What’s Aged the Best?
Interrogation scenes; Albanian subplot; Denzel dolly shot; Rothschild quote; Nazi plot twist; hostage roll call; the boy; Terence Blanchard score; Chaiyya Chaiyya
In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 00:44:44Read transcript
- The interrogation scenes are this speaker's number one aged-best item.
- Continuing the Albanian theme is called a first on the show: Albanians in a movie are an automatic yes, with a dream 1988 bank movie involving Albanians.
- Asked about his "homeland," the reply jokes about being Albania's most prominent podcaster. — Chris Ryan
- Movies such as Taken 2 and Wag the Dog make Albania a go-to country for debauchery and crime.
- Subtle touches hold up, including the phone-call argument and the camera trick moving Denzel toward the camera on a dolly after the hostage shooting.
- Jodie Foster's Baron Rothschild quote about buying property when there is blood in the streets is cited.
- Nazi plot twists work in well-made movies, as in Marathon Man; this is about the last point when a present-day movie could have a functioning Nazi collaborator.
- Denzel going through the hostages, including Ken Lung, is cited.
- The little boy is cited, with the note that that material was ad-libbed.
- Terence Blanchard's booming noir jazz score is praised over a modern soundtrack of songs, compared with Touch of Evil.
- The opening and closing song Chaiyya Chaiyya by A.R. Rahman came a couple of years before Slumdog Millionaire, putting Spike ahead of the Bollywood boom.