Inside Dads: Volcano, and Other Disaster Films

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]It's time for dad. Now look, it's all about dads.

[00:00:13]I don't want you talking about anything but dad.

[00:00:21]Cuz it's all dad now.

[00:00:27]Yeah.

[00:00:30]It's inside.

[00:00:36]It's hotter than hell. Do you know that?

[00:00:39]That's the tagline.

[00:00:41]>> Oh, that's great.

[00:00:42]>> Tagline to volcano from 1997.

[00:00:47]>> Starring Thomas Lee Jones.

[00:00:49]>> Hot and sweaty just as you like them.

[00:00:52]>> Mhm. Oh god. Yeah. And and covered in ash. And so they all look the same.

[00:00:57]Babe, >> I love that scene so much. Hey everybody.

[00:01:02]>> Hi.

[00:01:03]>> I We don't do [ __ ] We don't do [ __ ] We just get right into what you want, which is the content, which is us two talking about dads. That's right.

[00:01:13]It's Inside Dads. I'm Abe. That's Dave.

[00:01:17]We're not actual dads, but we like to think that we watch dad movies, which is what this podcast covers. Yeah, that Yeah, that I'm aware of. Uh, and my little spiel as always, if people haven't, if this is your first episode, basically for decades, if you've been online at all, you're aware of this concept of the dad film or the dad movie, Hollywood portrays dads in certain ways that basically reinforce a social ideal of masculinity, faith, morality, demeanor. It's also designed to be dad catnip. Um, so what's that all about? What's what's the is it good propaganda? Is it bad propaganda? Is it a little bit of both? What? Let's get deeper inside this Dadbod.

[00:02:00]>> Beautifully said. Yeah, folks. You don't have to go back and listen to the other episodes. You should cuz we have we have at this point kind of we've watched a lot and we're starting to get like these >> quick little shortorthhand rules of a dad film >> that we've been slowly learning they all have in common.

[00:02:19]>> Yeah.

[00:02:19]>> Uh you you grew up with this movie, right?

[00:02:22]>> I grew up with this movie. I kind of have a soft spot in this movie every time I watch it cuz I watch it every few years, every five years or whatever.

[00:02:32]>> Uh it like how like phoned in it is really stands out every time I watch it.

[00:02:41]Like the story is basically nothing, but it's got a lot of great set pieces of lava and >> the lava looks great. the it's a it's a light emmerick. Um it's fun to watch it now as an adult knowing LA and being like, "Hey, that's the Beverly Center. I I had mac and cheese there, you know, like it's it's cool. It's cool to now know LA."

[00:03:02]>> Um yeah, I I own this movie. This movie owns me. It's it's part of me. It's like a natural I I have like a something I need to get out about this movie that's not really dad related.

[00:03:14]>> Uhhuh.

[00:03:14]>> And I don't know if I simply forgot this. I never knew it. Um, I don't know how obvious this is. My understanding was that this is a disaster film that has several nonsequitator moments addressing racism in LA and Yeah. and politics and rich poor divide kind of thing, too. There's a little bit of that.

[00:03:35]>> Did that is that how you see this movie as like when the the stuff when the when the stuff about racism happens, it kind of feels out of nowhere. Mhm.

[00:03:46]>> I realized at this watch that the whole movie is this. It is a Jordan Peele film. It's a bad attempt, but it's a literal melting pot that is pressured to explode.

[00:04:01]LA is diverse. Yeah.

[00:04:03]>> Yeah. Post all the Rodney King stuff. It It's It's the beginning credits is what clicked in me where I was like, "Oh my god, the it's the point. It's the the whole movie. It's the point. It it starts with showing a diverse group of people in LA interacting with a bubbling uh lava under the surface just waiting to explode.

[00:04:30]>> And you're saying it's mainly about racism though. I'm saying that symbolically.

[00:04:34]>> I'm saying that they, you know, you imagine this film going like, "Let's make a volcano movie. What's a good idea? Volcano under LA. Ooh, that's good." Somewhere along the way, the writer was like, "You know what? I'm gonna make that a metaphor. I'm not just making a movie about I'm not just gonna make a disaster movie. I'm going to try to make Crash with a volcano." And it just didn't occur to me how woven into the DNA that is versus someone who is like, "Can we just tack on some anti-racism in there or something like no, that was I that was a point of the script. It's woven in that the whole movie, the idea of a volcano in Los Angeles is about a a very diverse city and that idea of like that that it could like this, you know, all these different people is this melting pot that could explode and in the end though we'll all come together in the face of disaster.

[00:05:34]Does it accomplish that?

[00:05:37]>> No.

[00:05:38]>> No. But that I realized this time like oh my god you were that was in there from the start.

[00:05:46]>> It's because they Yeah. Okay. I love that we're starting off with this and it is you're right at the very beginning of the film is the most clear because the plurality of LA how there's so many types of people. We're getting the radio pumping in. It's right at the beginning uh the the film including my favorite guy on the earth. We see a protest and a clash between folks and the government.

[00:06:07]Uh, one side is saying people need cars to get back to work and as someone else is saying extending subways are slow and loud and bad for local communities. And the reason I bring this up relative to what you just said is I frankly do not understand the ideologies here at in in combat. What they're saying aren't really debate points. They're just true statements about life, about sometimes their struggle. And it's topped off with a man who tries and fails to get a chant going, "Nuke the city."

[00:06:40]And I think we know that Mick Jackson, the director of this film and company, you know, all the people who worked on it, don't know what's happening here, even on a script level. They're just want to portray a protest because that adds that little bit of tension that bubbling under the surface like you mentioned.

[00:06:57]>> And but Nuke the City, I do think, is someone going like, "Well, then throw it all out.

[00:07:01]>> Throw it all out. The thing this movie is against.

[00:07:04]>> Exactly. You gotta struggle. Um, but it's the 90s. And the reason I'm trying to scope this all in this way is it's not saying any it doesn't want to say anything with the political stuff. It doesn't want to make a salient point about racism. What it wants to do is wear that hat. So, it feels like that, which is a very Ron Emerick ID4 vibe, right?

[00:07:29]>> Yes. And that is the problem ultimately is this movie, it tries, it does little things where I was like, "Okay, I'm glad you didn't at least do that." Like the racist cop never actually stops being a racist copist, >> but he's told he's a good man by his other cop.

[00:07:46]>> Yes. And I'm like, "God damn it." Like you were so close. There's a lot of like, "Oh, we're so close. You're so close."

[00:07:54]this little thing like the news anchor later said calls the volcano um and like another the latest attack on Los Angeles and I was like what do you mean by latest >> like it's a lot of that like the moment the volcano erupts people just start looting and it's like that's >> they make it so that every they make an unreal world >> to try to make it all feel like well sometimes people just loot like It doesn't know what site it's on. That's the thing. You're like, it's so close.

[00:08:27]You're making an assumption that the writing and like what's dictating the motivation is to make a statement about racism.

[00:08:35]>> The movie does not actually want to do that. The movie wants to look like it is >> and then it actually wants to not say it.

[00:08:43]>> Yeah. I wonder if at one point the writer was like, you see, it's like a big metaphor for race and some producer was like, the [ __ ] are you doing? Like just make a volcano film. Holy [ __ ] Who who let you make this like that? Yeah, because it it it basically backs out at the last minute like and so it becomes this like both sidesy thing where it it again it portrays like it it it portrays racist cops as like no they're all right. I guess in the end they do the right thing like and they do like it's just it's the Pepsi ad. It's that version back to the wall. What do you want to say? Ah, I'm just here to preach to the debate guy. Like, in the end, it's a copout, you know. Um, the problem is you can't fight a volcano.

[00:09:29]You can't fight a hurricane. So, most movies just have a whole let's get out of its way, survive through this. Oh, circumstances make it the tension. I have to get to my daughter, all this stuff, which this movie has some of. But this movie also does this thing where it hums and a over most of its runtime about how to actually kill the volcano.

[00:09:49]And there's really only two ideas and I guess they work by the end but throughout most of the picture they don't which is divert lava or build a dam to divert lava.

[00:10:00]>> But how a but how? I actually think so this this is where we kind of start getting into the dad of it. There's a new dad trope that I realized that we don't talk about that much um that this really pointed out to me is problemolving.

[00:10:15]>> Oh, we've talked about that.

[00:10:16]>> We've definitely talked about it. But like I feel like resourcefulness.

[00:10:20]>> Yeah. This idea of let's give them a puzzle. And so it is Tommy Lee Jones fighting a volcano for a lot of this. Um because it's like okay, we have to get this to this. How do we do that? And it's the maggyver. It's the scene in Apollo 13 where they're like, we have this stuff and we got to make a vent for for their heir in this much time. It's that it's maggyvering. It's people maggyvering a situation >> and they keep hitting obstacles.

[00:10:49]>> Um, and it ends up being a little funny because the lava kind of becomes a character.

[00:10:55]>> Yeah.

[00:10:56]>> To get it spits out at his daughter.

[00:10:58]>> He wants to kill his daughter, I think, cuz it once the daughter gets away, it's like, "Oh, [ __ ] you. I'm going after her."

[00:11:05]Um, and so yeah, it I Dante Speak is definitely the better film even though that's a slow like a slow roll like version.

[00:11:15]I think it's the better quality film.

[00:11:18]This is bigger.

[00:11:19]>> Yeah, this film was better as a kid, but they they both have to involve people like tripping on their dicks to get in the lava because lava is very slow.

[00:11:28]That's the other thing.

[00:11:29]>> Very slow. At one point they invent a new type of lava, which is superheated fast lava, which I don't even know physically if that's true. If you send lava down a pipe, it speeds up or not, >> but uh they really do make it seem like the lava's leveled up at one point.

[00:11:45]>> Yeah.

[00:11:45]>> Uh and they're like, "We have 20 minutes before it gets to where your daughter is." Anyway, let's talk about some of the specifics because I think like most of these dad movies, um, a lot of the signaling is done in the first 20 minutes, uh, with the setup of the characters in the world. And this one in particular is one of the clearest in we've done like 18 of these. Uh, I think the Alex Cross one was probably the most like, holy [ __ ] you're just coding this as dad just one thing after another.

[00:12:19]This one has some good work, especially in that first scene where we see the TLJ, the Tommy Lee Jones, divorced single dad with a sarcastic [ __ ] teenage daughter.

[00:12:33]>> Yeah. Who wants a nose ring? He's like, "Not on my not in my life."

[00:12:37]>> Every teenage daughter in the 90s wanted a nose ring. That was the struggle.

[00:12:42]>> Yeah. Yeah. And they should get them.

[00:12:44]>> But he's literally balancing multiple plates. He's got a dog. Uh he's swamped kind of drowning the eggs, for example.

[00:12:54]He drops the eggs. A meal his daughter doesn't even want. Oh, that's so beautiful. That's such a I am not apt uh for this thing. But what does he do when he his eggs fall? He goes, "Dog, that's your meal now." And he pivots to cereal breakfast. problems.

[00:13:12]>> Solving problems with duct tape and sweat and elbows >> and dad movies love that move. Oh, my plan didn't work. Well, I'll just I don't fail, so I'll just introduce plan C. The one you didn't even think about.

[00:13:28]Uh, like you said, problem solving, it's setting up resourcefulness.

[00:13:31]>> The daughter says during an earthquake, yeah, put your head between your knees and kiss your ass goodbye. And that's such a dadfeld joke.

[00:13:39]>> Yeah. He's like, "My daughter's got a big [ __ ] potty mouth."

[00:13:46]>> So, when the quakes start happening, and there's like several quakes to like throughout there's like I think three major quakes in the first like 25 minutes of the movie. And when the big one hits, it's like, "Okay, the volcano is actually erupting now." Um, and then it actually has like later in the runtime the real eruption, which just means that it's been filling up all of the uh subways for a while. So, there's a there's like I guess a um a timer on this volcano.

[00:14:15]>> There's a lot of questions about We'll get into it, but like >> Yeah, we'll get into it.

[00:14:19]>> The lava I Yeah, it goes where it needs to go, I guess.

[00:14:24]>> Yeah, it goes where the writers want.

[00:14:26]Anyway, the quakes start happening which pulls uh uh Tommy Lee into his his office of emergency management OEM.

[00:14:36]Despite having this week off, it's important in a dad film. I cannot stress how important it is.

[00:14:42]>> Work ethic.

[00:14:43]>> That work ethic is like I'm married to work, but this is the one time I'm [ __ ] taking it off, kicking it with my family, and it just keeps pulling me back, baby.

[00:14:53]>> Also, he I think he literally has a blue collar in this. He he's supposed to >> he they keep as they keep reminding him you're a desk jockey now >> and he's no I am rolling up my sleeves >> when he gets into work. This was like literally a joke in last action here.

[00:15:10]They get into work and there's all this background noise and one of the background noises someone who just goes your ex-wife called again and he doesn't respond to it. It's just like throw that in. That's such a like 80s cop. She later calls to nag, but like >> he's a nagger.

[00:15:27]>> Yeah. But it's really like, okay, we let's throw everything we can at who he is. At one point, I don't know if it's here, but I wrote it down here. He used he has the line, I enjoy motor sports, music, and the company of friends. It's just okay. Got it. Salt of the earth.

[00:15:46]Got it. He's from not the big city. He's from like Kansas. They know >> he's St. Louis or something.

[00:15:53]>> St. Louis. Yeah. The idea is he's no city boy. He gets his hands dirty. He's not sitting behind a desk and everybody's up in arms about it.

[00:16:03]>> Which I love this paradox uh that was always portrayed between blue collar and like I get not white collar but like the idea of what these they portray as like urban and like fasttalken and Aaron Sorcin type.

[00:16:19]>> Yeah. along with the rough necks like Aliens 2 types.

[00:16:24]>> Yeah, it's the Twister model which is that if you if someone's probably studies the weather, they probably wear a button-down shirt most of the time and they knew that going into Twister. So they're like, "Okay, what do we do?"

[00:16:37]Okay, he's like a rough and tumble tornado chasing and the the Carrie Elways he's just did it for the money where it's like, "What the [ __ ] are you talking?" It's that where it's like he's from the office of emergency management but he's like a cowboy and it's like I don't think that's how they are which is but >> no yeah for reality sake who cares but >> the reason I talk about it is that that fast talking competent rough neck uh even if you're on the computer is exactly the mix even though it feels paradoxical or like I don't know if this person exists you like it because it's the mix of the two it's mix of blue collar and super competence like the Wall Streets was the example that we covered in terms of like the city daddy um the city slicker one would say >> they do good here cuz Don Cheetel takes the hit basically he's the pencil pusher for Tommy Lee Jones for the movie so he Tommy Lee Jones doesn't have to spend the movie in a room >> he's the not the guy in the van which is what he would be >> because once again this is a we mentioned 94, but we didn't mention fugitive. This is once again Tommy Lee Jones playing a character that just yells out stuff that he needs at people for most >> and people go running. Yeah.

[00:17:54]>> They go running away from him to >> They do it here when he shows in. He's like go go go and everybody's >> Everyone listens >> cuz he's the natural leader.

[00:18:04]>> Yeah. Um I and I one last bit on this like little mini section is I like the attempts of the authentic workingclass portrayal like John Carol Lynch is in this um >> he's trying to quit smoking >> the Zodiac Killer himself uh taking bets on where the epicenter of the earthquake was. And I love that example because it's like we are all so smart at or like rather we know stuff about ground. So we are like going to make a game out of this thing as a group of people who work in this certain industry. Yes.

[00:18:40]>> We're going to make a game a gambling game out of a thing that is loosely involved.

[00:18:46]>> This is a this is a Emer staple too even though this isn't Emer. But it's like everybody's kind of a daddy. They're showing different sections and they're all going to come together. I would even argue that Tommy Lee Jones is not the biggest dad of this movie and we'll get into that, >> but it's it's that idea of it's just funny because they also show the um the doctor, the lady whose husband is some big city piece of [ __ ] who's just begging to have his new condos knocked down. And he >> he is the the most ridiculous character in this cuz his whole thing is he's like I want you my wife to stop treating serious injuries in the hospital.

[00:19:31]>> I want you to start treating tennis elbows. His whole thing is I want you to have a cushy job. And that's very again it's very working class. She gets in there. She's in the she's in the O.

[00:19:40]She's doing it. and he he's like, "I want you to treat not gunshot wounds, but tennis elbows." And it gets to the point that spoilers, by the end of this movie, he comes down to the disaster area to just nag her to leave. And she just sits there and he's like, "Fuck these people. What if they breathe on you? You got to get out of here." And it's like, "What are you doing, man?

[00:20:05]>> Who is this guy? Why are you in politics?" But I guess look at the state of politics, >> right? So there's this getting your hands dirty. Rejecting the desk job is a big theme throughout >> because it corrupts you. The desk job doesn't it makes you less of a man I think is what the these types of films do.

[00:20:22]>> And you need that for a city a city dad film.

[00:20:25]>> Yeah. Pardon the performative and language about it. But like after the quake, some public works guys die.

[00:20:34]They're steamed to death like so many crabs.

[00:20:37]>> Delicious crabs. And when Tommy Lee Jones arrives, what does he do? He wants to go into the hole.

[00:20:43]>> Yeah.

[00:20:43]>> He's like, I got to get into that hole, I think he says. And we got to get some clash between the subway and the DWP.

[00:20:51]We've talked about this, too. There's always an infrastructure and there's always a code to the reality of the world. And in this case, it's infrastructural. Oh, DWP, the Department of Water Power versus the guys who are making who are the connectors who work with subways versus OEM versus the police versus there's so many different people who have claim over public works that they're bashing to heads.

[00:21:16]>> This is this is part of the message of the film. When those guys get boiled, what we see is the construction workers who are like, "AH, FORGET about it."

[00:21:25]type construction workers yelling with a cop who's like, "You got to move your shit."

[00:21:30]>> Um, >> and then the moment a disaster hits, >> they immediately lock in and they unite.

[00:21:37]And that's the it's a microcosm for the whole movie.

[00:21:40]>> Yep. Yep. Yep. And I like how they said Well, I like in terms of like in terms of dad films, they always do this. Uh, Tammy Lee Jones is surrounded by I mentioned John uh Carol Lynch. Um, a bunch of stiffs who just want to clock in, clock out. Oh, do we have to do that? That's a bunch of red tape. I don't want to have to >> Yeah.

[00:21:59]>> Not his guys though. They're in it for the love of the game. Yep.

[00:22:03]>> With guys with names like Gator.

[00:22:06]>> Gator.

[00:22:08]>> And even Keith David, the chief of police, calls him and is like, "You're not police. I may you get back to your desk and give me your gun. Stop being a maverick, Tommy Lee Jones."

[00:22:17]>> And it's like, he's in a different department. Where is the like what is going >> at him? Yeah. Yeah, but we just take it as reality and it's just the idea that Tommy Lee Jones, everything's stacked up against him, yet he's going to persevere. Um, right at the 17minute mark, uh, our sweaty Tommy Lee Jones climbs out of the hole and demands that the city shut down MacArthur Park, every farmhouse, hen house, outhouse, and dog house in LA. Also, he gets a phone call from his nagging ex-wife, which you mentioned. She isn't in the movie, by the way. This is the only time.

[00:22:51]>> She's just a voice.

[00:22:52]>> Just a voice. I don't like that you're doing this. What? What? She called.

[00:22:56]>> It's literally just to yell at him and then hang up. There's no call to action.

[00:22:59]She doesn't want anything.

[00:23:01]>> She doesn't He doesn't go like, "Okay, I'll change something." No, she just goes like, "You left your DAUGHTER WITH A BABYSITTER." And it's like, "The [ __ ] else is he going to do?"

[00:23:10]>> Yeah. It's a crisis and I'm a crisis guy.

[00:23:13]>> Yeah.

[00:23:14]>> Uh yeah, it's pretty funny. uh on Q after he gets that phone call and we're just like, "Oh boy, what a what a wife."

[00:23:24]We see Annne Hish. She enters the film and she her character flirts hard. She's a geologist and scopes the reality for Tommy Lee Jones. Look, we might have a volcano complete with the whole simplify it the science for me science person.

[00:23:41]>> She's Peter Broden in Dante's Peak basically.

[00:23:44]>> Exactly. He's skeptical, but like not too much such that uh like everyone else would be like immediately dismissed this crazy idea. But because he's our protagonist, he's like, "Well, you got to prove it to me." Also, he asks what Magma is, and I don't know. Do people not know what Magma is? And >> there's a few '9s movie situations where they go like, "We better explain this in case the audience is stupid."

[00:24:09]>> Yeah, I guess that's true. It just feels like Magma's in there. I think magma in the 90s was like >> it's >> probably not as >> I remember being a kid and being like, "Oh, magma is lava but underground."

[00:24:21]>> 97 though I was 12. Anyway, the elephant statue at Libé Pit sinks. The most delightful subway. By the way, can I talk about this guy for a second? The subway.

[00:24:32]>> Time to make the donuts.

[00:24:35]>> No. No. The guy who's reading his screenplay book and drives a subway.

[00:24:39]Who?

[00:24:39]>> Time to make the donut. He's the He looks like the time to make the donuts guy.

[00:24:43]>> Oh, I think he looks like Mario.

[00:24:45]>> Yeah, he's got Mario. They one of the same. Uh they all kind of look >> it's delightful mustache man.

[00:24:51]>> But there's this he laughs and smiles at everything.

[00:24:54]>> Yeah.

[00:24:54]>> All everything is in his world is perfect even though he's he might he's almost going to die from volcano.

[00:25:02]>> It's amazing. They set this guy up enough to be like see his life is worth melting for, right? His life is worth melting for. Like they do need to set that up. Un if he's just some loser, then I'd be like, "Oh, that's a shame."

[00:25:15]>> Like if he was a manosphere guy or something like that, we would be like, "No, just let him burn, man."

[00:25:20]>> Yeah. Just throw him in. Use him as a stepping stone.

[00:25:23]>> Yeah. In fact, use his body.

[00:25:27]>> Yeah.

[00:25:27]>> Uh but there's just something like I'm glad you mentioned as a kid though because this >> for some reason I was in love with this guy as a kid. He was my favorite.

[00:25:37]>> I was in love with him. Yeah. I still am. There's something about he's just got this energy that I'm like is overwhelmingly posit positive.

[00:25:45]>> Yeah.

[00:25:46]>> It's like that one scene in Deadwood where Al Swearen and uh Brian Cox are talking and Brian Cox keeps tipping his hat to everyone he sees in the thoroughfare and yes and like Al Swearen's just talking about oh yeah that's Seth Bulk's house. He's a crazy [ __ ] person. Uh, and he's like, "Do you have to say hello to everybody?"

[00:26:06]Like, [ __ ] what the hell are you doing? And he goes, "Everybody."

[00:26:10]>> The weirdest Brian Cox pure posit. Yeah.

[00:26:13]Cuz he's pure positivity, >> right? Cuz if you told me Brian Cox is in Deadwood, I'd be like, "Oh, he must be terrifying.

[00:26:19]>> He must be the devil." Yeah.

[00:26:20]>> Yeah.

[00:26:21]>> No. Anyway, I don't know why I talked about that other than sometimes a movie just creates a character that's just full so full of charm that makes you go, "Ah, yes."

[00:26:30]>> Yeah. Volcano truly has a character. I would melt for that man.

[00:26:36]>> Uh, >> in any case, the scientists sneak into the tunnel, uh, including Anne Hish and Rachel, I believe, her, you know, assistant or partner.

[00:26:46]>> Who cares?

[00:26:46]>> Who cares at this point? They sneak in the tunnel, >> which they're not supposed to do because people just died in there. Uh, and they're like, "But we got to verify if it's a volcano." And just as just then the biggest earthquake happens after all the little, you know, pre-quakes. This one's huge. The whole city's power goes out and the volcano actually kind of starts. Um, steam vents kick up rocks like meteors.

[00:27:11]>> Yeah. Rachel dies.

[00:27:13]>> Rachel dies like so many crabs >> so hard. Oh, it's awful.

[00:27:17]>> There's a lot of horrible deaths in this. Yeah.

[00:27:19]>> Yeah. Yeah. The firefighters lit very soon. Uh, lava spews through the streets. Shit's just on fire.

[00:27:26]>> I want to know. Sorry. Rachel dies >> and H does not care >> for the most part. Well, I want to talk about it. She gets angry.

[00:27:35]>> And then I I guess I'll just say this line now because I think this is one of two of the most insane lines in this movie.

[00:27:44]>> Oh, I know which one you're going to say.

[00:27:45]>> Is that you you just mentioned so so the volcano erupts, chaos happens, people start dying. It is it's hell on earth.

[00:27:53]and H looks at it and says, "You would have loved this, Rachel."

[00:27:58]>> I love that line. So, >> and I was like, "What? Now I want to know, Rachel." Like, I'm imagining Rachel them like flying into the city and she's like, "Someone should burn this all down."

[00:28:09]>> Mhm.

[00:28:09]>> Yeah. Exactly. But we know what she's mean. She means to say she's like, "This is a geological you rarity." This is the problem with >> the scientist part of you, but like it doesn't really scan that way or it's just not designed to be at that moment.

[00:28:24]>> She acts like she's looking at heaven.

[00:28:26]Like she acts like they made it back to the Shire after Lord of the Rings. Like she's like, "We're there. We're there.

[00:28:32]You would have loved this, Rachel."

[00:28:34]Rachel. Like that's how she does it. And that's the moment. And it's like I feel like the writers were like we haven't really made Anne Hayes recognize too much that her friend was spoiled alive.

[00:28:45]We need to give her like a beat to be like yes I'm sad >> and then yeah she kind of come becomes despondent because we need Tommy Lee Jones. I think the screenwriter is like well we can't have an h being like an action Jackson as well >> right?

[00:29:01]>> We need her her to be fully motivated >> by Tommy Lee Jones. So they're away from each other. So she just kind of wanders around for a bit until they finally connect later.

[00:29:13]>> Yeah. As Tom Jones kid, this is he's taking her out of the house. She gets her teddy bear. And I want to note that because she's a rebellious teen who's getting a nose ring, but the moment the [ __ ] hits the fan, she's daddy's little girl. Yeah. Like that's the point.

[00:29:29]>> Yeah. In fact, there's a important moment where when it's [ __ ] starts happening where >> uh this is just classic dad code um where she's like >> I'm going daughter's shook after the earthquake and struggling to buckle her seat belt but Tommy Lee Jones does the reassuring dad thing and secures it.

[00:29:49]It's the parental feeling of having to protect your child over everything mixed with the idea that he's doing a good job. He needs to be here. she can't function without him in a little bit in a little way, which is true about some developmental periods for sure, but it's just also something I think is dad coded in dad movies where you'll always be daddy's little girl kind of thing, even if you're, you know, 35 years old.

[00:30:12]>> I mean, that's the whole point of this is he's like, we should I I thought we were going to Disneyland and she's like, I want to go to the Beverly Center and get my nose pierced. So, it's that they have a little arc. There's also, by the way, she has an arc. And I actually like this. This actually works out because yes, they give her they give him a little W, but ultimately Yeah. Her arc is no, I'm not your I'm not like I because the whole thing is you need a babysitter. And at the end, they're like, we need you to babysit.

[00:30:41]>> Yeah. And she does. And >> fails, but it's fine.

[00:30:44]>> Fairly poorly. But, you know, it's her first shot. Uh, and that kid is up to no good. Frankly, >> kid is not locked into the events of the moment. Not scared of a volcano and the heat and not losing and losing his family. He's just walking around demolition.

[00:31:03]>> [ __ ] Yeah.

[00:31:04]>> Anyway, Tammy Lee Jones is away from home base as we mentioned. He's locked in city traffic with his daughter, but he's barking orders to Don Cheetel on the phone. And this and like you said all the stiffs that we saw in the first part of the film lock in even Carol John Carol Lynch for example who's been a suit the whole time smokes his cigarette and says I'm going down personally to get that sick boy.

[00:31:30]>> Slick city boys they chew gub and quit smoking >> but when the [ __ ] hits the fan you light up a cigarette and you jump into that [ __ ] lava like a man.

[00:31:39]>> Yeah. You kill yourself multiple ways.

[00:31:42]Yeah.

[00:31:42]>> Yeah. And uh Tommy Lee Jones, I love the scene because this is where you were mentioning the horrible death. Uh tries to save some firefighters and it starts off so excellent. Some of the best footage >> maybe on the planet. He rips the door off the hinges. He's on top of that fire truck. He's He is a monster. But then his daughter is like, "Oh no, I'm in trouble." And he goes like, "I must go to my daughter."

[00:32:08]>> And she wanders off. She's just like, "Ooh." and like walks up to the lava and it burns her.

[00:32:13]>> And so like because the sequencing is done so well that it just feels like one ticking clock after another. So you're all pulled up into the urgency of the event. But let's be very clear what happened in this like 8 minute sequence.

[00:32:27]>> Tommy Lee Jones tries to save some firefighters. His daughter starts screaming at nothing. I mean, she does get a little she does get spit at a little later, but not at the initial moment. he is moved away from the firefighters just because she's around.

[00:32:40]Um, and it's true like he has to get on like the car explodes and stuff like that, but in doing so, the firefighter that he's trying to save, another firefighter gets in to try to save him because Tommy Lee Jones isn't. And they both burn alive.

[00:32:55]>> Yeah.

[00:32:56]>> So, I'm not to blame. That's not what this is. It's just very funny. the screenwriters are to bring the they also have a reporter who's just saying what's happening and he actually does a great job with it.

[00:33:07]>> Um but it it was like what is this a Netflix film like I can watch the movie but it does make the scene more effective in my opinion but a lot I think his purpose is also to keep the momentum because what you >> what they're trying to hide is the fact that again lava doesn't move I mean don't get me wrong lava can move fast.

[00:33:26]I've seen it. Yeah, when it erupts like from the throat of the volcano >> and when it's going down a steep hill and but in this in this scene it's like the lava is going so fast that it's not like in a movie like Dante's Peak when it's an explosion or like a tidal wave.

[00:33:43]>> It's like it's like not that slow but not that fast. So they have >> out of the ground.

[00:33:48]>> Yeah. It has to be kind of a final destination situation where things keep going wrong and everybody is it's chaos and they have to cut it in a way that you're not really thinking about geography and time and like where the lava is at any given point. Like when they block the lava, it's like can't the lava just go somewhere else from the top? There's a lot of conveniences and and so it's all to say that they have to like keep you disoriented >> in the visuals while this guy maintains the narrative by talking it out and makes it feel more urgent, I think, and more linear and makes more sense.

[00:34:26]>> Yeah, you can pull all the details together even if the v the visuals are distracting because the visuals are designed to be distracting, >> right? Like if you watching it in real time from above, >> I feel like characters would have to just freeze in place for a minute so that the lava could catch up and stuff like that where it's >> it's interesting you mentioned it because it's actually interesting how they manufacture it because there's a moment right after this that I wanted to point out and just as a dynamic between the two like moments. This is edited together very quickly. You don't get a lot of information per shot and it's designed to make you feel a little bit confused, designed to make it feel chaotic, right?

[00:35:06]>> Yeah.

[00:35:06]>> And then we have the scene where we have to untether the fury of Tommy Lee Jones by dropping the dead weight. He has to give his daughter cuz she's been injured to the doctor and says, "Oh, we're going to Cedar Sinai and uh so we'll meet you there later kind of thing." And that's important from one perspective. I want I do want to point out that it's like in dad movies we do this because we need to have Tommy Lee Jones fight the volcano unburdened. Um so we need to untether him from his family so that we can see how awesome he is.

[00:35:37]>> This works narratively and also realistically.

[00:35:40]>> Yeah.

[00:35:41]>> He'd he'd go like, "Yeah, you need to get the [ __ ] out of here." And they do again they they've done a good job of getting him there. like they knew let's get Tommy Lee Jones has to be next to this volcano and if if he can't go to work he can't get to work and give his daughter there to make this more urgency and he says she got burned EMTT like it's personal like the volcano did it >> the volcano did it yeah >> and so like they knew to do all this but they also knew like yeah realistically and logistically she's got to get the [ __ ] out of there now >> right so just to kind of bookend what you were saying in terms of uh how the shots are designed to be chaotic and like how that that the guy who's talking to the police or he's giving the news is kind of our thread through that section.

[00:36:25]The second that the daughter leaves, Tommy Le Jones's shots become more dynamic. He's immediately running.

[00:36:32]Camera's now on dollies where it wasn't before. So, he's like everything is swooping and like now he's a masterful like uh painter of people.

[00:36:42]>> Dr. Strange has his cloak now. Like it's that vibe where it's like, "All right, >> boom. We're we're free. We can do it."

[00:36:48]>> There's even literally a scene with a cop in the Avengers movie where remember it's like uh Captain America lands in the first Avengers film and he goes like, "I'm going to need this this [ __ ] this shit." And then the cop's like, "I don't know what you're talking about."

[00:37:03]out and then he kills a bunch of dudes and the dude perfectly says like, "Oh, we need to get this guy on this road and this guy on this road and get that."

[00:37:10]Once again, they all lock in once they trust that Tommy Lee Jones is the right guy for the job, which for the sake of this film, in any interaction, everyone just agrees he's the best guy. Um, he's some kind of werewolf the second he ditches his daughter and becomes a cold-blooded life-saving machine. Um, >> yeah. Uh so they yeah once again kind of bringing up the racism because there's a few scenes that we do see this kind of the interaction where um the state or the cops or whomever they're trying to save this Beverly Hills museum >> where it's got art and they even make jokes about it and stuff like that but they s kudos to uh Volcano for juxtaposing that to when we Look at like Stanley Avenue, which is a bunch of poor people who are not in like the Beverly Hills area and on the residential streets and they're not getting any help from, you know, the infrastructure.

[00:38:13]>> They make the argument later of like we if we stop it here, it won't hit the residential streets. But there's there's this arc basically where Yeah. it hits the the lava bombs have hit and started fires. We get the obligatory saving of the dog.

[00:38:26]>> It's homes.

[00:38:27]>> Yeah. And then this black guy goes up to the most racist looking cop that they could cast and he's like, "Hey, we need help. I need a, you know, firemen." And like not I'm not taking the racist cop side, but what you could explain is like unfortunately we need everybody here, you know, like it's it sucks, but we're trying to stop the lava. But basically, he he acts like a racist ass cop and tries and tries to arrest this guy, which is so stupid that even the fellow cops are like, "What are you doing, man?"

[00:39:01]>> Yeah, don't put this guy in cuffs. He can help us. In fact, he does. He lifts up a thing and saves lives later once he uncuffs him. But for now, he's just like, "You're harassing that firefighter." No, I was asking him for help.

[00:39:13]>> Yeah. And so this guy is so racist that he can't get over this idea. And so, yeah, he he basically like has this guy next to him for half of this sequence because the guy he's like, "I'm gonna bring him in after this." And it's like, "The [ __ ] are you doing, man?" Like, like the other cops are like, "Listen, we're all racist here." But like, logistically speaking, it we just can't do this.

[00:39:39]>> We can't take them in for nothing.

[00:39:42]>> Yeah.

[00:39:42]>> In any case, a little bit more on that later. We cut back to the uh we kind of get into the initial problem solving and the kind of disagreement between uh Jones and H where Tommy Lee Jones wants to channel or influence the flow of the lava. I think this is interesting using like freeway dividers and stuff but HCH is or is adamant that you don't control a volcano. It's an act of God. So stop it.

[00:40:11]>> But Tommy Lee Jones can't be stopped. So he keeps trying to divert it, which turns out to be the methodology that actually saves a lot of lives in uh in the finale.

[00:40:21]>> It's unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, right? Tyler Jones is meant to be like this almost pigheaded like no, I'm going to defeat this lava.

[00:40:32]>> I'm going to fight Yeah. the lava the best way I can. It's like getting in a fist fight with the ocean, >> which is uh juxtaposes John Carol Lynch saving the subway operator by jumping in lava. A very famous scene, >> giving everybody nightmares from the rest of their lives. Yeah.

[00:40:48]>> Lynch doesn't flinch in a pinch, gets burned up inch by inch. That's R. Lynch.

[00:40:55]>> The full Terminator thumbs up and everything.

[00:40:57]>> Yeah.

[00:40:58]>> It's like >> I have a hot take.

[00:41:00]>> My hot take is that he they're like, "Save yourself. The lava is so far that I do not think he could jump that.

[00:41:07]>> There was Well, he do what you said, which is use Mario and do jump on him like a >> do do like a snowboarding move like do a sweet ollie with his body >> like ollie into that flip him in the air and then land on the lava.

[00:41:24]>> Mama mia.

[00:41:25]>> Oh, I want that.

[00:41:26]>> Uh there's a brief moment where they consider bomb bombing the volcano. just bombing the the throat of the volcano, >> which is not far from what they actually do. But it is funny that there's a moment we could just shoot.

[00:41:40]>> I could see that coming up. Yeah. I mean, they they use dynamite to put out like oil wellfires, so they probably I can see in real life someone quickly going like maybe we can >> Nah, probably not. And then help.

[00:41:53]>> Yeah, it's it's if we need more of an implosion than an explosion.

[00:41:57]Jones uh tries to draw a barricade and clearly draws a penis. Did you see that insert shot?

[00:42:03]>> Or he's doing Yeah. Which is really funny because volcanoes are >> very phallic. A lot of shafts in this with uh lava oozing out and steam. Very steamy film.

[00:42:13]>> Yeah. A lot of steamy jizz.

[00:42:15]>> Yeah. Uh but uh Anh has a hunch that the lava flow will act differently because of the man-made tunnels and cause fires miles away. will think it's over and it's all this lava flowing underground, which is what turns out to be happening.

[00:42:31]Anyway, the plan has been to contain the lava on Wilshire using a blockade and then using helicopters to drop water on it. And this comes to pass and it actually works. Day breaks, everyone feels like they have like some kind of um victory because they stopped the Wilshire fires um and they kind of have this topside victory. the flow has stopped. But hey, she finds out that for some reason the eruption hasn't even started yet. And the tunnels have just served as a kind of overflow for the bubble to burst. And she does the math, which is a great scene where she like watches playback and she counts like that actually [ __ ] is >> earlier. She uses a basketball to figure out that the ground is slope thing.

[00:43:13]>> Yeah. Yeah. I love scenes. Yeah. It's very >> Oh, you're So you're skipping to after they've solved the lava, right? the top side lava.

[00:43:21]>> Yeah. I just want to note before that we do finish the racism arc which involves the craziest line in the movie I'm pretty sure because it's beautiful out of context which is quote I'm about to become the volcano version of Rodney King.

[00:43:36]>> End quote.

[00:43:37]>> Which out of context I guess is crazier, >> but the idea is that they the basically the cops buddy uncuffs this man and he's like, "That's [ __ ] it, man. Just go.

[00:43:47]Just go. my my we're all again we're all racist but we're inconvenienced by this just go um and then I I think is this is a a I think that this guy who gets let go I think they do good with him because he basically he doesn't like go like you know what back the blue he actually goes like so this lava is going to hit the neighborhoods next and they go yeah and he goes okay I'm going to help too and he's not doing it yeah he's not doing You know what? I love the cops. And in fact, by the end, he never goes like, "Go cops." He just goes, you know, and then finally after like an hour and a half, they're like, "You get a fire truck." And he's like, "Well, the houses are all burnt down, but thanks." And they leave and they act like that's a victory. Sorry.

[00:44:36]>> Good man, Terry.

[00:44:37]>> Yeah.

[00:44:38]>> Which is the cop for doing his [ __ ] job. Yeah.

[00:44:41]>> Uh >> barely doing his job way too late. in fact being an uh impediment for quite a bit of it just so that he could get his racist jollies off. Yeah. Very strange.

[00:44:52]Very strange. Um >> anyway, back to Counting Lava.

[00:44:55]>> Yeah, Counting Lava. Uh she does math and finds out the eruption spot will be at the hospital.

[00:45:02]Gasp t the hospital that Tommy Lee Jones's daughter is at and it's happening in 30 minutes. She's at the Hard Rock Cafe, which I was like, great plug cuz they do the idea of like we're taking them in, we're having a great time, we're feeding them.

[00:45:16]>> Here at the Hard Rock Cafe, we don't [ __ ] you over during a volcano.

[00:45:20]>> No, >> we're at work. There's people working.

[00:45:23]And it's like, they shouldn't be working, right? Like >> there's no there's no This is an active volcano. They said it on the news.

[00:45:31]>> Hard Rock's like, "God damn it. If there's a volcano and you need shelter, we will call people into work and we'll make them work or they'll be fired.

[00:45:39]>> Look, it's not called Soft Rock Cafe.

[00:45:42]>> Exactly.

[00:45:44]>> Uh so Don Cheedel has the realization that they can divert the lava into from like think of these as pipes, one pipe to another pipe, one trench to another trench, one subway, underground tunnel to another. that there is a technical connection where it's going that we can avoid the hospital by sending it basically in outlets into the ocean and it doesn't make a total amount of sense but I broadly you're like okay I could see how that that would be a strategy to deal with lava flow >> and uh because I guess the idea is that uh lava won't flow everywhere it will always follow you know the path of least resistance again doesn't make tons of sense because that's not how the world works in terms of like sloping, >> right? It makes sense a little bit, >> but when they first block the lava and they're like they all cheer and go, "We did it." And I'm like, >> "It still has to go somewhere." Like when you block the lava underground.

[00:46:44]>> Yeah. It's not stopping at like if if your sink's on and you block the water, you don't go, "We did it." It's like, "No, the sink's still on." like it's still coming so it's just gonna go somewhere else.

[00:46:57]>> Going somewhere else. Yeah, exactly.

[00:46:59]Which was Anah Hish's point.

[00:47:01]>> It's all for not because Anah Hish is like, "Nope, we can't do any of these ideas. Gravity will take the lava right into the hospital regardless of what we're doing just because I'm looking at these surveying maps and we just don't have enough people to evacuate the 2,000 some people that are getting uh medical care at the hospital."

[00:47:18]>> At this point, they do want to blow up the street, right? They're like, "We're gonna build a trench by doing time demolitions and make a hole."

[00:47:27]>> Very Dad film to be like, "We need to fight lava with explosions."

[00:47:31]>> Explosions. Awesome.

[00:47:32]>> This is where Tommy Lee Jones though says the scariest line of the movie to the point that everybody stops. He says, "I don't know what to do."

[00:47:40]>> Which is the worst thing as a dad you can say.

[00:47:43]>> Yeah. It's And it only lasts, I'd say, about 15 seconds.

[00:47:47]>> If that, >> but it's there. Yeah.

[00:47:49]>> Because he just like locks in immediately. He's like, "Guess what? I have a better idea." And it's the same idea he had halfway through the film.

[00:47:56]Blow up a building, build a dam. Blow up a street, build a hole.

[00:48:00]>> Blow up the big city slick guy's building, his condo.

[00:48:04]>> Yeah. Yeah. Blow up pushers. Yeah.

[00:48:07]>> Yeah. We get a little Rondo right there.

[00:48:10]Uh, and so we get a great Oh, we also get So, everyone gets to work on this new idea. They have 20 minutes. A great shot of Tommy Lee Jones jackhammering.

[00:48:19]Do you know what I'm talking He gets his [ __ ] hands dirty. He's like there drilling holes and it's like how do you even know to do that? He also says to Anne Hes, "Find my daughter." And he gives her the she gives him the biggest [ __ ] eyes and I was like, "That's inappropriate." She also fails to do that the same way the daughter fails to babysit.

[00:48:38]>> It's like this chain of failing.

[00:48:40]>> Oh, it's wonderful. But the jacking at the very least is highly erotic.

[00:48:45]>> Yeah. very suggested uh for viewing pleasures. Uh we blow up the building. Tommy Lee Jones runs between which is it's funny because their set piece shot >> like the thing. It's awesome. But it's funny to see like an overhead where he he's very little because they wanted to show the scope of like there's a building falling on the left side and on the right side there's lava slowly creeping and his like runway is literally getting smaller as he tries to get to his daughter. This is one of the stupidest uh like Hollywood save someone kind of moment, you know, where tension's high when he really has done nothing and when he gets there, I don't know what the implication of what he's done to is >> I'll describe it. She chases this idiot kid from the Hard Rock Cafe and steps out of the Beverly Center, right? As it's the building's going to be exploded. So she steps out, finds the kid, the explosion happens, everything slows down. She chokes like she just freezes and holds the kid while the building comes down. She is about six feet away >> from where she came. Tommy Lee Jones runs about 100 yards. Um yeah, yards across the explosion >> field >> for the purposes of grabbing her her and shoving her the six feet back into where she came.

[00:50:13]>> And all she has to do is go back >> and she never does. She needs Tommy the Jones to run across this chaos so he can say to her like, "Let's go back."

[00:50:24]>> Yeah.

[00:50:25]>> He yells, "Get down." And they don't. So he tackles them to the ground. Them like just to make uh Dave's point clear, them standing up is not the problem. The building which is going to hit a radius of like 200 m in all directions is falling upon them. They need to get 200 m away. They don't need to get down.

[00:50:47]Yeah. It's one of my favorite moments as that moment of like almost sacrifice to like to you know like movies love this [ __ ] because they knew they needed him to save his daughter. They needed him to do you know it's not enough for him to have done what he's done. He has to get his hands dirty. He has to be doing the things and those two guys just blew themselves up a moment ago. They yada yada in the sequence. They have to like shoehorn it in >> and they're like that can't be it. Tommy Lee Jones has to do something. So they they make up the most flimsy reason for him to do this.

[00:51:22]>> In any case, the building stops the flow inland and the lava goes into the trench they made and it goes to the ocean.

[00:51:28]>> Uh racism >> and yes, very important scene. They solve racism a second time when a ch the dumb child looks at all their ashcovered faces and says everyone looks the same.

[00:51:41]My favorite part about this Dave >> Yeah. is that immediately after he says that it starts to rain.

[00:51:48]>> Yeah. And then it's like, oh no, there's I'm racist again. No, my favorite part is that poor Keith David had to be directed to look in awe of the child after he says it. They like cut to Keith David having and like I'm imagining on set like >> David just being like >> being like, "Oh god, I don't want to do this."

[00:52:08]>> This [ __ ] kid who's very cute by the way, very cute kid, but uh just a real shitty character. shitty 90s bull cut.

[00:52:15]But again, this does work with the theme. Everybody is the same in a disaster. A disaster doesn't care. yada yada. Um it just Yeah, there's also there's a few things I want to note here. They bring his dog to him and I was like, "Don't do that." That just creates a new problem. Like if someone if I was at work at a disaster and they're like, "Here's your cats." I'd be like, "What the what am I going to do with my cats?" It was at home for a reason. The cat was at home. I I knew where they were. Now I will never know.

[00:52:44]>> He's going to take a dump and he's going to run around like just don't bring him here. Um the daughter says that was cool. And I'm like is was it >> was it cool?

[00:52:57]>> 911 just happened several times. It wasn't cool. Um the rain is great because it's like what the [ __ ] is the rain doing here?

[00:53:06]>> Uhhuh. Is it acid rain from the volcano?

[00:53:09]>> Yeah. I also want to know at the very end they say like and the the volcano has subsided. Um >> but because what has been created I have to note this. I was trying to get the geography down. So Lera exploded.

[00:53:24]>> Mhm.

[00:53:25]>> Then they diverted the lava that's going to stay there and then in the pipe system lava or I guess magma because it's in the pipes is now flowing across the city and now it is bursting back out of the Beverly Center. Mhm.

[00:53:39]>> And then from there it is flowing across the street into I forget the canal all the way back to the the ocean. It's not going to stop doing that. That's just what is in LA now.

[00:53:54]>> It's a mountain in LA. Yes. Going to be building. It's also a lot of like, okay, the lava is going this way, then it's going it's like it's like that amazing machine game you play as a kid where it's like a Rube Goldberg of lava >> that like and those pipes like at some point the pipe. Yeah. It's just like that just is now. And they do kind of end it glibly with like status active like they know.

[00:54:19]Yeah.

[00:54:20]>> Yeah. They're like, "This isn't over, obviously." And we should have a volcano, too. And it should be about like this almost like escape from LA style Los Angeles where it's like there's just magma flows now and like lava and nobody lives there. Rent is very cheap now. Like >> you'd have to move most of LA away from the mountain.

[00:54:40]>> Yeah. Most people are going to go, "We're leaving. Let's start a new LA.

[00:54:45]>> Everyone moves to Palmdale."

[00:54:47]>> Yeah.

[00:54:48]>> Hey, Palmdale. Bad news. You're now LA.

[00:54:51]Get out.

[00:54:52]>> Exactly. Paul Dale's like, "We got our own problems, man." Yeah. I do love how much name dropping. It's It is funny. It It's the first time I was like, "Oh, the SNL Californian sketch is actually kind of funny because it's there's so many unnecessary eye rolly name drops in this film. We got to take Stanley and and Lara Divine and Sunset. We can't take the five or the 10." It's like, "Okay, settle down with the street names." It's it's when it's the same thing when movies are made about making movies and it's so full of themselves. I've gotten as someone who's just not who's not from LA, I've simply lived here. I I understand it, but like that Randy Newman song, I love LA is the epitome of it where it's like the rest of the world is like, "Hey LA, >> you're not you're really not that great.

[00:55:39]You've kind of it's like the best PR a city's ever gotten," which is so many movies. Like when I first came to LA, my first response was, "Oh, >> I thought it would be cooler."

[00:55:52]>> Yeah. It's like seeing someone with a like a a diaper on, you're like, "Ah."

[00:55:57]>> Yeah. No. I always compare LA to seeing Space Mountain with the lights on.

[00:56:02]>> It's like it's it's nice in in at night, but then the moment the lights turn on, you're like, "This is hideous. It's concrete and steel, and there's not really like anywhere to hang out." And it's like, you know, the Hollywood Walk of Fame is a piece of [ __ ] It's not.

[00:56:20]And everything is like, there are cities where you can just hang out in the city and walk around and have a great time.

[00:56:26]LA, it's like, okay, get in the car, drive 40 minutes, spend an hour here, get in the car, drive 40 minutes, spend an hour here. you know, like everything's splintered and a it's just >> again the film industry has made LA seem way >> seem glamorous when in reality it's it's I had the same effect when I went to Las Vegas cuz Las Vegas at night is something but during day it's like watch looking at like a hairy dick at high noon >> where you're like there's too many too much light for that dick.

[00:56:57]>> Yeah.

[00:56:57]>> Put make a little darkness for that dick to be palatable.

[00:57:01]>> Oh, absolutely.

[00:57:02]>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, uh, the last bit of the movie is that as soon as everyone's looks not the same because of the rain, the end of the movie is Tommy Lee Jones going, I'm going to hang out with my daughter. I'm on vacation.

[00:57:16]>> His arc is he leaves his daughter before to go to the hospital, which is understandable. And that's like the kind of the low moment of the arc. And then the ending is him handing John Cheetel the stuff and going like, "You got it, bud.

[00:57:31]>> You got it, bud." And that's the end of it. So, real quickly, we then typically in these episodes, uh, just do kind of a recap in this place we call the smoking room, which we're heading to right now with our coats and our cigars. Uh, imagine that if you would. Uh, we're just going to remark what are the most la the loudest and uh, what comprises Volcano's dad.

[00:57:56]>> Yeah.

[00:57:56]>> Um, and we've talked about a lot of it, but we're just going to bring it home.

[00:58:01]>> Yeah. Yeah, we have like daddies are calm and cool under pressure is throughout. Literally under pressure.

[00:58:07]>> Mhm.

[00:58:07]>> Um Tommy Lee Jones, >> every man uh competent but >> salt of the earth, >> his dick works. uh the the concept that everyone around dad or our main dad is kind of just flowing with the system and our maverick is the one who will stand up against you know like the stiffs and the people who don't want to work.

[00:58:32]>> Yeah. One of the biggest ones to me is work ethic and sacrifice job over over family. He has to choose his job. uh you know, a man jumps into lava to save another man because you got to do what you got to do. It's kind of po part of the stay the course idea, which is like you gotta you got to do what you got to do.

[00:58:52]>> So much of this is we keep using the term locking in is people going like this is my job. I'm going to do my job.

[00:58:58]And the one villain is the husband who's like come home, stop doing your job.

[00:59:04]>> Yeah. Um and he gets his house destroyed.

[00:59:07]>> Yeah. It's it's all people who are like, I have to do. He literally says, "You can't be here and I have to stay because it's my responsibility.

[00:59:16]>> He's he's on vacation. Doesn't matter.

[00:59:19]Too bad. You got to get in there." Uh Guile and Underdog. There's a lot of that.

[00:59:24]>> There's a lot of that. The one thing that a lot of these uh dad movies have do that we this one doesn't do as much of, and I think it's because it does the racism arc instead. It's main uh thing is that it wants to show we're all the same deep down. Um so this would be kind of counter that in a typical dad film like a few good men or something like that. Uh you know there's this kind of undermining authority. He does like disagree with other departments and like Keith David is like turn in your badge and gun even though you're not in my department. He's like I'm going to stay here. There are hints of that, but it isn't really, it's not overwhelmingly like most dad films, it's like it's almost a revolution against the code because there's a greater more natural code that of being a good man that like supersedes any form of infrastructure or societal code.

[01:00:18]>> I always lump rejection of authority and plus a reverence for the higher system.

[01:00:22]I will say the racism stuff is the reverence. It's that we're all it's the unity. So, I'm glad you brought up the rejection of authority because this is my hot take. I said Tommy Lee Jones isn't the biggest dad in this >> and hes fits way more of the tropes because she is constantly told no you can't do that.

[01:00:43]I don't believe you. Even Tommy Lee Jones doesn't believe her. Like we said, she's the Pierce Brazen. So, she's the one who's like this thing is going to happen. You have to listen to me. She's underestimated because she's a lady and she's a nerd. Um, but she's a cool nerd.

[01:01:00]If you remember Rachel, one of the first introductions of her is Very Daddy.

[01:01:05]Rachel's like, "I can't talk to the press. I'm so scared." And H comes in and saves her and goes like, "Boom, I can talk to the press. I can make jokes.

[01:01:13]I can speak the language." She She's the Tommy Lee Jones of her world. She People are People look to her. She's a very She's very dadcoded. She then again is underestimated. Has to prove it through guile, through getting her hands dirty, through picking up a basketball, rolling the basketball, tying a camera onto a rope. She has to prove everything to Tommy Lee Jones. They kind of shel her at the end, which is a shame, but she's actually like more in line to be the main character in a lot of it because she has so much like, "You need to listen to me. I'm right. We need to do this." And Tommy Jones almost like hypemans her and like like he does the thing where she'll she'll be like, "It's lava." And he's like, "All right, sure.

[01:02:01]It's lava now. Let's deal with it." But like and they're almost like a dad butting heads. at the start, but >> they realize they're aligned.

[01:02:12]>> She kind of Yeah, they It's not like they fridge her, but it's like uh she's not the main character, quote unquote, so we don't follow much as much of her story until it um or we follow it once it aligns with Tommy Lee Jones.

[01:02:23]>> She also has a code science.

[01:02:26]>> She's like science.

[01:02:28]>> Another uh low-key dad. I just want to point out the volcano.

[01:02:33]>> It has a code. It stays the course. It's an underdog literally coming up.

[01:02:37]>> It overcomes obstacles to go to its goal, which is killing Tommy Lee Jones's daughter.

[01:02:42]>> Um, >> it's hot and throbbing.

[01:02:45]>> It's hot and throbbing.

[01:02:47]>> Women are in peril. That's another one.

[01:02:49]>> Women are in peril or they're like we said, frriged. Uh, in the case of the wife, at least >> the daughter gets attacked by lava multiple times, which is more than most people would in their lives. Like what are the odds?

[01:03:03]>> Yeah. Yeah. Uh something we don't get as much uh in this is that a lot of dad movies try to make conspiracy or they try to be like he was right about there was a uh like we were uh there's not a lot of effort in this movie to go say like our infrastructure was [ __ ] and we should have been better because this is such an unrealistic or not unrealistic.

[01:03:26]>> No, I think no one's prepared for >> you're saying this doesn't have conspiracy. I don't where you seeing it >> and h saying there's a volcano under Los Angeles and them all going you're wrong and then she's right. I think it's very it has you're right that it's not quite the same but there's this like >> Los Angeles is a secret volcano to me has the same energy as the earth is flat. Like it has that same idea as like what if there's a blank under blank like what if there's a secret volcano under Los Angeles feels like a conspiracy and an h is the person saying this and they're all saying no no >> you are correct I will say that those scenes whereas in like a raw and ammer scene like in Independence Day or you know pick anyone where it's like this is what's going to happen to the core and everyone's like you're so full of [ __ ] because talked to a bunch suits since it's Tommy Lee Jones and and Hish.

[01:04:22]>> He's kind of open to the idea. He's just like you have to prove it to me.

[01:04:26]>> Yeah.

[01:04:27]>> Which is a different It's not outright like I am incompetent and it's a conspiracy to uh you know to do less work or because I don't care about humans or whatever.

[01:04:37]>> And this is why I kept honing in on her cuz it's wild that he says that to her twice when she's like, "Okay, we're not done." He's like, "Prove it." And it's like, [ __ ] he like, "What are you, the [ __ ] from Jaws?"

[01:04:50]>> The volcano expert.

[01:04:51]>> Yeah, she's saying she was right about this. She knows how lava works. Just basic like thinking about like, yeah, the lava has to go somewhere. That's why it was like she's so such an underdog that >> she is the Yeah. In that sense, it's almost like they split up like you mentioned in Dante's Peak. Um, Pierce Brozen is split into two characters in this and that's Anne Hish and Tommy Lee Jones in >> kind of you could also see it's like a reverse Dante's Peak because Tommy Jones is kind of like the mayor Linda Hamilton >> where it's like you have the person who's saying there's a volcano and the person who's like I represent the city and they are they have they work together but they are sort of buting heads at the same time.

[01:05:33]>> Right. Right. But it does actually it does kind of reveal Dante's Peaks. Uh >> Lyn Little Hamilton doesn't do much in Dante's Peaks.

[01:05:42]>> Not as much.

[01:05:43]>> She mostly just has a family that needs to be saved.

[01:05:46]>> Yeah. It's just interesting that >> cuz like that's the idea, right? It's infrastructure and bureaucracy versus someone going, "We need to take action now." And the people It's the beginning where he's like, "We have to shut down the subway." And everybody goes, "You know what that's going to do to the to the commuters?" It's I don't know if this runs into the dad film genre. It's just a big part of this that I do feel like is in some stuff which is like >> it's it's like the Star Trek episode Realm of Fear. You know, Realm of Fear where Barkley is seeing monsters in the transporter.

[01:06:20]>> Oh, yeah.

[01:06:21]>> And he has a moment where he has to go wake the senior staff.

[01:06:25]>> It's that it's the moment where you have to go like, you know what? No, you all are going to be inconvenienced because this thing that no one believes me about is real and we need to address it.

[01:06:35]>> We need to address it.

[01:06:37]>> It's a very bad concept to have to stand up in a crowd and go like everybody stop what you're doing. We need to do this thing and Tommy Lee Jones does it and hash does it in this and then Pierce Broen in like it's always that in a disaster film, right? Status quo versus people are going to die. There's an urgency.

[01:06:59]>> It's a maverick coded. It's the feeling of rebelliousness and we love the underdog which is true about almost all American movies. But dads also in addition love to impart lessons and deeply wish that to communicate their values but they hate discussing feelings. So it's almost like we have to wait for the canary to die in the coal mine, right? We need proof because dads, we were talking about this offline because we were talking about how much our uh friend group wishes to play video games with each other. Yeah. It's interesting that I think and this is not exclusive to American society by any stretch of the imagination, but I think that there's societal lessons and kind of fixtures that uh in terms of how we perceive masculinity, which a dad film of course is in that conversation, is trying to impart ways in which when it is allowable for you to communicate your feelings or look vulnerable, >> right?

[01:07:53]>> That is only in a few situations where it's acceptable. Otherwise, you're seen as bad at being a man, right?

[01:08:00]>> And I think that this is this is propaganda. This is a way in which like these types of movies install that deeper. Uh if anything, because of choices like this, you need to be a maverick, but you need to know you're right, you know?

[01:08:13]>> Yeah, exactly. It's it's kind of ties into the principle of it. I feel like the dad the dad version of this is honey, we can just use the other burner versus no, we have to fix the stove now.

[01:08:25]I know it's dinner, but we gotta fix this now. Let's get on top of it. It's that feeling. It's like, >> can't we just run away from the lava? Is a tactic they talk about. They keep saying, "Let's just retreat." And he goes, "No, we're going to stay here and fight the lava. We're not going to evacuate. We're going to fight the lava and we're going to win against the lava." Is like very the dad thing. I I actually think it's like not necessarily dadcoded to be like there's a disaster impending and we have to stop and talk about it. I think that's that's like a kind of a different category >> in a way, but it's definitely like a disaster film thing, right? Which is status quo versus urgency.

[01:09:09]>> Yeah. The urgency demands it, but it's it's everything. It's oh, but it's the 4th of July. commerce has to keep going versus no, we need to stop.

[01:09:21]>> Yeah. Which was why we like to cover things like Volcano instead of uh like Jack Reacher for this sequence, even though we could probably talk about that just because I think that >> that is wildly more interesting to me in terms of how that propaganda machine operates than the simplistic bludgeon of something like a Jack Reacher where it's just like, oh, problem. Well, big man punch problem away. Oh, yeah. You know, like and that's just that's true that some people conflate that what I would argue conflate it with a dad film because it's coded for the kind of meatthead kind of mentality of like I like to see Smash, which is not bad, but it's just like a different thing that I think these movies are legitimately trying, Hollywood is trying to say to people, this is what you should aspire to be. It's not just a fun romp where you're punching dudes.

[01:10:12]>> Oh yeah. I >> I think of dadcoded things as like a mix of like toxic masculinity. Sure.

[01:10:21]Especially with the '9s mixed though with the idea of a dad is a nurturing or protective character, right? It's not just a dude. It's the idea is like, hey dads, this is what this is what it means to be a dad. Am I right? You know, >> these are the moments that are top tier dad stuff >> and a lot of it does mix with being a mom as well. Like it's it's parental.

[01:10:46]>> Yeah. But it's that idea of like I don't know. When we talk about these movies, it's all kind of this pandering attitude, right? It's it's like, oh yeah, women women like trucks, too, but truck commercials don't act like it, do they? It's that vibe, which is like, we're going to pitch this to dudes. Um, >> it's always why they're in love with work because for the longest amount of time and to some extent still true.

[01:11:10]Yeah.

[01:11:10]>> Like the bread winner of the family as the normative portrayal especially in Hollywood is is that dad goes to work comes back home and then he's that's his function in the relationship.

[01:11:23]>> I think that's why we focus on the 90s a lot. Um, but modern films also like there's gradient >> still convey it. I watched The Martian recently. That's real. That's real dad coded.

[01:11:35]>> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I watched Project Hail Mary as well.

[01:11:39]>> Yeah.

[01:11:40]>> Uh those are kind of it's it's new dad.

[01:11:43]It's modern dad coded. Yeah. And we can kind we should probably do a more modern film for the series to kind of we haven't actually had that conversation of what in 20 to 30 years has changed about the conveyance of uh Hollywood pictures towards this dad propad dad. Um and it's like to me >> there's a few things we can like have been altered but like mostly the thrust of dad is more or less the same. M >> uh but there are things that we're open to like no this is not John Wayne anymore. This is not the cowboys of old.

[01:12:20]>> Yeah.

[01:12:20]>> Uh we can be a a more modern office >> office dad. Yeah.

[01:12:26]>> Yeah.

[01:12:26]>> Which Yeah. So any other thoughts on this one? Any other dad remarks you want to make?

[01:12:33]>> Uh no. I'm looking through my notes. Solved racism. Yeah, we're good. We're good.

[01:12:40]>> Yeah, we're good. Uh, the last thing I want to mention is just a sequence in this movie that we didn't mention, but I still think is hilarious. They're play the kids, the daughter and the uh little boy who's a problem and I think another child. They're sitting in, you know, they're waiting in the hospital and they're playing rock paper scissors.

[01:12:59]>> Oh, yeah.

[01:13:00]>> And the kid goes, "Uh, doesn't do rock, doesn't do paper." He's like, "I'm lava.

[01:13:06]What beats that?" and her response, "My dad >> because that's what beats lava."

[01:13:14]>> So good. Oh, one last thing. The trope I keep bringing up, don't trust Whitey stands in this.

[01:13:19]>> Oh, yeah. Still, yeah, >> don't trust Whitey.

[01:13:21]>> Daddy, we start to There are a lot of films that do that. That's true. That's true. This is on that list. Hell yeah.

[01:13:28]>> Hell yeah.

[01:13:29]>> Well, oh yeah, big machines. There's cranes and stuff in this >> science gadgets. Explosions. Using explosions to fight lava is very Yeah, >> there I'm There you There was a very strong one when we started this series which was uh piss and [ __ ] and dicks or all of the above is what I have in my nose.

[01:13:48]>> Yeah, there's not much.

[01:13:49]>> It's we have less of that. We have less but yeah, >> I guess it is kind of like piss and [ __ ] >> It's kind of like a shitty piss.

[01:13:57]>> It's the earth pissing and [ __ ] >> Yeah. Why a volcano is a dick like you mentioned. Yeah. It's a funnel that oozes out. All right, we're done with this.