February 10, 2025 • 60 mins
JJ, Mattson and Alec delve into a comparative analysis of two iconic films: "Ghostbusters" and "Men in Black." The salient point of discussion centers on the thematic and stylistic similarities and differences between these two cinematic endeavors, both of which depict teams confronting supernatural entities—ghosts in the former and extraterrestrials in the latter. As we engage in an in-depth exploration, we examine the narrative structures, character dynamics, and the overarching humor that permeates both films, ultimately illuminating how each film has carved its unique niche within popular culture. Throughout the discourse, we reflect on the enduring legacies of these films and their impact on subsequent generations, highlighting how they continue to resonate with audiences today. Our reflections culminate in a spirited debate regarding the merits of each film, ultimately revealing the profound influence they wield within the realm of comedy and science fiction cinema.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
They better not release thisfor real.
For real.
Because then, like Tommy LeeJones and Will Smith are gonna disappear
one day.
They're out in the secrets you watch.
These are just gonna be goneone day because the real men in black
are gonna come take them away.
(00:22):
Welcome to the what's aVerdict podcast.
We fashion ourselves cinematic judging.
Jerry.
My name is JJ Crider.
I'm here with my co hosts Mattand Heiner.
Better red than dead.
And Alec Burgess.
Let's get it.
We appreciate you tuning in.
Go and hit that followsubscribe bell notification buttons.
Hit them all.
Helps keep up with the podcastand our new episodes also help us
(00:42):
grow the podcast.
Tell a friend, tell a familymember, tell one of either an alien
hunter or a ghost hunter about us.
We don't tell ghost huntersabout me.
Yeah, that's right.
Leave ghost hunters out.
You'll ruin Alex day if youtell the ghost hunters.
But tell them anyway becausewe like that.
(01:03):
But yeah.
So we're here and we're inweek two of our arbitration month.
Back getting back to the roots.
And this time we've got thisone up and coming.
Oh, where's the audio?
Oh.
(01:26):
Now I'm mad.
Where's the audio?
I don't know what happened.
Anyway, you saw it.
Anyway, if those listening, wehad a nice little versus there.
And so it's Ghostbustersversus Men in Black.
Not quite twin movies, but wegot some similarities there.
So let's dive into them first.
Ghostbusters, released June 8, 1984.
(01:49):
It was written by Dan Aykroydand Harold Ramis, a little bit from
Rick Moranis.
It was directed by IvanReitman, stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd,
Sigourney Weaver, HaroldRamos, Rick Moranis, Andy Potts,
William Atherton, Ernie Hudsonand David Margulis.
It's about threeparapsychologists forced out of their
(02:12):
university funding.
Setup shop as a unique ghostremoval service in New York City,
attracting frightened yetskeptical customers.
And that is verse.
Men in Black released July 2, 1997.
It was written by L.
Cunningham and Ed Solomon.
It's directed by Barry Sonnenfeld.
Stars Tommy Lee Jones, WillSmith, Linda for Fiorentino, Vincent
(02:36):
Dafio, Rip Torn, Tony ShalubShaban Fallen Hgit Fallon Hogan,
Jesus, Her Name is Rough, MikeNussbaum and John Grease.
It was about James and thenNew York City cop is hired by Agent
K of a secret governmentagency that monitors extraterrestrial
(02:56):
life on earth.
Together, they must recover anitem that has been stolen by an intergalactic
villain.
Alec, I Need you to expoundfor me.
Like, what made you put thesetwo together?
Excellent question.
I didn't.
Fair enough.
I've been salty this whole month.
(03:18):
I'm gonna continue to be saltybecause neither one of my picks made
it in.
Oh, so this wasn't your pick?
This wasn't my pick.
I could have sworn this.
This has got Matson writtenall over it.
That's also fair that.
Touche.
Touche.
So then I'll redirect thequestion now.
That little baby race here,what Matt said, what made you put
(03:39):
these two together?
Did I pick these?
I must have, right?
That's what I'm being told.
I can't keep track of that anymore.
Yeah, that's right, becauseAlex was Count and man in the Iron
Mask and then Hook andPrincess Bride, so.
Well, the way that I.
I looked at it.
Right.
Was you've got two crews thatare hunting one's for aliens, one's
(04:03):
for ghosts.
Yeah.
They're two very differententities, but they are comedic journeys
to find a resolution to asignificant problem at hand.
And, yeah, I thought while itwas different, it was very much the
same.
It's fair.
I mean, it's basically thesame story.
(04:24):
I mean, you could have putaliens in.
You could have called it Alien Hunter.
Yeah.
And it would have been thesame movie, and you could have called
it Ghosts in Black.
And.
Funny.
I just started.
Yeah.
So, like, I.
I thought there's enoughsimilarities there to do it.
(04:46):
And I think both movies are very.
I want to do something thatwas very iconic and well known by
many people.
I think a lot of people thatwatch movies have seen Ghostbusters,
and I still think a fair bitof people saw Men in Black.
As I remember, when I wasgrowing up, like, Will Smith was
kind of at the top of his game.
This movie came out, and Iremember a lot of people went and
(05:06):
saw this movie, and it madeenough money on the first one because
they made some horrible sequels.
Yeah.
So I wanted to throw it outthere, put my hat in the ring.
I forgot I.
I submitted this, but I'mproud that I did.
Yeah.
Oh, it worked out.
It was fun watching these again.
So I have a funny story aboutthe first time I ever watched the
Men in Black movie.
(05:26):
I've watched it highly illegally.
And so.
And this was before.
Pretty sure it was before wehad, like, even the.
The, like, pirating videos,because this was, like.
So it was 96.
So this movie came out in 97.
And then I think it was 96.
We.
I was in Living in Kentucky atthe time.
(05:48):
Was it Kentucky?
Yeah, we were in Kentucky andI was part of a.
Is in the high school band inKentucky and we got invited to go
down to Florida to do.
To march through Universal Studios.
So they do this like paradething every weekend or something.
Anyway, so we got to go downlike we were.
(06:10):
We went to state championshipband competitions and stuff like
that that year.
And so we had this really big.
We were pretty big for a band.
I mean a high school band, whatever.
It's a bigger deal in the east coast.
It is in the west coast.
So anyway, so we go overthere, we go down, we take charter
buses down to Florida from Kentucky.
(06:31):
It was a long ass bus ride,but we go down there and then we
went to the Bahamas.
So we marched in the parade.
Then they took us on a boatdown to the Bahamas for a day.
We spent the night in theBahamas one night and we came back.
While we were in the Bahamas,my buddy Lamar decided that he was
(06:51):
gonna go out to the Bahamasmain island in town, which we had
been advised against as a palecomplected human being.
But Lamar is far from pale complected.
So he decided that he would besafe because that's Lamar.
(07:15):
So he goes downtown and he f.
They find this shop, he and acouple guys and they buy this on
a VHS before.
So this was 96.
This movie did not come outuntil July of 97.
So we had it very early.
So we get on the bus andLamar's like, I got a movie for us
to watch.
Pops it in and it's Men in Black.
(07:36):
And it is a.
The tester.
So if you know anything aboutpre screening stuff like that, they.
It's actually rare that they do.
So they send them out for likepeople that do the reviews and stuff
early.
So we got to see.
Somehow they got a copy ofthis pre screen video.
And so it was the whole movie,the only time we were watching it
(07:59):
and it was really great.
And then all of a sudden weget to the end and you have the big
bug that busts out of Edgar.
He's crawling up like thestate fair, you know, whatever.
And the.
So instead of the bug, you seethis white cutout of the bug's form
because the CGI wasn't doneyet in the screener.
(08:21):
And so I got to see this movielike six months before it hit the
theaters in a freaking charterbus driving from Florida back to
Kentucky.
It was really weird.
But yeah, that's my story forseeing Men in Black.
And then.
And there was a Couple othersthat had some really crappy CGI to
it.
Like, there were momentswhere, like, the.
(08:43):
The worms or whatever when yougo in and then, like, they weren't
sitting there correctly.
It was really weird when youwatched it.
And we were watching it on,like, a screen that was like, this
big again, because we were ona charter bus, so there was, like
four TVs that were, like,spread out.
But, yeah, that's how I sawMen in Black the first time.
But it was interesting.
(09:03):
Then I never went and saw itin theaters until, like, just before
it was about to leave.
I think I saw it in a.
Dollar theater before thismovie came out in 96.
97 is one of the.
July of 97 is when I thought.
I saw this movie in theaters.
I saw.
When did Wild, Wild west come out?
Oh, that would have been after.
Probably after 99.
(09:25):
Yeah, maybe I didn't see thisin theaters, but, man, I'm pretty
sure I.
I had a cool friend, Tyler Houston.
His dad was pretty dope.
I had a.
My own snack.
Not drawer.
My own snack cabinet at his house.
I literally went over thereessentially every day.
And we had sleepovers.
Not every weekend, but atleast three of four weekends every
(09:46):
month.
And his dad just.
We saw movies that I.
I mean, they were fine, but Iwas like six or seven.
You know, like, maybe, maybe.
Maybe I should have been alittle bit older, but maybe not.
They were fun.
I thought I saw this intheaters, but I'm not quite sure.
But I definitely.
Will Smith was a part of mychildhood, we'll put it that way.
(10:11):
I mean, what I remember mostfrom Men in Black especially is just.
There's just the.
The banter back and forthbetween Will Smith and I should be.
What's.
What's the other agent's name?
Tommy Lee Jones.
Yeah.
Yeah, Tommy Lee Jones.
Just the banter between thetwo of them I thought was really
great.
(10:31):
And then the most probablyiconic scene is when he gets his.
He gets his gun.
You think he's gonna get oneof those big shiny guns and he gets
the cricket and just the sheerdisrespect that he.
The department gave him.
Like, I thought that was sofunny as a kid because I was like.
They gave him a little like.
Like, like water gun orsomething, like, pew, pew, pew.
(10:54):
I thought that was great.
And then I think the otherthing I remember the most from that
movie is just the.
The shopkeeper that had, like,the head, the little head, the leg
came out and like, the cgi, like.
I mean, the monsters were memorable.
I'LL say that, like thecockroach dude was.
Yeah.
Gross.
If nothing else, I think itpushed their boundaries a little
(11:17):
bit of my imagination and thatI appreciated.
Yeah.
What about you, Alec?
Where did you see Men in Black first?
Let's see, I was three when itreleased, so I work with children.
I saw it like on TBS probably.
(11:39):
Yeah.
Like, I don't know, a decade later.
That's fair because I thinkthe first time I saw it.
Yeah.
I mean, it's, it's hard to notlike Will Smith when he was in the
90s, because that was likeMatt was saying, peak Will Smith,
top of the world, top of the game.
(12:00):
And it's, it's just he doessuch a good job in Men in Black,
owning the scene there.
There's a very specificconfidence that he's doing and like,
even it shows up in it whenhe's in like the room with all the
new recruits.
You know, he's moving the table.
(12:21):
To.
Take his test, you know,showing this problem solving skill
or even just the, you know,sarcastic making fun of the guy.
Like, oh, yeah, he's soexcited to be here.
He doesn't even know where heis or what he's doing.
Yeah.
And so there's just the, the confidence.
And I think, like, was itsomething like.
This was one of the first bigbreakout roles for Will Smith, right?
(12:44):
Yeah, it was one of them.
Like, it was, it was a goodfollow up to like Independence.
Well, he had done Fresh Princeof Bel Air already.
Like, that's.
Yeah.
And he had done Independence Day.
I think at this point.
I don't remember exactly whenIndependence Day came out, but it
was before this.
(13:04):
But yeah, he, I mean, he just.
Owns the screen and it cameout in 96.
Yeah.
So right before.
It's not something you'dexpect from someone who's kind of
just kick starting their, youknow, big movie screen career to
come in and just kick off afranchise with less than stellar
sequels.
But they're still good.
(13:25):
Yeah.
I mean, it could be worse.
It can be worse.
Yeah.
I, I think Men in Black was interesting.
We used to joke.
So again, Lamar, this guy was.
I love Lamar.
He was like one of my favoritepeople because he's so ridiculous
and yet just so lovable.
(13:45):
Anyway, so like his thing waswhen this came out, like, I used
to laugh because he, this.
They were, they wouldadvertise this thing before we saw
it.
Right.
And we were in high school andhe's like, man, they better not release
this for real.
For real.
Because then like Tommy LeeJones and Will Smith are gonna disappear
one day.
(14:05):
They're out in the secrets.
You watch these is just gonnabe gone one day because the real
Men in Black are gonna cometake them away.
Dude, to be honest with you,Alec, I would love to get you and
Lamar in the same room becausethe two of you are like my conspiracy
theory buddies.
Like, you and him could talkfor hours, I think about the ridiculousness
(14:28):
that you guys talk about.
It makes me giggle.
But yeah, like he would constantly.
He's like, I'm not watching that.
One day I'm gonna disappear.
Every who watch this movie isgonna get snatched up and go, or
just.
Get your memory erased.
You don't even have to disappear.
You just effectively do it thesame way, just more incognito.
Yeah, for real.
Well, and I think like that'swhat made me laugh the most about
(14:50):
this movie at the time was youalso had things like X Files that
had been out and were outaround this time earlier than this.
But the Men in Black thing wasalways like, they're this sinister
thing to hide all the secrets.
And you know, and so when thiscame out and it was just so goofy,
like that part was funny.
And I think one of the bestscenes, to your point, Alec, is like
(15:12):
when he's pulling that table across.
Like they're sitting in thosesilly egg chairs.
And then when they do like theshooting part of it and he's got
to explain, like this dude'sjust, he's just sneezing.
Like this dude's working out,doing some pull ups.
Then like the quantum, she'sgot quantum physics books and what
(15:34):
the hell is she doing walkingaround here with that?
Something right with that.
Am I wrong?
So, yeah, like I'm with youand only Will Smith at the time,
I think could have pulled thatoff and made it fun.
And like you just kind of lovethat character maybe.
The only thing I feel like theonly other person that could have
done it maybe is the.
His partner in Bad Boys.
(15:55):
What was that guy, thatactor's name?
I think Martin Lawrence couldhave done it.
I don't, I mean it wouldn'thave been as Will Smith as Will Smith
does it, but I think he couldhave been in the same type of vein.
They had similar play style.
I have a question for the restof the group.
I have some, obviously howwe're going to rate these against
each other.
But before we do that,especially I want to ask Jay this
question first.
(16:15):
Since we weren't even alivewhen said other movie came out.
Jay Talk to us about Ghostbusters.
I don't.
Do you.
Did you see it in theaters?
What do you remember?
Because to me, real fast,like, I don't remember exactly when
I saw this movie.
I saw it because it's a classic.
Like, I feel like peopleshould see this.
Does it hold the weight thatI'm curious if it does for you because
(16:36):
I like it.
I think it's a great movie.
It was interesting, but itwasn't like.
I imagine if I was a kid or anearly teen and this movie came out,
feel like this would have beenrevolutionary for me.
It was.
It was cool to see.
And I was like, wow.
Like, I can see why peoplecare about.
Didn't have the same nostalgiafor me.
But especially for you, sincemaybe you did see in theaters.
I'm curious.
So I didn't see in theaters.
(16:57):
This is one of those raresituations where I get to say that
I was three years old whenthis movie.
Oh, really?
Wow.
JJ's not that old.
So you guys.
Yeah, I was three when thiscame out.
So no, I did not see it intheater, which is ironic because
(17:19):
I, I what the very first movieI ever saw in theaters saw, I was
two years old.
My dad took me to Return ofThe Jedi in 83, but I didn't see
this one.
At least not that I know of.
Unless dad took me when I wasthree and didn't tell me, which he
normally liked to tell me about.
Hi, bags.
What he's watching.
(17:40):
But, like, so I don't rememberwhen I first saw this, like, how
old I was or anything.
I would imagine that I had tohave been like five or six.
But I remember two thingsvividly about this movie, and that
is one.
I thought it was one of thegreatest movies.
Like, it was so funny and itwas entertaining and I laughed.
And then the other piece was,as I was young enough that it scared
(18:04):
the out of me.
Like, I, you know, so did it.
Really did the MarshmallowGiant Marshmallow man got you.
No, it was the freaking weirdlady in the library.
Oh, my gosh.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
And then, like, as funny asSlimer is, like, he's kind of creepy,
as in this movie.
Like, and I.
It was funny because too,because this movie came out and then
(18:25):
there was a cartoon that cameout on Saturday morning cartoons
that was about Ghostbusters.
And Slimer was like their sidekick.
This guy Slimer was like their sidekick.
So like everybody, he was cute.
And then you watch the movieand he's not cute in the movie when
you're a little kid.
So yeah, so there was creepywhen I was little.
(18:49):
It scared the out of me actually.
But no, it was a great movieand I love that stay puffed like
stomping through New York City.
But.
And it was funny because whenI saw you sent over your list or
whatever and I'm looking atputting together the vote on Patreon.
There's my shameless plug.
Go get on Patreon.
You can vote for what we watch.
But we're.
(19:10):
When I was putting the listtogether on Patreon, the guy's like,
oh, Ghostbusters and Men in Black.
Like I love Men in Black.
It's funny, but it's.
It's cursed.
There's no way that it can bein for me Ghostbusters.
Because that movie is likepart of my childhood.
Hi bags.
In part of my life.
You know what I mean?
So it's.
Yeah.
The nostalgia and all that isreal for me with Ghostbusters because
(19:33):
it's.
Yeah, but it was great.
Alec, what about you and Ghostbusters?
Ghostbusters.
Unlike the first 80s movies mydad tried to get me to watch and
just like JJ it terrified me.
Unlike jj, I don't have fondmemories of Slimer or related to
my first watch on Ghostbusters.
(19:55):
Cuz that shit sucked.
Now going back, it's a littlebit different because I watch movies
in a very different light now.
And so going back toGhostbusters, it's, you know, about
the comedy and the team andthe, you know, stuff that happens.
I guess outside of the actualghost hunting that is.
(20:17):
That was on the second watchthrough anyway, what I focused mostly
on.
Yeah.
And then that's what's reallystuck with me is the comedic factor.
And just, you know, BillMurray with this sarcastic dry humor.
Oh, is.
Is pure gold.
Yeah.
That's Bill Murray in thefinal showdown.
The amount of that Bill Murraytalks to like like Zool.
(20:41):
Like.
And then like he gets whenthey get mad at Dan Aykroyd because
he can't help but like thinkof the stay puff.
Like that moment in this movieis one of my favorite moments of
all time.
It's just like where he'slike, he's like what's yelling at
him?
(21:01):
What is.
What was.
Why can't I think of hischaracter's name?
I just keep wanting to say DanAykroyd, but Ray.
Ray.
They all look over at him.
What did you.
What did you do, Ray?
And then I'm also a huge RickMoranis fan.
(21:22):
Like I grew up and I.
I guarantee neither of youhave seen Strange Brew, but, like,
that's where I.
You guys remember that?
Just to confirm for thelistening audience, I haven't seen
it.
Yeah, I'm sure, Alec, youhaven't seen Strange Brew either.
Okay, well, you should watchit because Alec would laugh his ass
(21:44):
off at this movie.
Matson, not so much.
I won't be watching, but I'llwatch it.
Did you guys watch when youwere kids?
Because this came out when youwere kids, I think the animated movie
with the two moose.
What is that called?
Brother Bear.
Brother Bear.
And they got the two Canadian moose.
Yeah, yeah, those.
(22:04):
Okay.
The guys that did the moosevoices were Rick Moranis and some
other guy.
I can't remember his name, butthey're the lead guys in Strange
Brew.
And so.
And they v that thesecharacters are the moose, but they're
human beings tracking down beer.
Okay.
And so it's like, dude, Alec,you gotta watch it, because I'm looking
(22:28):
where.
I can stream it right now.
Yeah, it's hilarious.
But yeah, so that's.
Rick Moranis is always in it.
You know, honey, I shrunk the kids.
Like, he's always probably notvery funny.
Just letting you know it's hilarious.
Just look it up, people.
So when they.
When he starts going too, he'slike, I am the gatekeeper or the
(22:49):
key master.
Like, Rick Moranis makes melaugh no matter what he does.
So this movie just has greatcomedic relief.
Two very different styles ofcomedy, I think.
But the two movies do comparevery well comedically for sure.
All right, with that.
Yeah.
Let's jump into our.
(23:09):
All right.
And say we're gonna do plotand storyline, character development,
chemistry, special effects andvisuals, humor and tone and cultural
impact and legacy.
Oh, poor Banks.
What was the first one again?
We're gonna start with theplot and storyline.
Alec, we'll start with you.
Oh, with me?
(23:30):
I gotta go with Men in Blackon the story and plot line.
I feel like the.
It's a more thought out.
There's a little bit morebackstory involved with.
Brings you into the middle ofa story.
But there's a before or abeginning, middle end.
Ghostbusters is kind of like,oh, hey, we bought a firehouse.
(23:53):
Because we figured out there's this.
This ghost hunting opportunity.
Right.
The story is kind of whatmakes the movie.
But Men in Black is like youwere saying with Lamar, it's almost
like this could be real.
This could be something thatworks out, and we're just able to
kind of come in and get asneak peek of an actual thing that's
(24:15):
happening.
And so I think the, the story from.
From anyway, it's like, yeah,Men in Black's a better.
I don't want to say betterthought out story, but a better constructed
story.
Whereas Ghostbusters, atypical old 80s movie.
Balls.
(24:36):
That's right.
I'll go.
This is more of a toss up forme, but I think I'm gonna go to Men
in Black as well for Alec.
Still the point.
I was gonna say that to me,Men in Black has a more traditional
story arc of like a beginning,middle and end where, like you sing
(24:57):
about Ghostbusters, it justfeels like something kind of dropped
in their lap and it was, itwas brought together.
But like, I, to me personally,I feel like I'm splitting hairs here,
like to.
To say one or the other.
I think it's really close, butI would deviate towards Men in Black
a little bit.
(25:19):
Yeah, just.
It's.
It's a tough one for me.
When we did this in our.
Our last episode, it was somuch more clear cut and dry.
I think it's going to be a lottougher for me across the board on
this.
Yeah, I don't.
This was tough.
Okay, so I'm gonna go Ghostbusters.
And I say that because of this.
And that is, to me, Men inBlack, what it.
(25:39):
Where its success comes fromare the characters that are in it
and the enjoyment and the, thecharisma that they exude.
Whereas the story itself, man,like, I just.
I'm like, okay, you could haveplugged those two guys, Will Smith
(26:00):
and Tommy Lee Jones.
And then, you know, your guestappearances from like a Tony Shalhoub
or, you know, you.
The.
But those two characters, youcould have dropped them into any
story.
And I think it would have madethat story better or successful,
depending on how you'relooking at it.
Ghostbusters, I think, issimilar because again, it's just
like this world ending, youknow, theme that we're talking about
(26:23):
that both stories have.
And.
And so this crew of goofyscientists that decide to be ghost
hunters make the movie.
But to me, I think because ofthe time difference, whereas Men
in Black, by the time I got to1997 and we were.
I was watching this movie, I'dseen this storyline a million times.
(26:47):
Whereas when I was a kid andGhostbusters came out like that existential
dread of like being in NewYork City at the time where all these
ghosts are running around inthe city, like, that was new for
me.
And so to me, it's.
It's obviously a timing issuebecause they're basically the same
story just with ghosts and aliens.
But I think for me, becauseGhostbusters is what I grew up on,
(27:08):
that's where I give it to it.
But I think again, you havefour guys that steal the scenes with
some really fun.
And then you got SigourneyWeaver and you got.
So there's a lot of.
A lot more that makes thestoryline more interesting and fills
it out, rounds it out whereMen in Black relies just on two guys
who do it very well and successfully.
But that's.
I just feel like theridiculousness of Men in Black at
(27:29):
times is a little bit morethat gets me into the kicks and giggles
than at times thatGhostbusters does.
But we'll talk about that here shortly.
Sure.
Let's bounce over to characterdevelopment and chemistry.
And I think JJ kind of justrolled into what really makes us
rating hard to go first.
Like in Ghostbusters, you'retalking about three, if not four,
(27:53):
sometimes five people in agiven scene that really are just
interwoven quite well.
Or Men in Black is dominatedby two individuals, but they also
are killing it at almost anygiven time.
But I think that's.
I love Will Smith and TommyLee Jones and just how they go back
and forth at each other, eachother from like just the.
(28:16):
The.
The cricket scene to himgetting in the car and Will Smith
is not able to drive to likejust shaming him left and right for
being a rookie agent.
But then like Ghostbusters,you've just got.
To me, this is aquintessential Bill Murray and.
And Dan Arknoid movie wherethey're just.
I think I'm give it toGhostbusters because it's more impressive
(28:37):
to me to do it with morepeople for a longer period of time.
But again, splitting hairs forme it's.
It's.
It's tough.
It's close.
Yeah.
I'm actually surprising togive this one the Men in Black.
And I think what flips itover, I think when we're talking
about like the.
The ensemble cast or the castitself and like their chemistry,
(29:02):
I could go either way.
And I would tend.
If it was just about chemistrywith the topic you're talking.
I would probably lean moretowards Ghostbusters because.
Your point, the chemistrybetween a larger group is a little
more difficult in theory.
But what steals it away is thecharacter development.
There's not a lot of character development.
That's fair.
I lean relements a lot of the chemistry.
(29:22):
You're right.
You're right.
Yeah.
And from a chemistry point ofview, I would give it to Ghostbusters,
but when you add in thedynamic of a character development
on top of it, you have.
I have to give it to Men inBlack because for nothing else than
Jay actually has somecharacter development.
Whereas in Ghostbusters,there's not real character development
for the most part.
There's a little bit.
Right.
Like.
Because even Bill Murray,like, Bankman grows up a little bit.
(29:46):
And, like, you know, you haveto add in the dynamic of.
Of bringing in the character anyway.
So, yes, there is some.
But I think the overarchingtheme of Jay growing and, you know,
learning to work better as ateam with K and then K letting.
Being a little more patientwith Jay by the end and then them
coming together, there's justmore character development.
(30:06):
But again, it's just so closebecause both ensemble casts are so
good.
But I think when comparativelyto, like, giving it to a character,
Will Smith's always gonnatrump out some of these guys because
especially at point.
God, he just oozes charisma.
Like, even after having a hardtime with him after the whole slap
(30:27):
situation, like, he's stillhard to dislike when he's doing his
thing.
And.
And so it's.
Yeah.
But, yeah, I'm gonna give thisone a Men in Black.
Barely.
I'm also going to give it toMen in Black.
I agree with what you weresaying, jj, about there is no character
development.
Ghostbusters.
(30:47):
If anything, there's, like, a regress.
But then for the chemistry,like, I think Ghostbusters gets in
its own way a little bit wherewe just lost jj.
Cool.
You're muted too, Matt.
So I was just saying we lostour commander in chief.
That's perfect.
Don't let him back in.
(31:08):
And we.
We might not.
Oh, he's back.
Switching tiles up on us.
Jay.
I don't know what happened.
This is great.
I love it.
Men in Black.
They're coming for me now.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, like, the.
The chemistry goes better.
I think it gets in its own.
Way a little bit.
And what I think about that ispoor Ernie Hudson.
(31:28):
Yeah.
Is kind of like the odd man out.
And the chemistry that's thereis really, you know, Dan Aykroyd
and Bill Murray, and then youthrow in Sigourney Weaver and Rick
Moranis, who are both justgoing to mesh with whoever they are
going to mesh with.
(31:49):
Like, it doesn't matter whoyou put those two with.
They'll find a way to find Chemistry.
And so I feel like it gets.
There's almost too much goingon with the chemistry.
And so you have littleisolated pockets of chemistry versus
with Men in Black, it's just two.
Right?
There's only two people whoare really.
(32:09):
Who really should be creditedand are making the movie.
And so it.
It feels a little bit better,I guess, is the way to put it.
All right, let me give it Menin Black.
I will say that I have to.
One last caveat with Men in Black.
Is that the.
The.
The girl, Linda Laurel orLinda Fiorentino from.
(32:32):
That's the.
The chick.
Like, I don't like her.
And so she's a hard one for mein Men in Black.
Like, I don't like the character.
I don't like.
Like, so she's a downside.
But I still give it to Men inBlack for all the reasons I said.
But anyway, I have to put thatcaveat in there.
All right, Alec, kick us offfor special effects and visuals.
(32:55):
My least favorite thing aboutmovies because I really don't care
about the special effects orthe visuals.
Kind of important in both ofthese movies, though.
I.
I know it's kind of important,but that's not something that I really
pay attention to.
Like the vision and why wedon't listen to Alec so, you know,
because he likes movies.
When you like movies in blackand white, like, are you really caring
(33:17):
about anything?
Hold the up.
I like practical effectsmovies because practical effects
is better.
I'll just say, especiallyduring the 80s and 90s and there's
some practical effects.
In Ghostbusters, I am aware ofthe practical effects.
Letting our listening audience know.
You just gotta.
Gotta listen out with a grainof salt right here.
(33:39):
Just.
Just.
Yeah.
I mean, I'm going to give itto Ghostbusters.
I think Ghostbusters does abetter job with the special effects
and the visuals.
Giant Marshmallow Man Zool isstill terrifying to me, and I'm 31
years old, so I.
I'm gonna give it to Ghostbusters.
(34:00):
That's funny.
What about you, Matson.
Banks has got a little toynext to me.
I gotta turn that down, dude.
I don't know if they can hear that.
What?
I mean, I think when you watchGhostbusters, like, was it groundbreaking,
some of the things that theywere doing at the time?
I'm sure it was, but it suredoesn't look as good these days.
(34:22):
And Men in Black, they blended.
There's definitely CGI momentsand some practical moments.
I remember Men in Black more.
It's probably just becauseit's a nostalgia thing.
When I was a kid and I sawGhostbusters when I was older, I
could be like, oh, like I knewwhat they were trying to do there,
but doesn't look that good.
But then again, the giantmarshmallow man, like, that was pretty
(34:46):
great.
Like, I won't ever beforgetting that.
I think I just like aliens more.
And so I thought it wascooler, more intricate, and I still
thought it looked pretty good to.
To this day and age.
And maybe I'm a little bitbiased, but I think I just appreciate
a little bit more of the.
(35:07):
How their special effectshelped with the world building in
ways that I think we had hereand there glimpses of that in Ghostbusters.
But in Men in Black we had alot more of that and I appreciated
it.
I'm so glad you mentioned theStay Puft guy, because that was a
practical effect.
It was pretty great.
(35:28):
But like the.
When the temple opened orwhatever at the end with the, the
like the not lion like weirdalien ghost thing, like doesn't look
that good these days, but I'msure it looked good back then.
Yeah, I think it's a.
This one's a tough for me.
Tough one for me because I.
I think of two scenes in particular.
(35:49):
One we've already talked aboutStay Pu.
Walking down the streets inNew York and knowing how they did
that and the fact that theydid that was dope.
The other scene from Men inBlack though, is when they.
He first walks into like thewide open spot of MIB headquarters
Aliens.
And there's.
(36:09):
And it's all cgi and it stilllooks pretty good even considering
it's cgi.
So I, I think of those twoscenes, but I'm also biased and I
look, my biases is showingbecause I have a huge taste for practical
effects.
And to Matt's point, some ofthem don't hold up as well in, in
Ghostbusters, but I stillappreciate that.
(36:33):
And so I look at this from thelens of.
I find CGI kind of in.
This is terrible because it'sa lot of work, but it's.
I feel it's.
I feel it.
Find it lazy because you canmake anything look like anything
with a computer and it's howwell you do it.
Now Men in Black does it verywell comparatively.
There's some that I'm like,Gez, this is terrible.
(36:54):
That were even come after Menin Black.
Right.
Like later on movies where itshould have been better were as good.
But when it comes to likebeing able to figure out how to have
stay puffed or even thingslike slimer or the crazy ghost lady
that's flying around.
You know what I mean?
Like all of those, like how Ilook at it and I go, how the did
(37:17):
they do that versus when Ilook at Men in Black, I go, I know
exactly how they did that.
They have a computer programthat did it.
So for me, that's whyGhostbusters will win.
For me, it's not that I thinkthat the effects are that much better.
I just think that they're different.
And I like practicality versus cgi.
So it's a completely biaseddecision, but I'll own that biases
(37:39):
and run with it.
So I give that to Ghostbusters.
But again, it's real close.
Like there's nothing here thatI'm like one or the other is a runaway
favorite.
Right?
Like, I think it's justthey're all very close.
But that's just my personal thing.
Like I think when I think ofthe two main scenes, it's those two.
And Stay Puft wins.
(38:00):
Yeah.
What was the next category?
Well, I have one follow up question.
So what about like a movielike Ready Player One with those
special effects like CGI andthey're like extremely intricate
and.
Well, like the scene I'mthinking of is when he's in the race
and he throws out his littlething in the car, like builds.
Obviously we'd love for thatto be a practical effect, but that
(38:21):
would take years.
And I think that was a reallymeticulous CGI that took a long time
and was very complex and a lotof work.
And I'm curious if you have adifferent opinion on something like
that being lazy versus likepractical effects.
It's probably, like I said,it's probably.
(38:42):
I should preface this.
One of my favorite movies ofall time is.
Is what's the dinosaur?
Why am I forgetting?
Yeah, Jurassic Park.
It's incredible movie becausethe practical effects are unmatched.
And so I'm not saying I thinkI have the same sentiment as you,
but then like a movie likeReady Player One that I'm actually
like, I can see the amount ofwork and the time and I think it
(39:03):
did pay off.
But I'm curious your opinion.
Yeah.
So I think it's tough toobecause you got to think about what
movies can you pull off withwithout CGI and with CGI and Ready
Player One because of itsnature and what the story is actually
about.
Like it's about a virtual world.
So if you weren't usingVirtual effects.
I'd be a little concernedbecause, like, that's the idea behind
(39:24):
that one.
So I think two things aboutyour question.
One, yes, Ready Player onedoes it very well when it comes to
cgi.
You can tell that there was a.
And I think that comes down toa Steven Spielberg thing where he's
like, look, one StevenSpielberg is not going to let you
get away with.
Right.
He's been involved in too many.
I mean, he was very heavilyinvolved in helping Lucas make Star
(39:49):
wars early on.
He did the, you know, theIndiana Jones movies, which had practical
effects.
So, like, the guy knows how todo effects that are impressive, so,
you know, he's going to makehim put in the work for that.
And two, I think it leansheavily into the world that it was
built in.
Right.
We're.
We need it to be CGI becausethey're in a virtual reality world.
(40:10):
And so if it looked practical,it might be a little weird.
I will say that I.
What impressed me the most, ifwe're talking about Ready Player
one real quick, the fact thatthey make the world building of the
stacks in Columbus and stufflike that feel very practical.
Even though the stacks werevery much cgi, that, to me was the
most successful part of that virtual.
(40:33):
Those CGI was the, the realworld felt real, even though most
of it, especially in thestacks area, was very much cgi.
So, yeah, I, I, yeah, that's it.
That one's kind of a standalone.
There's a couple movies thattheir effects are.
It's kind of like the thing onthe other side of it, right.
Like when we, when we watchedand did the thing.
(40:55):
There's very few movies that,from a practical effect standpoint,
can compare to the thing ReadyPlayer one's the same way when it
comes to cgi.
Like, it's hard.
Yeah.
All right.
All right, Good to know.
Jumping to our next topic.
We will start with JJ on this one.
Humor and tone.
(41:17):
Very tough.
Wow.
This one's tough.
I'm gonna start with humor,and then I'm going to separate these
two things.
So from a humorous perspective.
Humor perspective.
I think Men in Black wins barely.
And I think it's because TommyLee Jones and Will Smith are very
(41:40):
successful at their comedy.
Like, they make me laugh.
The dynamic of outrageous.
Will Smith doing what he doesand is always, like, on the go and
moving quick and loud and obnoxious.
And then you've got Tommy LeeJones who just, he only says what's
necessary and when he's being funny.
God damn, he's funny.
Right.
Like.
(42:01):
And so I love that about.
And it's.
It always works.
There's not a moment where I'mlike, that didn't work.
What Ghostbusters suffers fromis even though the.
The ensemble is great to AlexPoint and Matson, you said it too.
It's about Dan Aykroyd andBill Murray.
Those two are your Will Smithand your Tommy Lee Jones of this
(42:25):
movie.
What happens then is you havethese other characters that, when
they are funny, are reallyfunny, but they don't always hit
the way that Bill Murray and.
And Dan Aykroyd hit.
Every single time.
Those two hit no matter what.
And it's funny.
You do have some moments with the.
There's characters in therethat are trying to be funny, and
they're not.
Okay.
(42:45):
And so that was why I give itto Men in Black for the humor.
Now the tone, I don't.
I don't think I could pick awinner from tone because they're
so different.
Like, Men in Black is supposedto be ridiculous.
Then Ghostbusters is kind ofback and forth.
Like, there's some ridiculousmoments, but there's some pretty
dark that happens in Ghostbusters.
And so I think from a tone,I'm gonna give it to Ghostbusters,
(43:09):
even though it's really close.
And so because to me, like, Iknow exactly what I'm getting with
Men in Black.
And it's a ridiculous comedythat's out there.
And there's.
There's some themes there, butit's not like they just lean into
the funny.
Right.
And it's in the action.
Whereas Ghostbusters, there'ssome pretty heavy.
(43:29):
Like, you got everything frompolitical weird, like people trying
to save face to scary ghosts.
And then the dynamics of ateam and how you can make that work.
They're throwing together this.
So there's some differentthings there.
I think overall, becausecomedy is the theme technically for
both.
Men in Black wins the overallbattle in this topic for me, but
(43:52):
it's a tough one.
That's a tough one.
I think I can go next.
I think overall, I'll give itto Men of Black, but appreciate the
way how JJ kind of separated it.
And we talked about, like,storyline and plot.
I still think the connectionof Tommy Lee Jones and.
And Will Smith.
So J and K.
(44:13):
I just like their banter anddynamics a little bit more.
I think, like JJ talked about,they always hit.
And there's never a questionof that.
Where things can get a littleconvoluted in Ghostbusters, but I
just really appreciate WillSmith's humor is what it comes down
to.
If he wasn't in the movie,would this have ever been.
Been on anyone's map?
Probably not.
(44:33):
I just like him.
I like him in fresh prints.
I like him in this even toextend in a horrible movie like Wild
Wild west to some other things.
Like he's someone that'll getme to a screen more often than not.
And this was when he was closeto, if not on his Mount Rushmore
of movies like he was.
He was at the top of his game.
And his jokes still land whenI watch and they're still funny.
(44:58):
And it's not to be anythingbad to say against Ghostbusters.
I think there's a lot there Ireally mean.
Bill Murray's Bill Murray.
I just like the style of humorjust a little bit more in Men in
Black.
It feels closer to things thattruly make me laugh in terms of tone.
I think Jay said it best.
Men in Black, you know whatyou're getting every time, like there's,
there's no question, itdoesn't deviate.
(45:19):
And there's power in that,that because there's so many movies
we see that think they're acomedy, but then try to be a drama
and then they're full, they'rewaffling, and you're like, all right,
I need you to stay on brand.
I'm glad they did that.
But I, I do think Ghostbustersis a little bit more sophisticated
and I think the ability to gofrom a little more dark to comedic
(45:40):
is hard to do at times.
And I think they, they jugglethat quite well.
But in how I normally ratethis humor is most important to me
in terms of what these moviesare portraying.
And I think Ben A Black justslightly above.
Again.
For me, it comes down to likethe different humor styles.
(46:01):
Right.
And once again, Ghostbusterskind of gets in its own way.
You have a very dry, sarcasticBill Murray humor.
And I think if it's a duo,Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd or Bill
Murray, Rick Moranis or BillMurray, Sigourney Weaver or Bill
Murray and anybody else, it works.
(46:22):
But you have a little bit ofconflicting humor styles that are
coming in because like RickMoranis is very good at being that
kind of chameleon, but he's amuch more active, over the top kind
of humor and not thesarcastic, dry Bill Murray.
Whereas in Men in Black youhave just witty banter and then Tommy
(46:46):
Lee Jones is the quiet, stoicone with one liner zingers.
And you Have Will Smith, whois the kind of over the top, you
know, companion for that, andit works much better.
They know what they're doingwith that and they stick to that
kind of humor.
Whereas Ghostbusters, a littlebit of a hodgepodge.
(47:08):
So I'm gonna give him Men in Black.
All right, Alec, you're gonnakick us off on our last topic.
And maybe the easiest to rateor maybe the most difficult.
I'm curious.
We're gonna go to culturalimpact and legacy.
Oh, it's easy.
Ghostbusters.
And it's not even close.
(47:30):
The.
The fact that you can play theGhostbusters theme song, everybody
jumps in, is enough of areason that that has far more impact
than Men in Black does.
I think.
I mean, I.
I don't disagree with you, butI think if you.
If there's two dudes wearingsuits with.
With shades on, I definitelythink Men in Black.
(47:53):
But you don't think MatrixAgent Smith.
No, Like, I have to.
I'd have to see the Morpheus glasses.
But that's.
That's a good point.
I don't know if I disagreewith you, but what trumps it all
is just the who are you goingto call Ghostbusters song.
Like that.
There's that.
(48:14):
That got played at dances Iwent to growing up, and you didn't
even have to know what themovie was.
You just knew that that was asong and people knew it and that.
That takes the cake.
But I think it's.
For me, it's an easy answer.
It's Ghostbusters.
They just.
It's something I've seen farmore in merchandise, in pop culture
comedic lore.
(48:34):
Who are you going to call?
Like, you say it, like, Idon't know.
Just something that's been inmy vocabulary from the beginning.
Men in Black, I think it wascool at the time and had some stylistic
implications to how we dress and.
And think about aliens for alittle bit.
But it was more of a flash inthe pan, where I still think Ghostbusters
(48:56):
to this day is something people.
You look at stranger things.
Like, it got brought back andrevived, like, as of, like, five
or six years ago.
And there was like a wholerevival of the costumes and some
of that lore again.
And they tried to bring Men inBlack back with Chris Hemsworth and
the other female actor.
I should know her name, but Ican't say it right now.
(49:18):
I can't remember.
I don't know.
I didn't see any, like, oh,wow, Men in Black's back like this
or that.
Like, Ghostbusters, like,definitely had some staying power
and still does.
Yeah, I think that's a.
Yeah.
I want to say it shouldn't beeasy, but it is easy.
Ghostbusters for sure.
And that's finally not mybiases talking like, it's.
(49:42):
Yeah, everybody knows Ghostbusters.
And I think what reallyseparates this Matson, you kind of
touched a little bit on it.
And that is, I think about Ghostbusters.
And outside of a like.
So Ghostbusters makes.
Does a remake that doesn'tinclude the original cast with.
And they do the femaleversion, whatever.
And they're all funny women, like.
(50:02):
But it didn't work.
It was terrible, actually.
Oh, funny enough.
Both of these I'm about totalk to.
You had Chris Hemsworth in them.
Yeah.
When.
When Chris Hemsworth is thefunniest part of your Ghostbusters
movie, you up.
So it just didn't work.
But then you bring back andthey do another remake, if you will,
(50:24):
or sequel that then includesthe characters very little, but includes
them.
And it worked because you gotback to the original themes and things
like that.
Men in Black, outside of thefirst one.
And look, Men in Black 2's funny.
Men in Black 3 is funny.
Ish.
I.
I struggled.
But I'll tell you what I didlike was what got me and surprised
(50:46):
me was Josh Brolin SK in oneof the later movies really worked
for me.
Okay.
But the difference between thetwo is.
Is outside of the weird remake with.
Of Ghostbusters, Ghostbustersalways works no matter how much.
Even Ghostbusters 2, it's aninferior movie to Ghostbusters 1,
(51:07):
but it's really funny and it'sreally entertaining and it's good
to watch.
And in some ways, it's scarierthan the first one because the bad
guy's really creepy.
And then the.
And then you have like, it disappears.
I mean, for 40 years,Ghostbusters has been around in some
way, shape or form.
Slimer's so recognizable, it's ridiculous.
(51:27):
Like, you know all these things.
Whereas Men in Black, like,yes, people understand that.
But again, to Alex point,like, it can be confused if you're
not holding like a Phase 4Datomizer in your hand.
You don't know what the hellyou're talking about.
Like, it could be any moviewith a guy in a suit and some glasses.
Right?
You need the little mind eraser.
But even then, people couldstill question.
(51:50):
But you got a little.
You got a backpack that lookslike a vacuum with like a hose.
You hold it out or like aLittle ghost symbol with the cross
in it.
Everybody knows.
No.
Or the worst siren ever created.
The wee.
Like, yeah, you know what that is.
But to your point, like thesong, man just will get you every
time too.
And it's ironic because bothhave very recognizable theme songs,
(52:12):
but if you were to add, like,play Men in Black for bunch of kids
now, they wouldn't know, but Ibet they know who you're gonna call.
So I, I, I think I disagreefor the younger generation, but at
least like, maybe like 20 andmaybe like 25 and up, probably.
I, I'm gonna have to go ask mynieces and nephews tomorrow when
(52:33):
they come over for the Super Bowl.
If the older ones I do know,they would know this, but I don't
know if the other like 10 and below.
I doubt it.
I'd be curious if you were to.
Maybe the new movie, though.
Maybe the new movie though,because of that.
That's fair.
Yeah.
I'd be, I'd be curious if youplayed both songs.
Oh, they definitely don't knowman of Black.
(52:54):
Yeah, that, that I'm sure of.
Yeah, but like, maybe Ghostbusters.
Yeah.
Anyway.
But yeah, Ghostbusters takesthat one for sure.
All right.
Well, we rolled through all five.
I think there was a bit of yoyoing, but I, I think Men in Black
had more slight edging outthan Ghostbusters.
(53:14):
But if maybe not, it wasreally close either way.
So I think we'll, we'll rollto our final ratings for the two
movies.
I guess I'll go first becauseI picked both of these.
Whoa, man.
So tough.
I'm gonna get both a four.
(53:35):
I think they're both reallysolid, entertaining movies, but they
are not without some of their,some of their wholesome things that
we've talked about, I think.
Like Men in Black, for instance.
I love the chemistry.
I especially love Will Smith,but I don't think like the story
overall.
It's, it's, it's a storythat's told time and time again in
(53:57):
Hollywood.
I don't think it's like,extremely compelling.
Um, or mo.
I don't know, emotional or heart.
Heartwarming is not the rightthing, but it's just, it's generic
to me.
But it's exceptional actingchemistry that makes it enjoyable.
I think Ghostbusters was anawesome premise and kind of revolutionary
to extent with the practicaland even visual effects.
(54:21):
I think there's some greatchemistries we've talked about, but
at times I think it can be itsown worst enemy by trying to cram
a little bit too much downyour throat when it could have stayed
slight, more simplistic.
It's entertaining.
I don't think it holds up aswell in time in terms of the visuals,
but it's abs.
If.
If you're listening to thisand you haven't watched Ghostbusters,
(54:43):
like, go watch the movie at least.
Like, please, please.
They're both reallyentertaining movies.
They are movies that I knowI'll see both of them again with
a probable slight preferenceto maybe Ghostbusters.
Because, like, we've talkedabout more people in my sphere of
influence have seen that andenjoy that.
(55:03):
May the Men in Black.
But I really like both movies.
I think they did a good job.
Nice.
Alec, you go, buddy.
This is hard because I havetrouble saying any one of these is
like, a phenomenally good movie.
Like, they both kind of suckfrom a movie standpoint.
(55:25):
Get the out of here.
It's hard to be like, oh,yeah, this is a peak of, you know,
cinema you're talking about.
Ghostbusters invented black.
So I think.
I think I'm gonna give both athree and a half.
(55:46):
And if I have to go, like,with a winner of Watch this movie
over this movie, Ghostbusters,give it to Ghostbusters in the Edge.
But.
And that's.
That's just more.
If you watch Ghost.
If you haven't watched eitherone of these movies, which one are
(56:08):
you gonna watch and be betteroff watching?
I think is Ghostbusters.
Yeah, three and a half forboth of them.
But if they were in black andwhite, it probably would have been
a four.
So just letting you know,black and.
White, they would have beenfive and a halfs.
It's good artistic choices atthat point.
(56:28):
No, I am going to give Men inBlack a four and I'm gonna give Ghostbusters
a four and a half.
They're both great movies.
They both have flaws, I think.
I think for me, theperspective, like, when I watch him,
like, I could watchGhostbusters anytime, anywhere.
(56:51):
You say, let's load up andwatch Ghostbusters, and I'm gonna
laugh at the same jokes I'velaughed at for 40 years.
Then, like, this man, dicklessover here turned off the power grid.
Is this true?
Yes, it is true.
This man has no dick.
Like, what a great joke.
(57:11):
It's just.
And then he's like, to top itoff, they break up the fight and
he goes, what?
It's just.
What I heard.
Like, it's just.
And then.
But then there's jokes, like,you get a D series 4 DE atomizer
and I get a midgie Cricket.
Are you kidding me?
Like, I feel like I'm gonnabreak this thing.
So it's.
They're both highly quotable.
But I think the difference forme is Ghostbusters.
(57:34):
Sit down and watch anytime,anywhere and have a good time.
Men in Black.
I don't think I could watch itthat much.
Like I can watch it over andover because it's great, it's funny,
it's got good jokes.
But I would get tired of it ifI was consistently watching it.
I don't think I'd ever gettired of Ghostbusters.
I just think the comedy, thehumor standard for me, Bill Murray
(57:55):
will always peak.
Even though Will Smith's oneof my favorite actors out there,
he's not always one of myfavorite comedians.
He's just so charismatic andhe just steals every scene he's in.
And then you have Tommy Joneswho actually hangs with them just
really well.
So it was really good.
That worked out.
But Ghostbusters for me isjust nostalgically probably one of
(58:19):
my all time great movies thatI could just watch anytime, anywhere,
no questions asked, as manytimes as we wanted to watch it.
I love Ghostbusters, so itwins the battle.
But damn, it's a hard choice.
As much as they're different,they're similarities and, but they're
just, they're both fun movies,good watches.
So yeah, there it is.
(58:41):
This is a fun one.
It was weird.
I wasn't expecting.
I was like.
When I first saw the list, Iwas like, really?
How do those two compare?
And then I watched them like,okay, we could talk about these.
This, this worked out so.
Great pick, Matson.
Great pick.
Even though I thought it wasAlex pick for most of the.
Hey, you know me.
Even when I don't know that Ipicked it.
I'm doing the right thing.
(59:03):
Well played, sir.
Well played.
Well, Alec, tell everybodywhere they can find us.
Happy to.
Thank you for tuning into week two.
Right, yeah.
Week two of our arbitrationseries kind of makes sense.
We had two movies with twounforgettable teams, two unforgettable
adventures.
Right.
So I guess this really comesdown to whether you enjoy busting
(59:25):
ghosts out of a firehouse thatshould have been condemned 60 years
before or, you know, huntingdown aliens with the neural.
What is that thing?
The Neura Neuralyzer Neuralanalyzer, something like that.
Whatever.
Kind of comes down to personalpreference, where to find us.
(59:45):
Find us on YouTube where youcan see our pretty faces as we are
talking about movies or checkus out on Patreon.
Special thanks to CB andCharles for selecting this clash
of Titans, I guess we couldsay, you know.
So when it comes down to yourmovie podcasting needs, there's really
only one question, and it'swho you gonna call?
(01:00:08):
With that, I'll kick it backto the Titan of Terror, the King
of crash.
A J.J.
yeah, appreciate that, AlecMan, I can't believe we didn't talk
more about Vincent D'Onofrio,though, because Edgar is hilarious
in this movie, but it's one ofthose first things.
He's so underrated until hewas Kingpin and now he's huge.
But Vincent Onofro is no joke.
(01:00:29):
So anyway, with all that, asalways, we appreciate you tuning
in.
We'll catch you on the next one.
Baby.
Cinematic.
They better not release thisfor real.
For real.
Because then, like Tommy LeeJones and Will Smith are gonna disappear
one day.
They're out in the secrets you watch.
These are just gonna be goneone day because the real men in black
are gonna come take them away.
(00:22):
Welcome to the what's aVerdict podcast.
We fashion ourselves cinematic judging.
Jerry.
My name is JJ Crider.
I'm here with my co hosts Mattand Heiner.
Better red than dead.
And Alec Burgess.
Let's get it.
We appreciate you tuning in.
Go and hit that followsubscribe bell notification buttons.
Hit them all.
Helps keep up with the podcastand our new episodes also help us
(00:42):
grow the podcast.
Tell a friend, tell a familymember, tell one of either an alien
hunter or a ghost hunter about us.
We don't tell ghost huntersabout me.
Yeah, that's right.
Leave ghost hunters out.
You'll ruin Alex day if youtell the ghost hunters.
But tell them anyway becausewe like that.
(01:03):
But yeah.
So we're here and we're inweek two of our arbitration month.
Back getting back to the roots.
And this time we've got thisone up and coming.
Oh, where's the audio?
Oh.
(01:26):
Now I'm mad.
Where's the audio?
I don't know what happened.
Anyway, you saw it.
Anyway, if those listening, wehad a nice little versus there.
And so it's Ghostbustersversus Men in Black.
Not quite twin movies, but wegot some similarities there.
So let's dive into them first.
Ghostbusters, released June 8, 1984.
(01:49):
It was written by Dan Aykroydand Harold Ramis, a little bit from
Rick Moranis.
It was directed by IvanReitman, stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd,
Sigourney Weaver, HaroldRamos, Rick Moranis, Andy Potts,
William Atherton, Ernie Hudsonand David Margulis.
It's about threeparapsychologists forced out of their
(02:12):
university funding.
Setup shop as a unique ghostremoval service in New York City,
attracting frightened yetskeptical customers.
And that is verse.
Men in Black released July 2, 1997.
It was written by L.
Cunningham and Ed Solomon.
It's directed by Barry Sonnenfeld.
Stars Tommy Lee Jones, WillSmith, Linda for Fiorentino, Vincent
(02:36):
Dafio, Rip Torn, Tony ShalubShaban Fallen Hgit Fallon Hogan,
Jesus, Her Name is Rough, MikeNussbaum and John Grease.
It was about James and thenNew York City cop is hired by Agent
K of a secret governmentagency that monitors extraterrestrial
(02:56):
life on earth.
Together, they must recover anitem that has been stolen by an intergalactic
villain.
Alec, I Need you to expoundfor me.
Like, what made you put thesetwo together?
Excellent question.
I didn't.
Fair enough.
I've been salty this whole month.
(03:18):
I'm gonna continue to be saltybecause neither one of my picks made
it in.
Oh, so this wasn't your pick?
This wasn't my pick.
I could have sworn this.
This has got Matson writtenall over it.
That's also fair that.
Touche.
Touche.
So then I'll redirect thequestion now.
That little baby race here,what Matt said, what made you put
(03:39):
these two together?
Did I pick these?
I must have, right?
That's what I'm being told.
I can't keep track of that anymore.
Yeah, that's right, becauseAlex was Count and man in the Iron
Mask and then Hook andPrincess Bride, so.
Well, the way that I.
I looked at it.
Right.
Was you've got two crews thatare hunting one's for aliens, one's
(04:03):
for ghosts.
Yeah.
They're two very differententities, but they are comedic journeys
to find a resolution to asignificant problem at hand.
And, yeah, I thought while itwas different, it was very much the
same.
It's fair.
I mean, it's basically thesame story.
(04:24):
I mean, you could have putaliens in.
You could have called it Alien Hunter.
Yeah.
And it would have been thesame movie, and you could have called
it Ghosts in Black.
And.
Funny.
I just started.
Yeah.
So, like, I.
I thought there's enoughsimilarities there to do it.
(04:46):
And I think both movies are very.
I want to do something thatwas very iconic and well known by
many people.
I think a lot of people thatwatch movies have seen Ghostbusters,
and I still think a fair bitof people saw Men in Black.
As I remember, when I wasgrowing up, like, Will Smith was
kind of at the top of his game.
This movie came out, and Iremember a lot of people went and
(05:06):
saw this movie, and it madeenough money on the first one because
they made some horrible sequels.
Yeah.
So I wanted to throw it outthere, put my hat in the ring.
I forgot I.
I submitted this, but I'mproud that I did.
Yeah.
Oh, it worked out.
It was fun watching these again.
So I have a funny story aboutthe first time I ever watched the
Men in Black movie.
(05:26):
I've watched it highly illegally.
And so.
And this was before.
Pretty sure it was before wehad, like, even the.
The, like, pirating videos,because this was, like.
So it was 96.
So this movie came out in 97.
And then I think it was 96.
We.
I was in Living in Kentucky atthe time.
(05:48):
Was it Kentucky?
Yeah, we were in Kentucky andI was part of a.
Is in the high school band inKentucky and we got invited to go
down to Florida to do.
To march through Universal Studios.
So they do this like paradething every weekend or something.
Anyway, so we got to go downlike we were.
(06:10):
We went to state championshipband competitions and stuff like
that that year.
And so we had this really big.
We were pretty big for a band.
I mean a high school band, whatever.
It's a bigger deal in the east coast.
It is in the west coast.
So anyway, so we go overthere, we go down, we take charter
buses down to Florida from Kentucky.
(06:31):
It was a long ass bus ride,but we go down there and then we
went to the Bahamas.
So we marched in the parade.
Then they took us on a boatdown to the Bahamas for a day.
We spent the night in theBahamas one night and we came back.
While we were in the Bahamas,my buddy Lamar decided that he was
(06:51):
gonna go out to the Bahamasmain island in town, which we had
been advised against as a palecomplected human being.
But Lamar is far from pale complected.
So he decided that he would besafe because that's Lamar.
(07:15):
So he goes downtown and he f.
They find this shop, he and acouple guys and they buy this on
a VHS before.
So this was 96.
This movie did not come outuntil July of 97.
So we had it very early.
So we get on the bus andLamar's like, I got a movie for us
to watch.
Pops it in and it's Men in Black.
(07:36):
And it is a.
The tester.
So if you know anything aboutpre screening stuff like that, they.
It's actually rare that they do.
So they send them out for likepeople that do the reviews and stuff
early.
So we got to see.
Somehow they got a copy ofthis pre screen video.
And so it was the whole movie,the only time we were watching it
(07:59):
and it was really great.
And then all of a sudden weget to the end and you have the big
bug that busts out of Edgar.
He's crawling up like thestate fair, you know, whatever.
And the.
So instead of the bug, you seethis white cutout of the bug's form
because the CGI wasn't doneyet in the screener.
(08:21):
And so I got to see this movielike six months before it hit the
theaters in a freaking charterbus driving from Florida back to
Kentucky.
It was really weird.
But yeah, that's my story forseeing Men in Black.
And then.
And there was a Couple othersthat had some really crappy CGI to
it.
Like, there were momentswhere, like, the.
(08:43):
The worms or whatever when yougo in and then, like, they weren't
sitting there correctly.
It was really weird when youwatched it.
And we were watching it on,like, a screen that was like, this
big again, because we were ona charter bus, so there was, like
four TVs that were, like,spread out.
But, yeah, that's how I sawMen in Black the first time.
But it was interesting.
(09:03):
Then I never went and saw itin theaters until, like, just before
it was about to leave.
I think I saw it in a.
Dollar theater before thismovie came out in 96.
97 is one of the.
July of 97 is when I thought.
I saw this movie in theaters.
I saw.
When did Wild, Wild west come out?
Oh, that would have been after.
Probably after 99.
(09:25):
Yeah, maybe I didn't see thisin theaters, but, man, I'm pretty
sure I.
I had a cool friend, Tyler Houston.
His dad was pretty dope.
I had a.
My own snack.
Not drawer.
My own snack cabinet at his house.
I literally went over thereessentially every day.
And we had sleepovers.
Not every weekend, but atleast three of four weekends every
(09:46):
month.
And his dad just.
We saw movies that I.
I mean, they were fine, but Iwas like six or seven.
You know, like, maybe, maybe.
Maybe I should have been alittle bit older, but maybe not.
They were fun.
I thought I saw this intheaters, but I'm not quite sure.
But I definitely.
Will Smith was a part of mychildhood, we'll put it that way.
(10:11):
I mean, what I remember mostfrom Men in Black especially is just.
There's just the.
The banter back and forthbetween Will Smith and I should be.
What's.
What's the other agent's name?
Tommy Lee Jones.
Yeah.
Yeah, Tommy Lee Jones.
Just the banter between thetwo of them I thought was really
great.
(10:31):
And then the most probablyiconic scene is when he gets his.
He gets his gun.
You think he's gonna get oneof those big shiny guns and he gets
the cricket and just the sheerdisrespect that he.
The department gave him.
Like, I thought that was sofunny as a kid because I was like.
They gave him a little like.
Like, like water gun orsomething, like, pew, pew, pew.
(10:54):
I thought that was great.
And then I think the otherthing I remember the most from that
movie is just the.
The shopkeeper that had, like,the head, the little head, the leg
came out and like, the cgi, like.
I mean, the monsters were memorable.
I'LL say that, like thecockroach dude was.
Yeah.
Gross.
If nothing else, I think itpushed their boundaries a little
(11:17):
bit of my imagination and thatI appreciated.
Yeah.
What about you, Alec?
Where did you see Men in Black first?
Let's see, I was three when itreleased, so I work with children.
I saw it like on TBS probably.
(11:39):
Yeah.
Like, I don't know, a decade later.
That's fair because I thinkthe first time I saw it.
Yeah.
I mean, it's, it's hard to notlike Will Smith when he was in the
90s, because that was likeMatt was saying, peak Will Smith,
top of the world, top of the game.
(12:00):
And it's, it's just he doessuch a good job in Men in Black,
owning the scene there.
There's a very specificconfidence that he's doing and like,
even it shows up in it whenhe's in like the room with all the
new recruits.
You know, he's moving the table.
(12:21):
To.
Take his test, you know,showing this problem solving skill
or even just the, you know,sarcastic making fun of the guy.
Like, oh, yeah, he's soexcited to be here.
He doesn't even know where heis or what he's doing.
Yeah.
And so there's just the, the confidence.
And I think, like, was itsomething like.
This was one of the first bigbreakout roles for Will Smith, right?
(12:44):
Yeah, it was one of them.
Like, it was, it was a goodfollow up to like Independence.
Well, he had done Fresh Princeof Bel Air already.
Like, that's.
Yeah.
And he had done Independence Day.
I think at this point.
I don't remember exactly whenIndependence Day came out, but it
was before this.
(13:04):
But yeah, he, I mean, he just.
Owns the screen and it cameout in 96.
Yeah.
So right before.
It's not something you'dexpect from someone who's kind of
just kick starting their, youknow, big movie screen career to
come in and just kick off afranchise with less than stellar
sequels.
But they're still good.
(13:25):
Yeah.
I mean, it could be worse.
It can be worse.
Yeah.
I, I think Men in Black was interesting.
We used to joke.
So again, Lamar, this guy was.
I love Lamar.
He was like one of my favoritepeople because he's so ridiculous
and yet just so lovable.
(13:45):
Anyway, so like his thing waswhen this came out, like, I used
to laugh because he, this.
They were, they wouldadvertise this thing before we saw
it.
Right.
And we were in high school andhe's like, man, they better not release
this for real.
For real.
Because then like Tommy LeeJones and Will Smith are gonna disappear
one day.
(14:05):
They're out in the secrets.
You watch these is just gonnabe gone one day because the real
Men in Black are gonna cometake them away.
Dude, to be honest with you,Alec, I would love to get you and
Lamar in the same room becausethe two of you are like my conspiracy
theory buddies.
Like, you and him could talkfor hours, I think about the ridiculousness
(14:28):
that you guys talk about.
It makes me giggle.
But yeah, like he would constantly.
He's like, I'm not watching that.
One day I'm gonna disappear.
Every who watch this movie isgonna get snatched up and go, or
just.
Get your memory erased.
You don't even have to disappear.
You just effectively do it thesame way, just more incognito.
Yeah, for real.
Well, and I think like that'swhat made me laugh the most about
(14:50):
this movie at the time was youalso had things like X Files that
had been out and were outaround this time earlier than this.
But the Men in Black thing wasalways like, they're this sinister
thing to hide all the secrets.
And you know, and so when thiscame out and it was just so goofy,
like that part was funny.
And I think one of the bestscenes, to your point, Alec, is like
(15:12):
when he's pulling that table across.
Like they're sitting in thosesilly egg chairs.
And then when they do like theshooting part of it and he's got
to explain, like this dude'sjust, he's just sneezing.
Like this dude's working out,doing some pull ups.
Then like the quantum, she'sgot quantum physics books and what
(15:34):
the hell is she doing walkingaround here with that?
Something right with that.
Am I wrong?
So, yeah, like I'm with youand only Will Smith at the time,
I think could have pulled thatoff and made it fun.
And like you just kind of lovethat character maybe.
The only thing I feel like theonly other person that could have
done it maybe is the.
His partner in Bad Boys.
(15:55):
What was that guy, thatactor's name?
I think Martin Lawrence couldhave done it.
I don't, I mean it wouldn'thave been as Will Smith as Will Smith
does it, but I think he couldhave been in the same type of vein.
They had similar play style.
I have a question for the restof the group.
I have some, obviously howwe're going to rate these against
each other.
But before we do that,especially I want to ask Jay this
question first.
(16:15):
Since we weren't even alivewhen said other movie came out.
Jay Talk to us about Ghostbusters.
I don't.
Do you.
Did you see it in theaters?
What do you remember?
Because to me, real fast,like, I don't remember exactly when
I saw this movie.
I saw it because it's a classic.
Like, I feel like peopleshould see this.
Does it hold the weight thatI'm curious if it does for you because
(16:36):
I like it.
I think it's a great movie.
It was interesting, but itwasn't like.
I imagine if I was a kid or anearly teen and this movie came out,
feel like this would have beenrevolutionary for me.
It was.
It was cool to see.
And I was like, wow.
Like, I can see why peoplecare about.
Didn't have the same nostalgiafor me.
But especially for you, sincemaybe you did see in theaters.
I'm curious.
So I didn't see in theaters.
(16:57):
This is one of those raresituations where I get to say that
I was three years old whenthis movie.
Oh, really?
Wow.
JJ's not that old.
So you guys.
Yeah, I was three when thiscame out.
So no, I did not see it intheater, which is ironic because
(17:19):
I, I what the very first movieI ever saw in theaters saw, I was
two years old.
My dad took me to Return ofThe Jedi in 83, but I didn't see
this one.
At least not that I know of.
Unless dad took me when I wasthree and didn't tell me, which he
normally liked to tell me about.
Hi, bags.
What he's watching.
(17:40):
But, like, so I don't rememberwhen I first saw this, like, how
old I was or anything.
I would imagine that I had tohave been like five or six.
But I remember two thingsvividly about this movie, and that
is one.
I thought it was one of thegreatest movies.
Like, it was so funny and itwas entertaining and I laughed.
And then the other piece was,as I was young enough that it scared
(18:04):
the out of me.
Like, I, you know, so did it.
Really did the MarshmallowGiant Marshmallow man got you.
No, it was the freaking weirdlady in the library.
Oh, my gosh.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
And then, like, as funny asSlimer is, like, he's kind of creepy,
as in this movie.
Like, and I.
It was funny because too,because this movie came out and then
(18:25):
there was a cartoon that cameout on Saturday morning cartoons
that was about Ghostbusters.
And Slimer was like their sidekick.
This guy Slimer was like their sidekick.
So like everybody, he was cute.
And then you watch the movieand he's not cute in the movie when
you're a little kid.
So yeah, so there was creepywhen I was little.
(18:49):
It scared the out of me actually.
But no, it was a great movieand I love that stay puffed like
stomping through New York City.
But.
And it was funny because whenI saw you sent over your list or
whatever and I'm looking atputting together the vote on Patreon.
There's my shameless plug.
Go get on Patreon.
You can vote for what we watch.
But we're.
(19:10):
When I was putting the listtogether on Patreon, the guy's like,
oh, Ghostbusters and Men in Black.
Like I love Men in Black.
It's funny, but it's.
It's cursed.
There's no way that it can bein for me Ghostbusters.
Because that movie is likepart of my childhood.
Hi bags.
In part of my life.
You know what I mean?
So it's.
Yeah.
The nostalgia and all that isreal for me with Ghostbusters because
(19:33):
it's.
Yeah, but it was great.
Alec, what about you and Ghostbusters?
Ghostbusters.
Unlike the first 80s movies mydad tried to get me to watch and
just like JJ it terrified me.
Unlike jj, I don't have fondmemories of Slimer or related to
my first watch on Ghostbusters.
(19:55):
Cuz that shit sucked.
Now going back, it's a littlebit different because I watch movies
in a very different light now.
And so going back toGhostbusters, it's, you know, about
the comedy and the team andthe, you know, stuff that happens.
I guess outside of the actualghost hunting that is.
(20:17):
That was on the second watchthrough anyway, what I focused mostly
on.
Yeah.
And then that's what's reallystuck with me is the comedic factor.
And just, you know, BillMurray with this sarcastic dry humor.
Oh, is.
Is pure gold.
Yeah.
That's Bill Murray in thefinal showdown.
The amount of that Bill Murraytalks to like like Zool.
(20:41):
Like.
And then like he gets whenthey get mad at Dan Aykroyd because
he can't help but like thinkof the stay puff.
Like that moment in this movieis one of my favorite moments of
all time.
It's just like where he'slike, he's like what's yelling at
him?
(21:01):
What is.
What was.
Why can't I think of hischaracter's name?
I just keep wanting to say DanAykroyd, but Ray.
Ray.
They all look over at him.
What did you.
What did you do, Ray?
And then I'm also a huge RickMoranis fan.
(21:22):
Like I grew up and I.
I guarantee neither of youhave seen Strange Brew, but, like,
that's where I.
You guys remember that?
Just to confirm for thelistening audience, I haven't seen
it.
Yeah, I'm sure, Alec, youhaven't seen Strange Brew either.
Okay, well, you should watchit because Alec would laugh his ass
(21:44):
off at this movie.
Matson, not so much.
I won't be watching, but I'llwatch it.
Did you guys watch when youwere kids?
Because this came out when youwere kids, I think the animated movie
with the two moose.
What is that called?
Brother Bear.
Brother Bear.
And they got the two Canadian moose.
Yeah, yeah, those.
(22:04):
Okay.
The guys that did the moosevoices were Rick Moranis and some
other guy.
I can't remember his name, butthey're the lead guys in Strange
Brew.
And so.
And they v that thesecharacters are the moose, but they're
human beings tracking down beer.
Okay.
And so it's like, dude, Alec,you gotta watch it, because I'm looking
(22:28):
where.
I can stream it right now.
Yeah, it's hilarious.
But yeah, so that's.
Rick Moranis is always in it.
You know, honey, I shrunk the kids.
Like, he's always probably notvery funny.
Just letting you know it's hilarious.
Just look it up, people.
So when they.
When he starts going too, he'slike, I am the gatekeeper or the
(22:49):
key master.
Like, Rick Moranis makes melaugh no matter what he does.
So this movie just has greatcomedic relief.
Two very different styles ofcomedy, I think.
But the two movies do comparevery well comedically for sure.
All right, with that.
Yeah.
Let's jump into our.
(23:09):
All right.
And say we're gonna do plotand storyline, character development,
chemistry, special effects andvisuals, humor and tone and cultural
impact and legacy.
Oh, poor Banks.
What was the first one again?
We're gonna start with theplot and storyline.
Alec, we'll start with you.
Oh, with me?
(23:30):
I gotta go with Men in Blackon the story and plot line.
I feel like the.
It's a more thought out.
There's a little bit morebackstory involved with.
Brings you into the middle ofa story.
But there's a before or abeginning, middle end.
Ghostbusters is kind of like,oh, hey, we bought a firehouse.
(23:53):
Because we figured out there's this.
This ghost hunting opportunity.
Right.
The story is kind of whatmakes the movie.
But Men in Black is like youwere saying with Lamar, it's almost
like this could be real.
This could be something thatworks out, and we're just able to
kind of come in and get asneak peek of an actual thing that's
(24:15):
happening.
And so I think the, the story from.
From anyway, it's like, yeah,Men in Black's a better.
I don't want to say betterthought out story, but a better constructed
story.
Whereas Ghostbusters, atypical old 80s movie.
Balls.
(24:36):
That's right.
I'll go.
This is more of a toss up forme, but I think I'm gonna go to Men
in Black as well for Alec.
Still the point.
I was gonna say that to me,Men in Black has a more traditional
story arc of like a beginning,middle and end where, like you sing
(24:57):
about Ghostbusters, it justfeels like something kind of dropped
in their lap and it was, itwas brought together.
But like, I, to me personally,I feel like I'm splitting hairs here,
like to.
To say one or the other.
I think it's really close, butI would deviate towards Men in Black
a little bit.
(25:19):
Yeah, just.
It's.
It's a tough one for me.
When we did this in our.
Our last episode, it was somuch more clear cut and dry.
I think it's going to be a lottougher for me across the board on
this.
Yeah, I don't.
This was tough.
Okay, so I'm gonna go Ghostbusters.
And I say that because of this.
And that is, to me, Men inBlack, what it.
(25:39):
Where its success comes fromare the characters that are in it
and the enjoyment and the, thecharisma that they exude.
Whereas the story itself, man,like, I just.
I'm like, okay, you could haveplugged those two guys, Will Smith
(26:00):
and Tommy Lee Jones.
And then, you know, your guestappearances from like a Tony Shalhoub
or, you know, you.
The.
But those two characters, youcould have dropped them into any
story.
And I think it would have madethat story better or successful,
depending on how you'relooking at it.
Ghostbusters, I think, issimilar because again, it's just
like this world ending, youknow, theme that we're talking about
(26:23):
that both stories have.
And.
And so this crew of goofyscientists that decide to be ghost
hunters make the movie.
But to me, I think because ofthe time difference, whereas Men
in Black, by the time I got to1997 and we were.
I was watching this movie, I'dseen this storyline a million times.
(26:47):
Whereas when I was a kid andGhostbusters came out like that existential
dread of like being in NewYork City at the time where all these
ghosts are running around inthe city, like, that was new for
me.
And so to me, it's.
It's obviously a timing issuebecause they're basically the same
story just with ghosts and aliens.
But I think for me, becauseGhostbusters is what I grew up on,
(27:08):
that's where I give it to it.
But I think again, you havefour guys that steal the scenes with
some really fun.
And then you got SigourneyWeaver and you got.
So there's a lot of.
A lot more that makes thestoryline more interesting and fills
it out, rounds it out whereMen in Black relies just on two guys
who do it very well and successfully.
But that's.
I just feel like theridiculousness of Men in Black at
(27:29):
times is a little bit morethat gets me into the kicks and giggles
than at times thatGhostbusters does.
But we'll talk about that here shortly.
Sure.
Let's bounce over to characterdevelopment and chemistry.
And I think JJ kind of justrolled into what really makes us
rating hard to go first.
Like in Ghostbusters, you'retalking about three, if not four,
(27:53):
sometimes five people in agiven scene that really are just
interwoven quite well.
Or Men in Black is dominatedby two individuals, but they also
are killing it at almost anygiven time.
But I think that's.
I love Will Smith and TommyLee Jones and just how they go back
and forth at each other, eachother from like just the.
(28:16):
The.
The cricket scene to himgetting in the car and Will Smith
is not able to drive to likejust shaming him left and right for
being a rookie agent.
But then like Ghostbusters,you've just got.
To me, this is aquintessential Bill Murray and.
And Dan Arknoid movie wherethey're just.
I think I'm give it toGhostbusters because it's more impressive
(28:37):
to me to do it with morepeople for a longer period of time.
But again, splitting hairs forme it's.
It's.
It's tough.
It's close.
Yeah.
I'm actually surprising togive this one the Men in Black.
And I think what flips itover, I think when we're talking
about like the.
The ensemble cast or the castitself and like their chemistry,
(29:02):
I could go either way.
And I would tend.
If it was just about chemistrywith the topic you're talking.
I would probably lean moretowards Ghostbusters because.
Your point, the chemistrybetween a larger group is a little
more difficult in theory.
But what steals it away is thecharacter development.
There's not a lot of character development.
That's fair.
I lean relements a lot of the chemistry.
(29:22):
You're right.
You're right.
Yeah.
And from a chemistry point ofview, I would give it to Ghostbusters,
but when you add in thedynamic of a character development
on top of it, you have.
I have to give it to Men inBlack because for nothing else than
Jay actually has somecharacter development.
Whereas in Ghostbusters,there's not real character development
for the most part.
There's a little bit.
Right.
Like.
Because even Bill Murray,like, Bankman grows up a little bit.
(29:46):
And, like, you know, you haveto add in the dynamic of.
Of bringing in the character anyway.
So, yes, there is some.
But I think the overarchingtheme of Jay growing and, you know,
learning to work better as ateam with K and then K letting.
Being a little more patientwith Jay by the end and then them
coming together, there's justmore character development.
(30:06):
But again, it's just so closebecause both ensemble casts are so
good.
But I think when comparativelyto, like, giving it to a character,
Will Smith's always gonnatrump out some of these guys because
especially at point.
God, he just oozes charisma.
Like, even after having a hardtime with him after the whole slap
(30:27):
situation, like, he's stillhard to dislike when he's doing his
thing.
And.
And so it's.
Yeah.
But, yeah, I'm gonna give thisone a Men in Black.
Barely.
I'm also going to give it toMen in Black.
I agree with what you weresaying, jj, about there is no character
development.
Ghostbusters.
(30:47):
If anything, there's, like, a regress.
But then for the chemistry,like, I think Ghostbusters gets in
its own way a little bit wherewe just lost jj.
Cool.
You're muted too, Matt.
So I was just saying we lostour commander in chief.
That's perfect.
Don't let him back in.
(31:08):
And we.
We might not.
Oh, he's back.
Switching tiles up on us.
Jay.
I don't know what happened.
This is great.
I love it.
Men in Black.
They're coming for me now.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, like, the.
The chemistry goes better.
I think it gets in its own.
Way a little bit.
And what I think about that ispoor Ernie Hudson.
(31:28):
Yeah.
Is kind of like the odd man out.
And the chemistry that's thereis really, you know, Dan Aykroyd
and Bill Murray, and then youthrow in Sigourney Weaver and Rick
Moranis, who are both justgoing to mesh with whoever they are
going to mesh with.
(31:49):
Like, it doesn't matter whoyou put those two with.
They'll find a way to find Chemistry.
And so I feel like it gets.
There's almost too much goingon with the chemistry.
And so you have littleisolated pockets of chemistry versus
with Men in Black, it's just two.
Right?
There's only two people whoare really.
(32:09):
Who really should be creditedand are making the movie.
And so it.
It feels a little bit better,I guess, is the way to put it.
All right, let me give it Menin Black.
I will say that I have to.
One last caveat with Men in Black.
Is that the.
The.
The girl, Linda Laurel orLinda Fiorentino from.
(32:32):
That's the.
The chick.
Like, I don't like her.
And so she's a hard one for mein Men in Black.
Like, I don't like the character.
I don't like.
Like, so she's a downside.
But I still give it to Men inBlack for all the reasons I said.
But anyway, I have to put thatcaveat in there.
All right, Alec, kick us offfor special effects and visuals.
(32:55):
My least favorite thing aboutmovies because I really don't care
about the special effects orthe visuals.
Kind of important in both ofthese movies, though.
I.
I know it's kind of important,but that's not something that I really
pay attention to.
Like the vision and why wedon't listen to Alec so, you know,
because he likes movies.
When you like movies in blackand white, like, are you really caring
(33:17):
about anything?
Hold the up.
I like practical effectsmovies because practical effects
is better.
I'll just say, especiallyduring the 80s and 90s and there's
some practical effects.
In Ghostbusters, I am aware ofthe practical effects.
Letting our listening audience know.
You just gotta.
Gotta listen out with a grainof salt right here.
(33:39):
Just.
Just.
Yeah.
I mean, I'm going to give itto Ghostbusters.
I think Ghostbusters does abetter job with the special effects
and the visuals.
Giant Marshmallow Man Zool isstill terrifying to me, and I'm 31
years old, so I.
I'm gonna give it to Ghostbusters.
(34:00):
That's funny.
What about you, Matson.
Banks has got a little toynext to me.
I gotta turn that down, dude.
I don't know if they can hear that.
What?
I mean, I think when you watchGhostbusters, like, was it groundbreaking,
some of the things that theywere doing at the time?
I'm sure it was, but it suredoesn't look as good these days.
(34:22):
And Men in Black, they blended.
There's definitely CGI momentsand some practical moments.
I remember Men in Black more.
It's probably just becauseit's a nostalgia thing.
When I was a kid and I sawGhostbusters when I was older, I
could be like, oh, like I knewwhat they were trying to do there,
but doesn't look that good.
But then again, the giantmarshmallow man, like, that was pretty
(34:46):
great.
Like, I won't ever beforgetting that.
I think I just like aliens more.
And so I thought it wascooler, more intricate, and I still
thought it looked pretty good to.
To this day and age.
And maybe I'm a little bitbiased, but I think I just appreciate
a little bit more of the.
(35:07):
How their special effectshelped with the world building in
ways that I think we had hereand there glimpses of that in Ghostbusters.
But in Men in Black we had alot more of that and I appreciated
it.
I'm so glad you mentioned theStay Puft guy, because that was a
practical effect.
It was pretty great.
(35:28):
But like the.
When the temple opened orwhatever at the end with the, the
like the not lion like weirdalien ghost thing, like doesn't look
that good these days, but I'msure it looked good back then.
Yeah, I think it's a.
This one's a tough for me.
Tough one for me because I.
I think of two scenes in particular.
(35:49):
One we've already talked aboutStay Pu.
Walking down the streets inNew York and knowing how they did
that and the fact that theydid that was dope.
The other scene from Men inBlack though, is when they.
He first walks into like thewide open spot of MIB headquarters
Aliens.
And there's.
(36:09):
And it's all cgi and it stilllooks pretty good even considering
it's cgi.
So I, I think of those twoscenes, but I'm also biased and I
look, my biases is showingbecause I have a huge taste for practical
effects.
And to Matt's point, some ofthem don't hold up as well in, in
Ghostbusters, but I stillappreciate that.
(36:33):
And so I look at this from thelens of.
I find CGI kind of in.
This is terrible because it'sa lot of work, but it's.
I feel it's.
I feel it.
Find it lazy because you canmake anything look like anything
with a computer and it's howwell you do it.
Now Men in Black does it verywell comparatively.
There's some that I'm like,Gez, this is terrible.
(36:54):
That were even come after Menin Black.
Right.
Like later on movies where itshould have been better were as good.
But when it comes to likebeing able to figure out how to have
stay puffed or even thingslike slimer or the crazy ghost lady
that's flying around.
You know what I mean?
Like all of those, like how Ilook at it and I go, how the did
(37:17):
they do that versus when Ilook at Men in Black, I go, I know
exactly how they did that.
They have a computer programthat did it.
So for me, that's whyGhostbusters will win.
For me, it's not that I thinkthat the effects are that much better.
I just think that they're different.
And I like practicality versus cgi.
So it's a completely biaseddecision, but I'll own that biases
(37:39):
and run with it.
So I give that to Ghostbusters.
But again, it's real close.
Like there's nothing here thatI'm like one or the other is a runaway
favorite.
Right?
Like, I think it's justthey're all very close.
But that's just my personal thing.
Like I think when I think ofthe two main scenes, it's those two.
And Stay Puft wins.
(38:00):
Yeah.
What was the next category?
Well, I have one follow up question.
So what about like a movielike Ready Player One with those
special effects like CGI andthey're like extremely intricate
and.
Well, like the scene I'mthinking of is when he's in the race
and he throws out his littlething in the car, like builds.
Obviously we'd love for thatto be a practical effect, but that
(38:21):
would take years.
And I think that was a reallymeticulous CGI that took a long time
and was very complex and a lotof work.
And I'm curious if you have adifferent opinion on something like
that being lazy versus likepractical effects.
It's probably, like I said,it's probably.
(38:42):
I should preface this.
One of my favorite movies ofall time is.
Is what's the dinosaur?
Why am I forgetting?
Yeah, Jurassic Park.
It's incredible movie becausethe practical effects are unmatched.
And so I'm not saying I thinkI have the same sentiment as you,
but then like a movie likeReady Player One that I'm actually
like, I can see the amount ofwork and the time and I think it
(39:03):
did pay off.
But I'm curious your opinion.
Yeah.
So I think it's tough toobecause you got to think about what
movies can you pull off withwithout CGI and with CGI and Ready
Player One because of itsnature and what the story is actually
about.
Like it's about a virtual world.
So if you weren't usingVirtual effects.
I'd be a little concernedbecause, like, that's the idea behind
(39:24):
that one.
So I think two things aboutyour question.
One, yes, Ready Player onedoes it very well when it comes to
cgi.
You can tell that there was a.
And I think that comes down toa Steven Spielberg thing where he's
like, look, one StevenSpielberg is not going to let you
get away with.
Right.
He's been involved in too many.
I mean, he was very heavilyinvolved in helping Lucas make Star
(39:49):
wars early on.
He did the, you know, theIndiana Jones movies, which had practical
effects.
So, like, the guy knows how todo effects that are impressive, so,
you know, he's going to makehim put in the work for that.
And two, I think it leansheavily into the world that it was
built in.
Right.
We're.
We need it to be CGI becausethey're in a virtual reality world.
(40:10):
And so if it looked practical,it might be a little weird.
I will say that I.
What impressed me the most, ifwe're talking about Ready Player
one real quick, the fact thatthey make the world building of the
stacks in Columbus and stufflike that feel very practical.
Even though the stacks werevery much cgi, that, to me was the
most successful part of that virtual.
(40:33):
Those CGI was the, the realworld felt real, even though most
of it, especially in thestacks area, was very much cgi.
So, yeah, I, I, yeah, that's it.
That one's kind of a standalone.
There's a couple movies thattheir effects are.
It's kind of like the thing onthe other side of it, right.
Like when we, when we watchedand did the thing.
(40:55):
There's very few movies that,from a practical effect standpoint,
can compare to the thing ReadyPlayer one's the same way when it
comes to cgi.
Like, it's hard.
Yeah.
All right.
All right, Good to know.
Jumping to our next topic.
We will start with JJ on this one.
Humor and tone.
(41:17):
Very tough.
Wow.
This one's tough.
I'm gonna start with humor,and then I'm going to separate these
two things.
So from a humorous perspective.
Humor perspective.
I think Men in Black wins barely.
And I think it's because TommyLee Jones and Will Smith are very
(41:40):
successful at their comedy.
Like, they make me laugh.
The dynamic of outrageous.
Will Smith doing what he doesand is always, like, on the go and
moving quick and loud and obnoxious.
And then you've got Tommy LeeJones who just, he only says what's
necessary and when he's being funny.
God damn, he's funny.
Right.
Like.
(42:01):
And so I love that about.
And it's.
It always works.
There's not a moment where I'mlike, that didn't work.
What Ghostbusters suffers fromis even though the.
The ensemble is great to AlexPoint and Matson, you said it too.
It's about Dan Aykroyd andBill Murray.
Those two are your Will Smithand your Tommy Lee Jones of this
(42:25):
movie.
What happens then is you havethese other characters that, when
they are funny, are reallyfunny, but they don't always hit
the way that Bill Murray and.
And Dan Aykroyd hit.
Every single time.
Those two hit no matter what.
And it's funny.
You do have some moments with the.
There's characters in therethat are trying to be funny, and
they're not.
Okay.
(42:45):
And so that was why I give itto Men in Black for the humor.
Now the tone, I don't.
I don't think I could pick awinner from tone because they're
so different.
Like, Men in Black is supposedto be ridiculous.
Then Ghostbusters is kind ofback and forth.
Like, there's some ridiculousmoments, but there's some pretty
dark that happens in Ghostbusters.
And so I think from a tone,I'm gonna give it to Ghostbusters,
(43:09):
even though it's really close.
And so because to me, like, Iknow exactly what I'm getting with
Men in Black.
And it's a ridiculous comedythat's out there.
And there's.
There's some themes there, butit's not like they just lean into
the funny.
Right.
And it's in the action.
Whereas Ghostbusters, there'ssome pretty heavy.
(43:29):
Like, you got everything frompolitical weird, like people trying
to save face to scary ghosts.
And then the dynamics of ateam and how you can make that work.
They're throwing together this.
So there's some differentthings there.
I think overall, becausecomedy is the theme technically for
both.
Men in Black wins the overallbattle in this topic for me, but
(43:52):
it's a tough one.
That's a tough one.
I think I can go next.
I think overall, I'll give itto Men of Black, but appreciate the
way how JJ kind of separated it.
And we talked about, like,storyline and plot.
I still think the connectionof Tommy Lee Jones and.
And Will Smith.
So J and K.
(44:13):
I just like their banter anddynamics a little bit more.
I think, like JJ talked about,they always hit.
And there's never a questionof that.
Where things can get a littleconvoluted in Ghostbusters, but I
just really appreciate WillSmith's humor is what it comes down
to.
If he wasn't in the movie,would this have ever been.
Been on anyone's map?
Probably not.
(44:33):
I just like him.
I like him in fresh prints.
I like him in this even toextend in a horrible movie like Wild
Wild west to some other things.
Like he's someone that'll getme to a screen more often than not.
And this was when he was closeto, if not on his Mount Rushmore
of movies like he was.
He was at the top of his game.
And his jokes still land whenI watch and they're still funny.
(44:58):
And it's not to be anythingbad to say against Ghostbusters.
I think there's a lot there Ireally mean.
Bill Murray's Bill Murray.
I just like the style of humorjust a little bit more in Men in
Black.
It feels closer to things thattruly make me laugh in terms of tone.
I think Jay said it best.
Men in Black, you know whatyou're getting every time, like there's,
there's no question, itdoesn't deviate.
(45:19):
And there's power in that,that because there's so many movies
we see that think they're acomedy, but then try to be a drama
and then they're full, they'rewaffling, and you're like, all right,
I need you to stay on brand.
I'm glad they did that.
But I, I do think Ghostbustersis a little bit more sophisticated
and I think the ability to gofrom a little more dark to comedic
(45:40):
is hard to do at times.
And I think they, they jugglethat quite well.
But in how I normally ratethis humor is most important to me
in terms of what these moviesare portraying.
And I think Ben A Black justslightly above.
Again.
For me, it comes down to likethe different humor styles.
(46:01):
Right.
And once again, Ghostbusterskind of gets in its own way.
You have a very dry, sarcasticBill Murray humor.
And I think if it's a duo,Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd or Bill
Murray, Rick Moranis or BillMurray, Sigourney Weaver or Bill
Murray and anybody else, it works.
(46:22):
But you have a little bit ofconflicting humor styles that are
coming in because like RickMoranis is very good at being that
kind of chameleon, but he's amuch more active, over the top kind
of humor and not thesarcastic, dry Bill Murray.
Whereas in Men in Black youhave just witty banter and then Tommy
(46:46):
Lee Jones is the quiet, stoicone with one liner zingers.
And you Have Will Smith, whois the kind of over the top, you
know, companion for that, andit works much better.
They know what they're doingwith that and they stick to that
kind of humor.
Whereas Ghostbusters, a littlebit of a hodgepodge.
(47:08):
So I'm gonna give him Men in Black.
All right, Alec, you're gonnakick us off on our last topic.
And maybe the easiest to rateor maybe the most difficult.
I'm curious.
We're gonna go to culturalimpact and legacy.
Oh, it's easy.
Ghostbusters.
And it's not even close.
(47:30):
The.
The fact that you can play theGhostbusters theme song, everybody
jumps in, is enough of areason that that has far more impact
than Men in Black does.
I think.
I mean, I.
I don't disagree with you, butI think if you.
If there's two dudes wearingsuits with.
With shades on, I definitelythink Men in Black.
(47:53):
But you don't think MatrixAgent Smith.
No, Like, I have to.
I'd have to see the Morpheus glasses.
But that's.
That's a good point.
I don't know if I disagreewith you, but what trumps it all
is just the who are you goingto call Ghostbusters song.
Like that.
There's that.
(48:14):
That got played at dances Iwent to growing up, and you didn't
even have to know what themovie was.
You just knew that that was asong and people knew it and that.
That takes the cake.
But I think it's.
For me, it's an easy answer.
It's Ghostbusters.
They just.
It's something I've seen farmore in merchandise, in pop culture
comedic lore.
(48:34):
Who are you going to call?
Like, you say it, like, Idon't know.
Just something that's been inmy vocabulary from the beginning.
Men in Black, I think it wascool at the time and had some stylistic
implications to how we dress and.
And think about aliens for alittle bit.
But it was more of a flash inthe pan, where I still think Ghostbusters
(48:56):
to this day is something people.
You look at stranger things.
Like, it got brought back andrevived, like, as of, like, five
or six years ago.
And there was like a wholerevival of the costumes and some
of that lore again.
And they tried to bring Men inBlack back with Chris Hemsworth and
the other female actor.
I should know her name, but Ican't say it right now.
(49:18):
I can't remember.
I don't know.
I didn't see any, like, oh,wow, Men in Black's back like this
or that.
Like, Ghostbusters, like,definitely had some staying power
and still does.
Yeah, I think that's a.
Yeah.
I want to say it shouldn't beeasy, but it is easy.
Ghostbusters for sure.
And that's finally not mybiases talking like, it's.
(49:42):
Yeah, everybody knows Ghostbusters.
And I think what reallyseparates this Matson, you kind of
touched a little bit on it.
And that is, I think about Ghostbusters.
And outside of a like.
So Ghostbusters makes.
Does a remake that doesn'tinclude the original cast with.
And they do the femaleversion, whatever.
And they're all funny women, like.
(50:02):
But it didn't work.
It was terrible, actually.
Oh, funny enough.
Both of these I'm about totalk to.
You had Chris Hemsworth in them.
Yeah.
When.
When Chris Hemsworth is thefunniest part of your Ghostbusters
movie, you up.
So it just didn't work.
But then you bring back andthey do another remake, if you will,
(50:24):
or sequel that then includesthe characters very little, but includes
them.
And it worked because you gotback to the original themes and things
like that.
Men in Black, outside of thefirst one.
And look, Men in Black 2's funny.
Men in Black 3 is funny.
Ish.
I.
I struggled.
But I'll tell you what I didlike was what got me and surprised
(50:46):
me was Josh Brolin SK in oneof the later movies really worked
for me.
Okay.
But the difference between thetwo is.
Is outside of the weird remake with.
Of Ghostbusters, Ghostbustersalways works no matter how much.
Even Ghostbusters 2, it's aninferior movie to Ghostbusters 1,
(51:07):
but it's really funny and it'sreally entertaining and it's good
to watch.
And in some ways, it's scarierthan the first one because the bad
guy's really creepy.
And then the.
And then you have like, it disappears.
I mean, for 40 years,Ghostbusters has been around in some
way, shape or form.
Slimer's so recognizable, it's ridiculous.
(51:27):
Like, you know all these things.
Whereas Men in Black, like,yes, people understand that.
But again, to Alex point,like, it can be confused if you're
not holding like a Phase 4Datomizer in your hand.
You don't know what the hellyou're talking about.
Like, it could be any moviewith a guy in a suit and some glasses.
Right?
You need the little mind eraser.
But even then, people couldstill question.
(51:50):
But you got a little.
You got a backpack that lookslike a vacuum with like a hose.
You hold it out or like aLittle ghost symbol with the cross
in it.
Everybody knows.
No.
Or the worst siren ever created.
The wee.
Like, yeah, you know what that is.
But to your point, like thesong, man just will get you every
time too.
And it's ironic because bothhave very recognizable theme songs,
(52:12):
but if you were to add, like,play Men in Black for bunch of kids
now, they wouldn't know, but Ibet they know who you're gonna call.
So I, I, I think I disagreefor the younger generation, but at
least like, maybe like 20 andmaybe like 25 and up, probably.
I, I'm gonna have to go ask mynieces and nephews tomorrow when
(52:33):
they come over for the Super Bowl.
If the older ones I do know,they would know this, but I don't
know if the other like 10 and below.
I doubt it.
I'd be curious if you were to.
Maybe the new movie, though.
Maybe the new movie though,because of that.
That's fair.
Yeah.
I'd be, I'd be curious if youplayed both songs.
Oh, they definitely don't knowman of Black.
(52:54):
Yeah, that, that I'm sure of.
Yeah, but like, maybe Ghostbusters.
Yeah.
Anyway.
But yeah, Ghostbusters takesthat one for sure.
All right.
Well, we rolled through all five.
I think there was a bit of yoyoing, but I, I think Men in Black
had more slight edging outthan Ghostbusters.
(53:14):
But if maybe not, it wasreally close either way.
So I think we'll, we'll rollto our final ratings for the two
movies.
I guess I'll go first becauseI picked both of these.
Whoa, man.
So tough.
I'm gonna get both a four.
(53:35):
I think they're both reallysolid, entertaining movies, but they
are not without some of their,some of their wholesome things that
we've talked about, I think.
Like Men in Black, for instance.
I love the chemistry.
I especially love Will Smith,but I don't think like the story
overall.
It's, it's, it's a storythat's told time and time again in
(53:57):
Hollywood.
I don't think it's like,extremely compelling.
Um, or mo.
I don't know, emotional or heart.
Heartwarming is not the rightthing, but it's just, it's generic
to me.
But it's exceptional actingchemistry that makes it enjoyable.
I think Ghostbusters was anawesome premise and kind of revolutionary
to extent with the practicaland even visual effects.
(54:21):
I think there's some greatchemistries we've talked about, but
at times I think it can be itsown worst enemy by trying to cram
a little bit too much downyour throat when it could have stayed
slight, more simplistic.
It's entertaining.
I don't think it holds up aswell in time in terms of the visuals,
but it's abs.
If.
If you're listening to thisand you haven't watched Ghostbusters,
(54:43):
like, go watch the movie at least.
Like, please, please.
They're both reallyentertaining movies.
They are movies that I knowI'll see both of them again with
a probable slight preferenceto maybe Ghostbusters.
Because, like, we've talkedabout more people in my sphere of
influence have seen that andenjoy that.
(55:03):
May the Men in Black.
But I really like both movies.
I think they did a good job.
Nice.
Alec, you go, buddy.
This is hard because I havetrouble saying any one of these is
like, a phenomenally good movie.
Like, they both kind of suckfrom a movie standpoint.
(55:25):
Get the out of here.
It's hard to be like, oh,yeah, this is a peak of, you know,
cinema you're talking about.
Ghostbusters invented black.
So I think.
I think I'm gonna give both athree and a half.
(55:46):
And if I have to go, like,with a winner of Watch this movie
over this movie, Ghostbusters,give it to Ghostbusters in the Edge.
But.
And that's.
That's just more.
If you watch Ghost.
If you haven't watched eitherone of these movies, which one are
(56:08):
you gonna watch and be betteroff watching?
I think is Ghostbusters.
Yeah, three and a half forboth of them.
But if they were in black andwhite, it probably would have been
a four.
So just letting you know,black and.
White, they would have beenfive and a halfs.
It's good artistic choices atthat point.
(56:28):
No, I am going to give Men inBlack a four and I'm gonna give Ghostbusters
a four and a half.
They're both great movies.
They both have flaws, I think.
I think for me, theperspective, like, when I watch him,
like, I could watchGhostbusters anytime, anywhere.
(56:51):
You say, let's load up andwatch Ghostbusters, and I'm gonna
laugh at the same jokes I'velaughed at for 40 years.
Then, like, this man, dicklessover here turned off the power grid.
Is this true?
Yes, it is true.
This man has no dick.
Like, what a great joke.
(57:11):
It's just.
And then he's like, to top itoff, they break up the fight and
he goes, what?
It's just.
What I heard.
Like, it's just.
And then.
But then there's jokes, like,you get a D series 4 DE atomizer
and I get a midgie Cricket.
Are you kidding me?
Like, I feel like I'm gonnabreak this thing.
So it's.
They're both highly quotable.
But I think the difference forme is Ghostbusters.
(57:34):
Sit down and watch anytime,anywhere and have a good time.
Men in Black.
I don't think I could watch itthat much.
Like I can watch it over andover because it's great, it's funny,
it's got good jokes.
But I would get tired of it ifI was consistently watching it.
I don't think I'd ever gettired of Ghostbusters.
I just think the comedy, thehumor standard for me, Bill Murray
(57:55):
will always peak.
Even though Will Smith's oneof my favorite actors out there,
he's not always one of myfavorite comedians.
He's just so charismatic andhe just steals every scene he's in.
And then you have Tommy Joneswho actually hangs with them just
really well.
So it was really good.
That worked out.
But Ghostbusters for me isjust nostalgically probably one of
(58:19):
my all time great movies thatI could just watch anytime, anywhere,
no questions asked, as manytimes as we wanted to watch it.
I love Ghostbusters, so itwins the battle.
But damn, it's a hard choice.
As much as they're different,they're similarities and, but they're
just, they're both fun movies,good watches.
So yeah, there it is.
(58:41):
This is a fun one.
It was weird.
I wasn't expecting.
I was like.
When I first saw the list, Iwas like, really?
How do those two compare?
And then I watched them like,okay, we could talk about these.
This, this worked out so.
Great pick, Matson.
Great pick.
Even though I thought it wasAlex pick for most of the.
Hey, you know me.
Even when I don't know that Ipicked it.
I'm doing the right thing.
(59:03):
Well played, sir.
Well played.
Well, Alec, tell everybodywhere they can find us.
Happy to.
Thank you for tuning into week two.
Right, yeah.
Week two of our arbitrationseries kind of makes sense.
We had two movies with twounforgettable teams, two unforgettable
adventures.
Right.
So I guess this really comesdown to whether you enjoy busting
(59:25):
ghosts out of a firehouse thatshould have been condemned 60 years
before or, you know, huntingdown aliens with the neural.
What is that thing?
The Neura Neuralyzer Neuralanalyzer, something like that.
Whatever.
Kind of comes down to personalpreference, where to find us.
(59:45):
Find us on YouTube where youcan see our pretty faces as we are
talking about movies or checkus out on Patreon.
Special thanks to CB andCharles for selecting this clash
of Titans, I guess we couldsay, you know.
So when it comes down to yourmovie podcasting needs, there's really
only one question, and it'swho you gonna call?
(01:00:08):
With that, I'll kick it backto the Titan of Terror, the King
of crash.
A J.J.
yeah, appreciate that, AlecMan, I can't believe we didn't talk
more about Vincent D'Onofrio,though, because Edgar is hilarious
in this movie, but it's one ofthose first things.
He's so underrated until hewas Kingpin and now he's huge.
But Vincent Onofro is no joke.
(01:00:29):
So anyway, with all that, asalways, we appreciate you tuning
in.
We'll catch you on the next one.
Baby.
Cinematic.
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