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Minnie Driver sure is in a lot of musical based movies where she barely sings... Anyway this movie was disappointing to me. I think AlmostAGhost said it best on Letterboxd that a slasher movie poking fun at musical culture is a great idea but it leans way too hard into the trying to be a genuine funny musical that it loses all the charm.

Me bruvah ordered Feminasty for his fiancee's birthday because of this podcast. He had to use my amazon account since they share one. That is all.

hayes definitely does, he had a lot of time growing up to goof off and have fun. but i think unfortunately sean's parents probably were pushing him towards the ivy league from the very beginning

Just to clarify my position, two things: One, I'm not trying to convince you of anything. I'm saying the movie leaves a lot open to interpretation. That line stuck out to me, that's all. You can take it or leave it. I'm not trying to "infuse" anything. I'm just trying to look deeper than the text and not just trust everything I'm seeing and hearing. Two, I never once said that going back home and going to school was worse than forced prostitution. That's putting words in my mouth and absolutely ridiculous. I only ever wondered if there was the possibility that she might be being forced to trade one form of abuse for another. We really don't know one way or the other, but I'm thinking about what could be going on in a 12-year-old's life that would make her actually run away, and abuse is at the top of that list. I think that's far more likely than "Mom wouldn't give me an extra scoop of ice cream for dessert so I'm running away forever and I'm never coming back! (Even if I'm given the chance, I want to, and it's clear that I'm in an unhealthy situation)." The thing is, Travis never even stops to consider Iris' needs and desires. He tells her what's best for her. He doesn't allow her a shred of agency. You're right, there's never a "clue" or a line where she explicitly says, "My father was molesting me," but there's also not a line where she says ,"I miss my parents, it was a real mistake to leave. I want to go home." And there's a reason why these lines aren't there: because Travis never asks! He literally knows nothing about her or her past. He never makes the effort. He never asks, "Why would you rather go live on a commune than live with your parents?" I know this isn't your intention, but you almost seem to be saying, "Yeah, she might still be getting abused, but at least she's going to school." It's not like there aren't alternatives. For example, she could go into Foster Care. Maybe that's a better solution. But it's never even brought up. Beyond the fact that it's what Travis thinks is best for her, why is going home to her parents considered the "best" possible solution? Again, we honestly don't know one way or another. However, the whole movie is from Travis' POV, and he is unreliable as fuck. He's narcissistic and toxic. Given his mentality throughout the movie, what's more likely: that - despite everything else in the movie suggesting otherwise - in this one situation he was able to read between the lines, fully connect with another person, and intuit the best course of action for their lives, or that he saw and heard only what he wanted to in order satisfy his own malignant ego and skewed fairy tale logic (i.e. Storming the castle and saving the princess)? If the movie was about redemption, I would probably agree with the former, but since the movie seems to be about a never ending cycle of violence, than I'm leaning toward other interpretations. I'm not saying I'm right, but I'm also not willing to just completely accept the movie at face value.

im gunna let this instance of acting like the show lore is real pass cos its you, silvr and greggy and cos no one should not do fun stuff cos im joyless

There's definitely a "How's Yo Dick?" track that becomes their ultimate bedroom song.

Yes. And their first album should be called Tales from Blockbuster and the lead single should be "Mom (Let's French Kiss)" with the B-Side "It's Not Making Love (It's Called Fuckin')." What are some other possible tracks on the album?

Can we name the band Kinkshaming Dolphins?

meanwhile, hayes probably knows of a different kind of "league," if you catch my drift.

Do you think they know how to play video games?

hayes and sean should do something on twitch. idk what but theyd make a mint

Yes, but if she “had cause to” that means she had reason for running away, and that reason is never given or discussed in the movie. My point is, she doesn’t want to go back home, and since one of the leading reasons for children to actually run away (and not just threaten to) is abuse at home, I think it’s a valid concern. Also, if the parents had to take “steps” so she doesn’t have “cause” to run away, then this further suggests that her reason(s) for leaving were not only external, but something that her parents were doing and had to take active measures to stop. For me, it’s also telling that when Bickle initially tries to help her, she doesn’t want to go home; however, she is open to the idea of going to a commune. This admits that she doesn’t really like where she is currently, but the alternative of going home isn’t even an option that she’s willing to entertain. Now, could this just be that her father is saying, “We need to show her more affection” or something? Possibly. But I think that’s the whole point of the ending. It’s open to interpretation. It’s a happy ending if you want it to be. However, as that final shot in the rear view mirror suggests, even though things seem to have worked out for the best, they really haven’t. Why should we believe that everything has worked out well for Iris when Scorsese is literally looking us in the eye and telling us that this “happily ever after” is just a veneer?

Normally, when a live show is released, they see a huge reverse spike in downloads. No one who attended the show would want to listen without “all the actions”. To combat this, I suspect the boys will ask us for popcorn gallery questions to be edited in to next week’s episode. If there was anything you ever wanted to ask Tom or Julie, get your typing fingers ready!

For a hot second I thought you guys were talking about Paul Scheer and I was fully buying it? Sure Paul has a band he plays with . Then I started reading your comments and I was very worried because I don't think I can handle having Paul singing about sex. Then I realized I'm a fucking idiot and that Paul McCartney exists. This all happened in like a minute tops but oh wow what a minute.

Action Jackson and Van Helsing are next week's live shows!

Alive or dead, here's something about the ending that gives me the heebie-jeebies. Iris' father's voice over is done in this really halting and folksy way. Of course, there's no way Travis would know what Iris' father actually sounds like, so we have to assume that the voice we are hearing is the voice Travis is hearing when he reads it (does that make sense?). Anyway, there's one line in that letter where the father writes: "But we have taken steps to see she has never cause to run away again." In the tone that it's read, it sounds innocent enough, but in another inflection, that line is awfully sinister. I mean, we don't really know why Iris ran away from home in the first place. Has Travis just sent her to a place where she's just going to suffer further abuse?

I'd say it doesn't "fit" with the rest of the movie because we've spent so much time just with Travis and people who come into his orbit. It's safe to assume that the reporters and Iris' parents never actually met him. They don't know he was planning on killing the Senator. They only know him as the guy who killed a bunch of criminals and bad guys and rescued a young girl. If the media turning such a person into a hero seems far-fetched . . . it probably does now, but for the era? Let me introduce you to Bernie Goetz.

Spielberg must have really done a lot for them, then.

I'll answer as to why this movie affects me deeply. To me it's a brilliant depiction of a lonely, stunted guy. I was never as extreme as Travis, but on some level I understand this kind of seething anger underneath the loneliness. There was a time in my life when I felt similar things (again, not to that extreme, but along those lines). The highly subjective presentation of this individual’s psyche has never been done so well, IMO. I find it mesmerizing. What I also love about the film is that I don’t think it lets you off the hook for that: it shows how that mindset can lead to extreme violence, how ugly it can be. I know, not everyone takes the right message from this. Some people think it's practically an instruction manual. I can only describe what it says to me. I think the film shows SOCIETY vindicating Travis for his actions. I don't think the FILM itself endorses that vindication. I absolutely agree that in 2018 it feels like "Incel: The Movie" (someone on the Facebook group posted that). But to me that is just further proof of how sensitive and prescient it was to this particular kind of social disease.

I don't think Travis is dead. Paul Schrader has talked about the woman who attempted to kill Gerald Ford was on the cover of Newsweek. I think he meant the ending to be a critique of American values. There was an episode of Inside The Actors Studio with either Scorsese or DeNiro where they mentioned discussions of a sequel at one point (that I assume never left the idea stage). Can't do a sequel if he's dead. I might believe Travis died except the very last shot of him reacting to something in the rearview mirror. If the movie ended with nothing but praise, I might go with it. But that reaction to whatever Travis saw implies to me that even though he "accomplished" what he wanted, he's still unwell. He's not fixed. Whether that means he kills again, I don't know.

He is 100 percent dead at the end. First of all, the dialogue as the camera scrolls past the news clips at the end is all voice over. That's the only time any VO is by someone other than Bickle's, so it leads me to believe that it's all in his head, and it's his story/fantasy the way we hear his thoughts as he writes. It's like the lies he writes to his parents about who he wishes he were instead of who he is. Second, all the clips are purely his fantasy of how he wants to be seen. It's the voice of Iris's dad profusely thanking him for returning his daughter and how great she's doing now that she's back at home. One of the news clips reiterates how grateful his parents are for finding their daughter. No way that happened. Now, regarding him being hailed as a hero by law enforcement - he straight up murdered people (you don't get leniency for them being "bad guys") carrying multiple unlicensed firearms, not to mention attempted political assassination. I just don't buy that any of the info we get in the VO or by the news clips on his wall were anything other than his own fantasies.

Eve Harrington is the failed "New Coke," obviously,

I do not believe he's vindicated at the end at all. He did all those things by accident, basically. Then society hails him as a hero, but that's an indictment of society, not a "see, he's awesome!" move. How does the film apologize for him? They show him failing at just about everything he attempts, from women, to assassination, to suicide. I am just as perplexed how anyone watches this and comes away with the idea that he's a hero to be idolized. I also think the very ending implies that he's going to go through this whole cycle again (and again). Maybe he'll feel 'normal' for a bit, but something else will distract him and turn him into a monster.

Fantastic pic for hdtgm. I grew up thinking this was a smart sexy sophisticated crime thriller. Then I actually saw it. What the fuck indeed.