Apex Mountain on The Rewatchables
62:27 – 69:53… then emerge. No, Troy is definitely going to be cool English substitute teacher. If that's like his ceiling. How confused do you think Chuck will be with Apex Mountain? I mean, it's really, it's in the eye of the beholder. So I don't, I think it's okay. Apex Mountain, so it's the tallest mountain in a range of mountains? No. So it's like. No. Apex Mountain is, was this movie the apex of this person's career? Okay. So why is it Apex Mountain? Why isn't it Apex? It's because it's a mountain. You climb an Apex Mountain? Because it's like, they are on the mountain. The tallest mountain. Chuck has clearly never …
The whole segment, as transcribed
It would be kind of ironic that that character became, what the fuck was he? What the fuck, a film producer? Yeah. A film finance guy. Yeah, it doesn't seem like that character would then emerge. No, Troy is definitely going to be cool English substitute teacher. If that's like his ceiling. How confused do you think Chuck will be with Apex Mountain? I mean, it's really, it's in the eye of the beholder. So I don't, I think it's okay. Apex Mountain, so it's the tallest mountain in a range of mountains? No. So it's like. No. Apex Mountain is, was this movie the apex of this person's career? Okay. So why is it Apex Mountain? Why isn't it Apex? It's because it's a mountain. You climb an Apex Mountain? Because it's like, they are on the mountain. The tallest mountain. Chuck has clearly never heard the rewatchable. The audience has turned on Chuck. This will be your favorite podcast. You know what? Here's the thing. Start with proof of life. Yeah. Listen to heat. You never listen to me and Chris do heat? We should have sent that to the Peabody Awards. Yeah, let's not put that. I feel like we've been under. We'll send proof of life to the Peabody Awards. No, we don't want to sell out. Yeah. You should not do that. You know? We don't need big Peabody recognizing our podcast. Apex Mountain, Winona Ryder. I say yes. I think this is the apex. Yeah. Check. She's great in Heathers. And in some ways, Heathers is a more significant, well, in many ways, in every way, maybe. It's a more significant film. I mean, she's aged a bit, though. So this really is the prime. Like, she was real young in Heathers, I guess. That was, I guess. It's a tough one. I go with singles. I mean, it's also, it is the apex of Ethan Hawke, though. And I love his career. I love him as an actor. I say no. He's been good in many movies. No. I go to Train a Day. I'm telling you. Really? Interesting, because it changes. Yeah. Because he goes from, he's making all these movies, and his career is one thing. And then when he makes Train a Day, it's like, and the podcast I did with him, he talked about this. He's like, he does Train a Day, and all of a sudden, he can make any career opportunity he wants, he has. When he dies in the Oscar montage, it's a shot from Reality Bites. It is not any other film. So you think that's the qualification for Apex Mountain? Yes. It's the thing that when everything else. What would you be remembered for? We're talking about, at this point in his career, has he ever been more powerful, more popular, more powerful? But I would go, I would go, it's like a. Might be like, more like, they can make any decision they want, right? I don't. Yeah, I don't. Oh. I thought it was. So it's not, it's not the defining performance. No. No. It's not the apex of his career. It's Apex Mountain. Oh, well, I guess his apex is now? No. Does he have more leverage now than he ever has before? I mean, I think that. You can talk to me in a before sunrise. Financially, he's probably in the best position because he made the purge. And I think like the people who are in those, like especially earlier Blumhouse movies, like that's a pure profit thing for him. But I don't know that for a fact. I just think that that's like a very good case of that. Training Day, he's an Oscar nominee. He's married to Uma Thurman. He's the second fiddle in that though, man. He's the second fiddle in this movie. Okay. This is a Renaud Ryder's movie. When I still lived in Brooklyn, I lived in the same neighborhood as Ethan Hawke. And there was an Italian restaurant near us where you could buy homemade pizza or homemade pasta. Like they would make the pasta during the day and you could buy a bag of it. So I would do this all the time. I would go in there in the afternoon when it was, you know, empty. I go in there one day and it's just Ethan Hawke and this guy who's obviously some kind of, you know, if he's a playwright or a screenwriter. They're the only two people in there. And they're having a very intense conversation that the writer playwright guy has these pages like scripts in front of him and he's talking to Ethan Hawke. And I kind of, I'm trying to listen, but I can't really listen. And I also don't want to be a jerk. So I'm just kind of standing there. And all of a sudden the conversation ends and Ethan Hawke says to this guy, the thing is, I don't really know who this character is. Is he Nick Cave? Is he Jeff Tweedy? Who is he? And he walks out. So obviously this was something. With the guy or just who's the guy in the pasta place? Well, then the guy puts his stuff together in a bag and he leaves. Like they leave Amethyst. Okay. But I do wonder, like what kind of play about a musician could lead someone to wonder if they're Nick Cave or Jeff Tweedy? You know? That's a good question. It was. Or did that movie even ever get made? I don't think it was. I feel like, I don't know why I think this. I have no proof of any of this. I feel like it was a play. I feel like the way the writer looked and, you know, this was some years back before, like Ethan Hawke's in a lot of movies now, I feel like. Yeah. It was like he was doing, like I'd seen him in a play. He was really good in a play, like off Broadway or whatever. I think this story was Ethan Hawke's Apex Mountain. This pasta story? Yeah. I'm going to grant you train day. I'm pulling for this. I just think he's a bigger star after. For Apex Mountain, let's allow it. Plus he said that on my podcast. Okay. He said after training day. So Anona, yes. Ethan Hawke, no. Garofalo. I'd say no. No. I think there's got to be some Larry Sanders. Who knows? Steve Zahn, no. You too. Jesus Christ. What? What? What? What? What? What? What? Oh. That's like because when they're playing in Rattlin' Home, the movie about them, they're like, we just want to say thank you to Ben Steeler for putting our music in a cinematic movie. It's a culture culture. Hey, that's my bike. That's my bike, Mr. President. This was definitely Lisa Loeb's Apex. Yeah. There's no question. Oh, that's a good one. I'll add her to that. That's a great one. What about the Super Big Gulp? I mean- Kind of a force in the script. Kind of a force. Okay. I feel like. No, but did anybody ever think Big Gulps were so great that they were a metaphor for anything? No, you would just drink them because it was a ton of soda. I know, but even to jokingly use as a metaphor. I think so. I think so. Yeah, yeah. The Joey Pants Award for that guy or that girl in the movie. Joey Pants. Now what- It's Mahoney. Joe Pantoliano. It just means when you see a guy, you're like, oh, that guy. No, John Mahoney's John Mahoney. Okay. I think it's Susie Kurtz's husband because I don't know what that guy's name is. Well, there's also Joe Don Baker is awesome. He's Joe Don Baker though, isn't he? I mean- Do you think he's that guy? But isn't Joe Pantoliano? We're having a real crisis of confidence here. I don't know what's going on. We're not. Pantoliano is Pantoliano. He became Pantoliano, but there were years and years where nobody knew what his name was. That's why it's the Joey Pants Award. Chuck's really uprooted our whole podcast. We need fantasy back. The Saul Rubenek They Knew Award. Do you want to explain that one to Chuck? So in True Romance, when Saul Rubenek turns to Bronson Pinchot and we find out he's betrayed him and he's just like, I treated you like a son and you stir me in the heart! That's overacting. This is what the award is for. So it's best overactor. I actually couldn't find an overactor in this movie. I actually thought nobody really dialed it up. Unless you want to go with John Mahoney. I would say that the only person- You could say Stiller and Hawk are at various points really going for it. Stiller and the- You gave her something. What does he say? Yeah. Come on, let's go. You don't need this. You don't know what she needs. I think I know what she needs in a way that you never will. He kind of- I mean, let's give him that. Picking Knits is where we pick some knits in the movie.
90:55 – 93:42… it and had a lot of thoughts. So we're going to put that on, even if you've already heard it as a little, little bonus. Chuck, I don't feel like this was your apex mountain. I feel like the next one's going to be though. Now that you know all the categories. What was wrong with my performance? No, you were great. Okay. Chris Ryan. It got a little deep there for a second. I'm glad you fought it off. Chuck started leading in. Craig and I were just going to leave as soon as you had a therapy session. Okay. This is the last thing I'll say about this. Part of the reason I like this movie is because it makes, it …
The whole segment, as transcribed
I think that's a. Pussy Man, Uma Thurman. We're going to play at the tail end of this, Ethan Hawke talking about reality bites on my podcast. Cause he had recently watched it and had a lot of thoughts. So we're going to put that on, even if you've already heard it as a little, little bonus. Chuck, I don't feel like this was your apex mountain. I feel like the next one's going to be though. Now that you know all the categories. What was wrong with my performance? No, you were great. Okay. Chris Ryan. It got a little deep there for a second. I'm glad you fought it off. Chuck started leading in. Craig and I were just going to leave as soon as you had a therapy session. Okay. This is the last thing I'll say about this. Part of the reason I like this movie is because it makes, it reminds me of something about myself, which is that nothing is more interesting to me than the psychology of my friends. And if I could, there's nothing in life that interests me more than the people I'm friends with. And it's the same for these characters. Their entire life is built around their relationships with each other. And I think that is why it reminds me of something that I've felt my whole life. But you're right. Kicking and Screaming is a better movie. Bill just needs them for cigarettes. We're doing Kicking and Screaming at some point. By the way, I've been to Prague. We'll be back in the Rattribles next week. Reality Bites, 1994. Yep. So all of a sudden you're playing the guy that I hated in college. Who was that? Tell me about the guy you hated in college. Well, just the guy with long hair who was the English major who thought he was smart in everybody. Who knew how to define irony. He didn't know. Yeah. He didn't, he didn't watch sports. He didn't have any opinions on what was going to the Red Sox. But somehow the girl that I liked, like this guy. You don't think that a little bit of your anger might have resided in the fact that he was simply shining a light on you, wasting a lot of your time. Watching sports? Yeah. Yeah. He might have been. But the cool thing about that movie was there was this whole era that just wasn't being captured. It was like, you graduate. What do you do? What do you do? Where am I going to get a job? Oh, I thought I was this hot shit in college. Now it happens. And it's like, yeah, you're going to go work at the 7-Eleven. I really particularly felt for Generation X, whatever that, for our generation. We were a large group of people whose parents had gone to college and we were expected to go to college. It wasn't some giant victory to have gone to, whereas like my parents, like, oh, they went to college. That was really good. And now we're supposed to go to college. And now what are we going to do with ourselves? And so going to college didn't just get you a good job like it had used to. That was what was unique to our generation. So you had a whole, you know, at a decade of these, of all of us in our 20s, you know,
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