The Rewatchables: 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion

Published 2018-07-26; 1:09:34 by the feed.

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

The extraction calls the show “The Rewatchables (The Ringer)” and the episode “'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion”.

Hosts: Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, Jason Concepcion. Guests: none.

Subject films: Mission: Impossible (1996).

On the transcript: No speaker labels and ads for Hotel Tonight, Freshly and Shudder are baked in and were skipped. Bill Simmons is absent (referenced only as a 'shout out' and as the owner of the Danny Trejo category).

Awards and segments (54)

Most rewatchable scene

pick The whole Prague sequence, the 32-minute opening act
“Now, I'm cheating here and I'm going to say the Prague sequence, but I'm doing that specifically because that is presented as a 32 minute opening act”
Chris Ryan · 0:21:35
floated Ethan and Max's negotiation
“Another one is Ethan and Max's negotiation.”
Chris Ryan · 0:22:02
floated The Phelps versus Hunt coffee scene, where Hunt sees what Phelps has done while Phelps lies to him
“Um, and the uh, Phelps versus Hunt Coffee, where Hunt is seeing what Phelps has done while Phelps is lying to him.”
Chris Ryan · 0:22:09
floated The Langley break-in, the most iconic scene
“I think the most iconic, as we mentioned earlier, is the Langley break-in, which is really incredibly staged and has been ripped off numerous times.”
Sean Fennessey · 0:22:36
pick Ethan on the phone with Kittridge: 'my team is dead', crazed loud Tom Cruise
“But the scene that I liked watching the best.”
Sean Fennessey · 0:22:54
pick The Langley heist, almost all in silence
“For me, it's I think it is the Langley heist.”
unknown · 0:24:23

What's aged the best · What about the movie still holds up.

nominee The Hitchcockian vibe, especially in the Prague sequence
“The Hitchcockian vibe.”
Chris Ryan · 0:27:02
nominee The cat-and-mouse format of the set pieces
“The other things that I have here are just the cat and mouse format of the set pieces rather than having smash bang building falling down on you stuff.”
Chris Ryan · 0:27:20
nominee Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt
“And then the final one would be cruise's performance, but I'm open to other recommendations here.”
Chris Ryan · 0:27:36
nominee Casting great actors in the supporting roles
“I think that this is one of the 1st movies that really made an effort to cast great actors in the supporting roles, and that's something that really holds up.”
unknown · 0:27:42
winner De Palma's visual style: Chosen over the other nominees; De Palma's playful style is under control here.
“and De Palma has a very playful style, so let's go with that for what's age the best.”
Chris Ryan · 0:31:48

Casting what-ifs · Who turned the movie down or might have been cast.

pick Juliette Binoche as Claire: Turned down Claire because she did not want to be known for blockbusters.
“The big ones were that Juliet Benoche turned down the role of Claire because she didn't want to be known for blockbusters.”
Chris Ryan · 0:32:13
pick Peter Graves and Martin Landau as from the original series: Both turned down the movie after reading the script; Graves disliked Jim Phelps being the villain.
“Peter Graves and Martin Landau from the original series both turned down opportunities to be in the movie after reading the script.”
Chris Ryan · 0:32:37
pick Demi Moore as Claire: Would have liked another Cruise and Moore pairing; the others doubt it would have suited the Sphinx-like part.
“And I've always kind of missed out ever since a few good men on cruise doing another movie with Demi Moore, and I thought she would make a good Clare.”
unknown · 0:33:15

Dion Waiters Award · Supporting actors who make the most of their time.

winner Vanessa Redgrave as Max: More sexual chemistry with Cruise than anyone but Kelly McGillis; she knows what movie she is in.
“And I would argue that she has more sexual chemistry than anyone else in the history of Tom Cruise movies with the exception of Kelly McGillis.”
Chris Ryan · 0:35:54
nominee Henry Czerny as Kittridge: Over the top on first viewing, excellent now; a bureaucrat who's a dick.
“So some of the other Dion Waiters award and you could basically just run down through the entire cast list, but I've got Henry Zerni, who...”
Chris Ryan · 0:39:13
nominee Emilio Estevez as Jack Harmon: A fun cameo that never led to another blockbuster.
“We also have Emilio Estevez, obviously, you know, coming off of young guns, it seemed like he was just doing a, like, a fun bit for, for, like, as a cameo”
unknown · 0:40:15
nominee Kristin Scott Thomas as Sarah Davies
“Kristen Scott Thomas, we've talked about.”
Chris Ryan · 0:40:54
nominee Jon Voight as Jim Phelps: Too many minutes played for the award, but he is mentioned.
“And John Voight, who, I think, is a little bit too much minutes played for the, uh, for the, the Dion Waiters Award”
Chris Ryan · 0:40:57
nominee Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell: Becomes Ethan's conscience across the series; a burly figure as the smartest guy in the room.
“I think you got to give put a little respect on Ving Reims's name.”
unknown · 0:41:22
nominee Jean Reno as Franz Krieger
“I also shouts to Jean Renaud, who is in the midst of a unbelievable volcanic hot streak at this time from the professional to this, to Ronan.”
unknown · 0:41:57
winner Vanessa Redgrave as Max
“We're going Redgrave on this one.”
Chris Ryan · 0:42:37

What's aged the worst · What about the movie has aged badly.

nominee Ethan typing 'internet access' into a computer
“Ethan typing internet access into a computer.”
Chris Ryan · 0:42:48
nominee The Netscape browser IMF uses, and floppy disks
“The Netscape browser that IMF uses to watch news clips, floppy disks.”
Chris Ryan · 0:42:54
nominee The attention-drawing surveillance eyewear in the Prague scene
“The insanely attention drawing surveillance I wear worn by Hetta and Sarah during the Prague surveillance scene.”
Chris Ryan · 0:42:59
winner The masks: Chosen over the computer stuff; one host argued the masks should be accepted as part of the series.
“We'll go with uh, we'll go with masks.”
Chris Ryan · 0:47:14

Unintentional comedy · Moments that are funny without meaning to be.

nominee Ethan scrolling Usenet groups with his eyes closed and missing the letter A
“Ethan Hunt is scrolling through these Usenet groups and he closes his eyes.”
Chris Ryan · 0:50:26
nominee Watching the McLaughlin Group in crystal clear video in a Prague hotel room
“And maybe my favorite piece of unintentional comedy is Senator John Walzer, Democrat of Virginia appearing on the McLaughlin group, and them being able to watch the McLaughlin group in crystal clear video in a hotel room in Prague.”
Chris Ryan · 0:50:58
winner 'You are the Net Ranger, right?': Chosen because Ethan says it so sincerely.
“We're going to go with Net Ranger, because he says it so sincerely.”
Chris Ryan · 0:54:41

Unanswerable questions · Plot questions the movie never answers.

pick Is Senator John Waltzer real, an IMF agent, or Tom Cruise in a mask?
“So Senator John Walzer, in that McLaughlin group interview.”
unknown · 0:52:50
pick Why not make a mask of William Donloe and steal the disc that way?
“If Ethan Hunk can make a mask of basically anyone's face, why couldn't he just make a mask of William Donlo who worked inside of the vault and steal the disc?”
Chris Ryan · 0:54:50
pick Was Jon Voight in shape to traipse across a high-speed train?
“Was John Voight really in any shape to be traipsing across a high speed train?”
unknown · 0:55:02

Picking Nits · Nitpicks of the movie.

pick Jim shoots Claire first on the train for no reason
“I just didn't quite understand why Jim had to shoot Claire.”
unknown · 0:55:59
pick Jim and Claire's relationship, including his trashing her to Ethan
“Also, Jim and Claire in general.”
unknown · 0:56:39
pick Krieger's endgame as Franz Krieger
“what's John Renault's endgame here.”
unknown · 0:57:30
pick Kittridge offering Max a deal at the end
“What really happens at the end when Kittridge is like, we can work out a deal, international arms dealer to Max?”
unknown · 0:57:42
pick The helicopter in the train tunnel
“But like, what's the science on, um, helicopter and train tunnel?”
unknown · 0:57:59

Best quote · The best line in the movie.

nominee 'Do you read me? The list is in the open.'
“Sean has already pointed out, do you read me?”
Sean Fennessey · 0:58:32
nominee 'Dying slowly in America, after all, can be a very expensive proposition.'
“Dying slowly in America, after all, can be a very expensive proposition.”
Chris Ryan · 0:58:43
nominee 'I just want him manning a radar tower in Alaska by the end of the day. Just mail him his clothes.'
“I just want him manning a radar tower in Alaska by the end of the day.”
Chris Ryan · 0:58:59
nominee 'They're dead. My team is dead.'
“Well, I still think it's just, they're dead.”
unknown · 0:59:37
winner 'You've never seen me very upset.': Picked for the dialogue sparring in that scene.
“Yeah, I'm going to go with you've never seen me very upset.”
unknown · 0:59:51

Best overacting · The biggest overacting in the movie.

winner Henry Czerny as Kittridge
“It's Zerney, for sure.”
unknown · 1:00:10
nominee Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt: Blinking work at the computer; ridiculous if you did not want to look at that face.
“I don't know, like, Cruz is really going for it here.”
unknown · 1:00:14

Danny Trejo category · Would the movie be better with Danny Trejo or a similar actor, and in which role.

pick Steve Buscemi as Krieger or Estevez's role: Buscemi in the Estevez part.
“Who would he be?”
unknown · 1:01:03

Apex Mountain · Whether this is the peak of anyone's career.

pick Tom Cruise: Not his apex.
“Do you think this is Apex Mountain for Tom Cruise?”
Chris Ryan · 1:01:17
pick Brian De Palma: Not his apex; the group settles on The Untouchables.
“I'm going untouchables.”
Chris Ryan · 1:02:39
pick Ving Rhames: Not his apex; Pulp Fiction and Baby Boy are higher.
“No, no, Pulp Fiction.”
unknown · 1:01:29
pick Henry Czerny: The only one this might be, though Clear and Present Danger is better.
“I guess it's Zerney.”
unknown · 1:01:53
pick Danny Elfman: Not his apex; Batman or Beetlejuice.
“That's got to be Beetlejuice, right?”
unknown · 1:02:08

Who won the movie · Who came out ahead from the movie.

nominee Hollywood and its studio system
“Here's one I'm going to throw as a little wrinkle.”
unknown · 1:02:48
nominee The collaborative, almost improvisatory style of filmmaking
“So I think maybe the, maybe the, the victor is that style of collaborative, almost improvisatory filmmaking”
unknown · 1:03:41
nominee Mission Impossible the franchise; not really a win for anyone else
“And so it doesn't really feel like a win for anybody except just Mission Impossible.”
Chris Ryan · 1:05:02
winner Tom Cruise: Cruise is the engine of the whole thing.
“Yeah, I think Cruz won the movie because Cruz is the engine of the entire thing.”
unknown · 1:05:06

Films that came up

Claims (50)

unmapped (TV-to-film precedent): Mission: Impossible → The Fugitive. The Fugitive proved a classic TV property could be a big-screen box-office hit, which opened the door for Mission: Impossible.
“the fugitive proved that there was box office potential and television IP on the big screen.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:02:32 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (TV-to-film precedent): Mission: Impossible → The Brady Bunch Movie. Joked that the Brady Bunch movie a year earlier also proved the TV-adaptation point.
“This is an active erasure of the Brady Bunch movie, which happened one year earlier.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:03:11 · Jason Concepcion (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (plot incoherence): Mission: Impossible → The Big Sleep. The movie's plot is as confusing and written-on-the-fly as The Big Sleep.
“This is like the big sleep again, man, where they're like, I don't know if this movie actually makes any sense”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:06:19 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
lineage (callback): Mission: Impossible → Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Every later MI film calls back to the Langley drop as a hallmark.
“I realized that they call back to that specific moment every time”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:06:37 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career context): Brian De Palma → The Bonfire of the Vanities. Paramount hired De Palma despite his having just burned a pile of money on Bonfire of the Vanities.
“they hired him off of Bonfire of the Vanities.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:07:36 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
people (same director, different register): Mission: Impossible → Body Double. Body Double puts De Palma's sexual obsessions on the surface; Mission: Impossible keeps them under it for a mass audience.
“body double is, like, right on the surface.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:08:44 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (tone): Mission: Impossible → Marathon Man. Most of the film feels like a Bond or Hitchcock movie or the Roy Scheider parts of Marathon Man.
“most of this movie feels like a Bond movie or a Hitchcock movie or maybe the Roy Scheider parts of Marathon Man.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:10:30 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
industry (franchise template): Mission: Impossible → Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Every MI film reuses the same three-set-piece structure plus a McGuffin, which is why the franchise is elastic.
“they used the same exact structure in every single movie that came forward.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:11:13 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
people (performance echo): Mission: Impossible → Top Gun. Cruise's magic-trick moment with Jean Reno carries Top Gun-era brashness.
“a little bit of like the Tom, Top Gun brashness.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:11:47 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
people (performance echo): Mission: Impossible → Jerry Maguire. Cruise's anxiety and nervousness here echo Jerry Maguire.
“there's a little bit of the Jerry Maguire anxiety, nervousness.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:12:01 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (promo tour): Tom Cruise → Knight and Day. After MI, Cruise's brand turned on stunts, such as riding a motorcycle across Europe for Knight and Day.
“when he like rode a motorcycle across Europe for night and days promo tour”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:13:58 · Chris Ryan (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (franchise turning point): Mission: Impossible → Mission: Impossible II. Hiring John Woo for MI2 is when Cruise's brand became 'I did that stunt myself'; the cliff image set the template.
“that image of him hanging off the cliff at the cold open of that movie. basically sets the template for what 0 shit thing will he do next?”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:14:27 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
people (star-casting economics): Mission: Impossible → Twister. Hollywood realized high-concept blockbusters like Twister did not need top stars, which hurt Cruise's leverage.
“there was a market inefficiency in not casting stars in blockbusters.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:15:34 · Jason Concepcion (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (market timing): Mission: Impossible → GoldenEye. Cruise and Wagner picked MI because Bond was reaching an expiration and a new cool spy was needed.
“it's around the time of Golden Eye and Brosnan, who had some success as Bond, but Bond was sort of reaching an expiration, and we needed a cool new spy character.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:16:48 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (IP attempt): Tom Cruise → War of the Worlds. Cruise's other IP efforts, War of the Worlds and The Mummy, are fine but will not make his Hall of Fame plaque; MI will.
“Those movies are fine. They're never going to go on his Hall of Fame plaque. The Mission Impossible movies do.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:17:14 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (failed handoff): Jeremy Renner → Mission: Impossible. MI is big IP but the attempt to hand it to Renner did not work, so Cruise is essential.
“they tried to hand it off to Renner and it didn't work.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:17:37 · Jason Concepcion (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (franchise rival): Mission: Impossible III → The Bourne Identity. The Bourne films made MI feel dated and less real, delaying the franchise's recovery.
“Bourne wipes out Mission Impossible because everybody is like, not only is Bourne like an exciting movie.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:18:06 · Jason Concepcion (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (franchise influence): Mission: Impossible → The Fast and the Furious. The modern MI films combine Bourne-style hand-to-hand combat with Fast and the Furious over-the-top action.
“the 2 biggest influences on Mission Impossible are born in the Fast and the Furious.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:18:47 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
people (performance echo): Mission: Impossible → Aliens. Cruise's panicked 'they knew we were coming' on the phone is compared to Bill Paxton in Aliens.
“He's like fucking Bill Paxton and aliens in this scene.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:23:42 · Jason Concepcion (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (heist homage): Mission: Impossible → Rififi. The silent Langley vault heist echoes the Rififi heist where an alarm is triggered by sound.
“my favorite heist movies were Fifi, which has a heist uh, portion where they very similar, they drill through the roof and it's all in silence”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:24:41 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
theme (image echo): Mission: Impossible → The Departed. The rat in the air duct at Langley recalls The Departed's final shot, the hunt for a betraying rat.
“the rat in the air air duct in Langley, like a little bit of like the departed final shot”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:25:07 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
people (typecasting): Jean Reno → Léon: The Professional. Reno's dickishness here is read through his Leon persona.
“very similarly coming off of Leon professional and kind of what he represents in our mind”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:28:04 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (ensemble setup): Mission: Impossible → Alien. The Prague team is set up like Alien, a crew that knows each other, before being killed off.
“they kind of set it up like Alien, where they're like, oh, these people like actually know each other and get along”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:28:43 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (Hitchcock structural homage): Mission: Impossible → Psycho. Killing off Kristin Scott Thomas's star-billed character early mirrors Psycho killing Janet Leigh.
“it's completely Hitchcocky and it's killing Janet Lee after 40 minutes.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:29:57 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast of tone): Mission: Impossible → Villeneuve films (Denis Villeneuve). Unlike a Villeneuve film, De Palma's stylish movie is also fun and funny.
“Typically you get a Villeneuve movie and you're like, 0 man. Wow, this is so mind blowing, but like you never laugh once during the entire movie.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:31:37 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (same-year coincidence): Mission: Impossible → The English Patient. Binoche/Scott Thomas would have starred in two big 1996 films had Binoche taken Claire.
“this is the same year as the English patient, and that would have just been a funny coincidence.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:32:33 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (rejected the film): Peter Graves → Mission: Impossible. Graves turned it down mainly because Jim Phelps became the villain.
“Peter Graves specifically, did not care for Jim Phelps being the villain”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:32:43 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
what-if (casting what-if): Demi Moore → A Few Good Men. Pairing Cruise again with Demi Moore after A Few Good Men would have made a good Claire.
“ever since a few good men on cruise doing another movie with Demi Moore, and I thought she would make a good Clare.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:33:15 · Jason Concepcion (0.40 sure it was them)
verdict (chemistry ranking): Vanessa Redgrave → Kelly McGillis. Redgrave has more sexual chemistry with Cruise than anyone except Kelly McGillis.
“she has more sexual chemistry than anyone else in the history of Tom Cruise movies with the exception of Kelly McGillis.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:35:54 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
theme (same-year theme): Mission: Impossible → The Rock. Phelps's complaint about being farmed out matches Ed Harris's line in The Rock, a post-Desert Storm military-grievance theme.
“this is also the same year that the rock came out and that's the same line that Ed Harris has in the at the end of the rock.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:38:37 · Jason Concepcion (0.40 sure it was them)
people (typecasting): Henry Czerny → Clear and Present Danger. Czerny built a 90s career on the office-infighter archetype, with Clear and Present Danger his iconic turn.
“after clear and present danger, which is, to me, the iconic Henry's or any performance”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:40:01 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
people (shared actor): Emilio Estevez → The Outsiders. Estevez was in The Outsiders alongside Cruise, and he never again appeared in a blockbuster ensemble.
“the outsiders? Like, this is, it's just really, that Tom Cruise was also in”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:40:39 · Jason Concepcion (0.30 sure it was them)
people (typecasting): Ving Rhames → Pulp Fiction. Rhames as a burly imposing hacker is a smart subversion of his Marcellus Wallace persona.
“Ving Reims, who is this burly imposing Marcellus Wallace figure being the hacker.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:41:30 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (franchise role handoff): Ving Rhames → Simon Pegg. The series later introduced Simon Pegg to share the tech-guy role Luther holds.
“They introduced Simon Pegg to be that guy, a little bit as the series goes on”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:41:49 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (same role): Jean Reno → Ronin. Reno plays basically the same part in Ronin, more gregarious, as the Ving Rhames part here.
“Basically the exact same role he plays Mission Impossible. He plays in a Ronan.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:42:11 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
people (shared actor): Mission: Impossible → French Kiss. Reno also appears in 1995's French Kiss with Kevin Kline and Meg Ryan.
“a film from 1995 called French Kiss, starring Kevin Klein and Meg Ryan, in which John Renault appears as Inspector Jean-Paul Cardon.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:42:27 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (show callback): Mission: Impossible → Jaws. A political awards category was suggested, recalling a Jaws episode on Amity's campaign.
“between this and you outlining Quince campaign in Amity for the Jaws rewatchables, we should have some sort of political category here.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:46:08 · Chris Ryan (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (heist homage): Mission: Impossible → Topkapi. Langley heist is an homage to the Jules Dassin heist classics Topkapi and Rififi.
“the Langley heist is an homage to the Jewel Statsen classics of uh, top copy and uh, Rafifi.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:49:53 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
lineage (homage source): Jules Dassin → Mission: Impossible. Dassin's heist classics are the model for the Langley break-in.
“the Langley heist is an homage to the Jewel Statsen classics”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:49:53 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (name tribute): Ethan Hunt → Howard Hunt. Some think Ethan Hunt's name is a sly tribute to the Watergate CIA spy.
“some people think that Ethan Hunt's name is a sly tribute to Howard Hunt, the former CIA spy who was involved in the Watergate break-in.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:50:01 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (joke comparison): Mission: Impossible → Tropic Thunder. Joked that Cruise's transformation as an old senator deserved the praise given to Tropic Thunder.
“Why were we so praiseworthy of Tom Cruise's performance? His transformation in Tropic Thunder?”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:54:28 · Sean Fennessey (0.30 sure it was them)
verdict (apex pick): Danny Elfman → Batman. Elfman's apex is Beetlejuice or Batman, though Sean prefers Midnight Run's score.
“I also really like the Midnight Run soundtrack, but nobody asked me.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 1:02:15 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
people (regular collaborator): Stephen Burum → Brian De Palma. Cinematographer Burum is named as a De Palma collaborator with hits such as Rumble Fish and The Outsiders.
“What about Stephen Burham, who's the palm is... Stephen Burham hits.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 1:02:19 · Chris Ryan (0.30 sure it was them)
verdict (apex pick): Brian De Palma → The Untouchables. Panel picks The Untouchables as De Palma's apex.
“I'm going untouchables.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 1:02:39 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Stephen Burum → The Untouchables. Asked to pick the apex of De Palma's cinematographer Stephen Burum, the panel runs his filmography (The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, St. Elmo's Fire, 8 Million Ways to Die) and lands on The Untouchables.
“I'm going untouchables.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 1:02:39 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (cautionary contrast): Mission: Impossible → Fantastic Four. The chaotic, improvised making of MI is now only a cautionary tale like Fantastic Four or a fired Star Wars director.
“fantastic 4 is a tragic comedy and now no one will ever work again with that because everything's so formulaic.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 1:03:35 · Jason Concepcion (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career arc): Jon Voight → Heat. MI is the end of Voight doing good movies; before it he was in Heat.
“It's the end of John Void doing good movies. Prior to this, he was in heat”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 1:04:49 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage / homage): Brian De Palma → Alfred Hitchcock. De Palma embraces Hitchcock lineage and makes homage a point; MI draws on the 50s-60s Hitchcock films, especially in Prague.
“I think he knows that it's good to be in a lineage.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 1:06:03 · Jason Concepcion (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (Hitchcock homage): Mission: Impossible → The Lady Vanishes. The European mystery shades of the film recall The Lady Vanishes and Shadow of a Doubt.
“Lady Vanishes or, or, uh, even like Shadow of a Doubt in some respects”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 1:06:25 · Jason Concepcion (0.40 sure it was them)
people (peripheral auteurs): Brian De Palma → Paul Schrader. Both are tortured by their relationship to Hollywood and brought in to studio jobs.
“the guys who are like really tortured by their relationship to Hollywood, like Paul Schrader and De Palma”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 1:07:09 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)

Fun items (24)

fun, about Mission: Impossible: The film started shooting without a finished script. Premiere's Tom Friend described 4 a.m. faxes begging Towne for revisions. De Palma hated Towne's boxcar-reveal ending and pushed for the top-of-the-train chase, which cost millions. Cruise sided with De Palma.
“There were 4 a.m. last minute faxes volleyballed to town kept to town again, begging for revisions, and all were mostly Depalma's doing.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:09:49 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Mission: Impossible: The 32-minute Prague opening act ends with a fade to black after Cruise jumps through the aquarium and escapes Kittridge.
“that is presented as a 32 minute opening act, it even has a fade to black after Tom Cruise jumps through Aquarium”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:21:35 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Tom Cruise: Cruise brings the Ethan Hunt voice to the phone in 'my team is dead' scene; Sean rewound it four times for loud, crazed Cruise. 'They knew we were coming, man' is compared to a Ruffalo impression and Bill Paxton in Aliens.
“He goes Ruffalo in this scene before Ruffalo even knew.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:23:35 · Jason Concepcion (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Mission: Impossible: The Langley vault heist is nearly silent; the digital sound meter goes into the red. It is the pick for most rewatchable scene and has been ripped off numerous times.
“almost all in silence, which is an incredible choice.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:24:26 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Mission: Impossible: First time the speaker ever heard of an air-gapped computer: the vault machine is not connected to the internet for security.
“that was the 1st time I've ever, I ever encountered the idea of an air gapped computer”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:26:06 · Jason Concepcion (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Emilio Estevez: Estevez's chewing-gum explosive line 'Asta lasagna. Don't get any onya' is a favorite line.
“Asta lasagna. Don't get any onya when showing cruise how to use the chewing gum explosive.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:30:07 · Sean Fennessey (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Mission: Impossible: Budgeted at $80 million, it made $457 million worldwide and launched a franchise then on its sixth entry.
“It wound up making 457000000 worldwide, but more importantly, launched a franchise that is still going”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:32:00 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Mission: Impossible: Casting what-ifs: Juliette Binoche turned down Claire so as not to be known for blockbusters; Peter Graves and Martin Landau passed after reading the script. Early drafts had sex scenes cut and a kiss in the trailer that is not in the film.
“There's actually a kiss in the trailer that they don't ever have.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:33:33 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Vanessa Redgrave: As Max, she looks at Cruise 'like he's a steak', calls him dear boy, smiles like a shark; wins the Dion Waiters award.
“she looks at him. Like, he's a steak.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:36:02 · Jason Concepcion (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Mission: Impossible: Masks win 'what's aged the worst' over floppy disks, Netscape and Usenet, though one host argues the preposterous masks are the point and the show's legacy.
“But the masks are mission impossible.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:43:48 · Sean Fennessey (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Mission: Impossible: Hunt has masks that make anyone's face, so why not a mask of William Donloe to walk into the vault? Nobody has an answer.
“Why not just put a mask on as Don Lo walk into the office, steal the nocalyst, and walk out?”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:44:09 · Jason Concepcion (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Mission: Impossible: Early Huyck/Katz draft opened with the original IMF team, including Peter Graves, killed on a mission, leaving Cruise to solve who did it.
“They were all to be killed, and that would leave Cruz behind to solve the, you know, who the mystery of who killed his his original team.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:49:05 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Apple: Apple was nearly bankrupt and used MI for Powerbook placement plus an early promo site, the Mission Impossible Web Adventure; they spent about $15 million.
“they also set up a early website promotional tie-in called the Mission Impossible Web Adventure.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:49:23 · Jason Concepcion (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Mission: Impossible: Unintentional comedy: Hunt scrolls Usenet with his eyes closed and misses the whole letter A, arms dealing.
“he misses the whole letter A, which would have been arms dealing.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:50:40 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Mission: Impossible: Unintentional comedy: Senator Waltzer appears on the McLaughlin Group and the team watches it in crystal-clear video in a Prague hotel room.
“being able to watch the McLaughlin group in crystal clear video in a hotel room in Prague.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:50:58 · Sean Fennessey (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Mission: Impossible: Unanswerable question: three theories on Senator Waltzer, including that he is a 65-year-old American citizen played entirely by Cruise for IMF on 60 grand a year.
“Or he is a completely constructed 65-year-old human American citizen played entirely by Tom Cruise when necessary for the IMF.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:54:00 · Sean Fennessey (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Tom Cruise: The 'Net Ranger' line, delivered sincerely, is the unintentional comedy pick.
“We're going to go with Net Ranger, because he says it so sincerely.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:54:41 · Chris Ryan (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Jon Voight: Looks fitter than ever on the train in the parachute suit; hosts debate whether it is a stunt double. Jim Phelps shooting Claire first makes no sense.
“I just didn't quite understand why Jim had to shoot Claire.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:56:01 · Chris Ryan (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Mission: Impossible: Best quotes: 'Do you read me? The list is in the open', 'You've never seen me very upset', 'Just mail him his clothes'. Winner of the best line: 'You've never seen me very upset.'
“I just want him manning a radar tower in Alaska by the end of the day.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 0:58:59 · Jason Concepcion (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about The Rewatchables: Recurring Danny Trejo category: asked which character in MI should be Danny Trejo; answer was Steve Buscemi as Estevez or Claire. Said to matter to Bill Simmons.
“This is one of like the 6 or 7 things that matters most to Bill is the evolution of the Danny Trejo category within the real logic.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 1:00:51 · Sean Fennessey (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Brian De Palma: Apex Mountain for De Palma goes to The Untouchables; for Ving Rhames it is not MI. Nobody gets MI as their apex; Czerny's is Clear and Present Danger.
“So this is not a Apex Mountain for anybody.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 1:01:48 · Chris Ryan (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Mission: Impossible: Who won the movie: the panel suggests Cruise, De Palma, and the old chaotic Hollywood studio system that built an aquarium to blow it up. A cautionary-tale approach now.
“giving them the money needed to build an aquarium and blow it up.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 1:03:06 · Jason Concepcion (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Mission: Impossible: It marked the start of the Cruise/Wagner producing partnership (which later ended after taking over United Artists) and the end of Voight's good-movie run.
“It is the beginning of the Wagner cruise producing partnership, which is very powerful for a time and then ends quite badly when they take over United artists.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 1:04:37 · Chris Ryan (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Mission: Impossible: Next week's episode: Die Hard; Mad Max: Fury Road bumped to August.
“Yeah, it's a little movie called Die Hard.”
The Rewatchables · 'Mission: Impossible' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion · 1:07:53 · Sean Fennessey (0.30 sure it was them)

Who's talking

Chris Ryan (host): Loves De Palma's playful visual style and Hitchcockian cat-and-mouse set pieces, and likes casts full of great supporting actors. Is a Henry Czerny enthusiast. Can't stand the sillier tech holdovers but defends the masks as the point of the franchise.
Sean Fennessey (host): Obsessed with Brian De Palma and sees this as his last great movie; loves Carlito's Way, The Untouchables, Blow Out, and heist movies like Rififi. Dislikes masks that break the rules. A sucker for Henry Czerny and the Langley vault.
Jason Concepcion (host): Likes stylish, playful filmmaking over grim prestige; enthusiastic about Cruise's blinking, Redgrave's chemistry, and franchise lore. Dislikes unbelievable masks. Loves Denis Villeneuve but notes he is never fun.

The show's recurring bits

Apex Mountain: The moment a star peaks; where on the mountain a performance sits.
Who Won the Movie: The hosts name the person who came out of the film best off.
The Ebert review: Roger Ebert's original review and star rating read aloud. Ebert is cited, never on the show.
Casting what-ifs: Who was almost cast, or who should have been.
Most rewatchable scene: The scene each host would stop on while flipping channels.
Aged best / aged worst: What holds up and what does not.
Picking Nits: The little things in a film the hosts love that they don't think totally work: the nits.
Double feature: The film each host would pair it with; a programming pick.

Names the transcriber got wrong

De Palma rendered as 'Depalma', 'Diploma', 'Palma', 'the Palm'
Fantasy / Sean Fantasy = Sean Fennessey
Robert Town = Robert Towne; Kepp/Keppen = David Koepp; Steve Zalen/Zalion = Steven Zaillian
Emilia rest / Reims / Reames = Ving Rhames
Genre Renault / John Renault / genre know = Jean Reno
Emmanuel Bayard / Bayer = Emmanuelle Beart
Henry Zerney / Zerni = Henry Czerny
Cruz / Crews = Cruise
Don Lo = William Donloe
Willard Huck = Willard Huyck
Kristen Scott Thomas = Kristin Scott Thomas
John Wu = John Woo
Fifi / Rafifi = Rififi; top copy = Topkapi; Jewel Statsen = Jules Dassin
Stephen Burham = Stephen Burum
Ronan = Ronin
Juliet Benoche = Juliette Binoche
Strip tease = Striptease
Hetta = likely Hannah (Sarah's team code?) unclear
Born = Bourne
Jon Voight spelled 'Voight/Void'
Mighty Ducks / Den Evil = Denis Villeneuve
Daniel Caffey = probably Daniel Cagney or James Cagney (uncertain)