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Ben

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In the discussion (15)
Approx. transcript time · 00:41:47Read transcript
  • Nominations are framed as good scenes rather than truly rewatchable ones. — Bill Simmons
  • The first dinner party, from the spilled wine to the couples sitting beside spouses they seem not to like, sets the tone. — Bill Simmons
  • Ben’s affair reveal with Weaver’s character is nominated, including his golf babbling and her reply that she already has a husband and needs no other. — Bill Simmons
  • Kline left alone in Weaver’s house then discovering Wendy and Mikey with the Nixon mask is nominated and called one of the most unnerving scenes in a non-horror film. — Bill Simmons
  • The film handles Christina Ricci’s character without feeling exploitative; carrying her home because her feet are cold captures a child longing to be older.
  • Paul’s homecoming exchange with his sister shows the kids know their parents are odd. — Sean Fennessey
  • The car ride to the key party, where Ben and Joan Allen’s character debate what will happen, is where tensions come to a simmer. — Bill Simmons
  • The Elton John needle drop is loved even though the party it scores lacks a payoff; the song is called a top-five Elton John song. — Bill Simmons
  • The key party itself is nominated, returned to in pieces until one key remains and Ben is passed out in the bathroom. — Bill Simmons
  • The electrocution is not fun to rewatch but is called brilliant and horror-like, with impressive ice effects for 1997. — Bill Simmons
  • The final 30 minutes cross-cut three storylines in a novelistic way, making it hard to isolate scenes; the key party spans about 30 minutes. — Sean Fennessey
  • Under the Fucked Up Family February “most gripping” framing, the final 15 minutes would win, though a channel-flipper would start at the key party. — Sean Fennessey
  • Joan Allen at the book sale meeting the Reverend and seeing Wendy on her bike is nominated by two hosts. — Bill Simmons
  • Ben driving Paul home from the train and discussing self-abuse is held for Aged Best.
  • The key party is settled on as the scene. — Chris Ryan
Ordinary People

What’s Aged the Worst?

Canon in D as a wedding song; Sutherland's Best Actor snub; Mary Tyler Moore shock value; Good Will Hunting borrowing; odd dialogue; unwrapped candy apples

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 01:21:55Read transcript
  • The Canon, the theme of one of the most dysfunctional family movies, is now the standard wedding song. — Bill Simmons
  • Sutherland's Best Actor snub has aged the worst. — Bill Simmons
  • The shock of Mary Tyler Moore as the evil mom has faded; there is no current equivalent, perhaps Aniston in the mid-2000s. — Bill Simmons
  • Good Will Hunting borrowing from this film bugs one host a tiny bit, prompting a joke to get Matt and Ben back on the show. — Bill Simmons
  • A spouse noticed odd lines that could fuel a sketch, like Sutherland's remark about the leaves at the end; the counterpoint is that he is incoherent because Beth left. — Bill Simmons
  • In a 2013 Esquire profile Redford claimed Kael turned on him after he refused her offer of tips; one host distrusts Redford, citing how Redford treated William Goldman, a friend of the host's, over All the President's Men. — Bill Simmons
  • In reply, Kael was tempted by figures like Warren Beatty to develop movies, so an exchange with Redford is believable, though no one can be trusted on what happened. — Sean Fennessey
  • Kael also feuded with Clint Eastwood, and in the last Dirty Harry movie a critic resembling her is murdered. — Bill Simmons
  • Handing out unwrapped candy apples for Halloween could not happen now. — Bill Simmons
Father of the Bride

Half-Assed Internet Research

An actor shared by the 1950 and 1991 films, Spencer Tracy's Oscar nomination, Martin Short's wedding-planner model, celebrity weddings, and the two production houses

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:51Read transcript
  • Tom Irish is reported to have debuted in the 1950 Father of the Bride and ended his film career in this remake while playing Ben Banks in both. — Bill Simmons
  • Spencer Tracy was nominated for Best Actor for the original film and lost to the transcript-observed 'Jose Farrar' for Cyrano de Bergerac. — Bill Simmons
  • Martin Short's wedding planner was based on Kevin Lee, who later appeared on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. — Bill Simmons
  • Kevin Lee reportedly helped with Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's wedding. — Bill Simmons
  • The house used for interiors and the reception sold for about 1.998 million dollars in August 2016. — Bill Simmons
  • The Pasadena exterior house reportedly sold for about 950,000 dollars in 1999 and attracts visitors. — Bill Simmons
Halloween The Rewatchables
In the discussion (20)
Approx. transcript time · 00:27:51Read transcript
  • The segment opens with a warning of Loomis monologue impressions; some people would pick the five-minute single-shot opening, likened to the Goodfellas shot. — Chris Ryan
  • The opening is left out of the picks: the older sister never stands up to a six-year-old with a butcher knife, the teenage boyfriend is upstairs only about two and a half minutes, and the parents just stare at Michael holding the bloody knife. — Chris Ryan
  • Loomis driving to Illinois State Hospital in the rain with the nurse Marion: patients wandering in gowns, no backup, Loomis running ahead to the phone while Myers takes the station wagon, and Loomis partly to blame. — Chris Ryan
  • The three girls walking home from school carrying books, Myers driving by in the wagon, and the "Speed kills" exchange; the speaker might own a Speed Kills coffee mug. — Chris Ryan
  • Their banter sets up the archetypes; the speaker's mom called the dialogue bad, while Debra Hill supposedly wrote the girls' scenes, and Annie's meanness to Laurie rings true for a friend group you are stuck with. — Chris Ryan
  • Laurie's crush on Ben Tramer and the sheriff bumping into her with "Everyone's entitled to one scare" are also liked; the sheriff is a little creepy. — Chris Ryan
  • Annie's last stretch: stuck in the laundry room, Myers floating in and around, the dog dying (the dog category may need to return), and a weirdly long, disturbing strangling in the car before the knife; the throat slit probably lacked blood because of the low budget. — Chris Ryan
  • Loomis parked outside the Myers house yells "Hey, Lonnie, get your ass away from there," is delighted with himself, and is then startled by the sheriff. — Chris Ryan
  • Loomis's monologue in the house about the six-year-old with "the devil's eyes" who was "purely and simply evil" is added as a rewatchable scene; the sheriff's muted response gets mayor-from-Jaws comparisons. — Chris Ryan
  • Loomis's "Death has come to your little town, sheriff" speech meets Brackett's "More fancy talk"; Brackett seems consumed by petty crimes like the hardware store break-in. — Chris Ryan
  • Bob going to get a beer and being pinned to the wall leads to the Myers head tilt, called the single scariest moment in probably any horror movie; widescreen and HD now make it visible. — Chris Ryan
  • Part two: Myers puts on the ghost costume with Bob's glasses, a playful Myers, then kills P. J. Soles's character while she calls Laurie. — Chris Ryan
  • Laurie's reaction on the phone is not terrified enough; the counterpoint is that she thinks her friends are fooling with her after a day of being told to get over what she saw. — Chris Ryan
  • The last 12 minutes play as one continuous scene: the long walk across, the Judith Myers tombstone, the mask out of the dark, the stabbing and the fall over the staircase, Myers coming down the stairs with his shoulders not moving, and "You can't kill the boogeyman." — Chris Ryan
  • The closet is called one of the greatest scenes in horror movie history, up there with anything Hitchcock did: the light, the wire hanger, his arms flailing, the window distraction, and his hands punching through; the reply agrees it is the single best scene in the movie. — Chris Ryan
  • Jamie Lee Curtis is praised as a great, believable scream queen, overqualified next to the Nightmare on Elm Street lead; the hosts doubt they could fashion a wire hanger into a weapon in 15 seconds. — Bill Simmons
  • The single best moment: Laurie standing in the doorway with her back turned while, in the wide shot, Myers rises and turns, maybe the single best horror movie moment of all time. — Chris Ryan
  • A host describes a YouTube clip of 1979 theater audio in which the crowd gasps when he stands up and someone yells "shoot him again!" — Chris Ryan
  • The last rewatchable scene is the ending: six shots, he is not there, and shots of all the scenes. — Chris Ryan
  • Asked for a pick: the final Michael chase, especially the closet, with everything in that bedroom named the most rewatchable scene; as a non-horror pick, the three girls walking home busting each other's chops and seeing Michael behind the bush. — Bill Simmons
Superbad The Rewatchables
Superbad

Apex Mountain

Michael Cera; Martha MacIsaac; comedic cops (possible); McLovin's Hawaiian driver's license

In the discussion (14)
Approx. transcript time · 01:03:45Read transcript
  • Jonah Hill, twice Oscar nominated and now a director, was on a Belushi-like track; 21 Jump Street is offered as his apex, after Moneyball changed opinions, though this may be the movie he is remembered for. — Sean Fennessey
  • Jonah and his peers are thoughtful fans of earlier movies who planned their careers. — Bill Simmons
  • This is definitely an Apex Mountain for Michael Cera, with Juno the same year and Scott Pilgrim in 2010.
  • His 2010s dip is attributed to not wanting fame and choosing smaller indie parts as an art-house fan; Molly's Game and Twin Peaks show a possible second life in a White Lotus-style series, though at 33 he is too young for the part mentioned there.
  • Research aside: Martha MacIsaac was 23 and Cera 17 during the sex scene. — Bill Simmons
  • Christopher Mintz-Plasse is raised with an unclear "absolutely, yeah," then credited with more career than expected (Role Models, Neighbors, Promising Young Woman) and a good essay about being trapped as McLovin. — Bill Simmons
  • Emma Stone no, Martha MacIsaac yes, Bill Hader no. — Bill Simmons
  • Rogen's 2007 was massive and his mogul career since (shows, weed line, books, pottery, Sony hack, fighting Ted Cruz) is the most impressive of the group; Long Shot shows his ideas, and his apex is probably Neighbors.
  • Pineapple Express got greenlit because of his stardom, from a generation that wanted to make its own Midnight Run or Lethal Weapon; producer Craig is asked about it and it is predicted as a late-300s episode, 383. — Bill Simmons
  • Comedic cops could be at Apex Mountain since the subgenre faded after this; Observe and Report was darker, and 21 Jump Street is offered by Craig. — Bill Simmons
  • Apex for flipping a boner into the waistband is asked as a question. — Bill Simmons
  • A joke Apex for Dartmouth credits the movie for Ringer staffers going there. — Bill Simmons
  • Goldschlager vodka was not a real vodka; Goldschlager is called an evil liquor, and a modern version would be marketed with an NFT. — Bill Simmons
  • The Hawaiian driver's license has got to be the peak, a cultural wave with shirts of it; one host's son Ben has a McLovin license flag from Amazon covering a window. — Bill Simmons
Superbad The Rewatchables
Superbad

What’s Aged the Worst?

Language; MySpace; Dan Patrick Show McLovin; rogue cops; fake IDs for booze (disputed)

In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 00:44:23Read transcript
  • The language and material that would not fly now, though it came out in 2007; MySpace also stood out. — Bill Simmons
  • The Dan Patrick Show guy co-opting McLovin has always bothered one host; it belongs to Superbad. — Bill Simmons
  • Rogue cops, entrapment and police brutality made more sense as a theme in 2007.
  • Buying booze with a fake ID may be antiquated since Euphoria never mentions alcohol, only ketamine.
  • Craig, 27, producing the pod, is asked about fake IDs; the answer is a best friend had one, fake IDs still circulate, and Euphoria is the least accurate high school depiction. — Bill Simmons
  • One host would react to his son having a fake ID with pride, then pretend to be mad; he used a classmate's lost ID as "Bart Osmond" for two years, slouching to hide the height gap, until a Worcester state liquor store clerk sized him up. — Bill Simmons
  • Long Island beer distributors sold to kids 80-90% of the time without fake IDs. — Sean Fennessey
  • Working the door at the Middle East in Boston meant seeing lots of Hawaii IDs judged on the hologram; others had Maryland and Jersey IDs, and Rhode Island was the big one in the late 80s and early 90s. — Chris Ryan
  • Kids with a lookalike older brother had it made; one host's brother used his IDs for years.
  • High school movies rely on parents leaving for the weekend; a single mom going out and a friend, Jim Grady, whose mom was often at her New York City apartment made parties possible, like having a good big man in the NBA. — Bill Simmons
  • Alcohol delivery now scans IDs, probably making it harder to buy liquor; the lube question for Ben gets the four-inch line as an answer. — Bill Simmons
In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:00:27Read transcript
  • Nominees are Robert Costanzo and Noble Willingham ('find the fish or find new jobs').
  • A rare combo team vote goes to the Ben and Jerry's guys, Pamer and Mostel, with agreement that they are great in every scene.
  • A 1991 blockbuster scene hinging on pairing ice creams with meals is a riveting 90 seconds and a parody of Western showdowns, though the flavors like rum raisin are basic.
  • The ice-cream scene almost made the most rewatchable scenes list.
  • Mostel is more this character than Billy Madison's principal, got weirdly market corrected by Wayne Knight, and should have been in Jurassic.
What About Bob?

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

The famous Fresh Prince of Bel-Air father-departure scene is accused of copying a basically similar Growing Pains scene in which young Leo reaches an emotional place.

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:07:27Read transcript
  • A participant introduces this as one of his all-time hottest takes. — Sean Fennessey
  • The famous Fresh Prince scene with Will Smith, the observed Ben Vareen, and Uncle Phil is said to echo a basically similar Growing Pains episode in which young Leo reaches an emotional place. — Bill Simmons
The Sandlot

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Smalls's ball versus Cameron's Ferrari; Benny's missing stardom; Benny's big-league career; Smalls in the Dodgers booth; Benny and 1980s cocaine; Ham's wrestling career

In the discussion (13)
Approx. transcript time · 01:15:50Read transcript
  • Smalls ruining the ball was foolish, not hostile, unlike Cameron wrecking his father's Ferrari in Ferris Bueller. — Bill Simmons
  • One participant has never seen Ferris Bueller's Day Off and is assigned it as homework.
  • Why Benny's actor did not become a star: perhaps he lost the magic or did not want it; he became a firefighter, and everyone is lost in Ham's shadow like Joe Pesci in Goodfellas. — Mina Kimes
  • Benny enters the majors in the early 1970s as a speedy outfielder; 'the Jet's lost a step' implies a roughly 15-year career; comps are 2011 Jacoby Ellsbury or a pre-injury 'Grady Seismore' (as transcribed) with 20-homer, 30-steal potential. — Mallory Rubin
  • A pinch runner described as old is confusing; the Keith Hernandez-style mustache suggests a long career. — Mina Kimes
  • A Brady Anderson comp is raised and rebuffed as pure Baltimore history; a .290, 13-homer, 29-steal line with a couple of Gold Gloves is offered. — Bill Simmons
  • The Sandlot wiki says Benny went on to manage the Dodgers, prompting a joke about adding fan fiction. — Mallory Rubin
  • Smalls calling games in Chavez Ravine raises what happened to 'Ben' (as transcribed) in that scenario; the easy fix was to make Smalls the partner of 'Vince Gully' (as transcribed).
  • Smalls's first name is Scotty. — Bill Simmons
  • The fifth-grade line makes the kids about 10 or 11, so Benny reaches the league around 1973 and is an all-star by the late 1970s. — Bill Simmons
  • On whether Benny was caught up in 1980s baseball cocaine, one says yes because of the mustache; another says no, because baseball was his pure ambition and he was the square.
  • A rebuttal says Benny had a human side, did cocaine, cleaned up and joined the 1988 champion Dodgers, per the Sandlot wiki as a joke. — Mina Kimes
  • Ham's wrestling career: at least an Intercontinental champion, perhaps high on a WrestleMania card but not the main event.
Gladiator

Casting What-Ifs

Reported Maximus possibilities: Mel Gibson, Antonio Banderas, Ben Mendelsohn, and Hugh Jackman; Christopher Plummer as Marcus Aurelius (Crowe’s unsuccessful preference)

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:03:37Read transcript
In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:00:56Read transcript
Skyfall The Rewatchables
Skyfall

Most Rewatchable Scene

Silva's entrance: the rats-on-the-island speech to Bond

In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 00:18:50Read transcript
  • Five candidates are laid out, with an effort to keep scene distinct from sequence: the Shanghai skyscraper shootout, the new MI6 introduction in Churchill's tunnels with word association and sit-ups while Rory Kinnear briefs him on the state of the world, Silva and Bond's first meeting with the William Tell scene, the tube chase, and the church scene at the end; a Shanghai versus Macau mix-up is corrected along the way.
  • Smaller stuff is what connects one host to the movie: the first meeting with Q in front of the Turner painting, talking in metaphor and at cross purposes in really well-written dialogue, with Wishaw great as Q; it is not a sequence where a train bursts through the ground.
  • M reading Tennyson at the inquiry, cut against Daniel Craig sprinting through London with Big Ben behind him, lays it on thick but is moving every time; Craig is called a fantastic movie runner, maybe number two behind Cruise, and the film came out months after the London Olympics, which Bond kicked off in the Danny Boyle opening with the queen.
  • Mallory and M's philosophical conversation about whether the enemy is in the shadows is a favorite dialogue scene, read as metaphor about waging a war on terror and the rights of a government to exceed its power, reflected later in the court scene; nothing in Quantum of Solace, written during the writer's strike, has that crispness.
  • Two more suggestions: the planning conversation at Skyfall with Albert Finney's Kincaid, including the line about men coming to kill us and killing them first, which is right out of Eastwood, and the fight on top of the train with the excavator and the sleeve adjustment; the Istanbul opening with Moneypenny feels like typical Bond until M orders her to take the shot, and the motorcycle chase on the narrow walkway is illogical but shot beautifully.
  • The pick is called a category of one: the Silva intro, shot by Mendes and Deakins from right behind Bond's shoulder as the villain comes down in an elevator and starts talking from forty feet away, his face withheld until the rats story nears its conclusion; the filmmakers knew what they had and let it play, and the episode plays the rat speech from the film.
  • The scene inverts the Bond convention of saving the villain's big speech for the end, as parodied by Austin Powers, by putting it at the close of the first act; it is playwriting, one long metaphor monologue, spiced with the question of whether Silva is sexually attracted to Bond or something fraternal, and the hosts wonder whether the unbuttoning was in the script.
  • Bardem is called the greatest Bond girl, lighting Craig up more than anyone since Eva Green; the villain tilts the movie on its axis, funny and destabilizing and more unsettling than other Bond villains, while the backstory with M is brushed aside in one line about Hong Kong.
  • Silva hacking Bond and MI6 in 2012 is seen as prescient, a technocracy story rather than the money-and-power plots of villains like Mads Mikkelsen's; the abandoned island, shot off Macau but based on one off Nagasaki, is a faded ghost town that parallels Bond's own enjoying-death stretch.
  • The scorpion scene is loved, with a nitpick that a British guy doing scorpion tricks in a Turkish bar while keeping a low profile would go viral; Silva mirrors Bond as a lone wolf with mommy issues operating to his own ends.
  • After the action discussion, the answer is the rats speech, the Silva intro.
Displaying discussions 25 - 36 of 48 in total