Just What is Apex Mountain: Rewatchables discussion thread
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Pain heals, chicks dig scars, and 'The Rewatchables' lasts forever. The Ringer’s Bill Simmons and Van Lathan revisit the debatable cult classic 2000 sports movie ‘The Replacements,’ starring Keanu Reeves, Gene Hackman, and Brooke Langton.
The bit about Tom Jackson in the ESPN ‘Jacked Up’ segment was hilarious. Good episode.
View: https://twitter.com/billsimmons/status/1859022771986329762?s=46&t=1S4eWjX_rzBBrpPNddRPAg
Van Lathan is so good on these. I love the original lineup of Simmons, CR and Fennessey but pretty much every one Lathan is in is comedy gold. He’s so fucking funny.
The Ringer’s Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan head to Key West to fulfill their lifelong dream of rewatching the 1986 buddy-cop comedy Running Scared, starring Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines.
This really makes the cut for a rewatchable? Pretty sure i read the book and saw the movie when it originally came and i haven't thought about it since.
The definition of a rewatchable movie for this podcast now is. . . .any movie. Doesn't matter.
That's always been the case so the use of "now" is weird unless you are a huge Rachel Getting Married fan.
Because...
Running Scared
The Replacements
Meet the Parents
Body Double
Silence of the Lambs
Poltergeist
The Blair Witch Project
Over the Top
John Wick
The Sixth Sense
Night Shift
Purple Rain
Rudy
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Dodgeball
Pulp Fiction
...are in no way "rewatchable" movies. They're definitely just forgettable, one-timer movies.
Those are 16 of the past 18 episodes they've done since July. I'll give you Hereditary and Halloween 4... although I bet someone here will say that Halloween 4 is rewatchable.
How difficult is it to set up a Bill Simmons emergency alert system on SoSH, anyway?
**edit 2 days later**. I was being sarcastic. These are rewatchable movies.
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Sorry if I wasn't clear. To me, those are all very much rewatchable movies. My evidence is that I've seen all 16 of them more than once.
But the guy who hates Simmons had to hate on Simmons. Because reasons.
Lol. You bum. Maybe take a breath before you start firing.
I wasn't hating on Simmons. I was defending him. The Rewatchables has been around for over 7 years, they have used a ton of movies. They are left with just movies now, not movies that technically fit the category of "rewatchable".
Ahh, I must have misinterpreted your intent since you're a noted Simmons defender.
Fair enough. Bill Simmons is a bad podcaster now because he’s thoughtless but he was once great. All time great, in fact. My opinion is the same.Ahh, I must have misinterpreted your intent since you're a noted Simmons defender.
But the Rewatchables is still excellent, especially when Van is involved. And I think the movie pool for the pod is “any movie ever made” which is what I was saying. And I’m good with that. I would rather it continue, even if it can’t be Miami Vice, A Few Good Men, Heat, Shawshank Redemption, Boogie Nights, and Goodfellas every time.
They explain at the start of the Disclosure pod why they chose it. It isn't so much because it is rewatchable, more because of the odd themes and story lines. I haven't seen the movie in ages but I enjoyed the pod. Van is always awesome, I was unfamiliar with Wosny Lambre but he had a bunch of interesting takes. And I think Simmons is great at steering the ship and the pacing of the pod, even if he sometimes says some dumb stuff.
We disagree. I'm still thoroughly entertained by Bill's main sports podcast. Particularly his NFL content with House and Cousin Sal.
And we also disagree on the "any movie" take. Yes, he's largely burned through the Hall of Fame "rewatchable" movies. But, again, I listed 16 pods that he's done since July that easily clear the bar of rewatchable for me. He just did Running Scared which I may have watched 20 times in the 80s on HBO.
I'm not the post police, do what you want. It's just that the vast majority of your posts regarding Simmons are to take a smelly, steaming dump on him. If that gets you off have at it. But I couldn't be faulted for thinking you were doing it again with a drive by "any movie" take.
When was the last time I posted about Bill Simmons and took a steaming dump on him? It's been months, at least. I don't listen to Simmons anymore.
Looks like September 10th, if my search skills in his thread are good. So mea culpa, it’s been 3 months.
This is nonsense. Just because you don't like something doesn't mean it's not rewatchable for someone else.
I saw Dodgeball once. Once was enough for me. But I know there are folks out there for whom Dodgeball is their Caddyshack. I don't get it, but whatever - do your thing.
That said, yeah - Disclosure is definitely a bit of a head scratcher for me. But Spotify isn't paying me a bajillion dollars, so...
EDIT: Also, I was shocked to hear Disclosure had a $214 million global box office. That's a lot of eyes.
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Man I did a terrible job of posting with sarcasm! I *agree* with you. All those movies are clearly rewatchable . If not for everyone, certainly for a lot of folks.
I’ll be more explicit and literal next time. For now let me be clear: those 16 movies I listed are not “any” movies. They are all rewatchable and deserve to be on the pod.
Truly is the season of good will towards man in this thread. Holiday spirit going through the roof. Let’s keep it going for 2025!
I haven't seen Disclosure in forever and therefore had basically zero recall of this movie, but I still enjoyed the pod. Van is always great - his stories about having multiple Vr headsets were beautiful - and I liked what Wos added as well. My one note is that the non-CR episodes mean the announcer and Wayne Jenkins categories seem to suffer, although Bill's impressions can cover the latter sometimes.
They still tease some movies that are clearly actually rewatchable, just because they're not Bill's cup of team. YOU KNOW, LIKE ALIENS.
Even if movies aren't rewatchable, there is still interesting discussion. I'd love to hear Wayne Jenkins on Disclosure.
I completely disagree. Of that list, the only ones not worth rewatching IMHO are The Replacements, Body Double, Over the Top, Night Shift, Purple Rain (I didn't appreciate Prince at the time it came out) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (Good movie but too complicated for a rewatchable)
I've seen all of the others on this list numerous times. Also, doesn't a movie need to be ready available and constantly playing on some platform to make it a rewatchable? Of the ones i listed only the Grand Budapest seems to fall into that category.
Rewatchable, per Simmons anyway, is typically defined by being on repeat on cable, not necessarily readily available on streaming. All those movies you list were staples at one time or another on either HBO/Showtime type premium channels or TBS/TNT/USA type basic channels. Hell, Simmons said he caught The Replacements on TNT after an NBA game within a couple weeks of doing the episode. That's the epitome of rewatchable, even if you personally don't enjoy the movie. It's still showing up on TV 20+ years after it came out.
It has been a real treat watching person after person walk into the bear trap that is 8slim's post. Just really great stuff.
I mean, I explicitly clarified that post 27 minutes after I made it. And twice more in the following 2 days.
The lesson: (1) I may be a poor poster, (2) others are definitely crappy readers.
For clarification, Body Double belongs on this podcast. It’s certainly a bit niche and by no means one of DePalma’s best (a la Blow Out which Simmons also did a ways back). But it’s *highly* rewatchable and made for a very entertaining episode.
I actually love that they have extended this past movies that are simply “great movies you can watch over and over again” to “movies you *have* watched over and over again.” Some of it is the way cable worked in the 80s (a la Body Double or Running Scared). Some of it is that they have become cult hits over the years (a la Dodgeball). This is all very fun stuff to debate and analyze and, hence, worthy of the Rewatchables treatment IMO.
I actually love that they have extended this past movies that are simply “great movies you can watch over and over again” to “movies you *have* watched over and over again.” Some of it is the way cable worked in the 80s (a la Body Double or Running Scared). Some of it is that they have become cult hits over the years (a la Dodgeball). This is all very fun stuff to debate and analyze and, hence, worthy of the Rewatchables treatment IMO.
Totally agree. I re-watched Body Double for the first time in years because they had it up on the pod. I had forgotten how fucking insane and ridiculous that movie is. But, it was totally worth my time revisiting it. There have been several other movies that I probably never would have doubled back to watch again that I did because of the pod, and they almost always have been worth my time.
I have not listened yet to The Gambler pod, but after finally watching the movie, I don't understand how this movie could be considered watchable, never mind rewatchable. It is a trainwreck led by a godawful performance by Wahlberg. (But maybe that answers the question.)
Never watched this movie so i started it on Netflix yesterday. Got through to the end of the state championship loss and decided to finish it today. Just found out yesterday was the last day it was on netflix.
I don’t listen to all of these. FNL is one of my favorite movies. This entire episode is basically comparing the movie to the TV show and it’s infuriating.
Great "Rewatchables" tangent on The Big Picture last week (I assume several people here may not listen to that). On their Nosferatu podcast, Sean, Chris, and Rob Mahoney were listing their Top 5 vampire movies and Chris had "Twilight" at #5 (I know, I was just as shocked as you). They then were talking about what the film means to a generational swath of people and Chris remarked that the Twilight Rewatchable episode would do huge numbers and Sean immediately asked "and where would that be held?" which Chris I think took as location and said they should do it in Forks, Washington, but I assumed Sean was intonating that there was no way in hell Bill would do a Rewatchables on that film
Your assumption is correct. Bill's initial qualification for a movie being a Rewatchable, "a movie that makes the rounds on basic cable", is long dead, because those movies are now all movies he'd never consider personally watchable, never mind rewatchable, since now the movies cable runs in heavy rotation are now all MCU, DCU, LOTR, Star Wars, Hunger Games, and Twilight type films. At some point, he should just let Sean, Chris, Mallory, Joanna, Van, Charles, and Rob cook on those. They should be fine as long as Chris or Sean serve as host, since they know all the categories and are good at keeping things moving along.
Had the same hangup, Mallory goes SO hard for her beloved properties (and as any regular knows, there are many) that in some circumstances it can suck the air out of the room. One of those circumstances is when the focus of the episode is NOT that property, in this case the FNL TV show. I get they have to address the show to an extent, but ‘The Rewatchables’ serves to platform/pimp the movies it chronicles. In this case, tough, seemingly every other sentence out of her mouth in this episode is an unfavorable comparison to the TV show. It’s her opinion, sure, but have somebody on who will push back on her if you want that perspective. I didn’t dial this up to hear about how much better the TV show is or isn’t, which, incidentally, I’ve never seen.
I would’ve been bummed to dial up ‘The Godfather’ episode and get a treatise of Puzo’s book, too.