Latest / The K.B. Radio Network / UnitedHealth Care Shooting/John Q (2002) Movie Review
Transcript
- 0:11Hello boys and girls and welcome to Movie Goodness where we examine life through cinema here on the KB Radio Network.
- 0:21I am your host Kevin Reed and welcome everyone to Movie Goodness.
- 0:25This is a bittersweet episode of Movie Goodness.
- 0:30Reason being,
- 0:32Movie Goodness is the flagship show here at the KB Radio Network.
- 0:38This is the...
- 0:40show that this network was built on and all the other shows or spinoffs or branches off of this tree you know and i love doing movie goodness always have loved doing movie goodness throughout my time of podcasting and as of late i
- 1:00haven't been doing a lot of movie goodness you know it's been it's been kind of sparing and and a lot of that is because
- 1:09I just haven't been inspired to do anything or to talk about a certain thing because a lot of the things that
- 1:17I normally would talk about will come from a place of anger and I always wanted to kind of break from the norm you know have this show be have a little levity if you will and you know that's why we do it the way we do it we'll talk about a
- 1:36certain pop you
- 1:38culture issues or cultural issues or political issues and mix it up with a movie review and that's that kind of breaks the levity and lately i just have not been in the mood and for a lot of obvious reasons we know that presidential election didn't quite go the way that i was hoping it would go i know there's a lot of people out there that are uh
- 2:03cheering screaming from the mountaintops they're happy
- 2:08and god bless you but not me and other things other things that's had that has been going on uh you know around my life every you know and i'm a blessed individual i i don't like to complain too much but
- 2:25you know i i'm happy in the general sense but there's a lot of things going on around me that's kind of disturbing and you know i really just hadn't been you
- 2:37pumped up or excited to talk about a
- 2:42Certain issues or or popular
- 2:46Trending things that's going on in the world,
- 2:49but this particular show and what makes this particular episode of movie goodness
- 2:55Bittersweet, I'm happy to be back doing movie goodness in its natural form
- 3:03But it's bittersweet because we're talking about something
- 3:06pretty depressing you know it is nothing to cheer about or joke around about this is something serious because somebody died you know no matter if you disagree with this person's uh uh method of doing their job or politics or whatever the case may be you
- 3:25know nobody deserves to be gunned down in in the street and of course we're talking about the incident that took place on december the
- 3:344th
- 3:35in new york city when the ceo of united healthcare was gunned down shot and killed outside of a new york uh hilton hotel in manhattan in manhattan you
- 3:50know and uh this just blew my mind when this happened no pun intended it was so like weird to me that this took place and the
- 4:03a thing that really ran through my mind as I was watching this story on the news and diving into the internet and trying to find out some information about what what was going on you know I was like boy people people
- 4:18are really starting to lose their mind and I think that it's only going to get worse and and that's the scary part about all this um knowing what's to come politically you
- 4:32in this country in the next uh month or so it's scary it's very scary and of course i'm not saying this is tied up in politics per se the death of brian thompson is just weird
- 4:49you know it is it's like okay people are willing to go to these extremes you know they've broken people are broken people are
- 5:00just desperate and don't care anymore you know and this particular instant instance it's it's even scarier because this was so thought out and planned and executed that
- 5:15is like man this was like a movie and that was that was the first thing that ran across my mind uh one of the first things that ran across my mind like man this this is like a movie i mean this dude you
- 5:28whoever he is at the time of this recording he hasn't been caught yet um he planned this out to a tee and got away so far eventually he's gonna get caught there's no there's no ifs ands or buts about it probably
- 5:45by the time i release this episode he'll be caught but um it was just crazy and we're gonna go through the timeline we're gonna break down exactly what took place and then
- 5:58We're gonna review a film that just fits into this subject like a round peg you should say.
- 6:09The 2002 Denzel Washington film
- 6:13John Q.
- 6:14Similar.
- 6:15Not the same plot but similar.
- 6:18And it deals with health care and what Denzel Washington as a character the extremes he took.
- 6:27because of health care and this is basically what this assassin did he took matters into his own hands but let's go through the timeline surrounding the assassination of brian thompson
- 6:46on december the
- 6:484th the ceo of united health care he was shot and killed outside the new york hilton midtown in
- 6:56manhattan he was in town to attend an annual uh investors meeting at the united health group you know the parent company of united health care and authorities believe the attack was not random and anybody
- 7:13with any sense or watched at least one episode of law and order knows that this was not a random attack uh
- 7:22And the authorities,
- 7:24the police,
- 7:25everybody involved,
- 7:26they're investigating it as a targeted killing.
- 7:29So the shooting occurred early in the morning and the suspect,
- 7:32described as a white man dressed in dark clothes,
- 7:36fled the scene and has not been apprehended as of now.
- 7:42Thompson was the CEO since
- 7:45April of 2021.
- 7:47His family reported that he received threats.
- 7:50in the past so this is something that he was dealing with um before this took place on december the 4th you know uh now rather those all those threats came from this one individual i doubt it because everybody's upset with the health care i used to have united
- 8:08health care years ago before uh the company i worked for switched to a different health plan but did united health care and you know i'm not trying to be disrespectful you
- 8:19to the Thompson family.
- 8:21I grieve with them.
- 8:23They are in my thoughts and prayers.
- 8:24And this has nothing to do with
- 8:27Brian Thompson or his family.
- 8:28This has to do with UnitedHealthcare.
- 8:31It stinks.
- 8:32That sucks.
- 8:34I mean,
- 8:34UnitedHealthcare is not good.
- 8:36At least it wasn't,
- 8:38I forgot how long ago it was.
- 8:40It was over 10 years ago,
- 8:41but it was not good.
- 8:43I was so happy when my job switched.
- 8:48to a different health care provider.
- 8:52And they're not much better.
- 8:54Let's not get it twisted.
- 8:56They're all trash at its core.
- 8:59But it was better.
- 9:01It's better,
- 9:02I should say,
- 9:03than UnitedHealthcare.
- 9:05But to jump back into this case here,
- 9:09Thompson,
- 9:09he was the
- 9:12CEO of UnitedHealthcare,
- 9:14the insurance arm of the UnitedHealth group.
- 9:18uh since april of 2021 as i said uh his wife reported that he had received death threats in the past saying that they were motivated basically by a lack of coverage people were upset because the
- 9:33coverage wasn't good and i can i can testify today you know i know a lot of people out there listening right now probably have united health care and you can say that the coverage is horrible um
- 9:47It is completely trash as a healthcare provider.
- 9:52And
- 9:54I can understand the anger.
- 9:56I don't see...
- 9:58I'm not angry enough to kill the CEO of the company,
- 10:01but I can see where the anger for the lack of coverage comes from.
- 10:06Anywho,
- 10:07after his death,
- 10:08it was reported that Thompson was facing a lawsuit accusing him and other executives of insider trading after they reportedly stole millions of dollars of stock while the company was the subject of a federal investigation that was not disclosed to shareholders.
- 10:28United Health was under Department of Justice investigation since October of 2023,
- 10:35and insiders,
- 10:36including
- 10:38Thompson, was able to sell
- 10:41$120 million of personal held United Health stocks before the stock value dropped.
- 10:49United Health Care insures
- 10:5249 million Americans and saw
- 10:57$281 billion would be in revenue in the 2023 fiscal year.
- 11:05In 2021,
- 11:06Thompson was criticized in an open letter from
- 11:10American Hospital Association due to
- 11:13UnitedHealthcare plan to start denying payments for what it deemed as non-critical visits to hospital emergency rooms.
- 11:24Fast forwarding.
- 11:26to the assassination of uh brian thompson uh thompson was in new york for an annual united health care investors meeting having arrived in the city on monday december the second on december the fourth at
- 11:42around 6 45 a.m eastern standard time thompson was walking along west 54th street uh towards the new york midtown hotel
- 11:56that was hosting that meeting.
- 11:58He was shot by a man dressed in a black hoodie and armed with a nine millimeter pistol with a silencer on the tip.
- 12:09The killer had waited outside the building for several minutes and shot
- 12:14Thompson several times from approximately 20 feet away,
- 12:19striking him in the back and in the right calf.
- 12:23Police initially said that the killer fleed the scene on an electric city bike,
- 12:28which is owned by Lyft,
- 12:30but the NYPD later debunked that claim.
- 12:35Thompson was taken to Mount Sinai West Hospital,
- 12:38where he was pronounced dead at 7.12 a.m.
- 12:42The NYPD and Mayor Eric Adams said the attack appeared to be a targeted killing and was not a random.
- 12:53attack a little bit about the assailant but a little bit that we do know because um he hasn't been captured as of the time of this recording but the suspect is described by police as a white man approximately six foot one uh wearing a black hoodie uh sweatshirt and pants with a gray backpack
- 13:15along with a black face mask police has said that he appears to be uh
- 13:22proficient in the use of a firearm from how he quickly unjammed the pistol used in the shooting the suspect has yet to be apprehended he uh has been described as an extremely camera
- 13:39savvy individual the suspect appeared in new york city on november the 24th from somewhere south of the city the suspect checked into a whole
- 13:51in New York a hot a hostel in New York that was formerly a nursing home and on November the
- 14:0030th with a fake
- 14:02New Jersey
- 14:04ID card and paid in cash the suspect had checked out of that hostel the previous day after staying there since November the 24th and that lets you know everything you need to know about this fella this was deeply
- 14:20planned out
- 14:20My only thing with that is how do you know all that?
- 14:23You know,
- 14:24how did they pick all that up?
- 14:26But whatever
- 14:28But don't know where he at or who he is.
- 14:30I'm pretty sure they know they're just not releasing the information right now
- 14:35But it's it's it's kind of peculiar that they released that bit of information Y'all was able to track him all the way back before Thanksgiving that this dude was staying at this hostel and
- 14:50can't find him right now he vanished into thin air uh the investigation
- 14:56So far with the shooter yet to be apprehended,
- 14:59as of December the 5th,
- 15:01authorities publicly released images of the suspect taken by security cameras at the
- 15:07Manhattan hostel.
- 15:10The stills appear to show a partial view of his face.
- 15:15You can find them online anywhere,
- 15:17but yeah,
- 15:18I've seen all that.
- 15:19Also,
- 15:21disclaimer,
- 15:22I should have mentioned this at the beginning of the show,
- 15:24I saw the video.
- 15:26of the shooting and i'm pretty sure everybody has seen it or seen snippets of it but i saw the whole thing a friend of mine sent it to me on uh x i think oh the link to it or whatever i didn't know what i was clicking on but he just randomly sent the thing and
- 15:43i clicked on it i'm like what is this and it showed up that was the uh the murder of brian thompson and i'm like man this is
- 15:53It's brutal.
- 15:54And yeah,
- 15:54I can,
- 15:55I can agree that,
- 15:57oh boy,
- 15:58he knows how to handle a weapon.
- 16:01Uh,
- 16:01he put in a lot of practice with handling that weapon because it,
- 16:05it jammed a few times and he quickly unjammed it.
- 16:09I mean,
- 16:09he was never flustered,
- 16:11flustered or rattled or,
- 16:14uh,
- 16:14you know,
- 16:15like nervous,
- 16:16like,
- 16:16oh man,
- 16:16you know,
- 16:17shaking like,
- 16:17oh man,
- 16:18it's jammed or nothing.
- 16:18He just click,
- 16:19click,
- 16:19click.
- 16:19And you know,
- 16:21on with the show it was like i don't know man it was some john wick type assassinations you know he he was not phased at all you know it's disturbing that somebody is that cold blood uh
- 16:36but uh while police have not recovered the weapon they reportedly believe the shooter used a bnt station six or a wheel rod a boat
- 16:49action pistol with the integrated suppression possibly acquired in Connecticut.
- 16:57Once again,
- 16:58these police are beasts,
- 17:00man.
- 17:01They pinpointed,
- 17:01they don't have the weapon,
- 17:02but they was able to pinpoint exactly what type of weapon that is.
- 17:06That is some skill there,
- 17:07boy.
- 17:09Policemen,
- 17:10they be on their job sometimes.
- 17:13Now,
- 17:14this is where it gets really disturbing.
- 17:16This is where you really sit back and like,
- 17:19this dude this dude was on some other stuff man he was on a whole nother level here the words delay deny defend and dispose were found written on the case shells uh or the shell casings i should say at the scene uh dispose was written on a uh shell casing from
- 17:42around that was fired into the victim and delay was written on a live round
- 17:49that was ejected when uh the shooter was clearing the jam in his gun and so uh police believe this may include a motive as they are as they are similar to delay deny and defend a popular insurance
- 18:08industry phase uh about not paying out claims and used as the title of a book critiquing
- 18:17American Insurance System apart from the bullet casings a water bottle candy wrapper and a phone were also recovered from the scene and believed to be connected to the shooter
- 18:30I must say this and I told a friend of mine this when we were talking about this the other day the candy wrapper in the water bottle yeah that's probably here that falling here this
- 18:46dude was too smart
- 18:48he was too smart to leave the phone if that if he left if and i'm that's me assuming now if he was that stupid to leave behind his phone he deserved to get caught he needed to get caught anyway but i mean how do you plan this out this thoroughly this cerebral this
- 19:06cold-blooded and do something stupid like leave your phone you know because it wasn't like he was running he didn't run if you saw the video he just you
- 19:16casually left you know and i don't know it's just weird it's very weird how that uh how that turned up at the scene now it probably is his phone but if it is it was a plant it's probably something to throw people off the police office sent you know i'm just like
- 19:35i said i'm not playing this out i'm not a career criminal but it just seems you know i've watched enough movies criminals would do
- 19:45stupid stuff like this and they and this dude all this was thought out and planned to a t and so it's hard for me to believe that uh he'll do something that careless but
- 19:58You know,
- 19:59time will tell.
- 20:01But speaking of time,
- 20:02let's go through this timeline again.
- 20:04We're going to start all the way back.
- 20:07And I say all the way like it was years ago,
- 20:08but on November the 24th.
- 20:11Now,
- 20:11this is where it all,
- 20:13quote unquote,
- 20:14started,
- 20:15at least the execution of this plan.
- 20:18On November the 24th,
- 20:20the suspect arrived in New York City on an interstate bus.
- 20:25from somewhere south of the city and checks into this hostel on november the 29th the suspect checks out of that hostel on november the
- 20:3630th the suspect checks back in to that hostel uh approximately 5 a.m on december the 4th the suspect is seen in at the frederick douglas houses housing development uh at 6 15 you
- 20:54December the 4th,
- 20:54the suspect is seen leaving the
- 20:5857th Street F train subway stop.
- 21:01Two minutes later,
- 21:02the suspect buys coffee,
- 21:04water,
- 21:05and a granola bar at the Starbucks two blocks away from the New York
- 21:11Hilton Midtown Hotel,
- 21:12discarding the coffee cup and the water bottle.
- 21:16At
- 21:176.39, the suspect arrives in front of the hotel and waits for several minutes.
- 21:24One minute later,
- 21:25Thompson leaves the Marriott Hotel where he was staying the prior night,
- 21:30and he heads towards the Hilton.
- 21:33At
- 21:346.44, Thompson walks across the street towards the hotel,
- 21:41and the assailant shoots Thompson several times,
- 21:44clearing,
- 21:45misfunctioning out of his pistol.
- 21:48The suspect immediately flees North Brown.
- 21:51into a pedestrian walkway at two minutes later at 6 46 police respond to a 911 call about a person being shot two minutes later at 6
- 22:0448 officers arrive at the scene and found thompson with multiple gunshot wounds to his back and leg he is taken to the hospital the assailant is seen traveling northbound on an e-bike towards central park at
- 22:20six you
- 22:2159 a person appears to be the suspect at least appearing to be the suspect is riding a bike on west
- 22:2985th street at 7
- 22:3212 a.m thompson is declared dead at mount sinai hospital at eight o'clock united healthcare investor meetings begin at nine o'clock the united health group ceo andrew
- 22:49witty
- 22:50canceled the investors meeting now this is this is where this is where it's crazy y'all had that meeting for a whole hour and didn't realize the guy weren't there i understand maybe you didn't get word that he was dead but or was in this involved in the shoot whatever the case may be he wasn't there it's the ceo how you start a meeting without the ceo but
- 23:13they did and had it for an hour until they got word and then they canceled the meeting
- 23:19united healthcare people and as of december the
- 23:235th the assailant is still on the loose so they have yet to apprehend him as of right now this is um this is sad bro this is this is really sad because at
- 23:40the end of the day um this isn't gonna this isn't gonna help your health plan you know what i'm saying i mean
- 23:49Killing him is not going to change nothing because that's the system.
- 23:55You know,
- 23:56God rest his soul.
- 23:57Brian Thompson,
- 23:59he didn't cause all this.
- 24:00This has been going on since the beginning of insurance.
- 24:03I don't care if it's health insurance,
- 24:05home insurance,
- 24:06life insurance.
- 24:07They don't pay out.
- 24:09Insurance does not pay out.
- 24:11Insurance is horrible.
- 24:14It is horrible.
- 24:15It is the biggest scam known to man.
- 24:18That.
- 24:19in bottled water.
- 24:20I still,
- 24:21to this day,
- 24:22feel that's the biggest scam on earth.
- 24:24In a world,
- 24:2480% water,
- 24:26we have to pay for it.
- 24:28But it is what it is.
- 24:30But insurance is the biggest scam there is.
- 24:32You mean to tell me
- 24:34I have a policy,
- 24:35I've been paying on this policy every month or every six months,
- 24:41however you pay your policies,
- 24:43doing it for years,
- 24:4510,
- 24:4515,
- 24:4620,
- 24:4630 years.
- 24:49You have an incident,
- 24:50you have something come up,
- 24:53you go to the hospital,
- 24:54go to the doctor,
- 24:56you find out that you have...
- 24:58a form of leukemia,
- 24:59cancer,
- 25:01diabetes,
- 25:02whatever the case may be,
- 25:04insurance.
- 25:05Oh,
- 25:05we can't cover it.
- 25:07Oh,
- 25:08no,
- 25:08that's not covered under your policy.
- 25:11This isn't covered under your policy.
- 25:12That ain't covered under your policy.
- 25:15Oh,
- 25:15you can get this medicine,
- 25:17but you can't get this medicine,
- 25:19but you need them both.
- 25:22We only going to pay
- 25:2310% of this call.
- 25:25It's the most ridiculous.
- 25:27ridiculous system on earth.
- 25:34It's just here.
- 25:36It's just here.
- 25:37It's just here in the United States.
- 25:39Well,
- 25:39maybe not just here.
- 25:41I'm only speaking in terms of this is where I live and this is what I know.
- 25:46I do know other countries.
- 25:47There are multiple countries that have free health care and they don't have these problems.
- 25:54They don't have to worry about the CEO.
- 25:56or the ceo or the cfo getting involved in in uh insider trading and all this other foolishness you know you playing with my money you realize you playing with people's lives and
- 26:11and i'm talking to insurance people here you you realize you playing with people's lives literally people are dying every day because they do not have proper health care do not have proper
- 26:25coverage.
- 26:26They have insurance,
- 26:28but don't have proper coverage because insurance companies don't pay out.
- 26:34They don't care.
- 26:36They don't care.
- 26:38And you know,
- 26:40I know,
- 26:41I know people and I,
- 26:43uh,
- 26:44I'm not going to go there cause I don't feel like crying because this,
- 26:49this is real.
- 26:50Um,
- 26:50I know people who,
- 26:51who did not have proper coverage.
- 26:55from their health care and didn't have enough money to get the medicine they needed when they were dying from cancer and that yeah and trust me it hits close to home and so yes it is it's a problem it's a serious problem that
- 27:14uh uh that needs to be solved involving these health care companies uh but does that mean we need to go out there and put bullets
- 27:24and CEOs of these companies?
- 27:26No,
- 27:27no,
- 27:27no.
- 27:27That's not going to,
- 27:28that's not going to solve the problem,
- 27:30man.
- 27:31That's,
- 27:32I get the anger.
- 27:34I do get the anger.
- 27:36I just don't get the outlet.
- 27:37You know,
- 27:39find a better way to express your anger.
- 27:41That ain't going to do it.
- 27:44And like I said,
- 27:45this was as cerebral as it gets.
- 27:47I mean,
- 27:48the words that was called,
- 27:50you know how much time it took for him to carve in.
- 27:54though deny um what was it deny um defend the dispose and delay all that to carve that into those casings that was a statement literally a statement was made and it's just the beginning people are frustrated people are tired they
- 28:16are tired and i think the top
- 28:20percentage of this country the the big wigs here the politicians here don't understand the level of frustration that american citizens are feeling right now they take it as a game and it's it's not a game it's
- 28:37seriously not a game but uh yes this is sad uh my like i said my condolences go out to the thompson family uh nobody deserves that i you
- 28:49you know no matter how mad you are with the company he worked for nobody deserves that um to be gunned down in the street like a like a dog man i mean even a dog doesn't get treated like that that is that's messed up uh but
- 29:04uh yeah my thoughts and prayers are with his family but um let's move on to our film let's let's move on from this depressing real life story and talk about a depressing
- 29:18film that came out in 2022 the thriller drama uh directed by nick cassavetes starring denzel washington robert duvall uh james woods and haish and
- 29:36ray leota uh the late great ray leota is also in this film john q and this film stars denzel washington as the title character a man
- 29:48who takes a hospital room hostage in order to
- 29:52save his son with a heart transplant.
- 29:56I remember this movie ever so vividly.
- 30:02This was after
- 30:03Denzel Washington won the Academy Award for his portrayal of Lorenzo in Training Day,
- 30:11where he was the most despicable villain in movie history up to that point.
- 30:17He was,
- 30:18I mean,
- 30:19you couldn't get more evil.
- 30:22than what Denzel Washington was in training day and for him his next role to be John Q it kind of I mean not kind of but complete polar opposites of each other yes this is a man who uh
- 30:37breaks the law you know taking people hostage or whatnot but he's doing it for noble reasons um so his son can get a heart transplant you know and his son is dying and
- 30:52his insurance the hmo that's when h and hmos were popping still have h and hmos but it was really bad back then they're bad now but they were really really bad back then but he he um he couldn't get the heart transplant so
- 31:10he took matters into his own hands i was super satisfied with it back then i'm very happy with this movie back then i thought it was i thought it was very um
- 31:23i guess if i was doing this show back then and reviewing it it probably would have got an a plus but time time 22 years is a long time and uh re-watching
- 31:39it i still feel is a good movie but it's nowhere to the level that i thought it was back in 2022 denzel washington gives another great performance which is probably the most
- 31:52redundant statement ever you know i mean when does denzel washington give bad performance yeah what you got to go back to saint elsewhere or something i don't know if i ever seen denzel washington give a bad performance but he he gives a dynamic performance in this film quite honestly if
- 32:12anybody else was cast in this role it this movie would be whatever this would be like a throwaway film that you'll find on the screaming service
- 32:22these days but this was a theatrical release in 2022 and ended up grossing over 100 million dollars uh back then so it just goes to show you what time would do because if this movie would never make 100 million dollars if it was released in
- 32:402024 but this was a film that i thought it had promised this movie has promised like i said looking at it you
- 32:51And with younger eyes,
- 32:5320 something years ago,
- 32:54I thought it was very innovative and smart the way the story unfolded and how this movie was set up.
- 33:01You know how it begins with this car crash,
- 33:04with this woman being killed in this car crash.
- 33:07And you're wondering,
- 33:08who is this and what does she have to do with Denzel Washington taking over a hospital?
- 33:16But then the next scene,
- 33:17we kind of flashback to a couple of weeks earlier.
- 33:21And this is where we meet Denzel Washington,
- 33:24John Q,
- 33:25and we see his family life.
- 33:28You know,
- 33:28he's a factory worker and whatnot.
- 33:30He has this young son,
- 33:31has his wife,
- 33:32who's played by Kimberly Elise.
- 33:36And nice little setup,
- 33:39you know.
- 33:40And I think that in order for him to get the transplant,
- 33:44that his son to get the transplant would be like
- 33:47$200,000 or something like that.
- 33:49It's something ridiculous.
- 33:51you know and we're talking 2022 money you know and i know inflation is not that much but heck it can't it's a lot that's still a lot um two hundred thousand dollars for a heart transplant my god jesus
- 34:10you can't just uh tape it up or something i mean two hundred thousand dollars but anyways uh the insurance of course didn't cover it
- 34:20wasn't uh getting i mean no help at all and his son is having difficulties you know but the hospital required a down payment and i think the down payment was like 75 000 or something like that and of course you
- 34:38don't have 75 000 you know you only have like a thousand dollars in their savings and it was just it was just horrible and john q's uh insurance
- 34:49wouldn't cover none of the surgery.
- 34:51None of it.
- 34:53Because
- 34:55I think he had changed policies or something like that.
- 34:58He had changed policies.
- 35:00And due to the fact that they changed the policies,
- 35:04and
- 35:06I think he had reduced his hours at work because he had to take care of his son.
- 35:11And so because of those factors,
- 35:15they wouldn't cover.
- 35:17The insurance company would not cover his son's transplant.
- 35:22And his son has an incident where,
- 35:27you know,
- 35:28or episode,
- 35:29I should say,
- 35:29where his heart is going out and whatnot.
- 35:31So he had rushed him to the hospital,
- 35:33and he's begging the doctors,
- 35:35him and his wife and all this stuff here,
- 35:37and he's had enough.
- 35:39He's had enough.
- 35:41And he takes the hospital hostage or that wing of the hospital hostage in order for...
- 35:50his son to get the transplant and the majority of the movie is uh denzel washington playing off of the negotiators who's played by uh robert duvall uh
- 36:06who i mean what a gem man i'm he he hasn't passed away thank god but i miss him in films now because he's much older now you can see him pop up in a lot of stuff now but but uh
- 36:19he was just i just love to see him pop up on screen whatever he will pop up and uh this was a good role for him and to see him and denzel bounce off of one another and these negotiations was really fun um the performances by everybody else in this film were really good even um eddie griffin the comedian he
- 36:42was in here and he had a nice little role it was just it was just a good movie good solid film
- 36:50um a little unbelievable you have to suspend this belief a lot because in real world events i don't think this would have played out like it you know with the uh somewhat happy ending you know with his son eventually getting the transplant by you
- 37:08guessed it the woman who had the car accident in the beginning of the film that was the setup for that and um it all worked out at the end but
- 37:18it was uh it was uh a little unbelievable you know it was just a tad bit convenient uh what they call that what's the term for that uh ex-marketer or something but yeah other than that i
- 37:35think the performances are great nick casavate uh verrys who is a really good director but he was also an actor i remember him from the uh the reef
- 37:47you know that old film i say old jesus i'm old uh from the 80s with uh charlie sheen with the car he came back from the dead with the car to raise people and kill him uh that was awesome uh he was the villain in that he was also in
- 38:02face off and um as a director he directed this and he also directed what a lot of people say is the most romantic movie of all time based off the most romantic book of all time
- 38:16the the notebook and that's a film i never watched not because i refuse to watch i just never watched the notebook but it is celebrated as the most romantic film of all time but uh one of these days i'll probably do it for valentine's day i'll probably do i'm don't hold me to it but i'll probably do it for valentine's but
- 38:38in any event yes uh nick cassavetes i think he did a good job here uh directing this film you
- 38:45There's a relatively small film,
- 38:47but with a big message and a huge purpose with a ginormous actor in the lead role,
- 38:55probably the greatest actor of our generation in a role that is slept on.
- 39:01I think when a lot of people talk about Denzel Washington and his performances,
- 39:06yeah,
- 39:06you bring up Training Day,
- 39:07you bring up Glory,
- 39:09you bring up
- 39:12Macbeth.
- 39:13You know,
- 39:13all of these films that he's done throughout his his career and it's hard to pinpoint what's his greatest.
- 39:21I'll never say what his greatest is,
- 39:23but I can say that
- 39:25John Q is a slept on performance that nobody talks about.
- 39:31They're like,
- 39:32this is a awesome performance by Denzel Washington.
- 39:37I'm telling you,
- 39:37if it's not Denzel Washington in his role,
- 39:40this will be.
- 39:41of whatever movie.
- 39:43I mean,
- 39:43there's no other way to describe it.
- 39:45It is,
- 39:46it is screaming at best,
- 39:48but
- 39:50Denzel Washington giving it his all.
- 39:52It is,
- 39:54it is like,
- 39:54mwah,
- 39:55beautiful,
- 39:56powerful performance.
- 39:58John Q from 2002 gets a letter grade of a B minus.
- 40:05Yeah,
- 40:05I think it's a really good film.
- 40:08If anything,
- 40:08watch it for Denzel Washington's performance.
- 40:11He is the lead.
- 40:12He carries this movie.
- 40:14He puts it all on his back and he has the shoulders to carry.
- 40:18Really,
- 40:18really good film.
- 40:19And a little nugget.
- 40:20One of the reasons he took.
- 40:22this film took this role was because he had just finished training day and he was so bad and i mean bad as in good you know he was such an evil character he wanted to you know his next role to be something that people would cheer for a
- 40:41role that people would kind of uh get behind him with because he knew that once people saw training day that he would be despised you
- 40:50so he chose john q because of training day so we can thank train training day for this performance in john q but yeah um yeah man uh that's sad that's a sad situation i hope that the authorities catch
- 41:09this guy uh that just brutally killed uh the ceo of united healthcare uh brian thompson uh
- 41:21Yeah,
- 41:21I hope they get them and get them soon.
- 41:24Don't let them don't let them roll around and thinking that he got away.
- 41:29I don't want him to have that pleasure because that's that's not right.
- 41:34Even though mentally we're probably on the same page as far as our hatred towards the health care system.
- 41:43But not not in not like this.
- 41:47Not not to these extremes,
- 41:49sir.
- 41:50no i i can't i can't uh sanction that uh but uh yeah i hope they catch this guy and catch him soon so everybody i hope that you enjoyed this episode of movie goodness as we discussed this despicable act that took place in new
- 42:09york city uh just this past week on december the 4th the murder of brian thompson and our review
- 42:19of John Q from 2002 starring Denzel Washington.
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- 43:00Network. Everybody,
- 43:01thank you for joining me.
- 43:03I want you all to know that I love you.
- 43:06Continue to love everyone.
- 43:08And until we speak again,
- 43:10you all be blessed.