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Sell Me... Limitless (2011)
39 Plays7 months ago
Andy, Hunter, and Ashlee will be introducing our new mini-episodes with Andy selling you... Limitless (2011)!
As always, please reach out and let us know your thoughts at: @hazardousopinionspod or hazardousopinionspod@gmail.com and chat with us on Discord! If you love movies, add us on Letterboxd! Andy - Eric - Hunter - Ashlee.
Please send us your movie recommendations or suggestions for discussion topics. For our next episode, Ashlee and Hunter will be covering American Ultra (2015)! Watch ahead and then tune in to hear our thoughts. Stay safe, we love y'all!
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Transcript
Introduction of Mini Episodes
00:00:21
Speaker
back to hazardous opinions. Today we'll be introducing our new mini episodes. And for the mini episodes, I kind of had the idea where we would do a kind of a Jordan Belfort version of recommending movies. So it's going to be sell me dot, dot, dot blank, whatever movie we are selling to you guys and recommending. And.
First Movie Recommendation: 'Limitless'
00:00:47
Speaker
we will leave it up as an option whether one of us is gonna do the whole episode or if all of us are joining in or a couple but yeah just kind of more relaxed and we really want to get in depth about recommending a movie to you guys so that it feels very personalized and everything and we will also make it very personalized to ourselves too so Hope you guys enjoy and Andy will be kicking us off with our first mini episode today.
00:01:21
Speaker
Yes, sir. We're going to be covering Limitless from 2011, directed by Mr. Neil Berger, who doesn't do a lot of good stuff. um Or he's starting off on a great foot for recommending this one. But he did do The Illusionist in 2006 with Norton. Haven't seen that one yet, but that's pretty highly rated. Just kind of ignore the rest of the writing and producing team on this, because there's not a lot of good stuff. Neil Berger went on to do the Divergent series and a couple other crappy series that I would not recommend.
Review and Personal Rating of 'Limitless'
00:01:53
Speaker
But this one I would i would highly recommend and is the perfect movie for me to kind of end my hazardous opinion streak here before I disappear for a few months.
00:02:05
Speaker
excuse me while i wipe away my tears yeah yes we did think it was going to be on a previous episode but this should be my final final one for now um but but yeah i think this is the the perfect movie to kick it off on um you can find this one on stars or just renting on prime you it's your usual It's pretty decently rated. It's got a 3.3 on letterboxed and a 7.4 on IMDB. ah On rewatch, like this movie was like a 9 for me and the the show, which I'll talk about more as well, is still a 9, but I need to rewatch that.
Plot Overview of 'Limitless'
00:02:44
Speaker
On rewatch, this is an 8. There's some flaws with it, but I really love
00:02:50
Speaker
Limitless and it's just one of those joys um Joyous movies for me and Bradley Cooper's just always a sensation in anything he's in I know you like to do the like reminds me of in yours I couldn't think of anything for this other than like watch other Bradley Cooper films like like burnt I don't know if you guys have seen that one I Haven't that's uh, that's a cooking one right one. Yeah, and is he in Hawaii? Oh he's i think it's also in new york and he's a drug addict in that as well which he's technically a drug addict in this one uh which is kind of the plot um but i'll go into that as well um kind of some other unknown names there's Anna Friel Abby Cornish and Andrew Howard in this as well ah some
00:03:37
Speaker
minor um acting roles throughout
Supporting Cast and Storyline
00:03:41
Speaker
and then Robert Nero's in this for a very small part he's kind of like a semi antagonist in this but I'll get to that our main antagonist that was Andrew Howard who does pretty good in this. It's the standard, you know, like a Russian mob villain that's ah always hanging over your head. um I don't like it. The villain's not good and in limitless, but it's just one of those issues you have to go over. Just excuse that, though. Yeah. Yeah. You just have to ignore it. OK.
00:04:12
Speaker
But yeah Bradley Cooper plays our lead Eddie Mora who's kind of a down on his luck writer in New York City with everything going wrong in his life. He's a standard like like Peter Parker his his landlord's constantly knocking on his door for rent.
00:04:28
Speaker
um then He lives in squalor. He's like he's got this total bachelor pad just mess everywhere, you know the Chinese food boxes and His girlfriend doesn't like him anymore is now like ex-fiancee girlfriend thing You know all that stuff because start this great You know coming to power story you got to start at the bottom um But yeah, he's kind of also somewhat of an alcoholic. But that's when he runs into his old friend Vernon, who's our kind of plot driving forward guy, who says, hey buddy, we haven't hung out in a while.
Visual Effects and Comparisons
00:05:05
Speaker
Here's this cool drug that's gonna change your life around. I know yeah I used to deal you drugs in the past, but this one's ah is different. It's a cool drug. It's this ah little ah clear pill. And this this movie's in 2011, so it's like,
00:05:20
Speaker
Before I guess the Adderall craze, I don't exactly know when when that started for colleges, maybe around the next 5-10 years after that. um But it was basically like Adderall times 1000, and that's what this pill NZT is.
00:05:38
Speaker
It pretty much gives you access to all of your brain at all the time. It's like, have you ever seen something you've ever glanced at a page on a book? Like all of that is like in your memory somewhere. And NZT gives you like access to all of that. So it's super powered drug.
00:05:57
Speaker
But yeah, ah Vernon introduces him to the drug, and then ah what does Eddie do with his power? Of course, he does all the dumb stuff, you know, you'd go gamble with it, you'd go play stocks, all the usual things to improve his life, and then some other stuff that has to bring the plot forward, like getting money, a shark loan from a Russian gangster, as one does, and then- That's a given.
00:06:23
Speaker
Yeah, and then, you know, not paying it back because we need a villain. um But yeah, I won't go too much into the plot because everything past that is just seeing what any more gets
Connection Between Movie and TV Show
00:06:36
Speaker
into. um But Bradley Cooper's charm is pretty much what carries this movie and what carries it for me as well. I like the What do you call it? The visual effects and stuff? You guys haven't, you said you haven't seen the show either? No, no. Okay. Um, limitless universe thing is like very visual effecty. Like when you take this drug, it does the whole, like, like almost like Lucy. You've seen Lucy, uh, with, um, Oh, Jennifer Lawrence. Yeah. Um, it does the whole, like, where you got a,
00:07:18
Speaker
i don't know how to describe it like the the fast lines going past your face and like everything's blurry and then you're everything's yellow you know so you know you're on on the drug and oh sure uh... cooper's blue eyes could even bluer okay he's on the drug so it's like the stark contrast to like you know when he's on the drug or not in the movie uh... based off like the visual effects oh sure okay and uh... so this NZT drug is like I don't know, kind of around in this world, like Limitless goes into it a lot more. um the The TV show that comes out in like 2015, about four years after this, that only got one season, but it's like 22 episodes-ish.
NZT Exploration in TV Show
00:08:04
Speaker
And that's Jake McDormand, who was pretty much in the same situation as Cooper, like down on his luck guy, like he's got like family members in the hospital, he's poor, and then he finds this drug and
00:08:18
Speaker
starts working with the FBI. and Really, if I'm being honest, Limitless is just my excuse to be able to talk about the show a little bit more too. It's my way to sneak it in. You cheater. But I really love ah both the show and the movie because the movie is the prequel to a character from the show as well. Cooper's character comes back in the TV show and then
00:08:50
Speaker
um Jake McDormand is like co-buddy cop type of thing for the 22 episodes with Jennifer Carpenter from Dexter, if you guys have seen that. Oh, I love her. and Deb. She's great. She is Deb in this. She's an FBI agent in the in the TV show. Yeah. And she's exactly Deb.
00:09:15
Speaker
that's amazing so okay like if that would be my number one sell point for you already is like i'm sold watch the movie as a prequel and then you got to go watch the show so you can get more dad for 22 episodes oh my gosh okay i'm really tempted now okay but I think the the show is a little bit better in some aspects about the delving into the depths of what um this drug can really do. um Really, Cooper uses it as kind of like a like a Suits power. It's like a anything he's seen he remembers type of thing, where he just like has that photogenic memory or or whatever it's called. And
00:09:57
Speaker
Uh, so pretty much like if he seen, like they, they go into this one subway fight scene at one point and he remembers, he's like, Oh, I watched this old Jackie Chan movie like 10, 20 years ago. And he remembers the scenes from it. And then all of a sudden he couldn't do it because he remembered the choreography. Yeah.
Book Origin and Adaptation Success
00:10:15
Speaker
Oh yeah.
00:10:16
Speaker
ah So there's all that kind of stuff in it. The movie doesn't go like super in-depth into it because it's mostly about Cooper's character and how it translates to him like turning his life around. Okay.
00:10:31
Speaker
Um, so does the show go more into the manufacturing of the drug? Yes. Uh, the, the movie kind of does too, because, um,
00:10:45
Speaker
I don't know what the, with a drug like this, trying to think of how to say it without spoiling. Like people obviously want to kill for power like this because you're pretty much a superhero like obviously Mora turns his life around and is getting all this money because he's using it to Play the stock market because he can see all these little things and just look at books and memorize them instantly like he goes and memorizes like 20 languages in a day like all that kind of stuff you basically become a like a superhero and
00:11:20
Speaker
the The implications of that is obviously people trying to shut down, people trying to get their own. So he's got to deal with like the supply issues is a big thing in this movie. And then the show like also goes like really into that. It's like, hey, um Jake McDormand ends up working with the FBI, which I have for Carpenter. And then it's like, okay, how do we get this guy who has this superpower? And he he doesn't actually tell the FBI that he's like taken this drug.
00:11:49
Speaker
So he's got to be like, oh, I'm just a super smart analyst that's going to work with you guys. And, um, it's, it's clever. I think Jake McDormand has the better personality to deal with this kind of drug. Um, but like, I don't know. Cooper's always a fun actor to watch. Yeah. Oh yeah. He's tantalizing. And I'm trying to find the name of the book. Carol, do you see your sister read this one?
00:12:17
Speaker
yeah yeah i can't remember what she said the title was is it the same as the show in the movie here's uh the dark fields i think the dark i think that's what it is really okay
Themes and Character Study
00:12:30
Speaker
i'm gonna have to ask her about it again I think that's the book. That's just a quick glance at the thing. I wish I wrote that down because I do need to read that at some point. Yeah. But yeah, ah yeah, it's originally based on a book which they turn into the movie, which the movie got enough success. Like it's not a huge hit, but like seven point four is decent on IMDB. Pretty good.
00:12:53
Speaker
and translate that to the show, which obviously didn't go anywhere after the first season. But it's one of those ones where it's like it ends on a decent point. So you're not like watching a cliffhanger show like they actually cut it off after the end of the 22. OK, so is this a action heavy movie?
00:13:17
Speaker
yeah i suppose i should have said the genres um i don't know i would say it's mostly a drama kind of like burnt where it's like okay it's and like a thriller i guess like it's really about i don't even know how to say it like a a profile movie about Eddie or Edward Mora and like what he would do with this kind of power and um yeah I can't think of what the what what do you call those kind of movies like a character study I guess like of a fictional person sure okay a biography
00:13:51
Speaker
Sort of, but it's like, I don't know, it's it's all about itty. I feel like there's not a lot of like other character interaction in this movie. like A lot of the plot is driven straight from Edward himself, from Bradley Cooper.
00:14:08
Speaker
like just doing his thing and like like the first night he's on NZT he like deep cleans his entire apartment stuff and he's like just learning about what this drug is and he he he was a failed writer so he starts writing his book and all of a sudden he's got all these pages and stuff and um But then you go on further in the movie. He's like, well, wait, why would I just do that? I can memorize anything. So he starts, you know, going further and further and further. And um that's kind of how you get to his character in ah the show as well, is like, how far can you take that as a person who pretty much has unlimited
Mood and Rewatchability of the Movie
00:14:49
Speaker
mental power to like do all these things?
00:14:53
Speaker
Basically quoting, you know, from Spidey here, but with great power comes great responsibility. um Yeah. And, uh, in Cooper does not have the responsibility or like, he has the responsibility to do good with it, but, uh, his character is kind of a douche. So wonderful.
00:15:13
Speaker
Yeah, it is a little hard to root for um for Mora in this because he's not a very likable character. Like he he uses his power for money and fame. Yeah. Like it's a little hard to say like, oh, he didn't he just did it to, you know, save the babies and stuff. And like there is one like clip it of a scene where they like.
00:15:34
Speaker
He goes to help like an aunt or something of his they had like a some brain tumor the diet doctors couldn't diagnose Which clearly just like a one second like oh, I think it's this thing. You should actually look into this yeah, um but Cooper's not really someone to root for and I the the show will really hammer on that that Cooper's not a good person from when you see him in there but ah Jake McDormand in the show is a like great person who wants to do good um yeah I obviously like the show a lot more but the movie is definitely like one to see okay all right
00:16:16
Speaker
Bradley Cooper can play a douche really well too. So I'm sure he's like, he can sell it real hard in the movie. Yeah. Awesome. Especially his Roland wedding crashers. He was one of the douchiest douches.
00:16:31
Speaker
I guess he's in there, isn't he? Yeah, yeah. He's I forget about him. He's Claire's boyfriend. So Rachel McAdams, her character. He's the one that like he gets poisoned by. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. yeah The eyedrops and he like gets the shit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I forgot that was Bradley Cooper. Yeah, I know. And he's so good at it. It's like I love Bradley, but damn, I could punch him in the face every time I watch that.
00:17:00
Speaker
Yeah, this movie like overall is, it's silly. There's a lot of interesting visual effects. I like the score in it too. um Like, yeah, kind of like I said in the intro, like my main plus for this movie is it's it's a really good pilot for getting into the show as well. And like it does stand on its own, but it is all the more enhanced if you end up going to watch the show.
00:17:28
Speaker
Very good connective tissue to something yeah else. Okay. Awesome. It's almost like a pilot episode, I would say. Okay. Yeah. Just a longer one. Yeah. Yeah. And Robert De Niro, I mean, is always amazing in everything he does. He doesn't really have to do much in this movie. I feel like, like it's a lot of, uh, just sitting back and letting fast talking Bradley like do everything. Um, but I mean, he's not bad in it.
00:17:58
Speaker
De Niro is a sure shot in many things. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Uh, okay. So for everybody and for me, I'm kind of wondering what mood should I try and be in before watching the movie or when is it a good time to watch Limitless? That's a good question. Uh, the mood of this movie is yellow.
00:18:26
Speaker
Okay. Yellow mood. Yeah. That's all I ever think of when I think of this movie. It's like, okay. Watching the Breaking Bad Mexico episodes. Like when everything is just yellow. Yeah. It's kind of through that. ah Yeah. What people say cinematography is like for any movie or TV show taking place. Yeah. Yeah. Down South or down South. Yeah. Okay. Yep. That's kind of like what this movie, most of this movie is like because he's on the drug for yellow. It's the movie filter. Yeah. Yeah. Over everything. and um like fading and blurring of things this is mind is you know comprehending things um i don't know if you're just in the mood for a bradley cooper movie or if you like if you watch burnt or you watch something like scary or uh emotional before this and you're just like well i just need to cool down to like shut my brain off you know the occasional one or two
00:19:21
Speaker
Texts you're watching the movie and stuff and like you don't have to pay 100 attention to but like you're still ingrained in the story And you don't have to worry about sweating through your eyes or anything. like Yeah. Okay. Okay like there's no like intense feelings you're gonna feel throughout limitless which can be a pro in a con they could have went with more heart like They had a framework for what they could have done with that, with him getting his life back together and getting his girl and stuff, but they i mean they went a different direction with that. And I get that that's think mostly because of the book. I'm pretty sure the the author who also wrote for the movie and for the show didn't want any changes from their book, so that's probably part of it, is it's pretty accurate to the source material, but I can't really say till I read that.
00:20:12
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's like a good mood movie, but you're not going to be like laughing either. It's just I think it's a good cool down movie. Awesome.
Jennifer Carpenter's Role and Performance
00:20:21
Speaker
OK, well, those seven p.m., you know, just sitting around needing to pop in a movie. Yeah. Yeah. OK. But um for the show, it's definitely like.
00:20:31
Speaker
Like, if you watched Dexter before, like, you know who how boo Jennifer Carpenter is and how she is. Jesus. You're good. Then, like, you know exactly what you're getting yourself into already with the show, because it's a buddy cop movie with instead of her and Dexter, it's her and Jake McDormand, who's just a goofy, lovable dude. Awesome. All right. And besides Bradley Cooper, would I recognize any other actress or actor?
00:21:00
Speaker
Um, like I said, the intro is like Abby Cornish and the ABBA, Anna Friel. Um, I don't think they're in anything big though. I know Cornish is in three billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri. If you've seen that like 2017 best picture. Oh, okay. That it's on my watch list. I actually still need to check it out.
00:21:25
Speaker
Honestly, I have a lot of stuff on my watch list from Cornish, but nothing much that I've seen. She's in Geostorm, if you manage to catch that one. Oh, God. No, I haven't seen that one. No, the Robocop reboot. I haven't seen that one either.
00:21:42
Speaker
Pretty much it. OK. She's in a lot of like romance ones, it looks like. All right. Yeah, you might know more from her, but yeah, I wasn't really familiar with most of the cast other than, of course, De Niro and and Cooper. Yeah. And I think the the show's kind of the same way, like all I knew was Carpenter. Like I hadn't heard of Jake McDormand before the show and I've been hoping that he'd be doing more after, but I think he kind of also just petered out after. Yeah, that's that's limitless. um Does it feel ageless? Like we can watch it.
00:22:19
Speaker
No, it does not feel like just like okay, even though it's only 13 years old like it feels Of its time already like they I think it's the black keys They play a couple times throughout it which like is a band I love personally i'm not hating on the black keys, but they're definitely like a You know of their time. I don't think they're a very modern sounding band Gotcha If that's who it is, I need to double check the soundtrack. But um no, this movie isn't ageless. The visual effects, too, like definitely feel like early 2000s, almost. They remind me of Push with oh is it chris Chris Evans, I think, in that one.
00:23:03
Speaker
I know the one you're talking about. Jason Statham? Yep. No, maybe not. Where they have the powers, they each have a power. Oh, is it going to crank? Which one are you thinking of? Crank, I think. Crank. Is that Jason Statham? I haven't seen him. Yeah, Crank is Statham. OK, that's OK. I haven't seen him. But yeah, Dakota Fanning is also in push. Oh, OK. With Chris Evans and, yeah.
00:23:33
Speaker
it Kind of reminds me of that like for the visual effects sometimes at least that's what I so we see in my mind Thinking about they they don't age well um There's no cell phones in this movie Which is a thing I find really weird in 2011. I think there's like strange one but like Eddie has a house phone which is why like he can't get contacted a lot of time throughout this movie so he has to go check his messages several times in the movie and I was like for 2011 movie that just feels weird but I'm sure it's one of those like remnants from the book type of thing right
00:24:09
Speaker
Or maybe the movie set Older like early 2000s. Yeah, don't they don't specify or it's yeah kind of one of those settings where it's very ambiguous and it's kind of In a place out of time kind of where you can have like You know, those old style cars, but you have an Apple iPhone. Yeah. You know, like a fifties classic car, an Apple iPhone. or Yeah. I think yeah the only phone that you see in this movie is ah is a flip phone. So I think it is. If it's set somewhere, it's probably early 2000s. Sure. Gotcha. Okay. Also, I wrote down, is it a, is it a strong script or cheesy action heavy script?
00:24:55
Speaker
It's cheesy Cooper heavy with some fun action sequences sprinkled throughout. Okay. All right. There's a lot chase scenes. Perfect. Okay. Do you remember where and when you were at in your life when you saw this? No idea. No idea that no, that's okay. Um, is it rewatchable and why?
00:25:23
Speaker
that's a hard one is a rewatchable you know i've probably watched it three or four times now um so i like i've still enjoyed it every time it's still been above an eight every time um yeah it's rewatchable awesome just for cooper a alone all right perfect and you just sold us limitless is that kind of all you got for Yeah, I didn't put a lot of the notes for the story because you get to a certain point and it just all becomes spoiler talk after that. I feel like I sold to you at least on the Jennifer Carpenter. I think you did. Yeah, you you grabbed me. So there you go. One of your selling points really hit.
Conclusion and Viewing Options
00:26:13
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. If there's other big fans of Jennifer Carpenter, she's in no way related to this movie, but this movie is your primer to get into the show with her.
00:26:20
Speaker
Yes, yes Dexter everybody ah one of the best she plays a good Law enforcement of individual in everything she's in Yeah, like it has a strong spine. Yeah. Yeah. Like I looked through a few of her roles and I think she plays a cop or some sort of law enforcement Jason and quite a few things. It's just that's her click. She's good at it. Yeah. um But yeah. Yeah. it On your question before, it is definitely rewatchable. I think I could still see myself like.
00:26:52
Speaker
popping this ah in occasionally like i'm gonna go back and do the show now yeah um just because it's so short compared to most shows nowadays are eight plus seasons um yeah i just figured i'd start our our shorties off with with one that was close to my heart that i know we're never going to get to cover in its hole because it's not like it's not going to be on any top 250 list on letterbox or imdb but uh It's good, it's not poor, it's not stand out, but it's it like perfectly above center line. Yeah, okay, that's a good way to describe it. Yeah, I hope we get to cover it on a full episode. Awesome. Okay, I'll have to check that one out. And so will everybody else that hasn't seen it. Yeah, if you guys do check it out, definitely hit us up and unless you know let us know what you think.
00:27:44
Speaker
Yes, please do. And where can you watch it? It was on the Stars. ah It bounces around. This is one of those ones that every time I rewatch it, it's on a different service. like I think it was on Netflix for a while because that's where the show was. Yep. I think the show is still there. But yeah, this bounces around. It's on Stars and then just rent it. I think it's still like three dollars, which is wow Amazon's a little pricey still in their old movies. I feel like if you found this in in video action, if it still existed, it'd probably be like a 99 cent for a five day rental. It'd be one of those. Bringing me back, man. Oh my gosh. We need we need more in-person stores again. I know. Yeah. Let's start one, guys. It's been always been a dream of mine. All right, perfect. and yeah Then it would fail because ye yeah they're streamers.
00:28:39
Speaker
Yep. We would be fighting an uphill battle. That's for sure. right Paramount owns the show right now. Okay. Cool. Yeah. Yeah. If you guys want us to do some shorties and then kind of like Hunter said in the intro, these are going to be spoiler free or like we're hoping it's going to be mostly spoiler free, if not like very, very minor spoilers, if if there is any. Yes. um Just so we can expand to recommend some that you guys don't have to see the movie before you listen to this episode. And then, yeah, look, look ahead for Ashley and Hunter's mini so it's coming soon.
00:29:17
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, hoping to bring a lot more of these to you guys. And yeah, I think it was a good start and we'll just keep learning on them and hopefully you guys just join along for the ride with us, you know? So yeah, thank you for listening to Andy's sell me limitless. Bye, everybody.