Excuse the Intermission
Alex and Max take you on a journey through film with this discussion podcast about movies.
Excuse the Intermission
ETI's Mark Wahlberg HOF
What if Mark Wahlberg's career choices could be mapped like a roller coaster, with highs and lows that keep audiences on the edge of their seats? Join us for a spirited exploration of Wahlberg's diverse filmography, from standout roles like those in "Boogie Nights" and "The Fighter" to the puzzling choices such as "Planet of the Apes." We dive into the collaborations with directors like David O. Russell and Peter Berg, examining how these partnerships have brought unique flair to his performances. It's a conversation that celebrates Wahlberg's versatility, dissecting why his most recent release, "Flight Risk," might just be another exciting chapter in his storied career.
From Kendrick Lamar's electrifying Super Bowl performance to Tom Cruise's cinematic declarations, we shift gears to ponder the state of the movie industry today. Tackling the proliferation of franchise films, we discuss the desire for fresh narratives amid the franchise fatigue. Using "Jurassic World" and Scarlett Johansson's career choices as talking points, we imagine a cinematic future where dinosaurs roam free of their franchise constraints and audiences are treated to more original storytelling.
As we wrap up, we look at the fascinating intersections of Wahlberg's career in both television and film. With a nod to his role as executive producer on "Entourage," we ponder how this success might have influenced his later projects. We also muse over the potential directions his career could take, whether revisiting action-packed staples or venturing into more nuanced roles. From unexpected casting ideas to humorous references like the iconic "say hello to your mother for me," it's a light-hearted yet insightful journey through Wahlberg's Hollywood narrative.
All right, how's it going? I'm Erica Krause.
Speaker 2:I'm Alex McCauley and I'm Max Fosberg.
Speaker 1:And this is, Excuse the Intermission a discussion show surrounding one of our favorite Boston natives, a man of many uniforms, Mark Wahlberg. Today, we're going to be ranking some of his top movies in celebration of his newest movie, Flight Risk. All of that on the other side of this break. All right, guys, we are switching it up today. Thank you for letting me take on this episode.
Speaker 2:Not the episode. I thought we'd be in the back seat for Erica Wahlberg, yeah right, mrs Erica Wahlberg.
Speaker 1:We needed a pilot, um, not the episode. I thought we'd be in the back seat for this is erica walberg. Yeah right, mrs erica walberg.
Speaker 2:we needed a pilot and uh, just so happened that erica had a bald cap I mean, she's in charge of the play, she's the new kid on the block, so it makes sense, right?
Speaker 1:yeah, everyone's probably listening like what is is going on. This is not our usual intro, but you know, like this all kind of started because I made a little comment on my review of one of his movies and here we are. Here we are, I'm leading the way we are going to be.
Speaker 2:Things happen fast on Letterboxd yeah.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, we're just going to be ranking his movies. He's got quite the filmography, but first, how are you guys doing what's up? How was Super Bowl weekend?
Speaker 2:Yeah Kendrick anyone.
Speaker 2:I've rewatched that performance so much you can log the performance on the aforementioned Letterboxd platform, which is really fun. I've enjoyed reading the comments on there. And Letterboxd platform, which is really fun. I've enjoyed reading the comments on there. Probably the highlight of the afternoon was the Kendrick performance.
Speaker 2:I mean, I like the Eagles just as much as any other non-Philadelphia sports fan, I suppose, but I think we all really took a lot of enjoyment out of watching the Chiefs lose, and so I watched all four quarters and every second of the game, which of course, then means I was. I was seated for most, most of the commercials and traditionally, um, that means I would have seen a lot of cool and new, exciting movie movie trailers. However, when we have our little group chat going, it seemed like a lot of the trailers were just and we have our little group chat going, it seemed like a lot of the trailers were just like advertisements, more like teasers for you than having to do the work on your own to go watch. The full-length trailer which was announced to us would be available online the next day, or is now available online, that's what they do now.
Speaker 3:They do teasers to trailers. It's ridiculous.
Speaker 2:Te's what they do now, they do teasers to trailers.
Speaker 3:It's ridiculous Teasers to teasers.
Speaker 2:As far as maybe not spoiling a film by showing any big reveals in the trailer.
Speaker 2:I like that approach to it.
Speaker 2:Probably the most cinematic moment of the afternoon was Tom Cruise introducing the Super Bowl, which also, you know, also stirred up some discussion in our group chat, because I think Tom Cruise famously a really athletic non like like an athletic non athlete, if that makes sense, you know, like you see him in War of the Worlds playing, having a catch with his son at the beginning, and it looks like it's the first time he's ever seen a baseball.
Speaker 2:Groves playing, having a catch with his son at the beginning, and it looks like it's the first time he's ever seen a baseball. However, of course, he's very physically gifted in what he can do on screen and in these different roles. So just an odd choice and to kind of pair this I don't know whatever the theme of the final reckoning is going to be with preparation for the Super Bowl. I don't know, it felt forced, it felt like Tom Cruise probably could care less about the Super Bowl, but he's here for the advancement of the Mission Impossible series and for the betterment of cinema and so I appreciate his commitment to the bit.
Speaker 3:Well, I'm a little concerned about Tom Cruise being in some undisclosed room with that many screens surrounding him. I didn't see this live, but going back and re-watching it also, some some sort of like cgi smoothing on his face he looked very young.
Speaker 2:Yes, he looked. Uh, he looked odd, looked very odd it did not look like the tom cruise who welcomed us back to the theaters prior to Top Gun Maverick screenings, Right, Because I can remember in those moments everyone was like, wow, this lighting and these 4K cameras and everything. This is a little rough on you there. Tc. He almost looked de-aged in this little promo bit.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, he looked weird.
Speaker 2:He looked very weird.
Speaker 3:But also, you know, some of these big trailers that were at least teased throughout the broadcast. Man, I don't know where we're at, but it's a deep, dark place. We've got another jurassic world movie coming um which I'm not out on but like would you rather have scar joe go into another 10 years of franchise movie making or would you rather have her go make a marriage story?
Speaker 2:or under the skin. Yeah, well, it's a. It's obviously the like she just got out of marvel right. Just got out of Marvel Right.
Speaker 3:Just got out of Marvel and now we have to go back to the island of dinosaurs to get the DNA out of an egg. Of course, I just thought can we just sink the island? Can we just get rid of the island?
Speaker 2:Have we learned? Dinosaurs and humans should not be on the same planet. It's unbelievable.
Speaker 3:They have to get off that corner. I I was having this conversation with a with a peer today and like we gotta get, we gotta get dinosaurs back from the jurassic world brand well, I think we've talked about that well yeah, but look what happens when we try to do it.
Speaker 2:it's adam driver and it's the film 65 and no one goes out to see it because dinosaurs have already been monopolized by Jurassic, by the Jurassic IP, and so no one else wants to touch it. We've talked about this before with with the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. We're never going to get another high quality Pirates film unless we just return to that universe, because no one's going to want to try to do it better than what gore verbinski did with with the first couple of pirates films. Um, so so it is really tough. I mean, we see this way. Yeah, it just sucks right, because, as as human beings, I hear somebody, um, like ben affleck, say I want to be bat Batman because my kids love Batman and I'm like cool, cool and so, like, go and do your thing If, like, if and it's so funny, cause I just I think I mentioned this when At least that version of Batman was trying something completely different.
Speaker 2:That's true. I was thinking about this because, um, during the trailer, because I was like, did didn't I just see Scarlett Johansson in something really really odd, something really really weird, and it's the third Home Alone movie where she plays the older sister who's kind of the bratty sister, and so it gets me thinking like she's a child of the 90s. She probably grew up watching Jurassic Park, so like the same sort of IP that I would be like if there was maybe another Home Alone movie ever, like I could see Scarlett Johansson wanting to be the mom in that movie and we're just kind of like and don't like what.
Speaker 3:Give us another movie, like under the skin or something, but I don't know I don't know, uh, and then also fantastic four, which is, you know, supposed to resurrect marvel. I that I think I missed this one looks it looks straight up like a TV show and I just don't understand.
Speaker 2:It's failed twice, why are we trying a third time?
Speaker 3:I just don't understand why these big budget movies have the. I mean, I do understand. I do understand why they have the worst looking. Look to them. Because they are flat and because we are over lighting everything, because everything is on in a digital world. Now we can't go into a room and shoot in the real life anymore. There's got to be a fucking green screen or a fucking the. What's the fucking screen they use in the background? Now the, the void or whatever it's called it is?
Speaker 2:it's bad's, really, really bad well, to quote jonah hill and super bad. I'm sorry the coen brothers don't direct the porno that I watch, but they're a little bit busy like the pornos are better.
Speaker 2:The pornos have become better if, if you want terrence malick to make a marvel movie, like I just don't think it's in the cards and we don don't, and that's that right. There would be worse if PTA or one of these auteurs who are still working and releasing high quality stuff, if one of them decided I'm going to go and make a Marvel movie and spend like this is kind of what we're getting with Denny and now the Dune movies are so good. But like I think we've mentioned this on the show before as well Like at least what Denny can do by going into an IP is take these actors who were really interested and like no one's mad at Lea Seydoux or Timothee Chalamet or Zendaya for dipping their toes into this IP because of the prestige level that he can bring to it. He can bring to it. But like I'm more mad at something like the thunderbolts taking florence pew away from us, as I am to whatever filmmaker is is behind the camera.
Speaker 3:That trailer, too, just looked like concrete. It just it's just so much gray. What is wrong? I don't, I just don't understand, uh, why we have. We have gone this way and you know, and if there was like motion smoothing or whatever done to to smooth out tom cruise's face, I it's time to look at the cameras and blame the cameras, because if, if, 4k and if we're gonna keep going k tvs already.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, if we keep going up and up in k's like things are just it gets so it's gonna get so crystal clear that it's it's like hyper real it's.
Speaker 2:It's not what we actually see with the naked eye yeah, we can't.
Speaker 3:It can't happen. I agree with that.
Speaker 2:I agree, yeah I experienced this a little bit in in the how to train your Dragon live action trailer. Because I am on record. Go look at my letterboxes from years ago. I love the how to Train a Dragon series and Toothless looks awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he looks exactly the same.
Speaker 2:He looks exactly the same, which is so great. Dreamworks great animation studio and DreamWorks we trust. Which is so great. Dreamworks, great animation studio and dreamworks we trust. However, I'm like, will that does? Will this marriage work for me, with live action and now the computer generated images, because then that's where one of those two can look out of place, because what we've already seen is a fully animated version of this. Will the real life stuff look out of place or will toothless, even though the trailers looked great? Um, you know, it's basically just like we're gonna get, like a game of thrones for for kids yeah, you know um and and so I'm I'm optimistic for some of the stuff that I saw, some of the stuff.
Speaker 2:I know I missed um after because, like I pulled up an article like movie trailers, I was like, oh, I don't remember seeing like lilo and stitch and I had kids at school talking about lilo and stitch because they've loved lilo and stitch, that that um franchise has continued on with television and through, you know, disney plus revivals of just being able to pop on the first and the second film that we kind of grew up with. So I know there's stuff out there that um probably saw a huge bump in inactivity because of the super bowl. But I mean, like I can't remember and not that something like a new paul thomas anderson movie would have a super bowl spot necessarily. But I can't, I don't think I walked away from the commercials last sunday any more excited, even for mission impossible, than I was going into the game I mean mission impossible looked cool though, and now see aside from some spots that were like Yellow and red planes really intercut with what Tom was talking about.
Speaker 2:I don't think I saw that spot either during the game.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the spot looks pretty nice.
Speaker 1:I missed all of this. I actually didn't watch the Super Bowl. I only really watched it for the halftime show, you know, and I was there for Kendrick and boy. Was that just quite the powerhouse? So I need to go and watch some of these trailers now, because I haven't seen them. I've been like, really avoiding trailers recently. But I am curious about Mission Impossible.
Speaker 1:Ok, I was speaking of airplanes and stuff um so flight risk is kind of why we're here um doing this episode. It's the newest mark walberg movie. Um you know it's it's not getting great reviews. It's actually a mel gibson movie. I had no idea that he directed this, but um first time he's directed a feature film?
Speaker 3:in what 10 years?
Speaker 1:yeah, is that how?
Speaker 3:long it's been.
Speaker 2:I think it's since apocalypto I think it was his last one. Wow, really, there's no way. That's correct no no, I think he self-directed him and he he self-directed himself in like a cop revenge movie I feel, like yeah, in fact, check this yeah, so he directed this.
Speaker 1:It's um looking like it opened at about 34 million worldwide. Um, I don't really know. You guys know box office numbers so much better than I do like if that's good or bad, and I'm not an opening weekend of 34 million in the middle of february.
Speaker 2:It is that's good or bad, I'm not really sure. An opening weekend of 34 million in the middle of February is not that bad.
Speaker 1:It was number one at the box office this past weekend, but I'm like, well, is that really saying a whole lot? There's not a whole lot that came out but, regardless.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so none of us got a chance to see it, but I am kind of curious after reading a little bit. But the trailer does give curious after reading a little bit. But the trailer does give you quite a bit of spoilers. But basically Mark Wahlberg plays a pilot who is actually a hired hitman, but they don't know that. But we do in the trailer Love, if they would have kept that a secret, maybe.
Speaker 1:But he's transporting a US air marshal and this accountant that the air marshal has arrested and there sounds like they're flying out of Alaska and all shit, all hell breaks loose from there. That's pretty much the movie but, like I said, it's not getting the greatest reviews but sounds like it was, you know, somewhat successful. But it was a good excuse to do this episode because, while maybe some of his newest movies haven't been the greatest, he does have quite a few heavy hitters over the years and he's got a really impressive um film lots of movies and on that fact check about hacksaw rage hacksaw rage was the last movie he directed in 2016 years ago 2016 and then and and that was a 10-year hiatus from apocalypto in 2006.
Speaker 3:But mark walberg, the I one of the like gods of garbage, I would say uh, in, especially in recent years. Um walberg is is such an interesting person to go through and like look at his filmography because it is vast, yeah uh, and there are some really high highs, there are some incredible lows and there's not really like a there's like no consistency.
Speaker 2:I feel like Well, you're looking at the project. It's really interesting because we just talked about the and I never had really made this connection either until starting to go through his filmography and look at what this exercise is gonna, you know, potentially play out like. And and I thought to myself, are Tom Cruise and Mark Wahlberg similar in the way that their careers have kind of gone? Now Mark Wahlberg doesn't have a mission impossible. That has carried him through the 21st century. He has just um found the ability, however, to dip his toes into a very similar genre of like kind of garbage, crime, espionage, thriller, sort of like special ops, trash and and make that stuff work, while also producing a lot of tv, staying active, always kind of being like in the public eye. But when you look at his 90s and some of the filmmakers he was working with, very similar to what Tom Cruise was doing kind of in the first half of his career. And you know, wahlberg still has some, some real highs in the 21st century and we'll get to those, of course, during the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2:But I had never really thought to myself. And they're about the same age, you know. Uh, walbert's like 53, I think tom's just a little bit older than that. But you know, in terms of like kind of a comparison, I don't, he's much closer to a tom cruise than he is, say, maybe like a ben affleck or a matt damon or some of these other bossantonians. Yeah, who, who? Um, you know he might get sort of like I don't want to say lumped into, but you know, kind of like, considered his contemporaries.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he definitely. I actually saw somebody compare him to Tom Cruise when I was just doing all my research and stuff. And yeah, he like what you said about Mission Impossible, if, like Tom has that franchise to go like really carry him like you said, mark has these like you can pretty much always count on him to do some kind of like first responder role, military role, like, like I said in my intro, like he is like our favorite man in uniform, you know. I mean he really wears all the different kinds um and I think he does well at those roles. I like him on that um. But I wanted to ask you guys if, like, you remembered the first movie that you ever saw him in and like where it all, like what you remember like from, if you saw, him, like at like watched any of his movies when you were younger, or if you kind of came to him later in life. Do you remember at all?
Speaker 2:for me that it has to probably be a perfect storm, um, or is it the perfect storm? Yeah, the perfect storm, um, because that's a movie that I know I saw as soon as it came to video and just kind of looking at what he had made prior to that. I mean, I know I watched like Boogie Nights in middle school and you know, then I Heart Huckabees wasn't too far behind that and then kind of coming back to some of the stuff that he did in the 90s, along with something like you know, boogie Nights or whatever Basketball Diaries movies that we'll get to. But for me it's probably the perfect storm and so, kind of coming to him, it's still this really exciting time in his career where he is more of a supporting role in some of his films but who almost steals the show. I would say there's quite a few occurrences of that happening.
Speaker 2:But then also, as somebody who grew up watching a lot of sports and was coming of age at the time when the celtics were becoming relevant again and when the boston red sox were making um a push at the world series to break their curse, I can always remember seeing mark walberg at like you know he's sitting courtside and the cameras would go to him at a basketball game or something. Um, entourage comes out there in the mid-2000s and and knowing that, that's kind of the that's the mark walberg story being told on screen, and so I think that while I I can, I can pinpoint the movie, I feel like when I really started to understand like mark walberg the person was when it kind of all clicked for me yeah yeah, I think.
Speaker 3:I think my first interaction with walbert probably was planet of the apes. Okay, in 2001, as captain leo davidson yeah which might be one of his dumber characters he's ever played um, but also I I don't know. I mean looking at this list, the italian job uh was was one that was played a lot, uh, in my house.
Speaker 3:Growing up I remember getting gifted invincible like as a kid, like right when I started playing football myself. I think an aunt or an uncle thought it would be, you know, know smart to give me Invincible because I was into football.
Speaker 2:That's a Disney marketing, just grade A.
Speaker 3:Totally. Rockstar was always a movie that was like on cable and you would catch like moments of and kind of get sucked in by some of those musical performances.
Speaker 2:I can't wait to talk about.
Speaker 3:Rockstar later.
Speaker 2:I think Rockstar opens up the door for a whole new category, um a film that we can maybe do on a future episode but uh, but yeah, I think not until, like the departed shooter, we own the night.
Speaker 3:You know, kind of 2006 to 2007, that run is kind of when I really started to like key in and be like, and that's when he's a leading man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, mark.
Speaker 3:Wahlberg is a is a movie star yeah, right cool what about you, erica?
Speaker 1:I? I had to think about this myself because I have a very vivid memory of being at a friend's house when I was little and her older brother is watching Planet of the Apes in the basement and we watched it a little bit but I don't know if I even like really put it together that like who Mark Wahlberg was, but I think kind of similar to Alex, like the perfect storm. I do remember like watching that as a kid. But I think rock star was maybe my first like big one of his. I don't know that I was really like thinking of him as Mark Wahlberg. It was more of just like that's one of my all time favorite movies.
Speaker 1:Pretty infamously, I love rock star, but yeah, like just I think those are my early intros to him and then like kind of like what Max was saying, like once he starts to get into those like the roles, like the departed shooter, all of that, then that's when you're like okay, we're seeing a lot more of this guy. He is very, very prevalent in the two like mid-2000s, um, but I think we should, let's get started. What do you think?
Speaker 2:can't wait cool a lot of movies to get to, yeah yep, we sure do.
Speaker 1:Okay, so we're kind of how we were talking about earlier. Um, there he has quite the list and some of these movies. He has a very, maybe a small part in it, not necessarily a supporting role, but just might either like either play himself or he might just have a really small role. We're gonna skip over those just because I don't really, um, consider that like a mark walberg movie. Um, so I think we decided the first one we're gonna do is basketball diaries yeah, this is a really important movie to teenage alex.
Speaker 2:Um, I think this is one of the first. This is definitely one of the first Leonardo DiCaprio films that I saw, like post-Titanic it was like this in the beach that that I watched. Post-titanic obviously had to wait for the beach for a couple of years but was able to go back and watch Basketball Diaries and so that in in mark walberg's performance in this film as as basically leo's best friend and kind of an enabler to, you know, leonardo dicaprio plays the um, the author and poet, jim carroll, who, um, was like this rising star and kind of like prep league basketball. And then you know, you know they're in New York and what ends up happening is that Leonardo DiCaprio especially really goes down a path of substance use, drinking at an early age, all sorts of bad decisions, and Mark Wahlberg, for the first half of this movie, is kind of right there with him and getting into trouble and really stirring it up, and so it's a really, really good young, not only Leonardo DiCaprio performance but also a really good Mark Wahlberg performance and it leads to, I think, him really getting noticed for something like the movie that comes next in his career, and so in that that sense I feel like it's really important. However, it's tough to really say that it's like the movie that discovered him, because obviously he was the son of or, excuse me, he was the younger brother of donnie walberg at the time, who who actually at the beginning of their careers donnie being the older brother and and and kind of a bigger part of New Kids on the Block was more famous and so Mark Wahlberg kind of had to come out from his big brother's shadows, but he still had a lot of experience with fame because of the boy band. So it's not really like this movie discovered him. However, I do think it's important.
Speaker 2:I think we put it yellow for now, just because you watch this movie and it's real. I mean, the whole thing centers around Leo, so it's impossible Like we were doing a Leo Hall of Fame. I would say that this almost needs to be green because this is like the movie along with you know maybe what's eating Gilbert Grape or whatever, and that also that doesn't get talked about as much. But this is one of those from the 90s where and right around like the turn of the century kind of, but like you would watch this movie on like a double feature with requiem for a dream, like something that's really hard to watch but really impactful and maybe a little bit manipulative in the way that it kind of tells um, a, a, you know, a story based on true events, and so I don't.
Speaker 2:I don't think it's green, I don't think it's in the hall of fame, but it's yellow. It's one that I can definitely recommend, and one that you know I, but I don't think it has. I don't know if there's a blu-ray release of this film or not, but one that I saw, the DVD of today, because it's just moving, that stays with you, and and Mark Wahlberg is a big part of that.
Speaker 3:Cool, I'm good with yellow yeah yeah, I think, I think it is a yeah, yeah, I think it is a. You're right, I think it does. This performance does get him then his breakout, but because of the nature of the exercise, I do think that, you know, this is a film for Leo's Hall of.
Speaker 2:Fame 100%.
Speaker 3:So having it yellow and then maybe, maybe it gets in there if, if we don't find enough greens in all 60 of these movies all right.
Speaker 1:Well, yellow it is um okay. So the next one, I would argue, is one of it's probably his, like one of his most iconic roles. This is really the movie that put Mark on the on the map, and it's the 1996 movie Fear, with him and Reese Witherspoon. I immediately think this is a green.
Speaker 2:I think this is an automatic green.
Speaker 1:I think it's an automatic green Mark or Max. Mark Max watched this movie for the first time and I'd love to know it is your thoughts uh, completely.
Speaker 3:It is a unhinged thriller, uh, of a movie. The roller coaster sequence alone is very exciting stuff Watching this with Kaylee, who apparently this is very important to a 14 year old Kaylee.
Speaker 2:Very exciting stuff. You say Very exciting stuff.
Speaker 3:It was just a blast to watch it with her because she was just giddy as a teenage girl while watching it and took her right back. But also Mark is I'm thinking like and going through his filmography. This and Flight Risk, where we are now, are like the only two movies he's ever played a bad guy. I mean really from here on out, and there are characters who are gray. You know, like I think the next movie, or or at least the next in the next two movies that we talk about, his character is not a good guy, but like you are rooting for him. In this movie he plays a psychopath.
Speaker 2:That is really fun to watch yeah um, extremely problematic but a really like impressive performance to to do like out of the gate yeah, this movie, and I think the most simple way to put is that this movie would just not be made in the same way today. Um, however, I'm not entirely sure if that's a good thing. I think maybe this is just it was different times, right, and so that the way that, you know, certain things like sexual assault are portrayed on screen in the 90s versus in 2025, you just you wouldn't see it done this way anymore. But it's, it's interesting to hear you say that like it was. I think it's like a good litmus test for someone to go back and watch a movie like this now, maybe for the first time, and if they're, if they're really disturbed or really bothered by it.
Speaker 2:I think that that's like the film's intention and, and not so much this, you know, this insensitive portrayal of maybe a real life situation that you know, I'm sure, a real life situation of stalking and all sorts of different things that that people have had to, you know, unfortunately, experience in real life. But it's it's just like a and it's a Seattle movie, and so I think it also hits a little different to people in this region, but it's it's just a movie that feels so perfectly of a time that he is at the center of along with Reese Witherspoon and and I don't know for a Boston Tonian to come over and do the Seattle grunge thing, and it's hilarious because he's talking to our boy, william Peterson from from CSI, you know, and he plays Reese Witherspoon's dad and he's kind of giving him the older yeah, he's giving him the older, you know, the dad to kind of like boyfriend, talk about what your plans are.
Speaker 3:Oh, I'm going to go back to UW in the fall and all that stuff.
Speaker 2:Great movie house. You know great locations in this movie. Yeah, mercer island featured predominantly um the seattle boardwalk, the. The rave scene is just insane. Like you can tell that the work was done to capture seattle culture, grunge culture in the 90s for this film, um. So I think it definitely has. Not only in like gen x and millennial hearts Does it have kind of a soft spot, but but just for people of this area, because I think I mean, when we've a couple of years ago when we did a Seattle best of episode, it made my list Like this is an influential, important movie.
Speaker 1:It is. I wish I could have experienced this movie like during the time. You know, I was four when I came out so I wasn't much.
Speaker 2:I came to this movie a lot later it was definitely a vhs that was that was shown around our cul-de-sac growing up yeah, by some of the older kids yeah, it's a fun it's a funny one yeah, um okay but like trigger warning for sure if you're gonna go back to fear for the first time, like we're making light of it, and hopefully, if you go back and you see it, you know why.
Speaker 2:Or if you have watched it and you find it uncomfortable at times, you can still kind of appreciate it for its, its goofiness, I would say.
Speaker 1:Sure yeah.
Speaker 2:He's unreal in this movie, though it's crazy, it is crazy.
Speaker 1:And like watching it when you're like, like I said, I did not watch this, even like as a child, like I don't think I had even heard of it, or like even when I was in middle school or anything. But somehow I stumbled upon something where it's like, oh, you got to watch the roller coaster scene, so I was like what's that?
Speaker 2:So little did I know he gives himself a ballpoint pen tattoo of Reese Witherspoon. Oh yeah, unbelievable, insane scene. A ballpoint pen tattoo of Reese Witherspoon oh yeah, unbelievable, insane scene.
Speaker 1:So metal of him so metal Just wild.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's Reese's Nicole Forever.
Speaker 2:Faux Ever yes.
Speaker 3:Faux Ever. When that scene happened, I paused the movie. I was like what did I just watch? What did I just watch? What did I just watch, am?
Speaker 2:I hallucinating.
Speaker 1:It is jarring to see him play this role, because it's like, oh my God, it's crazy. All right, well, I'm going to put that green.
Speaker 2:Yes, I think fear is green.
Speaker 1:OK, cool. So next movie Traveler. I'm not familiar with this movie. I didn't get around to watching it, but 1997.
Speaker 3:Never heard of it. Is this a real movie?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Bill Paxton and Mark.
Speaker 3:A man joins a group of nomadic con artists in rural, north Carolina.
Speaker 2:Available on Plex. Pluto, the Roku channel and Tubi Great Could be a hidden gem, I hope some listeners, do some work here and let us know yeah please.
Speaker 3:I do love Bill Paxton, but again it looks like a Bill Paxton movie.
Speaker 2:And it looks like one of those movies that a young actor makes not knowing that perhaps their next movie is going to launch them into the like the upper echelon like. Then it's going to take them to the next level. You see this a lot with with young actors.
Speaker 1:Yes, well, just getting right into it, the, the beloved boogie nights is our next one, the infamous dirk digler oh yeah this, this me, is about as green as it gets. Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:I mean this, even though you know we come to Mark Wahlberg in different movies through, you know, when we were kids. But like going back, this is like. This is why. This is why he was in those movies. It was this performance in this film at this time Just incredible stuff. The fact that he had only done you know what maybe three major motion pictures and was cast as the lead centerpiece in this film Unbelievable, and he's really good at it. Yeah, he goes really really good.
Speaker 2:He goes, and I mean, it's a lot of actors who we have long-standing relationships with now. Um, you know, I I think of, like john c riley and philip seymour hoffman, some of these other actors who we were starting to see more and more of at the time. He's holding the same space as them and and those scenes are all great. But he's also going toe-to-toe with some veterans philip baker hall freaking, burt reynolds, of course, you know, like julianne moore there's he and he's right there with them. As, as far as like screen presence and throughout this entire movie, which is, you know, it's one of pta's best. I think that if we were doing, if if we had reduced this to a mark walberg, mount, rushmore and we were only picking four films, it would still be like an automatic entry. I feel like so Absolutely Cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the next few, so the next one we have is the big hit. Have either one of you seen this movie?
Speaker 2:Had not.
Speaker 1:No, ok Me neither, so it's out. I have not. Okay Me neither, so I'm going to put that out.
Speaker 2:So it's, out.
Speaker 1:I guess so yeah. And then the Corruptor.
Speaker 2:This I have heard of, have never seen it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I have not. I have heard of it but also have never seen it. What about you, max? I have not gotten around to this one yet, okay, um, and I feel like you know these movies that were like oh, I haven't I've heard of it.
Speaker 1:Another james foley film, though same director as fear the corruptor okay, okay, um, yeah, like a lot of these movies like I feel like I've heard of I just have, like they're a little bit. I mean I was obviously was alive. It's just like before I'm I'm coming to mark um.
Speaker 2:Next one is three kings now, this is interesting because, three kings, his first collaboration with david o russell, which is very significant and he's really good in this movie, and this is also a pretty successful movie that starts Ice Cube, mark Wahlberg and George Clooney, and now it's primarily a George Clooney vehicle. However, those three men are all part of kind of the same mission and so this is a. You know, david O Russell is such a complicated figure and it's really interesting to kind of look at his filmography, because I think it is it's two different versions of things that are either successful and work, or that should work and are not successful. And this is one of those David O Russell movies that I think is pretty good. Now it gets away from being this kind of war story treasure hunting film and almost becomes more about these three men and the relationship that they start to have with these people who they're meeting along the way as as they're going after this gold, and so it's it's an interesting movie.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of personality in this film, like George Clooney, very charismatic in the film, mark Wahlberg, very charismatic in the film, along with Ice Cube. So I think this one deserves to at least be yellow, because I do think that it's kind of like an underrated, underseen film. I have it right next to you over there, max, on the shelf. Like I really like Three Kings. It's a underrated, underseen film. I have it right next to you over there, max, on the shelf. Like I, I really like three kings.
Speaker 1:It's a good movie yeah, I'm, I think, yellow. After that explanation makes sense.
Speaker 3:Um, I'm very intrigued by that cast well, yeah, and also, you know, david or russell, putting him next to someone like george cluny, who, at this time, is a mega star at least becoming a mega movie star Again, just kind of shows, you know, if PTA is able to cast him in the lead role. And then David O Russell. It just kind of shows like this there's a lot the recognition of real talent. Right, right. So yeah, I think yellow is good, good place for this right now all right um.
Speaker 2:The next one is the yards never, never heard of it so I I am unfamiliar with this film, but I think it has a pretty decent reputation. It's a james gray film and and it's one I wish I would have gotten to for this conversation, um but but just one that I don't really know that much about, but like it's got a stacked cast and and it's it's well regarded, and so I I feel a little bit incomplete, not being able to talk about the yards yeah, I I'm looking at that cast and looks like we have joaquin phoenix, charlie theron, james khan um faye dunaway yeah.
Speaker 1:So ellen bernstein, if it has a good reputation. I mean, I wish we could chat about it a little bit more, but I'm happy to put it at yellow. What do you?
Speaker 2:think put it yellow for the yards heads out there. But it ultimately would be silly for us to induct a film that yeah, true none of us have seen, and that's on us.
Speaker 1:Alright well, the next one is a crowd favorite. It's the Perfect Storm, bobby.
Speaker 3:Where's my Bobby? I fucking love this movie.
Speaker 2:Bobby. I bought some curtains, I hung them up, I brought some house plants oh my gosh, diane lane. So this is in because of diane lane. Um no, I mean he's once again paired with george clooney in this film and and also steal some scenes from him. I mean he is great in this movie and he plays while george clooney plays the lead in it. He is kind of the straight man I would say.
Speaker 2:Mark walberg's character, bobby is, is kind of the audience avatar, yeah, who, who we are experiencing the film through, because he's the one that does have the girlfriend, the, the wife, you know, the partner waiting for him back on shore. He is the one that we're supposed to be emotionally connected to. I mean, the entire crew, right, we're we're supposed to care about, but he's really the one that that, uh, wolfgang Peterson, and and you know the way that this, the script is constructed he's the one that, when you know the fate of the, the Andrea Gale, that's right, I was like, I know I can pull this off the top of my head.
Speaker 2:When, when the fate of the Andrea Gale is revealed, it's really like the Bobby character who you're like gosh, that guy had everything.
Speaker 3:When I told him everything ahead of him, including Diane Lane and the curtains.
Speaker 1:When I told my mom we were doing this episode, she was like oh, the Perfect Storm. I remember that movie, I loved that one. I was like I feel like this is a very noteworthy movie to mention.
Speaker 3:It is, it is, it is like another real big touchstone think for, for walberg in particular, because, again, as alex just said, uh, he is, he is our way into this this world of deep sea, fishing out on these treacherous waters, um, but again, I I do think there is some.
Speaker 3:Although he steals scenes, I do think this is a George Clooney vehicle, yeah Right, um, even. And it's hard too, because I feel like, especially during this time of movies, like you go back and watch these it's just so stacked, oh yeah, it's just stacked, oh yeah, it's just. The casts are so gigantic and, and you know, because, like once again, you have john c riley, you have william finkner yeah, you've got. Uh, what is it? Is it?
Speaker 2:uh, not clifting john hawkins john hawks, john hawks, john Hawks.
Speaker 3:Mary Elizabeth from. Scarface and Abyss. So yeah, karen Allen is in this. It's really tough. I think it's yellow.
Speaker 1:I think so too and I think kind of like. Like what you're saying about it is a George Clooney movie. He is the leading man, so like there's so many movies. Just looking at my list right now, I mean he we're not even really into the like the leading man the leading man era.
Speaker 2:You know, I think this I think we put it yellow, yeah, and when it comes time to circle back, just we kind of remembering that like this is. I'll just say this as as we leave it alone here for a minute, this is yellow in a way that a film like Basketball Diaries is not yellow where this is.
Speaker 2:You know this. He has much more to do throughout the entire run time of this film and it's tied to the emotional, the emotional investment that us, as audience members, are supposed to have with the story. Um, as he is opposed to something like basketball diaries right and 2000.
Speaker 3:So that's in 2000, because now we enter 2001 and and I mean this is like and movie studios are like, okay, they're, put him on the poster.
Speaker 2:He's the. He's a name above the title this is when it starts. Yes, yeah, because of everything he just cashed yeah, buckle up, um all right. Well, planet of the apes is next I I'm gonna let, I'm just gonna clear out for you guys, um, at the top of the key for this, because it's this has never been. I mean, I've seen the film but this has never been like an important movie to me neither me neither I'm not really into planet of the apes, I just.
Speaker 1:I mean, I feel like who doesn't know what planet of the apes is, but it's been so like I don't know ape lincoln, you're not into ape, lincoln, uh no, uh, this is like seeing animals get hurt.
Speaker 3:This is completely red, I and you know, unfortunately we, we talked about this movie at length on our lost tim burton uh show the oh yeah just one of the best like examples of of uh hair and makeup. You know, practically uh in in the the final days of that um. But mark walberg is probably the worst part of this movie. He is actually really horrendous, uh as captain leo davidson um.
Speaker 2:So yeah, no, this is a red maybe a little too early in his career to get the max contract deal. I think so. It's like if Draymond would have gone to the Bulls or something on a max deal.
Speaker 1:Can't do it, yeah can't do it All right. Well, it's going red, but the next one, I will really argue for it.
Speaker 3:I did not know, this was one of your favorite movies of all time.
Speaker 1:Yeah it is.
Speaker 3:I did not know this was one of your favorite movies of all time. Yeah, it is, and I'm so happy that this is being revealed on the show here for your beloved Mark Chris Izzy Cole in this film, just incredible names Krizzy, oh, krizzy.
Speaker 1:Krizzy Well, no, I mean she just calls him that at one point. Yeah, I love this movie and I think I have like an emotional attachment to it just because of like how I was introduced to it. I had, um, like young love introduced this to me, um, and it really like this. This friend of mine was, you know, he. He really put me onto like a lot of like my music tastes that I still have now, and I remember he showed me this movie when we were hanging out and I just was obsessed and I just don't know that I really put it together that that was Mark, like who Mark Wahlberg was, but you know, I knew who Jennifer Aniston was. But this movie has so much heart and I always tell people about it and so when we were talking about this last week, I was really pleased to hear that you both were like Rockstar is great, like it's, it's not. It doesn't have a lot of fans.
Speaker 2:You know, here's what Rockstar is OK, rockstar, and we're going to really start to get into the garbage subgenres of the different, um you know, kind of profiles that can fit a mark walberg movie he does this a few times garbage, prestige where this movie thinks that it's, like, almost famous, or this movie thinks that it's gonna win like, or be nominated for some oscars in. In hindsight, and probably in reality at the time, like, this never stood a chance.
Speaker 2:Like this movie never stood a chance, but it is perfect for being, like, reclaimed as a movie with, like what Erica just said, with a lot of heart, that's, that's trying pretty earnestly to to accomplish its mission. Um, I mean, you can like laugh at his hairpiece in it, you can do a bunch of different things, but like this movie is very sentimental. It's garbage, prestige. Yeah, and it's also really interesting because we live in a world now where and Erica, just to be clear, anything that we label as garbage, that's a term of endearment.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's okay.
Speaker 3:I don't disagree. We live in a time now where a movie like this just doesn't get made, because all they make now are like biopics music, yeah, music biopics. So the fact that this is a like a, a made up yeah, music biopic is actually something that's really special about it and and you know it's it's a really fun movie. While you're watching it, uh, the music is actually all right, it's pretty steel dragon rips.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I used to have all of those songs saved on my iCloud or like my I'm guessing it's actually mark singing too, right? I was just actually trying to fact check that because I I feel like it is, but I can't remember, remember, but the there's like the actual band is not called Steel Dragon, they're called something else that sings all the songs. I can't remember, but I feel like it is him singing. You'll have to let me know.
Speaker 2:I think that unless you really want to fight for it as being green right now, I think we put this at yellow and then well, but unless you really want to go green, but I think we put it yellow for now. For now, and then, like this is your episode, if we have, I mean if there's room to do one for Erica. You got this in like at the end of this all.
Speaker 3:That's fair, Okay, and unfortunately no. Mark Wahlberg does not sing in the 2001 movie Rockstar Mike Majevic, the lead singer of the band Steelheart.
Speaker 1:Steelheart, that's right.
Speaker 3:Provided the majority of the vocals for Wahlberg's character.
Speaker 1:Chris Izzy.
Speaker 3:Cole.
Speaker 1:Chris Izzy.
Speaker 3:Cole.
Speaker 1:Chris Izzy Cole. Chris Izzy Cole, if you haven't seen Rockstar, just go watch it, and it's corny as fuck at some times, but it is really fun to watch and it's got a beautiful Jennifer Aniston if you're into her, so alright. Moving on, was I don't think I included, oh wait, no, we should. It's's the Truth About Charlie.
Speaker 2:We should definitely bring this up, at the very least.
Speaker 1:I've never seen this movie, neither have I.
Speaker 2:This is a Hollywood video classic for me, and this is important because it's his first adventure into garbage espionage, garbage espionage and and some of that like spy thriller stuff that we would see him do many more times in the future. Um, it's not a particularly great film. Tandy tandy newton is really cool in this movie. Um, the only other time that I had seen her was in mission impossible 2, when this film came out, and so I remember this movie. They don't really have like any chemistry in this film they're supposed to, and so this is an important movie because it's the first when you look at, maybe aside from something like Three Kings, because that's like military special ops type of stuff, but as far as like him being a leading man in one of these sort of like action thriller kind of funistic uh movies, this is this, you could say, is his first time doing that, and so I think it's red, like I know it's red, but but just important to, I think, just touch on real quick okay, um especially because of what comes right after.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, this is a movie that I've never seen, actually, Um, I've never seen the Italian job. Surprisingly, really.
Speaker 3:No, the Italian job is like one of the better remakes, I think. Uh around, uh again, a completely stacked cast. Uh, wahlberg is at the center of it and he's going toe-to-toe with Edward Norton who, at this time again, is like, considered like one of the greatest actors of his generation and it is one of the most like, fun, exciting pg-13 caper movies.
Speaker 2:I think that has been around in the in the 21st century yeah, that's maybe I mean like really high approval rating, right when when you show this movie to somebody, no one's gonna expect it to be anything more, anything less than what it is and you leave it just really satisfied. I do agree that it is. This is the kind of movie that needs to be remade more often. You know, like we don't need quit trying to remake rosemary's baby or chinatown or some of these all-time classic films like go back, find something that worked and that was successful, like the first italian job was, but with modern technologies and like the mini coopers in this movie. Compared to the original, it's so cool because like the mini cooper had just kind of come back beat, it was just re-released, um, and in terms of like 21st century, um, you know automotive, um, I don't like me the car guy here.
Speaker 1:Um, it was a hot car, okay, like that's funny, because everybody was like whoa mini coopers when I brought this movie up to one of my friends, she was like oh my gosh, that was the movie that made me want to get a Mini Cooper, really bad, exactly Like this.
Speaker 2:this was like a monoculture kind of moment, like I think that because of product placement, because of Mark Wahlberg's presence, charlize Theron's presence in a film like this, it was a huge, huge deal in a film like this.
Speaker 3:It was a huge, huge deal, also again working with such a cool director and an auteur in F Gary Gray, who, of course, did the Friday movies. Yeah, this to me, I feel this is green, because I think it also is like the definition of a rewatchable, like it is something that you can return to I mean just kind of looking at it, how we've how we've kind of broken down his career up until this point.
Speaker 2:This, I think we could say, is the first time that he was successful as a leading man in a film. He is going toe-to-toe with Norton, but it is still a Mark Wahlberg movie. So with that in mind, I think it does make sense to put it green.
Speaker 1:I do too. I mean I haven't seen it, but I I know of it. I mean I know how like successful this was. I remember like that. I think I was in middle school when this came out. I do remember this being like all over the place, so I'm happy to put it at green. Um well, moving on to I heart, huckabees is our next one alex you so I heard huckabees.
Speaker 2:I'm 14 when this movie comes out. I remember seeing it that year and thinking that I had life figured out. There is an incredible Lily Tomlin scene where she's talking to Jason Schwartzman in this film about this blanket theory and then Dustin Hoffman steps in and after just hearing that the blanket theory makes so much sense, he throws this other philosophical idea at you that if you can imagine an experience over here in this reality, then you have also lived it in this reality. And so if you can think that you are a millionaire, then guess what you already are like. It is just the most like simple dorm room philosophy 101 bullshit pumped into a david o russell movie executed really well by really talented actors. Like this movie is so stacked if you run through the cast and while it is a jason schwartzman film, mark walberg plays his sidekick. He's a firefighter who he meets in counseling and who decides that like he just needs to go on this adventure with Jason Schwartzman for the rest of the film and they go through all sorts of funny little set pieces, little vignettes. He's wearing his black firefighter boots, his black fireman boots the entire time and it is ridiculous and it is outrageous and it is so funny and I still stand by this movie. Jubelaw is amazing in this movie. Naomi watts is really good. In this movie a young jonah hill shows up like this.
Speaker 2:I heard huckabees was such an important movie to me growing up and so I love it for that. I don't think that we can. I, if this is a personal list for me, and if I had 10 Mark Wahlberg movies that I could watch for the rest of my life, I would put this one in based on the film's merits and and how solid of a feature film I believe that it is and I think Does it necessarily showcase his talents, his best talents? That's another question, Because I think it shows a different side of him.
Speaker 3:It's his first comedy. It's the first time he dips into comedy.
Speaker 2:Yes, that is true, that is true, insubstantial. So I don't know, I think we leave it yellow. And I'm telling you that I heard Huckabees, one of the better films from that decade, um, and now it's been a while since I've seen it, so I'm not sure exactly how. You know, endearing the, the psych 101, philosophy 101, meditation 101, um, kind of language of it now now would sit in this age of, you know, hyper focus on, on counseling and and on therapy and how everyone needs to. You know, know these terms and and know the language, and so it might hit a little different now, but I'm telling you, in 2004, this was way ahead of its time and I just anybody who was involved in this movie, I'm just like you've got to be cool, you know kind of thing.
Speaker 1:Cool, All right. Well, our next one four brothers.
Speaker 2:Bobby Mercer.
Speaker 1:Another Bobby. What are you thinking?
Speaker 2:I mean, to me this is green. You got to talk me out of this being green.
Speaker 1:This is.
Speaker 2:Now I'm'm like just full transparency. I am 100 bias on this, being green, and max is too, yeah, and so we're in a really tough spot right now. But but again, I think we can objectively make the case, because he's working with an exciting auteur and john singleton. This is a gritty crime thriller that is actually really well structured and has a heart to it.
Speaker 2:It's an exciting and diverse ensemble cast where, like andre, benjamin that he leads, but like tyrese gibson, andre Benjamin, terrence Howard, like a lot of really cool people are in this movie. Chelete Ovefor is kind of like the big bad in this movie and he is amazing in the film Ellen Burstyn. I don't know if it's an Ellen Burstyn or like an Ellen Burstyn doppelganger, but no, it says who is it.
Speaker 3:Who plays their mother fiona. Okay, she looks a whole lot like ellen um, I digress.
Speaker 2:Mark walberg is so good in this movie. This movie belongs in the mark walberg hall of fame for the the rec league basketball scene alone, when he storms the court mid pickup game. No, it's a high school basketball game. Is it a high school game?
Speaker 2:yeah, there's a crowd there's a crowd, but I almost feel like it's like a g league drew league situation there in detroit. He grabs the ball, dribbles it between his legs a few times, says who's got the rock now? I got the rock now. And then when someone tries to confront him, he punches him in the face, pulls out his gun and asks if he knows who was at the convenience store the night that his adopted mother was shot and murdered.
Speaker 3:Five stars no no, unbelievable, unbelievable stuff.
Speaker 2:And just great stuff. Um, garrett headland is in this movie and he plays such mark walberg plays such a good older brother to garrett headland. In this movie which is, I mean, a lot of the films like heart kind of hinges on the relationship I mean it's in the title, right between these Between these four brothers, and when they experience certain things in this movie you really feel for them. I again like I don't know. I don't know, man, what are we doing here? Four brothers isn't in the Mark Wahlberg Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3:It's green for me.
Speaker 1:I feel like a poser. I mean, I've seen this. I know I've watched this a long time ago. This was the one movie that I really wanted to rewatch this past week. That I just didn't get around to doing.
Speaker 2:But I'm happy to put it at green because it and just because something's green now doesn't mean it stays till the end, right.
Speaker 1:That's fair, but I'll give it to you guys. The next one is like we're just, we're not, and I say I feel like a poser. I'm like we're not into my Marky Mark era yet. You know, we're not. Like these aren't the movies that like really turned me on to like being a fan of him yet. But I'm not opposed to revisiting them. So the next one Invincible, but I'm not opposed to revisiting them. So the next one, invincible.
Speaker 2:The interesting thing about something like Invincible and the next couple of movies that are about to come out is not only the cadence in which he's working at, but it seems like there is a big budget movie that I can remember. I mean we're like coming of age at this time. Right, we're getting into the back half of the aughts there in the 2000, in the 2000s decade, and I remember every single one of these movies opening at the movie theater, big like there's a big marketing campaign behind all these movies, and invincible was a film that, again, I feel like everybody saw. Does that mean he's good in it and does that mean that it's a quality film and that it belongs in something like a hall of fame?
Speaker 3:I don't know, but this is a huge movie congratulations to the eagles and to the fans of the eagles.
Speaker 2:This movie is red okay, I love the conviction.
Speaker 3:I love the conviction you won the super bowl this past sunday. That is fantastic.
Speaker 2:This celebrates your team you no longer have to hold open tryouts for walk-ons. You no longer have to hire people like Vince Papel.
Speaker 3:No, no, this is a threat.
Speaker 2:You have Cooper DeGene as your white corner now. You don't need Mark Wahlberg Done.
Speaker 1:The Departed is next.
Speaker 3:I mean, I've been on record how many times about my feelings for the departed, so I will again kind of take a back seat here the hard thing about the departed, and I I feel like I go back and forth on this movie every year, um, where I think like it's it's one of scorsese's best or it's like this is just extremely disappointing that this is the movie he will be probably remembered for, unfortunately, because the oscars um, however, and just to clarify that in a good way, because he wins best director for this film it wins best picture
Speaker 2:um but what max is saying is that in the vast landscape of Scorsese, of Scorsese, yeah, it's really too bad.
Speaker 3:It's really too bad Because, again, another star-studded cast. It is not a Mark Wahlberg movie, no.
Speaker 2:However, he may be the best part of this Scorsese movie, because I would argue it's a really good and layered Leoo performance, yes, but as far as everyone else in the movie like, I think, jack nicholson, just like for me again, jack nicholson for me he someone like jack nicholson, alec baldwin anthony anderson, but they just ruin the movie for me yeah they take what's happening between leo and damon and then all these other people just ruin the movie.
Speaker 2:For me, walberg is in it so sparingly that his scenes where he gets to blow up yeah are great, yeah, and then his turn at the end, obviously a huge part in the film. So again, I don't know I don't know either.
Speaker 3:Uh, I I think it's. How do you?
Speaker 2:feel about the departed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, erica well, I think, just in the realm of like, even you know, as like with the assignment at hand, you know ranking mark walberg, his movies. This is not a Mark Wahlberg movie but I do agree that he is a really great part of the movie, like in a lot of his in the movies that are listed. He is a really great strong part, but it might not necessarily be his movie.
Speaker 3:Personally, I don't think that it's fair to put it on there but yeah, I feel like if we put this in, we'd have to put the perfect storm in, right or three kings, or even basketball diaries yeah you know he's more of a part of that, those movies, or I heart rocket piece too right, because that's an ensemble piece as well. Um, he's, he's fantastic in this and, like you know what a sixth man to come in and score, fucking you know, 11 points in three minutes right but I just I don't think it can go into the mark walberg hall of fame I agree.
Speaker 1:I agree, yep red. Um well, shooter is the next one bobby lee swagger another bob bob. I watched this last night unbelievable right it's pretty great. It's pretty fucking amazing it's pretty great shooter is awesome.
Speaker 3:I wish he would walk into this fucking studio right now and be like we got an angle up here, we got fucking these shelves here a little tilted, unbelievable shit. I love, love, love. Shooter Again kind of like this weird, like garbagey action movie, military, you know he's out in the woods.
Speaker 2:He's got the rock star wig.
Speaker 1:I am such a sucker for a good like military movie. I don't know why I just like and he does it so well, but yeah, I. What are we thinking like? It's obviously at least a yellow and I.
Speaker 2:I say at least a yellow. I'd be fine putting it green right now okay I'm okay putting it green. Yeah, I am too okay, kate mara is a smoke show in this one um the next one. We own the night what a great movie yeah this is like I've. I've rewatched this movie a couple of times in the last few years. This is a near perfect film. This, I think, is like pretty close to a five star movie. Um, and he has a huge part in this film. However, this is a Joaquin Phoenix movie first.
Speaker 2:Another, james Gray, and and and I was just about to say, and I feel like it's a james gray movie second, and then it becomes the mark walberg, robert duvall, father, son aspect of it trying to get you know their other brother, robert duvall, trying to get his other son, um, you know, back back with the good guys, so to speak. Um, just an incredible movie for those who haven't seen it. Um, really good takes place like at the, at the turn of the decade, there from the 70s to the 80s. Um, a lot of really good stuff with eva mendez and the joaquin phoenix character, their relationship, a great, a great crime thriller.
Speaker 2:Um, I don't think it again like it is if I could take 10 mark walberg movies with me to a desert island I'm bringing we on the night, but I don't know if it best showcases his ability as as an actor. He's just playing it really straight in this movie. He's. He's not doing anything special, um, but god is it a great movie yeah, I, I don't, I, I don't know if we include it, though I say, I say throw it yellow.
Speaker 3:Okay, throw it yellow for now okay, next one.
Speaker 1:Do you guys remember remember the uh great blockbuster hit? The Happening?
Speaker 2:Remember, six months ago on this pod when, I defended the Happening with my life. You did.
Speaker 3:For what episode?
Speaker 2:During the trap M Night Shyamalan episode oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Rewatching this movie.
Speaker 1:This movie scared me so bad when I was little M Night.
Speaker 2:Zooey Deschanel and Mark Wahlberg. The joke was on us. They knew exactly what they were doing. They were trying to make a Twilight Zone 1950s propaganda thriller about these murderous plants and all of us expected it to be. And now, part of that is because expectation and expectation is like the killer of hope or whatever. There's some you know quippy saying, but this I think this movie is. It's redeemable like and he is ridiculous in the role and the line readings are bad, but again, I think it's intentional and I think that there's purpose behind it, and so, again, I'm not here to say that it belongs in the mark walberg hall of fame.
Speaker 2:However, I do think that people need to give the happening a rewatch and I think you need to understand that not every movie is intended to land us like the same way with its audience, like this movie is not trying to be signs this movie is not trying to be the sixth sense and it's a twist this, this movie is trying to be something that m night shamalan, mark walberg, people that loved the twilight zone, people that that really liked science fiction growing up in, in these, in these monster movies, in these, um, you know, like attack of the 50 foot woman or ants, or all these different kind of schlocky, schlocky thrillers from the 70s or whatever, like that's what this movie is paying homage to, and so I don't know.
Speaker 2:I, I'm an apologist when it comes to the happening, but I, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I think it's a yellow. Um, I'm not. I mean, it's one of those movies like like another movie I haven't seen in quite a while, but I remember when it came out and it was very like it caused quite the stir when people hated this movie, I know, and it Wahlberg in disappointing box office, and you could say the same happened with M Night Right After this film.
Speaker 2:Totally.
Speaker 3:Almost to the point where he kind of like he course corrects in 2010 and like really leans into a different side of himself for sure.
Speaker 2:I think like a part of me really wants to be contrarian and be like and almost say like the happening has to go in. But I don't think we do that.
Speaker 1:I think, I think we make it yellow.
Speaker 2:I agree yeah, yellow.
Speaker 1:Um, okay, next one, I'm. I don't even. I don't even know what this movie is. Max Payne.
Speaker 2:Oh, you never play the Max Payne video games no. Did you ever play?
Speaker 3:the Max Payne video games. My name is Max Brother. I had to. It's part of the contract.
Speaker 2:What year does this come out? 2008? I would argue to say so. The games had to have been a couple years prior to this yeah, the games were like oh, five. I feel like okay, four or something like so, then, half of my life at 15 years old was spent in bullet time.
Speaker 2:The other half shooting up max dealing with beelzebub and and and the, the trauma of my uh deceased infant. No um, this movie and mila kunis is is his like counterpart in the film. Um, it's so unsuccessful and it was such a bummer yeah because these games, I think, were beloved to gen 1 xbox people. Um, such a great, such a great shooter, this, uh, this game series, but this movie's red like it's, it's really bad it's really, really bad and it's trying to do like sin city and the matrix yeah, and you know it reminds me a lot of like Constantine at the time, and but it is, it is, it's poorly poorly made, like Razzie bad.
Speaker 2:I feel like yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:OK. Well, so the next one after this. Definitely, I don't think even needs to be on here, but it is worth mentioning the lovely bones. He plays the dad.
Speaker 3:This is more of a sersha ronan movie yeah, yeah, so this is one of the movies I watched about six mark walberg movies about 45 minutes in, and, and that was a good barometer.
Speaker 2:Yeah to kind of be like okay yeah, this, this one has has merit walked up to the bar you said do you have a flight?
Speaker 3:yeah, could I, could I get a flight?
Speaker 2:just try everything yeah, um, you get six ounce of of that, six ounce of that this is such an odd, odd movie, peter jackson.
Speaker 3:Peter jackson, what try.
Speaker 2:Well, and you know what this is. This is garbage prestige.
Speaker 3:He's trying, yeah, he's trying to go back to heavenly creatures, right, like he's trying to do that again, um, but unfortunately I think at this moment in time it just was. It's just not. Peter had thrown his last fastball and uh, the book was incredible.
Speaker 2:This is this is why this movie happens too, because this is the young adult. Ya, boom of twilight of you know, divergence to come, hunger games are to come, like all of these, this is like a true crime all of these adaptations.
Speaker 3:It's a devastating book to read when you're a teenager.
Speaker 1:And um I, yeah, the movie is not. It's not good, but sersha is. I think she's great in it. Um, god, I I actually saw a clip of this on TikTok the other day and I started crying. Like it's a, it's. The book is so heavy. The movie, like the whole the premise of the movie, is really devastating. I think Mark Wahlberg plays a really like you know, touching father who's obviously trying to seek justice for the murder of his daughter. But, um, yeah, it's. It's not a, it's not a great movie, but the the book is absolutely would have been so interesting.
Speaker 3:The the big like note like behind the scenes note of this is that ryan gosling was going to play the killer in this film.
Speaker 2:Instead of Stanley Tucci, instead. Of.
Speaker 3:Stanley Tucci Gosling I guess being a very intense actor decided that the character needed to be like 60 to 70 pounds overweight and showed up to set fat Like he had gained a ton of weight. And Peter Jackson said this is not what I hired you for. This is not what I wanted. That's crazy. I'm going to fire you now. What I fired Ryan Gosling off this movie.
Speaker 1:I can't imagine him playing Stanley Tucci's part. Stanley Tucci to me that was a really good part for him to play. He really creeped me out.
Speaker 3:But I can't imagine.
Speaker 2:Really overweight.
Speaker 1:Ryan gosling, yeah well, I do have it at red, just because, like this is not a mark walberg movie, and then same with date night, which comes right after that.
Speaker 1:this he just plays a small part, but I do find it kind of noteworthy just because he plays a ridiculous character in this movie. It's a really stupid comedy, but he this is where we're starting to get into this like wacky side of mark walberg um, where, like the next movie after this is absolutely a green for me, I, I, whatever, but I'm happy go. Sorry, date night is a red, yeah, but let's just get right into the other guys.
Speaker 2:So I'm so glad that you say that it's an automatic green for you, because I know that there are two kinds of people out there in the world. There's those who probably just haven't seen the other guys, or who maybe saw it once and didn't really have a relationship with it, and then there's other folks.
Speaker 1:It sounds like you're one of them who are like this is on the level of some of the great. This is 2010s comedies, this is elite humor and this is like one of those movies. Like it's so fucking bizarre.
Speaker 1:There's like even the way that this movie starts out with, uh, with the rock and samuel l jackson and they're like aim for the bushes and then they literally just commit suicide off of this building and I remember seeing this and being like what the fuck is this like? What am I watching? And this is just as much mark walberg's movie as it is will ferrell's movie. They both are like the leading guys in this and this was the first time I had seen Mark Wahlberg in a movie like. That wasn't serious and it every list that I looked up this past week of like best Mark Wahlberg movies like what I wanted to see, like where people were putting his movies at, and this is every hands down, always at least in like the top eight or so and I I have to, I have to say like this is we saw this side of him in this movie.
Speaker 1:That was just like, oh, you're funny as hell, and there's just like really weird humor, I mean I mean adam mckay, it's, it's part of part of the anchorman.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know universe right, and yeah, it's, it's very, it's a very high high for his, for walberg's comedy side. Um, and you know, like I'm a peacock, you gotta let me fly like it when a movie has a quote that is quotable and is still heard yeah to this day.
Speaker 3:I I kind of stand with you. I think I think this might have to be green. However, I think if you put this green, if we put this green, I think it does knock out. Possibly knock out another very high point for mark walberg's comedy, interesting well let's put a green for now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I cross that bridge when we get there yeah, um, okay, the next one um the fighter before we get to the fighter. I think there's an important note to make here, because we're in 2010. 2010 marks the end of Entourage. Is there any thought? Because you start to look at some of the movies that he makes in the 2000s and you're like, wow, you're taking some weird chances here. And then how do you get to just have all this fun In the 2010s? Well, guess what? It's because he made a bazillion dollars With Entourage.
Speaker 3:Is Entourage the greatest thing he's ever been a part of?
Speaker 1:He's only been in four episodes of Entourage.
Speaker 2:However, he's the executive producer and it's his story oh, I didn't know that.
Speaker 1:I've never seen Entourage.
Speaker 2:Vincent Chase is supposed to be Mark Wahlberg in that television series. So it's just a discussion to have, sure, and maybe we have it at the end. But I think it's just a discussion to have and maybe we have it at the end. But I think it's just important to put a pin in it now, because we are in 2010 and that's the end of the show.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and again it could be the most important thing he's been a part of, yeah.
Speaker 2:But to get to the fighter, to me this is green. I mean he's nominated for Best Picture as the producer of this film, another David O Russell movie. Christian Bale wins Best Supporting Actor, for this film finally gets him an Academy Award. I think this is kind of the culmination of this Boston persona that he hadn't quite been like world famous for yet. But with this movie and the notoriety that it received and the fact that it was in the Oscar race, I think that you can make the case that this is the most prestigious movie, along with Boogie Nights that he's ever been a part of.
Speaker 1:I agree, I think not putting it at green would be weird because of, just like, the Oscar hype around this. So I don't know.
Speaker 2:And it's, it's, it's, it's a celebrity, it's an A-list actor Like this feels weird saying almost but like using their power for good. Like all of all that money that he banked off of entourage, you know, he puts it towards the production of of this film and it does so much for the career of of so many other people like this is it? It's one of the first like really really good amy adams performances when she was like on her hot streak. So I I don't know I've always really enjoyed the fighter. I remember seeing the fighter in theaters.
Speaker 2:I was living in hawaii at the time. My dad came to visit like I. There was this really cool theater that kind of showed, um, the more the more art house type films, the more like um kind of prestigious oscar bait films, and so it was like december we went and saw this movie and just I was like blown away by it. Christian Bale, does you know, like kind of steal the show and that's what earns him the Academy Award. Mark wasn't even nominated for best lead actor in the movie, but like he's, he's great as and it's a great boxing movie like I. I am here for the fighter yeah, thank you.
Speaker 3:I'm on the record, I believe, of saying I don't enjoy this film. Why is that?
Speaker 2:Too try-hardy maybe.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think it's a little up its own ass. I don't know it's so weird because it's not that I don't like Amy Adams. I it's not that I don't like amy adams, it's not that I don't like christian bale. You know I'm obviously a fan of mark, but yeah, I don't know something about it. It just like it's just not. It just I don't know. It know it's about another white guy boxing.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And something about that just rubs me. There's just something that's just not very exciting about it.
Speaker 1:Fair enough? Yeah, so are we. What are we thinking? Green, yellow.
Speaker 3:I mean, does Mark get nominated?
Speaker 2:He's a producer on the film and it's nominated for Best Picture.
Speaker 1:Is he nominated for Best Supporting Actor, though.
Speaker 2:So he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in the Departed oh.
Speaker 1:The Departed.
Speaker 2:And then he's nominated for his second Academy Award in his career as a producer of this film. So when you look him up, he's got two Academy Award nominations one for acting, one for producing Right, this is the one for producing.
Speaker 1:Okay, I say we put it at yellow.
Speaker 2:Yellow, okay yeah. Okay, next one she has the highlighters over there.
Speaker 1:She is in control. Well, the next one is a triple fave for us all. This is what started the whole conversation. I watched contraband um last week and I I fucking love this movie. It's so good, um, is it his best movie ever? I don't know, but it is, in my book, not the best ever.
Speaker 2:Well, here's what the Hall of Fame has to do. The Hall of Fame has to show the different times in an actor or a filmmaker's career in which, if you could just explain someone's entire filmography in 10 movies, would you include it?
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:And there's well, but there's the case to be made. Yes, you would include yes, you would include this because when it comes to the garbage crime variety, like we put shooter yeah green sure, but that maybe still has more earnestness behind it, even though it's really silly watching it.
Speaker 2:You know, almost 20 years later, but like contraband's not that old contraband's, like barely 10 years old and this movie was I'm I remember seeing this in at the theater, at the galaxy theater. This movie, um, the galaxy uptown, this movie was ridiculous then. It was ridiculous five years ago, I think, when everyone kind of like returned to it. I don't, it must have had like a big resurgence on streaming, because I can remember that's really when, like the giovanni ris bc voice started getting passed around and everything. Um, you know, this was when ben foster was just like in everything and always playing a great shit.
Speaker 2:Heel. Um, you know, kate beckinsale is just phenomenal, as she is in everything in this movie. Um, I like contraband's great. Contraband rips, contraband takes no time off. Um, it's I I don't know. I think there's a strong case to make you green I, I do.
Speaker 1:I love that answer for sure I.
Speaker 3:I think contraband kind of is is like when mark is at his best.
Speaker 2:It might be like it might be mark walberg personified yeah like leading man kind of a shitheel like also, yeah, yeah uh, and and and just a, just a walking badass too, and it's just like the kind of movie that sylvester stallone or chuck norris or maybe like arnold schwarzenegger or bruce willis would have been in 20 to 30 years ago. But now it's just like mark walberg having to go to south america to get a bunch of like counterfeit bills or whatever it is like out of shipping containers. And they're counterfeit bills or whatever it is like out of shipping containers and they're fucking just mobbing around and we got to get back on boats and jk simmons is barking at him like this movie just works.
Speaker 1:It works every time it does yeah, okay, okay put it green for now.
Speaker 3:Put it green for now yeah, um, okay.
Speaker 1:So the next movie I think this is what Max was kind of alluding to is Ted, and this is another like really popular comedy of his that I feel like this is like his mainstream comedy movie that like got a lot of like everyone on board with it because it was really raunchy. It was just this weird concept. It was just this weird concept, whereas like the other guys was kind of not so mainstream comedy. It's more of like that like you might not get the humor, like you might not pick up on some of the jokes, whereas ted was a little bit more like direct about the humor it's.
Speaker 2:It's the seth mcfarland brand, it's the family guy brand.
Speaker 1:Right of humor, yeah I'm not a huge fan I never have been either of humor. I'm not a huge fan. I never have been either. I'm not a fan of, I don't really like the Family Guy or anything like that. I didn't really watch that.
Speaker 3:The Family Guy the.
Speaker 1:Family Guy.
Speaker 2:I don't like the Family.
Speaker 3:Guy.
Speaker 2:I'm.
Speaker 1:Peter Griffin.
Speaker 3:The Family Guy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I didn't dislike this movie. It's just not been a movie that I've read like, that I've re-watched and I you know I think that it had a lot of hype when it came out. There's a lot of fans. But it even got a second one later on.
Speaker 2:But I think the movie's quite stupid in premise and in execution and the jokes are all pretty shallow.
Speaker 1:It's that stupid humor, but not the kind of stupid humor that, like the other guys is, because the other guys is still stupid humor, but it's that kind of humor where you're like this is weird, like it kind of like a little absurd. It's absurd.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this one is just really it's stoner catnip, yeah, and, and unfortunately I think those movies just don't age. I don't think Ted has that big a footprint right now so I think the other guys is the superior comedy when put up against Ted yeah, I agree um so red that shit alright.
Speaker 1:Um. Next movie is broken city.
Speaker 2:Never seen this I just had to actually click on this one and look it up because I remember hearing about it. We have katherine zeta, jones russell, crowe, jeffrey wright, barry pepper in supporting roles for this film. Um, but again, this is the kind of movie that like probably doesn't happen. It just sounds like from just reading the log line in my head a second ago. It this doesn't happen if, like, contraband isn't sort of a thing a few years earlier. So again, like that's why I think contraband is so important to recognize, because there's just they're coming up here especially there are so many less successful versions of a contraband in his filmography. So, like, recognizing that movie is important because it's the best version of something he's really good at doing. I'm sure he's fine in Broken City, but I think we can comfortably put it red.
Speaker 1:Okay, next is Pain and Gain.
Speaker 2:And for the same reasons, although this is you know, we worship at the altar of Michael Bay, but like I just don't, I don't see this going in as one of Mark Wahlberg's 10 best movies. No, and it's. This movie is almost too self-aware.
Speaker 3:It is. It is so meta and it's Michael Bay-ness.
Speaker 1:Yeah, not for me.
Speaker 3:No, mm-hmm, yeah, not for me.
Speaker 1:No, not this one, neither.
Speaker 3:It's a miss for Bay.
Speaker 1:Two Guns.
Speaker 2:I quite like this movie.
Speaker 1:Never seen this.
Speaker 2:Him playing opposite Denzel, as I think one's like a CIA agent, one's a DEA agent. A perfectly fine movie, pretty fun, as like a little two-hander, sort of in the vein of like a lethal weapon kind of movie. But I I mean, ultimately there's I don't think there's a case for making this even yellow no, um.
Speaker 1:Okay, now we're getting into the good stuff. Lone survivor is next this is.
Speaker 2:This is certainly now a different stage in his career, I think, and I mean it probably starts really with something like, with, with like, because Ted's hugely successful Ted made a ton of money. So now you're you're able to cast Mark Wahlberg in your movie as one of a few things. Like, he can be the dad, he can be the grizzled war vet, he can be a goofball comedy guy Like he's.
Speaker 1:He's basically shown every pitch that he has now, at this age, this is his first Peter Berg movie too. First important yeah.
Speaker 3:Very important. Uh, it goes on to collaborate with Berg four times.
Speaker 1:Um this is a great. It's a great movie.
Speaker 2:I remember seeing this in the theater and being thrilled yeah, I, I, yeah.
Speaker 3:And out of the four bergs films, I think this is probably the the height. Again, incredibly stacked cast. Watching this the other day you have ben foster, emil h Hirsch, taylor Kisich. The movie kind of starts out like oh, this is a Taylor Kisich movie. Wahlberg, eric Bana who's the little blonde kid from? What's his name? Alexander Ludwig, yeah, where's. What is he he's in? Is he in Hunger Games or something? What, where? Where's? What is he he's in? Is he in hunger games or something? What was he from?
Speaker 1:yes, he is in hunger games.
Speaker 3:Okay, there you go, right, yeah he's uh, he's kato right, yeah, um, yeah, uh. I really fucking love this movie. I think lone survivor is like one of the better modern day military films I agree.
Speaker 1:I I think that there is a you know. I mean, the story of Marcus Luttrell is extremely just. This movie makes me cry every time Peter Berg does make me cry, but I think that just so much of like what into this went into this movie is really impressive. I know that there's some controversy that the story might not be like extremely accurate, but this is based off of Marcus Luttrell's book Lone Survivor and I think that there is a lot of heart to it. We're getting into this, this war genre that Mark does really well. The cast is incredible. There's really great chemistry between the guys.
Speaker 2:But then the back half of the movie. It becomes Mark Wahlberg yeah he has to carry the whole thing. I think we put it green now and then, just if we have to make some tough decisions later, we cross that bridge when we get to it. I agree, hopefully we. I think we put a green now and then, just if we have to make some tough decisions later, we cross that bridge when we get to it.
Speaker 3:I agree. Hopefully we don't get put on a list.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I didn't really know if I should add this one, because I've never seen these ones.
Speaker 2:Oh, you add this one.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay. Transformers Age of Extinction.
Speaker 2:This is quite bad. This is really bad. Of extinction this is quite bad. This is really bad. We uh, alex and I went down the transformers rabbit hole and ranked them all. When was that?
Speaker 3:long ago. Yeah, um beast wars, wars. Yeah, yeah, um this is.
Speaker 2:This is one great work of uh beast wars to that conversation thank god, when will beast wars 2 come?
Speaker 3:uh transformers, age of extinction is is quite, quite poor. We might have put it at the bottom of our transformer rankings, or or well, it might have been this one or the the last night, I mean oh, the last night may have been.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the at the bottom um, I think he is hilariously miscast, yeah, in these movies, and I don't know why.
Speaker 2:Michael bay because pain and gain right, they must have a great time again, right, but I just don't know why the studios at this point, I don't know why bay himself as a producer, I don't know why the transformer movies work so much better when it is an adolescent and or young adult as like the primary conduit for this interaction between the autobots and humans, and why we needed to make it like, yes, mark walberg, he, um, there are still. You know, his daughter is is also like a prominent person in interacting here with the Autobots and put in peril and all these different things or whatever. But it's just so weird that all of a sudden, what we do is have a grown adult like a grown man, a grown man.
Speaker 2:Talking to Optimus.
Speaker 3:Optimus. Where are the Decepticons?
Speaker 2:it's really bad. It's hilarious but it's really bad. I think both the Transformer movies are red but they're important to acknowledge in Mark's career because once again these movies made a ton of money and made Wahlberg a ton of money, and they're just another. At this point he's got a family. He can say, hey, kids, I was in the Transformer movies, like I get it. Trust me, I get it that's fair. The next is the Gambler so I unfortunately have no relationship with this movie.
Speaker 3:Same it's been one that I've circled for long, a long long time one that has and I don't know long, long time, one that has, and I don't know why it has a little bit of a cult following.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Because Rupert Wyatt, the director. I don't really know what else this guy has done or been known for.
Speaker 3:I believe Venom fame.
Speaker 2:Of Venom fame Only 14 director credits.
Speaker 3:Oh no, excuse me. Rise of the Planet of the.
Speaker 2:Apes. Oh, you don't say Interesting. Well, we like that film.
Speaker 3:We do like that film.
Speaker 2:So I don't know, god, we really like that movie, the Mosquito Coast. That was an interesting TV series that came out a couple years ago. I watched that during COVID. I don't know, I don't know why people like this movie. I would love to find out someday. I assume it's about gambling. That's about all I can tell you, and we like a good card movie If it's something like Mississippi Grind. I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 3:Mississippi Grind the card counter somewhere in the middle there.
Speaker 2:Sure Could be really good, so I don't know that's on us listeners yeah, for not our. Our game is not familiar. We don't know ball.
Speaker 3:George Kennedy is in this film interesting.
Speaker 2:I saw something really funny, a meme the other day that said if you really want to just upset like a red blooded straight American male this weekend, ask them what they think about the Super Bowl, like who they think is going to win, any sort of predictions they have, yada, yada, let them go and then when they're done talking just kind of like shake your head, disagree and be like you don't know ball and just see what their reaction is um.
Speaker 1:So I don't know, we don't know the gambler we I just I don't know. I'm sorry we don't um, do I?
Speaker 2:I. I do not know what the the project mojave. He is a bit part. Okay, great Red.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, entourage.
Speaker 2:Plays himself in the movie. Yeah, I don't really know See once again, this is where, like I think, there's a discussion to be had.
Speaker 3:About the Entourage the Entourage property Right.
Speaker 2:As being inducted into the Mark Wahlberg Hall of Fame. Okay, if you have it written down on your list anywhere, I think we'd yellow, just entourage.
Speaker 1:And circle back here. Next one is Ted 2. I think we put it red, for the same reasoning as the first Daddy's Home.
Speaker 2:Unfamiliar.
Speaker 3:You've never seen Daddy's Home. Will Ferrell and Mark Wahl up again, okay yeah, to try and bring back the other guys. Uh, magic will. Farrell is pretty fucking hilarious throughout this film. Yeah, uh, another one, though that I've watched about 45 minutes and mark walberg has funny. You know he comes in playing it very straight and like this total badass. But this movie is not good, it is red Okay.
Speaker 1:Next one after that, and I will hold in my enthusiasm for this. But second, peter Berg collab, deepwater Horizon.
Speaker 2:Let her cook I had no idea you're such a berg head.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is great I didn't know, I was either he salutes you, uh, in your fight this is this.
Speaker 1:So if I had to pick my top mark walberg movie, this is number one. This movie is absolutely intense. I, I it's. I mean it's about you know, it's another true story about the, the bp oil spill. Um, I think mark walberg is just at like his all-time high in this. He plays like his. There's so much again, like so much heart to this role and there's a there's a scene that very end, when he comes home to his family and he just breaks down in his hotel room. I mean it's like, it's really good. I think that there's like some really incredible scenes. Just CGI, like whatever like is going on. I, this movie blew me away and I've and I've continued to rewatch it over the years and I love it. I think this is another one of those movies I've seen very, very high, almost number one in most people's rankings of his movies.
Speaker 3:He plays such a good blue collar.
Speaker 1:I was thinking about that earlier and I was like this man is like totally selling the trade school route, you know, like he really does play a blue collar worker. So well, the men we need to respect, you know. I mean seriously, I mean seriously, I, yeah, I, I love this movie.
Speaker 2:It's my favorite peterberg movie to me deep water horizon. If we're gonna go back to the tom cruise comparison, this is like when you just when you can't see past a certain actor as being a celebrity first, and then all of a sudden they go and they do a movie like for tom cruise. I feel like that was live, dive, repeat, edge of tomorrow and all of a sudden that blew people away and you almost forget that you're watching tom cruise in a movie like that and there's so much cgi, there's so much going on in that film. It's science fiction, whereas like this is, you know, obviously based on true, but like you kind of get lost in the performance again and it reminds you of all the amazing things that they've done in the past and you're like, oh yeah, no shit, this is why you are a famous A-list actor.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think that this Deepwater Horizon is his movie, like that for the 2010s.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 2:Where you get lost in the performance and then by the end of it you're like wow, mark walberg yeah like I forgot he had.
Speaker 1:Like there's your fastball, yeah also another really great cast, like we have kurt russell, kate hudson, uh, gina rodriguez, john malkovich Gosh who else am I looking at?
Speaker 2:Yeah, those people, we love those people. I do, I think, deepwater Horizon's green? Yeah, I think so too, and we just at this point, we're not worrying about how many greens we have. Yep.
Speaker 1:No, okay, the next one is another, I mean another peterberg.
Speaker 2:uh, same year patriots day, another heavy watch exactly like I don't want to exclude this film no or its historical significance but it's not on the same.
Speaker 1:I mean, I hate even saying that because it's just.
Speaker 2:These movies are based on like really dark tragedies that are and Wahlberg being a son of Boston, no one meant a ton.
Speaker 1:Absolutely it's. It's not the best, just like I, like I and I the way that I kind of ranked that is just based on his performance a little bit Like, if I'm comparing it to, like Deepwater Horizon, like I feel like he put so much into that movie and maybe not enough into Patriot's Day, it's still a really good movie and it's still like I feel like you know an important watch, I feel like a you know an important watch, but I don't know that like if we're, if it's fighting for a spot, like like a movie like lone survivor or deep water horizon, it's going to take it away.
Speaker 3:I do think that those movies are superior in the Peter Berg, wahlberg and the and the Bergessons Um. However, patriots day great film, great adult drama. Peter Berg is kind of a filmmaker and it doesn't look like he hasn't made a movie since 2020. He's been working in TV a lot, but someone who could really take a middle-of-the-road budget and make something pretty great. And Wahlberg is his fucking boy and brings out some of the best in Wahlberg.
Speaker 2:Yeah, indeed.
Speaker 3:But yeah, I don't. Shout out to Patriot today, but yeah, we have Deepwater, we have Lone Survivor, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree, okay, patriots day. But yeah, we have Deepwater, we have lone survivor. Yeah, yeah, I agree, okay, so I think we already had marked this. Red was Transformers the last night. Kd Yeager yeah, and then After that KD.
Speaker 2:Yeager, kd Yeager, we salute you. After that another red Optimus is out there podcasting About you somewhere from deep space to all those listening. My boy, kade yager, joins me to rank mark walberg movies daddy's home too, just plain dusty yeah no last name.
Speaker 1:Lost the last name yeah, that's, uh, that's a red yeah, um, this is a movie I have not seen All the money in the world.
Speaker 2:That's because you ditched us on the Ridley Scott episode.
Speaker 1:You've had two opportunities the Ridley Scott.
Speaker 2:This is a Ridley Scott film. It's red.
Speaker 3:This is red, it's a weak movie overall Yep.
Speaker 1:His last Peter Berg collab, Mile 22. Alex, you just rewatched this for the first time, actually.
Speaker 2:So I know this movie had a huge resurgence during the pandemic. I believe it was on Netflix at the time and kind of received like the den of thieves triple nine, triple frontier sort of treatment where all of a sudden, you wake up one day, you fire up Netflix whatever, you're watching Paramount Prime and you're like why is this crime thriller from four years ago the number one movie in America? I can't explain to you how that happens or why that happens, but that's what happened to Mile 22, a 2018 film during the pandemic. So I was like OK, it's important for me and it was one pete berg collaboration um, that I had not seen that of of the mark walbring movies. So I fired it up last night. Um, it is certainly the the weakest of the four collaborations. I don't think it. It should even go yellow. However, this movie is one part chris hemsworth extraction film um. One part like the raid and then like one part mark walberg, pete berg like military garbage special ops, yeah, thriller, um, and there's nothing wrong with it.
Speaker 2:I think that berg gets a little. You know his editing style. Even going back to, like the friday night lights film is so interesting, um, it can be real choppy and real chaotic at times and I feel like that can lend itself to an action film and in a multitude of different ways, like sometimes it can make up for for poor choreography, but, like this movie, when this movie becomes the raid for like 20 minutes, it's a really thrilling scene in this giant apartment complex. Um, the movie also has a little bit of smoking aces to it, basically because Mark Wahlberg and his team, which includes, um, like Ronda Rousey and a few other people, they have to extract this prisoner who is seeking amnesty to the United States because he holds, like the code for you know, of course, some sort of like MacGuffin key card that's going to tell someone, the United States government, like, where this toxic chemical is, and so they, um, they have to transport him 22 miles to the safe zone where where they can then be extracted, and and so what happens is you almost get this smoke and aces style of like all the hit man. You know all these different government agencies. The Russians are involved. Um, this takes place in like Southeast Asia, somewhere, india, I I'm not really sure exactly where it is, but all these different special ops forces are trying to intercept them along this route to the landing, to the airport, to the landing zone, and so it's really thrilling.
Speaker 2:But the editing is too much in this movie and where, like these action set pieces, it's sometimes like there's some great shootouts in the middle of a street and broad daylight where I'm like if Michael Mann was shooting this, like I've seen the way Michael Mann would shoot this it's fucking sick. Just give me a wide shot of like Mark Wahlberg tearing through a whole clip and then reloading and going right back at it, yeah, with his finger on the trigger. But like that's not what you get in this movie. You just get a ton of adhd, smash, cuts, um, and explosions and it's really messy. But like a part of me can totally see why this movie was was reclaimed a couple years ago as like some good garbage crime. So it's's fun, but it's red. It's red, yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry to admit that pretty much the rest of his movies. I have not seen any of them Because this is where he kind of falls off for me Like he had such a strong era.
Speaker 2:His 2020s have been pretty bad.
Speaker 1:Yeah, although he's booked and busy, the guy is working, you know, and he's every year coming out with something.
Speaker 2:What is Spencer Confidential? I mean, do you want to run through him real quick? I feel like Spencer Confidential is a thing for a lot of people. Is it another like pandemic movie?
Speaker 3:Is the final actual Pete Burd collaboration oh, is it oh.
Speaker 1:And it is bad oh my gosh, you're right, it is bad on a script.
Speaker 3:It's a Netflix, it's a straight to Netflix film. It is a adaptation, I believe, of a 60s spy show. Okay, and it's Pete Berg trying to do like quippy, funny Berg action like Hancock Pete Berg sort of. Yeah, hancock peak like he's trying to do Italian job but in his style of filming and it just does not work. Hmm, spencer, confidential is bad.
Speaker 1:I've never seen instant family yeah, instant Family Spencer, confidential Scoob.
Speaker 3:Scoob, he's a voice. Yeah, yeah, some side character.
Speaker 1:Joe Bell.
Speaker 3:Never heard of it.
Speaker 1:Infinite.
Speaker 3:Never heard of it.
Speaker 1:We have heard of Uncharted though.
Speaker 3:I have seen Uncharted.
Speaker 1:It's a no.
Speaker 3:Uncharted is red. It is really bad. You know Mark Wahlberg forever for so long. This movie is based on the video games that are called Uncharted, and for so long Mark Wahlberg was attached to be Nathan Drake, the main character. He then.
Speaker 2:He aged out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, ages out and decides to become a producer on it and then kind of forces his hand to be sully who he's completely miscast. But also, like tom holland, is completely miscast. It's a.
Speaker 2:It's a uncharted, is a failure on on every level okay, a movie that really suffered from the pandemic work being shut down, scripts not being able to be, you know, rewritten um a movie that's, I feel like, going to be studied in 10 years as far as like one of the big budget failures of the pandemic and of strikes and and all the shit that's happened, basically with movies for the better part of the 2020s yeah, um.
Speaker 1:Okay, then we have a movie called Father Stew.
Speaker 2:Never heard of that. Nope, isn't this where he goes like first reformed, but it's like Well, he's always been a very religious man. Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:But yeah, I believe he has leaned into that quite a bit in the past. You know, four years, four or five years and it starts with Father Stu MeTime, the Family Plan, arthur the King, I believe are all really strong faith-based films Interesting. And I don't even know what the union is. I've never heard of that and that leads us to flight risk flight risk.
Speaker 1:Yeah, do you guys think that like like obviously we really like mark walberg, like he's a he's proven to be a great actor, right, like do you think that he could have like a like a resurgence where we see a movie like that's not something like flight risk, where it's like we could see him kind of tap into this like contraband, like peter, like peterberg, like version of himself?
Speaker 2:I'll be honest, I'm I was really excited to see him doing something like flight risk again and almost playing like the Giovanni Rizbisi character from Contraband in this movie, because I feel like he did kind of lose his way there for a little bit after maybe like mild 22 or or the last couple transformer movies, or just at the end of the pete berg run, basically there at the end of the the 20 teens, um and so to see him get back into flight risk. He is only, like I said, he's only 53 yeah I.
Speaker 2:I expected him to maybe be a little bit older than that and so he still has a lot of physicality to him. I mean, like I could see him still being in these action adventure roles. However, I would like to maybe see him do something like work with like a Paul Schrader and like could I?
Speaker 2:see him do something like what Oscar Isaac did in the card counter. Absolutely I would love to see a more contained, toned down like interpersonal story about just kind of like. I mean like, yeah, the paul schrader mode of just like a guy working through some inner demons, you know, and it doesn't have to be so faith-based, maybe, um, like what, like what. Some of these movies are here at the at the end of his filmography as it stands right now, but I, I I certainly think he has a couple more like.
Speaker 3:I think he's got a couple more all-star seasons in him yeah he's got some stuff in production, so yeah, I would love to see him go back to you know. Yeah, like something like we own the night, right, you know or not? Not as like schlocky and flashy as contraband, but like I don't know, get him back in a uniform yeah you know, and not not a reverend or a prison uniform.
Speaker 2:Yeah, get him back on the streets, or like think about some of the stuff that, like, maybe damon has done, um, you know where it's just like, um, I forget the name of the this movie, but where he's just like a dad and he has to, like you know, go to europe or whatever, because no?
Speaker 3:not, we bought a zoo.
Speaker 2:No, that's what I know. But scar joe go back to. We bought a zoo, um, but no, you know where. It's just like I don't gosh. What was that movie called, I don't know but um, but yeah, we're almost like like could he be in like a taken kind of movie? I think so you know like yeah and in some kind of role like that for sure, that's a great call actually, yeah kind of just like say, like liam neeson you're like king of garbage crime like just yeah, lean into that absolutely okay, erica, hit us with our greens
Speaker 1:all right. So our greens are fear, boogie nights, the italian job, four brothers shooter, the other guys contraband, lone, survivor, deepwater horizon. We have one spot we have nine greens nine greens yeah, and so that's so interesting.
Speaker 3:With entourage still on the table then yeah, entourage the overarching product of entourage is is very important. Sitting here and going through the filmography, I think, even though I don't like the movie, the fighter is very important let's hear all the yellows, yeah.
Speaker 1:The Basketball Diaries Three Kings, the Yards, the Perfect Storm, rockstar, I Heart Huckabees, we Own the Night, the Happening, the Fighter and then, yeah, entourage.
Speaker 2:So 10 yellows.
Speaker 3:I think we can take the yards off because we have not.
Speaker 2:Let's go process of elimination.
Speaker 1:This is smart, I think we can take the happening off, because it's like because when I'm thinking about ranking this, like giving him his top 10, I'm thinking about like his best movies, you know, like these, like you know, I'm gonna ask you a question, like at the end and and I'm thinking of like, okay, like this guy who's had an incredible career, while a lot of these movies might not have been successful, like I'm thinking of like what are his top 10 best movies? If you could show an alien right, like these movies to describe him, what would it be, you know? And so I think the happening is like. Sure, it was like a little weird cultural phenomenon when it came out, but we can probably take that off and I think you can take basketball diaries off and I think we get the beginning.
Speaker 2:I think you just take I heart hugabees off.
Speaker 1:It's gonna rip that band-aid off I was just about to say that happening in the basket.
Speaker 3:I think you take three Kings off. To take three Kings off, I mean honestly, I, looking at the list, I think it actually comes down to rock star the fighter the reason, the reason.
Speaker 1:Well, so let me, let me defend the whole entourage thing, because I it's like if he's a producer on that and I don't know, I've never seen it, I know he's just not. This is not like his performance though. Right, it's like a project of his and I appreciate that, but I don't think of I didn't even know that he was attached to Entourage, but I don't know you. I didn't even know that he was attached to Entourage, you know, but I don't know you guys maybe know more than that.
Speaker 3:It is tough because Entourage is a long-standing TV series where you know he shows up in maybe six episodes over a span of what? 10 years.
Speaker 2:But if it's here's the thing, okay, keep going, keep going, here's the thing okay, keep going, keep going.
Speaker 3:And yes, he is the architect behind and it is based loosely on his life experience.
Speaker 2:However, it would. This would almost be like not putting seinfeld in a larry david hall of fame that's really interesting, but don't you think Larry David lives in TV?
Speaker 3:So of course that would be.
Speaker 2:Right, but if you were doing like a Larry David Hall of Fame or Larry David Mount Rushmore, yes, I understand. But, just like in principle. Mark Wahlberg has just as much involvement in Entourage as Larry David did in Seinfeld, without being on screen.
Speaker 3:Right, that's very true.
Speaker 2:And so when you talk and if you're gonna sit down and watch Entourage I would say by the end of the first season you know that this is the Mark Wahlberg story.
Speaker 3:You are seeing his name every episode. Every single episode he does show up, I think twice in that first season that's when the cameos happen and, and it's like he's on here if you were experiencing entourage in real time, as we were.
Speaker 2:He's on all the he's, he did all the press right, you know, with those guys with piven, with grenier, um, and so it's. I feel like it's really tough to exclude.
Speaker 1:I hear you, I do.
Speaker 3:However, the fighter might be the movie version of that right, Because he's an executive producer on that.
Speaker 2:He's just a producer, Just a producer on that Main producer. Yeah.
Speaker 3:But then he's also on screen Right. It is with David O Russell, who is kind of an important filmmaker in his filmography. Absolutely, he's really the first. He's really like the first auteur who he collaborated with time and time again, time and time again, we don't have a David O Russell movie on the list.
Speaker 2:That feels like a no mission we cannot make.
Speaker 1:But I would almost argue to take off a Peter Berg movie. Which would To give a little space, because to me it's like let's it's Lone Survivor or Deepwater Horizon. I vote Deepwater Horizon. It is. It's it's Lone Survivor or Deepwater Horizon. I vote Deepwater Horizon. It is it's it's. They're both great.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Both so good, but Deepwater Horizon is the one where you're not even paying attention. Like you said, like you're not watching Mark Wahlberg, you're watching the story the story and you're like what?
Speaker 3:It's crazy story and you're like what? It's crazy and deep water horizon is probably the best version. You know, as we said, he's so good at playing a blue collar person. Yeah, probably the best version of that. And if we keep shooter on there, we have the military.
Speaker 2:Well, that's what I was just gonna ask, though since we don't have another like one to one comparison really, for Deepwater Horizon, do you make the case that there should only be one of either shooter and or lone survivor you can kind of mix contraband in there too. I think even though contraband gets more schlocky and kind of garbage crime, they're all being rented from the same section at the video store.
Speaker 2:I think I would vote contraband over shooter contraband stays in over shooter I think yes, yeah shooter is maybe the one that is out okay, so you want to keep lone survivor in deep water horizon I'm okay, I actually would be okay with that too, because I like shooters.
Speaker 1:Good it's, it's a, it's a great movie. But I mean, if we're thinking of what's better, lone survivors hands down better than shooter.
Speaker 2:Agreed, agreed, okay, so shooters out, shooters out shooter falls okay lone survivor stays, deep water horizon stays, then contraband stays, and now we're at eight with two spots for potentially Entourage. The Fighter maybe Rockstar? And have we crossed out the Departed yet? Did we put Departed as red?
Speaker 1:We did.
Speaker 2:Okay, do we have any other remaining yellows that haven't gone red? We own the night.
Speaker 1:We own the night the Fighter, the Perfect Storm and Rockstar, and then Entourage, you see it, we have. We Own the Night the Fighter, the Perfect Storm and Rockstar, and then Entourage. Do you see it, we just the.
Speaker 2:Perfect Storm. Yeah, bobby's still on the board, bobby Boy, okay, so two spots left. I think the Fighter has to go in. Let's put the Fighter in. Okay, that feels right.
Speaker 1:Well, you've kind of like I, I've never seen Entourage and I know that I like I appreciate I can tell you guys are wanting to give me Rockstar. But like as much as I love that movie, I know it's like you know I'm going to I'll be realistic and step off my high horse. But, pleading the case of Entourage, I had no idea that that show was about like loosely based on him. I had no idea you got to watch like loosely based on him.
Speaker 3:I had no idea. You gotta watch it. I think it's coming to netflix pretty soon.
Speaker 1:I have a story about a cast member on I have a story about a cast member on that that I'll maybe tell you off way it's, it's not a good one.
Speaker 3:Well, I can't wait to hear that's even better. Uh, so the interesting about rockstar, if we want to talk about that, yeah, that represents something that is nowhere.
Speaker 2:He never really throws that pitch again he never does that curveball again.
Speaker 3:Um, I mean, maybe you can kind of it's up there higher to boogie nights a little bit.
Speaker 2:I was just kind of thinking it's sort of similar to yeah, yeah, sure.
Speaker 3:But I mean, yeah, and also, you know, rockstar is interesting too, because, let's not forget, he started as a musician, right, like that was his fame.
Speaker 1:That's so true. We haven't even really talked about.
Speaker 3:Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And so maybe representing that side of Mark Wahlberg could be important.
Speaker 1:I mean, you know I feel about that pick so I do appreciate that. So it's, I don't know. I think I say we take the perfect storm out of here as much as we don't want to do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we don't want to do that.
Speaker 1:And then what do you think about?
Speaker 2:we own the night I mean again, if I can take, if I can take 10 movies to re-watch to a desert island, I'm without hesitation grabbing. We own the night. But that's for the movie as a whole, that that movie is a sum of its parts yeah and he's only a part of it.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna Damn. It's hard because I'm leaning more towards giving Entourage. That last spot Now, knowing the significance, the cultural significance of it, it is a very long running show.
Speaker 3:And there is a movie, so we can get away with it.
Speaker 2:This is fair, because we're just taking the Entourage property Right yeah, which includes a television show that ran for six years.
Speaker 3:And a film and was like the. That show especially to young males or young people. We'll say it's green.
Speaker 1:Yeah, say it's green.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's green. Are we going entourage? Yeah, okay, I don't even have to say that.
Speaker 2:It was hugely influential. It was so influential I mean, when you think of HBO in the 2000s- In the worst ways and the best ways.
Speaker 1:Sure Right Like yeah, yeah, I appreciate that. Okay, entourage that okay.
Speaker 2:Entourage yes, so okay, we've got our. Here's the other thing too. I feel like mark walberg, I feel like the. The people who mark walberg was friends with when he was 24 are probably still the people who he's friends with now and so like.
Speaker 3:And now that's just based on, you know, pure speculation, but like you don't have a aside from the show well, you were over at their house, aside for the Superbowl, um, wearing the invincible Jersey.
Speaker 2:Aside aside from the fact that, like, entourage is all about, just like being boys with your boys, like that's. That's all I have to go on, but, like I feel like Mark walberg is genuinely a good person, yeah, and.
Speaker 2:And who like values friendship, um, and who, like clearly works hard he's a family man like non-stop works hard, and so I mean I think I think entourage, you know, say what you will about that movie's politics and its um, ideas about fame, um and and power in hollywood and who holds it and what they do with it and whatever um, I think pivot, and a lot of people involved with that movie or with that series have already said like, yeah, we couldn't make that show the same way now today, um, but again, it's reflective of a time in in hollywood and in people's life, and it is Mark Wahlberg's life that they are portraying loosely. I feel good about it. I feel really bad for something like the Perfect Storm for Rockstar, for a few of those others that got cut right there at the end, but I'm glad we fit the fighter in.
Speaker 2:I feel, like that is definitely the right move.
Speaker 1:So name them off one more time.
Speaker 3:Erica Alright Fear, Boogie Nights, the Italian Job? I feel like that is definitely the right move.
Speaker 1:Cool, so name them off one more time. Erica, all right, fear, boogie Nights, the Italian Job, four Brothers, the Other Guys, the Fighter, contraband, lone Survivor, entourage and Deepwater Horizon.
Speaker 2:That feels right. That sounds really good. That feels right. Those are probably the that's a great little program. That's great programming right there for a little Mark Wahlberg film fest Absolutely.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I would love to see any of that. I'd be in line, yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, I want to. It's kind of a hard question. But if you, if somebody came to you who'd never seen a Mark Wahlberg movie they didn't even know who the guy was Could you pick one movie Like, what would you pick to? Like, introduce his career to somebody?
Speaker 3:From yeah that like.
Speaker 1:I know it's really hard, but like something you're like. Ok, I'm going to explain Mark Wahlberg to you. Could you pick one?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's. That's a great question, because I don't think I would. You wouldn't want to go too early?
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:As much as I'm like Boogie Nights is on the Mount Rushmore or whatever you know like that would just be that almost be too shocking.
Speaker 1:And you almost don't want to go something like Deepwater Horizon, because while it's an amazing movie, he's I don't know that if that would like encompass his entire career.
Speaker 2:To me. To me, it's honestly probably either four brothers or the italian job. I was just gonna say for me it's the italian yeah, yeah because that's probably the easiest one to digest. Uh, you said it when you first brought it up, like it's crowd pleasing, it's pg-13, but it kind of has that we always talk about this with like quote unquote, like perfect movies or whatever, but like they feel sort of ratingless yes we're is this movie R or is it PG Like dying?
Speaker 3:but it's not gory yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, it's very palatable, the Italian job. I think that would be it here's, here's one for yours. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I, I would say, I mean, I would say something like I don't know, I I think that's a really great argument. I mean I, I would almost agree. I would almost say maybe something like contraband too, it's hard, it's you know, um.
Speaker 3:I don't know. I think you could say deep water as well.
Speaker 1:I think so too. I just think that like does that move so many? Times. That's true.
Speaker 2:It's the best version of a certain thing that he does. Well, okay, here's one. Is there a role that another actor, another contemporary of his, has had in the last maybe 10 years or so, kind of as he has, as Wahlberg, has maybe struggled to really find like maybe a franchise to attach to or whatever that you feel like you could have seen him in? That would have worked really well, like, I think, kind of opening the show with the thought that, like in some alternative universe, mark walberg is ethan hunt, almost you know right, like is there? Is there something else out there that you feel like maybe there's a sliding doors moment on that he missed.
Speaker 3:I think it's really interesting. He has never done like a superhero property.
Speaker 2:That's a great point, and I think I wonder what his stance is on that. I wonder if he's just never been approached, or what.
Speaker 3:But I think he could have done anything Chris Pratt does in the Marvel Universe.
Speaker 2:Or in the Jurassic movies Star Lord or the Jurassic movies.
Speaker 3:I think anything Chris Pratt has done. I think you could have plugged Wahlberg in. I love that call.
Speaker 1:I don't know that I would love him in a role like that, though I think a lot of the movies of his that I do love so much is when he has this edge to him, and some of those roles just feel a little too wholesome to me and I think he plays this kind of like she's so right because in re-watching his movies and thinking about his best performances, we've yet to bring this up in almost like two hours worth of material here.
Speaker 2:The man is a phenomenal cursor yeah and so if he can't be saying fuck you or whatever, like talking shit, so often, you know, especially to like his co-workers.
Speaker 1:You know he's, he's on the rig like yeah talking shit with.
Speaker 1:And then you know, like his boston nature like really shines through a lot and he plays, like you know, he, he does a really good texas man. He does a really good Texas man. He does a really good Southern man, east Coast guy. You know what I mean. I like him with a little bit of edge, so I don't know that I would even. I mean I think that he could easily do a superhero or something like Chris Pratt, but I just don't know I would like him in it. I think it would be more mainstream where I would be like I'm not, it doesn't, it didn't do it for me okay, I know we're about.
Speaker 2:I know what I'm about to say is sacrilegious, because I'm I'm asking to maybe replace one of the best performances of the 21st century. What if you put walberg in the jeremy renner role from the town?
Speaker 1:oh my god yeah, it works.
Speaker 2:I think that works, I think I I think he's a little too old, right, jem needs to be what do you have been, though, and like he would have been in his early 40s playing that role still maybe a little too old yeah, I don't know, renner feels like such a little I mean, I'm telling you renner was little perfect in that movie.
Speaker 3:Yeah could he do? Could he have done the affleck part?
Speaker 1:see, I don't think so no I like him as the hothead, the guy with edge, the guy who's popping off, who's like the loose cannon, the wow card it's so hard to imagine him or like to even see him in roles where he's not like the the hero you know, or like I. I think that he is such a lovable, like gritty hero, you know, like a working man, but like I'm a good guy, you know, and so I don't know I I, but that's funny. I was thinking about the town when we were talking about contraband, um, and like they're two years apart but they're still very like oh, they talk to each other a lot do you think?
Speaker 2:in like five or ten years. Do you think he could be like? Could he have some sort of like harrison ford type career in five or ten years where he plays like jack ryan or just like the president in a movie, you know?
Speaker 3:I don't know if he could ever be, ah, the president.
Speaker 2:That'd be really interesting like in a tom clancy type of story or something maybe yeah, like air force one yeah, I was. You know, air force one would be a great call. The first thing I thought was die hard.
Speaker 3:Like I think he would be perfect if if they were ever to redo that movie.
Speaker 2:Like him and bruce willis have a lot in common I agree with that, yes, um, okay, I need to circle back to mile 22 real quick, because one of the we're on mile 22 of this podcast, I I need to ask you because you, you say this all the time where does the quote say hello to your mother?
Speaker 3:for me, quote say hello to your mother for me, come from, say hello to your mother. For me, that's from the Happening. So that's when the Happening came out. Okay, andy Samberg on SNL plays Wahlberg in a skit where he is talking to animals.
Speaker 2:Okay, and he's going oh, hi goat, I've seen this. Okay, yes, how you been.
Speaker 2:Say hi to your mother for me. Here's how mile 22 ends a double agent who shows his hand, who reveals his cards at the very end of the film, after walberg has just busted his ass to get him through this hostile war zone for 90 minutes. Wahlberg's an orphan at the film. This guy knows that Wahlberg's parents died when he was young, his brothers died when he was young, and all this stuff. This guy's about to get on a plane after being released out of custody. He's home free, he's gotten what he wants. And he turns to Mark Wahlberg and he says say hello to your mother for me. Wow, yeah, that's, that's king shit, and I was blown away. Well, I was like what a moment of of of meta, just like meta screenwriting.
Speaker 3:I I guess walberg's, he's he's, he's a great sport, because that sandberg and then he repeats it to himself. He goes. What did you say to me, Andy Sandberg? That bit, I think like, lived on for like a couple weeks in a row. And then Wahlberg came on the show as like just like someone in the hall backstage and was like hi, andy, how's it going?
Speaker 3:Say hello to your mother for me okay and like was in on the whole thing okay, so it's such a good sport however, you said the word plane which made me think of the movie, plane which made me think any part gerard butler has done in the past 10 years and I thought about this as well with, like, the olympus has fallen, yes, yes, it's been great with walbert yeah, walbert in plane would have been fantastic, right, granted, gerard butler, you know, is fantastic anyway and I don't need to replace him but, if there was like think of walbert as big nick in den of Things.
Speaker 2:I love that. I love that he doesn't have the size. I don't actually know if I love that In theory, I love that he doesn't have the size, but also get the four brothers' slicked back hair back. He does have a lot of that energy as Bobby Mercer Gosh. What a career. Thanks for shepherding us through it, Erica. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I'm going to go get a Wahlburger.
Speaker 1:Oh man, if only we had a Wahlburger here. Well, yeah, this was fun. I want to do more actor rankings episodes. We do a lot of director ones and I love those, but I want to highlight, like highlight more actors careers. This was fun to go through. You know we could. There's plenty of people that we could have an amazing film catalog. So, thank you, yeah, this was so fun. All right, so that concludes our episode. Thanks for tuning in. Next week we're going to do our. We're going to start our Oscars coverage by going through the last 24 years, the Best Picture winners and we're going to rank them. So that will be next week's episode. Stay tuned. In the meantime, follow ETI on Instagram and the three of us on Letterboxd, and we'll see you next week on Excuse the Intermission, where movies still matter. Thank you.
