Episode 153 - Escape from L.A.: LIVE!

[Cameron H. 23786]

Second, and less-explored in the podcast - Cuervo Jones does not seem to understand how to be a bad guy. He has created a convoluted murdersport whose purpose is to tease victims with false hope before they are shot. So when Snake beats his arbitrary game, Cuervo acts as if he doesn't know what to do. YOU MADE UP THE GAME, CUERVO. You're not going to be fined if you just shoot Snake anyway.

 

I don't think the problem was he didn't know what to do if Snake won--he probably intended to kill him regardless. The hiccup in his plan was when the Snake "Rocky IV'd" the crowd. Like any leader, Cuervo's only in power as long as the people are willing to follow him. Aside from his just being in shock that someone beat his unbeatable challenge, I interpreted that moment as Cuervo trying to decide whether he should be the magnanimous ruler and honor his agreement, thereby keeping the people on his side, or break his arbitrary rules (i.e. kill Snake anyway) and risk a full scale riot.

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

I agree he doesn't have his own movies. But I question the lack of Gilmore Girls.

 

You don't put the Gilmore girls on a shelf! ... they're in the safe next to his Harry Potter collection

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

there was alot of discussion about the basketball scene but nobody mentioned the fact that kurt russel was playing basketball with an eye patch on ... i don't know much about basketball (or eye patches) but from what i remember from the two times i have played it, with my two eyes and pretty good depth perception, it is alot harder than it looks. so if kurt actually made those shots, especially that final shot, with the eye patch on (not sure the patch was on for that shot though) ... i tip my hat to him. it might also explain why they left in the dribbling cause id imagine even running while bouncing a ball with one eye is tricky.

[Cam Bert 8145]

Anyone else notice that while they were tied up at the Surgeon General's place the nurses were carrying around trays of eyes? Now there is two things odd about this. First, they are not just eyes but eye and surrounding area of the face. The eye isn't attached to the face so why did they cut it all off? Surely it would be simpler to just remove the eye and then put just the new eye into a person rather than try to attach an eye and a forth of a face. Also unless they are going to immediately attach them why just have them sitting on a tray and not iced or anything? No wonder they all look like freaks they know nothing about basic medicine or anatomy.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

with my two eyes and pretty good depth perception,

Braaaaaaaag

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Finally got to listen to this episode and I think there was SO much left on the table to talk about!

 

I need to go through all the posts I missed now to figure out what has already been said C&O wise but I really am so fucking angry that this movie severely underused Bruce Campbell. I thought his one scene was hilarious and then that was it and just NO WTF!?

 

Also Pam Grier was flawless in this movie but I have so many issues with her character and that voice shit they did.

[Jack Frost 252]

I'd place both In the Mouth of Madness and Body Bags pretty high. Either Halloween or The Thing would be number one. Ghosts of Mars would probably be last, but I haven't seen The Ward.

[jarrycanada 2483]

and happy birthday to nic cage ...

 

 

june, nic and paul all have birthdays in january ... coincidence????

 

 

Happy birthday Nicholas cage.

[jarrycanada 2483]

exclusive picture - it's jason mantzoukas' dvd collection

 

 

he's too cool to put his own movies in there

 

I'm not happy about that because you should have wild at heart and vampires kiss at the very least.

 

 

 

[NundercoverBrother 174]

 

3. In the 90's, I used to work at a Tower Records subsidiary called Tower Outlet. It was basically a bargain basement depository to sell over stocked products that were either returned, slightly damaged or too old to send back to the manufacturer, like CDs, books and rental VHS tapes. Needless to say, we had a shit-ton of Escape From L.A. VHS tapes, and nobody wanted them. After awhile, the manager just started giving them away free with a purchase of three VHS tapes or more. A short time after, a customer came back to return this movie because she wanted us to know exactly how awful she (rightfully) thought it was. She could have trashed it, or donated it, but no: she took time out of her day to return this free VHS tape specifically to tell us how awful Escape From L.A. was. I guess she figured yelling at us was the next best thing to yelling at John Carpenter and Kurt Russell.

 

 

Thats amazing.

 

 

This is my favorite episode of the last 6 months.

I love how they deviate for 45 mins to talk about anything else including how much Paul hated Batman v Superman because thats how bad Escape from LA is. Its so bad you have to talk about how bad another movie is.

I hope they never try to reboot Snake Pliskin because they'll make him losing his eye a whole thing.

 

 

I have no problems with earwolfs decision and applaud their acknowledgment of errors in their plan.

I really appreciate Paul disclaimer and believe him and the HDTGM crew are as upset about this as the average (sane) listener. I believe Both sides will come up with a solution to their compromise.

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

i only saw the original this week so i had no real attachment to it but i know it is a much loved movie so i am just wondering what fans of the original thought of this after such a long gap between releases. closest i can think of, disappointment wise, for me would be The Matrix sequels or Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (lets not mention a certain menace). all the waiting, all the build up and then they suck. but at least those movies had abit of effort behind them, escape from LA looked half-arsed at best. i know the budgets are planets apart but this movie came out a month after Independence Day ...

 

and looking at the-numbers.com it came out a week after Chain Reaction, the same week as Jack, 2 weeks before The Island of Dr. Moreau, 3 weeks before The Crow: City of Angels and First Kid and about a month before Bulletproof and Last Man Standing ... bad time for movie goers ... great time for HDTGM contenders ...

[Hellboobs 21]

The only people who should be miffed (maybe) about losing access to the archive are people who donated a lot of money to HDTGM in the past ($100+). But, perhaps they were given an extra heads up about the change.

[Hellboobs 21]

 

and looking at the-numbers.com it came out a week after Chain Reaction, the same week as Jack, 2 weeks before The Island of Dr. Moreau, 3 weeks before The Crow: City of Angels and First Kid and about a month before Bulletproof and Last Man Standing ... bad time for movie goers ... great time for HDTGM contenders ...

 

I would love it if they did Chain Reaction, though I'm pretty sure that's a flawless movie.

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

oh yeah!! the fate of the furious (i do not like that title) shot some scenes in Cleveland ... and whos in fast 8???

 

so maybe it was a Vin Diesel V's The Rock V's Snake thing that happened in Cleveland

 

spoilers ... this shows a massive scene and i really i wish i was there for it ...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxi4x8KJ6f4

[FisterRoboto 7499]

- stacy keach puts blanks in snakes gun cause he knew he was going to try and kill him .. ok ... but what if he didn't .. what if snake just went into LA with the blanks, got attacked and then tried to shoot his way out of it ... this would have been a much shorter movie

In the same vein, why the fuck doesn't he just reload? Or pull either of his other guns out to shoot them? Like, he just goes, "Okay! Into this hole now!" If he had been on a platform carrying him downward or something so that he just didn't have time to do anything else, it would have made sense. But he literally just gives up when nothing happens to them.

 

- why does everything move so slow in this movie .. cars, bikes, horses, helicopters, tsunami ... i like the idea that they shot everything slow thinking they would speed it up in post and then at the premiere realised "oh that's what we forgot to do"

Speaking of slow-moving things, during the basketball scene, did it bother anyone else that there were SO MANY slow-mo shots of Snake with the ball, but everyone was counting in normal time? Like, if the scene was slowed down, shouldn't the counting be slowed down as well?

 

While I'm on the subject of the basketball scene, Snake picks up the ball with about 5-6 seconds left before his last shot. He picks up the basketball and then looks over to Cuervo Jones long enough for Utopia to stand up and THEN for the crowd to count down a full 2 more seconds to 3. He doesn't stop staring at Cuervo until 1, when he throws the basketball across the court. If you're about to get murdered, why the fuck wouldn't you be running to the other side of the court instead of staring at Cuervo Jones' face for a full five seconds.

 

One other thing that drives me crazy is that Cuervo Jones is like, "He's getting tired now" after the third basket. Really?! He's literally been running for 30 seconds. I know he's a smoker and all, but what kind of stone-cold badass is he supposed to be if he can't run for LESS THAN A MINUTE without tiring himself out.

 

Bonus: Isaac Hayes (The Duke of NY in the first movie) is the guard that refuses to open the gate for him as he's leaving.

 

- i know nothing about guns so i am open to correction .. but if you're in a glider, floating on the wind, and you shoot an automatic weapon ... is there not a recoil from those things? ... surely as soon as you start shooting you're at least going to struggle to go in a straight line but these guys are as graceful as a butterflies, dancing from flower to flower.

 

Not to mention that these gliders never actually lose altitude once they start shooting at Cuervo's crew.

 

Also, that seems extremely fucking impractical. It might work for the element of surprise when you can swoop over them once and open fire on the crowd, but I feel like after one pass, it would be almost useless. You're on a set trajectory, so it would be really easy to be shot down, and you have almost no maneuverability or cover to protect yourself.

[Elektra Boogaloo 3371]

Thought: How many socket lockets do we need to sell to remove the paywall? We can all go door-to-door like weirdo Girl Scouts.

 

Ding Dong, Howdy Scouts calling.

[flaccidental overdose 36]

Thought: How many socket lockets do we need to sell to remove the paywall? We can all go door-to-door like weirdo Girl Scouts.

 

Ding Dong, Howdy Scouts calling.

 

How many socket lockets are there? Snake has the one... We need alternative products to peddle!

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Y'all

 

Nicole Byer just posted on Instagram that she is going to be a guest at next weekend's 10PM show

 

[Jack Frost 252]

Y'all

 

Nicole Byer just posted on Instagram that she is going to be a guest at next weekend's 10PM show

 

 

KUMITE! KUMITE! KUMITE!

[Cam Bert 8145]

So sadly this movie is just called "Escape from LA" in Japan, so there is not much to say there. Then I went to see if it had any strange posters or anything. Nope. All hope to find something funny or interesting for you guys seemed lost when all of a sudden I stumbled upon a strange Youtube video.

 

As some of you may know Japan and China use a different zodiac. Unlike the western zodiac which has twelve symbols for each month theirs has twelve animals and goes by year. The first year is the mouse and last is the boar, and the cycle begins again. This year for example, 2017, is the year of the rooster. So what year does Escape from LA take place in? 2013. And what was the animal for that year? Why the snake. Coincidence? You decide.

 

Here's the video. It's basically every time somebody says his name in the movie from the Japanese dub made into a new years greeting. Worth watching maybe just for the odd choice of Hershe's voice. Can't tell if it's an improvement or not...

[Chainsaw Starring Nic Cage 95]

Zouks is officially my favorite of the trio. His love of Carpenter and synths has put him over the top for me.

 

Also, it's safe to say Snake Plisskin's Moist Socket will officially be the worse board member name here. I feel sorry for the poor sap who has that one!

[dickhoff3 81]

Fun Fact: The Shining Path was a real Maoist insurgency movement in Peru. They were founded by Abamael Guzman and were a militant communist group involved in clashes with the Government of Alberto Fujimori in the 90's. Lots of bombings and death carried out by both sides, a real dark time for Peru. So when Stacy Keach mentioned that Cuervo Jones was a Peruvian national and a member of the Shining Path, it's actually based in some reality. I guess Cuervo is supposed to be an amalgamation of Abamael Guzman and Che Guevara but he's got no discernible Latino accent and and is named after a Mexican Tequila. Still, someone writing this script actually did some research I guess.

 

I remember when this movie came out. I loved it and was really fascinated by this often referenced Cleveland based adventure. I was sure there was some movie out there in between NY and LA set in Cleveland and this was pre IMDB and I have memories of combing the Blockbuster action section trying to find that movie.

[Cameron H. 23786]

I'm happy to say, I've finally had an opportunity to listen to the episode--although my situation didn't allow me to pay as close of attention as I usually like. So if in any of my posts I repeat something that was already mentioned in the episode, I do apologize.

 

I think my biggest problem with Snake's to-camera line at the end is has more to do with editing than the line itself being corny. Imagine, if instead of walking out into the woods and talking to (essentially) no one, that after the smoke clears, and Snake is revealed to be a hologram, he lights his dirty brown cigarettes, looks directly at the news cameras (that are already all around him), delivers the "Welcome to the human race" line, and then pushes the button. The movie does a hard cut to black and ends with some moody synth music. The way it is now just makes the movie overstay its welcome.

 

I feel like that's the problem with a lot of so-called "Art." If you really listen to most song lyrics, they're dumb as Hell. Same with many book and movies. What makes one thing "classic" and another thing a "bomb" is almost always about presentation. In a way, "Blake Plissken" is the perfect embodiment of this movie. He had a fine enough concept, but didn't commit to the bit. Had he done so, I think he could have killed it. And so too could this movie had they managed to stick the landing.

 

What I guess I'm getting at is, even though the rest of the movie is a raging dumpster fire, I think there was a real missed opportunity to end it with some impact. Had they done so, and given us a true ending instead of this limp dick attempt at trying to be deep, I think it might have gone a long way to make people forget of its many, many other failings.

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

Ooh this is spooky. I just finally finished the ep and read all nine pages of posts, and I get here, and Cameron H is posting the same thing at the same time. Kismet!

 

I don't have much to say about this movie at all: I'm going to leave the C+Os to the Carpenter superfans. Five things:

 

1) I turned to my wife at the end and said, "Well, it was way better than 'Dreamcatcher'". Damned with faint praise, but I enjoyed the silliness of it. Laughed out loud at the tsunami surfing and the hang gliders' refusal to obey the laws of physics.

2) Am I the only one who thought that the murder basketball game, if you removed the murder at the end part, looked super fun? I'd play that.

3) My real last name is Malone, so I was a little miffed with Pam Grier for choosing a new name. And I thought about changing my username to Carjack Malone, but my current one just rolls off the tongue so nicely...

4) Why didn't Snake drive his submarine away, never to be seen again? What possible purpose did the submarine have, especially since it just falls in the water again? Why not airdrop him in there?

5) Peter Fonda was embarrassing. I felt very sad watching him in that role.

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

 

 

I think my biggest problem with Snake's to-camera line at the end is has more to do with editing than the line itself being corny. Imagine, if instead of walking out into the woods and talking to (essentially) no one, that after the smoke clears, and Snake is revealed to be a hologram, he lights his dirty brown cigarettes, looks directly at the news cameras (that are already all around him), delivers the "Welcome to the human race" line, and then pushes the button. The movie does a hard cut to black and ends with some moody synth music. The way it is now just makes the movie overstay its welcome.

 

 

Am I the only one who thought of this moment when Snake looked at the camera?