped for living on an island.
34:33
They were like, did not know how to light a fire, did not know how to, you know, make basic shelter.
And you would think that those if you’re going, you know, you’re going on Survivor.
Those are the things like you spend for your next three months before you’re shooting trying to learn, right?
Like you just you would, you would actually do the research.
34:50
But in the earlier seasons of Survivor, it was pretty clear that a lot of people just went on and they were pretty unprepared for the actual survival elements that they would need to have.
Well, in this movie, it, you know, Rachel McAdams, she definitely has done her research.
She knows how to make fire.
35:06
She knows how to make shelter.
And it’s actually pretty cool.
You know, it’s the idea is that it takes this sort of meek woman from the office who in a lot of ways doesn’t speak up, kind of shy, and it puts her in an island area where she is the boss.
35:25
She knows exactly what to do.
And her boss, also stranded on the island, has no idea how to survive in the wild.
And, you know, that’s a statement in itself right there.
This is kind of the same idea that you were just talking about the Marxist critique of like, what does corporate bring to, you know, is it just all, you know, not even of substance?
35:49
And so I think that that critique does occur in this movie to some extent.
And that seems like a a Raimi sort of critique as well.
You know, it’s something that I think that he’s he brings to a lot of his films sort of that messaging of the underdog.
36:07
And for a large portion of Send Help, that is the message is that Rachel McAdams knows what she’s doing, and Dylan O’Brien’s character has no idea.
And they must work together.
But really, the only person who has any intimate knowledge and will keep everybody alive is Linda.
36:26
So what do you think about all that?
Like, the survival elements of this movie, which are pretty much, you know, good hour and change of the movie, is, is it kind of, like, devoted to just survival?
Yeah.
Yeah, it’s 2 hour runtime just about.
It’s that is most of the film.
36:43
It’s fine.
It’s I do think it’s nice that like the film is like just set that basically on the island gives it like a feeling of like, you know, clautrophobia and, you know, being stranded and alone.
37:04
It’s nice seeing like all of like the things that Rachel’s able to do to survive, like, you know, building the shelter, how she’s able to get, you know, water, how she gets like food and this and that.
Like that’s cool.
I do think at times the whole going back and forth between the two stretches, the second act out quite a bit that makes it unnecessary.
37:32
Like there’s like 4 different times where Bradley goes from why I’m not doing that.
That’s OK.
I’ll do whatever.
I’ll do that.
I don’t know what I’m doing to the same.
It’s like a Carol thing.
37:47
It’s like you just, you know, you know.
Repeating So yes, and I I definitely would agree that I feel like it is quite long winded in the way that it shows the survival elements.
38:06
And yes, like you said, the back and forth exchange between the two where it’s like Bradley is sort of questioning whether he needs Linda, right, because he finds her annoying and you know, so he goes back and forth and tries to survive on his own.
38:21
It doesn’t work.
He goes back to Linda and that kind of is the pattern over and over again.
And I think, you know, to a certain extent that long approach to it is not really needed because I feel like, again, this movie is really working on stereotypes in a big way.
38:38
And again, that that’s not necessarily a critique against it.
You know, a part of this is about the stereotype.
It’s it’s meant to be stereotypical where you then see a different side of the character.
But at the same time, I don’t know that we needed all of that amount of time spent.
38:55
You don’t have some good sequences.
The the bore sequence is pretty cool.
You know, tracking down and killing the bore.
See, you’re heavy, but cool.
And, you know, I think it’s fun to see Rachel McAdams and sort of this power role.
And, you know, later on there are some great sequences to where she really does assume the power roll when she feels she has to, you know, after she’s poisoned, stuff like that.
39:19
But at the same time, I do feel like it goes on too long.
I, I didn’t appreciate how long the survival elements were because I do feel like it was very derivative of stuff we’ve seen before.
You know, if you watch Survivor, you’ve seen this stuff.
If you watch, if you seen Castaway, Yeah, I see.
39:35
It feels like a basically another recap of what they what he does in in Castaway.
It’s a it’s a strange amalgamation of like misery and castaway.
Yeah, I think again, because to hammer in like the point, like Bradley’s really a fucking douchebag.
39:54
It’s like after, you know, he’s been out for like a day and a half, she’s built the shelter, got the water and all this, like to make him, you know, an irredeemable piece of shit.
He’s like, listen here, you dumb bitch, This is what we’re going to do.
40:10
I’m your boss, you know, you’re not going to, you know, and to hammer home, you know, like this guy’s an asshole and.
When he does that and you see her walk off and then leave him stranded for a day and like, so he like, you know, it’s like when we come back to him, he’s like near death because he hasn’t, he’s been sitting out, you know.
40:33
In the sun.
In the sun with no water, like OK, that was pretty bad ass and cool and stuff, but like it just like by the time like they’re like done with the whole like he tries escaping in the raft like fine, you know, her threatening him afterwards.
40:54
Oh, you know, cool.
But I think the problem, a problem I have with the film is her motive, Like is she wanting to stay on the island because she likes it?
Is she wanting to stay on the island because she’s in power finally and it’s a it’s a trip, you know, is it because she is it because of her schoolgirl crushed that she has on him?
41:21
Like the film’s very or is it because she’s just a sociopath too?
Because when she’s telling that story about how she killed her husband, you know, she was married to somebody and he was abusive drunk and she got him killed because after him, like, you know, taking his keys away and, you know, eventually she said fine, here’s take keys and go and he died.
41:45
I don’t believe that story.
I don’t think it happened.
I think it was just a beta bullshit she told them.
Because by that point in the story, like, you know, she’s like getting more sinister.
So like, I don’t know what you’re supposed to take away from that.
42:04
And like Gleam, gleam from it, where you’re where you’re supposed to be with her as a character, what her motives are, They’re very muddled.
Yeah, and I and like some, some people might say, well, what’s the problem with it being all of the above or none of the above or the characters kind of, or the, you know, the audience is not Privy to that information.
42:24
I think it does matter once we get towards the end of the film because the movie doesn’t really do a good job of establishing, like you said, what what is it really about the island that that allures her?
Is it that she knows how to live this way and she’s feeling good about being able to live like this?
42:41
And so she, you know, she’s found a strong point in her life and she kind of likes that, that solitude.
Or is it because she has a sort of like, you know, interest in Bradley that is like, I must, I’m, you know, a lonely person at home and I feel like we could just live here together.
43:01
I feel like there’s a couple different scenarios where that doesn’t play out very well because I think at the end of the movie, Linda ends up coming off weaker than she really is supposed to see him.
Because as the film introduces its major twist, and again, this is going to be a spoiler, you know, obviously we do spoilers in the podcast, but and the major twist being that there’s just a house, hey, right next door, like, you know, 500 yards away, nice little giant, you know, Jeff Bezos style house on the shore.
43:33
It it kind of takes away from the survival elements that we’ve seen from Linda because hey, who knows, maybe she’s getting all this mango from the house, right?
Like they’re like obviously well stocked with fruits for some reason.
Maybe she’s just going into this house, taking out all of this stuff.
43:50
We know she took the knife already, like the knife that she said she found came from the house.
So what’s to say that the rest of her, you know, quote UN quote survival skills really were survival skills at all And she just was able to scrounge stuff from the house.
It kind of makes her seem a little bit weaker.
44:07
And then not only that, the idea that she that she wants to stay with Bradley, which seems more and more likely as the film goes on and towards the end of the movie, makes her seem just as stereotypical as the film starts out with, right.
44:23
Because when we get to the island, we find out, hey, no, she’s actually not like just some weak, meek person.
She knows how to survive.
But then towards the end, when she wants Bradley, it seems like, well, maybe she’s just that stereotypical lonely woman who is looking for a mate, no matter what type thing.
44:44
And I, I don’t think that that plays out very well at the end of the movie.
And like you said, the vagueness of it, the way that the writers like really fail to establish an actual trait that it’s following through with.
I think it’s a problem.
45:02
I think it’s done in the name of twists, but it ends up becoming frustrating and not really an interesting part of her character development.
And then that’s that’s not even talking about the final part of the movie, which after she has this, you know, run in with Bradley, where they basically maim each other.
45:28
And then ultimately she wins and gets off the island.
She basically becomes what she disliked a person of, you know, a woman in power who just plays golf, is rich and lives on the coast and and, you know, was exactly the type of person that she did not like about Bradley.
45:50
And that the idea of behind it is, I think, meant to be like, hey, look at this woman in power now.
You know, it’s empowering, it’s inspiring.
But I don’t think that, you know, I don’t.
I didn’t really take it that way.
I found it just to be a Yeah.
46:07
Yeah.
The the circle of asshole, dumb and sociopath just.
Yeah.
It closes on itself.
And I don’t know, there’s like, you know, again, the film ends with that sort of like little winking shot of Rachel McAdams driving away in her convertible.
46:24
And I, I don’t know, I, I, I feel like again, the, the movies, the writing is really not clear on how even we should feel about these people.
Like, are we supposed to like her after all this?
Are we supposed to dislike all of them?
You know, and that might in some ways be the case.
46:42
Maybe we’re supposed to dislike all of them, but I don’t know.
I, I found it to be off putting instead of, you know, whatever it was supposed to do, you know, be, be inspiring or, you know, a powerful move by Linda.
46:58
I don’t it didn’t didn’t work for me.
And I think if it doesn’t work for you there, what do you think about some help as a as a whole?
Like if you didn’t, if you don’t dig the twist in the ending, do you think people will still find it entertaining?
Yeah, I think it’s fine enough.
47:14
I don’t think the film is like, I don’t think it’s lack of, at least for me, like total, you know, engagement with it as an idea.
47:30
It doesn’t like hinder greatly though.
The film it it’s just like a little, a little film like it is what it is.
It’s it’s a survival thriller comedy.
You know, we saw this a couple days ago.
47:48
We saw it on a Monday.
It’s Wednesday now usually when we do the movies, I at least watch them day off.
So it’s I’m living at the bow.
But and to be honest with you, in the two days, like leading up to this afterwards, I I didn’t like put any thought like I wasn’t like, you know, you know, had walked away with Eddie Strange, Felix.
48:09
It’s one of the it’s like a blockbuster.
Yes.
You go, you see it and you’re like, that was nice.
And then you move on with your day.
Yeah.
You know, I think your enjoyment of the film is more going to come from what Sam Raimi brings as the director and the thing, like his style and his panache.
48:31
I think that’s what’s either going to hook you in or not.
Because if you’re not a fan of that, you’re going to be probably bored with the film.
If you are, it’s going to probably be entertaining just enough for you to be like, that was the film.
I like that, Yeah.
And then kind of just go about your day.
48:46
Yeah, yeah.
What else do we talk about?
Things she wanted to cover.
You would have died on the island.
Oh, yeah, With all the fit, with all the fish that you have to eat on an island, yeah, I would.
I mean, I obviously would become accustomed to it because I would have to.
49:05
But yes, I would certainly not be happy about having to eat fish most of my day.
You don’t as I love to is like in films where like they kill like a poor or something and then they roasted over a fire.
I just love the idea like, Oh yeah, isn’t that great.
49:22
And it’s like that’s going to take like a day and a half, like to get that thing cooked up to temp and like the way they’re eating it, like, you know, yeah, it’s true.
It’s like.
A gigantic like leg of pork.
Like it takes like all day to do a fucking weenie over a fire.
49:39
It’s like, it’s just funny to think like, So what are you doing to keep that thing roaring and keep going, you know?
Carving it up to with like, just that one small knife, it’s going to be tough.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Again, the, I mean, I think the film does actually a pretty good job of showing survival techniques.
50:00
Seems like there was actual research done into, you know, what you would do in an island setting like this.
So I’m not going to fault it.
And, you know, again, movies take liberties.
But I, I think the film did a pretty good job of showcasing how to survive in some of these elements.
50:18
My issue was more with how long it shows how long how to survive with this, You know, I think it, it just goes on a little bit too long.
And it, it takes a while to introduce the main choice or decision that Linda makes, which is when Bradley’s fiance comes to the island, right?
50:40
Because that’s like the ultimate turning point.
It’s where it’s like the the place where you can’t come back from is when she makes a decision where she’s going to let, I mean, effectively she kills them, but she lets them fall off the Cliff and decides that this is I’m not going back from this.
50:58
And the other question that I had about this movie that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense is like, what’s to stop Linda from just saying, all right, Bradley, you go, you know, if this is truly that she just wants to live on this island.
All right, Bradley, you go back, I’m staying here.
51:14
No one’s going to stop or they’re like crazy.
Linda, you want to stay, you know, no one’s going to stop.
So again, I do think that idea of motive, we’re coming back to that again, I think the idea of motive is really, it’s so lost in what it really wants to do that it that it does just never really comes together to give you a really good view of Linda as a person.
51:39
It’s it’s highly problematic.
So we talked about this a little bit off the show, but the writers of this movie who really only ever write as a duo, Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, really the only other credits that they have to their name, Freddy VS Jason, the Friday 13th 2009 remake, which you can go back and listen to our episode on that one, See how we felt about that and what was the other one that they did.
52:07
I forgot what it was now.
Those are the 20 and the Baywatch remake from 2017, so not a really illustrious bunch.
Your wife was saying your wife was right.
This wasn’t written by a woman.
52:22
Right, right.
And you could definitely see that in a lot of ways.
Like there’s that one scene where stereotypical taking a woman, taking a shower, where Rachel McAdams finds like a waterfall.
She’s standing under it, like luxuriating, caressing her body in a Herbal Essences commercial.
52:44
Yeah, stuff like that is.
She gets to do that, but Bradley’s just going to the ocean with a rock and this Dick out and.
Yeah, yeah, you do get a little bit of a male rear.
53:00
Nudity, yeah, a little bit of butt crack, but that’s about it.
Something you know.
You know you don’t get all the time.
Just just do it, you know, I mean, if you’re going to have the ladies, I mean really great.
Rachel McCabe doesn’t get, you know, naked, but still like, you know, just be like normalize male dog.
53:19
Sure, in your film, sure, don’t make it next.
It’s OK, you know.
Yeah, I I think too.
What do you, what do you?
So how do you feel about Raimi’s direction here?
Does this feel like a Raimi movie?
Yeah, it’s because like, the effects when it comes to like, the bore and the blood and the gore of like, how it’s shot and looked and it’s over the top.
53:44
And some of the time when they’re sitting there laugh, you know, when someone’s laughing and stuff in the shots, the face, so, you know, movements and look, you know, look like a dead eye, you know, So it definitely feels like you know, Sam did was directing it.
54:03
There’s there’s that great scene where Rachel McAdams has like, this hallucination where she thinks that Bradley’s fiance is coming back from the dead, crawling out of the water.
And it definitely looks like a sort of like a deadite moment there where she’s, you know, draped in fog and, you know, sort of this dream sequence.
54:21
And then a deadite kind of appears behind her before she wakes up.
It’s nice.
Definitely feels like it’s from Raimi and it definitely feels like he felt like he needed to add a little bit more of his signature to the film.
Again, like you said, there are moments like the gore, the the blood, some of the more discomforting moments, like a lot of the eating, right, sort of like unappetizing where they eat with their mouths open, sort of laughed at each other with their mouths open.
54:52
Those sequences, I do think feel like Raimi and that it is sort of uncomfortable and, you know, intentionally so.
But again, I could also see this being, you know, without those things to get rid of those things.
Could also see this being directed by just like any other person, right?
55:09
This is send help is not really a movie that requires Raimi.
I think Raimi adds some additions to it that make it a little bit more interesting than what another director might have done, which would have been to shoot the script, you know, really, you know, buy the book.
55:28
But I think that this movie could have been effectively very similar of a film without Remy.
And I don’t know what that’s that’s not like necessarily a supposed to be a critique on how Remy directs this.
55:44
It’s more so just that I think that there is something very generic about some help, you know, something that I think we see quite a bit of, you know, contemporary movies.
They just have this very generic nature to them that makes.
55:59
Like it’s marketable.
Yeah.
Well, we said that about like, like the newest Evil Dead when that came out.
Like it’s just like, you know, generic.
Yeah, Yeah, just, I mean, it’s just generic horror fodder.
56:15
Yeah, yeah, And we haven’t talked about this.
What do you think about the Danny Elfman score?
Whimsical.
Yeah, I, I kind of like it because it has this very classic orchestral style, swelling violins and such that I think works kind of well in this the, you know, the, the, the overall atmosphere of the movie.
56:43
But otherwise, like, it doesn’t really feel like a Danny Elfman score.
I will say that it it’s whimsical, but it doesn’t, it’s not like some of his other works where you can easily pinpoint like, hey, that’s Danielle.
This one’s kind of lacking that signature too.
56:59
If I were to guess, I would be more like, wow, is that, is that Mark Mother’s paw?
I mean, it’s fine.
It does its job.
It’s.
I don’t think Danny’s heart was probably into it.
57:15
You know, he’s just got a contract and he’s like, yeah.
Yeah, it could be, Could be.
All right, so let’s give Send Help a rating on a scale of zero to 10 spontaneous sushi smorgasbords.
57:31
What do you give?
Send Help.
You know, now that got no right there, right.
I was going to say something about the sushi, but I can get like a 7 out of 10.
It’s it’s a film.
It’s a just a very typical generic blockbuster style film.
57:54
Scott’s moments, Scott’s up and ups and downs.
Your level of engagement is and enjoyments going to be totally dependent on how well you’re able to kind of just TuneIn drop out and enjoy the ride.
I think it’s good enough.
58:12
Like I didn’t like hate it.
I didn’t like even like with all the problems that I was saying about the film, I don’t think they’re like that big of a deal.
It’s not like it’s the usual suspects where like the whole crux is relying on like, you know, that pay off and ideas and motives.
58:31
So, like, is it bullshit?
Sure.
Was it like really bad though?
Or hinder?
No, Rachel McCann does a good, really good job.
You know, she’s, you know, really charmingly stupid and funny.
It’s got, you know, just enough of Sam’s touch to give, you know, scratch that itch.
58:52
I think it’s, you know, it’s the generic film.
I won’t probably ever really think of it ever again, like I said.
But you know, 7910, if you like Sam, if you like Sam Raimi, like I said, check it out.
If not, no off what we said.
59:10
I’ll give it a 6 1/2 out of 10.
I think it’s, you know, it’s entertaining enough.
It’s a fine way to spend some time.
It even has some of Raimi’s elements to it that, you know, you might find enjoyable or like, you know, some the callbacks, but not that many really not, not as many as you might expect from Raimi.
59:31
I will say that I think that overall the script is fairly weak, but I think Rachel McAdams and Damian O’Brien, they both do a pretty good job here.
And you know, Rachel McAdams is, I said Damian Dylan, I should say they both do a pretty good job here.
59:52
Rachel McAdams, you know, it’s basically holding this together as 1/2 of it and and doing a really strong performance.
With that said, I I think that the movie, you know, it kind of flags here and there.
It’s definitely too long.
It could have cut out some of the survival elements to it.
1:00:09
Going back and forth between the two sort of feels a little bit redundant at times.
And I think that it needed to do a better job of actually trying to give a little bit more character motivation to Rachel McAdams character, because I think that that’s really lacking towards the end.
1:00:25
And it, it really muddles the conclusion to the point where you’re not really exactly sure what message you’re supposed to be taking from the, the finale.
And I, I don’t think that it, it necessarily comes off the way that the, the writers intended it to.
1:00:40
So that can be problematic.
I, I think this is a fine movie.
As I came out of the movie and as I’ve been describing to other people who’ve asked me how it was, it’s not bad, it’s not great.
It’s just, it’s just kind of like a, you know, a fairly typical movie and you know, I, I don’t mind that I watched it.
1:01:01
I probably won’t watch it again or I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t have really any interest in, you know, re watching this at a later time.
But it was fine for what it was.
And so that’s why I’m giving a 6 1/2 it it’s OK.
It’s it’s definitely not a return to form for rainy, but it’s it’s OK for what it is.
1:01:18
It definitely feels like a movie, blockbuster movie that was sort of like, I don’t know, just give in to Raimi and he just kind of took it and maybe didn’t have like a lot of resonance with it, but he did what he could, so it’s OK.
1:01:37
All right, so that’s it for send help, I think next time.
What do we got for next time?
When we decide I would like to do in honor of the late Catherine Oyer, A Mighty Wind.
1:01:57
Yeah.
You’ve never seen it.
It’s a great movie, you know.
Think you’ll love it?
Right Yeah, we can do it.
A Mighty Wind 2003 movie.
No, I’ve never seen it.
1:02:15
It’s got, it’s got, you know, everybody that’s oh, it’s a 1960 folk trio.
OK, mockumentary, sort of in the style of Spinal Tap sort of thing.
Yes, Christopher.
Yeah, written by Christopher Gast.
It’s got all the Parker Posey, all the people you would expect like, you know, from like best and Show.
1:02:34
So basically, so cool.
Cool.
All right, we’ll check it out.
So that’ll be our next episode.
All right, well, thanks for listening to our episode and we hope you enjoyed.
Let us know if you saw send help in theaters and let us know what you thought of it.
1:02:52
We are on pretty much any podcast apps you can think of Google.
I don’t think Google podcast exists anymore.
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you listen to the podcast, I’m sure we’re on it.
Subscribe believe it’s a nice review always helps us out.
We also have a Facebook and blue sky page.
1:03:09
You can find us on there and just search blown black Chrome podcast.
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Let us know what you like, what you don’t like, what movies you want us to watch, and you can always donate to us on our Patreon page.
Anything you donate goes back towards beer, so we appreciate that in advance.
1:03:25
Thanks for listening.
Hope you enjoyed and hope to see you back next time for episode on A Mighty Wind.
Until then.
Take care.
