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Am I mis-remembering or does Chris Evans ask LA-local Jason Statham for a number to reach him on before he heads to the pier? But.... he's already talking to him ON THE PHONE. WHAT??? Chris Evans seems constantly surprised about traffic in LA too which I like. Because if there's one thing everyone knows about LA it's that it rarely if ever has traffic problems. Also some great little moments - William H. Macy saves the goldfish after the shoot out in the house. Kim Basinger does the classic movie trope of checking the sunblind for the car keys and then they're just left sitting by the gear stick! And finally why do they need Macy to ID the kid - Statham saw him with his own eyes, didn't he?

I'm confused as to how WHM didn't recognize that female cop hiding out in KB's house. I understand that the LAPD must be large and not everyone could possibly know everyone, however he seems to know Emmerich and everyone on the fourth floor. That would be her department, no? Didn't they all work together or were they a little more spread throughout LAPD in order to cover all bases? It just doesn't make sense to me that Emmerich would continuously offer a job to WHM and WHM have no clue who is on his squad.

Personally, even without the amount that I've seen, it's the people that think an opinion or a way someone (who am I kidding - Amy) sees the movie is wrong because that's not what they see or that's not the wording they would choose to describe the feeling. This indignation and justification that Amy is lazy and not up to par is fucking ridiculous and I'm so tired of seeing her every word nitpicked to death. I said this in one of the "ZOMG SHE SAID INCEL AGAIN" threads that she is human like the rest of us and it's completely fascinating to see that Paul never gets even 1% of the shit that she does. Shit that neither one of them ever deserve. These are two friends having conversations together while trying to pull out research that they may not have known before, and I would even argue that the entire point of this show is to take a look at these movies in a modern lens to see if they even hold up and continue to deserve a place on this list once it gets updated. But somehow people have a fucking problem with Amy and the way she talks about male characters... shocker... So while the layout of the group is in fact a problem and the amount of the same kind of posts does become the problem as well, my issue is completely with the content of these posts and how many people have an issue with Amy specifically.

I also thought KB was in her attic for about half of the movie and I couldn’t figure out why she didn’t just give an address. Then I thought she was in on it. I definitely thought the husband HAD to be a bad guy. Nope, everyone is good except 99% of the police force, apparently.

I disagree with the Sonny hate. I think he was terrific. I found him to be a relatively unique character for a film, a quiet non-vocal type. What was interesting, and perhaps disorienting for most, was that he wasn't given any sort of desires. Like we connect with Jacy's experimentation and trying to stop herself from this boring town and find some excitement and life experiences. Duane we could see his goal was trying to impress Jacy. But Sonny was just there. Oh sure he found some occasional moments of life - that's what the Mexico trip was - but I found him a great comparison with those other two, and frankly it is probably realistic to a lot of kids. Not everyone strives. I liked seeing that.

This movie should have been five minutes long. The phone would display the phone number from the incoming call. Even if they get disconnected, it saves the last 50 calls. Chris Evans could have told the police that a woman was kidnapped and being held at the home with that phone number. The cops could confirm the owner of the phone number with the phone company then search the place. Also, the crooked police officer hiding out in Kim Basinger's house puts on an accent which is what tips of William H Macy. Why? That seems like a really pointless way to draw attention to yourself.

I agree that everyone is in a different movie. Probably because none of them met each other. I kept wondering why they didn’t reveal Statham & co were cops earlier, because then Jessica Martin could say DON’T go to the cops. It would make a bit more sense. Of course, we’d miss the riveting stairwell scene where he is losing the signal. Macy was great though. My FAVORITE thing was that after he shoots the female cop, by distracting her by kicking over the fish tank. The next time we see him, he’s in the back of an ambulance and he has saved the fish in a tiny glass. I really wish he carried the fish around for the rest of the movie. Funny this dropped today since it was recorded in Nov. Last night on “The Good Place” (which Jason was on) they mentioned torturing Shakespeare by telling him the plot of the Entourage movie and I thought, “hey didn’t Ike Barinholtz want to talk about Entourage? Maybe HDTGM should do that one...” Is it bad enough to torture Willy Shakes? (I only saw a couple episodes of the show and I hated all the characters but Shakespeare might be kind of into the sex stuff.)

Ike Barinholtz (The Oath) and Erin Gibson (Throwing Shade) join Paul and Jason to discuss the 2004 thriller Cellular starring Kim Basinger, Chris Evans, and Jason Statham. They talk about William H. Macy’s amazing performance, Kim Basinger’s character naming her son Ricky Martin, and the makers of the movie not knowing how cellphones work. Plus, everyone has some fun with their new favorite character “Jason Statham Angeleno.”

I honestly just want to see a sitcom about ex cop WHM running a spa. Make it the next Mike Schur project and a B99 spinoff! Perhaps it's co-owned by one Adrian Pimento?

The husband was a real zero. Like somehow he got away from all those cops, immediately put the evidence in a safe deposit box. Then... just went home and pretended like everything was fine? He said his name loudly SECONDS before he saw the cops. Or they could just figure out who the realtor was. He never thought "maybe they'll go to my house?" Also he didn't do any fighting and, like, I'm used to husbands and/or fathers in movies having to really step up. Like if this was TAKEN? Liam Neeson would never. At least call the FBI if you know there are crooked cops after you. Geez.

For archiving purposes:

Exactly. He's the "observer" character, and by nature a passive person. That's why he's still in town at the end. I remember also being "not impressed" by this movie the first time I watched it (must have been in my early 20s?), but this time it played much better. Maybe it was more about knowing what to expect: there's no central plot and no major incident, and that's the point. It's giving us a true "slice of life" in a dull, decaying small town. This time I was able to take that as a given and see how Bogdanovich used it to comment on other things, like the transition from movies to TV (he doesn't like it), or a tribute to black-and-white cinema, or how one generation of kids interacts with the prior generation of parents. On that last point, it's interesting how Bogdanovich doesn't portray his "coming of age" as a pure rejection of the past, like plenty of other filmmakers were doing at the time (compare this to Bonnie and Clyde or Easy Rider or The Graduate) -- it's more elegiac about things that were lost while also acknowledging that the past can't continue. Given that, it's not surprising to hear Bogdanovich in his interview still pining for the great stars of the past.

I think it just becomes one of those crazy twist then another twist then another twist crime movies. Certainly could work but something about him being an art thief throws me. Maybe it's just movie stereotypes but it seems like a totally different type of crime even though it's still just breaking and entering and theft. It seems like it doesn't fit with any other type of crime genre film. Everyone being cops was really dumb to me. Six (?) cops knew about a broad day light murder on the streets and they all covered it up? With kidnapping? Just make them drug dealers or something. Maybe have one cop whose in on it but the situation spiraled out of control and keeps getting worse. Also, why didn't Kim Basinger's husband go to the cops in a different precinct? Give it to the news?

Where!? I looked for him and I think I missed it!

I think in the episode they said the black and white was used for it's ability to pick up facial expressions differently. It actually made it difficult for me to differentiate between Sonny and Duane until I realized the latter was Jeff Bridges. However, I do think it was overall effective. Also reminiscent of the time in which it was set. Sonny was horribly miscast, and I found it problematic that there was no real villain, and it felt like there were no real stakes, so parts of the movie felt like it wasn't moving anywhere; like the trip to Mexico. We don't actually see them do anything, and it doesn't seem to advance their characters in any way other than that the two boys are then gone when Sam the Lion dies. Was that something I would have done at that age? Sure! But I didn't see where it fit in. That said, Cybill Shepherd stole the show. I really liked the way the film treated her exploration of her sexuality. There wasn't this virgin/whore dichotomy (hello, June!). In most movies a character like her seems to be shown as a Jezebel who men should avoid at all costs. But here, she's sympathetic, if not entirely likeable. I also liked the way they treated her nervousness at undressing at the pool party, and the pool hall scene seemed actually pretty realistic for a young woman exploring her curiosity and a man taking advantage of that. (not to say he was taking advantage of her, but that he took advantage of the opportunity). I do think he was disgusted with himself afterward because I think he had real feelings for Jacy's mom.

Local references get you local work.

Going say it again before I even listen to the episode - Kim Basinger is literally phoning it in for this movie. COME ON!

It was worse than the one I wanted for my Ariel costume when I was six.

Truly Nicole was a ray of sunshine. I almost didn't recognize Paul. He's definitely had a glow up. Looking good Sheer!

Phenomenal. Wengert is so fucking good.

It was an unofficial remake of Yojimbo which led to the studio, Toho, suing the makers of this film, eventually getting 100k and an 15% of the worldwide receipts of the film, which ended up being a nice check given to Kurosawa. The movie was officially remade as the Bruce Willis so-bad-it's-good film, Last Man Standing in 1996, which in itself is a decent mob/western.

Don't forget:

Criterion puts out almost all of his movies in the US and I don't think they have a streaming platform any more after Film Struck went down.