Brian Raftery

3 sketches, 105 claims, and 42 fun items attributed to them. What was said about them.

Personality, episode by episode

Showing 1–3 of 3 sketches.

The Big Picture: 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished (host)

Loves slow-burn tension and scenes built on dialogue, naming the Ellis kitchen scene the best of the 2000s. Is drawn to films that capture their national moment. Has little patience for the word classic, and dry humor about presidents and haircuts.

Stances

  • No Country for Old Men is about inevitability and powerlessness
  • Its 2007 release resonated with Bush-era anxiety
  • W. was undone by timing, not quality
  • Stone's late-2000s movies are best read through the decade's politics

Humor: Deadpan asides and self-deprecation (admits listening to the scene with the screen off is dorky; compares a killer's hair to Slinky Dog).

In their words

  • “To be honest, I hate the word classic, but I don't know how else you describe those movies.” (0:07:25)
  • “This is dorky, even for me.” (0:14:02)
  • “John Stewart, who was a very underrated Oscars host, in my opinion” (0:05:25)

The Big Picture: 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished (host)

Loves the ordinary-people-versus-the-moment way studio movies reflect their time, and is a sucker for a good tonal contrast between teen comedy and dread. He rates Bring It On as sunny and fun and Donnie Darko as the era's anxiety. He pokes at Flintstones sequels and flimsy studio product.

Stances

  • Movies reflect the national mood; Bring It On and Donnie Darko bookend pre- and post-9/11
  • Donnie Darko was the first film to embody the post-9/11 mood
  • Studios could afford risks in 2000

Humor: Dry, self-deprecating asides and punning jokes like 'chillenium' and the Corky Romano gag.

In their words

  • “That movie sucked.” (0:15:53)
  • “People were living in the chillenium.” (0:21:32)

The Big Picture: 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? (host)

Loves 80s Tom Cruise and Risky Business without apology; has a soft spot for Forrest Gump's Hanks and Sinise and the immersion of the best Vietnam films. Can't stand the idea that movies work as history lessons, and is critical of the genre erasing Vietnamese people. Sucker for personal stories.

Stances

  • movies aren't history lessons
  • Vietnam films mostly ignore the Vietnamese
  • studios won't greenlight a Vietnam Saving Private Ryan

Humor: Dry self-deprecation (AOL message boards, Blu-ray) and parenthetical asides.

In their words

  • “I know I've said this before, but movies aren't history lessons.” (1:04:04)
  • “I love risky business.” (0:20:56)
  • “They often ignore or dismiss the Vietnamese people themselves.” (1:04:46)

Their shows' recurring bits

Running bits, not opinions; a critic read aloud is cited, not present.

The Big Picture

Their claims

Showing 1–100 of 105 claims.

  1. craft (domino effect): W. → No Country for Old Men. Raftery links Stone's film to the Coens' as a different take on one man in over his head setting off destruction.
    “That kind of domino effect was explored in a very different movie from the year before.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:03:19 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  2. theme (era/theme): No Country for Old Men → W.. Both arrived as the Bush era wound down and prompted audiences to take stock of the 21st century.
    “No country for old men in W arrived just as the Bush era was winding down, and both movies prompted audiences to take stock of the 21st century so far.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:04:13 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  3. industry (same Oscar year): No Country for Old Men → There Will Be Blood. Both were bleak 2007 contenders at the Oscars, where none of the nominees went down easy.
    “I mean, none of that year's contenders went down easy.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:06:29 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  4. verdict (Best Picture lineage): No Country for Old Men → Million Dollar Baby. Heavy Best Picture winners of the 2000s, but none as violent or relentless as No Country.
    “Million Dollar Baby, The Departed, Crash, but none were as violent, nor as relentless, as no country for old men.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:07:02 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  5. people (same directors): No Country for Old Men → Fargo. The Coens previously made the crime dramas Blood Simple, Miller's Crossing and Fargo.
    “The filmmaking brothers behind such classic crime dramas as Blood Simple, Miller's Crossing, and Fargo.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:07:19 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  6. lineage (adaptation): No Country for Old Men → Cormac McCarthy. The film adapts McCarthy's 2005 novel and the Coens refused to water it down.
    “You can tell the cones were determined not to water down McCarthy's book.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:07:47 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  7. craft (visual joke): Anton Chigurh → Toy Story. Raftery says Chigurh's terrible haircut reminds him of Slinky Dog.
    “it always kind of reminds me of Slinky Dog from Toy Story.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:09:31 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  8. people (performance type): Woody Harrelson → No Country for Old Men. Harrelson's role is a classic Woody performance of low-key menace.
    “This is a classic woody performance, by the way.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:09:45 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  9. theme (genre): No Country for Old Men → No Country for Old Men. It works as neo-Western, chase movie and killer-on-the-loose flick but is monumental for another reason.
    “A neo Western, a chase movie, a killer on the loose flick, and it does all of those things perfectly.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:10:17 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  10. craft (theme / 2007 mood): No Country for Old Men → No Country for Old Men. Its message of powerlessness fit audiences after 9/11, Katrina, Iraq and the economy.
    “911, Katrina, Iraq, the economy.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:20:57 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  11. unmapped (against type): World Trade Center → JFK. Stone's reputation for conspiracy (JFK) fueled worries about WTC, which turned out straight-faced and apolitical.
    “In the movie JFK, Stone had unleashed multiple conspiracy theories about the president's assassination.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:23:11 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  12. people (director's run / follow-up): World Trade Center → W.. Stone had planned Pinkville to follow World Trade Center; when it collapsed he moved to W.
    “He jumped into his George W. Bush movie, which stone had had on the back burner for a while.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:26:10 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  13. unmapped (failed Bush satires): W. → American Dreamz. A couple of high-profile movies had taken aim at the Bush administration and missed; American Dreamz is one.
    “During Bush's 2nd term, a couple of high profile movies had taken aim at his administration.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:26:32 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  14. industry (political-film box-office context): W. → Rendition. Rendition came and went despite an A-list cast because audiences avoided politics at the movies, explaining Stone's financing trouble.
    “People were going to movie theaters to avoid the news, not to relive it.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:27:29 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  15. theme (character type): W. → Frank Capra movie (unspecified). Stone thought of Bush as a character out of a Frank Capra movie, a regular guy risen from alcoholic bum to most powerful figure.
    “Stone said he thought of Bush as a character out of a Frank Kabra movie.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:30:52 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  16. people (casting): Josh Brolin → W.. Stone cast Brolin in W. right after No Country for Old Men; Brolin was at first not interested.
    “Stone then turned to Josh Brolin, who'd just come off no country for old men.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:31:43 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  17. people (same actor, two roles): Josh Brolin → Josh Brolin. Llewellyn Moss and W. Bush are both impulsive men who act and get in over their heads, though Moss at least realizes it.
    “They're both guys who act on impulse, and who get in way over their heads.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:38:17 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  18. contrast (contrast): No Country for Old Men → W.. Raftery implies Moss at least realizes he is in trouble; Bush in Stone's film never does.
    “Still, at least Lou Ellen Moss has a moment or 2 where he realizes he's in trouble.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:38:21 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  19. people (same director, tone contrast): W. → Nixon. Nixon was frenzied, impassioned and inflammatory; W. looks like an outlier next to it.
    “And when you look at the film next to a movie like Nixon, which was frenzied and impassioned, and sometimes inflammatory.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:38:59 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  20. unmapped (title pun): W. → No Country for Old Men. On Obama beating McCain, Raftery quips that this was no country for old men.
    “And this was no country for, well, you know.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:43:38 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  21. unmapped (cultural handoff): W. → Iron Man. After the Bush years, audiences wanted a new big-screen hero, Tony Stark, teasing the next episode.
    “Not to mention time for a bold, new big screen hero.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:45:08 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  22. theme (theme): Bring It On → Erin Brockovich. Both fit 2000's optimistic can-do spirit; Brockovich is called the most 2000 movie.
    “which is probably the most 2000 movie to actually come out in the year 2000.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:02:59 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  23. industry (industry): Erin Brockovich → Nutty Professor II: The Klumps. Brockovich out-grossed Nutty Professor 2, showing what heroes Americans wanted.
    “I mean, Aaron Brockovich made more money than Nutty Professor 2, the clumps.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:03:45 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  24. theme (theme): 25th Hour → Donnie Darko. 25th Hour captured post-9/11 New York rage, part of the wave of anxious films.
    “Movies like 25th Hour, which captured the rage and uncertainty New Yorkers felt in the wake of 911.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:06:04 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  25. people (people): Michael Clayton → George Clooney. Clooney plays a lawyer at the end of the Bush years, near broke and compromised.
    “Or Michael Clayton, starring George Clooney as a lawyer who, like so many other Americans, has arrived at the end of the bush years feeling near broke, beaten down, and highly compromised.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:06:16 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  26. theme (theme): Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy → Donnie Darko. Even Anchorman, set in the 1970s, evokes the out-of-control early 2000s.
    “Even a comedy like Anchorman managed to evoke the out of control feeling of the early 2000s.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:06:33 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  27. theme (theme): Donnie Darko → Bring It On. Both feature suburban teen leads but take opposite views of American adolescence.
    “Like bring it on, its main characters are suburban teens.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:07:47 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  28. contrast (contrast): Bring It On → Donnie Darko. The two films mark very different points in American history, barely a year apart.
    “Though they came out just over a year apart, bring it on in Donny Darko, each to find very different points in American history.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:08:03 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  29. contrast (contrast): Bring It On → Donnie Darko. One captures post-Y2K euphoria, the other a new age of dread.
    “One takes place during that brief peak of post Y2K euphoria.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:08:10 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  30. contrast (contrast): Bring It On → Donnie Darko. Together they are the before and after of the early 21st century.
    “You can think of bringing on in Donny Darko as the how it started, how it's going of the early 21st century.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:08:40 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  31. theme (theme): Bring It On → The Breakfast Club. Hughes-era teen movies, like Bring It On, carry grown-up ideas about class, capitalism and sexism.
    “it's that they've all got some pretty grown up ideas on their mind.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:11:31 · Brian Raftery (0.85 sure it was them)
  32. theme (theme): Jessica Bendinger → Bring It On. Her hip hop journalism at Spin shaped the film's theme of white kids imitating black artists.
    “Years later, when she got into the world of cheerleading, she saw that pattern repeating itself.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:12:37 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  33. career (career): Jessica Bendinger → Bring It On. Bendinger wrote it as Cheer Fever after pitching it around Hollywood nearly 30 times.
    “Bendinger pitched her cheerleading idea around Hollywood nearly 30 times.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:14:43 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  34. programming (programming): Universal Pictures → Meet the Parents. Universal's 2000 slate was original A-list films like Meet the Parents, Erin Brockovich and Gladiator.
    “At the time, it was mostly producing original films with A-list stars, like Meet the Parents, or Aaron Brockovich, or Elizabeth Taylor's favorite award-winning epic.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:15:08 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  35. programming (programming): Universal Pictures → How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Universal also released franchise fare in 2000; the Grinch was its biggest.
    “Its biggest movie that year was How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:15:35 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  36. programming (programming): Universal Pictures → The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas. Universal's prequel-sequel-TV-adaptation, which the host dismisses.
    “Universal even managed to make a film that was a prequel, a sequel, and a TV adaptation all in one.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:15:38 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  37. industry (industry): Bring It On → Universal Pictures. Universal could afford to bankroll a risk like Bring It On because 2000 was a boom year.
    “And major studios like Universal could afford to take a risk by bankrolling a movie like Bring It On.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:17:24 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  38. people (people): Peyton Reed → Bring It On. Universal bought Bendinger's script and hired Reed to direct.
    “Universal Bot bending your script, and hired future Ant-Man guy, Peyton Reed, to direct.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:17:47 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  39. people (people): Kirsten Dunst → Bring It On. Dunst was cast as Torrance, leader of the San Diego team.
    “Kirsten Dunst was cast as Torrance, the leader of the San Diego team.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:18:13 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  40. people (people): Gabrielle Union → Bring It On. Union plays Isis, leader of the Clovers.
    “Clovers are led by a cheerleader named ISIS, who's played by Gabrielle Union and who issues a fierce challenge to the competition.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:18:38 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  41. people (people): Ian Roberts → Bring It On. Roberts plays choreographer Sparky who teaches spirit fingers.
    “The Toros hire a famous cheer choreographer named Sparky Palastry, played by comedian Ian Roberts.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:18:51 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  42. craft (craft): Aqua → Bring It On. The studio's marketing team set the Bring It On trailer to the Aqua song 'Happy Boys and Girls'.
    “the studio made a lively, colorful trailer, set to the Aqua song Happy Boys and Girls.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:19:46 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  43. lineage (lineage): Bring It On → American Pie. It followed American Pie, 10 Things I Hate About You and She's All That.
    “It arrived not long after hits like American Pie, 10 Things I Hate About You, and She's All That.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:22:48 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  44. theme (theme): Bring It On → She's All That. Like those films it had teen angst but stayed hopeful about life.
    “Movies that had plenty of teen angst, but that were ultimately pretty hopeful about life in general.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:22:54 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  45. career (career): Adam Fields → John Hughes. Fields worked on Hughes's Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club before Donnie Darko.
    “By that point, Fields had worked on several big films, including 16 candles in the breakfast club.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:25:30 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  46. lineage (lineage): Donnie Darko → The Twilight Zone (TV). The script's surreal twists reminded Fields of The Twilight Zone.
    “The Donny Darko script also reminded Fields of one of his favorite TV shows, The Twilight Zone.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:26:11 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  47. career (career): Richard Kelly → Donnie Darko. Kelly was a young film grad who had never made a feature and wanted to direct his own script.
    “The guy who'd written the screenplay, Richard Kelly, was a 20 something film grad who'd never made a feature before, and he wanted to direct Donny Darko.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:26:33 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  48. industry (industry): Donnie Darko → El Mariachi. The 90s indie boom of low-budget hits like sex, lies and El Mariachi made Darko-type bets possible.
    “Thanks to a series of low budget hits, like sex lies and videotape and El Mariachi.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:27:57 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  49. people (people): Drew Barrymore → Donnie Darko. Barrymore financed, co-produced and took a small role.
    “Eventually, the Donny Darko team got financing from Drew Barrymore, who agreed to co produce the movie and to play a small supporting role.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:28:59 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  50. career (career): Jake Gyllenhaal → Donnie Darko. Gyllenhaal, a former child actor, signed on wanting an anti-teen movie.
    “He was interested in making what he called an anti-teen movie.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:29:14 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  51. people (people): Jena Malone → Donnie Darko. Malone plays Gretchen, who plants the go-back-in-time idea.
    “Donnie starts studying time travel, and begins dating a new student named Gretchen, played by Jenna Malone.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:30:58 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  52. contrast (contrast): Bring It On → Donnie Darko. Their best-known songs show how bleak Donnie Darko is by comparison.
    “Well, for comparison, here's the most popular song from Bring It On.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:31:29 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  53. industry (industry): Donnie Darko → Pi. Sundance birthed 90s indies like Pi, Clerks and Welcome to the Dollhouse; Darko premiered there.
    “Sundance had given birth to several hit indie films, crucial 90s movies like Pie, Clerks, and Welcome to the Dollhouse.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:37:06 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  54. verdict (verdict): Donnie Darko → Donnie Darko. Called the first film to embody the post-9/11 mood even though shot before.
    “Donnie Darko was the 1st movie to really embody the post 911 mood.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:40:49 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  55. contrast (contrast): Donnie Darko → Zoolander. In fall 2001 audiences wanted breezy comedies like Zoolander and Serendipity, not Darko.
    “And besides, moviegoers mostly wanted breezy comedies and romances, like Zoolander and Serendipity.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:41:16 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  56. contrast (contrast): Donnie Darko → Corky Romano. Joke: the troubled young man audiences chose was Corky Romano.
    “If they were going to watch a movie about a troubled young man, it was going to be this guy.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:41:22 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  57. verdict (verdict): Donnie Darko → Bring It On. Darko became the first midnight movie of the 2000s.
    “As a result, Donny Darko had become the first midnight movie of the 2000s.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:41:57 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  58. theme (theme): Bring It On → Donnie Darko. Both work as time machines to specific moments: carefree Y2K-to-9/11, and fall 2001 fear.
    “Bring it on, documents that carefree blip between Y2K and 911.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:43:25 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  59. lineage (lineage): Sands of Iwo Jima → Ron Kovic. John Wayne WWII films shaped Kovic's love of the military and country, the belief the book and film later unwind.
    “War movies like Sans of Iwo Jima would inspire Kovic's love for the military and for his country.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:01:50 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  60. contrast (contrast): The Green Berets → Born on the Fourth of July. Kovic found the Green Berets false about a war he had fought in, the opposite of what Born would later show.
    “But the Green Berets was about a war Kovic had actually fought in, and he wasn't buying it.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:03:44 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  61. what-if (what-if): Al Pacino → Born on the Fourth of July. Pacino agreed to play Kovic in 1978; the film died when he shaved his mustache.
    “By 1978, Pacino had agreed to play COVID.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:08:12 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  62. what-if (what-if): William Friedkin → Born on the Fourth of July. Friedkin was to direct the first version, which collapsed when Pacino shaved his mustache.
    “So the job of directing Born on the 4th of July went to William Friedkin”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:09:51 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  63. people (people): Naomi Foner → Running on Empty. Foner's screenwriting breakthrough drew on her activist past and a friend in the Weather Underground.
    “her breakthrough would have a direct connection to her activist past.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:12:15 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  64. career (career): Sidney Lumet → Running on Empty. Lumet, director of 12 Angry Men and Dog Day Afternoon, got the script in 1987.
    “In 1987, phoner script found its way to Sydney Lament, the director of such classics as 12 Angry Men and Dog Day Afternoon.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:14:15 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  65. theme (theme): Running on Empty → The 1960s. The 80s as a political and emotional referendum on the 60s, with the film as the example.
    “If any movie demonstrates the degree to which the 80s became a political and emotional referendum on the 60s, it's running on empty.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:14:41 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  66. contrast (contrast): Running on Empty → Coming Home. Running on Empty was reconciliation, not a reminder of the war's tragedies like Coming Home or The Deer Hunter.
    “It wasn't a reminder of the war's many tragedies, like coming home or the Deer Hunter.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:16:23 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  67. contrast (contrast): Running on Empty → Platoon. It was not a reckoning with combat horrors like Platoon.
    “Nor was it a reckoning with the horrors of combat, like Platoon.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:16:28 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  68. contrast (contrast): Born on the Fourth of July → Vietnam-vet cliche films (The Exterminator, The Park Is Mine). Born was meant as a rebuttal to the ticking-time-bomb vet movies of the 80s.
    “The film would almost be a rebuttal to all those Vietnam vet cliches.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:20:05 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  69. career (career): Risky Business → Top Gun. Cruise broke out in Risky Business; Top Gun made him a go-to star, setting up the casting of Born.
    “But the film that made Cruz, the go-to wingman for millions of movie fans was Top Gun.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:21:03 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  70. career (career): Tom Cruise → Born on the Fourth of July. Cruise took a pay cut and passed on Top Gun sequels-style easy money to play Kovic.
    “Instead, Cruz took a pay cut to play Kovic.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:22:27 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  71. people (people): Dale Dye → Born on the Fourth of July. Dye was advisor and played a small role; his reason for the film was the VA hospitals.
    “He was an advisor on board of the 4th of July, and played a small on screen role.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:25:32 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  72. verdict (verdict): Born on the Fourth of July → Platoon. Born did not reach Platoon's cultural heights but was still a hit and won Stone a second directing Oscar.
    “Even though it didn't reach the cultural heights of platoon, it was a hit in its own right”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:26:08 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  73. people (people): River Phoenix → Dogfight. Phoenix plays Birdlace in Dogfight; he was also the son in Running on Empty.
    “it stars River Phoenix's Birdlace, a young marine who's about to be shipped off to Southeast Asia.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:29:50 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  74. industry (industry): Dogfight → 1990s indie films. Though a Warner Bros. release, Dogfight has an indie feel: one night, talk-heavy, little combat.
    “Dogfight has that great '90s indie vibe.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:30:43 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  75. what-if (what-if): Nancy Savoca → Dogfight. Savoca edited Dogfight during Desert Storm and feared history repeating itself.
    “And as Savoka watched Operation Desert Storm begin, she worried history was repeating itself.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:32:11 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  76. industry (industry): Persian Gulf War → Vietnam movies. After Desert Storm, moviegoers lost interest in Vietnam and pricey Vietnam dramas flopped.
    “several pricey Vietnam dramas for the boys, the war, flight of the intruder, either underperformed or downright bombed.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:36:15 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  77. programming (programming): 1990s Hollywood → Coming Home. The 90s culture was returning to the mid-70s, when films like Coming Home struggled to get made.
    “When movies like Coming Home were struggling to get made.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:36:33 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  78. contrast (contrast): Heaven & Earth → Platoon. Hayslip handed out flyers outside Platoon asking about the Vietnamese dead.
    “Flyers that posed a tough question to the Americans heading in and out of platoon.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:39:54 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  79. contrast (contrast): Heaven & Earth → The Doors. Hayslip made Stone promise Heaven & Earth would not be like The Doors, which she felt had too much sex.
    “He had to promise that heaven and earth would be nothing like his recent rock biopic the doors, which Hayslip felt had way too much sex.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:40:14 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  80. contrast (contrast): Heaven & Earth → Rambo series. Hayslip also required it be nothing like the Rambo series, which she found demeaning to the Vietnamese.
    “Stone also had to pledge that his film would be nothing like the Rambo series, which Hayslip felt was demeaning to Vietnamese people.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:40:21 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  81. industry (industry): Heaven & Earth → Platoon. Heaven & Earth got more than three times Platoon's budget because of Stone's clout.
    “More than 3 times what he had for Platoon.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:41:13 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  82. lineage (lineage): Forrest Gump → earlier Vietnam films. Gump's Vietnam section riffs on the earlier Vietnam films: music, combat, drill instructor.
    “A journey that riffs on all the Vietnam films that came before.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:44:07 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  83. craft (craft): Lieutenant Dan (Forrest Gump) → Born on the Fourth of July. Dan's angry wheelchair stretch evokes Kovic.
    “Behavior that no doubt reminded many of COVID and born in the 4th of July.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:46:36 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  84. contrast (contrast): Dogfight → Born on the Fourth of July. Gump's happy ending is set against the unhappier ones in Born and Dogfight.
    “This is a much happier ending than the one offered up in Born of the Fourth of July.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:47:06 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  85. theme (theme): Forrest Gump → The 1960s. Raftery's old take: Gump as a happy reboot letting boomers wave away the 60s.
    “Forrest Gump sometimes feels like a happy reboot of the Vietnam era”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:47:14 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  86. contrast (contrast): Forrest Gump → Dead Presidents. Audiences wanting Vietnam to go down easy by the mid 90s makes Dead Presidents a challenge.
    “suggests that by the mid 90s, audiences wanted their Vietnam films to go down easy.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:47:39 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  87. lineage (lineage): Dead Presidents → Bloods (book). Dead Presidents was inspired by Wallace Terry's oral history of Black Vietnam veterans.
    “It was inspired by a book called Bloods, an oral history of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:48:28 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  88. people (people): Dead Presidents → Menace II Society. The Hughes brothers' debut was Menace II Society; Lorenz Tate was in both.
    “That's actor Lorenz Tate, who first worked with the Hughes Brothers and Menace to Society”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:49:17 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  89. craft (craft): Dead Presidents → Apocalypse Now. The Hughes brothers kept an Apocalypse Now poster; the film borrows its helicopter shots.
    “The directors were big time movie obsessives, who kept an apocalypse now poster on the wall of their Hollywood studio.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:50:27 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  90. craft (craft): Dead Presidents → The Deer Hunter. The film carries the Deer Hunter's post-war isolation, Platoon's combat, Apocalypse Now's helicopters.
    “The post-war isolation of the Deer Hunter, the bloody combat, a platoon, even the majestic helicopter shots from Apocalypse Now.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:50:57 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  91. lineage (lineage): Dead Presidents → Blaxploitation films. It also drew on Blaxploitation films and gangster sagas, scored with 70s soul.
    “But so were Black'sploitation films and gangster sagas.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:51:07 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  92. people (people): Dale Dye → Dead Presidents. Dye trained the Dead Presidents cast as he had Platoon's.
    “Dale Dye, the man who'd put Oliver Stone's platoon actors through fake hell and back.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:51:19 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  93. people (people): Dead Presidents → Platoon. Keith David appears in both: Kirby in Dead Presidents is played by Platoon's Keith David.
    “Kirby, a Korean war vet played by platoons Keith David”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:52:27 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  94. people (people): Dead Presidents → Apocalypse Now. Martin Sheen, of Apocalypse Now, plays the sentencing judge.
    “played by Apocalypse Now Star Martin Sheen.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:53:09 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  95. craft (craft): Dead Presidents → 90s cinema. The Hughes brothers ran the older Vietnam films through a hyperviolent, referential 90s lens.
    “they were jamming those older movies through the hyperviolent, ultra referential lens of 90s cinema.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:57:16 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  96. contrast (contrast): Dead Presidents → The Green Berets. Dead Presidents was as far from The Green Berets as a movie could get, closing the boom.
    “Stylistically and culturally, dead presidents was about as far from the Green Berets as a movie could get”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:57:23 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  97. contrast (contrast): Saving Private Ryan → The Longest Day. Ryan was far more intense than the WWII classics, one viewer had been an extra in The Longest Day.
    “But Saving Private Ryan was way more intense than the World War II classics of the past.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:58:34 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  98. people (people): Tom Hanks → Saving Private Ryan. Hanks was Forrest Gump and the captain in Ryan.
    “it stars Tom Hanks as a middle-aged army captain, sent to find a young paratrooper behind enemy lines.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:58:39 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  99. industry (industry): Saving Private Ryan → The Thin Red Line. Ryan spearheaded a WWII revival that included The Thin Red Line and others.
    “It also spearheaded Hollywood's World War II revival.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:59:33 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  100. contrast (contrast): World War II films → Vietnam films. WWII is a victory, unlike Vietnam, which made it the safer subject for studios.
    “these films would be reminders of a conflict that, unlike Vietnam, ended an American victory.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 1:00:09 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)

Their fun items

Showing 1–42 of 42 fun items.

  1. fun, about Anton Chigurh: Raftery on the hitman's hair: one of the worst haircuts of all time, reminiscent of Slinky Dog from Toy Story.
    “He also possesses one of the worst haircuts of all time.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:09:28 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about No Country for Old Men: Raftery listened to the coin-toss scene with the screen off and found it even more unsettling without the actors' reactions.
    “This is dorky, even for me.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:14:02 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about No Country for Old Men: Raftery links the coin toss to the old story of the appointment in Samarra: death won't catch me today.
    “The appointment in tomorrow, the old Middle East story about death won't catch me today because I'm going to Samara.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:15:47 · Brian Raftery (0.60 sure it was them)
  4. fun, about No Country for Old Men: Hot take: the Ellis kitchen scene is the single best scene of any film from the 2000s.
    “Ellis then offers a closing thought that, for me at least, makes this the single best scene of any film from the 2000s.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:19:02 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  5. fun, about No Country for Old Men: Raftery found it comforting in 2007 that somebody else realized how messed up everything had always been.
    “thank God somebody else realizes just how fucked up everything's always been.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:21:17 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  6. fun, about No Country for Old Men: The poster tagline is 'There are no clean getaways,' which Raftery says the 2000s proved untrue.
    “There are no clean getaways.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:22:07 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  7. fun, about World Trade Center: Fans thought Stone had gone patriotic after World Trade Center; the film was a surprise box-office hit with one of Cage's most dialed-back performances.
    “And it featured one of Cage's most dialed back performances of the 2000s.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:24:35 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  8. fun, about W.: Christian Bale was originally cast as Bush and studied him for months but dropped out when makeup could not make him W.
    “But he dropped out after it became clear that no amount of makeup would transform him into W.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:31:37 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  9. fun, about W.: The closing press-conference scene has Bush struggling for over a minute to name a lesson learned.
    “Bush struggles for more than a minute.”
    The Big Picture · 5. ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘W.’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:38:01 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  10. fun, about George W. Bush: Raftery emailed a presidential candidate in 2000 asking his favorite movies; one pick was Austin Powers.
    “Turns out one of Bush's choices was Austin Powers, International Man a Mystery.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:01:55 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  11. fun, about Gladiator: Raftery says he hears Elizabeth Taylor saying 'Gladiator' weekly, more than he thinks about the film.
    “I'm not kidding when I say that I hear Liz Taylor saying gladiator in my head at least once a week.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:15:21 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  12. fun, about The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas: Flat verdict.
    “That movie sucked.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:15:53 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  13. fun, about I Know What You Did Last Summer: Senate hearings on violent R-rated movies had McCain explain the plot of a Jennifer Love Hewitt film.
    “meaning the whole country got to watch John McCain explain the plot of a Jennifer Love Hewitt movie.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:16:41 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  14. fun, about Bring It On: Made for just $11 million; expected to recoup on DVD, then opened number one for three weeks.
    “The film's budget was pretty low.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:17:52 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  15. fun, about Bring It On: Original title Cheer Fever; Universal's study found most teens thought cheerleading uncool, so it became Made You Look, then Bring It On.
    “According to a study commissioned by the studio, 59% of teenagers considered cheerleading, quote, uncool.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:19:29 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  16. fun, about Requiem for a Dream: Raftery's most stressful night of 2000: Requiem screening, Weezer reunion, Survivor finale.
    “One night, I had to go to a screening of Requiem for a Dream, and see a Weezer reunion concert, and get home to see the season one finale of Survivor before anybody ruined it from me.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:21:39 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  17. fun, about Bring It On: August release, a studio dumping month, yet it opened at number one.
    “But bring it on opened at number one and stayed there for 3 weeks.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:22:35 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  18. fun, about Donnie Darko: Fields planted a trades story claiming filming would start that summer; it was invented and it worked.
    “The producer planted a story in the Hollywood trades, announcing they were gonna start filming that summer.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:28:38 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  19. fun, about Donnie Darko: Subplot about a youth dance team named Sparkle Motion that Raftery skips.
    “and a whole subplot about a youth dance team named Sparkle Motion.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:31:16 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  20. fun, about Donnie Darko: Cost $4.5 million and shot in 28 days, the same as the countdown, a coincidence.
    “Donnie Darko cost just $4.5 million, and wound up being filmed in just 28 days.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:32:07 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  21. fun, about Donnie Darko: During the shoot a Boeing 747 hit a bird and rained engine parts on a nearby beach.
    “According to one newspaper account, a Boeing 747 hit a bird and began raining down engine parts on a beach not far from where the movie was filming.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:32:17 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  22. fun, about Donnie Darko: Raftery says the eeriest scene is kids hearing a plane overhead and looking to the sky.
    “The scene that always gets me is one in which Donny and a bunch of school kids are standing outside.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:38:21 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  23. fun, about Corky Romano: Raftery's joke about who audiences watched instead.
    “Sorry.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:41:29 · Brian Raftery (0.60 sure it was them)
  24. fun, about Donnie Darko: Grossed barely half a million dollars, then became the first midnight movie of the 2000s.
    “Donnie Darko wound up grossing barely half a million dollars in the US.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:41:34 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  25. fun, about Donnie Darko: Called a prime example of subreddit cinema.
    “Donny Darko would become a prime example of subreddit cinema.”
    The Big Picture · 1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished · 0:42:12 · Brian Raftery (0.95 sure it was them)
  26. fun, about Ron Kovic: Cried at the Marine hymn from John Wayne's death scene in Sands of Iwo Jima.
    “For years afterward, every time Kovic heard that music, he tear up, thinking about Wayne's death scene.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:01:43 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  27. fun, about Ron Kovic: Typed the memoir on a $42 Sears typewriter.
    “Using a typewriter, he bought for 42 bucks at a local Sears.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:07:27 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  28. fun, about Al Pacino: The first Born movie died when Pacino shaved his mustache.
    “Pacino had shaved off his mustache.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:10:12 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  29. fun, about Running on Empty: Restaurant scene where Annie meets her father (Steven Hill).
    “The most remarkable moment in running on empty takes place in an upscale restaurant.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:15:08 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  30. fun, about Running on Empty: Final scene: Arthur lets Danny go on a roadside near the Jersey Turnpike.
    “It takes place on a leafy roadside near the Jersey Turnpike.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:16:52 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  31. fun, about Tom Cruise: Raftery's defense of Risky Business.
    “I love risky business.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:20:56 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  32. fun, about Tom Cruise: Cruise met Kovic when Kovic's friend saw him wrestling a wheelchair out of a car.
    “a friend called him and said there was somebody outside, trying to get a wheelchair out of a car.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:23:02 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  33. fun, about Tom Cruise: Spent months in a wheelchair; Stone considered injecting him with a paralytic, insurers said no.
    “On the director's commentary track for born in the 4th of July, Stone says he actually considered injecting cruise with a substance that would briefly paralyze the actor from the waist down.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:23:38 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  34. fun, about Dogfight: Bar scene: older men buy Birdlace a drink but cannot look him in the eye.
    “But the men can barely look him in the eye.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:31:36 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  35. fun, about Forrest Gump: Gump is goofier and darker than you remember.
    “trust me when I say that Gump is a bit goofier than you remember.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:43:46 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  36. fun, about Forrest Gump: Raftery on pretending to be too cool for it.
    “pretending you're too cool for Forrest Gump is its own form of generational smugness.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:47:31 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  37. fun, about Dead Presidents: Allen Hughes compiled favorite Vietnam scenes on a VHS tape played in his trailer.
    “Alan Hughes even compiled his favorite Vietnam movie scenes onto a VHS tape, which he played in his trailer for inspiration.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:50:32 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  38. fun, about Dead Presidents: Dale Dye's boot camp: actors dug toilet holes and lived off rations in Florida.
    “the dead president's actors lived off rations, dug holes for toilets, and listened to Di's war stories.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:51:29 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  39. fun, about Dead Presidents: Cult following on home video despite no box-office hit.
    “it found a cult following on home video.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 0:56:31 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  40. fun, about Brian Raftery: Watched about 50 Vietnam films, some at 5 a.m.
    “I watched probably 50 Hollywood films about Vietnam for this show.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 1:04:50 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  41. fun, about Risky Business: Correction: Raftery notes he owns it on Blu-ray.
    “In fact, it came out in 1983, which I should note because I had that on Blu-ray.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 1:09:34 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)
  42. fun, about Top Gun: Episode correction: Cruise was a Navy pilot, not Air Force, and Risky Business was 1983.
    “In that film, he was a Navy pilot.”
    The Big Picture · 8. I Love America | Do We Get to Win This Time? · 1:09:43 · Brian Raftery (0.90 sure it was them)