The Rookie Review

Hey hey hey, it's the Chaos Queen here and you're

listening to the Geekcast Radio Network. There

is nothing wrong with your podcast player. Do

not attempt to adjust the volume. Hello and welcome

back into our studio. This is Studio 2009. I'm

of course, TFJU and Mike. Joining me is one half

of the perfectly good podcast. It is none other

than Miss Sylvan Groth. Hello, how are you? I

seldom introduce myself, so it's quite a thrill

and I don't know if I can even... I don't claim

half credit, but I am one of the voices often

on Perfectly Good Podcast. You were such a great

friend to us from going way back, and it's a

pleasure to be here. Absolutely. Yes, and you

can claim half credit. He's one half, you're

the other half. Come on now. He's not coming

up with the, okay, yeah, workload, fine, but

he's not coming up with just the facts for that.

Like, you know, he's not doing the research.

He's doing all the other stuff. But, you know,

it's still 50 -50. Still 50 -50. I wish I could

say that it actually takes any kind of effort

to pull up really random trivia about every single

John Hyatt song. That's in my head the place

that you know, like social security numbers and

friends birthday should be She's well, that's

what we have Facebook for to remember friends

birthdays. I mean Facebook reminds us all the

time. So yes folks We're here tonight episode

73 of studio 2009 I wanted to do this two years

ago on the actual 20th anniversary of the film,

but we are releasing this January 19th 2024 which

will be the 60th birthday of former baseball

player Jim Morris, who the film is based off

of. And yeah, Jesse was supposed to be here,

but he got bogged under some sort of numbers

or something, I don't know. Some of the stuff,

whatever. But yeah, so - Priorities, priorities.

Yes, priorities. It's John Hyatt, first and foremost,

right? So tell the audience, because this is

the first time you've been on this show, tell

the audience how long and how deep of a John

Hyatt fan you are for those that may have not

have listened to Perfectly Good Podcast, which

I have every link for, folks, in the show notes.

Yeah, and thank you, because we're certainly

welcoming more people to the party. I like to

say that I have been a John Hyatt fan since birth.

since one of the songs my mom played for me as

a baby was Washable Ink by the Neville Brothers

being born in New Orleans and then transported

to the very cold Northeast. But we kind of became

aware of him the time most people did when Bring

the Family and Slow Turning came out. And I was

nine years old when Slow Turning came out. So,

you know, your musical tastes are still kind

of fermenting at that point. But I went through

my phase, as many a pre -teen girl does, of some

embarrassing musical choices, and my mom put

up with that the best she could. And then one

day she recalls that she came home, I was about

13, and all of a sudden the boy band was not

coming out of my stereo, instead Slow Turning

was coming out of my stereo, and she was like...

I'm not going to say anything. I'm not going

to point out that this is really making me happy

because that will make it stop. Yeah from from

there on in I kind of overcame my mom of being

a John Hyatt fan And we were really hoping that

we could join the John Hyatt fan club when his

record company had one of those Unfortunately,

we missed out on that so one day when we were

standing in line waiting for tickets I offhandedly

mentioned that I had this drawer full of articles

and things that I had just been saving because

And I was like, oh, I have enough information

to start my own fan club. And this lovely woman,

Pam Gillis, said, well, you should do that. And

I was like, oh, yeah, I guess I'll do that. And

that was in the day of paper. I started doing

a fan magazine that I would actually hand out

and put in the mail to as far away as the Netherlands

and Germany. That made way for just going online.

I've always been kind of Thrilled to talk to

other John Hyatt fans when they were email listservs

like shot of rhythm and Facebook I'm answering

this question in far more depth than I okay And

as much depth as you want because like I said,

nobody's heard you on this show before so Right.

It was about a little more than a year ago Jesse

Jackson put on the Facebook group of John Hyatt

fans that he was going to dedicate a month of

his Bruce Springsteen podcast to John Hyatt.

And would anyone have anything to say? And I

was kind of shy about it. But I said, Well, yeah,

I think I could talk for an hour about John Hyatt.

In fact, most people ask me if I can go for an

hour without talking about John Hyatt. So We

did just one episode of talking about a quirky

little album, which was actually the soundtrack

to a movie that came out the same year as the

movie we're talking about tonight. So there's

a little bit of a connection there. And we had

a really great time talking about the Country

Bears, which John White wrote songs and performed

for. Then Jesse said he'd had this idea hanging

around for a while about going through every

song A to Z. I said, you realize that's going

to take about eight years? And I didn't know

at that point that Jesse had a very serious podcast

addiction, which I now take full advantage of.

He'd been doing this for years and years before,

so eight years was just like, oh, that's - Dropping

the hat. A week or something like that. Exactly.

So we've started on that journey, and I'm just

having such a great time. We've had such fun

guests, including yourself, some local musicians,

and we've got a really exciting guest coming

up in a couple of months that is very top secret.

It's going to be great. Absolutely. So as of

this recording and release, folks, they just

released, was it Face the Nation or Falling Up?

What's the most recent one? I think it's Falling

Up, isn't it? I really don't keep track of when

they're released. I keep track of what I have

to prepare to talk about. Let me double check.

I think Falling Up might have been it. I think

that's what it is. Of course, folks, as I often

do, I will fix all this in the editing. Bugs

Bunny taught me to do, right? Yes. Falling Up

is the most recent one. Okay. Yeah. All right.

Yeah. So Falling Up is the most recent song in

that perfectly good podcast, John Hyatt from

A to Z, which will take them into like 2098 or

something to finish or who knows. Well, especially

if he puts out another album between now and

then, which we're... I am in a panic that he

releases an album with all songs that start with

the letter A and B, but we'll see what happens.

Yeah. That's why when that happens and you actually

finish the alphabet, you go back and you go by

album. Right. That way the podcast can continue

past the... Well, there is already a season two.

There you go. Because there's a bunch of unreleased

stuff out there. There you go. There you go.

Jimmy Morris, well on his way to another World

Series title. Fifteen years ago... You got your

shot at baseball. You got hurt. Jimmy Morris

put his dreams aside. Coach? Counselor? Don't

report that, Esther. I never do. But sometimes...

Hey, Coach, you want a throw? I'll throw a couple.

Yeah, Dad, bring the heat. When you least expect

it... Dreams come back to life. I threw today.

So hard. Pretty hard. Anybody want to tell me

how we lost that game? Quit out there. I'm talking

about having dreams. You don't have dreams, you

don't have anything. You're the one who should

be wanting something more. Last time I checked,

the Scouts aren't looking for high school science

teachers. We start winning, you try out again.

Are you serious? Yeah. All right. To the district

champion. Now's your time, Cope. It started as

a simple bet. I promise to try. It was this thing

to get the kids to start playing. It became the

most incredible true story. Rule number one is

arms slow down when they get up. in baseball

history. From the studio that brought you Remember

the Titans. We've got an 8 -year -old boy who

waited all day in the rain to see his daddy try

to do something that nobody believed he could

do. Now, what are we telling him if you don't

try now? The spring. You bringing some kids?

Besides your own? I'm here for me. For you. Jimmy!

Come on, you're up. Just a second. I'm not doing

this. Don't hurt yourself. His dreaming was impossible.

Are you the old guy? I'm the old guy. How fast

were you soaring 15 years ago? 85, 86? You just

threw 98 miles an hour. No. But his journey was

extraordinary. To Coach Jimmy Morris, the man

who taught us about wanting something more. Dennis

Quaid. Do you know how many guys can throw the

ball 98 miles an hour? Yes! Not many. The Rookie.

Alright folks tonight is all about 2002's The

Rookie aka Walt Disney's The Rookie starring

Dennis Quaid, Rachel Griffiths, Jay Hernandez,

Brian Cox, Angus T. Jones and more. This is based

off of Jim Morris who was the true -to -life

baseball player who the story is based off of

and the reason the main reason why Sylvan is

here I don't know how much of a baseball fan

you are, but we all know how much of a John Hyatt

fan you are. I'm more of a fan of movies about

baseball than I am baseball. Because for whatever

reason, it is the sport that translates to that

medium the best. I would argue with anyone that

you can make a decent soccer movie, a decent

football movie, but there are great baseball

movies and I don't think any other sport has

come close to that. I will argue for hockey and

the Mighty Ducks, but that's just me. So yeah,

2002's the rookie. You know, one could argue

golf, Happy Gilmore, but... Yeah, that's more

of an Adams. Yeah, I guess. Well, he wanted to

be a hockey player. Turned out, no, that's true.

There's so many different sports movies. So yeah,

2002 is there. I think baseball does win the

prize. Yeah, it kind of does. I think there are,

I'd have to do the math on this and I hate doing

math, folks. There's probably more baseball movies

than anything else. Right. And if you don't mind,

I mean, I'm sure if you're interested in baseball

movies, you are well aware of the pride of the

Yankees. But that's one of the all times greats

right up there with it's a wonderful life and

so forth. So that's not what we're here to talk

about. It's a wonderful life. I could never get

past the title. I have. How long have you been

a member of Al Qaeda? Wow, all right. No, it's

a it's a Batman line folks. It's In Batman the

animated series Robin suggests to Batman Haley,

it's Christmas. Let's watch it's a wonderful

life and Batman's like it's a wonderful life,

huh? I could never get past the title Because

Batman has had such not a wonderful life kind

of thing I will argue against any Yankee film

with fever pitch from 2005 because the Boston

Red Sox are superior to the New York Yankees,

end of story. That's another thing too is that

I grew up basically in the shadow of Fenway Park.

My grandfather coached all of my aunts and uncles

in Little League was one of those Red Sox fans

that his whole life never got to see them make

it. And to this day, you can't mention the, is

it the 86? Yes, it's 86. Without half the family,

you know, that broke Papa's heart. How could

they do that? Club to the ground. So, yeah. Damn

Bill Buckner. It wasn't Buckner's fault. Stanley

didn't cover for... Yeah, yeah, it was Buckner's

fault. Anyway. Glove to the ground. That's right.

All right, folks. 2002's The Rookie. I love this

film. I have always loved this film. The way

that the story is told in the film versus how

it actually happened, because I actually found

when I was looking for the trailer earlier, I

found a whole 20 minute clip of like a behind

the scenes thing of them talking about the movie.

You actually see Jim Morris in there and various

things. And I was like, oh, in 22 years, I had

never seen that. So I watched that today. And

they romanticize it a bit in the movie because

movies are. Romanticized stuff all the time.

Movie. I mean, they call it the Disney fiction

of a bang for a reason. Absolutely. Uh, but it

is the journey of young Jimmy Morris who wants

to be a baseball player. He's always wanted to

be a baseball player. His father was a Navy brat

and ended up moving all over the place and they

ended up settling in Texas. One of the reasons

why I wish Jesse was here, because he could speak

to this more than either one of us could. Growing

up in Texas, the culture. Big Lake doesn't have...

I don't know if you watched the documentary today

or not, but in there they say Big Lake, Texas

is one of those towns where you blink and you

miss it. You pass right through it. It's kind

of like going from Louisville, Kentucky through

Frankfort. Frankfort, Kentucky is the capital

of Kentucky, but it's like that big. So you just

you just kind of pass right on by. Like I said,

I love this movie. I love the journey. I love

how he motivates the kids to start winning and

then they turn it back on him. I love that. That's

so cool. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I also have a little

bit of an aversion to cute kids in movies. And

I did go back and re -watch this thinking like,

you know, I remember there was a lot of kids

in that, but I don't remember like disliking

any of the kids. That's kind of weird for me.

And it is really a phenomenal child cast. And,

you know, we'll get into the details there, but

I had forgotten that it was Angus T. Jones, who

then went on to be in Two and a Half Men. And,

you know, whatever you might think about that,

he's had a very long career as an actor and.

I'm never aware of the fact that I'm watching

a child actor when I'm watching his performance,

which is the best compliment I can get. Yeah.

I liked him in this and that's pretty much it.

I stopped following him after, after that, like

I've seen him in two and a half men. I was never

a big fan of two and a half men before and after

Charlie Sheen, but you know, I, I liked him in

this. He was one of those, you know, cute. cute

kid in movie kind of thing. And you know, he

plays the son of of Jim and everything else.

And yeah, yeah. And you like, you believed in

that relationship. And it's it to me, it felt

really authentic, because you really felt like

the kid was hoping for the dad just as much as

the dad was trying to take care of the kid it

was a very symbiotic relationship which i think

most child parent relationships are much more

than you actually see portrayed in movies yeah

yeah absolutely especially the scene with them

on the phone in the phone booth with you know

helping with his homework and then the other

big ball players legos no i was helping my son

with his math home and again because jim is older

than every other. Young ball play like he's the.

I love the line. So you're the old guy. I'm the

old guy. Yeah. Like I don't have time or energy

to get pissed off at that. Yeah. Yeah. My situation

is way different than whatever you're going through

kind of thing. Right. And, uh, and you know,

it's, uh, what else about this did you like?

Well, I also need to say that Rachel Griffith,

I had forgotten about her being in there and

I loved her in Six Feet Under. So it was really

interesting to see her as like this wholesome

mom when I'm used to seeing her as like basically

a sect addict on a show about a funeral parlor.

So that was really great. As I said, the whole

cast of the team was great. I really appreciated

that. It was a story about just doing your best.

And, you know, that speech that he gives before

they make the bargain about, you know, you gave

up, you didn't play with heart. You know, it's

small, but it's true. And it works. And you can

really imagine that someone could have recorded

what the actual. Jim said to his teammates, and

it wasn't prettied up and glossified. And, you

know, I can't remember if there was actually

even a score under that. I do remember a couple

of places where it's like, if they were really

trying to make this the Hollywood version, they

would have a way overdone score happening under

here there. And I felt there was a lot of restraint

with that. The score is very, very subtle. It

only happens in certain scenes and certain whatever

and that moment when he's motivating the kids,

I'm pretty sure that I've seen the movie enough

times, I think I would know. I'm 95 % sure that

there is no music when he's talking to them because

they then, like you said, turn it on him. Well,

what about you, coach? What are your dreams?

Well, if you guys make state or if you guys do

this, then I'll go try out. Okay, sure. that

motivates them which yeah and i mean that really

felt authentic because then he he like pushes

back like i'm only trying out i'm gonna make

a fool of myself and you know like and you can

just see it in their eyes that the kids are thinking

that you're gonna have more than a tryout yeah

they know and the the crazy thing about the the

kids in the team when they when they start winning

I don't. So this is the first time that I've

seen the film that I looked at it where it's

right before slow turning starts. When they start

winning, there's that little guitar part like

right before the song. And I'm sitting here thinking

to myself, is that John? Cause that would be

perfect if it was, it's literally I've heard

enough John Hyatt music now at this point in

my life. I swear that's John on the guitar right

before the song starts. Yup. Yeah and well actually

technically it's funny because that is a very

classic sunny land. So funny story I actually

did see this movie in the theater precisely because

I'm sure it was on the Yahoo discussion group

someone said hey I saw this movie guess what

John Hyatt has a song in it so I was like okay

I'll go and I was in a theater of my very small

town we make the fictional or non -fictional.

texas town a big lake look like a grand metropolis

here in the hills of vermont teeny tiny little

theater i saw it and slow turning came on and

i was really excited and i was kind of dancing

i was by myself because i've never had a problem

going to the movies by myself and i look over

and there's someone like two rows ahead of me

doing the exact same thing he's even more enthusiastically

dancing he's got his head thrown back singing

the words and i'm like Who are you and how do

I not know you? So I wanted to like grab him

and introduce myself, but he actually left before

the end credits. And when John Hyatt's song is

in a movie, I have to watch his name go up on

the credits. So to this day, every once in a

while, our local radio station has a they play

slow turning and they say, oh, that was a request

from Randolph. And I'm like, who are you? And

how come we haven't met? What is going on? Yes.

Absolutely. Yeah, I know. So the song plays as

they continue their winning streak and then we

get the beautiful Hollywood montage of things

coming together. noticed this time is it skips.

It plays through it. It doesn't stop, but it

jumps from one section of the song to the other

section, which is fine. Don't get me wrong. I'm

not complaining about it. I'm just, I've never

noticed for as many times as I've seen this film

that it - Well, now that you're a hired expert,

if anything is altered, you're aware. Yeah. I

don't know about expert, but yeah. It's a nice

little film. It's nice that the song is there

and the song works for the scene. I mean, I think

they did a great job with the soundtrack all

around. There's just so many emotional points

and they pull back and let the song tell the

story and then they zoom back into the story.

You know, I have to give the shout out to some

dreams by Steve Earl, which I think plays to

the credits, but is also thrown a little. I mean,

that's just a perfect song. Ryan Adams, he was

not as well known now as he was then and kind

of highlighted in this film. We've got some Willie

Nelson, some Guy Clark and just really well done.

And just everybody in this movie is a standout

character from the kids. to Jim himself, to his

wife, to his three kids, to the old guys in the

barbershop. I mean, everybody gets a good piece.

Yeah, and I would say even the town is a character

in and of itself. They frame that around this

big mysterious thing with the nuns and this and

that and whatever else. Yeah. Yeah, and just

the way that they all came together and yeah.

Yeah, it works. I read something that movie critic

was very careful to say that he was not saying

this as a negative, but actually this is not

a movie. It is two movies. And I remember feeling

that this most recent watch that there's the

movie about the little league team that defies

the odds and turns things around. And then there's

the movie about the older baseball player getting

a second chance. It is great that they work together

in the way that they do. But yeah, it definitely

felt like you could almost get up and leave and,

oh, wait, there's more. Yeah. Yeah. Again, like

when they're when they're going through and.

You could probably go and leave as soon as the

song stops because that's the, that's the genesis

of the whole thing. Like you guys start winning

and then I'll go try out. So again, going through

the winning streak scene, we get to that, the

song fades and we then get to the point of the

story of him having to then go find a try out,

try out and see what happens. And then we are

on his journey, following it through his eyes.

And everybody else in the town's eyes from his

wife to the old guys to the kids in the baseball.

All that stuff. And it's, it's so good. It's

really good. And it's kind of interesting that

there's a little bit of a contrast in that. You

definitely got the sense that the kids worked

hard, but it is done in that sped up version

of all of a sudden you're seeing within a minute

of film when, when, when, and you know, the.

green grass coming up on the field and blah,

blah, blah. And then in contrast for Jim's story,

you're seeing him in that phone booth in the

rain. You're seeing him getting the dirty looks

from people. You're seeing him, you know, ice

in his shoulder and really working hard, not

sure if he's going to make it getting the calls

that you know, the mortgage is overdue. And when

do you give up and all those kind of things that

it's lovely to think that You work hard and you

don't suffer. Yeah, but really no one gets to

a great accomplishment Without some pain. Yeah,

and I really like that they had shown that in

the second part Yeah, I mean anyone who does

road traveling for a job doesn't matter what

job it is any job From baseball to musician to

whatever it could be, you know traveling toilet

paper salesman or something. It doesn't matter.

If you're traveling for a job, you're away from

your family, especially if you're a family person,

you're away from your family, you're away from

your wife and kids, you're, you know, in baseball

specifically. I mean, what is it? I don't know.

Baseball. 62 weeks out of the year, something

like that, whatever. whatever it is, it's like

62 games. So it's like, you're on the road all

year long kind of thing through the summer and

stuff. So yeah, I mean, seeing that is an interesting

thing because it adds to it to the fact that

he was a baseball player and then he got injured

and now he's coming back to see and. Hey, look.

Yeah. And it's like, you know, fool me once.

shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. I'm

sure that was part of the feeling of like, why

am I putting myself up for this heartache a second

time? And, you know, that's a lovely message

to take from the film too, that, you know, sometimes

even a horrible sport that chews people and spits

them out needs a second chance. I think another

one of the best scenes in this is the speed trap

scene. Oh my God. 76, 76, 70. I think I saw something

that said that that was actually, uh, like a

movie blooper or like that was part of the complete

fabrication. Yeah, most likely. Yeah. No, I don't

think it's part of the act again. Cause again,

you're like, cause he says himself when, when

Dave asked it, when, when the, the, you know,

when, when you were pitching Jim, how fast, I

don't know, 86, 87, you know, whatever. So seeing

the speed trap, I was like, And I've been like

this the whole time ever ever since I first saw

I was like 76 now. Ah Got it. Uh -huh. That's

what's gonna bring him back cuz no scout is not

gonna call in a 98 mile an hour a pitch So yeah,

no, absolutely It's just a feel -good movie folks.

If you haven't seen it before check it out. I

love Dennis Quaid Yeah, I've always loved Dennis

Quaid. He's Pretty good. He's been around for

as long as he has and yeah, and his tone in this

is so perfect. You know, he just really shows

both sides of this character, the hoping for

someone else and then hoping for himself and

you know, the selflessness of being a school

teacher and putting in the time with the kids

and then arguably being really selfish. Spending

time away from his family, but you know he had

the motivation he had the reason to do it. He

had the motivation and he and everybody motivating

him behind him like his wife wasn't saying no,

don't do this. You have to do this. If you don't

do this, you're not going to know what's what

could have been. It's one of those. Yeah. And

she made the really good argument that like,

how can you tell our kids that they can do anything

if you're not willing to give this a shot? Yeah,

exactly. And then. I love this line from her

because he's like, well, what about the bills

and this and then you and she's like, Jimmy Morris,

I'm a Texas woman. I can handle this. I love

that line from her. That's so, so good. Yeah.

It is one of those moments where it's like, oh,

she is such a good actress because I believed

her and then I've believed her as a very different

type of character. Yeah, absolutely. And to his

mom and dad, Brian Cox, that man can act. Like

I've seen him in several things, but I always

remember him as as the dad in this and just,

wow, so good. All right, so we've mentioned a

lot of the cast. Let's so I was looking at. Quade's

filmography, the first time I ever saw him was

in 1987's Innerspace. Wow, I'm shocked that you

like that movie, Mike. Really? Couldn't even

get it out. Really? You're shocked that I like

Innerspace? Right. I'm shocked there isn't a

John Hyatt song in that movie, actually. Since

it came out the same year. Well, you never know.

Could have had a little faith in there somewhere.

Well, as I pointed out, this was released the

same year that John was the main voice of a singing

character in another Disney movie. And I know

I heard it somewhere, but I can't remember if

it was pure rumor or somehow documented that

Isner who is in charge of disney at the time

why is a john hyatt fan and that was what was

steering all these things happening so very cool.

Yeah quaid would go on to do a bunch of other

films of me being the geek that i am judge of

the rise of cobra he was a character in that.

He's done a bunch of other things. I don't even

remember the last movie I saw him in. Speaking

of music, did a great Jerry Lee Lewis in Great

Balls of Fire. Oh yeah, that's right. He made

that story, I think, relatable and, you know,

that you actually were rooting for the old guy

to marry his cousin somehow. I don't know how

that works, but okay. Oh, gosh, I can't believe

I forgot about this. I'm looking at Wikipedia.

And speaking of John Hyatt, some people might

know of a cover version of a little song called

Thing Called Love by Miss Bonnie Raitt. The official

music video of Thing Called Love by Bonnie Raitt

featured what actor? That's right. So wait, she

covered that? Or he did? Okay, I want to know

because When I was list, so last year folks in

August of last year, I, and I knew you were coming

on. So I have to have this discussion with you.

You guys always call it the recovery trilogy.

I add in perfectly good guitar. So it's a tetralogy.

Like perfectly good guitar is like the tail end

of, Hey, this is where I am now. This is the

good side. Yeah, well, you know, that makes perfect

sense because I have heard a lot of people in

recovery talk about finding like a second adolescence

or a second childhood when you're just like this

joyful energy in your sobriety. And they called

that his midlife crisis returned to his teenage

years. So that makes perfect sense. Yeah. And

when I was writing up the stuff for For those

individual written reviews for bring the family

slow -turning stolen moments. Thank you And I'm

probably a good good guitar. I looked at thing

called love and I'm like, wait a minute I listen

to that like because I've listened to all these

songs like on multiple repeats so I could have

the song stuck in my head so I could write about

it and I'm like And I've never really been I

don't know anything against Bonnie Raitt, but

I've never really been a super fan of hers. I'm

like This sounds awfully familiar, and I hadn't

heard her version in years, and I still haven't.

I won't listen to it because John's version,

to me, is the only version that matters. But

he's the first to say that it put many attire

on the tour bus. It really elevated his profile.

made a lot of money on the royalties. He also

talks about that year, she won a whole bunch

of Grammys and every time they called her name

as the winner for the Grammy, they did thing

called love and he was sitting on the couch with

his wife, just cheering and having a grand old

time watching that happen. So that's more than

enough for me. Yeah, absolutely. This is one

of those movies where even if it wasn't about

somebody, if it was just a completely made up

story. This is a movie and this is a thing that

Hollywood has kind of gotten away from, but is

kind of going back to. It's one film. You don't

need three sequels. You don't need a whole universe

of movies based off of this. It's just one film,

beginning, middle and end. And I have been so

obsessed with that format lately because we have

been so engrossed with movies, with universes.

I have nothing against the universe and whatever

else with the movies and 23 films with Marvel

and all that. That's fine. That's great. But

I miss the days of the individual film standing

on its own and this film stands on its own. i

think going to the movies watching a movie is

about escapism and giving yourself a break from

your own life for a couple of hours and then

you know feeling refreshed and feeling like you

took the journey and now it's over and you can

return back to your normal life so i absolutely

agree with you when they stretch these things

out you know as much as i loved lord of the rings

and you certainly couldn't make those movies

any uh shorter than the original trilogy was,

but oh, he's rolling his eyes. People, you can't

see that, but I've said it before on this show

and I'll say it again. I was 14 years old. I

read that book. Fellowship is and it's numbers

folks. And it's my brain, my broken ass brain.

His 11, the first birthday. I read that line

and I'm like, okay, I'm done. It means he's 111

years old. Just stop. I get it. I get it. It's

the language and all that and everything else.

But yeah, at 14, I was done. I've never had any

interest in those movies. Well, that is something

that I was talking about my mom and I bonding

over John Hyatt. She loved those Tolkien books

so much that she on my birthday, like baby out

of the womb, gifted me with the leather bound

fancy edition. Awesome. And I to this day have

not read them all. It's okay. I find them pretty

boring too. It's okay. I mean, it was fine. I

was doing well at 14 years. I've been reading

my whole life. 14 isn't very much of a whole

life, but I grew up reading Barrens Named Bears

and Hardy Boys and this, that, and the other

thing and everything else. I've read a bunch

of other stuff and I'm like, oh, okay. My dad

found a copy of it. The only reason why I had

a copy of it was my dad found it on a bus. He's

a mechanic. He used to work for several different

bus companies back then and somebody left it

on a bus. Usually when you're cleaning out the

buses, you either put it in lost and found or

you take it home to your kids. And I read it

and I read it and I'm like, okay, I don't know.

I think it's like the first chapter when that

happens with the whole birthday. It's before

bill though comes like. God, I couldn't even

finish a first chapter of that book. So I have

no interest in the movies. Never have. I don't

have anything against them. I'm not sitting here

saying, I can't sit here and say, oh my God,

I hate them because I don't, because I've never

seen them. I just don't. I'd rather go to a galaxy

far, far away. But yeah, folks, 2002's Disney's

The Rookie. Check it out if you're a baseball

fan. Or if you're not, because as I said, I'm

not a baseball fan, but I really loved this movie

even outside of the soundtrack. In fact, I was

looking at the research and seeing that it's

got a really relatively high IMDB score of like

86 % on Rotten Tomatoes or something like that.

I kind of thought like, oh, I thought it was

just me. I occasionally will love a movie that

everyone else hates. Oh, yeah. And I kind of

thought this was one of those, but no, it's just

it's a well -made movie. It's well acted. The

production is beautiful. You really believe that

you're seeing these small towns and it takes

you into these stories. And, you know, the games

are filmed really dynamically and exciting and

I just have to give it a thumbs up. Yeah, absolutely.

I am right there with you. And ladies and gentlemen,

she's going to break my brain here because that's

not how the Hyatt scale works over at Perfectly

Good Podcast. But here at the GCN, for years

now, we've had our universal rating system, which

includes half points no matter what. Zero to

five, what would you give it? Okay you said half

points are allowed here speaking of breaking

brains. Yes have points are allowed if we have

to keep this quiet from jesse oh he's gonna know

because i don't allow him to use half points.

I go ahead and give it a four star because you

just feel so good after you watch it you know

it's not. Groundbreaking cinema it's not you

know an important movie that you know teaches

you you know something about history or something

like that it's not casablanca for goodness sake

but it's a really made movie and it's a joy to

watch well folks you know how i am half the time.

There's nothing in this film that made me ever.

In the last 22 years, there has never been anything

in this movie that has turned me off to it. There

is nothing in this movie that has made me just

go, nope, I'm done. There's no scene. There's

no moment. There's no nothing. It's a five all

the way. All right. It just, it just, it just

is. I was waiting for the butt. No, no, no, no,

no butt. No butt at all. So. Alright folks, I

think we are going to take a quick break. We're

going to come back with the closing of the show

right after some ads and some other stuff. We'll

be back right after this. Retrospective Series,

where we review noted director's movies, film

by film. Bottom line is, if you love movies and

love podcasts, you need to experience the Cinema

Geeks. You can find us on iTunes, Blog .Radio,

or GeekCastRadio .com. Hey toy fans, this is

John, also known as Iacon Dispatch. You can find

me on pretty much every social network at Iacon

Dispatch, where I share cool Transformers and

Star Wars stuff that I like. Thanks so much to

the great people at GeekCast Radio Network for

putting this awesome project together and for

once again letting me contribute to it. Definitely

had a lot of fun with it. Take it easy everyone

and I'll see you around online. that's been around

for over 10 years. We cover everything from Doctor

Who to the MCU to pop culture and everything

in between. A new show drops on Tuesday mornings

on the GCRN website and all of the major podcast

platforms. So listen to the Mark Who 42's universe

podcast from the universe and beyond. Do you

know John Hyatt songs? Maybe you know them from

being covered by Roseanne Cash, Three Dog Nined,

the Neville Brothers, Emmylou Harris, Eric Clapton,

BB King, Jeff Healy, Bonnie Raitt, or literally

hundreds of others. Maybe you have some of his

albums on your shelf, or in your cowhorned Cadillac

right now. I'm Jesse Jackson. And I'm Sylvan

Graf. And we're going to dive in from A to Z.

Join us on the Perfectly Good Podcast. We're

going to discuss all of your favorites and uncover

some forgotten gems from Aces Up Your Sleeve

to Zero House. Rate and debate every John Hyatt

song on the Perfectly Good Podcast. Have a little

faith. All right, folks, we're back here in Science

Studio 2009. Ms. Sylvan Groth, promote stuff.

What do you got going on? Perfectly good podcast.

We are making our journey and we would love people

of We have had people who have been longtime

Hyatt fans come on We have had people who have

never really heard of John Hyatt because I walk

around the world Just trying to grab someone

and if you say you're interested in music, you'll

you know hear about it. So Perfectly good podcast

John Hyatt hz there is another perfectly good

podcast out there But it was just too good of

a name to pass up And I'm also a little bit of

a Harry Potter nerd, so I just submitted something

to LeakyCon. Maybe you'll see me there, maybe

you won't, but I have a presentation based on

David M. Martin's 12 fail -safe ways to charm

witches. If you're interested in that, drop me

a line and I'll point you in the right direction.

But otherwise, I'm just... Up here in Vermont,

keeping a low profile. Good ol' Ben and Jerry's.

All right, folks, that's gonna do it for us.

Coming up next, I don't know. It could be a Gamer

Origins episode. It could be another movie review.

I do know Episode 75 is a podcast Origins episode,

but I don't know what's happening in Episode

74. I have to check with the people behind the

scenes and see what's going on there. Thank you

for joining us inside the studio. If you'd like

to get in contact with us or leave feedback for

the show, there are several ways to do so. Visit

the website geekcastradio .com where you can

listen to and comment on all of our content.

Send us email to feedback at geekcastradio .com.

You can check us out on any of the podcasting

clients that you choose to use. I prefer Spotify,

but that's just me. Follow us on Twitter at geekcastradio

for the network at itsstudio2009 all in one word.

I'm at TF2 and Mike, you are still on Twitter.

Correct or have you left it now at this point?

We've got a perfectly good PD, uh, which I haven't

monitored for a while and I was still in green

eyes for a while, which might be the best way

to find some of my Harry Potter stuff. Okay.

Cool. Cool. You can become a fan on Facebook,

go to facebook .com slash geek cast radio network

and studio 2009 podcast over there as well as

checking out the John Hyatt's fan group. as well

as the Perfectly Good Podcast fan page over there

as well. All of these links will be on geekcasterdio

.com as always in this episode's post. Like I

said, next time, I'm not sure what's going on.

It could be video games, it could be movies,

it could be cartoons, it could be anything in

the audio and visual realm, because that's what

this podcast is for. For now, I am TF2 and Mike

with Sylvan Green Eyes. You'll hear us back in

the studio soon.