*Please note: this is unedited and transcribed by AI- so it’s not perfect. But, hopefully, it is helpful for those that prefer or have a need to read rather than listen.  – Patty

Welcome to the no guilt fan girls podcast. Where liking what you like is never a bad thing. Here’s your host and head fan girl in charge. Patty holliday.

Patty Holliday

Hey y’all Welcome to the no guilt fan girls podcast. I’m Patty holiday your head fan girl in charge. And this is the Monday movie minute for August 19. Every Monday we talk about movies that came out what we saw last week. Sometimes it’s on my couch, sometimes it’s in the theater. This week is no different. It’s a little combo of the two. And just like to recap what is out there and what we’re watching. This week we are talking about High School Musical blinded by the light and good boys. But first we’re also going to go over the box office now Good boys came in at $21 million.

Yeah, that’s it’s pretty good.

Fast and Furious presents Hobbs and Shaw was number two, The Lion King is at number three angry birds movie is that number four scary stories to tell in the dark. Number five. Number six was 47 meters down and cage which I will never ever review because I will never ever ever go see. I don’t do sharks y’all. Sorry. It’s a hard pass for me. Dora and the last City of Gold is that number seven, once upon a time in Hollywood is still hanging in there at number eight. And blinded by the light is that number nine. And number 10 is RF Racing in the Rain. Interesting. It’s very interesting. There’s been a couple of new movies that are a lot lower down. Lion King is still hanging in there, which some of us didn’t really like it on the first view. And so I’m wondering if some of us don’t know what we’re talking about? Apparently, because I this has to be some some families are going back to see this a second time at this point. I can’t help but think that but i don’t know i could be wrong. It’s could still be those first time watchers, but that’s it’s sitting at number three, rolling into the second half of August. That’s I don’t know. That’s pretty good. Pretty good linking. Alright, so this weekend, I guess the theme was kids, teens dealing with growing up, I guess that was my theme because I ended up seeing three movies that kind of talk about those things on different levels and in very different ways. Very different ways. And I kind of hate myself for admitting this. But I like them all. Yeah, even good boys. With all those sixth graders running around swearing like drunken frat boys on a level. I liked it. I’ll go into, I’ll go into my feelings about because this was super complicated for me. I have feelings and thoughts on what happened in this movie. You know, as I’ve said before, when I when I’m a critic, and when it comes down to writing these movies, I always say well did it entertain me? And the bottom line is it entertain me. I laughed. I left a lot. I’m cringing to admit that. But I laughed a lot. Guys, I laughed a lot. And it was a total shock to me. Because going in I expected to hate every single second of this movie. And that didn’t happen. That didn’t happen. So all right, we’re gonna, we’re gonna get to that one, we’re going to get to that one. But if you listen to the podcast last week, you know, I’m totally down with the 90s, reboots and whatnot and see the BH 902 no episode as a perfect example. I’m totally in for this totally dump this. If you I just want throw this out there. If you guys tried to watch the pilot, and just it, it didn’t do it for you. Please, please, please, please, please listen to the podcast, listen to the podcast, and then watch the pilot and watch the first the real first first episode and see what you think. By and large, I think once people kind of lived with it a little bit, they liked that second show a lot more than they liked the pilot, if they if they hadn’t already bought into the pilot. So give it another try. If you’re no no to no fan fan girl fanboy our friends are back. It’s kind of fun. It’s a lot of fun. I’m really liking it.

It was so in that vein of that I pulled up High School Musical on demand on my TV this weekend to watch this is one of my favorite Disney Channel vehicles. And it’s been a while since I watched it. And because I generally wondered if it was as good as I remembered, you know, I’m turning all critical about things right. And sometimes I want to go back and revisit things that I was like, Oh, I love that so much but with a different lens with a different view and say, Did I really love it? Or was I just simply entertained by it? Like, you know, but let’s let’s kind of look at this a little bit more critically. So my daughters and I sat down to watch High School Musical again. And I you know, really wanted to verify if what I know in my heart is true. And that’s that Zac Efron really is as talented as I’ve been giving him credit for even way back then. Right. So and to see it again. plus d 23. Expo is happening this weekend, guys, it’s having this again, I leave on Thursday. I am

Unknown Speaker 5:20
unprepared. But I am so excited.

Unknown Speaker 5:22
This was this was me trying to get a little bit prepared. Because there is going to be a High School Musical the musical panel. And it is part if you don’t know about this, this is part of a reboot of High School Musical. That’s going to be on Disney plus so you know multiple reasons I had to sit down and just give this one a second go plus, my husband was out of town so I knew I could sing and dance with my daughters without any idols or judgments. He thinks he thinks that too way too old, in my 40s to be singing and dancing with. We’re all in this to get Look, I am never going to be too old for that. And that is the woman he married. Lucky him. Anyway. So that’s what we did. We watched High School musicals. If you’ve never seen this show, which shockingly, a lot of my Facebook friends came out and said they had not seen it. Hmm. Why are we even friends guys, even friends these is the storyline is is basically you know, two kids meet. It’s the jock the nerd. They fall in love over there trying something new High School Musical auditions. This of course, is shocking to their cliques right in school threatens the social order of the school. It causes friendships to strain and all the

Unknown Speaker 6:39
drama you could watch.

Unknown Speaker 6:43
It’s amazing. It has singing it has dancing, it has Zac Efron. I mean, this is this is basically the kind of show that I could watch. 24 seven. Alright, so to answer the question, is it still that good? Yes, absolutely. And f1 is absolutely talented and was even so back then. This was the first thing that I had ever seen him in and I’m sure anybody had seen him in really. And I just remember the first time I watched it going Who is this kid? This kid is amazing. This kid. He’s a good actor, like the I was, I was even there more for the acting than anything else. So I stand by that assessment. And look, I know that he didn’t do the vocals. Apparently he couldn’t hit the notes needed. So they dubbed in a different actors voice for the songs. But here’s the thing. I think that that that made this performance even more notable because I really watched it this time knowing that information going in. I can tell when he was or wasn’t lip synching. I mean, they they matched it up pretty dang good. Or he did a really great job going along with with the music as it was, as they were taping as they were filming this without the internet telling me that it wasn’t him. I would have never known I would have never known so to me. I’m sorry, guys. But that proves

Unknown Speaker 8:01
he’s a pretty dang good actor.

Unknown Speaker 8:05
One of his many talents as he can lip sync like a champ. All right.

Unknown Speaker 8:08
But even more than the acting in the singing, you know, I fell in love again with the story and the message that This tells for kids and how you know, my youngest daughter was sitting next to me. She’s eight years old, and she was reacting to it. She’s a little on the dramatic side herself. So it should be no surprise. But she was standing up on the couch looking at me saying Zeke should bake. He should totally keep baking to see bacon the next movie, why are his friends mad at him for picking that’s just wrong? Like, spoiler alert. He does keep baking. But that was her point was that she caught on very quickly, that whole status quo song that she she just thought Why are they Why can’t their friends be their friends? So why can’t you like what you like? And I was like, Hey, girl, does that sound familiar? It’s like, I don’t know, maybe the fan girl podcast motto or something. But it’s true, right? We should all be able to like what we like and embrace. What we’d like to do as human beings in this relevant no matter what age you are. And that’s even more important. When you’re in middle school when you’re in high school, and you’re just trying to figure out what it is you do like, right? So, you know, of course, you know, take care of your friends. That’s it. That is important. I don’t under I don’t I’m not saying it’s not. But you also really need to know what you want and what your feelings your choices, you know, those things matter. They do matter. You can’t just live for other people all the time. And I feel like that’s, you know, one of the messages this movie shares two kids. And you know, hey, it’s a good reminder for adults as well. There is some slight dating to the movie. This was released in 2006. So like Ashton Kutcher gets a shout out for poked. And the cell phones that they show are kind of hilarious that everyone did have cell phones back then. And everybody was texting and, and and whatever. But very big variety of what kind of cell phones were cool and hip. But I think the social status of high school is something we’ve been dealing with what for forever. So it’s still sits, it’s still a current and movie that I think you and your teens could sit down and watch today and still enjoy your preteens probably would be a little bit more open to watching this movie as a parental review. I felt like it was totally okay for kids of all ages. There’s no language, there’s no sex. There’s nothing concerning, you know, looking back here. 13 years later, I think Disney Channel did a nice job on this one. Again, one of my favorites. So I admit I’m a little biased there. But I did go into this one really trying to look and pull things apart. And I just nothing stood out as Super concerning to me. Will it tie in directly? And if so, how to High School Musical the musical on Desi plus? Well,

Unknown Speaker 10:57
guys, I’ll let you know on Friday.

Unknown Speaker 11:00
So the panel is and I’m going to be there. And I will definitely report back for all my fellow High School Musical fans. Alright, so another movie that I saw this one that I saw in the theater and this was blinded by the light. This is the movie I was most interested in this weekend. And you know, I have looked at like rotten tomatoes, I have looked at all of the reviews that are out there. And overall audiences as well as critics pretty much love this movie. I thought it was just okay. I just thought it was okay. I’m conflicted a lot on this movie in particular. First off, I loved yesterday. I loved Rocket Man. When I saw that we were getting a Bruce Springsteen inspired movie this summer, I thought, Hey, this is perfect. This is like the summer of those kinds of movies. I’m so I’m totally down for this. So I went in, and I was excited about it. In general, this movie is based on British team, Pakistani heritage, he finds his way through young adulthood. He’s got an overbearing father that he has to deal with and is a big influence in his life. And he finds his way through his family, and how to deal with his family through the music of Bruce Springsteen. They are a totally working class family. And of course, Bruce’s lyrics translate and speak to his very soul. My issue, my issue with the movie will basically comes down to the fact that the best parts you’ve already seen in the trailer, if you saw the trailer and got hyped about this, that

Unknown Speaker 12:40
that those are the highlights. There’s the highlights.

Unknown Speaker 12:44
The trailer was awesome. And it nailed it. And it totally did its job. It got me into the theater. The teases we get are developed well into beautiful, pivotal moments in the movie. But you saw like the big aha moments, I felt for the most part right there in the trailer, the first third of this movie was really slow. A lot of kind of dead space, they took a lot of time and developing how miserable this kid’s life is kind of they did it in a fair way. I don’t feel like it was I don’t feel like it was two dimensional. I felt like it was we understood why we interested. But we’ve seen this story before, you know, when a kid is coming from multi heritage position. And he’s dealing with old world father and parents and but yet he’s very modern and very, you know, in the current location and how that conflicts and so we’ve seen this before, and I don’t feel like we got really anything super new there. So maybe that’s why I felt like it was slow. But it was it was it was pretty slow and kind of boring. I like the kid I really did. And I wanted something to happen and something to change for him. Because he was frankly kind of depressing me. And of course, that’s what the movie was about. Like I knew it was coming right. So I just wanted to get along with it. Okay, so when the Bruce Springsteen songs start, when Bruce steps in, things do get better, and then they slow down again, and then the big moment,

Unknown Speaker 14:10
and then they slow down again.

Unknown Speaker 14:12
So it was kind of one of those movies for me, you know, in the end, in the end, I will say that the payoff was there, the payoff was there. I’m not sure it was a big enough payoff for almost two hours of, you know, me kind of show, but I was emotional. I had tears with the final conclusion and with how things wrapped up, it definitely got me there in the end. And there were some moments throughout the movie that I could feel it and and and I will say it was the Bruce Springsteen song moments. When he first listens to him. It’s in the middle of this big storm that’s going on. And it’s incredibly powerful. I loved the way they did this visually, I love the way they do this musically. The acting was fantastic. Everything about that moment was huge. And it was big, and it was great. And it was great. If you need a good family movie, to watch or support, then this this might be a good option for you. In fact, I I can’t say not to go see it. I’m not telling anybody not to go see it. I’m just saying maybe lower your expectations a little bit. And you might come out more pleasantly surprised. I think my expectations were a lot higher. And and it just didn’t meet it. But But there were some some great moments in this movie. visually. I love to seeing the 80s again, even though I really really weep at our 80s fashion choices.

Unknown Speaker 15:41
Did we did we really were parachute pants and Michael Jackson thriller jackets. Oh, yes, yes, we did. Like we actually wore those out in public, or at least

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those of us who had parents who were cool enough

Unknown Speaker 15:53
to buy them did mine or not. So I did not own any any items of clothing such as that, but I but I wish I did. I wish they did. And then when I see this, and I see the flock of seagulls hair and all of those outfits that these big throwbacks, I’m like, shaking my head going, what are we thinking? What are we thinking be? Well, so this is set in 1987? I’m not sure if I said that. So this is set in 1987.

You like height of 80s this, okay, if you love and connect to Bruce Springsteen, then you definitely absolutely like there’s no question, go and see this movie, go see it in Adobe theater for the music. The way the lyrics are built into the storytelling is exceptional. And I don’t know, I guess I wanted a little bit more of that. You know, it was kind of funny, even at one point when he meets somebody who’s who passes them off some tapes, and says, Listen to these garden with your life. You know, they’re Bruce Springsteen tapes, he still takes a really, really long time, it feels like to actually listen to these tapes. And it had already been developed that he was into music and that that was this thing and that he liked to write poetry and then like to write song lyrics.

Unknown Speaker 17:03
So I kept going, like,

Unknown Speaker 17:04
dude, you’ve got Bruce in your hands, like, why aren’t you listening? And it just took a long time for him to listen to it. So that kind of drove me a little bit nuts. But anyway, point being, he finally does get there. He does. He does get there. From a parental movie review. There’s really no sex in this one. There’s some kissing and some light making out. But you know, nothing. Nothing crazier that you need to shield kids eyes from. on any level really here.

There was some language. I didn’t catch a whole lot, that there was some language. And there was definitely some racial slurs going on. That’s really where the concentration would be. If you had concerns about your kids watching this. There’s a lot of focus on what this Muslim Pakistani community is dealing with in 1987, Luton, England. And it wasn’t pretty it wasn’t. Keep that in mind. It might be a good I don’t know, history lesson reminder. It definitely shows things in a very ugly way. So I don’t, I don’t want to tell you to shield your kids from that. Just be prepared that it is there. Okay. No drinking or smoking other than I think some parents had some wine at dinner. But you know, on those scales, I’d say it’s okay for for most teens and even tweens. But, but it was just kind of boring. Guys. If you have kids that are interested in this, I don’t think it’s I don’t think there’s anything in the film to keep them out of it. But I’m not sure though, they’ll come out of this movie totally loving it either. Just because there were so many so many Slow, slow parts, at least for me. So keep that in mind. Keep that in mind. Maybe not take kids unless they’re, they’re down with it, or they’re asking to go see it, I guess is probably my recommendation there. Alright, Alright, so now. Oh, boy.

Okay, so now we’re going to talk about good boys. I saw this trailer at the beginning of the summer, and I was so angry y’all. I was like, I was judging parents for letting these kid actors do this crap. I was judging the fact that this movie was being made. I was judging you. Seth Rogen, as I guess that’s what I do. At times. I was mad. I couldn’t believe that this is happening. And it just really annoyed me. It really annoyed me on many levels. I still feel that way.

Okay, that on some things that that hasn’t changed. I’m still kind of side eyeing these moms and dads who are okay with their young kids participating in this kind of super adult humor. One of the marketing jokes is they can’t see this movie, but you can. It’s like, yes, exactly, exactly. But you’re letting your kids say and do these things. You’re letting them perform like this, like parents. What is wrong with you? Guys, I know, I know. They’re actors. They’re getting paid. It’s a job. It’s their job. Like, I totally get that I really do.

But still, it’s still my mom hat. My GG mom hat was on when I walked into this movie theater. But that was also why I wanted to go see it. I wanted to give it a fair shake and see what it had to say outside of the salty language that I knew that was coming. So what is good boys about what is there is a plot there is a story in guys. It’s surprisingly sweet. Which is why I’m so conflicted on this movie. Okay, so it’s a three sixth grade boys. They’ve been BFS since kindergarten. And they actually kind of make a big thing about that, that everybody knows you meet your best friend in kindergarten kind of thing, which of course, all the adults of theatre like going Nope, nope. Dude, I didn’t meet my best friend till I was like, I don’t know. 35. I mean, it’s, it’s crazy.

But yeah, they need to learn more about kissing because they’re going to a kissing party and their first big, you know, social event. And through a series of events, it This has them skipping school. They’re being chased by some teen or teenagers because the little kids took their drugs. Yes, the kids end up buying drugs. There’s some encounters with the cops. And then of course, they finally end up going to this party. Now is the intent of this movie for kids? Oh my gosh, I hope not. I’m sure it isn’t. I’m sure it isn’t. what it feels like is that it’s really there for an astrologer. And to make us adults reflect on what it was like during those years when we crossed from pure childhood to the tween the teen years right?

Now the movie is funny. Laugh out loud. Funny. I’m ashamed to admit it. But I did I I laughed a lot, guys. I laughed a lot. My whole theater at 11 o’clock in the morning laughed a lot.

Unknown Speaker 21:49
I am sure a Friday evening crowd was rolling in the aisles with with laughter because the what made this work where these kids and the situations were so ridiculous and so obscene, but it was their absolute childlike reaction and response to those ridiculous moments. That got the laughter Okay, you know, on that level, it was there. But we still had kids of this age, doing some really gross and inappropriate things, guys inappropriate things. It super bothers me that as a rational 40 something-year-old woman, I was allowing myself to be entertained by something that’s ultimately kind of disturbing. You know, watching these teen kids play with sex toys. They call them weapons. They think their weapons, you know, that they found in the back of their parents closet. They keep calling this one doll a CPR dummy is no CPR demo.

They sip on beer, they buy drugs, even though they clearly know it’s wrong. They say it’s wrong. Like there’s all these discussions about how wrong all this stuff is. So it’s not that the kids don’t know. They’re just swept up and things like that. They’re at that moment where they are legitimately making choices to cross lines in life. And I know, I know, that’s part of growing up, right. I know this happens.

Now. I didn’t feel this nostalgia for this. It didn’t happen that way for me until at least like I don’t know, 11th grade guys. And I wasn’t super sheltered. I just I know for a fact, I was not having these discussions in sixth grade. And if that’s what sixth grade is going on right now, man, we got to talk world because this is a hard know. And I think that’s also what it comes down to with this movie, why I’m still I’m still mad that it was even made was because I feel like it’s perpetuating like, I’d be more accepting of this. If this was a whole discussion and a whole riff on things

Unknown Speaker 23:48
in more of a high school, older age group, but

Unknown Speaker 23:51
we’re pushing these kids at sixth grade, you know, into these situations. And it just it did not sit right with me guys. And I really hope this is I really hope this isn’t what sixth graders like. Okay, so that’s what my biggest issue of the story was, I think if you stripped out a lot of the nonsense that was in there for laughs So if you took out a ton of the language, if you took out the sex toys, the sex references, the kids watching porn, I’m not kidding, they watch porn at one point, you can absolutely still get a funny, sweet, nostalgic story that would appeal to a wider audience.

And I guess that’s what I want. I know, this is like Seth Rogen shtick. And I know this is his thing. And I know this is where he lives mentally. But part of me wishes I believe in his brilliance. I think he’s a fantastic writer, I think. I think he’s hilarious. But I almost wish that he could challenge himself just a little bit to tone it down to take some of these things out. And just not be so crass all the time is

Unknown Speaker 24:54
actually when you are writing with

Unknown Speaker 24:57
the idea that you can put these 1112 year old kids on on screen, and you’re going to ask them to do these things, like take a little responsibility. Alright, so I guess I’m, I’m just ranting and raving. And I probably chill out on that. Because in the end, I like I said, I admitted I, I laughed, it’s it’s not a terrible plot, either. That that’s the thing is like the story that they tell and that the underlying, underneath all of the literal crap that you are hearing and you’re seeing and you’re being exposed to, is a really sweet, sweet story and a good one and something that does appeal and that I really did. Like, the actors are fantastic with what they’re working with. I will give them massive props. They did a great job with this movie. There’s a lot of talent in this movie. You know, I just, I just wish, I wish so many things in life. And this is one of them, that I wish things could have been a little bit different for this movie. Now for parent review, I cannot say that anyone needs to see this movie. Like even you adults, you don’t need to see this move, because there’s a lot of ridiculous in it.

But you definitely definitely cannot let your kids of any age see it. I just think it’s a wildly inappropriate 17 and up guys 17 and up. For example, I counted over 50 uses of the F word over 5050 that’s five and zero. I can’t I mean, this is like the equivalent to shaft guys. Think about that. These little kids are saying it as much as Samuel Jackson. Are we okay with this? All right. And maybe some 11 year olds talk like this, but No, man No, no, no, no, no. Alright, so that’s it. That’s it. That’s the Monday movie minute this week, a little rant there at the end. There are going to be new podcast episode, it comes out on Thursday. That also kicks off the D 23 Expo craziness, which will be my life for the next week. And we are that episode that we’re starting with is actually going to talk about cosplaying and Disney bounding which totally fits in for the theme of my week, as I’m doing a little bit of both. If you want to follow on Instagram for stories and Twitter for all the details, because I love Twitter. And that’s usually where I like rapid fire send out all the immediate details that are going on, then that’s what you want to follow. And both of those handles are at no guilt life.

And I will share all those fun things that I can right there on those two social media channels of choice. However, every night I am going to put together a podcast episode so you’re going to see a bunch of notifications coming across your screen that there’s something new from the 23 Expo over the course of the weekend. So just heads up those are probably not going to be super edited. They’re probably not going to be really fantastic. They’re probably going to be a lot of me going ah because this is my fan girl Super Bowl and I love everything about Detroit the expo so as much as I tried to like be all calm cool collected and and tone it down to be journalistically appropriate I cannot promise you anything when it comes to the to the expo because I really love it. I love it.

Oh hashtags, follow on a hashtag d 23. Expo and hashtag no guilt fan girl.

Those two will find me and I will bring you a lot of news this weekend. All right. Don’t forget to subscribe especially if you don’t want to miss anything this weekend. Throw up those five star reviews. It helps other fan girls find the show and it is always always always appreciated by yours truly. Thanks for fangirling with me on the no guilt fan girls podcast. Hopefully back to fangirl with me again real soon.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai