Movie Shelf

Wolf Man - What happens when the hunter becomes what he hunts?

• Heather & Cory • Season 1 • Episode 46

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In this episode of Movie Shelf, we discuss Wolf Man,  the latest film produced by Blumhouse. We discuss the film's unique take on werewolf lore, focusing on family dynamics, transformation, and the special effects used in the movie. We also explore how the film touches on the themes of protection and the complexities of familial relationships, culminating in our verdict on whether the film makes the Movie Shelf or not.

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Wolf-Man-Recording (00:08)
I'm Heather. And I'm Cory. And this is Movie Shelf, where we talk about movies, movie trivia, and just about anything related to pop culture. We're glad you're here. In today's episode, we're talking about Wolf Man, the latest horror flick from the Blumhouse production. We'll also chat about some of our favorite werewolf characters, movies coming out, and, of course, we'll enjoy a side of Bacon.

Wolf Man is a movie that focuses on a man taking his family to a cabin in the woods. they're traveling back to his childhood home, which is an Oregon. Essentially they need to collect his father's things. because he's been estranged from his father for quite some time. It sounds like right after high school or college, maybe. Yeah. it's one of those things where as soon as he could get away, he got away kind of thing. and, his father, I guess had been missing for a while and has now just been officially declared dead. So the son has to go in and, kind of take care of some things. And immediately upon arrival to the old farm, they didn't even get to the house yet. Yeah, childhood fears and hunting myths start becoming a reality. 

So the movie stars Julie Garner and I know her. She was actually the really the only actor I was recognizing from the film, but I know her from Ozark. and that was a show that I watched. I don't, think you caught some episodes, Cory. Yeah, I liked it. I recommend the show.

The only actor I recognize was the dad of the main guy. Yes. So that his name is Sam Jeager. and we know him from Parenthood and Handmaid's Tale. And I mean, he's been in some other things, but that's what we mainly know him from. The main character. So the son who's actually now a father. his name is Christopher Abbott. Um, and if you remember Cory in the movie, Poor Things, which

I don't know if we even can recommend that movie. It's a very, it's a , it's a good, interesting movie. That is the one where we get to see all sorts of losing inhibition of Emma Stone's character. Oh, that, okay, yeah. It's like Frankenstein, but not Frankenstein. It's like they put a child's brain in an adult body or something like that. Something like that. She had to grow up real fast though. Anyway.

So in that movie, he's the evil husband that kind of comes back into the picture. we would have seen him in that. The movie is also directed by Leigh Whannell and we actually are familiar with his work. He directed Upgrade. yes. And he directed The Invisible Man. OK. The Kevin Bacon one? No. no, the one with the idea.

The suit. Yeah, that was a good one. That was good. I was thinking of Hollow man. Okay. The invisible man. It was way back in time. Yeah. and then he, but he also wrote Insidious. So he's been a big collaborator. looks like with James Wan. That's like one of my favorite. Yes. Yeah. Horror type scary type movies. Not necessarily horror, but just, I would say that, you know, Insidious is very spooky. Like it's that, you know, kind of haunted house kind of feel. And I think you get a lot of that feel here. I mean, it's still a monster horror, but it definitely has spookiness to it. Or creepiness. A lot of definitely unsettling.

So let's talk about some of our likes and dislikes for the film.

I actually do have a lot of positives. Ultimately, I enjoyed the film. As soon as the movie ended, it actually did have, you know, I think it had some nice full circle moments and I'll go a little bit more into that later, but I think it ended and I was like, I like this, you know. Ultimately though, this is not your typical werewolf film by any And in fact, they're not even referred to as werewolves or anything of that sort.

This is all kind of stemming from this theory of this disease that's in this area. I think it's called Hills fever or face of the wolf. Yes. And, want to do you have to look up, is there like any like real local folklore? I looked up and I wasn't finding any true reference to this. Not even anything like bizarre, like, you know, Mothman or anything. No, no.

So I think it really is just for the movie. If any of our listeners can prove me wrong, let me know. But essentially this disease is spread through the contact with an infected person. So, you know, like in werewolf lore, it's usually the bite. Well, in this scenario, it can even be like a scratch. Yeah. Somehow infecting the bloodstream. Yeah. So again, just think about like how a disease might be spread. And so it's not a curse.

And it also doesn't seem to be curable. Well, I don't even know if anybody in this movie even knows about the disease enough to... Probably no doctors know about it. That is true. It's so rare. You do see, although all the notes kind of went away, seemed like, but I'll back up. The movie opens kind of flashing back to where...

The main character is a little boy and he's hunting with his dad. And you learn very quick that the father is kind of maybe obsessed with this potential creature. Like somebody trying to hunt down Bigfoot or something. And, and so he kind of, you know, he's been trying to track it or get proof or something of that sort. anyway, so, that would be the only kind of details we kind of have of this creature and it's not very.

Very detailed. I also, did like there's that family dynamic. I when you were describing the movie, you know, my dad asked us like, so what's the movie about? And, and you, I think started with the family part. yeah. Cause that's what makes this movie very different from your typical monster movie. Right. And so what happens when daddy is the ones who start changing it to the monster.

So, you know, it's kind of like what happens when you start becoming what you're hunting or what you've been fearing your whole life and not even realizing it. And I think that's on two levels, two kind of, know, maybe one literal, one symbolic kind of level that you see in the film, just because we did talk about that the son is estranged from his father because probably because the father was obsessed with this creature and a little overly protective with the son. Oh, yeah. So.

Probably you could see he didn't want to become his dad ultimately. But he became a city boy. And but with that family dynamic, you also see them supporting and helping each other. This is not, like I said, your typical slasher or monster horror where people just are killed and and that's it. You know, there's there's something in the others that there's a little more meat to it.

Another thing I really thought was interesting and fun to watch or was just the transformation process. And usually when you hear the word transformation and like werewolves, you think immediate like American Werewolf in London, which is just this like immediate, like grotesque looking transformation and stuff. Well, this one was different. It's still all, this is all still happening within like a day. You know, one day, once they arrive, they arrive and

Night has fallen and things start happening. So real fast. Yeah. But you start seeing that this, the father, the main character, his name is, think Blake. So Blake, something has happened where they are confronted by the creature. They don't know exactly what's happening though.

They still don't really know what the creature is, but Blake is scratched. And I think this is evident from the previews. In the previews, you know that Blake is starting to have issues and stuff. But what's really cool is you start seeing from the third person perspective, like watching him have some transformation things, but then you also see his perspective.

Yes, that is very different from probably any other except  for maybe the Jack Nicholson one because you kind of get a little bit of perspective on what they're sensing when they're changing but yeah you go into a lot more of it in detail with this movie. I think the first thing I noticed he commented about smelling something that he should not have been able to smell and then there's other things where

Even in the Jack Nicholson one they show something like the super hearing and stuff, they did in this one too. But then there was the, his hearing has changed. Yes, the language barriers. And his ability to speak. To communicate with his family and how the vision has changed and how he begins to see things. And his strength changed.

And so it's just definitely different. so if, you know, if it was us and you were starting to become this animal creature, but you know, I'm your wife and I'm just kind of watching and you see where like, I feel like you're just sick, but I'm also not understanding what's happening. Like all of a sudden you can't talk to me anymore. Well, I think I'm talking to you, but you're looking at me like, what the heck are you saying? Yeah. Something's wrong.

So you get a little bit of that. mean, there's no comedic element to it at all. It's just, you just see that like, I I don't understand. I can't understand you. I'm sorry. Just weird awkwardness for sure. And, there's definitely that transition though, where, you see like kind of the human side is still competing with the animal side. That's kind of being taken over this creature side that's being taken over.

So he's still a father. Um, and there's some instincts getting embedded, trying to take over, but man, he's trying so hard to hang on to that humanity. Yes. And of course his wife is wanting him to hang on to cause she just thinks he's, you know, like, let's figure this out. We'll, we'll get you somewhere. Once it's we can get you out of here and get you cured. yeah.

So anyway, I thought that was really cool. but yeah, the senses are changing. The strength is changing. The speed is changing the site. The body is starting to change. and then just that mind evolution where it's just becoming a bit more animalistic where, know, there were some scenes where the wife is like, my goodness, I don't, I don't know what is happening. And, I think the coolest scene. And so this is just a teaser. won't.

express too many details, but it's in the barn and it's, it's just, it's again, kind of showing the different perspectives of what the wife and daughter see and what Blake is seeing in the barn. And so now you have to watch the movie and find out what I'm talking about. Also, I did also really appreciate the special effects in the film. This was not a highly digital.

film, either that or it was so well done that it does not look digital. I did actually look it up and they did use like there was, it was special effects. Okay. All non-digital special effects. I believe so. mean, there may have been perhaps some elements, but well, that's the case. My, my hat's off to them for pulling that off. Yeah. And I think, you know, this, the, the wolf creature is still a little bit simplistic since it's like not your, again, it's not your stereotypical werewolf and the transformations were slower.

I would have to these were the most hairless werewolves I've ever seen. Just putting that out there. Got a little extra chin hair. And maybe a little bit extra on the arms. That was it. I like the simplicity of the story. I also like the simplicity of the cast. I think you made the comment and I didn't even think about it, but once they get to Oregon, there's really only like a few characters that you

I mean, there's the wife, the daughter, and then Blake, and then a creature. And there was this one buddy. Blake's childhood friend growing up. Yes. When they first get there. So yeah, it's a very small cast, small plot. But that's good. I'm good with that. it doesn't go overboard on melodrama because the husband and wife, were having some tensions beforehand, but it didn't go overboard. It didn't linger too much on that.

Do give you an idea of what was going on? Yeah. Just enough. and, or like, you know, you you watch some movies and it's like, there's like a death scene. Like I choked about this with Lord of the Rings and Cory absolutely loves Lord of the Rings,

Hey, careful there. know. But every now and then I'll make comments. It's like, but they just take forever to get over things like they think Gandalf died. And so then they're just, you know, mourning about it for like five minutes in the movie.

Yeah, the arrows or something, but you know, like take forever to die. death scene with a boring mirror being pierced by all these arrows. Oh, I'm going to still keep fighting. Oh, I'm going to lay down and spend a few minutes talking to you before I finally I why don't we tighten that up just a little? Just a little. So we don't get that in this movie. This movie is very clear cut. Pretty much. Oh, I also, I really like this element. I guess it might be part of the special effects in a sense, but there's a couple scenes where

you don't see the creature, but you see the creature's breath because it's kind of cold. Yes. I was like, this is great. You know, and it's one of those things where like, you know, part of the beauty of Jaws was he never really saw the shark too much until the very end. Yeah. Which I think is partly why it can kind of sustain time so well. because, know, once you fully see the shark on the boat, it's like, okay, that's the shark, but it's still, it still gets you.

So I think... Well, at least it always gets your mom. Every time that the shark comes out during the chum scene, she jumps. So this movie, they're a little restrained with showing the creature, which I like. It just adds to that spookiness level.

So another element I liked about the film was just it some kind of full circle moments, like where you have something referenced and or alluded to and it kind of came back. So one being this need for the dad to feel like he is the protector to protect his family. There's an incident that happens at the beginning of the or toward the beginning of the film with his daughter and and

She, everything was fine, but he did jump on her a bit. And then he apologized. Like I just, I'm your dad. need to protect you. Yeah. And I think they play this little game like, was my superpower to protect me? And what's your superpower? I read minds, you know? So yeah. the daughter reads minds. And so that's where she can always read her father's mind, which is ultimately to say that he loves her or that's what he's thinking about.

There was also this another full circle element with just this idea of kind of the hunter becoming what he hunts.

and cause the, the son Blake, when at the very beginning of the movie, you see him hunting with his dad. And, and so, then of course, you know, then you see that the son eventually kind of becomes this creature, of what they were hunting or is infected by the creature. Yeah. So another thing I liked was, kind of the stages that you see.

or the stages of the wife, her kind of emotional growth or, you know, transformation of some sort. Yes. And so where you see her at the very beginning being very disconnected from her family, very focused on work. And it's just a small element, but it's, mean, cause like I said, they didn't go overboard on trying to portray anything. But in the beginning she has this fear that

her husband a much stronger connection with the daughter than she does. Yes. Cause she's the one that's probably like more away from home a lot more and so forth. Right. Well, I think the husband even at some point said he's between jobs right now. So all he does is he's a dad. And I think he even said dad first. I don't know. I can't remember. actually said husband. but definitely their relationship is not as super strong, but the wife is definitely disconnected.

And then you see her toward the end being a lot more engaged and and and then taking that leadership role So I also I did you know, just a little bit of looking up on the film and I saw that Julie Garner she even purposefully like read books about like the stages of grief and Wanted to bring that into her role in a sense where you see her kind of progressing

maybe in a sense that, you know, like a loss of a marriage, even though they're trying to kind of rekindle things. But anyway, so I don't have, really any negatives. there was one I was trying to kind of force and I was like, maybe some of the city scenes were just a little slow, but they were also relevant to show the dad's protection mode and the marriage disconnection. So we needed them, but you know, it's kind of like.

We want to get to the forest because we know action is going to happen there. But, starting with if I had to say a negative, that would maybe be one. the other thing would be, I would have actually liked more Wolfman references from Blake prior to taking his family back to this home life. Like, did he just block everything? Traumatic. Yeah. Like, or did, you know, he could have happened to say like, yeah, my dad was always hunting this mythical creature that everyone.

in the area kind of thinks about or, know, but maybe he did just bury it. I'd say one negative for me is that, you know, knowing that this is some type of Wolfman movie, I miss the little bit more stereotypical Wolfman where there's not just one transformation. Here they go from man to wolf and that's it. They stay as this creature, which your typical wherever they go back and forth, you know, but here's just one time change. That's it.

That's what you stay as. I think part of that is where it's this disease. Like, it is just, they become this creature. So not a werewolf. It's not relevant to the moon. Egyptian curse or whatever. They don't have to wait for the full moon. just, it's what they become.

So yeah, it is a little different. like he said, not your standard, typical. I'm okay with the route they took, but I get it. If you're going thinking you're going to see a werewolf, you're not going to see a werewolf. But you do see a wolf man, I guess. yeah.

Okay, what's the verdict, Cory? Does it make the movie shelf or not?

For me, I'm gonna say no, but it's definitely worth a one-time view, but for me it's kind of a one and done, liking the movie. I always go to scenario, I'm on the couch and I'm looking for something to watch. If it's on, it'll probably be my last resort to turn to. There's absolutely nothing else left to watch. Then I may flip it off, but it's not gonna be one of those movies where...

Ooh, ooh, it's on HBO, I'm gonna flip to it. You know, it's like, uh, that is playing about, let me see what else there is. I predict this changing, you know, in the next year. I foresee this happening or coming on a lot.

for me, actually, I'm going to say it does make the movie shelf. it's not, you know, it doesn't, it's not a grand slam of a movie by any means, but it hits all the elements. It's spooky. It's got the creature horror. It's got great effects. and I enjoy watching it. It doesn't go overboard on gore. It doesn't go overboard on

It just doesn't go overboard on things that are not relevant. There is gore. Don't get me wrong. There is gore for all the horror people that like gore, but it doesn't go overboard. It's not gratuitous. Yes. There we go. So it's simplistic, but I like that. And again, my hat's off to the special effects, which I'm a big fan of special effects movies.

So next up on our list, we wanted to talk about some of the top werewolf characters. So even though this movie Wolfman was not really a werewolf, of course, werewolves come to mind when we think about it. So in looking at the list, I did realize there are actually a lot of werewolf movies that I have not seen.

Same here because I grew up in a very protected childhood environment where, know, no, movies and stuff like that. So, and I imagine that most of your older werewolf movies would probably be like that. So yeah, not a lot of exposure to that when I was young. And when I started seeing more demented movies after dating you, that was, mean, the way we're genre was just not high on your radar. No. So.

Of kind of the monster horror, usually I tend to not go into werewolves because for whatever reason, I always deem them super scary. Because you like dogs and you don't want dogs to be bad. Yeah, I like dogs. I don't want dogs to be bad.

But on that note, here are some top werewolf movies that we have not seen. I think we've seen just about all of these or I've in some capacity seen them. Well, not the first one, though. I have all the classic universal monsters. I actually have not truly seen the Wolfman. So the original Wolfman was way back in 1941. gosh. Yeah. So he started it all.

Um, and I actually haven't seen that, but if you look at any list of top werewolf characters, that's on it. Um, 1985 silver bullet. So I have seen this one. That's the Stephen King version. So this is the Stephen King story. I vaguely remember that one. Yeah. This is where, um, has Cory Haim in it. Um, and his uncle is Gary Busey and you would like this one because this is the classic style of

Who's the werewolf? Yeah, who's the werewolf? okay. And so there's a werewolf and then there's also a little bit of a tragic part to the movie. But anyway, that's on the list. That one was one that I think I saw probably when I was like five or six. And so it kind of haunted me. Then on the more fun scale, we have Teen Wolf. Michael J. Fox. Surfing on top of the van.

Did you ever watch the cartoon as well? I, yeah, I do recall seeing a few episodes of it. And I guess the cool thing about this one is that when he is in the wolf mode, for the most part, he's always controlled.

And this is the one, is this the one where he's, he's a basketball player, right? And he decides to take, you know, take the fame of being awesome at it. gets awesome agility skills as the werewolf. Yeah. guess that one is different. It's not like getting bit. It's just the family. Yeah. Family thing passed down from, yeah. And I guess once you get a certain age, you get the abilities. I know the dad had it. They get the red eyes.

we already mentioned this earlier, but we have 1994 Wolf and this is like werewolves and business. Yeah. So this one is with Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer and James Spader And then going back to the 80s, I feel like the 80s had a lot. 1981 you had the Howling.

And this one is definitely your straight classic horror, like just horror, probably lots of gore. But probably the slasher version of a werewolf movie. Yes. Also in 1981, though, you had

American Werewolf in London, which this one's actually pinned as a horror slash comedy. But the cool thing about this one is you

have Rick Baker, who was the special effects lead Yes, he's definitely a big name in special Yeah. We saw him a lot. I mean, we've seen, I'm sure, lots of his movies, but we used to watch the FaceOff show that SyFy did, and he was often like one of the judges or something like that. So I was like, I know that name sounds familiar. But anyway, he won an Oscar for his special effects for this movie.

And so it's like I think I mentioned at the earlier part of the podcast that if you think of werewolf Transformations most people will go to this one. Okay, especially cuz it was Yeah, especially because it was just special effects. It wasn't digital or anything like that so then in 1986 another one and this one's a silly one and it's a movie I've seen

pretty confident you haven't seen it but it's the it's haunted honeymoon and yeah it's Gene Wilder, Gilder Radner, Dom DeLuise they're like radio show performers like radio performers theater and they get married going on honeymoon and it's a haunted honeymoon and there's also werewolves and all sorts of are a werewolf involved so if you like comedy like just straight up Gene Wilder

style comedy, check it out. And then finally on the list is the 2004 Van Helsing. gosh. You watch this movie a lot, but you don't like it? I have mixed feelings about See, he watches movies he doesn't like sometimes too. So this one culminates with the need to have a werewolf.

to defeat Dracula. I think I watched it because it has quite a few good looking vampires in it. Again, you drive the Dracula wives. The wives of Dracula.

Also one that I was continuing to see on the lists that I hadn't seen so it's now on my watch list is Dog Soldiers. This is a 2002 movie and it's like a military group and they're in Scotland.

I don't know they were doing a training exercise or what, but somehow they come across werewolves. With Dog Soldier, you almost make it so that the soldier were werewolves or something. But we have to check it out. OK.

All right, Cory, let's talk about movies coming out. okay.

And I will say watching this film, I guess with it being rated R, we got lots of rated R trailers. have red trailers as they're become to be known as. I think this spring there's lots of horror coming out.

Okay, so the first show was the monkey, is like a, you know, that little demonic looking toy monkey with a little symbol. It's like possessed. So it's almost like if it was like Chuckie or something. Well, except that the monkey doesn't do anything. It's almost like final destination. But it's This aura around this toy. Yes. So so like where weird things happen to have death.

Captain America, brave new world. Yeah. I think that's coming out on Valentine's day. Oh, date night. Yeah. All right. So fingers crossed that they do good with it. Flight to risk. Oh my. Oh yeah. Yes. Well, first off.

I find it fascinating. I don't know if they're just trying to avoid saying Mel Gibson, but I find it fascinating. the creators of Braveheart and this, and this was like, okay, they listened to all the Mel Gibson ago, and I forgot what the third one was, but they're all Mel Gibson. Mel Gibson did direct the movie. But they don't mention his name. And then when you see the trailer, it's like, whoa, Mike Wahlberg is bald. Bald-ing. I was like, oh, that's a different look for him. So...

And that is another movie where it looks like it's just like three actors. like a simple plot. So I suspect that one is hopefully just entertaining. And this was the name was my first time seeing this preview. Novocain So you have this guy that has a ability where Jack Quaid and he doesn't feel pain. Right. But he can get hurt.

Like he's not invulnerable. He can get injured. He just doesn't feel it. He can get stabbed as easily as Joe Blow. It just doesn't hurt. He can't bleed to death. He was not careful. And does he work at a bank or I don't know. feel like someone got kidnapped and he's trying to rescue someone. Yeah. Or I think he went to a transaction or something maybe while the bank was getting robbed or something. So yeah, that one I'm looking forward to it. A working man.

So that is the latest from Jason Statham. Okay. And it's also by the same people that did the beekeeper, I think. So it had that, that kind of feel to it, I think, where he has some special skills and he's going to use them to rescue his friend's daughter or something like don't get it confused that other movie. I have a special set of skills until dawn. So this one is based, I think on a

PlayStation game. I'm not familiar with the game. Okay, yes. But it also, it's from the people that did Happy Death Day, and it kind of has that feel to it where they've arrived at this home, they're looking for someone, and it looks like they might have 13 attempts to get out of the house, because as soon as they go in, they're like locked, and they get killed. but then it resets, and they have to figure out.

You know how to, it's like, it's like escape room times whatever. Yeah. So, but yeah, so we shall see. This next one is weird. I mean, it was really hard to tell what the story of it was, but the woman in the yard. So pretty sure it says this family and like there's this woman all dressed in black sitting in their yard and it was really weird. Yeah. I'm not sure. We only saw, I guess it was just a teaser, so we need more info.

More, more info on the plot. Yes. Um, but definitely looks like potential weird cursing curse type stuff. guess. don't know. And the last one looks interesting. Definitely putting off, we're doing off a new technology, but it's called drop. And so it starts out with this guy and a girl on a date. Also the girl starts getting these texts messages saying, this now. And, and then they put a video on her phone of like the cameras, security cameras in her house.

And it's like, there's somebody in her house and like, holding a gun up to her kids saying, do this now, or we kill your kids. And then there's like somebody in the restaurant, air dropping messages to her and she's trying to figure out what the heck's going on and who these people are and everything. Yeah. Real bizarre. Yeah. Um, so that's why you don't want to own an iPhone. the spring has is, is robust with.

some thrillers coming out. sure. I guess actually Flight Risk that comes out this next weekend, but yeah, lots of fun coming.

All right, Cory, it is now time for a side of bacon. Okay, this bacon's gonna go off on a little tangent, but we'll have you go first. Okay, so if you remember, we were connecting Gerard Butler to Mark Hamill and...

I put the caveat, even though he's amazing. Yes. But I the caveat. Almost half of his credits are. To not use voice acting credits. goes all my Justice League and Batman movies. Animated movies. So for me, I have two links. One is my true one that I did. And I think I have like four movies for it. And then I found a faster one.

you found a pound, okay. So first I have Gerard Butler to Aaron Eckhart in like Olympus Has Fallen. Yeah. There's like a lot of three of them, right? Like Olympus Has Fallen, London's I'm sorry, Butler to who again? Aaron Eckhart. Okay, yeah. I was like, I got the right one, right? I think so. Aaron Eckhart to Julia Roberts in Aaron Brockovich. Yes, love Julia Roberts to Tom Hanks in there's a couple.

I like the one where she teaches him. Yep. No. my goodness. You didn't write it down. I know. It's got your notes right there. my. Well, hold on. It's the movie with the scooter. He's going on I know. He's with the scooter. What's the movie called? It's like something. It's guy's name, I think. I know. That's why it's not very memorable. It's just a guy's name. Like Michael Clayton, but it's not And then I was also trying to remember the other one too, which is like another name.

Alright, hold on. Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts. Larry Crown. See, I kept on thinking like the Thomas Crown Affair. I'm like, is not that movie. Larry Crown. Are you sure it's Larry Crown? Yes. And then the other one is the Charlie Wilson war. But I was thinking of Larry Crown. That's the one with the scooter. So, Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks and Larry Crown. And then Tom Hanks to Carrie Fisher in, um, like, uh...

The Man with One Red Shoe and then Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill in Star Wars. I was so young when my family saw that movie. I need to watch It's a fun one. Man with One Red Shoe. I was too young to understand it when they watched it. I think she was also in The Burbs. I think that was her. I'd have to double check. Don't quote me on that one. Sorry. That actually made me five movies. I'm wanting to say Jeanne and Davis. One, two, three, four, five. Actually, that was five movies. Ooh, five movies.

I was like, know that Mark Hamill's been in other live action films. So I just did a quick look and I was like, that's right. He was in Kingsman. Yes, he was. With Mark Strong. yeah. He was in Rock and Rolla with Gerard Butler. man, Rock and Rolla. I barely remember that one. So that one is two movies. Okay. So I have my five movie connection and then the two movie connection. Apparently my dad got a four movie connection though.

So I hear you want to pay homage to an actor. So do you know Warwick Davis? Yes. He's the Willow guy, right? He's the Willow guy and was amazing about this.

to me, Warrick Davis is like mini Ron Perlman to where almost half of his credits, yeah, he's in makeup, costume or what have you. And you probably don't realize he's in as many things as he's in because, know, you take Ron Perlman, you know, he starts out with the Beauty and the Beast series. did Hellboy. He was a really weird protected creature in Star Trek Nemesis. He played a weird character in Fantastic Beasts and where to find the movie.

Percy Jackson 2 he plays another creature. So he's in all these movies and you're probably not realizing it's him. And he played like a really cool bald guy in Blade 2. It's like you know, because he's bald, but. So then you have Warrick Davis, which interesting, his very first movie credit on IMDB is Return of the Jedi. Cause he played the main Ewok that first finds Princess Leia.

So that's where he got his start. And then not long after that, he played some type of little goblin in Labyrinth, but then he put his name on the map when he a few years after that with Willow. And that's when he started opening up and started doing a whole bunch of, but oh, oh my gosh. mean, there's, there's some really weird things going on with Warren Davis. Okay. He's in so many different Star Wars movies and never the same character. So

Return of Jedi, he's a little Ewok and he has another little odd character in Phantom Menace, another one in Force Awakens, another one in Last Jedi, another one in Rogue One, another one in Solos, and then a voice in the Star Wars series of Rebels. it's like, this guy has this iconic connection with Star Wars. And most of them are just probably little cameo appearances, you know, since Return of the Jedi. And oddly, it is almost the same thing with the Harry Potter series.

Oh, he's played several different characters in the Harry Potter. One of them is the same character, but he has two drastically different looks within the series. I know this is an audio show and you saw, can't show you, but here is a character in Harry Potter and different Harry Potter movie. looks totally different, but in some of them he's the conductor of the orchestra. and, um, but then that same character has a totally different look where he's like, gosh, this huge white beard and everything. And some of the other Harry Potter movies and then.

He's played more than one goblin even in the different Harry Potter movies. And one of them, one of them is Cade. So somewhat with my connections. So.

Going on to the connection. So I'm going to start off with Mark Hamill to Warwick Davis and of course, Return of the Jedi. Warwick Davis to Gary Oldman and oh gosh. Oh no, no. Uh, yeah. Harry Potter. Cause Gary Oldman was a serious black, the prisoner of Azkaban. And then Gary Oldman to Gerard Butler in a movie that I love, Hunter Killer.

So there's my three movie connection.

I like Hunter Killer. Yeah, we even had your dad as a special guest on that one. Well, good job, Cory. just reflecting on some of the other characters that worked as done as he had a character in Labyrinth. He's oh.

I've not seen any of these leprechaun movies. Through the 90s, was evidently like six of them, but he was like the main horror leprechaun guy. And of course we both, I think, recognize him in Maleficent 2. He was like this weird little cellar creature that she went, not Maleficent, but the other evil queen went to to up something. And of course he was like a standard dwarf in the second Narnia movie as well. I mean, he's like all over the place also, but.

But again, have the time he's made up so you just don't maybe recognize that it's him. Right. You Well, good job. You definitely get the bacon win. Um, all right. So do you have a bacon for this episode? Oh gosh. Well, don't tell me you have to pick from the main movie cause there's nobody in it. We can pick from any of our werewolf movies. Oh, Um, um, okay. I got it. So.

Just because I'm kind of a fan of his in general. Okay. I'm going to go with, I think the movie was just called Wolf. Yeah. And you go with James Spader. All right. I will go with Michael J Fox. now I'm like figuring like, cause James Spader was like in some teen ish 80s movies, but I don't, I'm not making a quick connection to them. Because you know, always say, I think I've talked before where I got this thing where I always

tie an actor to the first movie that they impressed on me with. So with me, it's always Stargate with James Spader. I mean, Michael J. Fox is definitely a back to the future. Yeah. But he's been in, he's got quite the, he's such a fascinating person. But no quick five second connection coming up with those two. So I think we're safe. So we have Michael J. Fox to James Spader.

Thanks for listening to Movie Shelf. Yes, and be sure to follow us on your favorite listening platform. And check out our show notes page for links to the movies that we talked about.

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