The Bride!: Bride, But Make It Chaotic

In a world where movie nights are sacred, two best friends embark on an epic quest

to conquer the cinematic landscape, one film at a time.

I'm Sarah, and I'm Cassie, armed with popcorn and the remote control, we're here to help

you answer life's burning questions, splurge on theater tickets or cozy up at home.

Each week we will bring you the 4-1-1 on Hollywood hits, Netflix binges, and everything

in between.

Grab your snacks, dim the lights, you're listening to popcorn paparazzi with Sarah and Cassie.

This week on popcorn paparazzi, we're diving into a movie that asks a very important question.

What happens when Frankenstein's monster decides he's tired of being single?

That's right!

We're talking about the bride, Maggie Gyllenhaal's gothic punk rock reimagining of the classic

Frankenstein story.

Set in 1930s Chicago, the film follows Frankenstein's monster who asks a scientist to create

him a companion, and when they bring a murdered woman back to life, things get messy, romance,

chaos, and apparently even a social revolution.

And the cast stacked Jesse Buckley as the bride, Christian Bale as the monster, plus Penelope

and Cruz Annette Benning and Jake Gyllenhaal all joining the madness.

So the big question for this week is this bold new monster romance worth a trip to the

theater for, or should this bride have stayed buried?

Grab your popcorn because we're about to tell you.

Hey popcorn lovers, welcome back.

And happy Wednesday!

Thanks so much for joining us, Sarah.

How was your week?

I actually had like a really good week.

Yeah, it was like a lot of fun stuff.

I went out to dinner with a friend, I got a massage, which was like so amazing.

I went to a concert, I went to see a band called Drama at the Fox Theatre in Oakland.

Oh, I love the Fox Theatre!

It was very fun, they were great.

And then after we left, we were like walking out, we came out of the theatre, and the entire

street of Telegraph was like shut down for all these side shows that were going on.

Like they were just starting up, but it was like, like cops can't even do anything, right?

I mean, people just stopped their cars and block off whole blocks, and people just like

are blasting music, they're dancing on top of cars.

I don't even know if you remember Telegraph, but there's a lot of clubs on that street.

I remember it well, and I'm sad I wasn't there for that party.

It was fun, but I definitely reaked of weed by the time I got to the car.

Like it was just everywhere, and it was great.

I thought I was going to say I don't see anything wrong with that.

There was nothing wrong with that.

And then I saw this movie, and I saw the other movie that we're going to be reviewing next

week.

So I just had like a busy, busy weekend.

So it was really fun.

Double duty.

Double duty.

How about you?

I had a different kind of.

Friday night, I think it was.

I had gotten home from work, and Donnie had surprised me with a little Caesar's pizza,

like delicious.

Yeah.

Sweet thought, sweet gesture.

He had the gummy that I was going to take underneath the box, and somehow it fell on

the floor.

We didn't see it, because by the time we looked down, one of our dogs had eaten it.

Oh no.

What do you do?

We didn't know which one.

Uh oh.

Of course Donnie started to freak out, but we let her ride.

It was Luna, our pit bull.

I noticed it because she was really quiet.

Normally she wants to be right in the middle of Donnie and I.

She has to have all the attention on her, and she was just sitting alone quietly in a corner.

And I was like, something's not right.

So I gave them a bit of my pizza crust, as like a treat.

Sarah, when she wobbled her way over to me, her just trying to sit, just sit, couldn't

even do that.

She was going back and forth, like her pupils so wide.

And we both could tell you, it's time for you to just sleep it off.

So we thought the safest thing for her would be to put her in her crate.

But it's, it was funny to see it will never happen again.

We've learned our lesson.

Do you got to keep those up hired from dogs and children?

All right, guys, it's time to grab our popcorn because the gossip is about the pop-up.

All right, it's time for a little extra butter.

Let's get into this week's celebrity scoop.

And Cassie, I want to start off with last week's SAG Awards, which is now called the SACTER

Awards.

Yes.

Ooh, it shook up the Oscar race.

I think, first of all, did you watch it?

I saw bits and pieces of it.

Okay.

So now you didn't watch it.

I did.

Yes.

You watched it on TikTok.

Okay.

It wasn't just TikTok.

Okay.

But I saw the highlight reels.

Yes.

So it was on Netflix.

It was hosted by Kristen Bell, which obviously she's super adorable.

She did a really nice job.

You'll be happy to know, but you probably maybe already do, since you have looked at everything,

that sinners took the top prize for Best Cass, Michael B. Jordan, one for Best Actor beating

out Timothy Chalamet, who was obviously like a front runner for most of the award season.

But I was like, yes.

Oh, yes.

I don't know if you were able to see his speech, but it was so sweet, very emotional.

He was thinking his mom, who he brought with him.

Everyone in the audience was tearing up as he sort of talked about his journey and becoming

an actor, because that's kind of what this whole award shows about, whatever.

And I think it's safe to say this film just got a major boost heading into the Oscars.

I was like so pleasantly surprised that sinners, which you and I both loved.

We gave it five buckets, like highest honor was appreciated.

And everyone in that room was really like standing up for him when he won.

Like everyone's super supportive that he had won.

It was really cool.

I feel like it's a movie that should be winning way more awards.

And the fact that it's not as sad, it's a movie that I feel like we have not seen before.

The elements that were put in there, the acting just everything worked so well.

Yeah.

And I think horror films should hold the same caliber as any other type of genre for

filmmaking.

You know, I don't know if you caught some of the fashion, but I just wanted to point out

a few things.

Yeah.

So the theme of the night was the reimagining Hollywood glamor from the 20s and 30s.

There were a lot of hits and a lot of misses that night.

I won't go into all of it because, you know, whatever we're moving on, but I just wanted

to point out a few.

I know you love Teyana Taylor.

She looked gorgeous.

Did you see her?

Oh my God.

I saw her stunning.

She looked so beautiful.

Even her outfit was so different.

Yeah.

It worked so well on her though.

She looked incredible.

The dress was stunning.

Kristen Wigg.

Hello, body.

Oh my God.

She basically was wearing like, it's kind of like a dress I would expect character in

the book series Akatar to be wearing.

I know.

You never read them yet.

I gave it.

I sent you that first book.

I said, read it.

A court of thorns and roses.

And did you, you know, I'm still working on it.

It's literally on my nightstand.

Okay.

We're the main character.

Whenever she goes under the mountain for those who do read this book, you'll know what

I'm saying.

Kristen Wigg's dress was like black kind of satin and it draped down the front full length

and back of her.

But the sides were totally cut out except for like, you know, like to her very low waist.

So all opened on the sides and I thought, oh my God.

I would have to be sitting and sucking in the entire night like because once you sit

down, like things, things be rolling.

She looked stunning.

Michael B. Jordan looked super hot.

He looked, oh my God.

He looked doable.

Yeah.

He did.

And Chase Infinity.

She looks so beautiful.

So like 1920s glam.

I loved her.

Couple misses.

Sarah Pigeon.

Oh my God.

Her dress looked like a squid.

It was like strapless.

It was pink.

Like, form fitted her like a balloon, not form fitted actually was kind of like balloon-ish

all the way to her knees.

And then it came out like a squid.

It looked insane.

Crazy.

Her dress was like, this huge thing of feathers all behind her.

And I thought, how is she going to be sitting in that all night long?

It just didn't, those did not work.

You guys should totally look those up later.

You guys, the Oscars are this Sunday.

And Cassie and I will definitely be bringing our two cents next week on this.

Did you happen to catch speaking of Timothy Chalamet and the Oscar races and all of that

good stuff?

Did you happen to see the interview that he did with Matthew McConaughey?

I did not see it.

Causing some drama.

All I heard was about the ballet stuff, but I didn't watch it.

I literally could care less about the both of them.

So it's just true.

I did not hold it as well.

So this is what Timothy Chalamet had to say on what he calls the dead arts.

I don't want to be working in ballet or opera where it's like, keep this thing alive

even though no one cares about this anymore.

And a lot of people are really upset about this.

I mean, in granted, they should, especially people who are in ballet, people who are in

opera, like, it's not dead.

Yeah, I don't know.

I don't know.

I'm very alive and well and are respected arts.

I feel like to me, maybe you should be a little nervous about acting because AI is

coming for you, I'm just saying.

So I know he was discussing the need to keep movie theaters relevant.

And that's where his train of thought went off the rails.

I mean, I just saw the opera in Paris over the Christmas break.

So it was alive and well.

You know, I just feel like shame on him for like, sliding other artistic forms.

You know, I mean, he could have easily talked about ticket prices.

Maybe our why people are not going to the movies as much as they used to be or the quality

of some of the work or life is busy.

But to just say that maybe one of the reasons is that that we're pushing too many other

dying art forms onto people, I don't know if that's what he meant because I didn't see

it.

So if that's wrong, no one quote me, I don't know.

I never have vived with him in a lot of his movies or in his, you know, red carpets.

So am I surprised?

No.

Is it a bummer?

He said it.

Yeah.

Do I think he lost his Oscar because of it?

That's weak.

We'll find out.

I mean, all I got to say is I, I really hope that he doesn't get it because I really want

Michael B. Jordan to get it.

I second that motion.

And what that will be right back.

All right, Cassie, my popcorn's buttered and the gossip's been spilled.

So let's jump right in and start off with the most important question is the bride worth

a trip to the theater for this weekend.

I do think it's worth a watch, but don't think you need to see it in the theater to enjoy

it.

What about you?

I agree.

No, I do not think it warrants the big screen, but definitely worth a watch when it comes

out at home.

Right out of the gate, I really loved Maggie Gyllenhaal's take on the bride.

And I thought incorporating Mary Shelley into the movie gave the character so much more

depth and kind of definitely added more chaos.

The bride feels more layered and Jesse Buckley does an incredible job bringing those two sides

of the character together.

I totally agree.

Jesse Buckley hands down, steals the movie.

Yeah.

Incredible actress.

I still haven't seen Hamnet and I do want to see that.

I am going to try before the Oscars.

I was going to say at least it's out on streaming.

It's out streaming.

I've got to see that.

She was great.

Like you just said, she plays Aida, who's like a prostitute, kind of a skirt, yeah.

And then she also plays Mary, then she plays the bride.

And so she's three roles in one movie.

I mean, pretty incredible and so well done.

What I found really interesting as I was watching the press interviews that Maggie was doing

about the film, she had mentioned during one of her interviews that when she had watched

the original bride of Frankenstein, and I didn't know this at all, that the bride was

literally only on screen for about two minutes and never uttered a word.

And she, I guess, took that on as like a challenge and created a movie that literally let

the bride do all of the talking.

I totally agree with you that her take on this is really creative and clever.

I think because okay, if she got it from the movie, from the book, that's how she's

written, right?

The bride is written that way.

She never has any lines because basically the creature, which I guess Frankenstein's monster,

whatever the creature, he asks Victor Frankenstein to create someone for him because he's alone.

And that's how this movie opens up as well, which is Frank, who's Frankenstein's monster.

He comes to this doctor in Chicago, I think is where they're starting out.

And he's like, I've been alive a hundred years and I'm super lonely.

I need a companion.

I need a bride.

And so he enlists this doctor to help bring him someone to help combat his loneliness,

which is super sweet.

In the book, basically Victor initially agrees to it, but then he destroys the unfinished

female companion out of fear that the two creatures could reproduce and create a new

dangerous race.

So therefore, Maggie saw the movie and quite possibly also knowing this from the book

and decided this film was going to be her way of giving the bride that voice.

I also thought Christian Bill, he did give a really strong performance.

I thought he brought humanity, empathy, and even a surprising sweetness to Frankenstein.

But if I'm being really honest, I actually preferred Jacob Allordies take as Frankenstein.

I thought he was much stronger in that performance.

You know what I think it is?

I feel like I didn't love Christian Bill in this, either.

It wasn't that his acting wasn't good, it's just like I couldn't get past it being him

for some reason.

Yeah, maybe it was because there wasn't too much of a differentiation between him looking

like himself and him looking like the character.

Yeah, like it just looked like him with the broken nose.

Yeah, maybe that's what it was.

They might have been better off casting someone that isn't so well known.

It's funny though, I don't think I could see Jacob as her version though of Frankenstein

either.

Like no, he did well in the other one, but I don't think I could see him playing that role

either.

So I'm not sure who I would cast as her Frankenstein in that case, but I would agree that that's

kind of where I was like, take it over with it.

But you're right, he did do a good job just conveying the sweetness and the love and

the loneliness of the character.

Yes.

I also really loved how the bride leans into a kind of Bonnie and Clyde energy where the

story takes on literally a life of its own.

The bride becomes more than just a character.

She turns into basically kind of like the symbol watching the other women start dressing

like her and marking themselves the same way as the bride.

I thought was really powerful.

And whether those were like tattooed on or just drawn on, it definitely showed a sense

of solidarity and strength as they pushed against, you know, the oppression that was around

them.

Exactly.

So basically, I would agree with you.

I loved the vibe of the film.

And that's probably the main driver for me enjoying the film as a whole.

So we have Aida, right?

And she gets killed.

We know this.

We see this in the trailer.

So I'm not spoiling anything.

But before that happens, she gets possessed by Mary.

Yes.

I have this like back and forth happening where Mary is in black and white.

And then Aida and her world is in color.

And so Mary starts to possess her and kind of give her courage and a voice and agency

over her body, right?

Because this opening scene where Aida is kind of with these gentlemen and she's clearly

there to entertain them.

But they're kind of pushing on her things she doesn't really want to do in slipsmare.

And it was super clever and super well done.

I thought I would agree with you.

I mean, it totally gives Bonnie and Clyde vibes through the whole movie.

I feel like I've seen that also on like a lot of other people's critics take on the film.

But what I really liked and what you just kind of touched on was this kind of dose of

feminist movement with the film, which to me was a surprise.

I didn't know that that would be part of the film either did I?

And honestly, I don't know like you and I were super excited to see this movie for a while.

But then as it kind of started to get closer, I kind of didn't really want to see it anymore.

And I was trying to figure out like why I just kind of was like, I don't know.

We already got Frankenstein earlier this year.

Yeah.

So maybe I was a little burned out on the concept.

But then when she came in and did this kind of spin with it, I loved it.

In the movie, she Maggie Jillin Hall was saying that she was trying to think of like female

rage and the feeling being kind of like a panic attack or a heart attack.

But she didn't want to call it that.

So what she came up with was brain attack, which is basically about female rage.

So you get this brain attack, which represents kind of a sudden explosive release of this suppressed

female anger and rebellion.

It's depicted as like a cracking sensation in women's heads that unleashes this pent up rage,

pushing them to reject expectations of politeness and submission and fight back against

oppressive men.

So that in a nutshell is kind of what Jillin Hall is hoping to convey.

And you were talking about these tattoos and I think you see on the posters in the trailer,

she's got this like ink stain on her face.

And I was kind of wondering like, what the hell is that?

Basically when they bring her back from the dead, she gets these like ink tattoos kind

of in all the places over her body that like stuff was injected into her.

And she kind of vomits and stains her face, which honestly, it probably was super hard

to like make sure you got that exactly the same way every time in the chair.

And I was going to say, sometimes it caught nudity with that was a little off in the

movie.

If you're looking close, you know.

And so these women who are part of the movement are getting that stain on their faces.

Anyway, I think that the metaphor for this like radical personal awakening was so well

done.

A moment when women can reclaim their power and refuse to say styland.

I mean, we're in that era for ourselves.

So I think it's kind of mirroring where we're at in our society today.

And I really appreciated that.

So Sarah, when are we getting these tattoos?

Girl.

Um, let's check that later.

I don't know why, but I also really loved that the maid who was doctor, it was Dr. Euphoronius

is made.

And Dr. Euphoronius played by Annette Benning.

She was the one that actually brought Ida back to life as the bride.

There was a part towards the end of the film where the maid said, for never was a story

of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

So for me, like, it's not just Bonnie and Clyde, but it was definitely Romeo and Juliet

S.

The doomed lovers, outsiders whose love exists in a world that ultimately destroys them.

It's funny that you bring that up as something you like because I didn't, I had the opposite.

I thought it was just too cliché.

I mean, remember Bonnie and Clyde with Faye Dunway and Warren Beatty when sometimes this

film kind of touched on that movie vibe, I feel, yes, you know, exactly, yeah.

And so the cars, the cars, some of the lighting relationship between the two.

So when they threw in the Romeo and Juliet line, I thought, okay, now we're not being

super creative anymore.

We're like throwing these cliché, tragic lover quotes out to me.

I was like, I didn't hate it, but I was also kind of like, I don't know, not original.

What if that was Maggie just making fun of it, her way of giving us a little tee-hee moment?

Is that how you took it?

Yeah, kind of.

Always making fun of it.

Yeah.

Oh, I didn't get that then.

Like it's so obvious.

You know what I mean?

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

Obviously, I want to round out the things that I love about this movie, Jake, Jill and

Hall, you guys.

We didn't talk about Jake.

He should have been the first thing we said, which is Jake is back.

He was not back enough.

He needed to be back more in that film, but obviously, any chance of him on screen dancing

and singing.

Yeah.

Super fine.

Pacing.

Pacing is good in this film.

I didn't want to reach for my phone.

It is a long movie, and did it feel long?

Maybe, but not really.

Like, overall, I think that the pacing held pretty tight the whole film.

Yeah.

I mean, I would agree, even though the pacing, like you said, was good.

I wasn't bored or even wanting to look at my phone, just like you said also.

But I would say that I feel like we could still cut a few minutes off this film.

I mean, this is another movie where it's over two hours.

It's two hours and six minutes to be exact.

Honestly, I mean, the length of these movies just kill.

They really are.

I mean, even a good movie.

It's like, it's just another reason Timothy should have said, which is the length of films

is long.

Okay?

I mean, come on now.

You and I talked about when we were going to see this movie that Maggie Jill and Hall

said that she had created this film to be viewed on IMAX.

So I took one for the team and went to see it in IMAX, which is a commitment.

It is more expensive.

And the times aren't as, you know, there's not as many times during the day.

You kind of have to make sure it works into the schedule.

And so I went inside and I'm going to tell you right now, it wasn't worth it.

I mean, it didn't feel mind blowing to you having a huge giant screen.

No, you know, one thing I feel like IMAX is only IMAX only works when it's a movie

that's like, you really want to be immersed in the world that it's creating, right?

Yeah.

You know, like I don't know Avatar movies or anything with like a lot of CGI, then I think

that makes more sense.

But for Maggie, she had said that she, this was her first time using IMAX and that she

wanted to do this new creative thing, which is where the screen will literally grow bigger

and then shrink back down when the characters go into like a dream world.

The screen will expand.

And when they're in reality, it'll come back down a little bit.

Interesting.

And so I only noticed that one time and I was really paying attention for that because

I knew that was the reason for it being an IMAX was to utilize it this way.

It's never been done before.

IMAX has not shot a movie like that.

And when you're doing something like that, you have to be changing out the lenses depending

on how like why do you want that screen shot to become.

So I was locked in and I only saw that expansion happen one time.

So if you were going to go see it at the theater and you were debating on seeing an IMAX,

maybe you'll be better than me and you'll catch that more often.

But if you're not a big movie person, it's probably going to be just like me over your

head and just go see it in the regular theater.

I'll tell you what did annoy me sometimes.

And this is kind of like my last thought on the film, which is the back and forth between

Mary and Ida.

Sometimes like kind of just was like, okay, I can't do this anymore.

Because you know, like every time she goes into Mary, she, her voice changes, right?

Yeah.

But she gets super erratic and she kind of like has Tourette.

So I mean, she's just kind of like random things shooting out of her mouth and they don't

make sense.

And you're trying to like piece together what she's saying.

And I don't know.

Sometimes that back and forth just kind of bugged.

I would agree.

I think that that could have been some things that we could have cut from the movie.

Okay.

A little less back and forth between them.

Maybe.

Thank you.

Okay.

Good.

I'm glad we're on the same page about that.

The film, but also it was kind of annoying.

I don't know.

Yeah.

Okay, guys, stick around.

We'll be right back with our buckets of popcorn and a sneak peek at what's coming next

week.

I would give the bride four buckets of popcorn.

I think Maggie, Jill and Hall did an amazing job with this film.

The story she weaves, especially with Mary Shelley possessing Ida and helping her find

the strength to actually use her voice was really compelling.

The tragedy of the lovers and their doomed romance along with both of their backstories

all come together in a really satisfying way.

Of course, there are a few things I might have done differently if I were Maggie.

But overall, I think the film delivers a strong message and is definitely worth the

watch.

And what was your popcorn pairing?

Nothing.

Because we had to change our movie showing at the last minute and we did not have time

to prepare or get anything.

So it was just a dry movie.

Mine was not a dry movie, but I'll tell you that in a minute.

What are you giving this movie?

So I'm giving this one three buckets of popcorn and I know I tend to give threes a lot,

but it was good, but it was, I don't know, it wasn't great.

Honestly, you guys, if you like a strong female lead, you like Bonnie and Clyde, you like

the story about Frankenstein plus good pacing, then it's definitely worth a watch at home.

And what was your popcorn pairing since it wasn't dry?

Um, basically I had a vodka soda, uh, yep, I went all out, I went with my friend to

the film, to the movie.

So, and like our movie theater has like a full bar there, so we got a drink.

And then we did popcorn and peanut butter M&M.

So delicious.

To say I like your M&M choice, I think that's a superior choice, good job.

I think you're right.

Bottom line.

We both agree this movie is worth a watch just from the comfort of your own couch.

Next week we are staying at the theater for the new Disney Pixar movie hoppers.

A woman named Mabel uses technology to hop her mind into a robotic beaver to understand

animals, but it covers a larger conflict and must rally the animal kingdom.

That does it for us today, see you back here next week, and until then, enjoy the movies

everyone.

Bye, bye.

Lights camera and that's a wrap for popcorn paparazzi.

We hope you enjoyed our insights and laughed a little.

Join us next time for more cinematic adventures.

And remember, the popcorn's always hot and ready.