MWIRE – EP 137 – Con Air – 20th Anniversary

The U .S. Marshal Service annually flies 155

,000 prisoners around the country for transfers,

legal hearings, and medical exams. As you know,

today's flight is a special one. We're populating

Alabama's Felton Penitentiary, the newest Supermax

facility in the system. This place was designed

to warehouse the worst of the worst. Now, most

of these guys are lifers, some on death row,

pure predators. Each and every one of them. This

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and greatest in movies with MWire. It's going

to be an all -star flight. This kid's a potential

fountain of information about the family business.

Eleven and a half, okay? Look at him. Nice college

boy, right? We interrogated him for months. He

gave up nothing. This is our last chance before

the FBI gets him. Over my dead body, those assholes

get the glory. We pick up Mr. Sandino in Carson

City. From then until the plane hits Alabama,

we've got two hours to get him to talk. We got

you a seat right next to him, and he's known

to be somewhat garrulous in the company of thieves.

Garrulous? What the fuck is garrulous? That would

be loquacious, verbose, effusive. How about chatty?

What's with the dictionary boy? Thesaurus boy,

I think it's more appropriate. You got your gun?

Yeah. Whoa, whoa, gun. We got rules, gentlemen.

So do we. Our agents go on. No one carries on

this flight. I got a small arsenal in the belly

of the plane, a pistol in the cockpit lockbox.

That's it. Other than that, we keep the plane

like a prison. No weapons on the aircraft, period.

My man does not get on that plane without his

gun. Then your man doesn't get on the plane.

Hello and welcome to MWire Movie Week in Review

episode 137. I am, of course, TF2 and Mike. Joining

me once again, JT from Saskatoon. Hello. I'm

back. Yes, I meant to say it like that. What?

Uh -huh. You remind me of a really young Garland

Green. Anyway. I'll eat that. Anyway. We're here

to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Con Air.

That's right. 1997. 20 years later. Holy shit.

So, when did you first... I love this movie.

This movie is Nicolas Cage at his very best.

There was a time, folks. Don't be too shocked.

There was a time... when a lot of people thought

Nicolas Cage was going to be, like, the next

big action star. Well, I mean, you know, the

year before this, and I only know this from memory,

the year before this, I mean, he had his face

ripped off by John Travolta. So if you're in

a movie with John Travolta, you know, and you

have your face ripped off, I mean, there's only

one way you can go up, you know, right? Come

on. Well, yeah. But no, this is, you know, the

raw face -off calling her, like, you know, you

had such good action films in your repertoire,

sir. How do you explain Ghost Rider, Mr. Cage?

He loved the comic. Leave him alone. Here endeth

the rant. I'm just saying, you know, for a purported

fan, that movie could have been a lot better.

But no, the first time I saw this probably would

have been the summer after it came out, because

this was June 97. You know, because back then

you waited almost, I think it was almost like

seven or eight months sometimes before the movies

came out on VHS. So I definitely wouldn't have

seen this until like the year following. And

this is like one of those movies where... You

know, I'm 17 years old by the time this movie

came out, and this is still one of those movies

where my mom is like, I don't know if this is

appropriate for you boys, but I think that was

more just her being mom than anything. But this

is a movie that when my dad rented it. And I

was going through the pile because sometimes

my parents would go into York and hit the movies

or us or Blockbuster as we had at the time. And

he'd rent this. And I was like looking through,

uh -huh, uh -huh. Yeah, you and mom are going

to watch that. We're watching this one first.

I have to correct myself because Con Air and

Face Off are both celebrating their 20th. I wish

we had watched Face Off 2 so we could do a 20th

anniversary double feature. Oh, shit. Damn it.

They both came out in 97. Holy crap. Wow. But,

yeah, so when did you first see this movie, Mike?

It was, I know I saw it. after face -off but

i saw it before city of angels so at some point

between 97 and 99 i would say because these both

came conair and face -off came out 97 city of

angels was 98 for media for vhs and dvd release

back then they were probably out conair and face

-off were probably out in middle of 98 So somewhere

around June or July by then, I would say. So

I probably saw Face Off somewhere around there.

And then I didn't see Con Air until... I don't

know. I don't remember. But yeah. No, I just

absolutely... Absolutely love... Love Con Air.

This has an all -star cast. It really does. I

mean, you got... Nicholas Cage and John Cusack

in, to a lesser extent, not really, but also

John Malkovich as the three leading men. I mean,

you know, it's just an amazing guest list after

that. You know, you've got Steve Buscemi, Ving

Rhames, Colm Meaney. What? Oh, sorry, I was thinking

of Michael Clarke, Duncan Vingroup. Don't you

dare tell me Luther Stickle is dead. What the

hell is wrong with you? A great many things,

and we don't have enough time to go through them.

Yeah, I know. You say that every friggin' episode.

You say that every friggin' episode. Moving on.

We've got Calm Meany, Danny Trejo, MC Ganey,

Dave Chappelle, Spinball. We've got Nick Chinland

as Billy Bedlam. He's one of those guys like,

hey, I know that guy because he's another one

of those working actors. He's in Lethal Weapon

3, X -Files. He did some episodes. He was in

Eraser. You know, such like that. Walker, Texas

Ranger. Did an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Jesus, I don't remember that. Tears of the Sun.

He was... tombs owes uh the bounty hunter going

after riddick in uh the at the dark fury prequel

anime and the chronicles of riddick he's in legend

of zorb you've definitely seen him if you've

seen action movies from like 1990 onwards you've

definitely seen him folks the one out of here

that i remember seeing in other films that i

don't remember except for this movie honestly

Is Malloy, is called Meanie, because I'm like,

where have I seen this guy before? That's Chief

O 'Brien. Chief O 'Brien? From Star Trek. That's

from Deep Space Nine, right? Well, he was on

Next Gen, and then the first episode of DS9,

he transferred from the Enterprise D to DS9 and

became the chief technician. So he went from

running the elevator to fixing the car. Yeah,

see, I only remember him from Deep Space Nine.

I don't remember him in Next Generation. He's

done a lot of work, and just like 90 % of, although

I don't think Patrick Stewart did a voice, 90

% of Next Gen's cast did voices on Gargoyles,

although I believe Cole Meany only ever did one

episode. He was the pilot in Die Hard 2, Die

Harder. He was the cop at Tessa's in Dick Tracy.

He was in Far and Away. Was that the Tom Cruise,

Nicole Kidman movie, I guess, in 92? He was in

Monument Avenue in 98. Mystery Alaska in 99.

How Harry Became a Tree in 2001. I've never even

heard of that movie. He's in Lair Cake with Daniel

Craig, which is a really cool British gangster

movie. It's not necessarily what put Daniel Craig

on the map, but it's a really cool flick highly

recommended by me. Again, this is a guy he's

maybe never really been the guy. but he's that

guy yeah sort of thing yeah absolutely you know

and talking about uh cast members that you know

i've seen somewhere else uh rachel to cotton

who is uh guard sally bishop you know i've seen

her in like i'm just looking here she was in

total recall fx2 natural born killers don juan

de marco uh looking and actually i think after

that uh I don't think I've really seen anything.

She's been in after that, but like she does a

lot of TV too. I've seen that. So like I recognized

her right away. It's just, I had no idea what

her name was, you know? And then we got, uh,

McKelty Williamson, Mike baby, Oh, Odell, who

is, uh, Cameron pose, like best friend, Sally,

you know, he's another TV actor. He's done a

lot of film work. He's another one. It's like,

I know that guy. kind of faces yeah like he's

good people yeah uh and then you got monica potter

as mrs cameron poe which yeah god i used i'm

not saying i don't have a crush on her but like

remember when i was a kid growing up and i see

her and she was like yeah i think yeah i think

20 years ago why everybody had a crush on her

from this film was because her character's name

was tricia and tricia yearwood did a version

of How do I live for this movie? She sang it

first and then Leigh -Anne rhymes it, but dude,

I thought you could not get away from that song

that year. Nope. Nick, good old cage master here,

he's actually celebrating several anniversaries

this year. He's got Con Air and Face Off for

20th anniversaries. And then he's got Raising

Arizona and Moonstruck for 30th anniversaries

this year. Oh, yeah. I'm trying to think. What

was the – Would like to say the first Nicolas

Cage movie I saw was probably It Could Happen

to You, maybe, in 94. I don't see that one. I

know growing up I saw, I watched Raising Arizona

with my mom and my dad. And that's the first

movie I ever saw. I gotta look at the cast of

that really quick. That is the first movie I

ever saw. randall tex cobb as the lone biker

of the apocalypse and goddamn anytime that's

another guy anytime he shows up in a movie i'm

in i am sold like even that and it's not that

i wasn't into ace ventura but where he shows

up in the beginning ace ventura is like that

like asshole boxer dude you know he he put he

was one of my favorite characters in earnest

goes to jail like Just that scene at the end

where his Ernest Electro powers wear off and

he's about to be killed. And he's like, no, he's

not like us. And he thinks, God, I love you,

man. It Could Happen to You was 94 with Cage

and Bridget Fonda. It's the story of the New

York cop who wins the lottery and splits his

winnings with the waitress. That was It Could

Happen to You. Um, other Nick Cage films that

are, that I enjoy, that I like, uh, you know,

I already mentioned, we're obviously talking

about Con Air, Face Off, City of Angels, Gone

in 60 Seconds, The Family Man. Um, and honestly,

yeah. He's certainly become more eclectic as

the years went on. Yeah, I think the National

Treasure, one and two films, and maybe Next were

the last things I've seen from him. I have not,

yeah, I know I have not seen G -Force. I have

not seen Astro Boy. So the last time I saw a

Nicolas Cage movie was National Treasure 2, which

was 10 years ago at this point. I'm just looking

at everything after this. I've seen the National

Treasures, Ghost Rider. believe i fell asleep

during lord of war but that's only because i

watched it after coming home from work and it's

like three in the goddamn morning uh i have seen

the astro boy one uh kick ass i've seen sorcerer's

apprentice oh no drive angry which is a lot better

than a lot of people make it it's not like the

greatest film but it's one of those great b -grade

grindhousey type of movies Speaking of Grindhouse,

he has a brief cameo in one of the fake trailers

that are put in between the Grindhouse films

where he plays Dr. Fu Manchu in the trailer for

Werewolf Women of the SS. Surely an Oscar winner

if I've ever heard one. Yeah, well, guess what?

We are three years away from Gone in 60 Seconds

2. what the hell why would you do that like seriously

it's been announced that he's gonna be randall

reigns and gone in 60 seconds too but seriously

the first movie was a full story it was beginning

middle and end it does not need a damn sequel

that's like that's like asking hollywood not

to make stuff because you can't stop you can't

stop the rock just Just don't even try, Mike.

Just turn off the shoulder, man. Just let it

go. Breathe. That's like asking somebody not

to make a remake or a sequel. Disney and Marvel,

we're looking at you. Yes. God damn it. If you

don't cast Jim Carrey as the genie in a live

-action remake of Aladdin, I'm done with you,

Disney. I'm done. If you don't cast Michael Rooker

as Mr. Mary Poppins, I'm done. I'm Mary Poppins,

y 'all. John Cusack, also an amazing, amazing

actor. I think the first movie I saw him in was

The Grifters from 1990, I remember. I didn't

see it back then, but that was the first thing

that I had seen him in before probably... Oh,

wow. That's also having a 20th anniversary this

year. So, yeah, The Grifters was the first movie

that was in 1990 that I had seen him in. After

that, the movie that I remember the most is another

one that's having a 20th anniversary this year.

He played Martin Q. Blank in Gross Blank. I love

Gross Blank. I can't remember. I think the first

one I ever saw him was Gross Point Blank. But

I might have seen Better Off Dead or what's the

movie where the poster has got him holding the

boombox over his head? I don't have any idea.

Yeah, Say Anything. Oh, yes. Lloyd Dobler. I'm

pretty sure it was Gross Point Blank, Better

Off Dead, Say Anything. Again, one of the movies

that I have only seen once. And I don't own,

and I would dearly love to see it again, is what's

the one, the music one? Stand By Me? No, where

he's working in the music store, and he's got

Jack Black and Kyle Gass. Broadcast News. High

Fidelity. High Fidelity, yeah. If you've never

seen that, that's a really good movie with him

and Billy Bob Thornton. And I like how he's done

a few kind of horror -based movies from the aughts

on. He's done Identity, 1408. Don't get me wrong,

it wasn't the greatest movie overall, but I loved

Igor. It's a CGI animated film he did in 2008

where Igor... like dr frankenstein igor wants

to be a mad scientist and he's trying to win

like this pro this uh science contest prize you

know hot tub time machine the raven you know

so so many good films uh so many bad films because

let's face it they're not all winners I will

say, though, some of the ones out of the odds

that I do like. Two specifically, 2001 and 2003,

Serendipity and Runaway Jury. Runaway Jury is

obviously based off of the John Grisham novel.

Serendipity was him and Kate Beckinsale. One

movie I think that he did not need to make was

2008's War, Inc., because it's supposedly supposed

to be a loose sequel to Gross Point Blank, but

it really isn't, because he plays a completely

different character. But it's essentially the

same damn plot as Gross Point Blank. He plays

a killer, a hired gun. The last movie I saw of

his, between 2010 and now... was 2014's Drive

Hard. It's currently on Netflix still. The only

reason why I watch this movie is because, again,

he's basically playing his Martin Q. Blank type

character, and it's friggin' the Punisher, Thomas

Jane. So it's Martin Q. Blank and the Punisher

in a movie together. It's hilarious. I'm just

looking at the brief synopsis of this on IMDb

for DriveHard, and for some reason, where it

has, like, a professional thief takes a former

race car driver hostage and forces him to drive

his getaway car, and I'm kind of flashing back

to... What was the... Was it just Collateral

or Collateral Damage, the Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx

movie? That was Collateral. Collateral Damage

was Arnold. Oh, right, the firefighter Arnold.

But yeah, John Cusack, dude's funny as hell.

Gross point blank. You can't say enough good

things about that movie. Love that movie. Then

we have some great actors. You've got Dave Chappelle.

Dude's funnier than hell. He has just kind of

a bit part as Pinball Parker in this movie. Everyone

plays their type perfectly well. You've got Steve

Buscemi as Garland. The way they treat his character

in this film is he's supposed to be worse than

Hannibal Lecter. And he plays it very creepy

because he just has that dead -eyed stare and

that very polite and nice way of speaking to

people. Then when he gets loose after the, you

know, we'll get into the plot in a bit, but after

the plane crashes and he gets loose, he ends

up in like that empty swimming pool talking to

the little girl. Hi, would you like some tea?

And he just kind of looks at her. I was like,

oh Jesus, what is he going to do to her? I thought

she was going to die. I almost forgot that she

didn't up until the point where the scene goes

to where she's waving to the plane. I thought

he was going to kill her. um that was good times

yeah we got uh ving rames as diamond dog oh my

god okay so this is what machismo personified

absolutely okay so this is one year removed from

striptease and mission impossible okay before

that he was in and i did not know this because

it's been years since i've it's been 25 years

since this movie came out and it's been 24 years

since i saw it he was mr stereo and stop or my

mom will shoot oh my god yeah it's been 20 it's

been 25 years since stop or my mom will shoot

came out oh my god Now, the first movie I ever

saw of Ving Rhames and Mr. Ving Rhames was a

Wes Craven movie called The People Under the

Stairs. It's one of those movies that I was sold

on because as a kid, I used to go to the theater

in Roblin, Manitoba, and they would drop, make

up their own flyers. And it was always like black

print on these neon colored pages with like.

basically, like, black and white reprints of,

like, little posters next to the name of the

times. And then you see, like, in the newspaper

for, like, the theater in York, and you would

see, like, a black and white reprint of the poster.

And it's got this really intense poster of, like,

there's this, like, skull in the sky looming

over top the house where it would take too long

to explain the movie. It's kind of a mind job

of the movie. It's not Wes Craven's best, but

it's... If you're a fan of his work and... kind

of shock horror sort of things it's a lot of

fun yeah uh and that kind of sold me on that

and i saw his character does not survive the

movie because it's black man in a horror movie

and we all know how that trope goes uh but he

was great in that and he and he had that ving

reigns this you know that that wink and a sly

smile Yeah, well, I'll talk about that in a minute.

He was in Pulp Fiction. Of course, everybody

was in Pulp Fiction, but he was Marcellus Wallace

in Pulp Fiction. No. As we said, Mission Impossible,

pretty much all of them as Luthor. I think, yeah,

he's in all of those. It was Agent Cobra Bubbles

in Lilo and Stitch. Yep. Actually, he's in most

of those as Cobra, I think. It's so funny because

right before we recorded this episode, folks,

because they have all the Lilo and Stitch stuff

on Netflix, I started watching Stitch the movie

because I took a screenshot of 625 and I'm like,

it's 625 at Robert Paulson on Facebook. things

lilo and stitch stitch is my spirit animal yeah

stitch is a lot of people's spirit animal uh

yeah that's because it's stitch um he was in

another movie that i absolutely love something

that you would not okay ving rames being in a

movie with nicholas cage and john cusack I would

never really see. I mean, I get it. And John

Malkovich, I get it. It's great. I love Con Air.

But another one that I was not expecting him

to show up in is 1998's Out of Sight with George

Clooney and Jennifer Lopez. I love Out of Sight,

though. That movie is awesome. That movie is

tops. There's a span between Stitch the movie

and... looking here what year was it mission

three in 2006 well there was mission three aside

from mission three between 2003 and 2009 i only

saw mission impossible three like i haven't seen

any of his work in that period aside from that

uh i did love this one movie it's called it's

a british independent action film called the

tournament where it's a bunch of assassins descend

on this small town in britain and It's basically

last one standing wins the prize sort of thing.

And that doesn't sell it very well. It's a lot

of fun. I would highly recommend it. You've seen

him in a movie recently. You've seen him in two

movies recently, actually. I saw him in a movie

in 2015 and just a couple months ago. Yeah. He

returns as Luther in Mission Impossible Rogue

Nation. And he was Charlie 27 in Guardians of

the Galaxy Vol. 2. You have... Okay, quick aside.

Just very quick aside. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've

always loved... the guardians of the galaxy comics

i love the original team from the 60s and the

70s i love the marvel 90s series i've read i've

collected every guardian series from the marvel

annihilation event onward like i love the guardians

they're my boys and when i realized who stallone

was playing and they got charlie 27 and martin

x And just like, my inner child just wouldn't

stop hopping up and down and pointing at the

screen. It's him! It's him! They did the thing!

They did the thing! And I was just like, calm

the fuck down, inner child. I know, I know. And

I'm like, literally just kind of vibrating with

fanboy glee when I saw that. And there are a

lot, like... Like I said, there's some other

really good movies Vin Rings has been in. There's

Give Him Hell Alone, which is this great kind

of detective noir film starring the Punisher,

Thomas Jane. He's done other work, but you will

always be our Punisher, sir. You will always

be the Punisher. Yeah. You know, Give Him Hell

Alone, Operation Endgame's a good one. He was

in both of the Piranha 3D movies. I don't care

what anyone tells me. I love those films. Sometimes

you just have to turn your brain off and enjoy

the ride, folks. He was in Death Race 2. which

is technically a prequel, so it makes it a pre

-sequel. Yeah. He is coming up next year. He'll

be Luthor again in Mission 6. And Mission MI6,

oh, my God. They're adding Superman to the Mission

6 cast. Henry Cavill is going to be in Mission

Impossible 6. I guess that's what happens when

Superman dies. Nothing can kill Superman. Also,

nothing can kill the Grimace. Kryptonite can

kill Superman. We love the men, folks. That's

enough said. Absolutely. I want to bring this

up, but we got... The two names that I recognize

that they're adding to Mission 6 is Henry Cavill

and Angela Bassett. Who is still at the time...

I still say she should have been Storm in the

X -Men movies. She predicts that whole African

goddess quality. I'm sorry, Halle Berry. Y 'all

pretty. Y 'all can act. y 'all ain't you ain't

the weather goddess of the lower plains woman

i'm sorry it has to be said uh and two other

guys you know uh earl swamp thing williams played

by mc gainey who this is another guy you might

not know his name but you have seen him in a

lot of shit he was in starman he was in spellbinder

he was mighty in the mighty ducks he was in the

mighty ducks As a character, I'm looking at the

wiki here. I do vaguely remember him as a character

named Lewis. In 92, he was in The Fan. He was

in Breakdown with Kurt Russell. He was in Terminator

3, Rise of the Machines as the Roadhouse Bouncer.

I remember that because that's another one of

those that I pointed at the screen. It's like,

hey, it's that guy. He was in Beer Fest. He was

in Wild Hogs. You know, Django Unchained. You

know, I like the way you die, boy. Well, we told

you today's flight would be special. That's William

Bedford, a .k .a. Billy Bedlam. Mass murderer?

The same. He caught his wife in bed with another

man, left her alone, drove four towns over to

his wife's family's house, killed her parents,

her brothers, her sisters, even her dog. Scan

him. And who is that good -looking brother on

screen? Nathan Jones, aka Diamond Dog, former

general of the Black Gorillas. He blew up a meeting

of the National Rifle Association saying, and

I quote, they represented the basest negativity

of the white race. He wrote a book in prison

called Reflections in a Diamond Eye. New York

Times called it a wake -up call for the black

community. They're talking to Denzel for the

movie. This one's done it all. Kidnapping, robbery,

murder, extortion. His name is Cyrus Grissom,

a .k .a. Cyrus the Virus. 39 years old, 25 of

them spent in our institution. But he's bettered

himself inside. Earned two degrees, including

his jurist doctor. He also killed 11 fellow inmates,

incited three riots, and escaped twice. Likes

to brag that he killed more men than cancer.

Okay, open wide. Lift your tongue. Cyrus is a

poster child for the criminally insane. He's

a true product of the system. What's that supposed

to mean? What is he, one of these sociology majors

who thinks we're responsible for breeding these

animals? No, but I could point a few fingers

if it would make you feel comfortable. Look at

this walking penis. Boy, you are one skinny negro.

Easy, man. Open up. Oh, man, it smells like so

much shit in your mouth. Told me you loved me.

Get out of my face. All right, all right. You're

lurking. Who's that guy? That is Cameron Poe,

a parolee hitching a ride home. He's a nobody.

Okay, let's do it. I can't believe I missed him

in Girl Meets World. As Pappy Joe. Oh, yeah,

that's right, when I went to Texas. Yeah. I've

seen a large part of that series. I just haven't

seen every episode. And my favorite role of his,

although I still think Harlan Williams should

have been him in the movie, was he was Sheriff

Roscoe P. Coltrane in the Dukes of Hazzard. And

say what you will about that movie. I love it.

The only negative thing I can say is they should

have used the horn twice. There's once where

Bo jumps Cooter's truck at the end of the film,

and they should have put the horn in there. where

he jumps that on -ramp in Atlanta. Mm -hmm. That

was the... No, they just leave it silent. No,

that's when Dixie should have been playing loud

and clear. Don't get me wrong. And also, the

work... The most... The manliest man in this

movie, Danny goddamn mother -loving Trejo. Mm

-hmm. Like, I remember when I was... Reading

about him, the fact that he actually went to

prison, came out, and he became a consultant

on movies that featured characters who had been

in prison or are in prison. I forget which film

it was exactly, but I was reading this in a biography

article about him. He was working on one film.

The actor playing a certain character could not

get it right, so one of the producers said, why

don't you just... Get on camera do it and that's

how he got into film and he's not stopped working

since Yep, and he's machete Yeah, he's also Johnny

23 with no arm He they call me Johnny 600 if

they knew the truth, yeah He was good and you

know he him like John Malkovich has a list of

things His filmography, it would take too long

to rattle off all the movies we've seen him in

and loved him in. Like I said, Cyrus the Goddamn

Virus, John Motherlovin Malkovich. I know he's

known as an actor's actor and everything like

that. He is an actor. He doesn't do movies for

the money. He does movies that he believes in

and projects that he believes in. But he's one

of the scariest mothers in this movie. And it's

just his eyes. It's all with the eyes. You are

scared. He's going to eat me with some fava beans

and a side of Chianti. And would you say he has,

if not the most badass line, one of the most

badass lines in the movie where... What was the

drug guy's name? Was it Ramon Martinez? Oh, yeah.

The rat tail drug dealer that they've got to

deal with. Where he's like, please, sigh, Inara.

And then just flambes him to death. Yep. I think

we should really get to the plot, because I think

you said too much time gushing. Yep, absolutely.

So the plot of this one is all about Cameron

and Trisha Poe. Cameron is a former Army Ranger.

He has gotten out of the military. He's done.

And he just wants to dance with his wife, but

these guys want to come on to him, and his training

kind of comes out, and he ends up killing a guy.

Not intentionally, but he does end up killing

a guy. Some memory takes over. And he ends up

getting 10 years in prison for it. Because it

wasn't premeditated. It wasn't direct. It was

murder, but they do it up as manslaughter. I

think it was the church. Yeah. So he ends up

in prison and they kind of fast forward it past

that. to the point where he's getting out, because

that's the basic plot of this movie, him getting

out, and then all these people, all these convicts

on a plane. Hence the term Con Air. Yeah, I love

the montage of him getting the care packages

with the little mini bag of Doritos and the pink

snowballs that he makes friends with Baby -O

with. Baby -O sure loves those pink snowballs.

And I love his not -quite -Southern -enough accent.

God. To go back in our relationship... No. No,

just briefly. I have said that one of the few

things I liked in X -Men Origins Wolverine was

Taylor Kish as Gambit. Because I like this accent.

It sounds like a very... an actual Nolans accent.

You, on the other hand, in terms of characters,

love Christopher... Chris Potter's... peppy lapew

dripping with syrup from the x -men anime series

and that's fine because that's the better one

in your opinion and my opinion but anyway what

i'm saying is fact is fact everyone is welcome

to their own opinion no one's is more valid than

the other but like i'm trying to say is i wish

cage would have steered way more towards chris

potter's gambit like that kind of accent see

anything because that's what just kind of bothered

me about this is it just wasn't southern enough

it's it's that when you uh in any movie we hear

a character whether like they're british or they're

asian and it sounds like they're you know talk

in english but there's still that just that barest

hint of an accent it's just kind of that i found

that just not grating but just a little annoying

you know uh but yeah so cameron gets out and

i love that shot where uh you know he's catching

a ride on con air because they're gonna populate

this new super max prison baby oh is also getting

transferred to new digs he's still in jail you

know we see cyrus and johnny 23 and everyone

getting loaded on but i love that shot where

cameron comes off the thing and you know he's

basically breathing free free air And it's just

that scene where he throws his head back, closes

his eyes, and smiles. It's graceful, high hairline

mullet hair flow into the breeze. You know, and

it's just that look that says, it's a good day.

Mm -hmm. Guard Bishop? Hey, Larkin. Tell me,

Skip. Is the U .S. Marshal Service in the habit

of employing annoying, wise -ass bookworm creeps?

Larkin's one of the best we got. Yeah, well,

I'd still like to crush his larynx with my boot.

Scan him. Face me. What's this shit? It's my

daughter. I don't care if it's a weeper, mama.

Christ, there's no personal possessions on this

airplane. Just as long as you know I'll be getting

that back at some point. Are you telling me what

I'm going to be doing here, numbnuts? You heard

me. Hey, hey, hey. Come on, break it up. You

know, then they get on the thing, and very quickly

it all goes to shit. I mean, Dave Chappelle.

You know, has smuggled some gas and a match on.

He lights up the guy next to him in the seat

who is just minding his own shit, not really

doing nothing. Sets him on fire. The Khans take

over the plane. They land at their next pickup

where they get, was it MC Ganey's character,

where they get Swamp Thing, a couple other guys.

You know, they... While that's happening, the

plane's about to take off, and they have that

scene where John Cusack and the guards have discovered

Cyrus' little hidey hole in the wall, and they've

figured stuff out, and then they have the lunch

kit bomb, and it's like, how well -trained were

these guys not? Yeah, no. He just told them,

don't touch anything. I'll be right back. And

the first thing they do is touch things. And

then they're dead. And every time I watch Con

Air, and I've seen this well into the double

digits, every time I, like, I bunch my fists,

like, I just make fists and I'm just like, you

idiots. You know, stuff like that. Okay. Out

of the cons, who's your favorite con? Oh, God.

And I want to say you can't say Cyrus because

everyone loves Cyrus. It's got to be Diamond

Dog. Because it's Bing fucking Rames. I mean,

come on. Yeah, I think... Johnny's fun. I hadn't

seen... Johnny's too... I can't handle... I like

Danny Trejo. I like him as an actor. But the

character of Johnny 23 is just a character that

no one should like because of the whole rapist

kind of thing. Don't get me wrong. All these

guys are bad. Diamond Dog is a bad man. Don't

get me wrong. And yes, I am using... nicholas

cage as memphis reigns his line there but it's

one of those things where in the context that

diamond dog is in this movie because poe even

asks him you know what so what you know You're

this militant black leader. Why are you taking

orders from a white guy kind of thing? He's like,

oh, I'm just biding my time until I can rise

up. He never really gets a chance to do that,

obviously. And I think that's why I like him

the most out of the cons. Obviously, I like Calm

Meany as Molloy. I like John Cusack and Nicolas

Cage. So, yeah. My favorite is definitely Diamond

Dog as well. Just when he has that, where Poe

asks him that question, like, why are you working

with Cyrus? And he's all like, every dog has

his day. Just the smile on his face. And yeah,

don't get me wrong, I love Danny Trejo. Not my

favorite role that he's ever done, and it's for

two reasons. One, this is a whole lot of Danny

Trejo. Five pounds, or ten pounds of crazy in

a three pound bag. Just the eyes. And it didn't

work for me because he didn't have the stache.

The handlebar mustache, that is his bread and

butter. That is his meal ticket. That's like

when Carl Weathers shaved off his mustache for

that sitcom on Fox a few years ago. I was like,

why would you shave off the moneymaker, Carl?

It's the same thing here. Danny, I hadn't seen

From Dusk Till Dawn at this point. But I knew

him from other movies, and he always had the

stash. Wasn't he in a couple episodes of Walker,

Texas Ranger 2? Possibly, but I haven't seen

Walker in years. Yeah. And as we all know, behind

Chuck Norris' beard is another fist waiting to

strike. Well, yeah. I mean, you know, he is expendable

after all. Yeah, and so you're getting back to

the movie, so the guards take off, Pinball is

almost left behind, and he tries to crawl up

in the wheels and gets caught, so they're getting

that drag. They have that great argument where

up until this point, John Cusack has been taking

Colmini's shit because Colmini is playing like

the douchiest douche who ever douched in the

FBI. Maloy is so not an ass -kicker. He might

be an ass -kicker, but... No, he's not. Just

let me finish. He probably is an ass -kicker,

but how he's able to lift a gun, let alone the

ego that is probably the size of the friggin'

Titanic. No, I take that back. The ego the size

of the iceberg. that took out the Titanic. And

they have this great thing where he's getting

all up in John Cusack's thing and blaming him

for it all going wrong. And Cusack is like, no

one carries on this plane because they have a

scene earlier in the film because they've inserted

this undercover operative to get some info from

the drug dealer on the plane, like Rattail. And

that guy gets killed in the initial takeover

and Poe takes his recorder and gets in on some

of the guards that they've switched places with.

cons with and you know but cole mean he had given

the undercover guy a gun and that's essentially

why he got because he got nervous and he pulled

his like little derringer type gun and he's died

and then where john cusack starts dressing him

down and this guy is like his ego is like i said

the size of that iceberg he's unwilling to admit

any culpability and just decides he's going to

take out the plane kill him all and let god swear

him out And God damn it. I wanted to, I love

Cole meeting. I've seen her watch this guy in

several video interviews. He is a very nice man.

He's just the character. Yeah. It's the character.

But every, again, every time I want to watch

this movie, I just want to punch him. Anytime

he opens his mouth, I just want to start punching

him. I think that's why Larkin didn't care about

taking the car. Oh God. Yeah. It's like, you

know, cause you get, we get this thing where

they go there's the drag because of pinball's

body so poe and bedlam go down and like to the

undercarriage there and poe like writes a message

to the u .s marshals on pinball jack and is kicking

him out and around this time uh bedlam finds

like this bunny that his eight -year -old daughter

sent poe and it leads to my favorite line in

the movie put the bunny down. And he kills Bedlam.

Unfortunately, there's the whole thing with Baby

-O being a diabetic and the insulin. Baby -O

is starting to feel it because he needs his insulin

every day. He kills Bedlam. He hides the body.

They have the whole thing where eventually the

pinball's body falls on this nice family. Nice

family's car. And Larkin gets the information.

And I love the fact where he runs out. And also,

we should mention that Cole Meaney's character,

Malloy, this guy, like I said, this guy is a

dick. And, like, he comes in in the main and

he's driving this, what car did he have? The

model. I don't remember. Was it like a Corvette

or something? I think it was. No, I don't think

it was a Corvette. I think it was something else.

But, okay, let's just say it's a Corvette. Like,

again, I watched this last night and I worked

today, so forgive me if I forget stuff like that.

But, you know, Larkin runs out and he sees the

car that Malloy has backed up into a handicapped

spot. You know, already signifying that this

guy is a colossal dick. Just the look of, eh,

why the hell not, on Larkin's face. He jumps

in and he takes off in it. And I was like, ah,

it's going to get good. Yeah, a couple of my

favorite lines from this. One is from Garland

Green. Define irony, bunch of idiots dancing

on a plane to a song made famous by a band that

died in a plane crash. Talking about sweet old

Alabama and Leonard Skinner. bunch of idiots

dancing on a plane to a song made famous by a

band that died in a plane crash. Maloy has a

good one. Well, you better start contemplating

because this is a situation that needs to get

unfucked right now. Oh, God. There are just so

many good lines. in in this movie we'd be here

all night you know yeah so so bedlam's dead uh

poe has kind of ingratiated himself into the

seemingly good graces of cyrus but given that

this guy balances emotions on the edge of a pin

we don't want to put too much in you know faith

in that and eventually they landed this disused

junkie airfield where there's a private jet waiting

for the drug dealer and all these guys they're

going to be taken to you know like mexico and

they're going to be given all these millions

of dollars and live like kings for the rest of

their days uh but then rat tail decides well

you've got me this far i don't need you anymore

peace i'm out and that's where we get the great

thing of where he's tied up and they've lit all

they opened all these propane tanks, and he's

like, please, Sai, Inara, and Sai throws this

lit cigarette, and boom. They're trying to fix

the plane, the Con Air, to take off again. They're

going to try and make it to Mexico anyhow. And

Poe starts kind of fucking with their program,

and Larkin shows up, and eventually they hook

up, and are trying to get to it, and the National

Guard's coming. And I love that scene of the

cons. plotting their assault on the National

Guard and the Marshals. Did you like that scene?

Because I know some people don't like that scene.

They say, why would they take the time to spell

this out? Because some of the cons are fucking

idiots. Yeah. No, the scene was alright. I think

one of my favorites was with Pinball and Swamp

Thing when Swamp Thing gets on and Pinball's

like... What's up, man? So you Swamp Thing? That's

right. Fly in the plane? That's right. It's amazing

the shit you white trash know. That's right.

Just the smile on X and Gary's face that whole

time. Absolutely. That dude is awesome. They

hijack the cops, the National Guard. A lot of

them are slaughtered. Some are survived. I love...

When Larkin tries to stop the plane from taking

off by attaching a tow chain to the Corvette,

and that works about as well as you think it

would. And especially when Maloney shows up,

or Malloy, sorry, shows up, and then the car

falls off the chain, lands right in front of

him. And you just look at this anguish on his

face, and you're just like... Oh, that's some

good schadenfreude. Because you got exactly what

you deserve, fucko. And about this point, Poe's

identity has been revealed. Diamond Dog finds

Bedlam's corpse and Poe's thing and it all comes

tumbling out and eventually the plane crashes

on the Las Vegas Strip. Yep. And I love the final

fight. you know poe takes off was it poe and

larkin yeah poe and larkin take off on the police

motorcycle bikes and chase the fire truck yeah

they take off on the bikes and it's like grissom

diamond dog and swamp thing are on this thing

and they have that uh fight where nicholas cage

is swinging off the ladder you know swamp things

like eventually they crash the truck and they're

all dead And Grissom's dead. Diamond Dog's dead,

sadly. You know, rest in peace, though. And then

Fisher Yearwood swells up again. And, you know,

it has that great, they have that great ending

where he finally meets his daughter for the first

time because he doesn't, throughout the whole

thing we should mention, while his daughter,

his wife was pregnant and his daughter was born

while he was in prison, she... Never, I think

he never wanted her to come see her daddy in

jail. And he finally meets his daughter. And,

you know, it's all is well and good. And we have

that great ending scene where we find what, in

the whole confusion of the junk during the scenes

at the junkyard, Garland Green escapes. You know,

we have that scene where he meets a little girl.

We find out that he had this epiphany and I don't

have to kill her sort of thing. And you see him

now, he's a free man, he's on a winning streak

at a casino, and life is good. Which kind of

almost imitates, I don't know, that was Will

Patton's character that liked to gamble in Armageddon.

This is a film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer,

and there's a lot of little cues. Obviously,

the director was Simon West. This is basically

his first movie right out of the gate. He's got

an eye for action. He's done The General's Daughter,

Black Hawk Down, Expendables 2, the original

Tomb Raider movie. A couple of direct -to -video

Jason Statham films, I believe. It's a good flick.

And Jerry Bruckheimer, while he didn't direct

the film, you can see his fingerprints on this.

Oh, yeah. It's not like Michael Bay's, I'm totally

not directing the Ninja Turtle movies production,

but you look at the films Jerry Bruckheimer was

a producer on. Who's his... Bruckheimer and...

It's Simpson, isn't it? No, that's somebody else.

Yeah, Don Simpson. yeah that's right yeah unfortunately

don simpson just decided to shove most of his

money up his nose because he liked the nose candy

but you know he's a producer on the csi franchise

beverly hills cop flash dance top gun just go

to the wiki and read his notable blurb oh yeah

this dude made our childhood oh yeah absolutely

i love i love the scene at the end between poe

and larkin that gun work yeah then shoot that

piece of shit again I just wish there would have

been a little more syrup on that accent sold

that line and like I said the film ends overall

because it's a little more energetic in it's

action than The Rock Because The Rock is, don't

get me wrong, The Rock is a classic, must -see

action movie. You do yourself a disservice if

you've never seen that film. I wouldn't say it's

a master class, but this is one of the greats.

But it's a much more serious -minded action movie

with its scenes and all that. I mean, granted,

you've got the goofy scene where Nicolas Cage

kills the Candyman with the rocket. Because Tony

Todd is, was, and always shall be the Candyman

to me. You know, I don't listen to some soft

-ass shit. Oh, okay, that's too bad, because

it's you. You are the Rocket Man. And also, the

best line in that movie was, of course, You're

best. Losers always talk about doing their best.

Winners go home and fuck the prom queen. She

was the prom queen. But yeah, no, I love this

movie, I'm telling you right now, straight up

five. This is my favorite Nicolas Cage action

movie. I love Face Off, I love The Rock, I love

a lot of his work, but this is my favorite Nick

Cage action film. Straight up. I'd say it's my

favorite 90s action film he did, but Gone in

60 Seconds in 2000 kind of outdoes it for me

a little bit. It's a great action film, don't

get me wrong, but... I do consider it an action

film, but it's not... When I think action film,

I think car chases, I think gunfights. Car chases?

Hello, hello? The whole movie is about a car

chase. I mean, come on! An action movie contains...

It's a great action film movie, don't get me

wrong. I like to have a little more mayhem and

violence with my car chases. Just saying. Let's

just stick that pinky up a little bit higher

and drink that, you know, English Earl Grey tea

a little more. Yes, because God forbid somebody

else should have a different opinion, Mike. That's

right. But Con Air, I will also give a five.

There's nothing wrong with this movie whatsoever.

I do absolutely love it. We are going to get

the heck out of here. Where can the people find

you online, sir? You can find me online on the

Comic Con Series podcast with Ben the Host Carver

and our friend Red Ink. We talk about comic books

and comic book related topics quite often. We've

also started a new show Red came up with called

Redline Rumbles where we pick two comic characters

and it's kind of like death battle on ScrewAttack.

We talk about who would win in a fight basically.

Debate it back and forth. We have a lot of fun

with that. Coming up I think we're going to be

doing the mighty Thor versus Captain Marvel from

DC. And you can find me on the Twitters at JP

from Saskatoon, all one word. Absolutely. You

can find me on Twitter at TFG and mug. You can

also follow at geek cast radio and at GCR and

MR for all the other networking show updates

coming up next, uh, for the next two weeks after

this episode airs. Steve, myself, Birdman, and

whoever else knows. I don't know who's going

to be the fourth on that yet. But episode 138

and 139 of Movie Review, we're going to go back

to the Star Trek movies because we never actually

finished that spotlight. So we're going to do

two episodes, one talking the original films,

one talking Next Generation. And then after that,

JT will be back for the anniversary. I think

it's an anniversary. Maybe it isn't. No, it came

out in 89, so it's not an anniversary yet. Episode

140, we're all going to get foobarred and talk

about Tango and Cash. So that's going to be fun.

Yeah, keep those film reels rolling, and we will

catch you next time here on Movie Week in Review.

But I couldn't leave a fallen man behind. He'll

do that for me, won't you, Larkin? Sure I will.

What are you going to do for me? Where do you

think I'm going, Dave? I'm going to save the

fucking day. You've just listened to Movie Week

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it. Happy?