Transcript

Miami Connection LIVE! w/ Chris Geere (HDTGM Matinee)

From How Did This Get Made? · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 18 min · 13,553 words · 347 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Miami Connection LIVE! w/ Chris Geere (HDTGM Matinee)", an episode of How Did This Get Made? published November 11, 2025 (1 h 18 min, about 13,553 words). It mentions 12 people, works and ideas, including Miami Connection, Jason Manzukas, June Diane Raphael, YK Kim, Dragon Sound.

What this episode is about

"Miami Connection" follows a music band of ninjas as they battle drug lords in Miami to secure a performance at Orlando's top music club. This live discussion explores the film's outrageous premise, iconic martial arts sequences, and the cultural impact of its campy charm.

Key takeaways

  • Ninja rock bands: where musical ambition meets martial arts mayhem, a genre all its own.
  • Miami Connection proves that an absurd premise can yield genuine entertainment—embrace the chaos!
  • Who knew drug lords would be allergic to groovy soundtracks? Miami's underbelly meets its match in music.
  • The equal distribution of vital and nonsensical scenes makes Miami Connection a masterclass in cinematic whimsy.
  • Can you really buy a movie you can't rewind? Miami Connection blurs the line between confusion and cult classic.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Miami Connection, Orlando, Jason Manzukas, June Diane Raphael
  2. – 20:00: Michael Phelps, YK Kim, Orlando, Dragon Sound
  3. – 30:00: Michael Phelps, YK Kim, Orlando
  4. – 40:00: YK Kim, Michael Phelps
  5. – 50:00: Orlando, Michael Phelps, YK Kim
  6. – 1:00:00: Orlando, Michael Phelps
  7. – 1:10:00: Miami Connection, Dragon Sound, Orlando
  8. – 1:18:14: Michael Phelps, YK Kim, Opening Night

Notable quotes from "Miami Connection LIVE! w/ Chris Geere (HDTGM Matinee)"

  • We are talking about Miami Connection. I would argue the best movie with martial arts in it ever. joining me as always are my two co-hosts. PLEASE WELCOME JASON MANUKUS. What's up, jerks?
    about Jason Manzukas · at
  • Can we just call one of them giant Michael Phelps?
    about Michael Phelps · at
  • Who wait the movie Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?
    about Virginia Woolf · at
  • THE ENTIRETY OF THE SCENE IS IN ORLANDO.
    about Orlando · at
  • The podcast, I'll drop a little bit of knowledge about this movie on you. And one of the things about it is the lead actor, the director, the guy who is YK Kim.
    about YK Kim · at
  • And then finally, this one from Andrew Rodellis. and it's it says like this, Miami Connection is the epitome of movies that happen to combine Florida ninjas, martial arts, and music into one thing. Between the interesting facets of Dragon.
    about Miami Connection · at
  • The musical force behind Dragon Sound was the lead singer and the guitar player, Angelo and Kathy. They were actual musicians and they wrote the songs. they also helped us in.
    about Dragon Sound · at
  • And I will just say I have nothing that really lays it down. I have two things you can watch on Netflix, which is you can watch this movie Opening Night. There's two. Look.
    about Opening Night · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Jason Manzukas — Person · Co-host · 1 mention · first at
    Introduced as a regular co-host on the live episode and participates throughout with jokes and scene analysis.
  • June Diane Raphael — Person · Co-host · 1 mention · first at
    Introduced as a regular co-host; provides reactions, critiques (including problematic elements), and performs read-aloud reenactments.
  • YK Kim — Person · Referenced filmmaker/actor (subject of discussion) · 7 mentions · first at
    Central behind-the-scenes figure for the film being discussed; described as lead actor and key creative force (story/casting/producer) and as a Taekwondo franchiser in Florida.
  • Chris Gethard — Person · Main guest · 2 mentions
    Introduced as the episode’s guest; participates in discussion and is noted for being the first costume guest at the live show.
  • Michael Phelps — Person · Referenced celebrity comparison (doppelgänger joke) · 14 mentions · first at
    Used as a comedic point of reference to describe a character in the film (“giant Michael Phelps”), recurring as shorthand for that actor’s look/body type.

Companies & orgs

  • Dragon Sound — Company · Band featured in Miami Connection · 4 mentions · first at
    The fictional band in the movie Miami Connection, central to the plot.

Concepts & topics

  • Virginia Woolf — Concept · Referenced concept · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned humorously in the context of a blackout.

Places & events

  • Orlando — Place · Setting · 14 mentions · first at
    Primary location where the movie Miami Connection is set.
  • Largo — Place · Venue · 1 mention · first at
    The location where the podcast was recorded.
    At Largo, our LA home, the amazing Largo at the cornet. And we have a great show for you tonight. continuing our fascination with ninjas.

Media & podcasts

  • Miami Connection — Media · Main topic · 7 mentions · first at
    The primary movie discussed in the podcast, known for its unique blend of ninjas, music, and martial arts.
  • Die Hard — Media · Referenced movie · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in comparison to a character in Miami Connection.
    To me, the bad guy also reminded me of that sleazy dude from Die Hard who was Bubby bow. That guy who's Elliot who does the cocaine. so it's so good. JOIN ME ALSO TONIGHT, Miss June.
  • Opening Night — Media · Referenced movie · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as another movie available on Netflix.

Full transcript with timestamps

It's a movie about a band of ninjas. No, literally like a like A MUSIC BAND OF NINJAS. YEAH. THAT have to defeat Miami drug lords so they can play at Orlando's number one music club. [ __ ] it. I'VE SAID TOO MUCH. WE SAW MIAMI CONNECTION. SO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS? [screaming] SCREAMING. Once a [ __ ] grow baby in his belly like a rhinestone vest while ripping just in the Kelly or maybe see a burles show with crow and take a speech hitting cruise control J man big in the beautiful jewel going to take you from the groove all the way to the room reop to blow off steam just a sucker punch the odd life of Timothy green sharp nic how we staying alive they calling in the bad ass and he's on the line breaking 88 minutes cuz they cool as ice Cuz a bad Jim Barney looking kind of nice.

Paul and June getting literal. Jason is getting laid. Junior is making sure all the monkey shots getting paid. They judge a bunch of movies while they making the grade. Here's a real question for you. How did this get made? Hello people of Hello. WE ARE LIVE HERE IN LOS Angeles at Largo, our LA home, the amazing Largo at the cornet. And we have a great show for you tonight. Uh, continuing our fascination with ninjas. We are talking about Miami Connection. I would argue the best movie with martial arts in it ever. Um, joining me as always are my two co-hosts. PLEASE WELCOME JASON MANUKUS.

What's up, jerks? Wow. Welcome to Halloween. We really did it this time. You are welcome, America. For every piece of [ __ ] that we have made you watch,

this is this is a triumph. We have just thrown you a scrap of real meat. I mean, enjoy it. Like a choice cut.

I had first rented this movie, had to stop midway through, and then when I went back to the screen where it said, "Do you want to continue the rental?" I said, "No, I want to [ __ ] buy it."

We We should all own this movie. 100%. Wowee. Um, so much fun. I This is maybe one of the best movies we've ever done.

And um, you know, let's see. Let's see how much we can get through to talk about. And there is so much to talk about. But

oh god, is there ever Oh god, there are. Have you los There are There's so much in THIS MOVIE. SO,

not to mention legit the greatest soundtrack of any movie I've ever heard. I WANT THESE SONGS PLAYING NOW.

The music is like LEGITIMATELY FANTASTIC AND GOOD. FROM THE MINUTE THEY'RE ON STAGE, these guys are undeniable. It's just oats and it's great. I will say that this movie is full of celebrity doppelgangers. We'll get into all that. Uh joining me also as like I said my other

is one of them giant Michael Phelps. Can we just call one of them giant Michael Phelps?

100%. I would I would request that we have that is some sort of Michael Phelps Frankenstein action. To me, the bad guy also reminded me of that sleazy dude from Die Hard who was like, "Bubby bow." That guy who's Elliot who does the cocaine. Uh, so um, it's so good. JOIN ME ALSO TONIGHT, Miss June Diane Rafield. [screaming]

Careful. Careful. Those wires. We This would never fly. This is a very dangerous. I know. I meant to unplug it, but I got so excited with the pre-show. Uh June Paul.

Um one of the things that upset me the most about this movie was I didn't get to watch it with you because we uh we

we experienced a blackout last night and uh you guys drank to the point of unconsciousness.

It's real Virginia Wolf at our house. Yeah. Who wait the movie Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?

No. Virginia Wolf. Virginia Wolf. Yeah. Okay. I'm Virginia Wolf. She's Virginia Slim. And uh

um yeah, we watched it separately. And um I did feel watching it. Now look, sometimes I have a hard time watching these movies. I've said that before. I'll say it again. And this was one where I really felt I had a limited time to watch it. And I thought, you got to rewind. You've missed something. so important. And cuz usually I'll ask Paul, but you weren't there.

Yeah. And you had to go at it by yourself. I did rewind. And I Did it help? Not at all.

Not at all. And now I think after watching the trailer, I didn't miss a thing. Yeah,

I didn't miss a thing. No, I know. It's very confusing, but fantastically simple. Well, I would argue that the ratio of unimportant scenes are matched by important scenes.

Like there's an equal distribution of scenes that matter to the plot. There are multiple instances of like 9 plus minute scenes.

Oh yeah, that's unheard of. Some very cutting edge indie [ __ ] that we're watching.

Oh yeah. And there's a tremendous amount of ADR just trying to sew this movie together. I have a different take on it. I don't think that they had a good sound person. I feel like they were like, "Oh,

we shot this. We can't hear a word. Just come back in and do it all again." Um,

well, we are very excited uh about our guest tonight. Uh, he is in the hit FX show You're You're the Worst, which premieres September 6th. PLEASE WELCOME CHRIS GEAR.

FIRST EVER FIRST EVER COSTUME GUEST. I love For those listening at home, Chris is so happy.

Chris is rocking the uh Check the back. Check the back. Oh, wow. All right. The back says,

can you see that? Says Miami Dream. Miami Dreaming. I wondered when I was ever going to wear this and uh then this opportunity came around.

It's amazing. Headband, fingerless gloves, and we are so excited to talk to you. What? So, did you ever hear about this movie?

I'd never heard about it. No. And but I have to thank you for introducing me to what is like like you say, a movie that I believe everyone should have. Yes. it. Yeah, it it it defies expectations uh at every step of the way.

We we we'll obviously get into it, but the uh the the connection uh to Miami is something that

I can uh I can really relate to in that I have also I have also been there once

uh for a short period early on. Why is this movie called Miami Connection? Whydeed?

What is being connected there? By the way, I would argue it doesn't need to be called Miami Connection cuz it takes place in Orlando.

Oh, YEAH. THE ENTIRETY OF THE SCENE IS IN ORLANDO. THE FIRST SCENE is somewhere in Miami.

Yeah. Pointless drug scene. Yeah. Yeah. the the drug scene in which it was like the village people of bad guys every time. Cowboy hat bad guy like '8s bad guy,

biker bad guy. Yeah. And ninjas of course. Oh yeah. And since when is there a guy who wears an all-white ninja outfit?

Like that guy I feel like would be super noticeable in the rafters of a building. They meet for that drug deal. There's a dude in a straightup white ninja's outfit. That's the opposite of being a ninja.

That I You're calling so much attention to that's like the height of ninja narcissism.

It's like no, I don't want to be silent in the shadows. Well, it's funny cuz the beginning before we w before I watched the movie, I said we watched probably about 2 minutes of it before the blackout. We watched two minutes together and then there was

this story is now seems like a lie. No, it's all true. There was a blackout. It happened 2 minutes into our viewing. And I said to Paul, and I was very upset. I said, "Is this a ninja movie?"

So disappointed. Still feeling the pang of Ninja Terminator, which was another great one.

What Ninja Terminator did to me was so I I'm not recovered. I feel I've been traumatized by that movie. And it once I realized like, uh-oh, I think this has something to do with ninjas. I felt so triggered and I felt my body going to that place of like I have to watch a million ninja fight scenes that I don't understand. I [ __ ] hate ninjas. I hate them. And so to realize early on that it was a ninja movie, but then you told me it's not that kind of ninja movie.

And to your credit, it wasn't that kind of ninja movie. Very rarely do we get to see ninjas with extracurriculars. Yeah. And Motorch.

Yeah. They were a motorcycle ninja band. They were In some ways, it was my kind of ninja movie.

It also posits a world in which [ __ ] Orlando is overrun with ninja games. That's what I'm trying to wrap my head.

Why? I'm like, okay, maybe a city the size of Orlando has one prominent ninja gang. This has multiple ninja gangs, one of which is an aspiring new wave band who are legit great. Here's the thing, guys. Drop out of college. Stop being ninjas. Just focus on this band. They're try again. Like I said in the opening, they're trying just to be a band.

Yeah. These drug lords are after them. Not for ninja stuff. They're just a band.

That's true. Oh, it's just the drug lord. Cuz the sister is dating giant Michael Phelps.

But why does that matter? Why does that matter? Because the little hairy dude was like, "No, no, no."

He's, by the way, he's not just hairy. He's like condensed hairy. Like there's hair at a density level. That is so upsetting.

He is like a boiled wool sweater on his entire body. That's what he's do. He's like he's like a closeknit sweater.

I was thinking of like like uh like Captain Caveman from like the old like footsteps just shaved in a couple more places.

Or if you took like uh I'm trying to think of like a normal proportioned tall hairy man but compacted

condensed so that like more follicles per square in of body. You know what I mean? Every honestly for every pore there or like a place where you can put one follicle for him there was like 10.

Okay. So you know how like a chia pet comes with the the thing. What if you put all the seeds on a much smaller thing, right? It would look pretty crazy. That's what this guy is.

So he's just upset because his sister's dating someone. I think he's [ __ ] up. I think he's projecting his his anger over being so hairy onto the and so short onto the fact that his sister's with giant Michael Phelps

and their proportionality is all off. The scene where they're walking like with his he's like draped over her like an illfitting coat.

What's going on? That's one of the only times where he's got his shirt on as well rather than just like a towel around his neck.

HE'S GOT ONE OF THOSE VERY long trunks. I feel like he's wearing a trench coat in the scene where he picks her up, but he's so tall that the trench coat only comes up to his waist.

What is going on with them sexually? You can you can see you can see why she was so attracted to him due to his moves. You know, his moves when when she's in the she's in the classroom and he comes in, he's doing all this like ah winking and nodding. He also enters a very clouded classroom and he's like, "Hey, come here." Like as if there's not a million like like a full classroom in session like come here. Hey. Yeah. And she thinks he's [ __ ] hilarious.

I mean, I get it. He's dynamite in the pool but And by the way, that is a swimmer's body. Like that's a body that belongs only in water.

I've got to be honest. Do we know for sure that's not my I DON'T I WOULDN'T SAY I wouldn't dare say that.

I I'm not sure. It may be proved me wrong. My No, she also I don't know if anyone else had this problem, but she to me looked different in every scene.

Especially early on figure out, especially early on. I didn't realize that this person was the same person.

Band hair and school hair. Hair and school hair. But she was she even in the first scene I felt like she was just a groupy for the band and then in the next scene she meets there.

By the way, the treatment of her as the female character in this movie throughout is problematic to say the least. Very

what are you talking about? So in the first scene she doesn't play an instrument at all. She's

she's just to make out. THAT'S WHY I THOUGHT SHE was a groupy. I thought that she was just like brought up on stage by the lead singer to like kind of like

why isn't she a part of this band and their aspirations and their she the lead singer at a certain point. But you're right, she has no function in the ninja portion.

Wait a second. The conversations they have about how they want to build the band and go on a tour to all of the countries that their parents came from. that

I mean I could talk about that scene that scene conservatively for three hours.

I mean THIS GUY THIS GUY HAS ONLY THOSE LINES in this scene talks not before and not after.

I want to play this scene and I just had a realization of why these ninjas may actually be after this band. So if I forget here

stick with us after the clip. So Mark, how do you feel about putting some board breaking into the act?

Sure, why not? We could write another taekwondo song and after Tom does one of his guitar solos, we could all break boards. Jack could do a drum solo.

How about it, Jack? Love to help you write that song, John, but there's no way I'm going to break any boards in that club. I don't even want us to play there anymore.

Why? Because that other band jumped us the other night. Yeah, because of Jeff, too. He's in there every night. this damn gang selling stupid cocaine.

Don't worry about Jeff. If he bothers us anymore, I'll make sure he regrets it.

What do you think about a tour? What kind of tour? It would be a world tour. But what would make us special is that we play in each other's countries. You know, like finding our roots.

You mean we're going to play in Ireland? Right. While we're in Europe, we'd visit Italy. You know, Tom's home country. We'd visit all the countries where our parents came from. Korea, Ireland. We play in Israel. That's where my parents are from.

I didn't utilize this before. Tablestone is really an international band, right? Wherever we'd go, we'd visit the local Taekwondo schools. We promote peace and goodwill.

Think we could take a little time out for dinner while we're trying to save the world?

Whoa. Ah that scene is amazing. And they're very bad bookers for a world tour. I mean, that some expensive flights.

Well, they I I don't even know where to begin with this. I mean, they make a big point in this movie over establishing that everybody in the band is an orphan.

Oh, well, that's just dropped that's dropped in a scene where where the guy says he has a he's looking for his father

and they're like, "Wait a second, we're all orphans." IT'S LIKE THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT YOU don't have a father.

But it is a strange thing because it seems as though that's how they found each other.

Yes. Also through their orphan identity. Yes. And also like they all I think go to college together, right?

Yeah. UBF. Okay. So that's a question then too. Like I wish they put up a sign that said looking for

band members. band members, bass, drums, keyboards must like these bands and be an orphan like must have no living hand

and no tie conduct and and international a lot of things that you need to know to be in this band

there cuz they've got a lot going on actor who whose parents are from Israel. He's He truly seems like and I don't mean to be cruel, but he seems like he's acting under duress that something

and he would be surprised to find out that he had been abducted and forced to make this movie.

Well, let me let me just like throughout the podcast, I'll drop a little bit of knowledge about this movie on you. And one of the things about it is is the lead actor, the director, the guy who is uh you know,

YK Kim. Yes. Uh YK Kim. He Mark, he plays Mark, right? Mark. Mark. He's also 45 years old.

Uh Mark is uh an amazing uh Taekwond do uh star. He came here from Korea and they said that what he did to the United States was he like he made like the McDonald's of Taekwondo. Like he franchised out Taekwondo all around Florida, specifically Orlando. And when he was making this movie, one, he never had to get permits because everyone in Orlando loved him so much he could shoot wherever he wanted. And two, he used all of his students in the movie.

So they're not none of them are actors. They're just his students. Yeah. Yeah. So how did Giant Michael face it in the movie?

Well, I mean, Giant Michael Phelps is probably forced to You're so good at swimming, you got to do an extracurricular to kind of balance it out.

What about Jim, though? Jim doesn't do Taekwondo. Oh, so maybe Jim was one of the guys who got it through an audition. Straight up audition.

Straight up. And guess who was the uh casting director on this movie? Who was it?

It was YK Kim. Story by Y. Story by him. He was the He was the casting director, writer, and producer along with the other guys who were also associate producers, production supervisor lyricists for all the songs. It was a, you know, it was a one-man band this movie. Uh YK Kim also came in to direct the final scene of the film.

Oh, he didn't direct it. He did not direct it. He just directed the final scene,

the jungle sequence. No, the the hospital scene because when it's screened, and I want to make sure I get this right. Um, when it's screened, I I want to say in can. I I feel like that's wrong. When it screamed in can.

When it won the Palm Door. Yep. When it screamed in can in 1987. What's happening right now?

Um Jim, what's going on? Did it just scream like I have more information. Move on. We'll get back to some. When it screen can mold, the ending was a bummer that Jim died. And he's like, "Well, we got to reshoot the ending." So him and a very skeleton crew just went in there and shot that final scene that where they took a young man, put some white top and made him an older man.

How crazy was that? And all of them miraculously healed from the from the the events of an hour ago.

Jim J and found shirts. Um Jim's dad is conservatively 15 years younger than Jim. There's you could not The man playing Jim's dad is arguably 16 years old wearing old man makeup.

Whoa. Jason, I will again say old man makeup is a a gray in his hair. Yeah. This is wild.

This is the uh the the re-shoot scene. Doctor, how was my son? Jim was extremely fortunate.

The wounds weren't as deep as we initially thought. He did lose a lot of blood, but there was very little internal damage.

Oh, thank God. When can we see him? Hear me out shortly. I'm going to leave him under your care tonight. He needs plenty of rest. If you have any problems, just give me a call.

Thank you, doctor. Telephone, please. You'll be here and you shaking hands for so long.

This guy was just stabbed in the gut. Screamed and stabbed in the gut in such a violent way. He is being sent home on his own recgnissance NOW. LIKE YOU'RE PREGNANT. YOU'RE NOT EVEN SENT HOME ON the same day.

I I love this movie. I want to talk about the bad guy gym where all the bad guys just lift weights.

Oh, gym. where it's like it's a like it looks like a gym that you might go and work out in except all the bad guys in town are there

just working out. Well, let's just like maybe just for the lay of the land just go over

all the different groupings, right? Okay. So, you have the the the band ninjas,

Sound, right? You got Sound Dragon. Then you got the hairy guy and his team. Is his name Jeff?

Yeah. Jeff. Okay. You've got Harry. Jeff. Jeff. Who is Jane's brother? Who's Jane's brother? They also have another sibling, but we'll get to that.

Oh, yeah. They do. A lot of questions there. By the way, the story of what happened to their parents is insane.

Okay. That do you not know the siblings, Jeff, Jane, and Yoshito? Yeah. Yeah. I know I know them really well. Then

what happened to their parents? So, she says her dad left her mom when she was like 7 years old. Giant Michael Phelps, who is her boyfriend, says to her, "So, what's up with the family situation? What's that whole deal?"

Well, first of all, he calls her out of class in a very flirtatious way to be, "Come on, come on, let's have fun." "Hey, so we never talked about your family. Give me the lowdown." Like, that was the fun.

I I've actually transcribed uh that little bit. Uh June, do you want to read with me,

please? Right. So, you play the part of Jane. I shall be John. Great. I have a brother, as a matter of fact. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be going to this nice school or staying in this nice dorm I'm staying in.

That's really nice of him. Except for one thing. I don't really like him. What? You don't like your own brother? Why?

Well, I can't really explain it. I just don't like him. And I'm see explain anything else. That's it.

Brilliant. I'm glad we cleared that up. I HEAR YOU GUYS. Bring it. That's crazy.

I WOULD I WOULD LEGIT pay for a shot forshot remake of this movie starring the two of you.

Oh my god. So, the way she describes what happened to her parents and how they're orphaned is that her dad left when she was seven. Her mom died immediately after he left. And then immediately after that, her dad died.

Rough year. Rough year. And it sounds just like, wow, that if you're that dad and you've left your if you've left your wife and kids and then she dies right away and then you die right away, it's like, wow, I really hope it was worth it. Really hope it was worth it.

Yeah. For those final years to be just full of turmoil. Anyway, so so we got All right, so we got Jim, right? So, we got our our band ninjas. We got our gym ninja. Then we have

No, they're not ninjas. They're like the bikers. They're the hairy guys team. Yeah, they're bikers.

They're not ninjas. They're like thugs, I feel like. They're like just tough guys right?

And then there's the Then there's a group of also biker ninjas who are the higher guys. That's the guy who lives in Miami.

They're the cocaine guys. They're the cocaine guys. So, that's the other condition. And then there's another set of bad bad guys which is another band that we've never seen play.

YEAH. WERE A BAND I was confused by I don't understand this. Were they actually a band?

Well, that guy So one guy has a guy with a gun, right? The guy It's my favorite scene in the whole movie. We don't have it as a clip where two guys stand next to each other and are screaming at each other from the moment one you see the spit flying out of their mouth. And so one of that guy, that guy's in a band. HE'S LIKE, "HOW HOW CAN YOU NOT BOOK ME IN A BAND? LIKE, I DON'T LIKE YOUR BAND ANYMORE." WELL, ALL RIGHT. [screaming] WELL, NO. LIKE, THAT'S THAT'S THE whole scene. And so that guy, the guy who was in the band, goes to Jim and is like, "Go Harry, go Jeff." Harry guy goes to Harry. He's like,

"Kill that band." And then but Jeff is already doing it because giant Michael Phelps is stinkle blasting his sister.

Yeah. And then if you do that, we'll give you all of our earnings. All of our not a percentage.

NOT A PERCENTAGE. All of it. So now they're now working at let's not be around the bush in a bar.

Yeah. For free. For free. Okay. Wait, but I I'm sorry. So wait, but why does Jeff want to kill Michael Phelps?

Because he's blasting his sister. That's But that's the only So God, what did happen between the two of them?

Because Harry guy was like, "I don't want you dating this second rate musician." He has He's like, "Yeah, I [ __ ] do drug deals on the side. I don't want you associating with musician."

He's looking out for his sister. He's like, "You focus on school. Do your classes. Don't get distracted by this nonsense in this guy. Never see him again. their school by the way who which came in fourth place and it like hey good news everybody we came in fourth place and then the computer teacher walks around the like hey good job good job nice circle

nice circle nice circle and I also didn't like how he was like weirdly touching the women's shoulders as he walked by that whole scene made me feel nauseous

oh so here's my theory on why I think they want to kill the band or why people get Because the band is revealing plot points of the cartel. Cuz they aren't they don't they sing the songs like

through song uh bikers by day, ninjas by night, steal all your cocaine. Wasn't that wasn't that

they found us out? Yeah. They're penning. You think they're writing like social issue documentary like songs that are that are exposing the crime syndicate? I do. I I mean, there's songs where we're pretty much exposing the underbelly of Miami.

ARE WE TALK ABOUT the beach scene? Are we going to talk about the beach scene? The beach sequence?

How many times do people walk up to other people and just walk up to strangers and say, "Can I get a kiss?"

Also, I have a quick question. Can you do that? Do you think there were do you think there were any uh release forms involved when the camera just went round the beach

filming anyone? I think this falls under YK YK Kim can do anything in Orlando. Yeah, you got But here's what I found most disturbing about that montage. It starts off, you know, the band is driving on the beach and they're like gawking at girls like, you know, it's like girls in bikinis, girls bikinis, girls in bikinis. Old person on a scooter. Yeah.

Child like the images become MORE AND WHEN YOU am when you juxtapose the obviously meant to be sexualized kind of buns and boobs on the beach with just shots of children.

You're like what are what is going on? I couldn't believe also that they set up our good guys this way.

YEAH. AS OH JUST oats walks up to a girl and he's like hey can I get a kiss he is pushed to the ground where he lands in another girl's cleavage then rolls around on a bunch of girls who appear to just have a tickle fight with him

so upsetting and that is his punishment for being a creep most upsetting shot though was when I think one of the girls is a girl in a bikini is like biking or roller skating past I think one of our guys and And he's sitting down with a like a water gun.

Anybody else remember this? Us water at her. This is the show where they Yeah, that was it. We just saw it. I don't think that's one of our guys.

By the way, Paul, can you rewind a little bit? Like, here we are. Here we are. Yeah. Okay. Oh, here we are. Summer. Summer having a crazy time. We're just friends. Just friends. Buns and bruise. Down at the beach, this guy's wearing a hat. Just oats. Buns and friends.

Buns. Buns and friends. Plus a creep driving down the boardwalk. Kids alone. Kids alone at the beach. These kids are lost. Kids are selling their bodies. What's wrong? Just guys hanging out. Attacking women sexually. Just oats. Wants a kiss. pushed into ladies boobs. THIS MOVIE is amazing. THE OTHER MOVIE ABOUT THE KIDS living under the pier though, that's a sad movie.

By the way, DON'T PUT A shot after those shots of grown women in bikinis. How dare you cut to a shot of a little girl also in a bikini showering.

That's really disturbing. It was it it took me by. It was like none of those children have parents.

It's an orphan beach. You It's an orphan beach. Uh oh, that's true. This might just be Orphan Beach. You're right.

That's smart. It's a theme. When When this guy falls on the girls, he exists on those girls for such a long time.

Yeah. He knew exactly what he was doing. Oh yeah. Even when giant Michael Phelps tries to pull him off, HE IS LIKE FLAILING AROUND AS if he's still being attacked

because he's well because he's pretending that he is. I guess so. Also, when you when you when you get to the credits later on and they're showing each character individually, that's the bit that they show for that character. Him just being slapped by women. That was his only. Now, as disturbing as everything we just described was, none of it comes close to how the beach scene ends.

Which is our two lovers in this film. Um, in a beach chair in the ocean. So good.

Slow kissing as if they've never kissed before. No, not if they've never kissed each other. As if they've never had a kiss.

Yeah. It's just a quick peck though, isn't it? Oh no. We don't even need sound for we just see

just a slow. It's like short turn around these weird short kisses. There's like no there's no opening of the mouth.

They never open the mouth and get into any kind of rhythm. It's just like No, it's like these hard, fast, slow. It's like they're passing a gumball

and and it it feels like when you put peanut butter like on a like on a horse's tongue to make them like talk in a movie or something like that. Like they they both had like they're trying to get the peanut butter out of their own mouth.

Um uh the thing that I think about that scene too is like clearly they're like, "Oh, we want to do like a from here to eternity kind of scene." Like you're rolling around on the beach. That didn't work for whatever reason. like let's put the beach chair in the ocean and you'll just kind of be jumping up out of the like it's the mo I've never seen that ever.

It's like YK Kim as well said uh you know we've got it from one side got it from one angle. I don't think we got enough in that 9 seconds. We'll flip to the other side so we can get another perspective.

It is it's a weird M there. He's, you know, like I said, a giant and she's teeny tiny. So, there's a lot of it that's really weird. I just didn't care for it physically. Oh. Um, well, um, there's also in the clip we were playing before where they're driving down the boardwalk and Just Oats is posing and stuff, there is somebody who has the line, hold on. He goes, "They don't make buns like that down at the bakery. made me really excited.

To me, the the adlibs or the things that kept the scenes like alive were my favorite part because it was like just these little moments where it would be almost repetition of it. Like there's one one moment where they're getting excited about something in the apartment that they all live in. And uh

I want to talk about that for one year. And he goes, the band apartment, he's like, "Hey, hey, quiet down. You're going to wake the neighbors." And then like it switches angles like hey you're going to wake the neighbors like it was almost like it was

they do that thing I feel like this happens in the room too where every character has a has to have a response to something like when Jim is opening his letter from the defense department

and he's taking a while to open it. Every character is like open you should open your letter that's the letter you should open but really open the letter. This is a letter we want to hear what is in that letter. like everyone has something to say about this moment

and it's it's testament to that they are such good friends and they're invested in each other's lives and they're also doing that thing that we all do when we're hanging out with our friends at home as we take our shirts off and put a towel over our shoulder

throughout the movie all of them are shirtless with a shoulder towel like that's a dude

and Jim is never zipped up as flies Jim's pants are always slightly undone at any given point I also like when They got in the mail another time and and uh and uh and Hall or was it Hall or Oats? Which one is it again?

Oats. Oats. Oats is uh like, "All right, what we got here? This is a piece of mail and this is a piece of mail and this IS A NO NOTHING IS necessary in that scene. It's like watching a person hand out mail that has no consequence to anything."

As if as if he doesn't understand conceptually how mail works. that each of those is for one of the people in the house. It is not just cute. It just arrived for the home. The home's mail.

Holy cow. The the first Okay, I don't We're just going to dive straight into Jim's story looking for his father.

Amazing. An Oscar winning performance by Jim. a staggering monologue that I found to be hypnotic. I watched it I watched it many times. I found a clip of it on YouTube just so I could find watch it only a bunch.

Um well I mean it's phenomenal. Jason, you want to take a crack at it and then uh we can see how you stack up.

Let's see how we Let's Yeah, I feel like we all have it. Let's let's let's let's give it share you with

let's give it a whirl. Oh boy. Okay, you have yours there. I've got it. I've got it.

All right. Hold on. So So Okay. So wait a second. We YKK Kim says, "Wait, I thought we were all orphans right?"

Yes. And then Jim goes, "That's my father." He walks out of the scene. Yeah. Can we get a spotlight? We should We should be the other three. And bearing in mind that the three in the in the in the background is the fine line between trying to cry and trying not to laugh. That's what I did. My mother was Korean and my father was black American. She gave me this picture when she was real sick. I was only 9 years old. They say that they loved each other and were real loyal and REAL HAPPY. BUT THEN WHEN HE FINISHED MILITARY DUTY, he left and we never saw him again. She told me to find him, but I didn't like him because he left us.

But I knew one day when I GREW UP, I'D FIND him whether he was dead or alive. I sent a couple letters to the defense department.

And nothing happened. End the scene. And the scene. Oh my god. Now that was that was a one though, wasn't it? It was a one take. I can't follow that. I mean, that's good.

He does really deliberate, though. Oh, Chris. He steps forward into a spotlight. Yeah. In in the

Well, BY THE WAY, I'M GOING to say this. I don't I think he just found his light. There are scenes in this movie where people are reading books in the complete dark. I I feel like lighting in this movie was a mystery. Like like the man who shot fire out of his hands and then never returned in the credits in THE IN THE CREDITS OF THE MOVIE. HE SHOOTS FIRE FROM HIS HANDS. We never see that again. Um, okay. I thought for sure at the end. Well, at the end he'll shoot fire. Uh, well, just take a taste of how Jim does it. Oh,

but this looks like your brother. I didn't know you have a brother. It's my father.

What? This is your father. Yes, it is. You sure? I didn't know you had a father. I thought we are all orphans.

Three of them are not wearing shirts. My mother was Korean and my father was black American. She gave me this picture and she was real sick. I was only 9 years old. They say that they loved each other and they were real loyal. They were glad. But then when he finished military duty, he left and we never saw him again. She told me to find him. But I didn't like him because he left us. But I knew one day when I grew up, I'd find him, whether he was dead or alive. I sent a couple letters to the defense department. Nothing happened.

I love how can't beat the real thing. Why? YK Kim in the last minute just kind of creeps really slowly behind him like completely masters.

YK Kim's character throughout the movie is learning stuff about his friends at every turn. In the previous scene, he learns that the other the drummer is of Israeli heritage. He's like, I didn't know that. Like he doesn't know anything about these people.

Now he knows that they all like grapes. YEP. BY THE WAY, THOUGH, so we're how many minutes into this podcast?

Uh, we've done a lot. Yeah. What is this movie about? Wow. What is it about? What about following your dreams and and and your heart

and and you know sometimes people want to stop you uh with force and you have to be strong enough to get out there and you you can't be under the thumb of your drug uh dealing brother. You got to make your own decisions and uh that's it. And also only through the elimination of violence,

that's what it is, can we achieve world peace despite the movie being solely violent. THE

THE HEROES after a 20minut fight scene in the jungle, the heroes of the movie are murderers.

Murderers are unrepentant. Michael Phelps kills his girlfriend's brother and she's like, "Nah, that's okay."

Yeah. And he's basically chalks it up to like, "My bad." Actually, I've uh I've transcribed that one as well.

Oh, fantastic. Uh I'll be John, you be Jane. Yeah. Okay. I'm so sorry about what happened. I felt so bad about that. Bear in mind, he's talking about killing her brother, which just which happened just a few hours ago.

Yeah. Oh, it's not your fault. I understand. See, we we had to do it. We had no choice.

I understand. It's all over now. That's true. It's okay. We're happy for Jim. Brilliant. So I'm sure what happened to Jin.

She is a lowmaintenance girlfriend. She's not going to make it about her. YOU KNOW HER FRIENDS. YOU KNOW HER FRIENDS ARE LIKE, "JANE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? You have to dump him. He killed your brother. He and his friends are murderers." And yeah, their tunes are banging. But again, he killed your brother.

Do you think she's like out of school now? I'm pretty sure that her brother was molesting her from the age of like 15 to like there's that's the only thing that makes sense.

Well, he's very jealous. He's like jealous. Only a lover can be. Yes. A lover. He's a jealous brother lover. And that's the reason why she's not upset that he's dead. If anything, I think she feels relieved.

Well, she did say early on, she sets the stage for this. She says, "I don't like him."

Right. Which makes it cool to be killed. And I also I think what really gave me insight to her relationship with her brother is in flashback, it's the most innocuous like they have this like thing and you see a flashback of her and her brother. It's like him just like an inconsequential like flashback of like, "Oh, my brother." And it's just like them in front of the school. Like it just like a flash. Like that was the only moment. She's like, "Oh yeah, I remember him." Right. Yeah. He was the the hairy guy. Yeah. All right. It's so cool. It's cool.

By the way, if Jim's um sword wound did not kill him, dragging him through a stagnant pond

is certainly going to do it. It's going to get Oh, he would have lived, but like apparently all of the bacteria was shoved into his body when you dragged him through. I'm going to say,

you [ __ ] morons. Little do you know about the suits that they make in Orlando. They are swamp resistant. And so when you got a nice Orlando suit, you can fall right off one of those uh gator boats and you'll be fine.

Um, we haven't talked about the trainard fight. We haven't talked about the bikers.

We haven't talked about the B-roll of bikers. Bikers were all real and paid in beer.

Yeah. Truth. Bikers all real paid in beer. Also, I read in the little trivia section that Jane's real boyfriend was just oats.

Um, and in the movie, her boyfriend is giant Michael Phelps. And so whenever they had to do makeout scenes, they would send Just Oats out for beer.

Yeah. They'd be like, "Hey, just notes. Go get us some beers, will you?" And he'd come back and they'd be like, "Your girlfriend just made out with giant Michael Phelps, you idiot. You fell for it. What are you guys shooting today?" Oh, just the just the scene at the beach in the sea. Don't worry about it. Go get some beers.

He's like, I'll I'll make it up. I'll just roll on women. Also, how about the fact that there was a scene I love the scene where like the where Jeff's gang of biker thugs were tailing Sound Dragon in a white Volvo. Like the bad guys car was just a boxy safe white Volvo.

I was like, they just are doing like, oh well, my mom's got a car. We'll do it. Bring it. By the way, speaking of this, every time there was a fight in this movie, I thought, June, this is actually a great movie for you because I think you finally get your answer to what's a street fighter because every time in this movie, it would seem like a bunch of people would get in the street and fight. They would always just like block a thoroughare and seemingly like 40 people without any stunt coordination just went to town on each other.

Yeah. Just attack each other. people like standing in convertibles like going like this just like raising one arm over and over.

There was a lot of like Sound Dragon is vastly outnumbered and then they kick ass like poorly.

Yes. And defeat like people who sometimes have guns. Well, that's what's so weird about the the statement you read at the end of the movie about world peace and not using violence. You you never see them struggle to not fight.

You never they never try and turn down a fight. Which isn't that the whole thing about martial arts that you learn how to fight so that you don't have to? Yeah. That you

No, they just go for it. But if you have the ability to hold someone's nose with your toe,

you're going to want to do that. Then then you're get you're going to use that, aren't you?

I totally hear you. As much as you can. There was one thing there was one funny moment in that scene where they get pulled when they get stopped in the street of downtown Orlando and

Miami. Oh no. Orlando. Yeah. Uh where uh where the um where one of the characters comes over and is going to pour beer on all their heads. Oh yeah. So

he can hit he can get YKA Kim cuz he's right by him, but he really can't reach Michael Phelps. SO MICHAEL PHELPS LEANS IN

to get the beer poured on his. All right. And I love them. I loved that the bad guys were like, "Hey, Jerry, GET OVER HERE. DO YOU DO IT or whatever." And like there's like dozens of bad guys like

with guns, RIGHT? WITH GUNS. AND THEN THIS GUY comes in like, "Oh." And you think, "Oh, he's got to be their most badass guy." All he does is pour beer on their heads. That's his big move,

which is crazy. THERE'S A TOUGH GUY'S song in this movie. Do you have the tough guys song, Paul?

You bet. By the way, [ __ ] yes. This is some next level [ __ ] Um, let's all [ __ ] to this tonight.

Let's do it. Do it, PEOPLE. That is tough guy. We missed the best. My favorite part of it is when he goes into the bar and kisses the bartender.

Yes. I was like, "What?" That that bar that that scene is crazy because it has two of the main bad guys there. They get at the bar and then they have a conversation where the mics are not on and it's kind of like and it's like a moment where they're kind of meeting up to talk about something big like Yeah. So, and you don't hear what they're talking about. It's like that should be a huge plot point in the movie.

Not like a not a montage roll over the scene. Oh. Oh my god. This movie is great.

I think you guys are lucky. Um, so much good stuff. Well, let me tell you a little bit about about the movie just a little bit more and then we'll call talk to the audience. So, um, long story short, uh, they get a distribution company to purchase this film for $100,000. It opens in eight theaters in Orlando. That was the release plan and had a very poor critical reception and it ended after 3 weeks,

never to be heard from. What year? Sorry, what year is this? 87. Okay. Then in 2009, a programmer at the Alamo Draft House was on eBay and saw the listing for a 35mm print of the film for $35 and in 2010 screen the film, people went nuts

and the Draft House was like, "Holy [ __ ] we found like the room of the8s." Um, the Tommy Wizo room, not the uh Brie Larson room. And um

although some of these people might have been forced into acting in this movie in a room scenario.

So So basically uh then they call YKK and they're like, "We want to release your movie." Hangs up on them multiple times. They he thinks it's a prank. And then they're no we really want it. He's like, "Really?" And they go, "Yeah, they re-released this movie in 2012. It was missing. No one saw it. It wasn't available from 87 to 2012. And it just is a it's a recent find that Alamo Draft House happened to find because someone was on eBay and found this thing and then screened it. It would never it would have it would have only been those eight theaters in Orlando for that run and that and and so now the movie has become uh you know a a a big success and there's been money made from it. the million-dollar budget and um just to show you well we'll get into that at the end. Uh but yeah, so that is

that's amazing. Yeah, it's pretty amazing and just deserved. Yeah, it came back.

I love that as a as like a like I love that it's lost for all of those years and then came out of nowhere and now uh you know he's getting some success off of it. Uh and he's still alive.

Has he made a second one yet? By the way, he should. That would be amazing. Yes. with the same cast.

The Orlando collection shot in Miami and plus plus Phelps can probably finance it now.

Well, let's um let's go into the crowd and see if you guys have anything uh to bring up that we might have missed. Um anything at all? ALL RIGHT, SIR. HOW ARE YOU? WHAT'S YOUR NAME? What's your question?

My name is Casey. And I wanted to acknowledge during the trainard fight one of the henchmen who I nicknamed Kid Rock Croctop who did like he like kind of humped like the mound of dirt while m giant Michael Phelps was fighting other guys and then he just danced FOR HIM

AND THEN GIANT MICHAEL PHELPS PUNCHED him out. Yeah, there was a lot of pretty weird vignettes in that trainard fight.

All right, here we go. Let's see what's going on here. Yeah, there were three. There were three bad guys.

He made some He made some air though, didn't he? Once he got kicked. Yeah, he went

There were three bad guys that I found very funny and compelling. That guy, the little also the little messy kind of skinny guy with him, and the big guy. Anyway, it doesn't matter.

All right, ma'am. Your name, your question. My name is Jody and my question is in the final scene when they're all sort of samurai scimitaring each other. Who are the people on the bridge? Are they just like

like observers? Yeah. I feel like those are people that were like Orlando locals who heard like, "Hey, they're shooting a movie down by the bridge. Can we watch?" And then YK was like, "Yeah, you could even be in it. Really? It doesn't make a difference."

Watching people die like getting Yeah, they're not in it. They're not in it. They're just watching and see how it all goes down.

But if you think about if there are ninjas in your town, you would go out to see them, too.

That's that that posits a world though in which like ordinary people out for a walk in the park witness a ninja fight that ends in multiple murders.

I also I also noticed that and and and questioned it, but I was too distracted by what was going on with Yoshito when he was fighting very clearly was not Yoshito.

No, it was the That man had a mustache. It looked like I think I think it was dead Jeff. Actor Dead Jeff had come back to play Yoshidito in the thing. You could is very very

I believe that was a re-shoot and you're 100% right. Yeah, that was they have to make do with what they had. Yes, sir. Your name and your question.

My name is Kevin and I'm wondering if you're a ninja and you're trying to be all stealthy, would you pull up in your loud ass motorcycle everywhere?

Totally true. Totally true. I mean, what do these ninjas do? Uh what are they up to otherwise? Like what are

aside from that's in a lyric somewhere in in one of the songs, isn't it? That they're ninjas by night. What is it they do during the day?

They're bikers by day. Bikers by day. Ninjas by night. Yeah. But how are they earning money?

Bikers [ __ ] you It really is like it's the duality of life. You know, the loud bike during the day and the quiet stealth of the ninja,

you know, it's the real yin and yang of you got you got two outfits in your wardrobe. You got your got your leathers.

Yeah. And then uh and then your full taekwondo gear. Yeah. Uh you know what I liked about him too? Like when he was riding that motorcycle, he didn't look fully comfortable on it. Like he in the tough guy song, he's supposed to be like, "I'm a tough guy." And it looks like bugs are flying into his face. He's like trying to avoid the bugs a little bit as it's coming out. Um, yes. Uh, sir, your name, your question.

My name is Frank and I really want to know, are we going to address the crazy family tree between the snow ninja and hairy little Jeff?

Yeah. What with Yoshito? Right. Well, Jane, Jeff, and Yoshito. Obviously, I I I had to rewatch this scene a few times cuz I thought, do you think it was a typo in the script or a misdelivery by the actor when he went, "I'm so sorry, but your brother Jeff is dead." Was it like originally scripted, "Brother, I got to tell you that Jeff is dead." And it's now turned and you're going, "Hang on, Jeff, Jane, and Yoshito all grew up together." Do you think

well I am remembering that their parents so the dad who died very shortly after the mom that dad I'm pretty sure left them and married someone else or left for another woman so maybe that woman

maybe it's a half maybe maybe she does a half but he seems the oldest also also Jane and Jeff do not look alike at all he is uh

I think it's hard to know. Yeah, that's the thing. I think it's so hard to know without that amount of hair if they look alike or not. I think there's no way to tell.

But I I assume I guess I assumed that Yoshito was not a blood brother, but was like a brother to him.

Yeah. Like a like a friend. Mention Yoshida. No, no mention of him. Boy, Yoshida also has very laxed like entrance policies in the temple. like people just kind of barge in on him when he seems to have all the ninjas in a kneeling position and talking. Uh when the ninjas in the beginning of the movie, I forgot about this, when they go to grab the cocaine, they grab a handful of it and like let it sift through their fingers as if that's some sort of indication of like that's the cocaine. Like, you know, normally you like you wipe some on your gums or whatever, but they just seem like to scoop up a handful and run. And leaving also bags of cocaine, fully intact bags of cocaine there. These are bad ninjas. Great bikers. Great bikers.

What did What was the ninja's plan? Did we know what they were fighting for? No idea.

Coke. Did they want the Coke trade? I thought that he was a I don't know. He was just bringing them in. I mean, I don't want to like styy us all here, but like

does anyone have a clear idea of what the ninjas are fighting for? Oh, wait. Miami. I'm going to come over here. You You seem to really feel like you got

If it's YKK, I'm going to freak out. Can you come over here just a little bit? All right. Here we go.

All right. Tell me what your theory is. All right. So, the Miami Connection is Yoshito. He's the plug. He He's the drug dealer in Miami that brings the drugs to Orlando. That's the Miami Connection.

Okay. Oh, that's all they wanted. That's all they wanted. So, they're so they're not siblings really.

Well, it doesn't answer that necessarily. He said it though so emphatically I was I bought it.

But it does but it does bring up other questions. It does answer the Miami connection of it all.

I like that. Which I appreciate. All right, ma'am. Your name, your question. Uh, my name is Megan and my question is, how much is the band getting paid because they're all driving around in one car, which the convertible top doesn't seem to work because it's raining and

I want to talk just enough to buy grapes. Well, there's a couple things I want to say. First of all, they are spending all their money on the pyrochnics in the small club, but that doesn't that that's normally for a big marina. But I love that they got in that convertible, and if you watch that scene, they have trouble getting into that car. So I I counted at least two people like it was not a graceful jump in. It was as if you like they didn't know how to navigate it at all. Yeah.

They're also like all of them are physically bizarre. Yeah. They all look like you know those crazy drawings that people do of you at fairs and stuff.

Caricatures. They are all caricatures. sort of look like like big giant heads riding tiny skateboards

holding a tennis especially especially when they're moving around on the stage during during the songs. I don't know whether any of you noticed but none of the instruments are plugged in.

NONE. AND THEY'RE ALL PLAYING GUITAR. They're all playing guitar. Three guitars.

Why Kim's doing his very best like this um you know gliding between one note. Even still the songs are [ __ ] great. The songs are great. They nailed it. Now it's time for a second opinion.

It's just that your opinion on this movie is no good and you really didn't watch it in the context that you should. My opinion might be second, but beside it, I have stood. I'd give this movie all five stars and six stars IF I COULD.

YES, MELISSA. GREAT. You can go. You can go right there. You can go back. Good Listen. And Alyssa Kumate is with what's her name, sir? Cash.

Cash. Now it's time for a second opinion. My oh my. Now, what can you do when having one opinion just won't do? We thought the movie bad, but we could be wrong. Let's check out some reviews from Amazon. Some reviews from people that hold this movie dear. Read with passion by my man Paul Shear. We got to take a second look. This movie couldn't have been a failure. There's a decapitation in the [ __ ] trailer. YES. AMAZING. Thank you very much. That was amazing. Great job. Wow. Stellar, stellar, stellar, stellar stuff.

Amazing. Oh, wow. They're in the same row, too. Um, all right. So, obviously, like I said, the second opinions here, they really aren't they're not they're not great because they love the movie, but um but I I'll read them anyway. Um okay, this one is from Jamie Gross, written uh November 13th, 2014. Catchy tunes, sweet action moves, and an important underlying message about the importance of family, whether it be by blood or other bonds. five stars.

Um, and then, uh, then this one right here, uh, this is from just an Amazon customer. It's titled I Can't Help It. I really like this movie. The songs from the band Stick in Your Head. I live about 50 miles away from Orlando. Five stars. just laying down some facts. I don't know if almost as if to say I could go see Sound Dragon if I wanted to. And then finally, uh this one from Andrew Rodellis. Uh and it's it says like this, Miami Connection is the epitome of movies that happen to combine Florida ninjas, martial arts, and music into one thing.

Between the interesting facets of Dragon Sound, the escalation of violence in the movie, it reminds me a bit of the original Mad Max, uh, oddly enough, especially considering the biker gangs, and the character of Jane, who echoes some of the feminist ideas since her character arc is sort of all about doing what she wants and not obeying Jeff. There are some things that emerge here about Miami Connection that suggests it's not merely a brainless action flick. Five stars. Wow.

Um, so that is those are some very sincere sincere Jin. No, I love this movie. I really do. It's just so crazy.

Um, well, so crazy. Can we do you can we play some of these songs? Well, I want to play the songs, but I have two I have two treats here. Uh, the first being this. Um, this is the original end.

Um, okay. So, it Let's see. The one that screamed at Edcon. The one that's Yeah, this is what the audiences in France saw. Uh, all right. So, uh, let's see.

Jim, don't die. Jim, your father, come on. Hang on. Where's your father? I see my life. Peace. You're alive. Peace. You're alive. Jim, hang on till we get to the hospital. You can't die. You need to die. You need to see your father. Hang on.

Jim, your father is coming now. Oh no. Jim's father's on that plane. WOW. JIM dies in the back of the car just as his father's plane lands in Orlando.

Flies right over them. Flies literally right over them. Which makes sense why they stopped the car when Jim was dying. Holy

on a flight path. I also If they're on a flight path, then how did he know it was on that plane if the plane comes in every 5 minutes?

I did know. I did forget the one detail that I loved is that Jim's tie is also cut in half when he is stabbed. That is a dark ending. Um, and they went they went for it. Um, and now because I think it's just I think we're all a little bit interested. Um, this is a documentary. This is a kind of the best of uh this documentary. So, we get to see where these people are right now. Um, so take a quick look at at them. Uh, now it's short, but here we go.

My mother was Korean and my father was black American. That was very intense. I was boohoo crying. And it took uh about 2 hours for that last what you see on the movie for that that scene to be done. We're putting onions under my eyes and eye drops and and finally I just recalled something from the past and got a little bit out. But the first cut the first cut that they didn't take that was that that was a good one.

You would find your father. It did come out uh funny. I always thought it was a good film. You know, had a nice little story and uh not perfect. Lots of little quirky things and and Oh my god. Oh my god.

OH MY GOD. It's all me. I mean, that's just it is what it is. The musical force behind Dragon Sound was the lead singer and the guitar player, Angelo and Kathy. They were actual uh musicians and they wrote the songs. Um they also uh helped us in terms of uh getting the musical instruments, getting drums, getting all the equipment, uh coaching us on how to look on camera at, you know, you know, playing air guitar and things like that. I have a little rhythm. I have a little rhythm. Look, I I I I did well. I thought for a non- artist,

it was that kind of new wavish uh time and period. And I believe the songs that Angelo and Kathy wrote really reflected uh uh the spirit and the feeling that happened in that club. So, it was very realistic from that perspective.

Against the Ninja, I believe we may have done that in one day. We went in on a Tuesday. I don't know if we came I think we came back the next night with it uh demo cuz we had a four track studio so

put it together and he loved it a little I want a dragon sound t-shirt they're available

I think you could have one made pretty easy by the way we should make that should be our next how did this get made shirt a dragon t-shirt oh he's wearing one right Wow [screaming]

did you get that? That's awesome. I love it. No sleeves on that shirt. That looks amazing. Wow.

I feel like we could do a whole episode on those like two minutes. What is going on?

We could do a whole second episode just on the music. Oh, it's it's it really is great. Is there anything as we are winding down here that we didn't talk about that anyone wants to bring up before uh we find out if you'd recommend it? Although I feel like that's

forgotten about that all lace suit, the all lace white suit. So, just want to talk about it for a second.

I've never seen lace pants. It would seem to me really hard to keep in shape like like physical shape, right?

Yeah. I wanted a close-up so I could see how how they lay because I couldn't understand what they were. I mean, that outfit was just amazing.

Talk about the grapes last time. Yeah. Um, right. So, I don't know whether you remember, there's a scene where um, YK Kim goes around all the other characters and he does he doesn't have any dialogue in that scene. So, he's obviously saying to himself, "What can I do? What can I do in this scene?" So he grabs a bunch of grapes and just feeds them to all his friends and then goes to the next one and just keeps going around like four or five grapes. Here's Do you like this homoerotic kind of like

Do you see it as a Christ allegory? Eat of this grape. It is my flesh. Right. He's definitely like the Christ of this movie. Like I can Yeah. I can't remember what happened in the scene. I I I can't imagine it being that important. What happened?

Well, I mean, there there are those there's those scenes that make no sense. There's a scene where they just all eat and the chef just looks at them and is like,

"Good job. Oh, wait. Glad you're enjoying my food." I had a question about that scene. When they get there to that restaurant, the owner is being beat up, right?

Yes. And he's wearing a Mickey and Minnie Mouse apron, right? What is his rel is he just also being hassled independent?

Yes. Was that his only scene? That guy. Was that Was that his only scene? He has two scenes. One where he's watching them eat and he just stands at the front of the table and smiles. Yeah.

And then the next scene they reference, oh, he's having a hard time, too. And then like that gang is there and like this food's [ __ ] And they pay for this.

Yeah. And they walk out. Yeah. After seemingly enjoying it. Well, yeah. Cuz I was like, is he tied into something with them as well? Like are are the people that are hassling them now expanding to hassle this guy? I couldn't I couldn't

I feel like that guy provided craft service for them and they were like we got to put him in the movie.

I feel like Yeah. Yeah. Maybe. Oh, I just I just remembered Mark's uncle. He's Mark's uncle in the movie.

He's not YKK's uncle. Okay. Okay. Oh, one more thing that just uh came to mind actually. You know, when um Jane introduces Michael Phelps to my brother, she said, "Oh, and this is my my friend." And the brother goes, "A FRIEND?"

Really super loud. And Giant M and Giant Michael Phelps goes like, "HEY JEFF, NICE TO MEET YOU. I'VE HEARD A LOT ABOUT YOU." AND and the height, if you could imagine the height discrepancy between Jane and Giant Michael Phelps is she towers above Jeff. Jeff could fit in Giant Michael Phelps's fanny pack.

Well, I'll go around and ask. I mean, it's a dumb question, but Jason, do you recommend this movie?

Call 100% yes. I would urge our listeners to put this to buy this movie immediately. Yes.

And watch it with someone that they care about. I bought it on iTunes and there's a special documentary about the music on iTunes, but I I believe there's also a DVD edition that's called Stupid Cocaine Edition and that has a little documentary on it and stuff like that as well. June, uh, do you recommend?

Yes, of course. And you and you said earlier it is your type of ninja movie. It is my kind of ninja movie for sure.

Chris, do you recommend this movie? I recommend. All right. Come on. We are friends through eternity. There's there's loyalty. There's there's honesty.

Um we're going to be together through thick and thin. Ninjas Forever. Bikers by Day, Ninjas by Night.

Still the cocaine. Uh 100%. What a movie. Uh I also concur. Buy this movie. Uh it's great. And before we go out, we have to talk about uh plugs. Uh, you're the worst coming back this September, early September. Um, very exciting. Uh, is there anything you can even tell us about it or is there

uh Yeah, it's season 4. Uh, season 3 finished. Um, tiny bit of a spoiler, but the the two are now separated. And this season is a fun, jam-packed kind of selection of uh awful ways that they attempt to get back together. But um it's it's funnier and sillier and darker than ever. It's great.

I'm very excited. September 6th. Thank you everyone. There we go. Jason June, what do you got? Anything?

I got nothing. I'm good. [clears throat] I will plug uh an amazing way you can contact your representatives if you want to, which is there's something called ResistBot, which maybe people know about, maybe they don't, but it's literally you put the number in your phone, you text Resist to the number, and you can they will fax for you. It's run all by volunteers. Any questions, concerns you have to your representatives, you put in your zip code. It's amazing. It's super easy. But I I really recommend it. It's unbelievable.

And uh I will just say I have nothing that that really lays it down. I uh I have two things you can watch on Netflix, which is uh you can watch this movie Opening Night. There's two. Look at the picture and think of the one that I would probably be in and not and pick that one. And then the other one is Wet Hot American Summer 10 Years Later. Uh my character Dave uh comes back again uh for a couple episodes. Uh thank you all for coming. Give it up for Chris. He's great. Big thanks to April Hley for finding all these amazing clips. Nick Kylie for doing all this research. Kelly Alto for pulling it all together. Uh, awesome. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. July Diaz at the booth.

Everybody here in Largo. Thank you. That's the show, but it doesn't end here. Listen to our mini episode where the discussion about this movie continues. You can give us a call at 619 P A L A SK. That's 619 Paul ask. I will answer all your questions about this movie or even about your life. Also, if you like how did this get made and you want to wear it or put it as a sticker or have it as a cell phone case, head over to tub/stores/hdtgm tub.com/stores/hdtgm and you can check out all of our amazing merch like put her in a bra or the Jason Zard shirt which I particularly love. A big thanks to Kelly Alto, Averil Halley, July Diaz, uh Nate Kylie, and Lyanna Waldron, all who come together and put this show and help me do the show every single week. But more importantly, everybody here at EarWolf, their amazing engineering team that puts together this episode, makes it sound absolutely flawless. Uh, make sure you follow us on

Twitter and on Facebook. I'm not going to explain where, you can figure it out, but it's pretty much HDTGM. Make sure you rate and review us on the iTunes. We like that. It's fun and we have a good time with it. And make sure you tune in to our mini episode next week cuz we're going to tell you what we're watching. See you next week. Bye for now.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Miami Connection LIVE! w/ Chris Geere (HDTGM Matinee)"?

Paul Scheer (Host), Jason Mantzoukas (Host), June Diane Raphael (Host), Chris Geere (Guest).

What is "Miami Connection LIVE! w/ Chris Geere (HDTGM Matinee)" about?

"Miami Connection" follows a music band of ninjas as they battle drug lords in Miami to secure a performance at Orlando's top music club. This live discussion explores the film's outrageous premise, iconic martial arts sequences, and the cultural impact of its campy charm.

What is mentioned in this How Did This Get Made? episode?

12 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Miami Connection, Jason Manzukas, June Diane Raphael, YK Kim, Dragon Sound, Orlando. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Miami Connection LIVE! w/ Chris Geere (HDTGM Matinee)"?

The episode runs 1 h 18 min; the transcript is about 13,553 words in 347 timestamped sections.

More from How Did This Get Made?

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 26, 2026.