The Rewatchables - ‘Saving Private Ryan’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey

Episode Date: September 6, 2022

With every movie Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey rewatch, the farther away they feel from home. They revisit Steven Spielberg’s 1998 American epic war film ‘Saving Private Ryan’ starring Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Ed Burns, and Matt Damon. Producer: Craig Horlbeck Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Bill Simmons. I have some good news for you. The hottest take. It's back. Oh yeah. Monday through Thursday, four times a week. You hear from me, Chris Ryan, Sean Fantasy, Mallor Rubin, Wazding, Lambrey, Van Lathan, Julie Lipman. Many other ringer staffers. You get one take. You got a defendant to the death. Sports takes. Pop culture takes. Food takes. Airplane takes. Oh, yeah. It's coming back. First episode drops August 29th. This episode is brought to you by Adobe Firefly. The All-In-One, Creative Steaks. with AI powered image and video generation. Built for today's creative process, Firefly helps you generate, edit, and experiment fast.

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No, you don't understand. It went perfectly real. offer down to the penny. They're picking it up tomorrow. Nothing went wrong. So what's the problem? That is the problem. Nothing in my life goes to smoothie. I'm waiting for the catch. Maybe there's no catch. That's exactly what a catch would want me to think. Wow, you need to relax. I need to knock on wood. Do we have wood? Is this tablewood? I think it's laminated. Okay, yeah, that's good. That's close enough. Car selling without a catch. So your car today on...

Pick up fees may apply. The rewatchables is brought to by the Ringer podcast network where you can find the big picture with Sean Fentasy. on there this week. Yeah. Slice the Lone Hall of Fame. It's great to have you. Some good arguments. I think people were mad that you put five Rocky movies in. Oh, they were mad?

Yeah. Which one should have been bumped? They said we should limit it to two to three for a franchise going forward. Oh, interesting. I like that. All right. Well, you can go check that out. Chris Ryan is here as well.

He is hosting on the Ringervverse podcast. Yeah. Our Talk to Thrones. That's right. For House of the Dragon. Joe, no. Do they have a channel where they run those for dumb people like me where they can put the names of the characters and stuff.

It's the watch. It's called the watch. I was saying HBO 2 should just run Thrones for people like me where it's like the white-haired guy is actually just like almost like a ticker on the bottom. Like Amazon has X-ray where they tell you the actor is in the scene but only for the lore of Game of Thrones.

That's a good idea. So is that the only podcast you're doing or you're still cranking out the watch? I still crank out the watch twice a week. Okay. Yeah. All right. You've been paying for it. coming up on our special Labor Day weekend episode

Craig Horlebeck, earn this, earn it. Save him private right in his next. Eight soldiers were chosen to find one man. Some private lost three of his brothers and he's got a ticket home. They didn't know how. It's a tough assignment. That's why you got it. They didn't know where.

They didn't know why. What is happening? Finding him if that earns me the right to get back. to my wife. That's my mission. Tom Hanks. Edward Burns. Tom Seismore.

Matt Damon. Saving Private Ryan. A film by Stephen Spielberg. Rated R. Starts Friday, July 24th. All right. This movie came out in 1998. It was a big deal.

You had some Oscars. It was a big deal. I had a lot of famous people in it. Is this the greatest modern war movie, Chris Ryan? Yeah. I think so. I think that there are war movies that I've probably seen more.

more, like maybe, I think I've wound up seeing Black Hawk down more. I think there are war movies that maybe are a little bit more provocative about what happens during war or specific wars. But in terms of capturing probably what it was like to storm Omaha, that was it. You know what I mean? And I'm basing this off of World War II veterans seeing this movie and having PTSD and needing to like excuse themselves. Right.

I think it's a cheat code for all war movies because it's two things at once. And most war movies are either combat movies or they're men on a mission movies. And this is both. And so you get what it's like, the pain, the struggle, the agony, the violence, the terror. And you also get an adventure. This is an adventure movie in some ways, too. And so Spielberg really splits the atom. It's best known, obviously best remembered for being this incredible portrait of, you know,

the terror of World War II. But there's also something narratively pretty riveting. We're on a quest throughout this whole movie. So it's a lot of fun in a very strange way. Perfect timing. Comes out a decade after, like, the Vietnam War Movie run ended. 20 plus years after that whole wave of war movies that, like, you know, I grew up with my dad watching. And this felt like the first modern big war movie had Tom Hanks, who was the most successful, famous actor in the world.

It had our best director. It had a bunch of familiar faces in it and good young actors. and then the first 25 minutes in the theater. I remember what theater I saw this in. I remember who I saw the movie with, my future wife. And after that first extended battle scene, and the movie takes a breath. And there was this sensation in the theater.

I don't ever remember feeling before. When people were just like, is there an intermission? Can we regroup? Can we all have five minutes just to kind of get our brains together? And I almost think that's why the movie has to, to kind of slow down almost too much for the next, what, 13 minutes?

Because you need to regroup. It's that great. It swings the pendulum so hard because I remember I just watched this on a plane and this happened again. So it's kind of wild. You watch the first 25 minutes and it feels like there's an F1 race happening in your bloodstream. And then they do

informing Mrs. Ryan about her sons with the John Williams music and the long drive up that driveway and you're just like crying. Like, I mean, it's just like, you can, you can reject it. You can be like, this is Sacker and Steven Spielberg sentimentality or whatever. But, like, in the moment, you're so disarmed from what you've just seen. And then you just get this moment of such just profound sadness.

Yeah. Rank, like, just ramped up because of the way that they shoot it, the way that they make it. It looks like it's in a completely different movie. And it's just, he is the master of making you feel different things with the camera. It also just, it's a complete. narratives were from any expectation that filmgoers have. Like, even though if you were going to the movie in 1998, and I did go on,

it was released the weekend of my 16th birthday, and it was like an event for me and my friends, you never expect the most pulverizing part of the movie to come at the beginning. There's always, films lead to this. And then the film does lead to a pulverizing section. Well, they swerve it, because you have the old guy in the cemetery to start. But that's so brief. Yeah, and it's so disorienting.

There's an old guy, and all of a sudden, there's people puking on a plane. You're like, what's going on? Yeah. And so, like, it just, it's unusual. I mean, I can't really think of any other movies that have the exact narrative structure of this movie with heavy intensity up top. And then that kind of, like you said, build that dip where you kind of have to introduce eight characters in a very small window of time and get you situated in a kind of an odd story. And I think we'll probably maybe tear apart a little bit some of the structure of the movie. But that opening sequence is, I, I.

I mean, it was legendary, it was legendary, like, instantaneously. It was. I meant puking on a boat, not puking on a plane. Yeah, it was, it was kind of one of the selling points of the movie. I mean, it wasn't hard to sell this movie. It came out during the summer and had Spielberg and Hanks, and it was World War II, and it was, Spielberg had never done a movie quite like this. It was at a really interesting point in his career, which we'll talk about.

But the battle was the selling point. The ramp drops on that boat, somebody, all those guys get shot by the 30-Cal and, like, there's blood on the camera lens. I've never seen that before. I've really seen that since. I mean, it was squib blood flying into handheld cameras, but this was still a Steven Spielberg Tom Hanks movie. It was really crossed up.

I think when I saw it, I was waiting for it to be kind of like a very, like, proper awards-bate movie. And I know that there was word that, like, Spielberg is kind of, like, leveled into some zone that no one's ever done combat in. But, yeah, I mean, I don't think anybody was prepared for what they saw in the first 25 minutes.

Oh, and then the last 30 minutes are also really good. good. I mean, I can't wait to talk about that last battle, too, but they feel very different. I think what's so amazing about that first battle scene is you always know where you, we talk about the sometimes Loonery Watchables, where you always know where you are and they're creeping forward, right? They're trying to get closer and closer to the people that are shooting at the top and they're going over the bunkers, and you kind of never lose your perspective, but it seems improbable. It just seems like a doomed mission at the start. And the fact that they're able to flip it, it's it feels a little sports movie-ish

and at the same time you have guys picking up their arm. Yeah. And people, you know, that one time when he drags that, he thinks he's dragging the injured soldier and the guy's basically just a torso. Yeah. I mean, the first, the opening, that opening sequence is purposefully meant to feel like documentary.

And that final sequence is cinematic. You know, it's an exciting, classical kind of war movie execution where like, and historians will say like, the verisimilitude in the first part is so different from the mistakes that they make at the end of the movie where a lot of the tactics stuff doesn't make as much sense. But at the beginning of the movie,

all the stuff that Yandush Kaminsky does where he tweaks the lenses and they slow the film down and they desaturate all the color to make it look like the gray skies and everything is kind of muddy and cloudy and that sensation that you would have if you were landing on shores

what they're trying to achieve as like so staggeringly effective. Like it just, you feel like, like you said, Chris, like it feels inside you when you're watching it. And when you, you know, you watch movies enough, and especially if you watch war movies, you watch genre movies enough, you just start, there's a part of your brain that dies with like the suspension of disbelief. You're like, yeah, they're going to get out of the situation. And every single time I start saving private ride, I'm like, I don't know how they get off this boat. I have no idea how they get into. Yeah.

Yeah. They just, it seems like everyone's going to die twice in this movie. Yeah, yeah. So I think that that, to be able to communicate. to a modern movie viewer what it must have felt like to be doing this thing that it's also worth noting

this is also like greatest generation stuff happens around this time and like all this sort of lionization of this generation, rightfully so. But like I think in my mind as a young person was like they just stormed a beach. They just took Germany

and then they took France and then they took Germany and that's how they won the war. And I did not know how much carnage and also how much adversity that they really faced. I don't think you can know it until you see something like that. We talked about this was where there's a lost dark. The Nazis are always going to be the best villain for any movie.

They just are. So you have that piece too where you're rooting for these guys. And it's our guy Tom Hanks, who's Jimmy Stewart at this point in 1998. And all these other people I like, most importantly, Barry Pepper is the sniper, who we'll talk about later. Sick, Barry Pepper performance.

Oh, my God, Barry Pepper. But it's just, it's all set up, and it's all. And it all works. I have a question for Sean. Was this Spielberg's last truly great movie? No, like not even close in my opinion. Okay. I think that this actually kicks off his third wave of greatness.

Because this leads to a bunch of movies that you may not like, but that I love. Okay, give it to me. I love Minority Report. I love A.I. I love Catch Me If You Can. I love that whole run of movies that kind of ends with War of the Worlds. That period. Can those be great movies without being truly great movies, though?

I would say that both AI and Minority Report are truly great. Really? Literally in his top 10. But I do like Minority Report. I just feel like Savi and Prime Ryan was his last Jaws, Raiders and Lost Ark level movie. I guess is it like, because great and iconic are different, you know, and you could make the case that this is the last one that goes on the Hall of Fame Black, for example. So maybe that's the question.

Is this his last iconic movie? I don't feel like the movies you mentioned are iconic. Like, I think Catch Me If You Can is an awesome movie. Yeah, I wouldn't make, I wouldn't, that one is certainly below saving private Ryan. It's tough because he has five movies to his name that are basically in the 100 greatest American films. Right. And this might be the last one of those, but that's not great. I mean, there's probably 500 truly great films that have been made in America in the last hundred years.

Well, you mentioned the, so you feel it starts a third wave. I feel like this is the end of Spiel. from 93 to 98, he's got Jurassic Park and Schindler's list. He wins the Oscar. He creates DreamWorks. He EPs Twister and Men in Black and Deep Impact. He does the Jurassic Park sequel. He does Amistad and his saving Private Ryan.

It's all in six years. And that was after it felt like he had, as we always talk about, flown a little too close to the Sun in the 80s. Hook happens. That kind of sucks. It's like, ah, might have been in. Might have made too much money. This Spielberg guy.

And then he just rips off six years that just those six years are as good as any directors had. And you could just remove the 80s from him and just take those six years. Yeah. And that's way up there. But I feel like he needed this movie for the overall package. Because this is what separates him from just like these awesome action movies. You think even after Schindler's, he still needs this? I think he needs this because he needed a show he could make a really dramatic.

I just, I didn't personally think he could make a movie like this. Heading into the movie. I was like, I don't know if he could do this. I heard about it. I knew all the people in it, but I was like, Spielberg's going to make like a hardcore war movie that's going to really go places. I don't think he's going to do it.

And then he did it. Yeah, I mean, like later in his life, he makes things like war horse, you know, and it's like, that's a much different version of, like, combat. Like, you know, like, it's almost, a lot of the times his movies are seen through the eyes of children. Like, I think you could say that. and this is a very, very, very, very adult movie.

Where do you stand on that, Sean? Did you think, I mean, you're 16, so you didn't have the full cachet at that point, but did it seem probable based on his pre-98 career that this was a movie he would make? He had already, I think, in the consciousness ascended to the most important filmmaker of his generation. I think what it does is it basically, it closes the door. It's kind of like, it's over, he is the person who most represents what America, American movies are and will probably be for the next 20 years. I think he's still doing amazing work. The thing that's interesting about this movie is it's, even though there is a lot of saccharine

sentimentality like Chris is saying, and a lot of that stuff still doesn't really work, it's probably the meanest movie that he ever made. It's probably the nastiest, most visceral, most intense movie that he ever made. And he's actually good at that. And he's good in that mode. And it really makes you want to see him lean into that more. And as he's gotten older, you know, he's remaking West Side Story and he's making the post and he's making conventional movies. It feels like he's really like cranking stuff out now. Maybe it's like against the dying of the light. And he's got a movie coming out later this year called The Fableman's,

which sounds like a much more personal, much more like this is maybe even kind of like a career capstone to some extent. Well, I'm sure he'll make like five more movies just based on his what the pace at which he's working. But yeah, like I think that this is this is also like on a technical level. and, you know, Kaminsky's obviously, I think he wins the Oscar for this, right? Like, I mean, he's... My guy, Anoush. He does an amazing job as a cinematographer,

but when you hear about, you read about the making of this movie and Spielberg showing up without a shot list, and they're shooting most of it handheld. And he's held in the camera on some of the scenes. But they're also, like, we have 10,000 extras behind these guys, so we can get this in one take or two, maybe,

and we also have to reset all the bullets, swabs going off. Like, the technical proficiency, and maybe, like, this is almost like, To me, this is like his genius movie. It's like only one guy could have made it like this. You know what I mean? Yes. Yeah, because I think he...

I agree with that. He has like... He has all of the skills to make a great movie and he has all of the artisans and he has all of the budget and the money and the power to get a movie like this made in this exact way. But for most people, it's hard to make a movie like this that is beloved. And I think that this movie is beloved because of some of the things that I think we may criticize about it. Sure.

Like, it is a heartstrings movie in a lot of ways. And a lot of the framing device of the... movie, the bond amongst the soldiers, you know, the way that the Hank's performance is, you know, the way that the Hank gives his performance in this period for Hank's is, it's crowd-pleasing in a really nasty package. And that's so hard to do. Like, so few filmmakers are able to pull up both of those things at the same time. It's, it's interesting that it has, it has taken some hits to its reputation over the years because when you watch it, it's just like, I wouldn't say like the worst people, but like, the count. The count.

Howard, the wise ass, and the guy who they weren't sure it was worth it for are the ones who live. And the doctor and the sweet captain and his trustworthy sergeant are all the guys who die. Yeah, the sniper. Yeah. Caparzo going for the young kid, trying to save a young kid. Like all the people who do good things in this movie are punished for it. Maybe leave the girl behind Carpaza. Are we sure Carpazzo was good? It was a shaky move.

I thought for Spielberg to bring sports into this, which I feel like I have to do contractually, this was to me when Brady the Falcon Super Bowl, when it was just like, all arguments are now over. Tom Brady, the quarterback. Tom Brady. I see. Or Jordan, the Utah game, the shot, the sixth title.

Where it's like, that's it. We're not arguing about this anymore. And Spielberg, there was still the door open and be like, yeah, but he knows. And this is it. That was it. He's the best director, not only of his generation, but you could argue he's the best director of all time.

I mean, I think he probably has the best case. Yeah, it's like the John Ford, Currasawa Hitchcock. There's like, there's like 10 people that you're like, he's one of those 10. There's, for instance, you could just be like, I like en glorious bastards more as a World War II movie, or I like the dirty dozen more as a World War II. Or I love, I like Stalach-17 or whatever it is. You could have Dunkirk.

Yeah, any World War movie. No, there is no movie, there is no war movie really that has what this movie has in terms of its technical filmmaking talent. It's obvious. Well, also stuff that I think has been, I don't want to say ripped off since, but borrowed. Like even the Game of Thrones, what was that episode in Game of Thrones? Oh, yeah. It feels very similar to the after the first 25 minutes. Yeah, entirely.

Or the Dunkirk, Nolan went and talked to him like, hey, I'm going to do basically my version of this. Do you have any tips? and Spielberg was gracious. Yeah, Ridley Scott did it with Blackhawk. Those movies, though, all do, and those TV shows all do, like, a lot of conventional things that this movie doesn't do. Like, this movie doesn't really have, in that opening sequence, like, master shots. It's not, like, following a single character.

It's not even trying to get you invested in the story. It has nothing to do with that. It's just like, this is what happened. Yeah. This is what it felt like. Yeah, you're in the middle of this, and you feel like you're on the beach with these people, and war is actually hell and everybody's right. Right.

And somehow that was, like, commercial. somehow people were like you gotta go see this movie this is the second biggest movie the year then you get into Hanks because this just caps one of the most delightful beloved

decades of an actor I was trying to I was trying to think has there been a bigger movie collaboration than 1998 Hanks and Spielberg an actor

at just throwing 100 miles an hour with the director who was on the 20 year run Spielberg with 23 year run Spielberg was on

like I was thinking like Scorsesey and Leo but it's still, that wasn't like, it's just not the same. I don't think there's anything like this. It was the most commercial director we had and the most commercial mainstream, respected actor

we've probably had in the last 40 years. I mean, I think John Ford and John Wayne like making many, many movies together. So now we're going back to the 40s and 50s, though. But you're right, though, that it's very rare that, and the fact that they were friends before this but had never worked together.

And Hanks is coming off of this incredible run in the early 90s where he went, to Academy Awards, Spielberg is coming off of the Schindler's List Jurassic Park year and then whatever, everything that's happening

in the 90s that you laid out, like, it would be like if Akeem joined the Bulls to use your Bulls metaphor, you know. And it's like everything Hank's does in this decade, which we've talked about a lot,

I know. Now, let's rip through it again. So it's 92 League of Their Own and Radio Flyer, 93, Sleepless in Seattle in Philadelphia, 94, Gump, 95, Toy Story and Apollo 13.

Jesus. 96, that thing you do, which you direct, 97, saving private, Ryan, you've got made up. 98 saving private Ryan.

It's six year, basically a six year run. Right. And so everything he does up to saving private Ryan unwittingly builds credibility to play Miller. Like,

for sure. Being in... I also feel like how many people could have been Miller where it's like, I have to feel like this guy could be a hero, but I actually think

the people who were rumored to have been up for it are like, you could talk me into it, but now it's like after seeing Tom Hanks in it, it's hard to imagine. So is Harrison,

Ford and Mel Gibson, basically. But Mel Gibson's Australia. I'm never going to totally get that. Even before, though. Harrison Ford is like... Harrison Ford's as close as we're going to get, but I don't think he's as good of an actor as Tom Exist. To use a bill as him, you take the phone call. You have the meeting. You have a meeting. I think it would have worked with Harrison Ford. I thought about this a lot, maybe just because I knew we were going to have a podcast about

this movie. But I thought about this like for five minutes sitting alone. I was like, does this movie work with Harrison Ford? Is your wife like, what are you doing? I was alone, trust me. The thing is, is that Miller is purposefully. as a character, as a man, taciturn in this environment, right? Like, the whole point of him not revealing

anything about himself is so that he almost like doesn't let everybody get too invested in him and doesn't complicate the chain of command. And Harrison Ford is kind of naturally like Miller. Like, he fits. It would almost be typecasting for him to do it.

You know, it's like to be a leader, to be like, we're doing this. Hank's is the opposite. You're right. He would have done the grouchier version of me. And I also don't think he could, have done this speech, which I think is the most important part of the Hank's performance when Burns and Seismore having their showdown, and Hanks tells this whole story

about that. Because I'm a teacher from my... Hanks was always great at those two-page speeches where he could do it in a way that always felt essential to the care. I just don't know if Harrison Ford... I love Harrison Ford. Like, an all-timer. I don't know if he could have done the speech the same way. And the speech is the key to the whole movie for Hank. He lacks the pure empathy that Tom Hanks has, for sure. Yeah, he would have been more, for

half hour regarding Henry as Miller. Before getting shot in the head. Hanks, he said, larger than life characters make up about 0.1% of the world's population. By and large, it was all elbows and asses on that beach. Guys scared to death. If you're really good, you're able to operate on pure instinct

as opposed to pure panic. We won the war because of ordinary guys who did the right thing at the right time. And that's, Hank's specialty, is to play these ordinary guys who get thrown into some sort of thing. I think it's his most underrated performance.

And I actually think... He's incredible in this. It's actually kind of amazing that I didn't win the Oscar, but I do think, like we see this in sports sometimes when people get bored of voting for somebody for MVP or whatever.

That's definitely what it was. People are just like, no, Hanks can't win three in six years. We're not letting that happen. So Roberto Benini ends up winning for Life is beautiful, which is a movie that it definitely was a thing in 98.

Are you tagging on Benini? No, I'm not because it's a fucking outrage that he won the Oscar. But it did have this weird moment where... You should have come in so hot pro-Banini. You should have just been like, actually, Benini should have won best picture. People have been discriminating against Italians forever.

Why can't we win Oscars too? No, it's just... It did become a little bit of a thing. You were like, I am the Italian in this. Okay, go ahead. It wasn't inconceivable that he was going to win. I think he was actually favored. But now it just, I mean, the fact that saving Private Ryan loses to Shakespeare and

Love, because Weinstein, ironically, is this is his all-time campaign. He's working everybody. He's talking about the inaccuracies in the movie about the war. And he's lobbying Academy members. And he actually pulled it off. Oh, yeah. And Shakespeare in Love wins the Oscar over this movie that is, I don't know, I made my list of the 10 greatest enduring

1990s movies and everybody's list is going to be different. But saving Private Ryan is going to be on everyone's list no matter whether you loved it, whether you really liked it, whether you're a little bothered by it, but it's on the list. You know what else on the list, Chris? Heat's on the fucking list. Yeah, no shit.

Is Goodfellas on the list? I had Goodfellas Heat, Saundsen Lambs, Pulp Fiction, Fargo, Boogie Nights, The Matrix, Toy Story, Gump, and Shawshank. These are the most important movies of the 90s? No, just the just the most enduring 90s movies that I felt like kind of

levitated above the decade, but I'm not saying that's the list, that was just 10 I came up with. You said the devil's advocate there too? Didn't put that in that thing for the money, but I'm sure that you could put 25, but my point is if everyone's making a list, saving private Ryan is going to be one of the ones that's on the most list. I like your, I really like your point

about Hank's and the thing is like, I think Hank's in in saving private Ryan and castaway and in Captain Phillips is a, is just flat out better than he is in Forrest Gump. Oh, yeah. But he doesn't win because of the vagaries of the Academy Awards in the same way that Harvey Weinstein

manipulating the system, not just with Shakespeare in love, but also with Life is Beautiful. That's also a Miramax movie. So he's got both of those movies basically working in tandem to undermine whatever, the kind of legacy making that Saving Private Ryan is shooting for in best actor, in best picture, in, you know, all of the other categories that's nominated. me. It was like, are we sure Barry Pepper could have shot that guy through his scope? There was two things that happened. One was the movie was incredibly successful. So, and whenever that happens, people have to go, yeah, but, and the yeah, but starts, including

our guy Goldman. Yes. We're a pretty good takedown in this movie that we'll talk about later. So there was that and there was the inaccuracies thing. And just the sense of Hanks and Spielberg had won and they kept winning. And sometimes that doesn't work in the Oscars, where where people are just going, ah, fuck those guys. And all of a sudden, Roberto Benini is winning the Oscar. I think you're right.

I mean, I think that there is a palpable sensation of that, and there is a corollary, like a one-to-one with sports. I think the inaccuracy stuff is all very piddling, but when you put it all together, it feels like a lot. It's like, for example, the British Navy was significantly involved in landing on Omaha Beach,

but you don't see any British boats. You only see the U.S. boats. So, like, that was an attempt to tell an American story. And look at the ways, in which, you know, I'm Harvey Weinstein. I'm a world cinema enthusiast. And I work with English actors and I work with Italian these are things that he would say to people

to tell them, this movie is illegitimate. My movies are the real movies. They're the films that are that honor the world and not just our jingoistic sense of pride. And that stuff's nefarious, but also he's a terrible person. So you put those two things together. And in hindsight, it seems obvious

that that was, you know, devil's work. The smirching the greatest generation, not among the top 100 terrible things every one scene. Yeah, I was going to say, turned out not a great guy. Can you name the other three movies nominated for Best Picture

other than Shakespeare in Love and saving Prevarine? No, I can't. Because when I say this was a two horse race, this was a two horse race. Elizabeth, life is beautiful, and the thin red line.

The thin red line is an interesting conversation. Tough year for thin red line to come out. It is, and it had been like four years in the making, too. One year earlier, one year later. It is such an interesting movie

and has such an interesting production. And has, yeah. But it's also, it's like in all time they nominated all the wrong movies year. Yeah. Because. Oh my God. We love 98. Like 98, let me think of 98.

So 90 is like out of sight, which is like nominated below the line. We've talked about this year a couple times. Yeah, there's some good ones. Hold on. I mean, Ed Norton is worm and rounders. Just completely robbed, Chris. That's right. Well, actually, is this the American History X here?

I feel like it's the American History X year. Yeah. Yeah. And this was, yeah. Yeah, that's the thing. Benini wasn't even the second best performance that year. Truman Show, a simple plan. Just much, much better movies that are not nominated for Best Picture.

Was this the game? I think that's 97. So, director, Spielberg wins. He beats Benini, John Madden, Terrence Malick, Peter Weir. Interesting that he wins for director, but the movie loses. Also, Weird that Peter Weir is nominated and Truman Show is not nominated. Crap. The Oscars.

the best actor Ian McKellen got nominated that year and Nick Nolte and then nobody from best supporting actor which I was stunned by because I was like who was the one who got nominated for supporting actor

nobody it should be size more definitely should be size more but he's such a trickie he's just didn't want to nominate him he's a really complicated figure right

the story like the stories of the set even with him there is really tough because he's so in the throes of addiction I'm surprised that Davies didn't get nominated somebody should been nominated. It does feel like a very kind of showy academy kind of performance. Yeah, and he

has so many, like, meaty scenes in this movie, or at least like, meaty acting performance scenes. I would make a personal plea for Ribisi, but I guess maybe that's not a big enough. Definitely. Your lifelong quest to get Rabizi.

Definitely Apex Mountain for Ribisi. 11 Oscar nominations, 15. Director, Cinematography, Sound, sound effects editing, film editing. One of three movies to win best movie at the PGA, DGA, and Golden Globe, plus the best director Oscar, while not winning best picture. Can you name the other two? One of three movies to get the PGA, DGA, and WGA, you said? And Golden Globe. Plus a best director Oscar, Oscar, but not win best picture. Brokeback Mountain? That's one. Another Oscar travesty. That one's a really bad Oscar travesty.

La La Land. Oh, interesting. Yeah. Oh wow. Because remember that was the case that La La Land was going to win because it had hit all these checkpoints that when you hit the checkpoints, you're a guaranteed winner. And then it didn't win. That's so fascinating. I mean, it's similar narratives there on both ends too where like the late surge from aggressive campaigns for films that were theoretically underdogs. You know, moonlight and crash being underdogs relative to the, you know, the literary adaptation of Brookback Mountain and the incredible talent that was assembled around that. movie and the way that it was Proclaimed and Moonlight, obviously being a really small film,

the smallest film ever to win Best Picture. But I don't, I want to see the ballots from this Oscars. Like, I really, I want to know what the count was. Do you know, like, three votes? It's crazy that it didn't win. Do they archive that and then release it after a certain amount of time? I don't know. You'd have to ask Pricewaterhouse Cooper. I really don't know. That would be cool, though. Wouldn't it be cool, like, historically to be able to study that Goldman? We've been saying for years that they should, they should release the numbers. They should, that's what I want to do as I want them to reveal

in real time through the show this had the fifth most votes this had the fourth most votes this at the third most votes and then the show concludes with and your winner is and you reveal first and second place

that would be the most exciting way to have the Oscars but they don't want anybody to feel bad because they only got 112 votes you would argue this probably check the most boxes

for what you would think would win Best Picture Oscar back then yeah yes and the late 90s yeah if it's like if it was not have

today I don't think so oh we'll talk about that later Written by Robert Rodat Is that I'd say it? Wrote it? I don't know. Not like a widely hailed screenwriter.

Really smart And it's a big part of this movie Because he sees this Reads this anecdote in this book And comes up with this movie And he wrote it And produced by Mark Gordon And they did it.

$70 million budget Made $485 million Number two movie in 1998 This cost $70 million. This movie costs $70 million And the Grey Man cost $200 million. This movie costs $4 million. Plus, like, three episodes of House of the Dragon.

Third R-rated film at that time to reach $200 million at the domestic box office. Can you name the other two? Definitely Terminator 2. That's that one's easy. We've done both. Beverly Hills Cup. Beverly Hills Cop. There you go. Raj, four stars for our guy, Raj Ebert.

He says, it says things about war that are as complex and difficult as any essays could possibly express. It does it with broad, strong images With violence, profanity action, camaraderie It is possible to express even the most thoughtful ideas And the simplest words and actions And that's what Spielberg does His whole review is about how this movie shows In a really nice way

How it doesn't just hold your hand A lot of dialogue where there's just images Roger's also like I would be up him Which I don't know So would I But like he was just like That character is the great like audience surrogate.

I don't want to besmirch one of my heroes, but I think this is like one of his weakest reviews about a great film. Like I often whenever I rewatch something really great, I go back and read what he's written to learn something. Because it's too much plot or just because he never really like

he doesn't really rise to the moment. Like there are really a lot of good reviews of this film. There's a really good piece by Stephen Hunter in The Washington Post called Spielberg's Hell that is about how no one has ever accomplished this before in movie history. what he is accomplished. And it's really beautifully written

and insightful. It's maybe a little bit too cheerleading for Spielberg, but for whatever reason, it's almost like, I don't know, Raj didn't have like the second cup of coffee or something.

You know, like sometimes you're just like, that wasn't my best work. Maybe he felt like it was a three and a half star, but he didn't want to get dragged to have it a four. It feels like that a little bit at times. It's just having read thousands of his reviews, you know.

We'll take a break. We'll do the categories. This episode is brought to by Whole Foods Market. Spring is here, so celebrate it with fresh, juicy, seasonal produce and some very tasty limited time flavors. New Whole Foods, Market Peach, Apricot, Rose, Italian soda. Perfect for a picnic or brunch, as is their trending mango, Yuzu chantilly cake. But if you're on the go, new 365 strawberry pretzels make a great sweet snack. That sounds delicious. Get savings with yellow sale sign storewide and everyday low prices on 365 brand items. Enjoy the fresh flavors of spring,

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Don't share needles or pens or reuse needles. Don't take if allergic to it, or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer, or if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck. Stop Zepbound and call your doctor if you have severe stomach pain or a serious allergic reaction. Severe side effects may include inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems. Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes before scheduled procedures with anesthesia. If you're nursing, pregnant, plan to be, or taking birth control pills.

Taking Zepound with a sulfonel urea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsen kidney problems. Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-9-9-9 or visit zepbounds.lily.com. All right, most rewatchable scene. I guess Omaha Beach is just one long scene. It never stops. We talked about most of it.

Pepper is the sniper flipping the scene is so fucking great. I always forget when I'm watching this movie that that part's coming where it's like, and Hanks has the little mirror, the homemade mirror. Yeah. And then he brings Pepper over. He's like, hey. And Pepper's like looking. He's like, okay.

Touches his cross. Yeah. He's just fucking going for it from minute one. What does Hank say he's easy? Let's get in the war. Yeah? Yeah. It's a little deflate over there, but it's a perfect fire position.

If we've got some goddamn armor on the beach. We've got to get this draw open. Rybin, Mellis. Let's get into the war. Grab some cover and put some fire on that crew. Davis, Di Bernardo, Yon, Ball. Get ready! I've said this before.

I love movies where there's an awesome sniper. Yeah. I'm just trying to think when that hasn't been a huge asset to an action movie. The one guy who could take people down from 500 yards away. It's like, oh, no. This guy's in the movie, this is going to suck. Nobody's ever said that. This kicks off the pepper run, right?

This is really when it all comes together for him. Like, enemy the state follows shortly thereafter. And then... Don't forget, 61. Pretty soon he's Roger Maris. That's what I was going to say. And then my favorite pepper is a 20th hour. Yeah, 25th hour.

That's his best, yeah. You look like a fucking optical illusion. Pepper's flying. And then that fucking Travolta movie happens. And the wheels came off. Battlefield Earth. Battlefield Earth. It just kills him.

But for five years there, you could have seen him in like any Fincher movie, any Tarantino movie. He just felt like there's something really distinct about his face. He had the right attitude to him. He was great. Like that guy. He was a real like throwback kind of like Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, kind of American actor. Tough guy, but had a little sensitivity. He was really good.

I thought he was excellent as Roger Maris. He was. I really, I, that's probably one of my favorite TV's movies in general. Is Roger Maris another like closely guarded early 60s icon that you want to, are you about like Frank Sinatra? No. Roger Maris was cool. Roger Maris went through hell, Chris. God damn it, Chris.

Uh, more rewatchable scenes. Vin Diesel goes down right into the surprise showdown where, oh yeah. Vin Diesel's dead and they're like, oh my God, what do we do? And the guy leans his gun and the whole thing cloud. All of a sudden, we're in a Tarantino movie for two seconds. And it's a crazy five minutes. I'll shoot you. I'll shoot you.

Yeah. I'll shoot you. The young Vin Diesel aspect to this is just unbelievable now. Yeah. He looks like he's 170 pounds. So Vin Diesel's like. story with this movie is that he made some shorts or like made a film. Is Spielberg like Spilberg?

He recognized me as a filmmaker and brought me into this movie. He loves to tell this story. Yeah, and he tells it a lot. Yeah, who knows? It might be one of those stories that we're not sure how true the story is. Yeah. Because basically the narrative now is this character wasn't even in the movie and they wrote the part just for me to get me in there, which I'm not sure I believe.

Well, it does sound like these guys all had a lot to do with their parts. Like there was a madlibbing and I think that they imbueesion. to a lot of the characters probably sort of were changed by the like Adam Goldberg I think had a lot to do with Mellish but that being said well our guys compliment and Levine they did knock around guys that had Diesel

and Barry Pepper before the Fast and Furious thing my thing is if Spielberg loved Vin Diesel this much he's got to have action on Fast and Furious right you think he has a piece Spielberg's like um no no I'm just saying that's what makes me suspicious oh okay because Vindy is like yeah I'm doing this LA

car racing movie, Spielberg's like, fine, I'll throw in 10% of the budget. I mean, saving private Ryan is a universal production and the Fast and Furious is a Universal production, so you never know. And it's not like Steven Spielberg did an executive proves like seven Transformers movies.

That's right. I really like the church conversation hang. As you know, I love movies where... I thought you said I love church. No, I don't... Definitely not. I like when we calm down for a second, we get some dialogue. We get to know some of the

guys a little better. She'd stand in the doorway looking at me. I'd just keep my eyes shut. And I knew she just wanted to find out about my day. That she came home early. Talked to me. I still wouldn't know. I'd still pretend to just be asleep.

The all-time McBain moment for Ribisi. She was like this beautiful story about his mom and like not taking the time. Like, the weird thing where he's like, I'm going to pretend to be asleep even though I've been waiting for all night, and it's just like he's gone. He's like, this guy's number is up. The, like,

person running into the ocean, you're about to be eaten by jaws, is always whenever somebody gives a speech in this movie. As soon as someone gives a speech, bullet to the head, you're done. You could say where Bisi finished the speech and he's like, they're going to be playing that at the Kodak Theater. Same thing for Seismore. I think it was the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. D'clock. The

Chalierlander Pavilion, whatever. Sizmore saying the name of the movie. I was just like, this guy's dead. Rebezi dies is the next one I have. How's it look? How's it look? My liver! It's my liver! They do this crazy thing with his face

where all of a sudden it goes completely white in a way that I've never seen a movie pull off better. Yeah. Where it looks like he has no blood in his head anymore, but he's still alive. And he's like, lift my legs! Lift my legs! They're pouring that powder on him. Well, they're hitting him with morphium, and they essentially go deem.

Yeah. Yeah. That's a really fun scene. watch. Just classic rewatch I mean, I wouldn't say that there's a lot of scenes in this movie

where I'm like, let me just fire this up on YouTube before I go to my meeting. Seismore wants to shoot Burns is a really great five minutes. That's fucking awesome.

Leading to the great Hank speech. I don't know anything about Ryan. I don't care. Man means nothing to me. It's just a name. But if you know,

if going to Ramel and finding him so he can go home, If that earns me the right to get back to my wife, well, then that's my mission. You want to leave? You want to go off and fight the war? All right.

All right. I won't stop you. I'll even put in the paperwork. I just know that every man I kill, the farther away from home I feel. Every man I kill, the farther from home I feel. I remember Chris said that during your tour, Grant Land. Except I was talking about waking up at 630.

In the morning to edit a blog. Yeah. That was about maize or sharp? I just love having Seismore in this movie so much. And it's like tail into the career Seismore. Like we are two years away from him basically going into the surreal life house or whatever that happened. I mean, he is in the throes of it though. Yeah.

But he's fucking awesome in this movie. He's perfect. He's born to be that guy. Yeah. He's perfect. He's awesome. Like you're surprised he dies at the end. You know it's like a good one when it's like,

Oh, they actually killed them off. Horvath. Is that his name? Horvath and Cerrito. It's just like... Those are iconic parts. And true romance as the insane coked-out cop.

Love that as well. With Chris Penn. Yeah. Yeah, when we did that rewatched, we were saying that just should have been a spin-off buddy cop movie. Oh, yeah. Just those two guys.

That would have been in trouble production. Now, that would have been a prequel. That could have been a prequel. As you know, I'm against prequels. But I would have paid for the Seismore Pen prequel. Is the Seismore's story true that he was drug tested every day on the set of this movie? It's widely said, yeah. It was basically like, and he, the word was like, even if he had failed

on like the last day of shooting Spilbert, he was like, I will reshoot your part. Imagine you were so good at your job, so good at your job, Bill, that even if cocaine had you in a fucking chokehold, they were like, we need the Bill Simmons podcast. We got it. We'll drug test you every day. So Craig has to test you every day before three times a week. I actually had that thought reading the stories about this because I was like, it's not like Seismore was De Niro in 1976, I love Seismore, but

was it worth the risk of Spielberg's going to reshoot his scenes? It's not like they were making... This isn't like a horror movie though. Like they're like, it's supposed to be like a very solemn tribute to like an incredible sacrifice made by a bunch of people and like if Seismore's like I'd rather like party but also

still do this movie, I could see Spilberg be like not on my fucking watch. But if you just flip him and Paul Giamadi, like, is the movie, like, significantly worse? So, he definitely notches it up. He's, but I do think, I think Spilberg's out. I don't think he would have reshot it. I just think he would have killed them off. Earlier, earlier in the film.

Yeah, I think he just, you know, at some point. And then Ed Burns gets to give that speech at the end about. Caparzo gets to live. Maybe. The final big battles I have for the, I mean, it's so hard to do this, but you have the, that great, the tank going by. all the tension they're able to build up with that. Pepper's last stand

in the tower, just fucking taking dudes down and then all of a sudden he sees the tank. He sees the tank pointing at him. He's like, oh, that's it. The fight with Adam Goldberg's character and the German is unlike I think any fight scene ever.

I mean, that could almost be like its own rewashed. It's vicious. Like, it's fucking disturbing for some reason. And like the guy says in Germany, he's like, stop fighting. It'll go faster. or whatever. He said something like that. You want to talk about Goldberg's fighting strategy there?

I think it was a little bit like, I mean, what do you mean? What was this fighting strategy? His buddy had just gotten blown away. Well, he had the upper hand. He was on top of the guy. Are you Joe Roganing his UFC? He pulled back to get the knife, but he gave up. He had the upper hand in the guy.

It's like an MMA. If you're on top of the guy, you don't just stand up and be like, hold on. I've just got to get this knife in my back pocket. Yeah, yeah. I don't know. I would do that one over. again if I was Goldberg. He went for the leg drop and he didn't work. You have

Davies melting down. What a fucking wuss he was. Loser. I was wondering if you were going to have some sympathy because I said he just like looked at me like that piece of shit up. Fuck that guy. That's exactly what they want you to think. Oh, what a dick. But he probably wrote a great

novel. The bomb and then Seismore going down. Still can't believe they took down Seismore and then. Well before that flip, the fight with the germ with seismic more when they throw their helmets at each other which is just fantastic.

Oh yeah. Everything. I mean that I'll do this now. I don't, I think I like watching the last battle more than the first battle. Is that like a bad take?

It's like I said, it's more cinematic. It's an adventure. It's more rewatchable. It's more rewatchable. It is for sure. I'm not like cool Omaha Beach is on. I'm going to sit through this again.

Like it's fucking, you don't want to sit through that. The cool thing about that last battle too is that Hank's literally being Spielberg. He's like, here's what's going to happen. The tank's going to come down this road.

We're going to distract it with the motorcycle. Pepper's going to be in the tower. It's like he actually lays out how the battle is going to go and how they can keep everybody alive and maybe make a run for the Alamo. I love the whole like, this is the Alamo. Last person here blows the bridge.

But it's a lot more coherent and understandable and it has all these little side scenes that are just extraordinary. To pay off with the characters that were already invested in at that point. And when you know what's going to happen, you can kind of see Upham, like, start to lose it over the course of the sequence and everything. The only part I don't like is when Damon kind of just gives up at the end and he's just like a, like Blair witching it on the side.

You don't like that because he's been. You got a lot of notes on combat. No, no, no. I'm just like, I wanted Private Ryan to be some sort of hero at the end. Not that he wasn't, but because he was so cool in the beginning. He's throwing the grenades at everybody. And then by the end, I think he's just like, we're all going to die. die? I didn't want him to have the

We're All Going to Die moment. He's private. He's barely even been in combat. I get it. It's Matt Damon. I bet he's asked if that could be digitally erased from the movie because now that he's asked. He's born. That's a bad look for me. Hey, Steve on the Blu-ray.

Just pull that one out. Hey, you know, I don't know if Boren would do that. But the subtle, and this is something that Matt Damon is really good at and we talked about in The Departed, the subtle unlikeability of his performances is really important and it's really important to this movie. Like this kid is like a cocky, kind of brady punk.

Yeah. And when he tells that story to Hank's before the movie ends, that ad-lib story, you know, like that whole story, like they left that in the movie because it's not, he kind of seems like a shithead. I mean, picture a girl who just took a nosedive

from the ugly tree and every branch coming down. And Dan's got her shirt up. He's working on his bra and he's trying to get it off. And all of a sudden, John just screams out. Danny, you're a young man. Don't do it. And so Alice Charlene hears this.

And she screams and she jumps up and she tries to get running out of the barn, but she still got this shirt over and she goes running right into the wall and knocks herself out. Yeah, because this guy's not going to cure cancer. And it's also like for this. Like we're doing it for this guy? Yeah. Burns kind of likes him by the end.

Yeah, but who's the person who has this speech? Like this guy might go back and like, this guy better go back and like cure a disease or do whatever. Like it's like. Yeah. Or maybe Goldberg says that? One of those. One of those guys. So what do you have for most rewatchable?

It's not best scene. This is not best scene. The most rewatchable scene I have is the defending at the Bridget Ramel. Yeah. Because I don't really like want to watch those guys get chewed up. I would put the, this is a very brief moment, but, you know, like the radar sequence and then leading to the sniper duel, I think is also very rewatchable. You know, just the, him seeing, identifying him in the bell tower. Yeah, that's where I would be.

Yeah, yeah. That part is really, that's just like a fun, to your point, Chris, about like, what would you watch on YouTube? Like, that has that feel of like, I got three minutes for this moment. Yeah. What stage is the best? Great title. Incredible. So good.

Fucking 10 out of 10. No notes. 10 out of 10. Do you detract a half a point because Seismore says the title? Oh, you love that. Yeah, that gives it more.

Yeah, that's a chair in the Sunday. Yeah. I love Sysmore's. You don't like that? I think that that scene, that speech feels a little bit like stapled in from some other version of this movie.

So, counter. That scene is super corny and doesn't need to be in the movie, but directly ties to heat, the bank is worth the risk. And it is impossible to separate the two speeches. For me.

Private is worth the risk. Yeah. Yeah. For me, Captain Miller, the private. The action is the juice. Is worth the risk. Let's go back and get private ride. Yeah.

It's just hard. It's a similar moment. He has basically the same moment with two of the greatest actors of the last 50 years. And he chews up the scenery for a minute. Yeah. Do you think Tom Seismore knows how much pleasure he's given middle-aged men across the world? Do you think he knows that? If we do like the rewatchables awards for the 500th episode,

like he's definitely getting an award and he'll probably get kicked out of the after party. He's still alive? Yeah. He's alive. Seismore's dirt collection is what's age is the best for me. When he's like, oh, I'm going to put this in. And then it's like, oh, there's Italy.

Talk about a great eBay item. There are so many great little gestural details about little totems that these guys pick up along the way. Like when they give Mellish the Hitler Youth thing. And that's when he starts crying after they get off the beach. It's just like there's all these little. I even love the way that the pencil comes back around. Like when he first picks up him and he's like, can I bring my typewriter? And they cut to Hanks and he's just like holding the pencil.

and then later on when they need to write the note to the guy who's deaf it's like who's got a pencil that's a pencil that's a great point incredible Hanks for what stage is the best we talked about it already but goddamn

who would you have well we'll do this later I got young Damon young Giamatti young Cranston and young Diesel so I was going to say I was going to petition the board to divide Dion Waiters

into cameos outside of the squad. A Deon Waiter cameo? Or guys in the squad power ranking. Double Deon Waiters. Yeah, I double D on Waiters. Okay. All right, we'll do that. Exciting. Morewood stage the best.

This always works in every movie for me. We should have killed that guy when we had the chance gimmick. When has that ever not worked in an action movie? William Goldman fucking hates that part. I don't care. Yeah, just meant mentioning it. It worked for me when I was rewatched. I love it.

I was like, oh, that guy. Oh, shit. Oh, man, we could have killed that guy. Not because it's good because it's, if he had been the only guy there, I think it would have been a little bit too cute. Yeah. He's just one. Of course, he like bumped in some Germans and ran back, you know? Yes.

It's very logical. Yeah. My next one stage the best. I have Farina with three exclamation points and dancing with three exclamation points. I go Farina five exclamation points and dancing three and a half. Yeah. It's just like, why are they even in this movie? All of a sudden, Dennis Farina is in the movie.

have a fucking cream soda, Sidney shut the fuck up. I like the idea of... Put dummy number one on the phone. Well, all these older guys who may have even served in World War I being called back and being in the field.

I mean, how old are Freen is in his 50s, at least in this movie, right? He's like, Captain Miller, I came here to tell you two things. One, you're going to die tonight. And two, I'm going to go home. I'm going to have a nice dinner. I'm going to go find your wife.

I'm going to kill her, too. then he leaves. He just shouldn't have met Serrano. He's like, I've told the Farina story before, but he's the most, like, intimidating guy on the planet. But he was also like, like, 6'3.

Tell the pharynia. Yeah, Sean has Farina stories. Well, just that I interviewed him like 10 years ago and I was preparing for like a week and I watched everything he did and I read everything and I was so excited and I was like, I'm going to do the definitive dentist Farina interview.

Got on the phone. He's super nice at the beginning of the call. And then I was like, so let's start. the beginning. You were working as a police officer and you met Michael Mann. He's like, oh, fuck, Sean. I've told this story a hundred fucking times.

I'm not telling it again. Let's talk about the new movie. Jesus Christ. And then we had a 20 minute interview and then I hung up. Amazing. It's tough. Love that guy. How about old Matt Damon? I said it's the best.

How did they find somebody that looked exactly like Matt Damon 50 years from now? That guy is only, and that guy was 68, I think, the actor. I can see you looking better than that at 68. Well, I mean, he did have kind of a rough run there. Yeah, and those guys also, like, smoked 105 cigarettes a day. I mean, also what's the age to the best is that image being like the meme for like how quickly someone aged now.

You see that on Twitter every day. You know, it's like 2020 versus 2021. Another what's age the best for me just with that scene is how much his family cares about him. I said that to Zoe last night because I watched it with my daughter and I was I just don't feel like he would... Zoe would just be looking at her phone. Yeah, I just felt like he'd be on your phone as I was at the cemetery.

I was making peace. A grief. Yeah. You feel like, Dad, how long do we have to be here? Yeah. The whole family's just locked in to,

we got to do this for dad. It's really jealous of. What would you think Ben's by would be? Ben wouldn't have gone. He's like, I'm going to wait in the car. Did you have family members who served in World War II? My grandfather, yeah.

Yeah, both of my grandfather's did. My whole mom's side, yeah. Yeah. But, like, the one thing that I always tripped on a little bit with the movie was this idea of like this being a family occasion because with both of my grandfathers, we did not talk about this. Yeah, my grandfather's, my grandfather was like traumatized. It was my, one of my grandfathers was a prisoner of war for two years in Italy. Like it was, this was not dinner table conversation. So the idea of like organizing a family vacation to Normandy,

I'm sure some families did. I'm sure many families did that, but that just seems so strange to me the first time I saw it. I have a what's, not what's each the worst, but like kind of funny, but also like, what's the words from that scene in what's usually okay yeah I just have a couple more the um

cinematography you talked about some of the stuff Kaminsky did which I didn't even understand scraping lenses changing the angle changing the shutter timing

there was something there was like a protective cover and the coating that's on the lens and he like just scraped it off to make it look more like bleach bypass on the negatives all that stuff there was a porn movie that came out

shortly after called saving Ryan's privates that I always thought was the funniest Did you see it? No, I did not. Yeah. I always thought that was the funniest porn parody title that anyone has ever come up with. Saving Ryan's Pratt.

That's also the name of Chris's directorial debut. I also scraped the coating of the lenses. And then last, what's aged the best for me is watching this with my wife in the years after, making Ed Burns jokes during his scenes, pretending it's an Ed Burns movie where he's in love with two people. That's right. where it's like, well, she's not calling me back. I don't know. It's just like, you could just be trapped in a bad airburn's movie.

My dad wants me to run the bar, but I think I could make it as a filmmaker. But I just, I know I should move to L.A., but what do you think I should do? Just swap out Adam Goldberg with Mike McLone. Right. What else do you have for? What stage is the best? I think Brooklyn guy, Italian guy, Jewish guy, religious guy, writer guy, medic, sergeant, captain is a great starting lineup.

Yeah. That is what it was like, though. that's part of what's good about it is like it's all archetypes but every story that you read you know when you read band of brothers and all these stories it's all just like it's one guy from Ohio one guy from San Clemente one guy from Brooklyn one guy who prayed a lot yeah yeah right yeah love that love pepper uh I just think I have now arrived at this point in

2002 where I was just like the Ryan story like the Alice Jardine story rules like both the story being bad and Hank's just being like Christ. But also just the way it's shot. With Hank's got, has his feet up on the chair and he's like leaning back and he's like trying to be like deep and be like,

you know, think of a context. And then this guy tells his fucking. Agoutre story? Yeah, like dumb story. And he's just like, oh great.

And then the Germans roll in. It's just like, I like don't even get to like. I like the ugly tree story more than I did the first like 10 years. Because when he opens his mouth, it actually makes sense. You think he's going to tell the most amazing beautiful story about being having brothers. And he's just like my idiot brother knocked a girl out and burned down the farm.

Yeah. I mean, it's also like a teacher tolerating his student. Yeah. You know, like it shows the real dynamic between this guy who's like lived a real adult life and this kid who hasn't done anything. I remember Craig told me a similar story once and I had the same reaction, Hank's did, just kind of like letting him go. Yeah. But it was very instructive. And then you were shot and Craig went on to take over the ringer.

Damon ad libbed the story. Yep. And Spielberg just like that. That's a really good story I'm telling. I want to hear someone, and maybe it can be you, Bill, at some point. Ask Damon about the unlikeability concept of like, because he's done this in many movies where he's like, he's really good at kind of playing the shit heel. Even in Goodwill hunting, there are times where even when you're rooting for him, you're like, what a prick.

And he's just got a, it's an acting style that he has that he's really good at. Is Matt Damon, without giving away any spoilers for other movies, one of our great, uncredited late movie cameos. Oh, yeah. What do you mean? Spoiler. All those movies, people, they haven't seen him at this point.

Yeah. Interstellar and stuff multiple times doing it? Yeah, doing it over the course of his career. Interstellar, did it in Thor. Yeah. Matt Damon shows up. Chasing Amy?

Pops in. That's right. What's the other Kevin Smith one? Well, dogma. Jan's down and Bob Strike Back, right? Is he? Oh, yeah, right. Right, right.

He's done a few of them. And he would say Jabesh on? or we do cover? I think that this is the movie that solidifies the Kaminsky-Spielberg thing. They had worked together on a previous few films, but this style, this is like where he lands on the style

that kind of every Spielberg movie looks like now, which is this kind of like cloudy, foggy, mystical thing that Kaminsky always does. And the previous movie is like he shot Amistad, and that movie doesn't really look like that. It's like really flat, not flat, but like it looks a little bit traditional. Yeah.

All right, we'll take a break, more categories. Looking to see what's happening around your home? Rings battery doorbell helps you track packages and see who's at your door in real time. The outdoor cam plus protects your yard at night with a wide field of view and clearer retinal 2K video or upgrade to 4K cameras and doorbells with retinal vision for ultra clear zoom in detail.

Your door, your yard, your home. With Ring, it's protected. Shop cameras, doorbells, and more at ring.com now. I dumped a couple categories Did you dump the Kid Cuddy Pursuit of Happiness Award? I dumped that one and I dumped the food and drink one. You don't like it when Hayah comes in?

No. The Dent of Thieves Benihana Award for scene stealing location has to be the final battle location. The bridge. You don't think it's the church? The church is good too, but they built the battle location. I thought that was a real thing. It's like they built it in Hollywood.

Omaha Beach, no. Not the scene stealing was great. Omaha Beach was great. I don't even know that. I mean, there's like five scenes stealing locations. It's not shot on location, though. It's in Ireland. Yeah, it's all over the place.

Chris, what was the Great Shot Gordor Award for the most cinematic shot? Oh, my God, dude. This is really your category. Who's category? I'd like to give this one to you. Oh, thanks. I mean, Sean gets a lot of the technical filmmaking stuff. Gordo's your guy.

So there's a kind of a wonder of... The guys walking across the field? Well, there's that, that Denny Villeneuve, grabbed that for Sicario. I actually really love the wonder of the mother walking out of the kitchen. then she's like got the searcher's treatment against the doorway as the car is driving up to give her the news and then she collapses onto the porch. It's just very heartbreaking. Heads emerging over the hill and then that shot of all the guys except for Hanks and Damon sitting on the steps in the sun and listening to the record player and it's like this wide shot of all five of them. I like that.

It looks like a poster. Yeah, it looks like a Robert Capra photo or something like that. You agree with those? yeah I think those are all good I mean though the I don't know if this is the best shot but like the funniest like finger snap moment not funniest is brutal

but when the guy is shot in the head and it clinks off his helmet and he takes his helmet off and he gets shot in the head you're like it's so bracing and if you can handle it there are like a dozen shots where you're like this is a handheld shot

and six things happen within it and I don't know how they choreographed this because you just think of handheld as just kind of this Verida thing and it's like it goes over a way window and looks down and then a tank drives by and then three guys get lit on fire, but then one guy shoots back up and then it whip pans around and Barry Pepper's there. It's like, I don't

know how they choreographed some of the stuff. There's even just simple stuff too in the bridge battle at the end. Just as you mentioned before, like when the tank crosses the open, you know, that open space there in the sun and then it cuts across. And so they're not directly coming in the way that Hank said hoped. So they basically have to revise their plan. Yeah. That's like a, it's, that's what the Iber thing is. It's like, it's showing, it's not telling. Like, Hanks never says, like, we're in trouble. Fuck! We have to change everything now. We're all going to die. It's like

you have to be paying close attention to what they were going to do and what's about to happen. I like the underwater thing they do in the opening battle scenes. That is really cool, too. Yeah, I didn't know that... Kind of the glory is for underwater. I saw this movie. I was like, you can get shot at the water. And Reed Rothschild jumps in the pool and he goes under, and the

camera goes under with him and comes out. Yeah. It's really, they figured out the underwater thing. Very similar. 9798. Yeah. the Butch's Girlfriend Award for Weeklink of the film I'm combining with the Ron Burgundy Flute Award for Best Time for a P-break. The 13 minutes, Goldman was right on this, between the end of Omaha Beach and then what Hank's mission is. This movie's too long.

The 13 minutes of the mom in Iowa? Yeah, just the mom, the letter. I think you can do it in like six. It's a great time to go make some popcorn. You can speed General George Marshall up a little bit there? Yes. Especially like on the second, third, fourth, fifth time. I'm good with that being like four minutes,

but it's a great time to go make some popcorn. Maybe even find some M&Ms, put in the popcorn. You got some time. What do you think about the... Is it an ad read? I don't know. I do love M&M's. What do you think about the dog tags,

Leland, or Sir, when they show up at the camp? Amazing. You don't like it? But, like, do you need it? Playing poker, you mean, basically with the dog? The best part about it is that he's still in, And then I fucked her! Right.

he's giving the same performance at seven. Which is really funny and you can see he was clearly cast directly off the set but as I was one when I was rewatching the movie this weekend I just didn't remember that scene at all

and I was like is this an extra or is this like an extended edition? I just think the story is awesome it is and the whole idea of like for one man being the parallel for the one man you know for the general versus for saving private Ryan but the dog tag scene in particular

I'm like I don't know, we've had a lot of scenes where these guys are kind of mixing it up and busting each other's balls. And would all of the men who had survived really be like dismayed by other soldiers looking at dog tag? Like I'm not even totally sure what the message is there. It's like these guys are also soldiers. So is the concern that like they're being too cavalier? I think it was though they were being flippin. I thought these guys being dead.

But it's the same thing that happens when Hank gets off the beach and he gets to Farina's and Farina's got hot coffee and guys are shaving with hot water and stuff. I think it's just that there's resentment for whatever people are going through. What's age the worst? Oliver Stone did this whole thing where he was like... This is not the good war? This movie promoted the worship of World War II as the Good War. Gladiator and Black Hawk. Felt very self-serving because he was on the Vietnam War War front.

I never liked that. I thought it was a bad look for him, especially like he made any given Sunday the next year a movie that we love. but settle down given Spielberg directions basically. You're moving in a different phase of your career there, Ollie. Nobody wants there from you? He always has a lot of resentment towards filmmakers who make war seem exciting, who did not serve.

Anybody who did not serve, he always takes issue with it. That's how you feel about guys doing trade value columns. A hundred percent. I totally get it. But he's basically saying you can't make a war movie unless you were in the war. Come on, Oliver. Settle down.

There is an interesting conversation. conversation for us to have about whether or not there can ever be an anti-war movie. Right. Because, and especially when Steven Spielberg is directing it, because like we've been saying, the last 30, 40 minutes are so exciting. I mean, you could make, you could make an argument that for as harrowing and terrifying as the action foot, as like the battle scenes in platoon are. And for his, you know, Barnes is fucking psycho and like you would never want to, the sort of brotherhood that those guys established with one another and like the depth of feeling that they have for one another.

It's not as anti-war as I think that Stone sort of thinks his movie is. Agree. Like the way that Willem Defoe dies confers this incredible heroism and this integrity that is, and the same is true in this movie. When Hank dies shooting the pistol at the tank as it's approaching him, you're like, this man is a hero. I think that if you watch those first 20 minutes and you think that this movie isn't in any way like in favor of war?

I kind of defy you to tell me that. It's definitely not in favor of war. But it's definitely in favor of celebrating everything that the men who fought sacrifice. Patriotism and sacrifice. It does not make anybody who watches this movie go, you know, it would be cool to fight in a war. Right. It didn't make me feel that way. There's no takeaway that exists.

All right, these two are tied together for what's its jurors. What does earn this even really mean, earn this? I had a problem with it even before the Goldman take down of pieces of this movie. Even in the theater of Earn This? Earn this life that I just gave you by dying on the battlefield. Do something with your life. I mean, he could have been like, I could have abandoned you here and you would have been killed. Instead, I left my men here.

We devised a plan. Learn this. And you survived. It's hard to imagine them having a line in the end of that movie that makes, that tops what you've seen or that matches what you see. How about, I hope this was worth it, you little shit. Now I'm going to die. What would you said if it had just been silent? If it had just been what he was like, he's just like whispering into his ear.

I would have gone with like make this matter. You think that's decidedly different than Earn This? Earned This. Like the first time in the theater, it was like, what do you say? You couldn't even really tell what he said because he's whispering it. It's hard to hear. I just thought it was a strange two words. I think they were feeling it was like this hugely profound moment.

Earned this was going to become this two word thing for the rest of movie generations. I don't think it got there. Yeah, I think it's okay. It's fine. It doesn't bother me. C plus. I think it would have been really funny if he was like, I did it, I saved Private Ryan,

and then hard cut to the end. Well, here's the one I hate. This is my least favorite part of this movie, and it can't be defended, is we go back. It goes back to him at the end, Ryan, old Ryan. And he has this touching moment with Miller's gravestone. And then the wife comes over and he says, tell me I led a good life

she's like you did it's like what what's going on is this an ABC family movie it's just terrible it's not I almost feel like if you're going to tell me hey the academy we talked to all the people who didn't vote for it and they were like tell me I let a good life

they just couldn't vote for it at that point I'm like all right I accept that so would you prefer to be like he's crying in front of this cross and that he's like I saw a good brazier on the way in I could really go for steak frets this is a movie that it's so great at showing you everything

and not holding her hand and walking through it. And then at this pivotal moment, it's like, tell me, I've had a good life. You did, honey. She's like, what the fuck? This guy losing his mind?

It's bad. I agree that it's bad. And I think that there is a strong case to be made that that prologue and epilogue should just be completely cut out of the movie. However, however. I'm okay with that. If you do that,

the movie would not have been as successful. That that sentiment, mentality and that that what if you take that stuff out but keep Ryan's mom fighting out in Iowa and have that no I don't want to take it out I just want him at the gravestone it's clear he came back to pay homage to this guy and he and he could even have him say like I hope I hope you feel like I earned it or something something like that

I don't need the wife to then come over and then have him have this philosophical moment with his wife yeah who's probably like we fucking flew to France like just are we good now what do you think she's mad about losing her frequent flyer miles so look on her face she's like wait

are we going to have to litigate the last 42 years like yeah you let a good life you didn't kill anyone we had some kids you're really not an existential person like at all yeah I just thought it was lame this is such a great movie Troy from reality bites of them tell me I live a good life is one of the worst lines

in a movie in a great movie it's literally at Normandy yeah Tell me I let it. What are you supposed to say to that? Because if you... How about this? Go home to Haley today and say,

Helene, tell me I led a good life. What was the reaction to that? I'm a 40-year-old loser movie podcaster. I didn't serve in World War II. Nobody ever tells Sean earned this before he starts a big picture. Tell me, I let a good life. If five guys died so Sean could pod.

I'm right. Some say they have, you know, a lot of people have sacrificed. Craig, what do you think? Um, uh,

what do you think? What do you think? tell me I led a good life. I agree, it's a cheesy lie, but it needed to be there. Maybe a different lie. Every fucking television show that's come out since then, it features a guy being like, am I a bad man? I'm not a bad man, but I'm just used to it.

Bad things. The, this is, Goldman wrote about this. Do you want to kind of set up this Goldman piece? Well, Goldman wrote about it in, I think, New York magazine. I think it's premiere, actually. And it's in the big picture, the book. The big picture.

It was actually five essays about all five films nominated for Best Picture that year. So he wrote these kind of like stand-alone essays about each movie. He wrote about the ending. Just when you think Stilberg is stooped as low as even he can, new thresholds are reached.

Four agonizing minutes of pretentious syrup climaxing when Matt asks his wife, has he been a good man? What is she going to answer? Her husband is clearly having a breakdown. She says yes, and Matt, wait for it. He salutes. I mean, obviously he's turning it on there,

but it's not great. It's just not. This is a great movie and that is a bad part. It's weird because I think it's a, it's not a terribly well-acted scene in a movie that is full of great performances. And it's very hokey the way that it's written. But you could imagine a world

in which a character like that is at least reflecting on that question. That's very reasonable. Sure. That's how Godfather 2 should end it. Instead of Corleone on the, on the fucking park bench, come into grips with his 20 years of evil,

he should have, you know, grab Tyler and be like, Hey, Connie. Tell me I led a good life Yeah but you know what That's not the same thing Michael Corley He was a murder

This guy fought in World War II And sacrificed him Watch his friends die It's terrible Any other would say it's the worst I always got really Really fucking annoyed By the son taking his picture

While he's like Doing this walk When the sun's like Clicking away And then the wife looks at I'm like You fucking put that camera away That's a good one

Anything for you? I don't know if this movie is celebrated in the way that it should be. Interesting. I like this. Because I feel like it losing the Academy Award, and obviously I'm poisoned by the Oscars, but that led to people saying, like, actually this is the greatest of Spielberg's movies or whatever.

It's the door closer, like we were saying. And it is one of his best films, but it also is one of his, like, I think that, Rages of the Lost Ark and Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind are films without flaw. I think they're like wonderful, perfect kind of movies.

This movie does have a lot of flaws. It just has so many wow moments that you're willing to forgive them but it has like, as you're saying, some of the writing is a little and it's long. It's definitely really long. It's never been cool.

Right. Whereas like minority report I think has gone through like this is actually like a sick, cool dystopian movie. Yeah. It has a style too that is enjoyable and fun. And maybe part of it is that like it isn't kind of classically

rewatchable because of how the movie opens like you're saying so it doesn't maybe doesn't live in the same way. But I feel like people were people like me and I'm sure I have done this. I've been very quick to be like, it's such a fucking crime that it didn't win Best Picture. It was so clearly one of the most important movies in the 90s and all these things that we're saying about the movie.

But in a weird way, I have less enthusiasm for it than I do for those other five So you're saying your own feelings about it have aged the worst. Yes, that's a good way of putting it. That is kind of what I'm saying. I think I'm with you a little bit because I continue to love Jaws intently. We'll do the rejaws at some point soon.

Oh, yeah. The re-shark. But yeah, this movie's flawed, but I love it. But also, like, people love it. Like, we did the Twitter poll. We had four movies and this got 50% of the poll. Were you surprised by that? I was.

I think they kind of get into a little bit of, like, the, what's this pot about stuff where it's like, this is, I would not say, I fire up saving private Ryan anywhere close to the amount that I buy. Yeah, but if it's on, you'll... I'll watch whatever's coming in next. Yeah, for sure. But, like, I don't think it's like a...

You'll watch the last half hour. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm just saying, like, I know. I think this movie is a masterpiece that I'm so happy to be talking about. I love this movie, but it's like, it's not the same as Inglorious Bastards where you're just like, oh, yeah, this is so...

That's a purposefully fun movie. Yeah, right. Was there a better title for this movie? I don't think so. best quote i would go with every man i kill the farther from home i feel unless you came up with something else i have i have one that's like a little bit more so not earn this it's not telling me i led a good life no it's not um i have i don't grape to you ribin i'm a captain there's a chain of command gripes go up not down always up you gripe to me i gripe to my superior officer so on so on and so on that's good we

I should have that at the ringer. The hottest take award. I was going to test drive a last battle better than the first, but my heart's not in it. What do you have for hottest take? Because I do have one. Do you want me go first? You go first. I think Ed Burns is fucking good in this movie.

Hell yeah. I really think he's excellent. And I don't know why he wasn't a more successful mainstream movie star. and it's almost, this is the rare case of somebody who wanted to write and direct and star in his own movies, who had this limited worldview where every movie kind of felt like the last movie and had pieces of it. And I just wish he had been an actor. Because I don't feel like, I feel like that was a lane for him that Affleck kind of took. And like, you take any Affleck movie from, by the way, Affleck could have easily been the Ed Burns part in this movie and it wouldn't have been as good.

but you could take any, like, Ed Burns easily could have been in Reindeer Games, you know? He easily could have been in Pearl Harbor. This is, you're nailing it. You pick like,

I know, well, I know it's in your wheelhouse because he's a Long Island guy, but I just don't know why he went to, I think if I could reset button his career and just started over coming out of this movie, I feel like the three of us

could have just advised him and made him one of the biggest stars, but six years later is in 27 dresses, or one of those rom-coms by wife likes. So he's obviously a tremendously familiar person to me. He's like every good-looking middle-class guy who's in the bar. Yeah. And that guy does really well with girls, probably played basketball or baseball in high school.

He's fun to hang out with for two or three hours. He's got a little fuck you to him. Definitely a little attitude. It'll come out. Probably can, you know, stand up for himself a little bit. But in hour four, he doesn't really have a whole lot to say. Like, there's no second gear. and so what you're saying about his films,

I think is really right, which is like all those movies are all kind of the same. They're all these kind of like post Paul Mazurski, Woody Allen, like dumpy, like, is this really hot guy going to marry this really hot girl? Yeah. By the way, I like sidewalks and love.

I like she's the one, but they're, they're all really close to it. They're the same movie. They're fun, but they're the same movie. I think his favorite filmmakers probably do the same thing. Yes. But those guys are all not good looking, like Ed Burns. And so like it's really weird

when you keep watching Ed Burns cast himself as like the unlucky and love guy who's just trying to figure it all out and it's like dude you're married to Christy Turlington and well I think that was part of the problem is he went from Heather Graham to Christy Turlington he was the hot man on campus for dating ladies for a while

right but meanwhile he's making these movies where it's like I'm just a guy who can't get his life together I was like run my dad's barman he runs a bar but the other thing too he doesn't work for three years after this movie you know what the next movie he made was 15 minutes yeah with the Nero and then he makes sidewalks in New York

and then all of a sudden we're into the breakup artist and then he's in the holiday is the one oh 27 dresses 2008 but it was like he easily he should have been an awesome cop movie somewhere in the like could he

been in 25th that could he been Ed Norton in 25th hour maybe he's not as good an actor as Ed Norton's not I think he's actually a better the athletic comparison makes a lot of sense to me because he's a better movie star than he is an actor he's not a great actor but he's a great screen presence. He's a classic, he's like a guy to the 70s.

He's a 70s New York guy, in this case in the 90s, who can hold the center of the frame in a movie, which is not easy to do. But he continued to pursue his own, and tell him his own stories. That's cool. I mean, he's had a lot of success.

Could he have done Long Island in 2001? Oh, shit. 100%. Right? 100%. Do banks get robbed on Long Island? Sure. Because the problem is getting off of Long Island.

Like, I imagine it's pretty pretty big. We got boats. Lowe Island is connected to New York I guess that's my point is he never had He never zagged He never had the crime movie or the cop movie I think that he probably is somebody I mean he's got a show that's on epics now

Where he's like But it's fucking set in long guy I know that's the movie His den of thieves is called Bridge and Tunnel And it's about a guy robs a bank in Garden City And he's like I want to make a hoboken I want to make a move And how do you get there?

Yeah but he just wants to make like this guy likes a girl But he also likes another girl This sounds like we're killing Ed Burns We're not I'm a huge I fucking love Head Burns. So are you saying that there is a conventional wisdom that's like Burns of the weak link and that squad act as well? I think they're all good.

I think as the years pass, it's surprising how much he's in this movie. Because basically it's like a Leo DiCaprio part. Like easily this could have been Leo in 2005 range when he was trying to redo become more adult Leo. He's a really good part. He's one of the only guys who survived at the beginning. If River Phoenix never dies, River Phoenix is probably this guy. in this movie. 1998.

Or Damon. Or, well, but Damon's in it though. I mean, he's the Damon part. Right. River Phoenix is in this movie.

He's somebody. Well, if River Phoenix is a little... I guess he would be a little older. And by the way, if we're 10 years later, Heath Ledger, Heath Ledger is that Ed Burns part.

River Phoenix could have been a good Ribizee part. But then what about your boy, Rabee's? I'm just saying, like, if we're, if we're, if we're doing out...

And Ruby takes Jeremy Davies part. Rebezi is... Jeremy Davis takes Vin Diesel's part. No, Rabizzi is Miller. I think Ed I think Ed Burns has the best movie star

part in this movie. It's just like just be a movie star. Yeah. Yeah. But here's the thing that's great about every single one

of these parts. There are all some version of Ryan's story about the girl in the barn. Like, yeah. Rybin is not William Holden and Stahl X-17

even though he thinks he is. Him being like, I thought you liked it in the ass. And like, nobody laughs. and it's just like this awkward moment but they leave it in the movie because it's just like

this guy's just a smart ass and he's got like a 50% hit rate on his jokes but like sometimes he makes you want to shoot him like when Seismore's like I'm gonna fucking shoot you in your big mouth you guys have had his takes or can we move on you got one percolating shot

wanna do a little tester are we sure this should have won best picture are there other movies that should have won best picture instead who are you gonna offer I would rather watch out of sight than saving private Ryan at this stage of my life but what are we given Oscars for

what you would want to watch 20 years later that's a whole other podcast I mean yeah I mean we should the Oscars should be about what movies I want to watch what's like the great film achievement of that year in theory but we have now 90 consecutive Oscars that often don't do that I honestly don't understand what happened

without out of sight this year how at least didn't crack the top five everybody loved that movie when it came out didn't do great at the box office but like everybody was like this is a fucking awesome movie. It's almost, it's almost a couple years too early. Yeah. I don't get it. The Oscars

likes to celebrate what happened, not what's going to happen, but if this were more of a forward-thinking organization, I think the Truman Show is really the movie of that time. That's the most prescient movie of that time. It features an amazing performance. It's from a master filmmaker. It's totally original. Yeah. And it was somebody like at the height

of his powers in Jim Carrey, which would have had a great story to tell. And somehow, the Oscars gets entrenched in this weird Harvey Weinstein versus Stevenson. You think that movie's rewatchable? A million percent. I got to give that one amazing way. I haven't seen it a while.

Casting what ifs. Michael Bay was approached to direct. He declined. That would have been an interesting movie. Eventually did Pearl Harbor. That's what the movie would have been. That's a yikes.

Yeah. We mentioned Harrison Ford and Mo. Gibson for Captain Miller. And Pete Possible. Do you believe that one? I don't know if I bought that one. Was up for Miller. I'm not buying that.

Wow. That's interesting. How would you have felt about an Irish gentleman playing such a I just don't think Spielberg does that? Okay. He did ask Ed Norton to be Private Ryan. Yep.

Ed Norton said, I can't do a little movie called American History X where I get to dunk. Yeah, I get to dunk over my head with a bunch of whites of premises. I'm going to do that. I've been training for it. Frank Darabont did some uncredited rewrites and created the Bible quoting sniper Private Jackson. Yeah. And Garth Brooks was going to play this guy for a split second, but then it didn't happen. That's a way.

I didn't know that about Darabond. That makes a lot of sense because that character's got some good dialogue. When they're walking in the field at the beginning of the movie. I am like a way I see it, like I'm like too valuable to be doing this. That's really good stuff. So Sergeant Horvath, there's been some Billy Bob Thornton stuff that I think might be true because they were like he didn't want to film the beach scenes. He's afraid of water.

That sounds realistic. It seems like a real like you open up page two of that script and it's like it's a lot of water. Yeah, a lot of water about. I think Craig should go and watch every single Billy Bob Thornton movie intelligence show and see how close he gets to water in each one. of them. Craig, get on that.

Apparently Madsen was also offered and he recommended Seismore instead. Michael Madsen? I don't know if I believe that. This is like four years

after species. Gilbert's just at the Viper room, just like he's like everybody who's going to play Horvath has to hang out this place every night.

He should have played Horvath like as Mr. Blonde. That would have been great. This is just a murderous psychopath. I do love species.

I'll never get any. I'll never have a partner. I might have to solo the species. You should definitely solo that movie. Yeah. we mentioned the

mid-easel thing oh the Tom Seismore action is the juice award for best toe-to-to-moment for a non-star

our winner is Tom Seismore he won his own award congrats part of me thinks the kid's right he asks what he's

done and deserve this he wants to stay or fine let's leave him and go home but then another part of me thinks what if the action

is the juice the truth the uh... the Buffalo Hannah Rubenick Partridge overacting award. They knew and they let it happen. Don't you call me lady.

I come in here. I give these things to you. Give it all you got! Give it all you got! I treated you like a son. You fucking stand me in the heart. Fuck you. I'm giving this to... I got this one. I was going to give this to fake private Ryan.

Oh, Nathan Philly. Yeah. Who has to just kind of fake cry for two minutes? That's the guy in that show, the rookie. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't think he was great. Not the strongest. Who'd you ask?

I had the German soldier digging his own grave. Oh, and just talking American. He turned it down at ice. Oh, say, can you say? Betty Boo! I say, can you see? I say, can you see?

I say. And it was going to be Till Schweiger. But you didn't want to get typecast. But if it was Till Schweiger, Tilsweiger can't be like goofy. I know. the meanest German in the history of movies, right? I actually think my issue with this guy, I was going to put this in

nitpicks, is that he's not quite distinct enough. I keep forgetting that that's the guy. In the end, it's like he doesn't have his hat or something. Yeah, right? He needed like white targary in there. He needed like a scar on his forehead or something that reminded me. Oh, that's that guy. Because they all kind of looked alike.

Best that guy award. I mean, there's a million that guys in this, but one really stood out. Gary from Remember the Titans. Who's he? Gary's in the movie. He's the guy who can't hear. Yeah, he's the guy who he's like, what? Yeah.

He's that guy. Oh, interesting. Yeah. So wait, you're not, so dude. Okay, so that's that guy. Yeah. I think that's my favorite, that guy, because I still don't know what that guy's name is. And we did a remember the Titans podcast.

But I love that, Gary Bertram. Is that his name? Gary Bertier. Gary Bertier. My favorite that guy is Max Martini. This is the first time I ever saw Max Martini. Max Martini. You know Max Martini?

He was a real Marine, and now he's an actor in a lot of these movies. He's the guy who is up in the tower with Melish. He's the poor girl. He's a meet up with near the end, yeah, and he's got one of the great voices in movies. I don't know if he counts as that guy. My that guy is Dale Die,

who also gets admonished by General Marshall. So, Dionne Wade is a word. I split into three tiers. In the troop, outside the troop. Yeah. And then just cameos. Okay. So that makes Pepper eligible.

Yeah. I mean, we're basically giving an award for the guys in the squad. An award for the guys who are not in the squad but in the war. But you could argue Pepper is one of the stars of the movie. He's in a lot. I would say that... So could Diesel be our DNWaters for In the Squad? I was going to give it to Ruby Zee.

I think he's in it too much. You do? Yeah. None of these guys can be Dion Waiters. They're all the stars of the movie. The movie tracks eight guys. That's why I was saying let's take it out of the... This is outside of Dion, who's your favorite squad men?

Pepper. Pepper. I would go pepper as well. I believe I sent you guys a text that said Barry fucking Pepper at like midnight. He's outstanding in this movie. I'm saying Giovanni. Who do you have for cameos? Farina. I got Giamati. I got a little tangle seeing Cranston.

You know, the digitally removed one arm, you know? Pretty good. And he's with the buzz cut and I was like, oh, yeah. Giam Lys got some moves, too, despite fighting off an angle injury. Like, I don't think I've ever seen. Giamati run. Yeah. Recasting couch.

I'm not going to recast the movie in 98 because I like the casting. If they made this movie in 2002, who is Hank's? Clooney? I feel like Clooney's too old. So you want an actor who's like 48?

Somewhere in his 40s. It's like in a Ryan Reynolds kind of range, but it's not Ryan Reynolds. He's too young. Too youthful. He's not young, though. He's like 45. I think Hanks was 41 when he made this movie.

He's too pretty to me. John C. Riley. Too old. Adam Driver. He's 38. The best American actor, according to Sean, Adam Driver. What's that for? That's not what I said.

He's not what I said. He's coming later. Spoil of his take. Adam Driver as Hank's. It's too complicated. Adam Driver is Hank's not buying it. I think he's a little too young. He served.

He's not like... He did serve. He did serve. Marine, right? He doesn't have that like Jimmy Stewart kind of feel. We don't know. I'm thinking about him like having sex with Lena Dunham on a couch.

You know, it's just like there's a patriotic feel that I would get from Tom Hanks. Dave Franco? I don't know. The answer is we don't know. The correct answer is we do not have a Tom Hanks in 2020. It's probably Leo trying to play young. Would be how this goes. Who's the best?

45-year-old actor in America. About Jake Gyllenhaal. Yeah, he's somehow too handsome and nervy. He also was in a war movie. You got to, if you're going to do this part, you have to be also, you have to be willing to be a movie star. See, this is why Heath Ledger is such like, I mean, for a million reasons, such a tough loss, but I just think he would have had like five movies like this part, not this exact

part, but you know what I mean? Like, I think he would have been the default. Here's the best, most likable actor we have right now. How about Damon? Oh, interesting. Damon. That's it. Yeah, that's it.

Why not? Great call. Good job, see you. 20 years later. Half-Iternate research. It's based on this best-seller D-Day June 6, 1994, that Robert Rodat's wife gave him. And he read the book, and he found out about this family called the Nileans, which had lost two sons in the war and thought they lost the third. So the four-sum was snatched out of Normandy by the War Department.

And that's what started this. There was a big 10-day boot camp. For everybody but Damon, they trained him separately because they wanted the cast members to resent Damon. I feel like that's the kind of shit Sean would do if he was a director. Like keep the one actor away from the other actors. Yeah. I don't want you to bond with this actor.

This is total horses. You're going to be over there. I don't do mind games. Only on Chris. He said that staring right at me. I actually do mind games on Chris, but I don't do mine games on anybody else. Omaha Beach was in Ireland, $12 million, $1,500 extras. in the body count?

What do you think? I can't even. Hundreds. You mean like in real life? In the movie. How many people died in the movie? I think 10,000 people died. No, in the movie saving Prevaran, how many people died?

500. 192. 255. Oh, okay. Closest to that going over. Hey, I had a half-ass internet research that I can't remember personally, but maybe you do. Yeah. Did Spielberg make a edict that no one could get in

after the movie started. I read that. I read that. That seemed like to, that didn't pass the shit to take care for me. How is a guy in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, you're counting on him to be like, nope,

Mr. Spielberg does not want you to enter this film. I read that too and I didn't pass the smell test for me. It's a cool idea though. Yeah. Can you imagine somebody in Boston being told one minute after movie started they can't get in? You think you better than me?

Open the door now! Apex Mountain. My cousin runs this place. I'm going to bring Vinnie back. Apex Mountain. Wait, I have one more piece of half-ass internet research. The Lincoln Bixby letter was kind of fake news. Yeah, it was.

So, like, it was what, you know, it was believed that she had lost these five kids during the Civil War. And it would later be found out that only two of her sons died in the battle and three desert, like one of the three deserted. One was discharged and another died as a prisoner of war. Jeez. Tough beat for America. And America, yeah. America, once again, built on a foundation of lies. Earn this.

Yeah, earn that. Lincoln. Apex Mountain, Spielberg, no. Hanks, no. I did think about it, though. But I think we already... Gave it to castaway or something? No, it was like mid-90s for Hanks.

Okay. Wasn't it like after Forrest Gump? Like, how was he ever bigger than after Forst Gump? I agree. That's when he's like, I want to direct this movie that thing you do and you're just going to give me money for it. And the studio's right. Cool. Here's money. Damon, no.

Ed Burns, I feel like she's the one. I felt like Ed Burns was like the... He gets Tom Petty on the soundtrack. I feel like he was Gen X Woody Allen after she's the one. The hottest cast of females ever put in the same movie. Fucking broke records.

It's kind of hard to say the little scene she's the one is his apex mountain. over being the third lead? The greatest war film ever made. He did an act for three more years after this. He said that this is the greatest professional experience of his life.

All right. It didn't lead to anything, which is kind of the point of Apex Mountain. He didn't have... Do you remember when She's on was coming out and we were like, it's here. Annie Hall 2.0. We got it. And then it came out and people were like,

oh, he's fine. It really didn't do what it was supposed to do. I know it did for you. When I do it, she's the one of rewatch? I still feel like it's Annie Hall 2.0 She's the one? Is there dialogue in the movie? I didn't even notice.

Put that thing on mute. That thing's throwing 110. That thing. So you can get a better look at Maxine Bonds? Oh my God. Aniston, all-time apex for her. Cam Diaz throwing 700 miles an hour. Leslie Mann's in there, young Leslie Man.

Oh, yeah. Maxine Baines. There's one other one too. Is it Maxine Beans for name? Bonds. Yeah. Maxine Bonds? Mike McClone.

His hot bod. No, there's one. It's, Ed Bray's... Who plays his dad in that movie, too? Mahoney, right? Oh, yeah, it's John Mahoney. The flaw of that movie is that the guy doesn't want to have sex with Jennifer Anderson as his wife.

Let's not get too far afield from World War II and what these men gave for our freedom. That was my next Apex Mountain World War II movies. Definitely the first time in any conversation in my life that I've talked about both my grandfather being a prisoner of war and Maxine Bonds In Ed Byrd it says Woody L, it's your point of. Thank you for your service.

Maxine. Was this the Apex Mountain of World War II movies? Is this the most famous World War II movie ever? I was wondering about this. I thought about this. Because I was like, is the Great Escape still Apex Mountain for World War II? It did start this whole greatest generation

reboot where there are movies, TV shows, Banner Brothers is three years later. Well, when did the Brokaw book come out? Was it before this movie? I think it's after, I think it's more closer to Banner Brothers. Yeah, it did jump start. Because there was a moment where those guys,

it just felt like those guys were on TV like every night. Oh, yeah. It's a really interesting question that I thought about a lot. I feel like the best World War II movies are often these very super focused stories on an individual group of people. This one is, of course, but also it represents like a huge theater

of the war, but like Stolic 17, Chris mentioned earlier, from here to eternity, like some of these legendary movies. I'm gonna ask my dad as you're talking. A lot of those, I mean, even like the adventure movies, like Where Eagles Dare and Guns in Averone,

and all these movies are about missions and guys going on missions, and in some ways, they're pretty fun. Yeah. And, oh, Great Escape is like, this feels like this would be cool, you know? Yeah, like Ron Ryan's Express or Castle Keep, like all those cool movies.

in the 60s and 70s. And this one is different. This one's trying to be representative of the war. So for that, in that respect, I think it accomplishes that better than any movie. I think it's Apex Mountain for film to combat. It's hard to imagine. Agree with that.

Kaminsky, yes. Seismore, no. The concept of morphing, I do feel like it's either this or Terminator, too, of... Morphing? Yeah, when the character in a movie, their face morphs into a different character.

Well, sure. one to dissolve like an edit and the other is like a T-T-1-000 turning into its liquid metal skeleton. This is a how did both of them are the how do they do that? Okay. Where the guy looks so much like Damon. It's Damon's face and then it's becomes this other actor in a way that is unusual. I'm going to go with Mystique from X-Men Days of Future Past and all of the morphing that she does in that film, played by Jennifer Lawrence. Pepper.

Yeah. I'm going to say yes. Apex Mountain for Pepper? 25th hour for me personally. Fair. How about picking up your own arm, Chris, in a movie? Trying to think, did this movie invent that? No, but somebody on Twitter is going to be like,

actually, you guys missed these three other iconic picking up your arm moments. I feel like that I have seen that in a movie before. Gosh, I don't know. Fubar, we thought Tango and Cash, Shay and I would have. Yeah, that's right. I thought it invented Fubar, and then it turns out it's been in all these other ones. What a run for Fubbar. I have an Apex Mountain.

My dad is weighed in on Best World War II movie. He says, Saving Private Ryan probably or the Band of Brothers series. So Spielberg. My dad loved the Band of Brothers series. Very good. It's very good.

There you go. Apex Mountain for taking gum out of another guy's mouth. That's disgusting. That scene is disgusting. It's more disgusting than the arm. What would be the situation where you would do that with me? I would never chew your Nicorette gum ever.

If you have the Nicorette gum, I would sooner do. die, then put it in my mouth. But what if it was like some bigly chew? I do love Bigley chew. Yeah. Great Bigley chew. Half chewed great bigly chew from Chris, would you put it in your mouth? No, but I've taken gum from my wife's mouth.

Is it something about me or is just you wouldn't do it? That's different. The wife is different. Yeah. I've also taken gum from my kid's mouth. But you would be the related or married to you to take gum. Yeah. Okay. That's it. That's where I draw the line. I would, I don't ever want to trade bodily fluids of you under any circumstances. let's see we're golfing and you broke your leg and you were like, I'm dying here.

Like, I need, I need some gum. I'd give you my gum. Why don't he break his leg when he's golfing? I would say, fetch me a nine millimeter. Okay. I need to end it. Okay. You would say, did I have a good leg?

And I'd feel like, well, that was fine. Your slice really came back at the end, you know? You know what I would say? What? Earn this. Right. Earn this ninth hole.

Was this Spielberg's Hall of Fan Black movie? No. No. I think Jaws and Schindler's list. And not Hanks either. Okay. Best racehorse name. I have Private Ryan,

Ugly Tree, or Omaha Beach. Yeah, I got Allison the Barn. Alice in the Barn is a good one. I like that. Earn this. And here it comes, earn this. That's good. Picking Nits.

Goldman was all over this. This movie has an unreliable narrator. Where with Private Ryan in the beginning, old Private Ryan, it goes into his eyes, and now we're on Omaha Beach. And you think we're a miller. And he wasn't there. Right.

So it's narrative cheating. It just is. So does this movie... This doesn't bother me. This doesn't bother me at all. William Goldman spends a thousand words losing his mind about this. I love how upset he is about it. He's very mad.

Yeah. I also, I think the more distracting thing that happens in this movie, probably for me, is that midway through, or not even midway through about an hour, and Jeremy Davies shows up. And then about midway through his time with the squad, the movie suddenly kind of shifts to his perspective. It does. Yeah.

And he becomes basically like the cinematic narrator of the movie. The POV character, yeah. And that that through that that doesn't throw you off. But I think it maybe changes the way the movie feels subtly. Agree. I think it's a good point. The Goldman gripe about this, I think is absolutely supportable from his point of view, in part,

not just because he's one of the greatest screeners of all time, but specifically because he spends so much time thinking about decisions like this in his scripts. He is like a logician when it comes to what is the audience seeing and what are we feeling as we're seeing these things happen. So I don't know if it's so much a cheat as it is a way to kind of wrong foot the audience

at the beginning of this movie. To him it doesn't make sense. But to me, and I think to many people, the first time that they saw it, there is like a, oh, feeling. that you almost get in like a Hitchcock movie that is effective. That does work in the telling of the story.

It's a little bit of like a Christopher Nolan move. It is. You know, where it's like you have this incredible story, but you have to just be a little cute. Yes. And so they have to do this later. I'm going to do now. Is it better if he shows up at the grave with Ed Burns

instead of his family? Rybin probably dies in a road rage accident in like 1951. I think he got the clap from Cameron Bia. It goes into Ed Burns' eyes back to the thing, and then it comes out of Damon's eyes, and they're just together at the grave? That's interesting. Like, I wonder... Sweet.

It would have solved some of your issues with the sentimentality and the weirdness of, like, the did I live a good life stuff, too, where you'd be like, this is two friends who are reuniting together at the, you know, 50 years after something that they experienced. I think I would have liked that more, because then it would have been like, oh, cool, they became friends. Yeah. Well, I mean, that's obviously something that happened for many people. The other thing that Goldman hates is the decision-making process

that these guys go through when Ryan says, I'm not leaving. And I was going to put this in picking nits. I have this as a nitpick, too. I kind of go... You're risking nine guys to save one, and then he doesn't want to come with them.

I think at some point they're like, well, fuck this. Right. And they're out. Right. And it's like this whole time Miller has been like fending off Ribin who's just like this fucking guy.

Like we've already lost Caparza and he lost Wade. And, Goldman's fix for it is kind of like why he's William Goldman. He's like, they're like, no, fuck you, you're coming with us. They start walking and then the Germans come. Yeah. Now, all you lose then is the barn speech and those guys sitting outside of the building in that moment of calm before the Germans arrive. But I don't think you lose that much. I don't mean to put you on the spot, but reading this column really made me think of you in a very specific way, which is all the time whenever

we're having a problem at work and you have a solution and honestly most of the time it's the right solution. Yeah. You present it like are you guys fucking so stupid that you don't know

that this is the solution? And I'm always like that's a great, in my head I'm like that's such a great idea but I can't say that because you're treating me like I'm an asshole.

He's not like what a great movie. Here's some suggestions. He's like, these fucking morons fucked up what could have been such a cool scene. The first sentence of Goldman's

that the writer of all the president's members I'm upset. I think he feels like this was so close to being like the greatest movie of all time. The first line of the piece is the bullshit started early with this baby. Can you fucking imagine? Like, starting like an essay in New York magazine and you're the guy who wrote Butch Cassidy and you're like, I'm going to take this fucking critically and commercially lauded film and take it behind the woodshed. Yeah. But that's the thing.

He was a movie fan first. Yes. So he saw this movie and he loved so many pieces of it And then there were other things that he's like, why did they do that? But he's like a brilliant architect looking at a building that just doesn't sit right in a city. Yeah. He's like this just isn't something isn't finished here. And most people, 98% of people that see this movie will never think about it that way.

That's his genius. He tries to codify the things that we only understand about movies as like on a primal level when you're watching. And you're like, this makes sense to me because and you don't really think about it because the movie's happening. But he understands it. he sees the blueprint. Well, there's also, like, why wouldn't Ryan want to go home at this point? Like, war is hell, we've already established that. His entire family is, like, all his brothers are dead.

All these guys he's with are essentially his brothers. It never bothered me. Okay. I completely, but on the other hand, it's one of those things, too. You know, when you're watching a movie about, like, a guy who works on a train and they explain something about how a train works? And I'm like, well, I'd never been on a train like that. Yeah.

I don't know. I've never served. I don't know what it's like. Those guys make a commitment to each other. It's something incredible that they do. I was willing to go with it. Okay. Letting the German sniper goes, just come on.

Yeah, that's stupid. Shoot him in the left leg or something. After all that carnage. You guys can't tie him to a tree? Yeah. Yeah. That's weak. I thought that was weird.

And then just Davies, the character, just why he was such a wuss, but then all of a sudden at the end, all of a sudden, he finds his courage. It was a little movie hacky. That's not the read I had on that moment. I actually think that moment is actually quite sad because he's standing up for an ethical idea of warfare when he tries to spare that guy's life

and he's like, we can't do this, we can't do this against the rules. And then he kills the guy and it's like because there are no rules in war because there's no one. I'm saying like he goes from just having a meltdown on the stairwell to all of a sudden being able to corral these eight Germans

and shooting. Oh, I guess. Yeah. Just that 10 minute kind of light switch flip. Right. There was no sign at all that that was going to happen. Well, there's also planes get shot and all of a sudden he gets it.

I guess what they're trying to tell you is that, oh, it's like, oh, you feel fucking strong now because there's a bunch of planes dropping bombs overhead. So like now you have the courage to stand up for the United States Army. Historical inaccuracies we talked about, like specifically they were

talking about other U.S. forces from the two beach areas that hadn't linked up yet. There's a whole bunch of it. I'm not going to go into that. Google that if you want. Any of their nipicks? No. I mean, I think the Goldman column to me is really overheated and there's something going on underneath it that I don't get

but you can't deny that he points out three or four things that are like true flaws in the movie. Sequel, prequel, prestige TV, all blackcast are untouchable. Untouchable. Is this movie better with Wayne Jenkins, Dan Treo, Catherine Hahn, Steve Bouchemy, Sam Jackson,

J.T. Walsh. It's actually better with J.T. Walsh. This time I'm actually going to say it's better than it. But I mean... Wayne Jenkins as Rybin is fucking incredible. That's what I'm saying. We get the German. You know what, Adolf?

You're going to jail alone. Fucking time, big boy! I fucking watched a couple episodes of that show again. It's still so good. He is a legend. Just one Oscar who gets it. I'm going I'm going

Size bar I'm gonna No I was gonna go Hanks Hanks Hanks blew me away This most recent viewing I think he's incredible I got Spielberg

Okay It's Spielberg But I would actually go both Only one person can make this movie Unanswerable questions Probably It's Mike Bay Could have been

When When Miller tells Ryan That his brothers are dead and Ryan's reacting. It's the exact same reaction he has when he melts down in Goodwill Hunting. Oh, you think Matt Damon's only got one move? No, and I wanted Miller to say

it's not your fault. It's not your fault. And just rip off seven. It's not your faults in a row. Maybe with Robin Williams spared him. But I do think, like... Isn't that what got him in this movie? Robin Williams is introducing him, right?

Oh, yeah. Here's my big one. Did Ryan really earn it? What happened in Ryan? Isn't this more the Andy and Red? Yeah, maybe. What do you think happened to him after battle? We know he got married.

Definitely impregnated his wife. I had a bunch of kids. Seems tight-knit family. Goldman has a lot of issues with the family as well. Yeah, he did. I don't know if there are issues, really. He, uh, what did he do? He was the regional sales manager at the Chevrolet dealership.

Yeah, you don't think he's probably not going to become alerted man. He makes it sound like he didn't do great at school. Cool. So yeah, I think maybe car dealership. Would you've wanted like five more seconds on what happened to his life? No. In fact, I wanted less. Okay, good. What was your double feature choice for this movie, Sean?

Well, I think Patton would be an interesting one. Because that's a movie that also is trying to show you what war does to men. I also had a George C. Scott movie, but it was hardcore. I don't think Patton is a good movie as Saving Private Ryan, but they have very similar themes.

I like that. What do you have, Chris? I have a Midnight Clear, which is a 1992 Warrior movie that was when they were doing the auditions for Saving Private Ryan, they read sides from a Midnight Clear. And it's a really beautiful war movie. Ethan Hawk, Garrison East set in 1984. I have nothing. Okay.

Cheated. No, this movie, I think... You wouldn't want to watch a movie. Try to throw a little light on a little scene war movie. You're like, actually, it's nothing. That's the answer. You sit alone in a room by yourself and drink a glass of warm water. Do you want to watch another movie after this?

No. Would you want to watch another movie before this? Days of Thunder after this? Did you really? Well, then that's your true double feature. Were you scouting for rewatched? Yeah. Yeah, it's been on a lot.

It's a fucking good movie. The wheelchair races. A lot of questions about Russ Wheeler's wife. Yeah, there's a lot of questions. Yeah, that movie's good. Coltriggle from Eagle Rock. Andy and Red Zwan-Nayrward

would happen the next day. I think we know. Like, I don't know. What's Riven do? Yeah. I don't know. With the rest of his life? Yeah.

Goes back to Brooklyn? Yeah, he probably opens a pizzeria. Has a love triangle. He probably gets it on with the older gal that he mentions. Oh, right. shares her wares with him. What piece of memorabilia

Would you want for this movie, Chris? The tin of sand from Omaha Beach What do you got? Wade's liver All of Wade's morphine. I'd want the Sizmore knapsack With the dirt from the different coaches Yeah, I think that would be fucking amazing.

I want all the tens of it. Oh, you want everything. Sorry, I only wanted Omaha Beach. It's the only one that matters. Coach Finstock award Best Life Lesson. War is Hell. Kill the bad guy when you have a chance

and earn this were my three lessons. You should open every episode of the rewatchables with Earn This. I'm going to do it. It's going to be the new gimmick for the next two 50. Any other life lessons? I think that's it, right? Definitely kill the bad guy when you get a chance to kill a Nazi. You should just do it.

The Nazi who's already killed one of the people in your troop, take that guy out. It's cool. Who won the movie? Steven Spielberg. Steve. And then Rebezi. And then Hicks. you guys really left me

fucking hanging with Rabizi nobody came in and was like it's fine he's fine yeah you just you guys didn't like that story about the mom

do you think that you have like a similar like energy like what is it I just think it's like an interesting character we don't why does he like

a Quaker or something why doesn't he have a gun is it because doctors had guns right I don't do the medics carry I'm not even sure in any case

I just thought that was beautiful scene in the church by him nice job okay I think you've always kind of overrated Rubisi

okay even like them in the offer. I did. Yeah. He was not good in the offer. He's really good in boiler room. That's true.

Craig, any last saving Privat, thoughts? Yeah, what about you? I feel like I've been really negative lately. Imagine if I was like, Hank's terrible. What do you be like, this movie sucks? No, I don't know.

I don't have a ton of notes. Has you seen it? Yeah, a couple of times. It's been a long time, though. Was it a movie that you felt like you had to see when you were younger? Yes. It was, I think I watched it with my dad,

maybe when I was growing up. Anyways, these were real men Not like your sissy generation Honestly, probably Yeah, I don't know No notes. Good job, Steve. I feel like you're a little gun shy

After the last one. After Sennival Woman, I feel like You're like, you're pulling your punches a little bit. Maybe, I don't know. Craig was 100% right about Sennib Woman for the record. No, he had Tango and Cash. He was back in. He was good. He loved Tango and Cash.

Yeah, I'm a sucker now for like crappy 80s action movies. Yeah. We've converted to him out. He's indoctinated you? Yeah. Yeah. This podcast was produced by Craig Horlebeck. Thanks, Chris.

Thanks, John. See you next week. Earn this, Bill.