Forrest Gump/Homemade Chocolate

[00:00:00] Slide up to the snack bar. Grab a better maybe something and watch another movie with to the snack bar. First to Vietnam Lieutenant. I'm not a smart man. Slide up.

Seasons Greetings and welcome once again to Cinema Snack Bar. I'm Rob Alley. And I'm Zeke Tucker. And wow, I don't know, we're just, we're hopping right in. It felt like it's doing good in character. This week I will be for Skump the whole time. We are here to talk about the movies you love and the foods that help make them awesome.

And this week we are talking about our first listener, uh, submitted episode. We've done Zeke's Choice, my Choice and AFI Top 100 Last week in Snow White. And now we're doing our first audience pick, and that is going to be Forest Gump, forests [00:01:00] Gump, uh, a definitely a classic movie. Um, but one that I'll just be real.

I don't like, I don't like this movie. And so this is gonna be different just from me. I mean, I'm not like, I've got all my usual notes and stuff, but I'm just gonna say out front, this is not a movie that I enjoy. That is the. From the outside. I go, man, that's really surprising, but because I know you, I go, okay, that makes sense.

Uh, based on the type of movies, you're like, it is one of the most quotable felt pointed. I did that did feel pointed. I didn't mean it that way. I just went, okay, I get it, I get you. So I was like, ah, okay. He's not a Forest Gump guy. I didn't necessarily think I was a Forest Gump guy. And then I. Balled my eyes out twice while we watched it this week.

Oh, I can't wait to hear when. Oh, I did. I mean, it is like, uh, I don't know. It's, it's a very, if you think about some of the most popular movies of all time, yeah. Maybe not most important, but, uh, Forrest Gum, Titanic, things like that. This is on that list. Oh, for sure. In with its mark on pop culture. I mean, this is huge.

It has things that, [00:02:00] you know, 25 years plus later are still common phrases that you hear. Absolutely. And one of them, probably the most popular phrase is, mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. Yep. You never know what you're gonna get. Which brings us to our food selection today for Forest Gump, which is we have attempted, and I'll say attempted.

We have, we have attempted to make homemade milk chocolate. Yes. And, um, we'll talk about that in the, in the food segment and we'll try it and see how it came out. I hope it's good, but, uh, you and me both, but, uh, so we'll see what we get. We'll find out. We'll, it's gonna be, I kind of exactly like a box of chocolate.

Yeah. We are gonna see what we're gonna, we don't know. You never know what you're gonna. But first let's talk about Forest Gump. You said it, it is a, you know, as popular movies go, it is just right up there for people of like my generation and a little younger. And I'm guess this is a cross-generational thing, everybody from like, yeah, it is because boomers have things to love about this movie.

Movie. Right, right. You know, for sure. Or at least to [00:03:00] reminisce about throughout this movie. And then, you know, and it's watchable by, by anybody. It is in fact, also on the AFI top 100, it was not one of the ones that we randomly selected to be on our list, but it is number 76 on the American Film Institute's, uh, top 100 list, and it is number 11 on the IMDB top movies list.

I saw that. I saw that. Which is an impressive goal, you know? Yeah. I mean, maybe not goal, it's an impress That is an impressive, uh, feat to be one of the top 15, top 20. Sure. Because you think about, you know, Even like IMDB movies that are rated like a 90 or above, they're a lot, you know, I mean, a, a fair number of those.

Right. You know, so for this to be like number 11 on the all-time imdb pretty big deal. That's, yeah. It's pretty impressive. It means people still are still loving for gum essentially, is what we're saying. Right? The, the life is like, a box of chocolates is number 40 on the top. 100 movie quotes of all time.

Okay. Yes. I believe that. I forget, I forget where I read that, but I was like that. Totally. That makes sense. Yeah. You know that, that's such a good way to go. It is chocolate [00:04:00] based. It is food-based. Yeah, it is what we love here. That's right. So we're gonna try it, we're gonna try chocolate later. Uh, little more on for Gump.

It won six Oscars in 1995. It won for best visual effects, best film editing, best writing parenthesis, screenplay, uh, based on material previously published because it was a book originally. Um, and it won for best director, which would be Robert ZECs, who will talk about, uh, best leading actor, Tom Hanks and Best picture.

So like, this is a. Not only a beloved movie, but a highly acclaimed Yeah. Um, you know, well awarded movie. It was nominated for seven additional Oscars and a what? Did it not win? I didn't look up the categories. I don't, I know. I wanted to know, I know Gary Sinise was nominated for, uh, best Supporting Actor, right.

Lieutenant Dan. Um, but, uh, that's the others I'm not sure about. Uh, probably the score. I imagine the original the music was, was probably, yeah, it was super beautiful. And in this one you have beautiful score and you have a killer soundtrack. [00:05:00] It is, it is like, I forgot how good this soundtrack was. It is, it is so iconic.

Some of these, I feel like movies that came out later. Tried to mimic some of the things. So Whitney was talking about this earlier, where, what is the song when it's the war song? It's Fortunate Son by, uh, credence by ccr. Oh, okay. Yes. So that when they're running through, when they're running through, I always picture military something.

Yes, yes. It's like. I just feel like after this, everyone was like, yeah, that's, that's the, that is the song when we're running through Vietnam. Yeah. You can't use anything else. You know, you, you have a point because, uh, kind of, this was sort of the turn of the, the nineties, mid nineties was when you had a lot of movies started turning from traditional scores to, um, you know, song based soundtracks where they would use, they're like, let's just use a song that already exists that feels right.

You know, you've had some of that in the past, but you, you, you know, you go less from like, um, you know, Ghostbusters or stuff that has original music written for it. I don't know [00:06:00] why I went straight to Ghostbusters, but I did. That was a, that was a shift, but Sword Transition or Dirty Dancing where you have songs that are written for the movie, you know what I mean?

But they're just like, no, let's just, I love this freaking rage against the machine song. Let's use it, you know? Right. And put it bit easier. It's the, it's kind of the Guardians of the Galaxy formula, right? The modern day. That is, I mean, that is a killer soundtrack too. Yeah. It's that, it's that same sort of formula.

It sort of ingratiates you to the movie because you love this song. Right, right. And then you pair it with a cool visual, so it helps you remember and connect on a different level. It's like you say, when you hear Fortunate Sun, you think about people running through the jungle. Right. Um, or maybe when you hear Run Through the Jungle, also by ccr, you would think of people running through the jungle.

But, um, so yeah. Great, great soundtrack. A huge soundtrack too as far as like sales, but also a, a massive, it was a double CD and it had like, oh, wow. 36 tracks or something. I mean, it was like, Everything I, and the movie is two and a half hours long and, and a lot of it is filled with, uh, music. So yeah, I mean, it's gonna have a two disk CD set and the, and the music is [00:07:00] helping you to follow through the timeline as well.

It is, it really is. So you're getting, you're going from the mid sixties, um, to the eighties really, in this, I feel like it helped more than anything. It helped Jenny's, uh, transition cuz she had a lot of styles. Yeah. Jenny had a lot of styles in this movie and every time it switched to her, she was wearing a very specific type of garb of outfit.

And that music decade. Yeah. Yes. And that music played a part in all of this. Yeah. Maybe I should do, let's do the plot summary first. Let me just give you the plot summary and then we'll dig in so that if you have no idea what Forest Gump is, this will kind of paint the picture for you a little bit. This is the plot summary according to I M D.

The presidencies of Kennedy and Johnson, the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, and other historical events unfold from the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75 whose only desire is to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart. That to me sounds like an incomplete plot submarine. Or it does to me too, that it kind of misses the point a little bit.

Right. But hey, it is, I [00:08:00] read, I read a much simpler, uh, uh, a much simpler plot summary, uh, and it really resonated with me cuz I feel like if anything I, this is where. Can bond with for Gump. Okay. It says Forest Gump is a simple man with a low iq, but good intentions. Okay. And that's just what I feel like my life goal has been so far.

Sure. Low iq, but good intentions. And I feel like that, you know, it's an honorable thing. Yeah. Uh, I feel like combining those two might get the plot summary properly, uh, covered, but I know, but like both of those, it's such a, it's such an intense movie that I feel like that summary doesn't get it. Like, I'm not getting, it's not the same movie than what I wa that's what I watched.

Yeah. Right. Yes. It's not a comprehensive summary, let's say not. Okay. It's not, it would be hard. I mean, it's a long movie and it covers, you know, two, two and a half decades, three decades worth of time. Well, what goes back further than that? Cuz he's tiny when it first starts up. Right. So, which is where we come back to.

Elvis Presley used to have a, a scene where basically for starts and he has these, uh, braces on his legs. Yeah. [00:09:00]Because he, he has, because his weak back curved spine or whatever, question mark. Yeah, his question mark. Second question Mark. I thought you were having a question. I thought you were inserting question mark.

Um, question mark here. Um, but so you have a thing where he's dancing and this young man is renting a room at his, at his mom's house, you know, and it turns out to be Elvis Presley. You see him from the back. And I read that the voice of Elvis was actually Kurt Russell. I I saw that. That's awesome. Makes sense.

Um, but, uh, so he sort of teaches Elvis this dance by just dancing around, kind of oddly with his, with his braces on. And that turns out to be the dance that Elvis does, you know, that wows everybody later with his, you know, all the hips and the whatnot. But anyway, we go all the way from Elvis Presley, then we get into stuff like, uh, the rooftop singers, Wilson Pickett to Joan Baez, credence, Clearwater Revival, uh, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, beach Boys, mamas, and the Papas.

The, the doors are all over this. Um, I mean the really, the music of the late sixties and seventies right, that this soundtrack hits [00:10:00] is like, it's insane. Um, You get like age of Aquarius, joy of the world. Three Dog Knight, uh, raindrops, keep falling on my head by BJ Thomas. And you get Sweet Home, Alabama, you get a couple Skynyrd songs in there.

Yeah. You get Sweet Home Alabama and you get Freebird, which plays in, in a key scene later. Right. That will, that we'll, uh, talk about. But anyway, you get Gladys Knight. It's just massive. I feel like this is probably one of the just like top 10, uh, soundtracks. Yeah. Like it is just, it is intense. It is stacked.

Yeah. It's hard to beat. It's like a, you know, this is a soundtrack that lifts weights and does not skip leg day. You know, it doesn't, it doesn't, it's very, very beefy and hard to beat in a fight. Um, and then Alan Sylvere did the score, um, and he did the, you know, Feather theme. Yeah. Um, and, uh, but later, if you know him from like more modern day stuff, he does all the, like Avengers soundtracks.

Oh, he the one that wrote the, the Avengers theme and all that stuff. Um, let's see, directed by Robert [00:11:00]Zemeckis, who is probably most known either for this or the Back to the Future trilogy. Right. Um, he, you know, has done a, a ton of stuff, even from stuff that like nobody really remembers, like death becomes her.

Um, or he contact and flight, you know, Whitney, you know, I love Death Becomes Her Do. Okay. Is that the one with Meryl Streep? Yes. And, uh, okay. All my words. She, she made me watch that so many times. Used to come on TV all the time. Yeah. And she loves it. Okay. So Robert, Robert Ekk, you know, kind of a, a legendary director, writer, producer, he's done, you know, done it all at this point.

Uh, do you think if you just walked up to, you know, 500 people at various places around the world, more people would know for Gump or back to the future? I don't know. I'm hoping that the, uh, I just had a bubble in my throat and I I heard it, I heard it through the, through the earphone. So if you heard it, there's a little asmr.

Um, I would say, I would say force, oh no. I don't know. It's hard to, I [00:12:00] don't know. If you showed people the, the poster, the movie poster of each one, which one would they go? I think back to the Future has a, uh, the styling of the art for Back to the Future. I think people would have, uh, more recognition for that one.

Uh, however, I think Forest Gump is more widely known. I'm questioning everything I'm saying, like, I know Back to the Future, but I've never actually watched it. But I've watched Forest Gump we're, we are gonna fix that. Let me just tell you. I can't believe all anyway. All right. Um, I, yeah, I don't have a good answer.

Like, I'm not, you know, I don't feel like I know the answer to that question. I'm just wonder, I'm just curious. Um, I said, I don't really like this movie. I don't get what it is. It's too slow and it's too long. And I'm good with slow, like Right. One of my, you love some good conversation in movies. Yeah. One of my, one of my top like three movies is Superman, the movie, and it is slow and long.

We don't mind a slow burn. No, I don't mind a slow burn. It's just this, this whole movie to [00:13:00] me feels like a movie version of the way Forrest Talks. It's like, that's what I, that's what the whole movie feels like to me, and I don't want that for two and a half hours. You know what I mean? I was, go ahead witness.

I have a hot take on his accent. Go for it. Oh, please. It's so good. So it's not a hot take. It's a, or not a hot take. Yeah. Um, Tom Hanks did an interview on the Graham Norton show and he said that the director wanted him to. Wanted the kid to learn how to speak like Tom Hanks. Mm-hmm. But he was like, why would you do that?

He's a kid. He was like seven or eight years old. So he listened to him and he said, I really paid attention to his long Gs, or like his hard Gs is what he said. So he would say making Yeah. And stuff like that. So he was like, that's how I learned it. I just did what he did because he was a kid from Mississippi.

Mm. So he just picked up his accent. That's, yeah. So he just, he took the child's so that, that's the kid's accent. Yeah. Young Forest. That's what he talks like. Yeah. And Tom Hanks just went, yep, I'm just gonna go ahead and adapt that into the full character. So that's how he did that. That's how he went about [00:14:00] that.

Folded it in. He did, he folded in the cheese and they, and then they did it just for so long, and then that's basically what the whole movie feels like. I see. I didn't think I liked Force Gum. I was like, oh, this is a good classic. Let's watch this. And I, I actually really liked it. There is a, there is, Comfort to movies like this.

I don't know if it's like the f I don't know how to explain it. If it's the frame rate in which it's shot, if it's the, uh, style in which it's shot, but they don't rely heavily on cgi, which is one of my favorite things in the world. If you can do an entire movie with the most limited cgi, like I'm a, I'm an Avengers fan, except for all the presidents I was, there's actually groundbreaking cgi.

It's, it's okay. So, but it was still limited. Okay. So it looked, it didn't look like, so I, I'm a big Avengers fan. I, I love Marvel, I love stuff like that. But those movies, it's like an hour in, I'm like, I don't, I want something real. Yeah. Like if they just shot something on an iPhone in the middle of an Avengers movie, it probably snapped me back into reality.

Um, so I [00:15:00] think I, I don't know. I love it when there's limited CGI and I, I know. At least I think we, uh, I talked about that in signs where it was limited. Uh, IM Shalan doesn't like to do heavy cgi. This CGI seemed like it worked so well that it didn't really take you out of it too much. The only thing that I have a complaint about, I mean first off is 94.

Yeah. Okay. It is 1994. I was four years old. Uh, so the c g I at this point, you know, it was just the mouths every once in a while. Yeah. But they really, they imposed for us into actual scenes of these things happening. Yeah. So they took the actual presidents, you know, doing whatever they were doing and, uh, did the C G I over at, I thought that was fantastic.

So I, I thought it was fantastic. I thought the, the limited use of CGI until it was absolutely necessary was a triumph. And there's something about like, the comfort of this that made me really enjoy this. So I feel like the older I've gotten, the more I'm like, okay, I get, I get Forest Gump now. I don't mind the slow [00:16:00] burn.

Okay. I, you know, the, the, um, the CDI was so good in the way that they used it, or so tastefully done. I'll say if, even if it wasn't like great by today's standard sum of it right now, I'll say most of like, you know, they used blue screen to replace Gary Sinisi's legs, right. With non legs. And they literally legs paint painted the blue out of the background and painted, you know, each frame to make his legs disappear.

Um, and part of it also, he had a, a wheelchair that was, um, he, it was designed by magician named Ricky J I saw that. And Ricky J has a very cool documentary. He used to watch it. It's called, um, Ooh. I can't think of what it's, but I'll find, it's in my notes. Um, But, uh, oh gosh, that's gonna bother me anyway.

Okay. Ricky J. Um, but anyway, they had, he, he designed him a wheelchair that he could kind of hide his legs, uh, in, in the mechanism of the wheelchair deceptive practice. Thank you. Deceptive practice. Very good Documentary. Uh, about Ricky J. Um, but, uh, the, [00:17:00] the c g I was, was so good that there was one scene in this that was, I guess it's not, this is not cgi, it was just, they made the film look convincingly old enough.

Right. That I thought a piece of film from this movie was authentic. That is not. Which, which scene was it? The scene where, um, the Governor of Alabama who decides to run for president and gets shot Oh, yeah. On the campaign. I thought that was real footage. It is. It it was impressive because I think I thought the same thing and I was like, who even filmed that?

I was like, who, who got that? But it was, and there is shockingly real. There is, there is footage from that event, but the, the actual moment that it happens isn't captured. There's right before and right after. But I, but, but it was g it was done well enough that I went. Did they just show us a man actually getting murdered without my consent?

Right, right. Like, you know what I mean? Like I f I was, I was offended by it, and I stopped watching the movie [00:18:00] to figure out what was going on. Oh my. Find out if this man, if Governor Wallace Right, and that was his name, um, George Wallace. I was like, did he, did they real? Is that actual, because it was, it was, they did it that well, sort of making that footage look archival.

And I was just like, man, I just saw man die. And we just kept going. We had to watch this on a dvd, so desensitized. We had to watch this on a dvd like we were, we, we pulled it up and I was like, oh, we're gonna have to buy this. And it's on Netflix. We couldn't find it. Well, it's a hundred percent on Netflix.

Okay, awesome. We put it on DVD v, we got the full experience. I called you. We should have checked on that. She did. She did. That was my fault. So we watched it on a DVD v We had to get the DVD player out. Uh, so it all just felt like if we wanna pause it, there's no remote, because we can't find the remote for the DVD player, so we have to go up and stop it.

So, so I so focused. It really took us back. Yeah, it did. It really took us back. So I felt like it worked for, for comp. Can you like this, CGI is 30 years old. Yeah, it is 30 years old, so that is, it is rather impressive [00:19:00] that they were able to do what they did. The only problem I had with it was the mouths. I was like, okay, that looks like it's almost funny because I, I'm surpri like now they would never let that fly.

Yeah. Because it doesn't look right. Right. I mean, it just clearly isn't Right. Right. But I mean, it was like, was 30 years of practice after that. So it was, I mean, I was impressed. I was impressed with the cgi. I expected it that it would, first off, I forgot how much CGI I was in this movie, but then I expected it would be.

There, there's a thing that I see like with Marvel movies and things like that, where I look back and I'm like, that Hulk is gonna look awful in. 10 years. Yeah. Yeah. But with this, I'm just like, it has stood the test of 30 years of cinema. Yeah. And it is still holding pretty strong. Right. So I'm impressed with that.

When you consider, you never saw Justice League, I don't imagine, but there was a, there was a, which one? The, the, the Zach Snyder. No, not Zach Snyders. I'm sorry. The, um, Joss Whedon's. One of the ones, yeah, yeah. Yes, I saw it. Okay. I might have seen it with you. Okay. It's po it's entirely possible. But there's a thing where they had, um, Henry Cavell [00:20:00] was filming a Mission impossible movie, cave Cavell.

Can't hear Caval. Is it Caval? It's, I thought it was Caval, whatever. I go back and forth and I never know, which is right. I think he's the handsomes man in the world. Yeah. Caval Whitney. Even Whitney, she was showing me a meme the other day, and it was about, uh, Henry Caval. It was like, you get a day with Henry Caval, uh, but your best friend dies.

And it just so shows someone, it shows Keanu Reeves crying at the table sitting next to Henry Caval. And I was like, yeah. I was like that. That maps, I get it. Sorry. Henry Caval. Yes. It's Kale. When it comes, when it comes outta somebody else's mouth, I go, that's a hundred percent the right British way to say it.

Um, but uh, he was filming, uh, mission Impossible, the latest, I can't remember if it's Ghost Protocol or whichever one he was in. And he had a mustache. Yeah. And he had to go back and do reshoots for Justice League, but the Mission Impossible team would not let him shave his mustache. I just feel like it's easier to do a fake mustache.

Yeah. But they were, I, I think it was a different studio and so they weren't nec they're. We don't have to make concessions for your Justice League movie, essentially. You know what I mean? Um, but they, uh, but anyway, they CGI I'D out [00:21:00] his mustache and you can still tell, like some of it looks really, really bad.

Yeah. Yeah. And that was 20 16, 20 18. You know what I mean? Right. So like the fact that they, they're still, they're still struggling with mouths. Yeah. But they, the fact that they pulled this off is convincingly as they did, you know what I mean? Really impressive. And I tell you one that I, that I thought I assumed was cgi I, or was actual archival footage, was Dick Cabot when he goes on the Dick CT show.

Yeah. And he's sitting there with John Lennon, that's actually Dick ct. They filmed new footage of Dick Cabot with Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump and just cut his hair and kind of de-age him. Oh. So that's real footage. That's real life. Dick Cavt in the movie playing himself earlier and then. Archival footage of John Lennon.

Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. And the way they did the mouths, it wasn't like they fully CGI ID the mouths like they would do now, like they would try to do with Henry K's mouth. Right. In Justice League, it's basically that old thing of where you would like, hold up a piece of paper, cut a hole in it, and stick your mouth where the mouth is.

It's just a digital version of that. Okay. So they, they filmed people saying the things [00:22:00] and, and impose that into, okay, that makes more sense. Yeah. Okay. Let's talk about the design a little bit. It is, again, I, I don't understand why, and I probably should have researched that a little bit more, but it is one of those where I can, if I see this movie in the background, I'm gonna sleep well.

You know what I mean? It's like golf, nostalgic. It's like golf or it's like golf on a Sunday or like, uh, it's like listening to football announcements on a Sunday. Like I don't wanna watch it. But a nascar nascar Right. It's because it's slow and monotonous. It's like Rob. Its not like it, it is like nascar.

It's like, Or golf. I see. It does. Golf is per, if this does feel like golf, this feels like a golf match to you. Yeah, it's like it doesn't really have any big highs or lows. It just is to me. It just is a thing that is happening. It's just one of the, I, I don't know. There's just something, so, and maybe that is it.

Maybe it's the slow, monotonous thing of it, but I feel like I'm not always gonna want a nap. Okay. To Forrest Gump. But something about it, I was just like, [00:23:00] I can, I can put this on a lot, I can, I can have this on, in the background. I can watch it fully because my, some, you know what, it's the day and age we live in that I get on my phone a lot while we're watching movies.

I try not to, but for Forrest Gump, I was really drawn into a lot of it. Like I have these, I still remember like little specific moments where I'm just like, that's a beautiful scene. And it, it's just one of those beautiful movies to me. It's got the color grading that just makes me feel like it's the nineties, you know, because it was, and it is just absolutely beautiful.

I wanted to talk about the movie cover. Okay. So it's that iconic. Yeah. It's one of the iconic movie covers to me. It's, it's the fully white, it's uh, the back of Tom Hanks, a Forrest Gump, and he's sitting on the bench. First off, just a side note, I didn't realize how many people like shuffled through on his bench rotation, which I love that he just kept talking.

He just, yeah. But there was three, four, I think there was four total. There was the woman, the nurse at the beginning? Yeah, the mom, the older gentleman [00:24:00] and the woman at the very end. Okay. So yeah, there's four people I think. So he's sitting on this bench on the front cover. And it's fully white. Love all of that.

Yeah. But then I looked, now I think I can just like shut it off as a graphic designer sometimes I don't want to think about every aspect of design, so I'll just shut it off. But then I really thought about the, uh, the font and I was like, I do not like this. Oh, really? Like, it's just, it's a little too happy.

It is a drama. It is a romance drama movie. It is not. And now it has some definite Well, I mean, that's what it was. That's what it was categorized as as a romance drama I'm in. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. So I, it was, I, everybody is looking at me in disbelief. Well, let's, I think most people think of it as a comedy.

Okay. See, I do not see, I see it as a drama. That is funny. Yes. Like it is drama for like at the very beginning, it is a comical drama, but the font. Of the title is too comical to me. Okay. It looks like a romcom. [00:25:00] Okay. Okay. Which, I guess what you're saying is it was basically a romcom. Uh, but I, I would not consider it a romcom.

I would consider it drama first and foremost. So I would've just picked a, a better font, you know, Zumeka. That's okay. You don't have to do everything you did. You hit it outta the park on amongst of it. It does look like a romcom font. You're, I'm looking at it now. There's something, there's something a little bit like I would, I feel like it's the same type of font as the new, uh, help me out here.

The, uh, It's when Lindsay Lohan played a twin. Yes. The parent trap. I was about to say, it looks like cheaper by the dozen. Like something that you would, something like on kinda a whimsical Love the colors. I love that everything is right, aligned. You know, I'm good with all of it. I think it is a strong, strong cover.

I would've changed that font, you know, but in the nineties maybe that was the perfect pick. I just feel like, you know, Helvetica New Bold would've been fine. Right? Something real, like maybe even times New Roman, a little less playful. Uh, I think that's my number one. I, I guess critiques design wise. I think that the rest of it, [00:26:00] honestly was really in impressive.

Uh, they, they had, speaking on the C cgi, again, they had a lot of budget cuts. Like the studio, I don't think had a lot of faith in them for this movie and what it was gonna be. So they had. Budget cuts that cut out a lot of the scenes. And I found out that Robert Zemeckis and Tom Hanks waived a large part of their, of their fee in exchange for percentage points of the movie, which gained, which gained, uh, Tom Hank's 40 million in the long run.

Yeah. So, so, I mean, that worked out in his favor, but they really had to cut a lot of stuff. So they imposed significant budget cuts. Uh, but Robert Zemeckis decided to leave out, so he, uh, left out several planned effect shots. Like he already, I mean, there's so many in them that he's meets so many presidents.

Yeah. But one shot in particular involved force running into dirt, uh, Dr. Martin Luther King. Okay. Junior, sorry. And his supporters, Forrest distracts several dogs trying to [00:27:00] attack King and his supporters by playing fetch with them. Oh my gosh. And rendering them harmless to King and himself as well as his supporters.

So that was a cool one. But they had to cut it, I guess, for the time. Uh, I mean for the, um, for the budget. For the budget, which it would've just been awesome, but then the movie would've been, you know, 10 minutes longer and Rob would've hated it even more. Right. Yeah. So maybe it was best that they didn't do that.

So they had a bunch of budget cuts. Um, and that's, I, I don't know. They, they, they had a bunch of budget cuts. I don't think anyone felt like it would do well, but still, the cgi you know, 30 years later it prevailed, I guess. Is this the thing that made Tom Hanks like an icon? I feel like it has to be like, he, okay, so first off, he is not my favorite type of actor.

Loved him in this movie. He's not one of my favorites. I mean, I love him as Woody, uh, in Toy Story, I think. I think that to me is his, one of his most iconic roles. But, but, uh, but that's from us. Disney addicts. Disney, Castaway, Castaway. Okay. When, what year did Castaway come out though? 2000. Okay. So, [00:28:00] so this probably put him more on the map.

Castaway was like his, like, oh, Tom Hanks is the real deal. Yeah. And that's also Robert Zec. Oh, there we go. Written directed, I believe. Uh, but yeah. Go ahead. I remember him from Big, see, that's what I was gonna say. At this point, he had big, he had house party. Um, I've not seen either of those. And he had, I think like the burbs, like he was like a, a hard comedy guy at this point.

But this was like, okay. So this was his, like, oh, this man has range. Yes. He can do the most type of drama. Yes. Which, when we hit our recast, I really put a lot of faith in my recast. Okay. Because I was like, I can't see, I, I did a lot of, uh, comedians. Okay. Yeah. I did a lot of comedians that I'm like, you have ranged for this.

And I was asking Whitney about this on the way here. Uh, Uh, one, my favorite role that, uh, will Ferrell ever did was stranger than fiction. Okay. His drama role. And it's a straight drama. And I've l Oh my gosh. And then there's funny points. I mean, it's the same on this. Like, he's very funny in this movie.

Yeah. But [00:29:00] he is, he's got the drama chops for it. And he really like that is why I was, I mean, Whitney like, turned to me and she goes, are you crying? Because it was like one of those moments. Yeah. And I, I really like he did it. I, I've also found out that three people who I would never have expected turned down the role for for Skump.

Oh, yes. Talk about it. It is Bill Murray. John Travolta and Chevy Chase. Who? Whitney says Chevy Chase. Oh, Chevy. Like the car. Say Chevrolet. Okay. Yes. I know. Spell the same, but it's Chevy Chase Chevrolet. James Chase. James Chase. Uh, oh my gosh. Okay. So Bill, Mary, John Travolta Chevy Chase. They, uh, turned down the roll.

I think. Uh, John Travolta was like, this is a bad idea. And I was like, yeah. It was looking at your career. Tom Hanks did a a bit better. Yeah. Like, uh, so I, so I think yeah, that was a bad thing. And then there were also, uh, for Bubba, David Allen Greer. Mm-hmm. Ice Cube and Dave Chappelle turned down the road.

Ice Cube. Dave Chappelle. Yeah. I just [00:30:00] went, that's great. Dave Chappelle was like, that was a bad idea. So he said that as well. Then I don't think the picks were as good for Jenny. Well, okay. That's not true. One of the picks. I was like, that would not have worked. Jody Foster. Love, Jody Foster. But I'm like, you're not America's sweetheart for this.

It's not gonna work. Nicole Kidman and Demi Moore. Yeah. Nicole Kidman. I don't, I don't see, see there. Don't think I would see Jody Foster's my last pick. Nicole kid would've been very young, uh, there, so maybe she could've played it a little more as like a, A girl. I feel like a lot of Ginny is played as a girl.

I feel like Dimmy Moore would've done just as good. I think Dimmi Moore. Oh, okay. That's the, I say that based on looks and how I would imagine she would do it. Yeah. But I don't know that I've seen much that Demi Moore has acted in. I just was trying to imagine who looks like they would do drugs. Okay. And I don't think, I'm definitely not, it's pretty kidman.

I don't, it's pretty drugs. Right. You know? Yeah. Who, who looks like they're going to get taken in by various groups. Right. You know, like Absolutely swayed easily. Yeah. Yeah. [00:31:00] That's, it's, yeah. I feel like Nicole Kidman is strong enough to not be swayed. It's not as believable, like all of her roles. I go, okay, this is good.

I see. I, I see what you're doing. And it's hard to think, of course, now we have these people's careers, these women's careers in retrospect, right. Where we see all these strong roles that they've played. So it's hard for us to see, you know what I mean? Exactly. It's hard. And she didn't have that many, like, iconic roles after this.

Nicole Kidman? No, no, no, no. I'm talking about, oh, oh, who played Jenny? Uh, I totally forgot her name. It's Robin Wright. Yeah, Robin Wright, Penn. She was in Unbreak. Hello. Oh my gosh. Did that light bulb for you? Oh no. I did not realize that was her. It's not an iconic role, but I mean, to me it's almost more iconic than Jenny, cuz I love Unbreakable.

But she had been in, she had done Princess Bride. Right? Which is probably her most. Oh no. Oh no. That's where she came. I've broken you. Oh my gosh. She is, oh my gosh. It's like you knew you were familiar with her face, but you didn't know why. Why do I have chills because of this? I don't know. [00:32:00] I had no clue.

It's like you just disconnect and you go, oh, that's Jenny Uhhuh. That's the girl from Princess Pride. Cause I forget her name. Yeah, it's the first time I saw it was on Christmas this year. And then, And then who did you say? And then Unbreakable and I just, I just separated those all three. Okay. Nevermind.

She is an iconic actress. She just fully embodied each role that she was in. Yes. Okay. Nevermind. I have completely, I take back all of it. She was amazing. That's fantastic. I love that. Oh my gosh. Oh, that made me so happy. Yeah, I, I can't wait to get to the recast on this one as well. Uh, but while we're talking about the ones who were almost cast, so John Travolta, he ended up okay.

He was at this point, about to hit his renaissance, right? Yeah. So he, because Pulp Fiction was his next thing. Mm-hmm. And so he did okay after that and became, kind of, had his own thing. Now, I don't think he's Tom Hanks No. You know what I mean? But this, none of those men are Tom Hank. Well, I don't know.

Bill Murray's pretty freaking Okay. Bill Murray, his role still not Tom Hanks. This would [00:33:00] not have worked with Bill Murray. It wouldn't have, it would've been much more comedy with Bill Murray or Chevy Chase. I cannot imagine the seriousness at all. No. Which Chevy Chase is exactly. It would've been like, National Lampoons, forest Gump, it would've like, there's no way to get it proper.

That's why it was so hard for me to recast Forrest because I was like, good. Great. Tom Hanks is Forrest Gump. He's still Forrest Gump. He's still Woody. He is Abigail Breslin and signs he is, he's he recast Abigail. You can't recast a five-year-old that sees aliens like she is the perfect pick. Tom Hanks is the perfect one.

Did you see who the writer of the novel visualized? No, and I think he could have pulled it off. Okay. He could have pulled it off. Great, John. Good. John Goodman. John Goodman could've, yeah, I wanna see him at that time. He, he, that was when, like Roseanne, when he was playing the dad on Roseanne, I cannot see the younger version of himself.

John Goodman has always been like 45. I mean, John, but like even always, always, I feel like. [00:34:00] He's still Roseanne age. Yeah. Uh, because I loved that show. Uh, it just made me, sorry, mom. It made me feel like I was home, so I would like put it on in the background. I loved it. John Goodman. Yeah, he, okay. See, he could, could've done that.

I just, I'm, I have to get over a heftier. Forrest Gump. Yeah. Mm-hmm. You know, like a, like a, that boy, that boy had some, had some food. He ate some hohos when he was little. It's lots of shrimp. Yeah. Yeah. But, and John Goodman, John Goodman has lost like a hundred pounds, like how many times, you know what I mean?

Like, I think he would've done it. Like, I'm so proud of the guy just for his, you know, you're right. Commitment to like losing the weights, keeping off. But he's one of those people like Jonah Hill, like I, you're always. You'll always be fat to me, that's What is that off of? Is that off? Just friends? It's off.

Just friends. You'll always be fat to me. Yeah, he, it is one of those things where after I've seen them in larger roles, uh, it is hard to, John Goodman is one of those, so it takes me a second of that. But you're right, John Goodman, he has the, he has the drama and the comedy and the comedy. Authentic southernness, you know what I mean?

Which [00:35:00] base? Oh my gosh. But he found his is like Exactly, his is like KFC Southern. I feel like he could always, he could play the general. So brother we're what Colonel the, I'm thinking of, yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's it. He's the colonel. I feel like he's just the colonel in that one. Yeah. Okay. I, I just kind of have some notes on this about just the different characters, just Sure.

Stuff that I picked up on or just things about them. So let's start with Jenny. Um, weirdly enough for me. Jenny is the most frustrating female character. Oh my gosh. I've ever, yes. Seen. Um, and I, she, she like came by honest. She was a victim of abuse. Okay. Yeah. Um, and, you know, it's, it's, it's kind of hinted at in the movie Yeah.

You know, that she was sexually abused by her father. That's the, that's where they're trying to get you without saying it. Right. Um, but like every time, so, because, because of that, or with that as her backdrop, you see that she's just always cha kind of chasing male affection [00:36:00] while rejecting healthy male affection.

Absolutely. You know what I mean? Yeah. And so every time Forrest tries to help her and several times by like, saving her from other abusive men Yeah. In the moment that it's happening. Exactly. With like a, you know what I mean? Like caught in the act type moments, she just yells at him and then eventually leaves either immediately Yeah.

Or soon thereafter. You know what I mean? Yeah. She'll have maybe a, a, a. An opportunity for a tender reel moment with Forrest and then she's out. I liked the, I liked her not transition. I liked the timeline of Jenny. Cause if you notice. When he is stepping in, it gets her reaction to it gets less and less aggressive through the movie.

Mm-hmm. He like wears her down like the very beginning, she's like, what are you doing? Yeah. Okay, fine. Come inside and get warm and touch me inappropriately. Uh, and then my favorite part of that is the roommate's face. I love that. Oh man. I think I've, oh yeah, no, not gonna say that. Just watch the movie. Uh, but her, her transition slowly moves into like, she is very mad at him at the [00:37:00] beginning.

When, when, when he breaks up the, the, yeah. Session in the car. Session in the car, exactly. Uh, and then later on also happens back to the future. I know you haven't seen it, but there's a scene very similar to that. And back to the future. Oh man. Oh, well, maybe they're connected. There's the multiverse of the, I know, it's, it's almost like, it's almost like Zeus was like winking it back to the future a little bit in that spot.

Absolutely. So she, later on in the movie, she's just like, she immediately just goes with him. She's like, well, the other guy's clearly wrong. Like, it just becomes more and more tender. But then she almost goes back with the guy she does every time. I mean, she's still, she's still a, like a terrible character overall.

You just wanna shake her shoulder. Yeah, you do. And you go. You just wanna pray for her and be like, come on. Yeah, we can do better than this. I, you were talking about the fact that it was hinted at that she was abused. I realized that the way that everything bad was announced by Forrest was taught to him by his mom.

Mm-hmm. His southern mom. So he was like, he was like, well, his, her dad, uh, loved her. He used to kiss and touch on her all the time. [00:38:00] Mm-hmm. Okay. So that was how that was announced. Then his great uncle or whatever it was who was in the kkk Yeah. She was like, oh, they were crazy. They wore, they, they were insane.

They wore sheets on their heads and on their horses, and it was, I, I thought back. She does eventually say That was wrong though, because at first I was like, yes, so, but she does it in the way that my southern mom would do. It would be like, well, your cousins are kind of crazy. They're often a, uh, they're often a place where, You know, rent in it's prison.

Uh, and, and it's just like, you know, stuff like that. Uh, it was just the, it was the nice way of the southern mom explaining it to forest. Yeah. So then he explained all of these moments in the, I feel the nicest way possible to explain these, most of these horrible of life events. Sure. And it was through, and it was not because he was trying to save anybody's feelings, but it was through the lens of his understanding.

Right. As a guy with an IQ of 75. Yeah. Um, and, and I have to say, by the way, as a kid watching this, I just assumed that he [00:39:00] has a learning disability. Right. That's not the case. He just has a low iq. So we thought, is he like now times they would be like, oh, he's on the spectrum now times, yes. You would immediately go, right, he's on the spectrum.

So maybe if this was made, now they would say he was autistic. But the, they make it very plain in the movie that it's not that he's disabled or differently abled in any way. It's that he just has a low iq. Right. He's extremely successful in everything he does. Yeah. Well, like the, the spectrum thing, I thought, uh, whenever he was in the military, how he was like, it was easy.

Yeah, because it was so structured, right? Yes. And usually that helps. And he's just not smart on paper. In the, in the book also, there are many, I'll say several at least, uh, more things that he gets into, like, you know, these scenarios that he finds himself in and in the same way that he's in the movie, but also he's played in the book as much more of a savant even than he was here, like with the gun and the, in the military and stuff.

He's played where closer to almost like a rain man, [00:40:00] um Okay. Type thing in some ways where he's like, you know, it's like very clear that he's impaired by his little iq, but in some things he's just instantly excels. Yeah. I, I, while we watched it, I wrote down, Everything. Well, to my knowledge, I'm sure I skipped some cuz he's so successful.

Everything that he did in the movie, just in bullet porn form. Yeah, I did too. Did you really? Yes. Ok. Go. Let's, ok. So, okay, so for do one at a time. Okay. Order. So Forrest taught Elvis to dance. Yes. He start on the Alabama football team. He got into college by running from. He got like signed in the college by running from boys.

Yeah. Um, he met this court of, kind of happens over the course of the movie, but he meets three different presidents. Kennedy, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon. All based on his experiences and what he's, uh, what he's achieved. And I love how he says, I went to the White House again, again, again. And he was on the broadcast, uh, announcement, uh, when they were desegregating [00:41:00] a, a specific school.

Oh, that's right. Yeah. The Alabama, yeah. By accident. Yes. And then got to hand that nice lady, her, her book. Yeah. And then he did his wave, his iconic wave. Yeah. Right. Uh, he was a Vietnam veteran slash war hero, awarded the, uh, medal of Honor. Right. He spoke at a peace rally in, uh, in dc He did. Um, he was a ping pong Olympic champion.

And then that is why he met one of the no, multiple presidents, but came from the ping pong. Did they? Yeah. Multiples. I think so. Least two, right? Just one. Okay. I'm making it up. He met a thousand presidents in this movie, so, uh, he met John Lennon Yes. And inspired John Lennon to write Imagine. Right. That's, he gives him the idea to, I do wish we could know what he said when the, at the speech.

At the monument cause he cause the guy's like, that was great. Say about that. So that's one of the things that this movie has been criticized for in, in more recent years is it kind of depends on who you ask. So some [00:42:00] people say that this is a politically conservative movie. Okay. Like some people, this is the like conservative publications and websites and stuff like this have this as one of the great conservative movies.

Okay. Um, and then, but then some people. Say, no, this movie was too scared to say what it was, right. That it didn't, that it actually, it all these things happen, but it doesn't say anything. And that's characterized very acutely at the moment, at the rally, right. Where they're like, they didn't have the nerve to let him actually say anything, so they pulled the plug.

And you have to kind of try and fill in the gap, right? I can't, I can't see that as a conservative. Agenda because it's like, it shows him as the bad guy, the guy pulling the plugs won't let people talk, uh, uh, won't let people say there's no freedom of speech. I feel like that clearly shows that it's not like a conservative movie.

Yeah. I, but I think they say because of, because of like sort of forests conservative values, you know what I mean? That's what they kind of, but I, [00:43:00] I think it's kind of one of those things that's in the eye of the beholder. Right. Right. Because you can also see this as an anti-war movie. Right. You know, you could see it as a pro-war movie.

Yeah. You know what I mean? It just kind of is what I feel like it didn't state too much of what they felt, and I, I liked that. I like that it is, that it is up to the discretion of the viewer. And then, okay, so he is the, I don't know if whistleblower is the right thing, but he is, he announced that Watergate was happening.

That's right. Yes. He turned on, he turned them on the Watergate. Yes. Uh, he becomes a shrimp magnate. Yes, he does. Uh, he starts Bubba Gump Shrimp company. Uh, so like that's basically the same thing, but then it is and then invests in Apple. That's right. Early investor in a fruit company. Yes. So it turns out to be Apple.

Um, he ran for three plus years and leads a cult of runners behind him. Right. And while doing so invented the, uh, how do I say that? The crap happens. Ishish happens. Bumper sticker. Yes. And the smiley face. And the smiley. Nice. Welcome for that. Love him for that. I love a good smiley [00:44:00] face. And he becomes a dad.

I have that one written down too. And then a millionaire. Yes. Less important as dad. Gazillionaire zillionaire gazillionaire. While he's mowing. He says, go zillionaire. Yeah. Yeah. He, that would be my life. If I was a gazillionaire, I would mow for free. Oh yeah. Enjoy it. You would. She absolutely would. She loves it.

She actually had a game where she mowed, where she had it on her phone. You still have it? Yes. Her two games are one where she color. Okay. Uh, where she just, I'll just see her clicking just randomly and coloring like paint by number on the phone. Yeah. And a game where she mows. I have Pokemon Go. It's just nice to relax.

Yeah, it is. You know, everybody has their thing. So he was, I mean, Forrest Gump was very skilled. Yeah. He was very skilled. He might have only had a 75 iq, but you know what, that didn't matter. Right. Which I loved about this movie. The one, okay. I will tell you, one of the two times I cried is when he meets Little Forest and he was like, he has a dad named Forrest.

Yes. Which is super funny, but he looks at her and without saying anything, [00:45:00] oh my gosh. It really got me. Uh, and he, he was like, is he. Smart. Smart. Or is he like, and then he points at himself and I went, oh Lord, I'm about to lose my mind. Yes. And I just started, I just started sobbing because I just feel like that, like I'm not a dad, but I know that when I become a dad, I'm gonna be like, you know what, uh, is he, is this kid short like me?

Right. Or is he tall? He'll be a short king, he'll be good, he'll be a short tank for sure. But I like anything that you don't want your kids to deal with what you've had to deal with. And when I saw that, I was like, oh, man. Yeah. I was like, that got me. I, I have in my notes that that is the one moment in this movie that it connected with me as a viewer, Forrest asking if Forrest Jr.

Is smart. Because, so largely what happens in this movie is, you know, I, I guess if there is any point to this movie, it is that Forrest Gump, despite his impairment, leads a successful life, right? Absolutely. If you had to boil it down to kind of one thing, I think that's a much better summary than what we've, right.

Than what we've read. Until that moment, you don't [00:46:00] really see that he is aware of it. Right. All this is happening, but he's pretty unaware that any of it is eventful at all. Right. This gave this, like that one moment gave his character a much larger complexity for me, where I was like, oh, he was aware of this.

Yes. But he is just like, well, I'm just gonna keep going. Right. I did love that. The military guy. Drill. Sergeant Uhhuh was like, you're so smart. Like he kept yelling at him like, how are you the smart I do, I do. I love that. I loved Lieutenant Dan. Yeah. But that moment was not lieutenant. Oh no, no. Lieutenant Dan.

Okay. But Lieutenant Den, sorry, I was thinking of the point where they're trying to hook up with some hookers, I think. Yeah. And, and uh, he falls out of his wheelchair and he's like, don't ever call him stupid. And it's one of those like, where I was like, oh, I love him. Nobody can pick on my brother but me.

There we go. Yes. It is one of those moments. But yeah, that moment for me, you see all forests trauma come out and then kind of suck back in, and then he, but you see it just for a second. That's the only time you see him kind of break. That, you know, he just has a [00:47:00] steady demeanor. Yeah. Through the whole movie.

Um, you know, and then, and just like, I mean, just to go ahead, because we're probably not gonna go back to the other time I cried. It is definitely when he's over Jenny's grave and he's talking to her. Okay. And I was like, oh goodness. Because I just, like, I, I do not a good thing where I put myself in that moment.

Uh, and I was like, if I have to stand watch, I won't. Uh, but if I, you know, I put myself in the moment and I just went, I don't love this. And he's having to say goodbye while raising his child. So, uh, that is the other moment where I was like, and Whitney's like, are you crying? And I was like, yes. It's like when you start to sniff too much and the person you're watching it with is like, oh, they're for sure crying.

Like, I always try to sniff in movies when it's not a sad moment, especially when I'm in the theater. I was like, I cannot show emotion. So this was one of those moments where I was like, that's my favorite place to cry is in the theater. In a theater. But you and your best friend, Cara, who I'm sure will be here some at some point, you laugh, watch, we watched Shamar and me.

And cried so hard that we were like, [00:48:00] why are we crying so hard? A fictional character looked at each other and then started sob laughing to where people were turning around thinking we were horrible people in the theater, in the theater in Marley and me in the theater, it was so fulfilling. Just all the spectrums of your, what is the movie that we watched together in college?

My Sister's Keeper. Oh my gosh. Oh, I, they star, I saw my peripheral vision. I saw them turning their head because it was the moment, like, terrible things are happening in my Sister's Keeper. And I said, don't look at me. I just said, do not look at me. Because I was, I was like one of those cries and I was just, I just said, do not look at me.

It is before we were dating, I think maybe we were dating, but I was just like, do not turn your head to me in this movie. So it was the same kind of concept. Great. Um, okay. I do want I, a couple more things I wanted to say, just to go back to Jenny for a second. Uh, cuz she would be sort of the next, I should have started with Forrest is the lead character, but whatever.

Um, I just wanted to say that Jenny was frustrating, but. So Jenny and Forrest, I think are both heavily [00:49:00]symbolized in this movie. Um, they've never, like, so Jenny is heavily symbol symbolized by the bird, right? Right. So, Jimi, Jimi, Jenny, from, from beginning to end is when, you know, the beginning of Jenny's journey, it's a bird flying and that is sort of Jenny's, she's the free spirit, right?

She never comes to rest. She's always, you know, whatever. Right? She's riding on the wind. Um, but purposefully, right? As opposed to Forrest, who is the feather? Forrest is at the beginning we see the feather in the opening scene and it comes to rest at him. And the, and the feather cannot choose its own path.

It's blown around by the wind. Oh, okay. And that's largely what we see with Forrest. Right. That he is just, this life is happening around him and he's living through it. He's not necessarily in charge of it. You know what I mean? These things are just happening. He's running away from bullies and ends up starring on the Alabama football team.

Right, right. You know what I mean? It's like these things are all, and that's one of the things that I actually don't like about this because [00:50:00] it's so unbelievable. Like you're trying to pretend to me like this is a real person that I'm supposed to see. I think that's my thing. Somehow connect with, but it's like he's, he, he backs into, it's just so unbelievable that one person, and I know it's not presented as real, but like he backs into so many.

Right. Amazing. Accomplishment. So, you know what I mean? It just takes me out. I just go, okay. I think that's my favorite part of the movie. I just go, yep, I can, I can get with that. But like, so, so you have the, that heavy symbolism for both of 'em. And then at the end you have, the last time that we see, see Jenny's character is Win Forrest is talking to her at the grave site, and as he's, um, you know, as he's walking away, you see a flock of birds coming to rest in the tree.

Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? And so that's like her fi, her resting place. She finally, you know, finds home there. Um, and she dies of. Of an unnamed sickness. Yeah. Watching it, I assumed it was hiv aids. Right. But apparently it's supposed to be hepatitis C. Okay. Makes, which at, at that time was still a kind of an unknown disease.

We [00:51:00] didn't know exactly what it was. Um, yeah. Whitney was really afraid for both of the forests. Once she, she was like, if that's aids, she was like, this whole family may be going down, but that makes sense with it. Does the type of drugs that they showed. Hmm. Yeah. So, uh, yeah, so apparently it's Hepatitis C.

Um, and she did other stuff. She wanted to be a famous singer like Joan Baez. She, you know, gets hired as a, a folk singing showgirl. Mm-hmm. Um, and, you know, all those things. But her, her big symbolic, I think her, if she has a character arc, it changes with the scene of her listening to Freebird. Um, where she's, she goes out, she, she contemplates jumping off a bridge early in the movie.

Right? Right. And then there's a scene where she almost jumps off, jumps out the window of a building while Freebird is playing. And the, the, the moment for her, and I can't remember, I almost wanna say she's looking in a mirror, but that might be just me mentally making that happen. But when it's getting to the, to the lines and freed about, uh, Freebird, about, Lord, help me, I can't change.

Mm-hmm. [00:52:00] You know, this bird, you cannot change all that stuff. That's when she, her character sort of turns and she decides she's gonna take a little more charge of her life. Right. You know what I mean? And be, um, you know, to, to sort of be in control of her own. Narrative. Yeah. You know, I think at that point, and so you kind of see, you know, symbolic with her that it's free bird and she's the bird and it's, Lord, help me.

I can't change. And she decides to change right there. And her, her arc is a little different after that. Right. It's not so, um, not so victimized, you know, after that she kind of takes control of her own life. Um, do you have anything else on Jenny? I don't, I did not go in in depth with their character. I mean, I'll, I'll think of a few things, but I didn't go as, uh, in depth as you did on this part.

I, uh, Lieutenant Dan, um, I, you know, it was, is a interesting character because at least he has, he has something, right? He, he does, you know, he, uh, it's somebody in his family fought and died in every American war. That was the legacy, and it was all him in the recaps, which I loved. Yes. [00:53:00] The legacy of the, the Taylor family.

But, um, and so that is what he expected. So when he's, you know, at war and Forrest saves him, he's like, don't save me. It's my destiny to die. Mm-hmm. Like, this is what my family does. You know what I mean? He's so mad about that for so long. Yeah. And he, and he holds that in, you know, and it's, part of it is I'm sure guilt and part of it is, um, I don't know.

I don't know what the rest of it is, but you know, it's just anger. Like, you denied me my destiny, which surely he didn't, nobody wants to actually die, but he's like, okay, I have to live, but now I have to live with this disability. Right. I have to live with this, you know, impairment. Um, and you kind of get the.

Juxtaposition of like forced is living with impairment too. Right. You know, it's a, it's a, it's a mental impairment, but he's like just chilling with it. What I mean Yeah. He's thriving. He's almost unaware of it. Yes. He's not, he's not, he is aware of it, but like, but he lives his life as though it doesn't impede him at all, you know?

Yeah. Um, whereas Lieutenant Dan is angry and kind of uses his thing as a, [00:54:00] not a crutch. It's not a crutch, but it's a, well, literally. But it's a, you know, it's a, it's an excuse to, for his life to suck. Yeah. And I love that Char, I love that character arc. I think he has a really great one. It, it's, it's natural.

I feel like it does make sense. You go into that where he just goes in, into heavy drinking and sadness. Yeah. And then he is like, okay, might as well do something, might as well become a, a shrimp boat. Novice. Right. And then, and then he's like, you know what, I'm gonna get me some fake legs. And was his wife Vietnamese and a Vietnamese wife?

Yeah, I believe so. And he was like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I mean, it was implied based on implied. Yes. Yeah. So, so he, I like that he, you know, he goes, okay, I'm gonna be like forest, right. I'm gonna just let it, I'm gonna let it work at the end. Yeah. I just love how whenever he meets them and he ask if they're twins, they both are truly so confused.

Yeah. And I love it so much. We're we're, what did he say we're of no relation, something like that. No relation. Yeah. I um, and he, of course, you know, Lieutenant Dan has the showdown with God on the, on the boat [00:55:00] at sea. He's like, you know, cursing at God. I remember watching this as a child just being like, oh my goodness.

No. Right, right. Oh no, no, no, no. Um, but uh, and still I watch this movie and go, the language guys come on language. And I was like, peach just in the military parts. I'm like, right. I mean, it's, it's always military. My dad, when I was, uh, high school, cuz my dad was a Marine, he was like, just be careful. Like some of his movies, his favorite movies are like, Full metal jacket.

Yeah. You knew exactly what I was gonna say. It is. It's like, and he's like, just, you know, be careful when you watch it. Yeah. I was like, okay. Got it. It's a, you get military, you're gonna get a thousand GDS just in a row. Yeah. Most of them. Most of them come from him. But I thought it funny how he was so adamant about taking care of your feet.

I never noticed that before. He, I didn't either until we watched it this time. I was like, ah, okay. He was like, everything's about the feet. Make sure you, uh, take off your socks if they're wet. All that stuff. Yeah. And then his just get, you know, blown to pieces. Yeah. But yeah, it's, yeah. And you don't think when you're a kid about, like, always talking about like trench foot [00:56:00] or whatever it's called, like, you know, whatever.

Um, but yeah, so he, at least he has a, he has a respectable arc for me in this. Um, and then of course you have Bubba, uh, Benjamin, Buford Blue. Yep. Who is just, it, it is cute. It's nice that Forrest gets a, a best buddy, you know what I mean? He gets somebody, a best good friend, a best good friend, a best good friend because he, you know, he is continually rejected, rejected, rejected.

And the person that he really loves the most, other than his mama being Jenny, is just never. You know, emotion emotionally available. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And with Bubba it's just everything is all right there on the table, you know what I mean? And of course why we appreciate that. Be best friends, you know?

Yeah. Um, and so they just do everything together and then he makes, you know, Bubba, the promise that he will do run his shrimp business after, you know, if he, if he doesn't make it, and of course he doesn't make it, you know, and it's a, it's a sad moment, it's for sure. Vietnam sucked. I don't know what else to say about that.

Yeah, it was a great, was not a great time. I enjoy when he talks about the different kind of, [00:57:00] Yes. So the really, so I did a little research on the rain cuz I was like, what's the thing about it raining for four months? He's like, one time it rained for four months. That was a real thing in, it was called Operation Popeye.

You're not gonna believe this. It's called Operation Popeye. It was a military cloud seeding project carried out by the Air Force. What in the Vietnam War where they would fly above the cloud. And drop things in the clouds to make the clouds heavy and fill them up with precipitation so that it would rain.

Oh my gosh. And their intention was to disrupt, um, Vietnamese supply lines, make the roads impassable by keeping the rain just pouring down all the time. What was it, what were they like? Ecological. Ipl, like, not implications. Yes. What happened because of that? Well, so basically they ki they kind of did it in secret.

They nobody found out until later. Yeah. So they just did it without consultation or from like the, I can't remember if it was the EPA or like, but the, you know, [00:58:00] environmental Right. Voices were not told about this. Of course, of course. They're just like, no, we're gonna do this. And so we, they literally just changed the weather patterns over Vietnam and it would just rain, rain, rain, rain, rain constantly.

But it was a military tactic. Wow. Well, in the movie, when it stops that's when everybody, that's when it goes down. Yeah. They get immediately. Yeah. Yeah. Oh man, that is crazy. Wild. It just, the fact that we A, can do that and B did that and see, I guess still lost in Vietnam. Like, like we freaking changed the weather and we still lost.

That's that, like, I had no clue. I had no clue that happened. I didn't even know it was possible to even slightly change the weather. Yeah. So apparently there are two ways to seed clouds. They can be, they can be seated from above, from airplanes, helicopters, that kind of thing. And they, I can't remember exactly what it is they drop, but it's, it's, you know, it changes the, the, uh, the crystallization process inside the clouds and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And you can do it to make either rain or snow. Um, and then they can also be seated from the ground [00:59:00] by shooting stuff up into the sky. And they did this for four months. Yeah, apparently. Yeah. Good grief. And sometimes, sometimes it's done with like electrical charges. They've tried different methods or whatever.

Practically speaking, you know, the. The good side of that coin would be if you can successfully do it to try and, you know, help crops and stuff like that. But no, we're using it for war. Yeah, we definitely always war first with us. It's always war first. I don't really understand. Um, alright, I have a question.

I don't know, may, and maybe we'll cut this from the episode cuz it's, it's gonna be a long one anyway. This is such a, such a long movie and so, so much to it. But do you guys know the concept of a Mary Sue in movies? No. Okay. So a Mary Sue is a character, and maybe I should just read a little bit of this so I can say it plainly, but basically, This is what Wikipedia says.

A Mary Sue is a character archetype in fiction, usually a young woman who is often portrayed as inexplicably competent across all domains, gifted with unique talents or powers, [01:00:00] liked or respected by most other characters, unrealistically free of weaknesses, extremely attractive, innately virtuous, and or generally lacking meaningful character flaws.

Okay, so characters who have been accused of being a Mary Sue. Okay. Okay. Ray from Star Wars. Uh, okay. Yeah. It's people who sort of instantly pick up and are good at everything they try. Right. Instantly successful with no real reason to be. Okay. Um, and, and sort of played as, um, perfect. You know, I could see that.

Yeah. Right. Okay. So she's a few flaws, but it's not like in, uh, well, I mean, it's the dark side, but still. Yeah. But so she, you know, people say, okay, Ray is a Mary Sue because she just picks up and all of a sudden she's got these Jedi skills and she's great with a light saber and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Right. And she's, you know, so my question is, Forrest Gump a Mary Sue is for, I I, when you started it, I was like, oh yeah. I was like, maybe Jenny's a Mary Sue. And I was like, no, she's not. She has clear character flaws. Right. He does seem, [01:01:00] I guess on paper, he seems like a Mary Sue, like he does have, so he has this, um, you know, this, this handicap, if you wanna call it that, of his low iq.

Right. That is his challenge. But everything that he ever, he doesn't fail at anything. No. Through the entire movie. The only thing he fails at is a relationship with Jenny. And eventually that comes around too. But that's still works. That's on her. You know what I mean? Yeah. So I'm just curious if you, you guys listening, you let us know.

And I know for some people like the term itself is kind of offensive because it's usually weaponized toward women. Okay. But this is our male Mary Sue. Yeah. I'm talking about the male lead character. If it's force, it's course comp. Martin Sue. There have been, yeah. Uh, like people have tried to make like a male version, uh, like a, uh, Morri Sue, is that one?

I can't remember. Anyway, different Mar Mary. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, alright, let's see. Favorite quotes, of course we talked about, oh my gosh, it's so quotable life li we hear life is and life was right, right. So he says, mama always [01:02:00] says life was Li Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. Right? But when Mama actually says it, she says, life is, life is like a box of chocolates.

Um, I think my favorite one is when he says, Just then something bit me and he goes, ah, something bit me. I love that is one of my favorite thing in movies where the narrator will say something and the narrator being Tom Hanks in this, and then going straight into the same character saying, yes, absolutely love it.

That was mine. And then the, whenever it says, everybody said that was a million dollar wound, but the Army must have kept that money cuz I didn't see a nickel of it. I was like, oh my god. Oh, it's so good. It's so my favorite. Go ahead. Well, and you see him like, think about it before he pulls his pants down to show hi the president, his butt.

Because he literally was like, you see it in his eyes, there's, he's absolutely, I'm gonna drop tr right here in front of the president. The president's so pleased as he should be, but talks my favorite. My favorite of the whole one. Uh, I think it's of the whole movie. Uh, I [01:03:00] think it's Lieutenant Dan. He goes, have you found Jesus yet?

Gum. He goes, I didn't know I was supposed to be looking for him, sir. That is my favorite of the movie. And he kind of get, he gets a chuckle out of Lieutenant Dan for that. Like, you know, like the bitter Lieutenant Dan, he's about to talk about, you know, that's all he, all that the VA everybody's talking about.

They found Jesus and blah the way. Yeah. He's getting ready to tirade and force catches him off guard with that. It's a little bit of a chuckle. And then of course you have like Lieutenant Dan ice cream, you know, and then there's Run for Run. Of course there's, I mean, there's hundreds. He says, um, I'm sorry, I had a fight in your Black Panther party.

Hilarious. Love it. And they're all just like, I just think he's such a redeeming character that everyone's like, all right. Yeah. Yeah. And how he, when he yells Happy New Year to Lieutenant Dan and he's just not having it in the bar. Oh yeah. Yes. And I do like whenever she's trying to make out with him and he just says she tastes like cigarettes.

She tastes like, sounds like cigarettes. Mm-hmm. Oh my gosh. I have a few more notes about the movie and then we're gonna get into the recap. I can't wait [01:04:00] if this movie were made right now. It would be about events taking place in the early to mid nineties through the early 2010s. Forrest would've experienced nine 11, met Presidents Clinton and Bush.

He would've probably stopped Y2K from happening. Like, you know, he is the reason. Yeah, yeah. Like he would've Yeah. Been the, you know, he trips over a computer wire and it stops Y2K from actually happening or something like that. Oh man. Uh, I was trying to think of some of the other like major events that Forrest would've, you know, taken part of.

Was Afghanistan that time? He would've been either Afghanistan, Iraq. Yeah. He would've been the reason that Janet Jackson had, uh, had a nip slip at the Super Bowl. He absolutely, something would've happened for him to be there. He would've been playing in the Super Bowl. Yeah. And he would've been the reason.

Yes, that's right. Oh, that's so funny. Uh, let's. The novel the movie is based on has Forest Gump growing up in Mobile, Alabama, which is a coastal town in, in southern Alabama. [01:05:00] But the movie uses the Fictionalized Green Bow Green Bow album. I love it. It was all filmed in Georgia and South Carolina. Yeah. Yes.

Yeah. Most even the Vietnamese parts were in South Carolina, which, which I was, I get it. Which state parks and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. I, I, when I was in the Philippines, I was like, everything looks like for a Gump it looks like, but I mean, the Philippines close to Vietnam. Yeah, but it was, it was shocking.

It was shocking that those scenes, and you assume like the mountains in the distance and the specific type of palm trees and like bog area type things. You assume that's not South Carolina, but they did really good with you. Yeah. I assume that some of the far background elements are. Digitized in somehow, I guess.

Yeah. I mean, they had, it's like, I keep thinking, oh, they didn't have CGI in 94, but they, you know, cgi, all of these moments. Yeah. Um, and then now and Bayou Lare is real. Real, yeah. And is is part of the shrimping industry, like steeped in the, in the shrimping industry, which is kind of cool. I love it. I [01:06:00] love it when they'll just, just be so honest and maybe not honest and open, but when movies are like, this just makes sense.

Let's just put it where the shrimp capital is. Mm-hmm. I love that. Yeah. Um, in the first scene, excuse me, I just thought this was a funny thing. In the first scene where we see Young Forest as an adult, we first see Tom Hanks, he's getting chased, uh, by the bullies in their truck. Right. They're chasing him down in a truck, and Jenny says, run for us.

Run, you know, first time it happens as an older guy, he turns the corner. And he runs out of frame and he is at maximum 10 feet in front of that truck. Yeah. Right. And then they immediately pan the camera around the corner. And he is a half acre ahead. Yeah. Of the guys in the truck. That is one of my, that's one of my favorite things.

I think. That's so funny. I think it is. So f I'm just like, he's that fast. Yes. Just that like turn of the camera and that's the magic of what it is. Like surely he ran off screen and someone else is like 50 feet ahead of them and he's running. I love that. I think that is the best form of comedy. Did you see, [01:07:00] oh, go ahead.

Go ahead. I took from that, like who are these children's parents? How were they raised to think you could just run over human beings? Yes. I mean, it was the south, a lot of people in the south felt like they were in charge of, A lot of other people still do, man. Yeah. We gotta, we gotta do better you guys.

Um, did you see who his, uh, stunt double was? No, it was his. Oh, yes, I saw that no one else could keep up with like the intensity of the runs. Really? Yes. Like his brother was like, he can do it, but there was so much running that that was a vital point. Okay. I don't know why. I just knew his brother was the stunt double for the running just because no one else could really like, keep up with it.

So yeah. His brother was the stunt double the, uh, the, the guy who runs up behind for when he's on his three year run and his like his first running disciple, you know what I mean? Oh yeah. He was like, dude, I get it. Is it that college student? Yeah. Yeah. College student. Do you know who that is? No, it's Jeremy pn.

Who's Jeremy pn or what is he? He was on Entourage. Oh. Um, he's, you definitely know him if you [01:08:00] see him. Right? Right. I'm trying to think of what else. But his kind of most famous thing is Entourage, but he's got a, he's got a face that you'll know, uh, let me see it. Producers showing, yeah. Okay. Whitney Gas.

Let.

Yeah. Oh yes. Okay. That took me a second. Cause his glasses, he's very young, man. I would not have known that was him. I just happened to, I was like, I think that's Jeremy Pivot. And then I looked him up and sure enough, that's him. Uh, there was a planned sequel for, for gum. Oh, my screenplay for the sequel was written by Eric Roth, who wrote, uh, who wrote for Gump, uh, the movie, the screenplay, um, in 2001.

It is based on the original novels sequel, which is called Gump and Co, uh, written by Winston Groom, the writer of the original novel in 1995, Roth's script begins with, uh, Forrest sitting on a bench waiting for his son to return home from school. Yeah, like, so that's the last thing we see in the movie.

You know, after the September 11th attacks, Roth ZECs and Hanks decided the story was no longer relevant. Um, in March, 2007, however, [01:09:00] it was reported, paramount Pictures took another look at the screenplay. This is all from Wikipedia. On the first page of the sequel novel, Forrest Gump tells readers, don't ever let nobody make a movie of your life story.

Okay, that's pretty good what you just did. Thank you. Appreciate, I was excited about that. Um, and whether they get it right or wrong, it doesn't matter. Anyway, man, that was good. Rob. That's better. I can't do that accent. That's my first successful impression of, of our podcast. Okay. Well it was great. Um, the first chapter of the book suggests the real life events surrounding the film have been incorporated into forest storyline.

So it's about him becoming, um, you know, made a, a person of interest because they made a movie about his life. Right. So it's sort of like this meta narrative you have with him during the course of the sequel novel Gump runs into Tom Hanks, and at the end of the novel in the film's release includes Gump going on the David Letterman show and attending the Academy Awards.

Yeah, I love that. I mean, I don't think it would be as successful as far as Gump the second movie. Rarely is. Yeah. Until [01:10:00] you get to like Sister Act two and things like that. But, uh, yeah, I'm that would've been awesome. Yeah. I, I have a few notes. Okay. Lieutenant Dan's based on, uh, Lieutenant Dan's character, Gary Sinise started, uh, is it a, like a.

Where was it at? In inspired by Li, by Lieutenant Dan Taylor, the military veteran character he played in the movie Gary Sinise, co-founded a rock and roll cover band during the mid two thousands called the Lieutenant Dan Band. Oh my gosh. And has raised over, uh, 30 million. Oh, it's over 30 million per year.

What, uh, and has 12. Yeah. So he, he now has basically a whole foundation for injured war veterans. Yeah. And, uh, they have 12 private jets, which they fly these veterans and sick children everywhere. Uh, and yeah, he's helping out a lot. Yeah. He's, he's helping out a lot. Gary Sinis is helping out a lot of.

Veterans. So some Good came out of this movie. It really did. It really did. Even for you and 33 Bubba Gump Shrimp Cos came out of this movie as well. It's true. They [01:11:00] actually went. Have you ever been to the restaurant? I've been once, yeah. Which one? Uh, I think it's probably Pigeon Forges Mine. Yeah, mine, skeleton Forge, Bubba Gum, I think.

And then I maybe have been to the one in Destin, which that's terrible. I think I read somewhere where it, no, I don't know if there one of Destin, it was the first restaurant to be based on a movie. Oh. Or something like that. I mean, in Cal it started in California. Yeah. Okay. Well that's, that's surprising.

I would've assumed Alabama maybe. Yeah. Louisiana. But yeah, like, I mean that seems like a Gulf Shores type, uh, treasure. But yeah, there's 33 of them, which, that actually surprised me. I thought there'd be far more. Yeah. I don't know why I thought more than 33. Slide up.

All right. It's time once again for the often imitated never duplicated the recast. Um, let's get into the recast segment. We're gonna make this movie right now in 2023. Who are we putting in the most important roles in the movie? Um, let's flip a coin. Let's flip a coin and see who goes first. Alexa, flip a coin.

I'll take heads. You take tails. Okay. Okay.[01:12:00]

You got tails? Ah, all right. Tails six. Let's go first. Let's do, okay, so let's start with least important. Okay. Maybe not least important. Do you wanna go back and forth? No, no, no. Go for it. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So least important, uh, Ms. Gump. I know that sounds bad, but Mom is, she is, is her name ever, is her first name ever mentioned?

I don't think so. Just, I don't know that even in the casting it was Mis Gump. So I looked, I looked into that. Okay, so originally it's Sally Field, love Sally Field. There's only one person that I thought on all of these. They're basically, well, this one maybe, maybe nevermind, uh, some of these, I don't, I haven't seen the emotional range, but I just, I'm believing that they have the emotional range for it.

Right, because that's what we trusted Tom Hanks with. Exactly. And he, he did it. Uh, Helena Bonham Carter. I almost cast her. Did you really? Yes, she was my second. Oh, she's my absolute, she's one of my favorite people. Favorite actresses of all time. Helen. I, and I'm, I wanna say Helena Bonham Carter. Yes. Helen.

Yeah. I just immediately, like when you have to say [01:13:00] something out loud, you're like, that's not right. Yes. As Helen. Helen, just earlier with Henry Kall. Yes. Helena Bonham Carter, I think has the emotional range. She can look old. Yeah. She can look like a decrepit witch, uh, Sally Field never got there, but, uh, she can look old.

Uh, she has the, a bit, she's pretty enough to, I don't know, sleep with a principal to get a kid in a school. She, uh, she just has the, I think she has the emotional range. We've seen it in several of her films. Yeah. So I think Helen Bottom Car, I remember watching that as a kid and not, I didn't have clue up.

Didn't understand. And then you're like, why is force making donkey noises? Which I love. I love that he does that. I'm like, there you go. Um, yeah, that's great. I, she was my, my literal, she was my choice until I thought about who my choice really was. Okay. Who and who's your choice? So I aimed for some people who I felt like could be authentically southern.

Okay. Um, and so, because one of my pet peeves is people doing bad southern accents. This is one of those things that we Absolutely. We hear all the time. And so we know when somebody doesn't have it. You know what I mean? Yeah. Um, and I'm sure it irritates British [01:14:00] people to no end or Absolutely. You know, not so bad when I, like, if I hear a Bri, a person who I know is British, they're doing an American accent and I hear it slip, you know, it's not whatever, it's fine.

Endearing, but, but Southern is a different, a different thing. You know what I mean? So my forest mom could definitely be authentically southern, and I think she has that. Um, I don't, I, I mean, you could call her I guess, a modern day sort of equivalent to Sally Field. I think Sandra Bullock is my choice for first year.

Oh yeah. I could see that work. It's a different, it's a different kind of a, I think a different kind of character. Maybe not a different kind of character, but she's a different. A different feel of an actress because so much of her career, she's been played as hot, right? Yeah. Like she's, you know, played hot roles and Sally Field, that was never, not much her thing after her early career, but, um, I think Sandra Bullet could do it if you think of like the blind side, but 20 years later, you know what I mean?

That Sandra Bullet, it's just, yeah. It's just that side of the blind side. Yeah. I kind of thought about, I don't know why Gina Davis or Sigourney Weaver, those were the two that I was [01:15:00] thinking of. They can't really be Southern. I was trying to think, have I seen them old somewhere? I think Gina Davis could probably do so.

I love she, Gina Davis. Gina Davis is a real man's man. She has, she, I love her. She has the, uh, she has the jawline. I wish I had, that's what the, yeah, but I could see you're in this, but maybe it's because of. Oh no. Ale of their own, their, I think that might be why I put them, for sure. Also, yeah, if, if I'm gonna watch any baseball movie, that'll be the one, a leave of their own.

Okay. Great. Okay. Next on the list, I would say the, the second least important of the top five Okay. Is Bubba Blue. Okay. Okay. Played by, I'm gonna let you say Kelty Williams. That is how I, Dr. Williamson. Okay. That is how I would say his name. Okay. I don't know who that is. What you, Michael t Uh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I'm saying that who played, sorry. That was the Kelty Williamson. Yes. I think is how you would say that. Yes, I believe so. Yes. Okay. So I, um, I gender bent this one. Okay. I, this is a hard role to fill. It's [01:16:00] gotta be someone that can play into some stereotypes. It's gotta be someone who like values that they can play into that, but also bring a, a beauty to it.

Okay. So I gender bent this one to a comedian. Okay. Leslie Jones. Okay. She is just giant. Okay. So she is, I would gender bend this cuz now we're in modern times, there's gonna be a lot of women in the army, women serving camp. So, so she is, I I imagine. And then I imagined my recast Fort Gump, who is much smaller than Tom Hanks holding her, like carrying her out of the, and she is like, she, she's over six feet tall.

Yeah. Which he didn't. They had cables on him. Yeah. Right to hold. They had cables up cause he was too heavy. And I was like, I get that. They were, I was watching them do a look back or whatever where they had the strings too tight. So he was way too high. He was like, too easy to carry. Was like, that doesn't look, doesn't feel.

So I recast it and Ginger bent it as Leslie Jones because I feel like she could bring the humor into it. But also I'm, I'm trusting that she can carry through in the same way [01:17:00] that we trusted Tom Hanks could carry through with this. Yeah, okay. That's great. Um, I went with, and I partially because I just think he could do it and do it well and partially cuz I just wanna see this guy in as many movies as possible.

I went with Jonathan Majors, who is, oh, is he Fano? Not Thanos, what is it? Yes, he's Kang King. Yes. And he's, uh, he's in the new, that's, oh man, he's in the new Creed movie. I wanna, he's the, he has the lips for. He said, what's wrong with your bottom lip? Is that what he says? Well, he did that on purpose. That's not what purpose, but I think, I think Kang has some, has some big lips.

Yeah. That would've worked. So yeah, I think, uh, I think he would be great. And I just wanted, I wanna see him. I like him a lot. He's, he's such a good actor. Yeah. I can't wait for his career. He like, I feel like he's in a, a whole bunch right now. He is. He's just, he's just taken off. Did you recast this one?

The majors? I didn't recast this one, but I was trying to look at, um, what movie we just watched him in. It's, and it was surprising. Is it the one he's, where he's basically it's a Western, yeah. Him, him, hang on. And, uh, [01:18:00] him and several black actors have, have, like, they're basically the, it's basically the wild, wild west.

And it has, what's her name? Regina. And she's the harder they fall. Regina Bella. It's good. My, it was really good. Nice. Like it's got some language. Okay. Yeah. But it's one of those that you're like, how much are you willing to put up with? I would put up with all of it. I put up with double what it has. And he's also in a Lovecraft country.

Uh, if everybody's watched that on streaming Lovecraft Country and he's in some, uh, movie that's like a, he's like a fighter pilot. Um, I can't think of what it is. There's, it's a new, it's a new one. Um, anyway, it's fantastic. I like emotion. Is Aris Elba the bad guy in that movie? Oh man, that's such a good movie.

A Western Elba. I would recast Aris Elba as the the Drill sergeant. If Aris Elba is in a Western, I'm gonna watch it. Okay. Yeah. I'm gonna watch it every time I hit my funny bone. By the way, I say I hit my Eris Elba. Oh my gosh. It's awful. That's my dad joke. Okay. I think that's fantastic. All right, [01:19:00] moving on.

Okay, so I guess we're at Lieutenant Dan. Yeah, that makes sense for the next one. Okay. Okay. So Gary Sinise played Lieutenant Dan and he did it beautifully. The only person that I think has that gruff nature can do comedy. Um, I just, the only person I could think of is Jeremy Renner. Okay. Okay. Yeah. I think Jeremy Renner could have done that really well.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Like a little bit of comedy. Yeah. He can be real, he can be a drunk cripple uhhuh very easily. I just think he could do that. Really? He could. Well, yeah. He could definitely bring the serious military. I like that choice a lot. I like that choice a lot. Thank you. Um, I didn't, weirdly, I didn't go too far away from that.

I went with Oscar Isaac. Oh, I love Oscar Isaac. I know, right? He's just, he's the best. I watch him in anything. He is. He's so good. And I feel like he could do that. Gruff. Yeah. But, and I feel like he is drawn to parts that have a redemptive arc. Mm-hmm. Kind of like that. Yes. You know what I mean? So did you know he was the lead singer of a Christian Scott band?

I, I think I heard that, but I brushed it out of my [01:20:00] memory and I don't know why. Cuz that is incredible. Yeah. Anyway, so, but I think, I think, uh, I think he could crush as li. I picked three different people. Okay, well, because I was trying to think and I couldn't think, so some of them I'm not proud of, but that's the groundbreaking cgi for this version, they're gonna composite three these three people into a digital actor.

Well, I was thinking of the Gruffness, but then the nicest, and I was probably thinking of, um, the Hunger Games, but I thought Woody Harrelson would be okay. Yeah's a great pick. Yeah, I love Woody Harrelson. And then, um, I thought of the Gruffness. Well, now I'm embarrassed. I don't think it's good. It, no, it's too Billy Bob Thornton.

Okay, sure. Because he could be gruff. Yeah. And, but I don't, I only heard Bob, I don't think I've ever seen him. No clue. That is, I don't think I've ever seen him in anything. Billy Bob Thorn. No. No. I thought you just said Bob Thornton and I was like, is that a chicken company? I dunno. It just sounded Billy Bob.

What is it? Tim Horton. Tim Horton. Tim, that's, that's it. This episode is brought to you by Bob Thornton's Chicken and Shrimp. Okay. Sorry. Bill Bob Thornton. What your third one? I, [01:21:00] because I, I had Kurt Russell and I think that won't work. Okay. I don't think that one work at, I think Billy Bob might be a little old now.

Yeah. To be, to be a lieutenant. So Woody Harrelson and I thought the first so offensive that I just remembered. It's not actually that offensive. I mean, they've already. Bubba Blue. Okay. I thought my first thing before I cast him as Leslie Jones, the female comedian, I just thought, why don't we just put Robert Downey Jr.

When he was in Tropic Thunder? Oh, no. No. And I'm not a fan of it. Apparently there weren't too many critics on his role for that though. So for that, yeah. I was shocked that he didn't get more, how can you do, but like, blackface in modern day? I don't know. But he has a lot of fans and a lot of fans, uh, in that community that were just all about it.

I, and I guess part of it had to have been that that was the joke. Yeah. Right. That like, this is clearly a, he's an actor. Playing like he, like [01:22:00] it's a meta, right? Because it's, it's not just he's an actor in blackface, it's that he's an actor playing an actor who does a role in blackface. Right? Right. So that has to be the only way.

It's excusable. It's just one of those things that we look past that I go, how is a society where we pick apart everything? Have we looked past this? Yeah. But we did. Well, I think it definitely had to be somebody of color, because that was the whole point, was the time, his role, because he, him being a best, having him as his good, best friend.

Yeah. His role. That was a big deal. Yeah. It has to be recast of someone of color. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. You couldn't, you can't have a white bubba. No, no, no. That's not gonna work. I don't even like, that's just scary. There's no white bubba that I like. I don't like, sorry. If you're out there and your name's Bubba, please comment.

Please tell us you're a good person. I'm sure you are. If you're listening to this, you're a good person. Prove to us your work as a human being, please. Alright, moving on to Jenny. Yes. Who you got? I am so proud of this. I feel like this is Oscar. Level. Isaac, Oscar. Isaac, Oscar, Isaac as Jenny. I feel like this is, uh, the best one of my pick, I think.

Okay. Zendaya. [01:23:00] She is. She can play a crack addict. She's pretty, she can sing. I think that she has the full range. To be Jenny. I think she has the ability to like encompass that she was, uh, that she was abused as a child. She could give off some southern roots. It would also bring another layer to it that he was in love with a woman of color.

Yeah. So I liked the idea of all of this. I liked Zendaya. I thought she was the perfect pick for this. Now your faces are proving that maybe I didn't get it right on the, I'm still sticking by. I'm still sticking to it. I think Zendaya, it's not something that initially I just went Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean?

But I, Zendaya is another one of those that I'll watch her in. Anything. Anything. She's fantastic except euphoria, because I'm pretty sure it's foul. But I want to watch it for Zendaya, right? Yes. Um, okay. I could, I could get there for sure. Okay. I would not be mad if Jenny was recast as Zendaya. Um, I tr I tried so hard.

[01:24:00] Jenny is like such a vibe, right? Yeah. That like, so I was sort of vibe laser focused on matching that vibe with somebody. Yeah. And so Zendaya was kind of the opposite of, I don't know, Zendaya just didn't, wasn't on that, yeah. On that spectrum for me. So to hear you say that kind of threw me, um, so I went with Dakota Fanning as Jenny Oh him?

Yeah. Current day. Dakota Fanning Smash that And so she's, she's still, I, she is, I think roughly the same age that Robin Wright was. She was like 25, 27, something like that at the time. And I, and Dakota Fanning is right there. Um, I, the only challenge I think for her might be playing older. You know, as older, but they didn't do anything really with Robin Wright, except maybe didn't, they gave her the mom haircut.

Yeah. And gave her a waitress outfit and she was good to go. Yeah. You just kind of, you just kind of go with it. So based on that, I think Dakota Fanning, I, I think she would be, I think she'd be good. That's fantastic. I thought of Julia Roberts, like back in her, uh, pretty woman days. [01:25:00] Mm-hmm. So they, she was making bad decision decisions, you know?

Yeah. So for the first half of the movie, she'd probably have to be a little CGI i'd, right. They would have to de-age hers. His current day. Oh, okay. No, I'm just, I'm in and outta time here. I'm just thinking Placed by her own rules. No, just see, hey, in the same realm as Forres Gum, let's just cgi Yeah. The whole first half and let her get, you know, and then like, maybe just give her a little makeup for the oldest scenes.

Yeah. Right in the middle. Uh oh. Yes. Yeah. Wait. Yeah. Julie Roberts. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. It's good to go. I immediately recast her as Ms. Gump in my head just now, and I was like, wait a second. She doesn't get that old. Nevermind. Yeah. I think it would work in the same form. Cgi, it would work. I think so, yeah. The D Now we've got, all right, let's do it.

This is the big challenge, Gump. This is the one I'm the least confident in. Okay. It is played by Tom Hanks, and he did a masterful job of this movie. The only person that I think, and I researched and researched so excited. The only person I think that could do this emotional range, because it's a, it's hinted with a little bit of funny.

[01:26:00] Okay. Yeah. It is a, it is a comedy. We don't dramedy of some kind. I think Daniel Radcliffe, cause for a whole movie he played a corpse, was it, was it called? What is it called? What is the, uh, oh gosh. I can, it's called, well, it's, it's called When Someone Is Good At Everything. They are a, uh, A Mary Sue. No.

Right, right. Bring it back. A Mary Sue. But they, uh, a Swiss army. It's Swiss army man. A Swiss army man. That's what, so he, he is literally, he, I think he has, I've not seen it and I really want to, Whitney thinks it's a weird movie, so it'll be a me watch a long time. He freaks me out. I can't look at him thinking he's basically a corpse, the whole movie.

So I go, he is the emotional range to play someone who maybe is not all there in the intelligence range, but also a little funny. And I think the one scene out of Harry Potter, the one scene out of Harry Potter that made me think this was possible is when he said pincer. And he does that little thing because he's like drunk.

In Harry Potter. He's not drunk, but he's like, [01:27:00] that made me think he has the comedy chops to play this. Yeah. I think Daniel Radcliffe has the ability to do this. I mean, he's definitely got community. He played weird Al in the Weird Al you're right. Have you, you, have you seen that yet? Oh yeah. It's great.

He's great in it. Okay, so he did good in it. Yeah. So he can do the comedy. Oh, he's very funny. Okay. So I think Daniel Redcliffe, I'm the least proud of that pick. Okay. But I still stand by it. Okay. All right. Um, I went, I have a couple, but my first choice, I'm still going to stick with him as my pick, but I'll give you my alternate after you do yours in case I, in case I step on your Okay.

Uh, but my choice I think has, has, could play authentically Southern enough, at least to the degree that Tom Hanks did. Yeah. He's from California, I think, but he could, but I think he could pull it off. Um, definitely funny. Definitely nails the drama. He's the right age and I can't, I kinda think the right like sort of demeanor.

Um, and you could say he's like a modern day younger Tom Hanks, I think you could give him that title ish. I'm gonna go with Joseph Gordon Levitt. As Forrest Cup man. Yeah. The, the [01:28:00] demeanor. He's got small eyes. I don't know how else to explain it, but other than that he doesn't, small eyes like I think kind s squeaky eyes.

It is, it is like, it is like they're just small and just like so circular. Uh, I don't know as eyes normally are, but I, I imagine with that in mind, I just thought of this when you said that. Imagine him as, as Haley, Joel Osmond's dad. Oh. Oh man. It works. It totally, the face is like, every time this comes out, I love Haley, Joel os, Osmond, Haley, Joel Osmond.

I love him so much. Uh, so as soon as he came on, I was like, I completely forgot he was his son. Yeah, I did too. But it just, oh my gosh. I love him. And it, and it, it tracks to have him as his father. Yeah. It would've worked. It would've worked. Okay. Producer Whitney, who you got? Okay. I said Leonardo DiCaprio because I'm thinking of him in what's eating Gilbert?

Gilbert Great. Gilbert Craig. And so, you know, he has emotional range to play different, uh, now that's not an iq, but yes, I, I think he could do that. That's, yeah, that's solid. Okay. It's your second pick, right? My second choice was Barry Kyogen. [01:29:00] Not I, I have no clue. You'll know his face. You'll know his face for sure.

Barry Kyogen. Yeah. K uh, k e o g h a n. Barry Kegan, uh oh man. Yes. Right. He's in the Eternals. Right? Uh, I love, I he he is good in almost everything. Yeah. And he, I could see that gruff, uh, Southern, but nice kind of thing with that. Yeah. I, yeah. I love that part. He's probably a little young, um, but cuz I don't, I'm not sure if he's even 30.

Um, and Tom Hanks was like 35 ish I think when he, when he did Force Gum. I think Barry k I didn't know his name. He is probably one of. New favorite actors. I know he is been around for a while, but man, he's very good. Yeah. He's in something, uh, right now that's blowing up and I can't think of what it is.

It's on the, it's on one of the streaming services. It's like an Irish thing. Uh, Banes Banes of, yes, the Banes of, uh, the Inish Shean, I'm sorry, the Banes of, sorry, Irish listeners. The [01:30:00] Pan of Ed Sheron. Thank you. And he played, if you've seen the Batman, uh, he played the Joker essentially in the Batman, like when the Ridler finds a friend in the jail, it's, it was that in a, a, a, uh, post credit scene.

I don't remember. It's at the very end, whether it's post credits or not, but, uh, mid credits or something. But anyway, he, you find, he finds a friend that it's, it assumed to be the Joker and that's. I assume we're gonna see as the joker at some point now, man. I hope so. He's such a great actor, but, all right, there you have it.

There's our, uh, recast official of Forrest Gump. We need to know what you are thinking out there. Absolutely. Send us a message on Instagram, uh, at Send snack bar, or you can go to send him a snack bar.com and, uh, leave us a message there and let you let us know where we got it, right, where we got it dreadfully wrong, and how you would rectify the situation.

Absolutely. Um, I wanna know who your, who your Forest Gump would be. I wanna know who your bubble Gump would be. Uh, or your bubba Uh, Bubba Blue. Who? Your Bubba Gum. It just rolls up the top at this point. So yeah, let us know. [01:31:00] Okay. That does it for the recast and now it's time to get to the nitty gritty.

We've made some homemade chocolate. Let's go. Okay. We've attempted to make some homemade chocolate. Yep. We're, we're about to find out. We made it. It just may not be the best. You're right. That is correct. Right. We tasted it a couple times and it might have been the most bitter dark chocolate I've ever had.

So we're gonna see if we, if we milked it up enough. That's right. So here we go. Right after the jump, we're gonna be back here and we're gonna try this chocolate concoction slide up.

Alright kids, it's time. So here's what we've done today. Uh, proving that life is like a box of chocolates and you never know what you're gonna get. We made possibly could be the worst chocolate of all time. We're about to find out. We don't know, like taste wise, but texture wise. We are on the verge of fudge.

Yes. That's what we've come out with. So I'll walk you through the process and then we'll kind of talk about what happened on our end and how you might do things differently and learn from our misadventures. Um, the ingredient list is pretty [01:32:00] simple. Um, you need some cocoa butter, um, or cacao butter. They are functionally the, functionally the same.

Okay. Yeah. But, uh, the, the. Um, the, oh my gosh, it's a little different. The flavor profile is kind of different or whatever. Um, but it's like little, um, you can find little like discs or you might even find cacao, what they call nibs. Um, and that's what your main melting is gonna come from. So it's basically unsweetened completely.

Like, I don't care if you've had like a hundred percent dark chocolate. It's not that it's worse than that. It is worse. It tastes like we, we tried some a little earlier. Yeah. And it tastes like, uh, dirt coffee. Yeah. Is what it, yeah. Yeah. It was like nothing for a second and then just the worst dirt coffee grounds.

I just wanna know who tasted that and thought I'm going to revolutionize the world of candy with this plant. Yeah. It, yeah. It's like, um, you [01:33:00] can, yeah. Who, whatever genius it is, they just taste something. They find something to go, okay, what happens if we heat it? Fry it or sweeten it. Yep. You know what I mean?

And this is, I mean, it made it wonderful. I am now a huge fan of chocolate, but what we made today may not have been that. Yeah. So you're gonna need some, some cacao butter or cocoa butter, um, and make sure it's food grade. You need some dry milk powder, um, which is, or, or just, just dry milk, uh, or powdered milk.

They're all the same. Those things are all the same. Um, you can use, if you want a dairy-free version, you can use coconut milk powder or soy milk powder. Um, we went with just regular milk, very possible to make chocolate in a vegan way. Yeah. Which I didn't realize. That's why I don't understand why it's so expensive to get vegan chocolate when I was on a huge vegan kick.

And now just go, this is easy. You could do this at home. So all my vegan friends, let's, let's make that chocolate at home. Right? You, uh, the next thing you need is, uh, cacao powder or cocoa powder. Um, this is pretty, pretty easy to find. Uh, just make sure it's a hundred percent cocoa or cacao. Again, the flavor [01:34:00] profile is a little different, but functionally for the recipes purposes, they're the same.

Um, a little bit of salt. That really enhances the flavor and adds some depth. And, um, sweetener you can use, this says this is optional, but I do not see this as an option. No. Sweetener is not optional for this. Even if it's minimal. Yeah. Uh, so powdered sugar, uh, works great. Avoid liquid sweetener though, because it can seize up the chocolate in the cooking process and, and just, you don't wanna brick your chocolate.

Okay. Yeah. Um, although our chocolate maybe could have used a little bricking. Yep. Um, yep. So here, here's what we did. The other thing that this recipe doesn't tell you immediately that you're gonna need is, uh, a kitchen, um, scale. Okay. Yeah. And I think that's maybe where we went wrong because we were sort of measuring these things, but then it's, these are all dry measurements and it's telling us very specific dry measurements.

First you, you melt the cacao butter in a double boiler, you're gonna need a double boiler, which is you can just [01:35:00]use two pots to kind of serve the same purpose. You boil water in the bottom pot and then it heats indirectly the top pot, which was very nice to watch. So aesthetically please, using a real double boiler is, is very pleasant process.

Ours is glass and so you kind of, you know, see all the, what's going kind of feels like a laboratory. Yeah, it does. And so that melts gently. The, the cacao butter. Um, once that's doing that, then you add kind of the other ingredients you can sift them in. But we, we didn't sift them in. Maybe that was a problem.

We tried a little bit, but it still to the, we, I think we ran into our first problem when there was so much dry ingredients Yeah. That it did not do well with the cocoa butter. That's right. Uh, so it became brownie texture pretty quick. Yeah. And, and I think maybe some of where we, we ran into that problem because of the, um, The measurement.

So we were trying to, I just did some quick research and found that like, uh, allegedly that a, uh, you know, a dry ounce is equivalent to about 45, uh, uh, I'm sorry, to about [01:36:00] 30, uh, milliliters in a, you know, in a liquid, uh, cup measure. Um, I now do not believe that to be necessarily accurate, um, because when we started mixing the ingredients, it just started turning into like cake batter, you know?

Yeah, right. I mean, was that you, you were doing the stirring, so, yeah. Yeah, it was for sure. It was like the thickest brownie mix I've ever experienced. So we, we added some, we added some powdered milk and water, so we made milk and we added some milk to it. We added more of. Cow. Uh, the coa butter. Yeah. A cow butter.

Mm-hmm. Uh, just until it looked like chocolate. Yeah. And another thing that we did, we started off with one of the new kind of, um, new kind of whisks that's like circular and has other little circles in it. And it works great for some stuff. I don't think it worked for this. Um, no, because once we switched to a more traditional whisk, it was a much better, it was, we started getting like liquified chocolate look.

So a traditional metal whisk worked really well for this. Yeah. Worked. This is, yeah. [01:37:00] That, that's the direction you need to take. That may be coincidence because by then we were trying to add other ingredients going, this is not gonna work. We gotta try something. Yeah. We've wasted this whole, you know, opportunity.

But, so we've made something. Yeah. I think this is the least successful cinema snack bar. Uh, for sure. Make our recipe. Recipe, yeah. Yes. Mm-hmm. This is the least successful cinema snack bar recipe that we have done. We'll see, we'll see what happens when we taste it, if we've realized we've just figured out how to make like little brownie snacks.

I mean, I guess you can just make brownies from box so much easier. Right. But we'll see. This feels like brownie fudge, like looking at it. It's got layers. It even has, it looks like a cosmic brownie. Yeah, it does look like a cosmic brownie. Here's the other thing. If you want to, uh, have chocolate that you can kind of just have sitting out and that is crunchy like a chocolate bar, what you wanna do is temper the chocolate.

And this is probably part of the reason also that we have a softer thing here. Um, when you're cooking the chocolate, you heat it to, uh, a certain level and you can look up this process and only give you very [01:38:00] exact, uh, processes. But you heat the, heat the chocolate up to like 105 degrees or so, then you let it cool down to like 79, 80 degrees and then you heat it back up just a few more degrees, and then you stick it in the fridge, um, to let it sit.

And, and, and then it will not melt at room temperature. Correct. Right. Then it doesn't soften. Yeah. At at room temperature. So as we have here, we know this is gonna be kind of softer and chewier, you know, than if you were just bite into a Hershey bar or whatever. But moment of truth. And so now Zeke is bolder than I.

And so he was immediately like, we gotta put some stuff in this. You know what I mean? Yeah. Oh, we got some coke. Okay. So we got coconut chips and some of them uhhuh. I love everything. It's like ice cream for me. I can't just do vanilla ice cream. Can't do chocolate ice cream. Scott have a crunch to it. We have some vanilla chips.

Uh, sorry. Some coconut chips. I was thinking about vanilla. We've got pure vanilla just chipped up in 'em. We've got coconut chips in some of these. We've got, uh, pretzels in the other. And then some of my favorite is marzipan. I love marzipan in chocolate. So we've [01:39:00] got that in some of them. And I've got, I've got some sprinkles on that one to add a little texture cuz that one's still chewy.

So we've got some texture to this. So if it is the worst thing in the world, we're having chocolate ingredients over a pretzel right. Over coconut, maybe it's still gonna taste fine. Yeah. And so what what we ended up doing was, you know, we added just tons and tons of varying other ingredients just trying to liquidate the mixture that was going on because I mean, it was so, it was thick was three Cs.

Maybe it was, was the thickest something deliciously unholy happening in that pan? Yeah. Uh, and so, uh, you know, we just did everything we could to try and make it look like something that we felt was gonna end up being chocolate. Um, so I guess mo of truth, it's time to dig in. It's time to dig in. Are we trying marzipan, coconut or pretzel first?

Let's go. Whitney literally was already on my, in her hand. I'm taking a huge bite and I hope it's not terrible. Which one of these is right here. Okay. Either of those. So we are trying, just trying to as smr Oh. Whitney's already in out. We can't, [01:40:00] okay. Oh, oh my gosh. The, the, what's it called? That's fudge.

That is the darkest chocolate fudge I've read. Yeah, it's very fudgy. The crunch was not from the chocolate. I wish it was the crunch was from what I like to call sweet croutons, which are sprinkles. Okay. So the crunch was from the sprinkles. The marsan tastes fine in this, but it's fudge. Yeah. It may not even be as set as fudge.

I don't think it is. It's, yeah, it's like, um, I mean it's sweet and it's pleasant, but uh, but it's dark. That's some, there's some bitter to That's dark. Yeah, it's dark. It's like, alright. It's, it's not, it's not a chocolate bar though. No. Nope. It's, yeah. So I don't think we're gonna call this a success. It doesn't taste bad.

It's not the worst failure. If you're like, dude, I homemade this chocolate snack. You know? Yeah. Like, you'd be like, great. But just knowing what we were trying [01:41:00] to make makes this feel like disappointment. Yeah. It doesn't taste bad. It tastes good. Yeah. That is Verve it. It's very bitter. I would say on the, on it is the, it's darker than I anticipated this chocolate would taste.

Yeah. I want pretzel one. Cause I think that's gonna be, I think out of the successes, this might be the most for additional salt and a little crunch we'll have. Yes. All right. So let's try pretzel pretzels. It's a little crunch. Significantly better. It's also, it has also made the pretzels a little soft.

Yeah. Oh, all right. It's good. It's fine. Well, it's not like I actually prefer the mar marza pan one, but we're not, definitely not getting the reactions that we had when we tried our nachos or when we tried our candy apples. Oh no. This is a letdown compared to that. Still fine. Yeah. I'm giving it a four or five so far.

Yeah, so, alright. That's okay. Last one would be our, our coconut chips, which now I'm feeling like this has probably saturated them and they're gonna be chewy. [01:42:00] Let's find out. Here we go. We're chewy now. Yep. Are they? Yeah, they're normally crisp. Crisp. Oh, okay. Yeah. Um, flavor-wise, I think that's my favorite.

Mm-hmm. That coconut really does add something good. Yeah. And just a little bit of uh, or solid texture. It does sort of feel like she took fudge before it was finished, you know? Or like, this feels like it, it feels like, so my wife makes this really rich. Um, oh yeah. It's really rich, homemade hot chocolate, and it comes from a concentrate that you basically make.

It feels like a very thick version of that concentrate, that if you drop this in some hot milk, you'd be good to go. You know, and, and have yourself some delicious, maybe we should try that. Hot chocolate maybe. Yeah. Spin the rest of this into a, into a positive with some, with some hot cocoa. I, I, I thought I loved de marza one, but just now I peeled off the [01:43:00] chocolate and just ma basically ate de marza pan, and I was like, oh, okay.

That's what I liked. That's better. Yeah, that's, that was a good deal. Better. So we failed at making chocolate bars. Yeah, like crispy chocolate. We did not fail at making something that tasted chocolate. It's true. The taste is fine. It tastes like chocolate. Right? It doesn't taste like, yeah, it doesn't taste like the craziest darkest chocolate, you know?

No, but it tastes like dark chocolate. It is. Which I think came from our, we used dark COA powder. Okay. Um, so I'm sure that obviously plays into that, you know. Um, but we did milk it up with the Dr with the dry milk nest. Um, so we've made some sort of weird hybrid, I don't know, thing here. Um, it's like, it, it felt like a no baked brownie mixed with what a chocolate bar would be.

Yes. I definitely don't wanna eat all of it. No. Right. No, we're, we're not going back for seconds. Like I had to when we covered Nacho Libre, I had to stop eating the chips. Right. I was like, you know what, let's not keep eating with this. I'm like, okay, I'm good. Yeah, exactly. I've tasted [01:44:00] what I've had to taste.

Which is for chocolate. That's really saying something. It really is. That really tells you the level of our chocolate. It does. Cause I love some good chocolate. I want you all to tell us your success stories of making chocolate. Tell us where we went Terribly wrong. Yeah, and you know what? Show us how it's done.

Yeah. The chocolate that I just ate reminded me of a hair dryer. The smell of a hairline? I guess so. Okay. Oh no, I know what you mean. All right. Listen, if you guys want to help us get a kitchen scale, um, so that this doesn't happen again, you can support the show. Uh, you can go on on Patreon and throw some support behind the show, um, and help us to, uh, be able to improve our processes here a bit by bit.

And, uh, help us to, you know, do do some more things in the future as we continue with Cinema Snack Bar. It still was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun to make. It was. Um, but, uh, if we ever, I felt like if we were gonna fail at one, so far it was probably, this chocolate just feels ambitious to me. I don't know, man.

I thought this is the easiest thing in the [01:45:00] world. We, we considered for a second doing shrimp, and I was like, oh, man. I was like, we could ruin. Looking back, shrimp would've been an easier idea. Oh yeah. Shrimp would've been a breeze. Yeah, no problem. But, uh, you know, I don't regret trying it. I don't either. I can say I made chocolate.

I see now why people call themselves chocolate tears. Right? Oh, yeah. Feel like I just go, that seems pretentious. And now I go, that all makes so much sense. Yeah. Yeah. Now I'm thinking if we did do Chuck a. We're gonna have to do something else. There's gotta be something else in that movie. If we review chocolate lot with Do Johnny Depp, we are going to, at that point, maybe bring on a chocolatier.

Yes. Yes. Maybe that's what we should do. Find it. Get a local, a local chocolatier and have them, them, like tour the facility. Have them show us, uh, in their space. We have to No hot cte We could go to, yeah, we go to, there we go. We have to, because I want some decent chocolate. If we're, if we, if we cover the ch uh, chocolate lot, we're gonna have to get some decent chocolate because what we've really done today is insult Nestle and Hershey and, oh, Nestle, M&M Mars'.

So sorry. Like [01:46:00] we live 30 miles from M&M Mars, and they would be so disappointed in what we've just, you know what we've just done today. But you know what? I'm gonna give it to my kids and they're gonna love it. They will. What is this? Fudge consistency. We love it. We love it. We'll be back next week, uh, with another Zeke pick, uh, to start our second official round Yes.

Of, of picks. And, uh, we'll, we'll be, uh, doing something awesome, watching a great movie and hopefully making something amazing that turns out a little bit better than our chocolate did. Uh, celebrate us in our failures and follow along with everything that's going on with Cinema Snack Bar, uh, on Instagram at Cinema Snack Bar.

You can visit us@cinemasnackbar.com and if you wanna support the show, uh, in any subscription model that is available, we'll, you know, we would super love that and, uh, and give you our eternal thanks and anything else that we can do to tell you. We appreciate it. Thank you guys so much for listening. We appreciate your support and we appreciate your encouragement, uh, and your pity.

We'll see you guys next week on Cinema Snack Bar. Until then, I'm Rob. And I'm Zeke. The, [01:47:00] and.