Jeff Gerstmann joins the east coast crew as we attempt to answer the most pressing questions of our time: Who is Womack, and is he, in fact, a piece of shit?
An audio accompaniment to your movie viewing pleasure with your friends at Giant Bomb.
This podcast is an audio supplement, meant to be played simultaneously with the film The Rock. We are watching the film via a US Blu-ray release. Streaming and rental options can be found here.
Two housekeeping notes:
1. The commentary begins at the Blu-ray's 14 second mark. That's unusually far in for an opening, and it looks like the disc we watched has an extra ten seconds of black screen before the first logo starts to fade up. Depending on where you're watching, it might start closer the 4 second mark instead of 14. As we say in the commentary, it's right as the outline of the Sphinx becomes visible in the Hollywood Pictures logo.
2. There's a moment after I hit play where I thought I hit the wrong button, but I didn't. The movie starts with the normal timing. Please disregard my reaction. I would have cut it but it would have made for a weird bit of silence at the top and I didn't want to throw people off.
Still a fantastic movie. I should buy the Criterion for all the extras. Forgot about the Kansas line, which is probably another reason why Dan loves it.
Edit:
The 2008 Blu-ray which I just watched has it all!!!
The face camo is effective when it is applied correctly, which it is not here and not in most movies. The stripes are a movie fabrication. You're supposed to break up the higher/lower parts and patterns of your face with blotches. Dark on the high parts, light on the flat and lower parts.
Seems weird that they'd go ahead and do The Rock without Dan, seeing as he's mentioned this movie and how he loves it an average of once per week since he joined the crew. Feel like they maybe could've held off on this particular movie for one week... Jeff G would be an asset on whatever you throw at him.
The Rock is a damn near perfect film. It executes its premise exactly how it needs to. Glad this one didn't end up a Con Air, I can still cherish my memories of the Rock.
@pebbleinspace: there are a lot of theories out there, and you only covered one effective method, namely the western/US method.
Stripes are actually quite effective, especially if done right. Some asian nations just use three-ish slashes with no other paint on the face and it works plenty effective because it still disrupts the shape of the face. Yours sounds more like the US theory which also works but it isn't the only way.
Hell the Air Force uses tiger stripe camo, of a sort.
It is very real and I've seen it work better than the US method in certain environments. Not sure who told you it was a fabrication.
This is not just the first time I've seen this movie, it's somehow literally the first I'd heard of it. Somehow in thirty years it just either never came up, or in my head got confused with the wrestler/actor.
Either way this was a pretty great movie. Despite anything resembling facts or science being completely fictionalized, and the Michael Bay bizarro levitating street car explosions etc, all that's not just ignorable but really enjoyable just because of all the ridiculous actors and characters.
4/5 stars, better than three out of five Diehards. Also an excellent F&F's take, get Jeff G in for more episodes whenever possible.
EDIT: And if we're giving recommendations for Film and 40's fantasy wish list, I nominate Below (2002) which is not only the best, most distilled diesel submarine movie of all time (in the fun way, not the horribly depressing Das Boot way), it's also a legit spooky B-grade ghost movie.
No wonder Dan loves this movie, it's basically MGS. Sneak in by sub thing, a catastrophic threat that ends up being a bluff, internal bad guy politics. The only thing it's missing is a levitating psychic!
Are people liking this commentary better than the Con Air one? I barely made it through Con Air with all the cross talk but I usually like these a lot.
Haven't seen this mentioned so I will say that the commentary is much improved and more orderly compared to the last two Nicstravaganzas. Duders were actually talking about the movie this time. Thanks for listening to fan feedback folks, I enjoyed the commentary.
You know what's a good way to get someone to like a scene/line etc? Hype the shit out of it right before it happens...
I haven't been following the twitter polls but Gone in 60 Seconds should be that last movie. It's some good Cage on car action. At least from what I remember
Loved this movie as a kid and still loved it now but for totally different reasons. The action is still as good as I remember, but I didn't realize how quotable this movie is!
As to Abby and Alex asking "how bad" (around 0:13:00) VX is...
It does not make your skin bubble nor is it especially corrosive, it just kills you, its a "nerve gas" like Sarin. They block the breakdown of a key neurotransmitter, acetylcholine (ACh). The accumulation of excess ACh causes violent muscle contractions which leads to paralysis of all the muscles in your body, most importantly your diaphragm muscle.
Atropine is a real antidote to nerve agents, but it doesn't need to be injected into the heart.
There are other chemical weapons that do things like cause severe damage to your skin though. Not fun.
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