Blank Check with Griffin & David - Saving Private Ryan with Richard Lawson

Episode Date: February 12, 2017

In our third episode of Spielberg: The DreamWorks Years mini series, Griffin and David are joined by Richard Lawson (Vanity Fair) to discuss 1998's war drama Saving Private Ryan.

I don't know. Part of me thinks the kid's right. He asks what he's done to deserve this. He wants to stay here. Fine. Let's leave him and go home. You know, but then another part of me thinks, what if by some miracle we stay and actually make it out of here?

Someday we might look back on this and decide that podcasting, Private Ryan, was the one decent thing we were able to pull out of this whole goddamn shitty mess. Like you said, Captain, maybe we do that. Maybe we are in the right to go podcast. So podcast is home and saving in the news? Okay. My brain's broken. Hi, everybody.

My name is Griffin Newman. David Sims. This podcast is called Blank Check with Griffin and David. That's right. We do miniseries. We like focusing on directors, filmographies, people who have seismic success early on in their career and then get a series of blank checks

for the rest of their life to make whatever. For the rest of their natural life. To some degree or another. Sure. Maybe the amount changes, but they keep on dining out on that success,

that early success. Sometimes the check's clear, sometimes they bounce, baby. Mm-hmm. This is my series about the most successful filmmaker of all time with the biggest blank filmmaker of all time.

With the biggest blank check of all time. That's our idea. It's called Pod Me If You Cast. What do you think of that, Richard? I think it's good. I think you had so many options to go with that, but I think that was the right one. Honestly, we didn't have that many options. Yeah, we went through literally all of them. A lot of movies, but not a lot of room to play around.

I was pushing for the podventures of Cast Cast. You should have pushed harder. I gotta say. That's the lesson for this new year. Push. Well, sometimes delivering a baby isn't comfortable, but you gotta put something important into the world. That's something you know a lot about.

It's something I know a lot about. And today we're talking about something else I know a lot about. War. The D-Day landings. Yeah. This is our episode on St. Preto. This is the third film

in our miniseries that tracks Spielberg, the Dreamworks here. When he founded his own movie studio and could make whatever he wanted. And Lost World,

we're kind of flubbing, wasn't really Dreamworks. Amistad was the first big attempt and it belly flopped. And Lost World, where it kind of flubbed and wasn't really DreamWorks. Armistead was the first big attempt, and it belly flopped. And then this was him doing, I think, what DreamWorks was founded on, the idea of him being able to deliver something like this. Sure.

You know? An Oscar favorite, the number one highest grossing film of 1998. It was, yeah. And a modern American classic by most metrics. People, I think, view it that way. Yeah. I don't know.

We'll discuss it. We have a guest. Introduce him. We have a guest here today. He's a favorite of the show. And he's a favorite of ours. You know him from Fanny Fair. Mm-hmm.

You know him from Little Goldman Podcast. Yeah. You know him from- It's been good this year. Thank you. Mm-hmm. Our episodes on Lady in the Water

and Vanilla Sky. Yeah, you've been going up in quality from like a stinker to flawed but interesting and now here you are at Saving Private Ryan. Well, I wanted to do the episode about the terminal

but since I wrote the movie I felt like... You would just be defending it the whole time. I could have offered some good inside baseball, but yeah. Richard Lawson, ladies and gentlemen. Also, David Iverson. I would rank those three movies as Lady in the Water 1, I could have offered some good inside baseball, but yeah. Richard Lawson, ladies and gentlemen. Also, David, I resent.

I would rank those three movies as Lady in the Water 1, Vanilla Sky 2, Saving Private Ryan 3. Whoa. Great. Richard. Yeah. I want to get straight to this. I want to dig in because you're a favorite guest of the show. Well, thank you.

One of our favorite people. And, you know, we didn't have you on the last miniseries. And I threw to you. I said, we're doing Spielberg. Is there anyone that jumps out to you that you'd want to do? And you said, well, I think I have a lot to say about Saving Private Ryan because that movie made me almost join the military. That's right. Yeah. Now, twist.

I know this isn't a Shyamalan series, but I'm going to throw a twist out. Okay. Richard knows this. You don't. Okay. I had never seen this movie before last night. What? Yeah.

That's insane to me. I guess you are younger, but like, you never saw it? It was like your patriotic duty to see that movie. Okay. It's true.

It was. Now, you must have been about, yeah, nine when it came out. That was not when it came out. Yeah, so,

you know. I saw something about Mary like three times in theaters. I mean, it wasn't like, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, I do know what you're saying.

You're a gross little boy. That's what you're saying. I was a little stinker. You still are. But we'll unpack all of that later. But I just want to set up the central question, which is, can you explain to me how watching this movie made you want to join the military? I knew that about you too

and I was also re-watching it and I was like, wait a second. Because watching this movie I have never wanted to do anything less. Yeah. Like I'm more encouraged

to become a camp counselor after watching Friday the 13th. Like this movie... Yeah, I mean it's the same kind of thing where after I saw Silence of the Lambs I wanted to become an FBI agent

which is like that's... That makes more sense to me. I mean it doesn't make a little of thing where after I saw Silence of the Lambs, I wanted to become an FBI agent, which is like that's. That makes more sense to me. I mean, it doesn't make a little more sense. She wins. So I first saw. She wins. Does she? She wins the murder.

I mean, she learns that the lambs never stop. She's traumatized for life. She wins. So I first saw this movie in the theater. I would think it was like 15 because it came out in 98 summer of so I loved it you know had never seen anything like it

we'll get into all that but then a couple years later I'm about to graduate from high school and I I bought it on VHS and I was a terrible student in high school and I kind of had this sort of in at the college I ended up going to because my dad taught there but I was sort of, and I was a terrible student in high school and I kind of had this sort of in at the college I ended up going to because my dad taught there.

But I was sort of like not... I was feeling a need to do something that I really believed in. And I was watching that movie a lot. I probably watched it three or four times in I don't know, the span of a month or so. And just something about it. I think I was like... Honestly, it was like... I was like, cute boys.

Sure, man. There are some cute boys in this movie. This is a cute boy movie. A little meme market this movie. But I got like... cute boys. And like, I had the worst reasons for wanting to do it. Look, there are some cute boys in this movie. Yeah. This is a cute boy movie. A little meme market, this movie. But I got like, I mean, I really like, I got all the literature. And I think I had set up like someone from the Navy to come to the house. And I ended up canceling it.

Because my mother was like, what are you talking about? Yeah, where you're like, this is not a good idea for you. I had like sort of come out to my mom at that point. It was just like, this was way before Don't Ask, Don't Tell went away. You know, it was just like a whole fucking thing. Turns out it was good because I graduated in June of 2001. Yeah, good call. Yeah. Definitely a good call.

So I would have been in the military when something bad happened just a few months later. Oh boy. What was the... Oh, Jay-Z's album came out and people didn't think it was that good. Collateral damage. The Schwarzenegger movie got buried. Big Trouble got pushed like six months.

They had to edit the pilot of 24. Ellen had to be like serious. They had to digitally change the skyline at the end of Zoolander. Oh, God. How many of these can we do? Basta. That's Italian for enough. What's interesting about that story, Richard,

is that you said you wanted to do something you cared about, and then you watched the movie again, rewatched it, you had this very visceral response, and you felt like that was the thing to do. But then what you ended up doing in life is becoming a film writer, which is the thing you care about. And I wonder if there was some degree of just you putting the feelings in the wrong box.

You watched Saving Private Ryan, you had this visceral response, and you were like, this makes me feel something. I should do this. Yeah. It's like what you really want to do is write about this. That's exactly right. And I feel like it's one of those kind of like fork in the road things where like there was almost a terrible mistake of youth that I made. Sure. And it was almost Steven Spielberg's fault.

Yeah. And maybe Giovanni Ribisi's a little bit. Did you want to be a combat medic? I don't know what the fuck I wanted to do. I mean, I was too scared to actually think about joining the Army. Right, that's the worst part. So the Navy was sort of the one that I went to, you know, because of the song. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And Mikhail's Navy obviously was a huge influence on me. And Darren Periscope, I assume. Yeah, again again a movie I wrote so I don't really feel comfortable talking about it but oh boy

anyway I'm glad I didn't but I still do like the movie quite a bit although you're right it does make me feel very different things I rewatched most of it

this week and in the wake of I don't know when this is airing but the election just happened yeah the election real shit

sorry to blow up your timing spot. No, we're going to be talking about it on every episode. But in the wake of that, I was like, oh, everything's fucking miserable. And, you know, it's still a wonderful movie, but it made me feel very different things. Yeah, I mean, I've only ever seen it in the prism of the worst election ever. You know, yeah. I mean, not that there's necessarily a straight line between like our anxiety right now and

the events of this film, you know, but, but fucking no, all bets are off now. I had like, this was one of the most difficult movie watching experiences I've ever had. Yeah. I had like a physically uncomfortable time watching this movie. It's supposed to make you uncomfortable. I'm aware. That having been said, I was literally sick to my stomach the entire film.

I had a really, really tough time getting through it. And I had never tried to watch it before. But I will say, if I was not watching it for the podcast, and I just been like oh you know what big blind spot you should obviously see Saving Private Ryan turned it on to Netflix I would have turned it off within 15 minutes and be like I can't deal with this do you have that

reaction to war films in general I'm not good with more yeah and I'll say that I mean World War 2 movies yes I don't like Vietnam movies I am okay okay with, but I'm less, yes, I'm also less invested in Vietnam movies. I like movies about Star Wars. When will there be Star Wars? You mean Wars in the Stars? Yes, yes, the Wars in the Stars. You're near and far Wars. You mean like Death Becomes Her? Yes, that's one of them.

Oh, yeah, that's a great Star Wars movie. That, Megamind, which was advertised as a Farrell versus Pitt. Any movie where the above the title are verses Monster-in-Law I think was a J-Lo vs. Fonda The public demanded it So it happened Title bout for all title bouts

I really like Bride Wars My hair's blue It's blue Chris Pratt's in that Is he really? He's one of the fiancés from Humble Beginnings what I was gonna say was

I have guys it feels good to laugh it feels so good immediately all the pain is gone I have a kind of block with war movies I think similar to the way some people do with fantasy or sci-fi where they're like I can't engage with this shit

it just doesn't mean anything where it's the opposite where like I can deal with war shit if it's like orcs or if it's in space because then it's like all of this is ridiculous

but I like it's my own weird psychological thing I cannot process like war as a concept and I'm not saying that as me being like a peace loving guy

no it's just so it's just so beyond comprehension. Especially on the scale of something like World War II. Like an Iraq war movie, it's Humvees, it's improvised explosives, it feels, you're like, okay, I could sort of... The scale is far

smaller. Like the D-Day invasion, for God's sakes. It's crazy. Well, that's the thing. This is like an amazing depiction of the craziest war, right? So it's like the hardest to process but but even when it is a smaller war i just like i'm like the least violent person in the world like my brother was three years younger than me he used to punch me a lot and my parents like made me sign up for boxing lessons because he'd start punching me and i would just lay still and they'd be like why aren't you fighting back and I was like I don't like fighting and I would just like get punched

I'm like the only kid in the world whose parents encouraged maybe you should have joined the military you might have needed to get some toughened up I just don't like physical stuff I don't like doing anything physical I'm trying to think of other

big war movies I was going to say of other big war movies. I was going to say, Griffin, I really strongly recommend you do not see Hacksaw Ridge. Yeah, don't see it. Hacksaw Ridge makes this movie seem like freaking Annie Hall. I don't know. It's like that movie is everyone going in, everyone was like, it's really violent. And I was like, it's a war movie. I mean, credit to that crazy old anti-Semite. He really knocks it out of the it be it's a war movie and then the minute I mean credit to that

crazy old anti-Semite he really knocks it out of the park he's a lunatic you're watching that movie and you're like this guy is fucking insane he's out of his fucking mind

that's the thing I want to see it because of that but I'm going to like flip out right well the problem is in Saving Private Ryan like the famous D-Day

opening scene is right at the beginning is horrifically gory and like verite you know it just feels very real and but it's horrified by it it's scared of it and we're supposed to be scared by it Hacksaw Ridge is like, verite. You know, it just feels very real. But it's horrified by it. It's scared of it.

And we're supposed to be scared by it. Hacksaw Rage is, like, in love with it. I know. And also, he's... Gibson is just so obsessed with these people who endure the most unimaginable violence. Like, he loves, like, stoicism in the face of, like, carnage. Right, which is the opposite of what I like. Yeah, and whereas this movie is not like that at all.

This movie is basically just like nobody really knew what the fuck they were doing and like, you know, it just sort of happened. Whereas Axel Ridge is like, can you believe this guy? Look at him. Look at that. Look at that guy.

Look at all them crushed heads. Look at all those limbs flying everywhere. That's so bad. But at the same time, I do admire Gibson as a person. No, Jesus Christ. Jesus. You don't admire Gibson as a person. Jesus Christ. You don't like him as a filmmaker. He's got good values.

He's an incredible film. I can't deny the film was, you know, it got to me. He's got his effect. He's a sort of mad genius. Yes, but he's a demented madman. Right. And racist. Woody Allen.

I can't defend his movies, but I like his personal life. It's got a good personal life. I mean, you will meet a tall duck stranger. It's unforgivable. Everything else is... I like the way he conducts himself got a good personal life. I mean, you will meet a tall, dark stranger. It's unforgivable. Everything else, eh? I like the way he conducts himself on a day-to-day basis, especially with those closest to him. I'll say, I saw you will meet a tall, dark stranger.

Awful, awful, awful. And I thought, okay, Hopkins, he's officially cooked, right? Like, Hopkins is just, he can't give a good performance anymore. He phones everything in. Hopkins is having a good time right now. On the old Westworld? Yeah. I'm glad to see Hopkins doing, you know, fun things again.

I remember reading an interview with him when Thor was coming out, and they said, like, what was it like working on it? And he said, like, it was great. I got the script, and I have this thing. When I read through a script, I circle scenes, and I write, no A-R next to them. And they're like, what does that mean? And he goes, no acting required. And that's the best thing in the world. If I just see, I can just show up.

I just have to learn the lines. And I read the script and I go, I got a weird helmet on. He just circled the whole script. He said it was great because I read it and every scene was N-A-R. And it was like, that was his approach for 10 years. And then he got in his car

from the world's fastest Indian and zipped away. He did like a full 10 years of N-A-R. and then I feel like Westworld, he's actually doing it again. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, Hopkins, we talked about him last week. Well, because Hopkins did actually build that Westworld thing, right? I mean, of course he's committed. That's his project.

And Hopkins is the father of Thor. Right. He is the all-father of Norse mythology. The reason he didn't have to act at all is because- Because he is Odin, yeah. When he goes into Odin's sleep every night. He rolls over in bed and says goodnight to Rene Russo. Takes a goodnight's Odin sleep.

No, I do think, I mean, all the war movies I like, and there are some, or all movies that I would say are technically another movie set in war. Like, I love Thin Red Line. I love M.A.S.H. Desperate Mask, sure. I love A Very Long Engagement, I love M.A.S.H. Desperate M.A.S.H. Sure. I love A Very Long Engagement. I love, you know, but it's like,

that's a romance. That's like a comedy. That's metaphysical. Right. Yeah. You know, and I love- And there's not a lot of violence in Thin Red Line,

if I remember correctly. No, there's some. Yeah, there's some, but it's not as- It's not this. No, it's not. It's more poetic. And like,

Best Years of Our Lives, I think, is a masterpiece. Sure. But that's like a movie about war I can deal with. Movies like exploring the of our lives I think is a masterpiece sure but that's like a movie about war I can deal with movies like exploring like the notion

of war I can deal with movies in war I just like I just go like well orcs aren't real what is this I love them I love them

I have a hard time World War 2 movies I don't know what is hardwired into it's my dad telling me stories about his grandfather you know it's just like I guess it's just

in my DNA or something but I think I also just it's such an unknown and strange thing for me, and I want to know what it was like. I'm really interested in seeing it. Yeah, and I think, you know, I saw Allied recently. Sure.

The Brad Pitt, Marion Cotillard. We can talk about it now. Where they're trying to prove that the moon landing didn't happen. Because Marion, it's her passion project. She's really. I once interviewed her, and she almost said Bush did 9-11, and you could tell her publicist was like,

Marion? And she was like, anyway, yes, two days, one night's very good. You know, like, she, like, almost switched off track. Do you think she's happy about Trump, secretly? Maybe, maybe. I love her, but she's cuckoo.

Don't ruin her face. Sorry, sorry. Anyway, in Allied, you know, the first half of the movie is his sexy kind of spies in Morocco. Which I liked a lot. You know, and the second half isn't. Sorry, sorry. Anyway, in Allied, the first half of the movie is his sexy kind of spies in Morocco. Which I liked a lot. And the second half isn't. Yeah, agreed.

And I can get swept up in that. English Patient is a great example of a World War II movie that's not about war, and I love. It's sort of off the center of war. And it covers the war. It's engaged with the war.

Right, Casablanca's. The problem is when you get swept up in the glamour of, there is a glamour around certain World War II stories, except that fucking horrible things were happening. Except that we were basically just throwing men in front of guns. And I think that for me, in a way,

Saving Private Ryan, you know, for my 15-year-old brain, was the first movie I'd seen that was like, oh, right, that was a fucking nightmare. Right. It's a horror movie. It wasn't glamorous, it wasn't romantic, it was mostly just annihilation on a scale.

That's unimaginable. Agreed. And yet I will say, and I feel the same way about Schindler's List, which we haven't discussed in this podcast, but you know, you, I hadn't seen it at that point.

Sure. There's, there's something about Spielberg. He does. He's such a good direct. Like he does make this stuff like entertaining and gripping, even as you're also grappling with how bad it is and schindler's list especially is really tough because like i've talked about this with friend of the podcast david or like like that movie's so fun and like

the characters are so like vivid and like big and three-dimensional you know and you're like really great and yet also you know i mean it's not fun yeah and same reference like that too like it is like it's a dynamic and entertaining action film as well as a living nightmare. So this is where I diverge. And once again, it's not me throwing out a judgment of the film. You just had a bad time last night. Yeah, it's my own personal experience.

I also realized that independently I had diarrhea. The first half of the movie I was just like... You're saying the film wasn't... When you say independently, the film wasn't responsible. I mean, I... Maybe it was I don't want to put the blame on him

with other people yes oh I see this was solo diarrhea yeah usually I try to team up with someone Double Dragon style Double Dragon

yeah Streets of Rage good lord um no but I I just like I was like well then yeah it became Bad Night

but um I just I just uh it so squarely hits all of my sort of triggers of shit I have a hard time comprehending and things that like frighten my core. Yes. But like Holocaust stuff, I'm like, this is horrible. It's insane that this happened.

It's hard to process, but I accept that it does. And war stuff, every time I'm watching a movie that's set in war, I'm just like, why would anyone do this? Why was this? There's been more wars than holocausts. I know. There's at least like three wars. Well, there's been zero holocausts.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Not after the Mel Gibson jokes. Marion just said we. We. Alright. God, we're in a dark place today, guys. I'm fucked up by this movie. Can we just play the Bill Paxton Game Over Man, Game Over clip?

It's been playing in my head. Yeah, like Aliens You Love, right? Aliens I Love, because it's about fighting aliens. That's a Vietnam movie, but of course disguised as an alien. But I go, this is phony baloney stuff. We don't got bug aliens. You know what I'm saying? I don't know, ask Marianne.

That's why we couldn't go to the movie. Marion calls Paul Verhoeven, what do you know about these bugs? Starship Troopers I love. Shoot a nuke down a bug hole, you get a lot of bugs. That's my favorite line from Starship Troopers. Alright, so World War II

is what this movie is about. The D-Day landings, Operation Overlord. The Allied landings in France. It's one side of the larger story that Spielberg later tells the rest of in Band of Brothers, which I watch every year once a year and I cry.

You really watch the whole thing. It's a good show. I cry every year and I cry when they're playing baseball at the end. Without fail. Do you have the DVD box that's like a big tin?

What do you take me for? Of course I do. Just checking, just checking. My mom got it for me for? Of course I do. Just checking. Just checking. My mom got it for me for Christmas. You think he's gonna own the fucking later

DigiPack re-release? He looks like a Richard Lawson. That's the thing. What was I gonna say? That Band of Brothers was huge in college when I was in college. Sure.

As was Saving Private Ryan. And this movie was huge for me when I was a teenager in terms of like everybody went to see it because it was like so cool like it was gnarly

it was violent like in Britain like people just were like it was a masculine way to feel emotion exactly yeah exactly

that's the thing I remember like friends of mine because it is crazy this movie was the number one grosser of the year like you said

insane it's a three hour super violent yeah I was nine when it came out but I remember most of the boys in my grade going to see it and like loving it yeah you know it's a three-hour super violent yeah i was nine when it came out but i remember most of the boys in my grade going to see it and like loving it yeah yeah you know and people always talked about like oh the first 20 minutes are like intense but it was always kind

of this like it was like going on a roller coaster the way people talk about it and be like it's scary but you feel so fucking good after it's visceral and watching this like like where i diverge from what you were saying about this movie being entertaining, and once again, it's just hitting my shit, right? But it's like, I found the first 26 minutes so scarring that I, like, couldn't recover from the rest of it. And the whole time I was like, wow, this is a fucking incredibly well-made movie. Like, I kept on being like, this movie is empirically great. It's empirically one of the best, most well-directed films I've ever seen. I hate watching it.

I will never watch it ever again. Like, I don't think I could make it through watching it again. So you and I have probably, how many times have you seen this movie, Richard? I've seen it so many times. Oh, I mean, probably well over 20. Yeah, I owned it on DVD. I'd watch it all.

And maybe every beat. Bits and pieces. Like, maybe not all in one sitting, you know? Sure. But I'm curious, like, you know, I was watching it this week, and I was like, I can't believe it's almost 20 years old. And I kind of expected the special effects to be like, not really work.

Sure. But seeing it for the first time with Fresh Eyes, Griffin, like, did it look like a 20 year old movie to you or did it seem? Absolutely not. Yeah. And I'll say this. I mean, the effects I think are seamless. They are.

Absolutely not. And I'll say this. I mean, the effects, I think, are seamless. They are. But the bigger thing for me that I found interesting was realizing, I had seen clips from the movie, I had seen the trailers, but never engaging with it a whole cloth, I didn't realize how much of a Rosetta Stone it was in terms of visual style and editing patterns for so many different movies

and so many different genres in the 20 years that followed. And what I find fascinating is it still pulls off all those tricks better than any movie since then. Yeah, yeah. You go, like, Greengrass is probably the guy who's appropriated the Saving Private Ryan style the best. Like, the shaky cam thing was, like, new at that point. I mean, it wasn't new-new, but, like, you know what I mean?

For a big mainstream film, you know? But then even the sort of elements of the super desaturated, super brainy, the dealing with the different kind of frame rates and shit like that. Kaminsky stripped the camera lenses

of the protective thing to make it seem like more 1940s and, you know, all this kind of cool technique and stuff. Which I feel like, I feel like Tony Scott

pulled a lot of that and then you go like Greengrass pulled a lot of sort of the actual like cinematography of the movement of the camera and then like all this stuff and it still feels like this is the most a lot of sort of the actual like cinematography of the movement of the camera and then like all this stuff. And it still feels like this is the most cohesive version of all of that where every single

affectation they're putting on there is for a specific purpose and it works. Yeah. It's like watching Pulp Fiction and you're like, oh, this is when all of that kind of like crime like indie stuff came from. And it's still better than everything that followed. A hundred percent. I think. Yeah.

Yeah. But, but that once again feeds into the, like when people like, I always hate, hate, hate. It's one of my like least favorite,

like, like film bro gripes. Oh, enough with the shaky cam. Which is like, what the fucking, it does. I got nauseous and it's like,

okay. If it's the right tool for the story, then that's the fucking thing. I don't like it for its own sake, but like, yeah. It's cinematic language. And if it's like aligned with the themes of the movie and the story and it's being used intelligently, that's good. I did genuinely feel sick watching this. And a lot of it had to do with the events being portrayed on screen.

But I also think, I mean, he uses it very specifically to try to make you feel that physically disoriented. Yeah. And like you're in the middle of a fucking hurricane. And all those splatters on the camera. All that stuff is so well done.

But it was, I had a very, very physical, I mean, I, the movie is like three hours long. Yep, two hours and 50 minutes.

And you said you were like surprised because you feel like it breezes by. It just zips by for me. And I think you said you feel like it's sort of its length. It just zips by for me. And I think you said you feel like it's sort of its length. And I had to pause the movie so many times I think it took me five hours to watch.

I had to like keep on taking breaks to just sort of like calm myself down. In what circumstance? You were just watching at home? I was just watching at home. I turned it on last night on Netflix on my TV. So it was like in high def. It's on Netflix? I had no idea. It's on Netflix right now. There you go. And my Wi-Fi was thankfully working well well and i got it like good quality and i just like uh

yeah i just like had to keep on pausing and being like okay okay okay you know yeah um which once again it's like to the credit of the movie yeah i mean yeah it's where i'm the app we'll get to the plot now but yeah i mean for me it's like i was watching with joanna she'd never seen it and i would literally be able to be like oh oh, close your eyes for a second. Someone's about to get like his arms blown off. Like I knew everything that was going to happen. Oh, chill out for a sec. Giovanni Ribisi is about to bite it.

Yeah. Can I talk about the single most upsetting, like unnerving element of the film for me? And once again, I don't know if this can make me look like a coward or whatever. He's setting up some bit. No, because there's a lot morally you know cinematically in terms of my own personal views in terms of actually just

the film being effective in its aims the one thing I just couldn't fucking shake Edward Burns is second build in this movie it's crazy how the fuck did that happen where were we as a culture well we were like Brothers McMullin-ing

at that point and she's the one. It's crazy because the movie has... We thought he was the one. Well, the thing... Oh, no. 12 comedy points. Oh, God.

I want to go behind lines to rescue that joke. You know what? I'm going to go out. I need to hit the sidewalks of New York and get out of here. That was the stinkiest stinker of them all. Heather Graham's... I'm sorry to go out. I need to hit the sidewalks of New York and get out of here. That was the stinkiest stinker of them all.

Heather Graham's. I'm sorry. Finding Kitty. I don't even know what that is. That's Edward Burns and David Krumholz as a private investigator looking for his cheating girlfriend. Looking for Kitty. OK. It's called apparently.

It was Edward Burns in that Thorn Birds movie. No, that's Bill Peck. Edward Burns is in some horrible like. I don't know. You're not thinking of Hatfield's McCoys, right? Yeah, he had literally only been in The Brothers McMullen and She's the One, and this was his third

role. And he had directed both of those. Yes, no, this was his first movie that he had not directed and written. And he was second Bill. Well, because he really was. Like, he'd won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize. Yeah. Like, he was seen as, like, hot shit. He had a lot of heat. And he's, you know, he's good looking.

Yeah. He's a good looking guy. And this is a movie of a cast of lots of young, good looking-ish. Some of them are more interesting. I feel like Spielberg was good at picking sort of realistic looking people.

But like, right, a lot of young talent. Yeah, yeah. And he was seen as a young talent. Well, yeah.

It just, it is fascinating to me that like, This is his peak. Yes. After this, it's all down. Pretty yeah. It is fascinating to me that like- This is his peak. Yes. After this, it's all down. Pretty much. It is fascinating to me that this really is an ensemble movie, right? You have Hanks as like the ringmaster,

but other than that, it's really kind of an equal playing field ensemble in a lot of ways. And the two guys who got like prominent billing and like their faces on the poster and were clearly promoted above the ranks were Sizemore and Burns, who are the two guys who have the least interesting careers of everyone in the supporting cast.

That's true. You know? And like Damon then, like post-Good Will Hunting, they kind of put him more into the marketing. But he filmed it before all that happened, and Spielberg was reportedly really upset that Matt Damon got famous because he didn't want it to be like that.

And I don't know. He wanted to be, like like the audience was thrown off because he seemed innocuous. Yeah, exactly. How many movies has Damon just popped up in? I mean, that's a lot, yeah. But I think there's, I mean, you guys are doing this whole series on Spielberg

and something, one of the most interesting things to me about him is his casting because he'll cast like one big, big star and then maybe like a Colin Farrell minority report or whatever. Yeah, sure, up and comers. But like he Colin Farrell in Minority Report or whatever but like you know he'll put Francis O'Connell in AI or

Catherine Morris in Minority Report or Amy Adams in Catch Me If You Can yeah these kind of like he'll find these kind of I mean it happens a lot more with actresses I guess than actors because he doesn't tell a lot of women led stories but but like Mark Rylance he has this really he seems very resistant to stacking his movies with big names.

Because with Saving Private Ryan, he could have gotten fucking anybody he wanted. Well, you compare it to Thin Red Line. Right. Which I love, but it's like John Cusack suddenly shows up for two scenes. Well, yeah, and that's the worst thing about Thin Red Line. But I think in Malick's case, that's how he gets his movies funded. Right. Yes.

Everyone will do it. Right. But you know, I've told you the Thin Red Line story with George Clooney, where he's in that that's how he gets his movies funded. Right. Yes. Everyone will do it. I've told you the Thin Red Line story with George Clooney where he's in that one scene where he's giving a speech. He enters the movie at two hours and 30 minutes. And there was like a whole Clooney subplot that Malick cut out and Malick called him and said, I'm cutting, sorry, I'm cutting almost everything, but we do keep that speech. And Clooney was like, are you kidding me? Cut the speech. Jesus Christ.

I can't be in one. I'm going to look ridiculous. He was like, no, no, we have to have the speech. Which, I mean, I don't know that you do. I mean, I love that movie. I mean, I think it adds a weird power to that movie. This is an episode to talk about that movie, and I understand why it works. It does.

And I'm not bemoaning Malick for doing that. But a lot of people complained about it when they saw it. I'm sure. That was a hit on the movie. It's like, hey, this is distracting. Like, you can't keep throwing movie stars at me. I think metatextually it works in the film's favor because it kind of makes it clear that every supporting character

like everyone in the war is as valuable as anyone else in the war. You know, like John Cusack isn't the lead character but the second John Cusack comes on screen you know he matters because he's John Cusack and you've seen him in other movies. And Malick did originally cast a no-name as his lead but then famously, you know the Adrian

Brody story where he went to the premiere with his family and didn't know that he'd been cut out. Like that they cut all the scenes. Yeah, he's in like one scene. He has one line where he goes,

they're coming! And it happens two hours in. And he didn't know, which is like horrifying, but maybe that's what turned him mad. Yeah. Adrian Brody. Well, Sean Paul!

What was that? Was that the Adrian Brody? Yeah, Paul F. Tompkins and Scott Ackerman talking about that on Comedy Bang Bang is very funny. Yes, Sean Paul. What was that? Was that the Adrian Brody? Yeah. Paul F. Tompkins and Scott Ackerman talking about that on Comedy Bang Bang is very funny. Yes, it is. I love that. It's a great bit.

Okay. Adrian Brody's bit was great. I agree. Should bring him back. Justice for Brody. 50 comedy points. Yeah. No, the casting in this is incredible.

And I do find it interesting that he picked so many people. I mean, you look at the variety of the people in this cast and the careers they went on to have in totally different spheres. Yeah. Like, it's not just like, oh, he picked the next five big stars. No. You know? I mean, Nathan Fillion shows up. Bryan Cranston's in there.

Paul Giamatti's in there. Well, and the little-known actor in 10 Dances. Yeah, yeah. Like, you know, and that was like I think just like hey they're friends you know but he just Spielberg has an eye for it but you

but in the you know initial thing without you know kind of knowing what's to come it seems like he's just finding these kind of like

random actors who work in the texture of the movie and doesn't really much care with you know he has his hanks and that's all he needs and then everyone else

is just you know going to be the best for the role which i think is really cool and yes and kind of what and he does a good job not putting it in your face like i think if you you i mean look you you know it's paul giamatti but like you never see like a one-er of paul giamatti's fate you know he's in this like messy rainy scene he's got a helmet on half the time but but you're also saying you know it's paul giatti. In 1998, Paul Giamatti was most prominently pig vomit. I know. He didn't have that much. I'm just saying he's not drawing.

Even Ted Danson. You know it's Ted Danson. But he's not drawing attention to these actors. They're in a larger tapestry that he's woven with Janusz's beautiful Polish hand. He's got great hands. I kept on thinking about, there's this William Friedkin Jesus Christ. This

William Friedkin quote about a sorcerer where the studio really wanted him to hire Steve McQueen. And he was like, I want Scheider. Scheider's my guy. Scheider's my muse. And in the movie, bombed really hard. And he was like, I don't want a big star. I don't want to overpower it. I want Scheider Scheider's my guy Scheider's my muse and in the movie bombed really hard and he wanted he was like I don't want a big star I don't want to overpower it I want to shoot in the real jungle

and I want to have real faces and all this sort of stuff and he said when the movie bombed he realized that like one second of one close up of Steve McQueen was worth so much more than shooting in that real location and having all those effects and whatever and he wasn't talking in terms of box office gross.

He was talking about sort of like an ability to engage with the audience. And this movie does that so well where it's like even just in the first 26 minutes where like most of the dialogue is inaudible. It's happening over like such a cacophony of like sound and chaos. But just when we cut to a close-up of Tom Hanks,

even though it's him shaking and blood splattering everywhere, there's a sense of like, okay, I know we're in good hands. I don't feel comforted that Tom Hanks is in this movie, but I feel secure that we're going to make it. Yeah. And even though Tom Hanks had been in, you know, brief Vietnam War scenes in Forrest Gump,

this was Tom Hanks like, oh my, we'd never seen him in so much peril and, you know, bloody and, you know, shooting people. I mean, this was like a whole new thing for him. I mean, not to spoil, but is this the first Hank's death? I think this is the first Hank's death in a movie. No, Philadelphia. Oh, right.

Yeah. Or does he, but is he dead at the end of that? I don't think. But I think it's, is it the first time we see Hank's kill somebody? Good call. Has to be. Yeah. Probably, right?

Yeah. Except in Big when he kills the fortune? Good call. Has to be. Yeah. Probably, right? Yeah. Except in Big when he kills the fortune teller. But she deserved it. Yeah. I don't know what that joke was. And in Punchline when he murders on stage. He does. That's true.

But the bigger thing for me. He slayed that audio. Yeah. The bigger thing for me watching this is this is like the first time I think he had been this minimalist. Yeah. He's so small in this movie. And haunted.

It's the first time he really seems like a full grown up I think. And that's a mode he's playing a lot in right now. You were talking the other day. This is the beginning of that phase of his career. He's a young gay man dying of AIDS in Philadelphia. He's kind of like Nafe going through the world in Forrest Gump.

He was always kind of plucky. Apollo 13, maybe. Apollo 13. Sure. Yeah, this is actually similar to his Apollo 13 role, where he's kind of like this cool, steady hand, you know, at the center of everything. But he's so haunted.

But he literally doesn't have a steady hand. He is so... He does not have a steady hand. You're a good call. He's so small in this. I mean, watching his big monologues, because Apollo 13, the whole point is like, oh, the stoicism is that he's like this American hero.

He's like cool and calm and collected, even under pressure. But in this, the big monologues he has are all like, you look like he barely moves his face. You know, he doesn't feel the need to like overplay the hands. And we, you and I, Richard, we're talking a lot about recently, I've also talked about with you independently, that like

I'm fucking loving this current Hanks run yeah these last like five or six years of hanks i think he's found this pocket of playing like dudes who are just really good at their jobs yeah unshowy about it yeah real like american grown-ups yeah you know which we need right without any sort of like mannerisms which hanks is great when he wants to be you know heightened i mean he's obviously obviously a great comedic actor when he wants to be, and even when he has to play more character-y parts in a dramatic context, he's great at that too.

But he's really, really stripped down, bare bones, just existing on screen now. And this feels like the first time he did that, and then he didn't do it a lot again for the next 10 or 15 years after that, and then he's sort of come back to it. Well, he does cast away. That's his big follow-up to this movie, right?

But Castaway's such like a high-wire actor. Oh, I know. I love Castaway, but it's a totally different kind of... I'm trying to think of like other immediate things

that Hanks does after this movie. Yeah, because then you go, I mean, Green Mile, Toy Story 2, The Polar Express. Green Mile is the next year. Yeah, he had a weird...

He has a weird run. Yeah, yeah. Road to Perdition. And Catch Me If You Can is such a character thing with the weird accent. He's so good in that movie. He's great. Big supporting role, very much.

Road to Perdition, which I also think he's excellent in. But Road to Perdition is maybe the next time we see this version of him. Yes. I'll say it is interesting that obviously a huge part of this movie is that Tom Hanks is this like unknowable like

incredible like he's like this dark hero to his company right sure they all are like guessing it like oh he's such a fucking terminator at least Sizemore has been with him since the battle and they mentioned very briefly in Tunisia right so they've been all kind of all over the place and you know and Sizemore's playing Tom Sizemore yeah yeah

totally yeah very well Darden Orbeath and you know and Sizemore's playing Tom Sizemore yeah yeah totally Horvath very well Darden Horvath but uh Hanks is so lovable maybe it's just Hanks well he's just a grounding presence yeah

that sometimes you're like I don't know sometimes I have trouble with the movie when the movie's trying to sell me on like how intimidated they are by him

even though I think it works sure you know what I mean just like he's such a sweetheart yeah like the idea that they can't imagine that he's a school teacher when it they are by him. Even though I think it works. You know what I mean? He's such a sweetheart. The idea that they can't imagine that he's a school teacher. It's like, of course he is.

He coaches baseball, of course he is. And of course, that's the point of the big speech he gives, which is like, hey, in the real world, of course I'm a school teacher. But also, he's intimidating in exactly the way a school teacher is intimidating. Totally, yeah. You want to impress him. Like, this person's a nerd. He's like an English composition teacher.

He loves words this much. But it's like he's kind of unknowable. He's keeping a wall between himself and the students. You know? And he creates a dynamic

where you want to win over his affection and his respect. And I think that's crucial for the movie because you need to understand why when he says like alright, you three you have to go there now

where they're shooting the guns at the blank space that you need to occupy. You know, and then people like, okay, all right, we're doing it. Yeah. He's also, I mean, it's actually a, it's a really clever script. You know, do you hear someone scraping at a bowl? Oh, actually I do. Who is that? Oh, hey, it's me.

Please sir, can I have some more? I was just eating cereal. Not gruel. No, I turned it. I was, i moved away from the mic and it's fine i'm sorry my apologies wait ben uh-huh i'm so proud of you but eating on mic oh yeah good job my little producer ben my ben deucer my verdure ben my poet laureate my tiebreaker my peeper my fuck my poet laureate, my tiebreaker, my peeper, my fuckmaster, my not-Professor Crispy, my dirt bike Benny. Good, good. Yeah, well. You graduated certain titles over the course of different miniseries.

You're going to do it, Jesus Christ. Come on, man. Ben, say Ben, I shall not say Ben-y-thing. Yeah. I have to say, you sang My Fuckmaster in a little sing-song voice. My Fuckmaster. My Fuckmaster. It's a really weird thing to hear midday on a Friday.

I'm proud. Thanks, Griffin. You didn't give him his Cameron title. I gave, oh, T-Ben Thousand? Did we settle on one? Bailey Ben's? Bailey Ben's. I don't know. Ben, do you like this movie? Yes, absolutely. title. T-Ben 1000? Did we settle on one? Ailey Bens? Ben, do you like this movie?

Yes, absolutely. Fantastic. What do you like about it, Ben? I like war movies. And I like Tom Hanks. Yeah, ditto. And I like headshots. There's quite a few of those. Oh boy. Love it.

No, I mean, it's a fucking look into what my grandfather and his brothers experienced fighting in the war. And that's just usually how I sort of experience that movie, is thinking about it from their perspectives. They're getting to see it from their perspectives of that pretty awful stuff we call war. That's a beautiful thing to say, Ben. And I just want to say that if you like headshots, you should go upstairs to Ripley Greer Studios.

Boom! That's a joke for four people. That's a joke for the people who work in this office. Yep. All right. So what do you guys like? The D-Day landing sequence? It's good, right?

Yeah, it's crazy. It's crazy. It set precedent for something that I don't think, what we were talking about earlier, has never been met. I mean, like, right? Yeah.

Definitely. Like, Hacksaw tries it, but it's just too different. No, yeah, that idea of trying to communicate chaos without just completely befuddling the audience. And how much of it is actually one take? That's a good question. I would have to sit down.

I mean, there are cuts, obviously. There are plenty of cuts. But it's long takes. There are lots of long down. I mean, there are cuts on it. There are plenty of cuts. But it's long takes. Lots of long takes. Yeah. I'd say the only thing that kind of captures that sense of perfectly executed chaos like that is the door chase sequence from Monsters, Inc.

You are a child. You need to put away childish things. I like it when the monsters Are going through all the magic doors God Hey you guys like America Yeah Well I used to

Well that's six out of ten I mean like These men were fighting For our country And like believed in it I think they were also fighting To liberate people from a bad force. I think that's why World War II captures the fancy of so many people, because it was a righteous kind of...

It was such a quote-unquote good or important war that then people were like, oh, we should do more wars. And then all the other ones they did were like, yeah, six out of ten. It's the same thing that happened in the Big Mama's House franchise. What were you saying, Ben? Think of this movie in comparison with American Sniper. It's like, ugh.

Modern warfare is disgusting. Yeah, sure. And I think some films capture how weird and dispassionate and gross modern warfare is, and others don't. In the Valley of Allah, the best movie about the Iraq War. I've never seen that movie. It's not even set in Iraq.

Monsters University gets at some of it, too, in an allegorical way. Sure. Yeah. I loved your essay and film comment about that. It was really powerful. Thank you. Yeah. really powerful.

Yeah. I love, I personally love Black Hawk Down, actually, which is a movie that not everybody loves. About a sort of forgotten conflict.

Yes, and also to me about like the weird dispassion of modern war. Talk about cute boys, too.

Holy moly, they're all in that one. Boy, oh boy, Ridley got them all there. Josh Hartnett, yes sir. He took his butterfly net and he just went wild in that hay field.

Today's special is veal. He was like, what's Richard's Netscape search history? Veal. Yeah, like. A lot of prime cuts of veal in that movie. That's true. So we've gotten Fuckmaster in the sing-song voice. My Fuckmaster and now veal.

Yikes. Yikes indeed. This is like Island Woman. Oh, Island Woman. Remember that? Bella Bambina. Great World War II movie. Oh, Captain Curly's Way to the Lid. yikes yikes indeed this is like Island Woman oh Island Woman remember that Bella Bambina great World War II movie Captain Curly's Way to the Land

this is my favorite World War II movie a masterpiece of the horrifying theater of war in the Greek island I like that war movie because that's that's about music

right exactly yeah it's about Penelope Cruz's Greek accent it's about the music yeah okay so the yeah first 26 minutes of this movie,

here's a hot take. I think if that had been the whole movie, he still would have won Best Director. Yeah. I think if the movie was literally 26 minutes long. In the way that The Walk should have, the Zemeckis movie should have just been The Walk because it was really great

and everything else about it was sick. I would have paid the same amount of money. I would have paid $20 to just see those 15 minutes. It's really true about The Walk, yeah. Anyway, whatever. But you're right. I'm not here to beat The Walk It's really true about the walk, yeah. Anyway, whatever. But you're right. I'm not here to beat the walk. But I think that the amazing strength

of Saving the World is that... Oh, I can't wait for your spin-off podcast. Talk and walk. Talk and walk. Walk talk. Yikes. And you were doing it all in a cheesy French accent. Oh, hello!

Was it very Italian? What am I doing? Would you believe it? Me hosting a podcast. Settle down, Captain Corelli. We record the whole thing inside the torch of the Statue of Liberty.

Oh, God, that's right. Remember when he has his ID card? Yeah, remember when that movie's the fucking worst? But those 15 minutes are unbelievable. We have just two Zemeckis movies on this podcast.

Now, should we go in on it? And we talked about Death Becomes Serious. This is like Zemeckis movies on this podcast. Now, should we go in on another? And we talked about Death Becomes Yours. This is like Zemeckis cast. Well, we mentioned Castaway. When the BBC did their poll, I put that on my top 10 of the 2000s. That's a great movie. I love that movie. We've talked about four Bobby Z movies.

We've talked about four. Should we get a fifth in? Is this secretly becoming Pod Zemeckis? Okay. Let's move along. Any other D-Day thoughts? I was going to say that, as Griffin pointed out, based on these 26 minutes,

he probably would have still won Best Director. But what this movie does amazingly is that what comes after it, it doesn't feel like it slumps or anything. No, it's a good movie. I agree. It's such a well-structured movie. It is.

It's really, it's kind of a detective movie. It's a road trip movie. Yes. I mean, it's a lot of different kind of things that all, you know, wrapped in this. It's a buddy comedy. It's a buddy comedy wrapped in this horrifying package. Yeah, and it's a film. To me, like the idea, I think a lot of people, not a lot, but I remember there was some complaint that like Spielberg found this sort of cheesy narrative for his World War II movie, right?

Like this idea of them trying to rescue this boy, you know, and there's that very stirring Harvey Presnell as George Marshall. I love him. I love it, too, where he reads the Abraham Lincoln letter. And then he puts the letter down. It's clear he's just got it memorized. Yeah, yeah. That's what makes Spielberg's Spielberg.

Those details. Yeah, exactly. And the Presnell pause when he goes, the mother of five. Son's killed. It's just like this great, like, I don't know, it's just so well done. We are going to get him the hell out of there.

Oh, and I have to say, I could do it all day. So yeah, so it goes from D-Day to cutting to the office that's processing these deaths. Yeah, plot-wise, we can't talk about

the first 26 minutes. So let's just go, the first 26 minutes, horrifying. No, but they're incredible. They're incredible, but they're visceral. They free a section of beach

so tanks can come in. Yeah, it's Omaha Beach. Do you folks know that Charles Durning was like in one of those boats that Charles Durning was like a front line guy landing on the beaches

of Normandy? Hey, man. There's an amazing YouTube video. We salute your service, Charlie. One of my favorite actors of all time, R.I.P. But there's an amazing video

I recommend to all blankies out there of him at like the 100th anniversary of D-Day at the White House. And Tom Hanks introduces him and Charles D-Day at the White House. And Tom Hanks introduces him and Charles Durning just tells the story. And it's the most haunting thing. Doesn't Josh Rubin do a good Charles Durning?

We should get him back for this. He did a great Charles Durning. But yeah, so it goes to the war office and basically they find out. Hard cut to Cranston, one-armed Cranston. Yeah, and so there was this thing, this real life thing with the Sullivan brothers where they were all in the same boat because they wanted to stay together.

The boat sank, and they all died, and this family lost all their sons, basically. Like the Arthur Miller play. Except not. But anyway, so they find out that three of the Ryan brothers have been killed. Two in Europe, one in New Guinea. So you're saying this was sort of loosely inspired by that thing. Yeah, and I think they referenced the Sullivans even in the movie at one point. So, I don't...

In this sequence where we watch the car drive up the road in Iowa and the mother... She walks out onto the porch and she sees the chaplain get out of the car and she does that wobble and then has to... It's seared into my brain.

I talked about in the Lost World episode, and these are things we're going to keep saying in every fucking episode of this, even when the movies are bad, but Spielberg's so good at blocking, right? Yeah. And getting this sort of... Especially in this movie

where you have these really long takes and you're going around these crazy large amount of spaces with a ton of characters, and it always feels very organically laid out. It never feels like Vin Diesel's on his mark. Even though you know everyone has to be so precisely landing in the right place,

and he always just has everything framed perfectly. The other thing is, and this movie's a really good argument for this, he's so good at knowing when to convey shit through a gesture. You know? Just these little things like Presnell looking up from the sheet.

Or the wobble of the mother. He understands these very small moments. Or Hank's little shaky hand. That stuff. And it even feels to me like, and I'm projecting here, but this is a thing they say about filmmaking is know when you don't need the line there. The line in the script is to explain it so that the actor understands here but like you know and this is like a thing they they say about like filmmaking is like know

when you don't need the line there like the line the script is to explain it so that the actor understands or the director understands but you can cut the line and find a way to convey it visually and there are a lot of moments this way where it's like a shittier director would have had a character say that and he knows how to do it in like a glance agreed i want to finish my point or do you want to? No, finish your point. Just about this story, which we were talking about, the Private Ryan story,

which is cheesy. Yeah. Right? And like that Lincoln letter is cheesy and Harvey Presnell is kind of cheesy when he's like, I love it. I'm just,

it's righteous cheese. Exactly. Yeah. But I do, and like, so the whole premise of the movie is these eight guys are, you know,

banded into a little company to try and find Ryan. Like a band of brothers, yeah. Yeah, one could say. We marry a few. to try and find Ryan. Like a band of brothers, yeah. Yeah, one could say. We marry a few. And one would say just a few years later. Exactly.

So, and the whole time they're going, they're debating, like, what the fuck is the point of this? There's eight of us, like, putting our lives on the line for one guy, and it is, like, to me, a perfect metaphor for the foolishness of, like, war. I agree.

You know, like, and at the same time, no no the nobility they're in right like it's like that contradiction exactly like and and the idea that they are debating it the whole time i love that scene where hanks uh where miller captain miller is there like uh well if you were griping what would you say and he says i think this is a great use of military that's what i was referencing, you know, how clever the script is. Yes, yes. And something they like about Miller, the grunt in his command, is that he's witty and he has a kind of cool authority in that way. Exactly. He's not going to break authority, and they respect that, but he also is going to wink at them and sort of be self-aware and not just bark orders at them like a robot.

and not just bark orders at them like a robot. The setup of the pool about if they can get him to reveal personal details is such a good device that also says so much about every character. Let's go through the company. I want to go through the company. We've talked about Hanks. We've talked about Eddie Burns as a BAR gunner. The least interesting guy in the group, right? Yeah, he's all right.

I think it's both the least interesting character and performance. I don't think either is bad, but I think... I think he's the most classic sort of World War II GI kind of guy, right? There's always the New York guy. You think he's from Brooklyn? He's got the BAR,

so he's got the big gun. And then, so, you got Tom Sizemore as Sergeant Horvath, who's like... The second in command. Yeah, he's like the big gun. And then so you got Tom Sizemore as Sergeant Horvath, who's like. The second in command. Yeah, he's like the fall in guy. And he's got the good like bomber jacket on. Like he's got like a different outfit. And he's constantly covered in some sort of like ash or dirt.

Like, right. He's just never clean. Oh, he's like a pile of deli meat. Yeah. Yeah. He's like a human cold cut. I think he's great. Yeah, he's great.

And he's in Bringing Up the Dead the next year. And she's fantastic. Oh, yeah. He's great in that. He's like a human cold cut. I think he's great. Yeah, he's great. He's in Bringing Up the Dead the next year, and she's fantastic in. Oh, yeah, he's great in that. He's been in Strange Days. This was his moment. He was doing well. Yeah. And we should note. Crash is right after this.

Yeah, he's a total wackadoo. But he's a pretty good actor back in the day. Yeah, what else is he? He's in Pearl Harbor, right? That's like his last- He's in Black Hawk Down, which he's very good in. So both of those are 2001. God, he was in D-Day and Pearl Harbor? And the Battle's in Black Hawk Down, which he's very good in. So both of those are 2001. God, he was in D-Day and Pearl Harbor.

And the Battle of Mogadishu. It's terrible. And Heidi Fleiss. So you've got Barry Pepper. Yeah, what are we having at Barry Pepper? As Daniel Jackson. So good in 25th Hour a few years later. During the D-Day invasion, the shot

when he's sniping and it zooms in on his eye, I was like what is this? This is so stylish. There's so many interesting things happening. Proof that Spielberg's such a good filmmaker. He knows to put a little pepper on the dish. He's got

such a face. Spielberg casts some real faces. Mary Pepper's got such a weird face. That's why he's got such a face spielberg cast some real faces like mary pepper's got such a weird face that's why he's got faces out the ass um he was also well of course right he that's what happened to mary pepper is he was in battlefield earth and that like ruined his career that's right but is he a scientologist or is that he just i actually don't think so too much pepper i don't i don't think he's canadian um but he's good in 25th Hour. He's really good in that movie, The Three Burials of Melchiatus Estrada. Oh, sure. With January Jones.

Yeah, forgotten by time, but he's fabulous. Not by can. They love that movie. Yeah. He's really good in Lone Ranger. He's good in Lone Ranger. I always like him. I'm still excited whenever he shows up.

Oh, he's really fucking good in True Grit. Yeah, he is good in True Grit. I always forget. He's really good in that, he's really fucking good in True Grit. Yeah, he is good in True Grit. I always forget. He's around. But he likes to disappear into the tapestry a little. He's a chameleon. He's Tom Hardy-esque in that way. Utility.

You've got Adam Goldberg as Fish, the Jewish member of the party, who's pretty good at, I mean, as Adam Goldberg often is, he's brimming over with rage at all times. Yeah, because certainly by 1944, everyone knew that something really awful was happening.

Yes, although I think when they arrived at the death camps, no one knew the extent of it. And one of the most shattering episodes of the Band of Brothers. Yeah, and also, but you know, Hitler, his anti-Semitism was much discussed, you know, in the 20s and 30s. It was just people were sort of like, oh, well, you know, what's he going to do?

Someone asked me once, they were like, what's the name of that Jewish actor? And I was like, okay, first of all, this is fucking offensive. The fact that you just say that, who are you trying to talk about? And they were like, oh, the guy in Days of Confusion. I was like, oh, no, no, Adam Goldberg. Okay, right, that is the right description. I think he's the one guy you could call that Jewish guy. He's in a movie called The Hebrew Hammer in which he plays Seth.

That is true. That was supposed to be his breakdown. That angry Jewish guy. Yeah, he was Chandler's weird roommate and friends around this time. He's really good in this. And in Days of Confusion, he's the guy who punches the guy who looks like Chris Cornell. And I thought for years was Chris Cornell, but it's not. So much rage.

Oh, in Dazed and Confused? Maybe it is Nicky Cat. I think so. Yeah. This is probably his best dramatic performance, right? Probably, although, you know, he's done a lot of good work over the years. He's sort of an unheralded guy. Not to spoil anything, but I think he certainly has the most gruesome death in the movie.

No question. Of the main people. And the most sort of emotionally disturbing. Yeah. Definitely. Then you got Vin Diesel as Adrian Caparza.

My boy. Everyone's favorite. Small role. Spielberg had seen a little short he made, multifacial, and tossed him in there. I mean, talk about

casting a face. She reminds me of my sister, so... He's so... Don't you agree? He's really terrific. There's a really marvelous bit of physical acting that he does When he's picking up the apples?

Well, that's really great. The apple bit's incredible. The apple thing is really good, but then when he gets shot and he falls down on the piano and then, like, it's like, you know, tries to stand, and it's just like this really marvelous like, it's almost balletic in a way. You're totally right. I don't think of him in that, in those terms but, yeah, anyway. Yeah, that's why I'm't think of him in those terms. But yeah, anyway.

Yeah, that's why I'm actually surprised that you'd never seen the movie before because I figured just as like a Vin complete. That was always the largest incentive I had. The block was always, it's a warm movie, I'm not going to have a good time watching this. But the Vin thing was always pushing me. And I thought he was in it less than he was.

I mean, he's the first guy in the group to die. But he has some moments, you know. And he's pretty prominently sort of placed for that first chunk. He is, yeah. I mean, you talk about- But he has some moments, you know. And he's pretty prominently sort of placed for that first chunk. He is, yeah. I mean, you talk about... I pay attention to detail, you know, that little line he has about, you know, I always watch the details. You talk about Spielberg casting faces.

All these guys got really distinct faces and really distinct voices. Yeah. In a movie like this, especially when you have such a kinetic, disorienting style, and it is a war film, they're all wearing the same clothes and the same helmet helmet it really does help to be like you're not going to mistake

anyone else for Vin Diesel. No it's true you're not going to mistake anyone for Jeremy Davies or you know Barry Pepper. These are all very very different actors.

That's true really true. Giovanni Rubisi as the medic as medic that's a haunted who has that wonderful monologue I guess it is

in the church where he's talking about his mother and he's the one who copies out Vin diesel's letter uh to get the blood off of it bc an actor he has also a really emotionally devastating death yes oh god um he's an actor i like a lot and i don't say this in a negative way but he can definitely like make a meal out of mannerisms when he wants to you know he, he can be really sort of heightened. I think he often gets cast by people who are like, who should play this squirrely little weirdo in our movie for 10 minutes?

Let's get Giovanni Ribisi in here and just dial it up. When it's the right movie, and that's the fun thing to do is to dial it up. I'm not saying in a negative way, but he is also very, very restrained in this film. I mean, you look at that monologue where it's especially, like I was watching it and I was like, oh man, this is one of those monologues that like if you're in a shitty acting class, every young actor would want to do to show how sensible, you know, and like restrained they are with their emotions. But he really he holds it back. Yeah.

No. And he's not playing a weirdo at all. He's playing. I think he seems one of the most normally grounded one of the most smarter yeah and he was your prime cut in this movie if you had to do a power ranking

of cuties in Saving Private Ryan he was definitely I mean he was yeah he was a sort of I was into him for a while and I

you don't like where you end up no Ed Burns Ed Burns at the time he's so cute don't judge me Joanna was like who is that

we didn't know it was 98 look at that hair he looks great in this movie then he has the thing at the end about He's so cute. Don't judge me. Joanna was like, who is that? We didn't know it was 98. Look at that hair. He looks great in this movie. Then he has the thing at the end about the lady with the boobs and everything and I was like,

ooh, sexy. I don't know. Carry on, please. Nope. I'm not going to stop right there. Ooh, sexy. Thanks. Jeremy Davies,

one of my favorite, favorite, favorite character actors. Yeah. Same here. Yeah. Cartographer and interpreter. He was on Lost. Also a great physical acting bit

when he's trying to get his gear. Incredible. And that is almost Chaplinesque where he like, then the shelf falls down and he's trying to fix the shelf and all that. And that's a winner.

Yeah. That whole scene pretty much plays out. There are Germans, you know. And Tom Hanks is just standing there letting him do it. It's really good.

Hanks is great. That's my favorite performance in the movie. I mean, I'm deep in the pocket for Davies. So he had been in Spanking the Monkey, which was his big breakout role, the first David O. Russell movie, which he's phenomenal in. Right. And he also had done all those car commercials.

And he'd been in like Nail and Twister. Yeah. He's one of those actors that I adore. He's definitely a type. You know, he's got his thing. He can modulate his thing, you know, for various things. yeah he can modulate his thing you know for various things but uh he can modulate his thing for various things i'm a paid film critic he's bisexual is he oh boy i think modulation i love him sorry so much in solaris a few years later

he would i would nominate him for an oscar for that performance i i would borderline nominate him for this oh absolutely yeah no it's would borderline nominate him for this. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. No, it's a terrific... Yeah, I mean, the only thing working against him is that the film is such an ensemble. Yeah. But everything he does in this film is incredible. He's also the...

He has the biggest emotional arc in the movie. And he's the Griffiest character. If I'm going to be able to connect to any character in this movie that I don't understand, it's him. I think he's great in Dogville. Did he win a Griffey that year? Yeah, he won a Griffey. And of course, he's Daniel Faraday in Lost.

My favorite character in Lost. One of the best characters in Lost. And what has he done since? Well, he was in Justified, which he's fantastic in. And other than that, he's done like fucking TV guest spots. He hasn't done enough. He hasn't done a talkie since it's kind of a funny story. Yeah, that's true.

He's such a specific actor, and I do feel like you need to find the right spot for him. Yeah. But it is sad that we don't get enough J.D. Maybe he doesn't want to... He strikes me as one of those guys who maybe just wants to do what he wants to do. I think he also might be a little difficult. I could see him being very, very exacting on set

about doing things his way. He's such a mannered actor. Yes. And that can be tough if you want to direct him specifically. Yeah. I don't know. Another small performance I wanted to point out before I forgot...

And there's so many good ones there's so many good I mean you know just a million Dennis Farina's great love him is the guy who sends him on send him on the mission

Jim Leland Orser yeah he's great yeah it's the kind of really like shell shocked pilot who talks about the plate you know

the food bar like that's just such a good scene he's a great yeah messed up guy yeah Leland Orser he's so good

you need someone to be real messed up. Isn't he revealed to be the villain in The Bone Collector? That's correct. No. This movie was a real bone collector. Let me tell you. That's why I wanted to join the army. Collect some bones.

Yeah, Farina's great. Harvey Presnell, who we mentioned, who had been in Fargo a couple years earlier. He's such a great- Cranston with one arm. Cranston with one arm, one on Cranston. Giamatti, Ted Danson. You know, Jane Kazmarek had bitten it off. That's what was happening.

Absolutely, and it took him three years to regrow it. Nathan Fillion kills his fucking- Great scene. Because Nathan Fillion, I was talking about this with Joanna, such a good buffoon. Yeah. And it's a great buffoon moment, even though you feel for the guy. Yeah. And he just nails it,

where it's like, this could be private, right? He's almost exactly the same as Matt Damon, except, you know, a bit of a doofus. Yeah. Yeah, or a bit more of a doofus. But for Castle.

But for, well, Firefly, and, you know, all that stuff. Well, I thought Castle was funnier to say. Yeah. Yeah. It is. It's objectively funnier. Yeah. Those are, that's objectively funnier. Yeah.

That's a good cast. Those are the guys. That guy, his name is Jorg Stadler, who plays Steamboat Willie. He plays the German soldier. Betty Boop, what a dish. What a dish. That's a good one-scene performance. A really strong one.

It's not one scene. He's in several scenes. It felt like such a long, I don't know. Right, but he pops back up there. It's one sequence. He's in several scenes. It felt like such a long... I don't know. He pops back up there. It's one sequence. That whole sequence is incredible. What happens? They just go on this journey.

They go on the mission. It's sort of Pilgrim's Progress. They meet different... They're journeying through the French theater. You have the scene with the French people in their bombed out house and trying to give their kids away. You see a shell-shocked pilot and a bunch of airborne guys

who are like really were like in the shit, you know. Were dropped it all wrong. Yeah. And there's that guy who had the grenade go off and he's yelling. That guy's really funny.

Whoever that guy is. Yeah. He's good. Yeah. So you see these kind of different pockets of the conflict. And you see the men's cynicism boiling throughout. Like the great scene where they're going through the dog tags with utter dispassion.

And then Ribisi stops them. And he even stops Hanks. Because Miller is kind of in on the dog too. He's kind of half in on it. He's sort of smiling and nodding. Yeah. So they just kind of go. And then they finally find...

Well, people die. So Vin Diesel's shot by a sniper, and that's where you have Barry Pepper is really cool. Yeah, he sprinkles a little pepper on her. And actually, I was noticing. Sniper out, down! If he's the pepper, Ed Burns is the salt, right? Yeah.

Salty Ed Burns. Vin's that steak. Can I tell a Vin story quickly? Always. So, you know, Vin felt like he was fighting an uphill battle because he was so unconventional in type and sort of his always mysterious

ethnic background that he still has never made clear and he couldn't get cast in anything really so he made his own stuff. And he made the short film Multifacial that was about his struggles of not being easily typecastable. Spielberg saw that, loved it.

I think he loves actors who are also filmmakers, which also probably appealed to Ed Bernstein. How does Spielberg see something like that? It just gets passed? I think Spielberg is constantly being barraged with, yeah, you should check this out. I would also imagine a guy like Spielberg is constantly being barraged with, like, yeah, you should check this out, right? Like, yeah. I would also imagine a guy like Spielberg has, like, filter people. Be like, hey, what's the stuff I should actually see?

Because didn't Alden Ehrenreich break because Steven Spielberg saw him at a bar mitzvah? Yeah, correct. He was in a sketch video at a bar mitzvah. I did not know that that is crazy. But if I were Steven Spielberg, that's what I'd do. I would constantly just be so enamored of my power to literally transform someone's life if I saw any kind of potential in him.

I mean, of course he's been wrong, I guess, but he's pretty good. I think part of it's right place, right time, and part of it's he just has a really good eye. Right. I got to pee, guys. So he made this short. Spielberg saw it. Right, and then cast him in this. Right.

And, you know, Vin is a guy who is not very modest. You know, he's a very confident man in terms of his abilities. So now he's in a fucking Steven Spielberg movie, and he's starting to get momentum because he's got the heat. He was sort of anointed, whatever. So he gets cast in Reindeer Games. As the Ben Affleck part? No, to be one of Gary Sinise's flunkies, I think. He's like part of the, one of the heavies in the group.

Like an ensemble kind of physical presence role. And on set, John Frankenheimer asked him to take his shirt off. And he said, I only take my shirt off for Vin Diesel movies. And there was no such thing as Vin Diesel movies? Yeah, yeah. And he went, what? And he goes, I saved that for Vin Diesel movies. And there was no such thing as Vin Diesel movies? Yeah. Yeah. And he went, what? And he goes, I saved that for Vin Diesel movies.

And they were like, what the fuck? And he stood his ground. They fired him from the movie. Wow. And then he got pitch black and he takes his fucking shirt off. Because it's a Vin Diesel movie. Yeah. Like the next year, pitch black, Iron Giant is that same year.

And he took his shirt off in the amp? Yeah. When he was recording, if you watch the B-roll, he's shirtless the whole time they're recording Iron Giant. Yeah. And then the year after that's Fast and Furious. Like, just as quickly as he got fired from... And he really dodged a bullet there. Yeah, 100%.

It's a terrible movie. But it's like he plays the titular role in an American animated classic. Wait, do you know who got the part that he was fired from? I don't know. Who gives a shit? It's not Vin Diesel. Yeah, it's some guy who just was beefy and took his shirt off. Yeah, who, do you know who got the part that he was fired from? I don't, who gives a shit? It's not Vin Diesel. Yeah, it's some guy who just was beefy and took his shirt off. Yeah, there you go. You'll never, no, that's right. You talking Reindeer's Day? Yeah. Reindeer's Day.

Reindeer's Day. Isn't that amazing though? I only take my shirt off for Vin Diesel movies. That's great. And it's so sure that that would be a thing in the future. 100%. And he was right. Vin Diesel, he's totally right. And now he's Triple X coming back, back at ya with, who's the crazy person who's in that movie? Tony Collette.

Tony Collette, thank you. Tony Collette is like, what? I am so in the back. It's like Juliette Binoche being in Ghost of the Machine. I think the biggest one is Laura Linney in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 Out of the Shadows.

Joan Allen in Death Race. Well, she directed it. I mean, it's kind of like a Hitchcockian cameo. And you wrote it. Yeah. Well, I mean, Laura would dispute that. We haven't even discussed your directorial debut, Trolls. My Trolls?

Yeah, your Trolls. Did you love my Trolls? Of course I loved your Trolls. Have you seen my Trolls, Griffin? This has been Richard's best take. Please love my Trolls. Please. I've worked so hard on my trolls when people hear this

it will be so hard no one will remember that that fucking movie existed you out there in podcast land have you seen my trolls? my trolls is now on DVD it probably is you getting that

you getting that EPK ready for your trolls? I am. One million comedy points. What's your favorite thing about your trolls? My trolls? Oh, there's just so much. You know, I just love that they all sound like Anna Kendrick.

Yeah, definitely. Definitely. The best sound in nature. That scrappy little nobody. Anna K? Yeah. that's scrappy little nobody and a K so there's the scene where they Giovanni dies while they're trying to take out a

machine gun and then they almost shoot the German guy they could have gone around but then Hanks is like well we're just going to leave this for someone else so we got to do it and that sort of duty thing and that really frustrates them and it's like and that's when Burns a duty thing, and that really frustrates them. And that's when

Burns freaks out. Yeah, and then Hanks is like, how much is the pool up to? And then he tells them that he's from Pennsylvania. Of course, he could only be from Pennsylvania. It's mid-Atlantic. It doesn't have too much of an identity.

It's not from coal country. But we never get to the bottom of where Ed Burns' character is from. No, it's a mystery. Total mystery. And then does he start crying? Southern California? He strikes me as a Madison guy. Oh, yeah, totally.

He's in New England. Son of intellectuals. Does he start crying after he gives that speech, like in the Hanks breakdown scene where he privately goes off and starts crying? I can't remember if it's right before or right after. I think it's right before. And then he kind of snaps out of it. Yeah.

But that's his leadership at work. He dies, and then he just goes over the hill and breaks down, I think. Or they get the gun. No, no. Ribisi dies, right, and then they're going to kill the German, and Jeremy Davis is up him. He prevails on them to be moral and to not shoot a prisoner of war, so they send him marching off supposedly towards the Allies. Right.

But, of course, he gets picked up by the Germans again. Right. And I think, yeah, that's when all that's happening. Yeah. That's when Ed Burns freaks out and Tom Sizemore points a gun at him. And once again, to his credit, Tom Hanks hasanks has like three separate Oscar monologues in this movie. Like he has three scenes that feel like they're tailor-made

and he doesn't play any of them like Oscar. He was nominated for it, right? He was. He lost to Nicholson for As Good As It Gets. No, that was the year before. He lost to Benigni. He lost to Benigni.

So, you know, the nominees that year... Benigni literally climbed over his chair. For the listener at home, Ben is currently standing on top of the table. Hanks was never going to win. He had two Oscars, you know, only a few years earlier. And it's an ensemble movie. It's a more subdued role. The other nominees were Ian McKellen in Gods and Monsters, which is a great performance.

Should have won. Nick Nolte in Affliction, which is a really good underrated performance. And Edward Norton in American History X, which is not a movie I'm fond of, but he's quite good in it. Who do you pick? McKellen, probably. I think I would, yeah. Joseph Fiennes. Who would you pick, Richie?

I would pick, I think I would go with McKellen as well. I'm trying to think of like. Remember when Bill Condon made movies like that? Yeah. Hey, Billy. And now he's doing Beauty and the Goddamn Beast. Beauty and the Beast. That looks like shit. It's going to be out next week. Is that true? Is it that soon? No, it's in March, I think.

This will be coming out in February, I think, early February. I mean, some great male performances, lead male performances that year are Jim Carrey and The Truman Show. Correct. Oh, and he famously wasn't nominated. He won the Golden Globe and said, you know what this means? I'm a shoe-in for the Blockbuster Award. Remember that? Dave Foley in A Bug's Life?

Okay. George Clooney in Out of Sight. Jeff Bridges in Big Lebowski. Jason Schwartzman in Rushmore. Taylor Leone in Deep Impact. I mean, Depp in Fear and Loathing, if that's your speed. You got John Travolta in Primary Colors. A lot of great movies in 1998.

Vanessa Redgrave in Deep Impact. Keep going. Jon Favreau. Jon Favreau. Laura Einz. Is that how you say it? I don't actually know how you say that one. Lili Sobieski.

Chris Klein would be supporting, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. What a movie. Oh, no, that's 99, right? Election's 99.

I was going to say Broderick, but that's the following year. Election is 99, yes. Quite a year. So then they finally arrive, right, at Ramelle. Ramelle. Ramelle, that's right. Which is a made-up town in France. Bombed to shit. Bombed to shit.

Bombed to shit. It's supposed to be like Deauville or somewhere like that. And they meet Ryan and some other... This kind of ragtag. Cannon fodder. And they're guarding a bridge

because during that stage of the conflict, bridges were really important because if you didn't have bridges, you couldn't get tanks across and you couldn't get cars across. It was all about the tanks, baby. Yeah. So they decide to have

this kind of last Alamo stand. Right, because Ryan's like, I'm not getting... I'm not being like airlifted out of here. Are you crazy? Like, I'm in a war. He has a great scene where he goes and hides and breaks down too. Damon. Matt Damon. Really good performance.

Terrific. Oh, what am I talking about? He's the cutest boy in the movie. Of course. Boy, is he cute. He has the big monologue about when they all sexually humiliated some woman in a barn. Oh, God, that's right. Don't do it.

You're a young man. A well-delivered monologue. A good scene. A very Damon, kind of boyish, but decent. I don't know. I mean, that's a scene I feel like a lot of actors don't pull off. Onscreen laughing is underrated as a hard thing to do. Very, very good point. And it's not a particularly

funny story. But he sells it. He sells it. It's that funny to him. I like that Hank's, that Miller is kind of like sort of giving him the like, you know, like this sort of half smile just to be like, alright, I'm listening to you. I mean, this isn't my favorite story. And then when he says, what about those gardening gloves? And Hank's just goes

no. Yeah, that's for me. The very curt no and then the pause before that's just for me. That's a really well-written scene. And then I think it goes from there to the other guys listening to Edith Piaf on the Victrola or whatever that is, the gramophone. Ernst telling the bra story. Yeah, and then the tension just is coiling and coiling and coiling because you know it's coming, you know it's coming. And I just think that it's so well built. And you have this feeling of dread because they're having this moment

of kind of contemplative peace and quiet, you know, but you know that this thing is coming. And it's a really well done bit of tension, I think. And as a storytelling move, it's like the whole movie is them trying to find the guy. They find the guy. He goes, I'm not leaving. And now the movie goes, hey, guess what? Surprise, here's another hour. The mission is now to find the guy. They find the guy. He goes, I'm not leaving. And now the movie goes, hey, guess what?

Surprise, here's another hour. The mission is now to keep the guy alive because he's not coming with us. So we have to keep him. So Hank has to bond him, basically, to his side. Yeah, he says that. He's like, you're not leaving me. Where am I going to be? And he goes within 20 feet of me.

So the D-Day sequence, obviously, is utterly realistic and devoted to realism. This is more of an action movie war set piece. It, like, throws a little realism out the window a little bit. They have these little sticky bombs with the socks, although I think those actually were real. I just think, like, you know, it's one of those things where, like,

D-Day veterans saw this movie, and a lot of them said, like, you know, it was tremendously accurately portrayed, the landings, whereas this stuff is more like, yeah, military tactics, quote-unquote, maybe being ignored. But it's a terrific action sequence. But it's a siege thing and they have to kind of

bottleneck them and it's a whole yeah but it's so well done and terrifying. Goldberg gets a knife very very slowly driven into his heart. While saying like no no no no. Which I'd say is the worst speed a knife could be pushed into your heart is slow. And this is where Upham has, Jeremy Davis has his big sort of, I don't know,

I mean, it's where Steamboat Willie, the German soldier comes back. Well, which is a bit of a contrivance, I think, you know, given the chaos of this whole. I would say it's the one cheesy twist of the movie. I'd pick one other moment. I think there's one moment where Spielberg really Spielbergs it. Okay. I think it's the conversation with old Damon and his wife. Oh. I think Gild's the

lily a little too hard. Do you like the book end at all? I like the book end. I think that should be like two lines of dialogue. But he's like, am I a good man? And I think she says way too much. I think it's really overwritten. It is. Because at that point we've already won. You've got us. We're on your side, you know?

It feels a little indulgent. Yeah. That's the one moment where I felt like Spiel. We're on your side, you know? Yeah. It feels a little indulgent. Yeah. That's the one moment where I felt like Spielberg was really playing the strings, you know? And I think that that is something that has animated his career for a long, long time, is that he can't, he has a hard time resisting that. And he has all these incredible, serious impulses

that grew as a filmmaker as he went on, but there's still that kind of schmaltzy thing that... You know, I love some good schmaltz when it's appropriate. I think where it often fails him is specifically at endings. Endings are exactly the problem. I mean, you look at something like AI, which I think is a really profound and really beautiful movie. Your number one favorite of all.

But it should end with him at the bottom of the ocean I disagree and I will defend it very stringently next week I think the end of the AI is one of the greatest pieces of science fiction ever written

I mean I love it I see both sides yeah but I mean I do agree that it's like filmmaking or traditional storytelling that ending is tough to take

Lincoln could have ended before it ends oh that's the worst thing about Lincoln Lincoln's ending is rough that's the worst thing about Lincoln. That's the worst thing. It just keeps going and you're like, all right. You know, Bridgespies has, you know, there's a lot of things. Bridgespies has three endings.

Yeah, like why'd you tack on this extra five minutes? We get it. It should end with him asleep in the bed. He's just a little, he's getting a little too grandfatherly and he's like, well, just in case you didn't understand. But he wants to soothe you. That's the thing is he wants everyone to leave feeling, you know. Minority Report as well has a bunch of endings there. He always has multiple endings.

Great movie. He has multiple endings always, multiple resolutions. Yeah. And then it always just feels like at the end of the ride, he's unwilling to take his foot off the gas. Maybe it's like his encore. You know, like if it was a band. You want one more?

Yeah, exactly. Maybe he should put it after the credits, Marvel style. You know. That's exactly right. you know like it was a band you know he's got a you want a little you want one more yeah exactly maybe you should put it after the credits Marvel style you know that's exactly right he's only made one perfect movie

and it's called The Terminal and you wrote it get away from me I'm sick that's why it's perfect because I was like no endings

it was there on the page that's the thing it was on the page no ending no beginning no ending no middle nope

I mean structurally it's the perfect movie. It's wild. You were just sitting there at your screen, and you were like, I just need one line. I need her to say something. Get away from me. I'm sick. Something she screams early in the movie.

We'll get to the terminal. We'll get there. Peaks and valleys, guys. And we won't be able to leave. We'll be stuck there forever. You guys know I was born in Krakow, right? That's Hanks' number one worst performance with a bullet. What the hell is that movie?

Horrible performance. I mean, you'll talk about it, but what is that movie? It's one of those things. I think it was just because Steven Spielberg wanted to build an airport terminal. He was like, wouldn't that be cool? Yeah. But it's one of those things. It's kind of like, you know, we were talking about Lion, which at this point has been out

for a while, but you know, where someone tells you the story and you're like, wow, what a holy shit story. Like, how could that not be a good movie? Like, that'll be great. And we'll have all the little airport guys. Like, we'll have

a little ensemble. It'll be funny. I heard him explain it once, but we'll save that for the Terminal episode. I heard him explain in retrospect why he did it. Yeah.

Like we've said before, he's good at accounting for his failures. Yeah. He's not like George Lucas who people are like, you know, not everyone likes The Phantom Menace. He's like like George Lucas who people like, you know, not everyone likes

The Phantom Menace. He's like, no, everyone likes it. People who don't like it are stupid. This, he also knows when he hits it

out of the ballpark. Like, he's not arrogant, but I think if you ask him, he's like, that's a pretty fucking good movie, right? That one, that one,

it's pretty good. What are some, I'm trying to think of some, it's the guy who blows up the sticky bomb blow up. That's pretty crazy. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Barry Pepper's death is really arresting. The tank going...

Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, there are just so many bits in this kind of siege sequence that are just so well done, and it's like paying attention to all these details and motion and, you know. And I think a really important thing that is not true of a lot of big kind of action scenes like this is that you really have a good

sense of the space. Yeah. Like the spatial awareness of where everyone is and what's going on I think is as clear as it can be. Agreed. Totally. Absolutely true. You get and it's a complicated siege that's happening here and you get it. The stakes of it are laid out geographically very well. It's an excellent movie. i'll never watch it again as long as i live

i'm probably gonna watch it again probably like a year or two from now like i i just come back to it every so often i own it uh it's great yeah in the end i mean you know i remember when i first saw it being just like way i can't believe that after all that they kill captain miller sure you know and he has that great earnest, you know. Fucking Hanks, man. Hanks. A lot of actors would botch that line or try to sell it too hard. That's what makes a movie star is he knows how to do the

throwaway stuff like that. This movie's so corny, but it's so perfectly wonderful. It's the, yeah, it's the kind of like apex of this kind of greatest generation. Yes. Which is why I think it gets dismissed sometimes. But it doesn't, it's the kind of like apex of this kind of greatest generation, you know, although, but it doesn't shy,

but it doesn't shy away from the brutality. Yeah. Which I think is what makes it art. Yes. I agree. I mean, and I do think that's why this movie gets dismissed because it's seen as this like almost jingoistic greatest generation.

Like, Oh boy. Like, you know, that's when men were men and you know, courage was real or I don't know, but it's, it's a, were men and courage was real. Go ahead. It's appropriate. Maybe it's just because I hadn't seen it until now and I've been able to, I remember when the movie came out,

I remember the immediate reaction, I remember the backlash, the backlash to the backlash, how it's aged, all of this. But I, watching it last night, found it a lot more restrained than I thought it would be. I think people make too much of a meal out of the Spielberg tendencies in the movie. You know? No, I agree.

This is a very tough movie to watch. It is not gauzy at all. And it's got like a real kind of humanist message to it. Yes. But it's buried in a lot of shit. Like it doesn't, it's not that does not transcend everything else the film is saying. It doesn't overwhelm

it. Can we talk about something? I think we just need to address it. I think all three of us are going to agree it's a non-issue. Sure. But it's a thing that people talk about in relation to this movie and I had heard about it before seeing it. The trick with the sort of misdirect of making you think it's probably Hanks

at the beginning of the film. Oh, because it goes into his eyes. Yeah, I know people who are furious about that. Who do you know who's furious about this? And say that's very dishonest filmmaking. But it's like... No, it's not. It's not.

It's just a misdirect. Whatever. He doesn't tell you it's fucking Hanks. He just makes you... You assume that. You put that together in your head. They don't cut from the old guy's eyes to Hanks' eyes. Interesting.

I never assumed that. I don't know. Who do you think it was at the beginning? They zoom in on his eye and then the next shot is the helmet lifting, right? Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Yes. Who do you know who's so worked up about this? I've heard people say that. I can't remember because I hadn't seen it and I was like, you know, it was an ending to a movie I hadn't watched the beginning of. You know, I've been to that graveyard in Normandy.

I've always wanted to go. Yeah, when I moved to Britain, like, the first vacation we went on was to Britain. The first vacation we went on was to Normandy, and we went to all the beaches, which are crazy to visit. I'm sure. Do people, like, go swimming there? No. It's all

memorial. They must, because, like, I remember we were there, I think, in, like, February or something, so it was, like, very bleak and gray and, you know, dramatic. And I feel like it always is. It must be, right? I'm sure there are sunny days. In my head, I think, in like February or something. So it was like very bleak and gray and, you know, dramatic. And it's like it always is. It must be, right? I'm sure there are sunny days. In my head, that's what it looks like. But that graveyard is staggering. It is staggering

to see it. Like the amount of graves. I mean, it's like Arlington River, but Arlington is a military graveyard, so it's many, you know, but like this thing where you're just seeing like a battle basically represented in dead. It's thousands, right? Yeah. It's crazy. It's thousands, right? Yeah. It's crazy. That final morph effect is incredible, too.

When it morphs from Damon's face to the older actor. Oh, yeah. It's amazing how well done it is. The older actor is called Harrison Young. And then black or white starts playing. I was just going to say, it's like a counterpoint. That's like the only good morph in history. Well, Titanic's got some decent morphs. Not at the same level of like... Well, there's the eye. Oh, the Matrix movies have a really good morph in history. Well, Titanic's got some decent morphs. Not at the same level of like...

Well, there's the eye. Oh, the Matrix movies have a really fun morph. Yeah. Yeah, and X-Men has a good morph. X-Men, the team, has a good morph. All right, so we should mention that this film lost Best Picture to Shakespeare in Love and was seen as a surprising upset.

I won the Oscar pool at the party that year. Yeah, we talked about this in a little episode. Because I won the Oscar pool at the party that year. Yeah, we talked about this in a little episode. Around grown-ups because I picked Shakespeare in Love because I had seen it. Mm-hmm. Well, you made the right choice. And at the time, I felt very conflicted

because I loved both movies. I adore both movies. I don't know. Don't make me pick. I love them both. I also love The Thin Red Line. Shakespeare in Love is great. Incredible.

I think it's one of the funniest comedies. I think I was very happy that Housie, Gwyneth Paltrow won. And then I wanted Saving Private Ryan to win Best Picture, so I was a little disappointed. But Spielberg got Best Director. But I remember at the time, you know, going to school the next day and people being like, and I was like, no, I mean, Shakespeare in Love is great just because it's, you know. I've always stuck up for Shakespeare in Love because I feel like it gets unfairly targeted. I mean, it's a goddamn Tom Stoppard script. It's really good. It's the best.

Yeah. And, uh, yeah, so, I mean, also, I guess it's just acquired that reputation as, like, the ultimate, like, Harvey Weinstein, like, guerrilla campaign to, like, get the... Well, the lore is that that was what really, that was, like, the most, you know, one that did it. How did he sink Saving Private Ryan? Because it's, it is true that Saving Private Ryan almost seemed,

was it just, like, that the Oscar voters had just, you know, given Schindler's List best picture a few years ago so they were like it's okay we can miss this one right I have to think

especially cause it's like I mean this is this is five years after Schindler's List but there's only three two movies in between Spielberg movies

yeah you know so it's like that's pretty close to like that's true the biggest movie of the year

and like probably one of the most biggest received and like just a huge you know it's like it should be Oscar'd catnip and one could

imagine so this was these were the days I believe just kind of pre-screeners you know so you voters would actually

have to go to a theater in LA or New York and see the thing and you know a lot of people are old you know do you want to go see a three hour war film, do you want to go see a three-hour war film

or do you want to go see a two-hour thing that's, like, nice and a romance? Delightful. Like, you know, maybe that had some effect. But I'll actually say, Harvey was one of the guys who really made screeners a thing. And I think this might have been one of the years, actually.

So he would be... The counter worked for... DVDs existed at that point? It was VHS. They'd send VHS screeners to everybody. I would imagine. Yeah, no, seriously. It was VHS. They'd send VHS screeners to everybody. I would imagine. Yeah, no, seriously. It was VHS screeners

and the big thing was, I think, I think that worked in his favor. on the VHS. Yeah. Shakespeare in Love is like a perfect VHS writing. Yeah, and there's a lot of that

that still happens now where, you know, and I know that a lot of the studios are trying to get people to actually go see them in the theater so they kind of add, you do added value

with Q&As and all this shit. It's still not, people would still rather get the DVDs and watch at home. Grown Q&As and all this shit. It's still not people would still rather get the DVDs and watch at home. Grown ups don't go see movies. That's the great tragedy of the American

cinematic landscape. And it really affects things. I mean you know I think that you know I'm glad it didn't but like had the Revenant been everyone

had seen it in a theater because it's so cinematic whatever like that probably would have beat Spotlight which plays beautifully on the screen. But I will never forget Harrison Ford who presented because it's so cinematic, whatever, that probably would have beat Spotlight, which plays beautifully on a screener.

But I will never forget Harrison Ford, who presented Best Picture that year. Shakespeare in love. Because they so obviously thought, you know, it would be, oh, Harrison gets to give Stevie another Oscar. And then he gave it to John Madden. Or, no, the producers, Harvey Weinstein. Harvey Weinstein among them. And that was the year.

And Dan Zwick right and there were like six producers for Shakespeare in Love and that was when the Oscars changed the producer rules

so like you could only have so many nominated which is still true box office game day yeah so this I know

cause I 98 was maybe like the peak of my box office tracking obsession you know cause I've been in a couple years and this is when I really started to get serious.

So I know that the three highest grossing films of 1998 all came out in the same month. Interesting. So I assume that I can guess three out of the five sight unseen without any hints. I don't know in the places, but I would assume all three of the top grossing films of 1998 are in the five.

Saving Private Ryan obviously is number one the week it comes out. Yes. Saving Private Ryan opens number one. This is July 24th, 1998 with $30 million as its opening weekend. It eventually grosses $216. Insane. So that's a huge multiplier and makes $480 million worldwide.

Do you think that these days... It dropped like 20% every week for like three months. Would this movie come out in the summer? No, absolutely not. It would be a fall, right? There's no way this movie... Or spring. Well, look, American Slam came out in January.

You know what? It would be like a Christmas Day release and then a wide release in January. Yeah, so 100%. Hacksaw Ridge was September, right? No, it came out... It was October. It came out in November. No, it was November. Jesus, what's the... Yeah, a couple weeks ago. God, time is just... Yeah. I mean, it came out in November. No, it was November. Jesus, what's the matter?

Yeah, a couple weeks ago. I mean, it's, you know. But yeah, it's just so surprising. That third weekend in July, that's a big weekend for movies. And that was like a big summer blockbuster. And you think of a movie that's this difficult in so many ways. And R-rated and really R-rated.

It's just surprising. But I remember all the boys in my grade went to go see it because their parents were like, this is important. Yeah, for sure. And they were excited to go see it. Okay, so the other two highest grossing films in 1998. Well, okay, fine. You want to show off?

I want to show off. Armageddon has to still be in the top five. It is. Number five with $11 million, it's made $149. And Something About Mary has to still be in the top five. Number four, $12 million, $40 million. So it's going to have a long life. It famously doesn't hit number one until week eight.

Yeah, that one just sticks around. That's not a thing that happens anymore. It was an amazing box office round. Yeah. But number two is one of my favorite movies of 1988 that I watched over and over and over and over again as a child. I own it on VHS. I still love it.

It's great. It's a fun rip-snorting action adventure starring some great actors. It's sexy. It's, I don't know. It's the best. Zorro? Yeah! Oh, that's a great movie. The Mask of Zorro. That's a great, that was, that movie is fucking great.

I remember when that movie was being reviewed and was about to come out and all the reviews were like, it's surprisingly good. It's good. They made a Zorro movie and it's good. We all loved it. We were like, what fun that was. Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas,

Catherine Zeta-Jones. NAR. Do you know what part of your hint gave it away for me? What? Rip snorting. Rip snorting. It's a rip snorting adventure. When you hear rip snorting,

one word comes to mind. Zorro. When I hear rip snorting, one word comes to mind. Zero! When I hear Rip Snorting, I say Mr. Taylor. Or, I mean, it would have been better if it was Rip Torn, but whatever. We can edit that in post. Do it in post. Rip Taylor, I mean, that's long dead.

That's fine. 50 comedy points. Number three was an action film, a sequel in a series. It's like not even the second sequel. It, a sequel in a series. It's like not even the second sequel. It's a sequel in a long-running action series. Lethal Weapon 4? Correct.

That does not continue. This is the end of it. Yeah. I told you, 98 was my ballywick, baby. Let's see if we can even, just because we're knocking it down so quickly. Bottom five. What's number six? A hilarious family comedy that I've seen a billion times as well.

Are you being sarcastic about the hilarious part? Yes, although certainly when I was 12, I thought it was hilarious. Jungle to Jungle? No. Is it a Disney picture? I actually have no idea. It's live action. It is.

Although there is some animated fun happening to spice up the comedy. That's sort of a confusing clue. That's a mystery act? God. I mean, if I say, it's got talking animals in it. Oh, Dr. Dolittle. Eddie Murphy is Dr. Dolittle. Which also was humongous.

It was like the fifth highest grossing film of the year. Huge. The top ten for 98 is insane. $145 million. Waterboy is number four. Dr. Dolittle is number five. The Waterboy? No, no, Bug's Life is four.

Waterboy is five. Dr. Dolittle is six. Rush Hour, Deep Impact, Godzilla, Patch Adams. Those are your big movies. That's an insane top 10. We never, ever will see a top 10 like that ever again. No, that's why. Patch goddamn Adams.

Coming in at 10. Wow. That movie would make like $15 million. Yeah, almost straight to VOD basically. Patch Adams outgrossed Lethal Weapon 4. It did. And he's objectively terrible and was considered so at the time. I remember like-

People weren't like, oh, Patch Adams. People were actively angry at that movie. I remember there was an SNL sketch like the week after Patch Adams came out. That was the cold open was two guys at a bar talking about the state of America. Will Ferrell was one of them. And it was in the middle of all like Clinton Whitewater stuff. And he was just complaining about everything. And he goes, I mean, Patch Adams is the number one movie in America. God damn it.

That thing looks awful. Like it was immediately a punchline of like, how is this happening? Especially because it was it was Williams's follow up to winning an Oscar. And I was like, oh, now he's like serious. of, like, how is this happening? Especially because it was Williams' follow-up to winning an Oscar. And I was like, oh, now he's, like, serious. But, you know, you know. Don't you know we don't want you to do this? I guess he had done What Dreams May Come, too, or that was on its way. That's 98, I think, yeah.

Same year. Yeah. Bad year for. Okay, it's 97. No, no, it's 98. Six is Dr. Dolittle. Seven? Seven is a teen movie that I saw in theaters with some teens in it.

It's a dark teen movie. Is it a horror picture? I'd call it more of a thriller. It's not Cruel Intention. No, which I also thought. Disturbing Behavior. Yeah. Oh, good one, Richard.

You nailed it. Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude on the goal. No, no, no. I was not going to get that. Good call. Did you say Disturbing Behavior? It was directed by David Nutter, who had directed a lot of X-Files episodes, and now directs Game of Thrones. I was going to say,

remains a good TV director. That was, I think, his first film, and I don't know if he's done one since. Disturbing Behavior. Nick Stahl. So Katie Holmes, Nick Stahl, James Marsden, right? James Marsden, yeah.

The great James Marsden. Number eight? Number eight is a spoof movie that is bad by, I believe, Abrahams of the, Abraham, Zucker Abraham. Jane Austen's Mafia? Correct. Oh, I remember in the trailer

it had a say a little my little friend joke. Yes, it did. And then it was like a little person. Yes, it was. Oh, no. I think he comes out

from underneath a wedding dress. 18 years ago. I was like, it was a dick joke, right? No. No, I think he literally comes out from the underside of a wedding dress.

Yes, yeah. Well, that opened to $6 million. Next is a movie that you fucking love. Small Soldiers. Is that Joe Johnson? No, Joe Dante. Joe Dante. My guy.

Excuse me. Me and Griffin are like that annoying couple who play charades at this point. Where I'm like, the next movie is a French cruller. And he's like, Small Soldiers. We just have some made up language. Is Tommy Lee Jones a voice in Small Soldiers? Yeah, he's the- Major Chip Hazard.

And who are the kids? Who plays the kids? Gregory Smith and Chris Dunst. I thought that, that's right. Chris Dunst, old Kiki. And Phil Hartman's in that movie. It was his last movie, am I right? Yes, Bill Nunn.

Bill Nunn. And Madison. And then also all the Gorgonites And Phil Hartman's in that movie. It was his last movie. Am I right? Bill Nunn. Bill Nunn. And Madison. And then also all the Gorgonites, other than Franklin Jella, plays Archer Lee, the Gorgonites are the Spinal Tap guys. And other than Tommy Lee Jones, all the Commando Elite are the Dirty Dozen. It's really quite a bizarre little movie. Gregory Smith, by the way, who follows me on Twitter.

What's he up to these days, Greggy? I love Deverwood. I love Small Soldiers. Well, he did Rookie Blue for years in the Canadian show that aired in the summer. Missing Paragram. Missing Paragram's in that one. And his brother, Douglas Smith, I believe his name is, was on Big Love. He was the oldest son.

Oh, yeah. And their father, Agent Smith, of course, is David's best impression. That's exactly right. David? Uh, what? I'm right. Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. Small soldiers 9? Number 10 is a movie that Disney will soon remake.

Just like everything else. Song of the South? Mulan. He got me right between the ribs. It was Mulan, right? Yes, Mulan. They actually are doing that. They announced that, right? But then there's another studio that's doing one.

Yeah, but that Sony project seems like something that's never going to happen, right? I feel like that's just them pissing in Disney's cornflakes a little bit. That's an Andy Serkis Jungle Book movie that's not supposed to come out for another two years. Oh, boy. God, one can only imagine what that's going to look like. Then you've got some other movies. Madeline. Hells yeah, Madeline fucking rules.

Everest, the IMAX experience. The Truman Show is still hanging around, as is The X-Files and Titanic. Titanic is still in there. Titanic actually grew by 10% this weekend. Titanic is still goddamn in there. $593 million it's made in its 32nd week in the box office.

It's number 13. In the Titanic episode, you said that the first movie to depose it from number one was Lost in Space. Which was in March. What about Man in the Iron Mask? Did that premiere at number two?

Yes. And the crazy thing was that Leo was the star. And they thought he was going to dethrone himself and instead it was like Man the Iron Mask opened to 24 or something and was like a million below Titanic.

Yeah, that was March 15th. Indeed, it opened only $300,000 below. 17.2. Were these like iconic times or they just seem iconic to me because I lived through them? You know what I mean?

It's just crazy that all these movies were in the theater at one time, you know? Yeah. Well, because there are movies, right? Yeah, I know. April 3rd is when Lost in Space finally claims the throne.

I mean, that's why we started this podcast, because I need to talk to other people who view these times as iconic. Right, yeah. Yeah, right, right. That's the thing. That's why we play the box office game, because we go like, can you believe it? Dr. Doolittle and small soldiers taking up screens at the same time. In the house in Rhode Island where I spent summers as a kid,

you just have to call the movie theater to get Showtimes, and it was just like a repeating thing. Oh, yeah, me too. I used to do that, too. And so we'd write the times down in a notebook, and we still have a lot of the notebooks, and I'll flip through,

and it's like my handwriting from like 13, and it's like all those movies were in the theater, just like Waterworld and whatever else. It's just so crazy. Bears and originals. Fucking live in Ben. It's just like Waterworld and whatever else. It's just so crazy. I wish we could fucking live then. Well, now the world's over. Well, maybe, you know. Wait, is this going to air post-inauguration?

Oh, yeah. Yeah, this is coming out early February. So no one's ever going to hear it. Yeah, that's correct. Oh, that's sad. Not impossible. But you know what? We had a good time recording it.

Hey, yep. We had a fun time. Richard, always the best. Thanks for having me again, guys. It's fun. What a pleasure. What a treat. Richard always the best thanks for having me again guys it's fun what a pleasure what a treat Richard it's been terrific

think of an Ang Lee movie you like should I join the military absolutely not you know the Ang Lee movie I think would be interesting to talk about because it's just

such a weird movie is Woodstock oh wow I've never seen it yeah with it's weird gay themes we've been talking a lot about Dan Angley. We'll see.

All right, all right. It's been a while. You've both seen Billy Lynn? I haven't taken the walk yet, no. I took that long after I'm walking. She real bad. She real bad. Another Vin Diesel war movie.

Yeah, and he's not going to. I think he's fine. Oh, don't say that. That hurts me. I had heard Oscar buzz, but... Anyway. No one's getting Oscars for that one. No.

No. I think Garrett Hedlund's pretty good, though. Richard's getting an Oscar for best guest on this episode. Yay. Thank you, guys. It's funny that the Oscars every year try to give out an award for best guest on Blank Check's Saving Private Ryan episode, and every year there's no contenders until now. Fucking Christoph Waltz keeps winning.

For the same role. I'd love to have him on this podcast. He'd be a great guest. I interviewed him once. He was so scary. Next week, AI with Christoph Waltz.

Yep, exactly. It's about the robot. That is the next one, right? Yep, that's right. Crazy. Spielberg takes another break and punches up a Stanley Kubrick script. Like we all do when we

take a vacation. Oh man, I just love thinking about those two faxing each other. You know they used to fax each other all the time? That was like their thing. You know, Kubrick's like ensconced in his British mansion and like, you know, he would just like write Spielberg a fax, you know, weird Kubrick thoughts. I'm gonna go to Tennessee for

the holidays and take a pass at Napoleon. That's what I'm going to do. Oh, boy. Oh, I got to do a punch up on that Solaris remastering. Thank you for listening. Please remember to rate, review, subscribe,

tell friends. Yeah, right? That's all that stuff to say Benny Ben yeah I always love trying

to get Ben's attention at the end when he's obviously stopped listening an hour ago any final thoughts wow it's like

the calm after you should just fade the episode out there no final thoughts whatsoever? No, he's got none. I don't know, man.

Yeah. Okay, cool. Oh, yeah. You know what? All right, fine. I got something. I got something in here. Oh, whoa.

So I still believe in our country, even though it's the world that's going to probably end soon. But also, you know, we can't give up. That's it. Thank you, Benny. Put some positivity out there. We need it. We need every bit of, we can't give up. That's it. Thank you, Benny. Put some positivity out there. We need it. We need every bit of positivity we can get.

And I'm sorry for whatever the fuck is happening in America right now as this podcast drops. I'm sure it's pretty weird. Yeah, and I'm sure we're not enjoying it either. Probably not. But thank you for listening. Thank you for saying that, Ben. Let's all try to remain positive. Let's all try to find our own Private Ryan, whoever he or it may be.

I hope it's an it. I hope it's an it. Hey, was there a porn parody of this? Yeah, but saving Ryan's private, of course. Saving him from what? Who can say? Ruin? From being untouched.

From atrophy? Yeah, from atrophy. Yeah, underuse. From loneliness. And as always... Tom Sizemore's in it, too. Hey, man, he's a paycheck actor. I thought it was Tom Moore-sized.

Oh, sorry. And as always... I only take my shirt off when he's in it. Remember when they were trying to make Brian Greenberg a thing? Yes, I do. Yes, I do. And thank God they did not. They tried. They tried. He tried to make Brian Greenberg a thing? Yes, I do. Yes, I do. And thank God they did not.

They tried. They tried. He tried to make it in America. He popped up in something recently, didn't he? I don't know. Yeah, he's been on... Well, I don't know if he... He did like an arc on Mindy Project,

but I don't know if that's... Oh, it was seeing the ads on Hulu, the Relentless ad. You're right. That is... But God, that's five years since he was in How to Make It in America. So that's... Yeah, he's almost

40. I wonder what he thinks. And he was also famously on that show, what was it called? Unscripted? The HBO thing, yeah. With George Clooney's ex. Mm-hmm. And the other one. Krista Miller? Yeah. And he was on October Road remember that

sure with Laura Prepon I think that's right yeah that's the oh that's the worst show of all time it's the worst the big time Hollywood

comes home to like shit town nowheresville and it's based on like the screenwriter of Con Air right I think it is

I think it's Rosenberg or whatever his name is I think it's based on his life after writing Con Air Scott Rosenberg Ben Foster his name is. I think it's based on his life after writing Con Air. Scott Rosenberg?

Ben Foster's marrying Laura Prepon? Which is weird, yeah. In IRL? Con Air was largely improvised. It was. Yeah, it's true. It was done Borat style. Yeah, yeah.

Larry Charles is Con Air. A fun fact about Nick Cage, never on a Herald team this is Ben's new bit I like it it works every time oh boy yeah what else have I seen what else have you seen Richard I watched a couple documentaries

oh yeah I need to see that. It's just anytime I want to, I just remember that I'd rather do anything else. Yeah, it's pretty rough. Yeah, exactly. I watched it the day before the election. Great. And then I Am Not Your Negro, which is really good, the James Baldwin.

Right, I really want to see that. I have a couple others I need to watch. But I've got Patriot's Day on Monday. Oh, boy. Yeah, and then silence the next week oh silence wait fuck oh that I want to see I assume that's a critic circle can I come really yeah you should oh that would be amazing when is it oh they're right you're actually sorry when is it when is it um it's during the during the next Wednesday. It's the 30th of November in the morning.

Great. I'll be there. Okay. See you there, Ben. Seriously, buddy. Just tell me when and I will be there. That is my... No, I know.

That's your... That's my jam. Maybe it'll be shitty. I mean, it's happened. Should I dress up? Yeah, you have to dress like a monk from the 16th century, though. Oh, jeez. Alright. Get my robes out. Start sewing now.

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