66) Secondhand Lions

[00:00:28] Welcome back to Casabloga. In today's episode, I am talking about Secondhand Lions, which is a 2003 film written and directed by Tim McKenley and starring Haley Jo Osment, Michael Caine, and Robert Duvall.

[00:00:47] I saw this movie when it came out in 2003. It was one of those movies, it's like, it was a huge hit when it first came out. Everyone was talking about it when it came out, and then very few people remember it.

[00:01:06] Every now and then, I hear it mentioned, but it's kind of as a joke. When people mention Fabio, it's kind of like, it's so random. It's one of those kind of things. I don't know if that makes sense to anybody but me.

[00:01:26] I only see Fabio mentioned as, I don't want to say a punchline, but like, he'll mention, people mention randomly, and then Secondhand Lions will be mentioned randomly.

[00:01:40] I actually, it's funny, I have had Secondhand Lions on my list to do all season. So I was already planning on doing this. And then the other day I was watching Community, and they mentioned Secondhand Lions.

[00:01:57] Which, which isn't that surprising in retrospect, because it's very pop culture heavy. So they basically just, each episode is basically just listing pop culture references.

[00:02:08] So Secondhand Lions was bound to come up eventually. So I don't know if that's really that surprising. But anyway.

[00:02:15] So the story of this one is basically this kid, he's dropped off at his uncle's house, at his two uncles' house.

[00:02:24] And his mom goes to, well she says El Paso, but she's actually going to Vegas.

[00:02:32] And he doesn't want to, he doesn't want to go. He's dealt with enough.

[00:02:40] And he quickly realizes that his uncles are quite interesting actually.

[00:02:45] They say that they had a really exciting life.

[00:02:52] And they said, like, they went to, I believe, Morocco in Africa.

[00:02:56] They were, they started in Europe in the French army, I want to believe, I want to say.

[00:03:05] And then they ended up in Morocco.

[00:03:11] And went on a whole bunch of adventures.

[00:03:15] With the film you find out about all these adventures they went on.

[00:03:19] And the, uh, one of the brothers married a princess named Jasmine.

[00:03:29] Which, a princess named Jasmine, where have I heard of that before?

[00:03:36] Eh, I don't know. It's unique. Never heard of that before.

[00:03:42] And throughout the movie you're left wondering, is this real? Are they just making this up?

[00:03:47] Did it really happen? There's no way this could possibly be real.

[00:03:52] And by the end, you find out definitively if it's true or not.

[00:03:57] Well, in the context of the movie, obviously it's fiction.

[00:04:00] But you know what I mean.

[00:04:02] In the context of the story, you find out if it's true or not.

[00:04:06] And you're basically led all over, like, is it true? It's not true? It's true? It's not true?

[00:04:12] But I don't want to spoil the ending.

[00:04:16] It's not really readily available.

[00:04:18] I couldn't find it streaming anywhere.

[00:04:19] I found it on Blu-ray for $9.

[00:04:23] I did not buy it, though, for some reason.

[00:04:26] It's been in my Amazon cart for months because I knew I was going to cover it.

[00:04:31] But I never bought it. I don't know why.

[00:04:33] Like I said, it's $9.

[00:04:36] I've bought way more expensive movies for a review.

[00:04:39] So I don't know why I never bought that one.

[00:04:43] Instead, what I ended up having to do was rent it on YouTube.

[00:04:46] So that's what I ended up doing.

[00:04:50] You know what's funny about this, though?

[00:04:52] Like I said, I saw it when it first came out.

[00:04:54] We had it on VHS.

[00:05:00] And I've seen it like a hundred times.

[00:05:07] And it wasn't until this watch, because that's the first time I've seen it in,

[00:05:15] I'm trying not to say 20 years, but, you know, it's been 20 years.

[00:05:21] But I didn't realize that it was an all-star cast until this time.

[00:05:27] Because it's Haley Duvall's man.

[00:05:29] He plays the kid.

[00:05:30] And I didn't realize it was him.

[00:05:34] And the uncles are played by Michael Caine and Robert Duvall,

[00:05:39] which are like Hollywood legends.

[00:05:45] And directed by Tim McKenley.

[00:05:49] Okay, honestly, you've probably never heard of that.

[00:05:52] I had to look him up.

[00:05:54] And I wish I had known him.

[00:05:56] There's two projects that he's been part of that I was like,

[00:06:00] oh, that's kind of cool.

[00:06:01] So, he came up with the concept of Smallville.

[00:06:05] And he wrote The Iron Giant.

[00:06:10] So, that's pretty cool.

[00:06:12] Especially that Iron Giant part.

[00:06:14] I've never seen Smallville.

[00:06:15] But I know what it is.

[00:06:16] I know what the concept is.

[00:06:18] So, that's a thing.

[00:06:22] Iron Giant, however, is a very nostalgic movie for me.

[00:06:26] I see it as a Christmas movie,

[00:06:27] because I got the movie for Christmas in 1999.

[00:06:32] And it came with a little Iron Man,

[00:06:35] an Iron Giant action figure.

[00:06:38] And ever since then, I've seen it as a Christmas movie.

[00:06:41] I think there is snow in the movie.

[00:06:42] I haven't seen that one in so many movies I haven't seen in 20 years.

[00:06:53] I hate that.

[00:06:59] But anyway, yeah.

[00:07:03] You know what's funny?

[00:07:09] I don't remember much about this movie.

[00:07:12] I mean, I didn't remember much about this movie when I had first seen it.

[00:07:18] But, I just remembered the basic premise.

[00:07:21] And I really liked it as a kid.

[00:07:23] And so, it was basically like watching it for the first time.

[00:07:32] I remember thinking, oh, it's called Secondhand Lions.

[00:07:36] And it's more of a metaphor than a literal Secondhand Lions.

[00:07:44] Like, what even does that mean?

[00:07:46] Wait, no.

[00:07:47] Whatever does that mean?

[00:07:48] And, no.

[00:07:50] No, no, no.

[00:07:50] It's a literal Secondhand Lion.

[00:07:58] And, yeah.

[00:07:59] There's a whole scene explaining it.

[00:08:02] There's this traveling salesman.

[00:08:03] The two uncles are said to be very rich.

[00:08:08] And so, there's traveling salesmen coming all the time.

[00:08:12] They'll park the cars in front of the house.

[00:08:14] And they'll get out and they'll start to pitch.

[00:08:16] And the uncles will put out their shotguns and fire in their direction.

[00:08:21] And they'll drive off.

[00:08:22] And there's this one salesman that will not give up.

[00:08:25] And he was like, hey, I have just the thing that you two will like.

[00:08:32] Finally.

[00:08:33] And not shoot at me.

[00:08:35] Over.

[00:08:38] And finally, the kid was like, hey, you have all this money.

[00:08:41] Why not use it?

[00:08:42] And he gets them to buy one of those catapult things for shooting.

[00:08:50] Where you go, pull!

[00:08:50] And then they pull the lever and the plate flies.

[00:08:53] And then they shoot it.

[00:08:56] And then, after that, they start buying things from this salesman.

[00:09:01] And basically, anything he offers after that.

[00:09:04] Because suddenly, they're growing crops.

[00:09:09] But, like...

[00:09:12] They're not labeled correctly.

[00:09:14] Like, there's...

[00:09:15] I want to say, like, ten rows of crops.

[00:09:19] And each one has, like, you know, here's a corn row.

[00:09:23] Here's, like, a potato row.

[00:09:25] Here's radish.

[00:09:26] Here's tomato.

[00:09:28] Here's all these.

[00:09:29] Then, like, the kid, Haley Jo Osment, realizes that...

[00:09:33] You know, like...

[00:09:35] They've been telling this for a while.

[00:09:37] And it's growing.

[00:09:38] But they all look the same.

[00:09:41] All the...

[00:09:42] All the plant coming out of the ground.

[00:09:45] And they all look exactly the same.

[00:09:47] And he's like, hey, wait a second.

[00:09:51] These don't look right.

[00:09:52] And then they were like, oh, we've been had.

[00:09:55] He duped us again.

[00:09:58] I think it was the first time they were duped.

[00:09:59] So, I don't know why I said again.

[00:10:02] It ended up being corn.

[00:10:04] And so, they had, like, this large, like, corn...

[00:10:09] Jungle forest thing.

[00:10:11] And then, one of the things he offers are, um...

[00:10:15] Like, zoo animals.

[00:10:16] Giraffes.

[00:10:18] Um...

[00:10:19] A lion.

[00:10:22] Those are the only animals I remember.

[00:10:25] Because the giraffe is, like, one of my favorite animals.

[00:10:28] And I see it.

[00:10:29] And I'm like, hey.

[00:10:30] It was a giraffe.

[00:10:32] And I like the giraffes.

[00:10:35] And then...

[00:10:36] I remember the lion because...

[00:10:39] It was the name of the movie.

[00:10:42] And also, it was a major plot point that he had...

[00:10:47] You know, in this movie called Secondhand Lions, it was a major plot point that he had a...

[00:10:54] Uh...

[00:10:54] A secondhand lion.

[00:10:57] Like, that's the name of the movie!

[00:11:00] Basically, yeah.

[00:11:01] That's...

[00:11:02] Yeah.

[00:11:02] That's how I felt when it...

[00:11:04] Like, they...

[00:11:05] Lowered the...

[00:11:06] The door of the crate.

[00:11:09] And then...

[00:11:11] Or the opening of the crate.

[00:11:12] And then there was, like, a lion.

[00:11:14] It's kind of old.

[00:11:15] Laying down.

[00:11:17] And, like...

[00:11:18] The lion was...

[00:11:21] Was tired.

[00:11:22] Didn't really do much.

[00:11:23] But really liked the kid.

[00:11:25] Uh...

[00:11:25] Took a...

[00:11:26] Took a quick liking to the kid.

[00:11:29] And...

[00:11:30] That comes, uh...

[00:11:31] Comes back into play later in the movie.

[00:11:34] Um...

[00:11:35] Again, I don't want to spoil the movie.

[00:11:38] I don't want to spoil what happened at the end.

[00:11:42] Which is weird because I usually only do that for movies that aren't very popular.

[00:11:46] And are readily available for streaming.

[00:11:50] And this one is not very popular.

[00:11:53] Yet, I was only able to watch it by renting it on YouTube.

[00:11:59] So, I don't know why I'm not spoiling it.

[00:12:03] I could just be like, oh, in the ending this happened.

[00:12:05] But I'm not.

[00:12:05] I don't want to.

[00:12:06] I will let you figure it out on your own.

[00:12:12] If you so choose.

[00:12:18] I do highly recommend it if you decide to get it.

[00:12:22] Renting it on YouTube, I think...

[00:12:24] Um...

[00:12:27] I've rent movies on YouTube regularly.

[00:12:30] And I think they're all roughly the same time.

[00:12:33] Uh...

[00:12:33] Same price.

[00:12:34] Renting on YouTube, it's like $3.

[00:12:37] And it says you have like 30 days from the day you rented it to watch it.

[00:12:46] And once you start playing it, you have 24 hours after then.

[00:12:52] So...

[00:12:52] Yeah.

[00:12:54] I usually watch within the day.

[00:12:58] There was one movie that I rented, like, at work.

[00:13:01] And I was like, I'll watch this later when I get home.

[00:13:04] But then I got tired.

[00:13:05] I got home, I was tired, I fell asleep.

[00:13:07] So, like, I watched it, like, two days later.

[00:13:09] I forgot I had rented it.

[00:13:11] And I saw it on my thing.

[00:13:13] I saw it on my, um...

[00:13:15] The list thing.

[00:13:17] I was like, hey, I forgot to watch that.

[00:13:19] So, like...

[00:13:21] Luckily, it doesn't start the countdown until you start it.

[00:13:23] And it does, like, it does warn you.

[00:13:25] It doesn't just start, like, oop, it autoplayed.

[00:13:28] It, like, it warns you.

[00:13:29] And it's like, oh, hey, uh, if you start this, you have 24 hours.

[00:13:34] So, yeah.

[00:13:35] And you have to, like, accept.

[00:13:37] So, luckily, they're smart enough to not just have it autoplay.

[00:13:42] And, like, oh, your countdown started.

[00:13:44] I thought I had 30 days.

[00:13:48] But if you don't want to deal with YouTube streaming and buying it on there or renting it on there,

[00:13:53] you can also just, like I said, buy it on Blu-ray.

[00:13:56] It's, like, $9.

[00:13:57] I did find one for, like, $25.

[00:13:59] And it was, like, a fancier-looking case.

[00:14:03] I think it also was one disc.

[00:14:06] And, like, the same few features.

[00:14:08] I think it was just that you're basically just paying double for a fancy case.

[00:14:15] If it was, you know, if it was, like, two disc with loads of features.

[00:14:19] It was, like, a 20th anniversary edition.

[00:14:22] Yeah, I would say that was worth it.

[00:14:24] But if it's literally the $10 one with, if it's just the case, you're just paying extra for the case.

[00:14:33] And it's saying, no, I just get the $10 one.

[00:14:38] But, yeah, I think that's all I'm going to say about that.

[00:14:44] I do highly recommend it.

[00:14:46] I think I, and I do believe I did say that already.

[00:14:52] And cut.