Clooney has two of my favorite movies (Michael Clayton and Out of Sight). Wish he did more stuff.
Just What is Apex Mountain: Rewatchables discussion thread
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Was he involved in the Sony hack? I remember some messages by him where he’s really apologizing for either Monument Men or Tomorrowland bombing. Like he handled it in such a humble and cool way, but clearly took it personally and felt he’d let people down. Why deal with the stress, I guess?
Didn’t someone post here once about a reporter who was really sick and like shit or bled all over the Clooney’s couch and they were super cool about it?
Didn’t someone post here once about a reporter who was really sick and like shit or bled all over the Clooney’s couch and they were super cool about it?
Clooney on the Smartless podcast told a story about how he was staying with Richard Kind and he used to clean the cat poop to be helpful and Kind just didn't understand why his cat wasn't shitting. And Clooney didn't say he was cleaning the box.
And then Clooney, in a moment of brilliance, took a human dump in the litter box to prank Kind. Maybe that was the story?
And to be clear, Clooney is rich (tequila, acting, production, directing, he's LOADED) and happy and hanging in his villa with his incredible family and that is the dream. No regrets. But it would be awesome if he did more great movies because I think when Clooney is on, he's the best in the business. Out of Sight is still one of my favorite movies of all time. With no Clooney, that movie could be campy and odd. With him, it's perfection.
That's a hilarious story - and I remember Clooney recounting it during his ER days on Leno - but this is the story Marciano was referring to: https://www.barstoolsports.com/blog/2451197/read-this-wild-story-of-an-esquire-writer-bleeding-all-over-george-clooneys-couch-in-a-drug-induced-haze
Edit: Nb, not promoting the barstool source. It was the first hit on google.
Brad Pitt was the recipient of the Cat Shit prank. Richard Kind was the target of another prank: Clooney, one day, found a hideous painting on the curb, had it re-framed, and signed the bottom. Then he started telling Kind that he was taking art classes, at first in passing and then all the time, like "I'm really getting this painting thing! It's amazing!". A few months later he presented the shitty painting to Kind on Kind's birthday and said "Hey, I know you're into art, and this is a painting I'm really proud of, I want you to have it." And then he suggested Kind hang it in his living room. So Kind did. And from then on Clooney would tell their mutual friends to comment on the painting when they visited Kind, so Kind had to talk about it. And finally 5 years later, Clooney told a talk show host about the prank and THAT'S how Kind found out that the painting was just some piece of shit Clooney found on the sidewalk.
The Verdict pod was amazing. It is one of my all-time favorite comfort food movies. And I agree the Ryan, Fennessey and Simmons lineup is by far the best. I’m gonna re-watch tonight. I remember reading the novel a few years after the movie came out, came across it in a box full of used books.. I remember thinking it was pretty forgettable. I don’t remember it being overtly bad though.
Regarding Clooney: one of my guilty pleasures is his movie The American. I think it’s a sneaky brilliant film. I may get banned for that take.
I have another Rewatchables issue:
On the Body Heat podcast, they mentioned how Kathleen Turner‘s character gets away after blowing up her doppelgänger in the boathouse (sorry about spoiler). I haven’t looked yet, but I remember listening to that the other day, and thinking that in the final scene when William Hurt is looking at the yearbook pictures, she lists swimming as one of her clubs, honors, awards things next to her pic. What a random, weird minute detail to remember while listening to a podcast about a movie made in the mid-1980s.
By the way, I just checked.
I don’t wanna spoil it any further.
Edit: typos, new to voice texting.
Regarding Clooney: one of my guilty pleasures is his movie The American. I think it’s a sneaky brilliant film. I may get banned for that take.
I have another Rewatchables issue:
On the Body Heat podcast, they mentioned how Kathleen Turner‘s character gets away after blowing up her doppelgänger in the boathouse (sorry about spoiler). I haven’t looked yet, but I remember listening to that the other day, and thinking that in the final scene when William Hurt is looking at the yearbook pictures, she lists swimming as one of her clubs, honors, awards things next to her pic. What a random, weird minute detail to remember while listening to a podcast about a movie made in the mid-1980s.
By the way, I just checked.
I don’t wanna spoil it any further.
Edit: typos, new to voice texting.
The Verdict is a near-perfect movie. The pod was near-perfect, too.
Just a very enjoyable listen. When they get it right, they really get it right.
Just a very enjoyable listen. When they get it right, they really get it right.
Coincidentally one of the Jeopardy categories today was 1982 Films, and the clue was the actor playing Frank Galvin in The Verdict.
Only halfway through the pod and was disappointed that the quote I thought would kick off the pod was not used. But Bill came through by ending the first half with "WHO WERE THESE MEN? I WANTED TO BE A NURSE!"
The Verdict was a great movie that I hadn't watched in a long, long time. Listened to the pod and watched it again and appreciated it even more. I guess my question is the Boston accents in the film. They sounded like they would have been from a much earlier time period than the early 80s -- I know James Mason was British, but his accent sounded way too British for a Boston lawyer, even one who was presumably old Brahmin (though the name Concannon sounds more Irish). And the other accents in the film sounded much more Irish than Boston Irish (ie. Milo O'Shea as the judge). But boy did they nail the look of grim, depressing old Boston.
I was surprised that none of them brought up the film A Civil Action in any context. It's an underappreciated film with a lot of connections -- John Travolta's character (real-life attorney Jan Schlictmann) letting ego and ambition getting in the way and rejecting a good settlement offer without consulting the client; the white-shoe defense lawyers showing the same condescension to the ambulance-chasing Schlictmann that Concannon and his partners to toward Galvin; John Lithgow as U.S. District Judge Walter Skinner showing the same complete deference to Robert Duvall's Jerry Facher of Hale and Dorr that Milo O'Shea's judge showed toward Concannon. And it's not in any way a rip-off of the Verdict -- it has a much different feel to it and captures the Boston legal scene of the 90s (though the actual case was in the '80s) in a pretty evocative way, much as the Verdict did for the early 80s. We read the Jonathan Harr book about the Woburn case that the film was based on in my Professional Responsibility course at B.C. Law and it was really, really good and I thought the film -- while obviously taking a lot of dramatic license with a lot of things -- did it justice. And as the book details, Schlichtmann used to work for Barry Reed, who wrote The Verdict, and the case ended up with Schlictmann in the first place because Barry Reed, who wrote the Verdict initially took it on but was so preoccupied with his celebrity that he didn't really do anything on it.
I was surprised that none of them brought up the film A Civil Action in any context. It's an underappreciated film with a lot of connections -- John Travolta's character (real-life attorney Jan Schlictmann) letting ego and ambition getting in the way and rejecting a good settlement offer without consulting the client; the white-shoe defense lawyers showing the same condescension to the ambulance-chasing Schlictmann that Concannon and his partners to toward Galvin; John Lithgow as U.S. District Judge Walter Skinner showing the same complete deference to Robert Duvall's Jerry Facher of Hale and Dorr that Milo O'Shea's judge showed toward Concannon. And it's not in any way a rip-off of the Verdict -- it has a much different feel to it and captures the Boston legal scene of the 90s (though the actual case was in the '80s) in a pretty evocative way, much as the Verdict did for the early 80s. We read the Jonathan Harr book about the Woburn case that the film was based on in my Professional Responsibility course at B.C. Law and it was really, really good and I thought the film -- while obviously taking a lot of dramatic license with a lot of things -- did it justice. And as the book details, Schlichtmann used to work for Barry Reed, who wrote The Verdict, and the case ended up with Schlictmann in the first place because Barry Reed, who wrote the Verdict initially took it on but was so preoccupied with his celebrity that he didn't really do anything on it.
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A Civil Action is great if only for the Harvard Club scene with Sydney Pollack. Also, I think it’s Dennis and Mac’s first screen appearance, throwing shit into the lake that catches fire.
Sydney Pollack is tremendous in that role. He was also tremendous in Michael Clayton. Just absolutely nails the vibe of a Biglaw managing partner. That guy just killed it in every cameo he ever did. Total Dion Waiters Heat Check award.
I recite a shocking amount of Marty Bach quotes around the house, mostly to myself because I'm probably one of a dozen people on earth who get them.
Yeah. Similarly, The Departed filmed it’s bar scenes in Brooklyn (Sunset Park, I believe).
Like…what, there’s not some bar in Brighton or Somerville they could have used?
Different thread, but he or Mel Gibson would probably be at the top of my directors who also act list.
There are / were at least 4 bars in Southie itself they could’ve shot it and probably more in 2004/5.
My roommate at the time was a location scout on the movie, and the Boston parts of the shoot were really just exteriors. Almost anything inside, they did in NY.
Money. NY had tax incentives, MA didn't (at least at that point). That's changed a good bit: e.g. I was watching the Ferrell/Reynolds movie Spirited last night, and in that Boston stands in for NYC (and old timey London). Not exactly a fair trade, but it's a step in the right direction.
Absolutely. To keep this on thread, he's the Dion Waiters award winner of that movie. I'd probably have that scene before his testimony as the most rewatchable scene as well.
One of the first things I remember James Gandolfini being in pre-Tony Soprano.
Bill keeps up an impressive streak of disliking the women characters in the movie in the Fallout episode. He says they need maybe 1 of the 3 and it could have been shorter.
1) It’s a longer movie but I don’t think I’ve heard anyone complain that Fallout is too long. That movie hums
2) Ilsa rules and is basically Ethan’s equal and they have a great mutual respect if not romantic chemistry. She’s necessary.
3) While her plot is sort of convoluted, everyone agrees Vanessa Kirby is a revelation in this movie and her being Max’s daughter is a cool little Easter egg connecting to the first one
4) Michelle Monaghan’s inclusion is maybe the most essential for me. The moment when she says “Ethan” at the camp site and it’s revealed to be her and then the “no no I’m here for work” line is just a complete gut punch. It raises the stakes even more from 2 nukes going off in a water source to 2 nukes going off in a water source and the love of my life is also going to die.
1) It’s a longer movie but I don’t think I’ve heard anyone complain that Fallout is too long. That movie hums
2) Ilsa rules and is basically Ethan’s equal and they have a great mutual respect if not romantic chemistry. She’s necessary.
3) While her plot is sort of convoluted, everyone agrees Vanessa Kirby is a revelation in this movie and her being Max’s daughter is a cool little Easter egg connecting to the first one
4) Michelle Monaghan’s inclusion is maybe the most essential for me. The moment when she says “Ethan” at the camp site and it’s revealed to be her and then the “no no I’m here for work” line is just a complete gut punch. It raises the stakes even more from 2 nukes going off in a water source to 2 nukes going off in a water source and the love of my life is also going to die.
Simmons impersonating Ving Rhames from Pulp Fiction made me really uncomfortable.
Bill, you're not Chris Ryan, you're just not. The anti-mimicking piece.
I was gonna listen to this episode anyways because I love the movie, but now I gotta hear it ASAP to bear witness.
Fun listen and clearly right in Kyle Brandt's wheelhouse. I've enjoyed the episodes that they've done together. Not always the "best" movies, but the podcasts are always entertaining.
I was surprised to see Cruising, Body Heat, and the Verdict all recently pop up as watchable on HBO Max. I’ll bet that there’s a little undisclosed cross promotion going on there.
one step closer to the Hiroshima Mon Amour rewatchables gents!
one step closer to the Hiroshima Mon Amour rewatchables gents!
I sort of can't believe there's no mention of Jack's clothes in What Aged the Worst. Everything that dude wears in the movie is hilariously bad.
This pod was something. Craig and Bill were very excited to discuss the cannibalism aspect of the story, so that happened. I also really enjoyed CR's incredulous reactions to Bill's alternative title suggestions (pretty sure one was Human Sushi).
Listened to an old one--the hangover--and it encapsulates the Bill Simmons experience so well. It was super fun, I enjoyed it a ton--and Bill kept going on about how he discovered las vegas and about how he and his friends were going before it became trendy to do so (when he was getting deals to stay at treasure island--absolutely he and his friends were the coolest cats in the city). City of half a million or so, Wayne Newton had been there for 35 years, Casino and Godfather and Leaving Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing had happened, Tupac had (presumably) been shot on the strip at that point, and he was visiting and writing columns roughly the same time they were making Flintstones 2: Viva Rock Vegas, but he discovered it.
And of course i'm eager to listen to the next one. Perfect podcast for cardio or the dishes.
And of course i'm eager to listen to the next one. Perfect podcast for cardio or the dishes.
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Hangover is one of the best ones. I have listened to that one the most I think…maybe not, maybe Miami Vice.
I have a very good friend who’s just like Bill in this way. Great guy, always fun to hang with, but completely incapable of understanding anything unless it directly happens to him. Like, I had kids several years before him and he’d always be incredulous at my reactions to various things regarding being a parent. Then he had a kid and he’d parrot all those same reactions back to me, as if he was discovering them all for the first time. Would always make me chuckle.
"You know what we need to bring back? Billionaire pre-teens as protagonists. How did we ever get away from that l?.A super rich kid, with lots of toys??!? I feel like that could work!!!