Bart deserves more reverence and a documentary, perhaps a six-part series; his personal moviegoing impact exceeds Juliette Lewis and Gary Sinise, while Gary Oldman is a harder comparison. — Bill Simmons
The second participant explicitly has no additional hottest take. — Van Lathan
Since the movie makes things up anyway, Denzel Washington as David Ferry is suggested; Denzel as Mr. X is called insanely great, with doubt about him as Ferry.
Recast Sissy Spacek because she is too good an actress for a crummy part, freeing her for a better role.
Russo made this and Tin Cup in the same year opposite Costner and Gibson and never had more juice than 1996: Apex Mountain for her. — Bill Simmons
Ransom may be the Apex Mountain for kidnapping movies, as a big moneymaker that overtly announced itself as a kidnap movie, maybe the most popular ever. — Bill Simmons
It is not Delroy Lindo's Apex; his steady run (Crooklyn, Clockers, Get Shorty, Broken Arrow, Ransom, The Devil's Advocate) had no clear peak, but if he had one it was Crooklyn, where he was the lead. — Bill Simmons
The Gibson-Russo combo was peaking right around now; Jackie Brown as a movie character is also noted, with a Jackie Brown movie the next year. — Bill Simmons
Whether the couple's apartment is the Apex Mountain for rich-guy New York apartments is asked; it is called amazing, worth a deleted scene, and a revelation to someone from Louisiana, though Gecko is another candidate. — Bill Simmons
Ron Howard turned down directing The Chamber, a movie that did not totally work, to direct this. — Bill Simmons
The first choice for Jimmy Shaker was Alec Baldwin, who turned it down because of how the child was endangered; Ray Leota also passed over how kids are treated in the script, and Sinise was the third choice. — Bill Simmons
Baldwin once said his movie career felt like a failure without a huge hit he drove; he fumbled Jack Ryan and should have made seven of those movies. — Van Lathan
Malice with Nicole Kidman is recommended for Baldwin's performance; the movie is called bad but rewatchable for a terrible Boston accent. — Bill Simmons
Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling (Crazy Stupid Love, La La Land) is the favorite re-pairing because they could make another completely different movie now. — Bill Simmons
The script is called well-constructed and well-written, with a shout-out to the writers, including Richard Price for the screenplay. — Bill Simmons
The kidnappers, by shorthand, are Lieutenant Dan, the bald Californication guy, New Kid on the Block number two, the HBO narrator guy and Lily Taylor; Lily Taylor is praised. — Bill Simmons
Early email as a plot device, when getting an email signaled that he must be really rich. — Bill Simmons
The crew is a sneaky good cast who all played their positions; Donnie Wahlberg was stunt casting in 1996 and has since become a successful actor on Blue Bloods. — Van Lathan
The narrative of the dirty cop as the lead villain has aged best. — Van Lathan
The second half is preferred over the setup-heavy first half; from Donnie Wahlberg's death the movie goes to another level. — Bill Simmons
Sean getting kidnapped is a first candidate: the balloon drifting up with nobody running it is a kidnapping-movie staple, like an overturned toy car, a basketball rolling across an empty court, or a swing still moving. — Bill Simmons
The scene sets up the parents' guilt and shows Sean as already alone: he cannot compete in the science fair because his mom is a judge, and he cannot play with his dad because too many people want to talk to him. — Van Lathan
Because it was a different time, the family has no security; they were business magnates rather than celebrities and did not face threats on social media. — Van Lathan
Tom's money delivery, with the locker-room change of clothes and bags, leads to the phone call in which he is told he paid off the union guy and is a payer, laying the groundwork for the kidnappers. — Bill Simmons
Donnie Wahlberg plays the good kidnapper, a type like the one good prison guard who will sneak you a candy bar but did not sign up to kill kids. — Bill Simmons
Tom realizing they will probably kill his son, after the man at the drop had no idea about the drop-off, is called a good piece of writing that motivates his refusal to pay.
Tom going on Channel 5 and flipping the ransom into a bounty is called fantastic; a clip is played, and the station staff look horrified.
At home Russo's character goes at him with full fire in a really nice argument (clip played); it is just a great stretch of the movie.
The 'Give me back my son' phone call (clip played) has Mel getting madder and madder, and few other actors seem right for that scene.
Sinise shooting the other kidnappers, the well-constructed shootout, and the final Gibson-versus-Sinise moment when the kid wets himself are listed; the last is an all-time movie moment. — Bill Simmons
The version watched on TNT on demand cut out the kid wetting himself, which is called an overreaction. — Van Lathan
One pick: the stretch from the TV station through the 'give me back my son' call to Sinise, when they start playing chess, described as the obvious choice. — Bill Simmons
The other pick gives Sinise love: the car ride to the ransom with his time-machine and Morlocks speech about the rich, the reason he took the role, a rare 90s bad-cop moment with two acting greats going against each other. — Van Lathan
Dirty-cop stories were just starting then, with Copeland and The Glass Shield. — Van Lathan
Sinise dials it up a couple of times, especially on the boat in the hurricane, literally screaming lines like 'y'all never sink this boat' and 'you call this a storm', possibly inventing the 'they knew' moment; the hosts enjoyed it but call it Ruffalo-y. The joke is that Ruffalo is a bad actor when it is really one scene, and he is great in Spotlight.
The other nominee is Wesley, Jenny's abusive boyfriend, whom Forrest beats up at the Black Panther party: he goes super evil like Billy Zane in Titanic and looks like a combination of John Lennon and Vladimir Lennon (as transcribed), literally like a communist. The award goes to him, since Sinise is good in the movie.
Tom Hanks with back-to-back Oscars makes the case. One host wonders whether it should be Castaway; the other argues this is his most commercial movie, won his second Oscar and cemented him as the alpha dog in Hollywood, the most bankable actor, who could make any movie he wanted, and it is probably his most iconic performance. A League of Their Own is preferred as funnier but conceded not to be an apex since he had not won an Oscar yet.
Gary Sinise did ten seasons of CSI New York, and whether this can be topped is left as an open question. One host was never a giant Sinise fan, though he is really good here and creepy in Ransom in a way that made him dislike the man; he is also in The Green Mile, without many great performances, and the verdict is that this is definitely his Apex Mountain.
Zemeckis is not a yes: Back to the Future, a hundred out of a hundred times. One host had forgotten Zemeckis made Back to the Future and calls himself a dumbass; Who Framed Roger Rabbit is loved and What Lies Beneath is underrated, though not in one household.
Robin Wright is called her most complete performance with the most to do, unlike The Princess Bride where she is beautiful but barely on screen, and her career apex; the rejoinder is that she did not win the Oscar.
Michael T. Williamson (as transcribed) is an absolute yes; he had a good hoop show on Showtime, and Chris Ryan only wanted to be on this episode to talk about his performance in Heat.
There was no Joey Pants in this one and no recognizable that-guy. The award was just launched for the that-guy who eventually stopped being a that-guy, and Gary Sinise arguably qualifies: he may not have been Gary Sinise yet, this movie may have made him Gary Sinise, and Chicago theater people from the Steppenwolf era would have known him.
Immediately before this he starred in ABC's adaptation of The Stand, which one host thought was great; he was in A Midnight Clear and an Of Mice and Men adaptation but had done little in movies, so the award goes to him.
The soundtrack has smart choices, like the Midnight Cowboy theme when Forrest wheels Lieutenant Dan around New York in 1970, with Sinise hitting a cab and saying 'I'm walking here' from a wheelchair. One host found it too on the nose and hokey as an adult, the other liked it as over the top. There are at least four and in fact six Doors songs; rock critics consider the Doors terrible, but Zemeckis is not a rock critic.
The gimmick of Forrest intersecting with fifty years of American history should not have worked but is enjoyed, moving from Vietnam to the disco and post-disco eras; whether the scenes with historical figures actually work is saved for what aged worst.
The soundtrack identified cool songs for young people but is the most obvious soundtrack of all time; it set up a bad run of Creedence and Fortunate Son in every movie and calcified classic rock as the soundtrack for boomer filmmakers through the nineties, so it goes in what aged worst too. One host just likes hearing Running on Empty and the Doors because he never listens to classic rock anymore, like a jukebox from a dead era.
Movies have ruined songs: Sloop John B, Sugar Pie Honey Bunch by the Four Tops in Disney sports movies like Remember the Titans, and Ain't No Mountain High Enough.
The redemption of Lieutenant Dan has aged really nicely, with his wife Susan, titanium legs and the Apple investment; Sinise's performance is awesome.
