River: Part 1

Matt Donato, Ben Silverio, and Ansel Burch are pop culture observers/ content creators/ excellent friends who are here to have a great time. After all, the noodles never run out, and we never get full!

Matt is one of the US’ greatest experts on this movie, and we are honored to have him joining us for the show this month. We’re pretty sure you haven’t seen this movie. So, before we get to his opinions in our full review, we’re encouraging you to stream this ASAP. To help, here are some drinking rules to make the experience more interactive!

Find us online!

Matt Donato is @Donatobomb on Bluesky, Letterboxd, and Instagram

Check out his podcast, Certified Forgotten. It’s a podcast about horror movies with 10 or fewer critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

Ben Silverio is @BSilverio20 on Instagram, X, Threads, Blusky, and Hive.

Ansel Burch is @TheIndecisionist on IG, Facebook, Yowsa, Blusky, Reddit, and Threads.

Check out Ansel’s new TTRPG, Cards! https://the-indecisionist.itch.io/cards

Check out Ansel’s new time travel actual play podcast, For the Time Being!

Next week we’re reviewing the movie, and it’s full spoilers ahead. So, make sure to watch the film, then join us on Monday 4/14 for that new episode. Until then, make sure you’re subscribed, because it’s always #Time2Party

Transcript

Ben Silverio 0:05

Hey, I'm Ben Silverio,

Matt Donato 0:07

and I'm Matt Donato,

Ansel Burch 0:08

and I'm Ansel Burch,

Ben Silverio 0:10

and it's time to party.

Ansel Burch 0:14

We are not doctors. We don't give medical advice. Please drink responsibly, unless time is gonna repeat on you, then, you know, whatever.

Ben Silverio 0:26

Why is it the final countdown? I don't know why

Matt Donato 0:29

I was gonna say there's a different song.

Ansel Burch 0:32

Ben has three songs in his head. That's what we've learned over the course of this show.

Matt Donato 0:36

Okay,

Ben Silverio 0:36

that's true.

Ansel Burch 0:37

It's final countdown, facade and D and was the Jurassic Park theme.

Ben Silverio 0:46

Jurassic Park theme,

Ansel Burch 0:47

it's not Superman, it's not super.

Ben Silverio 0:50

It's not

Ansel Burch 0:51

he keeps wanting it to be Superman. It's not

Ben Silverio 0:55

no no party. People. Welcome back to time to party. Thank you for joining us. You know, we like seeing your faces, even though this is an audio medium, we

Ansel Burch 1:05

can see, you see, it's not the other way around.

Matt Donato 1:08

Big Brother's always watching, yeah.

Ben Silverio 1:11

Very, very true. This month we have another amazing guest on the point.

Ansel Burch 1:18

Yeah we do

Ben Silverio 1:19

we have the matt Donato, an incredible critic, an excellent personality in the film world. And you know, he knows good beers and stuff

Matt Donato 1:32

I do, yeah, I'm glad you're like, he's, he watches movies, but he knows a lot of beers. Like, I know all of them. I think I know, I know a lot about movies. I had, like, multiple movies I was gonna bring to the podcast. So that's true. You do give

Ansel Burch 1:46

me a little credit, a lot about movies, which I suspect means we'll have you back shortly. I hope so. Yeah, I

Matt Donato 1:52

I've got a horror themed one. I've got, you know, it's all sci fi, it's all in there, but, yeah, some other choices. Ready?

Ben Silverio 1:59

Yeah. Well, you know, as long as you don't hate this first experience, we're totally down.

Speaker 1 2:04

That's true. We got three episodes to get through. This could change very drastically. Yeah,

Ben Silverio 2:10

well, this month, on time to party, Matt Donato has brought us the what's a good way to describe this movie? This is just a wild fucking ride of a movie.

Ansel Burch 2:21

Yeah? Wow. What a hell of a thing. Yeah, the I would say it's difficult to categorize 2023

Matt Donato 2:27

film. I was gonna say I think it's utterly delightful. I think it's just IMDb says it's a comedy, yeah, oh, it's 100% a comedy. And I, I'm surprised I went with this film, because, as Ben knows and use you will get to know Ansel, like I am a horror guy, like, first and foremost, horror is my genre. So the one movie I really wanted to bring, I opted out of, because river, to me, deserves so much goddamn love. If you don't know what river is, that makes sense, because I saw it at Fantasia Film Festival. It never really got the actual distribution. And then Brad Henderson at television, he is able to release things on Blu ray. And he's like, why is river still sitting around? What the fuck So, technically, Brad was the one that rescued River and put it out there on Blu ray so it no one knows about it, you know? So river had to be done. It was, it's

Ansel Burch 3:14

just this might be the first film where we actually have a significant impact on their distribution. Oh, look at us. I mean, that's a few 1000 people that might not have heard of this film before, whereas, you know, everybody, all the other movies we've, you know, like, oh, somebody would have heard of this eventually. But this one,

Ben Silverio 3:34

yes. So hopefully, after listening to our randomness, you'll want to check out this movie, which is called River. It's from director junta Yamaguchi and writer Makoto Ueda. I probably masculine their names, I'm so sorry. But if they do sound familiar to you, party people, it is because we covered their other movie beyond the infinite two minutes previously on the pod, and they're fucking awesome.

Ansel Burch 4:05

I love the consistency of it being two minutes as well. Like, there's something very, very cool about picking that random number and then sticking with it for a second film. I love that there was still more to play with.

Ben Silverio 4:18

Yes, and I'm sure we will get into that much more in detail in our second episode. That's right time for that? Yes, there's a time and place for everything. It's booze time. It's a booze time. Yes, starting off with our party favors. Yeah, we have our drinking and smoking rules as usual in our first episode. So

Ansel Burch 4:41

hey, Ben, can I slow you down for a hot second? Because I got some feedback that we have been lazy about explaining the format of the show recently. Do you want to tell them what episodes two and three are gonna look like?

Ben Silverio 4:54

Oh my god, Sure, absolutely. Well, the way things work here at Time to party is that we break down. Uh, each movie into three different episodes. First, our first episode, we give you our party favors, some drinking and smoking rules that you can apply to your RE watch, or first time watch, if you're so inclined. Our second episode is where we review the movie, get into all the nitty gritty and act like film critics, because, you know, I guess I'm technically one, right? Yeah. And then our third episode, we have edutainment. Just imagine the hand motion that goes along with that word, just because we here at Time to party. Think it's a party when you're learning. You know, knowledge is part of the party. So we bring you so exactly nerds at heart never really grow out of it. Yep, we bring you some very, very shallow, shallow into some cool things that we found from the movie, or things were that were inspired by the movie this month, you might get a little hungry, even Ooh or easier, but yes, before we can get to that, we have our drinking and smoking game. So Matt as our guest, would you like to go first? Yeah.

Matt Donato 6:17

I mean, could do I just start with one roll one by one. It's so funny because a time loop movie, I mentioned this to Ben via text, and I'm like, This is gonna be so easy to do a drinking game for because, listen, I'm gonna get the easy one out of the way. Every time there's a reset, you have to drink. Like, that's, that's the first rule that's, it's in this, it's in the movie, like they did it for you.

Ansel Burch 6:40

Yeah, yeah, that's a, that's a SIP rule for sure, though, you don't die.

Matt Donato 6:46

What about like a two sip? What I mean,

Ansel Burch 6:48

if it's, if it's beer, if it's like a, yeah, but the

Ben Silverio 6:52

movie is like, what, 87 minutes, yeah, every two minutes, like, that's a, that's a good night, right? That's, that's true. What

Matt Donato 7:01

do you mean? Some sips, you're fine.

Ben Silverio 7:06

Well, my first rule is take a drink whenever someone mentions snow like it's this looming thing throughout the majority of the first act. And then once you know things progress, uh, snow starts to manifest in other ways, other than just talking about it. So I think it's an interesting to interesting thing to take note of while watching the movie, and this rule can help you do that. There

Ansel Burch 7:29

you go. I also had a sort of setting based rule. My first rule, I would like you to take a drink every time they look out across something, so either the river or the road. There are a lot of these nice wide shots where you're sort of observing this space, where things transit by. And it's an important metaphor. So take a drink

Matt Donato 7:54

metaphors. I'm gonna take a shot. Rule. I'm gonna do one and and I'm gonna say, take a shot every time someone dies. Oh, yeah, that's a good one. That's because it's not too much, like I'm not, it's, it's not a lot, but it's very important to the movie and the themes. So I really adore the fact that, you know, I think we should celebrate the dead, even though they don't remain dead. Yeah, I

Ansel Burch 8:18

always like to imagine the shot rule is something that you do as a room, and there's something, there's something very satisfying about someone dying in the movie and everybody going the

Matt Donato 8:31

spirit of the movie. Still, it's still a comedy. At the end of the day, it's comedy.

Ben Silverio 8:36

It's interesting that your second one was a shot rule, because so is mine, and mine kind of goes with Matt's too. So, I mean, again, doesn't happen a whole lot, but like, when it happens, it's just like, oh shit. So my rule is, take a shot when a character lets an intrusive thought win. Ooh, yeah, there are specific examples that I don't want to spoil, I guess, but it's just like when these characters think of something like, No, I shouldn't do that and then act on it like, I think those are moments worth pointing it out.

Ansel Burch 9:14

I think the thesis of this movie is your self control lasts about two minutes.

Ben Silverio 9:22

That tracks, I that totally applies. I get it. Hey, should I buy cards this week? No, I shouldn't. $300 later.

Matt Donato 9:32

Oh, no, everything restarted. Okay, I want to now.

Ansel Burch 9:36

What's the point? Even? Okay, my next rule is to take a drink whenever you meet a new character or set location. Oh, okay, so you'll get a lot of new characters at the beginning, and then a lot of new set locations towards the middle end, and then a little bit more character at the end. And yeah. So every time somebody new. Where you go to a new place,

Ben Silverio 10:00

a pretty consistent one, yeah, yes,

Ansel Burch 10:03

it's decent.

Matt Donato 10:06

So I have a, I have a drink rule that kind of goes along with the landscape. One you said, but if you want to do a variation on it, I had, every time someone mentions how beautiful Communis and how beautiful the you know, the territory is, yeah, because it is a they shot on location. It is a gorgeous resort area, and I think again, to honor that would be worth a sipper, because it happens quite a bit. The film keeps going.

Ansel Burch 10:33

I suspect the Tourism Board had a hand in paying for this movie.

Matt Donato 10:37

And if not, the director and everybody should have gotten some money for doing propaganda. Right there. Absolutely.

Ben Silverio 10:45

They all got to stay in those rooms you saw in the movie for free.

Ansel Burch 10:47

I mean, probably

Ben Silverio 10:51

my last rule, because, as I mentioned, this is only an 87 minute movie. It's a it's a short one, but you know, it packs a punch, for sure. My last rule is to take a hit whenever chef edgy tries to explain what's going on.

Matt Donato 11:10

I love that guy. I love that guy so much when he gets so mad the first time that he can't get everything out in the two minutes and is it come back here, it just kind of just fades to black. I He's so intense for no reason. And it is a lovely, a lovely detail this character,

Ansel Burch 11:29

that is a very good choice. My last one is to take a drink whenever the characters drink,

Ben Silverio 11:36

oh, like only sips or drink as much as the characters are drinking. Uh,

Ansel Burch 11:43

I think you're probably safe to drink as much as the characters drink based upon how much they drink. Over the course of this, you'll be, you'll be well said at the beginning, and then you'll be okay for the rest of the movie, because

Matt Donato 11:57

it's like they shoot the Saki at one point. Yeah, you know, there's, there's a little bit of that, but like you said, there's, there are lulls with that rule. That rule does have, has nothing to do for a little bit. Yeah,

Ben Silverio 12:06

I was just thinking of the innkeeper who, like, poured half that bottle into that glass, and

Matt Donato 12:17

you just got to survive one obstacle in your phone.

Ben Silverio 12:21

That's what makes it a game, right?

Ansel Burch 12:22

Depends on which challenging, yeah,

Matt Donato 12:24

access religion. Legends are Made, baby.

Ben Silverio 12:28

Well, all right, that is our roster of drinking, smoking, rules for river. If you want to check out the movie so you can play the games, you can find it on Prime Video, yep, but as Matt also mentioned, you can get it on physical media, where you will find a special surprise from Mr. Matt Donato as well. Yeah,

Matt Donato 12:53

me and me and film critic Robert hunter. I don't know I call him Robert. He goes by rob me and film critic Rob hunter did the audio commentary for river, because we both saw it at Fantasia and were huge champions of it right out the gate. And again, no one else talked about it. So we have our in we know Brad Henderson, and he's like, Hey, you want to come do the commentary? We're like, hell yeah, we do. So that was baby Donatos first commentary ever on a Blu Ray, and hit the ground running, baby,

Ansel Burch 13:20

that's sick as hell.

Ben Silverio 13:21

So who better to talk about river than an expert? Yeah,

Ansel Burch 13:25

I mean, just practically in the movie,

Matt Donato 13:29

seen it, depending on how you watch at this point,

Ben Silverio 13:34

that is amazing. So while we will be the words are hard, says the host of a podcast, I

Ansel Burch 13:44

believe in you,

Ben Silverio 13:47

yes, and so we will be digging into Matt's expertise in our second episode when we get into our review of river. So make sure you come back next week. Until then, you can join the conversation. You can find me on the internet. I'm at B silver 20 on Instagram, X letter box, than some other places. Probably

Matt Donato 14:12

Matt. You can find me Matt Donato at Donato bomb on Twitter. Sorry, not Twitter. I am done with Twitter. I am on blue sky letterbox and Instagram, where you will find many things like my entire coverage of South by Southwest, recently and upcoming, overlooked Film Fest

Ansel Burch 14:28

coverage, and what's name of your podcast?

Matt Donato 14:31

Oh, that's right, I always forget I do a podcast that's pretty cool. You could also listen to certified forgotten me and Matt monocle co host a podcast about horror movies with 10 or less critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. So we try to dig up the Forgotten films by film critics. Because, you know, we're not perfect.

Ansel Burch 14:47

No you can find me Ansel Burch at the indecisionist on all of the meta properties, as well as blue sky and tick tock and YouTube and all the places. You can also check out my other podcast for the time. Am being which just released its first big adventures last month, and you're hearing this, so go check out the Akkad arc, our first storyline. You can find out the rest of the stuff that I'm doing at indecisionist.com Special. Thanks to April Moralba for our podcast art, and to Marlon Longid of Marlon and the Shakes for our amazing theme song. You can

Ben Silverio 15:21

join the conversation if you're still on social platforms that use hashtags, by using the hashtag time two party. That's time the number two party

Ansel Burch 15:29

as well as time the number two party, all spelled out thanks to war party. People

Ben Silverio 15:33

come back next week. We're really gonna get into this movie, because it's awesome and you deserve to hear all about it. Until then, be excellent to each other and party

Matt Donato 15:43

on is

Ben Silverio 15:47

not any specific song

Matt Donato 15:51

so we don't get canceled.

Ansel Burch 15:55

No copyright strikes here.

Ben Silverio 15:57

No, that's why, legally our theme song is not the power of

Speaker 1 16:02

love or power. I was gonna say like I knew the song it was, but it wasn't good job. Good job, boys, you got around that one. Marlon killed him on that. Yeah, he did. You.