Needle In A Timestack: Part 1
Make sure your cuticles and the back of your head are ready for their closeups with MeMe Wallace and Ansel Burch. They’re pop culture observers/ content creators/ new friends who are so ready to talk about why love and time are both drawn in the form of a circle.
We’re welcoming MeMe in Time 2 Party style with this first episode covering the tropes of the movie and assigning drinking rules.
Find us online!
MeMe Wallace is @memetheactress on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. Check out her movies McKenzie McCoy and True or False.
Ansel Burch is @Indecisionist on Twitter and @TheIndecisionist on IG and Threads.
Join us in next week when MeMe an Ansel get into reviewing Needle in a Timestack and make sure you’re subscribed because all month long, it’s #Time2Party.
Episode Transcript
Ansel Burch 0:00
Hi. I'm Ansel Burch.
MeMe Wallace 0:04
And I'm MeMe Wallace
Ansel Burch 0:06
And it's time to this episode was recorded on July 23 2023. We are not doctors, we don't give medical advice. Please drink responsibly, for crying out loud. Welcome. Welcome, Mimi, it's so wonderful to have you on the show today.
MeMe Wallace 0:24
Thank you for inviting me.
Ansel Burch 0:27
I'm so excited to to get to know you more through the course of our conversation today, but also to talk about this incredible movie. Thank you so much for suggesting it. Before we get into the meat and potatoes, do you want to tell the audience a little bit about yourself? And what it is that you what it is that you do in the in the sort of film realm?
MeMe Wallace 0:48
Sure. So again, I'm MeMe Wallace, I am a filmmaker, I write, I produce, I direct sometimes I also act. And I'm like, what else do I do?
Ansel Burch 1:05
And I think that's all the things aside from like, crafty and boom, operator, I think you've covered I mean,
MeMe Wallace 1:12
I do that also. There you go. I really do.
Ansel Burch 1:19
I think we've all taken a turn as a boom operator. To you have to like stand Wait, I've done that a bunch of times.
MeMe Wallace 1:28
I said, I've done boom, operator. That mic. What is it? UPM unit production management? Oh, wow. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So that too. I think that's it. Okay. And even random things,
Ansel Burch 1:41
anything in particular that like your that you want to direct folks towards any of your projects that you that are out there where we can find them?
MeMe Wallace 1:50
Yes, I have a movie out now called Mackynzie McCoy. It is streaming now on Amazon Prime. It's also on Tubi, Cineverse free movies plus a few other apps that I don't remember.
Ansel Burch 2:05
That's incredible. Yeah. So on the very same platform as the film we're watching today. Yeah. Yeah, fantastic. Well, I will go ahead and get a link for that and put it into the show notes as well. So if you're listening to the show, definitely check out MeMe's movie. That's so exciting. I'm I'm gonna watch it right after this.
MeMe Wallace 2:32
Thank you. Let me know what you think I will I will be honest, as
Ansel Burch 2:38
always. Well, I so exciting to have, what is it? Pentuple threat, a sextuple threat, whatever, whatever, however you want to put it. Someone who's so deeply involved in the filmmaking process, talking about movies today, it helps take some of the pressure off of me, I went to school for literature. Usually there would be three of us on this call. Ben is a film, film student and pop culture analyst. And so I usually lean on him for a lot of the film analysis. And it's very, very helpful to have someone who's so versed joining us today. Well, I believe in you, I believe in you implicitly. So let's this first episode is when we talk about drinking and smoking rules for the movie, this is by no means a encouragement to go out there and do anything you're comfortable with. Nobody has to drink, nobody has to smoke. But if you are so inclined, you should take this as an opportunity to choose your rules ala carte. And the reason I bring that up is frequently if you did all of them, you would die. It would kill you it's not advise anyone to go in and use all of the rules that could come up in these but so yeah, so choose your rules ala carte. And we always like to start off by by reading a recap of the movie and so I will do the recap from IMDb for our first episode as is tradition. Our friends at IMDb say Nick and Jeanine live in marital bliss until journeys ex husband warps time to try to tear them apart. As Nick's memories disappear. He must decide what he's willing to sacrifice in order to hold on to or let go of everything he loves.
MeMe Wallace 4:37
That's a really good movie. Boy. That's a good voiceover. Thanks.
Ansel Burch 4:40
Oh, thanks so much. I'll think about doing podcasting. But yeah, so that's a decent, it's a decent summary. Yeah, as good as you can do for a time travel movie, I suppose.
MeMe Wallace 4:57
Yes, this one is a little Uh I don't want to say difficult but the the plot was more intricate than that. But yeah, I guess yeah synopsis
Ansel Burch 5:09
for a logline I guess you did all you could,
MeMe Wallace 5:12
yeah. Without trying to figure out what can you put into one sentence, the logline that says this movie because it was a little confusing. This will
Ansel Burch 5:23
fly at times as as time travel movies tend to be
MeMe Wallace 5:27
yes.
Ansel Burch 5:29
So let's go ahead and just jump right into our, into our drinking smoking rules. I've got a few. So I'll do one first, to get us started. And then I know you've got a one that you're excited about. So I have take a drink when we see Charlie. Just anytime we see Charlie, go ahead and take a sip whenever he shows up on screen. If you haven't seen the movie yet, I won't spoil anything for you. But you'll when you see it, you'll know
MeMe Wallace 6:01
that's a good one. I have take a drink whenever any person in the movie reaches for their phone.
Ansel Burch 6:10
Yes.
MeMe Wallace 6:16
So you're welcome. Oh, yeah.
Ansel Burch 6:18
Oh my god. Cell phones are the main character of this film. Yes, they I had to take a drink every time a cell phone is the only thing in the frame. So I feel like we're on the same wavelength there.
MeMe Wallace 6:31
Actually, I have another one. But I'll go after you can go give me your second one that I'll give.
Ansel Burch 6:35
Okay, fantastic. I have so it's similar to the cell phone in a frame. I also noticed that the director of photography really enjoyed shots from the back of someone's head. So take a shot every time we get an urge drink every time we get an extended shot from the back of someone's head. This is this spoke to my like theater nerd heart deep down in this part of my soul where i How's all of my college theatrical training. The idea of facing away from the audience to heightened distance is so like, wrapped in modern, unnecessary, but still, like so effective. That I just absolutely love that choice. Yeah, every time you get an extended shot of someone that because somebody said someone said, and that could be that could be a shot rule. If you're judicious about what counts as an extended shot.
MeMe Wallace 7:41
That's what I was thinking. Also, I was like the word unnecessary is important because some of those shots are unnecessary. You could have saved that shot for something else that was unnecessary. Absolutely. Um, oh, my other one is take a shot. Whenever the time warp happy,
Ansel Burch 8:09
right, and then specifically the wave or anytime we switch
MeMe Wallace 8:12
wavelength. Okay, whenever the wave happened, I was like, Huh, okay, maybe I just felt like they could have used something else. I like what it represented, you know, the time travel. But I was like, this feels very final cut. Let's figure out like
Ansel Burch 8:32
the script said via effects here and afterward. They're like, Oh,
MeMe Wallace 8:39
first effect they found in Final Cut, like
Ansel Burch 8:46
oh, that's so interesting. I loved it. But we could talk about that in the review. But related related to both of the things we just were talking about, my last rule for us is take a sip every time the director of photography was just allowed free rein to make a pretty image on screen.
MeMe Wallace 9:06
That's the whole movie the whole.
Ansel Burch 9:11
Wise, that's a sip. That's very specifically a SIP rule. This movie was gorgeous. But I think specifically about the scenes where you know, maybe we're doing some voiceover maybe not maybe we're just like listening to some music on a on a radio or something. And the DP was just allowed to like frame up this gorgeous sunset with a model fluttering a silk behind or you know, to fishermen in a boat or you know, whatever it is.
MeMe Wallace 9:48
That or like a slow pan around every room like the entire Okay, thanks for giving me a tour. works Yes
Ansel Burch 10:03
You gotta love a 360 virtual tour of somebody's home or apartment Yeah
MeMe Wallace 10:08
100% But at the same time I was like these places are beautiful.
Ansel Burch 10:12
Oh my god right? Even when he single his apartment is freaking gorgeous
MeMe Wallace 10:18
oh my god that their home was gorgeous.
Ansel Burch 10:21
Oh the house was Alex
MeMe Wallace 10:25
I need all of this I just I need all of it. And then I noticed like they're in this is like just random but the the phone had like the flip phone and they had I guess that was in the beginning. I was like they had like three buttons on there. Were the rest that's all you need.
Ansel Burch 10:46
Maybe that does everything.
MeMe Wallace 10:48
Okay. Yeah. But it was still it was a beautiful phone.
Ansel Burch 10:51
Oh my god. The the flip phone by itself. I mean, granted it is the prop that gets handled the most. But what a brilliantly designed prop. Yes. Right so so sleek and clean and and it feels futuristic but still like current Yeah. Absolute absolutely brilliant. Yeah, hats off to the the props department for that flip phone.
MeMe Wallace 11:20
Props. And as you said before the DP it really is a beautifully shot moving.
Ansel Burch 11:26
Gorgeous, gorgeous moves so lush. If you got into this for nothing else, the the the cinematography is just
MeMe Wallace 11:37
amazing. Yes. And also shout out to whoever did the color grading. Oh.
Ansel Burch 11:45
Also something that I've noticed a lot recently, especially in film or films and movies that are done for these streamers is the lighting has been you know, and I'm not alone in that I'm not special in that everybody's talking about lighting. Now it is but they really lit this thing to the heavens. It is you see every little piece of Leslie Odom Jr. and just his his face every crease like it's so, so crisp.
MeMe Wallace 12:17
Yes. About like maybe that should have been another one of the drink and roll
Ansel Burch 12:21
when we just get a close up on.
MeMe Wallace 12:24
Yes. Leslie's face take a drink. Every time they do a close up of Lesley or Cynthia's face. A super super close up.
Ansel Burch 12:33
That's that's like the hat rule where it's like, you know, where you put a hat on the TV. And every time somebody looks like they're wearing it, you take this mess you up.
MeMe Wallace 12:44
Don't do all of this, as stated at the beginning of the podcast.
Ansel Burch 12:48
We're not doctors, we don't give medical advice. So one last one last little prompt I want to throw at you here at Time to party we'd like to give shots for respect. And there are so many actors in this film that I think deserve a shot for respect. But I wanted to hand it over to you is there is there anyone in this movie that you think deserves a shot for respect? Just whenever you're feeling it whenever the moment strikes you? And you're like, yeah, that person acted their face off just there. Who do you think we should give that that respect shot to?
MeMe Wallace 13:28
That's good. Shot perspect I'm going to say Oh, that's really good. You know, I'm gonna say free to Pinto because i don't know i It was really good casting to me. So you know, when I first started the movie, that's not somebody that I would have thought would have been in, like this film. Like I think you know, if you guys don't know Frieda Pinto is she's probably the main actress you remember from Slumdog Millionaire. Um, I don't I just I want to give it to her. This is not a film that I would have thought that she would have chosen to be in but it was very refreshing to see her in a different light even though you know, just a slightly different role. It's very subtle Her performance was but you know, at times, she definitely gave like good performance, like a good strong performance, even though it was subtle. So I think I was it was just like an element of surprise for me to see her in something different than what she normally does. But you know, also if you follow her career, she doesn't really do the same thing. She's not really in the same genres of movies. But I think I was just more so surprised to see her like rounded out with this cat. So just really good casting to me.
Ansel Burch 15:02
Truly the entire cast of this movie is is just firing on all cylinders. Yeah. And yeah, I think Frieda Frieda makes good choice. She's, she brings so much to this movie that like, Alex could easily have been a character that didn't matter as much, you know, like, yes. Like Alex is a is a waypoint and and sort of like almost an inconvenience or a problem that he has to overcome and could easily have gone that direction but because free to did such a strong performance, like she's so compelling and arresting and, and you really understand, like, spoilers if you haven't seen the movie yet. You really understand why. Spending his life with Alex starts to feel like something he could do. Yes. You know, like, she's Yeah, she is. Masterful performance. I think you're I think that's a great choice.
MeMe Wallace 16:11
Yeah. You know, I was looking forward to Well, yeah, looking forward to I felt like they could have gotten like, a little more into the background of her story. Yeah. Because, you know, her performance was strong, get subtle. So that's why I was like, hmm, I'm gonna go. And also I really like her that actress, she's,
Ansel Burch 16:32
yeah, she's so good. Phenomenal. All right. Well, great choice. Great choice. And that I think is it for episode one. If you are joining us for the first time, time to party here we do three episodes. Our first episode is this drinking and smoking episode where we talk about things we saw in the movie that come up over and over repeating tropes. Episode Two, we're going to do a full review of the movie, we'll break it down. We'll talk about what we liked what we didn't like what fascinated us. And then in episode three, we will do an edutainment section, where we will talk about something in the movie that caught our interest that we absolutely loved. That stuff is all in the future for you. Thank you so much for joining us for this first episode on a needle in a time stack. We had a great time. I hope you've had a great time. And there will be another episode coming out next Monday with our full review. But in the meantime, if you'd like to find us online, you can follow the podcast on any of your favorite pod catchers. You can also interact with us using the hashtag time to party that's time the number two party as well as time the number two party all spelled out. Thanks to Warwick. Maybe where can folks find you online?
MeMe Wallace 17:57
I am on the social medias. Is that what people say?
Ansel Burch 18:02
I don't think so. Yeah, I think that's what kids are calling it.
MeMe Wallace 18:04
The socials, everything. Instagram, Twitter, tick tock. I think that's all the things I'm on @MeMetheActress m e m e, t, h e, a,c, t, r, e, s, s.
Ansel Burch 18:18
Fantastic. And remind us the film that you have out on Amazon Prime as well as a bunch of other streamers.
MeMe Wallace 18:26
I'm Mackenzie McCoy is streaming now on Amazon prime to be Cineverse free movies plus, and you know if you guys are just interested, we have another movie also called True or False that is currently on tubi
Ansel Burch 18:43
fantastic All right, and we'll get links to both of those in the show notes for you. And you can find those at indecision as.com/time to party. I'm Ansel Burch. You can find me online at indecision just on Twitter and at the indecision nest on Instagram and threads Special thanks to April Moralba, for our podcast art and to Marlon Longed of Marlon and the Shakes for our amazing theme song. This has been an indecision as production show notes and transcripts are available at indecisionist.com/time2party. Thank you all so much for joining us for this episode. And wherever you are in the time stream. Remember, be excellent to each other
MeMe Wallace 19:22
And party on dudes
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
