Episode Transcript
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Foreign.
Hello and welcome to Movies ina Nutshell with me, Mark Farquhar,
myself, Darren.
Horn, and I, Paul Day.
Join us every week for quick,entertaining spoiler free movie breakdowns
(00:22):
followed by fun facts and trivia.
From timeless classics to cultfavorites to the latest releases,
here are three reasons.
To listen to this podcast.Save time by quickly learning what
a movie's about, spoiler free,and decide if it's worth your time.
Discover hidden details andthings you may have missed. And that
includes Darren challengingthe way you see a movie, even if
you've seen it 100 times.
(00:43):
Get recommendations for yournext watch.
So grab some popcorn and let'sjump into this week's movie. Right,
gentlemen, it's time to todiscuss and break down Con Air Listening
Choice chosen by Ryan Hogarth,who also sent us an email as well.
I'll read it out later. Okay,so this is part one, which we call
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the Diagnostics. In part onewe have the stats, the synopsis,
the nutshell, and some briefratings and reviews. So in the stats,
we'll run down the vitals ofthe movie, including how it performed,
who was involved in making it.In the synopsis, we compare our own
version to the official In aNutshell, we give you a spoiler free
breakdown. And finally, inratings and reviews, we get a brief
overview of the critic and fanopinions. So I'll begin with the
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stats. It's available to watchin the UK on Disney Plus. In the
US it's on Disney plus and on Hulu.
Hulu.
It was released June 6, 1997.Rated R. Yeah. Yep. Although that's
a row now.
That feels a bit high.
At the time, maybe it wasquite shocking. Do the ratings change
over time?
Films they can do again.
Reclassified.
(01:46):
Yeah, they can be. Doesn'thappen a lot.
This one hasn't been.
It's also our secondBruckheimer film in a row. Producer
Jerry Brookheimer.
Boom.
There you go. That's the link.
That's why we keep you around, Paul.
There's the link.
The runtime is 1 hour 55.Genre is action thriller. Stars Nicholas
Cage, John Malkovich and JohnCusack. It was directed by Simon
west, written by ScottRosenberg, music by Trevor Rabin
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and Mark Mancina. We've hadMark Mancini before doing something.
The budget was 75 million andit took 224 big ones.
That's solid.
That's a good return for thattime. Synopsis. Ryan has put an ex
US Ranger, Cameron Poe, playedby Nicholas Cage, is being released
from a prison, transportedback home on a Plane filled with
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prisoners. The prisoners, ledby serial killer Cyrus, played by
John Malkovich, take over theplane and Poe finds himself in a
position to do the right thingand try to stop them. Then he's also
put this movie's from 1997.It's a movie I could watch any time.
Which is probably why I put itin my top five. There you go.
Thank you. We like theaddendum. This is good.
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The Official is short. Very short.
Okay.
Newly paroled ex con andformer US Ranger Cameron Poe finds
himself trapped on a prisontransport plane when the passengers
seize control in a deadlyescape attempt.
Yeah, it's basically Snakes onthe Plane, but with prisoners.
Passengers on a plane or DieHard on the plane.
Criminals on a plane.
Yeah.
So is passenger 57 actually,isn't it?
Oh, that's a good film. That'sa classic.
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Cons on a Plane. It says inthe title, the Con Plan.
Okay, so Mason, not a sequel.Do we con C?
Oh, nice.
So which one was. Which wasbest, Ryan's or the Official?
I think the Official. Yeah,keep it tight.
I'm partial to both.
You just don't want to offend anyone.
No, I don't want to offendanyone. I'm sitting.
I agree. The Official wasbetter, but it was written by Pressel,
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so he always should be really,shouldn't it? You should never lose,
but it rarely is it really.Yeah, they can't do it correctly
the majority of the time.Okay, in a nutshell, what is this
movie about, Paul?
This movie is Snakes on aPlane with convicts. I think we've
already said. Feels like oneof those high concept films where
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they literally wrote it downand said, oh, we should have all
these prisoners on a plane.But then like a John McClane type
character in the middle whohas to stop them and that's fairly.
And then chaos ensues as theytry and stop the cons on a plane.
In a nutshell, you can't getmuch more on point.
I don't think it's a type offilm where they would have designed
the poster first.
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Yes.
And came up with the title andbe like, this will just sell like
crazy. Now we need a story.
I kept thinking, which is a lot.
Of action films, sometimesthey work, sometimes they don't.
I kept thinking this was theultimate film for one man, one plane
full of cons. And then Iwatched the trailer and the trailer
literally has voiceover man onit saying, Nicolas Cage in Con Air.
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I don't know, I never think towatch the trailers. I should oh yeah,
because a lot like sometimesthere's like three or four different
trailers for a film becausethey sort of drip feed you a bit
more.
That's true, yeah. Yeah. Likethe teaser and then used to.
Be before the Internettrailers were.
I know the only place we'd see.
Would be in the cinema.
People would pay to watch onsome big films to watch the trailer,
to walk out. But yeah, I didlaugh when I watched the trailer
because I thought it's properone man.
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I remember playing Call ofDuty or Battlefield and there was
posters of films beingadvertised in the game.
That's amazing.
Yeah.
Darren, I've. Somebody told methat the same people in Sea of Thieves
attacked them playing the same music.
Really? It's amazing.
Like famous going aroundhijacking people even I don't even
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play the game. But that was afunny story.
Nice.
Anyway, so in a nutshell,Darren, anything.
Else to add on this in termsof what's it about?
The basic plot? Withoutspoiling it, I give too much away.
What? No.
What else is this film about?
To be honest, it really isn'tabout anything.
No, it's what it does. What itsays on the tent.
I mean, you could arguethere's a little bit where they are
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talking about the treatment ofprisoners and there's a bit where
I think John Cusack charactersays these. He's a true product of
the system. And then the DEAguy where I was like, are you telling
me we created these monsters?And he's like, well, you know, do
some research. Yeah, like weare so. And it is looking at, you
know, it's. It's totallydehumanizing these people and it's
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not rehabilitation at all. Andyou know, I think, I'm sure you guys
have seen prisons in Hollandand stuff like that. It basically
looks like a really nicestudent dorm and they're treated
like human beings so that theycan be rehabilitated. Whereas it
feels like if America isanything like conair that prisoners
are treated like animals. Andthat's not going to help anyone.
We don't go too much detailbecause I don't think we need to.
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Okay, let's go to ratings andreviews. This is interesting. The
critics review was 58 and theusers were 75.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Big difference.
Yeah, that makes sense.
So the fans generally like it. Critics.
It's not a critics sort of film.
It's not Citizen Kane.
It's not Citizen Kane. No.
IMDb was 6.9. Metacritic, thecritics. The critics was 52 and the
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users 7.4 fans liked it.Critics, not so much. Couple of reviews.
So David Anson of Newsweeksaid, the saving grace of Conair
is its sense of its ownabsurdity. Rosenberg and director
Simon west seem to know justhow. How preposterous their story
is. Carol Buckland of CNN.comit's exhausting rather than exhilarating.
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Roger Ebert, he would hate it.
This is a movie that knows itis absurd and does little to deny
it.
Right, that's it.
So he sort of said, it's doingwhat it says on the tin.
Yeah.
He's almost saying, what didyou expect?
Yeah, I would say this is thesort of film you'd want to watch
if you're very much into thembig 90s action films. So you're talking.
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There's a few Nick Cage ones,isn't that. There's Face Off.
You're just going to listProclaimer and Simpson movies.
Yeah, I know.
Yeah. Gone in 60 seconds.
Yeah, they're all Brooke.
If you like general classicaction films, this is.
Right. You know, it could havebeen directed by a Michael Bay or
a Tony Scott or that kind of thing.
Yeah, it's. The guy's tryingto copy Michael Bay. He's doing Michael
Bay. Light it.
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Michael Bay Light.
Yeah, yeah.
But if you're into that kindof action 90s explosions, popcorn
film, this. This I would sayis for you.
And obviously as a stat show,it went down well at the time.
There you go.
Need to find out how thingshave done. Like streaming wise, you
dig into like, obviously weknow if it's older, it's box office,
but like, what's it streamingcareer? How's it. Do you know what
I mean?
I wouldn't trust streamingservices to say that. Yeah.
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We'll be honest with this.
This is what's streaming thisweek. I'm like, oh, you just promoting
it. And now because you've putit, it's is doing well this week.
Everyone's like number one inthe UK now. Well, it is now.
They have the power to dothat, don't they? Yeah, people just
believe what they tell them.
Yeah.
So we got into part two, whichis now called Unboxing. In part two,
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the unboxing, we have. Whatdid we miss? Test of time. And then
at the very end, you'll findout what we think.
Cool.
So in what did we miss? Wewill challenge the way you see this
movie and reveal what you mayhave missed, even if you've seen
this movie many times. Plus,Paul will give us his facts of the
day in Test of Time. If it'san older movie, we will discuss what
would happen if it wasreleased today. If it's a more modern
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movie, we would discuss whatwould happen if it was released 25
years ago. And what do wethink? You'll finally hear what we
think. So what did we missabout Con Air?
Well, we can start with thedirectors, because we were just talking
about that. So it's directedby Simon west, and I think we've
talked a bit before aboutauteur theory, which is the idea
that a director has a distinctstyle. And usually the auteurs are
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the ones that you know thename of. So you know the name Michael
Bay because he's got a verydistinct style called Bayhem.
Bayhem.
John Woo.
Yeah, exactly.
That's Face Off.
Simon west is not a name. Iknow. We checked what he made, and
it's all just, you know, okay,action movies.
Tomb Raider, isn't it?
Yeah, totally. Very soft, veryforgettable. General's Daughter,
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stuff like that. And so that'skind of interesting to me because.
Because they've got a powerfulset of producers. They've got Bruckheimer
and Simpson as the producerson this, and Bruckheimer. Simpson
basically created the summerblockbuster, like, they're that Big.
And the Top Gun, Days ofThunder, you said the Rock, the Bad
Boys, tons. And.
And then it runs into. WithBruckheimer, it runs into kind of
(10:07):
the Pirates of the Caribbeanand all those ones.
Absolutely. And my friend Uni,my friend Becky, she did her dissertation
on can a producer be analternate? She did it on Bruckheimer
and Simpson. And herconclusion is like. Yeah, when you're
watching, you just know it's amovie. You just wait. This feels
like Brockheimer. But they didBeverly Hills Couple as well. Yeah,
yeah.
They did the first two, butnot the third one, Ted Rich kind
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of shows.
Yeah. So it's just kind ofinteresting to me that Bruckheimer,
Simpson have a distinct style.And you can take it further with
Nightmare Before Christmas,because Nightmare Before Christmas
is not directed by Tim Burton.It feels like Tim Burton. It's actually
directed by Henry Selleck. ButTim Burton is a producer, so clearly
got his fingers into everyelement of it. And Henry Selleck's
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trying to do a Tim Burtonmovie, basically.
And they even call it, don'tthey, Tim Burton's Nightmare Christmas?
They do. But he was doingBatman. Yeah.
Yes.
So it's interesting to me thata producer can have that much sway
and control over a director.Don Simpson was a very hedonistic
person, and I believe diedbecause of that. And so there's this
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cool thing with the logo thatI was trying to check because the
logo is like two things oflightning hitting a tree.
Yeah.
And then I'm sure they thenremoved one of the pieces of lightning,
but then it's back if it's asequel to a movie he made with Don
Simpson. Anyway, I don't knowif you guys are interested in all
that, but I'm.
Sure I've seen as well.
I'm so interested.
I'm trying to think on, like,the latest Bad Boys, because he started
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the Bad Boys. Did they stillput Don Simpson on? I'm. I think
they might, you know. Yeah, Ithink they might still put Simpson
Brookhave, even thoughobviously it's just Brooke.
I'm a. Technically, they'recrazy talented guys and. And basically
Armageddon would be somethingthey did. They kind of make action
music videos, basically, iswhat they are. So. Yeah, that was
kind of interesting, Ithought. Another thing I picked up
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on is the plane is kind oflike a microcosm of America because
the differentiation anddiversity is actually really, really
good. So then I started, whileI was watching it, I was like, huh,
what does all of this mean? SoI think I've got. I think I wrote
some notes on this, butotherwise I'll just have to riff
on it. Okay. So there's.You've got to think about the pecking
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order.
Okay.
So the lowest on the peckingorder, you could almost argue, is
the one is the woman, becauseshe's, you know, basically, she's
a prison guard as well. Butshe's also obviously under threat
of sexual assault.
You know, I really liked herin the film, though. She's tough
and she was sassy.
Just above her is the NativeAmerican Indian. Like, he's there.
They chose to put a NativeAmerican Indian on the film. It's
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kind of going into spoilerterritory, so I won't say what happens,
but this Native AmericanIndian does not get treated well.
And then above. Who would youput above that? A guy with all tattoos.
What's his name again? DannyTrejo. So you could argue that he
is also treated badly. So thenit comes out between the fight between
the African Americans and thewhite guys, they're the top of the
food chain.
This is the bit that we didmiss because I never even thought
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of this.
I know a lot of cons on.
The plane, but validity tothat, like, it's. But. But it only
triggered when I was like,wow, you put a Native American Indian
on there that. That's anunusual character. Yeah, exactly.
And then he's treated the.
Just a box ticking thing.
I don't know. But also, Ithink that's probably why it did
well, because there's.Everyone can see a version of Representation.
(13:24):
Representation. Yeah, It's.That's good.
It's a tricky sell, though, ina sense. Isn't it, though? Because
you've got a plane full of, ina sense, murderers and rapists and
pedophiles. Pedophile. Andlike a plane full of not particularly
nice people. But then you'restuck on the plane with them and
you've got Nick Cage'scharacter who, you know, no big spoiler,
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but he's the hero of the filmas the title character who you're
rooting for. But he's verymuch in with all these ragtag criminals.
But yet, because you've gotcharacter actors playing them, it's
obviously interesting to watchthem play these parts.
Yeah, yeah. It's cross sectionof America in a plane, really.
It's just it. You can read. Dothe same reading into Predator because
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his team is made up of a widerange of people. They kind of represent
everyone. So. Yeah. The otherthing is that I thought was really
cool is you've basically got atrans character.
Oh, yeah, I forgot about that.
Yeah, totally. And not only isshe safe, but she's also celebrated.
Yeah. Part of the gang. Yeah, yeah.
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Like, this is really good.Kind of. I mean, she's. She's still
a con and she's still on aplane and she must have done some
very, very bad stuff. But Iwas, okay, cool. That's interesting.
So, yeah, I like that. Otherthan that, it kind of bounces around.
Like there's some really cool,like, feminist stuff going on. Like,
at one point, he, you know, hesays, you don't treat women like
that. And. And that's coolprinciple. At the same time, you
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know, he hopes his daughtergrows up to be a beauty pageant queen.
That was very much of its time.
That's mainly the stuff that'sgoing on. It's not. Yeah. Microcosm.
And I thought the transrepresentation was really cool. And
it is crapping on the Americanjustice system.
Going back to what you'resaying about the. The producers.
Yeah.
And the directors and thewriters. Like, do they care about
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the box office in the day ordo they just look at their piece
of art?
Box office. Brock HymanSimpson's box office.
This is very much so.
It's like what they judged on, basically.
Yeah, totally. They're notGoing for an Oscar, when.
They put all this work intoit, it's like all they care about
is if it makes enough. Acertain amount of money.
Yeah, which is a shame.Predominantly going to be it, I think.
But you've got people likeChris Nolan. He'll do one for. One
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for the money and one for theart. That's true, but he's.
Is that why some movies getruined then? Because they do. They
make poor decisions based onwhat they think is going to make
money rather than just.
Yeah, and they do, they dotake test screenings with audiences
and you know, and that willimpact it a lot. Sometimes they'll,
you know, even just take thefilm off of the director. Why we
get directors cuts becausethey'll cut it in a way that they
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don't want.
I like them.
And then it goes back to whatthe original vision was before the
producers got involved andsaid, oh, change that. Remove that
substory. The Daredevil film'sa good example of that. The actual
Daredevil cinema cut kind ofgot panned. Isn't particularly. I
kind of enjoyed it, to befair, but most people panned it,
didn't like it. And then ifyou watch the director's cut, there's
this sub story about him as alawyer and it's all kind of entangled
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into it and it makes it such abig better film. The director super
bit deeper, it's longer. Butobviously they wanted. They wanted
a Spider man film, so theytook all that out and made it.
Sure.
They cut things out for thesake of time.
Yeah, yeah, they do,absolutely. But then. And that was
because that is an issue withcinema. Like if you've got, you know,
however many slots to show afilm in a day, a three hour film
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maybe you can only show threetimes, but a 90 minute film, you
can show six times. So you'regetting more money.
And you've got to rememberthis is 97, so it's the time of these.
Right in the mix of all those.
Yeah, all these big blacks. Soone of the things I read, I think,
is this came out literallywithin a month of or very close to
Face off coming out.
Wow.
So Nick Cage had John Woo'sFace off coming out and this coming
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out around similar time. SoBruckheimer and Simpson clearly know
the market, what they're goingfor. Big blockbuster action film,
One Man, One plane, you know,all that stuff. And it sells.
And this was like, I mean,it's Michael Bass. It's a slow motion
camera going around the guys.He slowly stands up explosions and
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really gorgeous cars. Yeah.The opening. This is like an apocalyptic
movie. Just like they'refighting in the rain and there's
like oil drills behind him.Fire going into the air. It's like,
where are you, Michael?
Bay 101. That's what you gotto have if you're having a fight.
Yeah.
Anything else to add?
There's the patriotism almostto it, where it opens up around.
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And again, this isn't really aspoiler as much because Nicolas Cage's
character is this Ranger,which it says in. In the synopsis.
But there's his patriotism, Isuppose, of the whole. Never leave
a fallen comrade or Rangerbehind. And then you're putting him
in this situation. And again,it's the John McClane die hard thing
is.
But it's also such a jumpbetween, like, the Rangers are the
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finest of Americans military.And then we meet him and he sounds
like Forrest Gump there is that.
Yeah.
He doesn't seem too bright.
No. But there's a bit ofromance in there.
To kill you with a single thought.
Yes, there's a bit of romancein there as well.
Yeah.
I didn't sell that,particularly as the. What this film's
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bringing you, but I.
Did like that there's. So thecinematic world is called the diegesis,
and you have digestic, nondigestic music. So digestic music
is music that's coming fromthe universe so the characters can
hear it. And non diegetics,you can't hear it. Yeah. Okay. And
this is. And that theme songis. You know, how do I.
How do I. Yeah, that rhymes.
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There's a bit. I think it'snear the end when.
It'S not Liam rhymes in thefilm, but she did have a big hit
out of it.
That's not her.
Well, yeah, she sang it too. Ithink it was Martina McBride.
Okay. Well, that music playsand it's almost like he hears it
and then he looks aroundlooking for his wife. And I was.
Oh, that was cute. Like, he'sher theme song. But it does. I mean,
it's got two, basically twosongs in this movie. And my boy does
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it freaking let us know theyexist. Like Sweetheart, Sweet Home
Alabama doesn't kick into 40minutes, I think.
Yeah.
Oh, no, it was. It was the amrhymes. Sorry, I'm talking. I'm talking
absolutely rubbish. I'mthinking of another film where everyone
thinks it's someone, but it'sactually someone else. Yeah. No,
it is Liam rhymes. And she was14 when she performed it, apparently.
Jesus.
(19:32):
Hell, yeah. The theme song,How Do I Live? Was Originally performed
by 14 year old Liam Ribs.
Yeah.
And it was a big hit. So likeDarren said, the fact it keeps creeping
in is. It's quite funny.
It is.
Oh, there it is.
Anything else to add?
Okay, the only other thingI've got is Dave fucking Chappelle's
in this.
Yes, Yes. I had to pause andGoogle, is that Dave motherfucking
(19:55):
Chappelle? That's him, yeah.That's insane. I had no idea.
Yeah, he was good in it as well.
Yeah, he was.
He improvised many of his lines.
Oh, yeah, of course, he's a comedian.
Yeah, yeah.
That takes us smoothly intofacts of the day.
Now my first fact of the dayis a bit random, but it brings it
back to Cumbria. So I thought,I'm going to throw it in, I'm going
to throw it in. So thedirector of photography is a guy
(20:17):
called David Tattersall and itcame up in the credits. And I know
David Tatsall becausebasically he worked on the young
Indiana Jones TV show withGeorge Lucas and he also worked on
stuff like the Green Mile andhe shot all the Star wars prequels.
He was one of the first peoplewith Episode two to prototype digital
(20:38):
cinema cameras. So why am Italking about David Tatsol? Because
he's actually from my hometownBarrow in Furness.
Nice.
And it's like nothing goodcomes out of Barrow in Furnace.
Why?
I don't know. Why did I leave?Why do any of us leave? No offense
to my Barrow friends andfamily. And that's me cancelled,
isn't it? From Barrow. But.But yeah, David Tattersall's from
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actually Barrow and Furness.So there you go. And he. This, I
think looking at his. He'sdone all kinds of different films.
He hasn't really got aspecific genre. He jumps about a
lot, does lots of differentthings. But this was one of his first
kind of big Hollywood actionfilms by the looks of it. And then
he was. What time of week? 97.So he did the Star wars prequels
(21:20):
kind of after this. But he'sdone all kinds of different stuff.
So there you go, that's thedirector of photography.
Nice.
In case you want to go to thatlevel of nerdiness.
Excellent.
John Malkovich turned down thelead role in Air Force One to do
this film.
But it's hard to know becausemaybe it was shot nearer his house
so he could go home everynight to see his family. Maybe the
money was better. Maybe he'dalways wanted to work with.
(21:41):
John Cusack and It did saysomewhere in my notes here where
it kind of changed him as theFrench lead romantic figure into
more of a villain. So maybe hejust wanted the challenge to play
something different. The songHow Do I Live, which we discussed
before, was nominated for bothan Oscar as Best original Song and
a Razzie as worst originalsong, and it did not win either award.
(22:03):
So a Razzie, if you don't knowpodcasters, but you probably do because
you're in movies, is kind ofthe joke. Oscars. How would you describe
it, Darren? You'll probablyhave a good description of this.
It's the.
Yeah, it's. It's awards forpoor performance.
Yeah.
But some people are reallycool. They take it well.
Sandra Bullock turned up once,didn't she?
So did the woman who played Catwoman.
(22:25):
Oh, Halberry.
I'm sure she did, yeah.
Michelle Pfeiffer.
No, no, Halle Berry did. Andhe also. They returned one, I think
to Bruce Willis because he gotone. But then they realized he's
got. He's deteriorating hisnear something.
Yeah, yeah, he's gotdisplacer. No, I was saying that
wrong. But he's got somethingproblem. Yeah, but there you go.
So it was nominated for bothan Oscar and a Razzie, but never
(22:47):
won either. During the pressfor this film, John Malkovich was
asked why he did this film. Hegave the simple one word answer.
Money.
Yeah.
So maybe it wasn't anything todo with any of the other stuff. It
was just.
I bet the people who made thefilm were chuffed with him for saying
that. And thanks.
Well, Michael Caine did Jaws 3.
Oh, yeah, he said this and itdidn't he pay off?
(23:07):
Yeah. I haven't seen the film,but I appreciate the house it bought
for me.
That's right. That's right.Yeah. Yeah. Bought my house. And
then final one, because wecould go on all day, but Nicolas
Cage traveled to Alabama towork on his accent, which I'm not
going to try and do becauseI'll fail.
Okay. Thanks, Paul. Okay,right, then let's move on to test
(23:28):
of Time. This movie has beenplucked from 1997 and dropped into
2025. Go.
It's problematic in parts, butI think it could be released as is.
I think, you know, dumb moviesare still made, you know, in fact,
now they're using. I fullysuspect they're using AI to write
scripts because they'regetting very, very silly. So, yeah,
(23:48):
I think this could easily bemade again now because it's. It's
the same format, you know,it's like Die Hard. It's like Die
Hard on a bus or Die Hard in aspaceship or whatever. And this is
same kind of.
I would like to see that one.
Mr. Bruckheimer, if you'relistening, Die Hard on a spaceship,
just give us a, you know,right to our email address.
A movie called Lockdown withGuy Pearce, which is actually more
(24:09):
like Escape from New York on a spaceship.
That sounds good, right?Upholstery test of time. Yeah, I
think it would. Like Darrensaid, but maybe there's a hint of.
Since like Tropic Thunder andthat kind of film where they parody
other sort of films, I feellike it would be maybe badge more
(24:29):
of the comedy than it was backin the day. Back in the day.
Big comedy elements to action.
There's definitely some scenesof the film where I was thinking
it's almost like a TropicThunder kind of parody of it. You
can imagine this stuff blowingup and people go in slow motion away
from the explosions andthings. Yeah, it probably would.
Like Darren said, it's a big, I.
Don'T think, daft movie. Like.Like some of the reviews said, like,
(24:51):
it's not hiding its absurdity.Everyone knows you would. You would
take it on face value and go,yeah, it's an action film. It's.
It is what it is.
Yeah. I feel like the comedyaspect of it back in 97, I imagine
people watching it and sort ofjust taking it in. Now I think they
would watch it and be justlike, that's ridiculous. Because
they're a bit more used torealism and.
Yeah.
Nolan films or whatever.
I mean, back then, you wouldjust add it. Oh, that's like this
(25:13):
film. That's like this film.
Yeah.
I can put in the character.
Oh, I love the rock. I'm gonnago and watch this.
Yeah, there's loads of filmslike that, but if it came out now.
Yeah, I think it would be. Itwould be fine. It would obviously
have its critics.
Yeah. I mean, some of thespecial effects are a little bit
ropey, but we still get moviesnow with ropey special effects.
Depends on the budget for 97,they hold up pretty good.
If it was to be redone today,they would just. I think. What were
(25:35):
some of the themes that mightbe questionable, would you say?
It's more just, you know, theone female guard is obviously under
threat. Yeah, I think theydidn't put her in enough danger,
really. I think. I think awoman alone.
Think of what could have happened.
Yeah, absolutely. Like, theseare 10 con or however many convicts
who wouldn't have had sex fordecades. And they're not going to,
(25:59):
like. Yeah, but also, youknow, how safe is a woman? Even if
they weren't convicts.
And I. I still think if theyremade it, they'd make it dafter
almost, if that's possible.They'd lean into the comedy side
a bit.
Yeah, the absurdity.
The absurdity.
They probably make it more funny.
Yeah. Like, one line isdropping, like, change.
Into an action comedy ratherthan an action thriller. So I think
we all agreed. Yes, it wouldhold up.
(26:20):
Yes. I think it could bereleased today. Yes. Dumber movies
have been released recently. Yes.
The final part of Part two is.What do we think? So this is where
we finally get to say ouropinion. Paul, I'm gonna go with
you first.
Okay. Okay. Out of those kindof films, the Face Offs and the Rock
(26:41):
and Armageddon and that kindof genre of films, this probably
isn't one of my favorite ones,I will say. But I don't think I saw
it back in the day, so I'venot got the nostalgia linked to it.
So if it was like Bad Boys,where I saw it back in the day a
bit more, maybe I'd have morenostalgia link to it. But for me,
it's just. It's a big dumbmovie. It knows it's a big dumb movie,
(27:01):
but sometimes I just feel likethey push it so far into absurdness.
It's like, oh, my God. I don'tknow. I'm trying to think of the
moments where it's like whenthey're on the motorcycles and the
fire engine. It's like, howmuch can we throw at this film? Having
said that, it's so. It'senjoyable. It's. It's doing what
it says on the tin. But if Ihad the option to watch this or the
(27:22):
Rock, I'd go for the Rock. Orthere'd be other films of that 90s
blockbuster thing that I wouldpick before watching this. But I
do like John Cusack. I do likeNicolas Cage. I like the people in
it. Ryan, I can see why thismight be one of your favorites.
If you like those sort of movies.
If you like.
It's got everything you'd wantin it.
And then, you know, at the endwhere the landing on the Runway in
(27:42):
Vegas land, it just. It justkeeps amping it up. So I can. I can
see why you love it. But forme, yeah, I'd probably pick other
ones before this one if I waslooking for a dumb action film. But
I still enjoyed it.
Me, too. Yeah. It was. For me,it was a trip down memory lane. I'd
forgotten most of the film. Iremember seeing it a few times back
in the day. I was like, oh,yeah. Oh, yeah. For me, I was laughing
a lot. It was so absurd. Itwas funny. And those are the parts
(28:06):
I was going, I.
A bit over the top.
That's like. That isridiculous. Some of it I like. Some
of I didn't. So, yeah, Ienjoyed it. Overall, I knew. I knew
what I was in for, so I wasn'texpecting a lot. I wasn't taking
it too seriously. But, yeah,overall, I enjoyed it.
I feel like. I know, I know.Darren's reaction.
We move over to Darren.
Oh, my God. I feel like such anice. It's not because I'm a film
lecturer. Honestly, I lovedthis when I was a kid. I remember
(28:29):
quoting this a lot to mybrothers, but the quotes were problematic.
Like, you know, I give half mylife for a piece of that ass and
stuff.
Darren Hahn.
Yeah, I. I really struggled. Ithought it was just too stupid. And
also, I got more upsetbecause, you know, I'm a dad now
and I've got a daughter aswell. And this poor girl, like, the
(28:50):
stuff they put her through.Why she. Why she. Why is she even
in the room being spoken toby, like, John Cusack with the mum.
And then they take her out toVegas. Like, it's just weird. Yeah,
that should be nowhere near.
Yeah, but it's so they can bethere with the Leann Rimes song in
the background. It is, yeah.
It's like, no one's gonna dothat. It just seemed dumb. And the
fact that he got. And eventhose guys at the beginning, like,
(29:10):
when they go up and I givehalf my life a piece of that ass.
And they go up to her and he'slike, who are these people? And they're.
Oh, they're regulars. I waslike, they're regulars. So why is
it today you've just beenlike, oh, now I'm gonna hit on her?
And if they're regulars. Howdo you not know that she's married
to a ranger? Like, what? Justheight of dumbness. And then.
(29:31):
Because they have to have theFight in the Rain.
Right?
I know. It does feel likePaint by Numbers AI before the war.
I can tell you now, if we everfilming these, these are going to
be viral. Absolutely viral.
And then the plane has takenoff, and then they request three,
like, Apache helicopters. Thenthey get there. So was that half
hour later or something? Andthen they chase the plane and catch
(29:54):
it yeah, no, planes are. Thatplane was going 286 miles an hour
or something. Ridiculous. Itwas like insane. So, yeah, that was
dumb. Then the plane kind ofsemi crashes into like the ground,
isn't it? The nose is in theground. So these prisoners get out,
tie ropes to it.
Yep.
And pull it back out.
(30:14):
That was one of the bits I wasthinking of.
I just kept thinking TropicThunder where it just kept more absurd.
It's like I could just see BenStiller being like, come on.
It's like strong men pull whatthey pull like an 18 wheeler or something.
And well, these guys can pulla plane to her.
It's just that was.
You have to have your escapismswitch on.
And why does John Cusack tiethe car to the plane?
(30:34):
Yeah, that was a bit random.
No, it wasn't junk. It's likeit was Nicholas Cage.
Why does he do that? Right?
Because. Why did it? Becausehe does not. He think he's gonna,
he's gonna get, he's gonna gowith, he's gonna go off with the
police.
Right. Okay.
He thinks he's gonna get outof there because they're coming.
So if he can hold them longenough till the police arrive, he
could go with them.
And the plane was supposed,the car was supposed to hold the
plane down.
I, I, I, I think they did itjust so they had a shot of a car
(30:57):
hanging out the back of aplane. He says, break.
Someone did that. Who did it?And why doesn't he.
It was a plot point, Darren.It was part of the jigsaw of the
plot.
It was basically like playingGTA 5. That's kind of what it felt
like. And which is fun. Iabsolutely get that.
The aspects of the absurdityreminded me of like Fast and Furious.
Yeah.
I forgot how much it amped upthough, because it crashes on the
(31:20):
Strip. But then they're on themotorcycles and then they're chasing
the fire trucks and I'm justlike, at least they've gone all in.
You know, let's just throweverything at this so I can see why
it's right.
And it was some good tension.Like the diabetes thing was tense.
And also, you know, then thefemale guards like safety. That was
tells nervous. That was.
I thought she was a good actress.
Yeah, she was good. But thenit feels like just a dick measuring
(31:43):
contest. And at the beginningit's like the guy's playing top trumps.
He's like, you know, what'sthis guy? Cyrus? Cyrus the virus.
15 kills. It's like What? Whatare you doing? It was kind of making
them legends, just like. Butthey were. They're like, Steve Buscemi
is the legend of the whateverand whatever strung up like Hannibal
(32:03):
Lecter. I like the fact hedidn't talk that much. He reminded
me of Vinnie Jones in gone in60 seconds. But he doesn't talk for
the whole movie. They need tosomething really intelligent at the
end. That was kind of fun.Like Steve was saying also, like
for.
The benefit of the listener,Darren, he's.
Like a serial murderer. Likehe'll tons of people and then we're
(32:25):
just happy because it doesn'tcure the girl. He's still out there.
That is an uncomfortable scene.
It is uncomfortable scene.That's one of the better scenes,
I think, because that isgenuinely unnerving. Like.
But it seems like it doesn'tfit with the. The kind of rest of
it all.
There's one bit at the endwhere Nicolas Cage is about to be
reunited with his wife anddaughter. And then he sees John Markovich.
(32:46):
Yeah. And the other guy on thetop of a fire truck driving off and
he starts to eat. He sees hiswife and his daughter and he decides
to go after that, like off.
Yeah.
You are not doing that.
No, totally.
Everything you've beenthrough, you've made it home. Your
whole point of this wholething. They're right in front of
you and he's gonna go off andI'm like, nah, not having it.
No, he's a ranger.
He's a family man as well.
Yeah, totally.
(33:07):
That annoyed me though.
Yeah. And I loved the wholebit with the letters back and forth.
That was.
Yeah.
But also. It was also justmade me realize how many people were
in prison for crimes thatmaybe they shouldn't be. And means
these kids are growing upwithout like one of their parents.
He should not have been outplaying with those criminals. No,
Totally comparable. It's like.
Yeah. That's also just insane.
You kill.
Why would you put selfdefense? What you would do is crash
(33:29):
the plane.
Why are you thinking about theplot too much? It's, you know, the
plot needs to happen to getthem in the plane.
Yeah.
As a dad, blow things at theend when he got renated with his
daughter. That did get me.
Oh yeah.
Liam Rams was there again. Howdy.
But also like his daughterlike. But not like wanting to have
been a bit scared of him.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
That was cute. Right in the feels.
(33:51):
You think he would have got ahaircut though, right? Oh, you think?
He does say.
He gives it this dirty Rabbit.
Yeah. Also even the prison.Did you remember the scene where
he's like doing. I know,upside down handstands, whatever,
and then the hallways on fire?What? What?
Well, it's just showing thathe's. He's keeping sane in the.
(34:12):
Yeah.
I don't know. I'm trying to think.
This is Nicholas Cage in hisprime. He looked good. Oh, yeah,
he was a good looking man. Thehair and the physique.
Yeah, it was like, how can weget him in in a vest with his hair
and set him off on a plane of cons?
Totally. Steve Persemi wassuperb. I thought he, he kind of
carried it a lot. I thought.He's, he's.
And he's not in it that much,is he? Sort of.
(34:32):
No.
Very.
Well, hardly anyone's in itthat much because there's so many
of them.
Yeah, Chappelle was quite fun.Yeah, he was in it for a bit.
Yeah, he was fun. But again,it was like bad boys. I just didn't
think the jokes really landed.Landed that much. It weren't that
funny. Like, you know, thebunny gets it. What were you talking
about?
Yeah, I think I'm gonna usethat line as my send off.
And how convenient that theyput the transponder on a plane in
(34:55):
a storm. And that guy's like,yeah, we can do a tour. What?
But, but then there's thelines in it where I'm like, yeah,
they, they know how absurdthis is. Where the guy, he's under
the car and he's like, I needa syringe. And he's like, oh, no,
drugs will end you, son. It'slike, what the hell's going. And
then he's like, don't panic,sir. And he's like, I need to take
(35:16):
a piss. Oh yeah, there's lotsof random bits where you're like,
yeah, but that's probably thefun of.
I like the bit where they say,hey, lady to the guard, and she's
like, lady is a dog in aDisney movie. And I was like, yeah,
you don't take that crap. Butyeah, so like, yeah, it's dumb and
I do like dumb movies.Genuinely, I like dumb movies. Yeah,
but this. I was just like,nah, I it. My teenage self loved
(35:38):
it, but I don't like it. Butalso, I also don't like movies that
don't have something to saythese days. I'm not going to spend
that much money.
That's the film lecture in you.
Yeah, well, I also just think,try and make the try. And you don't
have to make the world abetter place, but do something like
influence the world in someway. So I just wish they'd pick a
lane. Like, they could havesaid something about the rehabilitation
of prisoners. It could havegone down that route to women or.
(35:59):
Yeah, exactly. Or diversity orwhatever it is. But it was a very,
very dumb movie. And like Paulsays, exactly, like the Rock is phenomenally
much better and much funnierand better lines, better dialogue.
I could watch that. Yeah, I'veseen that a lot more.
So we'll do that at some pointas well.
Have you seen the Theory thatSean Connery. Strange Bond. Yeah.
Yes.
Yeah.
(36:20):
In fact, we need to pick thatjust so we can go down that rabbit
hole, don't we?
That's good. That's good.
But. But that's where I'mwatching this, thinking, yeah, I'm
enjoying it. It's big daftfun. But it's kind of taking it too
absurd. And the guys ratherwatch the Rock.
It's like bad words again.It's like lots of yelling and the
guy from Star Trek just yellsat people. Makes the DA seem like
a bunch of twats.
I. I still like from StarTrek. I know you mean. Oh, that was
(36:43):
one of my facts of the day. Iforgot. Apparently he's got a Star
Trek thing. Col Meanie. Isthat his name? Yeah, yeah, apparently
he's got some kind of StarTrek thing on his chain.
And he's got a car with itsnumber plate of kick ass. It's like
off.
But I'm still defending badboys, everyone. I'm.
You love bad boys.
I love bad boys.
Ryan Hogarth loves this film.Darren does not.
(37:03):
No, that's cool, Ryan. I'mreally curious to see what the other
four in your top five were.
Yeah, we have his email. We'llread it out soon. Okay, we done?
Yeah, that's what we thought.Okay, let's head into part three,
which is the listener lounge.Okay, so in part three, we have question
(37:24):
corner. Check this out. You isnow the new name for Worth a Watch.
Okay.
Because in Worth a Watch, itkeep making it seem like we were
still discussing if this movieis worth a watch. It's not. Yeah.
So check this out.
Check this out. And nextweek's movie. So in question corner,
we answer your questions, weread out your stories and your comments,
and we round off with thequestion of the week. In Check this
(37:46):
out, we give you something towatch which has caught our eye recently,
be it in a TV series,documentary, or a movie. And if it's
a listener choice episode andit's today and as is today and the
recommendation comes from you.And finally we have next week's movie
which all about the big revealof the movie. We'll be breaking down
for you next week. So let'ssit down in question corner is time
(38:06):
for you to have your say. Alsokeep an eye out on our socials because
we do regularly put questionsin there and we want your feedback
and we will read out the bestones. So email us. Hello Movies in
a nutshell dot com. Our linksto our socials are in the show notes.
So we had a good discussionlast episode, didn't we? Around soundtracks
and stuff.
Yes.
You know, who knows what thenext question will be.
(38:28):
It'll be out there soon. Getconnected. Make sure you follow us.
And we will. We're alwaysasking questions. We want your opinions
and we do read them out on theshow. So Ryan sent us in an email
as well as his synopsis andhis check us out. Cool. He put loving
the new podcast guys listenevery week. Listen to the pilot episodes
too. So he's an OG listenerright from the beginning. Nice. As
(38:48):
a fan of the podcast, I thinkwe should be called the Nutters or
just Nutters. Everyone seemsto have a name for their fans these
days. Nutters.
I like that.
Isn't Nutters just for crazypeople? You Nutter. That's good though.
Nutters. Well you do. Peopledo have like your girlfriends.
Swifties.
Yeah, Swifties.
I was thinking of Swifties.
Not everybody does but somepeople do. That's.
(39:10):
Yeah. Tori Amos did. I can'tremember what they were called.
I was the Tories.
I can't remember.
Just something to think about.It's something to think about. You
have a follower. Nutters isthe best thing we've got so far.
He's put anyway down tobusiness. As a friend of Mark's I
remember we were away on it ona lads trip and he asked me for my
(39:31):
top five musics. I do alwaysask for people.
Okay.
Which is very difficult asthere's always movies you forget
or depending on mood canalways change. But as of time of
writing this email my heregoes. In no particular order, Top
Gun, Face off the Rock, Conairand Convoy.
Convoy.
That's a good.
Yeah, that's right. So wecrashed the gate doing 98. It said
(39:53):
that them truckers roll 10 4.We got a sales convoy.
He was actually gonna choosethat as his.
That would be quality.
It's not available for free.So as always. Yeah there's no have
you seen Convoy? I have notseen Convoy. I want to see it.
I, I probably.
It's probably.
I've seen the Rock. I've seenFace Off. I've seen Top Gun. That's
(40:13):
a good top five.
I was gonna say we mentioned alot of them films.
Yeah.
You've got Top Gun. That'sBrookheimer as well. And Simpson.
Face Off. That's John Woo,isn't it? The rocker, Brookheimer.
Yeah. He's got a style.
Yeah.
Yeah. I'm down with that, though.
You are? I am down with that.There we go. So, yeah, he likes the
podcast. He's listening sincethe beginning. He would like to come
to the cinema next time. If weever got the cinema. Oh, we've had
a few of those people sayingwe should. We never really. We never
(40:35):
really predicted that, did we?
No, we didn't. But if thereare any single ladies out there who
would like to accompany me andPaul to the cinema, then you're more
than welcome.
I'm nervous already. Carry on.
He's already sweating.
I am, I am.
Yes. We need to find Paul adate. Keep all the good work. He
loves the podcast.
Nice. That's really appreciated.
Thank you. That's great.
Appreciate a hated G movie.
(40:59):
Okay. I'm still sweating aboutBad Boys last week.
You know, as someone who'sbeen listening from the beginning,
I'm sure he knew he wasgetting in for. He was. He was okay
with that. So that takes usinto. Check this out. Which is also
Ryan's.
Cool. What's he going to go for?
What I'm watching at themoment is Lincoln Lawyer, which is
available.
I love it.
Netflix. He doesn't give usany information about it. He just
(41:19):
says we should go and watch it.
I. The thing I like most aboutit is the guy is divorced and has
a really healthy relationshipwith his ex wives. And you never
really see that. And I reallyappreciated it. But it is good.
Who's in it?
Oh, actually a guy. It's not aparticularly famous actor.
Okay. I've heard of it. The show.
I just haven't seen it, butyeah, it's interesting. It's good.
(41:40):
Cool. So if anyone goes tocheck out Lincoln Lawyer.
Yeah.
Let us know what you thought.
It means. A TV series, right?
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's also a movie.
Yeah. On Netflix. Yeah. Cool.I think it's on my list as well.
I've one of those things. Iknow, I've heard of it. I know people
like it. It's on my list tocheck out at some point.
Yeah. It's valid.
There we go. Lincoln Lawyer isRyan Hogarth. Check this out.
Yes.
The main event of this episodeis next week's movie.
(42:04):
Yeah. Whose choice is it? Yours.
Me.
Go, Mark. It's your birthday.
I generally. You. You two allseem to change your mind. I never
change my mind. I pick one andI go. I'm sticking with it.
I change the mind all the time.
I have a few in my head at alltimes. Like, what about this? What
about that? Darren's gonnahate that. Oh, maybe not.
Yeah, I think I make myself dothat because otherwise I would do
that as well.
Yeah, that's good. Go.
(42:25):
Okay, so we're going back intime to the year 2000. It's a film
that inspired a lot of peopleto go traveling.
Okay.
Myself included. It's the beach.
Oh, nice. Yeah, I saw that atthe time. I did. I went traveling
as well. I went to Thailandand. Yeah, I read the book on the
way.
I never read the book. No, Iwish. I do want to read the book.
It makes me read the book. Butyeah, it was like, came out in 2000.
(42:47):
Me, I went traveling withthree best friends in 2003. So we
went to Australia, but we alsowent to Thailand for two months.
We went to that beach.
So an important film for you then.
Yes.
I've got some cool Thailandstories I can share.
I've got some that I cannot share.
I have no Thailand stories atall. But I'm interested to hear your
Thailand stories.
Yeah, I'll take us down memorylane. But yeah, it was same for a
(43:08):
lot of people. It created apath that people wanted, a thing
that people wanted to go. Itmade people do that. Wasn't really
done that much. It wasn't awell known thing to. You know, you
go traveling, take a year out,go travel around the world.
I don't want you to feel old,but you realize that's 25 years ago.
Yes.
Oh, it's got Baby Leo in.
Yeah.
He's now like 50 or something.
Yeah, pretty much.
(43:29):
I don't know when his firstbig movies were, but this was one
of the early ones.
Oh, I'll get into that next week.
And yet he's dating women he'sprobably co starring with in the
Beach.
That's true.
Next week's movie is thebeach. So we need your help as always.
We need to grow the show. Ifyou like this show and you want us
to stick around, you don'twant us to go away.
(43:49):
Yes.
Then we need you to spread theword of this show.
It's hard work doing one aweek, and we would appreciate some
love.
Yeah. So the two ways you cando it, the main one is to give us
a rating and review inwhichever app you're listening. So
if it's Apple, podcasts,Spotify, whatever it is for how you
listen, there is a way toshare it with people and give a rating
and review. Hit the sharebutton. If you can think of just
(44:11):
one person who would like thispodcast or who would like this particular
episode, hit the share button,send them a link, or just word of
mouth. You know, if someonelikes movies, maybe they would like
this show. This episode isofficially over. This is Mark saying
goodbye and Darren saying goodbye.
I said, put the bunny back inthe box.