McQuarrie is picked because the film is now watched with different eyes, the script is a favorite, and he has gone on to great work. — Chris Ryan
Asked who it would have been in 2000 or 2015, the answer is probably Spacey. — Chris Ryan
For 20 years it was Spacey, whose 1995 with Seven and the Oscar was a Tommy Lee Jones moment, but now it is McQuarrie. — Bill Simmons
The other host agrees ("I think you're right") that it is McQuarrie; "Stephen Baldwin, in my heart" is added. — Bill Simmons
Baldwin is compared to the Starship Troopers lead who played it completely straight, carrying himself like the star though not one of the five biggest. — Bill Simmons
Turkish piss streams: definitely at Apex. — Chris Ryan
Gabriel Byrne: no, his Apex is Miller's Crossing, plus marrying Ellen Barkin; one host has never been a fan and says he plays the same guy in every movie. — Bill Simmons
Kevin Pollak: yes, with A Few Good Men behind him, a hit, and talk-show popularity. — Bill Simmons
Del Toro: no. Palminteri: yes, because his juice got the movie funded. Spacey: no, despite an unbelievable 1995. — Bill Simmons
Peter Greene: yes, after Pulp Fiction in 1994 and this film in 1995, though his career then went the other way. — Bill Simmons
Turkish crime lords: none bigger; the Taken 2 villain is in the mix but does not top Kaiser. — Chris Ryan
The limp is proposed as the greatest limp ever filmed, and agreed. — Chris Ryan
Best twist in movie history is called impossible to say, with Chinatown still ahead. — Chris Ryan
The Baldwin brothers as a troika: Alec a near-top star after his Tom Clancy movie, Billy given every shot after Sliver, Flatliners and Backdraft, and Stephen's piece arriving with this film; both hosts agree. — Bill Simmons
The first 17 minutes, introducing the characters through the roundup, lineup, interrogation and holding pen, are called an absolute masterclass. — Chris Ryan
On the lineup day the cast reportedly kept laughing because Benicio del Toro was farting, and Stephen Baldwin turns to the camera with his profane line about the keys, signalling that all bets are off. — Chris Ryan
Each actor seems to be in a different register: del Toro doing a voice, Pollak doing one-liners, Gabriel Byrne in a Eugene O'Neill play and Baldwin in a spaghetti western; Baldwin is joked to be chasing a future overacting award. — Chris Ryan
The interrogation-room scene is included, with Pollak's jail-shower line and the Queens exchange; Pollak is joked to be done setting picks for Tom Cruise. — Bill Simmons
The police heist is praised along with a proposed rule: more than one ambush makes a good movie, more than two heists a great movie, and more than three an immortal one. — Bill Simmons
Pouring accelerant on the car is the Reservoir Dogs moment, and the New York's Finest taxi service picking up the jeweler at LaGuardia makes the world feel real. — Chris Ryan
Redfoot's first scene is praised, with the hosts noting the actor arrived fresh off his Pulp Fiction role and joking about the conspicuous seaside meeting spot. — Bill Simmons
Kobayashi's first scene laying out Soze's demands is praised as an expository-character trope; his accent is hard to place, and although Verbal made up the name, the character exists because he picks Verbal up at the end. — Chris Ryan
The three-minute Keyser Soze origin story, in which he shoots his own family and lets one man go to tell the story, is one host's second-favorite scene. — Bill Simmons
In retrospect Soze's self-image resembles Glenn Danzig, a metalhead. — Chris Ryan
The boat shootout, with the no-coke line, and the man in the cell insisting Soze is there are called incredible. — Bill Simmons
One host picks the last Palminteri-Spacey scene leading into the ending, from the detective's condescension to the limp slowly disappearing; once the boat scene is on cable, he is in until the end. — Bill Simmons
The other host agrees it has to be the reveal, adding only the aborted Kobayashi hit at the office building as a runner-up. — Chris Ryan
An earlier, more comic-relief version of Annie was reportedly written with Ellen DeGeneres in mind. — Bill Simmons
Halle Berry reportedly declined the rewritten Annie role; she is considered a promising alternative. — Bill Simmons
Bullock is preferred because her charm develops over the film instead of relying on immediate glamour.
Berry reportedly thought the role would have reduced her to a black bus driver; the discussion both detects bitterness and concedes she might have been right. — Bill Simmons
