The Tom Cruise Movie Draft

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Big Picture – "The Tom Cruise Movie Draft"

Release Date: May 16, 2025

Introduction

In this special episode of The Big Picture, hosted by Sean Fennessy and Amanda Dobbins from The Ringer, the panel dives deep into the illustrious career of Tom Cruise. Joined by returning guests Chris Ryan, Van Lathan, and Bill Simmons, they embark on an engaging and often humorous journey to draft Tom Cruise’s films across eight distinct categories. This episode blends insightful analysis with lighthearted banter, making it both informative and entertaining for listeners and readers alike.

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1. Draft Setup and Categories

At the outset, Sean Fennessy outlines the unique drafting system they've devised for this episode, which departs from their usual format. Instead of the traditional five categories, they introduce eight tailored specifically to Tom Cruise’s diverse filmography:

• Blockbuster: Films that grossed at least $100 million.
• 80s Movies: Any Tom Cruise film released in the 1980s.
• 90s Movies: Films from the 1990s.
• 21st Century Movies: Movies released in the current century.
• Oscar Nominee: Films in which Tom Cruise was part of an Oscar-nominated project.
• Tom Cruise Does a Sports Thing: Movies showcasing Cruise’s athletic endeavors.
• Blockbuster Threshold: Reiterating the $100 million mark.
• Wild Card: Open category for personal favorites or unconventional picks.

Sean emphasizes the complexity of this draft, given Tom Cruise’s extensive filmography of 46 films.

Sean Fennessy [03:19]: "Tom Cruise has only made 46 films. So having said that, Bill, Van, Chris, you were bragging about no prep, you're sure?"

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2. Draft Order and Initial Picks

The panel humorously navigates the draft order, with playful accusations of rigging and strategic overlaps.

• Sean Fennessy surprises by taking control early, opting to start with the 90s category, selecting "A Few Good Men" as his first pick.

Sean Fennessy [35:21]: "It's a movie. It's a five-star classic for me. It's a legendary movie on this show on the Rewatchables."

• Amanda Dobbins aims for "A Few Good Men" as well but ends up drafting "Top Gun: Maverick" to align with her personal favorites.

Amanda Dobbins [38:31]: "It's okay. It's pretty good."

• Bill Simmons strategically selects "Jerry Maguire" from the 90s, highlighting his preference for films where Cruise showcases his charismatic flair.

Bill Simmons [46:38]: "I'm gonna go Jerry Maguire for 90s. That's the right pick. Good Bill. Strong."

• Van Lathan picks "Collateral" from the 21st century, praising Cruise’s performance alongside Jamie Foxx.

Van Lathan [40:22]: "So I'm taking collateral."

• Chris Ryan gravitates towards franchise staples, selecting "Minority Report" for the 21st century category.

Chris Ryan [49:30]: "I'm going with my heart and I'm going with the map that I laid out yesterday."

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3. In-Depth Discussions and Insights

Throughout the draft process, the panelists delve into broader discussions about Tom Cruise’s impact on cinema, his dedication to performing stunts, and his standing as a quintessential movie star.

• Tom Cruise’s Stunt Commitment:
  The conversation highlights Cruise’s unparalleled commitment to performing his own stunts, contrasting him with peers like Keanu Reeves.

  Bill Simmons [16:19]: "How many superstar actors have we had who would be totally happy if they died doing a stunt during the movie? He's the only one."

• Career Evolution and Genre Exploration:
  The panel discusses Cruise’s ability to traverse various genres, maintaining relevance across decades.

  Van Lathan [07:47]: "He's outlasted Tom Hanks as far as his marketability and his relatability to people and his relevance to people."

• Comparison with Other Actors:
  Comparisons are drawn between Cruise and actors like Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio, debating marketability and versatility.

  Amanda Dobbins [12:32]: "He really courted this idea of I am the last movie star. I am the only person who can save movies..."

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4. Notable Picks and Justifications

Each panelist elaborates on their picks, providing reasoning rooted in the film’s impact, Cruise’s performance, and personal affinity.

• Sean Fennessy:

  • "A Few Good Men" for the 90s: Praises its status as a classic and Cruise’s standout performance.

    Sean Fennessy [35:21]: "It's a legendary movie on this show on the Rewatchables."

  • "Born on the Fourth of July" as Oscar Nominee: Highlights its personal significance and Oliver Stone’s direction.

    Sean Fennessy [62:09]: "I would feel good about having Born on the fourth of July."

• Amanda Dobbins:

  • "Top Gun: Maverick" for Blockbuster: Emphasizes its emotional resonance and familial importance.

    Amanda Dobbins [38:31]: "It's great. Emotionally hot bedroom scenes we do often."

  • "Edge of Tomorrow" for 21st Century: Appreciates the revival of Cruise’s momentum post-pandemic.

    Amanda Dobbins [83:28]: "It's one of my favorite also."

• Bill Simmons:

  • "Jerry Maguire" for 90s: Commends Cruise’s charismatic role and the film’s lasting appeal.

    Bill Simmons [46:38]: "The firm is a legendary movie and is honored to have it here with the last pick of the third round."

  • "Taps" for 80s: Values the film’s ensemble cast and memorable themes.

    Bill Simmons [90:01]: "Taps is a really good movie. I like taps."

• Van Lathan:

  • "Collateral" for 21st Century: Lauds Cruise’s transformation into a more complex, badass character.

    Van Lathan [40:22]: "That's the coolest he's ever been in a movie."

  • "Legend" for Wild Card: Appreciates its fantastical elements and Tim Curry’s performance.

    Van Lathan [108:35]: "I like unicorns. And, like, it's a movie that I've watched a bunch of times."

• Chris Ryan:

  • "Minority Report" for 21st Century: Celebrates the fusion of action and thought-provoking themes.

    Chris Ryan [42:54]: "I'll take Minority Report. Just a fantastic performance by him."

  • "Mission Impossible 3" as 21st Century: Although controversial among some panelists, recognizes its role in the franchise.

    Chris Ryan [75:43]: "It's the JJ Abrams one. Philip Seymour Hoffman is the best villain in the history of this franchise."

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5. Key Debates and Panel Dynamics

The episode is punctuated by spirited debates and playful ribbing among the panelists, reflecting their diverse perspectives on Tom Cruise’s body of work.

• Authenticity vs. Marketability:
  Discussions arise around whether Cruise’s dedication to stunts genuinely enhances his performances or serves primarily as a marketable trait.

  Sean Fennessy [12:32]: "He really unites the five people around this table."

• Favorite Performances:
  The panelists compare and contrast their favorite Tom Cruise performances, often referencing iconic scenes and character arcs.

  Bill Simmons [23:43]: "There's nobody else who could have been as good in that movie as him."

• Impact on Theatrical Experience:
  The group contemplates Cruise’s role in revitalizing movie-going experiences, especially post-pandemic.

  Sean Fennessy [15:30]: "I think he's really the avatar for this thing that we're always talking about."

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6. Notable Quotes

Throughout the episode, several memorable quotes encapsulate the panel’s sentiments:

• Bill Simmons [46:38]: "The firm is a legendary movie and is honored to have it here with the last pick of the third round."

• Sean Fennessy [12:32]: "He really unites the five people around this table."

• Van Lathan [40:22]: "That's the coolest he's ever been in a movie."

• Chris Ryan [42:54]: "I'll take Minority Report. Just a fantastic performance by him."

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Conclusion

The Tom Cruise Movie Draft serves as both a tribute and a critical examination of Tom Cruise’s enduring legacy in Hollywood. Through laughter, debate, and deep analysis, the panelists showcase the multifaceted nature of Cruise’s career—from groundbreaking action films to heartfelt dramatic performances. This episode not only celebrates Cruise’s achievements but also invites listeners to reflect on what makes a movie star truly timeless.

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Note: All timestamps are approximate and based on the provided transcript.

Transcript

[Sean Fennessy]

Welcome to the brand new Zach Lowe Show. That's right, I'm back to have the same in depth NBA conversations you're used to.

[Bill Simmons]

We're going to talk about the games.

[Sean Fennessy]

The X's and O's, the drama.

[Bill Simmons]

The playoffs are coming up and now you get to see every episode in full on video on Spotify and on my own YouTube channel. Episodes drop every Monday and Thursday with a collection of guests you're going to love. So make sure you follow and subscribe to the brand new Zach Lowe show on Spotify or wherever you watch or listen. Listen to your podcast.

[Sean Fennessy]

Let's go. This episode is brought to you by the Wells Fargo Active Cash Credit Card. This is an ad for the Active Cash credit card from Wells Fargo. That's a mouthful, but that's because it packs a lot in. Earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases with it, big or small. So whether it's buying tickets to the game with your mom or grabbing a coffee with your dog, earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases made with it. Say it with me. The Active Cash credit card from Wells Fargo. Learn [e-mail] ActiveCash terms apply. This episode is brought to you by the Dark Ages ID Software presents the Dark Ages, a dark fantasy sci fi shooter that delivers searing combat and over the top visuals in an epic cinematic story worthy of the Doom Slayer's legend. Dominate demon infested battlefields with bone crunching tools of mayhem. Take flight atop the fierce mecha dragon or pummel enemies in a 30 story Atlan mech. Stand and fight on Xbox series X&S, PlayStation 5 and PC. Available now. Rated M for mature. I'm Sean Fennessy.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I'm Amanda Dobbins and this is the.

[Sean Fennessy]

Big Picture, a conversation show about Tom Cruise. We have very special episode today. Not only is CR Chris Ryan here to draft, but returning to the show to draft Van Lathan and Bill Simmons now.

[Bill Simmons]

You're already on your phone.

[Sean Fennessy]

The last time this quintet was together, we drafted Denzel Washington movies. Bill actually looked at his iPad for roughly 88% of the the pod.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, I'm not getting a competitive this I don't believe.

[Chris Ryan]

And also like went into the red zone.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, but Bill performed very well in that draft. He won that draft. According to the people out there on x.comvan, you came in what place?

[Van Lathan]

I can't remember.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay.

[Van Lathan]

I don't have any thoughts of winning. I don't want to win.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay.

[Van Lathan]

I want to draft the coolest group of Tom Cruise movies by the Van.

[Chris Ryan]

Standard Yeah, this is the Shea Serrano school. You can't lose if you're true to yourself, that is.

[Van Lathan]

Shea has inspired me. That's what I'm doing with this draft.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay, well, there was much talk right before we began recording of no Prep Zero. Now, I have tried to build in a system that would demand some prep. This is a very different draft than we usually do. Usually it's five categories. Three people, maybe four people. There's usually a lot of meat on the bone when we get to the end of a draft. In this case, eight categories. Tom Cruise has only made 46 films.

[Chris Ryan]

I think all of his movies will be drafted.

[Sean Fennessy]

Not quite all of them, but close to by the end of this draft. So having said that, Bill Van Chris, you were bragging about no prep, you're sure?

[Chris Ryan]

I did not brag about that. I have plenty of prep. What are you talking about?

[Amanda Dobbins]

His laptop.

[Sean Fennessy]

You said you could do it blind.

[Chris Ryan]

I said I could do it blind, but I'm not.

[Sean Fennessy]

Oh, yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

CR canceled one of his eight other podcasts that he goes on to prep. Sorry. Off the pike with Brad Barrett. Big hit last night.

[Sean Fennessy]

Were you double booked for anything today? Just to move anything around.

[Chris Ryan]

We were going to talk divers, you know, be like, what do you guys think? You know, we'll play first base.

[Sean Fennessy]

I mean, what do you want to say about Tom Cruise? Usually be open with some deep personal thoughts, Amanda. He's very important to you as a movie star.

[Amanda Dobbins]

He's important to all of us. I would say he unites the five people around this table. You guys have sort of a latent Tom Cruise versus Tom Hanks war going on.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, but I love Tom Cruise. It's not fair. And Sean, like, Jedi mind tricked me to make that award. Both of them.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Or was it going to be, is this going to be a time for healing?

[Bill Simmons]

I love Tom Cruise.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

We've done 17 Tom Cruise movies in the Rewatchables, which is four more than anyone else. And there's like, seven left to do, like, easily. And I haven't run out of things to say about him yet.

[Chris Ryan]

Have you ever. What's the closest you ever got to having him on your pod?

[Bill Simmons]

You know, by the time I had a podcast, he'd already gotten pretty weird. You know, it's like pre 05 cruise, post 05 cruise. And I just don't think he would do stuff like that anymore.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, right. I was just wondering about that.

[Sean Fennessy]

Has he ever done a podcast?

[Chris Ryan]

Just was watching his. Some of his con stuff and some of his, like, London media tour for Mission Impossible, Final Reckoning. And I was like, he's got really good anecdotes. I wish he would just do one. But I, I understand what you're saying. It's.

[Bill Simmons]

I think after the Lauer interview, however many years ago that was, I think.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It'S all like 20 years ago. Like the Oprah couch and this couch does not look unlike the Oprah couch is 20 years ago this month I.

[Sean Fennessy]

Had the special order for this pod.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, Chris, you ready? Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

So, like me talking about how much I love podcasting.

[Van Lathan]

Podcasting is too freewheeling. It's like it's long form. You're going to get a lot of time. There's going to be people asking, why don't you ask him about this? Why don't you ask him about that? I don't know if like he wants to get that deep into the whole, the whole depths of Tom Cruise lore by doing the pod like so everyone says.

[Bill Simmons]

He's like so crazy intense. It would be really fun to interview him because there's just like a charisma and magnetism to him. Yeah, everyone agrees that almost feels like.

[Sean Fennessy]

You'Re with like he's very like eye contact. Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

I feel like you're the only person in the world. That's what everybody says.

[Sean Fennessy]

And also like you said, Chris, like he does have great stories. The problem is because all of his press has been so tightly managed and contained over the last 20 years, I have now heard all of those stories 14 times. Amanda and I were in Vegas last month for Cinemacon and he gave an extended almost 20 minute presentation tribute to Christopher McQuarrie, the Mission Impossible director. And he dropped like three or four anecdotes I'd just heard multiple times before. So he's kind of just relying on the same material, I think, to kind of stay boring on purpose so that nobody gets him in that town hall scenario that you're describing.

[Van Lathan]

You know what he is to me?

[Bill Simmons]

Finn has the opposite strategy.

[Van Lathan]

I give it to you all.

[Bill Simmons]

He stays unboring on purpose.

[Van Lathan]

He's movie guy to me. Let me tell you what I mean. When I think of the NBA, I think of Michael Jordan like right away. When I think of tennis, I know I think of Pete Sampras just cause that was my tennis guy when I was watching a lot of tennis. When I think of movies, I think of Tom Cruise. He's got this ridiculously wide appeal in terms of how the films that he's been in, he's never quite been appreciated as the actor's actor. But I think the longer his career stretches out, we're starting to get an understanding of how hard it is to be in as many different genres of movies as he is and to be that excellent. So he is movie star. When I think movie star, I think Tom Cruise. For a second it was Tom Hanks. But he's outlasted Tom Hanks as far as his marketability and his relatability to people and his relevance to people, he's outlasted Tom Hanks.

[Chris Ryan]

We don't know if Tom Hanks had made seven castaways.

[Van Lathan]

We might be, but that might be part of the calculus as to why Tom Cruise. I don't know if Tom Hanks would want to make seven of any movie that he's in. But Tom Cruise wanted it. He wanted to be the biggest movie star for the longest amount of time.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, but he only outlasted him because he just decided to make action movies for 20 years in a row. It's like he's taken a chance. Since when? When was his last chance? Tropic Thunder, I think you could argue.

[Sean Fennessy]

Lions for Lambs is kind of a chance that it's like it was an actual drama. He was playing a politician. It was kind of an unusual part for him. It just happened to be an absolute dog baby of a movie. And then nobody remembers it or thinks about it.

[Van Lathan]

Terrible. Terrible.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, we talked about. He never had his. The verdict. He just. For whatever reason, he never wanted to age.

[Sean Fennessy]

Part of the reason movies.

[Bill Simmons]

He wants to pretend he's still Tom cruise from 20 years ago.

[Sean Fennessy]

This is a really good time to be doing this drafting conversation because I think, at least by the way it's being communicated to us, the final reckoning, the Mission Impossible movie coming out next week is. I don't know if it's gonna be the last Mission Impossible movie. Probably not, but they're demarcating it as like the end of something. And the next movie he's making is with Inari too. And he has not worked with a director like that in a long ass time. I mean, we're talking 20 years. I mean, he has not worked with a, you know, aggressive auteur, an international filmmaker. Like that's just not what he does. He has his guys, he has his Macquaries and his Kaczynski's. He brings in like Brad Bird occasionally, J.J. abrams, but like really polished Hollywood filmmakers. So maybe he's about to go on that period where he takes more chances. I don't know.

[Bill Simmons]

It's like I Loved when Leo was in the bear. Can I be in a bear?

[Chris Ryan]

Can I just make the revenge again?

[Bill Simmons]

Stay in the bear.

[Sean Fennessy]

Maybe he should be the bear.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

You know, to. To Vance point about him being like movies person in. In our lifetimes, I also think he's kind of like the definitional movie star of each decade that he's participated in in different ways. So like the 80s, obviously, this like absolutely stunning, charismatic young movie star that brings the kind of Bruckheimer Simpson gloss to life with his smile. The 90s, like the anchor to those really well crafted genre movies that I think we kind of like refer to over and over again. Perhaps out of generational laziness, but certainly that's where our tastes lie. 2000s high concept, big blockbusters. That's where the Mission Impossible ball starts rolling downhill. And now in this era, kind of the figurehead for the. We have to save the theatrical experience. Movies really matter. Movies are like an important American export, et cetera, et cetera. That he really hammers more than the importance of Mission Impossible as a story or Ethan Hunt as a character. It's really like the movie serves the movies rather than like a story. I think he's been a fascinating figure in that way.

[Van Lathan]

He also kind of in there was also the mascot for the death of the movie star when he started to.

[Bill Simmons]

Have that was Will Smith.

[Van Lathan]

I really don't. I think that Tom was so well regarded and he was so beloved that when the entire mid 2000s stuff started to happen and he couldn't really find his footing, he was making movies that people would have liked in eras gone by, but they weren't going out to see him. Now that it was kind of like, we don't need Tom Cruise's anymore. We have all this IP stuff. We can stick a Chris in there and get the same type of feeling. And we don't need that one guy.

[Bill Simmons]

And then Chris Ryan.

[Sean Fennessy]

Chris Ryan.

[Chris Ryan]

And then that's the Ringer podcast network philosophy. Stick with Chris in there.

[Van Lathan]

Tom Cruise outlasted that. He outlasted that and he brought it. He reoriented things back around himself and.

[Amanda Dobbins]

He really courted this idea of I am the last movie star. I am the only person who can save movies as a way both to come back from like kind of 10 years of in the wilderness. I don't know how many movies from 2005 to 2015 will get drafted. I mean, they have to because we have to draft so many of them. But he did manage to kind of glom onto the concept of Movies. And if you go to the see movies, you go see Tom Cruise. And so, I mean, you know, there was, like, a national research group study recently where it's like, who are the movie stars? Tom Cruise is the first name on all of them. When I interviewed a bunch of, like, Gen Z kids for this podcast, Tom Cruise was their movie star. He, like, he saved the movies, though, maybe only for himself. He's, like, the last one left.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, I think he's made efforts to be like, I'm seeing Tenet today, guys. You should come see Tenet. Despite the fact that there's a pandemic, he just had a photo op for sinners. Like, he is making an effort to kind of point out that going to the movies matters.

[Bill Simmons]

Does it seem authentic to you, though?

[Sean Fennessy]

I think he authentically loves movies. Whether or not he, like, actually understands the subtext and themes of sinners is not clear, and he'll never speak on it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Also, like, does he actually go to theaters? He says he does.

[Bill Simmons]

That's the podcast. I want to hear Tom Cruise on Sinners.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Breaking down the blues in 1930s.

[Sean Fennessy]

I mean, obviously it benefits him to support sinners, because then people will come.

[Chris Ryan]

To his mouth in his mouth, and that's just what's. What's going on there.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, I think it's probably important to circle that 2005 demarcation point in time, too, because, you know, like, that's not just when, like, IP comes in, and it's not just. It's when he is sort of, like, hitting the stage of your career where if you don't have a life raft to cling to, you would become Tom Hanks, where you'd only become interested in doing character parts or parts about older guys. And he has this obsession with, like, the retention of youth.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, think about 05, too. People coming for his title, too. Damon's already making the Bournes. Leo's really coming. He's doing the Cruise playbook of working with great directors. Denzel's still there, and it's a little like LeBron in the NBA when all the young guns are coming, trying to stay relevant, be in there. But, you know, like, father's coming, but.

[Chris Ryan]

Like LeBron, Father Time's coming. Science has allowed him to, like, stay. Stay young.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, and, you know, all the. All the ladies. The guy's just an incredible bachelor.

[Chris Ryan]

Tom Cruise.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, yeah, sure.

[Bill Simmons]

The energy you get from playing the field like he has.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Sure, yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Ana de Armas. Penelope Cruz.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right.

[Bill Simmons]

Nicole Kidman in her prime. Just. It's just an incredible. Nobody has a better list than Cruz.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. 2005 as well. In 05, he. He makes a second movie of Spielberg and then Rogers and then. And then things go sideways and he and Spielberg don't talk for 15 to almost 20 years and they go sideways.

[Chris Ryan]

Off of the couch stuff. Right?

[Sean Fennessy]

It was off of the Scientology stuff.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, but the. That's all because of Scientology. He makes a number of. Well, not because of.

[Sean Fennessy]

But Spielberg literally does credit him with saving Theatrical with Top Gun, Maverick. Like in that particular case. It's kind of true. I mean, that is the movie that brought back movies for so many people. That was you. You went into the movie and you saw that movie. Movie theaters.

[Bill Simmons]

Sierra and I did a rewatchables in my guest house. Like 15ft apart.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. Gave each other Covid for the fifth time.

[Bill Simmons]

We stayed just far enough apart to rave about Maverick for two hours. It was great.

[Sean Fennessy]

So, yeah, I mean, I think even though it does benefit him, I think he actually is really the avatar for this thing that we're always talking about. He does want you to show up on Friday night.

[Van Lathan]

Deeply cares. I mean, it certainly benefits him, but I think he looks at himself as the last gunslinger in the West. I think he deeply, deeply cares because in order to do the types of things that he does and involve himself in the type of spectacle that he's willing to involve himself in, you just have to have an incredibly inflated sense of self purpose. You just. You do. And so I think he deeply cares. He believes it. Obviously, it's what he's kind of built his life around. I think Tom Cruise thinks that there's something special about the movies and he doesn't want to have his life end while the movies have. While their lives have ended. Like, he. He cares very deeply, I think.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, think about this. How many superstar actors have we had who would be totally happy if they died doing a stunt during the movie and that's how they went out? He's the only one.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yep.

[Bill Simmons]

Nobody else would be like, hey, could you. You might die during this. Like, that's fine. If, if that's what was meant to happen, then that's what meant. Like, if we find out Tom Cruise, God forbid, died doing a movie, it would not be surprising, right?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, there, there.

[Bill Simmons]

Nobody would be like, oh my God, I can't believe that happened. We'd be like, yeah, we've been wondering if this is going to happen.

[Amanda Dobbins]

We've been preparing ourselves for like the last five.

[Bill Simmons]

Nobody else like that.

[Chris Ryan]

But it seems like the way that he wants to go out. I mean, he seems way more interested in leaping off of buildings than making his verdict. And the contrast to this would be like, Keanu Reeves is just like, my body is broken down. I made too many of these movies. I cannot play John Wick. And then they're like, we'll put another zero on it. And he's like, fucking fine.

[Bill Simmons]

Like, fine. I'll just give me some more Toradol.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. I want to save all of my final reckoning thoughts for next week and the movie comes out, but I will say that there is a stunt in this movie that, like, I actually don't know how he didn't die. I don't understand it. I don't know how they did it. And it's one of the most dangerous looking things I've ever seen. Fair to say.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I mean, it's astonishing. And you know it's coming and you're still like, what are you doing? Like, it's the only reaction.

[Sean Fennessy]

He's in his 60s.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's crazy. So I think you're right, Bill. I think he would probably be content going out as the entertainer's entertainer. That's the thing he's most interested in right now is did I, did I give you your money's worth?

[Chris Ryan]

I think a lot of people would be like, this is really fucked up. People would be like, let's go see it.

[Van Lathan]

And look, he's not like, we. He doesn't do podcasts. He's not fucking around on social media. He doesn't see. He's not tiktoking it up. Like when you talk about Will Smith, Will Smith had a run as the world's biggest movie star. And he's very adaptive. If there's something new out there to reach people and whatever, Will's gonna try it. Will's gonna make sure that he seems like the cool uncle. Like, Tom wants to be the Obi Wan Kenobi of the movie industry. He wants to show people the way things were in the past and, like, initiate everyone into why this old religion still matters. Like, he doesn't care about anything else. And there's a purity to that that, like, has outlasted the fact that the guy was really off putting in a real way for a long time. And we've. You come back to him. He's the man again.

[Bill Simmons]

I don't think he knows what else to do.

[Sean Fennessy]

I think that's part of it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, I think that's definitely the inner.

[Chris Ryan]

Ritsu thing is going to be so fascinating because that on and in and of itself, it'll be a litmus test of, like, with Tom Cruise, outside of Mission Impossible, outside of Maverick or Top Gun, can he sell a movie? What kind of movie is this going to be? And does it require Tom Cruise to actually speak about the themes and ideas, the story and the direction and stuff in a way outside of. Like, I jumped off of this and hung onto that. Movies. That's like, basically how they sell these Mission Impossibles. So if you're. If you're. I'll be very curious to see if he opens up or if he's like, there's a pathway back to him talking. He's also, like, kind of a man out of time. Like, there is no reference points on Tom Cruise's Persona or body. Like, there's never. Like, he is not writing an op ed about Biden. Like, he is not, like, wearing Amazing.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's hard for me to imagine him using a cell phone.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And, like, I know he has one, but, like, does he have. Does he have a smartphone? You know, like, he's like, he's not Will Smith on Instagram or TikTok or whatever. Like, he's. Does he know what that is?

[Chris Ryan]

Why does he actually drive? You know?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, that's not how that's. It's happening.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, okay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, he drove.

[Sean Fennessy]

I mean, he's on a motorcycle.

[Van Lathan]

Crazy.

[Sean Fennessy]

You know, like, he flies helicopters. You know, like, his. He is a man of action. He's not a man of looking at screens. You know, that's just how he's defined himself in both movies. And I think in real life, like, even the strange stories you hear kind of out of the sidelines of some of the Scientology stuff is always like, he forced a man to live in a garage to build him a motorcycle. You know, it's like, it's all kind of related to this bigger idea of, like, I'm going to go on a mission and I'm going to entertain you with my mission. He's just singularly focused.

[Bill Simmons]

I don't feel like he's the last movie star, though, because I think Leo is definitely agree. Every time he makes a movie, people care about it. They know it's happening, and if it's good, they'll go see it. And that. I think Chalamet is getting there.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, look who's crawling back to Chalamet.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

All right. We were working.

[Bill Simmons]

Even if I want to throw a soda in his face. Another Celtic game. I think he's. I think it's hit the point now where if he's making a movie, people will notice that he made a movie, and they'll probably go see it if it's okay or good.

[Sean Fennessy]

We forget how present Tom Cruise was in the public in the 90s. What Chalamet is doing right now, courtside with two Kardashians.

[Chris Ryan]

Jenner's.

[Sean Fennessy]

But, yeah, Jenner. Excuse me. Thank you for clearing that up. I know you're an expert on the issue.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, it was both.

[Bill Simmons]

No bad history there.

[Sean Fennessy]

And he was not that audacious and tabloid, but he did fall in love with and marry Nicole Kidman on a film and was a huge tabloid figure in that very traditional way that movie stars kind of have to be to go to that final level of, you are one of the 10 most famous people in the world. And he obviously is trying to navigate what it means to be the most famous person in the world without giving anything of yourself ever again. I don't know if that's ever been sustained where he kind of just like, turned the machine off 19 years ago and was like, you'll never hear anything about me as long as I live, but I insist on being in front of you forevermore.

[Van Lathan]

But he was very deliberate about it. Sued the tabloids. Kind of ended a wave of just being able to say whatever you want about someone in that way, which kind of then inspired some new media in terms of the way celebrities are covered and, like, the TMZ of it all and all of that kind of stuff. And so, look, I do. I think Leo is obviously a gigantic movie star. He's a. I don't think Leo makes event movies in the same way that Tom Cruise makes them. I think Leo is the actor's movie star and Tom Cruise is the movie star's movie star. And so I think that's kind of what separates, like, those two.

[Bill Simmons]

There's one other thing, though. Tom Cruise is unintentionally funny in many of his movies, and that's one of the many reasons we love him. He is a character within him playing Tom Cruise in whatever. There's the Tom Cruise character and then there's the character. And like some of my favorite movies that he's done, it's just a one of a kind. Only Cruise could be in this movie. Like, when we did A Few Good Men for rewatch, it was like, he's just fucking hilarious in that movie over and over again. There's nobody else who could have been as good in that movie as him. And he's a good actor, but it's also kind of enjoyable and kind of funny.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. And if he's in a bad movie, his weirdness elevates the badness in a good way. And if he's in a good movie, he can lock in and make be the best part of a good movie, which is a very powerful skill.

[Van Lathan]

There's something in A Few Good Men, though, to where he's acting. Tom Cruise acting with a capital A. But then Jack Nicholson is acting and you're like, all right, well my boy's got some limitations.

[Sean Fennessy]

No. But you know, my take on the scene is always that Cruz wins that scene. Really Always.

[Van Lathan]

I.

[Bill Simmons]

One of his worst takes.

[Van Lathan]

Wheatly disagree.

[Chris Ryan]

The last scene.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

That you can't handle the truth.

[Van Lathan]

I think, I think to me that.

[Sean Fennessy]

These guys look.

[Van Lathan]

When it went bad.

[Sean Fennessy]

That's the best part of the movie to me when he says and the cameras slowly he's moving to anyway. Yeah. I, I do think that he is not Daniel Day Lewis and he is not Marlon Brando and no one ever really thought that he was. And it's proven by the fact that he's only got three Oscar nominations for acting and he really never had a chance to win any of them.

[Bill Simmons]

Even though hosed in Jerry Maguire for sure. Jeffrey Rush.

[Chris Ryan]

I think he also, he. He let that boat sail 20 years ago though. Like, I mean it's so interesting the last five years, his emergence out of the pandemic as like the. The sort of foundational piece of the theatrical experience. Whereas like you know, 10, 12 years ago he was making like Reacher movies and kind of like off brand sci fi the Mummy and trying to get franchise launching them kind of explode again.

[Sean Fennessy]

There are a couple of exceptions where I think people forget that, you know, he did make American Made. You might not like American Made.

[Van Lathan]

I like that movie.

[Sean Fennessy]

But that's a very different kind of a movie from what we're describing. He did make lines for Lambs. Like, it's not that he didn't make any movies. Those were both real movies. They're both docudrama or one's a docudrama. One's he, you know, like a American political thriller. Like those were. They weren't just the Mummy. The Mummy was to me a low. That's like the absolute basement of him being like, I need another Mission Impossible and if I don't build one, I'm going to run out of room to survive in Hollywood. And it went so sideways that like we've kind of memory holed that movie.

[Bill Simmons]

But that's the bummer Is that he never just zagged. All the other great actors zagged. And even if the zag didn't work, they still tried it. And he was just like, I. I.

[Van Lathan]

Think he's gonna zag this.

[Bill Simmons]

I hope he does.

[Van Lathan]

They will.

[Bill Simmons]

63.

[Van Lathan]

They will. I mean, sometimes it happens later for some. They will give him one. He will get a juicy role, and everybody will be like, now when he gets his little statue or. Because I do think that's what's happened is because Tom Cruise hasn't sought to be appreciated as a great actor or as a transcendent actor. I think we're a little bit too hard on him. He's a much better actor than I think he's given credit for. I think.

[Sean Fennessy]

I think he's an amazing actor. And I think that, to the Zach point, he kind of already did it. I mean, he goes, eyes Wide Shut. Magnolia, Vanilla Sky. Can you. Those are three of the most audacious studio movies ever made. So, you know, at a certain point, it was sort of like collateral. Yeah. He felt like he did his thing in that respect and then was just like, I need to save Heart Harbor.

[Bill Simmons]

I was gonna wear the Cruise suit today because I kind of have his hair.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, yeah. Do the open shirt.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, yeah. But I decided not to.

[Chris Ryan]

Hey, homie, is that my briefcase?

[Sean Fennessy]

Did you consider going shirtless for this episode? The way the crews often go shirtless.

[Chris Ryan]

In films in honor of Last Samurai? No, I did not.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay. Yeah, I didn't either. Do you want to draft? What do you want to do?

[Bill Simmons]

I've never seen Last Samurai.

[Sean Fennessy]

Interesting.

[Van Lathan]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

That's awesome.

[Bill Simmons]

Two Cruise movies I've never seen. Samurai and Mummy.

[Chris Ryan]

Okay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

Just like, I was just out. You want to Samurai wasn't bad, though.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's okay.

[Bill Simmons]

It's, like, watchable, comparatively.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, it's fine.

[Van Lathan]

It's.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, it's, like, got totally. It's got good action scenes and goes.

[Van Lathan]

There for one summer and becomes the greatest samurai in the whole city.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Sure.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. I mean, framing of the story is.

[Bill Simmons]

Not like I'm like, you know, discerning movie watcher. Like, I watched Masquerade with Rob Lowe and Kim Catral last night on Tubi.

[Van Lathan]

It's not like you're too big.

[Sean Fennessy]

You were scouting Masquerade.

[Bill Simmons]

My wife loves Masquerade.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Carrie Rolls carries the Masquerade written by Dick Wolf.

[Sean Fennessy]

The faraway look in his eyes, though, where he's like, I can't believe I have to prepare Masquerade Rewatch now.

[Chris Ryan]

It's not a rewatch because it's not crazy 80s yet.

[Bill Simmons]

Nah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay, we should draft because we have a lot of drafting to do.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

Before we do that, I just wanted to say he has 21 films that have made at least $100 million. I would venture to guess that's the most of anyone will ever do a draft for.

[Chris Ryan]

So the blockbuster Threshold is what, 100 million?

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay, so there are 21 movies that are eligible in that category. Shall I go through the rest of the categories before we set the draft order?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Absolutely.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay. There's eight of them. Like I said, 80s. Any film released in the 1980s. 90s. Any film released in the 1990s. 21st century. So any movie released in this century is eligible. Oscar nominee. The point of this is not Tom Cruise's nominations, but any film he's been a part of that has received at least one Oscar nomination. Mission Impossible. You must draft one of the seven eligible Mission Impossible films.

[Van Lathan]

Interesting.

[Sean Fennessy]

We're not making Final Reckoning eligible here today. And then here are the last three categories. Tom Cruise does a sports thing. Tom Cruise famed for his athletic or not so athletic pursuits in his movies. There are many such examples.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Just a point of order here. It's him doing a sports thing in a movie. Not a sports thing. Not a sports movie.

[Sean Fennessy]

Not a sports movie. Though he is doing sports things in sports movies. Yeah, but this could be. And we'll go through the myriad examples. I'm sure it's Bill who has made this clear to me in 1999, reading his column when I was like, boy, Tom Cruise sure does love to do X, Y or Z. Like you were always pointing out. Like when he's.

[Bill Simmons]

It's him and Brandon Walsh, too. The great athletes.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, yeah, of course.

[Sean Fennessy]

And then Blockbuster, of course. Hundred million dollar threshold. And Wild Card. Wild card will be interesting because you'll probably be pulling from the drag. So we'll be getting down to the bottom tier.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Cruise movies.

[Bill Simmons]

Jerry Maguire. A sports thing or not a sports thing?

[Van Lathan]

He doesn't do a sports thing in the movie.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Here's a question.

[Chris Ryan]

Runs.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Is running really?

[Van Lathan]

That's what I'm saying. Well, if running's in there, then we.

[Sean Fennessy]

Can pick it up this out. Is. Is running eligible?

[Chris Ryan]

Well, is running more athletic than billiards?

[Sean Fennessy]

That's not the. That's not the question.

[Chris Ryan]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

That, like, it's not about what's more athletic. It's. Is it a sports thing?

[Chris Ryan]

Is. Is pool of sport.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes, yes. Billiards is a sport.

[Van Lathan]

It's a sport. More like a game.

[Sean Fennessy]

Is Dance. A sport dance.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's athletic. Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

By the way, does Tom Cruise have to do the thing or does his character have to do the thing in the movie?

[Sean Fennessy]

Meaning is there a stunt double?

[Van Lathan]

Meaning, no.

[Chris Ryan]

Is there sports happening in the movie?

[Van Lathan]

No, no, no. There's one movie where he does a thing. And I know it's not him who did it, but his character's doing a sporting.

[Sean Fennessy]

His character. I would say.

[Amanda Dobbins]

No.

[Sean Fennessy]

I disagree.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I think it should be him.

[Van Lathan]

Well, so it has to be. Okay, so we gotta let this. There's one movie that I'm thinking about where he does a thing.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, yeah.

[Van Lathan]

And I know.

[Sean Fennessy]

I know what you're thinking of.

[Van Lathan]

I know he didn't do the thing. It's really.

[Sean Fennessy]

I want that one to be eligible, though.

[Van Lathan]

It's one of the fucking craziest things.

[Bill Simmons]

The stand in. I know what you're talking about. The sidewalk.

[Sean Fennessy]

I think I should be eligible.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

Even though you're right.

[Van Lathan]

He didn't do that. He didn't do it. And it's just a funny thing to have that character do in that movie. I'm like, what the fuck?

[Amanda Dobbins]

But it's. Yeah. Okay, now I know, too.

[Sean Fennessy]

Ironically, Jerry Maguire is not eligible for that category.

[Bill Simmons]

So we're not drafting girlfriends. Where do we land in category?

[Sean Fennessy]

No. But if you'd like to continue naming them, feel free.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, girlfriends would be fun. I'd probably lock down Katie Holmes early. I thought she was great.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I think that's more or less what happened.

[Bill Simmons]

Really? That was an unbelievable pull by Cruz.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Smoking hot at the time.

[Amanda Dobbins]

She still looks great.

[Chris Ryan]

She has a great.

[Bill Simmons]

She's been the best for almost 30 years.

[Van Lathan]

Okay, so this is gonna be. This is super Sagi, but Saji, as in Saji. We call it Saji on the Midnight Boys when we get a little Saji. So it is Sagi.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's not the Midnight Girls.

[Van Lathan]

You know, it's true. So of all of them, you could do in young Katie Holmes. Now we're talking Mimi Rogers in the 80s, which I had to put some of the kids around here.

[Bill Simmons]

That would be a great category.

[Van Lathan]

I'm talking like, Anna de Armor. Penelope Cruz.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's Penelope Cruz for me.

[Van Lathan]

Come on, shout out to Katie Holmes.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I need her to outlive him because that's the book I want.

[Chris Ryan]

What about I got photographed in the back of a car with somebody. But the relationship, well, that's Ana Dharma.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Keep in mind, I'm looking forward to Ballerina.

[Bill Simmons]

What Kidman in 1990 was. Lights up.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's true.

[Bill Simmons]

Nuts Cruises, I'm telling you.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Penelope Cruises.

[Bill Simmons]

Unbelievable.

[Chris Ryan]

Kidman in the 90s, not your type.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, in that she's.

[Amanda Dobbins]

She's nervy but not blonde.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, and it's something about her Australian accent is just unapproachable to me.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's a hype.

[Bill Simmons]

Dyson Daniels, we ready?

[Sean Fennessy]

We're ready. We need to set the draft order. Bobby Wagner, help us set it.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm sure I'll get screwed again.

[Sean Fennessy]

Never been a more appropriate time for the Top Gun. Let's go. Tc My beloved. Everybody has three tiles in here for their names, so going first to Sean. Please don't kill me.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

Of course. You know, this never fails.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I don't know.

[Sean Fennessy]

I don't even know what the choice is.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I don't know if one is not a good spot. I don't know if you want number one here. Do you want number one? You could trade.

[Bill Simmons]

I just think it's funny.

[Sean Fennessy]

Amanda going second. Wow.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay, now this is a little suspicious. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Can't believe it.

[Sean Fennessy]

I believe Bob said before we recorded, no matter what happens, Bill will say I rigged this.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, the two hosts of the show getting the first two pairs. What's weird about that?

[Sean Fennessy]

Is there an overall consensus? Number one? It's worth discussing.

[Chris Ryan]

It's more category stuff, I think.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, it's Stan. All right.

[Sean Fennessy]

Van going third.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. You just. You should have locked me down for fifth when we started.

[Sean Fennessy]

I'm sorry. If I was going to rig it, why would I rig it for Sean every time? Chris going fourth. Wow. You're on the turn.

[Amanda Dobbins]

That's special.

[Van Lathan]

I'm trying to convince him he's last.

[Bill Simmons]

But don't you think it's.

[Sean Fennessy]

Don't you think it's good to have two shots at it? But then I'm kind of screwed here. I'm getting one pick and then I gotta wait 10 picks.

[Van Lathan]

I'm only gonna take the movies that I really have to have, so I'm glad I'm third.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

Sure.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

I genuinely did not plan for this and have no idea what I'm taking.

[Chris Ryan]

There is not a. There's not a write.

[Amanda Dobbins]

There is a consensus, so I think you should just. I still am, like, really nervous because I. Whatever you're going, you're gonna do is gonna make me mad, but if you.

[Chris Ryan]

Mention lines for Lambs one more time, you have to pick it.

[Sean Fennessy]

Maybe I will. Have you seen it?

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay.

[Chris Ryan]

More of a Valkyrie guy.

[Van Lathan]

Oh, shit. About that one.

[Chris Ryan]

I left that joke right there for you.

[Bill Simmons]

I patch Cruise.

[Sean Fennessy]

I let you let it dangle for you because he just believed what those guys were up to was right. But they were wearing that patch on their uniform, and you thought that that was important. You guys seen Valkyrie?

[Amanda Dobbins]

There we go. I actually. I have so much for me. I've got a couple that. Well, we'll see.

[Sean Fennessy]

I honestly have no idea what to do.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I might wind up just being like, I'm drafting this because I've seen it territory. But that's okay.

[Bill Simmons]

I love how Sean probably watched all 46 Cruise movies over the course of four days and had no idea what.

[Chris Ryan]

To do with the first.

[Sean Fennessy]

I had a whole plan to watch Endless Love, but then I had to watch a movie for the Rewatchable this week, so I couldn't watch it. You messed with my plan.

[Van Lathan]

Crazy.

[Bill Simmons]

I forgot he was in that.

[Sean Fennessy]

You know, the category that I think is actually thinnest out of all of these is.

[Chris Ryan]

Wait, did you actually say what the categories are?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. Are you okay? I'm fine. We did a whole thing about it.

[Bill Simmons]

Go back to hating Australians. I'm going to try and pick.

[Sean Fennessy]

This is not off the Pipe with Brian Barracris. This is the big picture. I think 90s is the weakest category. And there are, of course, I would say about five or six movies that are key, but all of those movies fit in other categories too. So I'm gonna start with 90s.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay, do it.

[Sean Fennessy]

Then I'm gonna take A Few Good Men.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, no.

[Van Lathan]

First.

[Amanda Dobbins]

God damn it.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

All right.

[Van Lathan]

Interesting.

[Sean Fennessy]

Does a Variety of Things. Takes a variety of categories off the board.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's a movie. It's a five star classic for me. It's a legendary movie on this show on the Rewatchables. Cruz is.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I really thought I was gonna get it.

[Sean Fennessy]

Phenomenal.

[Chris Ryan]

You really should have taken it. And does a sport for the softball practice.

[Amanda Dobbins]

That's what I was gonna do it.

[Sean Fennessy]

And does a sport in your first pick?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Oh, wow. See, to me, that's a more fun category. You need to have a banger in the top three. That's my. That's my mentality, at least right now.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

So, yeah, A Few Good Men. What can you say? Rob Reiner, one of our great auteurs at the tail end of a legendary run here. Great run in the late 80s and early 90s.

[Bill Simmons]

Six rewatchable movies so far for him.

[Sean Fennessy]

Is that what he asked?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Might not be a Goodman. Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

What are the others?

[Bill Simmons]

Misery.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, When Harry Met Sally.

[Sean Fennessy]

Princess Bride. Yeah. He's cooking Spinal Tap.

[Amanda Dobbins]

American President.

[Van Lathan]

American President.

[Amanda Dobbins]

My guys right here haven't done Spinal.

[Bill Simmons]

Tap or sure Thing yet. Because sure Thing's not on any platform, which makes me mad.

[Van Lathan]

Have you guys done American Presidential rewatchables?

[Amanda Dobbins]

You did it with us. You did. Yeah. It's okay.

[Bill Simmons]

It was during the COVID years. I don't remember it either.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay. I've taken in 90s, a few good Men.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, now I'm incredibly stressed out. I guess what I need to do here. I was going to do A Few Good Men. And I thought as soon as you said 90s, you were going to go a different way and it was going to work out for me. And I did have a plan, which was to get A Few Good Men as soon as possible. So now I'm definitely filibustering.

[Bill Simmons]

The two hosts of the show.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You know what?

[Bill Simmons]

You know what works out? First two picks of the draft.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, okay. I was ready for the first pick, but two, when Sean screwed me over.

[Bill Simmons]

You should have arranged with Bobby. Sean arranged with them and you forgot to.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I know. Okay, let's see.

[Sean Fennessy]

Shades of. Do the spurs really need Cooper Flag if they already have Wemby going on here? You know.

[Chris Ryan]

All right, so I know what I think you're gonna do.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I don't. I. Should I go with my heart? Should I go with my legend? Yeah, that's it. How'd you guys know?

[Sean Fennessy]

Legend is a good pick. Can I tell you something? I'll filibuster later.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Do it.

[Sean Fennessy]

Mia Sara appears in a new movie that's coming out. Speaking of legend.

[Bill Simmons]

Still in love with her.

[Sean Fennessy]

A legend in her time. And honestly, she's like a beautiful 60 year old woman, just stunning. And I hadn't seen. I probably hadn't seen her in a movie in 30 years, but she's in a movie called the Life of Chuck coming out in June.

[Bill Simmons]

I bet she looks great.

[Van Lathan]

Just like a comet showed up beautiful and then what happened to me as outrageous.

[Chris Ryan]

So that's how they do things in that family.

[Sean Fennessy]

But what other movies was she in? She was in Ferris Bueller and in Legend. And I can't even name another Mia Sarah movie.

[Bill Simmons]

There's some people from the 80s that just came and went and you didn't understand it.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, Phoebe Cates.

[Amanda Dobbins]

All right, I'm going with my heart and I'm going with the map that I laid out yesterday. Even though I don't know if this makes categorical sense anymore. I'm. I'll just do it in Blockbuster, Top Gun, Maverick.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay.

[Chris Ryan]

Okay.

[Van Lathan]

Makes a lot of sense.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's.

[Van Lathan]

You like that movie?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I, I, I love that movie. It's very important in my household. I have seen it probably at this point more than other movie on this list.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, Bobby's updating this.

[Amanda Dobbins]

As Spielberg said, it saved movies. I think it is better than Top Gun. I mean, I have real affection for Top Gun, but, you know, I agree.

[Sean Fennessy]

With you about that.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Emotionally hot bedroom scenes we do often. So my 3 year old loves this, but he turns it off as soon as we get to the bed scene. He's like, I'm done. I want more planes.

[Bill Simmons]

It's my favorite. We've talked about this. My favorite of all the crew's romantic scenes. They're just laughing hysterically in bed for no reason.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Something hilarious has just happened. I don't know what could have happened. He's got no shirt on and they're both just laughing.

[Chris Ryan]

Compared to the sex scenes in Top Gun, the first one, it's like a different species of human being where like Kelly McGillis is like eating his face in the first one. And this one, he's like.

[Amanda Dobbins]

The original one also, like, has some issues.

[Chris Ryan]

Sure.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay. I don't know if I feel at peace, but that's my pick.

[Bill Simmons]

It's a strong pick.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Thank you.

[Chris Ryan]

You're up, man.

[Van Lathan]

Cool movies. Movies that I think are cool. I'm wondering, what do you guys think my first pick is going to be? Who can guess? I already knew what it was. It didn't matter what who went, who got what. I knew that this movie would be available and then I would draft it first. Coolest he's ever been in a movie.

[Sean Fennessy]

To me, it's Collateral.

[Van Lathan]

That's the movie.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

You fucking asshole.

[Bill Simmons]

That's 2000s.

[Van Lathan]

That's. That's in 2000s. I'm picking collateral.

[Sean Fennessy]

Collateral.

[Van Lathan]

Could have taken it in Oscar.

[Sean Fennessy]

Phenomenal.

[Van Lathan]

Could have taken it in Oscar, but the coolest he's ever been in a movie to where I looked at him and I was like, this is a badass mother.

[Bill Simmons]

So it's 21st century, that pick.

[Van Lathan]

Well, yeah, 21st century.

[Sean Fennessy]

21St century.

[Van Lathan]

So I'm taking collateral.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yo, homie, is that my briefcase?

[Van Lathan]

Poor Jamie Foxx.

[Sean Fennessy]

Jamie Foxx nominated for best supporting actor in that movie, not Tom Cruise.

[Van Lathan]

Two nominations that year for Jamie.

[Sean Fennessy]

Make it make sense.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Make it make sense.

[Bill Simmons]

Some good Ruffalo.

[Sean Fennessy]

Peter Berg.

[Bill Simmons]

Decent. Peter Berg, Yeah. The best scene is the jazz club.

[Sean Fennessy]

Scene is the what?

[Bill Simmons]

The jazz club scene with that guy. The guy from the Ali movie. What's the guy's name.

[Van Lathan]

I forget the asking about.

[Bill Simmons]

He played Herbert Muhammad in the Ali movie.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah, he's a veteran character. I try to forget his name right.

[Bill Simmons]

Now, but his face drops.

[Sean Fennessy]

Has Tom Cruise ever heard jazz music in his life? During that scene that was dubbed in. That was 80 yard in after. I honestly, I. The idea of Tom Cruise listening to jazz is almost as difficult to imagine as him having sex with Jennifer Connelly. Like, it is really, really hard to believe. Best movie aficionado.

[Bill Simmons]

Best movie that ever used the L A subway system.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I can't think of another movie movie.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, yeah, I feel like a more human. Yeah, it is a more human Los Angeles subway system.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, the best, I think evocation of what it's like when you're walking around L. A and a coyote shows up and you're like, what the fuck? Like we're in the middle of a thoroughfare. Like, why is there a coyote? That is real thing that happens.

[Van Lathan]

Like Michael Mann, who's made like all of these quintessential LA movies. Just a super duper LA movie. Maybe the most LA movie, not the.

[Sean Fennessy]

Most accurate depiction of how to get across town.

[Bill Simmons]

Probably not. Troy. Raw meat to see our. It's a passion point of his drive.

[Sean Fennessy]

On the 110 ones.

[Van Lathan]

LA is like a character in the movie.

[Amanda Dobbins]

But it did give us that bit, you know, so that's. That's important.

[Bill Simmons]

Thousand Oaks to Santa Clarita, California thing.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay, C.R. you're up. Number four.

[Chris Ryan]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

Collateral off the table in 21st century.

[Van Lathan]

21St century.

[Chris Ryan]

I'm going to take the firm and Oscar.

[Van Lathan]

Gotcha.

[Amanda Dobbins]

That was at the top of my Oscar list too.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, I mean, so that was the.

[Amanda Dobbins]

That was the category that Van was moving about. The flip.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes.

[Chris Ryan]

I was thinking about doing it in sports and I. Then I just was like, I don't want to get into a seven minute conversation about whether Tom Cruise knows gymnastics or not. So I think he has the build.

[Sean Fennessy]

I think he does.

[Chris Ryan]

He started the run low center and maybe did the first one before the cutaway.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

Back handspring for Cruise. I don't think so.

[Chris Ryan]

Fantastic 90s legal thriller based on a John Grisham bell seller. Obviously incredible ensemble. And in some ways, Cruz is the least important character, like, important performance in this film because it's got Brimley and it's got Hackman, it's got Hunter and it's got. Yeah, like, so it's the heartbreak.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Do it, do it.

[Chris Ryan]

What does she find, Mitch? Heartbreak.

[Sean Fennessy]

Looks at her red book.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

He also talks about oral Sex. Which I don't do that part.

[Sean Fennessy]

You don't?

[Chris Ryan]

No. Like, when I do the bit.

[Sean Fennessy]

Well, he's like all kinds of sexual activities. Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

But Cruz is fantastic. He's in most of this. Every scene of this film and is a really, really, like, convincing, 70s Redford kind of paranoid thriller performance.

[Van Lathan]

So.

[Chris Ryan]

I love it.

[Bill Simmons]

It's. I've probably watched it normally after we do rewatchables on a movie, I don't watch it as much. And I still watch the Firm all the time.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, yeah?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

And the. The music's really good. And I just think the part when he realizes he has to escape and he goes in that weird tram that goes back and forth and the albino guys chasing and they end up in that thing, and he's, like, beating Brimley to death with the suitcase, like that. Fifteen minutes is incredible.

[Chris Ryan]

And speaking of about as good as it gets. Tom Cruise doesn't know he's being funny. Yeah. When he goes to David Strotheran in prison, he's like, what if you. I went to Harvard and I wound up in the same place you are. David's like, yeah, man, that would be weird. What's going on?

[Sean Fennessy]

I also. That's the birthplace of sexy, sleazy Gene Hackman.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, yeah. Going down to the Cayman island genius.

[Van Lathan]

Going down to the song no one has.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Genie triple horn yet. Also my number one icon. I mean, it's really. She's not on the Tom Cruise list that we know of.

[Chris Ryan]

Jean, triple horn.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

Did he date her?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, but that's a missed opportunity.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, he was with Kidman at the time.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, that's right.

[Van Lathan]

Still triple horn.

[Bill Simmons]

Very happily married.

[Van Lathan]

Like underrated and Basic Instinct.

[Chris Ryan]

Sure she is.

[Van Lathan]

I was a triple horn guy.

[Amanda Dobbins]

She's underrated.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Simmons, what did you like about her and Basic Instinct?

[Van Lathan]

It was the. Sharon was giving it all to you, but there was something behind the eyes with triple horn.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, for sure. Behind the eyes. Bill Simmons, you've got two picks.

[Bill Simmons]

All right, I'm gonna do first sports thing. I'm doing Top Gun.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay. Volleyball.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Sure.

[Bill Simmons]

Incredible volleyball scene. Homoerotic in the best ways. What was the song playing?

[Van Lathan]

Kenny.

[Bill Simmons]

Kenny.

[Van Lathan]

Whatever that song was.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yes. We were listening to the soundtrack.

[Van Lathan]

If it was homoerotic in the worst.

[Bill Simmons]

Way, like, what would I just say? It was in the best way.

[Van Lathan]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. I don't know what the worst way.

[Chris Ryan]

Guys oiled up, playing in jeans, sand in their joints.

[Sean Fennessy]

Joyful.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Then he checks his watch and he just ends the game.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

Yes.

[Chris Ryan]

Goes to Kelly McGill's house. And he's like, I need to take a shower.

[Van Lathan]

So. Okay. I always forget this.

[Bill Simmons]

Is the game over. I forgot he checks his watch and he's just out.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

And Goose isn't like, dude, what's that?

[Chris Ryan]

Four?

[Van Lathan]

What's the. The hunky guy that was in Rick Rossovich, he was in the.

[Sean Fennessy]

My Guy. Rick Rossovich.

[Van Lathan]

Rick Rossovich. He was in the Cyrano de Bergerac remake with Roxanne.

[Chris Ryan]

He's also in the Jessica McClure TV movie. Yeah, Roxanne.

[Bill Simmons]

And then I'm gonna go Jerry Maguire for 90s.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

That's the right pick. Good Bill. Strong.

[Bill Simmons]

Thanks.

[Sean Fennessy]

Strong bs.

[Amanda Dobbins]

There you go.

[Van Lathan]

Top Gun jersey.

[Bill Simmons]

It worked out, but I'm not picking it up forever.

[Van Lathan]

Is the Top Gun scene. Is that. Is that sensual to women? Is that sexual? Do they look hot?

[Amanda Dobbins]

My wife likes slatter, so I saw it at a young age. Like, it's. I saw it around the same time I saw Ghost and, you know, and.

[Bill Simmons]

Which I really love pottery.

[Amanda Dobbins]

The pottery scene. But it's just like, something's going on here, you know? And it's like, I'm 6 or 7, and I'm just like, what is this? Never seen it before. What's going on between these people? Is that really what it looks like when someone takes their shirt off? You know, like, so. So, yes, in some way, so much.

[Bill Simmons]

More innocent than us.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

I saw the Deep in the theater with my mom, Jacqueline Bassett, scuba diving in a white T shirt. And I was six? I'm like, yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Did I tell you I just watched it for the first time?

[Bill Simmons]

Older someday.

[Sean Fennessy]

Did I tell you that I watched it for the first time?

[Bill Simmons]

Deep.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Good.

[Sean Fennessy]

It was okay.

[Bill Simmons]

No, it's scary, though. The chicken Voodoo blood.

[Sean Fennessy]

Scary. Spent on. Who is it? Is it Louis Gossett Jr's like, weird Haitian rare glass dealer who's also a drug dealer?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Anyway, the Jacqueline Bassett thing, the first, like, literally the first 15 minutes of her in a sheer top, scuba diving. Easily the most illogical thing I've ever seen in a movie. Why is she wearing that?

[Bill Simmons]

They knew how to do it in 1977.

[Sean Fennessy]

She looks great.

[Bill Simmons]

No reason.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay, we're back to.

[Bill Simmons]

Wait, Can I say one thing on Maguire? I didn't talk about it long enough. I think it's the best Tom Cruise performance in any movie other than one other movie that will get drafted. And when it gets drafted, I'll say, okay. But I just think it was pika. Tom Cruise powers, a director that really Understood him, knew how to write for him. Actors and toys for him to play with that he really bounced off in the right ways. Like, not even Zellweger as much as Bonnie Hunt. Nikki Cuba. Every scene with him in Cuba is incredible. That movie is eternal.

[Chris Ryan]

It's a perfect.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Help me help you best.

[Bill Simmons]

It's in the running for best sports movie the last 30 years.

[Van Lathan]

I think so. Also, it's a. It's like, I didn't. It was a movie that, like, when I saw it, I didn't relate to it at all. There was like, nothing I. But emotionally, it just drug everything out of me. There's nobody that I know who's seen that film that doesn't connect to it. It just makes sense. It's too relatable.

[Sean Fennessy]

How old is Jerry Maguire in the movie?

[Bill Simmons]

Late 30s, 35, 36, something like that?

[Amanda Dobbins]

35. Can we talk about that sex scene for a minute?

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, the Kelly Preston.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, the Kelly Preston. I mean, it's memorable because I saw it sitting next to my mother, and I was like, I don't really want to be here for this right now. Yeah. But, you know, I guess it's one of the more. He's not really doing any of the work, like, literally. But also, she's very special. Yes. She's. She's making it happen.

[Bill Simmons]

Another 80s icon.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

Twins. The experts.

[Sean Fennessy]

Are you Dworkin? Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, yeah. In Tom Cruise does a sports thing.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes.

[Chris Ryan]

I'm gonna take Color of Money.

[Van Lathan]

Wow.

[Sean Fennessy]

Had to be.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

This had to be yours.

[Chris Ryan]

Was running out of sports things. And also, this is kind of maybe my favorite Tom Cruise movie, even though it is a Paul Newman movie.

[Van Lathan]

Is this the only time he ever played a twerp?

[Chris Ryan]

That's debatable. I think. I think a lot of people would be like, there's torpness in many of his films. He's kind of a torp in Rain man, you know, so.

[Van Lathan]

Torping. Risky business.

[Chris Ryan]

Sure.

[Van Lathan]

Little twerp.

[Amanda Dobbins]

He's really annoying in Taps, he.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, that's true.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Sorry.

[Van Lathan]

But he is King Twerp in this one. And he does it so well. I think this is way up there in some of his best performances.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah. I mean, I think is the character. I think Werewolves of London is the. Put it in a museum. If somebody is like, why is he a movie star? Just playing that scene.

[Sean Fennessy]

Do you have the Vince T. Shirt?

[Chris Ryan]

I do.

[Sean Fennessy]

Why didn't you wear it today?

[Chris Ryan]

I forgot. And I also just felt like wearing a sweatshirt because I never know what the temp's going to be in these places.

[Van Lathan]

There you go.

[Sean Fennessy]

Got it.

[Bill Simmons]

Do you think it's weird that he played two characters named Vincent?

[Chris Ryan]

No, I mean I don't think he's. I think he's got some of the most unimaginative character names.

[Bill Simmons]

Do you think Vincent is the most underrated movie character name of all time?

[Chris Ryan]

The most.

[Van Lathan]

Wait, what?

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's good.

[Bill Simmons]

He's played Vincent twice in Collateral and.

[Sean Fennessy]

He'S on the half Italian side.

[Bill Simmons]

Vincent Hannon. He, Vincent Vega and Pulp Fiction. Yeah, there's probably been some other Vincents. Do you know any Vincent's in real life? Have you ever met a Vincent?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yes, I know a five year old Vincent.

[Bill Simmons]

You know Vincent?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, yeah, he goes by Vince.

[Bill Simmons]

Vince. Oh, I'm saying Vincent. Oh, like this is my friend Vincent. He's visiting this week.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

There's Van Gogh, of course.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

It's a name that. Only by movies.

[Van Lathan]

I wouldn't though.

[Sean Fennessy]

Anyway, great note, Bill.

[Bill Simmons]

Thanks.

[Van Lathan]

Van 80s cocktail.

[Chris Ryan]

Okay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Wow.

[Chris Ryan]

You stabbed me him in the heart.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, yeah. I wasn't even gonna do it.

[Bill Simmons]

It was too early to take it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And if you know he was gonna do that.

[Chris Ryan]

Did you feel it?

[Bill Simmons]

No, it's fine. I'm happy with my team.

[Van Lathan]

Best cocktail. Still one of my favorite. Although it's not funny. It's not. It is funny. I don't know why it's funny. It's always been funny to me. When he comes upon the blood.

[Sean Fennessy]

It'S.

[Van Lathan]

Like, I don't know why it's funny to me like even when I first saw it, he's like, hey, it's just a fucking hilarious scene. The guy's dead. It's fucked up. Love the movie. Early, early, early entry into the white girl hall of fame.

[Sean Fennessy]

Kelly Lynch.

[Van Lathan]

Kelly Lynch.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, yeah. This also takes a Tom Cruise does a sports thing. Film off the category because he plays basketball.

[Chris Ryan]

That's right.

[Van Lathan]

Movie, yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Quite badly.

[Chris Ryan]

Brian Brown smoking while playing hoops. Right.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

It's the single best Cruise performance compared to the quality of the movie. He's so much better than the actual movie that he just drags it. I compared it, I remember to like just like one of those LeBron seasons where everybody in his team sucks and they still win 50 games somehow.

[Sean Fennessy]

Right.

[Chris Ryan]

He's like booby Gibson is like. He's in the back court. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

All the way in on this movie he learns how to juggle bottles. Become this a plus list bartender.

[Van Lathan]

He looks great.

[Bill Simmons]

He's just playing all the hits even when he's drunk. It's hilarious. Like he, he's just. It's a home run performance.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's I think considered like the weakest movie in the hottest run of a movie star too. You know, where it's like, it's become like a, you know, it's an unintentional comedy hall of famer. But all of the other movies around it are like, this is the best movie I've ever seen in my life. So it's more memorable in a way because of that.

[Bill Simmons]

It needs, it needs a 4k blu ray. I've just been waiting. Just doesn't exist.

[Sean Fennessy]

You should leverage your own power.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Why don't you start your own 4K?

[Bill Simmons]

My own 4K Blu Ray company.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Just for cocktail. I just make one release cocktail and I'm done.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay, Amanda, you've got a pick.

[Bill Simmons]

It's a good pick.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Then I will look directly at you. As I say in 90s, I will take Magnolia. Yeah, Well, I thought that's what you were going to do for your first pick.

[Sean Fennessy]

That would have been a crazy first pick. Well, you know, but I was hoping it would get back to me.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, I assume so.

[Chris Ryan]

People think it's the best. His best performance.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I do. I was. Is this the other best performance or do you have another one?

[Bill Simmons]

Lee is probably his best dramatic performance.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. Okay. But it wasn't what you were thinking of.

[Bill Simmons]

I think Maguire and Cocktail. Cocktail's his most ridiculously entertaining performance. Maguire, I think is his best all around. And then Magnolia is like, hey, I actually could have been a good actor in another lifetime.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And it is also like as Sean said, it's the first of a run of him working with big time directors really taking sweets in some ways. It's like a what could have been, you know, and that doesn't happen.

[Van Lathan]

I think they, I think the industry kicked him out of it. I think that he tried to do more stuff and because he wasn't like he tried to zag a little bit as you guys say. And because it wasn't rewarded because he went through the whole thing and they didn't, he was like, fuck it. I think he was actually a little disenchanted by the experience of trying to. Cause he goes right back to the blockbusters, even into Collateral. It was like, they don't want you that way. And so then he fumbles around with some of the bigger stuff for a while.

[Sean Fennessy]

I mean that period to me is very golden though. The 99 through 2005, because it's two Spielberg movies, it's PTA, it's Cameron Crowe. Like, it is really him locking in with a lot of guys at great times in their careers, too. They weren't as Stan the Man.

[Bill Simmons]

He had Stan the Man as well.

[Sean Fennessy]

Stan the Man. Yeah, that's right. There's no way to go back to that. Even if he tried. Even if he was like, I'm doing my next movie with Coogler and Chazelle and. And Jordan Peele, I think it wouldn't make. Like, age wise. It wouldn't.

[Chris Ryan]

They would all have to be making movies about older men, right?

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, exactly.

[Bill Simmons]

One of the bummers, Eyes Wide Shut was almost like an athlete tearing their acl. He filmed that movie for so long, it, like, two years just removes sideline him.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

One, maybe two movies just out of his catalog.

[Chris Ryan]

I wouldn't trade it for anything.

[Van Lathan]

It was good.

[Chris Ryan]

It's still one of the.

[Amanda Dobbins]

But it does also. I mean, if you. If you buy into the difficulties that they had maritally on set, then not soon after they divorce and then. And then things he.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm trying to think, what couple wouldn't have gotten divorced after filming that movie for two years? You have to have just an amazing marriage.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Plus Kubrick was like, crazy noticeably fucking with them.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

And trying to, like, it seemed like trying to destroy their relationship.

[Sean Fennessy]

I think trying to draw their performance.

[Van Lathan]

Because that's the movie he was trying to fight.

[Bill Simmons]

You take these takes over and over that were super raw, but it worked.

[Sean Fennessy]

Like that movie works because you feel like that relationship is on the brink. And he's a guy who doesn't really know if he's going to be able to make it through this stage of his life, which is kind of what all those movies are about. That's what the Frank TJ Mackie performance is about. That's. I mean, it's crazy how much that's what the Vanilla sky movie is about. Where Cameron Crowe is like, I'm now working again with the most famous person on the planet. What would it be like for that person to be publicly destroyed only for five years later for him to actually become publicly destroyed? I mean, the arc of his career is so crazy.

[Van Lathan]

Did people want to see him weird?

[Sean Fennessy]

I don't think so.

[Van Lathan]

He's weird in Eyes Wide Shut. He. The Vanilla Sky. Weird movie.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

Like, they wanted Maverick.

[Sean Fennessy]

They wanted conventional.

[Van Lathan]

I don't know if people were ready for him to be weird.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

I think he could be. I think he could go weird now. I think we could see elder statesman weird. Chance taker Cruise. I think he's got a little bit of goodwill with people to where he could take more chances right now if he wanted to.

[Sean Fennessy]

I think you're right. I hope that's what the next few movies are about. I got two picks here. I'm not in as bad a spot as I thought I was going to be.

[Van Lathan]

Interesting.

[Sean Fennessy]

Although a lot of key ones are coming off the board. 80s is looking a little thin for me right now, so I think that's where I got to go next. And I'll take Risky Business, which is signature performance. Probably the movie that most clearly communicates what kind of movie star he could be. Carrying a movie all by himself. Honestly, working with a really sophisticated filmmaker at a young age. That movie is obviously much deeper than just him sliding around in his underwear.

[Chris Ryan]

Sure.

[Sean Fennessy]

But he could use him sliding around in his underwear to sell something about himself. Also an athlete in that movie. But we don't see him playing a sport, which is interesting. So it doesn't qualify for the sport.

[Chris Ryan]

Unless it's a sport.

[Sean Fennessy]

Unless dances. Well, that kind of dance. I don't know. Private house dancing.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, that Rebecca De Mornay. Another one. He dated. They got. They dated for a year. They fell in love in that movie. She looked great.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Beautiful.

[Bill Simmons]

Just giving you guys facts.

[Sean Fennessy]

So risky business in 80s and then any Risky Business thoughts, Gu. Anything you want to share?

[Chris Ryan]

I think they'll capture them.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, it's the best. It's the best done teen movie of that entire era. It's not the best movie like, you.

[Sean Fennessy]

Know, or a teen movie like that's made by adults.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah. It's not. That's not almost.

[Sean Fennessy]

Like Fast Times, but.

[Bill Simmons]

It is a team movie.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, it's more Fast Times than it is like a breakfast.

[Sean Fennessy]

Right, right, right.

[Van Lathan]

Pretty in Pink.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

It's an amazing movie and an important cruise movie because I don't think anyone thought of him as a star before that movie. And I remember after it came out, it was like, what's his next movie? And then it felt like it was off. I saw all the Right moves in the theater after Risky Business. Because of Risky Business. Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Interesting.

[Bill Simmons]

Be like eight of us ninth graders just popping over there.

[Sean Fennessy]

Boy, I'm a little stumped on where to go next.

[Bill Simmons]

I just feel like in complete command of this draft. I feel like fucking Sam Presti. Everyone else is stumped. I know what I'm doing.

[Van Lathan]

You can do anything.

[Bill Simmons]

I don't need a list. I don't have a scouting department. Wherever this draft goes, I'm ready.

[Sean Fennessy]

You think that's how Sam Presti works. Yeah, without a list or a scouting department.

[Bill Simmons]

I don't think he cares. He's just like, I want long Athletes.

[Sean Fennessy]

This episode is brought to you by LinkedIn. When you release a movie, the first thing you want to do is make sure people know about it. And even more importantly, you want to make sure that people who like the genre know it's out. Because horror fans are more likely to go see new horror movies. Disney fans will go see new Disney movies. Rom com fans will go see new rom com movies. Targeting the right audience is key when it comes to marketing. If you're selling expensive new kitchen appliances, you probably want to sell to people who actually like to cook, not people who rely on food delivery services for every meal. And that's the tricky part, making sure your message gets to the right people. You have to use the right tools. If you're in B2B marketing, that means using LinkedIn ads. LinkedIn has a network of over 130 million decision makers and the targeting tools to make sure you're connecting with the right ones. You can target your buyers by job title, industry, company role, seniority skills or company revenue. So you can stop wasting your time and budget on the wrong people. LinkedIn will even give you a hundred dollar credit on your next campaign so you can try it yourself. Just go to LinkedIn.com thebigpicture that's LinkedIn.com thebigpicture Terms and conditions apply only on LinkedIn ads.

[Bill Simmons]

This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. Ever finish a movie and the next thing you know you're totally obsessed. Like I'm talking about ordering a book about 70s film lighting or buying the soundtrack on vinyl. Kind of obsessed. Whatever it is, prime helps you get more out of whatever passions you're into or getting into. Head to Amazon.com prime and follow your obsession wherever it goes. This message is brought to you by Apple Card. Apple Card is a no fee credit card that gives you daily cash back every day. That's 3% back at Apple and 2% back on every purchase made with Apple Card using Apple Pay. Apply for Apple Card and the Wallet app on your iPhone today subject to credit approval. Variable APRs for Apple Card range from 18.24% to 28.49% based on creditworthiness rates as of January 1, 2025. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch terms and.

[Sean Fennessy]

[e-mail] I am going to just say I'm gonna choose my favorite acting performance of his career which is Born on the fourth of July, an Oscar nominee.

[Van Lathan]

Wow.

[Sean Fennessy]

Just took it out of 80s.

[Chris Ryan]

Son of a bitch.

[Sean Fennessy]

Make that a little more challenging for you guys. This is a movie actually was nominated for best actor. I think there's a strong case he could have won this year. Movie that is like somewhat personal to me because Ron Kovic was a Long island guy. Spoke at my high school when I was a kid. And his story is very resonant to my parents generation. And I think it's easily one of Oliver Stone's best movies. It's a hard movie to watch. It doesn't have the same like, rewatchables juice that a lot of his stuff does, but it's so beautifully done and so I would feel good about having Born on the fourth of July.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's a good pick.

[Sean Fennessy]

Not a lot of bits to do about Born on the fourth of July.

[Van Lathan]

It's a tough watch. Love it or leave it. Love it or leave. It's a tough watch. It's a great movie though.

[Bill Simmons]

I don't. I don't really crank it any that often. You don't turn it on. It feels like a Born on the Fourth of July night.

[Chris Ryan]

I do wonder sometimes whether or not he could have done some other. Like, I often like, I'm like, could he have done the Costner part in jfk? You know, like, I wonder whether or not, like, he had Oliver Stone.

[Sean Fennessy]

I think he could have. Yeah, definitely.

[Van Lathan]

What a run of Vietnam movies there.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

This was about the tail end.

[Van Lathan]

This was the end of it.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. This is when we were done. The casualty is a war with Michael J. Fox going, sarge, what are we doing? That was the official end.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay, Sarge.

[Sean Fennessy]

My favorite competitive acting performance story ever. You know that story, right?

[Bill Simmons]

What?

[Sean Fennessy]

Where right before that scene when he's testifying at the end, Sean Penn walks over to him when Michael J. Fox is sitting on the stand and he just whispers in his ear, TV actor. And then walks away to try to get them all bent out of shape. So that gives a good performance. Great little story. That's the bomb.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's really funny. Okay, okay, it's my turn again.

[Chris Ryan]

Local sports podcast.

[Amanda Dobbins]

This is more of a strategic pick than it's funny to go from born on the 4th of July and you're a beautiful performance and a great movie to what I'm about to do. But I can't think of that many sports things off the top of my head right now that Tom Cruise is doing. So I'm going with War of the World. And Tom Cruise does a sports thing. He does the infamous playing catch, cocky.

[Chris Ryan]

Mr. Presti over here.

[Van Lathan]

Child abuse. Yeah, with sports.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Exactly.

[Van Lathan]

Throw the ball at your son's head.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, it's really not what you understand.

[Chris Ryan]

And his son is the Red Sox fan. Yeah, right.

[Sean Fennessy]

How did that happen?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, it murdered the movie. Never recovered from it.

[Sean Fennessy]

Literally one year after the Sox title. Yeah, yeah, it's tough.

[Chris Ryan]

Where's that kid at?

[Van Lathan]

What happened to him?

[Chris Ryan]

He was good.

[Sean Fennessy]

Sure.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

Dakota Fanning was transcendent in that movie.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. Amazing.

[Chris Ryan]

Her hug.

[Bill Simmons]

So you took that in which category?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Tom Cruise does a sports thing.

[Chris Ryan]

Okay, so now we have on sports thing. We have Color of Money is off the table. You have Top Gun, and Amanda has War of the Worlds in sports.

[Bill Simmons]

All right, so CR's up or Van's up?

[Sean Fennessy]

No, Van's up.

[Van Lathan]

First Mission Impossible movie coming off the table.

[Chris Ryan]

In Mission Impossible.

[Van Lathan]

In Mission Impossible. Okay, I'm taking Fallout. Yeah, yeah. Look, I started with the Mission Impossible franchise early, right. I remember everything about the first movie. I remember the guy getting mad. What was the guy that starred in the television show? Can't remember his name. Whatever. He was pissed off that his character, that Jim Phelps that turned bad, he cursed Kennedy out at the MTV Movie Awards for her having not seen the show. I was so into the movie. I saw the movie. I did not understand it at all. The first time that I saw it, the first time I saw the original Mission Impossible. Then after Mission Impossible 2, there was no possible way that I thought that this would lead to the franchise that it's become. It just didn't have the bang up beginning that most franchises like this happen. Mystery Impossible 2 was kind of a down. We didn't kind of get that one. And the first one had kind of a convoluted script. Even though it had some really, really cool and awesome moments. I kind of feel like Fallout was the first movie in the Mission Impossible series. To ara was like, I'm fucking all in on this. Like the rest of them were films that were like, oh, they were good. They were cool to watch. You know, Philip Seymour Hoffman and all of that stuff was like. But like, when I. When I'm looking at Fallout, I'm like, oh, I get this. Like, I. I get why these are such awesome movies. I still think it's the best one.

[Chris Ryan]

Good pick.

[Bill Simmons]

Which one was that one?

[Chris Ryan]

Fallout.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Fallout.

[Chris Ryan]

It's the one where the helicopter and the bathroom. Right.

[Sean Fennessy]

You couldn't care less about John Lark, Vanessa.

[Bill Simmons]

They all blend together.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And the. It's the best one. He does the motorcycle thing in Paris and then jumps into the thing. That's good.

[Sean Fennessy]

You're gonna have to draft one of them, you know.

[Bill Simmons]

I get it.

[Chris Ryan]

So cr, you're up, Fidelio. I'll go, I'll go. Eyes wide shut for 90s.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah. Okay.

[Chris Ryan]

So kind of like unique in a lot of his performances in that it's a play, it's a film where he's being asked to, like, turn down the charisma and turn down his, you know, probably personal preference to always be the master of the universe around him. In fact, in this movie, it's like kind of mocking that. It's saying like, you don't know what's going on. You're not in control. You're not in control of your libido, you're not in control of your marriage. You're not in control of the world around you. Just kind of a fascinating performance by him and an incredible film.

[Van Lathan]

So very influential movie.

[Sean Fennessy]

How so?

[Chris Ryan]

On QAnon, on culture.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah. I remember we were doing a story. We were doing a story at TMZ back in the day of. About this thing called Sanctum that exists in la or. I don't know if we did the story, but people were.

[Chris Ryan]

You're talking about it?

[Van Lathan]

Yeah. And it was like a. It's like a high class sex party that exists. It's called Sanctum.

[Chris Ryan]

Okay.

[Van Lathan]

Sanctum. La. Bill's searching it right now. Yeah, you could probably get in. And so.

[Bill Simmons]

And so I like joining clubs.

[Van Lathan]

They were. Man, I want to talk with a pa. I'll talk about you. Talk to you about a pod. Just meet me at a warehouse downtown LA, 1:30 in the morning. And when we didn't understand what they were talking about and they were like, it's like Eyes Wide Shut. Immediately you get it, you know, Masks, sex, rich champagne.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah. Jazz pianists.

[Van Lathan]

Jazz pianists.

[Sean Fennessy]

You're more of a Nick Nightingale or.

[Chris Ryan]

More of a Dr. Will. Yeah, definitely Nick.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

What about you?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I'm Kidman all the way. Alice is her name, right?

[Sean Fennessy]

It is Alice.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. I'd never. I'd never thought about that until this moment.

[Sean Fennessy]

Well, I have.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

I met.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I met.

[Sean Fennessy]

Eyes Wide Shut. I mean, like, rocked me to my core. It came out my birthday weekend, 1999. I was the most amazing.

[Chris Ryan]

It's also a movie that, like, we could do on the Rewatchables 52 times in a year and probably still have new stuff to talk about.

[Sean Fennessy]

So. Fascinating.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, my God, please do it. It would Be right up there.

[Sean Fennessy]

The reshut. Yeah, it's time to reshut.

[Chris Ryan]

Get Roger Avery on.

[Sean Fennessy]

Sher's got some deep thoughts.

[Bill Simmons]

I have two picks. Yeah, I'm gonna take. I'm gonna take Rain man for Oscar nominee in a very important cruise movie. He hadn't fallen for the archetype yet of the lovable, cocky underdog who becomes a good person by the end of the movie. It was still fresh. There was still five more movies to go where he played that same guy won an Oscar. Barry Levinson, iconic Vegas thing. Hoffman wins the Oscar. Great soundtrack, good baseball card scenes, toothpicks. Famous movie. Delighted to have it here with the last pick of the third round. Can't believe it's still on the board. And then for my other one, we.

[Sean Fennessy]

Did a rewatchables on that one.

[Chris Ryan]

We rain manned.

[Bill Simmons]

We did.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

That was a good one.

[Bill Simmons]

For my other one, not a top.

[Amanda Dobbins]

10 episode, but interesting.

[Sean Fennessy]

What is your ranking? Why don't you go.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I mean, jfk number one for sure. I listen to it every year when I'm feeling down. Incredible performance by you.

[Bill Simmons]

Thank you.

[Amanda Dobbins]

The Godfathers are pretty good. I thought you guys did a great job with Star Wars. I don't know if that's up in top 10 yet. I mean, the town, of course. Rosillo. I never want to meet Ryan Rossillo just because I need that to live on.

[Sean Fennessy]

Underrated. Rosillo. Performance in the Star wars episode.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Not underrated. That was one of the greatest things ever happened. Weeping. It was really fun.

[Chris Ryan]

I got served the other day. Resolo on the Vision Quest pod. I was like, there's just nobody better.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

Just to let you guys know, you still have a draft pick to make, right?

[Bill Simmons]

I know.

[Van Lathan]

I'm looking at myself as we vampire.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

He doesn't know what he's going to pick. So we do. On the clock.

[Bill Simmons]

I want to know what. What category did.

[Sean Fennessy]

I don't understand. I thought you were Sam Presti here. You talk movie. I want to make sure I get into the iPad.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm going to do for Blockbuster, $100 million. Tropic Thunder.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Wow.

[Van Lathan]

Horseshit.

[Bill Simmons]

Important. Why? Made $195.

[Van Lathan]

I know.

[Bill Simmons]

Million. I just looked it up.

[Van Lathan]

I know, but like Tom Cruise, I.

[Bill Simmons]

Don'T make the rules. I just live by Sean's category rules.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's a fair choice.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's. You know, there are other blockbusters that are still on the board that could have been taken there, but if that's what you want to do, go for it.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. That's what I want to do.

[Sean Fennessy]

Would you have considered the dancing that he does at the end to be a sports thing possible?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, not really. There's not enough movement in it. I just watched it again yesterday. Just the. The credits. Like, it's funny. It's a good performance, but he's, like, fairly stationary in the fat suit, you.

[Bill Simmons]

Know, I just watched this movie recently, and it's really, really, really funny, and I'm glad it exists.

[Sean Fennessy]

It is one of the most, if not the most requested rewatchables.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. It's just really good in the world.

[Sean Fennessy]

And Chris wants to revisit specifically RDJ's performance.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

And he's. He had a lot of thoughts about it.

[Van Lathan]

I think it's the funniest shit ever.

[Sean Fennessy]

It is.

[Bill Simmons]

I think it's. You can't get mad at the movie because the whole point of that performance is.

[Van Lathan]

I don't give a.

[Bill Simmons]

They're twisting on the.

[Van Lathan]

I think the scene between him and Brad.

[Chris Ryan]

I watch it, though. A different person steps up for me. Like, Coogan is really great.

[Bill Simmons]

It's also like, everyone from that era.

[Van Lathan]

The scene between him and Brandon T. Jackson where all of a sudden he starts talking about putting some crawled ass on the crib with the whole thing. That is like. Brandon T. Jackson is like, what are you talking about? That is the funniest. Like. Like, I don't want to. Ha ha. I put some crawled ass on the grill. That is so fucking funny. Like, belligerent laughter.

[Chris Ryan]

Did you see? Bullshit.

[Bill Simmons]

Sounds like I made another good pick.

[Chris Ryan]

You did, Bill.

[Van Lathan]

I mean, it has nothing to do with $200 million.

[Bill Simmons]

It's a blockbuster.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah, it is. I love the movie, but it's.

[Sean Fennessy]

You know, why do you feel the need to fluff your own team during the draft?

[Bill Simmons]

Which is really happy with it so far. Okay, let's keep it going, guys.

[Sean Fennessy]

Chris, you're up in.

[Chris Ryan]

Blockbuster. I'll take Minority Report. Was this his last Spielberg movie?

[Sean Fennessy]

No.

[Chris Ryan]

We just did this on rewatchables. Just a fantastic. Put Tom Cruise in a Hitchcock thriller and make him Wrongly Accused. Man on the run. That's. Turns out he's very, very good at that. And such a great athletic performance, although not a sport, but scaling buildings, going blind, doing this, like, all sorts of stuff. And he's really a fantastic. Probably up there with Harrison Ford and Richard Dreyfus, I guess, as Spielberg, like, heroes people. That Spielberg is just really great at shooting. So just an awesome performance by him. I'm happy to have it.

[Sean Fennessy]

Great pick.

[Van Lathan]

I'm Gonna do sports thing. I'm gonna do sports movie. We'll do Days of Thunder.

[Bill Simmons]

Thank you.

[Chris Ryan]

I thought you were gonna do something else.

[Van Lathan]

No, I'm gonna do Days of Thunder. Him driving around. Like, look, some of the driving in the movie on the track is great, but nothing is better than the race they do off the rental cars. Fantastic.

[Bill Simmons]

And the wheelchair race is good too.

[Van Lathan]

Love, love, love Days of Thunder.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Nicole Kidman is a neurosurgeon surgeon. Sure, yeah.

[Van Lathan]

Neurosurgeon in there.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Is she Australian in that? Is that why you don't like the movie?

[Bill Simmons]

She's a 24 year old Australian neurosurgeon living in Charlotte, North Carolina, seemingly exclusively.

[Chris Ryan]

Working on NASCAR drivers, but not having a lot of respect for like Denise.

[Van Lathan]

Richards, astrophysicist Christmas Jones.

[Bill Simmons]

She did. She zoomed through med school.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

Taking like eight classes.

[Chris Ryan]

She's like Dizzy Hauser.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, I thought you meant like on zoom.

[Bill Simmons]

Maybe she did that too.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Because is she licensed here in the.

[Bill Simmons]

US in two years in Australia, like.

[Amanda Dobbins]

To check her board certification.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's my pick. And in Mission Impossible, I will take Mission Impossible 1996. I love this entire franchise and it's because I was 12 when this movie came out.

[Chris Ryan]

Is this your favorite one?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I think Fallout is probably. Fallout was gonna be my first pick and Van got it because it is, you know, I think it's when it reaches its greatest heights. And I mean, like I said, he jumps out of a plane, he, you know, motorcycles around Paris. Like, I have all of those set pieces kind of memorized. But I also have the, you know, the Langley, the fall, the knock list and that like in a single image that is that entire franchise and kind of Tom Cruise's 90s summed up. So. And I was just really into it. I was really into the music. I think I like recorded the, the theme song like off the TV onto like my CASSETTE tape, you know, just to be able. Which is a normal thing to do in 1996. Great, great movie. And holds it like still just absolutely slaps.

[Van Lathan]

Is the Langley scene, bar none, the coolest scene in the movie? It is, right? There's so many cool scenes. The opening sequence. Yeah, like, there's so many.

[Sean Fennessy]

Just cool helicopter in the train tunnel is pretty incredible. Yeah, yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Remember the scene when he had a mask on and he took it off and it was Tom Cruise.

[Sean Fennessy]

Why are you trying to harsh, mellow Mission Impossible?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, he was Wolf Blitzer, but instead.

[Bill Simmons]

I don't know if we needed eight of them.

[Amanda Dobbins]

That's the best One. That one. And that's Fallout. That one is so good.

[Van Lathan]

That's crazy. Have you seen that one where he's actually Wolf Blitzer?

[Sean Fennessy]

They're good when they're in with the scientist Niels Dell Brook, who believes in anarchy.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Really, really good stuff.

[Bill Simmons]

I wish he had named Wolf Blitzers.

[Chris Ryan]

Sean Harris plays. What's his character?

[Sean Fennessy]

I forget the name of his character. He's also an anarchist. Yeah, yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Simon Lane.

[Sean Fennessy]

Simon Lane.

[Van Lathan]

Late era. Emilio Estevez in the original one as well.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Cr. Would you rather add seven Mission Impossibles or seven Cocktails? If you had to pick, I think.

[Chris Ryan]

That Mission Impossible probably was a more durable franchise.

[Bill Simmons]

I think you're right.

[Chris Ryan]

Would I do seven Cock Color of Moneys?

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Seven firms.

[Amanda Dobbins]

What would Cocktail two be called?

[Sean Fennessy]

Like Flanny Returns.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, Cocktail two clearly ends up with a waitress, gets divorced and probably loses the.

[Chris Ryan]

I think Cocktail could have been a trilogies just so we could name the third one. Last Call.

[Bill Simmons]

Cocktail three. Last Call.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah, Last Call.

[Bill Simmons]

That's pretty good.

[Chris Ryan]

And he comes back to, like, competitive bartending.

[Bill Simmons]

I just think Cruz. I think Flanagan should have just lived in Jamaica and that I could have spent maybe five, six years in Jamaica with just the people coming in and out of the resort.

[Van Lathan]

But then you don't get the scene. But the blood.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, no, I'm saying, like, for the sequels.

[Van Lathan]

Oh, for the sequels.

[Bill Simmons]

I just think if he's in Jamaica, I'm happy.

[Chris Ryan]

You're up, big dog.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, I got a draft for neat here. Unfortunately, things are starting to get a little thin. My personal taste. So in Mission Impossible, I'm taking Rogue Nation, which I think is definitively the third best.

[Amanda Dobbins]

That's the hanging off.

[Sean Fennessy]

I don't want to lose it.

[Chris Ryan]

It's the Kremlin.

[Sean Fennessy]

That's the introduction of Ilsa, Rebecca Ferguson's character. And the McQuarrie era begins here.

[Chris Ryan]

But that's blowing up the Kremlin to start.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And the hanging off the plane the first time.

[Sean Fennessy]

Not the Burj Khalifa one, the one after that.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Because the other ones I have varying degrees of issues with. So I want to feel confident in my Mission Impossible pick. And I love Rogue Nation. No offense, guys. Sorry.

[Chris Ryan]

Inexplicable bias towards a certain film, this franchise.

[Sean Fennessy]

Inexplicable. I'll explain exactly how I feel with.

[Amanda Dobbins]

But it's nice that you have it so, you know, if we can have peace, then it's fine.

[Sean Fennessy]

Without suffering, there is no peace. As we learned in the film Fallout.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I'm just Googling Tom Cruise, like Oscar nomination, you know, right now, so.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah. Because I'm getting a little. It's the only place I'm getting thin.

[Sean Fennessy]

I think I need a blockbuster. But I also need a sports thing. And I'll take all the right moves in my sports thing.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Chris Ryan]

You. You did not do that.

[Sean Fennessy]

I had to. It's the last sports thing.

[Chris Ryan]

No, it's not.

[Sean Fennessy]

What's the last sports thing?

[Chris Ryan]

There's another sports thing, Is there?

[Sean Fennessy]

Tell me about it.

[Chris Ryan]

He plays football in Oblivion.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. Well, I was not gonna take that.

[Chris Ryan]

So you took an 80s movie off the board for me?

[Sean Fennessy]

Well. Oh, man, there's plenty of 80s movies left.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Not really. But Oblivion.

[Van Lathan]

Getting drafted would be fucking hysterical.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. Not a huge fan of Oblivion.

[Van Lathan]

I liked it.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's okay.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

To take it here.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Would be as my fifth overall pick. That wouldn't have been great.

[Chris Ryan]

Olga Kurylenko, behind the scenes. I think they also dated briefly. Or were rumored to have dated.

[Bill Simmons]

I mean, when you're with Cruz all day, you end up falling for him.

[Sean Fennessy]

Fall in love. Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

Especially after you get 45 years of history.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes.

[Bill Simmons]

It's almost like Amanda spent some time with him. Like, the marriage might be in trouble after like six hours.

[Sean Fennessy]

Sorry. Zach Cruise. Tractor beam is on.

[Bill Simmons]

Right? It's always kept Amanda away from Tom Cruise.

[Chris Ryan]

When is he gonna get a haircut?

[Sean Fennessy]

Tc.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah. What's up?

[Sean Fennessy]

I don't know. I don't like the long look. I love the short. Ethan should always have short hair.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Do I? Do you also. We'll talk about it. Like, I. I understand now why he has long hair, having seen the film.

[Chris Ryan]

But is it because he's Methuselah or something?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, that's it.

[Bill Simmons]

Sort of.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Exactly. No, I prefer with this hair length. It wouldn't be an issue for Zach. Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

All the right moves. Briefly. This is the movie that predicted Jason Seehorn. We never knew we needed a white corner. Cooper DeJean, who could perform this? Cooper De Jean. Wow. Super bowl superhero cultural. Pretty good movie. Pretty underrated, I think.

[Bill Simmons]

Fucking awesome.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

I feel like it might be the most overlooked Cruise movie in total.

[Van Lathan]

Never seen it.

[Sean Fennessy]

Really?

[Van Lathan]

Never seen it.

[Bill Simmons]

What?

[Chris Ryan]

Holy shit. Really? Oh, you'd love it.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's really good.

[Van Lathan]

I've never seen it.

[Bill Simmons]

What in the fuck?

[Van Lathan]

I have seen Quarterback Princess with Helen Hunt.

[Bill Simmons]

Otherwise it moves. Is like a real movie.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, now I need to see that.

[Van Lathan]

Like, have you seen Quarterback Princess?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, but I'm googling it.

[Van Lathan]

It's a true story about a female quarterback from British TV movie, though. Whatever. I've seen it all the Way Moves.

[Bill Simmons]

Is a real movie.

[Van Lathan]

So you're saying Quarterback Princess about a woman. It's a TV movie. Okay, cool. Like, I've seen Quarterback Princess.

[Bill Simmons]

So saying. It's a TV movie.

[Van Lathan]

I've seen Lucas all the Way Moves.

[Bill Simmons]

Has one of the best football sequences in the history of football movies.

[Van Lathan]

I've seen Lucas, though. Right? Lucas is.

[Sean Fennessy]

No, no, Oliver.

[Bill Simmons]

Moves is good.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's not. They're not.

[Bill Simmons]

That's a very controversial kneeling on the ball decision that I might have written, like, a thousand words about when I had my mailbag once upon a time.

[Sean Fennessy]

Thea Thompson, they fell in love during the making of that film.

[Van Lathan]

Parts of. But I haven't. I haven't sat down a while. I watched it this weekend.

[Chris Ryan]

I thought you were just being horny earlier, but you're right, man. He really does have, like, an incredible resume.

[Van Lathan]

I.

[Bill Simmons]

It wasn't a bit.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

All right, Amanda, you're up.

[Van Lathan]

You guys are going to start the conversation in 20.

[Bill Simmons]

Leo has anonymous models and Cruz is just ripping through.

[Van Lathan]

I mean, it's. It's Jeter when.

[Bill Simmons]

When it's all said Cruise or Jeter. I don't know.

[Sean Fennessy]

Some argument to your faves.

[Amanda Dobbins]

In 21st century. I'm going with Edge of Tomorrow. I can't believe you guys left it this long. I really, honestly can't. Like, I thought that it was going to go in one of the many other categories. This movie rips. This is also in what has been like, a dark period of Tom Cruise's career. And, you know, everything happens in 2005. Some not great movies. He's lost his mojo and, like, he's back and he is, like, alive in this movie. And it's him being good, decent chemistry with Emily Blunt.

[Bill Simmons]

I think it goes further than this because it was one of those that came out. Everyone said it was good, but nobody believed it because everyone had given up on Tom Cruise. And it was like, no, no, you got to see it. No, really, it's good. It's good. And it was like that for about a week.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, it's great. I.

[Bill Simmons]

She's good in it, too. I mean, they really do have.

[Amanda Dobbins]

They do have good chemistry. They don't. I, like. I know some people are mad at the ending, but that. I like the romance, but I like it. It's fine. Come on.

[Bill Simmons]

That movie's good.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, it's good.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's one of my favorite also.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Like, her doing, like, Updog and then Cobra. That's like, those are my summer goals. You know, I have a lot of work to do, and I was.

[Sean Fennessy]

No judgment. Go for it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Like, what substances she took in that moment. But she looks amazing.

[Bill Simmons]

So.

[Amanda Dobbins]

So that's powerful.

[Chris Ryan]

She's on the. Jason Tatum will be ready for February.

[Bill Simmons]

Why did he have to come up?

[Sean Fennessy]

Great pick. Obviously. A phenomenal movie. Another movie that I think, like, it came out and everybody was like, yeah, this is fine. And then, yeah, bang.

[Van Lathan]

It was like the movie where I was most scared for Tom because it was a legitimately. It wasn't Oblivion. It was a legitimately good movie that people just didn't get, but has lived on.

[Chris Ryan]

Is like, one of the final, like, examples. Like, one of the great most recent examples of, like, a movie that almost has, like, cult status and has been rewatched and, like, kind of revived a.

[Van Lathan]

Lot of times just because people just wouldn't let it not be well received. It was like, yo, if you ever watch it, this shit is. It's incredible.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. Lymania. Doug. All right, Van, you're up.

[Van Lathan]

Totally sold what I was going to draft, and I really feel like I was going to be in a good position if I could get.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

So now I gotta go Oscar.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Van Lathan]

Okay. I'm going Vanilla Sky.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Van Lathan]

Because I'm only drafting what Oscar did that one.

[Sean Fennessy]

I'm in a tough spot here.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It was nominated for what? I don't know.

[Van Lathan]

Best original song.

[Sean Fennessy]

That's right.

[Chris Ryan]

Wow.

[Sean Fennessy]

What was the Vanilla sky written by and performed by Paul McCartney.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Sing it.

[Sean Fennessy]

I wouldn't sing it, but I do know the song. Isn't it the song that plays over the end credits?

[Bill Simmons]

The only song I remember for that movie is the Buckley song.

[Chris Ryan]

That's fake.

[Sean Fennessy]

Well, that's what her. Take your movie if it needs to be in there.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And they have. I mean, it's a Cameron Crowe music budget. I don't know whether it's used.

[Bill Simmons]

The Times Square scene is really cool.

[Sean Fennessy]

I. I think we should do this on Rewatchables because I think it's, like, the most interesting movie of its era. It might not be the best movie.

[Bill Simmons]

I don't like that they just remade a movie that did really well like, a year before.

[Sean Fennessy]

It is a much crazier version of. Is a much smaller movie than Vanilla sky becomes this, like, science fiction extravaganza.

[Bill Simmons]

And everybody's in it.

[Van Lathan]

It was the most off kilter, I think me and my friends have ever been, like, in the movie theater because just had no fucking clue what the movie was actually going to be about.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, because the movie had no Clue what it was. Yeah, it's all over.

[Sean Fennessy]

It is a little all over the place. Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I rewatched it.

[Bill Simmons]

Like, it's incoherent.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Out and out disaster.

[Chris Ryan]

So in my crazier than eyes watch.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, it's. It just like, does not work.

[Bill Simmons]

And I, like.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I have, like, a very complicated relationship with Cameron Diaz, so, you know, I. But it's.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's literally one of her best performances.

[Bill Simmons]

Better in a movie.

[Van Lathan]

Some of her dialogue in that movie.

[Amanda Dobbins]

She's funny. When she's funny. She's really, really funny.

[Bill Simmons]

She's so psycho in that movie.

[Van Lathan]

Some of her dialogue in that movie set the Baton Rouge theaters on fire. We.

[Sean Fennessy]

We.

[Van Lathan]

We had never seen her like this. We were like, oh, right, yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Car se. And shirt.

[Van Lathan]

Right. I was like, whoa.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, I. This. It does not come together for me. But it, you know, it was a swing.

[Bill Simmons]

Does that mean C.R. is up?

[Sean Fennessy]

C.R. is up.

[Chris Ryan]

C.R. is up.

[Bill Simmons]

Don't this up C.R.

[Sean Fennessy]

Well, what do you got left on the board?

[Bill Simmons]

80S or whatnot?

[Chris Ryan]

Oral and whatnot.

[Sean Fennessy]

80S mission and that in wild card mode.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, and 21st century.

[Sean Fennessy]

And 21st century. Oh, boy. We're only halfway through here, guys.

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, I know.

[Sean Fennessy]

Now it gets a little dicey. We know. This guy going off the board is the official, like. Okay, okay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

What's actually on the board now?

[Bill Simmons]

There's some good ones left. I'm feeling great about my board. My scouting department.

[Sean Fennessy]

That's great. Sam.

[Bill Simmons]

Sam's over here.

[Chris Ryan]

I guess for the 80s, I'll take the Outsiders.

[Amanda Dobbins]

God damn it.

[Sean Fennessy]

That's the last one.

[Chris Ryan]

Because I like it the most of the remaining 80s films, and I needed an 80s film. He's obviously just part of an ensemble and not even in, like, the upper third of the most important characters. But he's good. You can see he's got something. This is OG Teeth. This is two or three teeth jobs ago.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes.

[Chris Ryan]

But he's. He's a good little ratty kid on the. On the outskirts of this gang, and this movie is incredible.

[Van Lathan]

Chocolate cake face.

[Chris Ryan]

What's that?

[Van Lathan]

The chocolate cake. Chocolate cake face.

[Bill Simmons]

He looks.

[Van Lathan]

He's eating the chocolate cake. They really. I watched that movie not too long ago. Like, I have forgotten how much I loved that movie.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. Stay gold, Ponyboy.

[Van Lathan]

Yep. I like watching that movie.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's a big one.

[Van Lathan]

I thought white people were really like that then. You guys just been disappointing me ever since.

[Sean Fennessy]

Also, just in the Greasers, I thought.

[Van Lathan]

That I was going to have a bunch of cool, like, greaser homies. Type friends because of that.

[Sean Fennessy]

You never met a Macho?

[Van Lathan]

Nah, I never met him.

[Sean Fennessy]

You know, we rep for Macho on Long Island. That's our guy. Macho. Machio cooked Cruise in this movie.

[Chris Ryan]

It's fun to go back and watch it and for that exact reason be like, see Thomas Howe is hanging on the rim above Cruz.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's true.

[Van Lathan]

Like Macho was getting busy in that movie. Thomas, how was getting busy?

[Sean Fennessy]

Swayze is amazing.

[Van Lathan]

Swayze, did you. There's a part in that movie. What the fuck was Talk about doing a sports thing. There's a part in that movie where they're going out to the rumble and Swayze jumps over the fence by doing a handstand on top of the fence and then coming on. I'm like, yeah, I forgot about that.

[Sean Fennessy]

Old Swayze's a two years later. Dirty Dancing.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, Patrick Swayze. Really important.

[Van Lathan]

What Swayze movies have you guys done on the Rewatchables, Point Break, Roadhouse, Ghost.

[Sean Fennessy]

He's got a good little run.

[Bill Simmons]

Can I move a movie to a different category or that Legal right, my friend?

[Chris Ryan]

I've been thinking about that for 35 years.

[Amanda Dobbins]

That's me too.

[Sean Fennessy]

That's what Sam Presti says when he's got the ninth pick. He's like, can I make this the seventh pick? And I say, no, you're picking ninth.

[Bill Simmons]

That's fine.

[Van Lathan]

Six, seven.

[Bill Simmons]

Okay, I'll do taps for 80s then. Because that's the last one.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Wait, is it your pick?

[Bill Simmons]

It's mine, isn't it?

[Sean Fennessy]

It is. It is. Bill's Peck. Yes.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Me.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Taps is a really good movie. I like taps.

[Chris Ryan]

Sean 10 and taps.

[Bill Simmons]

Tim Hutton, leader of the group at that point because he was in Ordinary People. Cruz is a maniac.

[Sean Fennessy]

Super funny. George C. Scott.

[Van Lathan]

George C. Scott.

[Bill Simmons]

It's a boarding school. For some reason they decide to protect the boarding school because they're going to knock it over for real estate. It's a really good movie.

[Van Lathan]

Y Hud becomes the cadet commander.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

And then the General Beige. It's one of my favorite after school joints.

[Bill Simmons]

Also, I feel like Taps leads to one of the great movies of the early 90s. Toy soldiers. It lays a lot of the groundwork. It walks so toy soldiers can run.

[Van Lathan]

Cruz goes nuts and Taps and starts fucking letting off rounds all over. It's fucking beautiful.

[Chris Ryan]

Hutton did prep so that Wil Wheaton could cook twice a week.

[Sean Fennessy]

C.R.

[Van Lathan]

You'Re up.

[Bill Simmons]

No, wait.

[Sean Fennessy]

Do you have another one? My bad.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm up again.

[Van Lathan]

Esposito and Taps. He is. It's A young Giancarlo. I feel like he is. Am I wrong about that?

[Sean Fennessy]

I don't remember. That's 83. That's pretty early for Giancarlos. First time I saw him. Doesn't do the right thing.

[Bill Simmons]

Okay, so I need. Just trying to figure out what I need. I don't have 21st century. I don't have Mission Impossible. I don't have a wild card. Okay. I intentionally left 21st century for later because there's a lot of good 21st century. And that's going to leave me with a movie that I've watched many times.

[Chris Ryan]

I know exactly what this is.

[Bill Simmons]

He was way too short for the role.

[Chris Ryan]

It's true.

[Bill Simmons]

I don't know why he's in it, but my girl Rosamund Pike's in it. She does still have her stock in that garage.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Sure.

[Bill Simmons]

Jack Reacher.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, this was a back pocket. 21st century. One for me too.

[Chris Ryan]

Do you like Jack Reacher more than Jack Reacher? Never Go Back.

[Bill Simmons]

Yes.

[Sean Fennessy]

Do you know who directed Jack Reacher? Never Go Back. This is his second film with Tom Cruise.

[Chris Ryan]

It's McQuarrie, right?

[Sean Fennessy]

Nope. He directed Jack Reacher who directed Never Go Back. Does anyone know who it is? Ed Zwick.

[Van Lathan]

Really?

[Sean Fennessy]

How great is that?

[Bill Simmons]

Wow.

[Van Lathan]

Love Jack Reacher.

[Bill Simmons]

Jack Reacher.

[Sean Fennessy]

Jack Reacher one is a lot of fun.

[Van Lathan]

Jack Reacher, a lot of fun. There was something about the movie where you can. I didn't know anything about the books, anything like that.

[Sean Fennessy]

Is it on the first page they're like he's six' six, 260.

[Van Lathan]

Something about the movie where you could tell this wasn't quite Tom Cruise, but he still made it work.

[Bill Simmons]

Anyway, my dad was outraged. He loved the books and he just couldn't believe Tom Cruise.

[Sean Fennessy]

Is it Lee Child who's the author?

[Chris Ryan]

It's Lee Child and it's a great version of the non video game version of a fan base. Absolutely revolting against the adaptation because they're just like. No, Jack Reacher is built like Luke Keakley.

[Van Lathan]

Like the real guy.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, that's fine. The Amazon one, they just went for a giant guy.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah, Richson, he does a good job too.

[Bill Simmons]

My dad's very happy with that show.

[Van Lathan]

Did you guys like. Cause Jack Reacher is based off these books. Remember Shooter? I like that.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh yeah. Shooter. Did we do Shooter on rewatch?

[Van Lathan]

We?

[Bill Simmons]

Fucking A did.

[Van Lathan]

I like Shooter, man.

[Chris Ryan]

Shooter was a real K Mart at.

[Sean Fennessy]

The top of his show.

[Bill Simmons]

Evil Danny Glover, Evil Danny Glover, Evil Ned Beatty.

[Van Lathan]

Johnny Lee Swagger was his. What's his name?

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, Bob Lee Swagger.

[Bill Simmons]

I love to one last job movie. Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

I think they made a USA show about.

[Bill Simmons]

They sure did shoot us one of.

[Sean Fennessy]

Those, like a year and a half ago.

[Van Lathan]

Shoot is one of those movies where it came out and everybody was on the movie. And so I watched me going like, oh, my God, like, this is gonna be terrible.

[Bill Simmons]

Shitting on my side.

[Sean Fennessy]

This is where we're at on this pod is like all. All the big hitters are off the.

[Chris Ryan]

And we're talking about I love shooter Tom Cruise is.

[Van Lathan]

I love shooter Kate Mara.

[Sean Fennessy]

I said it's K. Mara at the tab. Top of her game.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

It's amazing she stayed away from Cruz.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, well, they never matched up.

[Bill Simmons]

They didn't.

[Sean Fennessy]

She never under a spell. Cr, you're up.

[Chris Ryan]

I'll take MI3 for Mission Impossible movie. I'm going to wait for the very last moment before I have to reap what I saw with 2000s.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay, okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

No words on MI3.

[Chris Ryan]

This is the JJ Abrams one. Philip Seymour Hoffman is the best villain in the history of this franchise. And this is the most human quote unquote, that Ethan Hunt ever is in the whole entire franchise. I know that it's belittled as a TV movie on certain podcasts on the Ringer network. Don't really understand that, but it looks like television.

[Sean Fennessy]

That's what I mean by that.

[Bill Simmons]

This.

[Chris Ryan]

This new bit post Covid where you're like, it's tv, so it's bad and like, this movie does not look like television.

[Sean Fennessy]

Wow. A little defensive.

[Chris Ryan]

I heard this, like, thing before and I was just like, there's a perspective.

[Sean Fennessy]

He was making Alias and it looks like an episode of Alias with a bigger budget. It just does, I'm sorry to say.

[Chris Ryan]

All right.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Why are you giggling? It's like.

[Amanda Dobbins]

They hate finally.

[Sean Fennessy]

How long we got him?

[Chris Ryan]

Dan Mandel shot it. I don't know who that is. Apparently not Vilmos Zigmund.

[Van Lathan]

But still, isn't it weird when Philip Silver Mar Hoffman just gets on screen with a bunch of veteran actors and just shows how much fucking better he is than everybody who's fucking.

[Sean Fennessy]

He's phenomenal in it. There's no question about it. He's amazing in that movie. He is a great villain. The Rabbit's Foot is a great aspect of the film, but it is, like, commits every J.J. abrams sin of the book to me, like, unresolved storylines that. That are supposed to be the most important thing in the world. Shooting every scene like it's an episode of 30. Something like, I don't know.

[Chris Ryan]

Look like 30 something. Go back and watch the Carrie. Russell Cold open is so sick.

[Sean Fennessy]

You're. You're just. You're. You're. The eye thing has got you cooked. You just think that that was the coolest thing of all time. It was cool.

[Van Lathan]

Episode of 30 something.

[Sean Fennessy]

You know, it's cool. They put it. They put a fuse in her eye.

[Van Lathan]

Timothy Busfield.

[Bill Simmons]

I really like Hoffman's performance in that movie, and I think it was a good pick. Sierra, don't get bullied by these movie snobs. Take it from Sam Corey.

[Van Lathan]

Two and a half stars.

[Bill Simmons]

Mission Impossible 3.

[Chris Ryan]

It's a TV movie.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Excuse me.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, yes.

[Sean Fennessy]

Have you even seen it? Honestly?

[Bill Simmons]

Mission Impossible 3. Poppins.

[Sean Fennessy]

Really?

[Bill Simmons]

I like evil.

[Van Lathan]

He's amazing.

[Bill Simmons]

The whole reason, he's actually maybe my.

[Van Lathan]

Only good villain that they've had.

[Bill Simmons]

Don't make me do this.

[Van Lathan]

The only. The only memorable villain from the series ever. Second favorite.

[Sean Fennessy]

The only what?

[Van Lathan]

Memorable villain from the Mission Impossible series ever.

[Sean Fennessy]

You drafted Fallout, which has Sean Harris.

[Van Lathan]

I know, but. Fallout. But it's not. I didn't draft it because of him. Like, I drafted because. But I think that. I don't think.

[Chris Ryan]

I love Sean Harris. They way over committed to Sean Harris in the back half of this franchise and now it's like, isn't the bad guy. AI, Come on, man.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, I mean, I'm with you. Well, we'll talk about it.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

Kind of hard to weigh in on that right now.

[Van Lathan]

What's left on the board for me? Can somebody.

[Bill Simmons]

You have. You took Mission Impossible. You have a wild card left. And you have 90s.

[Van Lathan]

Oh, 90s. Okay, cool.

[Sean Fennessy]

90S.

[Bill Simmons]

Not a lot of 90s left.

[Van Lathan]

Not a lot of 90s Left. I may end up having to take a movie that I actually don't like.

[Sean Fennessy]

Right now is why I took A Few Good Men first overall because I was a little nervous about where we're at.

[Bill Simmons]

That's why I took Jerry Maguire with my sixth pick in the draft.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, there are. There are. I think there are two 90s films left that have gone on.

[Van Lathan]

I'm going to draft one next.

[Sean Fennessy]

You're going to have to.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

My wild card's going to be an episode of.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's your turn.

[Van Lathan]

Oh, it's my turn.

[Chris Ryan]

You just watched once.

[Van Lathan]

So I got two 90s movies that I could take. I, you know.

[Chris Ryan]

You know, go with your heart. What's been guiding you. Right.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah. I'm gonna take Far and Away.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, my God. Are you kidding?

[Van Lathan]

No, I'm sorry.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I mean, thank you. But, like, between Those two. That it is literally the worst Irish accent I've ever seen in my entire life.

[Van Lathan]

I'm gonna say Far and Away. Look, I'm gonna be honest with you. This is why I didn't take An Interview with the Vampire. I do not like that movie.

[Chris Ryan]

Me neither.

[Van Lathan]

That movie is. And I have tried over and over and over again since the time that the movie came out to appreciate that movie, particularly now. What is there to appreciate particularly now when there is an interview with the vampire show that is on that I feel like, does the source material better?

[Bill Simmons]

Joanna loves that show.

[Van Lathan]

I love that show as well. I do not like Interview with the Vampire. Far and Away is at least a movie that I've seen a bunch of times. It's weird.

[Bill Simmons]

Like the boxing.

[Van Lathan]

It's stupid.

[Bill Simmons]

The bare knuckle boxing, the scene at.

[Van Lathan]

The end, the coming back to life bullshit, whatever. All of that stuff. I'm gonna take Far and Away like.

[Sean Fennessy]

It'S an affront to Ireland and it should not be supported, but I understand.

[Chris Ryan]

I have a spoilery question.

[Sean Fennessy]

Uh huh.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, I said in front of Ireland. I don't remember.

[Sean Fennessy]

Whatever Cruise's performance.

[Chris Ryan]

He's like, I hear there's great doing.

[Sean Fennessy]

Cr Doing Bono, but it looks beautiful.

[Van Lathan]

Like, I just. I got down to the end of it and I cannot take. I cannot take Interview with the Vampire. I do not like that movie very much.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay, well, that's fine.

[Bill Simmons]

You know, the only thing that was good about Interview with the Vampire is that one photo of them on the red carpet.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

When Brad Pitt has the crazy hair.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Please respect. They gave us Kirsten Dunst.

[Bill Simmons]

I just love the hairdos.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, it is a very good red carpet carpet photo. Okay, I'm up.

[Bill Simmons]

You're up.

[Amanda Dobbins]

In Oscar nominee. I will take Mission Impossible, Dead Reckoning because it was thin on the ground. It is thin on the ground. It got two nominations.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Is that legal?

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, it absolutely is.

[Chris Ryan]

Yes.

[Sean Fennessy]

In fact, these were the first nominations for any Mission Impossible movie.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, but there's only six Mission Impossible movies.

[Amanda Dobbins]

There are seven.

[Chris Ryan]

You could go around just picking Mission Impossibles and screwing everybody, you know?

[Sean Fennessy]

Well, I. What if I just decided to do that to you with my next pick?

[Bill Simmons]

So what? I wouldn't get one?

[Sean Fennessy]

You would be not qualified to win this draft.

[Chris Ryan]

Take that, Sam Presti.

[Van Lathan]

Now, I thought you don't know the rules, William.

[Bill Simmons]

I thought Mission Impossibles were their own category and we couldn't take them in other categories.

[Sean Fennessy]

That was not communicated.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

In the game, Mission Impossible, Dead Reckoning. In my Opinion is a legitimately bad movie.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I. I did not think it was that successful. He does ride the motorcycle off the cliff. And I like. And there's also the scene with him and Hayley Atwell in Rome. The, like, the tiny car, which I like, I genuinely thought was wonderful. I mean, the. The entity stuff is total garbage.

[Sean Fennessy]

Well.

[Chris Ryan]

What do you have left?

[Sean Fennessy]

There's literally only two blockbusters out of his 21 that are still on the board. And I have not taken my blockb. Okay, I believe I've got that correct.

[Van Lathan]

Oh, I know what you're going to take.

[Sean Fennessy]

Tell me what I'm going to take.

[Bill Simmons]

War Worlds.

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, I took it out.

[Van Lathan]

Oh, Sonic has a sportsboard.

[Sean Fennessy]

I would love if War of the Worlds was there. Yeah, no, I misspoke. There are three.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

And I'll be taking the Last Samurai. Interesting, because it's easily the best movie that's left of the three. And it's a good film.

[Bill Simmons]

0.78 on IMDb or 7.8 the Last Samurai.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, it's exactly what it is.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

A 7.8 out of 10 incredible battle.

[Sean Fennessy]

Or like a 7 incredible battle sequences. Great Ken Watanabe performance. Amazing score. It looks good. It's a little slow and boring at times, for sure, but. And it's not as white savior as I remembered. I rewatched in the. During COVID and it's. It's the same way with the Dances of the Wolves, where I was like. I thought I was going to rewatch it and it was going to be a white savior movie, but it's the opposite of that. It's like this is actually weirdly, very respectful of the culture. Nevertheless, I need a blockbuster.

[Van Lathan]

He becomes the greatest samurai in the whole country.

[Bill Simmons]

It's not the greatest.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Sam.

[Chris Ryan]

He doesn't actually. I don't think he's like.

[Sean Fennessy]

He becomes like a great general to the Japanese people.

[Van Lathan]

He's fucking over some people with samurai skills. They've been doing it their whole life. Look, it's fine. I like the movie. Do you know why I like it? I like down and Out Alcoholic Cruise.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, I thought it was good.

[Van Lathan]

I thought it was a.

[Chris Ryan]

It's kind of like what would happen to Brian Flanagan if he became a samurai.

[Van Lathan]

I thought it was a Tony Stark.

[Bill Simmons]

Now you have my attention.

[Chris Ryan]

Cocktail. Eight Samurai.

[Sean Fennessy]

And I think there's only one reasonable pick to be made in 21st century. And so I'm going to make it. It's American made. It's the other Doug Liman movie, okay. About a pilot who Is becomes a smuggler and loose slowly loses his mind and goes on crazy runs and. Because I think everything else in the 21st century is pretty much dog pilot.

[Chris Ryan]

Really?

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, really. Maybe I'm forgetting about a movie.

[Chris Ryan]

I mean, I just. I. You really think Valkyrie is dog shit?

[Sean Fennessy]

I think it's not good.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I. I think it's. Okay, I won't make fun of you. I mean, it's not good.

[Van Lathan]

What's this bullying cr.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, he's not bullying.

[Chris Ryan]

Like, I. I think Sean is just virtue signaling.

[Sean Fennessy]

Like, I'm not.

[Chris Ryan]

I'm not into Valkyrie.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's like signaling that I'm not into Nazi propaganda. Directed by Bryan Singer.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, it's not.

[Chris Ryan]

They're not Nazis.

[Sean Fennessy]

That's all. They're anti Hitler. They are Nazis.

[Van Lathan]

But it happened in real life, did it not?

[Sean Fennessy]

It's based on some events, so the.

[Van Lathan]

Didn't happen. Brian Singer just made it up. It's.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's a heavily fictionalized account of an attempt on Hitler's life that didn't actually come to pass.

[Van Lathan]

Interesting.

[Sean Fennessy]

I get. I know that you love movies from that, like, made during that. About that era. And it has like a spy thrill.

[Chris Ryan]

It might not even be available. Amanda's got a pick now.

[Van Lathan]

Barry Seal is from.

[Bill Simmons]

He's not a Nazi.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, he's a Wehrmacht.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I mean, he's colonel classified if he has any. Listen, okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

He's a post Weimar Republic German. He's not exactly like a hero to the Jews in that movie.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Exactly. Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Chris, come on. Actually, Colonel von Staun was a good man.

[Bill Simmons]

Like, I not seen that movie since I saw it. Whenever I.

[Sean Fennessy]

When you came out of the theater, were you like.

[Bill Simmons]

I didn't see that one in the theater. I patched German Cruise. No, thank you.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, he doesn't bother with the German accent.

[Sean Fennessy]

No, I actually. I respect that when they do that.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I do too.

[Sean Fennessy]

I don't know. Like, there's English.

[Chris Ryan]

It's just. They just do English and Cruise does American.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

So I have 80s left, which is just. It's. That's a real. I'm in it. I'm in a tough spot. So I might just do Wildcard to have some fun.

[Sean Fennessy]

Go for it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I'm. I'm wondering. So it. Are only feature films eligible or is something filmed and related to only feature films? So I can't do motion smoothing?

[Sean Fennessy]

No, that is not eligible.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I mean, I think that I should be allowed to.

[Sean Fennessy]

You should not.

[Amanda Dobbins]

What's happening? Do you know about this? The motion moving video where he and Christopher Christopher McCory filmed like a two minute info of like, here's how to turn off motion smoothing in your home.

[Bill Simmons]

I remember it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's very special. But I'm now I obeyed it and.

[Bill Simmons]

Used it because Tom Cruise told me to.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, there you go. What am I gonna do here? I mean, I thought you guys were like pretty rude about Interview with a Vampire.

[Sean Fennessy]

You can take it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

There's that.

[Van Lathan]

It's a cultural phenomenon.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

First time Cruise and Pit together again.

[Sean Fennessy]

Everyone was very two Mission Impossible movies on the board.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I know. And I'm like trying to figure out whether to be a real dick to Bill.

[Bill Simmons]

But I don't do what you want.

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, I know. And you'll still have one and it'll be fine. And you know, I know I said some slightly rude things about Cameron Diaz, but I gotta tell you, Night and Day is not the worst movie still on the board.

[Sean Fennessy]

So I can't believe on the pod where you dissed Cameron Diaz in Vanilla sky, giving one of her best performances, you're gonna take one of her worst movies.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I think that you and I like different things about Cameron Diaz, you know, so. And that's fine. The world is this large and has room for both performances.

[Sean Fennessy]

Are you sure you don't want Valkyrie?

[Chris Ryan]

Do you think she's better in Vanilla sky or the Counselor?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, Counselor is like way better. She's good. Obviously the climactic scene in Vanilla sky, she's good. But when. When she. And speaking of bedroom scenes, the first time you see her when they're supposed to have just had sex is like the chasm between two people has never been greater.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's really recurring theme. Yes, Cruise films. So you're taking Night and Day?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, I don't think I'm gonna take Night and Day. I want to leave it for Chris because.

[Bill Simmons]

So you're not gonna take Night and Day. After we just talked about it for three minutes.

[Sean Fennessy]

What was that?

[Bill Simmons]

What was that?

[Sean Fennessy]

Welcome to my life.

[Bill Simmons]

Why did we just do that?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Everybody else is just talking about movies for 15 minutes.

[Bill Simmons]

You set it up for three minutes like you were taking it. And then you're like, but I'm not gonna take it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

But I'm still about to dreamed.

[Sean Fennessy]

Why are you turning.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Why are you turning on me?

[Bill Simmons]

Before I. I was excited for the Night and Day pick.

[Van Lathan]

Amanda. Make a pay for. You can make a pay for, right?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I know, but it's just maybe you do anything said that in a supportive way instead of.

[Van Lathan]

It's International Women's Month.

[Chris Ryan]

Wasn't that the Night and Day promo tour was when he went to, like, seven continents in 24 hours.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

Remember when he was on 106 and park and did the Young Jock dance?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, shit.

[Van Lathan]

I do. That was out of my mind. But he. Do you know how big of a fucking deal it was for Tom Cruise to have gone on 160 Park? Because he had been on there before.

[Sean Fennessy]

I think the one when he did it was when it was like. It was like an awards. Maybe it was a BET awards.

[Van Lathan]

He went on 16 apart for collateral, and it was like a big fucking deal that he was on there. TC giving back to the.

[Bill Simmons]

I think Diaz never dated him.

[Sean Fennessy]

Who?

[Chris Ryan]

Cam?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, it's.

[Bill Simmons]

I don't think sparks flew in the set. Maybe she's Justin Timberlake.

[Amanda Dobbins]

All right, fine. I'll do Night and Day in Wild Card.

[Van Lathan]

Okay, cool.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Why not?

[Van Lathan]

You got bullied into it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

That's fine.

[Bill Simmons]

I mean, like, there's no movies left.

[Sean Fennessy]

Night and Day and Wild Card, you got.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, okay, so you still have 80s left.

[Bill Simmons]

I do, but, you know, there's no 80s movies left.

[Amanda Dobbins]

There is. There's one.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, there's one.

[Amanda Dobbins]

There's two.

[Sean Fennessy]

There's two.

[Van Lathan]

There's 2 left. It's my turn to draft.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, it is.

[Van Lathan]

So I'm doing Wild Card. I'm taking Legend.

[Sean Fennessy]

God.

[Chris Ryan]

So speak on it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, my God.

[Chris Ryan]

You could have picked anything.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You could have picked anything.

[Chris Ryan]

You could add, like, Mission Impossible 3 too.

[Van Lathan]

But I'm picking Legend.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's. It's like, I honestly, like, I don't like Legend, so me having to pick it would have been dishonest. So, sure.

[Sean Fennessy]

Tim Curry is incredible in Legend. I love what Tim Curry's up to. The rest of the movie I don't like at all.

[Van Lathan]

I think Legend is cool. I like unicorns.

[Bill Simmons]

Ridley Scott.

[Van Lathan]

Ridley Scott. I think Legend is cool. And, like, it's a movie that I've watched a lot. It was gonna be between Legend and Oblivion for my Wild Card. And I don't think.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Van Lathan]

I don't think I could have Oblivion on my team. Even though I like Oblivion. I think Oblivion was okay. Are you an effective teen? That's what she says.

[Sean Fennessy]

That is what she says. Oblivion is an important movie. Cause without Oblivion, we don't get Top Gun, Maverick because Joseph Kaczynski directs him in that movie.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm taking Ghost Protocol. I was hoping it would be on the board.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Good value. Good value. I could have taken it from you for 21st century, but I did not.

[Bill Simmons]

Do That I liked the recording.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I could have taken it in Wild Card and I didn't. Mostly because you shamed me.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, you did a three minute preamble for Nate and Dan.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, excuse me for talking on a podcast.

[Bill Simmons]

You set it up. It was like. Like on the Bachelor when they seem like they're going to propose and then they're like. They do the. But.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, that's called.

[Bill Simmons]

I don't feel like I'm doing everything.

[Sean Fennessy]

I ever wanted in a Cameron Diaz movie. I was moved by your performance. I'm so happy I'm in this position right now.

[Bill Simmons]

But, but, but Ghost Protocol has the building scene.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Verge, Khalifa.

[Bill Simmons]

And also has Paul Patton, who I think is just smoking.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Really like her.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And also Leah Sedu.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

And Josh Holloway.

[Bill Simmons]

And also didn't revive the franchise, but I think three was pretty polarizing. And then Ghost Protocols.

[Chris Ryan]

Ghost is where Renner comes in, right?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

It was going to be the attempted handoff and then he didn't. He was like, actually, I'm going to hold.

[Bill Simmons]

I like it.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's good.

[Bill Simmons]

I think it's my third favorite.

[Van Lathan]

Ghost Protocol didn't revive the franchise, but it's a very important one. Yeah. It kind of.

[Sean Fennessy]

It shows that it can be a.

[Van Lathan]

Long running, that it's durable. Yeah. It got. Got a little younger, a little sexier, you know, got all the old guys out of it. So Ghost Protocol was very important in it.

[Bill Simmons]

So this is my last pick.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah, you're done.

[Sean Fennessy]

Your last pick. Wild Card.

[Bill Simmons]

I mean, Reacher 2 is still out there.

[Sean Fennessy]

This is really tough. The last pick in this draft is not ideal.

[Bill Simmons]

3 minute Amanda prelim and then not take Richard too.

[Sean Fennessy]

I think going first was the worst position.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. I mean, I didn't want it. Of all the things to be mad about that I talked about a film.

[Bill Simmons]

For three minutes, wasn't mad, confused. Don't say that.

[Chris Ryan]

I'm mad.

[Bill Simmons]

You would be mad if I took Losing it with Tom Cruise right now, which I think is the last 80s movie. There's one more, Losing it and Endless Love. Two classics. Well, shit. I mean, if you're going to do Oblivion's pretty good. Did that get taken yet?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No.

[Bill Simmons]

What was the plot of Oblivion? I only saw it once.

[Chris Ryan]

It's the little globes that fly around and then Morgan Freeman's got all the books underground.

[Van Lathan]

They're living in a post apocalyptic world.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

And there's actually a lot of clones.

[Chris Ryan]

Of Tom Cruise and Andrea Riseborough is controlling everything. From a little tower.

[Van Lathan]

From a tower. And you think that the tower is the good guys. Towers are bad guys. The aliens are.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, I like that. I'm gonna take that as my wild card. I only saw. I think it's good value. Did think about Rock of Ages there. It's a reprehensible movie.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's really bad.

[Van Lathan]

It's like, fucking terrible.

[Sean Fennessy]

I think it's his worst film.

[Bill Simmons]

It's really awful. So I could do it. I.

[Sean Fennessy]

That's the one movie that needs to go undrafted in this.

[Bill Simmons]

The undrafted list is going to be really fun. Made 46. So six aren't getting drafted.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes. Although one of them is. The final is the new Mission Impossible. So that's five movies. Movies then basically that have come out.

[Bill Simmons]

What a list that's going to be.

[Sean Fennessy]

We're almost there.

[Chris Ryan]

I've got two left. Two picks left.

[Bill Simmons]

No, one pick.

[Chris Ryan]

21St. What was. I didn't pick Wild card.

[Sean Fennessy]

Did we skip you?

[Chris Ryan]

I think you might have skipped me, but it doesn't matter.

[Bill Simmons]

No, we didn't skip you. I see cr. Oh, I think you did get skipped.

[Sean Fennessy]

Bill skipped you.

[Chris Ryan]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

I didn't skip you.

[Chris Ryan]

That's all right. I'm gonna stand by my original bit and I'm going to go Valkyrie for 21st century.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay. Then we're going to go right back to you. Do you want to pontificate now on defending the perspective?

[Chris Ryan]

I keep looking for funny things to say, but they are all like Bryan Singer quotes. So I'm just going to skip.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. Good fan.

[Sean Fennessy]

Great. Congrats on that.

[Bill Simmons]

Like, I'm under a gag order.

[Chris Ryan]

Von Stoutenberg. Humanist.

[Sean Fennessy]

A humanist.

[Bill Simmons]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

Certainly.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Great.

[Chris Ryan]

And my wild card. I wish we could do kind of like fun stuff, you know, outside of the feature films.

[Bill Simmons]

I still think we should have done. Gross.

[Chris Ryan]

I was gonna do the. The Paris Olympic stunt.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, yeah. That's a good one. That would be also Tom Cruise doing a sport. Skydiving. A sport.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes.

[Van Lathan]

Tom Cruise Pop culture moment. Could have been a category.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. I would go, what was it, 90 or 2000 VMAs with Stiller? It's a big one. Tom Cruise and the Tom Cruise stunt double. Tom Cruise. C, R, O, O, Z.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Sure.

[Chris Ryan]

So, yeah, I just get another pick.

[Sean Fennessy]

You can pick a film.

[Chris Ryan]

I'll go. Nobody picked it. I guess I'll do Mission two.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

Great.

[Chris Ryan]

John Woo motorcycle fight. Worth it.

[Van Lathan]

Alone movies having a little bit of a resurgence.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

People are revisiting whether or not Mission two was as bad as.

[Chris Ryan]

And he's returned to that hair, too.

[Sean Fennessy]

He has.

[Bill Simmons]

I like John Woo. So, yeah. Yeah, I don't mind it. Good value. Could be worse. You could be Amanda, you could be me.

[Amanda Dobbins]

About to take endless love in in 80s. So.

[Sean Fennessy]

Is that what you're doing?

[Bill Simmons]

How many minutes was he even in?

[Van Lathan]

He's in like three scenes, right?

[Sean Fennessy]

I think it's like two scenes.

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, I watched them. I watched the two scenes. Yeah, it's. But it's kind of.

[Bill Simmons]

What does he do? What's his.

[Amanda Dobbins]

What's this part he like, tells. He gives the guy the idea to burn the house down.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Billy.

[Van Lathan]

What a fucked movie.

[Sean Fennessy]

You know who directed the film Endless Love?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I do.

[Sean Fennessy]

Italian cinema master Franco Zeffirelli of Romeo and Juliet fame.

[Bill Simmons]

Wow.

[Sean Fennessy]

That's the first. Is it the first movie the cruise made? I think it is.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

I think it's. Before losing it.

[Bill Simmons]

Incredible theme song, though.

[Sean Fennessy]

Very popular.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. This also. Endless Love was also eligible in Oscar nominee.

[Sean Fennessy]

Is it Donna Summer who sings?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yes.

[Bill Simmons]

No, it's Lionel Richie and Diana Ross.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes. Yes. Okay, well.

[Chris Ryan]

What are you gonna pick?

[Bill Simmons]

It's an emotional one.

[Sean Fennessy]

Oh, you guys skipped Van. Oh, we skipped Van.

[Van Lathan]

No, you did.

[Sean Fennessy]

Van still has to do Blockbuster.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Is there any Blockbusters left?

[Sean Fennessy]

Interview with a Vampire. There is one, and it's the one.

[Chris Ryan]

Movie you don't get on.

[Van Lathan]

I thought that I. You. Are you sure I didn't pick Blockbuster?

[Sean Fennessy]

I'm positive. Because also, you didn't. You have a whole other category still.

[Van Lathan]

We. We.

[Sean Fennessy]

We just skipped over you. Chris just picked his last one. Then there would be you next, then Amanda, and then Sean would finish. We got a little out of sorts in the end there because Bill went ahead of Chris and then Chris went to Amanda. So you have an interview with a vampire.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

You got Endless love. You got MI2.

[Chris Ryan]

And Valkyrie. And Valkyrie. Can I make a request?

[Sean Fennessy]

I have another pick left.

[Chris Ryan]

I know, but this is just a personal thing. When you guys do the social card, don't make it seem like I drafted Valkyrie first.

[Sean Fennessy]

Should we just go eight Valkyries for you? Would that be more accurate to your taste? Okay. Van gets interviewed with the vampire. I mean, let's just talk about what's left, okay. For the last pick for my wild card.

[Van Lathan]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

Losing it. Still on the board. Lions for Lambs still on the board.

[Bill Simmons]

Awful.

[Chris Ryan]

You're beloved.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Rock of Ages, still on the board.

[Chris Ryan]

Terrible. Never seen it. Won't see it.

[Bill Simmons]

Really tough. Aniston performance.

[Sean Fennessy]

The Mummy still on the board.

[Bill Simmons]

Abominable.

[Van Lathan]

Terrible movie.

[Sean Fennessy]

And Jack Reacher. Never go back.

[Van Lathan]

Oh, you have.

[Sean Fennessy]

Never go back.

[Van Lathan]

Oh, wait a minute.

[Bill Simmons]

I Almost took.

[Van Lathan]

I should have taken Jack Reacher. Never go back.

[Sean Fennessy]

It didn't cross 100 mil.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

Really?

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, it was a. It kind of bombed.

[Sean Fennessy]

It did. It did. Kind of bomb.

[Van Lathan]

Interesting.

[Chris Ryan]

I think you and I saw it in the.

[Bill Simmons]

Did we see two? I thought we saw one in the theaters.

[Chris Ryan]

I think I saw two with you. Maybe in the.

[Sean Fennessy]

We definitely saw it in the. It made 58 million domestic.

[Van Lathan]

Oh, so that's a huge bomb.

[Sean Fennessy]

It was a big bomb, but that gives me two Ed Zwick movies.

[Bill Simmons]

Wow. Double swick.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay.

[Van Lathan]

Those are some bad movies.

[Bill Simmons]

By the way, we can't do Girlfriends as the last category. Go ahead, Sean.

[Chris Ryan]

Love interest.

[Bill Simmons]

Love interest.

[Sean Fennessy]

80S Mimi Rogers. No. No question. That's a. That's okay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Are we doing Snake?

[Sean Fennessy]

It's a fastball down.

[Bill Simmons]

Is it Van or Chris? Van.

[Chris Ryan]

I'll go.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's Van. It's Van. I'll go.

[Chris Ryan]

I mean, I just.

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, it's Van.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's.

[Van Lathan]

Oh, it's Van.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

I have to go under the Armiston.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I. Okay. I mean, wait.

[Chris Ryan]

Over Kidman. Yeah, I got Kidman.

[Bill Simmons]

I mean, we're Australians.

[Chris Ryan]

I just. You guys, what are we.

[Van Lathan]

Basically.

[Sean Fennessy]

You said you weren't into Kidman.

[Chris Ryan]

I'm saying I just don't like him. Like, her for him.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's like a Valkyrie situation where, like, if it could be your version of Kidman, then she would be the hero that you wanted.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm gonna go. I have two picks. I'm gonna go. De Mornay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Bill Simmons]

Katie Holmes.

[Sean Fennessy]

Oh, that's. Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

See, I wouldn't. I wouldn't take Katie Holmes because I.

[Chris Ryan]

Harry Dean Stanton showed up on the set and was like, stop fucking around with Rebecca De Morday. And they still went through.

[Sean Fennessy]

Did he ever take a trip around the block with Salma Hayek? Was that ever a thing?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I'm Googling Tom Cruise dating history right now.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

Give us some names that we didn't know.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Did you ever have, like, you know.

[Sean Fennessy]

What, Daphne Zuniga in there or something?

[Amanda Dobbins]

If. Are we.

[Bill Simmons]

Are we.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Do. Are we going back around? Because he was rumored with Haley Atwell, who is another of my. Like I like Mary is the logical.

[Sean Fennessy]

Conclusion from Mimi Rogers. She is like the. She is the sequel.

[Van Lathan]

Why is that?

[Sean Fennessy]

You know why. You know why.

[Bill Simmons]

What are the reasons, Sean?

[Sean Fennessy]

The reasons are they're great. The stunning brunette beauty of these two wonderful, talented actors.

[Van Lathan]

The only reason why I got you.

[Sean Fennessy]

And the tremendous chemistry that they share with.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, tremendous, tremendous.

[Sean Fennessy]

You know?

[Van Lathan]

Yeah. You ever see the Rapture with Mimi Rogers?

[Sean Fennessy]

Of course. Yeah, written by Michael Tolkien.

[Bill Simmons]

What other girlfriends do we miss?

[Van Lathan]

What's going on?

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's. Remember when he and Shakira were quote unquote dating because they were photographed together at like the one of the F1 events?

[Bill Simmons]

Went on a date.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, that was. That was. Right. The Jam or whatever.

[Van Lathan]

Who else?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Let's see, we've got Ana de Armas on here. Share. Apparently.

[Sean Fennessy]

Nice. In the.

[Amanda Dobbins]

In the 80s, probably.

[Bill Simmons]

She's probably going undrafted.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right. And. Oh, that's Bruce Springsteen's Patty. Patty Scala, apparently.

[Van Lathan]

Oh, interesting.

[Sean Fennessy]

Wow.

[Van Lathan]

What?

[Amanda Dobbins]

That's what I'm looking at. A photo after De. And before Cherry. Heather Locklear.

[Van Lathan]

Oh, Heather.

[Bill Simmons]

Heather Lockle.

[Sean Fennessy]

No, we should do.

[Amanda Dobbins]

We should do that. Farrah Fawcett hair.

[Van Lathan]

We should draft Heather Locklear because she's got the best lady roster of almost anyone.

[Bill Simmons]

She ended up with Jack Wagner.

[Sean Fennessy]

Lady roster.

[Van Lathan]

Lady rosters. We never give the assistance.

[Sean Fennessy]

Sambora. Is that a W for her? I'm not so sure.

[Bill Simmons]

So are you going to recap?

[Sean Fennessy]

I am going to recap. I just want to point out one. First of all, my team sucks. This is a roster for me on the Tom Cruise movie draft to the five movies that went undrafted officially were Losing It. Endless Love, Lions.

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, I drafted Endless Love.

[Van Lathan]

She took. She took Endless Love.

[Sean Fennessy]

So what am I forgetting? Losing It. Lions for Lambs, the Mummy, Rock of Ages. What's the fifth one that I'm not thinking of?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Scrolling. Scrolling. All the Mission movies went Austin Powers and Golden. Yeah, you should have taken that.

[Bill Simmons]

Fuck me.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Fuck.

[Van Lathan]

Oh, I should have thought of that.

[Sean Fennessy]

No.

[Bill Simmons]

Is he really in that, though?

[Van Lathan]

It's a cameo. Himself.

[Chris Ryan]

It's a cameo. It's kind of a cameo in Tropic Thunder.

[Van Lathan]

It is. No, no, no. It is a cameo in Tropic Thunder, by the way. Horseshit. But like I. But. But I should have took that Wild Card.

[Sean Fennessy]

Would have been a fun place to take that Wild Card.

[Van Lathan]

Would have been a fun place to take.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay, let's recap all of our picks since I went first. I'll read mine first. In 80s I got Risky Business. In 90s, I got a Few Good Men. So far, so good. 21st century American made Oscar nominee, born on the 4th of July, mission impossible. I got Rogue Nation, Tom Cruise Does a Sports Thing. I got all the Right Moves. Blockbuster. I got the Last Samurai. And in Wild Card I took Jack Reacher Never Go Back. Which I did not expect to be drafting today. Okay, Amanda, what'd you get?

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's really tough start for me in 80s endless love in 90s. Magnolia. 21st century, edge of Tomorrow, Oscar nominee. Mission Impossible. Dead Reckoning. Mission Impossible. Mission Impossible. Tom Cruise does a sports thing. War of the Worlds blockbuster, Top Gun, Maverick. And Wild Card just for Bill. Night and Day.

[Chris Ryan]

You got. You got pretty close to heaven there.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I mean, in the middle. It's okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

Everybody has two or three.

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, I've got a couple that I just really.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay, Vanyard.

[Van Lathan]

Bob's got to read mine off because I wasn't writing them down. I'm looking at, like, let me see. Okay, where we at? 80s, 80s. I got cocktail. 90s.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes. Yes.

[Van Lathan]

I got far and away, 21st century. I got Collateral, Oscar nominee. I got Vanilla Sky, Mission Impossible. I got Mission Impossible. Fallout. Tom Cruise does a sports thing. I have Days of Thunder. Blockbuster. I have interviewed the best wild card. I have a legend. I feel good about my team.

[Chris Ryan]

Team.

[Bill Simmons]

That's not even a playoff team.

[Van Lathan]

I feel good about my team.

[Sean Fennessy]

CR. What did you get?

[Chris Ryan]

In the 80s, I have the outsiders. In the 90s, I have eyes wide shut. In the 21st century, I have Valkyrie.

[Sean Fennessy]

I love Nazis.

[Chris Ryan]

In Oscar Nominee, I have the Firm in Mission Impossible, I have Mission Impossible 3. In Tom Cruise does a sports thing, I have Color of Money In Blockbuster, I have Minority Report. And in Wild Card, I have Mission Impossible Possible, too.

[Van Lathan]

I was not aware of the Valkyrie discourse.

[Chris Ryan]

What's that?

[Van Lathan]

I wasn't aware of the Valkyrie.

[Sean Fennessy]

Oh, yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

It's like. It's. If he makes it seem like I'm way outside of the conventional wisdom, it freaks me out so much that I don't. Almost don't pick it. But I'm sticking with Mi3 and I'm sticking with Valkyrie.

[Sean Fennessy]

There you go, Bill. What'd you get?

[Bill Simmons]

80S taps, 90s Jerry Maguire, 21st century. Jack Reacher, Oscar. Rain man actually won the Oscar. Mission Impossible, Ghost Protocol. Tom Cruise does the sports thing. Top Gun, Blockbuster, Tropic Thunder, Wild Card, Oblivion. Bill, where's my camera? Send the trophy to my friend.

[Sean Fennessy]

I do think Bill won.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah, Bill won.

[Sean Fennessy]

And this is a case where, unfortunately, being at the turn was the best scenario.

[Chris Ryan]

Did you enjoy this? Many categories.

[Sean Fennessy]

You bitched and moaned, but you got the best. You got the best situation.

[Bill Simmons]

I mean, you guys are doing your artsy fartsy picks, and I was just taking winners.

[Sean Fennessy]

Artsy fartsy, but artsy fartsy winners.

[Bill Simmons]

Top Gun fell to five or six.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I mean, I took Top Gun.

[Bill Simmons]

Most important Tom Cruise movie.

[Van Lathan]

She took Maverick.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I took Maverick. I mean, it's in the universe.

[Sean Fennessy]

My opinion, Top Gun. It's not that good.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's pretty good.

[Sean Fennessy]

Not one of my movies. It's just not what this is. Was I on that rewatchable side? It's not a movie I ever had passion for. Honestly. I love a lot of other Tony Scott movies.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You don't really like it when vehicles go fast. That doesn't. So in general, that doesn't speak to.

[Van Lathan]

You of the Tony.

[Amanda Dobbins]

He's also out on. He's out on Fast and Furious.

[Bill Simmons]

He saved the world at the end of the movie.

[Sean Fennessy]

I think Russian movies are over the line. Reputation culturally far exceeds its quality.

[Van Lathan]

Interesting. So of the Tony Scott movies, you don't think like, what's your 40 years ago? What's your Tony Scott jams? What are your Tony Scott jams?

[Sean Fennessy]

Crimson Tide for sure. Romance for sure.

[Van Lathan]

Is Crimson Tide better than Top Gun?

[Sean Fennessy]

I would much rather watch Crimson Tide in Tide personally.

[Van Lathan]

Probably better, right?

[Chris Ryan]

As a movie.

[Van Lathan]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

But like, I would. I even prefer like Enemy of the State to Top Gun. Like, I know why Top Gun is huge and I get its importance. It also wasn't. I was. I was three when it came out. You know, I was. I didn't hit for me at the same time, so nothing against it.

[Bill Simmons]

Not a patriot.

[Chris Ryan]

Not a humanist.

[Sean Fennessy]

Is Valkyrie your Top Gun? Any closing thoughts? You feel good? Everybody feel good about this?

[Chris Ryan]

Did you enjoy this many categories?

[Sean Fennessy]

It's hard. Yeah. It was challenging.

[Chris Ryan]

At least Rock of Ages didn't get drafted.

[Sean Fennessy]

Feel good about that?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Probably seven categories instead of eight.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. We could have just taken Wild Card off the board and been fine.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Van Lathan]

Cause Tom Cruise does a sports thing. It's kind of your cool wild cardy.

[Bill Simmons]

So what, it's like a percentage of the amount of movies somebody made versus the amount of movies you'd want to draft. And it'd probably be around 75%.

[Sean Fennessy]

I think that would actually be pretty good. Cruise is unusual. I mean, we. We could have gotten through five categories fully and everybody, I think, would have been at least content. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

So part of the reason why I wanted to do it is because put a little pressure on the scenario.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Didn't break. You know, I did think we both.

[Sean Fennessy]

Could have broken him.

[Bill Simmons]

Yes, I think you should have. I would have done it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, I know, but that's why we're not like you.

[Bill Simmons]

You thought about it, though?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, sure. I learned that that was actually part of the three minute monologue. But you weren't listening to that. I was trying to emotionally prepare you. That's okay.

[Bill Simmons]

Can I say That I don't think I've ever seen Night, in a way.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Night and Day.

[Bill Simmons]

Night and Day.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, sure.

[Bill Simmons]

Far and Away Night.

[Sean Fennessy]

Far and Away and Night and Day. That would be a hell of a mashup.

[Chris Ryan]

Just started remixing his movies. Like, what if he was Irish in Night and Day?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, they. Like a. Like a m. Like, when they mix music. What was the plot of Night and Day?

[Amanda Dobbins]

He is. He's, like, not CIA, but, like, undercover agent. Special agent. And she fixes cars for a living. And she somehow gets roped into the. Like, his. Not his mission, but the people who are out to get him think that she's working with him. So let me ask you a question. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

It's just a weird pairing.

[Sean Fennessy]

Should Night and Day have been eligible in Tom Cruise as a sports thing? Because they run with the bulls in the movie.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, I just think that's a stunt. That's not a sport.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, running on bulls is a sport.

[Chris Ryan]

No, it's just fear. It's just running from a.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's like a cultural tradition.

[Chris Ryan]

Are you trying to make me make fun of Castilian tradition? No, I'm not doing that.

[Bill Simmons]

Tell us more. Tell us more. Colonel Klaus.

[Sean Fennessy]

Forevermore.

[Chris Ryan]

We do Final Destination bloodlines. I'm definitely wearing an eye patch without any, like, mentioning it.

[Sean Fennessy]

I'm Sean Fennesee. Here's Colonel Von Stauffenberg. Bill Van. Chris, Amanda, thank you so much. Thanks to Bobby Wagner. Thanks to Jack Sanders for his work on this episode. Next week, Chris did tease it. We are talking about Final Destination bloodline. We're also ranking every single kill in the history of the Final Destination franchise. I've been doing my research.

[Van Lathan]

Tremendous undertaking.

[Chris Ryan]

It's like one of the most clear number one seeds since. In a long time for me.

[Sean Fennessy]

Are you referring to an opening sequence in one of the films? Yes. Okay. No giveaways there, guys. Thank you. This was fun. See you next week.