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‘I Am Legend’ With Bill Simmons and Van Lathan

December 20, 2022 · I Am Legend (2007) · Drama · Horror · Sci-Fi · 1:30:24

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Most Rewatchable Scene

Bill Simmons▶ 31:01The opening scene where he's chasing a flock of crazed deer through empty New York City, driving his car really fast until a lion gets to the deer before him
Van Lathan▶ 24:08The scene where Will Smith is giving her the raw stats on the virus - telling her the virus had a 90% kill rate, there were this many people on earth, talking like a pathologist giving you the raw numbers

What's Aged the Best

Bill Simmons▶ 51:05The man and dog relationship concept, and the Brooklyn Bridge collapse CGI
Van Lathan▶ 49:26The movie predicting the future - COVID pandemic, Batman vs Superman movie billboard, and $6 gas prices

Big Kahuna Burger Award

Van Lathan▶ 53:21The bacon scene - when he's saving the bacon and gets excited/mad about it

Den of Thieves Benihana Award

Bill Simmons▶ 53:38Empty New York generally, specifically mentions empty Times Square and Washington Square as standout locations
Van Lathan▶ 53:45Empty Times Square

Great Shot Gordo Award

Bill Simmons▶ 54:56The wide shot when he's hunting and crawling through the weeds with the dog, where you can see the city
Van Lathan▶ 55:07The hunting scene shot from inside the car when he steps down off the car onto the windshield

Butch's Girlfriend Award

Bill Simmons▶ 55:36The movie trope of talking to inanimate objects, specifically referencing how he doesn't buy characters having long conversations with objects like Wilson the volleyball
Van Lathan▶ 56:33Ethan - the character who did nothing and was completely useless in the film

What's Aged the Worst

Bill Simmons▶ 1:00:45The CGI bad guy faces are the worst part of the movie and easily what aged the worst
Van Lathan▶ 1:01:17The CGI bad guys - the more you see them up close, the less scary they are and that's what aged easily the worst

Ron Burgundy Flute Award

Bill Simmons▶ 1:03:22the last half hour of the movie when Anna and Ethan show up
Van Lathan▶ 1:03:34agrees the movie slows down when Anna and Ethan appear, criticizing Anna's character as offering nothing and having no idea what should be going on

Is There a Better Title?

Bill Simmons▶ 1:03:57Proposed three alternative titles: Last Man Standing, Light Up the Darkness, and Dark Seekers
Van Lathan▶ 1:04:12Light Up the Darkness

Best Quote

Bill Simmons▶ 1:04:57God didn't do this, we did

Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

Bill Simmons▶ 1:05:04The movie is twice as good after going through COVID
Van Lathan▶ 1:05:28This is Will Smith's best acting performance, better than his Academy Award-winning performance in King Richard

Casting What-Ifs

Bill Simmons▶ 1:07:40Arnold Schwarzenegger — Thinks Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn't have carried the movie alone for 45 minutes, supports Nick Cage in '98 era, glad Michael Bay/Will Smith made Bad Boys 2 instead
Van Lathan▶ 1:07:51Arnold Schwarzenegger — Thinks Arnold is underrated and would be interesting in this role despite Bill's doubts, agrees Nick Cage '98 works, supports the Bad Boys 2 choice, finds Guillermo del Toro directing Will Smith 'super interesting'

Overacting Award

Bill Simmons▶ 1:10:20Dash Mihok — Dash Mihok (the alpha male/dominant vampire) - calls it the 'fucking ham Sam Deon waiter's award'
Van Lathan▶ 1:10:10Will Smith — Will Smith - says he dials it up and was a powder keg waiting to explode

Apex Mountain

Bill Simmons▶ 1:16:04Hitch — Hitch for Will Smith's apex mountain

Racehorse Name Award

Bill Simmons▶ 1:17:21I Am Legend
Van Lathan▶ 1:17:33Agrees with I Am Legend and discusses Dark Seeker as another possibility

Picking Nits

Bill Simmons▶ 1:21:26Multiple scientific and engineering issues: viruses don't mutate to become airborne the way shown, Neville's immunity makes no sense, and the bridge wouldn't have collapsed that way according to experts

Sequel/Prequel/Limited Series/Remake

Bill Simmons▶ 1:23:30Make it a prestige TV 10-episode series instead of a movie sequel - get Amazon to give $500 million and blow it out with virus origin story and COVID parallels
Van Lathan▶ 1:24:12Agrees with the prestige TV series idea but notes Michael B. Jordan won't do TV and would prefer to bang out a movie

Is This Movie Better With

Bill Simmons▶ 1:24:31Samuel L. Jackson — Suggests Sam Jackson as Robert Neville's brother in flashback scenes, creating new action sequences with dark seekers
Van Lathan▶ 1:24:53Samuel L. Jackson — Agrees with Sam Jackson addition, enthusiastically describing action scene where he fights dark seekers saying 'motherfucker'

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Bill Simmons▶ 1:26:02Where did he get the time-coded copies of the NBC Today Show, did he break into 30 Rock; Dr. Robert Neville should have just died of CTE from multiple major concussions; September 9th should be Robert Neville Day
Van Lathan▶ 1:26:36He's in New York so he's got endless entertainment options available

Best Double Feature

Bill Simmons▶ 1:27:15Cast Away — Suggested three options: Castaway, I Robot, or Vanilla Sky (for a 'fucked up empty New York combo')
Van Lathan▶ 1:27:27Vanilla Sky

Coach Finstock Life Lesson

Bill Simmons▶ 1:29:03Don't fuck around when you're the last person on earth - be responsible, stay disciplined, get back to safety before dark, keep Sam on a leash
Van Lathan▶ 1:29:32When you're chasing deer and you have a gun, just stop and shoot one instead of continuing to chase them

Who Won the Movie

Bill Simmons▶ 1:30:02Will Smith

Movies Referenced (41)

Eight Below (2006)

6 mentions · Bill Simmons, Van Lathan▶ 40:39IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Focus (2015)

5 mentions · Van Lathan, Bill Simmons▶ 17:37IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Hitch (2005)

5 mentions · Bill Simmons, Van Lathan▶ 11:23IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Vanilla Sky (2001)

5 mentions · Bill Simmons, Van Lathan▶ 27:38IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Superman (2025)

4 mentions · Van Lathan▶ 49:37IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Bad Boys (1995)

3 mentions · Bill Simmons▶ 6:01IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Friday Night Lights (2004)

3 mentions · Bill Simmons▶ 48:47IMDb ↗Lb ↗

John Wick (2014)

3 mentions · Van Lathan, Bill Simmons▶ 46:11IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Seven Pounds (2008)

3 mentions · Van Lathan▶ 19:08IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Batman (1989)

2 mentions · Van Lathan▶ 49:37IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Fargo (1996)

2 mentions · Bill Simmons▶ 1:06:56IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Hancock (2008)

2 mentions · Van Lathan▶ 11:27IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Directors Referenced (6)

Michael Mann

3 mentions · Van Lathan, Bill Simmons · Known for The Insider, Collateral, The Last of the Mohicans▶ 11:11IMDb ↗Lb ↗

George Clooney

1 mentions · Bill Simmons · Known for The Ides of March, Michael Clayton▶ 1:05:50IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Michael Bay

1 mentions · Van Lathan · Known for Armageddon▶ 1:08:57IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Paul Bellany

1 mentions · · Known for Stardust▶ 0:11IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Richard Williams

1 mentions · Van Lathan · Known for Who Framed Roger Rabbit▶ 9:45IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Roman Polanski

1 mentions · Van Lathan · Known for Chinatown▶ 9:00IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Actors Referenced (27)

Will Smith

40 mentions · Bill Simmons, Van Lathan · Known for Men in Black, I Am Legend▶ 3:05IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Chris Rock

10 mentions · Van Lathan, Bill Simmons · Known for Top Five, The Longest Yard▶ 3:18IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Paul Newman

5 mentions · Bill Simmons · Known for Road to Perdition, The Verdict▶ 12:47IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Crazy Town

4 mentions · Bill Simmons · Known for Something's Gotta Give, Saving Silverman, Orange County▶ 0:18IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Matt Damon

3 mentions · Bill Simmons · Known for Good Will Hunting, The Martian, The Departed▶ 0:11IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Trevor Noah

3 mentions · Van Lathan, Bill Simmons · Known for Black Panther▶ 4:57IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Viola Davis

3 mentions · Bill Simmons, Van Lathan · Known for The Help, Doubt▶ 14:01IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Paul Walker

2 mentions · Van Lathan, Bill Simmons · Known for The Fast and the Furious, Furious 7, Running Scared▶ 39:35IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Tommy Lee Jones

2 mentions · Bill Simmons · Known for The Fugitive, No Country for Old Men▶ 11:06IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Bob Marley

1 mentions · Bill Simmons · Known for I Am Legend, Chain Reaction, Fool's Gold▶ 1:16:22IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Bruce Willis

1 mentions · Bill Simmons · Known for Die Hard, Pulp Fiction▶ 1:03:57IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Cameron Diaz

1 mentions · Van Lathan · Known for Charlie's Angels, Vanilla Sky, There's Something About Mary▶ 13:47IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Writers Referenced (3)

Akiva Goldsman

1 mentions · Bill Simmons · Known for A Beautiful Mind▶ 1:23:06IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Richard Matheson

1 mentions · Bill Simmons▶ 17:02IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Roger Ebert

1 mentions · Bill Simmons▶ 26:21IMDb ↗Lb ↗

Cinematographers Referenced (1)

Michael Grantland

1 mentions · Bill Simmons · Known for The Other Guys▶ 12:40IMDb ↗Lb ↗