Kirsten Dunst is named at Apex; The Power of the Dog and Marie Antoinette are raised against it, but Apex is defined as when she had the most juice, with Bring It On mattering more.
The lead actor is a yes, with Spider-Man 2 considered combined with this film. — Van Lathan
For Spider-Man films overall, No Way Home is judged the Apex because of its box office after Endgame. — Van Lathan
This is called the director's Apex unless Multiverse of Madness surpasses it, although Army of Darkness is a personal favorite; a counterpoint says Spider-Man will always be his Apex. — Van Lathan
The hosts report that Britney Murphy was originally lined up to play Mary, taken to be the Anna Pacoan role, and it fell through; she might have fit Rosario Dawson's role instead. — Bill Simmons
The hosts report that Toby McGuire bought the rights to the novel and was supposed to star, then chose Spider-Man and stayed on as a producer. — Bill Simmons
The movie is judged not as good with McGuire as Monty, though he is called a dark horse who can surprise. — Wesley Morris
Favorite McGuire performances named include Brothers with Jake Gyllenhaal, Spider-Man 2 for its reaction shots in action scenes, and the first 40 minutes of Spider-Man 3; Ice Storm is called his best movie. — Wesley Morris
The Ice Storm is described by a host as one of the great movies about whiteness made by a non-white filmmaker, with James Shamish writing and Engley directing; a future Ice Storm episode is promised. — Wesley Morris
The shock value of the big twist, which cannot be recaptured on rewatch; the internet outrage reaction to the movie; the brutality of the Desi murder; Neil Patrick Harris's performance; Wesley Morris's negative review; Bill Simmons saying Neil Patrick Harris was bad
The big twist has aged worst in one sense: in the theater, where a guy audibly went 'oh, shit', it was the best part if you had not read the book, and that shock cannot be recaptured on a tenth viewing, though you appreciate the details in a new way, like rereading Goblet of Fire knowing Voldemort rises from the cauldron, which is the whole point of the podcast; it belongs in both categories.
The internet reacting to the movie has aged badly: one of the first cases of people pulling other things into a piece of art and arguing outrage over it, as now with the new Tarantino movie, when to one host it is a movie about a crazy lady who framed her husband and came back; another counters that using criticism to understand society through art is reasonable and happens on this podcast, and it was the 'how dare you, this is irresponsible' tone that grated.
Gillian Flynn has engaged the criticism of the story's sexual politics and of Amy, as she did when the book came out; her boiled-down response is that women can be murderous and violent too, anyone can be a psycho, an inversion the hosts find compelling; neither Nick nor Amy is a good person, and Nick's cheating does not entitle her to frame him, kill Desi and frame him for rape, or bring a child into that household, the baby being perhaps the most fucked-up thing she does.
The Desi murder is brutal and has aged worst for one host from a rewatchability standpoint; in the book she drugs him with sleeping pills and kills him off the page with a knife grabbed in the kitchen rather than a box cutter, less premeditated and violent, and Patrick Fugit's line asking how she got her hands on a box cutter is relished.
Neil Patrick Harris sucks, capital S, for one host: a sitcom actor with no chemistry, out-acted in his scenes and not a Fincher actor, with the other How I Met Your Mother guy Josh Radner (as transcribed), Zach Braff or Tobey Maguire suggested instead; others argue the lack of chemistry is the point, that he evinces weak, privileged, waspy cornball well, and that Amy is supposed to outclass him.
Wesley Morris's Grantland review is nominated, with one host eager to make fun of him: brilliant, sophisticated criticism nominated for a National Magazine Award, with a bad opinion inside it, that the movie is not good; another plans to argue with him for an hour at Rembrandt's wedding after three drinks.
Woven through the ZipRecruiter read: casting Tobey Maguire in the Ethan Hawke role would have been disastrous; Maguire spent two months on undercover narcotics runs, lost weight and got in crazy shape, but Anton Fuqua (as transcribed) was never 100% sold; he would have crushed Smiley in the poker scene holding pocket rockets.
Davis Guggenheim was set to direct with Sam Jackson and Matt Damon as the stars; that movie wins no Oscar, and Jackson would have been almost a parody of Denzel, red meat and meta where Denzel feels real and cinematic, though one host would have watched it and thinks it could have worked.
Eminem and Christian Bale allegedly turned down Jake Hoyt; Eminem is really good in 8 Mile and very funny in Funny People, and his career would differ if he had gone Will Smith and left music, but he could not have played this role, and it is hard to imagine him punked for 90 minutes or fighting Denzel, since he is pretty skinny.
