Categories & segments

Under Siege The Rewatchables
Under Siege poster
Under Siege

Half-Assed Internet Research

Erika Eleniak’s E.T. appearance, Alabama shooting locations, budget-saving rewrites, Seagal’s Pearl Harbor idea, and the film persuading Harrison Ford to make The Fugitive

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:26:35Read transcript
  • Eleniak’s first feature role was the girl Elliott kissed in E.T.
  • USS Alabama stood in for USS Missouri.
  • Mobile-area locations and framing made the limited water appear to be open ocean.
  • The script was reduced from an estimated $100 million version to a roughly $30 million production.
  • Seagal proposed incorporating the Pearl Harbor memorial and gathered ships.
  • Harrison Ford reportedly joined The Fugitive after seeing an Under Siege rough cut.
  • The production used a blackout barge and visual blocking to conceal the Alabama’s surroundings.
Under Siege The Rewatchables
Under Siege poster
Under Siege

Apex Mountain

Seagal, Erika Eleniak, and the June 1989 Playboy issue: yes

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:28:37Read transcript
  • Seagal’s commercial and industry standing clearly declined after this film.
  • Busey’s apex was placed around Point Break, Under Siege, and The Firm, with The Buddy Holly Story as an earlier prestige high.
  • Erika Eleniak was treated as an apex case.
  • The June 1989 Playboy issue was treated as an apex case because Under Siege and Home Alone preserved its fame.
  • “Voodoo Child” in Under Siege lost its apex case to its later NWO use.
  • Casey Ryback was nominated as the apex movie cook who could also fight.
  • Goodfellas’ prison cooking and Clemenza’s meatballs were competing movie-cook cases.
  • Chef and Burnt were rejected because their cooks could not fight.
Under Siege The Rewatchables
Under Siege poster
Under Siege

Picking Nits

The takeover plan, surprise-party cover, one-woman entertainment plan, haircuts, accents, cake logic, pills, injury continuity, ovens, and payment

In the discussion (12)
Approx. transcript time · 01:32:50Read transcript
  • The ease with which armed terrorists boarded a nuclear battleship was the central nit.
  • A surprise party was judged too flimsy a cover for activity on a nuclear battleship.
  • Flying in only one entertainer for the party seemed implausible.
  • Several sailors lacked expected military haircuts.
  • Colm Meaney’s American accent disappears in later scenes.
  • Jordan apparently slept inside the cake without hearing the gunfire.
  • It was unclear whether Busey drugged Jordan or she simply took too many seasickness pills.
  • Ryback’s water injury disappears in the next scene.
  • The galley uses a gas-style oven even though the Navy reportedly uses electric appliances around shipboard weapons.
  • Jordan’s exact job in the attack plan remained unclear.
  • The amount Jordan was promised for the cake appearance was debated.
  • Whether Jordan was ever paid remained unanswered.
Under Siege The Rewatchables
Under Siege poster
Under Siege

The Andy and Red – Zihuatanejo Award for What Happens the Next Day?

Two dark speculative futures for Casey and Jordan were offered; neither was treated as fact.

The panel is imagining how this might look in the future.

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:40:08Read transcript
  • One speculation had the pair go to Hawaii before the relationship turned abusive.
  • Another had Jordan return to Los Angeles, struggle in acting, and later circle back to Casey.
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation The Rewatchables
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation poster
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

What’s Aged the Best?

Brisk absurdity and sincerity; Chase’s physical comedy; yuppies; cast; sap; memes; enduring holiday status; cat gag

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:06:30Read transcript
  • The brisk, joke-dense film balances absurdity with sincerity. Staying home supplies a coherent Christmas goal rather than the earlier sequels’ episodic travel.
  • Chase’s attic and ladder work recalls Keaton-era physical comedy, now partly displaced by real Jackass stunts; childhood exposure to those films becomes a parenting joke.
  • Chase combines frustration, physical precision, offhand sarcasm and leading-man looks; Martin, Ferrell, Sandler and Vaughn are comparisons, but no current equivalent is found. His long run ended without Murray-like dramatic reinvention.
  • Louis-Dreyfus and the tormented yuppies remain funny; Juliette Lewis’s annoyed but tender Audrey is considered the best version, and Diane Ladd’s mother is praised.
  • D’Angelo’s appeal and straight-woman performance remain strong.
  • The sap gag, Shitter’s full meme, franchise callbacks and the film’s unexpected generational Christmas status endure.
  • Discovering one’s father had a sexual life is a recognizable theme; Van recalls his father encountering an old college acquaintance who taught him science.
  • The electrocuted-cat gag reportedly survived a proposed cut because test audiences liked it.
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