A Quiet Place (2018) vs. Bird Box (2018)

The central premise of this podcast episode revolves around a rigorous comparison between the two notable films, A Quiet Place and Bird Box, both of which explore themes of survival in worlds fraught with unseen dangers. We delve into the nuances of their narratives, character developments, and the effectiveness of their respective cinematic techniques. A Quiet Place emerges as a profound examination of a family navigating their existence amidst a hostile environment, where silence is not merely a choice but a matter of life and death. In stark contrast, Bird Box, despite its compelling premise, is scrutinized for its lack of depth and failure to engage the audience on the same emotional level. Through this discourse, we aim to illuminate the strengths and weaknesses of these films, ultimately determining which one prevails in this cinematic contest.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Things like that are just someof the things that come to mind for
this movie or, sorry, thesemovies, I should say.
I love it.
Quiet Place did a really good job.
Bird Box sucked.
Welcome to the what's a Verted podcast.
We fashion ourselves cinematicjudge and jury.

(00:22):
My name is J.J.
crowder.
I'm here with my co host, Matt Senheider.
I say, I say, I say.
Better red than dead.
And Alec Burgess.
Let's get it.
We appreciate you tuning in.
Go hit that.
Follow subscribe like bellnotification buttons.
Tell a friend about us.
Tell a family member about us.
Tell people.
Tell some people in someserious danger due to weird things,

(00:44):
whether it be sight or hearing.
Well, don't tell us about it.
If you're in a Quiet Placeuniverse, you're gonna have to sign
it to us.
Yeah, write it down or something.
But whatever you do, don'tbring noisy toys.
Maybe.
Maybe tell Alec so he can die.
Go for it.
So, yeah, we're.
We're kicking off a new month.
It's February 2025.

(01:06):
That's wild to me, guys, thatwe're already in February and wow.
But yeah, we're kicking off anew month.
We're going old school.
We're going back to the roots.
Alex getting to join us onsomething we used to do well pretty
often, and we haven't done itfor a long time.
So we're doing it.
And that is our arbitration series.
So we used to do videos.

(01:27):
It started with some twinmovies, but we've kind of branched
and we got some twin moviesfor the month, which is movies that
came out same year withsimilar plot lines.
And then there we've got somethat are just similar movies and
not quite twins because theydidn't come out the same year.
But kicking it off, we'redoing a Quiet Place versus Bird Box.

(01:50):
So let's jump into those realquick and then we'll get started.
So let me tell you a littlebit about them.
First one, Quiet place wasreleased April 6, 2018.
It was written by Brian Woods,Scott Beck, and John Krasinski.
Was directed by JohnKrasinski, stars Emily Blunt, John
Krasinski, Millicent Simmons,Noah Jupe, Cade Woodward, and Leon

(02:13):
Russom.
I might as well throw inRotopel too, because that just lists
the whole seven cast peoplecast that this movie had.
And versus Bird Box, it wasreleased December 21, 2018, and it
was written by Eric Kaiser andJosh Malerman.
It was directed by SuzanneBeer, stars Sandra Bullock, Trevonte

(02:34):
Rhodes, John Malkovich, SarahPaulson, Jackie Weaver, Rosa.
Rosa Salazar, DanielleMcDonald, Loray Howery and Tom Hollander.
First one, Quiet Place.
Forgot.
There's a lot to talk aboutwhen we do these.
It's about a family whostruggles for survival in a world
invaded by blind aliencreatures with ultra sensitive hearing.

(02:55):
And Bird Box is five yearsafter an ominous unseen presence
drives most of society to suicide.
A mother and her two childrenmake a desperate bid to reach safety.
So we're gonna go through,first and foremost, let's talk about
these movies.
And it's our verses.
And we're gonna do this right here.

(03:20):
Whoa.
Yeah, we got a verse that wasa surprise to the both of us.
That was.
Whoa.
I.
I love it.
Take my headphones off for that.
The bass hit me so hard.
Say you with your chest.
That's right.
That' right.
But I want to tell her beforewe start talking about these movies,
I was, I.

(03:41):
I've been pushing to bringback verses.
It's a.
A lot of work for us to dobecause you have to watch a double
the movies, basically.
But I think it's a lot of funto pit movies kind of against each
other.
Especially ones that are sosimilar, those that come in the same
year.
I don't know why Hollywooddoes that.
Like, there's like, let's justat least two of the same, very same

(04:03):
things.
But I think it's fun becausethe more you do this, whether it's
remakes and you do that ormovies that are similar, like you're
always comparing movies toother movies.
It's usually like you havelike the Brahma.
Man, this movie was so good.
Nothing's as good as this.
Well, let's talk about it.
And so I think we'll.
We'll probably do this once ortwice a year.
It's pretty time consuming.
But I'm glad that my co stars,co hosts are interested enough to

(04:27):
bring this back.
And now we get to pop Alexcherry on some of the OG ness that
we.
We used to do and bring it back.
Yeah, it was a lot of fun.
That was.
Yeah, we used to do these.
One of our earliest episodeswas one of these, wasn't it?
Yeah.
Why do we the for why do wethink twin movies exist?
So, like, those that aresimilar come out in the same year.
Like that always has beenweird to me.

(04:49):
PlayStation and Xbox.
All Hollywood is they gottabeat the blind invasion, alien listening
thing.
So you go with two differentideas that are very similar and see
which one wins out.
Yeah.
And my understanding is mostof it is like, especially like in
this case, right you get.

(05:09):
What happens is you get acouple of original screenplays because
these ones aren't.
At least, I don't know aboutBird Box because I don't know enough
about it.
But A Quiet Place was anoriginal thing.
Like, it wasn't.
Yeah, it was original screenplay.
We could have done it lastmonth too.
Like, it would have worked inwhat we were doing with original
screenplays.
But my understanding isthere's always treatments.

(05:30):
Not actual scriptings, buttreatments that are sold.
And so then those treatments are.
Get taken and they startgetting tweaked and writers actually
get involved versus just thesetreatments of an idea around.
Hey, these guys are.
There's aliens that havesupersonic hearing and they have
to learn how to live in silence.
Right.
Or Bird Box, where it's gotta.

(05:53):
Can't look at anything orwhatever it is that's out there.
So that somewhere along theline is.
My understanding is that therewas a treatment that said due to
senses, right?
Like, they have to get rid ofone of their senses in order to survive
in the world that they live in now.
And so then it grows and expands.

(06:13):
But two people have boughtthis treatment, two studios or writing
groups or whatever it is, andthen they go.
And then they're just.
They end up on track torelease the same time or in the same
year.
It doesn't happen very often anymore.
It used to happen a ton.
Like, if you go back, like,there's tons.
And we've got four of themthis month that I think three of

(06:34):
the four that we're doing weretwin movies.
So I know Mats and I weretalking about one last night.
A couple of them last nightthat he was watching that they came
out.
Those are the same year andvery similar.
Yeah, yeah.
It's just.
It's an interesting concept,but excited for this month.
Where I wanted the.
At least for me, kick thingsoff is there's two.

(06:55):
We're going to talk about fourdifferent kind of areas that we're
going to raid against.
But the thing that was just myfirst question for both of you is,
obviously Bird Box came out inNetflix, so watch it at home.
Did all of us see A QuietPlace in theaters or not?
I did.
Yes, I did.

(07:18):
With which he says, that is great.
And I think that's gonna bethe thing I always come back to with
this, is these.
Both of these movies aremovie, like movie theater movies,
in my opinion.
And I think Bird Box, I thinkit's, in my opinion, suffered a little
bit because I would have likedto experience that in theaters, but
A Quiet Place was to me one ofthe more unique.

(07:41):
Excuse Baby Ray in the background.
One of the more unique thingsthat I've experienced in cinema in
a while.
It's one of the things Iremember going and seeing in person
and experiencing it with the audience.
I don't know if you all hadthat kind of same experience where
it was so quiet, no one didwant to make a sound, like.
And when you did, like, youprobably had that bonehead that like

(08:01):
yelled at some point just like.
Because I was like, oh, like,Like I just.
You leave me alone.
Yeah.
But I had like, I reallyappreciated the experience I had
with the people I was watchingwith and with the movie theater.
And I thought it was reallyunique and interesting and different
and memorable.

(08:21):
Like, I still remember whatthat felt like, going to see that
in theaters.
And honestly, that's hard tocompete against.
Like, it felt like an event.
Yeah.
Quiet Place was.
Was one of those things that Ihadn't seen a movie that intrigued
me from like, haven't seenanything like this before in a very

(08:42):
long time.
And so I was really excited that.
And I love John Kinski andEmily Blunt and like.
Well, you, like, you felt likeyou're part of the movie a little
bit in a sense.
And so what I'm trying to getat is that.
But then with Bird Box comingout later and it being at home, like,
I just, it felt like.
It just felt like a.

(09:02):
Like a stepsister, stepbrotherand just.
And like you're like, ah, thisis cool.
But like I just kind of didthis and I did this with a bunch
of people with louder sounds.
Felt really tense and likeexperiencing it together.
And I'm going to watch thisother thing at home.
And it just didn't.
It never hit the same for me.
Yeah, I would agree that that was.

(09:24):
Just my general sense, like,that I wish we could have more experiences
like this at movie theaters.
Again, like, the last thing Ifelt like that was kind of like Dune
too.
I felt like I was kind of apart of something a little bit.
And that to me is it's reallyhard to do with movies these days.
And we just get away from itbecause it's so easy to just say,
ah, let's release it on stream.
Which is great and convenient.

(09:45):
But we lose the magic of whatmakes for like an event, like a movie
that you're excited to go to.
I.
That's.
I think most what Iappreciated about these two movies
we're talking about,especially with the Quiet Place.
Like, I just wanted to makesure I called that out.
Yeah, I love it.
Completely agree.

(10:05):
So what's our first topic, Matson?
What are we.
What are we comparing these two?
All right, first one's pretty simple.
Storyline and plot developmentis what we're going to discuss first.
I've done a lot of talking, soI'll stop for a little bit.
What do we think now?
Story.
Go for it.
Oh, boy.

(10:29):
Okay.
First time doing this, Little nervous.
That's okay.
What do we compare?
Do I just start talking aboutwhich is better or which I like?
So I'll.
I'll lay the scene, like, think.
I think what helps to talk toour audience about is think about
these two movies in the senseof some of the things that I can
think about that are a littlebit different.

(10:51):
Is the world building there?
I think there's some starkcontrast between both of these movies.
One was very psychologicalversus one that was a little bit
more, like, slightly suspense,more thriller.
And then, like, did we feellike one was maybe more predictable
than the other?
Things like that are just someof the things that come to mind for
this movie or.

(11:11):
Sorry, these movies, I should say.
I love it.
Quiet Place did a really good job.
Bird Box sucked.
No.
So for watching.
Watching a quiet place, Ithink they immerse you immediately,
right?
And you are learning aboutthis world while it's already unfolded
and it's happening around you.

(11:32):
And it's no.
No setup, nothing.
You just dropped right into it.
And to kind of speak to whatMax was talking about, that kind
of makes it real, right?
Like, oh, no.
And then there's, you know,incredibly large times of this quiet
place where there's no sound, none.
It's not even, like, whitenoise in the background.

(11:53):
There's just nothing.
Versus Bird Box gets the wholekind of start to, you know, and you
see what it was like before.
You see what's happening, andthen you kind of get the aftermath
and you see how it flows through.
But for me, watching Bird Box,it felt like most of the focus or

(12:13):
whatever was on how is Mallorygonna have this kid.
Not necessarily aboutwhatever's happening to everybody
else, but it's a big kind offocus or seems to be a huge draw
to the aftermath, like, what'sgonna happen to this child that she
has?

(12:35):
And so it's that that was myentire focus while watching Bird
Box on both occasions.
And, you know, kids are justterrible little gremlins.
I hate their guts.
So it wasn't much of anemotional pull for me versus on the
other side with a quiet place,like I.
I can't help it.
I just make noise like I'mdead in this world instantaneously

(12:58):
versus, you know, I Bird box.
I just got to stay inside too easy.
So I don't know.
That was.
I felt like a quiet place.
Kind of did it better for me.
Sure.
If I had to vote, which I'm gonna.
Because I like Singer's a loser.

(13:21):
I mean, we'll get there.
Right now, we're just compare.
But yeah, I mean, I think itmakes sense what you're saying, and
I.
I think for me, like, I don'tdisagree with you, and I think from
a story perspective, like,what gets me.
I think the difference betweenBird box for me and a quiet place
is what you kind of leanedinto there, Alec, is that you drop

(13:43):
into this world.
And one, it's a world ofsilence by necessity.
And it was funny.
So when we.
Before you start talking,like, I know that you can't do the
silence.
So I was like, I'm not gonnasay anything and watch Alex squirm
right here because it's likeone of those things right where it's
in.
And that was a quiet place.

(14:04):
Got me.
Like, I sit down and I'm like,oh, I don't like how quiet this is.
Like, it's awkward.
Nobody likes that muchsilence, typically.
And so.
And then the other thing thatit does in.
In terms of story is Bird Boxhas some intensity to it, and it's.
It's.
It's a thriller.
And it's like, oh, God, thisis uncomfortable, but really is uncomfortable
for me with quiet places.

(14:25):
They put you in the mosttraumatic opening that I.
That you can think of in this story.
Right?
So you have this family thatyou're immediately like, this is
wild.
They had to put these sandlines up, and they're being quiet.
The dad's being smart, shutsdown the toy.
Can't let the noise get made, whatever.
And then through an act ofbeing a good big sister and trying,

(14:48):
you know what I mean?
Like, it ends up in the worstpossible scenario.
And then you jump back to,we're still in this world of silence,
but now there's this lingeringevent, traumatic event that this
family's dealt with.
And you want them to recover,but how are they recovering?
Right?
And so you have thisunderlying family dynamic that's
happening in this world ofpure fear and going against our normal

(15:15):
nature of talking and beingloud and obnoxious.
And so it's really.
There's multiple layers to the story.
And I think the problem that Ihave With Bird Box is it's just a
bunch of people in a shittysituation that have to like, either
decide whether they're goingto be shitty humans or they're going
to give up or they're going tokeep fighting and take care of each
other as best they can.
And so it's like, human nature sucks.

(15:37):
And so what?
Like, I know where that one'sgoing versus rooting for this family.
I think to me that's the bigdifference in the story is I am uncomfortable
with this family, but rootingfor them, for McJump, and then I'm
like, why are you associatingyourself with half of these, with
any of these people in BirdBox, I'm like, just leave them.
Go away.

(15:57):
You have no familial ties to most.
You know what I mean?
Like, just get these kids andgo do your thing.
So I, I don't know.
Like, that's, to me where it'slike the difference is, is I'm immediately
attached and ready to rock andBird Box.
Like, I'm only attachedbecause I love Sandra Bullock.
Like, that's it, right?

(16:17):
Like, so that's, that's thebig difference.
But when it comes to plot andstory, that's where I, the comparison
is.
Yeah, I'm, I'm very close towhat JJ was gonna say.
Like, ditto's the tldr.
But I think if Bird Box didn'thave Sandra Bullock, as we'll talk
about shortly as well, anothercategory, I think it's just a.

(16:38):
I mean, I, it would have justbeen another Netflix movie that released,
but no one really talked about.
But they obviously were smart,knew they had to go get a go getter.
Whereas like A Quiet Place,obviously it did have some.
I mean, Emily Blunt and JohnKrasinski are, they're, they're pretty,
pretty good in their own right.
And there's definitely somestar power there.

(16:59):
But this is the type of moviebeing a quiet Place that I think
so that unique concept stillwas so new and different and like
I said, an event.
I think what people stillwould have been talking about and
listening to it and, and Ithink it's just the, the family aspects
of a quiet place that reallyendeared me to that progression and
the struggle of the, thedaughter with the hearing aid and

(17:21):
how she just still felt guilty.
The whole family felt guilty.
But they were having the birthof this new child that was kind of
a new beginning, but a newbeginning in a really hard place.
I think it just landed betterthan a Bird box that had Some somewhat
similar premises, but justfelt more predictable in a story
that you've seen a thousandtimes, just told in a slightly different
way.

(17:42):
So for me, I mean, I.
It's a pretty easy.
Give it to a Quiet place onthis one.
No doubt.
I like it.
Chalk one up.
What's next, Matson?
All right, the next one's.
We.
We'll.
We'll go to.
We'll jump around.
Yeah, we'll do the next one wekind of alluded to.
We'll talk about character development.

(18:05):
Let's have JJ Go first.
Yeah.
I think for this one, like,there's a.
A stark contrast.
And I say that because, in myopinion, A Quiet Place has multitudes
of character development,like, specifically around John Krasinski's
character and Millicent's character.

(18:25):
Like the daughter and son, ordaughter and father dynamic of.
You have a daughter that to.
Like, you mentioned Matson,that blames herself for her baby
brother's death.
Right.
And a dad.
And then she assumes that herdad does too.
Right.
And so there's this tensionthere that makes sense.
And so you have to see itdeveloped all the way through to

(18:46):
the end where, you know,Krasinski gets to make this grand
gesture of, you know,distracting the monster so that his
kids can survive.
And.
And so it's like, there's aton of it in that and in Bird Box,
Like, I don't think there'smuch at all.
Like, I mean, there's a littlebit, obviously, with Sandra Bullock,
because she's got to learnthat this is a tough world and she

(19:09):
wants to be good at blah,blah, blah, blah, but she's the only
one.
And the rest of them, like,they're just who they are.
They're paper cutouts of acharacter that drives the story for
Sandra Bullock.
Right.
There's no dynamic of.
And I think, to me, when Ithink about, like, an example of
this in this mo.
In the movies, like, for AQuiet Place, the moment where Emily

(19:34):
Blunt's character looks atJohn Krasinski's is like, keep them
safe.
Like, you know what I mean?
Like, go take care of our kidsor whatnot.
I don't remember what theexact line was, but, like, that,
to me, is this moment whereyou're like, oh, everybody's having
this serious situation, andthey're having to learn about each
other and work with each otherand love each other, whatever.
Then Bird Box.
I'm like, this.

(19:55):
We could have taken all of theextra people out of this.
And other than the fact thatthey create tension For Sandra Bullock's
characters and these kids,like, I don't need them, right?
We could.
Clever writing.
Could have just had this beabout Sandra Bullock and the two
kids and maybe one or two ofthe other characters, but the rest,

(20:17):
they're all there just to beMacGuffins and parts that break this
story and make it more difficult.
And I'm like, that, to me islike, there's huge depth of character
in one and there's no depth ofcharacter in another.
And so it's like, thesecouldn't be two for me on further
ends of a spectrum when itcomes to character development.
Like, one is a master classand the other is just like, typical.

(20:42):
We've got a huge star.
Let's just put a bunch ofnames and faces that everybody recognizes
that don't actually have anydepth whatsoever.
Like, anybody could haveplayed these characters and any character
could have been stuffed inthis and made a poor decision or
a good decision and nothing changed.
I mean, I think the easy,shocking decision for me is it's

(21:04):
hard to compete against thecouple in the movie that's also a
couple in real life.
Like, I mean, talk about issome on screen chemistry.
I mean, that I think justjumps off the page.
And I.
To me, I just think the.
The emotional tension in AQuiet Place is carried as JJ talked
about the opening scenethrough the end of how this movie

(21:26):
ends.
Like, this movie really makesyou feel something.
And it does that throughout the.
The aspects of that moviewhere a bird box like Sandra.
Book's an amazing.
I'm not trying to takeanything away from her.
You feel for her and some ofher decisions.
But the supporting cast thatJJ talks about, I don't think ever
moves the needle.
They're just kind of there.

(21:48):
And I think A Quiet Place madea good decision where they didn't
involve anybody else.
They just had the.
The chaos of the environmentand the aliens.
But it was.
It was a family tension andthey just kept it there.
And they were smart becausethey could have had some other rando
from one of those other farmswith the signal come in and, you
know, added a whole another 15minutes to some tension plot point.

(22:09):
Easily could have done that.
We've seen so many movies thathave to grab onto something like
that to make the story morethan what it is.
And I felt like Bird Box ismore of that.
Where A Quiet Place was really smart.
Just said, no, we're going tolean in.
We got enough of this little family.
It's gone through a lot.
We can tell the story Here.
Yeah.
I was gonna say, any characterdevelopment that I saw Bird Box really

(22:33):
wasn't earned.
Like, you have little momentsof what you would expect from, like,
the beginning and then itjumps to the end, but there's nothing
in the middle that would leadto that.
For example, the one comes tomind is a little Ray Howery.
Yeah.
Who you know, right off thebat, smartest guy in the movie.
He's like, I'm not leaving thehouse to go supermarket.

(22:56):
You.
You know where it is.
Here's the keys.
This is as far as I'm going to.
Five minutes later, he's theguy who saves the group by charging
at fish fingers.
Yeah.
And it's like, help me get.
Because me as a person, I'mnot going to supermarket.
While I'm there, I amcertainly not tackling fish fingers.

(23:18):
Yeah.
Save a bunch of random strangers.
Like, you have to help me getto that point.
Or understand how he got tothat point.
Because up until this point,he's been made.
He's kind of the joke of the group.
Right.
Because he's the one who's gotthe conspiracy theories and he's
writing a novel in a collegerule wide notebook.
Like, I'm not sticking my neckout for any of you.

(23:41):
Yeah.
And then you're going to makefun of me on top of that.
Like, no, screw you.
But anytime they had that,what you'd expect to be the final
kind of character development,it was really wasn't earned.
I mean, the same way where youhave, you know, Sandra Bullock finally
names the kids right at theend and she's been calling them girl
and boy for the entire moviebecause, you know, don't form attachments.
Totally get it.

(24:02):
Understand they're with you.
But then it's just, you know, there's.
There's no way to earn that to.
Then all of a sudden, it'sjust a nice way to wrap up the movie.
Like.
Yeah.
So, yeah, it's like, all ishappening in Quiet Place and then
none of it.
Or just kind of.
It's like, for Bird Box, theyhad the formula.

(24:24):
Or like a Mad Libs.
Right.
And they just wrote in theanswers for the Mad Libs and.
Okay, we got a script.
That's funny.
I like that.
Yeah.
Well, and I think thesimplicity of A Quiet Place, too,
to kind of imagine you getseven people in the cast, and one
of them's already dead, andthe other one only serves to show

(24:47):
John Krasinski's character howto distract at the end.
Right.
Like, so it's a Mirror of whatwe're gonna see at the end.
Outside of that, it's.
It's four people living in a house.
Right.
And so it's just like.
And yet there's so muchdevelopment of each of these main
characters.
Like, even the kid, like, theson, like.

(25:08):
And the dot, like, geez, dude,it's just a ton.
And then Bird Box is full ofjust amazing cast.
They're just unnecessary.
And to your point, don't onlymove the needle through breaking
what they've alreadyestablished as a character.
And so it's like, yeah, it's agood point.
I hate when Hollywood doesthat, though, to Alex.

(25:29):
Like, but you think I'm stupid.
I know we.
I just watched five minutes ago.
Like, how am I supposed tobelieve that this is what they would
do now?
Like, but that happens so often.
Oh, yeah.
Turn on a dime where it's justlike, what.
How does that happen?
Why would he do.
Yeah, Because I'll tell youright now, Bird Box land.

(25:49):
Nobody's getting in that house.
Nope.
Be like waving from the window.
Bye.
And waving with my gun.
Yeah.
I dare you.
So anyway.
All right, Clear third one.

(26:10):
Yeah, I'll kick.
I'll kick this third off.
I've already honestly talked alot about this cinematography and
sound design.
Again, I go back to kind ofwhat I started off with this versus
podcast.
It's just the event that AQuiet Place is.
To me, Bird Box is like manymovies we've seen.
I don't.
To me, I didn't feel likethere was anything revolutionary

(26:32):
or groundbreaking or different.
Good expected suspense andloud noises and.
And music and.
And things that I've seen inmany movies, but I've never again
quite experienced anythinglike a Quiet Place in theater.
Just.
It's like JJ talked about.
I.
I mean, I can tell you I'venever seen a movie like it that embraced

(26:53):
silence like that.
There's been movies where theydidn't play music during, like, a
part, and it was just straight dialogue.
And we.
Some of those movies, and youcan create tension that way, but
they don't do it for very long.
Or there's been movies thatthey play an eerie sound like every
movie does.
And that works too.
But I've never seen anythingwhere I felt like while I was watching

(27:14):
the movie was like, I don'twant to make a sound either.
Like, shoot.
I don't want to slurp for my drink.
I don't want to crinkle this rapper.
I don't want to knock overwhatever it may be in the theater.
Like, you didn't want to bethat person because you were in it
with him.
And that was an amazingexperience to be a part of that and.
Or be that one person in ourmovie theater that yelled out at

(27:37):
some point that no one isexpecting me.
Like, oh my gosh, like, whatare you doing?
Like, you're gonna die now.
Like aliens coming through thescreen and ending your life.
I just thought it was.
It was so beautifully done.
I think visually speaking,both were smart in the sense that
they never really gave youlike a lot of glimpses of the alien.

(28:00):
Like, I don't think, like theCGI for A Quiet Place, for instance,
was like, incredible, but it wasn't.
Wasn't bad.
But I like the decision byMolt Movies to kind of not ever reveal
their hand a ton if they kindof did at the end with A Quiet Place.
But I think it was a smartculmination of showing you like that
oh, shit moment.

(28:21):
But, man, I.
I mean, to me, A Quiet Placeis just so unique.
And I got to give it on thesound especially.
And then cinematography, Ithink me breaking closer to even
for both of them.
But an incredible experiencein terms of a quiet place for that.
What about you, Alec?
It's tricky because, like, we.

(28:43):
We've all talked about Max andagain, just saying the fact that
the sound from A Quiet Placeplays such a huge role, like 100%.
I do it all the time.
It wouldn't be like onpurpose, but.
Oh, shit.
Oh, fuck.
As just like a natural reaction.
And so, you know, when it'sthat quiet, I'm just getting there

(29:03):
type of a thing because youdon't want to mess it up.
But Bird Box is.
Cites a tricky one, right?
Because the equivalent wouldbe to have black screen for certain
moments and really lean intothe audio.
And I don't think it wouldland as well.
Like, I think it could be coolif done right.
But there's so many ways youcould mess that up.

(29:25):
Because you'd almost have tofilm it from like a first person
perspective, right?
Because both these.
It's second person, right?
Third person.
Yeah, one of those two.
But in order to kind of gowith the sight and spin it in the
same way Quiet Place does, youwould have to almost do it from a
first person perspective,which would be cool, but also really

(29:49):
difficult to do and pull off.
But yeah, I feel like peoplewould hate that.
It's like that movie.
It's like you love it or youhate it.
There's no in between.
What's that Cloverfield.
I actually like that movie,but many people hated that because
it was that first person perspective.
And I actually really likethat movie.
But a lot of I don't.

(30:09):
Generally speaking, cinema,they trashed on it.
And I feel like that would be.
More of that because it almost.
It takes it and makes it thatreal kind of aspect.
Right.
Versus because that's Quiet Place.
They'll do that with the audio.
And it doesn't matter.
You know, everything elsethat's going on that you can see
doesn't matter because therule is you can't make noise versus

(30:31):
quiet place.
It's almost like you're justobserving what's happening and it
makes it less impactful, Iguess, having it go from that way.
But I was just thinking if weopened up a quiet place with just
black screen, you have kind oflike the heavy breathing going back
and forth of someone running,crashing through a forest or whatever

(30:53):
it is.
That would be the equivalentto what they do in a quiet place.
And then you're kind of suckedin this world.
And you can still have theback story that's going on and the
flashbacks to the previoustime where it's.
You get the story of what'shappening and how it devolves into
this.
But if you did the entirepresent as just like a black screen,

(31:17):
kind of having to listen tothe cues, I almost think you could
do something like that andhave it be successful.
But the way.
Yeah, the way Atlanta for mejust didn't land.
Yeah, I think that's.
I think that's the crux ofthis whole situation with these two
is one plays well to themedium, to immerse you in the world.

(31:40):
Right, the silence.
And we've talked about this inwhen we reviewed A Quiet Place too.
Like the.
The silence almost being anadditional character.
Especially like, I love the moments.
Why can I never remember thegirl's name with Reagan?
Because they lean into thefact that she is deaf.

(32:00):
And so when it's from herperspective or we're focused on her,
like it is completely andutterly silent.
Like there is no.
And that immersion is.
It's not possible to dowithout doing some weird things that
are going to turn some peopleoff with sight.
And I think for me, the onething that gets me with Bird Box

(32:21):
from a.
From a cinematographystandpoint is they do what they can
to show the.
The danger of what you.
You know what I mean?
And they do it with like theweird quick.
Like there's almost like adistortion of the screen when they're
like the Visuals there.
Like you get that weird panout kind of thing as like everybody's

(32:41):
seeing whatever it is they'relooking at, but there's no sense
of danger other than they gocuckoo for Cocoa Puffs after they
see whatever it is that they see.
Whereas with a quiet place,even though you don't ever see the
actual monster until near themid to the end of the movie, there's

(33:02):
enough seeing it and hearingthat, like that's to me one of the
worst things.
Like when that old dudescreams or when the, the, the at
the very beginning when therocket ship thing goes off and you
hear the trees, because that's.
I don't know if either of you,I mean Alec, I'm sure you probably
haven't, but if you ever beenout in the woods and you hear that

(33:23):
sound far off, like it'screepy, you're like, is somebody
out there?
Is that an animal?
Grizzly bear, yeah.
What the is that?
And then to know that there'slike this and then all of a sudden
just this blur of a creaturegoes flying by, right?
Or this thing jumps on thisold man.
Like that visual tied to thesilence really helps, right?

(33:47):
Bird Box, it's tough becauseyou can't show they, they made a
choice in this one to not showwhat you're actually looking at.
But there's nothing that trulyrepresents the fact that there's
real danger other than whathappens after they look, right?
So yes, it creates tension anddiscomfort, but from a cinematography,
there's no real threat to me.

(34:09):
It's just keep your eyes closed.
And that's where I go back towhat you're talking about, Alec.
Like, why would you leave the house?
If I can keep my eyes open inthe house, if it's just outside,
I'm never leaving my house.
And my house's windows will beboarded up, blocked and hanging out,

(34:29):
right?
Threat averted.
In a quiet place, there is nothreat aversion because unless you're
on like we find out in a quietplace too.
And even there they get up,they're on an island where they can't
get to, right?
So it's like the whole worldis a place of danger in both movies.
But I don't have anything froma viewing perspective to tie me to

(34:51):
that danger in Bird Box otherthan what happens to them after.
And that's just a play on.
They become suicidal, if youwill, and they, you know what I mean?
So it's like to me, that's thebig difference is that I have a complete
and Utter representation of myplot point and danger in a quiet
place.
Whereas Bird Box.

(35:12):
And I get why they made thedecisions that they did.
Like, how do you showsomething of that nature?
Right.
You got to be pretty clever.
And this is where I getworried about these writers, because
if you can't figure out a wayto show it, whatever it is, and maybe
it's different because if itwere me writing, it'd be different
for every person, and I want to.
And I would show that as soonas they open their eyes, like they're

(35:35):
seeing something.
And it's different for everyperson, whether it's their greatest
shame or their greatest fearor whatever it is.
Yeah, exactly.
I need as a viewer in thisparticular film.
I've also talked many times onour podcast about sometimes not showing
a monster is the greatestthing you can do.
But I need to know that it's amonster in Bird Box and not just

(35:58):
some visual stimulation.
Right.
I need to know one or the other.
If it's visual stimulation,then show me that stimulation.
Let it be unique for each person.
Something like that.
If it's a monster, then giveme glimpses of the monster.
Make me understand thatthere's a monster, and then never
show it to me fully.
I'm fine with that, becauseI'm worse at creating scary things

(36:19):
than you can ever be.
However, they don't do eitherof those things in this way.
They leave it completely up tome, which I understand the decision,
but it just doesn't work aswell to me as what a quiet place
does of immersing you in thatsensory deprivation versus in Bird
Box.
I don't have to ever feel that.

(36:40):
The other thing that Ithought, too, was, like, they don't
have to do it a lot.
But even if, like, early on inthe film, when we're first introduced,
just have a blank black screenor they're wearing a cloth.
So there's no such thing as,like, with what they're wearing,
there's no such thing as apure blackout.
Right.
So let me see.

(37:01):
Just the shadows, like I'mlooking through something.
Just give me that level ofdiscomfort versus me having to create
it all in my mind.
And I think it becomes morefrom a cinematic perspective.
Much more.
This just in the monster inBird box is actually JJ's booty hole.

(37:22):
That would do that to people.
Not a pleasant image.
No.
No.
That.
That doesn't explain why thatone lady was like, hi, Mom.
Though, like, now it's just weird.
Yeah.
Know, it could be awkward.

(37:42):
Yeah.
Unexplainable.
On that one.
Well, let's, let's round usout to our, our last topic and we'll
start with JJ in this one.
I think this is the onethat'll be.
We talked around it about thisa little bit, but let's talk about
the suspension intention ofthese two movies and which one did
it better.

(38:02):
Yeah, again, I think thisone's an easy decision for me.
And that is a quiet Placebecause it's about this family and
the tribulations and it's kindof alec.
We've talked about this amillion times though, in the podcast
and all of us have.
But like, when I'm watching AQuiet Place, like I'm in this film

(38:23):
with these people, like, I amrooting for them.
I want them to survive.
Like, and I'm watching themgrow, I'm watching them fall short
in places and all thesedifferent areas.
And so the intention for me iswe're in an area that is in this
terrible place with a scarymonster and you can't make noise
or they're coming for you andthat's how good their hearing is.
But I'm more interested and Iget a lot of the dynamics with this

(38:49):
family.
In this Shitty Place is amovie about this family who's going
through some, has been throughsome, and is trying to move forward
and find a life for himself inthis terrible world that is this
movie and everything else isthe backdrop for it.
And it does it so well becauseyou're like rooting for this family
in this terrible situation.
Bird Box to me gets in in itsown way.

(39:11):
Like in my opinion is the bestway I can describe it.
And that is, it has a greatpremise, but they make it all about
the fact that Sandra Bullock'sin it.
Like that's their claim to fame.
And then there's like somegreat cameos with a John Malkovich
and a Lorraine Howery and evenMachine Gun Kelly for whatever God
awful reason he was in this movie.
But that's the, that I'mtalking about.

(39:32):
Like, they didn't have theconcept and the intention that that
Quiet Place did to tell this story.
And so they had tosuperficially fill it with things
that keep your attention.
That being a bunch of crazyfamous faces, even to the point of
bringing in people that aresuper famous, like the Sister with

(39:54):
Sarah Paulson at the beginning.
You know what I mean?
When we find out what's going on.
And so it's like, to me,that's the, the sign of superficial
storytelling is you have toload it full of Huge cast that don't
actually do anything.
There was no reason for that cast.
And so are you really tellinga great story or are you doing it
in the best possible way?

(40:14):
No, because you're justkeeping my attention or other people's
attention through huge actorsand famous faces that you pop in
in weird situation.
So to me, yeah, that's thedifference is I'm fully invested
in a quiet place in Bird Box.
I'm just watching something.
I think he said my name.

(40:35):
I'm not sure.
But I don't think the Alec wanted.
To make sure before Alec notto be confused with Alex.
That's true.
Boom.
I don't think there is anyintention with the suspense in Bird
Box.
I think they try, but theycan't stick to their own story and

(40:58):
their own rules long enough tomake it make sense.
Like even the point where youhave Greg who shows up, right.
And Greg who's just an off offa human being, but at the same time,
right, you know, it's easy.
Somebody who's looked there'sthe birds give no sign of it, right.

(41:21):
Even though they were havealerted before and continue to alert
throughout the movie.
There's no sign that Greg isbad from the birds.
They even check.
So it's like, okay, this canbe disguised allegedly.
Why, you know, and then wecan't look at this at the, you know,
whatever this thing is unlessyou're like a psychopath.

(41:43):
So I'm safe.
But you know, there, there'snow rules to this.
Like if you're already crazyor whatever, then it doesn't affect
you.
And now you have this, this isthat, you know, I guess existential
threat, right?
To get people out of the house.
So you have this premisewhere, you know, jj, you and I and
Matt, we talked about likes tostay in the house.

(42:04):
Boom, you're good.
It's like, oh, well, thatdoesn't move the story along.
So how do we get them to leavetheir house?
Oh, well, I guess, you know,the only reason to leave your house
would be to help someone else.
But if they, you know, thisperson could be outside, then, you
know, they must have looked at it.
Oh, I guess, you know, we haveto have a reason for them to be okay

(42:24):
to look at it.
And then it just one after the other.
You're almost undoing this.
Any suspense that you hadbuilt to the point that it's extremely
predictable and it doesn't hityou when it's time, right?
Like they everything they setup to be like, oh, hey, why does

(42:44):
that happen?
Right.
Doesn't matter anymore.
It just kind of goes out thewindow because they.
In trying to explaineverything, they lose any sense of
suspense that they've built up.
Agreed.
I don't even have anythingmore to add.
I would just be piling on topof the.

(43:06):
The both of you.
I just.
I've already said it a milliontimes, like, it can't be no sound
and terrify me in a theatermore than anything else.
A bird box, like, like I'vesaid, it's just.
It's movies I've seen beforethat have been rehashed out with
the star.
And it's not that it's uninteresting.
It's just something that I'veseen in other places.

(43:26):
But a quiet place is somethingthat I'd never seen.
And, I mean, I just remember.
I.
I never.
I don't really buy, like, definitely.
I mean, movie theater.
I'm not a big popcorn person.
I'll eat popcorn.
But, like, treats.
I'll bring those in myself.
Because, come on.
Movie theaters, like, unless I have.
When I had my A listmembership and I was getting a ton

(43:49):
of points and things were,like, half off, nobody's in their
right mind.
Should be paying full pricefor, like, a bag of candy there.
It's like, triple the amountthat you could get at a local grocery
store.
But when you're opening thosethings up, man, they make sound.
And you always try to do it,like, during, like, a part of the
movie that's louder.
We all do that.
Or you, like, you open yoursoda can or whatever.

(44:10):
Whatever you're doing, youdon't have that in that movie.
And you're like, I can't bethis person that's making all this
sound like, my friends aregoing to look at me.
The person next to me that Idon't know is like, joe, you're gonna
kill him.
They want to do that.
But the bird box at home,you're just kind of like, all right.
Like, well, I'm not gonna diewatching this on screen because I

(44:33):
don't even know what thislooks like either, but just hard
to replicate that.
And I wish we had more reasonsto go to the theater like this one
and experience things like that.
Easy win for a quiet place.
Yeah.
I think a great example of,like, the big difference between
these two is, like, the Apex situation.

(44:57):
Right.
So in a quiet place, you have the.
What's her face in the bathtub?
Oh, yeah.
And, like, this thing'scrawling up the stairs, and she's
silently screaming.
She's freaking out that part.
Like, you're just.
At least for me, like, I was just.
My skin was crawling, going.
And it's such an impressive performance.

(45:18):
And like, you just feel theweight of it all.
And then in Bird Box, like, Ijust was like, is she really navigating,
right?
Whitewater rapids and nobodycan see right now.
And I'm supposed to be what,Scared, intent?
Like, I was like, first ofall, I've white rider rafted quite
a few times.
They're toast.
They're toast.

(45:39):
I.
Not gonna happen.
So then I'm like, yeah, so the.
Just the.
The apex of these moviesalone, where I'm supposed to feel
the most tension, and in aquiet place, I'm like, can I leave?
And then Bird Box, I'm like,yeah, you're done.
You wouldn't make it down thatriver without being able to see.
You wouldn't.

(45:59):
It just would not happen.
And so it's like, yeah, that'sa great.
To me get tan here to explain the.
The pains of childbirth.
Thankfully, epidurals domagical things, but I can't even
imagine not.
Not making a sound.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's a nightmare.
Tay.
Yeah, she's.
She's yelling up at us.

(46:19):
She says, a nightmare.
So they did a good job.
Yeah.
But I wanted to ask a trivia question.
What do you.
What was the.
The budget for both of these movies?
It's actually very close as well.
125 million.

(46:41):
Way lower.
I was gonna say.
I'm gonna say for a QuietPlace, 40 million.
And Bird Box, 60.
Still very far off.
Quiet Place, approximately 17 million.
Bird Box, 19 million.

(47:01):
Which you really think aboutit cheap.
We don't have, obviously, howmuch Bird Box grossed?
But I have two other questions.
So in terms of a quiet place,how much did it gross worldwide?
I gotta be.
Quarter of a bill.
250 million.
180 million.

(47:22):
340.
Wow.
I mean, you think.
Think about how much moneymade some money.
Yeah, that's.
That tells you all you need toknow about why they made a number
two right there.
Oh, yeah.
And even now, and I'm like, well.
And maybe we did do somethingright here.
Probably should make another one.
Yeah.
Bird Box.

(47:43):
How many accounts?
Watch this on Netflix.
I will preface and say it isone of the most watched films at
the time.
So sure.
Scope your numbers.
22 million, 30 million.
45 million.
That's crazy.
I mean, Mike, you know,watched it once, now twice, Unfortunately,

(48:05):
I think that's the.
When you go back to the power of.
Of a star, I think think aboutwhat Netflix has done with some of
these movies that we've seenand reviewed even on here.
Like, that aren't great, butthey put in the rock or Sandra Bullock
or Ryan Reynolds or someone else.
And I mean, I, I think that carried.
They probably even have like the.

(48:26):
More like this.
They probably have stats.
Like, look, you put the rockin this movie, I can guarantee you
we're gonna get 20 millionpeople at minimum to watch this movie.
And they probably like,literally, I'm sure they have that
data now.
They could just say, what starare we doing?
Here's how much we're gonnapay based off that.
Like, we're all about datathese days.
I bet you that there's someonehas that in their like, Excel sheet.

(48:49):
Oh yeah, well, they just didanother one that was just that like,
they just recently releasedone with Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx
coming back.
Like, called Back in Action.
Horrible movie.
It's bad.
Don't watch it.
It's terrible.
But I guarantee people arewatching the out of it.
My brother told me to watch.

(49:11):
He didn't say it was like.
I don't think he just said itwas funny.
But he also likes to laugh ata lot of stuff.
But it has moments, don't getme wrong.
Like there was some moments.
Like there was a.
There's one character in itthat made.
Casey and I both werechuckling, but only at this character
and the rest of it.
You're just like, whatever,what a waste of you.
Because there's some bigtalent in there.

(49:31):
Like, I was like, Jesus.
But that's what gets.
That's what, that's whathappened these days.
That's what gets people towatch things now because we can't.
The.
The cinema as we known.
Like these originalscreenplays, all these things.
Like, is that what gets peopleto the.
The streaming or to the movie theater?
Not really anymore.
It's what stars in this movie.

(49:52):
Do I like them enough?
Do I respect them enough towatch this?
Yeah, yeah.
Because I even.
I'll tell you that, that justliterally happened to me.
I don't even.
I didn't even see the whole preview.
It was like a 20 secondsnippet of Bill Skarsgard in this
car that was like attackinghim or something.
I don't know if you guys haveseen the preview for this.
I don't even know what it'scalled because I didn't even see

(50:12):
the whole thing.
But I like him a lot as he'sone of my favorite actors.
And I was like, I might needto Watch this movie.
It's a weird.
He, like, he's in, like, whatlooked like a Range Rover.
That is, like, he's being harassed.
Yeah.
Locked.
It's called Locked.
And it.
I like him.

(50:33):
And I was like, man, I knowhe's a good actor.
I know this movie might beweird, but he's amazing.
And I know he probably actedhis butt off for this.
And I only care about itbecause he's in it.
Yeah, that's fair.
And I feel like that's more ofwhat Hollywood is these days.
Like, let me.
I.
I gotta get the star tovalidate the plot.

(50:53):
Yeah.
That's crazy.
Yeah.
I'd never even heard of thatone before.
Watch the preview for itbecause I'm gonna have to watch the
whole thing.
It's terrifying.
For the part, I did see, like,I've been locked in a car before.
There was one time my dad,we're going to the beach.
He went into the.
The grocery store.

(51:13):
It with me and my littlebrother was really, like.
It was hot.
Like, it was supposed.
He was supposed to come uppretty quick for whatever reason.
Maybe it was.
It wasn't as long as I everthought it was.
But it got.
It was starting really, really hot.
And I tried to open the doorand everything was a Toyota Sequoia
that we still have.
Like, the alarm went offbecause, like, it thought, like,
it was set to lock.

(51:34):
Like, lock, lock.
So you tried to do that andthe alarm went off.
And I remember, like, I was panicking.
Like, it was hot.
It was getting hotter.
Yeah.
I was really starting to worry.
I don't remember how old Iwas, like 10 or 11.
But I mean, if I was in it fora long period of time, like.
Yeah.
I mean, people have.
I'm sure it wasn't close todying, but I started to, like, actually
panic.
Like, I was worried.
Like, this is not good.

(51:55):
I need my dad to come back.
Like, now.
Yeah.
That's crazy.
And I saw that movie.
That movie is.
I don't know.
We're going off a wholetangent now.
But yeah, yeah, put in a good actor.
That's what Netflix and allthese services do now.
Like, that's half the battle.
Yeah, agreed.
Anyways, so circling back now,we've talked about the movies.

(52:18):
I think it's pretty clear toour listening audience when we give
the.
The rating for each of thesemovies, it shouldn't come as a shocker.
I guess I'll go first.
Yeah.
Well, let's tell Alec becausehe's never done it before.
Yeah.
So we do together.
Do we rate both?
Do we rate Both?
Our typical 0 through 5 scale,you're ate both.

(52:41):
And then who won?
Which one won?
Yeah.
Oh, okay.
Okay.
Yeah.
So for me, honestly, QuietPlace is a five.
Like, I, I.
This movie, I'm not gonnaspend a ton of time talking about
again, but, like, it's acomplete movie to me.
From the.
The emotional investment tothe just unique event that I felt

(53:03):
like I was a part of thecharacter progression.
Even watching this movieagain, I.
It's never going to be thesame as the first time, but there's
still enough there that isintriguing to me that you pick up
on and be like, man, whatwould that be like?
Like, it's very easy for me toinsert myself right into any members
of those family, especiallynow that I'm a dad.
Like, oh, my gosh, dude.
Like, it's just, like, ampedit up in another.

(53:27):
Another stratosphere.
Everything about it, I justfeel like, is done really well, and
it never.
Yeah, there's points thismovie that aren't.
Aren't fast.
You guys know that.
Listen to me.
I.
I want things to continue toprogress at a decent pace.
Everything about this moviefeels intentional, feels right, and
feels exactly what it needs to be.
And the ending of this movie just.

(53:49):
Oh, man.
Like, if you don't have.
Like, if it doesn't make youfeel something, you don't have a
heart.
Like, that, that amount ofsacrifice and what that means for
the family, like, tugs at yourheartstrings, and I think it just
takes you on an emotional journey.
And it's a unique movie, theopposite of that bird box.
Like I've kind of said before,I just feel like it's a movie that

(54:10):
we've seen various versions of this.
It has kind of a unique play,but it came after A Quiet Place that,
to me, did it way bigger andway better and just felt like kind
of like the little stepbrother.
So I'm gonna give it a 2compared to the 5, and absolutely,
by my ratings, absolutely.
A Quiet Place did it better.

(54:31):
All right, Alex.
All right.
I'm gonna be a five for QuietPlace as well.
The only kind of knock that Ihave against it is that it's set
up perfectly to be astandalone film.
And then they went, and nowthey've got a sequel and Quiet Place
Day one, and it looks likethey're turning it into a whole universe

(54:54):
thing.
And so if that was going tohappen, it's almost like, go back
in time, keep John Krasinski'scharacter around for a little bit
so you can build upon thatrather than.
Because, like Matthew wassaying, you know, it's gut wrenching
at the end because you knowit's coming.
You're like, dude, are youkidding me?
And it's a, it's a nice way toput a nice little bow on top.

(55:17):
Then because of the successyou know, you have now, this sequel
you have, they're doing allthese spin offs and John Krasinski
is still involved in it, butnot having him on screen except for
the occasional flashbacksequence, really just kind of, you
know, it sucks.
Bird Box, on the other hand,gets a 0.5 because what the name

(55:40):
of the movie is Bird Box.
But nowhere does it sayanything about why birds are special
and why they can sensewhatever entity, demon, thing or
magic is going on.
And that is, in my opinion thelaziest that anybody can be is we're
gonna call it Bird Box.

(56:01):
Why?
Well, because birds consensuswhy and not explain that.
And you can easily do it, right?
You have this guy who kind ofexplains what they're dealing with.
You know, he's a littlepsychotic, but you just don't.
A little snippet about birds,that's all you gotta do.
A little explanation about whybirds can sense this.
It's the, it's the metaphor.

(56:25):
What metaphor?
The symbolism of the bird boxis a literal box that contains birds
which serve as a warningsystem for the characters.
The birds can sense thepresence of the unseen entity and
their agitation alerts thecharacters to danger.
Yes.
So why, what makes birds special?
Like, does it work with a cat?

(56:45):
Can I stick a cat in a box?
Do all birds apply?
Can I stick an ostrich in a box?
Like there's no reasoning forit to be called Bird Box or no reason
for the birds to have that andthey just kind of gloss over it when
you could turn into a reallycool plot point.
And that's just the epitome of laziness.

(57:05):
Alex.
Alex stated his case and Ifeel like I need to knock myself
or down to like Bird Box wins.
No, I need to knock my scoredown to like a.
A 1.5 or a 1.
Now I feel convinced.
That's funny.
Zero.
Zero point five.
Quiet place, easy.
Yeah, Bring us home.
I'm also giving quiet place A5.

(57:28):
I agree and disagree with Alecin that.
I mean, we've done, we did aquiet place too.
And I'm pretty sure I scoredit really high too.
I like a quiet place too.
I hated day one.
I've never seen day one.
I just didn't feel like it wasworth seeing.
It's.

(57:48):
It's not.
And it.
And it.
Because it kind of does whatBird Box does.
Like, it takes something thatworked, right?
Or a concept that worked, butthen it dilutes it and it's.
It becomes about the two leadsversus the two leads in the first
one and the leads in the first one.

(58:08):
Like, it didn't matter who wasplaying it because the story was
so damn good.
Now, the acting was great,which you needed, and that helped
pull it along.
But, like, the story was justso damn good.
And the day one, it's just.
It just didn't have the samefeel because you're not immersed
in that silence and awkwardness.
Like you're learning why theyhad to do that anyway.
It doesn't matter.

(58:30):
But, yeah.
So a five for Quiet Place.
I think it's a master class inso many different ways of movie making.
Like doing somethingdifferent, utilizing the lack of
sound and really leaning intosomething that most people would
be terrified to do.
And that is very little if.
If any dialogue.
I mean, the only real dialogueyou get is the kid and John Krasinski

(58:52):
at the waterfall.
Like, that's it.
Like, outside of that, it'sall sign language, which is cool,
but it's.
It's.
It was brave.
It was.
Nobody done anything like thatbefore, at least that I know of.
So.
And then just the acting was amazing.
The story, this, the character development.
To me, it's just.
That's why it's a 5.
It's a damn near perfect movie.

(59:12):
Bird Box.
I'm gonna give it a one.
I.
Look, I want to like itbecause there are moments that make
me uncomfortable, but it'smostly specifically when Greg comes
in.
Right.
But that's because it's.
And I think, well, what I wasthinking of when Alec was talking
about Greg and, like, thewhole situation there of how they
had to force this.
How do we make them come outof the house so we can further the

(59:33):
plot and move the story along?
It's one of those things wherethe stark contrast between these
two movies is very prevalentthere as well.
Like, Quiet Place movesnaturally through its story and progression.
Bird Box had to be forced into it.
And the only reason it worksis the shock value.
And that's the difference is aQuiet Place never goes for shock
value.
You're just shocked becauseit's toys with you.

(59:55):
Bird Box.
You have shock value throughout.
A couple places like StupidMachine Gun Kelly and His Girl, and
they're just like, I'm Justgonna leave.
But why?
Like that's stupid.
So it comes back to like allof these poor choices were forced
to make you uncomfortable ormake you feel a certain way that

(01:00:15):
A Quiet Place just naturallydid so based on its writing and its
story.
So there's the difference for me.
Five and a one.
I was hoping to never watchBird Box again.
But in this, in thiscomparative nature, it was worth
watching because you just seehow good a Quiet Place really is
when you compare it to what it was.
It's direct competition in thesame year it was.

(01:00:38):
Just didn't.
Poor Bird Box just didn'tstand a chance.
So Quiet Place wins it for me.
So I think pretty, pretty evenacross the board on this one.
I'm excited for some of theones later because I think we'll
have some, some difficulty agreeing.
But on this one I think it was easy.
It's a good way to start.
So there it is.

(01:00:59):
We're back.
I love doing the arbitrationseries, so if I had a gavel, I'd
start smacking.
There it is.
A Quiet Place Verdict spoken.
More to come.
We got three more of these.
Fun.
Definitive.
There isn't.
There isn't a split decision here.
No obvious.
This one was easy.

(01:01:20):
Easy peasy.
All right, well, Alec, telleverybody where they can find us.
Happy to.
So thank you for tuning intoweek one of our month of arbitration
series.
Right?
That's the name of it.
Yeah.
Twinsies something or another.
Thanks.
Thank you, Rich and CB forchoosing movies for this topic.

(01:01:43):
And did they select this topicor is this one with that?
No, this one we picked becauseMatson's been jones them for it and
we thought it was a good idea, so.
But they picked the pairings.
Got it.
So thank you, Matson, I guessfor, you know, getting this in there
because this was cool to dofirst one.
I know my people.
Yeah, I'm never gonna sayanything nice about you ever again.

(01:02:05):
That was cool.
Check us out on YouTube, guys,or on Patreon to get involved with
the content.
We're gonna be doing quite abit more the topics coming out.
A lot of voting gonna behappening pretty soon.
So join us at what's ourVerdict Reviews to get involved in
that process.
While you're there, check outthe what JJ's like 350 something

(01:02:27):
videos extra on there on thatPatreon behind the scenes content
extra episodes.
Anything you guys would everwant related to what's our verdict?
Check us out there with that.
I'll kick it back to our Titanof terror, the Colossus.
Of clout.
Jj.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Yeah, we've got an active voteon there, so if you want to jump

(01:02:48):
in and get to voting for thenext little while, you can vote for
March's movies.
Yeah, which that's gonna be afun topic too.
So we'll see how that goes.
But thanks, Alec.
Shout out to JJ for a sweet graphic.
That's right.
In fact, since we're done withit, let's watch it one more time
because it was fun to make.

(01:03:17):
Damn nice.
Yeah.
Now I'm have to figure out away to make one where it's like the
winner pops up.
I don't know what I'm gonna do.
Not a bad idea.
I probably can help with that too.
Yeah.
But yeah, there it is.
This has been fun.
Looking forward to the nextthree episodes where we do more of
this arbitration stuff.
And with that, as always, weappreciate you tuning in.

(01:03:37):
Catch you on the next one.