Simply Cinema 5/10/26

Hello and welcome to another episode of Simply Cinema. We are your hosts Maximilian Simonelli and Dustin Braga. So Dustin, we have another filmography rundown. We do. A deep dive, yeah. Of a guy who, I don't know if you are the same way, I knew him as just like an actor, never really the star, always like a supporting character. But shockingly, he's actually got some really great directing and writing and producing credits under his belt, which I didn't know. And I thought, wow, he's made more of an impact than I thought. Yes. Kind of coming from behind, I guess. Yes, yes. The person in question we have here, Jon Favreau. So as I said, I don't know about you, but for the longest time, I only knew him as like, oh, he's that guy that shows up as like a supporting character in like Vince Vaughn or Will Ferrell movies. Yeah. You know, I knew him from, I know from Couples Retreat. Sure. I was in Four Christmases, two Vince Vaughn movies. He had a small part in Elf as a doctor. He did. And a few other things, like looking at his filmography, let's see, we have, it was in Rudy, it was Rudy's friend, D-Bob is the name. It was an extra in the movie Hoffa. And I always forget he's the assistant, he's like the bodyguard in Batman Forever for like one second. Yeah. But, you know, started to make some headway with movies like Swingers and there's the movie Made, yeah, and Vince Vaughn. And I always forget he's, he's foggy in the Batman Flash. Yes, he is. Before he turned to Marvel, which is wild. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, it's like Elf was kind of the first, not in terms of acting, the first kind of big thing that he was involved in. Because like we said, he's got some, some great director, writer and producer credits. Yes, he does. Let's see, let me see if I can find it. I know he wrote Swingers. Yes. Which was kind of like the first big movie for a lot of people in that. Yeah. Because it was Jon Favreau writing and starring in. You also have Vince Vaughn starring in it. Doug Liman, who's the director of The Bourne Identity. Yep. I see you've got Heather Graham, Ron Livingston. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of people in this. Nice. Like this was kind of like their first push too. Yeah. They put them on the map. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. It's cool. Yeah. Vince Vaughn, I remember, looks so different in this movie. Yeah. He's very young. Yeah. Yeah. This was like 96. 96. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's like so clean shaven. It almost, it almost evokes kind of a similar like Good Will Hunting feeling. A bit, yeah. Because like it's, it's Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn. Okay. These are two guys, like they were buddies. They wrote this, they're in the movie, like they're starring in it. It's like, okay, this is like, hopefully they're, it wasn't maybe the first thing they've done, but it was like, hopefully this is what gives us our start. It gets some noteworthy attention. You know, much like Good Will Hunting. Yes. Pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. Um, they actually had a similar film made, ironically called Made. Yes. For a split second, when I saw the, the images we were looking at, I thought, is this the same movie? Because they look like they're around the same age. It looks like, you know, they're both in the car wearing suits. And I go, is this, no, it's not the same. It is not the same movie. A lot of people think that this is like a spiritual successor to Swingers, which is interesting. And Made, um, is Jon Favreau's very first feature film that he's directed. Nice. Yeah. Uh, they do have a similar vibe to Swingers. I will say, I think Vince Vaughn wears the same suit that he did in Swingers. Yeah. I see what we have in the film. We have, uh, uh, I meant to Favreau here. I see we have Peter Falk is in the movie, uh, Famke Jensen. Yeah. Uh, Diddy. Yes. That's the, that's the interesting thing about it. This is why I say go back and watch, uh, not, I don't mean old, but films that came out, you know, 20, 30 years ago, whatever. Cause you'll always see like, oh, if we knew what we knew now, you know, and not just bad things, but just like this actor went on to do this or this, this unknown went on to do this amazing thing. It's like, it's always. Whoa. Interesting. It's like, it's eerie sometimes. Yeah. You see where they were. Yeah. Diddy was in a lot of movies. I hate to say he's like, there was a big movie push for Diddy. Yeah. Yeah. Monsters ball. That one, that one, his role. And I won't give it away. I watched it going, maybe this movie predicted the future because of how he ends up. It's terrible. Oh God. But yeah, no, that's what I, that's anyway, getting back to Favreau. So we have Favreau here. So like we said, it's funny, his, um, I knew him, I said as an actor, but I think that his, his, uh, really director credits kind of outweigh his acting credits. Yes, they do. I would say so, especially now. Yes. Um, because as we said, we, we, he did that. He does the movie elf. Yes. That was really good. I remember watching an episode of, uh, there was that, it was a great show, the movies that made us, I watched that show. And he talked about it cause he was kind of a relatively unknown guy at the time. He was. Yeah. And he talked about, he said he wanted to make elf, like kind of like the original, like Rudolph or year without a Santa Claus and have it not be, it'd be like a real family classic while also utilizing, um, not like CGI old world, uh, effects like, uh, forced perspective. So like when, for example, well, Favreau is a human trying to live in an elf's world. And, uh, he's friends with them. I forget the actor's name, the kid from a Christmas story. He's so he's Peter Bidling Peter Bidling. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just forced perspective. Like, it looks like, Oh, one's a human and one's this tiny little elf, but it's just like, they shot like 20 feet away and they like match the camera. So they, they just used actual effects, which look better. They really look better. It's not CGI. Fred Claus. Yeah. Oh, anyway. So yeah. So elf was a pretty big film. It was, yes. But then he kind of kickstarts a major franchise today. He does, which I don't know if we have a picture of it, but he unfortunately do not know, but he directed iron man. He did with Robert Downey jr. Which at the time was like, it was a, um, a gamble. It was, it was a huge gamble for Marvel. Yes. Cause I mean, really know the character and RJ was coming off some controversy and it was kind of like, are we really going to, he wasn't the mega star that he was today. So it was kind of like, we really want this guy to be at the helm, but it was a big success and it led to the Avengers and the Marvel cinematic universe, which is still going today. And Bravo it's interesting. Cause he also plays happy Hogan in the film. And he also, he reprises that role in a Spider-Man farm home. And it's kind of interesting to see like him act alongside Tom Holland. Who's kind of the new blood exactly playing Spider-Man and trying to like care with what's the next phase of the franchise. And he's there as happy Hogan. Like, well, I kind of started this whole thing. It's like, yeah, but he's a fan. That's the good thing is that he's a fan of the stuff. Oh yeah. So he knows, he knows his stuff. He knows how to do it. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And, uh, let me see what else we've got here. So this was interesting. So he also directed the film Cowboys and Aliens. Yeah. Based off a graphic novel, which I don't know about you. This was the first film I ever saw Daniel Craig. I didn't know who he was. I did not know. I think of now as James Bond on the left here. I know him as James Bond, but I was like, oh yeah, that's right. The first time I ever saw him was he was wearing a cowboy hat and an alien, like laser cannon on his arm and Harrison Ford's in it playing Harrison Ford. Yes. As always. He's great. And then we also have Olivia Wilde. Yeah. This film definitely like came and went. It did. It was good for what it was. Yeah. Yeah. It was fine. I guess. Um, it's a fun watch. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, I know this is the movie that, uh, ultimately burnt out Jon Favreau. Oh really? Yeah. Uh, because he came off kind of, um, but they were coming off of, uh, Iron Man two. Oh, there were a lot of rights with that. Yeah. Which had some production issues with that. And he was already pretty frazzled from that, but then he jumped from Iron Man two to right to cowboys and aliens. So no, there was no time for a break. No. Gotcha. Maybe that's why he didn't direct Iron Man three. Maybe. Uh, possibly. Well, sadly burnt out on this one, but I guess it's, it's a fun watch of a movie. It's not, you know, it's not great, but it's, it's whatever. However, he did get a little break after this and did come back with his own independent feature. Yes. Which is chef. Yes. Now this one, I've never heard anyone say anything bad about this movie. You know, it's just probably won't because it's a wonderful movie. Yeah. It's sweet. It's really cute. It is a wonderful movie. Um, I think he made this with, I think the budget was like $11 million. So it has more of a real world feel. Like it doesn't feel like a big production. Oh no. It almost has a, not like documentary, but I guess sort of like you're following a real chef like in his life. Yeah. If you want some context here, uh, the picture that we're showing right now is, uh, John Favreau during, uh, his very first show. It's just him with a poster. There's no big premiere. It's just him talking about a movie in the theater. But looking at the cash, you got sort of Favreau, you got Sofia Vergara, Scarlett Johansson, John Leguizamo, Artie J, Bobby Cannavale, Dustin Hoffman, Oliver Platt. Interesting. Yeah. There's a lot, a lot of good actors in this. Yeah. And, um, most of them did it just because they wanted to do something with Favreau and love that he was making it independently so that they could have complete control over everything. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's always interesting to me when you see a film and like somebody you haven't seen in a while shows up for like a little, not a cameo, but like a small part, like a little bit part. And I think, is it just like, I mean, sometimes it could be like, Hey, I need some money. Like, you can play this cab driver for one scene and it'll be like a day's work. Here's some cash. Right. Or it's like, that sounds fun. I want to be involved in that. And it kind of brings you back to the collaborative, like we're making film for the sake of art, not because of like an agenda or a budget or a, you know, like you're wanting to make money or, you know, it's less of the, uh, less of the conveyor belt assembly line of filmmaking and more of the fun artsy side of filmmaking. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Finding his groove back. Yeah. Yeah. Which is ironically of the movie. Finding his crew as a chef. Yeah. Well, we're going to groove on our way to a commercial break. We'll be right back. Yeah. And welcome back. So Dustin, we were talking about Jon Favreau and his, uh, his mixture of acting credits and directing credits and how, again, his, uh, his directing work has, I think, outshined his acting work. I would say so. But again, it's like, so every now and then he goes back and forth because, uh, was that we were looking at, or we had that one yet chef. Let's see. Jungle book. So you were talking about this one. You said that you really liked this one. I do. I really enjoyed this one. Yeah. Uh, I think Favreau took, uh, the original movie was just 60 minutes of a paper thin plot line, um, with some singing animals from route. Um, it was all right. Yeah. Like a lot of people think it's plastic iffy on it. Um, so you liked the remake? I do. I think it adds a lot of depth that allow it adds so much character to basically each character, um, goes into Mowgli more. Um, and everyone just kind of shines in this movie. Yeah. Like, even though it is, you know, a mostly CG fest. Yeah. That's what I was going to say. Like, this is the, it's quote unquote live action, but like, like the kid is real, but everything else isn't. It's like, we were talking with, uh, we tried talking with Lindsay and Emma a couple of weeks ago about how like the live action beauty and the beast, it's like, okay. Bell is live action, but the beast is a CGI monstrosity. You know, like it's a creation of like, he is a guy in a mocap suit. Yes. You know, motion capture suit. And, uh, same thing here. I was like, it's funny. I'm looking at this orangutan. I go, he looks exactly like Maurice from, uh, the, uh, planet of the apes resurgent movies, you know, a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway. But, uh, so you say you like this one. I do. Yeah, I do. How about you? I mean, I think you're kind of lukewarm on this one. Well, you know what it is? I think it's cause it's tied to, uh, his remake of the lion King. Oh, okay. Which I didn't think was bad. This is the, again, as we've talked about this before, this is the problem when you make, it's the problem when you make a remake of a film that is like universally recognized and arguably universally loved by all. But, um, like we were saying, like whether it was beauty and the beast or the lion King, I go, when the original film is love the remake, you got to really hit it out of the park, you know? So same thing with lion King, I was thinking, okay, it's, it's good. It's the same movie, which again, you're damned. If you do your debt, if you don't, because if it's the same movie, you're going to go, well, you made the same thing. If it's different, you're going to be like, well, that's not the story. You know, I remember, I remember seeing some guy out like complaint. He was joking. He was complaining. He goes, if you think I'm going to waste the price of a ticket so that I can see some quote unquote live action CGI remake of the lion King, you are absolutely right. It's like, I will be in that theater watching scar watching Mufasa watching Simba. And I was like, yeah, so that's what made me go see it. And I was like, it's fine, but it's not the original. No, that's all. But I'm biased. Cause I saw the original first. If people saw the remake first, maybe they'd like it better. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe. Um, I don't know. I just didn't think it was completely necessary. Yeah. Um, yeah. Cause I think we have a, an image there from the premiere of it. That's kind of, um, yeah, there is holding a little Simba, little Simba. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I, I think it's, I don't think it's entire entirely necessary. Cause necessary. And I'm not so sorry. Uh, it's just the same plot. Yeah. It's literally just the same plot. I think they added a new musical number and a little bit more to one scene. And that was about it. Yeah. And again, it's like, the other thing is how it, um, the gap between the original and the remake has got, cause again, we're in this era where they just remake everything or it's a spinoff re-imagining. So it was like, it came out in, I want to say it came out in 94. The original, uh, I want to say maybe even 92, 90, 94, 94. You're right. So 94, I'm like less than 30 years. They come up with a new one. Yeah. All right. It's like, you know, which again, people don't, uh, you know, listen, Hey, they're making a live action Moana. Yeah. And that's 10 years. Yeah. It's which it is. That's the other thing I remember watching the remake of, of Lion King. So James Earl Jones, who did the voice of Mufasa, Simba's father in the original reprises his role in the remake. Now Simba's a new actor at Scar was, I think it was yeah, I'm saying that. Right. But I just laugh. I go, it would have been so hilarious to me if James Earl Jones is reading the script and maybe he's like, you know, getting older, not remembering. And he goes, is it me? Or have I read these Simba? Remember who you are? It's like, there's something very familiar about all this. It's like, have I read this before? It's like, you know, I go, you probably never thought I go, he'd lived long enough to reprise his role in like in a remake. Yeah. You know, not like it's like, it's different with star Wars. Cause it was like, okay, he reprised the role of Darth Vader in like the prequels. Right. And did he make it to the sequels? Um, I wasn't in the seat. What am I talking about? He wasn't in the sequel. Rogue one. That's the one I was thinking about. Yeah. Did he reprise it in that? Um, was he out by that point? No, I don't think Vader talked in Rogue one. Yes, he did. He did. Oh yes. The scene with, uh, director Krennic. Oh yes. Do not choke on your ambition, director Krennic. He might've. I mean, he was still alive. That's true. That's true. But anyway, you'll see as we're getting back to getting back to February, I'm always getting off, off tangent here, but, uh, where are we? So yeah, that's okay. Don't, don't worry. We'll, we'll loop back to star Wars. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, yes, yes, yes. So yeah, his lion King was, it was okay. It was fine. Yeah. I guess again, it just, it came and went and it was like, all right. It's one of those like, Oh yeah. I feel like years from now. Oh yeah. I forgot he, he did the remake. Let me throw it on. And then it's like, and this is why I haven't watched it in so many years. Exactly. You know what I mean? Yeah. So, but that's not, that's not nothing to him as a director. No, he's quite good. He is quite good. You know, sometimes directors just don't, you know? Yeah. They have their days. That's the other thing is when you have, uh, you have an example of when like you get picked to do a project where they go, Hey, we want you to do this. I go, all right. That's not really my passion project, but I like it enough to do it. And then you can tell the heart's not fully in it. Yeah. You know, maybe the, the, there were just too many zeros on the check. Yeah. Or they need, you know, they, they needed a check or the worst is when they already get signed on to do something and then something better comes along and they can't sign on to that because they're already tied to something else that happens so many times. But, uh, you know, all just the little inner workings of Hollywood and filmmaking. Yeah. It's intricate. Yeah, it is sometimes sad, sometimes frustrating. Yeah. Just kind of like the, uh, next commercial break we have. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Stay tuned. And welcome back. So a little hybrid here. We have the cinema and totally television. I know there was a little jump scare of total television because our next, we were looking at Jon Favreau and his work and, uh, the next kind of big thing that he did. Oh yes. Television. Star Wars. We are in that's Lion King, the Mandalorian, which I got to say another, another one that I've heard just everyone love this show. Anyone who's a diehard Star Wars fan. Yeah. Adam Stromko. They said, they said that they love this show. Uh, they love Grogu, baby Yoda seen here. And yep. And Pedro Pascal, uh, as, um, as the Mandalorian, which is funny. I remember seeing there was a behind the scenes for like the cast and crew all together in a big photo and Pedro Pascal is in it. He left the helmet on and they go, that's commitment to the character. Like they're not supposed to take off their helmets, the Mandalorian. So it's like he even committed to behind the scenes. I go, that's commitment. Yeah. Speaking of which it's funny. Um, uh, was I saying, so yeah, just, I like when they, I like when actors are committed to the role. Commit to the bit. Yes, yes, yes. But, uh, so Favreau, again, this is another good example. Like he, he hit it out of the park. He did it with Marvel and he did it with Star Wars. Yes, he did. You know, that's cool. Uh, he's just franchise hopping. Yep. Yep. And he's doing a good job. Yeah. Very successful. They just came out with the, what do we see a commercial for? They just came out with, um, I forget if it was Hasbro or something, but they came out with an actual like puppet of baby Yoda that will like move and belch. And I'm like, Oh, that's it. Starting price was, it was at least a few hundred dollars. It was very, very expensive. I think it's like $300. Yeah. It was something I won't be spending my money on. I don't know, but, uh, it's adorable. It's, it's a really cool piece of machinery, but like, sure. I can do a lot more but yeah, no interesting little show. It it's great. Yeah. I really enjoy it. Um, even, uh, Mando season 2.5, which is the book of Boba Fett. I've heard mixed reviews on book about, yeah, it starts off as a Boba Fett show and then halfway through it just becomes the Mandalorian. Like they couldn't, it just, it wasn't working. No, like they introduced the Mandalorian. Like he was just supposed to be like a little bit part, but then it's like the show just kind of derailed and just went to Mando for most of the stuff. And then he's more interesting. Yeah, I guess. Cause I was, I was thinking too, like, he's not this character of Mandalorian is not Boba Fett. Who's the character we first saw in the original star Wars trilogy. So when they made the book of Boba Fett, I thought, okay, this thing is capitalizing on one thing that Mandalorian doesn't have the character from the original film. Yeah. So it'd be like, it'd be like if they did make a Han Solo movie, but it'd be like, if that movie was just about other smugglers, yes. Cool characters, but like, you know, the namesake, the actual character from the original is the one that you'd think would be more interesting. Right. So, but I guess not the case here. Yeah. Yeah. They just kind of went off on their own. Yeah. Um, but now after season three and a whole bunch of production, uh, shakeups, yeah. Uh, we're now getting the Mandalorian and a film coming out, uh, and I think a couple of weeks. Awesome. That'd be cool. Yeah. Yeah. I already got my ticket for it. Let me know how it is. Yeah. I'm, I'm pretty excited for it. I'm hoping it's good. Um, I'm hoping it doesn't. Yeah. I'm hoping it doesn't feel like season four just condensed into two hours. Yeah. Yeah. They sometimes do that. Cause that's how this started was they were supposed to make a season four. And then at the last minute they're like, actually let's make a movie. You know something that would be an interesting future topic for us. I think there's a few examples of like, this was supposed to be a show or a movie and we had to make it into the opposite. I want to say, I think, don't quote me. I think Mulholland drive did that with David Lynch, where he was like, this was supposed to be a show where I would have like at least one season to flush out all this stuff. Right. And then for whatever reason, it was a movie instead. So you have like, okay, what did we just watch? Yeah. Like there's all the threads are there, but they don't really connect. So it's like, okay. Yeah. You know, it's like, I get it. Like that's, it's always interesting. I go like, you see the film and like, you don't know, it's like, what was up with that? And I go, well, it was supposed to be a show. And then you're like, oh, okay. I go, so what happened? Like, why wasn't it a show? Yeah. You know, something happened, but I digress. Yeah. No, that's a perfect example. But in closing, Jon Favreau, I'm going to go back to him here. Jon Favreau has been in some good movies. He's made some good movies. Uh, we're grateful for his movies. Cause yeah, he's, uh, he seems like a fun guy. He seems like a down-to-earth real guy. Yeah. Um, also, I don't know how he does it, but he's really good with kids, like directing them. And one that one film we didn't talk about was, uh, Zathura, which is loosely connected to Jumanji. And, uh, I think, yeah, it's like you have the, again, we were talking about how I was talking about how he's like, he seems like he's a fan of whether it's star Wars or Marvel. So it seems like maybe the kid in him is still alive. So it's he knows how to like work with people that are passionate about these properties and not just like, that makes sense. Not just showing up to work. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. That's a good thought. Thank you. So, uh, in closing again, watch some Jon Favreau movies, whether he's acted in them or made them or both. Uh, they're really good. And a quick shout out to Patrick Barry, who had us on in focus. And that's why I'm a little more formal than I usually am today. We are, I have a collar today. So check out in focus cause we'll be on the show. And, uh, as always, thank you for tuning in and watching simply cinema and get out there and watch some other great shows that are here on the 22 news mobile app. Yeah. Echoes of us. Of course. We said in focus, you have off the desk, we have a sports corner where we have, um, uh, in the loop, in the loop. Can not forget Lindsay and Emma. No. Um, am I missing one? Am I forgetting one? Oh no. I think that's it. If I am, I'm sorry. Get out there and watch all of them cause they're great. Yes. They keep on coming and they're all just wonderful. Yeah. So, uh, other than that, take it easy. Yeah. We'll see you for the next one. Oh yes. Bye bye.