Just What is Apex Mountain: Rewatchables discussion thread

johnmd20

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The Ghost take is particularly amazing because it's seemingly completely earnest.
Yes, the way he stated it was like he's researched this subject matter deeply and had come to the conclusion that nobody nailed it better than Ghost.

Simmons cannot say something like, "I think this movie could possibly be the way the afterlife exists, if there is an afterlife. It kind of makes some sense."

Nope. Willy's gotta big time it by stating it like it's a fact. It just is.
 

Remagellan

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I also remember that him saying something along the lines of he avoided Game of Thrones initially because he didn’t like things “in the forest”.

I also agree that it’s silly for Bill to do an episode for a movie that he’s lukewarm at best on. A three person pod with any combination of CR, Fennessey, and anyone from the Ringer-verse feed would have been perfectly fine. For instance, Joanna Robinson( who oddly has never made an Rewatchables appearance) has a book about the history of the MCU coming out in the fall.
Joanna might have been too busy, or at least I hope that was the reason. Because one other possibility could have been that Bill realized that he would quickly be out of his depth in a three-way conversation about a Marvel movie if the other two were Joanna and Van.

I listened, it was fine, but it would have been better if Joanna, Mal, Chris, or Sean had joined them. But because they weren't there, it became less about the birth of the MCU and more about the rebirth of RDJ's career, which is clearly what Bill cared about in this film. Which he made even clearer in his patented absurd/lookist/sexist recasting suggestion: he wanted Leslie Bibb's Vanity Fair reporter character, who has maybe three lines, replaced by Scarlett Johansson. When Van raised that would have meant that ScarJo couldn't play Black Widow in the MCU movies that would follow, Bill dismissed his objection by stating that, unlike Van, he didn't care about those movies.
 

Marciano490

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I think Bill is a self-loathing nerd who sublimated his nerdom into great sportswriting in order to tuck himself under the halo of athletes he secretly fears will never love and respect him no matter how rich and powerful and flattering he becomes, but I’d never really thought about it till this discussion and I haven’t met the man.
 

CantKeepmedown

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Joanna might have been too busy, or at least I hope that was the reason. Because one other possibility could have been that Bill realized that he would quickly be out of his depth in a three-way conversation about a Marvel movie if the other two were Joanna and Van.

I listened, it was fine, but it would have been better if Joanna, Mal, Chris, or Sean had joined them. But because they weren't there, it became less about the birth of the MCU and more about the rebirth of RDJ's career, which is clearly what Bill cared about in this film. Which he made even clearer in his patented absurd/lookist/sexist recasting suggestion: he wanted Leslie Bibb's Vanity Fair reporter character, who has maybe three lines, replaced by Scarlett Johansson. When Van raised that would have meant that ScarJo couldn't play Black Widow in the MCU movies that would follow, Bill dismissed his objection by stating that, unlike Van, he didn't care about those movies.
Oh, he's already out of his depth with Joanna and Sean when they are breaking down Succession. Jo and Sean will talk about themes or certain call backs to the show and how they relate. And Bill just says "so, who do you think wins at the end?"
 

Dotrat

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One reason I've never had the urge to check out his podcasts is that Simmons has always been beyond awful on pop culture. I can't take anyone seriously on movies, music, or TV who ignores what is both wildly popular and critically well regarded. From my perusals of this thread , it looks like I made the right call. He's still intent on embarrassing himself every time he opens his mouth on these subjects.
 
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8slim

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he wanted Leslie Bibb's Vanity Fair reporter character, who has maybe three lines, replaced by Scarlett Johansson.
I had checked out of The Rewatchables for a good 6+ months because they did a long run of movies that I just don't care about at all. But since it's lawn mowing season I jumped back in last weekend with the Catch Me if You Can episode. It's good, despite a way-too-long, meandering discussion of Hanks vs. Cruise.

The most absurd part was Bill wanting to replace Amy Adams with... Scarlett Johansson. He couldn't comprehend how Adams' played that part, or the scene of the family watching the TV singalong. He was particularly weirded out by Adams sitting on Martin Sheen's lap in that scene. I'm far from a high-minded, motion picture intellectual, but even I totally understood that character, Leo's attraction to her, and the scene in question. He's entertaining, but weirdly dense at times.
 

allstonite

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He's entertaining, but weirdly dense at times.
This should be the tagline for rewatchables.

I didn’t think the Iron Man one was bad. He didn’t really call out nerds except in the beginning preemptively saying “they’re going to be mad I’m doing this one.” He was mostly respectful and you can tell he liked this one particular comic book movie. He did still have his dumb moments (the Johansson casting for a nothing part) but he would have had that even if it was a Mann movie starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and Sydney Sweeney.

I wouldn’t have wanted Joanna Robinson on this. They had/have Binge Mode and Ringerverse to get deeper into lore and theories. Rewatchables is supposed to be the more casual feed and Van was a solid #2. Mallory probably could have played ball on Bill’s level while adding slight comics/MCU context. I do agree it could have used Fennessey to provide industry context on the first MCU movie as well as more Downey Jr. context. I wouldn’t have hated Chris Ryan as the 3rd chair to provide his CRness but overall it was an entertaining listen I thought
 

johnmd20

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This should be the tagline for rewatchables.

I didn’t think the Iron Man one was bad. He didn’t really call out nerds except in the beginning preemptively saying “they’re going to be mad I’m doing this one.” He was mostly respectful and you can tell he liked this one particular comic book movie. He did still have his dumb moments (the Johansson casting for a nothing part) but he would have had that even if it was a Mann movie starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and Sydney Sweeney.

I wouldn’t have wanted Joanna Robinson on this. They had/have Binge Mode and Ringerverse to get deeper into lore and theories. Rewatchables is supposed to be the more casual feed and Van was a solid #2. Mallory probably could have played ball on Bill’s level while adding slight comics/MCU context. I do agree it could have used Fennessey to provide industry context on the first MCU movie as well as more Downey Jr. context. I wouldn’t have hated Chris Ryan as the 3rd chair to provide his CRness but overall it was an entertaining listen I thought
I have a foolproof way to improve any podcast episode.

Add Chris Ryan. Done!
 

Auger34

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Oh, he's already out of his depth with Joanna and Sean when they are breaking down Succession. Jo and Sean will talk about themes or certain call backs to the show and how they relate. And Bill just says "so, who do you think wins at the end?"
I am legitimately laughing now. It reminds me of whenever Bill pods with Wesley Morris. Morris is seriously high brow with all of his comments and critiques (to the point that I find him tough to listen to) while Bill says stuff like….what you just described.

It was like a podcast about science where the hosts were an award winning scientist and a 5th grader
 

Shelterdog

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I have a foolproof way to improve any podcast episode.

Add Chris Ryan. Done!
This is Terri Gross. Today on Fresh Air new-co host Chris Ryan and I are interviewing Nobel Laureate and noted author Elie Wiesel.

"Goddamn Elie I didn't know were some kind of super writer. Night, The Trial of God. Your humanitarian legacy is going to last a looong time big boy. All that and a muther fucking no-bell prize"

EDIT: wayne jenkins edited. And I will not apologize for doing bad Wayne Jenkins jokes; CR's WJ is so glorious.
 
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Shelterdog

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It was like a podcast about science where the hosts were an award winning scientist and a 5th grader
The infinite monkey cage is a bbc science podcast that i enjoy with a theoretical physicist and a comedian. It's incredible (but the comedian knows it's a joke).
 

allstonite

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DAMN OBIDIAH. I DIDNT KNOW YOU WERE BUILDING YOUR OWN SUPER SUIT? AND A MOTHERFUCKING ARC REACTOR. YOURE GOING AWAY FOR A LOOOOOOONG TIME
 

Remagellan

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I have a foolproof way to improve any podcast episode.

Add Chris Ryan. Done!
This is true...

This is Terri Gross. Today on Fresh Air new-co host Chris Ryan and I are interviewing Nobel Laureate and noted author Elie Wiesel.

"Damn Elie I didn't know were some kind of super writer. Night, The Trial of God. All that and a no-bell prize too"

EDIT: wayne jenkins edited. And I will not apologize for doing bad Wayne Jenkins jokes; CR's WJ is so glorious.
DAMN OBIDIAH. I DIDNT KNOW YOU WERE BUILDING YOUR OWN SUPER SUIT? AND A MOTHERFUCKING ARC REACTOR. YOURE GOING AWAY FOR A LOOOOOOONG TIME
...because, and I may regret this statement someday, I can't imagine this bit ever getting tired.

Chris is great, because he brings Sean's depth of knowledge, but he couples it with much more energy, and he doesn't come off as full of himself as Sean can at times.

I'm pretty much to the point where I don't listen to The Big Picture unless Chris is joining them.
 

allstonite

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It will never get old. I thought his Bono was peak impressions but Wayne Jenkins is somehow better
 

Vandalman

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The Ringer’s Bill Simmons and Dave Chang get caught up in some Twitter beef and decide to open up their own pod truck after rewatching Jon Favreau’s delightful road comedy ‘Chef,’ starring Jon Favreau, John Leguizamo, and Sofia Vergara.
 

8slim

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The Ringer’s Bill Simmons and Dave Chang get caught up in some Twitter beef and decide to open up their own pod truck after rewatching Jon Favreau’s delightful road comedy ‘Chef,’ starring Jon Favreau, John Leguizamo, and Sofia Vergara.
I’ve never heard of this movie. Most likely that’s on me. I guess.
 

Spelunker

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The Ringer’s Bill Simmons and Dave Chang get caught up in some Twitter beef and decide to open up their own pod truck after rewatching Jon Favreau’s delightful road comedy ‘Chef,’ starring Jon Favreau, John Leguizamo, and Sofia Vergara.
"Cornstarch on my werewolves" is an all-time Simmons gaffe.
 

Remagellan

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I haven't listened to the pod yet but I'm guessing there are no recasting suggestions since this film was cast right out of Simmons' playbook with Dustin Hoffman, Sofia Vergara, ScarJo, and RDJ in minor roles with relatively little screen time.
 

allstonite

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"Cornstarch on my werewolves" is an all-time Simmons gaffe.
To be fair, I watched it with closed captions on HBO and that’s what it said. But then again, Bobby CaRnavale and Robert HoRRRy.

Fun movie and a decent episode but also could have used a third as usual. Cannavale wasn’t hungover enough for Chang? He’s introduced waking up still drunk in his car
 

Ralphwiggum

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I listened to the Iron Man pod, I'm more lukewarm on BS than many in this thread so admittedly I have a higher tolerance for him than some, but I think he legitimately likes the movie and went into this well intentioned, and Van Lathan is funny as shit and I'll listen to pretty much anything he's in. And Van calls Bill on his tone deafness regarding the rest of the MCU several times during the pod. The "nerdverse" or whatever he calls MCU and Comic Book superfans is whatever, he probably could have picked a better word for it, but I think addressing the fact that he's admittedly not an MCU guy and there is a large contingent of people to whom these movies mean a great deal is OK. Overall I thought it was a good episode.

I have to assume that Bill re-casting every female role with ScarJo is now a running joke, though. Or maybe he's just completely tone deaf about how often he suggests her for roles. I dunno.

Anyway, I thought it was a pretty good episode and I wouldn't avoid it just because Bill in general doesn't like or even watch Marvel movies. Then again I'm not a huge MCU guy either and I really like Iron Man so it might be me approaching the pod from the same mindset as him.
 

shlincoln

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all time great film, but I'm not looking forward to hearing Bill trying to figure out the futures trading scam.
 

allstonite

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He’s the one who explains it. He looked it up and tried to break it down for them. He almost gets there but kind of loses steam at the end and it doesn’t make much sense and they smartly move on.

Good episode but some all time bad Simmons takes on this one. He brings up “Home Alone is not a Christmas movie” AGAIN. Tries to bait Chris about the Celtics beating the Sixers and tease Craig about the Warriors. When he said “remember when Curry used to win titles?” I wish Craig responded “yeah 11 months ago over the Celtics” and I am a Celtics fan. And his bit with the brothers living together so they must be gay instead was bizarre. They were a generationally wealthy family and probably never moved out of the family estate.

Still it was a fun episode. Van being so excited to talk about Jamie Lee Curtis and gratuitous nudity in general was hilarious. And we had CR being CR
 

johnmd20

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He’s the one who explains it. He looked it up and tried to break it down for them. He almost gets there but kind of loses steam at the end and it doesn’t make much sense and they smartly move on.

Good episode but some all time bad Simmons takes on this one. He brings up “Home Alone is not a Christmas movie” AGAIN. Tries to bait Chris about the Celtics beating the Sixers and tease Craig about the Warriors. When he said “remember when Curry used to win titles?” I wish Craig responded “yeah 11 months ago over the Celtics” and I am a Celtics fan. And his bit with the brothers living together so they must be gay instead was bizarre. They were a generationally wealthy family and probably never moved out of the family estate.

Still it was a fun episode. Van being so excited to talk about Jamie Lee Curtis and gratuitous nudity in general was hilarious. And we had CR being CR
Simmons mocking CR and Craig over NBA playoff losses like it's an indictment on their character is so small and petty.

Perfect for Slick Willy in 2023.

You can tell Craig had like 8 scalding comebacks lined up and held his tongue because Bill is the the lord and you must respect the lord of the manor. Bill is now Mortimer Duke. The irony is lost on him. Bill pointing out "subtle" rich guy things in Trading Places is just all time stuff. It wasn't subtle Bill, it is the fucking point of the entire movie!
 

Remagellan

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He’s the one who explains it. He looked it up and tried to break it down for them. He almost gets there but kind of loses steam at the end and it doesn’t make much sense and they smartly move on.

Good episode but some all time bad Simmons takes on this one. He brings up “Home Alone iwas s not a Christmas movie” AGAIN. Tries to bait Chris about the Celtics beating the Sixers and tease Craig about the Warriors. When he said “remember when Curry used to win titles?” I wish Craig responded “yeah 11 months ago over the Celtics” and I am a Celtics fan. And his bit with the brothers living together so they must be gay instead was bizarre. They were a generationally wealthy family and probably never moved out of the family estate.

Still it was a fun episode. Van being so excited to talk about Jamie Lee Curtis and gratuitous nudity in general was hilarious. And we had CR being CR
I can't wait for the Re-Trading Places pod when they list that take by Bill among the "things that did not age well." They always talk about how bad it is that gay panic/homophobic humor was acceptable back in the 80s, and then Bill lets loose with a theory that's more homophobic than any moment in the movie.
 

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Still it was a fun episode. Van being so excited to talk about Jamie Lee Curtis and gratuitous nudity in general was hilarious. And we had CR being CR
I want a pod that consists of nothing but Van telling stories about his dad. His comments about Curtis - and the story about him saying "I know one thing... If anybody in THIS motherfucker ever THINKS of taking the door off their room..." during the Parenthood pod - killed me.
 

allstonite

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I want a pod that consists of nothing but Van telling stories about his dad. His comments about Curtis - and the story about him saying "I know one thing... If anybody in THIS motherfucker ever THINKS of taking the door off their room..." during the Parenthood pod - killed me.
Disappointed we never got the full white girl starting 5. Also loved when Craig said the nudity was gratuitous and Van shut it down and talked about how there was no internet back then and this was all we had
 

Remagellan

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Bozo Texino

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Really looking forward to this one.

NOT really looking forward to Bill wishing he could recast Chloë Sevigny's part with Kobe Tai. "...I dunno. I just needed a little more."
 

Vandalman

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Do The Ringer’s Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Amanda Dobbins look like they give a damn if their martini is shaken or stirred? They put on their tuxedos to revisit the first installment in the ‘James Bond’–Daniel Craig franchise ‘Casino Royale,’ starring Daniel Craig, Mads Mikkelsen, and Eva Green.
 

jmcc5400

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Do The Ringer’s Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Amanda Dobbins look like they give a damn if their martini is shaken or stirred? They put on their tuxedos to revisit the first installment in the ‘James Bond’–Daniel Craig franchise ‘Casino Royale,’ starring Daniel Craig, Mads Mikkelsen, and Eva Green.
I'm enjoying this episode, but the confusion among the poker "experts" as to whether a straight flush beats four of a kind and saying that a "royal flush is the only thing that beats a straight flush" is making me cringe a little.
 

coremiller

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I'm enjoying this episode, but the confusion among the poker "experts" as to whether a straight flush beats four of a kind and saying that a "royal flush is the only thing that beats a straight flush" is making me cringe a little.
Also enjoying it, but Simmons keeps saying that part of the movie takes place in Monaco, and it didn't; it was set in Montenegro (although not actually filmed there).
 

jmcc5400

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Also enjoying it, but Simmons keeps saying that part of the movie takes place in Monaco, and it didn't; it was set in Montenegro (although not actually filmed there).
Yeah, that was rough too. Especially, when Sean lets him know it was Montenegro late in the pod. Bill's semi-joking take on Venice - "San Antonio with better food" - also raises eyebrows.

And, for my money, they missed the best line in the movie. They discuss the great train scene with Bond and Vesper where they take each other's measure over dinner, but they overlook the perfectly delivered exchange at the end:

"How was your lamb?"

"Skewered. One sympathizes."
 

Shelterdog

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That’s legitimately funny.
Funny because it's right or funny because it's wrong? I've never been to San Antonio but I think Venice is an unbelievable magical place, one of the most remarkable places i've ever been--but I totally struck out on food there.