The Couch Critic
The Couch Critic is your laid-back guide to movies and TV shows that deserve your attention—or maybe don’t. Nathan dives deep into storytelling, character development, and cinematic style with a sharp eye and a wry sense of humor. Whether it’s a blockbuster hit, a hidden gem, or a cult classic, Nathan’s relatable approach ensures every episode feels like a cozy chat with a friend who just happens to love film. Perfect for casual watchers and cinephiles alike, The Couch Critic brings thoughtful critique without the fluff. Grab your favorite snack, settle in, and let Nathan guide you through the world of screen entertainment.
The Couch Critic
Dissecting Sci-Fi Films: An Examination of 'The Creator' (Happy Birthday to Natey's Dad!)
What if you could peel back the layers of an original Sci-Fi movie with a fresh perspective? Join the dynamic duo, Natey and Katy, as we dissect "The Creator," a colossal battle saga between AI robots and humans. We dive deep into the performances of John David Washington, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, and Gemma Chan. While Katy and I had contrasting views, one thing was certain - the movie was a rollercoaster of emotions and thought-provoking concepts. We also promise not to ruin it for you with spoilers!
We bare our honest thoughts on this film's box office performance, and ponder over what could have caused its downfall. More than just a review, we explore the vital importance of supporting original films. It's a whirlwind of movie talk you won't want to miss!
One's a movie buff, one watches movies, just enough. Together, fun will be had by all. This is Nady and Katie at the Movies. Hello everyone, and welcome to a brand new episode of Nady and Katie at the Movies. I'm your host, nathan, aka Nady, of course, and with me on this episode is my good friend Katie. Hi, katie, how are you?
Speaker 2:I'm great Just dealing with my house flooding under the sink Casual things on a Wednesday. Actually, more importantly, I was Amazon Prime shopping because Amazon Prime Day? Because it's a special person's birthday tomorrow.
Speaker 1:Well, technically, when this episode drops, my birthday has already passed, but when we're recording, yes, my birthday is tomorrow, october 12th, and I am turning and I already am when this episode drops 37 years old. So sorry to confuse everyone, but yes, in the future, I'm already 73. I'm already 37. Some students thought I was like in my 50s when I asked what they thought I was turning on my birthday. So yeah, elementary children will really make you feel old, very old.
Speaker 2:I guess it's. I don't know if that means that you're mature or you're just mature looking.
Speaker 1:Or I just get really grumpy like an old man very easily.
Speaker 2:Well, happy late birthday.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much. And speaking of things that we should celebrate, we're talking about an original movie finally getting past all the reboots, the sequels. We're talking about an original movie. The only downside is is that this original movie did not do very well in the box office, so I don't know what that says. People, you know, complain all the time how they want original movies, and then an original movie comes out and what takes over the box office? Saltin and Paul Patrol, the mighty heroes, two sequels.
Speaker 1:But the movie we're talking about today is the creator, or, before we can talk about it, I got to go over the synopsis. Against the backdrop of a war between humans and robots with AI, a former soldier finds the secret weapon a robot in the form of a young child. The creator stars John David Washington, madeleine Yuna Voiles and Jim Achan. If the name John David Washington sounds familiar, it's because he is the son of the amazing Denzel Washington, which is crazy, because when you hear this guy speak, you can totally hear his father, which is really, really cool. So let's dive right into our likes and dislikes for the creator. Katie, what did you think of the creator?
Speaker 2:I was excited about it. First of all, going into it, I thought that it was going to be exciting just because it seemed to get a lot of hype and I was anticipating it be a movie that would make me think and it kind of to me. This is all. Before seeing the movie, it threw out vibes of like the Matrix or Inception or even like some of the more wacky stuff. Like I wasn't sure how it would go. It's going to be other AI stuff like ex machina, like kind of horror AI, but I was excited to see what they were going to do with the artificial intelligence and if it was going to be, I didn't know, are they going to be good guys or bad guys? So in general, I did like the movie.
Speaker 2:I was definitely entertained and my go to thing that I tell you, Nathan, is I have to either laugh or cry or be surprised, and I cried, for sure, Didn't really laugh, but it's not meant to be a funny movie and I definitely thought it made me think a lot. So I would already go ahead and say big like for me, even though this may not be my specific genre. What about you? I can't remember if you're a big sci-fi guy. I know we like Star Wars, but how do you feel about sci-fi like futuristic stuff?
Speaker 1:I mean, yeah, I'm a big fan of sci-fi movies. I like the Terminator, I like anything that deals with robots, I'm all about it. So, going into this movie, I already knew I was going to enjoy it. I will say it is an original film, which is an applause for Hollywood Yay, originality. But at the same time it kind of feels like stuff we've seen before. The humans want to get this weapon because it's bad, and then the guy who finds it is like, is it really bad? And then he ends up trying to protect this weapon because it's not bad. So I think we've seen this storyline before. So when they say originality, I mean I take that with a grain of salt. I mean because, again, we've seen this typical storyline before.
Speaker 1:But one of my biggest likes is, I do think, the acting in this movie. Everyone does a really good job. There's not a weak link in the film. I think John David Washington just does a really good job with playing just this conflicted character throughout the whole film. Whose side does he want to be on? And then obviously he ends up wanting to be on the side of this AI child because it is revealed that he has a connection with this child, which I did think was kind of cool.
Speaker 1:I thought that his actual connection with this quote unquote weapon was a unique original idea which I don't think has really been done before. I don't know how much we want to dive into spoilers for this movie. It's already been out for a while. It actually came out the exact same day as Saltin and the Paul Petro movie, which I think is kind of funny that we kind of push this one to the side because of how original it is and we forego doing the two sequels for our past episode. If you haven't listened to it, go ahead and listen to it. It was awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, in terms of spoilers, I mean you're right. If you guys have not seen the movie and you're listening now, please, I would say we both seem to probably agree. I bet that this would be one to see. So I don't know that there's going to be a major, major spoiler, because this is not like a thriller or a mystery, like I think you can kind of get an idea of what may or may not happen towards the end.
Speaker 2:I liked the acting, like you said, I think the most interesting thing for me.
Speaker 2:I don't know if it's a like or dislike, but I was expecting the movie to be way more focused on AI, right, like maybe almost freak me out or like go really into detail of skills of AI or how AI does take over the world.
Speaker 2:I'm thinking like that was that Will Smith movie kind of picturing that basically that movie, since they're at war with the world, slash mostly the Americans, but it turned out to be more of a discrimination and like us first them and equality. I was kind of like trying to research a little bit more about the meaning of this movie and I did really appreciate a question I saw someone ask, which was who has the right to live. Because the whole argument is do these AI beings are they? If they're sentient, like? Do they have the right to live and who? How? How do we decide who has the right to live? And, of course, our main character, joshua, that's the archegos. Or, as he goes from the beginning of the movie saying they are robots, they are literally robots. They might not look like a robot, but they're just a robot. And by the end of the movie he's like super bought in, he's like okay, maybe I was wrong.
Speaker 1:Without going into spoilers, the reason he comes to that conclusion is because of the big connection he has with this again quote unquote weapon, which again I thought was really cool. I thought it was really unique to go with that kind of I wouldn't really call it a twist, but to go in that direction for this movie. Now, this being said, I know you said that we probably both agree that people need to go see it in theaters. Visually, yes, it's kind of like how I felt with the haunting in Venice. Visually, I think that's a reason enough to go see it in theaters.
Speaker 1:I will say this, I'm gonna be honest as as unique as it was and as I as much as I like the connection he has with the child robot, I thought the movie was kind of boring. Not gonna lie, there were moments that it kind of gave me 65 vibes. And if you remember, way back in this season of the podcast, we reviewed a movie with Adam driver and and he kind of had a connection somewhat with the little girl character. It kind of gave me vibes of that in this movie at times. And if you know how I felt about 65, you know I gave that movie a one. I'm not gonna give this movie a one. So don't you know, don't freak out about that because I did enjoy this more, a lot more than 65. But there were moments that I was kind of okay. This is, this is getting kind of boring.
Speaker 1:Towards the end it was like a slow burn and it picked up with the action. I think, because I'm an action person, there wasn't a lot of action at the beginning is like very. It was very much story driven, which is not necessarily bad, because I know I've said in the past that I'm a big story person. It was very story heavy at the beginning and then it picked up with the action towards the middle of the film and and continuing on. There were also moments where I got confused because they did have like flashback moments, like they would go back and forth between the present and the past and then, close to the end of the movie they did this thing and I wasn't sure if it was the past or the present, and it was when he finally reunites With his wife. But I wasn't sure if it was the past because his hair was different than it was, had just been in a previous scene. But it wasn't a flashback, it was the present. It just took, it just Confused me a little bit.
Speaker 2:Well, there's a point where he thinks he's gonna get to meet up with his wife and he's like I remember he's like taking out his braids, so I think he was like Trying to make his hair look like it looked when he first had met her, like so she recognized him. More. To your point of it not being that exciting of a movie, I definitely think that it's the ideas and those big questions that make you think that made it exciting. But to your point on the movie plot itself, yeah, I mean a lot of it's just like I don't know, it's kind of random, scattered again, not to go into tune spoilers.
Speaker 2:His job to stop this thing. That is supposedly the super weapon that the AI has that is going to destroy America or the world possibly. And I was kind of laughing because he makes his choice not to destroy the weapon. He has a choice he can destroy it or not. And it's like it's just funny because Could it just end of the movie right there, like if he had done the job he was supposed to do? Boom, everything done.
Speaker 1:Yes, if there was no connection between him and this girl, then, yes, the movie would be pointless, and so obviously, that's why I enjoyed that Added connection.
Speaker 2:Here's a question I have how do you feel like this relates to as Christians, like our faith, like they're? You know the movie's called the creator. They talk about heaven. I think there's even one part. It's like Adam and Eve or alpha. No, I think alpha and omega are mentioned. He'd feel like this is trying to make any agenda or point towards Religion.
Speaker 1:I know we say we weren't gonna go in a spoiler. So the creator I think, from what I've saw the movie is Is talking about the fact that this weapon was created by John David Washington's character's wife, because at the beginning of the movie it's revealed that they were pregnant. I don't know if they were hinting that their child died, I don't know, but she basically used the personality of their child to create this weapon. So there you have it. That's the spoiler. That's the connection he has with the girl. It's basically a droid version of his daughter, and so they are both the creator, basically, of this weapon, and I'm assuming that's where the title, the creator, comes from. I didn't see it so much as having a Christian undertone or anything like that. I mean that's basically what I think the title is coming from.
Speaker 2:It's not something. The movie itself may be discussed. It may be brought up more questions than any answers, which I actually do like, and forget that for that. That's why I do appreciate this movie. It made me think. It makes me wanna have conversations with friends. There's even a funny. I'm gonna read this quote to you. It's like one of my favorite quotes in the movie. We're the same. We can't go to heaven because you're not good and I'm not a person. First of all, theologically speaking, you don't have to be a good person to go to heaven, just for anyone listening. But it does break up the point, like if AI somehow became this people group, like they're not people. What defines a soul? What is a soul? Are we trying to be God in the real world? It makes me think about. I think that's what the creator means. We are trying to be the creator.
Speaker 1:So I guess the big question is why did this movie not do well in the box office?
Speaker 2:Yeah, do you have an answer? I heard that it was because it got too much hype and then the hype was not met and therefore it's a decent movie, but it was overly hyped.
Speaker 1:Which is kind of weird, because I remember when the movie Avatar came out, that movie was getting a lot of hype. I did not think the movie Avatar was that good, but it made billions of buttloads of money, right, because it was toted as this original film, as original sci-fi film, and it did extremely well in the box office. I still don't understand why. Visually it was stunning, just like this movie was, but the plot was just flat to me. But this isn't about Avatar, but I'm saying that because the creator kind of is the same for me. It was hyped very much as this original sci-fi movie. You go see it. Visually it's stunning. What they did with the CGI and with the droids and all that stuff, I think is phenomenal. I think that's great. But the story itself was flat for me. But this movie didn't make billions and buttloads of money.
Speaker 1:I think it's because we're so saturated with things that we say we don't want. But those are the things we go see, like sequels and reboots. We go see them even though we complain that that's all Hollywood is doing. And then when they finally say, hey, here's something original, we're like, no, that's boring, which I did think this movie was kind of boring. I think it's because we don't know what we want but we complain and say that we do know what we want and because a lot of these movies nowadays aren't doing well in the box office because the strike's going on. So you have the actors who can't go out and promote it and the writers just started back because the writer strike just ended, again complaining about originality. They're just gonna come out and write reboots and remakes and sequels, but we'll go see them and then complain about it.
Speaker 2:So I guess I don't have a that's a good point.
Speaker 1:I mean, I guess I don't have like a full answer as to why it didn't do well in the box office. I think it was because of when it was released. It came out the same day as Salton. It came out the same day as a Paw Patrol movie. It had competition. That's probably another reason why I didn't do well, and so there's probably a plethora of reasons. But you know what? Let's just go right into Rating this thing. But before we grade this thing, I want to give our listeners a just a sneak peek of what we're gonna be reviewing Next week. So take a listen. No, but seriously, y'all, I'm gonna miss you all so much. Two weeks without seeing your faces and I won't tell you something. I love y'all. I won't say God bless you during this time. Hit it Please, professor Gorge. She's not big bad person. How you doing there, valerie, what's all this? Putting up here a barricade? That's horseshit. Hello.
Speaker 2:We ain't gonna let you in. If you buy some weed Something, I'll buy a pork Also.
Speaker 1:Bless my pork, brother. Don't whine, please. So it's not gonna be such a fast. Call the governor secretary. Have her post a position for a death row prison guard. Go, do God's work, valerie. Thank you, chrissy. What the hell are you doing? Going to work, just like you? You saying a nightclub, really? I couldn't help but notice. Good God, who the hell do you think you are? I should be the same to myself. You think you're so perfect because you're the warden. Good morning, mr Jackson. I got your new guard here. Her name is Valerie, so I remember a stride and we all cheered you disgrudged me.
Speaker 2:I'm not saying we're friends, but I read an article. They said you was the hero.
Speaker 1:She was busy, I told him. I said I cannot sit here all day in silence.
Speaker 2:What'd he say?
Speaker 1:He didn't say a word, not a word. You don't think it makes me sick to my stomach knowing that in eight days I gotta put him to his death? I asked your Lord Jesus to protect my daughter, me, and you were raised to bend rules. You are a lady Now you bend All right. So that is Shelter in Solitude, a brand new independent film. I believe it might just be me reviewing it, but I'm super excited about talking about it.
Speaker 2:To be fair, I don't think it's showing where Katie is.
Speaker 1:That's why it's not because she doesn't want to, it's because it's not showing, because, again, it is an independent film, but let's go right into our rating for the creator. So, katie, what would you give the creator? One to six stars.
Speaker 2:What you were sharing right there at the end really has made me think more, and almost think more highly, because I wanted to do well the fact that it's a unique storyline. I did not feel like it was copy and paste. I didn't exactly predict the ending and I appreciated that it was not big name I mean, they're not fringe people but like there was no major actor that you could try to sell movies. Because, though and so is in this that says a lot for me and I love that, and I want more movies like that to succeed. Like I said too, I've thought a lot about it after, and I was entertained and I cried, so that gives me what I wanted. I think it's going to be 5.5, which I feel is going to be much higher than you, but I liked it.
Speaker 1:That is very generous for this movie. I will go a little lower than that. I was thinking about going really low because, again, I didn't think it didn't hold my attention the entire time, but because I'm a fan of Denzel Washington, I guess I got to be a fan of his son too. So that kind of helps this film. And again, I liked the visually. It was stunning and I did like the twist with the connection that he had with the weapon. So I'm going to give the creator a solid four out of six stars, which isn't crazy low, but it's also not a 5.5.
Speaker 2:So that is the theater.
Speaker 1:So if you haven't seen it, I don't know if it's still in theaters. It's been a couple of weeks. So if it is, please, you know, go support original films. There's not that many out there and, as you heard a little bit earlier, the shelter and solitude will be coming out next week. I'm just going to go ahead and tell you I really enjoyed it, so I'm excited about talking about it. Katie, do you have something to give us to end this episode?
Speaker 2:Actually very serious one this time, nathan, because we believe in the creator, god. I'll end with this quote from Saint Ignatius says the more completely we focus our attention on our creator and Lord, the less chance there is of being distracted by its creatures.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to Nadie and Katie at the Moody's. Feel free to leave us a review so people can find the show. Follow us on all our social media platforms and if there's a movie that you want us to watch, feel free to contact us at Nadie and Katie at gmailcom. Thanks for listening and have a great day.
