The Life List (Netflix - 2025)

[00:00:01] Hi, I'm Brandon. I love Netflix movies. I'm Brian. I like Netflix movies. I'm Dan and I despise Netflix movies and this is the Deck The Hallmark Podcast. Deck The Hallmark, it's this podcast. Friends host this podcast. We hope you like this jolly podcast. Yeah. Hi everybody. Happy April where anything goes. Anything goes. Anything goes April.

[00:00:38] That's exactly right. I was really hard on Netflix movies there and I gotta be honest, that's not true for all the Netflix movies. Yeah. It's not true for all the Hallmark movies. No. So there's that. That's right. Yeah. Listen, it's just what you say. It's what you say. It's my tagline. It's your tagline. Yeah. That's exactly right. Hi Brian. It's great to see you. Hey man. Thanks for having me. On a Netflix movie. How do you feel? Yeah, this is big. We call you Netflix, Brian. They do call me that. You think it's an upgrade? Well, it's big in the sense that I usually don't get asked for these movies. Like the ones that are outside of Hallmark, it's a special treat.

[00:01:08] Yeah. It's a real special treat. So we're in a real bind. Yeah, yeah. You must have really been up against it. So you let me know on a Sunday afternoon that I need to- That's exactly right. That's right. That's exactly right. You let him know yesterday. Oh, realize we never had the conversation. We sure did not. It was on the calendar. But it was, we didn't have a conversation. Oh man. So with words, we did know. Hey, there's a two hour and five minute movie on Netflix. Need you to get to that when you do. And Brian, he's a pro. He is a pro. There's no doubt about that. Pro's pro. That's what they call me on. I think it was Saturday.

[00:01:35] It might have been Saturday late afternoon. Okay. What a defense brain. Hey, it's not much, but it's something. I had to move some things around, but it all worked out. Yeah. I had to tell my kids I couldn't play with them. Glad to have the excuse. Daddy's got to watch The Life List. The Life List. Occasionally on Netflix, a movie will pop up that's kind of in the similar sphere of what it is that we cover.

[00:02:00] We keep hearing we need to watch the La Dolce Villa. Is that La Dolce Villa? It's the first I've heard of it. Yeah, I've never heard of that. Really? Yeah. What's that? It's on Netflix. I think it might have been shorter than this one. Wow. What is it? Why are people telling us to cover it? Because people said it was really good. Oh, the Villa. This one just came out. Yeah, it just came out. La Dolce Villa. That just came out? Scott Foley. Yeah. I don't know anything about this. There you go. I mean, it came out in January. Oh, oh, this came out. When I say people keep telling us,

[00:02:30] it's been a little bit. Okay. It's been eight weeks. La Dolce. Well, Hey, next Saturday, you let me know. I'll let you know next Saturday. Maybe we'll dip back into it. But it's always fun to open up this app that I forget I have and check out what's on there. That's exactly right. Hey, Brian. Yeah. Let me ask you this one. Yeah. Are you ready for this? Yeah. I want you to do your best at ranking the candies. Yeah. Of, of,

[00:02:56] that you like to eat. Okay. Yeah. Quickly. Number one, obviously Kit Kat is the Kit Kat. Hershey Kiss, probably number two. Big Chocolate Boy. Yeah. Big Chocolate Boy. Cadbury, uh, mini eggs in there. Oh, the mini eggs. You just regs or you go caramel or white chocolate? You like those little regular. I used to really like the big ones. The ones filled with all that sugar. So with caramel? I can't do that. No, no, no, no. The cream. The Cadbury cream egg. But I've grown up. I can't do that. I can't be doing that. It's too much. With Easter coming up,

[00:03:25] do you start thinking about like, you know, am I going to go in, maybe get some candy myself? Easter is probably already have brand real close. Yeah. Probably already started. Maybe already passed. No, it hasn't. Okay. Right around the corner. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. I started loading up. Yeah. Started loading. Yeah. I mean, it's been a while since Christmas. That was the last big candy rush. Last big candy rush. Time to get back into it. Listen, we live, we live candy rush to candy rush around here. It's always a candy rush here. Well, yes. That's exactly right. Dan, give me that quick top three. Uh, Reese Cups, Hot Tamales, Sour Patch Kids.

[00:03:55] Wow. Interesting. What do you got for a top three? Aaron, what you got? Red Vines and Sour Punch and their honorable mention. Wow. Top three candies? Top three candies. Uh, Harry Potter. Oh, that's not a candy. Um, I would say Snickers. What? Gummy bears. We not know this about her that she likes Snickers. Snickers is one. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm just. Any order. Number one overall.

[00:04:20] Oh, new phone. Probably gummy bears. Just straight up regular Haribo gummy bears. I just love any sort of gummy candy. That would be my number one. But I do love Snickers. There you go. I didn't know that about it. I didn't know you love Snickers. I didn't know that either. Never heard it not once. I feel like we should know that. And that's why we do this. That's why we do this. That's why we do this right here. I don't eat Snickers a lot because I don't want, I mean, I don't know if I've ever seen you love Snickers.

[00:04:47] Well, that's a variety pack. It's a good candy too. It's a variety pack. Snickers is one of like the healthiest candy bars you can eat. There was, yeah, there was a time I was hiking a mountain and I thought I was going to die and somebody handed me a Snickers and it saved your life. It saved my life. When I golfed a lot. What you talking about? There's a lot there, yeah. Welcome to our new segment called, Hey Aaron, what you talking about? What you talking about? You were hiking and you were almost dying.

[00:05:16] So we were taking this hike and the starting point we were supposed to start at was close. Hey, turn on the Aaron cam, Aaron. Yeah. Let the people see you while you talk about this. See the lie right in your eyes. Yeah. It was the summer of 2007. I was hiking Mount Greylock in Massachusetts. Mount Greylock, shout out. Shout out. The starting point that we were supposed to start at was closed. I can't remember why. So we had to go somewhere else. And so our hike to the top was basically doubled.

[00:05:42] And so we were just not prepared for this to be, I don't know, like a 20 mile hike up and back. So halfway up the mountain, I was just like, this was not what I had prepped for. You did all the prep work. All the necessary prep work. I mean, I was just like, they had told me it was going to be like two hours and we're like four hours in. And I was like, I would rather just turn around. Get to the job. And I'd be like, this was great. You know, part of Mount Greylock overlaps with the Appalachian Trail. So I was like, great.

[00:06:10] I can say that I hiked part of the Appalachian Trail. Like we did it. Amazing. Let's go. And then the guy, Russell. Shout out. Shout out Russell. He was like, hey, I had packed this little like treat for the top. But and then he gave our entire group like a king size snicker bar. To share? No, we all. He brought a king size? How do you keep that cool? What a guy. He brought a king size for everyone? Russell. Rich house on Halloween?

[00:06:37] And it just was like the best tasting candy bar in that moment that I've ever had. Heck yeah. And you were ready to hike more. I was. And we made it to the top. I've got great photos. I can pull them up on Facebook right now. No one's asking for them. Take for proof. And then how did you get back down? Did you get another king size for the top? It was a lot quicker on the way back down. And we were at the top for a very long time. There was a zip line. Zip line down. Zip line down. Zip line down. Zip line down. Well, yeah.

[00:07:06] And then we get to the top and realize like you could probably drive. And I was like, I feel like I've been lied to. And this is like a good, but it's a pretty good Snickers commercial though. Yeah. Snickers has me convinced that if you are hungry and need some sort of nourishment that would hit immediately, it is the best thing for you. Like they push it as like a, basically like a protein bar. They do. I, I, I felt in that moment when I played was everything I needed a little bit of protein, a little bit of sweet chocolate, like got me going. When I play golf all the time at, at the turn after nine holes, I would routinely feel

[00:07:36] like I needed a Snickers bar, which is just not true. We don't have the term. Does Snickers want to sponsor us? Yeah. You're not you and you're hungry. Don't be a Dan. Have you heard about Chris Greenville by chance? Dude, they're revolutionizing the game of golf. That's what I heard. Ryan, do you want some? Ironically, ironically, it would, it would kill me if I had that, which is a different story than Aaron's. Do you want some plain M&M's? Yeah, of course. The fact that we now have a Snickers to open up after that ridiculous tangent we just went on. Fun says M&M's. You're not you and you're hungry.

[00:08:05] I haven't had Snickers in a really long time. I'm interested to see this. It always is good. This real soul is going to be the best. I've always had Snickers and been like, man. Would never make my top five candy. No. Would never make my bottom five. Always solid. Always solid. Well, that's good. Yeah. Brian doesn't like the crunchy peanuts in there. He doesn't like crunchy peanut butter. Interesting. Oh, we're getting the picture. Thank God. I'm going to see if they're still on there. When you almost died? Yeah. When I almost died. The Snickers. What about random stolen? Hold on. Hold on.

[00:08:35] Hold on. Hold on. Crossed out. No dance? No dance? No dance? I didn't know you back then. Wait a second. It was a different dance. So this is weird. It was a different dance. It's a weird thing. You're not supposed to have seen this. It's a weird thing to say. How about I do this, Aaron, since this is a show we're doing? How about I talk about the life list? Yeah. And then maybe you can find it. Senior High 07. Does that sound good? Two million good. Hey, there's a picture of a mountain. Aaron, are you live on your personal Facebook page? Again? Mm-hmm.

[00:09:06] Am I live? No? Oh, okay. And just when you were searching through pictures, it said that you were live. And I didn't know that it did that if you were live in a group. How about that? All right. Snickers. If you find that picture, you let us know. Yeah, that was great, too. The life list. The picture of the Snickers bar? It's the life list. Yeah. I don't know if I... On DTA. It's the life list. On DTA. I can't hear it. Hold on. I don't hear it. It's the life list.

[00:09:35] On DTA. It's the life list. On DTA. It's the life... On DTA. On DTA. Uh, uh, uh, uh. There's no photo of the life-saving stickers. It's unbelievable. Well, it was... You live shots at grass level. Not a single one of the Snickers bars. I know. This was way back in, like, my MySpace era, so I was really just taking MySpace profile pics.

[00:10:04] That was a MySpace angle. Yeah, it was. No doubt about it. Oh, is that you out there in the grass? Oh, it's MySpace. It's my space. It's my space. It's my space. That's right. They should have called it Grass Space. Am I right, guys? Oh, Amber in the chat. Amber in the chat is really backing me up here. Mount Greylock is a tough hike. Tough hike. I wouldn't know what we're doing. We know. Not with a Snickers, it's not. No. Not with a Snickers bar. King size. Can you throw me one more of those? You got one more? What's your favorite gummy bear? There's lots of different things. What are you doing?

[00:10:35] Wow. Oh. No. It was worth it. Follow-out to be such DTH. The can was full. Downing Brian's can of Canada Dry. Oh, man. That's tough. Guys, can we please? Can I have a Tombo? Oh, that's a terrible throat. There we go. Yeah. Alex is reluctant to go to her. Let's talk about someone's dead mom, huh?

[00:11:01] Alex is reluctant to go to her sister's baby shower. She knows that her family will just bombard her with the usual questions. Why isn't she married yet? What's up with your boyfriend, Finn? When he's going to get a real job? Meanwhile, Finn heads up to her room. Meanwhile, Finn heads up to her room, strips down, and starts dancing to buttons. Pushing up my buttons, babe.

[00:11:31] Expecting Alex to walk in soon, but instead, Alex does not walk in. Her sister's kids walk in, and awkwardness ensues. At the end of the night, Alex is talking to her mom, with whom she has a great relationship. She even works for her mom's company, I think in marketing. But then her mom drops a bombshell. She's dying. She did. She's not dead yet. Cut to some time, though, and she is. And Alex is sad.

[00:11:59] She's lying in her mom's bed alone. She's sad. And she heads to the lawyer's office for the reading of her will, her testament, the last one. And expecting to see old man Sullivan, she's surprised when a young, hunky fellow lawyer named Brad walks in instead. And Brad only brings bad news.

[00:12:24] First, Alex and her family must keep the house for at least a year and not sell anything inside of it, which she actually doesn't mind that. But this is the next part she minds. She is shocked to find out that her mom made her sister-in-law the new CEO of the business. As for Alex, she won't receive her inheritance right away. Instead, Brad hands her an envelope with instructions to open it when she is alone. Back home, she puts in the DVD that's inside of the envelope.

[00:12:52] Her mom appears on the screen explaining that she wants Alex to live her best life, starting with completing her old life list that she wrote many years ago. Every time she checks something off that list, she will receive a new DVD from her mom. And when she finishes the list, she'll get the final envelope. What's inside? Money, probably. Gift card. Olive Garden. Unlimited breadsticks. When you're here with your family. For life. Life.

[00:13:21] Determined to start fresh, Alex breaks up with her boyfriend. Dude, if you got unlimited breadsticks for life, how often would you be going to the OG? All the time. If I didn't have to get anything else to get the breadsticks? It's just unlimited breadsticks for life. All the time. How many days a week? I don't know. How many days are there? Can I ask you this? Will they deliver? No. You got to go to the OG. You got to put your name in. You know what? Now that we're moving down that way. No. Right down the street. We're going to go to Olive Garden all the time. The only way I will go to Olive Garden is if it is 14 days. For a bit.

[00:13:51] I'm not going just unironically. What if we got to see who can eat the most breadsticks? I'm not going. In an hour. I'm not going to be like, can we unironically go to Olive Garden? And if we go, I'm not going without Brian. Because Brian's with me on this. But with all the money we're saving by switching our phones, we now have a legitimate bit budget. Olive Garden. You guys act like we make money around here. It's so crazy. Let's see who can eat the most breadsticks in an hour. Man. How about who can have the most soup in an hour? Here's the thing is, is my pride. I would win because I wouldn't allow myself to lose.

[00:14:20] And then I would be miserable. Is Brandon suggesting a food challenge? After you threw up after 20 cookies. The audacity that you could beat me in breadsticks. I had a big lunch. I've learned my lesson. And breakfast. Anyway. She breaks up with her boyfriend. This is the last lady who didn't like breadsticks, weirdly enough. She begins tackling the list. Reading Moby Dick. Learning the piano. But it's harder than she expected to do those things. So she pivots and tries stand-up comedy instead.

[00:14:50] The easiest of all the arts. And she earns her first DVD. Meanwhile, Brad keeps showing up. Being unexpectedly nice to her. What's up with Brad? Doesn't he have a girlfriend? Yep. She's starting to enjoy herself overall during this process. And even reconnects with her dad. Only to learn that he's not her dad. Her mom had an affair with a man named Johnny Alvarez. A name that I like so much, I wrote it down. Johnny Alvarez.

[00:15:21] So she's never met this guy. And she puts in like... I gotta try to find this guy, basically. She starts working at a school and meets a guy named Garrett. Garrett, who's there doing some... What's it called? When you tell somebody, hey, here's a consulting. They start dating. And things are going great. Until she throws a dinner party with her friends. And Garrett hates her friends. That's unfortunate.

[00:15:49] After a long search, she finally tracks down Johnny Alvarez. She takes a road trip with Brad and his girlfriend Nina to meet him. But Nina starts sensing something between Brad and Alex. And she's right. Nina eventually heads home. And Alex and Brad end up in each other's company. Warm embrace. Doing what?

[00:16:20] Having breadsticks. Breadsticks. Unlimitedly unlimited breadsticks. For life. The next morning, Alex is supposed to... Well, she meets her dad at a bar. And then the next morning, they're supposed to meet up for breakfast. But he doesn't show up. Johnny Alvarez. On the way home, she and Brad get into a huge fight. He tells her that she should break up with Garrett.

[00:16:49] Because that guy sucks. Which she does, actually. He does suck. And she does break up with him. And then, in frustration, she tears up her list. After all, the only thing that's left is find true love. And when's that ever going to happen? You said it. Old Man Sullivan's back. I actually got to be honest with you. I thought Old Man Sullivan was dead. Yeah. So it's pretty big news for me. Big deal. I'm pretty excited about it. And he ends up giving her the final DVD in the envelope anyway. The mom is like, I never actually...

[00:17:20] The love thing's hard for me, too. So you did good enough, basically. Finally, she realizes that she loves Brad. She can check that off anyway. So she goes to find him. And they kiss! And that, my friend, was... The Lifeless! The Lifeless! We did it. I like Snickers. Good to know. Deck the Hallmark.

[00:17:52] I can see, you know, if I was hiking a mountain and I got a Snickers, I could see it being what I do. Yeah. It does the thing it says it's going to do. Snack into a Snickers. Snack into a... Snap into a Slim Jim. What's Snickers' whole deal? You're not you when you're hungry. Snickers. Grab a Snickers. Grab a Snickers. That's right. Let's get to this movie. Let's share our thoughts on where to start with a hot take.

[00:18:20] It is where we share our thoughts on the Lifeless. And I'm going to start it with somebody who... I could see having a Lifeless. Yeah. That would make sense. That's a good idea. Brian? Well, bear with me. I'm Snickerless. I have not had a Snickers, so let's try to get through this. I've had two of them. Oh, boy. It's like a superpower. I have one left. First of all, let's just get it out of the way. Conjoining room strikes again, right? And it's... Yeah. They kept saying adjoining rules.

[00:18:50] Rooms like. I don't know what that even is. Conjoining, for sure. Aaron's mic is hot. Yeah, I muted it. I muted it. Full ASMR going on over there. Turn it up. The Connie Britton National Treasure, we all agree on that. Yeah. I feel... It's been a while since I've had something with Connie Britton in it. God almighty. And it was really great to see her again. She did a great job. Man. Guys, we have a show to do. The...

[00:19:19] The thing about this, I wasn't quite ready for the left turn of Mom's dead. Like, we really went into that quickly, in my opinion. Like, I just didn't expect it so soon. I didn't really know what we were in for this. At least it didn't happen at the end. Yeah, I guess I would have... Unexpectedly. I think I'd rather a first five minutes left turn than a last five minute left turn. Yeah, leave you real sad at the end there. So, but I guess you're right. We had a lot of time to adjust. But I did like this movie. Like, the emotional tone, the emotions were really well done.

[00:19:49] So, I really did like it. Maybe kind of reflective as a parent. A lot of things in this movie I thought about. I'm like, wow, that's something that hits real hard there. So, I liked it. And more Brad, please. I really liked Brad. I forget his name. But the guy who played Brad, I thought he was really good in this role. I'd like to see a bit more of him. There you have it. How much more? A bit more. A bit more. Fair enough. I'll put it in. Thank you. I'll put it in the request. Thanks.

[00:20:16] This movie is really well done. Quality performances all around. And it's long. It's so long. Guys, I don't think it's a secret. One of the things that I think maybe draws me to Hallmark is... Your attention span. My attention span. And the brevity in which it does what it does. And could this movie have done it?

[00:20:45] Maybe I would have given it an hour 36. Generous. You could talk me into an hour 40. Over two hours is a long time for anything that doesn't involve an explosion. You know? I think that's kind of where I'm at. I think if you don't have explosion, you can't get two hours. There should be like a, hey, I'm applying... That's one of the dumbest things you've ever said. Just hear me out. Explosion theory. One of the dumbest things you've ever said.

[00:21:13] If a movie doesn't have an explosion, it can't be two hours long. I'm applying... And if you're Duraldy is sending you hate mail. Yes. I'm applying... Oh, is it another day? I'm applying for a two-hour movie. All right. Let me take a gander. Where's your explosion? I can't possibly slide off on this. And then you get packing. And you realize I got to do what I got to do in less than two hours. Or write an explosion. Or write an explosion. Can you imagine? Brad's dropping her off and his car explodes.

[00:21:43] Two-hour movie. Again, I don't want to keep like... Dan, now you're thinking about it. And you realize maybe I'm onto it. This is one of the dumbest things you've ever said. This movie didn't need to be two hours. The problem is you're right about that. Yes. What was it missing? A better script. No. Say it. Exposition. We'll put the L in there. Explosion.

[00:22:12] But what this movie lacks... Lacks an explosion. An explosion that gains in explosive performances. Oh my gosh. Really great performances across the board that kind of drive this story home. Really, really solid stuff that could have been shorter. Or added an explosion. Dan? I hate that this is going to... Brandon's going to be like, see, this is what I'm talking about. But I showed my kids the original Spider-Man this weekend.

[00:22:40] With the Green Goblin, Willem Dafoe. Oh, what's that movie got in it? Toby McGuire. Kind of explosions? And they were fascinated. And it is quite a piece of pop entertainment. And it is wonderful. It's shorter, I believe, than this movie. And they have explosions. Shorter than this movie. And this movie is just dark and glum and long and just inefficient.

[00:23:06] And it's unfortunate because Connie Britton is a national treasure. The idea of this movie, there's some fun beats to be had here. But the tone is all over the place. The music is very serious. I thinks... I thinks... Nope. I think it wants us to think... Me thinks. I think it wants us to think that we are... Like, we're watching some very deep, like, Oscar awards kind of thing. And we just aren't.

[00:23:36] And so, it's unfortunate. There's a lot of ways they could have cut back here. A lot of ways they could have cut back. And they didn't. And so, is it better than the Hearts Around the Table movies? Yeah. It's better. But those movies were 40 minutes shorter than this movie. So, in the grand scheme of things, I don't know how much better. It is better. No question. But not great. Just not great. Connie Britton's just better than the material here. So, there's that. It's time for all the feels. We're talking about what this movie gave us feels.

[00:24:06] I'll start with you, Brian. Yeah. I'm kind of torn on this one. Because part of me is like, don't even bring it up. Part of me is like, I have to mention this. Is there a salad spinner? No, there's no salad spinner. No, not unfortunately. And that, in line with the explosions, like, come on. Get it together. At least one salad spinner. You had two hours. There were two things in this movie that are in our script for a movie. Yes. Which, yeah. I'm glad you're bringing it up.

[00:24:34] I went back and forth on this because it feels dumb. And it feels like. It feels petty. It's not like we're the only people that ever came up with this. But there is one thing very specific. Yeah. To this movie. And it's the gut punch of the movie that we have on a script that we wrote over a year ago. And shocking. Yes. Because we've not. The reason we. I'm sure it's been done before. Yeah. It's not a new idea. We had not seen it. Right.

[00:25:02] And so that, that, that stuck. Yes. I was shocked. Yeah. I was shocked. We killed Coach Taylor's wife five times in our lives. Yeah, we did. And it doesn't have been done in a lot of places. We wrote a part for Connie Britton and we just, yep. I couldn't believe it. But part of me was like, it's cool to see that. This idea that we had. And it works really, really well. Yeah. And I was like, I. But also I'm like, I can't not. I can't believe it. I cannot believe. Yeah. So I don't know what to do with what we did because we did something. There's a scene in the movie.

[00:25:29] I think people are wondering what it is and I guess we should probably point that out. But there's a scene, she's watching these videos from her mom that her mom has left her. And in the last video that she is watching, her mom is talking to her and encouraging her and all this stuff. And then she, the main character walks in on camera to the screen and talks to her mom and her mom says, like, you know, it's just something I'm working on. And they give a hug and it's a great moment.

[00:25:57] She's watching an interaction she got to have with her mom, not knowing how important it was. We wrote something similar, not similar, exact, literally that exact thing. Even the look in the movie, Connie gives to the camera, that knowing look. Yes. Was like, that's what I. We wrote that exact thing in a script well over a year ago. Yeah. Yeah. There's that. It is what it is. So I don't know if, I guess we can just keep it in and keep trying to sell it. Yeah. By that time, by the time somebody buys it.

[00:26:26] But yeah, the lawsuit's been, I think, filed. Yes. For sure. For Netflix. We definitely had trademark on that idea. Yeah. That is how those work. I think we have proof of that. A hundred percent. Yes. We have proof of that too. Yeah. It's in the pudding. You know, we talked about how amazing Connie is in this movie and she is when, when, when she, when she turns on the video and Connie's there doing the thing, I, it's such a beautiful performance.

[00:26:54] And also just like thinking about how amazing that must be to get these video files of your mom, um, Connie, um, speaking to the camera and like talking to you and like just giving you wisdom and knowing that you have however many things on a checklist. I have that many more videos of it. Like, yeah. Forget about it. Incredible. And, uh, brought a little tear to my other first time that she, she turned it on.

[00:27:21] Uh, yeah, I, I think it, this probably worked for me more than many. Uh, but when she, you know, when she has to suffer the heartbreak of the fact that her biological father hasn't really made the time for her. And then she goes back and meets with the band. She called dad and raised her whole life. Uh, and it's a very like, they don't overdo it. Um, it's just a subtly emotional scene. Um, that really hit for me. I thought that was really, really good stuff. There you have it.

[00:27:51] I mean, it could have happened an hour in, I think we would all agree, but it happened an hour. Imagine though it happens and then. And then an explosion. Imagine that. And then just breadsticks. Yeah. As you want. Explosion, braining down breadsticks. Now we're talking. Now we're talking. Let's take a quick break. We'll come back and we'll get to the, uh, wait, what? See you around. Deck the Hallmark.

[00:28:18] Hello to all the, uh, princes and the poppers out there. Welcome back. I don't know how they're getting there, do. Welcome back. Hope. I've been saying like justice for poppers. You know what I mean? You have. Pop it and lock it. Uh, let's get to the white ones. We were talking about what in this movie is going on. I'll start with you, man. Uh, yeah. New York city looked downright balmy in February and October.

[00:28:44] Uh, it just, the weather in general was something that kind of bugged me. Even the drive to Vermont was super green, which is not really rainy. Yeah. Yeah. It was so dreary. It didn't look very, it's not what, um, what Noah Khan is singing about. If you know what I'm saying? Um, and. Love Vermont. God. Season of the sticks and I. Yeah. And she, uh, she only gave her dad one opportunity to meet, which I thought was a little weird. Like he didn't show up for breakfast. All right.

[00:29:14] Maybe you thought that was going to happen. You're upset. You're hurt. But that was it. Gone. I, I, that's a weird, I gotta be honest, man. Like if you care at all about this, like I was the reverse on it. Yeah. I thought she was more than kind. She waited too long, but I mean, you know, I guess I see what you're saying, but he clearly had no, you know, I almost wonder if, you know, that story, this was sort of a, what the hallmark for me, but it rolls into this. It's that story he told her about when he drove to the house.

[00:29:42] He's like, and I saw you get out of the car and you ran. I wonder if he made that up. Like if she knew from that, she's like, this guy is never going to be honest with me and do what that actor has been in. Like a lot, like a, a lot of big movies, like a small parts, but like, he's like a pretty well-known commodity in wherever he is from. I don't remember where, but like, he is not like, that's a small part for a pretty big time actor. I was kind of shocked by it. It's good. Yeah. He probably was fighting for the explosions. Yes. Of course.

[00:30:12] Can you imagine that guy running away from an explosion? Oh man. So cool. This guitar case. Incredible. Anything else? Yeah. Um, she walks into the baby shower at the beginning of the movie and her niece and nephew run up to her and she gives them, you want to do one of our classic scavenger hunts. Here's one for you. Uh, find six things that you can find in Harry or Hermione's room. Um, which I don't know. I don't know what I would do there.

[00:30:42] Uh, seeing as how they're wizards. And then there was more to it than that. Yes. But I just like, she added to it and I just, uh, like before Hogwarts, post Hogwarts, I don't know what I would do. I would get lost in the, what would I find in Harry and Hermione's room? And then it would make me just kind of sit there and ponder for a long time. And maybe that was her goal. That's the point right there. But Aaron, you're a big Hogwarts, Harry Potter fan. Six things that you think you could find in a Harry and Hermione's room. Go.

[00:31:12] A wand, a hat, a spell book, a cauldron. Aaron. In any witch. This is what I'm talking about. So this is just any witch. They're wizards. Yeah. Yeah. Where are you going to find those? In the house. So like, find something that you can find. In your house currently, you've got to find these things. Yes, she definitely has. So one witch. A spell book, a wand. Yeah. Like in a house. People that aren't actively practicing witchcraft, Aaron, might struggle with the assignment is all I'm getting at. And they're children. That you, you put them on a path of. I mean, in Ron's room, he's, he's a big Quidditch fan, but sports posters.

[00:31:41] It wasn't. Ron's room wasn't on the. Oh, it was just writing. It was just Hermione and Harry. He may have said Ron and Hermione. I don't think they said Harry, but whatever. It doesn't. Yeah. Whatever. Yeah. I mean, posters, photos of your friends. That's nice. A pet is the first one I've heard that I'm like, that actually would you could. Because she's, Hermione's got a cat. There you go. And he's got a rat. So there you go. Harry has an owl. An owl. All right. Great. We're working on it, guys. Shout out to Hedwig. Just felt like a really hard challenge. It was very hard. No, it's, it's, it's not great. Yeah.

[00:32:12] It's not great. Unless you are playing, I guess, in my apartment. Or at a witch's house. Give me a challenge, please. You know the witch's invitation from Carmen. There's three wands in my apartment. You could all find one. Yeah. We have a bunch of wands because we have them as pencils for the kids. There you go. You know, so. Easy. Easy. Easy. I don't let any of that crap in my house. So. I have seen photos of your kids dressed up like wizards. Dang it. In the house. Try again. In the house. In the house. In the house. In the house. In the house. In the house. In the house. In the house. In the house. That was the whole thing.

[00:32:41] But Carmen laid it out clear as crystal. So she becomes a teacher. She begins to teach. She does. And there is this student who's, he's an artist and he's struggling. He doesn't want, he doesn't, he's, you know, he doesn't want to do this crap. Right. You know, and so she's. This witch crap. Trying hard. She's trying hard to get to his level and like help him, you know, dig the material.

[00:33:07] And so she brings him a DVD of Hamlet. And then she tells this student, the lead is really hot. Which I felt like was a weird thing to say to a kid as a teacher. I don't know. Call me old fashioned. Felt like it was weird. I also didn't love the scene of them driving to Vermont. Where. Oh, that was a weird scene. Where sweet. What's her name? Nina.

[00:33:37] Nina is trying to sleep and they are like, she's, she's just like your girlfriend. Your girlfriend. The neck on her. And then it just starts talking like. Pulls her hair back. Yeah. The neck is like borderline. Okay. Compared to what happens next. They're just like having an ogle off of like talking about. Classic ogle. That's the double necker of the week, I believe. Yeah. Talking about. John ogle off. Good guy. Great guy.

[00:34:05] Talking about this girl who's right there. And it turns out she's not sleeping. And then turns out that she sees like, it was all very weird. She just disappears. She like, I don't know. At one point she just moves hair away from Nina's face. Like touches her actively while she's sleeping. She's clearly into Nina. Yeah. She's clearly into Nina. She's clearly into Nina. She's into Nina. Yeah. Dan. Yeah.

[00:34:32] The, when she meets her biological father, he says, are you from the revenue? That's, that's how he decided to say. You have to tell them if you are. Yes. You got to tell me. First of all, if you're from the IRS, second of all, are you from the revenue? Is one way to say it. Are you from the revenue? You from the money, the money stream? Are you from the rep? You from the revenue? You, uh, all of her friends know the exact same song to sing about her sleeping with one of her doctors.

[00:35:00] And that was weird to me that they didn't usually like when we make up songs around here, like brand starts and then we all join in. They all immediately are like, we know this. Yeah. We find out that you slept with one of your doctors. We all know the exact song for this occasion and we were all going to sing it exactly at the same time. Which begs the question, how many, how many doctors? No question. Um, they go to, you see the doctors like breadsticks. What's our lead, uh, our lead leading lady's name in this movie? Ooh.

[00:35:30] Oh, it's Alex. Alex, we see her bedroom from when she was a teenager. And in that bedroom, it is all pink. And then there are some sports posters and some like a lot of like collages, a classic teenage girl bedroom. And then there's a poster of who's afraid of Virginia Wolf, the 1966 Mike Nichols film. And it just seems incredibly out of place. I was already told by Aaron Shay that teenage girls contain multitudes. I'm not saying that they don't.

[00:35:59] I'm just saying that this room had a theme until it didn't. That's all I'm saying is it was thematic for the whole thing. And then this black and white movie poster from at the time she was a teenager, 40 years ago is just tacked up on the door and it doesn't have any rhyme or reason with anything else. And I don't understand. That's the point. Yeah. When they meet to read the will, they go, hey, where's old man Sullivan? That's just not what you call a lawyer. I don't care. You're in a law office.

[00:36:28] You're in a place of business. Old man Sullivan is the prospector who mines your farm for the gold he finds or who is up in them their hills. He's not the lawyer reading your dead mom's will. That's not it. If there's any time to say Mr. Sullivan, it's now. Did she call that to his face too? Where's old man Sullivan? Oh, he's out with the sheep. You know him. I will say, I know that it all worked out for a purpose. I know that.

[00:36:55] But Connie Britton in her will saying that you can't sell any of my belongings for 12 months is bubba bonkers. There's a lot to unpack there. No pun intended. But when my parents went through their parents dying, some of the stuff you just don't know what to do with. Some of it is just too sensitive.

[00:37:19] Like for her to say, my wish, my dying wish is that you leave the house completely untouched for 12 months. That's some weird stuff, man. Like that's weird. Right? Am I crazy? I thought she just meant you can't like sell the house. No, no. She's, she meant you couldn't. In there, in there, you can't sell the house and you can't sell any of my belongings in it for 12 months. So like if you want to get rid of her bed or her whatever. Right?

[00:37:48] Like you couldn't get rid of anything, like anything in that, even if it was something like she bought a blender last month. Nobody needs a blender. Can't, you can't go give that blender to Goodwill. Right? Nothing like nostalgic or sentimental, but like just functional things around the house that would just clutter up the house. You can't, you can't do anything. You got to keep them all there. Yeah. It's kind of wild. That's all I have. It's time for What the Hallmark is where we wonder what could have been. Maybe if it was a clarity and question we still have, what are we still wondering about? That's what we're going to do right now. Brian?

[00:38:17] Yeah. She, as an adult, she does a recital, a piano recital. And I've never done a recital for anything. Yeah. Oh, this is, this is good. Go ahead. Thanks, man. Yeah. You've never done one ever? You've never played drums? Yeah. But never for like, I mean, in a band context I have, but not a recital where everybody's there to watch you and support you. Like as a band, 50% of it is like, they're going to hate us. You're not looking for support. Where were you playing? Where that was going on? Oh, just rough clubs. Rough clubs. Yeah. Yeah. Rough Cross. You ever think maybe it was the music? No, never.

[00:38:47] Not even more. No, it was more them. Yeah. But a recital seems fun. So I'm wondering if maybe I should get it. I've thought recently about starting drum lessons. And I wonder if I did that when I get to do a recital. You would. Speaking of which, I know you would because my kid is playing drums and he went to his first recital and it was all children and one adult woman who had taken up drums as something she wanted to do and just started playing this year. And she was probably in her mid fifties and it was cool. She was, she just played like she was in the recital like everybody else.

[00:39:15] So you can right now, you can go do that. That's it. It also sends like a good message to all the kids. Like, you know, you can keep doing it. So I have my, maybe catch me at a drummer site a few months. I don't know. Catch me outside. That's right. Yeah. I mean, mine is just where all the explosions. Like I think we all know that they have to be there contractually. And so like where the scene shot, are they like, do we need to turn up the volume more and hear them in the background? Obviously they had to, uh, in order for this to get to two hours.

[00:39:44] And so where are they, um, and how'd they get away with not showing them? Cause that was also my understanding as far as, uh, two hour contract goes. Thanks for bringing mine was a bit of what Brian said early in this episode, which was Connie Britain gets killed really quickly. And it's not like really quickly time-wise into the film. It's really quickly in you hear she's dying. And then you don't get to see like, even when she's making these videos, it seems as though

[00:40:12] she's got longer left than she actually does. And so I guess my, this isn't for the movie, but just in general, like when they're writing this, what did they imagine she had? And like, how would they justify she could die at any minute, but still looks very much like she's not dying. Like in that last video, she, she looks like Connie Britain. I mean, she's not wearing any makeup. She looks like Connie, Connie Britain. She doesn't look any worse. And so I don't know what the, was it?

[00:40:42] It clearly wasn't a surprise. She was getting her affairs in order, but it just, it felt very, very rushed in that sense to me. It's the thing about an explosion. It'll just get you out of the heat. An explosion really could have done it. Yeah. You know? Well, it's interesting in the, in the beginning of the movie, she's talking to Alex, she never says what it is. No. You know, they kind of go through, there's some like different things that you could do, some experimental procedures that might work, but they don't actually tell you what it They don't ever say what it is. Yeah. So that was interesting. Choice.

[00:41:12] Oh, we did it, everybody. Congratulations. This is us. This is what I say. I say, let's call it quits for the day. I love it. Let's be done so we'll come back tomorrow with another one until then. We're the first to wish you a Merry Christmas. Deck the Hallmark is a Bramble Jam podcast is produced by Aaron Shea. What? For more information on Deck the Hallmark, you can go to deckthehallmark.com. For more information on the Deck the Hallmark family, you can go to bramblejamplus.com. Deck the Hallmark is presented by Philo TV. For a free trial of Philo, go to philo.tv slash DTH.

[00:41:44] You're about to hear some ads that help keep the lights on here in the old studio. Thanks for listening or don't listen. It's really up to you at this point. It's at the end of the show. I mean, you're listening to me. Hi. But here they come. I promise they're coming. Yep. Here they are. Happy day. Happy day. Bye. Bye.