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What always gets me about this movie is I forget how stacked the cast was with either established stars or people who would become stars soon after its release: Smith, Voigt, Hackman, Regina King, Jack Black, Seth Green, Barry Pepper, Jake Busey, Jamie Kennedy, Lisa Bonet, James Legros, and Tom Sizemore were just a few names of what could easily be the movie with the most HDTGM All-Stars in a single film.

2:22 is next week’s movie. Congratulations?

It's based on a Dark Horse comic that was originally written as a screenplay in the early 90s, but when the writer realized that current effects wouldn't have been able to match his ideas and visuals, he sold it to Dark Horse to be turned into a comic. And given that the series was only 4 issues shows how barebones the screenplay had to have been.

Boxes labeled as boxes, homeowner tips, and more on this week's mini episode! Paul offers up advice on the Help Line, goes through Corrections and Omissions for Swordfish, and shares a Paul Pick of the Week. Plus, we announce our next movie!

A few weeks ago, in preparation for this episode, I nearly bought 2:22 because it was on sale for cheap, but I decided against it because it was on Hulu. I’m really grateful they released this now while it’s still available to stream

Yeah I want to co-sign this, and I actually like that movie (overall). His character in that movie sucks and should be ashamed of himself. I guess I still have a soft spot for Grosse Point Blank though, never really stopped to think about Cusack's actual performance there (it's been a while).

Exactly, just like @Ofcoursemyhorse said. This might make the film more Hackers level, rather than just flat out terrible. And if we remember (how could we forget), Hackers was done on the podcast. So, surely, this would fit the bill.

What's more stupid is that the code is a McGuffin and they flagrantly flaunt that fact when anyone tries to explain what the hell it is, they are killed. Yet apparently it's so important that Baldwin and his main lackey will openly try to kill a kid and FBI agents. I can't even imagine what Baldwin's exit strategy for that plan would be as he would instantly become the most wanted man in the country for a list of crimes as long as my arm.

Well to be fair they wouldn't have tried to kill him if it weren't for the dipshit analyst's putting the secret code and phone number for the black bag operation they were working for in a magazine puzzle for shits and giggles. The fact that this code is a McGuffin so important that a top NSA agent would try to murder a child in full view of a team of FBI agents and civilians is all the more infuriating.

Agreed on all of this. The actors (and how big ticket they were at the time) and performances carry the theoretically plausible plot to a lot of other flawed pieces that make up the plot. Mike K

Yea its a special kind of terrible to accept a role and then spend all your time on set being resentful towards everyone for his decision to take a job he felt was "beneath him" Bear in mind this is after starring in a movie about the government trying to murder a severely autistic child for being good at puzzles.

Yea I think my biggest issue with Cusack is that Better off Dead was a couple years before my time. I actually saw One Crazy Summer more than a handful of times and I think thats my favorite Cusack movie. And thats only in spite of him and definitely not because of him. Serendipity was the movie that really made me wonder just how in the hell he was considered such a go to romantic lead for as long as he was. High Fidelity just makes me angry to think about, the notion that someone as cool as Lisa Bonet is playing in the movie finding themselves attracted to Cusack's character is legit one of the biggest stretches of the imagination a movie has asked of me.

"1. Why wasn't Hugh Jackman charged with murder at the end. Just because he was a hostage, which the police may not believe since he did not have a C4 vest and went to the coffee shop with Travolta, but that does not give him the right to commit murder. Is that the best course of action for him to get his daughter back, by killing criminals. Further we saw the rush of people and cops in the building the bus landed one. I speculate there is a a good chance Hugh Jackman took out at least one innocent bystander when the helicopter comes crashing down into the side of a building and/or on the street below." Given how felony murder charges have been used historically, the thought that Jackman wouldn't be charged in a scenario where like 100 plus people die most of which are police officers is absolutely mental. He would get like 10 life sentences at least.

Honestly surprised that this hasn't been covered by the show yet as it's such a great bonkers movie. Won't ever forget seeing this in theaters with some friends and as we're going into the theater an older guy is leaving the prior showing and just looks at us and says "don't even bother, stupidest movie I've ever seen." Five minutes into the movie, which by that point I think Clive Owen had killed about 30 people and shot off an umbilical cord, my friend leans over to me and whispers, "that guys was a fucking idiot, this movie is glorious."

If we've learned anything about hackers from these movies, it's that they are ridiculously attractive people with oversized egos and sky beam plans who love nothing more than clubbing and shooting automatic weapons.

*obligatory "long time listener, first time caller" intro* Well, we watched this movie last night and I had to finally create an account here to unload my thoughts. ...And wow. I haven't listened to the whole episode yet, but right away I was 100% Team Jason: I wish I hadn't seen this movie, it is garbage. And to be fair, I unironically like Hackers, because while it is very stupid and cheesy, they at least tried to depict some of the hacker counter-culture ethos and it is kinda fun (granted it was like they machine-translated it from English to Chinese and back, but they tried). This movie, on the other hand, felt like it was just attempting to be as cruel and mean-spirited as possible at all times, not to mention criminally stupid, e.g. jumping off the cliff. I thought I was going crazy with the volume leveling being nuts, glad that wasn't just my imagination. Also, I'm glad somebody (Paul?) mentioned The Matrix, because at some point while watching I turned to my wife and said, "THIS MOVIE IS TRYING SUPER HARD TO BE THE MATRIX, RIGHT?" (caps to depict me trying to talk over the insane noise). It's like they saw that movie and Hackers and took away all the wrong ideas. And since I haven't been able to finish the podcast yet, I must ask: are we going to address the Halle Berry hanging scene? Was that really necessary? I (sort of) got Travolta's villainous "put the hacker in insanely stressful situations" schtick, but watching this in 2020 just feels horrible. It's even worse than the terribly aged crypto-fascist undertones of Travolta taking on terrorism By Any Means Necessary™. In a movie full of stupid and tacky ideas, those beats seem particularly gross. I guess the soundtrack was cool though, pity it's associated with this steaming pile.

CORRECTIONS: 1. Aside from the playful chronology of the movie's storyline, I honestly don't understand why everyone thinks that Tarantino was this movie's primary inspiration. To me, it seems clear that the filmmakers are all big Guy Ritchie fans, since Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels had come out in 1998 and Snatch a couple of years later. It has all the Ritchie touches -- snappy banter, techno-jazz, a heist plot, and even Vinnie Jones with his super-cool, uber-intimidating one-liners. 2. The gang seems baffled by why Travolta would make Jackman hack while buzzed on tequila, getting blown, with a gun to his head, but it seems obvious that the crooks are trying to prove to themselves that Jackman could perform under crazy pressure. Although, it doesn't make sense that they would need someone who could do such a thing since his primary reason for being there is to create a worm, which Jackman apparently has all day to do while drinking vintage wine. Unless they knew that he would pull some Robin Hood-type shit and they'd have to make him undo it while fake-hanging Halle Berry ... ah, to hell with trying to rationalize this. 3. Paul seems to think someone becomes good at golf just by putting in time and practice, which says to me that Paul has never actually played golf. Golf is the kind of thing that you are total dogshit at when you first pick it up, and then after years of practice and countless dollars on better clubs and balls and what-have-yous, you are lucky if you manage to become slightly less-than-shitty. And even when you do improve a little bit and you're feeling pretty good about yourself, along comes some tarted-up triple agent in a velvet jumpsuit miniskirt and heels with the most awkward-looking swing I've ever seen and completely destroys you on your own driving range. I can't even imagine where she finds the time to work on her swing in between her international dark cell anti-terrorism hacker seduction responsibilities, which means she is probably just naturally good at the game, which is just goddamned infuriating. If you can't tell, I love golf.

Its pretty crazy this movie managed to not only have its own videogame tie in, but a toy line as well. For less than $20 you can have your own Cyborg Sutherland action figure.

About Hugh Jackman's towel. (Which was a formative moment for young Elektra). I believe it is a sarong or a longyi, kind of what surfers wear--which is super in character for a hacker nerd. This was only Hugh Jackman's third American film. So if they had an ending like the Prestige, then it would've been the Prestige that copied Swordfish, I guess. (Except Prestige was based on a book that was published before this so it would've been Prestige copied by Swordfish which was copied by the Prestige.) Very meta. I remember very little of this movie but I have some memories of the press tour. It was all about how Halle Berry got paid extra to show her boobs. And I remember and interview with Hugh Jackman where he was very impressed by John Travolta's knowledge of food. Here is a disturbing video that I never got out of my head: ETA: the other thing. To Jason’s point that Halle Berry and Hugh Jackman seemed to know each other. ... they do. They just did X-Men together! And it was such a traumatic experience (see link) so maybe they are just relieved to see the other one survived and forgot to act. Quote: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/bryan-singers-traumatic-x-men-set-movie-created-a-monster-1305081

This one seems to have slipped off the radar, but it is crazy bad, but somehow super fun to watch at the same time. I have no idea why Donald Sutherland is in it, Jamie Lee Curtis regrets being in it. It is about a mechanical virus on an abandoned ship, and the Donald Sutherland/monster is just one of the nuttiest things in any movie I have ever seen. I think they would have a blast with it, though June would probably not be happy she saw it, but they would all have questions for days! Put this on your short list!

I also love Rushmore and would love to discuss it, but I feel like most people now consider that a lesser Wes Anderson movie (behind Grand Budapest Hotel and Royal Tenenbaums). It does seem like they're supposed to be school-related in some way. In that case I also like Dazed and Confused because I love to talk about Linklater. Or if we really want to get wild, School of Rock.

Yeah I have the giant Alien Quadrilogy box set that has both theatrical and director cuts of each film. The theatrical cut is almost 40 minutes shorter with changes like the alien gestating in an ox rather than one of the inmate's dog and the inmate religion is focused on a lot more. They also are able to trap the alien like they had planned but, one of the inmates who has gone loopy releases it thinking it's a avatar of god or something. The biggest change is with the ending where the chestburster actually comes out of Ripley as she dives into the furnace and she clutches it to her chest to ensure it dies with her, while in the director's cut it does not come out of her chest. Neither cut are particularly good, but at least with the theatrical it works a bit better as it's not overly long and the ending leads really well into Resurrection.

Yeah that allegory was crystal clear through the movie.

How can you not mention monica in the first comment. So hot. Wasnt this movie actually conceived as a live action looney toons? Owen was supposed to be bugs and Giamatti was supposed to be elmer fudd.

As someone who loves horror movies, I welcome to chance to watch/make fun of shitty horror movies, especially ones that can't decide what the hell they are. It makes things more awkward, which is always good for mockery. I may have to check these out anyway, as I can't resist a pun title as good as "The Second Story." They even have great posters!