The Best Movies You’ve Never Seen podcast – Strange Days

Best Movies You’ve Never Seen
Episode: Strange Days (1995)
Published: 10 July 2026
Hosts: Stephen Fenech & Trevor Long

[00:01:43] Stephen Fenech: Hello and welcome to The Best Movies You've Never Seen, our podcast about movies. The idea behind this podcast is that I, Stephen Fenech, I'm the movie guy. I pick a movie to show to my co-host Trevor Long, who's not seen it before.

[00:01:57] Trevor Long: That's right.

[00:01:57] Stephen Fenech: Uh, and that's right, 99% of the time. And even when he has seen it, he's probably forgotten it anyway, so it's like he's seen it for the first week.

[00:02:04] Trevor Long: I forget, I'm not even lying.

[00:02:05] Trevor Long: It was, uh, it was Dunkirk.

[00:02:08] Trevor Long: Yeah, very— actually, I do remember that was very good.

[00:02:09] Stephen Fenech: That was a memorable movie. Today though, we are doing a film from 1995 called Strange Days. Uh, now warning, there is some explicit audio that you're gonna hear. Not us, from the, the audio that we play. Uh, and this is— I put this in my hidden gem category, right? This is a movie that I've waited to do on this show since we started the show 5 years ago.

[00:02:33] Trevor Long: Wow.

[00:02:34] Stephen Fenech: And it's only just come— I've owned it on disc for years, but it's only just come on to Disney Plus and I thought, we're doing it.

[00:02:42] Trevor Long: Let's go.

[00:02:42] Trevor Long: How do you know? Australia alert, it's coming onto Disney Plus.

[00:02:45] Stephen Fenech: I just look every week, I look in Just Watch and oh, it's available now. I've been looking for years.

[00:02:51] Trevor Long: Interesting.

[00:02:51] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, and suddenly it's there. It's produced by 20th Century Fox, which is now owned by Disney anyway, so it's part of their, part of Disney Plus now. Released in 1995, stars Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, They're the two main characters, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, uh, and co-written and produced by James Cameron.

[00:03:16] SPEAKER_A: Wow.

[00:03:17] Stephen Fenech: James Cameron actually came up with the story back in 1986 but shelved it due to his commitment to other products, other projects. So he was obviously making Terminator remakes and sequels and other films, but he revived the idea, uh, at the behest of Kathryn Bigelow, who happened to be his ex-wife.

[00:03:40] Trevor Long: What?

[00:03:40] Stephen Fenech: They were married at one point, obviously amicable divorce. So Kathryn Bigelow also directed, and we've done this movie, Point Break.

[00:03:47] Trevor Long: Oh, we did?

[00:03:48] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, with Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze.

[00:03:50] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:03:51] Stephen Fenech: So after he helped— James Cameron actually helped her rewrite Point Break, by the way. James Cameron had a hand in Point Break as well. So he handed in what he called a scriptment, which is a cross between a script and a treatment. And so, but he had to, he had other commitments. I think this was in the early mid-'90s we were talking about. He was working on another little movie called Titanic at the time.

[00:04:21] Trevor Long: He should have dedicated his time to this.

[00:04:24] Stephen Fenech: So he had to head off, but the screenplay—

[00:04:26] Trevor Long: It's not like he had to build a whole full-scale replica.

[00:04:28] Stephen Fenech: Well, it's not quite, it's like 90%.

[00:04:30] Trevor Long: Near enough.

[00:04:31] Stephen Fenech: Screenplay was finished and by Jay Cox, who was mainly responsible for the dialogue and fleshing out the film. But he did also do— he came back and did some editing work on it, especially in the final action scenes. But he couldn't be credited for that because he's not in the Editor's Union.

[00:04:51] Trevor Long: Dear God.

[00:04:52] Stephen Fenech: So couldn't, couldn't get the credit. But he joined the Editor's Union before he made, uh, made Titanic, right? And he is credited actually for—

[00:04:59] Trevor Long: really?

[00:05:00] Stephen Fenech: One of the editors of Titanic also.

[00:05:02] Trevor Long: Wow.

[00:05:03] Stephen Fenech: Now, why is it called Strange Days? You know, I love it when they say the name. They don't in the movie.

[00:05:08] Trevor Long: No, they don't.

[00:05:09] Stephen Fenech: But the movie's title comes The Doors song, The Doors album Strange Days by The Doors. You never heard of The Doors?

[00:05:16] Trevor Long: I've heard of The Doors, yeah, but Strange Days, couldn't name a person or an album or a song.

[00:05:21] Stephen Fenech: There's a cover version of the title track in the movie as well, uh, during, uh, played by, uh, in the film they actually played the song Strange Days, but unless you know it, you wouldn't know.

[00:05:33] Trevor Long: So that's, that's enough of a tip of hat to the name though, isn't it?

[00:05:36] Stephen Fenech: Absolutely, yes it is. So, uh, had you seen this, not seen this, not heard— you wouldn't have heard of this?

[00:05:41] Trevor Long: No, I've got nothing.

[00:05:42] Trevor Long: —until last week.

[00:05:44] Stephen Fenech: This is fresh out of the can.

[00:05:46] Trevor Long: Yeah, I've got nothing here. This could have been made yesterday and I've got no idea.

[00:05:49] Stephen Fenech: All right, well, let me give you Roger Ebert's review.

[00:05:53] Trevor Long: Yes, I love Roger.

[00:05:54] Stephen Fenech: 4 out of 4 stars. That's mad. Strange Days does 3 things that will make it a cult film. It creates a convincing future landscape. It populates it with a hero who comes out of the noir tradition and is flawed and complex rather than simply heroic. And it provides a vocabulary. Look for tape head, jacking in, and the movie's spin on playback to appear in the vernacular. At the same time, depending more on mood and character than logic, the movie backs into an ending that is completely implausible. The police commissioner's sudden appearance on the scene is miraculous, and Bigelow begins a riot and then forgets about it, segueing into a New Year's Eve celebration as if you can turn off anarchy like water from a tap. What stays from the movie are not transient plot problems, however, but the overall impact. This is the first movie about virtual reality to deal in a challenging way with the implications of the technology. It's fascinating the way Bigelow was able to suggest so much of VR's impact and dangers within a movie, a form of VR that's a century old. As the character Faith observes, one of the ways movies are still better than playback: the music comes up and you know it's over. Yeah, so that's pretty ringing endorsement. 4 out of 4 stars from our man Roger Ebert. Wow. Uh, and, uh, you know, and again, I think this is— it's a shame this hasn't been out there for people. Like, you could buy it on miss, but unless it was— now that the streaming services are available, it's a shame this wasn't out earlier. People, I really hope they discover this because it is, it is one of my favorite hidden gems. Wow. All right, this is your last exit before the free hour, before we jack in even further to the movie. If you haven't seen Strange Days, you can watch it through Fetch.

[00:07:39] Trevor Long: It's time for playback, um, on Fetch. Fetch have got movies covered. You can enjoy the latest releases and loads of your favorites in the Fetch movie store. Add MovieBox to enjoy 30 on-demand 3 selected movies every month. Plus, there are loads of movies available, of course, on Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Stan, you name it. There's over 11,000 movies to choose from in the Fetch Movie Store. There is something for everyone in the family to enjoy, so you can rent or buy your favorites. And of course, there's the latest releases as well. So don't hesitate. It's your modern movie store right in your lounge room. And that movie box, unbelievable. So with your $2.99 a month Fetch subscription, You can enjoy a whole range of things, including 30 pre-selected movies every single month. So basically one in, one out every day. And it's a fantastic way to just go, well, I don't know what to watch, let's just find something on the movie box. Nice and easy. You can get Fetch from major retailers and get it through Telstra. We can find out more and buy it from fetchtv.com.au.

[00:08:42] Stephen Fenech: Righto, you've now seen Strange Days. Correct.

[00:08:46] Trevor Long: I would love to force me to watch it.

[00:08:47] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, your first impressions after your first time watch.

[00:08:52] Trevor Long: I was nervous 'cause I think you used words like last week, like dystopian and future. And I went, ah, I don't know about that. Because you know, I'm born in reality. Here's the thing though, it didn't feel overly dystopian and futuristic because so much of it was today. Like just silly things like, you know, text translation of calls and I don't know, just weird little things that happen. I'm like, oh, that's actually a pretty good look into the future. And if you wanna look at it that way, now it wasn't the year 2000, but—

[00:09:22] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, you gotta remember though, came out, so it was mid-'90s. Yeah. So the fact, you know, the year 2000 was still— it still felt a long way away. Yeah. So in that sense, it was like a look into the near future.

[00:09:35] Trevor Long: But that's the thing, that's why I'm not— I didn't— I wasn't put off by it, is what I'm saying to you. Glad to hear that. It didn't feel stupidly sci-fi. Obviously the whole jacking, da da da da. But what I took from that was to go, well, okay, if you could— if you If you could rewind to 1995 and tell people that in 2025, '26, you can walk around with sunglasses that record everything you see. I don't know. I mean, it's not jacking in the same sense of Strange Days, but there's a pretext to it. So yeah, it's a fascinating story.

[00:10:05] Stephen Fenech: I suppose we'll get into this in the movie. But when I was watching this, rewatching it again for the show, and I'm thinking Trev's gonna immediately think of the meta Ray-Bans and think, "Hey, I could do that with my red Ray-Bans now, right?" And I'm thinking, yeah, that's what he's gonna think.

[00:10:23] Trevor Long: No, I get that. I understand it's far more than that.

[00:10:26] Stephen Fenech: It's more than that, yeah.

[00:10:27] Trevor Long: But I think if you watch this today, you will find the concepts more believable than I think you would've in 1995. Yeah, perhaps, yeah, perhaps. Do you know what I mean? The lens of today is far different.

[00:10:39] Stephen Fenech: Well, put it this way, watching it in '95 when I watched it in the cinema— Would've been wild. It was a leap for that. I'm thinking, wow, that'd be amazing if you could do that. You kind of can do that now, but not to the extent that it falls straight into your— Not to the full context, yeah. Into your brain, but yeah. Yeah, so what's your social media post on this one?

[00:10:57] Trevor Long: I'm no fan of sci-fi, but Strange Days is more real than sci-fi through the lens of living in 2026, recording everything, sharing everything. This is as much real as dystopian to me. It's a great look at a world where too much is recorded, but it's also a gripping story.

[00:11:12] Stephen Fenech: Very good. That's the—

[00:11:13] Trevor Long: I know, I know it's not Meta Glasses. I know it's very different, but if you look at it from the modern world of record and show everything Yeah, that's actually what's happening.

[00:11:23] Stephen Fenech: It's ahead of its time.

[00:11:24] Trevor Long: Yeah, it's just through a different lens.

[00:11:26] Stephen Fenech: I saw this at the movies. Surprise, surprise. It was released, even though it was released in the States in 1995, late '95, I watched it in early— it was released in Australia in early '96.

[00:11:37] Trevor Long: Back in the good old days when you had to wait.

[00:11:39] Stephen Fenech: That's right. Yeah. And again, my hidden gem. I saw that and I thought I knew that Ralph Fiennes, who I think a couple of years earlier had done Schindler's List. And who also— or was it a couple years later? I'm not sure. But the, the— and I knew that how James Cameron's involvement, that wasn't hidden in the marketing, that he was involved too. Yeah, so they, they made a big deal about that. So I thought, I've got to go see this. And the whole— the trailer sort of suggested a, a sub-sci-fi dystopian sort of movie. I thought, I mean, yeah. And that's what happened. I, uh, yeah, and have re-watched it. I've only just— I've got it on Blu-ray. I'm hanging out. I don't think it's as big a movie to, to warrant a 4K release. I hope it is because I'll buy it instantly on 4K if it ever comes out. It'd look much better in 4K. Well, I mean, Full HD looked awesome too. Yeah, so you watch it on Disney Plus? Yeah, HD or 4K? I, I don't think if it's 4K on Disney Plus, I'm gonna watch it again.

[00:12:38] Trevor Long: I really don't know, I didn't really pay to check it out.

[00:12:41] Stephen Fenech: Anyway, let's talk about the cast. Ralph Fiennes plays Lenny Nero. And he was in Schindler's List. He was in The English Patient. He was in a recent movie, great movie, which we'll get to on the podcast, Conclave, about the— he's a priest with a papal election. Yeah, he was also in Harry Potter. Oh, did you notice? Did you recognize him as, uh, is it Voldemort?

[00:13:06] Trevor Long: All right, mate, I don't recognize him at all.

[00:13:07] Stephen Fenech: You don't? You don't?

[00:13:08] Trevor Long: I know. So here's the thing about him. I, I'm like, that's a, that's a guy I know. He's an actor. Yeah, but that's all I know.

[00:13:14] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, he's in Harry Potter.

[00:13:15] Trevor Long: I've never seen Harry Potter. Your daughter would No.

[00:13:18] Stephen Fenech: Angela Bassett plays Laurette Mason. She was in Black Panther. She was also in Contact and What's Love Got to Do with It. She actually played Tina Turner. Oh right, as What's Love Got to Do with It. Tom Sizemore plays Max Peltier. He was in Heat. Do you remember him in Heat? No.

[00:13:41] Trevor Long: Black Hawk Down. Oh, he played Max. Oh mate, he stood out to me instantly.

[00:13:45] Stephen Fenech: Yes, so that's Tom Sizemore.

[00:13:46] Trevor Long: He was in— the hair was a challenge, but yeah. A bit of a wig going on.

[00:13:50] Stephen Fenech: Uh, Black Hawk Down, Saving Private Ryan.

[00:13:54] Trevor Long: Oh yeah, he passed away in 2023.

[00:13:56] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, age 61. Oh wow, that's— yeah, I think he's— there was some— yeah. Oh, that's sad. Okay. Yeah, had some problems there. Juliette Lewis plays Faith. She was in Natural Born Killers, Cape Fear, Scorsese movie, and From Dusk Till Dawn. And your man Vincent D'Onofrio plays Burton Steckler.

[00:14:17] Trevor Long: I don't normally contact Steven while watching a movie, but I'm like, oh my God, it's It's Goran from Law Order. By the way, it's in HD on Disney+. Oh, hey, there you go.

[00:14:25] Stephen Fenech: That makes me feel better. Yeah, that's good. Men in Black he was in, which we've done. Full Metal Jacket, which we'll get to. Law Order, which you will— you know what, I'm addicted to that now on Samsung TV.

[00:14:35] Trevor Long: I wish they'd start playing Criminal Intent.

[00:14:37] Stephen Fenech: It's my background show now. I wish they'd show Criminal Intent. I think I'm gonna get through the run and be watching reruns pretty soon. Yeah. Before we get to the top scenes and the run-through, let's have a chat about Hisense. And Hisense, if you're in the market for TV, if you're on a budget and you're in the market for a TV, now Hisense can sell you the latest RGB Mini LED, Micro LED, whatever RGB technology they have, but they still have a very compelling ULED Mini LED lineup and also available in bigger sizes. So if you're after a 75-inch or an 85-inch, give the Mini LED, the ULED TVs a look because they are affordable, still offer fantastic quality, 4K resolution. They have the, uh, Mini LED Pro, uh, HiQ LED Mini LED Pros have anti-reflection glare-free screens. They have native 165Hz game mode as well. So if you're a gamer, chuck up the game on there, or if you're watching the movies that we talk about here on the show, they're going to look glorious in 4K. They do have the HiView AI Engine Pro that just makes everything look sparkly, looks really nice. Color is really accurate as well. It's Pantone validated, in fact. So check that out. And sound-wise, you're getting 4.1.2 multichannel surround sound. And again, at prices that you— that will surprise you. 75, 85 inches, Hisense. Check them out in your store. I think the best thing to do, find these in your local electronics store, stand in front of it, have a look at it. You'll appreciate the quality in seconds. The U8, the mini LED range from Hisense. Go to their website as well, check it out, hisense.com.au. Now, interesting start to the movie, don't you think? This opening sort of POV going on. We sort of in there, it's a 4-minute POV, so first-person shot. So we're, it's like we're point of view of someone, they're robbing a restaurant. Yeah. And so we're viewing it from the perspective of a criminal. So you're thinking, what were you thinking? What the hell? What am I looking at?

[00:16:47] Trevor Long: I'll tell you straight away. Yeah. What, and we'll get to the speaker workout later, but what grabbed me most here was the mix. This was because all the voices were behind. It was great. I mean, I know I've heard some great surround sound, but the use of surround in a POV, this was clever. It was so clever.

[00:17:08] Stephen Fenech: So clever. So my interjections here are going to be called brain snaps. Ah, that's fair. I'll play it. My brain snap is that this opening sequence was shot, was meant to look like one continuous shot. It was actually shot at 4 separate locations and made to look like one location because that one location they couldn't find it. Everything ticked the box to do what they need. So the cuts were disguised. So how they disguise it, like, you know, when they do a couple of flash pans, like when you look quickly, that's the cut. That's the cut. Yeah. And so that's how they did it. So due to the pace of the scene as well, they couldn't even record in or dub the sound on the set. So all the sound and dialogue that you heard was overdubbed during post-production. Wow. Yeah, so we see that the heist goes wrong. The police pursue them onto a rooftop, and one of the criminals attempts to leap the gap between another building, and he misses and falls to his death. Oof, mate, it's wild.

[00:18:07] Trevor Long: What we discovered though, because you know that, that where his mate jumps across, and then when he gets close to the edge, you're like, that's a really big jump, and then he makes it, but he's clinging on, and that clinging on is so real.

[00:18:17] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, and then he falls.

[00:18:19] Trevor Long: POV is very well shot. It's a—

[00:18:21] Stephen Fenech: it was a like a jump start into the movie because we reveal the perspective perspective abruptly shifts and we see Lenny Nero ripping off a headset that they call the Squid, which I think stands for something, I'll get to that, uh, and he's in a dark room and he, he's, he was just jacking in to a bootleg disc evaluating product. How'd you get the tape?

[00:18:43] Movie Audio: How come the cops didn't put it in evidence?

[00:18:44] Movie Audio: I guess with all the blood they didn't see the ring. A guy had it on a wig.

[00:18:48] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, but how'd it get to you?

[00:18:49] Movie Audio: I got ways, Lenny, I got ways, mate. I got to deal with some of the paramedics. My guy pages me. I pick it up at the morgue. What do you think? This clip has got to be worth at least a grand, right?

[00:18:59] Movie Audio: Tick, not to dash your hopes, but I don't deal this kind of product. You know that. I'll give you $4 for it, because I got to cut off the last bit, and my customers want uncut.

[00:19:08] Movie Audio: Fuck that, man. The last part is the best. You dry dive 6 stories and blammo, man. You jacked right into the big black.

[00:19:14] Stephen Fenech: I don't deal blackjack clips. It's powerful. Policy. I got ethics here.

[00:19:19] Movie Audio: Oh yeah, when did that start? Come on, Lenny, this is what people want to see and you know it.

[00:19:24] Movie Audio: So lay it off to somebody else.

[00:19:25] Movie Audio: Lenny, Lenny, I got expenses. I got to get my rig fixed. Look at it, there's blood all over the head. Give me 6 at least. This is a good clip, man. It gets you pumping.

[00:19:35] Movie Audio: Well, first part's okay. It's better than the usual soaps you bring me.

[00:19:39] Movie Audio: Now that is Paul, man. You know I always bring you the choice.

[00:19:43] Movie Audio: Yeah, sure, like this low-grade shit What is it here? Some girl in a fight with her boyfriend. It's a test pattern. Nothing happens.

[00:19:48] Movie Audio: I'm snoring. Lenny, you're always telling me, bring you street life, bring you real life, that one man's mundane and desperate existence is another man's Technicolor.

[00:19:58] Movie Audio: I said that many times.

[00:20:00] Movie Audio: It's a direct quote. I'll take it for 5.

[00:20:03] Trevor Long: So we get an insight, start to realize he's a dealer of the content of the bootlegs. Yeah, these headsets obviously exist in society. And the content for them has to be made and traded.

[00:20:16] Stephen Fenech: We discover later that they were initially designed for the police. I think they say it later. So it was initially their body cams and that's how they were recording it through the squids, the headsets. But then they became illegal, so they became— there was a black market for them. And here's where Lenny steps in. That's it. So he's driving through and we get a bit of a taste of the dystopian, sort of chaotic, militarized LA of December 30th, 1999. Yeah. So a bit of a powder keg going on. There's armored vehicles and fires and heavily armed police going around.

[00:20:48] Trevor Long: Really, there's no real understanding of why it's become that way other than it's clearly, you know, not as, not as nice a place as it was when—

[00:20:57] Stephen Fenech: not as a film. Yeah. We also know that there's— the city's in a bit of grief there. There was a grief and anger over the news that Jericho One, a pop— a Black rap artist, had been shot dead. Yeah. And, uh, so the police claim it was a random carjacking, and the streets are on the verge of like a full-scale riot.

[00:21:15] Trevor Long: And there's nods there to previous incidents that have happened, obviously. Yeah, Rodney King and all those kind of things. Absolutely. And then, you know, rapper stuff happened.

[00:21:22] Stephen Fenech: So it's all a bit of a nod. Absolutely right. No, you're right. In fact, a little, little bit of trivia on that. Where they filmed Terminator 2 was right opposite where the Rodney King— that's right— event happened. And I think it was at the same time, around that time. But you're right, it does have a feeling of that. Meanwhile, we see a woman, Iris. She's a sex worker, close friend of Faith, who we meet later. She's running for her life and she's bolting, chased by two corrupt and aggressive LAPD officers, Burton and Steckler. Steckler played by Vincent D'Onofrio.

[00:22:02] Trevor Long: You don't know at this point they're corrupt, but you know they're not legit because of the way they're just being so abusive towards her.

[00:22:07] Stephen Fenech: Burton's actually played by William Fichtner. He was in, he'd been in a few movies.

[00:22:11] Trevor Long: They're running down the subway and all these different things, you know, which is, yeah.

[00:22:15] Stephen Fenech: Pretty full on. We cut back to Lenny, and Lenny loves to jack into an intimate memory. Really weird way to describe it, but anyway. Well, he's got these tapes of intimate memories with his ex-girlfriend and rock singer Faith.

[00:22:30] Trevor Long: Dangerous thing to do, sitting exposed to the rest of the world, because I don't know, that feels like something you want to do behind closed doors.

[00:22:35] Stephen Fenech: Maybe, but he's in his apartment. He's just in his apartment. Yeah, he's locked the doors, mate. He's fine. And he's Faith. We discover that his rock singer girlfriend Faith has left him for a wealthy, ruthless music mogul named Philo Gantz.

[00:22:51] Trevor Long: But it's also later, I think, where you get an additional sense that this jacking process, this playback process, is more than just watching a video. You're actually tapped into the feeling and emotion. You become that person. That's where you start to realize this is not a point of view camera recording and a playback. This is you, you get, you get the feelings of that person.

[00:23:12] Stephen Fenech: Now my brain snap here is that, did you notice the cartridges used for the clips and just mini discs? Sony mini discs. Yeah, with this, this Squid decks were also retrofitted Sony Mini Disc players. Yeah, so at the time it was new technology introduced in 1994. Yeah, discs were engineered to be recordable and re-recordable, but sales— they were very expensive. Yes, but the sales were pretty poor and the line was eventually abandoned. Sony thought, nah, not good, try anything here. So Lenny is established as a slick hustler. He meets a wealthy client in a bar pitching Squid discs like a street-level drug dealer, really, eh? Selling real life experiences.

[00:23:54] Movie Audio: Okay, so tell me, tell me, um, have you ever, have you ever jacked in? Have you ever wired tripped? No, no, a virgin brain. Good, good. Well, we're going to start you off right, okay? Just tell me, just save us some time, tell me what you know.

[00:24:09] Movie Audio: Just what I've read, that, uh, the technology was developed for the feds to replace the body wire and And now it's gone black market.

[00:24:18] Movie Audio: That's right. So this conversation's not taking place, okay? You're damn right it's not. Good, good.

[00:24:25] Movie Audio: So do I, uh, get the deck from you?

[00:24:28] Movie Audio: I'll set you up. I'll get your deck in my car since my thing is the software. Clips, right? Clips, right. Now listen, I want you to know what we're talking about here, okay? This is not like TV. TV only better. This is life. It's a piece of somebody's life. It's pure and uncut. It's straight from the cerebral cortex. I mean, you're there, you're doing it, you're seeing it, you're hearing it, you're feeling it. What kind of things exactly? Exactly anything. It's whatever you want, whoever you want to be, okay? I mean, you want to go skiing without leaving —your den, you can. But I'm assuming that a guy like you, you want to go skiing, you fly to Aspen. This is a really good exposition. You're interested in here, it's about the stuff that you can't have, right? The forbidden fruit. Which is exactly—

[00:25:24] Trevor Long: so you really get an understanding by now that you've got this kind of— there's clearly kind of pornography-style stuff, there's the, there's the robbery, there's the, there's the life you can't live.

[00:25:34] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, the adrenaline.

[00:25:35] Trevor Long: That little, that little chat there has no relevance to the story, but But it's an important exposition as to why this content exists. Yeah. And why do we need to film armed robberies? Why do we need to film things? Because there's people that have got money and want the experience.

[00:25:49] Stephen Fenech: And we discover too that throughout the film that the people who are hiding the rigs under wigs and stuff and recording things where— and that's the thing, people don't know they're recording. That's correct. Today with the Meta Ray-Bans, there's a little light on to say I'm recording you. But whereas this, it's hidden underneath a wig or something or a hat or something and you don't know. You know Zuckerberg's working.

[00:26:09] Trevor Long: You know Zuckerberg's sitting there. Seen this movie and he's working.

[00:26:12] Stephen Fenech: Yes, I think that might have been the, the origin of the, the Meta Ray-Bans, you reckon? All right, so he's, uh, he's met up with, uh, he's his guy. And I love the, you know, he, he later on that scene he's playing back, uh, he's, he's letting him experience the, uh, the, the clips. And the clip he played him, he goes, you were just an 18-year-old girl taking a shower. Remember, he was like, oh, and he was thinking he was getting into it. Um, uh, meanwhile, Iris, remember the woman being chased by the cops, is outside. She sees, you know, recognizes Lenny's bar and she's got the disc and drops it through his open sunroof. Yes. But then we see cut back to the bar, we meet Max. So his mate plays a prank memory, pulls a gun on him and scares off the client. Scares off that client. And he goes, mate, you cost me a lot of money there. Then Iris comes into the bar and talks to him, he goes, I want to go out to your car. She's disheveled and paranoid and in trouble. They go outside, she hears a police siren and runs off.

[00:27:07] Trevor Long: The funny thing about an actor like Iris, with the greatest respect, is I don't recognize her, I don't know her. And so I hadn't put together that the woman being chased on the train, the woman that threw the thing. Like, I didn't pick that up. No, I'm not picking that. Even when we get to the next bit where, you know, she's a— she's the subject of a video. Yes. I hadn't put them all together until it's exposed, until it's explained later.

[00:27:28] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, right. Yeah, that's the same girl. And as they get outside, she hears a siren and panics and bolts. And just as she's running off, Lenny sees his car being towed away. He drives a Merc too, more info on that. Yeah. Uh, but then, uh, Lenny meets up— he's now— he's Carlos now. So he meets up with Mace Lornette and name is, Mace Mason. This is Angela Bassett's character, a fiercely independent private limousine driver and security expert. I think she's a former police, you think? No, he— no, he's a former policeman.

[00:27:57] Trevor Long: Yeah, we find out why, what they did later. She's basically—

[00:27:59] Stephen Fenech: they become friends, they've been friends for years. She's a single mother who has a complicated protective relationship with Lenny because he helped her family a few years ago when he was a detective. Yeah, so I love this bit where Mace picks up a client who sits in the limo and Lenny not only shows him the squid but also convinces asks him to go with him to a nightclub. Yeah, so Mace is forced to drive them.

[00:28:22] Trevor Long: Mace knows, and Lenny admits, that he wants to go to the nightclub not just because the client wants to go there, because his ex-girlfriend Faith, who he's obsessed with, is playing there.

[00:28:29] Stephen Fenech: But Mace has something to say about Lenny. In fact, I think she kicks him out of the car and he jumps on the bonnet. Yes, and then he eventually gets back in.

[00:28:36] Movie Audio: Hey, Mace, this is uncharacteristic behavior for you.

[00:28:39] Movie Audio: Miss Ice Water in her veins, super chill. You pushed me too far, Lenny!

[00:28:42] Movie Audio: You made me lose it in front of a client! I could get fired. Are we still friends? I don't know, Lenny. You see, friendship is more than one person constantly doing favors for another. I know that. I don't hustle my friends. Hey, what is this? You just suck people along with your schemes, your scams, and your slick act.

[00:28:57] Movie Audio: We're still buddies, aren't we?

[00:28:59] Movie Audio: Don't just be using the time that I'm talking to be thinking about what you gonna say next. You listening? Yeah. Lenny, your ass is always broke. You'll go from one score to the next, and you're getting strung out. You don't even see it. It's your brain, so you do whatever the hell you want with it. But not on my watch, you understand me? I got a child, I got rent, and I got an ex-husband doing hard time who doesn't send me a dime of support.

[00:29:24] Movie Audio: I'm just trying to hold on here.

[00:29:28] Movie Audio: I, I know you wouldn't be saying all this if you didn't care about me. Thanks, Mace, really.

[00:29:32] Movie Audio: You're getting out with Kamitsu, and that's the end.

[00:29:35] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, but he, he actually wanted— he was getting out with him anyway. He was like, "I don't care." Yeah. So they're at the nightclub and as soon as he walks in, he gives a guy who had no legs a disc.

[00:29:44] Trevor Long: He goes, "I made this especially for you." Oh, this is a really, really fascinating moment because the guy with no legs gets this disc and because Lenny makes a joke, "They haven't grown back yet," you know, something like that. Like, it's pretty, pretty poor form. But yeah, but then he puts the squid on and the disc is not a robbery. It's not a pawn. It's someone looking down at their feet running, running on the beach through the water. Water. Yeah, it's like, oh my God, wow. That's what I think where you realize that it is so much more than just the vision.

[00:30:11] Stephen Fenech: Absolutely. Feeling experiential, is that how you say it? Yeah. Uh, but this guy gives him an envelope. There's an envelope addressed to him, it just says, uh, Nero on, on it, and he hands it. There's obviously a disc inside. Lenny watches Faith perform, his ex-girlfriend, at the nightclub, and she basically tells him, look, forget me. Uh, but even, even after that, he, uh, despite him, uh, stalking her after the show, another pain snap here. Juliette Lewis did all her own singing for— wow, yeah, for her character Faith's club performance. She did all herself. Nice. Uh, Lenny tells her that he saw Iris and, uh, finds out his mate Max is now Philo's bodyguard.

[00:30:53] Trevor Long: Yes, so Max didn't tell him earlier when he saw him.

[00:30:56] Stephen Fenech: He did not. Lenny's thrown out and beaten up before Mace shows up again. He gets in the back of her limo and plays the disc he received earlier. Yes.

[00:31:06] Trevor Long: Now here he's in the back of the limo with his friend driving, and he— and she's, by the way, not a fan of the Squid, not a fan of the jacket.

[00:31:12] Stephen Fenech: Keep that away from me. But he's playing in the back and he's thinking, oh my God, it's this horrific snuff recording where the killer enters what we discover is Iris's hotel room, brutally rapes and murders her. But before he does that, he forces her to wear the Squid playback rig while he kills her, meaning she's forced to experience experience her own terror and death.

[00:31:37] Trevor Long: So he, what he says is that he's essentially got two— he's kind of modded it. So rather than just having the unit on his head, yes, it's recording what he's doing. He's got another unit which is essentially recording him and transmitting to her. So she's seeing what he's seeing. It's the wildest— I mean, my God, because there's a part of that. So I think they talk about it later. It's the, it's the content, and this is horrific to talk about. So please, I hope there's no kids listening. But the idea that this woman is not just seeing a bloke strangle her and, you know, cut her clothes off, but also feel what it's like for him to be inside her. You know what I mean? Like, crazy. Imagine what that does to your head.

[00:32:19] Stephen Fenech: Well, when Lenny was watching it in the back and you could see the experiences, he's reacting to it. He's convulsing almost. So you can tell that it sort of touches the nervous system. Yeah, so, you know, Lenny is utterly traumatized, and he shares the news with Max.

[00:32:38] Movie Audio: You make dreams happen, don't you? If it's got something to do with the water, sooner or later it washes up on your beach.

[00:32:44] Movie Audio: I've never dealt in blackjacks. Never. Everybody knows that.

[00:32:48] Stephen Fenech: Oh, come on, he's just skull-fucking you, buddy, all right?

[00:32:50] Movie Audio: He just wants to get a reaction out of you. He wants to make you do something that you do not want to do.

[00:32:55] Movie Audio: No, hell, maybe he just figures Lenny will appreciate appreciate what he's created. It's the dark end of the street. How do you like it now? Mace, back off. No. This guy is one of your squidhead contacts. He's somebody that you know, Lenny.

[00:33:09] Movie Audio: The problem with that is, Mace, Lenny knows everybody. Let's take the tape to the cops.

[00:33:16] Stephen Fenech: No. No. They'll crucify me.

[00:33:20] Movie Audio: I see. So this wire freak gets to keep running around, huh?

[00:33:24] Movie Audio: Lenny's right. The police will think he's the perp, or they'll go through his client list and they'll ruin his life, such as it is.

[00:33:32] Stephen Fenech: I'm gonna call my buddies at homicide, all right?

[00:33:35] Movie Audio: I'm gonna tell them Iris was a friend of mine, and that way they'll put me in the loop. I'll get the forensics and all that shit, okay?

[00:33:41] Stephen Fenech: Get some sleep.

[00:33:42] Movie Audio: I'll call you when I get something.

[00:33:44] Stephen Fenech: Relax. Lenny, keep moving.

[00:33:49] Movie Audio: Moving, man. Somebody's thinking about you a whole lot.

[00:33:53] Stephen Fenech: Wow. So that sets that up. Um, he sneaks into the VIP lounge to, uh, to talk to Faith. Yes, he's now— he's now worried. He knows that Iris and Faith were friends. Yeah. So Faith rejects him completely. Uh, she's defensive and terrified of Philo Gant's wrath. Philo's bodyguards throw him out again and start beating him up.

[00:34:14] Trevor Long: But then this guy Philo is also the manager of Jericho who was killed. So correct, there's a lot of weird reputational issues going on as well.

[00:34:19] Stephen Fenech: Things crossing crossing, uh, crossroads here. But when he's getting beaten up, I love how Mace comes to his rescue. She says, hey, and she just beats them up. Yeah, but they take the disc. Remember the bloke at the start, Tick? They take the disc to, uh, him to look at.

[00:34:36] Movie Audio: Oh man, oh, that is one unbelievable piece of eye fuck.

[00:34:40] Movie Audio: Let's give the art criticism, Tick. What can you tell me about the wearer?

[00:34:43] Movie Audio: That guy is fucked up. We know that, Tick.

[00:34:47] Movie Audio: No, I mean the killer's got some kind of distortion in the visual cortex. Look, the color and the grayscale values are all messed up, like color blindness. See the peak period ratios? There could be some kind of tumor or brain lesion or something, some kind of trauma. Whoever's doing this is using a box to split the signal so that—

[00:35:03] Movie Audio: You ever make a box like that?

[00:35:05] Movie Audio: Yeah, a few, but I can't see the gear well enough to see if it's mine. I don't like this. This is not good. Good. What? It's cutting awfully close to me. She was just here, man.

[00:35:17] Stephen Fenech: Who was just here? Iris. Would you pay attention to me?

[00:35:20] Movie Audio: Iris was here?

[00:35:20] Movie Audio: She was here the other night. She was shaking like a junkie. Said she wanted me to make a copy of some clip. What clip? What was it? I don't know. She wouldn't let me see it. She said I wouldn't want to see it. Said she was going to give it to you to hold for her, like insurance or something.

[00:35:32] Movie Audio: She never gave me a tape.

[00:35:33] Movie Audio: Wait a minute, Lenny. Think back to what she said.

[00:35:35] Movie Audio: She came into the bar, she was crying, she wanted to go out to my car. She want to go out to to your car.

[00:35:40] Movie Audio: There's something you have to see. Something about my car? Something in your car.

[00:35:44] Stephen Fenech: So they, they work it out. Okay, she's put something in his car. They go to the impound yard. Yep. And find the disc inside.

[00:35:52] Trevor Long: As they leave though, those two rogue cops are there.

[00:35:54] Stephen Fenech: Yes. So Burton and Steckler are there. They show up, hold them at gunpoint, demand the disc. Lenny, I'm thinking, mate, what are you doing? He hands it over. And after a brief shootout—

[00:36:03] Trevor Long: I immediately realized he handed over a different disc.

[00:36:05] Stephen Fenech: Wow. We discovered the bloke has pockets full of discs. Yes, he does. Yeah. And they but they have a brief shootout. I think someone's distracted and they drive off in the limo. But get this, they drive to the end of a pier.

[00:36:17] Trevor Long: The car's got bulletproof glass, but that can only endure so much.

[00:36:21] Stephen Fenech: The cops— what your man D'Onofrio does is bloody put gasoline on the car and lights it up. Yeah. So their only option is to drive into the water to put it out. Genius option. And then they think, okay, we've got to get out of the car now. And they eventually get back though.

[00:36:36] Trevor Long: She gets a shotgun and shoots the boot open, and that's how they get out.

[00:36:40] Stephen Fenech: Boom.

[00:36:40] Movie Audio: I can't believe you had to give them the damn tape.

[00:36:44] Movie Audio: Yeah, me neither. There's one of my favorites— me and Faith in the hot tub on my birthday. Are we impressed yet? Yeah, pretty impressed.

[00:37:01] Stephen Fenech: He's— I really enjoy his performance, Ray Fiennes, in this. He's so playing against his normal normal role. Yeah, in this, like, he's normally playing like an English someone, you know, total scumbag. He's in this movie, this is the complete opposite, total opposite. He does a great, great job. Now the, the, they go eventually see the disc, um, and it's huge. The disc reveals what Iris was actually running from.

[00:37:22] Trevor Long: Iris was with Jericho. Yes, the night he died.

[00:37:26] Stephen Fenech: That's right.

[00:37:26] Trevor Long: So the tape shows Burton and Steckler executing Jericho one in a cold, in cold blood because of his anti-police rhetoric, because she was wearing the unit to record, obviously, because someone had said wear this, you know, get him and discover that later, you know, all that kind of stuff.

[00:37:41] Stephen Fenech: Mace realizes the disc is a political atom bomb. If it gets out, LA will burn, she says. She wants to take it to the authorities. Lenny wants to use it as leverage to save Faith. So what do they do? Max calls Lenny, meet him at Tick's, and they discover that Tick's brain has been fried. It's been cooked off.

[00:38:06] Movie Audio: Is he dead? No, but his frontal lobes are like two runny eggs. They put an amplifier in line to boost the signal, and it fries his brain.

[00:38:18] Stephen Fenech: Tick! It's Lenny! Hey, hey, Tick, come on! That was from his perspective. Come on! Come on, Tick! Come on!

[00:38:33] Movie Audio: This county's totally cut off from the outside world.

[00:38:36] Movie Audio: How long does it last?

[00:38:38] Trevor Long: Forever. It's max.

[00:38:41] Movie Audio: Those two psycho cops are on a slash-and-burn, man, to find the tape and cover their tracks. You know, since Tick is a known duplicator, they want to find out what he knows, like if copies were made or who might have wired a virus. It doesn't even get investigated as a homicide since he's technically alive.

[00:38:56] Movie Audio: Yeah, that's right. He's technically alive.

[00:38:58] Movie Audio: Seems a little sophisticated for them. These are not subtle guys.

[00:39:02] Movie Audio: There's more to this whole thing than you think, Mase.

[00:39:04] Movie Audio: What do you mean?

[00:39:07] Movie Audio: All I'm saying is you don't know how high up the food chain this thing goes.

[00:39:12] Movie Audio: I heard stuff. What stuff?

[00:39:14] Movie Audio: You know, I heard stuff. Smoke, rumors. I've heard stuff. I've heard stuff about a death squad. A group of guys, cops loyal to the hardline school. Guys have had too many years of City Hall and review boards and the goddamn media pissing down their necks.

[00:39:34] Stephen Fenech: So it's a bit of a powder keg going on. But yeah, Lenny though is panicking, thinking Faith is next. So they bolt down there, and but then Faith reveals everything about—

[00:39:44] Trevor Long: yeah, so finally she kind of gets through to her and she exposes what she knows about some stuff.

[00:39:51] Movie Audio: What do you want?

[00:39:52] Movie Audio: We know about Jericho.

[00:39:54] Stephen Fenech: Iris gave me a copy of the tape.

[00:39:55] Movie Audio: Goddamn it, Lenny, I was trying to keep you out of this. I know.

[00:39:59] Movie Audio: Now, how'd it happen? What was Iris doing riding around with Jericho wearing a watch?

[00:40:03] Movie Audio: Faith, Faith, listen, look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me. You gotta trust us. We're here to help you.

[00:40:10] Movie Audio: All right, I'll talk to you alone.

[00:40:12] Movie Audio: Mace is in this.

[00:40:13] Movie Audio: Tell us.

[00:40:16] Movie Audio: Hey, Philo, he's gotten obsessed with playback. He's a total wiretap junkie. He's such a control freak now. He's been having people followed. He's recording his business partner's phone calls. He's wiring up people left and right. Philo and Jericho weren't getting along. He was afraid Jericho was going to dump him, but he wasn't So he starts with the surveillance. A couple of nights ago, he wires up Iris and he sends her and the other girl, Diamando, over to Jericho's table. So that night, Iris calls up crying. She's freaking out. She comes over and she plays the tape. Philo loses it. He can't believe the disaster she's gotten him into. He's afraid the cops are gonna beat it out of her who she's been working for and then come looking for him.

[00:41:07] Movie Audio: Why don't you just go public with the tape?

[00:41:10] Movie Audio: Save himself that. If it got out that he had his own artists under surveillance, he'd lose all his other acts and it'd be over for him.

[00:41:17] Stephen Fenech: So Philo was trying to, trying to get some, some intel on what was going on with Jericho, one of his clients. So what Max does, though, Philo takes Faith, he grabs her, drags her out and takes her to a New Year's Eve party at the Western Bonaventure.

[00:41:33] Trevor Long: Hotel. This is the big party.

[00:41:36] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, this is the party of the century. Massive ultra-exclusive New Year's Eve gala. Yep. Max suggests they swap the disc for Faith. He says if he's not at the party, he'll be in Suite 2203. So Mace tells Lenny though that I'm not, I'm not going there. She suspects.

[00:41:55] Movie Audio: Park your mouth and listen. It's a setup. Think about it. Why is he sending it takes to you to freak you, get you to rush in without thinking, put a bullet in you, wanting her and the gun in your hand?

[00:42:05] Movie Audio: Yeah, that sounds right.

[00:42:07] Movie Audio: I'm going. You going to get yourself killed for this, for this toxic waste bitch. What the fuck are you doing? This is your life right here, right now. It's —real time. You hear me? Real time. Time to get real, not playback. You understand me? She doesn't love you anymore. Maybe she did once. I don't know. But she doesn't now. These are used emotions. It's time to trade them in. Memories were meant to fade, Lenny. They're designed that way for a reason.

[00:42:52] Movie Audio: Have you ever been in love with someone who didn't return that love?

[00:43:00] Movie Audio: Yeah, Lenny. I have.

[00:43:06] Movie Audio: Didn't stop you from loving them, right? Or being able to understand them or forgive them.

[00:43:17] Movie Audio: I guess.

[00:43:20] Movie Audio: Didn't stop you from wanting to protect them, did it?

[00:43:25] Trevor Long: You're not going to make me wait, or are you going to tell me now?

[00:43:28] Stephen Fenech: I'll tell you now. I've got a cracking brain snap in a second. But just in that bit of audio, how do you— have you ever had someone that you love and not love you in return? She says, yeah, I know. Do you think she was talking about him? Yes. Yeah, 100%.

[00:43:41] Trevor Long: Yeah. Okay. He doesn't know that at that point. No, he doesn't.

[00:43:44] Stephen Fenech: No, he doesn't, because he's still pretty self-involved. But the brain snap here is right here. Right now. What you were thinking is correct. When he— she yells, "This is your life right here, right now," that was sampled by Fatboy Slim. And so that song, "Right Here," which I actually played on my story for my Tech Guide competition this week as the audio, was sampled from that quote. So he sampled her voice, and that is in that song, "Right Here, Right Now." Did you know that? Yeah, no, I saw it.

[00:44:12] Trevor Long: You recognized it straight away. It's interesting because the words are said earlier in the movie, the same thing. Someone else, someone else says it, someone else says it earlier right now.

[00:44:21] Stephen Fenech: Yep.

[00:44:21] Trevor Long: I don't think so. 100%. Really?

[00:44:23] Stephen Fenech: But that's the one, that was the sample, that was the actual clip that he used. And, and as soon as you hear it, yeah, like at the time when I watched it, the song hadn't went out yet, right? No. But then you would, you rewatch the— hang on a minute. Yeah. And that, that was it. So anyone who's thinking, oh, is that from the song? Yes, it is. Well, the song is from that. Yes, he sampled it. Righto. New Year's Eve 1999, it's the night of December 31st, the final hours of The Millennium. Lenny gives Mace the disc and tells her to show it to the Deputy Commissioner. Remember, they get there and then he sees— remember, he has a run-in with him earlier in the movie. Yeah, yeah. And, um, Lenny goes up to Philo's penthouse suite alone while Mace watches the perimeter. Now Lenny enters the penthouse and finds a bit of a gruesome scene. He first sees an envelope with his name on it. He plays the disc and sees Faith being tied up and raped. And halfway through, he sort of— he notices someone under a blanket, pulls it out. It's Philo Gant. He's alive. He looks fried, like he's been cooked out. Cooked out again. He's cooked off, is that what he called it? So he's completely brain dead. So the killer's forced him to wear a squid loop of a mind-frying overload. Lenny continues the playback, and then the person recording looks at themself in in a mirror and it's Max. Yeah, how did that hit you then? That's—

[00:45:48] Trevor Long: I'm like, wow. So I didn't— you know, there's no way you expected that.

[00:45:52] Stephen Fenech: And what he does, we find out that he intends to frame Max— sorry, frame Lenny for killing Philo Gant.

[00:46:01] Movie Audio: What makes you think I'm gonna kill Gant? You just did. Far out. Jesus. So, uh, he I killed Gant, and you ran in, being on his payroll, and shot me. That's just about the way it happened. Wait a minute. Now I'm remembering. I killed Iris, too, didn't I? That's right.

[00:46:18] Movie Audio: They'll find the original of her snuff clip in your apartment. The one I left for you at the club was a copy.

[00:46:24] Movie Audio: Was I a really busy guy? Did I do Tick, too?

[00:46:27] Stephen Fenech: Oh, you bet. Did you like it?

[00:46:28] Movie Audio: So why, Max? Why'd you have to do Iris? Oh. Picture it.

[00:46:34] Movie Audio: I feel like I gotta share this with somebody 'cause it's just too perfect, okay?

[00:46:38] Movie Audio: Don't worry, I won't say anything.

[00:46:40] Movie Audio: Oh, I know. So I'm working for this puke, right? And he says he'll pay me quite large to do the hooker, but I also gotta do his bitch girlfriend 'cause she knows the whole score and she's totally out of control. Only he doesn't know about me and Faith. So I say to myself, if I turn the job down, he'll just get somebody else, and— I lose faith, to coin a phrase. So to buy some time, I do this gang, but I still gotta deal with Gand. I figure it's him or me, but I can't just camp him without some chump take the fall. And who better than his girlfriend's loser ex-boyfriend? Known criminal and who has been seen hassling him in public numerous times.

[00:47:20] Movie Audio: Who is regrettably also your best fucking friend. Hey, no plan is perfect, Lenny.

[00:47:28] Movie Audio: Oh man, cheer up, world's gonna end in 10 minutes anyway.

[00:47:31] Stephen Fenech: So there's quite a bit there. And you know what, one thing we didn't mention earlier, like remember how he planted, he said he planted stuff? There was a scene where he was asleep and then the, obviously Max came into his apartment. That's right. Just grazed him with a blade on the neck. Yes. And he left the disc of him in his apartment.

[00:47:48] Trevor Long: After the kind of initial rape, he got that video as well.

[00:47:51] Stephen Fenech: He sort of says, look, you know, that's how we know planted it. Yeah. So we, we know that Max has double-crossed Philo. He seduced Faith and he's decided to eliminate Philo now and have Faith for himself. So Max has Lenny at gunpoint, about to shoot him, but Faith intervenes. She stops him. Lenny fights back. This desperate brawl ensues across— they just destroy the penthouse, smash the window and the balcony overlooking the crowded streets. Lenny gets the upper hand though. He— Max slides over and they're pushing, they're running outside.

[00:48:23] Trevor Long: You're like, where's this I'm gonna go.

[00:48:26] Stephen Fenech: So he gets over the railing and Max grabs, ironically, the ties that he was— remember he bagged him, how bad they were? Yeah, he was gripping on the tie for dear life. And Lenny, which—

[00:48:35] Trevor Long: who had a knife sticking out of his back, reaches around and pulls the knife out of his back and cuts the tie. Yes. And there's a terrible moment here where you see the wire on Max.

[00:48:44] Stephen Fenech: That's my pause, that's my pause. Yeah, we'll talk about that in a minute. But he falls to his death on a van below. Yeah. Down on the streets, Mace is cornered by the corrupt cops. Remember Burton and Steckler? Desperate to to retrieve the Jericho One disc. Mace puts up a fight, but subduing both officers— trying to— just as Lenny runs out of the hotel to join her. Massive crowd of civilians surround the scene, and just as Burton and Steckler draw their weapons to execute Mace and Lenny, the crowd sort of intervenes. And just as they're—

[00:49:17] Trevor Long: it's about to turn into a massacre, like, they take a shot of one youngish little kid who just— he's like contemplating, and then he goes, you know what, and he just jumps on the guy. You know, starts the kind of riot or bringing down the cops.

[00:49:28] Stephen Fenech: Just as the situation is about to turn wild into a massacre, a military convoy and LAPD top brass led by Police Commissioner Palmer, they arrive. Palmer having now viewed the disc.

[00:49:41] Trevor Long: Yes, she told him to go watch it.

[00:49:43] Stephen Fenech: Yes. And initially he kicked her out. He goes, what are you doing here? And then she's in the men's bathroom. You're thinking he's not going to see it, but he's now—

[00:49:51] Trevor Long: I always thought he would. I always thought he would. I knew this was going to come.

[00:49:54] Stephen Fenech: And so, uh, he orders the immediate arrest of Burton and Steckler.

[00:49:59] Movie Audio: Commissioner Strickland, that is the cause of all this, right? Fucking dead!

[00:50:19] Movie Audio: These two are under arrest for murder.

[00:50:22] Movie Audio: Read them their rights. Move it! Yes, sir.

[00:50:27] Movie Audio: Yes, sir. You have a right to remain silent. If you make any mistake, it will be used against you in a court of law.

[00:50:33] Movie Audio: You have a right to an attorney.

[00:50:34] Movie Audio: If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided.

[00:50:38] Stephen Fenech: Get this woman some medical attention. So before now, what happens? Steckler, uh, grabs a gun, basically just kills himself on the spot. Burton grabs a gun and aims at Lenny. He's about to fire at him, and then all all the other officers, they shoot him, and then it's good night. It's good night. Let's put it that way. Good night, Goran. Um, the countdown reaches zero. The clock strikes midnight, January 1, 2000. Confetti rains down on the war-torn streets of Los Angeles.

[00:51:10] Movie Audio: Hey, Lenny, we made it!

[00:51:15] Movie Audio: Yeah, we did.

[00:51:25] Movie Audio: You should get going. Yeah, see you downtown. See you there.

[00:51:34] Stephen Fenech: So they've left separately.

[00:51:35] Stephen Fenech: She's in a car and he's gone. Lenny's just— yeah, he was about to go off to get some medical treatment, but he just chased after and he runs after and jumps in the car. Joel, he pulls her out of the car, right? And they have a big passionate— they share a passionate cathartic— we realized that she did love him all along.

[00:51:49] Trevor Long: Well, he—

[00:51:49] Stephen Fenech: well, he he's realized that he loves her too. And that's, you know, how do you think— what do you think of that ending?

[00:51:56] Trevor Long: Um, I think that's predictable. Yeah, yeah, I thought it was nice.

[00:52:01] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, let's, uh, hear some lines now, um, starting with— remember when he was in the bar with that— with the guy who was going to buy the, the machine? Oh yeah, yeah.

[00:52:11] Movie Audio: You see that guy over there with the drop-dead Filipino girlfriend? Wouldn't you like to be that guy for 20 minutes, the right 20 minutes. Yeah, and I can make it happen and you won't even tarnish your wedding ring.

[00:52:25] Stephen Fenech: We can make it happen, you can't even tarnish your wedding ring. So that just brings up a whole other debate. Is viewing porn cheating? I don't think so. I don't think so. Would it be? I don't think so. It's a whole other story. Yeah, uh, it's for a different podcast.

[00:52:38] Movie Audio: Another one. I sell experiences. The way I see it, I'm performing a humanitarian humanitarian service. I'd probably save lives. I don't want to hear this part. Look, everybody needs to take a walk to the dark end of the street sometimes. What we are now, the risks are out of line. The streets are a war zone. Sex can kill you. So you slip on the troads, get what you need, almost as good as a real thing, a lot safer.

[00:53:02] Movie Audio: Porno, face it, you sell porno to wireheads.

[00:53:06] Movie Audio: Harsh. Harsh and untrue. My clients are professionals.

[00:53:08] Stephen Fenech: They People with taste. Here's another one. This is where, remember when they suggested that when they had the tape there of the street, you know, them killing Jericho? Yeah. And Mace chimes in.

[00:53:22] Movie Audio: Gantz got what I want. I've got what he wants.

[00:53:24] Movie Audio: This is the original. There are no copies. Exactly. That's why it's a makeable deal. Look, this tape is a lightning bolt from God. It's worth more than you, more than me. And more than faith, you understand? It can change things, things that need changing before we all go off the end of the road. And you do not have the right to use it for currency. So if you go, you go alone. You see, I care about you, Leonard, a lot more than you know, which makes us both pretty stupid, huh? But if you pawn this tape—

[00:54:00] Stephen Fenech: You mean nothing to me. So she makes it quite clear how she feels there. Um, how did that happen? And plot holes— not nothing stands out to me. There's a few continuity errors and stuff, but they're pretty, pretty minor. Uh, the speaker workout— where do you begin?

[00:54:16] Trevor Long: It's just great directional stuff. Just still blows my mind.

[00:54:19] Stephen Fenech: The chase, the gunfights— well, New Year's Eve in general, the nightclub— there's a lot of, uh, work that your speakers can do in this movie. Yeah. Uh, and thank God I got a big screen. The shots of LA of the near future, pretty good. Yeah, watching the disc, so the— weirdly, the POV stuff is really good. That's pretty good on the big screen as well. Um, the— if the movie was made today, could it be— is it— we have more modern technology.

[00:54:44] Trevor Long: I was thinking about this yesterday after I watched this movie, and I— with the greatest respect to this segment of the show, there's two types of this. Yeah, if this movie were made today, or if this movie was set today. Yeah, yeah, because this movie was made today set in 1999, you don't do anything different, right? It's just gonna have slightly better effects or whatever. But if you were making a movie about, you know, the move into the year 2030 or 2050 or whatever, what would be different? You know, I think that that video would've been shared on social media and Jericho's death would've been exposed earlier.

[00:55:17] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, true. But I think the technology could have been a bit more modern. So maybe, I think it's more, put it this way, if it was made Today it's more plausible, that technology today. Yeah, don't you reckon? They actually need to—

[00:55:29] Trevor Long: they need to think further. Back in '95, everyone thinking it wouldn't be a head wig thing, it'd be some sort of thing you just clip on your ear or something, you know what I mean?

[00:55:36] Stephen Fenech: Smaller. But I think it's more plausible for—

[00:55:38] Trevor Long: I think if you made it today, you would actually base it around smart glasses just to freak people out and make it so that the smart glasses are actually reading with sensors through your brain and everything as well.

[00:55:46] Stephen Fenech: Like bone conduction or something. Yeah, yeah. Hey, I wonder if Mark Zuckerberg's listening right now.

[00:55:50] Trevor Long: He's working on it with Elon's Neuralink for sure.

[00:55:53] Stephen Fenech: You know what, nothing surprises me. Alrighty, Every Day's a School Day. The themes here, um, I can think of a few. Yeah, addiction to memory.

[00:56:03] Trevor Long: Well, memory alone is a theme because that— the— I think it's the girl that mentions, you know, memories are meant to fade.

[00:56:10] Stephen Fenech: That's a great— it's a great line.

[00:56:11] Trevor Long: Yeah, it's a great line. He's, uh—

[00:56:13] Stephen Fenech: but also too, like, you think about how, you know, like, him— Lenny's obviously getting over his relationship with faith, but he can't because he's constantly— because he's got the real case.

[00:56:24] Trevor Long: Yes. Yeah. Which I think also goes to the theme of oversharing.

[00:56:28] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. Well, I was sort of— overshare, overcapture, overshare. I also thought of like voyeurism, how it's sort of the— nothing wrong with that— the, uh, the whole, the whole thing being, well, you know, you think about all the stuff that we do online. It is— you think about social media, it's, it's basically voyeurism.

[00:56:43] Trevor Long: We're looking at other people's lives and their experiences, but only the bits they choose to wear the squid for. Fair enough. You know what I mean?

[00:56:49] Stephen Fenech: Um, you know, also reality v fantasy. Yeah, what's real, what's not. Yeah. And then there's a whole other social side of it, you know, the race, social unrest, police violence, institutional corruption, all that going on as well. And also redemption. I like the arc of this sort of Lenny's— him, you know, the big kiss with, with Mace at the end, things. And, you know, we're on the same page now. Yeah, he didn't— he didn't give— he didn't give Philo the tape. No, he said he did the right thing and gave it to the commissioner. Yep, he told her to give it to the commissioner. So yeah, uh, best use of the pause button. You've already— no, you've already killed that one.

[00:57:24] Trevor Long: It was so obvious. I didn't need to pause it to see that cable.

[00:57:27] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, no, it's pretty visible, the cable, during the first, uh, the fall of Max, uh, at the end there. Uh, things you might not know: the party scene was an actual rave that was actually happening, and they filmed it right in the middle of all that. Yeah. So it was promoted and called Millennium. Yeah. And the performers were Aphex Twin, Lady Miss Kerr, Doc Martin. I've never heard of anything.

[00:57:50] Trevor Long: Was it New Mania?

[00:57:51] Stephen Fenech: They were among the live performers. Uh, other thing you might not know, the cinematographer had to really work hard here too. So the 50 to 60% of the film was shot with a Steadicam or some sort of— oh wow, moving camera. Yeah, it had to be. So the majority of the movie uh, was also shot at night. So the, the filming with the Steadicam also, um, and shooting the 360-degree POV shots was also a lighting challenge. Yeah, they couldn't have any visible lights. They were hung overhead or disguised so as not to be picked up by the moving cameras. Wow. Now in the UK, they broadcast this, uh, on TV. So it's 4 years after it was released, they broadcast it on BBC Two on December 29, 1999, which is the day the events of the film begin, where they begin Cool. Yeah. And also the character of Chief Strickland. Yes. Do you remember you were mentioning Rodney King? Yes. His character was likely inspired— it's inspired by the real-life LAPD at the time, chief at the time, Daryl Gates, right? Who— and who became known for his mishandling of the Rodney King beating in 1991. Wow. And, uh, and how the LA riots then came off the back of that. So the, the events of Jericho being killed, rioting, unrest was a direct reflection. It felt like that. Yeah, yeah, it felt like that. Uh, did you notice Lenny's car was actually a Mercedes-Benz, but it was a prototype, the '97 S500, loaned to the production by Mercedes-Benz. So they got it ahead of time. They got the '97 model and this this was filmed in like '95. Wow. '94 potentially, but it was a '97 model they got there. What's the meme? I know straight away the first one. Right here, right now. That's one. I do love the line, oh, a virgin brain. That's pretty good. Remember when he was talking to the guy in the bar?

[00:59:47] Trevor Long: I don't know, there's a somber meme, more of an Instagram, what do they call those things, quote of the memories are meant to fade.

[00:59:54] Stephen Fenech: Memories are meant to fade, yeah, fair enough. Or I love how he says pure and uncut straight from the cerebral cortex. Yeah, boom. And also the one where she— there's basically saying this city is going to burn.

[01:00:06] Trevor Long: Maybe there's one, you stab me in the back, I'll cut off my tie. Yeah, yeah. If you know, you know, do you know what I mean? Yeah, that's an if you know, you know kind of deal. Correct.

[01:00:15] Stephen Fenech: By any other name, any names. This could be POV, like today you'd call it POV. Blackjack, maybe. Um, that they, they say this, maybe call it their view, or, or they say I've heard this a couple of times, the dark end of the street. They say that a bit, a few, but I reckon there's probably a techno name for it. Yeah, but, uh, I think if it— the name of the movie, if you make it too technical, people think it's not—

[01:00:41] Trevor Long: no, that's right. Yeah, it's got to be appealing.

[01:00:44] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. Uh, the one thing you want— well, the squid, obviously. I'd love that. I'd love the one I'd take. Yeah, the Mercedes Mitchell.

[01:00:50] Trevor Long: I think, I think just a fake, you know, movie squid would be a cool thing to have like framed on the wall. The head unit, the mini disc, and I can understand why it was called—

[01:00:59] Stephen Fenech: Squid's an acronym for something, but I can understand it looks like a— it looks like, like some sort of creature as well. Yeah, 100%. Yeah, I'd love some of the discs as well. Yeah, uh, Lenny's Merc, Lenny's shirt and ties. Just the tie that was cut, the tie that was cut, just have the remnants of it. Yeah, yeah, righto. 3 questions for Trev. What happens to Lenny and Mace? Do they happily ever after?

[01:01:23] Trevor Long: You Really, you reckon?

[01:01:26] Stephen Fenech: Okay. So she pulls him in the line and they live on. Question 2, too long, too short, or just right? It was a bit long. I thought it was long. I agree with you. I think you could tighten this right up.

[01:01:37] Trevor Long: There's a lot of tightening you could do. You wouldn't shave half an hour, but you shave 10, 15.

[01:01:41] Stephen Fenech: I reckon you could easily get 10 out of it. Yeah, 10, 15 perhaps. Yeah. And question 3, sequel, prequel, or leave it alone?

[01:01:50] Trevor Long: I think a prequel on this one.

[01:01:51] Stephen Fenech: Prequel, I agree.

[01:01:52] Trevor Long: I think that would be awesome. I think the story of the squid going from Lauren Paulson and going underground and discovering a market, and you know, all that kind of stuff.

[01:02:02] Stephen Fenech: It's pretty interesting too. Why would they have banned it? Why would they, do you think, have not persisted with it? Was it just too— it's a union thing for sure. You reckon? Maybe. Rightio, that was Strange Days. I'd love to hear your wrap-up and rating.

[01:02:16] Trevor Long: So I quite enjoyed it. It didn't feel like a sci-fi movie, which I was very worried about, which was a big win. I thought the story went well. It wasn't predictable. Like, I didn't see the Max thing coming at all. It was brutal in some ways to kind of—

[01:02:31] Stephen Fenech: It was a bit confronting.

[01:02:31] Trevor Long: Like, I think that initial rape and murder was so confronting to watch only because you imagine watching it through her own eyes was crazy, right? It was. But I love that it's all kind of in our minds plausible, even though it's 100% not. But I think that's what makes it work today. That's why you're right, this thing should— they should push this on Disney+. They should push this and go, hang on a minute, this could, this could get some legs.

[01:02:59] Stephen Fenech: Absolutely. Yeah. Well, hopefully this show, people listening to this show will find it.

[01:03:02] Trevor Long: Let's get it into the top 10, folks, on Disney+. Yeah, let's do it. Um, it's an 8 for me. Yeah, I'm an 8.5. Oh, you know what, I was going to guess you and I was going to write 8.5.

[01:03:11] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, I'm 8.5. Uh, yeah, I enjoyed it. As I said, hidden gem. I, I, I enjoyed it more, even more, watching, re-watching it for the show.

[01:03:19] Trevor Long: Yeah, awesome.

[01:03:20] Stephen Fenech: Let's talk about next week. All right, next week we are watching Contact.

[01:03:24] Trevor Long: What are we covering?

[01:03:25] Stephen Fenech: Kids books for school? Starring Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey. It's contact from our people out there, so it's, uh, extraterrestrial aliens contact. All right, okay, but not in how you would believe though. It's, um, let's just say it's like a message in a bottle type situation where they receive this sound, this, this message, and things happen. Okay, direct— have I set it up okay for you?

[01:03:56] Trevor Long: It's, um, is it an alien movie? Not directly, no.

[01:04:00] Stephen Fenech: Okay, no, but it really, it's, it's really thought-provoking. Okay, okay. Um, it was directed by Robert Zemeckis. I've heard that name before. Yes, you have, and I'm I'm glad you said that because I'm going to ask you which of these movies did Robert Zemeckis not, you know, Memories Are Made to Fade, direct. Okay, that's good, good reference to what we just did. Uh, so which of these movies did Robert Zemeckis not direct? Okay, okay, not direct. A, Back to the Future. B, What Lies Beneath. C, Heat. D, Cast Away. By the way, we've done 3 of these 4 movies, okay? So you should know the director.

[01:04:44] Trevor Long: Can I try a 50/50 initially? Sure. Is it one of the last 2, Heat or Cast Away? Yes. Damn, I feel like it's Heat.

[01:04:54] Stephen Fenech: Wrong. Ah, it's Cast Away. Damn it. He directed Cast Away. He— now he directed— so did you say Heat? Yeah, I said— you're right, sorry. He did not direct that.

[01:05:03] Trevor Long: You said Heat. That's right.

[01:05:04] Stephen Fenech: I So you got it right. Yes. Yeah, then Michael Mann directed Heat. Uh, but so Robert Zemeckis directed Back to the Future 1, 2, or 3. What Lies Beneath. What Lies Beneath, we've not done that, have we? No. Okay, Michelle Pfeiffer, it's on the list. Harrison Ford, Michelle Pfeiffer on the list. No, no, but it is. I'm waiting for it to come wide, wide release, right? So Cast Away, he directed Cast Away. Now do you remember Cast Away, how there was one half of it where—

[01:05:30] Trevor Long: Yes. Yeah, this Oh, that's the movie he did.

[01:05:32] Stephen Fenech: What Lies Beneath is what he made between the two halves of Castaway. Yeah, right, gotcha. So there you go. Anyway, that's next week. Contact, directed by Robert Zemeckis, Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey. All right, bring it on. Uh, and I'm glad you enjoyed Strange Days, but, uh, let's meet up next week. Let's do it again. Bye-bye. See ya.