Apex Mountain on The Rewatchables
138:17 – 148:33… Share it. Mileage will vary based on vehicle condition, driving habits, and other factors. Use for comparison purposes only. Actual results will vary. Apex Mountain. Fincher? Do we need to explain Apex Mountain now that we're on Netflix? Go ahead. Yeah. Controversial category. How would you describe it? 425 movies in. Apex Mountain. When somebody was at the peak of their powers career-wise, had the most use they're ever going to have in their career. Was this the moment for that? That's technically Apex Mountain. Even though we've argued about it forever. I think it is for Fincher. I do not. I think …
The whole segment, as transcribed
Mazda, move and be moved. Visit MazdaUSA.com. Discover how confidence comes standard. Share it. Mileage will vary based on vehicle condition, driving habits, and other factors. Use for comparison purposes only. Actual results will vary. Apex Mountain. Fincher? Do we need to explain Apex Mountain now that we're on Netflix? Go ahead. Yeah. Controversial category. How would you describe it? 425 movies in. Apex Mountain. When somebody was at the peak of their powers career-wise, had the most use they're ever going to have in their career. Was this the moment for that? That's technically Apex Mountain. Even though we've argued about it forever. I think it is for Fincher. I do not. I think it's social network for Fincher. But don't you think this is a product of social network? No, because it's before. But isn't... Oh, this is before social network. I'm sorry. I see what you're saying. Yeah. This movie comes after a five-year break off of a successful but modest movie in Panic Room. And this movie did not do well at the box office. And it was really well-reviewed, but was not considered a masterpiece in its time. He needed social network to have his like, okay, this guy is also a commercial box office guy. And social network was another for hire job. Yeah. That was with a script from a well-known screenwriter. I would say creatively, and I know that this is not going... But I think creatively, this is like him. No, you could go creative Fincher as an Apex Mountain category. I think this is him just like combining some of the deep artistry of his early work and like with the brave new world of the digital photography that he's working with and obviously has a personal connection to this material in a way that sometimes it doesn't always feel like he does. I think he is a re-Apex candidate. Because I think Fight Club is his first Apex Mountain. Hmm. Because he uses the success of those two movies. Yeah. And he basically makes a movie about how the only way to fix capitalism is to destroy it. Early 90s Bulls version of the Apex. And then I think there's never been a higher moment for him than Gone Girl where he's like, I can take an airport novel and make it a $500 million movie. Right. And nobody else can do this. And then he's like, and next up, a Netflix series that CR is going to love the most. It's true. Serial killer movies. Yes. Silence. That's a tough one. Does that count as a serial killer movie though? Yeah. He's got a nickname. He's moving around. He's doing his thing. Yeah, you're right. How's that not a serial killer movie? No, you're right. You think this is better than Manhunter? Yeah. It's a different, it's a totally different movie. CR is right. It's silence. True crime movies. Fantasy made the case earlier. Yes. Downey, no. Ruffalo, no. Ruffalo as a detective in a movie. Apex Mountain. This collateral or... Task, the TV show. Yeah. I think it's this. He's really, he's not in collateral very much. I love his look in collateral. Me too. It's my favorite Ruffalo. Slick back hair. Yeah, it's fucking great. And then Pete Berg running through the way. Like him and Pete Berg, that's a separate movie I wanted. I told you that when I talked to him for Task, I basically did Chris Farley on him. I was just like... Remember that time? Remember in collateral when you had the goatee? And he was like, yeah. And I was like, that was awesome. Gyllenhaal. It's kind of arguable because he's broke back than this, except the movie didn't do that well. So I don't think this can be his Apex Mountain. Probably later, right? I think his best performance is maybe still Nightcrawler. But... That's a really good movie. His Apex. He does... Doesn't he do Prince of Persia right before this? Boo. Because that movie stinks, obviously, but that was when he was like trying to become... He's going to get ripped. Maybe when we're in that End of Watch era when he starts doing... That's right after this. Prince of Persia 2010. Yeah. Prince of Persia 2010. So maybe it's this because this allows him to kind of springboard into that. Is it the End of Watch Prisoner's era where he's like, I'm now an established. You can put me on a poster in different movies and people will probably go? Yeah, probably. San Francisco movies, no. What is? 48 Hours? I would say both. No. It's probably the one from the 70s. Dirty Harry. Both of which are basically based on this story. Chloe Sevigny? No. Last Days of Disco? Yeah. We did that on the rewatchables. This is a good one. Fincher Villains. I'll give you as nominees John Doe in Seven, Mark Zuckerberg in Social Network, or Arthur Lee Allen in this movie. Unless you want to count Sean Penn in the game. I'd probably go John Doe. Definitely not Jared Leto with the... With Panic Room? Yeah. The Nepo Thief. I think it's John Doe. When we watched Seven last week, that scene when he's in the car with Brad Pitt and he's pushing Brad Pitt and trying to make him mad and Brad Pitt finally said, I'm like, you're a fucking t-shirt! And we were just like, holy shit. Spacey's amazing in that movie. He is. I guess it's just two different versions of villainy, right? I think it's Spacey. The thing is like... The portrayal of Zuckerberg is... We should have known. He's trying to... Fincher's trying to tell us. He's so acid, man. Like, so acid. The way that he sees him as this, like, sad, pathetic, ambition monster. Zuckerberg didn't totally realize it. Remember when Jesse Asberg hosted SNL? Zuckerberg's like, yeah, I'll make a cameo. Like, he doesn't realize. He didn't get it. Yeah, he didn't get it. San Francisco Chronicle, both in real life and then in a movie, I felt like this was... They were right at the center. They were in the epicenter, everything. Yeah. You know what's interesting about all of his villains, by the way, is he doesn't psychologize any of them. He doesn't say, oh, well, like, this happened to me and so I'm like this and I do this. Zuckerberg, John Doe, Arthur Lee Allen. It's not like, oh, well, the way he was, his upbringing or he witnessed a traumatic event. He's not interested in that. For the most part, for a certain period, like, nobody talked like that. Yeah. They just did things. Yeah. John Carroll Lynch movies? This or Fargo? This. John Carroll Lynch? Right now. Sure. Shout out to JCL. He's doing great. He's a great actor. Shout out to Joka. Donovan music? Joka, a little close to Joka. I think it's Aquarius and Goodfellas. Oh, see, I love the ending of To Die For with Season of the Witch. You know, the Season of the Witch need to drop the end of To Die For. It's pretty good. Donovan, secret movie soundtrack. Force. Or getting absolutely dunked on in Don't Look Back, the Bob Dylan documentary. Because it's Donovan when Tommy beats up Billy Bats, right? Yeah. Yeah. That's the answer. Also, the father of Ioni Sky. That's right. Who, of course, is in the family. See our Apex Mountain for wooden dildos? Yeah, I would imagine. I mean, I can't think of any other. They still sell those? It's probably the porn parody, I would say. The Apex Mountain. They still sell those? You still have them or no? You have to go to a specialty store. It's a craftsman item. I feel like there's a real splinter issue there that we gotta examine. Not if you get the right kind of lacquer. High quality. I see. Yeah. Buff it down first and then you can kind of get that grease on it. Apex Mountain for actual Fincher movies. What do you mean? Is this the best Fincher movie? Oh. Well, this is why I get confused what Apex Mountain is. I just threw that in as a bonus category. I think this is the best Fincher movie. Yes. I do too. It's my favorite. I mean, what is best? You know, like watching Seven to this day is still just really fun. You know, it's just really entertaining and it still glides. We've done it. I would read Seven tomorrow. I thought Tarantino made a really good case when he was talking about his like best movies of the century or whatever and he was talking about how he didn't love Zodiac the first time and every time he watches it he's just stunned by how amazing it is and each time it gets better. Yeah. Which I think is a really rare place for a movie to get to where it's like, it's the 11th time I've watched this. Holy shit. Yeah. Mank and the Killer do not have strong reputations. I would encourage people to revisit them again and look at them and try to give them the same attitude that you were willing to give to Zodiac to Gone Girl to Social Network because they are so rewarding. I think people don't like those stories as much and I understand that and some people just watch movies for stories but if you like to watch movies to understand how a movie is made and what the filmmaker is thinking, there's so much cool shit in both of those movies. Yeah, I agree. At least with one of those two movies. Okay, all right. Cruise or Hanks? Hanks as Graysmith. It's funny, I thought Cruise as Graysmith. I think Cruise as Tosky I would be interested in. I'd see, I could see Hanks as Tosky. Well, we have to pick. Cruise or Hanks? Do you pick Hanks? Yeah. I'm picking Cruise. I think it's fun to have Cruise in this movie. I do too. Okay. I think it's Cruise. I like Hanks as Tosky, Cruise as Graysmith. Hanks as Tosky's good but then we lose Ruffalo. Yeah. What about like 1988 cocktail era Cruise as Gyllenhaal's character? that works. That works. Yeah. Good thing this is completely made up. We don't really have to choose. No, because he keeps stats. You know, he gets analytics. Cruise is like, so when he runs out of the guy's house after he's in the basement, what if my car was parked two streets away and I really had to sprint in full speed with the puddles? I think that I will say that Cruise having done Eyes Wide Shut would be used to doing a hundred takes of something. I love it, man. Dave keeps telling me to do stuff. I don't know if Hanks has ever done that. I don't know if he's ever had somebody who's like, we're doing it again, we're doing it again. I don't know. He worked with Stan the Man. I mean, Hanks hasn't. Cruise did. Right. Yeah. So Hanks,
153:47 – 156:33… He's like, we fucked up. Fincher, who recreates the San Francisco Chronicle office. That is a cream sauce thing. That is a true picking nit. Can I go back to Apex Mountain and knock this down a couple of pegs then? If I was on a date and somebody ordered penny ala vodka, but then wanted to substitute it for cream sauce, I would have made, I gotta make a call right back and I'm out. Sorry. Hey, this girl I'm here with has a head injury and I can't date her. I have a small picking nit on behalf of my mother-in-law who was there watching the movie with us last night. When Melanie and Graysmith are arguing about …
The whole segment, as transcribed
with the cream sauce was a recipe that was popularized in the 1980s. So what does Fincher say? Like, this is actually a fake order? Oh. He's like, we fucked up. Fincher, who recreates the San Francisco Chronicle office. That is a cream sauce thing. That is a true picking nit. Can I go back to Apex Mountain and knock this down a couple of pegs then? If I was on a date and somebody ordered penny ala vodka, but then wanted to substitute it for cream sauce, I would have made, I gotta make a call right back and I'm out. Sorry. Hey, this girl I'm here with has a head injury and I can't date her. I have a small picking nit on behalf of my mother-in-law who was there watching the movie with us last night. When Melanie and Graysmith are arguing about how Graysmith is kind of starting to gain notoriety in the paper, he goes, ah, well, no one's, he's not gonna read Herb Cain and my mother-in-law shouts out, everybody read Herb Cain. And then we found out that the Zodiac did read Herb Cain. Yeah. Oh, wow. He actually mentions Herb Cain in a letter, right? Yeah. That's a good one. Yeah. Oversight by Graysmith. Sequel, prequel, Prestige TV, all black cast are untouchable. Became Prestige TV. They did Mindhunter, yeah. Is this movie better with Wayne Jenkins, Fergie the Florist, Buffalo Bill, Doris Burke, or someone else here? If Fergie wrote one of the Zodiac letters? You better keep your kids off that school bus or I'll take them out the Zodiac way. I'll shoot the front tire and then pick the kiddies off as they come bouncing out. You're gonna do this for me. I don't know what that voice is, but it's sort of I love it. It's become Bono crossed with Fergie the Florist. I thought for sure you were gonna do Doris. DB? Yeah. Mr. Zodiac. Mr. Poe Zodiac, we see the patience with all your symbols. I'm trying to decipher your game, Mr. Zodiac. And I cannot. Just one Oscar who gets it. Fincher. Yeah. Probably unanswerable questions. I have two good ones. Do you guys have any? Who's the Zodiac? I have the same thing down here. In these movies or TV shows, why don't cops realize that the serial killers always start with somebody they know? This seems to be the big revelation with 20 minutes to go in the movie. Silence of the Lambs. He knew her. He knew what he covets. It's like, yeah, no fucking kidding. This is every murder. All the stuff with Darlene and Mike kind of being like, we know who this is. This is so creepy in the movie. Yeah. Just go back and interview everybody in their life. The recognition of... Okay, so this is kind of, this is related to that. I wanted to ask you both initially if there was ever anything that was not related to the work that you do that you would have been willing to kind of throw your life away
169:18 – 172:04… going to be a solo recast away? It will not be a solo because I did cast away by myself during COVID, which I still feel like was my 81 point game. Those are Apex Mountain. Kobe has his 81 point game. I have solo cast away during COVID. Yeah. Um, but we need to redo that one at some point, but we have a lot of good ones. There might be a Michael Mann movie doing live in Los Angeles. Wow. Next month. But, uh, that's it for rewatching. The keep live? It's black. It's black hat actually. Yeah, we're going to explain it. And then, um, big picture, which is also going to be on Netflix. And then a lot of rumors …
The whole segment, as transcribed
That's on there. And then, uh, two, two, two, two films. The recast away is looming. But is it going to be a solo recast away? It will not be a solo because I did cast away by myself during COVID, which I still feel like was my 81 point game. Those are Apex Mountain. Kobe has his 81 point game. I have solo cast away during COVID. Yeah. Um, but we need to redo that one at some point, but we have a lot of good ones. There might be a Michael Mann movie doing live in Los Angeles. Wow. Next month. But, uh, that's it for rewatching. The keep live? It's black. It's black hat actually. Yeah, we're going to explain it. And then, um, big picture, which is also going to be on Netflix. And then a lot of rumors about live right after the Oscars. So some rumors. Could happen. Yeah. Where's it going to be taking place? Am I going to be inside of the Dolby Theater? Literally might be here. Will I be on stage receiving an Oscar live potting? I was very upset about Joel Edgerton. I get it. It was a loaded category. You can't be surprised. It just hurt my feelings. You just can't be surprised. That was my number one that I was like, Were you happy about F1 getting best pick? They put the one popcorn movie in, right? Yeah. So that beat, what, Avatar? Uh, I thought weapons would have been the choice because it was a little bit more critically acclaimed. But it made sense to me. Yeah, even if it was sacrificial. I'm glad people came around to my side on weapons. Keep it out of the category. I don't think, I don't think that's what happened. I think people, I think I started it. You think because it wasn't nominated for Best Picture that everyone decided weapons isn't good? Jesse Buckley nominated. I think I pushed that one. Here's the thing. Once I talked about Hamnet a little bit, I think that really helped their campaign. Nice job. Good job. Did you get, did you get the check from Focus Features for pushing Hamnet the way that you did? I would actually give you back. I was one of the first ones who said, wow, she was really great in that movie. I'll give you back a month of my salary if you get Jesse Buckley on your pod. Oh my God. I would love her. Yeah. She's amazing. She's great. She's a great actress. Great job. Mescal was tough too for supporting. What about Mescal? And Mescal. I call him Mescal. It's like he plays second base for the Asian Mescal. Luis Mescal? He just signed with the Rangers. Yeah, the Padres right fielder. Did you see Paul Mescal big Red Sox fan? Is he really actually? What? Paul Mescal's a big Red Sox fan? He's from fucking England. He got obsessed with the Red Sox. He said in an interview. It's so lame. What was your number one snub? I didn't hear your pod yet. What was my number one snub? It was just an accident. I mean, it was just an accident and I think it was a movie that people thought was going to go there, but I didn't predict that. No other choice? I never thought it would get in. It's tough because it's like predictions versus movies that I liked. You know? I don't know if there was like a massive overlook. Are you surprised? In the action? I mean, Chase Infinity maybe for one battle after another was probably the one that most people thought was going to happen. Loaded category. Pleinens? Loaded category, but also I thought
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