Alex Brown

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What's up, Task Force? This week on Movie Club, we're covering the 2000 movie Battle Royale. We chose this movie because it really set the genre for what we know today as Battle Royale movies and games. Catch the episode and support us directly over at redwebpod.com. This was a thing that I really liked that they had in the movie that I really enjoyed in the book.

The game is about to begin. Carts of bags roll in. They are to leave the classroom one at a time. When they do, they grab a bag inside. It's food, water, flashlight, compass, map, and a random weapon. Some good, some terrible. I love that. It's kind of unfair, but I also do like the randomness.

You know, if everyone was given a knife or everyone's given a gun, it's like, okay, everyone's going to shoot each other, stab each other.

What can you do with something that's like not that great? And I like that everyone leaves one at a time. Like, I love the rule set here. And I love how there was like a student on the TV that was presenting it and they were in high spirits, you know, like, hi, the game has begun. You're here now. And like, these are the weapons and hope you get a good one. It's like.

It's not that bad. You got to do it. It kind of sucks. But like, look like, you know, and try and make it more appealing and fun and completely feeling at it. But then having that like tone shift, Tano, the teacher, lets them know that their folks already know. That's honestly pretty much all we get from like information on the parents is that, oh, we've informed them.

At the end of every chapter, you would have how many were left and how many died. So it was so cool to read what would happen and the deaths throughout. And then at the end of the chapter, it would be like 40 to go. And it's like,

I'm sure some accept it and some are just like devastated by it. One by one, the students leave. This is where small details and characteristics are shown. I really love this part. As some people leave, some of them are best friends, others in a relationship, you know, and so you see the emotion, the quick emotional tie that they have with other students.

The students realize that the transfer students are dangerous. They're not afraid to do things like switch out the bag they were given for what could be a better one. Kawada, being one of the students, leaves and comes back. So goes, I want this bag and then grabs it.

um so they're definitely not to be messed with shuya whispers to noriko a close friend that he will wait for her outside outside shuya sees a student walking towards him with an arrow stuck in her throat he's being fired at and the games have begun right off the bat and like i feel like this is so realistic like you're gonna have people waiting right outside to just start going oh dude you know like campers they're gonna try to take advantage of that

It's already happening.

It just gets half of Trevor's body and he's just bringing dirt onto his, like, all over his face.

it's it's wild back to the rules the island is split into zones their callers monitor their heart rate and tracks them on the island there's no way to take them off if they try to or are still in a zone after it's been deemed a no-go zone then boom goes the caller nobu at this point freaks out and retaliates against gitano and fights a student in the process

Katano turns on Nobu's collar and then as the beeping escalates, Nobu is running around to different students asking for help. They back off and boom goes Nobu's collar, spilling blood all over his best friend Shuya, boy number seven, dead 40 to go.

So, uh, that's really big, bro. Yeah. Cause I mean, then they like people, I think a lot of people struggle with selling products and they do that because of the thing that you just said, right. They're out here trying to sell their products. They don't understand that people don't care about their products. Like, listen to me right now, guys, everybody listening. No one cares about your product.

No one cares about your service either, right? You think anyone comes to us and they care about Facebook ads or they care about like our logo and what RF, no one cares at all. The only thing they care about is can you help me get more customers? Yes or no. Can you help me streamline my business and automate it more so I'm not pulling my hair out every single day, right?

Can you help me with those problems? And so like the whole thing about, you know, sell the hole, not the drill. And the too many people are out here selling the drill, selling the drill. And the wonder why no one's buying their stuff. Well, they don't want the drill. The only thing they care about is the hole that the drill produces. So understand that that is, and then, and sell that instead.

And everything will change.

So be careful. Like, by the way, this stuff, be careful, like who you share this insight with, right. You start sharing this insight on how to sell with your wife or with your husband. He wants that.

Oh.

They're not supposed to make it to the surface, so they provide light to catch prey, but also the organisms down at the bottom where there is no light. How big is this fish? Pretty big.

Who would discover this? How do we know?

She's not supposed to make it to the surface.

Also, fish are not supposed to float to the surface like they regulate with like oxygen and whatnot so that they stay below.

The surface. That's what I'm saying.

you guys never heard of the princess and the pea princess and the pea I slept soundly so I guess not a princess that means that Nick's humble is what he's saying right is that what that is yeah because remember she could fill the pea because she was so spoiled that even with like 20 different mattresses mattresses stacked on top I live a hard life I really do special forces training

You know, I went into this experiment and I said, I'm going to be completely authentic to myself and whatever I honestly feel, I'm going to go with it. And I said, there's no pressure to continue on the show if I don't sincerely feel like it's going to work. And I wanted to be true to myself and not force anything and be that guy that just goes along with it just to be on TV or have an experience.

So I was never going to do that. You know, I realized that at the end it wasn't going to work. So I cut it off. No hard feelings about it. But, you know, it is a shame because our story, I feel like was very interesting and people were disappointed that they couldn't hear more of us.

Well, I guess just to start with, you know, they don't show 99% of what we talk about in the pods. And Madison and I really did have a good relationship. We had a lot of fun in there that they didn't show, really. It was all very, very serious conversations. So we had a really, really solid relationship. But I think the main concern that was shown was the lack of communication between

I think we both just had very different communication styles, and I was trying to get ahead of that because I've had issues with that in the past. And I know how important that is and how detrimental to a relationship that can be. And I've had some really, really tough relationships in the past because of that core issue of not being on the same page with our communication.

So I wanted to really take that seriously and try to figure out if that's something that we were on the same page or not. And, you know, just some things came up in the pods that just showed that we weren't on that same page. And so I had to make the tough decision to to cut it off, I think.

I think definitely the Mason situation, just how that was handled. I don't know. It just didn't really sit right with me. As someone who was bullied, I feel like there was a little bit of bullying going on there with Mason. And I just didn't feel like that was rightfully placed on him. Um, and you know, there was maybe a little more negativity than what was shown, um, coming from Madison.

It does say the 137 page filing included new assertions of alleged misconduct, saying, in quotes, Miss Lively was not alone in raising allegations of onset misconduct more than a year before the film was edited in evidence of alleged threats, harassment and intimidation of Lively and others and defendants retaliatory campaign.

And, um, I just, that's why I kept pushing back and saying, I understand his perspective, you know, and I said that so many times, but it was coming from a place of a response to, to the negativity. Um, and I mean, there were just some other really small instances where, you know, I just, we, we, it was awkward in the pods because I would say something, she wouldn't respond to it in a way that, um,

made sense to me, you know, and that's not saying it was right or wrong. It just showed that we were very different people. And so, yeah, I don't know if I can come up with specific examples, but yeah.

I mean, I couldn't have said it better myself. That was very well explained there. I think that is true from what I saw. It seemed like she was very used to conflict. And so was I in my earlier life. And I just I'm at a point now where I can't handle that. And I don't want to fight. I don't want to have these big, massive blowouts and then make up and everything is fine for a week.

And then it's another huge thing. And I just I can't do that anymore. Um, and so, yeah, I think maybe, I don't know what else I can say about it. Cause you said it so beautifully.

I'd say overall, I'm really proud of how I handled everything. I wouldn't change my actions or decisions at all. I think the way that they maybe edited the last date was maybe not as accurate as it was. So I kind of cringed a little bit at that. But no, I don't really regret anything. Again, we were just very different people. We're on different communication styles. And so

It just was not the right relationship. And I was not about to force it or, you know, continue it longer than it needed to. I feel like the mature thing to do was to recognize that it wasn't going to work and then end it right away.

It felt like I was really, really pressing the fact that I understood Mason's perspective and which definitely I mean, I did keep saying that thing or that line over and over. But again, it was in response to. negativity that I feel like was not aired. You know, there was a lot more negativity being said about Mason.

And so I was saying, well, I understand his perspective in response to that negativity. And so, and again, I totally understand, you know, her perspective and why she would be negative towards Mason. He did screw up, right. You know, there's no question about it. He screwed up. He said the wrong thing. He, you know, Didn't handle himself in the way that I know he wanted to.

But also you have to understand that I actually knew Mason better than I knew Madison because I spend more time with the guys in the lounge than I do with the women in the pods. Right. So Mason and I at that point were fairly close and I knew he was such a genuine good guy. And I just didn't want to see someone talking so negatively about him when I feel like he didn't deserve it.

I just thought it was maybe a little... manipulative. I didn't see that. You know, all I see is this limited perspective of in the pods with one person at a time. So it was definitely interesting to watch after the fact, after a year, you know, since being there. But yeah, it just didn't feel great. And I think it may be confirmed that I did make the right decision.

yes we we have talked um i mean when we got out of the the pods we got back to minneapolis and we did talk for a brief time i would say um and then the same issues kind of just kept coming up and we realized again that we just were communicating differently and then we we decided to go our separate ways when was the first time you saw what she looked like when you got out of the pods did you like look her up online or did you wait to meet her in person

basically the shuttle that took us to the airport, I was sitting in there alone and we got our phone back. And so I turned it on and there's like hundreds of notifications. And I immediately, I went and looked her up on Instagram because obviously, right. And so I saw her for the first time on Instagram.

And then we met at the airport afterwards and it was such a crazy experience just to put a face to the voice.

I'll consider it just because of this.

You know, I think I'm on the other end of it now. Oh, congratulations. Definitely, you know, I didn't make the best fashion choices. I'll totally agree. But, you know, I did want to stand out a little bit. You know, I wanted to wear something that wasn't just like the gray blazer or whatever that I feel like most of the guys were going to wear. So I did make a choice to wear the blue turtleneck.

I do commercial real estate.

I really was actually. So I'm a big fan of psychology. I went to my local community college and I took every single psychology class that they had to offer just because I'm super interested in how people work and think. And this show, I think, is one of the most genuine psychological experiments. And it's super fascinating to me. And I've always been interested since season one. And so...

Leave it to the courts, like A$AP Rocky did, and he is now innocent.

I think I was one of the only people that just applied on my own without a producer like reaching out to me just because I was so interested in just the application process alone. I saw they were casting in Minneapolis and I was like, you know, let me see. I just wanted to see what it was like.

And I filled out the questions thinking there's no chance I'm going to get chosen out of tens of thousands of people, you know, and two years later, here we are.

Yes. Mason and I are really close still. So we've traveled quite a bit together. Meg and I are also very close. All the guys. I mean, I consider them all brothers to me at this point. So I just I love them so much. They're such great, genuine, unique people.

I can't really speak for him, but I think it was a tough watch for all of us in different points. It's really cringe watching yourself on Netflix. My heart was racing the whole time, the first time I watched it. Every time I'd come on screen, it was like,

the most painful experience and i can only imagine for mason you know with some of the scenes and like especially some of the sexual scenes i just i can't imagine i feel for him yeah it'll be fine yeah you it's uh people will forget quickly i thought you carried yourself very well so nothing to be uh nervous about you should be proud of your performance on netflix i feel like Thank you so much.

You know, I really appreciate it.

Well, thank you very much. I appreciate it.

We'll see. You never know. Well, thanks so much. I appreciate this. And this was awesome. All right.

Yes, I read an article about that first, and I was like, they made it sound so like he dove into the crowd and flew across people.

He ends up with Virginia. No, I know.

Yeah?

To Nick's point too, you could meet people, but what are the odds you're following someone and then unfollowing them?

Yeah. But the thing is, if he did follow her, it invalidates the whole process of you don't know what I look like because you clearly knew what I looked like and knew everything about me, maybe, based off of my social media account.

Somewhere in Cancun? Or did I make that up? Usually Mexico.

Did you catch the B-roll? We didn't talk about it last week where it's Garcelle and Kyle listening in on Sutton. That was so funny. And this is where they said, this is how we know Kyle's a good actress because they're like listening behind the door. She runs up the stairs and then she quickly walks out as if she's like, she was just walking down the stores naturally.

And she's like, oh my God, hey.

I love Sutton's family, but every time they bring in the mothers, I'm like, do we need to? I'm like, let them rest, please.

I've heard the opposite, but that doesn't make sense. So like these meetings and just from experience with my parents and people that have parents that are divorced, like these meetings, like you pay for these meetings, like it could be short or whatever, but it costs to do that. And then it's whoever's going to be paying the most to have you on retainer for the divorce. Interesting.

I just loved Garcelle being like, she's a little sensitive right now after the coffee and vodka. And I was like, Garcelle.

She took a second to say it, too. I was like, that's the word we chose.

She did say sorry in the moment. No, she didn't. Sun said, we have to go. Sorry. We have to go.

It's an investment. It's an investment. Art is subjective, Mary. I guess.

Well. What do you mean wealth? She helped make that money.

We'll see how the scene airs. But I do wish Sutton and Dorit were, like, united on this front. I've, like, Sutton's experienced it before.

That did feel weird though, didn't it? The way Dorit was answering. What did she say? She was like, what do you mean? We have to live. Yeah. She just kept repeating it in like a weird like.

Aren't we all?