Apex Mountain on The Rewatchables
28:36 – 31:24… Dukakis. Magnolias. Yeah. Who I've always enjoyed. Kind of just underrated her whole career. Still Magnolias. Jay Thomas. Oh yeah. This was, I mean, all time. Apex Mountain, no mystery here. This is the Jay Thomas Apex Mountain. We're right off of the Murphy Brown love and war moment, you know, where he was like on TV every week for seven years. Jay Thomas. I liked him. He was good. Super like him. Yeah. Yeah. Jean Louisa Kelly, who plays Rowena. Alicia Witt, early. She goes on to do a bunch of stuff. Yeah. And then our guy Terrence Howard. And I just want to do this now because I know we're going to get to, …
The whole segment, as transcribed
All of a sudden, she's looking super old and just has this look like, oh my God, my husband is in love with this lady. William H. Macy. Great flat top. Olympia Dukakis. Magnolias. Yeah. Who I've always enjoyed. Kind of just underrated her whole career. Still Magnolias. Jay Thomas. Oh yeah. This was, I mean, all time. Apex Mountain, no mystery here. This is the Jay Thomas Apex Mountain. We're right off of the Murphy Brown love and war moment, you know, where he was like on TV every week for seven years. Jay Thomas. I liked him. He was good. Super like him. Yeah. Yeah. Jean Louisa Kelly, who plays Rowena. Alicia Witt, early. She goes on to do a bunch of stuff. Yeah. And then our guy Terrence Howard. And I just want to do this now because I know we're going to get to, we could do this in what stage is the best, but let's do it now. Terrence Howard's so likable in this movie. And he's, he's just young and handsome and charismatic. And I was watching it going, can we do his career over again? Like, like, are there, is there a different way to do this? Could this guy have been like, you know, one of the big, could he have been Will Smith? Like, could he have had been in some of these movies? Could he have carried big ass movies for 20 years? I know he has a lot of off the set stuff and had a lot of issues, but I just think he's really good in this movie. So there's a performance that sets the tone for Terrence Howard's career about four or five years after that. Remember the best man? Yeah. When he comes into the best man and he plays that sort of sly, smooth, anti-hero, rabble rouser type guy, they never let him out of that. He played that for the rest of his career. He played, he played that guy. Cause it's so, and even though the way he actually talks and the rhythms of his speech and the way he actually is and who he is in real life, it just was too in his DNA. And so he never got to that point where he got to try it. Even when he got the big Marvel look to where he was very likable in that film, it got fucked up. Pushed him right out. Yeah. He had a, he had a little moment there where he's in Dead Presidents and Mr. Holland's Opus and then Sunset Park right after that. Where in a row you're like, oh, we have a new guy, a new dude. And then he didn't really do all that. I guess he did Players Club a few years later, but didn't really do a lot for until, until he got to best man, which you're right. I feel like he basically got typecast after that movie. Is Terrence Howard in Players Club? Yeah. Yeah. Who is he in Players Club? Casey. He's really good in Crash, which I think is a movie that actually takes too much shit now. It should not have been nominated. Did it win? Did it win the Oscar? Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's a tough one. But it's not- Very cute. It's not like the worst movie that's ever been made. It has good performances. It's just the overall big picture theme is bad.
62:54 – 68:41… after 95, I think he was fucked up by the cocaine thing. That's sad. I did read that story about him at the old Vic where he needed the earpiece to perform. Apex Mountain. Obviously no for Richard Dreyfuss, but could we go second career Richard Dreyfuss, Apex Mountain, or would you go stakeout or what about Bob? I would say this. I'd say this too. This is a big, huge tour de force star centric film. It doesn't get any better than this if you're Richard Dreyfuss in terms on the back half of your career. This was a big movie. I mean, when you make over a hundred million bucks in the 90s, that's a legitimately …
The whole segment, as transcribed
And then he got savage for that. But I think so. I think like the cocaine really fucked him up. So your answer of like what happened to him after 95, I think he was fucked up by the cocaine thing. That's sad. I did read that story about him at the old Vic where he needed the earpiece to perform. Apex Mountain. Obviously no for Richard Dreyfuss, but could we go second career Richard Dreyfuss, Apex Mountain, or would you go stakeout or what about Bob? I would say this. I'd say this too. This is a big, huge tour de force star centric film. It doesn't get any better than this if you're Richard Dreyfuss in terms on the back half of your career. This was a big movie. I mean, when you make over a hundred million bucks in the 90s, that's a legitimately big movie. I think it was a family movie and most people went. Jean Louisa Kelly. So she was on Yes Dear for like eight years. I don't know. Probably, I don't know. I don't know which one. Jay Thomas, definitely because he was also on Murphy Brown right around the same time, right? So high school teacher movies. Wow. So I guess you'd have Stand and Deliver, Dangerous Minds. What was the one with Sam Jackson? I'm blanking. 187. 187. There's a whole bunch of them. It's a gigantic amount that we're not even thinking of. Lean on me. Lean on me. Oh, I love Lean on me. So the case for this one, I guess, would be that he did get nominated, which I don't know if that's happened with another high school teacher movie. I'm sure that there's one. Oh, no. Erwin James almost did. Oh, yeah. You're right. So I would say that because that was an important movie. And also, there were so few movies with Latino characters. Plus, the guy was a real guy. And he was a real guy. Yeah. Big Lou Diamond Phillips around there. I don't know. I would probably go there. Hoosiers? Does Hoosiers count here? I think of him like he's like a coach more than a teacher. If we start throwing the coaches in there, then we're really. Yeah. Then now Coach Carter's in there. The trying not to cry face. I really do feel like this was Apex Mountain. I don't feel like anybody has ever done it better than Dreyfuss. I don't know how he repeatedly pulls it off in the best possible way where you just feel like he's going to unravel, but he doesn't. But he's whimpering. And it's just, it's great. The song, Someone to Watch Over Me in a Movie. So I think it's this and the finals with the movie, Someone to Watch Over Me with Tom Berenger and Mimi Rogers. They made the movie with Tom Berenger, Tommy B. The great Ridley Scott. So I think that's Apex Mountain because not only is it the title, but they play the song four different times during the movie. And then there's a really pivotal scene. I really like that movie. It's a Ridley Scott. For the people out there that are just like, hey, I'm out of movies during month 10 of the pandemic. I'm going to move into the 80s and watch Weird. That's actually a good one to pull out. I think it's streaming on Showtime because I was just looking at it the other day and I was like, should I watch this now? Is it Mimi Rogers time? That movie, she's great. I still have my stock from her in that movie. It's a rough last 15 minutes, but that movie is really good. Any other Apex Mountain? Because everyone else, the answer would be no. Unless you want to go Portland, Oregon. Well, can we just talk about Stephen Herrick very quickly? Yeah. Underrated director figure of the 80s and 90s. First movie, Critters. Pretty fun 80s horror movie. Love it. Next movie, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. After that, Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, a personal classic for me. This man is a legend. After that, The Mighty Ducks. This dude is a fucking legend. How do we like, we need to do, this dude is a, I never knew that, you're breaking news right here, Sean Finn. This dude is a fucking legend. Stephen Herrick. He has a resume. I never, never even cared to give a fuck about his name or anything like that, but that, that is a legendary run of movies right there. So what, what, what happened? What was the movie? Anytime we have a run like that, there's always the movie where the wheels come off. So took it. His next film is another Disney movie. The 101 Dalmatians adaptation with Glenn Close, which whatever, we don't care about it here, but it was a big hit. Yeah. And then he makes a little movie called Holy Man starring Eddie Murphy. That was it. Which by the way, I don't mind that movie, but it definitely was a huge disaster. It was a disaster. Yeah. We're doing a spinoff podcast called Van Defends Every Eddie Murphy Movie That's Ever Been Made. It's, it's going to be 50 movies. I can, even I, I am the biggest Eddie Murphy fan ever. And there's seven movies I can't defend, but I feel like Van could do it. I'll go, I'll go there with you with Double Team, Metro, Meet Dave. So Metro, I have defended. I have actually gotten into arguments about Metro. Metro's a good movie. Fuck people that don't like Metro. Metro's a fucking good movie. Norbit? Pluto Nash can't be defended. Pluto Nash is a little harder, but actually the most indefensible one is not any of those to me. In my opinion, the most indefensible one is the one where it's him and a little girl and the tree. You know what I'm talking about? Oh, the recent one. Yeah. It wasn't too long ago. Yeah. And it was like, um, it's like Mr. Johnson or something or something like that. I tried to get through it and I could not get through that. That movie. I remember I had to watch it. I think I was writing a review on it and the review was very, very short. My editor was super mad, but like I could not get through that movie. Was it Mr. Church? Was that it? No, it wasn't Mr. Church. It was one where it was like, it was something about he, he had to, he, every time he lied. Right. Oh, imagine that. Imagine that. Yeah.
83:48 – 86:35… Oh, why'd you go? Go see your whore! Did he fight or reach out? That had a great ending. Yeah. Oh, I have one more thing to say. She's like- No, I have one Apex Mountain we missed. Sean Stockman's solo singing career. Oh, yeah. That's weird that he has a solo song on this. Yeah. This was a big moment. Sean Stockman does Visions of a Sunset for the soundtrack. And remember, at this time, Boyz II Men was hot like fire. Fire. It's very possible. Shout out to Sean Stockman, who is one of the four best voices I've ever heard. It's very possible that if Visions of a Sunset becomes like a number one smash, …
The whole segment, as transcribed
Hey, that opus was awesome. I really- That whole thing was great. I'm just curious. Did you ask Rowena if she wanted to be funny? Oh, why'd you go? Go see your whore! Did he fight or reach out? That had a great ending. Yeah. Oh, I have one more thing to say. She's like- No, I have one Apex Mountain we missed. Sean Stockman's solo singing career. Oh, yeah. That's weird that he has a solo song on this. Yeah. This was a big moment. Sean Stockman does Visions of a Sunset for the soundtrack. And remember, at this time, Boyz II Men was hot like fire. Fire. It's very possible. Shout out to Sean Stockman, who is one of the four best voices I've ever heard. It's very possible that if Visions of a Sunset becomes like a number one smash, unbelievable hit, then maybe he goes solo. But none of the Boyz II Men guys ever really did in that way. So every time I think about this movie, I think about the fact that that was a big, huge, huge moment. I feel like people always said Wanye would be the one to go solo, too, and not Stockman. I really like Boyz II Men. I also like calling me bad. Shoot me. Who won the movie? That killed me. We've really gone to some special places here. Boogie and I are calling me bad. What the fuck? You've just been waiting to get that one off? That just came out of nowhere. It was like, yo, I like Boyz II Men. Fuck, I also like calling me bad. Fucking sue me. It's like, what the fuck? I think that was a strong, strong stretch here in the first half of the 90s with multiple guys singing together that gave us some good music. That would have been incredible if at the end of Mr. Holland's opus, when he gets on stage to conduct the final song and it's just, I want to sex you up. And that was his opus. Hey, listen. Did Boyz II Men ever get their own episode on 90210? The answer is no. Calling me bad. They did. They did. So there you go. Sean, who won the movie? Gotta be Dreyfuss, right? I mean, this is the capper on his career. Academy Award nominated and he's great in the movie. Yeah. I think you can make a tiny case for teachers. That teachers finally have their movie that they could kind of point to and be like, hey, man, I put in 38 years. And, you know, at the end, I got to watch. You deserve the chance to make out with one of your students because you put in all this hard work. That might be a good way to end it. All right. So, Sean, we can hear you on the big picture.
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