Sing Sing + The Dekalog + Ian Eagle

[Music] attains a kind of Haunting mysticism profoundly Shifting the audien's perception of reality it is kiram's finest work and one of the best films of the 1990s MD is from the front row talking one of my favorite movies of all time Taste of cherry we're reviewing here on copile I tell you what you know with new movies and we've got a good one coming up today Sing Sing which is a new film in theaters but a lot of these movies I'm not really crazy about thank God my man Harry went and saw alien ramula so he took the duty of watching the big budget number one film of the box office so copile has you covered I of course close to my heart went on Indie movie with Sing Sing colan Domingo's new movie but I got to tell you the old movies this week I watched three of my top 20 favorite movies of all time Taste of cherry from Ki 1997 won the Palm Door the con Film Festival the secret in their eyeses which won not the jul Roberts let's make that clear right away there was a crappy Julia Roberts remake I'm the original Argentine film The Secret in their eyes which won the Academy Award for best forign film 2009 one of my all-time favorites and this is the big one wife and kids out of town off to California so I said okay I'm doing it and my buddy John le boy who is the biggest Kristoff kishlovsky fan you will find along with me I rewatched the decalogue which I've seen twice before it is a 10hour Polish film let's go come on I was so pumped up I I had a weekend I said to myself can I can I knock this out like all day Sunday I was this is like a marathon I'm gonna get up at 10: amm I'm gonna sit in my basement I'm gonna watch 10 hours of Polish Cinema I couldn't pull it out I ended up doing five and five but it was still awesome and quite honestly one of the highlights of the summer 10 hours in Pol Cinema and I wasn't sure I I said to myself I thought of my old my great polish Andrew lfy who's one of the funniest people ever in my life and I said Harry krinsky I said I Harry's polish actually so I Google before we joined here here I said what type of name is krinsky know it says Jewish from bellarus habit habitational name for someone from any of the places called quinky k r i n Ki which is not how you spell your name k i Sky now in bellarus so what is the origin I I if you bet give me money I would say Harry's polish well so first of all when when you sent me the uh The Rundown for the show and you put down 10-hour polish movie I was like this guy's not [ __ ] around this this is like that is I was like not gonna do that one I'll ramulus sure 10 hour movie I was hoping so here here's to to let you behind the curtain everybody I'll send the rundown to Harry like on a Wednesday or Thursday and then he'll surprise me by saying hey like today I was shocked he was like hey I saw tasted Shir like nice let's go Harry Iranian Cinema B and I was like if he tells me he watchs a decalog I'm gonna fall off my chair like there's no way I did I thought about it and then I was like I just can't do it you know it's 80 degrees out it's I gotta go tou some grass but I so I am Polish uh uh you you are right that there somewhere an I got changed to Hawai at Ellis Island or something you know but yes I got some I got some Romanian in me and some some Polish all right nailed that um anyways I'm I'm going to go happy with these foreign films and by the way I didn't even mention our Wild Card are you kidding me we got Iron Eagle today ion eagle man he is one of the great play-by-play voices in all of sports and the reason we're having him on is I also met him at the Emmys along with Joe Buck and just like with Joe we talked with the entertainment connection he's buddies with Paul ham excuse me what I say Paul ham he's Budi with John Ham um and and this time with with ion it's amazing I looked at his backstory his dad was a standup comic his mom worked in entertainment so we're gonna talk entertainment with I eagle and uh you know here's a big Hoops guy if you want to talk a little Nets with them find out we'll find out I coming up here momentarily I know he's going to be great um like I said we're definitely going foreign film heavy here and uh all esoteric so I feel like I should lead off with Harry and alien ramulus before we do very quickly I want to mention friend of the podcast our buddy Sam Morel the best I asked Harry I said can you get me his number I want to go visit him and go see him in New Brunswick New Jersey which is the stress factor it's been an hour from where I live it's basically recers for all those who know Jersey um so I texted Sam I said hey I want to come see my buddy Scott Spell's a huge fan we wanted to come more importantly than the show he just want to come say hello and he's like dude I'll get you comps I'm like oh fantastic even better I a free show of Sam Morel so went and saw him Saturday he was he was great really funny a lot of new material especially having seen the Amazon show I could see how funny he is um you know works the crowd everything lot of great B two two stories Bally told were great and I asked him after he said they're both legitimate so if you're a fan of Sam Rell go go see him and touring he's about to hit Europe by the Way Insane trip if you look at Sam's IG September 17th the like October 3rd he's going in Europe for like two weeks and it's like he's hitting everything it's like Copenhagen one day Helsinki the next day I'm like Jesus he's not messing around so um the two bits one was about annoying neighbor who ratted on him and another one about a goddamn stew which at one point he said in the story he goes the sports caster said to me can I guess who Stu is so when I saw him backstage I go who's the sports caster he said Trey Wingo I started laughing I go I'm gonna text Trey Wingo right now I with Sam Rell tell the stew story but uh it was great the best part of it Harry was was not to show your but I textas him hey we come say hello he's a c and it's always tricky you never know how long you can stay for but he was so welcoming and so gracious he didn't seem like he was in a Raj he was just having a drink so end up talking him for like an hour I felt bad I maybe he's got things to Goa wants to go back to New York but he was great and of course we we shout out you out talk to H Anthony DeVito was there as well not sure if you're familiar with him but he opened also very funny comedian Anthony knows who you are as well so the rav stories so thank you for the hook up and everybody make sure you go check out Sam he's he's a really funny guy and he's crushing it right now all right Ellen romules Harry you hit us off with the big movie of the week so I I love the alien franchise I do it's like I I it they I don't know there's something about it the the that first I watched um I I don't remember which one I got into first but the first time I saw one of those [ __ ] like launch onto a guy's face I was like I'm in it is so it is such a good horror device you are like that is the scary [ __ ] in the world so I you know I've I think I've seen them all now I think I might have even seen like Alien versus Predator 2o and all those spin-offs are horrible but the general Alien movies are good I like them I they know what they are um you know they are they have an unbelievable commitment to hitting the same beats every single movie like if you have seen one you know what's going to happen it's going to be even down to like how many people are going to die it it they they they do that fulus no different okay they they there is uh spoiler everybody dies except for one you know angry woman which is what happens in every movie is like a woman who's like I told you so and then uh everybody else dies except for her I uh I went in first of all I went in BRX whole thing TW you know $26 ticket the the everything's exploding at me the the with the perfect way to see alien it basically had the hits it played the hits the the the gunk was leveled up something that I thought was really cool I I I was listening to an episode of of the lebard show or or some leard thing and I think Mike Ryan was talking about this they didn't upgrade the original movie came out in 1979 their understanding of what future looked like was like giz weird analog buttons and all that stuff they kept that the spaceship looked the same that's which I thought was fun and it was sort of shot clearly a direct homage to the original alien which I enjoyed as like I I like that they didn't try to kind of chrome it up or anything and the Monsters were [ __ ] scary so I that it it hit everything I would say if you like the aliens you you should go see it so I was on lebatard and Mike Ryan saw it and he was really excited about it and he said you know what do you think of aliens in general now Samson's terrified he gets the Willies I can't watch those movies and I said well funny you know normally most sequels stink but if you look at any list of like alltime great sequels aliens is generally on that list it's like you know Godfather 2 and not much else Back to the Future too I like a lot as well aliens is T2 is a great one Terminator 2 one of my my my brother's favorite movies um but a short list but everyone's like no you look at Ridley Scott original James Cameron the the sequel like those are both really good movies they both stand up so Mike R was trying to make the point he said if you just look at alien ramulus this is like an all-time great Trilogy and comparable to Star Wars which I thought was insane but I said you have to remove the crappy ones they' made as well I think that was the point me Hass and that was the point you're making as well you've also seen Alien versus Predator like those movies don't stand up but if if I said to you first two aliens and alien romula stack it up with the original Star Wars so I guess it's called episode four five6 so Empire Strikes Back and and all that crap which one you think is better can you make a case with the young Trilogy is that insane I I think the only case cuz obviously you know Star Wars just from a a World building perspective is is doing something that alien is not doing alien you basically don't leave the spaceship uh Alien the original alien and the second really both of those 80s movies from a watching an old movie especially a horror movie which usually age faster because you're like this monster is a guy in a puppet Mas or whatever yeah ages what better than the Star Wars movies like that the first alien is scary it is so scary and in a way that the the Star Wars movies aren't well they certainly aren't scary but they also aren't like as moving or as visually stunning to me as the kind of Trilogy of alien movies so from that perspective I I agree with my gry from uh you know end to end storytelling perspective I'm not sure I can go there but um uh I'll tell you like you know Romulus is better than any of the these modern new fangled Star Wars movies I think okay that that's the blurb we need right there if we actually had juice we would be messaging alen Ramos right now this is better than all those Star Wars reboots I like that endorsement all right Ellen romules currently in theaters it's a big movie right now the Box us make sure you go check it out thank you for that Harry Sing Sing is the film I want to talk about independent film right now if you start looking somebody said to me when the Oscar race G to get going I see was interesting a year ago at this time we already had barbon Heimer out we had Oppenheimer which won seven Academy Awards and made almost a billion dollars and we had Barbie which made 1.4 billion and of course was nominated for a bunch of oscars so this year you're go what the hell is going to get nominated we it's August it's late August and you go well June 2 after that not a whole lot so I said okay let's go watch sing sing I hear there's a lot of Oscar buzz around this movie and it's a very good film here's the story Divine G Coleman Domingo of course he was nominated for an Oscar a year ago for his Netflix film playing a civil rights leader imprisoned at singing for a crime he did not commit finds Purpose By acting in a theater group alongside other incarcerated men including a weary newcomer in the stirring true story of Brazilian humanity and the transformative power of art storing an unforgettable ensemble cast of formerly incarcerated actors wow and that's where things got really interesting so I tell you the first part you go okay crime you didn't commit I'm like what is it sha Shank Redemption uh you know we've seen these way before but the fact okay they're putting in a play that's sort of interesting it's a little different these guys are like practicing King leer but now the fact that these guys are actual prisoners I'm like that that makes things fascinating and it gives it a real different Edge to it because you start to say to yourself what is fiction what is documentary and it does an excellent it feels like Cinema verit you're blending these two elements together like is this guy actually in prison is he still in prison is he a former inmate because he's he's acting as so well that you think these guys are all in prison so it for film in which authenticity is critical I thought they really nailed that aspect by making that unique choice in terms of the actors and the prisoners Greg quar is the director I'm not familiar with him Paul reac's in the movie he's great he's in the sound of metal which I that movie was nominated for best sporting actor the great Riz Ed movie that's one of the best movies The Last Five Years um but I thought it was a really interesting movie and and again there was some familiar beats as far as prisoners being incarcerated and you know wishing for their freedom I mean at heart it is a prison movie but I thought the angle of using former prisoners or current prisoners and putting on a play made things fascinating and it's an excellent showcase for Domingo again it's probably too early to start the Oscar race now and guarantees going to get nom for best actor but I certainly think he'll be in the race he's got a couple of wonderful moments there in which he really deals the power of you know being stuck behind prison he talks about you know when you go up for your review if it's a thin one then you're okay if it's if it's you know if it's thick they don't quit if it's thin you win something like that and uh there's there's great emotions in there it's a wonderful Climax and overall I thought it was a good movie I don't think it was great at times a little bit slow at times a little repetitive but I give it three minut beliefs I will definitely recommend sing sing for a excellent performance by Coleman Domingo and really a tribute to the theater and what all that can bring all right that's our new movies this week alien Romulus and sing sing let's take a deep breath folks here we go the decalog yeah we're go on 10-hour polish film right out of the gate um gentleman Frank who's a dear friend always falls on Twitter went to me said to me mus are you ever going to review it I said if I do it it might be on my deathbed but I'm doing it now just for you Frank pistoff klovski is the deal special DVD Edition I'm holding in my hand for all those watching on YouTube one with it yeah it's not actually my think like a lering piece to do curls with this the on the cover it says number one film of the year the New York Times but then to give you an example of how old this is video of the Year Entertainment Weekly like video of the Year okay great so the story behind it is Kowski made this film in the 80s but then it wasn't released anywhere and then eventually it came out in the late 80s 1988 to polish television and then eventually they had some episodes released at the can film festival then it never was released as a film but it was released you know as as a series which it is so when I say to you 10hour pollish something go what are we doing here it is 10 one hour episodes and each episode is based on the Ten Commandments me you talk about a hell of an idea provocative and kishlovsky who's again incredible director three colors blue white and red maybe a film people are familiar with he was nominated for best director for red of that trilogy I love white I think it's a great great film but Julia BOS is in those trilogies and also the double life veronique years ago my my first job as a sportscaster was working at the score television network in Canada we had this big hulking cameraman his name is Michael waseleski if you say it properly Michael veski of course with the Polish accent but like just crazy mullet just big gigantic features kind of look like Shrek just like an ogre but a great guy nonetheless and I remember one time we were doing whatever it was spring training and the afterwards we're going to eat and I you know you could tell Michael's polish and I said hey are you fan of Kishi and he's like what completely freed up and I said dude it goes saying to me do I like klosi is like saying do you like Sten Spielberg I'm like yeah like yeah I'm like dude so I got him going on how much I love three colors blue white red and the decalog and it completely perked me up to this day I haven't had such a great experience with other people of Polish descent although Adam Mosk is absolutely stunning polish Beauty I worked with her in Omni which was my first on air job she didn't know kovski but she was great to talk to anyways uh so each part is about the Ten Commandments here's the first one I am so I kind of need a refresher course here in the Commandments I am the Lord thy God Thou shalt have no other gods before me that's the first one the story is about a university Professor who trusts in the infall of the computer and he instructs his young son in its use it's easily the most heartbreaking of the 10 and this is how you kick off the show I'm like oh my God anxious to try a pair of new skates the two consult a computer to calculate the safety of the thickness of the ice on a nearby Pond a freak thaw results in unforeseen and tragic circumstances you know there going heartbreaking 52 minutes out of the gate and and the last one of the last shots is when the dad's looking at the computer and the computer's like blinking and just says are you ready and I was like oh my God like I'm not going be able to get through this but it is an absolutely heartbreaking 52 minutes um between a father and son and what happens kick things off then episode two keep things rolling honor thy father and thy mother this one's great Ana discovers a sealed envelope in her father's room that is marked not to be open before my death inside is a from her deceased mother which reveals that Michael is not her biological father a complicated new relationship emerges as the two struggle of this Revelation I mean that scene where she just first sees the envelope and it says not to be open before my death like is anybody not opening that here there's no way right you're fing your mom or your dad says don't open it till my death like I am opening it right now there's hedging just open it quickly okay can we refasten or something yeah she she kind of deliberates a little bit because he's gone on business but once she opens it up and then what she does is when he comes back from the airport she meets him and she just starts quoting quoting the letter oh my God cold blooded it's just like not to be open for my death he's like and then she's like I'm here to tell you that you know Michael's not your real father and he's like oh he just slaps her [ __ ] Lees away I'm like oh my God they reconcile this relationship now but fascinating episode in particularly because it's got a great twist at the end which is really really interesting third episode wasn't great Thou shalt not bear faal W false witness against thy neighbor uh elb to re searching the fate of Jewish War survivors as visiting from New York sits in a lectures in ethics University of Warsaw excuse me I jump way ahead that's actually episode 8 I'm all over the place I'm sorry um I don't blame you you're sitting in the basement watching hours of TV episode three wasn't great basically this woman was in love with this guy tries to get back on the dude um he's not interested it it wasn't great episode four really good episode three was remember th the Sabbath day to keep it holy episode four honor thy father and thy mother is also a really good episode now the ones that are probably the most famous are episodes five and six episode five is Thou shalt not kill this is the only one that kovski really made obvious as to what his intentions were and he's like VI anti- capital punishment so he really just made this episode to to make it clear what his opinion of that was um in case you're curious I'll just read the the synopsis better for episode 3 a married man's Christmas Eve festivities are interrupted when he is enlisted by an ex lover to Desert his family and spend it with her driving the streets of Warsaw As She searches for an errant new boyfriend under various pretext she manages to keep him out until 7 am convinced this will now make her life normal oh that's funny because that that sounds good to me I'm like sound like Eric rmer film is like anom film um episode four was uh the one that I just mentioned so yeah let's get into the killing yachik a disaffected youth randomly and brutally murders a taxi driver arrested he has given pior a young lawyer to defend him yek is put on trial found guilty executed by hanging is an eye for an eye just and does the legal system in the name of the people and sanctioned by the government have the right to kill again I if you ask me my thoughts on capital punishment I don't think I really tyly have a strong opinion I mean like you know I I generally I guess I would be probably if you forced me to choose I would say life imprisonment to me feels like a worse punishment than than like actually being killed like if you get killed you're like okay I'm going bu but um kovski makes a really powerful indictment of it and it's a it's a tough watch because the guy seems like a doal brick I mean the guy like originally he's like this swaggering Cocker guy I'm like oh my God like what a dick like you know like sometimes Killers can be kind of charismatic not this guy like he's just a loser and like he's overacting a little bit the cab he's get this crazy look in his face and then he starts choking up the cab driver like this is awful and then eventually there's this crazy sh he lifts up this rock and bashes his head and like oh but once you see the scenes with the lawyer and the lawyer is you know so well-intentioned it kind of It kind of takes on a different feel and it does make the case a little more provocative that one was at the can film festival did really well uh the one that I love is episode six Thou shalt not commit adultery toek a young post office worker is obsessed with bagd that the promiscuous woman who lives in the apartment complex opposite his building he spies on her through a telescope then he takes a job as a Milkman simply to air her ask who is it through the door Obsession turns to love and a meeting proves dangerous and pivotal for both so this one was I'm all in on because he's he's a Peeping Tom so it feels like you you're watching rear window or something yeah but it becomes a little bit more than that you know he's first of all not living with his mom it's it's his friend's mother because the friend ran away and you're not really sure what happened to his own parents like okay whatever but he's you know every night telescope checking out this woman guy show up she's a promiscuous woman Etc as I read Milkman Etc eventually he send her like these false claims that like she's to receive money she also works at the bank man of a million jobs at the banks the Milkman job so she shows up you know where's this money blah blah he's like I'm not sure I'll check eventually you know she gets mad she like I received like two notices that there's money for me I don't understand so she starts where's your manager goes the manager manager explain I'm I don't know what's happening whatever he ends up leaving after she leaves and he's like you know I'll try to get you the money like what are you talking about and then EV he's like I'm the one that sent it and she's like you sent it he's like yeah he's like I'm in love with you and she's not sure whether to laugh or cry or just be disgusted but she's like you know like leave me alone like you're just a weirdo but he can't leave alone keeps on peeping and he's like you know then he confesses he's like I'm peeping on you he says I I saw what you're doing last night like oh my God so the next night she invites a dude over she is promiscuous I don't know if she's a hooker she just likes to get after it and but but she like makes sure that the blinds are open as they always are but this time you can tell she's kind of playing to him she's like and then eventually she tells the dude she's with who's got this you know this this late 80s Poland I mean as it is as Bleak and as miserable as you might expect he's got like the like that weird out look he's got like the thick mustache the glasses and she points he goes the GU now I don't know how he gets to the guy no I think he kind of motions and he tells the guy hey get down here and I think the kid himself feels guilty he comes downstairs like hey were you the one peeping he's like yeah and just Wallops him I think the one punch Mike Tyson knock him the next day he goes to give the milk to her and like she starts laughing like she sees the look in his face like oh yeah he taught you a lesson huh he's just like oh my God like you sick woman like it's it's weird but then he says listen I just I I want to see you I want to hang out with you whatever like okay fine she takes pity on him essentially right fine we go out he starts telling her like I'm in love with you it's like why are you in love with me like you know you're like this kid you're like 18 I'm like this 35y old woman like you don't even know anything about me he's like no I'm in love with you blah BL blah like I just want to spend time with you they go back to her place and she's like this is love and like you know kind of opens up her blouse and then just starts playing with herself and he ends up climaxing without even doing anything like he's just watching and then maybe she jokes him for like two seconds and then he's like oh and she's like that's it and he's like and she go like that's what love is I'm like just unbelievable utter humiliation he runs out and then the next day you know I guess she can kind of I know she doesn't feel it he's not peeping at her but I think he doesn't come around the milk so for a couple days he doesn't come around the milk what happened this guy whatever after a week she gets worried she goes the guy's apartment and the mom's like yeah he he left she what do you mean he left he's like he tried to kill himself she's like what do you mean and she's like I don't know something happened I'm sure it was you I'm assuming because why else are you here and she like points in the room I see a telescope I'm I'm assuming he's peeping on you like whatever like he's not my kid he just does what he does but yeah I don't know what happened to him but he tried to kill himself he's in the hospital can go to the hospital he's like no he doesn't want anyone there but he'll be back in a couple days so she goes the you know I don't know how much time passes a week or two weeks she goes to the bank tries to look for him and stuff she's has this forlorn look on her face eventually she goes back and he's there at at the bank is you know heavily bandage wrists and stuff oh God and he goes up to her and like now you can tell like she's like she horribly feels horribly guilty kind gives like a smile maybe a little flirtatious but he's just stone-faced and he just looks her and he just goes I'm not peeping at you anymore and I'm like is just brilliant man it's just it's it's it's provocative storytelling and really just gets you thinking it was it's just it was awesome um so go ahead well so how you know we were joking about oh yeah so what what's the connective tissue you're about to ask me so 10hour movie but all the people live in the same apartment building there's one character who always keeps popping up and they're not sure if he's Jesus Christ he's literally just a guy and you just see him like he's just randomly shows up so like person will be driving Al something want hit him and get so a close with this guy uh when the when the the son dies you see this guy just staring at the father in The Distance so like these film researchers ask who is this dude who's in like every episode he just where's Waldo he just randomly pops up in the episode with I just discussed I think he's like one of the people in the line of the bank he's like turns around at one point like this guy's unbelievable um he OSI did not we wouldn't definitely say for certain like when someone said it's Christ someone said it's kind of like I like this Theory I think it was Anette idor who's incredible Pol scholar she said it's kind of like um wings of Desire that movie where it's you know the wings are observing what's happening with human nature but they're powerless to stop it so that's one concept go ahead you you may have had a different question well I there's that I had that question and then I'm curious about like you know H how uh like penetr and and for a mainstream audience is something like this like is it when you're doing this do you feel like you are doing worthwhile homework or like reading a big dense essay or do you feel like you're watching a movie so that that's excellent question so going in if I just see you 10 bullsh Jesus man but honestly and this is now the third time I blocks the deck log in its entirety I'm trying to remember the first time I saw it probably around 2000 so I think every 10 years I try to watch it but it's actually more digestible now because in the era of binging I feel like people just like crank him out so you know Ebert himself and this this almost makes the DVD worth it he does like a 17-minute intro into he's huge Kowski fan he would teach the decalog when he was at the University of Chicago he even says he goes I wouldn't recommend watching the decalog in one city you know it's almost better as one episode and then you think about the questions that are posed within it and a great piece of writing I think I'm saying it right he said or you can watch a by if you're lucky enough watch it with someone and after each episode discuss its moral quandries or if you watch it by yourself ask yourself the very same questions that kish's characters so often do and I was like yeah that's that's exactly what I did I mean I should have probably spaced it out but I was just in the era binging now like rather than watching you know whatever the bear I'm watching the decalog so I actually think it's much more accessible than you might think that's an excellent point here because you're on its own Merit you goof like an hour or six you like had to take a break but because it's 10 one hour episodes I guess we're being very spefic pafic it's probably 55 minutes each episode so it's 9 hours and 10 minutes and again if you watch it probably peace meal that might be the better way to go anyways excellent question um episode Seven's brilliant brilliant six-year-old Ana is being brought up by Eva in the belief that majka ia's daughter is her sister whereas majka is really her mother tired and saddened by the deception and desperate to have Ana love her as a mother majka kidnaps Ana and runs away from her parents so she thinks it's her sister it's actually her mom kidnaps her goes and sees the father who is a disgraced school teacher cuz he was let's say 28 she was 15 when they had the kids so to cover it up they just said okay it's actually the grandparents he hasn't seen his kid he's like oh Jesus he's like why are you here like what are we doing she's like nope I cannot live this lie that she's my sister it's my daughter and I'm going I'm going to Canada I'm like yes at one point she's going through like Canadian citizenship like let's go Canadian immigration late ' 80s love the polls um and he thinks he's not amazing ending I'll just say there's a seene in the train station takes my breath away like before I watching all these episodes I was thinking of like fragments I remembered I'm like episode seven I do vividly recall that last shot which is an absolute Beauty few more to go this one's not great either of the 10 episodes these two were like episode eight thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor um oh this is the one about the ethics Professor I talked about yeah yeah so eletta researching the fate of Jewish War survivors visiting from New York sits in a lectures in ethics University of wara zophia an ethics Professor forc to acknowledge her past as Elizabeth reveals herself as a young Jewish girl whom Sophia refused to hide from the Nazis during the occupation she was Catholic didn't want to do it Sophia explains the reason for the seemingly apparent cowardice the long-standing sense of guilt is cleared while esb's faith in humanties restored it's a cool concept that one just it wasn't as good I thought in terms of execution um not only in terms of guilt and survivors that kind of stuff's going to be you know 100% I wasn't quite there but he ends up strong with the last two man woo Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife that's a good commandment number nine good lesson yeah good good lesson Roman a once priscus but now impotent doctor I'm like yes yeah he encourages his wife Hanka to take a lover I can't get it up you go get it okay consumed by jealousy that she may have taken his vice spoiler alert she did he obsessively spies in her and learns of a relationship with marush a young student unaware that she has broken off the affair Roman was to drastic measures amazing there's one shot he's in the closet and kishlovsky shoots it through like the penetrating doorway and you see her and the husband or sorry he's the her and the lover and he's like are you sure your husband is like he has no idea I'm like oh my God like to be that husband Trapped in the Closet R Kelly song Trapped in the Closet uh and the last one after nine hours of unrelenting bless Kowski got something else up to sleeve he's like how about I give you a dark comedy to end Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors's Goods in this black comedy financially strapped Brothers Jerry and arur unexpectedly inherit a small fortune when their father Wills in the most valuable stamp collection in Poland hilariously funny bizarre bizarre at one point because they're trying to get these really rich stamps this guy's like if you give me kidneys I'll do it you always hear the expression you know i' give one of my kidneys for this he's like he actually like no if you give me this I'll give you one of my kidneys and he has to go to the hospital goes to this operation and he's telling the brother he's like I've got horrible news he's like what he's like I I lost stamps and he's like what he's like I I'm out of kidney and you're telling me you lost oh my God they were stolen like absolute disaster the decalog is all about the Folly of life um it's absolutely brilliant it's essential viewing and it's more digestible than you might think nine hours and 10 minutes polish Cinema Kish kishlovsky alltime classic all right Taste of cherry awesome kirami I got the Criterion Collection here I'm holding up what's this one about winter of the Palm Door the 1997 K Film Festival Iranian Ur abas kiram's Taste of cherries emotionally complex meditation on life and death middle-aged Mr B that's Homan aradi driving through the hilly outskirts of tan searching for someone to rescue or bury him Criterion proud to present the DVD Premiere Taste of cherry incredible film and I worked at a real independent movie theater in Toronto called The Carlton this is when I was in my second year of university only showed independent movies and foreign films and and documentaries so I remember the poster was awesome it's literally just this guy with this this hollow glaze in his face and it's just this taste of cherry and this was part of the Great Iranian new wave of the late 90s kirami is the best filmmaker of them but Majid majidi Mosen mm like there's there's a few filmmakers are unbelievable and there's other films you know you may have heard of them the wind willaris is another kirami film um but I highly recommend I think it's children of Paradise by maidi a time for drunken horses it's bakan kadi film which is one of the saddest films I've ever seen in my life 84 minutes and there's this one mentally handicapped child they're they're they're literally on camels and they're trying to cross the border it's the time when the Kurds were really under attack unbelievable film and these movies I remember asking Owen glaberman who was a great film crect for Entertainment Weekly at that time Lisa Schwarz ban was another film critic I said every Iranian movie she would Rave about and give it four stars and glabman started laughing he goes well those movies he goes you know the 90s movies are really special because that Iranian new way was amazing because their government at the time was very repressive and very you know authoritarian against filmmakers he still see that today um so he said you know I think at Leisa was just responding to the fact they were able to make these movies which were done on a very small budget documentary style and like really heartbreaking and genuinely moving and I don't think you'd seen films like that before again in farc but then translating the subtitles and those movies were amazing uh and watching Taste of cherry again it was a reminder of how good those films were the late 90s again you still got great Iranian filmmakers now Oscar farad is one of my favorite filmmakers alive he's won two Academy Awards of course people know how good his work is um you know I rewatched the sales think a couple months ago recently cile but Taste of cherry to me is just an unbelievable rumination on life and death and it's essentially a man driving a car which is one of kiram's familiar motifs almost all his movies you see scenes of people driving he just found that intimacy there um but he picks up three different people and he has a goal for them and he's soliciting find one of them which one's going to help him try to help him kill himself and he he basically says listen I'm G I've got a brave Doug I'm gonna take a bunch of pills all you got to do is come in the morning and say my name and if I come out I'm alive and if I don't I'm dead but the money's in the car it's all yours and that's the story and it's hauntingly simple and yet I found it incredibly moving and particularly because there's not too much information given you don't know exactly why Mr bogdi wants to kill himself and I think in a different film youd get all this unnecessary backstory his wife did this his kids this Etc here's a he man is just so unrelentingly unhappy and he has this great conversation with this mus Muslim scholar and he says you know I know you're going to tell me you're going to say that you know suicide is a sin it's the worst sin that you can't turn your back in the life that God's given you he's said but isn't it also a sin to be so unhappy to be so miserable in The Human Condition it's a beautiful beautiful scene the way it's written and delivered um but I love this film man it just it has a really soft spot to me because I remember watching when I was like you know 19 years old it had a really impact on me and I think it's still a gorgeous film and uh amusingly enough Roger Ebert who loves the decalogue hated Taste of cherry if you really watch the movie if you look it up he gave one star and it's actually a really funny review he just called it unrelentingly boring it got Ray reviews across the board I think if you go on Rotten Tomatoes Taste of Cher's got to be something like 90 94% like it was unanimous approval as I mentioned it won the pondor but a rare time that Ebert was not an eror okay 83% tast of cherry U maybe not as high as I thought but Eber tribut is hysterical because he he he discusses in there listen I know everyone's gonna say I'm wrong I know care st's a great filmmaker I've liked his other movies I love the Iranian New Wave but this movie stinks it's actually a really funny contrarian review but I'm so proud of man Harry who watched Taste of cherry your thoughts so I I read a review right after watching it and uh what the review was like I've watched this movie a number of times I just rewatched it the the In My Memory 50% of the movie is this conversation with the Taxidermy uh uh the third the third person yeah but but when I watch it again it turn like that's only five minutes and that was totally I connected with that because the the that conversation to me was so powerful and such a uh such like a a a a culmination of so much of what was going on in the movie that I I think I'm going to also remember that as 50% of the movie like that he spends the whole movie talking to this taxidermist about about if he should kill himself or not yeah it and the the Ebert thing is is interesting because the the first 45 minutes of the movie is a like it is it is a slow sad kind of I I found myself um not the score but the sound effect it is like an unrelenting uh tires crunching on gravel I was say the S of gravel like I'll never get over a constant this guy's D like the hilliest part of Terron I've never been to IR Rob I'm like man they got some hills and some gravel up there I was like I get and and I my sense is that's on purpose like it was like unrelentingly grading which is what life is when you are depressed you know so I I I uh but I was like God is this I don't know this is hard to watch and but then the last you know the last 45 minutes really the last 30 35 minutes is just so powerful and so kind of puts the rest of it in this interesting um you know light where now I'm starting to think more fondly about those those long shots of him driving around in this Range Rover the the and and um yeah and just really really enjoyed it the the last 10 minutes I really was for a movie that is slow and and methodical the last 10 minutes I'm like on the edge of my seat like what is he gonna do is he G to kill himself I still don't really know if he did or not I mean obviously it's ambiguous uh I have kind of know I have some thoughts but it yeah so I did really really like it I I thought that the the halfway through I was like oh no I'm GNA have to tell adnam that I didn't like this movie and then uh the the second half of the movie I very much enjoyed and so glad think more about the first half of the movie yeah no it's a great Point how the second half can redeem the first half and and why you should generally try to have the patience to stick with a movie generally people tell me like you watch a film you should you know watch at least the first 20 minutes but the good news is this it's only 95 minutes you like at the point as you said once you committed 40 you're like well it's 45 more minutes of my life let's just get through it so I'm glad you with it and I'm with you in the last time minutes being surprisingly gripping fascinating ending I remember watching the time in the theater this you know small shoe box the Carlton I'm like like I I turned the guy next to me like so did he kill himself or not like that last shot the rain comes in the darkness and then the next shot is you see kirami the filmmaker with his you know patented sunglasses and hat on you see the actor getting out of the Grave like talking a little bit shaking hands you got the great music playing that great jazz song of the Name Escapes me it's a really sad song and I'm like then you like you see like the tech people like what what's going on like I don't like is it did he kill himself and then he's just reminding you like hey we just made a movie it's okay don't kill yourself like I don't I don't really particularly understand it so um the DVD is great there's an interview with kirami and he unfortunately doesn't really give away he just kind of says it's enigmatic as you said it's meant to be ambiguous but he said he likes to show behind the scenes there's a great movie he made called closeup which also you know includes the filmmaker and includes documentaries and fiction so I guess it's just kind of a stylistic trick to be like hey here I am at the end whatever we're talking to the actors whatever um one of the coolest parts of the interview though there's like a list of things you can watch it's like kirami on Iranian New Wave kirami on children kirami this and this is kirami on Tarantino so I've seen it before I watch it again but it's great and because he's speaking fary but English subtitles except for the Tarantino part that he speaks English because I guess the camera guy said something like what about Tarantino so he starts in English he says he said I don't really care for his movies I don't like the violence like he's like I don't I don't like violence and movies he said but he's a wonderful guy he said I'm much more interested in him than his movies and he said he loves Foreign Cinema and he is a true cinile like he loves movies he goes I'll never forget we were at can and he was telling me about this film he saw he was just like literally like that weie must have been made for like $2 it was this movie I think it was a film from Kazakhstan about a sheep herder and like Tarantino loved it so much he was telling about he you have to see this movie it's so brilliant so well done like yeah he goes so he really loves foreign films he loves World Cinema he loves those movies he goes he loves violence stuff he loves all those you know Hong Kong movies and the a movies he said but I really he goes I liked him he goes but I'll tell you this he I found it tough to follow him because he goes he talks so fast and he goes he goes with my English is okay he said but I can't he goes he talks so fat times I was like I need I I had to have an interpreter I'm like what is he saying because he just goes and goes and goes and then they go back to talking in farsy and he turn stops they go again he tells the camera guy because I guess he was talking to him he's like but he goes I really am interested in him more as a person than his movies I really don't I don't really care for like he's like I'm not watching Reservoir Dogs this guy's hacking in ear off I'm not watching Marvin getting his head blown off in Paul fixure but as a dude I actually quite like qu and Tarantino that was really actually really I like the fact they included on the DVD all right next up uh again this is my all-time favorites I I did a list a year a couple years ago I think I saw but my favorite films of the century so far and I included the secret in their eyes first off if you're watching on YouTube Harry how good is that picture it's um oh yeah a guy in silhouette sitting at a typewriter and then a woman in the back and you got the title The Secret in their eyes it won the Academy Award for best foreign language film in 2009 which you know there's people like me who are crazy who will watch every movie nominated for forign films but then there's people who say well I'll just watch the winner so it was actually it was not expected to win and the fact it did win was fantastic and I love the blur at the bottom by Joe morgenson in the Wall Street Journal you will want to know this secret A Beautiful film I of all the years I would watch cisc and E together I always remembered how much they love Fargo which one of my favorite movies as well and what I remember is what jean cisal said about it and why he loved it so much and he said if you've seen as many movies as I have you get tired of seeing the same repetition and Roger was always big on character and plot story so Cisco said the the reason why I love Fargo so much is because not only is it unpredictable and original but it's a mashup of so many different genres and he said you know Fargo is a film The War it's a women's picture it's a comedy it's a thriller It's a drama he goes it just it just mashes up all the stuff in this very unique concoction because I've never seen a film set in Fargo North Dakota with these accents and these voices and the snow and this everything so when I think about why I love the secret in the ey so much one the reasons I love it so much is it's a mash up of different genres it is at heart a thriller It's At Heart a mystery movie but it's also this gorgeous unrequited love story and it's also historical fiction here's the story recently retired Criminal Court Investigator Benjamin Ricardo Darin decides to write a novel based on a 25-year-old unresolved rape and murder case would still haunts him sharing his plans with Irene solid vill the beautiful judge and former colleague he has secretly been in love with for years Benjamin's initial involvement with the case is shown through flashbacks as he set out to identify the murderer but Benjamin's search for the truth will put him at the center of a Judicial nightmare as the mystery of the heinous crime continues to unfold in the present testing the limits of a man Seeking Justice and personal fulfillment at last it sounds like one of these standard courton Thrillers you go of the 90s right the case from the past is now haunting him today the murderers and the loose Etc and yet it's so skillfully done by the director Juan Jose Campanella and the reason I love it is it matches together all those genres again back to Ebert I read his review yesterday he gave the movie four stars and instead of Ricardo darene he looks like a man who's just born to have a beard which is a great line he is an actor born to a beard he's just like a Latin hunk uh and he says Sol v i goes pardon me for saying goes but she's my kind of woman she's pretty she's mature she's smart she's intelligent I was like yeah uh and the way that the they balance the entire genre Crossing is amazing Peter Travers Rolling Stone this Spell binder will sneak up and floor you kind of like Harry's thoughts of taste of cherry the first 45 minutes aren't necessarily all that involving and terms of the Core case and what happened in the past beautiful opening credits by the way which is an underrated art form these days you don't really get great opening credits anymore this was like a beautiful opening credits a lot of it's in slow motion in black and white but they start going through the case the movie starts to take off at the 52-minute Mark Esposito is his best friend who is a great character the guy's a lush married kids works in the job goes to the same bar every night gets plastered and he's talking to Ricardo daren's main character Benjamin and they're trying solve this case of what happened years ago and he goes you know your passion's Irene but you can't face it Benjamin doesn't want go he goes you're in love with her but you can't do but she's your passion she keeps you going he's like my passion goes you make fun of me why do I come here and get drunk and get to fights and watch football soccer he's said because that's my passion that's what I'm all about he so we need to find what this guy's passion is he gives this whole great monologue Shakespearean monolog but passions imp passion is like the passion and then you have this crazy shot I don't know how they did it must be CGI the just like just overhead shot and just goes flying in and eventually you find the two of them like a drone Cam and they're there at a soccer stadium you know packed out urg they're trying to find the killer from years ago eventually they spot him which is insane because they've gone to like how many games it's not the first game they went to they've gone to like let's say 50 games eventually they see him they catch his eyes they yell at him crazy directing the handheld camera running it's a incredible shot eventually that scene leads to Irene and the the movie that they had the scene here is amazing because again he was accused of rape and so she starts ant an agonizing him by insulting him you know like you [ __ ] you wouldn't be able to hold on a woman you couldn't handle eventually he whips out his dick and she's like that you call that a dick like like oh my God [ __ ] punches her like this exactly what they want to get this reaction but of course she's putting herself in a harm way uh I I will not spoil the secret it is hell of a climax that's all I can tell you the final 30 minutes blew me away I I would put up to The Usual Suspects as far as great end that have your mouth a gape like I was not expecting that it's absolute stunner and the unrequited love story is so beautiful I mean that I'm telling you the the the Twist and the actual answer to the murder Myster is stunning in and of itself but the resolution to their relationship is so beautiful and so enigmatic it's like a it's like an ellipses you know rather than rather than the written word it's the ellipses it's all about the moment in between the moment it's a gorgeous film I love it the secret in their eyes make sure you check it out all right so to recap alien Romulus sing sing the decalog Taste of cherry and the Secret in their eyes and now it's time for our Wild Card well it's such a pleasure bring in one of the best broadcasters in the land he has been a legend for all those years ever since he graduated from Syracuse you know I eagle from his work on CBS primarily doing NFL and of course you know his college basketball work now the number one guy he's also on Turner of course because of TBS and TNT during March Madness he's the voice of the Nets but most importantly after reading Brian Curtis's riveting profile of him in the ringer I did not realize Ian's entertainment connections he is the son of a prominent comedian who used to be featured in the cat skills and his mom was a wonderful singer as well so I'm sure we'll talk some sports as well but it's a pleasure to bring in the great a eego winner of eight Emmy Awards aan great to see you man Adan this is a a real honor and I love the idea of blending sports and entertainment that's always been a big part of my approach to the job so what you've been doing on this podcast is tailor made it is right in my sweet spot so honored to be a part of it no I appreciate it man I was going to say it's arguable who the best play by play guys are but you're easily the funniest and it makes it it makes sense that's indisputable because when I look back and and by the way it was after I met you at the Emmys you were so kind you were so gracious I got to meet you got to meet your son Noah met your wife briefly as well and I told you Stephen oing by the way remains your biggest fan gigantic fan of yours from ESPN cor he's a big Nets fan but I go back I tell our buddy Bill pedo our mutual friend he's Moonlighting an NHL Network I tell Billy hey I got to meet on eag finally he's the best he he he's great he goes you ever read that Brian Curtis article I said no he goes you got to read this article he goes his background's insane and I said yeah he goes he used to uh like he would organize his own little league practice like go what are you talking about he goes just read the article so that specifically is the fact that your parents were on the road you would like make phone calls to get rides from friends so let's let's go back to the beginning dad a comedian mom a singer on the road all the time how did you make it work yeah the the fact of the matter was I had no idea that this was abnormal in any way not abnormal but abnormal in any way and I just rolled with it I was very young when I realized that I had to do a lot on my own and just make it happen or it was not going to happen so it's a double-edged sword the fact that my parents weren't around that could absolutely be a source that you look back on and say oh I missed out on this I missed out on that or you flip it and you say well I grew up fast I was really independent I recognized that I had to advocate for myself at a very early age and that was true across all levels of life whether it be friends whether it be schoolwork whether it be literally getting yourself up in the morning and getting yourself ready to go to school and making sure you go to little league practice and what have you I see it as a positive it ended up being a really interesting background and my youth is full of joy my my wife made the point to me someone recently sent me a bunch of photos in memorabilia my my father's uh Widow so my dad was married two kids got divorced met my Mom married my mom got divorced met a woman married her got divorced and then married her again so if you could follow along that flow chart she ended up sending me a box full of stuff from my youth and the one recurring theme that my wife noticed in all of these photos she said man you were a really happy kid and I was I felt really loved and I felt respected and I felt heard and I think that did translate a great deal as I made my way into adulthood of okay nothing seems insurmountable nothing seems too overwhelming just kind of do your thing and and do it with the right intentions and things will work out the way they're supposed to yeah I mean it's amazing to think about you know it's like there stressful moments sometimes in broadcasting but you you overcame all that because you said you were so independent dad I mean being the son of a comedian how funny was your dad my dad was really funny in a laugh out loud way but then in a really clever manner word play um people that he came across in life he made them feel incredibly comfortable and I saw that at as early and ages you can think back on to have memories of that sort didn't matter people within the industry people outside the industry everyday people walking around the neighborhood the dry cleaning guy it didn't matter he just made it his business to make everybody in his world feel very comfortable around him and that really resonated with me because he could diffuse any situation using humor more often than not but the part that that struck me as I got a little longer in the tooth and now you remember things and you recognize that maybe I didn't have the exact handle on the situation he was actually very professorial and had great wisdom and insight and that probably is the more prominent quality that I remember more than him being funny and having a joke and a punchline the part also that sticks with me and Adan this is a very common thing for stand-up comedians if you go to a comedy show with a fellow standup and you sit with them you'll notice that most of them don't laugh at the standup because their wheels are turning and they're taking it all in they're processing they're saying would I do it that way that's funny that's funny but not laugh my father was a really good laugher yeah so that whole approach to me was the essence of him it wasn't about him it requires so much ego to do that job and years later when I was in the car with him I had seen his act probably a thousand times at that point in my life and I asked him I saidwell why don't you vary up your act you know you've got all this other material you can lean into and he looked at me he said what do you mean I said vary it up come up with some new stuff he said no no no that's the ACT that's my ACT I said oh that works consistency as you know in anything performance-based it's all about consistency and and he just leaned into the consistency of working his material that never failed it was just made for the audience that he played to and it always killed as you're describing I feel like I'm watching an episode of marvelous Mrs masel I don't know if you watched the show but did you find that reminiscent of your uper oh very much so very much so and a lot of personal experiences the first six years of my life were spent every weekend at the Catskill mountains not oh every now and again no no no every weekend was spent at the Catskill Mountains and my dad and mom my mom opened for my dad and they were a force of nature in my mind I I would see these two people that led everyday lives and then boom Go on stage Commander room take over entertain these were people that were very well fed eating was a big part of of the the whole experience in the cats skull mountain so the audience they they were they were ready for something else other than eating entertain me and my mom really was a gifted singer and funny in her own right and my dad was a terrific musician trumpet player worked in big bands both of them dropped out of high school menu dad went to arasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn dropped out at 16 years old to travel with a big band it ended up playing with Buddy Rich and the like my mom grew up in Chicago was a child Radio Star in Chicago and elected at the age of 15 to leave High School my Dad read the New York Times every day and my mom did the New York Times crossword puzzle every Sunday and finished it these were two people that did not graduate high school so it was a different time it was a different era their intellect was very high and with that also came the hustle of trying to make a living and trying to find their way in the entertainment industry my dad did not experience true success financial success until the age of 50 when he did the Xerox commercial playing brother Dominic it spurred many other commercials he ended up becoming the hot thing in advertising because he had that face and got about 50 different campaigns over the course of his career in that time period probably a six sevene time period anything he went up for he got but that was the first time he really experienced financial success he had appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show with his comedy partner Frankie man eagle and man was the name of the act the two of them started Buddy Hackett convinced my dad to go on stage as a comedian he would hang out with Buddy Hackett my dad was a trumpet player buddy would say you're funny you you you should try this and eventually he did and it worked out he teams up with a different guy Frankie man initially Frankie man is more of the cutup role and my dad's the straight man they go meet with a fairly powerful agent at the time who said I'm going to come see your act watch their act afterwards they said what do you think they said you have good material but you got to switch up the roles he's the funny one you're the straight man meanwhile Frankie man is offended they had been working on one act and they did they ended up switching up the rules they traveled Australia they ended up on The Ed Sullivan Show my dad told me the story it was not a great experience uh they did their act on a run through for Ed Sullivan he did not like some of the vocabulary and the verbiage made them change a couple of things my dad at the time said what are you crazy that's the essence of the joke and basically his partner said hey if you don't change it we're not going to be on well the act before them went long I think it might have been a dog act or spinning plates and they got pressed for time they had to take whatever their time allotment was and squeeze it into half and my dad felt it it completely tinkered with the timing they did not do as well as they could have done and thus it did not lead to the kind of gigs they thought they were going to get they ended up breaking up my dad went up on his own and then years later ends up enjoying success financially from the commercial industry so pretty wild and uh just the the whole butterfly effect of Life how it can have an impact not only on him but then on my life he ends up going and doing sitcoms on the west coast three of them that aired and none of them got picked up they all aired on national TV none of them got picked up one was with mlan Stevenson another was with Lorenzo music the voice of Carlton M Dorman and later Garfield and if they get picked up Adnan life is different we're moving to La Syracuse probably never happens for me and and who knows what what path you end up choosing so uh you've got to keep everything in in context and perspective when you talk about life and and what leads to what and the sliding doors of it all that's wild about Ed sanine because I I I'm I because I can't like I'm wondering now like do you think your dad regretted doing that because I I totally get his partner's Point like if we don't do this we don't going to be on the show and svin can make you break you but I can see your dad being like no but this isn't the ACT we're supposed to do like that's a hell of a conundrum he regretted it I know he regretted it because he probably played it over in his head a thousand times and my dad had tremendous instincts he could read people he could read situations he could read the room he knew they were doomed he knew it he knew it was not going to do well and then the time constraints I think affected it as well and then it just did not go the way that he thought it led to their breakup uh Frankie man eventually ended up in the movie this is really ironic ended up in the movie Lenny Dustin Hopman star of the film Frankie man played Ed sullan wow that's unbelievable that's a great 1974 film yeah black and white I gotta get checked up again that's great mom was a singer who was more successful of the two because I always listen I'm too insecure I could never have a wife in the business that's I can't I can't stand the chance you're more successful than me it would completely eradicate my sense of self-esteem who was more successful I'm saying who's better who's more successful mom or dad Adan do you have a background in marriage counseling or psychology because you just nailed the issue within the marriage as my dad's career started to pick up 1976 commercial airs he ends up getting fleshman's margarine after that where he played Mr cholesterol for three different spots you can go on YouTube and check it out you'll crack up they really funny and to see the evolution of his character he was mean in one of the spots then he became a little nicer and then he Blended the two for the third spot as my dad's career picked up um my mom did feel jealousy did feel as if her career was not going the way that she wanted ended up moving to LA we lived in New York in Forest Hills she moved to LA they were still married officially but they weren't it was over and then her life started on the west coast that was her life I started as a Bic Coastal kid I would visit her twice a year she'd come back occasionally to New York but she completely abandoned the Catskill scene and the New York acting scene she was going up for commercial she was going up for soap operas and she ended up getting One Life to Live General Hospital bit Parts here and there uh a bunch of plays and one that I remember in particular the mom from Risky Business so Tom Cruz's mom when the egg cracked and they had the scene with the mom and the dad my mom was in a play with her and I remember seeing it and thinking to myself man that other woman is really good this was Prett Risky Business of course and I was maybe uh I'd say 10 years old at the time so Talent stands out Talent would always stand out in these situations and she led a really interesting life didn't enjoy the kind of success that she envisioned until she got a chance to play Judy Garland in a show called Legends and concert in Las Vegas changed her life completely immersed herself in the role I was fortunate enough to to see it and be there and watch the show on a number of occasions and she killed it she was really really gifted and perfect for it so another situation where all these other experiences you have no idea what's going to lead to what that somehow led her to the role she was always looking for financially it was successful for her she was out on her own it was important she passed away at a very young age lung cancer she was 43 years old but for her to enjoy that success I think she needed it for herself and in a strange way she needed me to see it she needed me to see that she could do it without my dad without any connection to him do it on her own and make something of herself and she did that's very cool they both got to achieve that it makes me think about like in our business people say to me you know are these actually the best sports casters I said the best play play guys are you and Nance and buck and Michaels or is there somebody out there who's really gifted they just never got that chance never got that break and so my friend I were arguing back and forth think because well I think eventually if somebody's really good they will get seen and I said but maybe that person doesn't want to leave their Gig if someone is you know the voice of the Dodgers let's say I mean whatever they just you know you would know Joe Davis obious but you know what I'm saying like it's just because we're on a national level it doesn't necessarily make us the best but at the same time I'm with you that the cream does rise at the top of the best get recognized how do you how do you reconcile that yeah I grappled with that theory during college because I was at Syracuse University everybody that was was there that was involved in the broadcasting program College radio College TV had aspirations and nobody knew exactly what the path would be and I thought that I was good that I had developed a skill that could translate to the next level being a professional broadcaster but I didn't know exactly how that was going to take place I had confidence I I thought that if given a chance I would prove that I could do this and do it well but how does it happen and that plays right to what you're discussing are there highly talented people that never get the opportunity to do it because they didn't play their cards the right way or they took the wrong opportunity or they pissed off someone within the business who then held them down there's so many different per ations here the one thing I always went back to is and this goes back to our day less now but the tape doesn't lie so if it is a tape that you were physically sending of your on camera work or a cassette tape of your radio work that when someone stands out in the job a decision maker knows it there's some visceral feeling that hits you as a program director or associate uh director or athletic director or VP of production whatever it might be you see it or you hear it and you know it's really good and it's going to translate on camera or on microphone but there are people that get lost in the shuffle or never quite get the or don't have the personal skills to then handle all that I I'm sure I know you've been around people in your various jobs that you think to yourself man really talented and then you see them out in their natural habitat whether it be a newsroom or at a game and you're like oh no they're an [ __ ] this is gonna come back and haunt them at some point which yeah it does happen well it's it's funny because I'm with you on all of that because I'm like I think intrinsically like do I do a good job like yeah I wouldn't have gotten this level into a good job but I don't think I'm A+ like I think I'm just a solid good worker and as you said I I play well with others I'm easy to get along with I think all of that is very important I think you have to have the skill set as you said you got to deliver on the air when the lights on but you got to be a good guy as well that will keep you in the business longer and you're right there's guys I've seen that I'm like man that guy he really is Is Better Than People realize but he pissed off the wrong person said some stuff whatever it was but then some I'll go the other way which is I I would think oh my God I don't belong in ESPN but I say some of these anchors I'm like this guy's actually not that good I'm like you know what like so right like George cloney went to that he goes it's not that I thought I was that good it's just that I thought well I could definitely do what that guy's doing so some that goes the other way too you know it's it's interesting you say that I got the net job at a very young age I was 25 years old I was not qualified to do NBA at that point but somebody took a chance on me it happened to be Eric spoler dad John spoler was the president of the New Jersey Nets and we had a great interview and it led to this position and I remember the night before the first game and I thought to myself I was brushing my teeth I'd looked in the mirror we're in Houston Texas and I'm about to go to bed and the next day I'm going to be an NBA broadcaster and I had that seed of doubt that hit me in the moment like dude what are you doing here are you in over your skis and then I pulled myself out of it and I said well wait a second there are 30 NBA teams so that means there are 30 guys on TV doing this 30 guys on radio doing this so 60 play-by-play announcers are doing this not Network local I said are 59 people doing this better than I am and more talented than I am and without even going through a list I just thought to myself no no there's no way there there's there's no way and that's what calm me down I just thought to myself you can do this you're ready you do have experience you have to lean on that and you're a quick learner quick study and it is a little bit of the fake it till you make it and now I look back and I'm I'm 30 years in to doing Nets basketball that's the longest running job that I've had that was 1994 we're in 2024 and and there have been a lot of announcers that have come and gone and I just thought to myself dude you got to have confidence you got to have conviction and uh you you've got to exhibit that when you go on the air have command of what you're doing and that's probably been what's carried me through a lot of unknown Waters here and there you know I I got a opportunity when I was at CBS I got a phone call from someone saying you do boxing right like that's a leading question yeah I said yeah yeah no I do the hell out of boxing oh great we have four fights we want you to do I was like okay yeah had no background none whatsoever I was a fan of boxing and I threw myself into it and immersed myself and showed up for that first fight and it was David Tua against OED Sullivan in Las Vegas and I knew very little about what I was about to do but studied prepared the executive producer of CBS Sports at the time Terry eward happened to be there in Vegas at a convention and after the fight uh pulled me aside and he said you sure that was your your first I said no that was that was it man so I I try to remind myself of these moments track and field same deal golf same deal 10s same deal you have to do all of this for the first time at some point so nobody came out of the womb ready to do all of these Sports you you study and you prepare and uh then you let your instincts take over yeah quick learner and takes feedback while I think are great qualities to have I'm with you on that because everyone kind of struggles at first but if you can go hey I can quickly make adjustments I can verbally nimble like absolutely I can I can do what you're looking for I remember calling volleyball once similar to your point don't know anything about volleyball like again study the work you have a good analyst you have a professional with you lean on them lay out as much as possible right it's it's so I think box well same thing they go have you ever called boxing into Zone I go I've never called it you'll be fine I go what they just just kind of call the action [ __ ] here right here tell a couple stories holy [ __ ] he got him like that's all it is it's it's the same thing and I'm like okay like it's it's formulaic to a point yeah two things hit me one I also called volleyball so similar to you no background I had seen the C Thomas how film side out right with Courtney Thorne smith and Peter Horton so if I was ever in doubt Adnan I would say side out that's that's all I knew uh and then the boxing thing the funniest part about that I show up now I had never been to a boxing match so I talked to the executive producer the day of the first fight he said I'm gonna take you to lunch so we go to the lunch at MGM Grand I ordered chicken wings he got a Caesar salad and we're eating our lunch he said what's your background boxing I'm like all right I'm doing this thing the fights in in eight hours so it's happening I said well Terry I said look I've I've never done a fight and he said really yeah and he's taken a bite of a Caesar salad I said look truth be told I've never been to a fight and now I actually see like little balls of sweat forming right in the lip area right what boxing is all about yeah yeah and then I said I said hey if we're going to put all our cards on the table I've never been in a fight so I have no background whatsoever which wasn't true in fifth grade somehow I still to this day have no idea I was told like oh I heard you're fighting James schneef after school I'm like am I I I did not get any memo on this and I ended up having to fight this guy after school it was winter time I had thick gloves I closed my eyes I caught him in the chin and he went down I walked home yeah so want to know so 100% knew very little going in I show up now ringside and again didn't have the background necessary everybody sitting there had a cup of water or their favorite drink and then they put either a piece of paper or a small piece of cardboard over their cup I'm like what's what is this weird boxing ritual and literally 20 seconds into the fight when David Tua got OED Sullivan backed up against the ropes and then spit blood and mucus ended up in my water and on my collar I was like oh oh that's that's why they cover the drinks that makes sense it's crazy uh one of the things I always appreciate your work and again this is great everyone should read the I don't know why I'm giving Brian Curtis so much love but keep reading the article it's a great he did a great job he tells an unbelievable story this this is one that you and I both share in common I'm sure a lot of broadcasters do this I know Buck joked about you know guys texting him hey trying to get this word in the broadcast but making an esoteric reference that many may not get and I've asked kasus about this your buddy from Syracuse and Bob told me he's like and he goes listen at times you got to entertain yourself and and Neil Everett told me this story years ago on Sports Center I work with Neil who I love and uh I said hey man I you know when I became a fan of your I said when I heard you say a home run call he'll take him across the street to Mitch and Murray and I said glur Ross is one my favorite my favorite place my favorite movies he goes great you mention that he goes I remember doing that and the cording prus said to me like hey what's that about I was like it's from a movie called Glen Gary Glen Ross she's like who is it he like Pino lemon like alen all that's written by David M go she's no I'm talking she go I would lose it he's like why he goes she goes well No One's Gonna Get it he said yeah but I get it yep to that end in the article they mentioned there's like a touch I don't know it's a Taylor Swift whatever it was I think it was a Taylor Swift and you made a reference one of her songs and Charles Davis has no idea what you're talking talk about but anybody caught it thinks it's brilliant and I'm like that that's I Eagle of his best you nailed the call that's the important of course I'm not taking away from the action I'm not making it about me but I had a little bit of spice a little bit of sauce that if you get it you say that's brilliant yeah I appreciate that truly I realized doing Nets games all those years I was doing them in relative anonymity in the New York Market the Nets weren't rating very high within the NBA the Nets were not exactly a hot topic of conversation and it was me and Bill raftery doing the game bill is a fountain of sayings non sequitors exclamation points and he would do it in a manner that was really entertaining even though it didn't seem to have a connection to what just happened in front of you but in his brain it did so I learned a great deal just sitting next to him and being around him he didn't have anything written down it wasn't like he jotted down on on the uh Hotel pad all right here's nine things I want to get into the broadcast no no it's truly coming from his fertile mind and after a while I I think just by osmosis I realized hey this keeps the crew engaged it keeps your partner into it and yes there is a segment of the audience that does get it and it's very subtle and there's a line if you throw out 30 of them over the course of a broadcast I'm not sure that's the way to do it but you can do things wink wink as long as you're not hurting anybody mocking anybody self-deprecation obviously is is always accepted and and often encouraged uh because people can relate and that that's all I've I've tried to do is is be a bit relatable and allow the audience to feel like Hey we're in it with you in some way but Raph a lot of it was based on just how he approached the job he was having a blast and you could tell and that rubbed off on me and we were not necessarily Prime Time viewing in the New York metropolitan area but I knew that we were enjoying each other's company and then the finite number of people that were watching they were enjoying it as well it's amazing rational those guys like my buddy Tim kirchin like a th% approval rating like you can't get anyone to say a bad word but sha McDon tells you raap stories like you it's unbelievable true 30 years of calling Nets basketball favorite celebrity Nets fan whoopy Goldberg I don't know she's an actual Nets fan I'm I'm not sure I haven't uh I haven't seen her at a game in quite some time there was a stretch where Ethan Hawk was going to a lot of games I'm like man I think he's a Nets fan he lives in Brooklyn then I saw him at a bunch of niit games and I realized oh no he just likes basketball that's cool Jay-Z was a net guy for a while I thought all right Jay-Z and Beyonce were showing up they were literally sitting 15 feet away from me it got to the point where I was nodding to Jay-Z as I walked by to my broadcast location he was nodding back I'm like all right now we're we're entering a very surreal part of Net's history uh beyond that there are some repeats that that have popped up time and time again Seinfeld was at a game and I ended up making a reference it was a gamewinner by Joe Johnson and we got a shot of Seinfeld right at the end of the game and I said the shot was real and spectacular yeah that's right and it had it had a reaction of some sort he was at another game and I think I said something to the effect I gave out a stat and then we had a shot of him and I said and yada y y the Nets won over Washington the other you know whatever we can do to to make it light and and keep it and keep it moving recently I would say there have been more more celebrities entering the the Nets orbit than in previous years Brooklyn has definitely helped on that front there were not a lot of celebrities showing up at the metal lands in my experience yeah that makes sense all right I've kept you long enough let's let's finish up with this Christopher Guest The Great filmmaker course best in show and spinal tap all the rest of I met him years ago at ESPN and he was a great guy and you knew who I was which made it even more wonderful but what I remember about him was that for a guy who's so funny who made to many comedies he's a pretty serious guy and when I asked him what he was into he mainly just watched documentaries and to your point about Comics you're bang on they never laugh they just oh that's funny and I'm like okay well if you thought it was funny you would have laughed you wouldn't have just said that's funny but they distill it in that clinical way all of which is to say you're a very funny guy but I'm curious what kind of movies you enjoy I'm assuming you like some comedies but you tell me what some of your favorites are yeah I would say that we probably came from a similar movie background in 70s 80s you had these seminal movies that just had an impact on you and all of them would fit in that category for me from Animal House Blues Brother stripes on and on and on you know and then the sports side of it certainly played a role but anyone that says like uh people push it I feel with with the sports theme where they they try to shoehorn a movie into sports when it's not back to school is not a diving film like let's let's delineate between meatballs is not a running film right like just because there was a moment in the film doesn't mean that that's the the main Crux catty Shack okay yes it's a golf film The backdrop is golf I I I'm with you on all of that I found the biggest Fascination point for me was the actors in films and then where their careers took them I just was so fascinated by following someone that didn't necessarily have the greatest success but maintained a career so Tim mat's path was interesting to me that I found interesting or Peter rert MH that was interesting James widows I'm doing all Animal House people but yeah all of that I found no he became a director he oh he was in Crossing Delany I later popped up in a number of CBS shows just as a guest star so I think that's what spurred a lot of it for me pre IMDb if I was at a cocktail party forget it I was I was just a wealth of knowledge now when people can just go now oh yeah yeah yeah he was in this he was like no no no no no no you had to know that that was important knowledge to know which actor came from which film and led to this and that that was really what what motivated me as I was learning entertainment but look you can name all of the major Motion Pictures of the last 50 years and odds are I saw them not once but multiple times and I appreciate I appreciate really good cinema I appreciate now excellent television which it's morphed into you know to to see presumed innocent and every Wednesday get excited about it and not binge it watch it like you used to feel like you were excited about the next episode I was in a film certainly not saying this as a flex by any stretch but it just spurred the thought Jake Gyllenhaal Southpaw I played reporter number two oh the boxing movie yeah yes yes yes and in that film my role actually ends up being fairly important to the storyline I do not want to ruin it for anyone that's never seen the film but the scene I'm in leads to a key part in the plot so I fly to Pittsburgh how did I get this role the guy that I lived across the hall from freshman year Jason Blumenthal ends up wanted to be a movie producer his dad was in the industry had worked produced Hill Street Blues he does it he ends up doing he's produced some really major Motion Pictures and calls me up and and says hey I got this thing you want to do I had to leave for the French Open like three days after he called I was like well when is it he's like tomorrow like oh so boom I fly to Pittsburgh uh I do not get the script because they don't want the script out there and we get finally on set that night I get up the script I look at it I think to myself all right I don't think this is great how it's written but fine director is Antoine fuka and we do two takes and now fuka comes out and he calls me over I'm like oh [ __ ] am I blowing this and he said hey you're doing great you're excellent he says are those the words you would use though in a press conference setting I said honestly no I would not he goes oh no okay you just say what you would say like oh I'm now writing the script I'm writing Southpaw so we now shoot it six more takes and I'm now riffing with Jake chilling Hall he's going Way Off Script I'm like dude I don't think they're going to use any of this but fine I'll go down that road with you and they come back they say great great great and I'm acting my ass off I'm facial acting and they come back assistant director comes out and he says all right everybody take 10 we're gonna now switch the cameras I'm like switch the cameras what have you not been shooting me this whole time I've been acting my ass off so they switch the cameras we do two takes and uh eventually what what's in the film is is a compilation of all that but it was a great experiment it was a lot of fun and it was really interesting to see how the sausage was made oh it's amazing going to shoot reverse down my what I have no idea what you're talking about southa I got to check it out by the way I gotta tell you my boxing story now so I voice only in big George for room currently available on Netflix yes me and Robert Flores voiced it last year and I I swear it's eily similar to yours cuz I I'm reading the lines and sure the director is via Zoom he goes is that what you guys would normally say and Robert and like yeah you know he's like do do it your own way and I swear to God I what I watch the movie first of all you do it takes like an hour you do like 35 lines maybe four make the cut and the stupidest stuff I did did not make the when I started doing like coel Impressions like no so when they go yeah do whatever you normally do or do what you want fun one I'm like they're not gonna use this just I'll just stick to the script that's the what they say and that's what you did um all right last thing and I just on a poignant note here I it struck me you know obviously son no is having such great success and I told him and you at the emys how great he was in that Nickelodeon because it's a common fallacy people think oh you're a sports cast your kids must love sports I'm like no of my four boys two do two don't and the one who didn't it's the first football game he's ever watched in his life because Nickelodeon and he loves SpongeBob so I told no you got to do this again he was locked in I have no idea what the stats where I still even know won the Super Bowl but I know that Patrick was fantastic and he's biting his nails and like it it was it was great great stuff but it maybe think about your dad didn't achieve success till 50 mom passed weight 43 and now one of your boys know is calling the French Open like he he just called my beloved Canadian team losing at the Olympics like this is that's that's crazy how that's come full circle like you had parents who did not achieve success now you have a son who's achieving extraordinary success early in life how do you reconcile that yeah mindboggling more than anything else my wife and I looked at one another uh first during the French Open the opening standup is him Mary cillo and John macenroe which ends up being the Last Broadcast that NBC does the French Open after a 40-year affiliation and it's Noah taking them off the air and I'm thinking like how the hell did this Happ my wife and I looked at each other and I've worked with Mary and I've worked with John so I've had experience with and they're both great and he sandwiched in between them and we looked at each other like what how why and it happened and then the Olympics same same type of emotion uh the back-to-back games against Serbia and against France and uh the drama that took place I said to him dude you could do this 50 years you probably are not going to get two more impactful basketball games than what you just did and that does not mean that he's not going to do big events in his life what it does mean is he just happened to do a couple really early in his career really proud of how he handled himself how he's navigated his way through this wacky business even at a young age he knows how fortunate he is he does not take it for granted it has not given him a big head and he's the same person that we sent off to Syracuse where my wife turned to me as we were driving away you get on 81 to then get to 380 to 80 to get back to where we live in New Jersey as we pull up on the highway we've now unloaded his stuff set up his room met his roommate met his roommates friends did the goodbye hug all of it we just pull onto the highway and my wife who also went to Syracuse turns to me and says is he gon to be any good at this broadcasting thing and I turned to her and I said I don't know because I really don't know you don't know until they're actually doing it so uh I think back to that moment a lot it's been it's been pretty incredible and uh he's he's very much aware of uh how fortunate he's been and he doesn't take any of it for granted yeah two thoughts on that one you know you know people in this business can be supportive but also incredibly jealous you then people go Noah Eagle nappo baby and then did you listen to him did you listen to that Seria game you listen that France game this guy's pretty freaking good so he's clearly silencing any of those and to your point about father and son um this goes back to Ivan wman actually his son Jason wrightman's a filmaker course up in the air does very well he gets nomin for an Oscar I'm talk to friend of mine he's like oh man that's that's too bad for for Ivan I go what do you mean he goes well his kid has surpassed him his kid was nominated for an Academy Award I said any father worth his salt always wants greater success for their kid he goes go no no you ask any father in the same industry unless you're a complete sociopath of course you would want greater success for your own ding ding ding though you just hit on something there are there are people that do feel the way you're not supposed to feel and for that I I would not be able to relate that that is completely foreign to me of course you want your kid to do better you want them to do better and I think Noah takes it all in stride fortunately and has a really good head on his shoulders and understands that this is not easy and what he's doing is uh is is pretty remarkable in the grand scheme but he doesn't see it as as anything beyond the norm he really is taking it one step at a time with with each assignment all right last one I've kept you long enough but this one self-indulgent for me so Harry when I met a at the emies I told him listen I've always been a fan but it went to a next level after you told the John maon Nikolai davil day story on Richard D's podcast this is a good remind everybody out there you can be the face of CBS sports for decades but somebody here's youna Richard D's pocket you know what I'm locked in so tell that story just for me yeah so quick version of it I'm working with John mackenro at the French Open John is excellent on the air as we know notorious for not going to production meetings and also showing up about five minutes before airtime so you out ofsight out of mind you don't see them you're not around them it's not like the whole day you're talking about the match you're talking about the the two players none of it and yes to The Scouting Report he shows up five minutes before the match and the match is Rafael Nadal against a French Wild Card Nicola delde that's his name I ask everybody in Paris basically how do you say this and everyone says well it's Nicola delde I there's a question mark at theend like de I said okay I'm G to do it Nicola Del I in the mirror I practice again John comes to the booth he's got a Nicks hat on Sideways uh his tie is undone his jacket is hanging off his finger and he comes in like the Tasmanian devil like and now we've got five minutes to there I go hey John yep yep yep yeah good to go all right we got Nadal and we have uh Nicola delde he says what I said it's Nicola delde I've checked with everybody he says no it's Nick dilder I go no no no no actually it's Nicola delde and John looks me in the ey he says it's Nick dilder okay it's Nick dilder and guess what it was the entire match it was Nadal against dilder so said like it's a question am I question yeah tremendous unbelievable the great Iron Eagle you can make sure you listen to him on CBS of course NFL is kicking up soon you'll hear him on Nets games you see him in college hoops the best combat I could pay you again you're the funniest play-by-play guy and you're great at your job but in this business which is a small one everyone Raves about you back in his years before I met you Mike yam anro Steven oing Bill pedo I I could scottf so many people that you hear eagle's name it's the best I do have to close with this though how much do you hate the movie Iron Eagle because you choose to pronounce your name I and you've been called the eagle has landed for how many years yeah um ad on this obviously hits me in a in a very tough spot because I I fought like hell for people to say my name correctly and I understood it was not normal Beverly Hills 90210 helped the emergence of ion zering helped that's true so I I had that working in my favor but in 1986 Iron Eagle comes out with Jason gedrick and AC Academy Award winner Lewis Gossett and that became the bane of my existence not just for that year everyone's like oh hey what's up Iron Eagle I'm like okay again works fine iron iron iron IR they make a sequel Iron Eagle 2 so now it extends no no no no they were not satisfied with just two iron eagles they go straight to video with Iron Eagle three they're going to keep this franchise resuscitated whatever they have to do clear no we we got more I think there might be an iron eagle four if you look it up I'm not sure gossip was in that one so th this uh this did affect me and not just in that people in my everyday life now had a place to go to with Iron Eagle athletes coaches general managers to this day believe my name is Iron Eagle I do not correct them I just lean into it and so said oh you had a son he should have been called Iron Eagle too right get it yeah and to that point again back to Christopher Guest I said to him what do you how do you react when people like quote like your lines and he goes that's the worst he said just now guy was miking me up and he goes hey don't worry this one goes to 11 I I do use that by the way I do use that with audio guys like he you good your levels I go I could use 11 if possible and they're like right over there Eagle you're the man I can't thank you enough this was awesome great to be with you thanks so much ad man I Eagle was fantastic uh God great Storyteller band we could have talked for hours and I really much appreciate his time the story book called it boxing you know being a quick study it's uh yeah hopefully instructive not only for movie fans but also just fans of broadcasting in general and those stories about his parents very pointed I'm going to go look up that those commercials you about his dad that's uh that's pretty cool stuff and I feel like watching The Marvelous Mrs Mayo as well all right thanks once again I thank you to the filmmakers of the secret in their eyes to taste of cherry to the decalog to alen Romulus and to sing sing next week I can already promote what we're doing because i' I've seen so many movies with the kids gone I watch Dee new indie film I'll review that for you next week I'm reviewing Barney's version The Great Paul Gman Dustin Hoffman film I am reviewing the 25th anniversary of Being John malovich which I rewatched again and I'm also reviewing black narcissist which is a Powell and presser film back from the 40s which one will Harry watch I'm going to say he's already seen Being John Malin if not he's going to watch that one that's that's that's the one to go with we'll find out and we'll see you next time on