Transcript of 70mm’s Clear and Present Danger (1994) Episode.
SLIM Hiii, it’s your old pal slim and this is 70mm, a podcast for film lovers. Every Monday I sit down to talk about recently watched movies with my dear friend and artist Danny Haas.
DANNY Willem Defoe. I needed more of him in this film. His spray tan, his blond hair, I needed a whole film of just him.
SLIM And our own spiritual adviser and Movie Insider, Protolexus.
PROTO But how about the way that he killed her? Think he goes for the behind the back kiss into the neck snap. Has it ever been done?
SLIM Sequels Month ends officially with this episode. And with Danny’s shocking pick, Clear and Present Danger, starring Harrison Ford. This is not a joke. It’s not. This is real. That’s our movie this episode. Enjoy!
[70mm theme song ramps up, plays alone, fades out]
SLIM Protolexus…
PROTO Me?
SLIM Some people have been starting to call Proto “Movie Insider”.
PROTO Thank you.
SLIM I’ve been seeing a trend on our IG comments and DMs. Like “I want to hear more from the Movie Insider, Proto.”
PROTO I’m on the inside. [Danny & Slim laugh]
DANNY Stupid ass.
SLIM Was that it? Was that the nickname? Oh god, I almost couldn’t even get that out. The Movie In — [Slim laughs] Alright, here we go. The Movie Insider. They want to hear more from the Movie Insider, Protolexus. And I’ve been seeing on your Letterboxd, you’re going through the Tom journey ahead of Top Gun: Maverick. What’s happening with you and Tom right now?
PROTO What’s happening? What’s happening? I’ve been getting a lot of DMs, people asking what’s happened. I have been going on a journey. I watched one Tom Cruise movie this week. It happened. I’m continuing my Mission: Impossible journey that I watched ghost Pro. Back in. September of last year. So I’m averaging one a year. So I end I when I watched that, I realized that I had seen it before. And all of you know all my hard work is really I want to get to in Mission Impossible Fallout because I hear that’s the big one from the inside of the movie realm. They’re telling me that fallouts the big one that you want to watch. So I’m trying to get there. So you know, firstly, I had to go through resignation. So I sat down to watch resignation. And I realized that I had also seen this one before. But that’s you know, that’s the thing about these these this later period, it seems like that they’re just so forgettable, that I didn’t even remember that I saw them. I’m hoping that Fallout will be more memorable. But not to say that I didn’t have a good time. Not to say that I didn’t have a good time. I had a good time with Rogue Nation. There are some great scenes in there. Everyone talks about the opera house. Oh. When that man turns a clarinet into a sniper rifle? Cinematic magic.
SLIM Can we talk real briefly? Rebecca Ferguson. Can we just real briefly, can you give us your thoughts on maybe the most electrifying actor of our time, Rebecca Ferg.
PROTO See that’s the issue I’m having, is that I had a lot of thoughts while watching this about Rebecca. [Danny laughs]
SLIM Movie Insider.
PROTO My review was much longer but I had to I had to cut it down. Because Rebecca like, you know, you’re thinking about Rebecca while you’re watching this and you’re just like, you’re like envisioning yourself like I had like this flashback. I was like, I was back in like Little League and I had you know, my uniform on it was like a Saturday morning game. You know, I’m out pumped up. And then there’s, there’s, you know, John’s mom, Rebecca Ferguson. And she like, she just like, came from the gym. She’s got her. She’s got her ponytail through through a hat. She’s got, like, I’ve seen like her, she’s like she’s doing like some kind of stretch. I’m seeing her shoulder blades crust together. And then I’m like talking, like, she comes over to us and like, I’m standing with her son. And then, you know, she asked, like, Hey, you guys ready for the game? And I’m like, you know, I can’t say and then there’s Phil, who’s got like, you know, he talks a lot. He always has something to say. And he’s got like spittle like ache like globs up on the corner of his mouth, and you’re just like, Phil, shut up. But then like, I try to say something, but like, my whole throat, like turns the sandpaper, because I’m like, I’m talking to Rebecca Ferguson. So that’s kind of what it was like watching this movie. With her. I think she’s great. She’s really great.
SLIM I agree. Rebecca Ferguson is great. And I’m excited to see your Fallout thoughts. You know, because I mean, it’s the culmination of a journey for Tom and Friends. And but not really the combination cuz we got friggin two new movies coming in the next two years, or is it two years? Or at least next year Dead Reckoning, the trailer came out and let me tell you something, I watched that trailer. I watched it in friggin 4k. And I’m very excited for next year. Dead Reckoning Part One. Danny, what do you think our trailer?
DANNY I think I watched it. Is that the one where they showed Tom’s ass quite big?
SLIM I don’t remember. I know there was like an obvious Lawrence of Arabia homage.
DANNY There was an ass-shot of John — of Tom, excuse me. Thinking of John’s mom again. [Slim & Proto laugh] Tom that was making the rounds. It’s quite impressive.
SLIM We have to get the elephant out of the room.
DANNY Please, Slim. We’re waiting.
SLIM Let’s get this elephant out of the room. Last night, as of recording, we’re recording this very early. So if people are wondering, you know, the show feels different. It feels more vibrant than ever. Because we’re recording on our Tuesday night. Never happened. Danny’s got an assignment this week. I saw Top Gun maverick in where was I was in Bensalem. In probably one of the saddest malls I’ve ever been to. They could have filmed a zombie movie. It was so empty in there. Are malls finished? That’s the main takeaway I had.
PROTO Yeah, I hate to break it to you. I think that’s the state of every mall now. Every mall in my area is like that. It’s crazy.
SLIM So I had I was invited to a screening. There was like a line — disclaimer, I work for Letterboxd. Sometimes you get invited to screenings. So this one was then like Bensalem I got up there. There was a line waiting to get. A bunch of regular folks just like me. So I got in line. I was like, well, should I be in line? I think I got an RSVP for this training. So I go in I was like, hey, so and so. And he sends me in he’s like, oh, yeah, there’s probably an empty seat with Paramount in the back. I’ll take that. If I just stayed in that line. I might not have gotten into the screener because those are just people that were like waiting for extra seats. So I almost did not get to see him talk on average.
PROTO Did you have to show them anything? Or could I just say I’m a Movie Insider…
SLIM If you have blue eyes like me you can get at any screening you want. So I don’t even know if he really even saw my name. He’s like yeah, whatever just just go as he saw the eyes. And they had an actual top gun in the theater giving like a presentation ahead of time. Wait, I think it was it was like they have like for like local flight schools I got into so it Top Gun is a real thing. There was like some kind of excellent, excellently skilled fighter pilot wearing the Top Gun garb. So anywho you know, as as everyone knows, at least in live chat and here, but for those that don’t know I do host a timeshares retrospective podcast interview with podcast vampire, which you should subscribe to. If you love Tom, just like me and my extended thoughts are reserved for that podcast. But I did post a review. Five stars.
DANNY Oh my god.
SLIM I wept in theater watching Top Gun 2 in the year 2022.
PROTO My question, is this a must see in IMAX or can I see this at home?
SLIM You know, let me just take a step back here. I can’t stand it when people tell you to see a movie in IMAX. You know, oh, it’s IMAX. It’s different than a regular theater is that Though it’s just louder No, I when that when the music star in this movie I thought I was gonna go deaf felt like am I gonna have to complain to the theater manager that’s too loud in this movie.
SLIM But I will say I recommend seeing it in a theater so that you can hear the jet engines pulsating in your ear lobes.
DANNY Excuse me? My what?
SLIM Your lobes, your ear lobes. So, I didn’t think the hype could be real, but evidently, it’s very real.
PROTO Tom did it again.
SLIM Was there any doubt?
DANNY No one should doubt him.
SLIM Should anyone ever doubt Tom Cruise?
DANNY No.
PROTO If you find yourself doubting, leave now. [Danny & Slim laugh]
SLIM Proto, did you watch any other movies this week?
PROTO I did watch a couple movies. Let’s see. What did I What else did I watch?
SLIM Miss 45.
DANNY Oh my word. What was this?
PROTO Miss 45. This has been on my watch list for a while. This is an Abel Ferrara directed movie from 1981. And it stars Zoe Lund as a mute street, a seamstress who pretty much has it like the worst day imaginable where she gets raped and assaulted by two different men in the same day, and then But then she gets she kind of goes on at her own her own revenge mission pay back. And she she gets she has a gun. And she pretty much starts blowing people away. And it’s great. My main takeaway, though, while watching this was thinking like, you know, at this point in our history, you know, are men really necessary? Like could we just could we just like do away like and I’m fine with that right? Because I’m already here. Like I’m not saying do away with men that are you know, already living I’m just saying like, let’s stop you know, producing more men excuse.
SLIM Yeah, this is a pretty popular like exploitation revenge film. I remember. I think like Chuck, I get a bunch of people that I follow Chuck probably especially tail producer and writers had high ratings for this movie. Yeah, this one was pretty shocking when I first watched it.
PROTO Yeah, it’s very intense. It’s not for everyone, I would say.
DANNY Just movie insiders.
PROTO Yeah, that’s one of the boxes. Yeah.
SLIM I’m envisioning some kind of t-shirt with Proto’s face, it just says “Movie Insider” in the most plain font ever.
DANNY Let me write that down. [Slim laughs]
SLIM Mr. Movie Insider let’s change gears. Let’s say hello to some new patrons on Patreon, Sarah, Noah, Devin, Patrick and Nick all joined this past week. And very soon we’ll be releasing our final Harry Potter episode just for supporters. The big one, the Deathly Hallows, we’re actually going to do both movies as one giant episode just for our supporters. The Harry Potter journey will be we finished we’ll have a lot of free time on our hands will no longer have like scheduled support or only episodes every other week. So we get to do whatever we want really for a little bit until we figure out our plans. Danny has been passed around some ideas, mind you.
DANNY JLo, Ben Affleck. Gigli.
SLIM No, I’m not talking about that fake BS. You can do Gigli on your own time.
PROTO Has Affleck ever missed? [Slim laughs]
SLIM Danny, what did you watch this week?
DANNY To prepare for tonight, I watched Patriot Games for the first time you know 30th anniversary of this movie. They dropped a 4k release of it. It’s good. That’s about it. Did not get me real excited for clear and present danger. But then I had to jump in that Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers. 2022 Oh, the bus around. This was about this. Four and a half stars for this movie. I had a great time watching it. What I loved about this film is it is clearly made for us. And not for our children. Like this is it is a nostalgia dump on this film, it’s insanely meta. I am honestly surprised Disney made this film to be honest. There’s just the jokes are not for me. Kids aren’t gonna understand these jokes. I’m fine with that because I watched it by myself. It’s out here. Get these nerds out of here. I had a great time. It’s funny. I love the animation. I love the mix of 2d 3d live actors. It’s just it’s a fun little romp. And it’s it made me super nostalgic for the show. Because, you know, that was like my life Disney Afternoon. Duck Tales, Rescue Rangers, Tail Spin. And that was my life.
SLIM There’s a few members of our Discord one specifically, I want to call out who’s I don’t know, maybe unofficial executive producer of the movie mixtape podcast like you pay. Mike up. I mean, like, I don’t want to reveal his thoughts. But he took he took a steaming dump on Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers movie. Yeah. So think about that at all while you’re watching it.
DANNY Yeah. Knowing his thoughts is what made me watch it. I was going to, but he spurred me on. And I had a great time. I really did. It’s, I think it’s more I’m more shocked that Disney made this film. It’s it’s not at all what I thought they would do. And it’s not like a reboot for kids. It’s just this standalone. Where have these two been for the last 30 years and it’s it’s quite fun. They do push the boundaries. You’re ready, smell, live and chat right now.
SLIM Mikey has been typing for the last five minutes. I don’t think he’s ever going to type or respond. It’s been a sir.
PROTO I was just gonna say, I did watch the first half hour of it tonight with the kids.
DANNY Did they like it?
PROTO Um, I didn’t really get any reaction. I mean, they it was keeping their attention so far. But yeah, I could not believe that it was on Disney. I thought it was a paramount movie. I’m like, No, it’s not stop. You don’t know what you’re talking about, kid. But he was right. Disney movie. It’s crazy. It’s fun.
SLIM I tried to gauge James’s interest. I was like you heard about this Chip ‘n Dale movie? He’s like, “Yeah.” That was it.
DANNY Wait till they have Chip n Dale skins in Fortnite, then you’re in.
SLIM God. Probably some kind of Vbucks, he’s gonna buy it on lock. Chip ‘n Dale’s like emote or glider whatever.
DANNY Oh the glider is their ship.
SLIM Wait, is there actually Chip ‘n Dale — no, they’re not on Fortnite. Come on. Tricked myself. What was the skin that Fortnite just revealed? Oh, Obi. Obi-Wan. I think I saw an Obi-Wan skin out.
DANNY Of course.
PROTO Slim, you can watch Sonic 2 now with James.
SLIM Oh, yeah, he did want to see that. I don’t know, his attention span is just not — I don’t know if he can actually sit in a room and watch a movie right now. Because he’s so used to playing video games. I mean, the pan not to blame the pandemic and our lack of parenting, but we just we took off the shackles or screentime off. There were no shackles. So I don’t know if he can sit still for 90 minutes and watch a movie at home without leaving, going on his tablet or playing Minecraft.
DANNY It’s time to shackle back up. I need you to shackle your son.
SLIM I’m not sure we’re mentally ready to try it. Let’s see every week we give out a free year of Letterboxd Pro. Disclaimer as I mentioned earlier, I’m a Letterboxd employee. Simply gets rid of third party ads custom you know see your year end stats your lifetime stats, nice fancy banner image on your profile and a host of other features. This one comes from my G which we talked a little bit pre show just a reminder of supporters get the uncut episodes there’s usually more show to listen to but Mark long dev took the Brendan Fraser Mummy art and got it signed at this con that Danny was at quote if I can quote Brendan Fraser the actor quote after seeing Danny’s are quote “Wow this looks awesome. It looks like an album cover. Who did this?” Do you believe?
DANNY He knows now. He knows about 70mm now. Can you believe that? The words “70mm Podcast” has been said to Brendan Fraser, to his face. He knows about us.
SLIM What do you think his reaction to Proto saying there should be no more men after watching Miss 45?
DANNY I mean, I think Brendan would be on board with that.
PROTO Yeah, he’d be he’d be feeling what I’m putting down.
SLIM Brendan, open invite, always, to come on the show. Provided you have a good mic. If you’re gonna use Apple AirPods, let’s talk. We’ll figure something out off air.
DANNY We’ll send him a mic.
SLIM We’ll send you a mic. Happy to do it. Should we get into our Sequels Month pick? The last official one. This was Danny’s pick. And Danny set in arbitrary rule for himself that put him into a corner for just about 99% of his picks. He said that Proto and I could not have you know, a log this movie or reviewed it, seen it recently. Gotta be brand new for him. And this is not a joke when I’m about to say. Danny chose Clear and Present Danger, starring Harrison Ford, this is not a bit that we’re doing. That’s the real episode title. That’s the real art. Proto, can you prove this is not a bit? Can you give us a synopsis for Clear and Present Danger?
PROTO When the President of the United States good friend gets killed for stealing millions from the Colombian cartel, he only has one option. Seek revenge by killing innocent men, women, children and CIA agents like the presidents before him have always done. Jack Ryan played by Harrison Ford goes to Colombia to try to seize the 650 million that was left dangling. But him in his caravan of Chevy Suburbans gets greeted by rocket launchers. Something’s not right and Ryan is going to sniff it out. What follows is the uncovering of an illegal vendetta from the top the tippy top also a very impressive voice recognition system and a head of hair on 90s Willem Dafoe that that you have to see to believe. Clear and Present Danger.
SLIM Oh boy, the sequel to end all sequels clear and present danger Harrison Ford, Phillip Noyce.
PROTO Sum of All Fears.
SLIM The art, if I may say, the art is spectacular.
DANNY Thank you.
SLIM Another one in the win column. Could you imagine Harrison Ford signing this at Orlando Megacon? What his thoughts would be? He’s got that one earring in and he sees this.
DANNY I don’t think Harrison’s ever coming back to Florida the rest of his life. He’s never coming here again.
SLIM He’s gonna fly no probably laying on the roof of the of the convention center. Boy, where to begin? Where do you even begin? I’ll go first and just say that I feel like this movie was on all the time when I was a kid. Like I had vivid memories of the stunts in this movie. We mentioned last week, but like Harrison falling away from that explosion, patented Harrison Ford stunt.
DANNY Throwing his hands over his head. He does motion when he’s running from the bunker on Endor. Same exact.
SLIM It’s also, this is gonna be in my honorable mentions, but right before he did does that stop it like slowmo and there’s music playing. His arms are going like he’s like the inflatable guy outside of a company that’s doing a sale. It’s so bizarre. I want to get a GIF of it later. But thank you. Proto, do you have vivid memories of this movie?
PROTO I do you have memories of seeing it on TV. This is a classic movie where your dad’s flipping through the stations on a Sunday afternoon. And he just sees Harrison Ford and then just you know you sit there for 10 minutes until the next commercial break. And you know you watch a scene. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this all the way through. But there were scenes that I remember. So I’m assuming I just those segments that I’ve watched on TV before?
DANNY I don’t think I honestly don’t remember this movie being on ever in our house. I don’t think my dad ever had this on or flipped around. No this I think Patriot Games is the one I knew the most. Other than that I don’t think this movie was ever in my vicinity.
SLIM I also watched Patriot Games ahead of this and I stand that’s now not not good. I started to get like real nervous. Oh God, what are we get ourselves into? Because I thought Patriot Games is gonna be like this is gonna be a fun action. Drama Thriller just kind of stunk. It’s not really exciting for when I watched it. It was a lot of dumps so like in Patriot Games. Sean Bean tries to assess shotgun and his crew he looks fantastic on hair. I can’t remember if it was in our Discord where a letterbox review but someone said that it looked like Sean Bean was having the Marvel D age During technology use on him. That’s how like young and he loved. It was very bizarre. But Harrison Ford prevents an assassination and Shawn being swears revenge because he killed his brother Sean being escapes. And everyone knows that Harrison Ford Jack Ryan stopped this. So they, they don’t. So Sean Bean goes out for revenge, but they don’t put any security detail on Jack Ryan or his wife and daughter. And they do they almost get murdered. Right? Like I couldn’t believe that no idiot was like, oh, you know what, we should put some security in front of Harrison Ford’s family?
DANNY It’s interesting. It’s a very weird movie. But this narrative of Jack Ryan being just like a not analyst. Yeah, just an analyst I find fascinating. Because I watched a bit of Red October today, which is where this all starts, because Jack Ryan and that movie is played by Alec Baldwin. But also, James Earl Jones is also the same act character in that movie as well as this one and Patriot Games too. But the whole analyst aspect because I’m expecting Jack Ryan to be this Ethan Hunt. James butcher like Right, yeah, especially with the big Harris and I just assumed we’re getting this action star and I was bamboozled by this film, all the films actually just had no idea what to expect from this.
SLIM So this was your choice. So what’s your number one note? Each house usually jots down three things. We’ll go roundtable and go through our thoughts on the film before we give our final Letterboxd rating. So what’s your first?
DANNY My first? My first note is Harrison. Is makes this movie I mean, this movie without him is is a full on dud. I don’t think this is a dud completely. But Harrison is fantastic in this and I really found him quite captivating, even the slow bits. There’s something about him in this film. I mean, he’s great. Anyway, I know I love him and everything but I think my boredom in this film is like I don’t know, it’s leveled off with with Harrison’s performance as Jack Ryan and I find him quite captivating. And I actually find the story quite captivating. i This is kind of I said in my like quick Letterboxd review. This is definitely right up my alley is kind of a CIA corrupt kind of stuff. I really enjoy these long stories. I don’t know if I’ve I’ve never read a Tom Clancy novel, but I just didn’t I really liked the story.
PROTO Yeah, I agree. I think Harrison he’s really one of like, the things that keeps this movie. Interesting. Period. Yeah, if some other well, I guess, I guess another actor could have another, somebody with star power could have filled the role. But he does play this pretty well, in terms of being an analyst. Like he really feels like the park. He feels kind of like a suit, who works at the CIA, who’s kind of out, you know, a fish out of water. But he knows how to pick up a gun and like, do the best he can. So he does like fit the role really? Well. He also seems much older than in this than I would have thought. I mean, I guess he’s like, What is he now? Like? 70? When’s his birthday?
SLIM He could be 90 for all I know.
PROTO Oh, oh, yeah. He is like 80. Wow. He’ll be 80 in July.
SLIM I made that joke last week that like, at the time maybe people thought this was like the twilight of his career. But I feel like looking back for me, he looks super young compared to just modern Harrison Ford, which were probably more used to, you know, like the sequel trilogies to Star Wars, older Han Solo, etc. I know he’s not young, but he looks young to me in this movie, considering so even when he’s like running around, doing the stunts, you know, carrying some guy over his back. I was like, Okay, I could have with this. Let’s get some more of these movies. Maybe a little bit more exciting movies. But I mean, compared to Patriot Games, this is like action every second. Patriot Games, I just didn’t like it one bit. But yeah, I loved Harrison. i That’s one of my notes is that he’s he’s kind of like bumbling every man. Yeah, who knows how to read a spreadsheet, right. And he’s stumbling upon the government intricacies and things not working and corrupt people. So I think that’s kind of fun. And I thought that this was like probably a really good book. But it doesn’t translate to a great movie, at least today. Maybe in the 90s because I think these made a ton of money. Like, like maybe like 15 million, but it made like 300 million or some insane number.
DANNY Yeah. When they just did the Krasinski Jack Ryan stuff, right? So it’s still bringing in dough for him. It’s so funny too, because I kept thinking that at some point because we have the Ben Affleck movies next to some of our fears and then the krisan or though the Chris Pine Jack Ryan movie. Oh, I forgot about that. At some point. I thought Tom was Jack Ryan, but I’m thinking Jack Reacher or is that right? Jack Reacher? Yeah. Jack Reacher Yeah, I kept thinking Tom was at some point, a Jack Ryan character.
SLIM So my first note is kind of related to the books. But I know sequels happened. And trilogies haven’t before this, but I think it’s kind of fun that he was playing a franchise character was like an American James Bond, you know, these Clancy books, you know, it’s they never really stuck with one actor for more than two movies. But you can kind of see that, like, Man, this would have been really cool if Harrison could have made one of these every few years, and maybe they improved upon them. And it was just kind of like his his mission impossible ladder years franchise, you know, maybe it just gets better and better. He gets more talented people working on these movies, and it becomes something fantastic. But unfortunately, it never really happened.
PROTO I took a peek at the Wiki and from just like glancing at, it seems like there was almost like 19, 20 books about Jack Ryan that Tom Clancy wrote. So there’s definitely a lot of material there. I also I like the idea of him being an analyst because I think when it comes to CIA stories and things revolving in that realm, I actually prefer a movie like this. Then something like Jason Bourne, that’s mostly like an action movie following an agent, like one movie that I love is spy game with Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. And it’s very much like this, where it’s more it’s almost like the politics within the CIA. And like them trying to get missions ran and like, there’s multiple, like interests going against each other within the organization. So there aren’t like, necessarily, like, bad guys, they’re fighting, but there’s like infighting within the CIA. And and I find that like, really interesting. And even when a story is, is complex, or like complicated, or, you know, you really have to pay attention these movies. It’s just kind of fun to get lost in these stories.
DANNY Yeah, yeah, I agree. And all the whole time watching this, I kept thinking, Well, I think Kittridge, the guy that plays Kittridge in the M:I movies is in this. And I just kept thinking I want to watch the first Mission: Impossible, so bad, because I truly love that film. And this just kind of has that slow, like Spy Game movie type feel to it. And I really want to watch it after this.
SLIM Proto, what’s your number one note?
PROTO My number one note is also Harrison Ford note is him typing on a computer is just Gosh, really funny to me. There’s some really good scenes. The best scene to me is the one he gets when he breaks into the other guy Ritter’s computer. And his buddy is like, Oh, don’t do it yet, because he’ll know. And he’s like, Well, I’m too late. And then the other guy like, realizes someone’s within his computer system and then they’re on the phones together.
[clip of Clear and Present Danger plays]
PROTO And then they’re racing to like Harrison is racing him to print files faster than he can delete it. And it’s just so ridiculous this scene. But I loved it. I loved it. Harrison saying “son of a bitch” under his breath as like a file gets deleted is just so funny to me. [Danny laughs]
DANNY It felt this that like felt the most dad like moment of this film to me because it felt like he was typing with his finger like his index fingers. And the sounds of that keyboard and just his anger at that. I don’t know. It just it was so funny. I even have that down as one of my I think that might be my favorite scene in the movie. Actually.
SLIM Before we even get off topic, how about their computer hacker? Oh, he’s his step one of hacking into someone’s account is just guessing the password, the birthdays, their birthdays, like how early are we in computers? It’s 1994 Also these computers I mean, they’re running like dos. Yeah, right. Like what are they getting done on these computers? Besides maybe just printing up a document and printing it I cannot even believe working on these computers at any point during the work day it’d be sick.
SLIM I was going to write a review that was just like “dads in suits with guns” because I got so hard dad vibes in this movie, it’s not even funny.
DANNY Excuse me? [Slim & Danny & Proto laugh]
SLIM We go from Proto’s Little League memories to hard dad vibes. But it’s when there is when he and Defoe team up and they go to rescue. He’s walking around in literally the most dad clothes you can find in the jungle and he is so fish out of water. It was cracking me up. I couldn’t get over what he was doing. Just put some boots on or something, Jack! It’s like he didn’t pack any boots. Please. Wake up.
DANNY It’s like one of those jackets that the old men fly and travel with a hat to pocket for his passport. He’s got a little pocket for his handkerchief. It’s fantastic. It’s such a dad outfit.
SLIM It really is. Looks like he was looking he might have been that part was a little league game in that incredible. He might have been the coach for all we know. Did I get my number one? I can’t even remember her last track. And I think I did. So now we’re back to Danny I think. Danny’s number two.
DANNY Willem Defoe. I needed more of him in this film. His spray tan, his blonde hair. I I honestly, I needed a whole film of just him. He was so good. And this movie is what, 16 hours long. And we have like 20 minutes of Defoe? The ending. The ending with him rescuing you know working out the kinks of this cartel saving his men going back for the sniper getting brynge Benjamin Bratt back from prison, young Benjamin, I just loved him in this film. He played such a great character I love that he was the pawn back and forth between the government and Jack. But Willem, looking incredible!
SLIM Ageless. I mean, he looked he looked insane in this movie. I should couldn’t tell if he was going to be the villain. Because when he gets he gets recruited to do his military operation. I was like, is he gonna get dirty and then plus James Earl Jones tells him to like reach out to him and that he’s trustworthy. Yeah. And I felt bad. I was like, Oh my God, this guy’s gonna screw Harrison?
DANNY No, the US Government is always the bad guys.
SLIM Agree.
PROTO Yeah, I read a review. I think before I watched this, and it said something about the Harrison and wilm fighting, so I assumed that he was the villain as well. But then like, halfway through the movie was like, Oh, I guess it switches but like them teaming up. It’s like, yeah, I wanted half the movie to be that. Like, man can imagine if half the movie was them, like stomping around in the jungle. God, yeah. Willem is amazing in this he looks incredible. You know, I guess he is like, he was a little too weird. You know, to be like, a star. Like, you know, like, like, get the lead role. I mean, he has movies where it’s like a lead role, but he’s a little he’s a little weird, right?
SLIM He’s squirrely. Yeah, he did all he has a lot of historically squirrely role. So I was actually curious why he even did this movie. Like, I mean, he does stretch ratio on that image ball. Yeah, so I was actually curious. I was like, did he have like a contractual obligation to be in this movie? Because I don’t know like, it now knowing his character in his in his repertoire. Like just looking back it seems like an odd fit for him. But I guess he maybe they needed a character that was like playing both sides. So he couldn’t really tell if he would kill Harrison at the end there. So I was kind of fooled. I was like, Oh, okay. worked out pretty well. Sorry, I’m gonna work harder to keep maintain order here and consequent losing track recently.
DANNY Maintain order, please.
SLIM My number two. The stunts in this movie are probably my most clear memory. And when they get like cornered in that street with all their Suburbans. Like I feel like I’ve seen that stunt scene maybe 100 times. Like this is maybe the top 10 most memorable scenes of my entire childhood seeing these rockets blow up these cars. He’s driving around him him doing the dive him carrying people them I mean just these do dads in suits with guns running around like not getting shot like up instantly. Yeah, I have a lot of fun with the stunts in this movie. Then I mean, not to be like always bring back the CGI versus practical. But it looked great. Like I love these practical effects of cars blowing up rockets going through there. Looks fantastic.
DANNY And one of my notes is literally “all the explosions look incredible.” When they blow up that hangar, for the first time with all the cocaine in it or whatever. It’s incredible.
SLIM The fireworks when the drug lords house blow up. What’s going on with that explosion?
DANNY It was for the party later.
PROTO The one of my notes from that scene where they gets ambushed with the trucks was that I think Harrison says the one guy he’s like, is that is the truck still run? He’s like, Yeah, I think that truck took a rocket to the engine carriage. And it’s still running. I don’t know how that works.
SLIM There was a there was actually some great dummy work in that scene. Do you remember when the dummy just like collapse at the car burning alive? I was caught dead instantly. The one other note like just random note about Willem Defoe when he’s being interviewed by Qatar or Ritter, and why don’t have such close names. I think it was him or it might even been Harrison Ford. But he’s like, do you mind if I ask you a question? People even say that in real life. Just ask the question. What are you supposed to know? So I don’t know. Please don’t ask me a question. I don’t want to talk to you about your going around questions. Get out of here. Dumbass question. Proto, what’s your number two?
PROTO Really another dad moment to me is when Harrison and then the one of the bad guys, I think it was Felix Cortez who’s like the intelligence agent for the Colombian cartel. They’re both doing bomb homework. At the same time. It’s a good montage. Harrison goes into his office. And he’s got he’s got a stack of textbooks about like missiles and explosive armaments, and he’s just got his coffee. And he’s just got he’s just gonna sit down and he’s gonna flip through every single one of these pages until he sees the word celluloid and no and then we got Felix Cortez, who at the same time is you know, on a computer like looking at different stuff. It was just it’s just it’s such like a weird scene, but like it makes so much sense in this movie, them sitting down to do some mom homework.
SLIM Do you remember when we did Superman The Movie? And Lex found the answer to a question in seconds using his encyclopedias faster than anyone could Google? Google the answer. We used to we used to have encyclopedias in our house. I wish we kept them. Those old like Encyclopedia Britannica, you know, those would have been pretty cool to have on a shelf. In this day and age.
PROTO Kids wouldn’t know what to do with them. Do we put this into — is this kindling for the fire pit, dad? Why do you have kindling in the house? [Slim laughs]
SLIM Kindling, I love that word. Art confirms he is in chat with that Lex Luthor comment. The greatest criminal minds of our age. When are we doing Superman 2?
DANNY They made 2?
SLIM They made like five of those things!
DANNY They made five?
DANNY Then there Richard Pryor one
SLIM that might be too Oh, you’re that Richard Pryor story he’s on the cover. Isn’t his thing where he steals like point 0001 of a cent every transaction. They call it the Richard Pryor thing from Superman to we’re even referenced prior I think in that movie. Danny, what’s your third point for Clear and Present Danger?
DANNY I don’t know… [Slim laughs] Um, I really liked the helicopter scene with the sleeping helicopter guy and Harrison trying to jump on the thing. I don’t know why, honestly, this is a boring movie. But I really liked it. [Slim laughs] It’s so hard to talk about!
SLIM The art’s great. This episode has great art.
DANNY It’s really hard to talk about this film because I do like this kind of movie. But it’s not like it doesn’t have these moments where it’s like, I don’t know, it’s really weird because I found Patriot Games quite a kind of boring. But this one, I really liked watching it. But I don’t know how to talk about why like this film. It’s just, it’s an enjoyable story. And I like the slow burning-ness of it, but man, it’s hard to talk about.
SLIM It’s like the perfect we’ve said this a few times, but it’s like the perfect TBS Sunday movie.
DANNY It really is.
SLIM You just want to just lay on the couch, D around on your phone and watch Clear and Present Danger on the background.
DANNY I mean, I know it’s a book movie, but it does feel like you’re watching a book being told.
PROTO It’s also well over two hours long.
SLIM We hit all of my main points. I’m gonna go through my honorable mentions. Kittredge was definitely one of the Willam looks great. Mind if I asked you a question Who says that? The cabin scene? Where is this entire plotline we’re Felix’s
DANNY Why did he kill her?
PROTO Tying up loose ends.
SLIM But he was the end. So who cares? So he invites her to the cabin of the cabin. They’re going to pork all weekend long at this weekend getaway. And is anyone woman been more ready for Felix in that moment? When when he walked through that cabin door? Are you kidding me? Was she just feeding him information constantly? Is that what we’re to interpret from the relationship?
DANNY Oh, you think she was giving him info?
SLIM Yeah, I mean, why else would she using her?
DANNY I also couldn’t figure out why she considered him a Latin — I was like, are you looking at the same person?
SLIM Also, why would you even say that to Jack Ryan’s wife, your friend?
DANNY What kind of response are you expecting?
SLIM Yeah, like, I want to bone your husband? [Danny laughs] Okay, I get it. Maybe you just keep that to yourself from now on. I want a Latin Protolexus. That’s what some wives are saying about Proto. Proto, what did you think about that plot?
PROTO I thought maybe she didn’t know and he was just using her somehow to get information. Like if she wasn’t in on it. That was maybe my thought. And then yeah, but I’m not I didn’t really get the connection of why he had to kill her. But how about the way that he killed her? He goes for the behind the back kiss into the neck snap. Has it ever been done? [Danny & Slim laugh]
SLIM That’s the intro clip for Proto, making a mental note.
DANNY I was more frustrated that I didn’t have sex first and then kill her.
SLIM It was a gigantic waste of a trip, couldn’t he have sent someone else to kill her?
DANNY She was lighting all the candles in that place. Could he just — please!
PROTO Send her on her way.
SLIM Did not work out as she planned to say the lease cabin. Let’s see if I’m just still going through my honorable mentions in my third home. You know, maybe we should talk about the ending. You know, he uncovers the corruption, essentially. And he tells the president and the president pretty much reveals himself to also be a scumbag. I mean, what are the chances that a politician should not come back?
DANNY President of the United States has a piece of shit.
SLIM When he reveals the president, President who has gone back and then you get what probably slapped in 1994.
[clip of Clear and Present Danger plays]
SLIM Mr. President. I mean, you know, everyone and they’re new. They’re white new balances with their white socks from the theater. We’re fist pumping at Jack Ryan in that they’re air monarchs so that’s that’s my final point that the President verbal jousting at the end was pretty cool. Proto, number three?
PROTO Number three. I was blown away to see that the archive machine in Rogue One was an homage to the archive machine in Clear and Present Danger. I couldn’t believe it. Like that’s a real thing. Yeah, this whole time I thought that Rogue One credible thing was just like made up. That’s an actual thing. Yeah.
SLIM I thought that was like a computer mainframe and he’s pulling hard drives out or something.
DANNY Was Sam Raimi’s brother using that or was he in a different scene?
SLIM I think the computer hacker was using it. Danny, final thoughts and rating for Clear and Present Danger?
DANNY Final thoughts? I’m glad I picked this. Okay? I know it was a snoozer. It’s hard. I set the bar too high for myself to complete this this year, but you know what? I had a great time watching it. I’m glad I got you guys to watch it. I’m gonna sit at three and a half stars for this film.
SLIM Three and a half? Oh my word. Holy smokes.
DANNY Three and a half.
SLIM I thought the first half was pretty much a dud. There was some comments in chat about the family dynamic, which was kind of cool. I think the people like you know his wife is pretty involved in these two films. Yeah, she daughter and then their son, which is announced at the end of the first movie is in this movie. It’s fine. Harrison Ford is great. Three stars from me for Clear and Present Danger. Proto?
PROTO That’s good. Final thoughts… Another, I couldn’t believe it that Harrison was driving a Ford Taurus wagon to work like he’s just taking the family vehicle to Langley, you know, just driving into the CIA headquarters in this Taurus wagon. Amazing.
DANNY You know what’s also wild? Sorry to cut in. In the Patriot Games, you see their house.
SLIM Their house is freakin insane.
DANNY Incredible house. She’s like a brain surgeon. And then we got Jack in this Ford Taurus. I was shocked.
SLIM You know that house on that probably cost like 100 grand back then when they bought it. Maybe. Maybe. And it has the best view of any action stars home.
DANNY Incredible house. Please continue.
PROTO Yeah, I had a good time with this them you know, some of it was boring. But like you guys said it was it was almost like, like a nostalgia trip to watch this movie. You know, just back to the 90s. Who doesn’t love a you know a 90s — so I give it three stars.
SLIM Wow. I think Megan in our Discord. I think she might have logged this as a DNF. That was an omninous log job, if I can be honest. So that’s clear and present danger. And that is the official end of sequels month, unless you count our next journey, which is the road to gymnastic world spiritual sequel to sequels month. And that’s next week. We’ll get into that in just a minute. But first, we have some letters and some VMs to get to. If you want to leave us when you can do so at 70mmpod.com. There’s links on there or just shoot us an email to 70mmpod@gmail.com. We got an IG DM from a new patron that I mentioned earlier. Just want to click read a bit of this. “Hey there whoever should read this over at 70mm” Spoilers — Proto is not running the 70mm IG. Proto has signed off. Maybe month two. Remember that?
PROTO My password is expired.
SLIM Proto used to dislike how we would post like caste photos. Remember that we used to put like our names under the caste photos. He hated that. He’s like me.
We need to bring our IG back. We didn’t maybe do some IG lives we probably have a bunch more followers since last time we used to do an IG live. It’s time to go back. Anywho. “I spent six months catching up on the vast majority of your episodes while working and would simply like to commend your work and dedication. And to say that I am now and proud to be a patron of the podcast. Yes, I mean finally a podcast about movies. Seriously though, you guys are amazing. I’m glad to be a newly minted member of the community. I hope to be more vocal going forward and make a formal introduction by way of an email or 90 second voicemail until then, however, cheers keep on doing what you guys do.” And that’s from Noah. So thank you very much, Noah.
DANNY
he already knows the rules. Love it.
SLIM
No one knows the rules, but our next VM does not one half of the movie, mix tape podcast, Dirk feel good.
DANNY
We turn my volume down real quick, is Dick.
SLIM
That’s not the VM. That was me. I’ll make it to the Mr. Andrews. choshen. Joshua. So if you’re interested in and Marcy, speaking of Marcy Marcy will be our guest for the Jurassic World. With the known called Dominion Dominion Jurassic World dominion, we have the foremost expert in Jurassic Park, slash world cinema. And she will be our guest. But let’s hear from her other half.
Louder. This is dirt dirt, feel good calling in. Do your podcast How you doing? Are you all right? I will listen into Paddington to episode and even before he’s I talking about Paddington too. We talked about other movies that you watch that we will daddy and watch any other movies, but everybody else added slim. You decided to talk about Saving Private Ryan. And you had this question. He said When Nathan Fillion came upon the screen, he looked like a 12 year old boy and he said what’s happened there? Well, kind of the aging technology they use on Nathan Fillion, while are fascinated and intrigued by this. So I’ve looked into it. I’ve gone on the interwebs that I’ve put into the Google search bar and asked Jeeves and I came up with the answer. And I answer is this apparently there is something quite uncanny? They filmed this in the past night 1998 as a goal so that young because I think that’s what happens as the years go by and we get older we look slightly different. I think you probably would have known all about that. What do you really? What do you think about that slim? Hey, it’s your old pal slim Yeah, I know. I was just I was just having a conversation with you. You were I kidding me? No, I was genuinely concerned for your mental health then. Is everything okay? Excuse me. Are we are we are we are we going for a hot dog or something? underneath me coward. Amy I can hear you fine, slim. Slim. Get it
SLIM
is gone. Eric’s gone. You want to test someone’s limits. All you have to do is to have someone reveal themselves to make fun of Nathan Fillion and they will reveal their true colors this Firefly nuts, personal affront pro
PROTO
Do you think he had his brown coat on
SLIM They’re upset how everything turned out with this franchise and they want to take it out on me. Poor old may one last crucifixion and I won’t stand for it. Personally, if you want more of that. Then by all means, check out the movie mixtape podcast with that VMR and Marcy our future guests for Jurassic World Dominion Pardoe next week are you ready for Jurassic World? The biggest sequel arguably in history that has come out recently
PROTO I am I’m ready Jurassic World War One drastic world to tragic World Three we’re doing them all. Oh my god. We’re doing Jurassic World and the Harry Potter’s
SLIM Just looked at our schedule we are doing for supporters. We’re gonna be recording dress are a drastic world and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows the same night.
PROTO No one could have predicted this.
SLIM Wet on furrowed brow right now.
PROTO I mean, June. June the huge month. Huge. We can do anything.
SLIM I mean, movie insider will be getting the real deal from our own movie insider proto Dean. Are you excited for Jurassic World and 4k?
DANNY Oh, yes. I’m very much excited. I I think I have reviews for this on letterbox already, but I’m excited to watch it with you guys.
SLIM Yeah, I mean, our opinions might change. Last time I saw it was probably in theaters. Yeah. And you shed some world. I did. You just said that. I just hear that right. Oh yeah, I think I had it a two and a half stars when I first saw
DANNY the steamer. Bagel, same stars for Patriot Games.
SLIM Oh, God. We have a big month planned June ASIC world. And we have some things cooked up afterward. We’re gonna have some things cooked up during, you know, we got all this free time on our hands. Yeah, after next week. I saw something on Instagram. Excuse me. It’s kind of audio dispatch update. Whoa, yeah. Anything you want to say?
PROT This, the second audio dispatch is very close to being done. I’m in the final state. I mean, I honestly I could print it right now. If I wanted to. I could just I just send it send it out. But I you know, I got to do some more noodling. Again, just right. Fine tuning. So yeah, that’s coming soon to our interns. Is that right? Yeah. Our interns to your interns to your look to the east. When you get that email notification
SLIM We should start planning our next watch along for the interns too. I mean, is it already planned for us? Should we just complete the journey? No, no, no. Should we complete? No, this the prequel journey?
DANN Nobody wants that?
SLIM No. We’ll put a vote in the interns channel, see what they want. Danny is not looking forward to that vote. I’ll tell you that much right now. So that’s next next week, Jurassic World, not streaming Believe it or not ahead of the big release, which doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense. Maybe it’ll become streaming the first week of June. We’ll see. But that’s your prep for next week. Proto any closing thoughts?
PROTO Yeah, there’s a season for movies. And there’s a season for Dad movies on the weekend, when something just needs to be on the TV. And you just let that sweet two hour plus runtime just run. And you know, as you walk by to go change that light bulb in the hallway that you’ve been meaning to change for the last two months. You stop and you catch that penultimate gunfight between Harrison Ford, you know he’s covered in dirt his shirt is ripped. Because that’s what dad movies are all about. Right? You can’t watch it all. But you can watch that one scene that you always want to you always want to catch so go watch a dad movie this weekend. Tis the season.
[70mm theme song ramps up, plays alone, fades out]
