Apex Mountain on The Rewatchables
106:35 – 112:17… that a lot of these people are like really thriving off these investments. I mean, they're essentially criminals. Yes, that's a fact. It's pretty bad. Apex Mountain, I think you could make the argument that it is for Pacino. I mean, obviously, Godfather is the alternative. But this is 1992 when he wins best Oscar for Son of a Woman. And then this performance as Ricky Romo goes on to live on for the next 30 years in a way that I don't think the Son of a Woman performance did. So I would just say Pacino in 92, could you say Apex Mountain? He's scaled the mountain a few times, I think. Yeah. I mean, he …
The whole segment, as transcribed
But like me personally, I got enough problems in living in my house, you know, like just getting by living here. Like the idea of having to manage more is exhausting. Well, I don't get the impression that a lot of these people are like really thriving off these investments. I mean, they're essentially criminals. Yes, that's a fact. It's pretty bad. Apex Mountain, I think you could make the argument that it is for Pacino. I mean, obviously, Godfather is the alternative. But this is 1992 when he wins best Oscar for Son of a Woman. And then this performance as Ricky Romo goes on to live on for the next 30 years in a way that I don't think the Son of a Woman performance did. So I would just say Pacino in 92, could you say Apex Mountain? He's scaled the mountain a few times, I think. Yeah. I mean, he made Serpico, The Godfather Part 2, and Dog Day Afternoon all in a row. I mean, those are pretty good. He's probably the most accomplished actor of his generation. Even probably more than De Niro. So it comes in waves. And then he does Jack and Jill like 10 years later, you know? And he gets that Sandler love. So he's thriving to this day. I love him. I re-watched The Irishman a few weeks ago, and I was like, fuck. Pacino's really great. He's great. I probably haven't done enough Pacino, but it's hard to do him in this movie because he has so many different sort of gears and keys in this movie. David Mamet on screen, Apex Mountain. It is. It is. I think The Spanish Prisoner followed by State and Maine is a very... Followed by Heist. That trilogy of movies is him at his best as a filmmaker. Yeah. Three very different kinds of movies that all are undeniably Mamet that I love to this day that I re-watch. You wouldn't include Spartan in that? Well, Spartan is where the worm turns, right? I mean, Spartan is where it's like, is he okay? Yeah. What's going on here? And it reveals like a lot of, I think, some of the underpinning of his thoughts. But, you know, it's notable that he didn't direct this because he's just not as gifted a visual filmmaker as someone like Foley. Who like Foley is a real rises and falls by the quality of the material filmmaker. You know, he's made a lot of movies. He made two of the Fifty Shades movies. And he's been... I think he worked on... Do you work on Mindhunter? Foley? It did not. No. Oh, no. House of Cards. He worked on House of Cards. And so he kind of like... Depending on what the script looks like is whether or not he succeeds. In this case, perfect match. Perfect match of everything. Any other Apex Mountains? Is it Salesman on Screen? What would the competition be? I'm thinking to myself. Because I wouldn't consider this like a finance movie the way Wall Street is, the way industry is a finance show. Would you consider the Mad Men guy's Salesman? Sure. Sure. I mean, they're not... They're ad guys. It's kind of different. It's kind of different. I think in real estate sales, yes. Apex Mountain. Tommy Boy? Tommy Boy? I thought Tommy Boy, they made like sporting goods or something. Brake pads. Brake pads. You know I don't really go deep on the Farley-Sanders cinematic universe. Really sad for you. Moneyball? As a sales movie? This movie has a lot in common with Moneyball. Because they're selling the idea of advanced analytics? Yeah. And it's a bunch of unhappy men in a room talking about how to get success. That's like... That is a category of movie that I love. You think Billy Beedon's unhappy? Oh, God. Are you kidding me? I mean, he's rich and he's a handsome man and he was a great athlete and he's had incredible success. But he never won. He never won. It's true. You know, just like me. Never won. Sean, come on. Best racehorse name? I have Mitch and Murray. It would help if you had two horses, but I would name the same horse, Mitch and Murray. Oh, man. Best racehorse name? I didn't prep for this. Well, AIDA would be a good... Because it would be so confusing, but you would know. The funny thing is, like, Always Be Closing is so iconic and so brilliant and so repeated and parodied, etc., etc. We've mentioned it. You can't have a horse named Always Be Closing if it loses, though. That's right. Always Be Closing. Bring it up the rear. It doesn't sound good. But AIDA is dumb as shit. Like, is that based on something real? I think that that... Attention, interest, decision, action. Everything he says there is so stupid. I think it seems very rooted in, like, Midwestern sales also, like, with a tinge of religiosity to it, though. Have you made your decision for Christ stuff? Like, I'm sure that there is, like, a huge, like, treasure trove of sayings like that from, like, 50s, 60s sales philosophy stuff. I won't let this pod end without saying, good father, fuck you. Go home and play with your kids. That's the hardest I've ever laughed in a movie. That's Baldwin saying, go home and play with your kids. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I don't give a shit. Picking Nets. I think we kind of hit this, but this was... It's supposed to be Chicago, but it seems like it's also New York. Yeah. This never really bothers me, but I do notice it, especially coming from off of a trip to Chicago. Better with Wayne Jenkins, Danny Trejo, Catherine Hahn, Steve Buscemi, Sam Jackson, JT Walsh, or Philip Baker Hall? Now, I think we all know that the answer is Philip Baker Hall is Shelley Levine and JT Walsh getting to play Williamson.
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