018 M-FILES INDEPENDENCE DAY

The Henchmen open an M-File on Independence Day, the 1996 alien invasion monster that turned July 4th into a cinematic war zone. Is it flawless? Ridiculous? Both? Michelle says it’s perfect. Greg has notes. Bobby brings the face-acting report. Together they investigate the aliens, the marketing, the Mandela Effect, the Area 51 reveal, and the movie magic Hollywood forgot how to make.

ID4 Exposed: The Perfect Alien Blockbuster… Or The Dumbest Masterpiece Ever Made?

Transcript

Bobby 0:18

Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome to the Conspiracy Journal of Imfiles movie film TV film podcast.

Michelle 0:26

Yeah.

Bobby 0:27

My name is Bobby.

Michelle 0:28

Bobby.

Bobby 0:31

I'm Greg. And also Michelle.

Michelle 0:32

Hi.

Bobby 0:33

And we're talking about ID4, also known as Independence Day. But I remember the branding strong from when I was a child and it was ID4.

Greg 0:41

Yeah.

Bobby 0:42

I got a lot to say about this movie. I can go all over, but so it's like I just remember the marketing strong. They did a good job. It was released on July 4th. That summer blockbuster. I know that it wasn't the first movie released on July 4th, but it kind of set a little bit of a precedence. I remember movies followed up after this. Men in Black was released on July 4th, like the next year, a couple years after that.

Michelle 1:03

I remember back in the 90s when movies that came out and the the summer blockbusters were incredible. It felt like the biggest thing in the world was to go see Independence Day on the 4th of July.

Bobby 1:19

Yeah, it was a it was an event for sure. And they were there was like there was not the saturated same level of saturation that we have today. It was like there was not there was not a lot of summer blockbusters. There was like a couple.

Michelle 1:30

Right.

Greg 1:31

They actually made an effort to like make good stuff. Yeah back then though. And like watching this now, I have a different opinion on the movie, but perfect film.

Michelle 1:41

I don't know how your opinion could change because this is a perfect film.

Greg 1:45

Yeah, you must have had a bad opinion of it before, and now it's not I remember like especially when it came out, it was like 96, and like I was like, it was awesome. Like I I loved this movie. I saw it probably like 50 times in the theater. Like I went so much. I kept I kept going to see it. And uh, but yeah, no, I guess it's just a matter of time now. Now I'm just like my my taste in movies has changed, like the ideas that I have and like how films are structured, all the things have just grown since then. And it's just watching this now. I'm just like, oh, like there's nothing like all of the beats of a good like Blockbuster movie are there, but it's just like a big dumb movie, yeah.

Bobby 2:25

But they did a really good job of it. Like it is it is a big dumb movie, but it's like really well made, and like it's it's directed by Roland Emmerich. And like I was just watching it, and like they I know that they had like a massive team at their disposal, but like it's a big story, and they did a really good job of keeping it succinct and tight, and there's a lot of there's a lot of characters and a lot of storylines, and they did do a good job of keeping them in line and then bringing them together. So it's not I'm not gonna it's a perfect movie. I'm not gonna say that it's like like uh uh you know the the shining beacon of of of writing or filmmaking, but like they did do a good job, they did do a good job and they made it and they made a very watchable movie, sure.

Greg 3:06

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Bobby 3:08

I mean, if if we're just going on watchability, then yeah, like this is a watchable movie, and then it also like I mean, it definitely hits us uh with a nostalgia element too. Like it's a watchable movie, and then you're like, fuck yeah, Independence Day, yeah. So I don't know if if it's your first time watching how you would feel about it, but even I mean, even if it is, like you sure have some criticisms, but like it's got a beginning, a middle, and an end, you know, which is more than I can say for some films.

Greg 3:33

And some of the best, like I don't know how everyone else feels about this, but like the the ships and the aliens themselves, yeah. Awesome. They're so well done, too. They're so good.

Bobby 3:44

There's a lot of films where the uh effects when they when they meet up with reality with like regular people and and sets, it's very obvious what's an effect and what's a set. When these met, it was like seamless, like they did a really good job of having those.

Greg 3:59

And it was like very creative, like not just like how they operated everything, but like just the the looks of them were so different. And it wasn't just like your typical like gray alien or like uh like Geiger's alien, like the xenomorph and stuff. Yeah, it was uh it was very unique, but still held that that idea, but like it held the idea of like it there was something familiar about all of it, even though it was a very like unique look to everything. Yeah, it was really cool.

Michelle 4:28

I don't think I had ever seen before the I guess we saw it in Men in Black, which came out after, but I can't think of another movie before this where the alien is actually inside the alien. Like the first thing we see is actually a suit, you know, and then the alien is actually inside that little guy controlling them, yeah. Yeah, I know he's so cute. Um, but in this one, I also love that their eyes were like metallic. Yeah, I really liked that. For some reason, that really like made it feel real to me or something. Like uh that one was like uh whoever made that decision, like Oscar. You get you get Michelle's Oscar.

Bobby 5:07

Yeah, it was cool. The casting was really great in this movie. I thought I thought they did a fantastic job. There's some like incredible character actors, like all these guys from the 90s that are playing like the generals and like the the chiefs of staff. You're like, oh, it's that guy and that guy, and like, oh, that guy's the dad from the Wonder Years, you know. Right, yeah, all these people that's like. Judd Hirsch plays Jeff Goldloom's dad. He's so good, so funny, so incredible.

Michelle 5:37

I also believe that's his dad.

Bobby 5:38

Yeah, totally. And then Harvey Feerstein is his like assistant, like he's incredible. Damn it.

Michelle 5:43

I know. I couldn't believe he died. I couldn't believe it. I was like, I didn't remember losing him so early.

Bobby 5:50

And then yeah, like Harry Connick Jr. is is Will Smith's like flight buddy. Like, I don't know, there was just the supporting cast. I thought they did an incredible job. Obviously, there's like big stars, yeah. Um, but yeah, I thought everybody was great. Um, yeah, Mary, Mary McDowell, McDonald. McDonald. Yeah, she was great. Um, what's the other lady, Jeff Goldblum's love interest? Do you have her name?

Michelle 6:08

Um, I actually so that's what I was busy doing. It's Margaret Collin, who I thought, yeah. I just looked her.

Greg 6:15

She didn't have anything to do though.

Michelle 6:17

She was just like, No, I thought she was great.

Greg 6:19

She just like drove a dump truck, was a stripper.

Bobby 6:22

No, that was Vivica Fox. I'm talking about Jeff Goldblum's lady. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Michelle 6:27

Okay.

Bobby 6:28

The white lady.

Michelle 6:29

So you know what she had to do? Look hot. She did a great job. Back to Jeff Goldblum's dress. Um, she for a couple of times I was like, is that the like super babe from the 80s who was in like adventures and babysitting? Do you remember her? Wow, what's her name? She's in the boys now. Nobody? Crickets.

Greg 6:53

Um all I know is Mary McDonald went from Oh, Elizabeth Shue?

Michelle 6:58

Yeah.

Bobby 6:58

No, it's not Elizabeth Shue.

Michelle 7:00

I know it's not, but there were a couple of times where I was like, is it as like is she older or something? Because it's the 90s, not the 80s anymore. Or maybe, maybe she's older and works at the White House now, but it's not. This lady is from like soap operas, but she was great. I mean, I really believed her as you know, this like White House lady. Um, I believed her relationship with Jeff Goldblum as well.

Bobby 7:22

I thought they're really good.

Michelle 7:23

Yeah, me too. Also, what is Jeff Goldblum?

Bobby 7:27

Is he he's uh he's incredible, he's incredible, but like is he a different species?

Michelle 7:34

Probably is he an alien, first of all. He's definitely from a different planet, but what is he made of? Like, what's his nationality? What is he made of?

Greg 7:42

He is an alien. He was in Earth Girls Are Easy, yeah.

Michelle 7:44

I know he is definitely an alien a hundred percent.

Bobby 7:48

Uh but Baldloom, I would imagine that he's got some Jewish in him. He's Jewish.

Michelle 7:53

Is he just uh like an Israeli uh tan or something? What?

Bobby 7:59

An Israeli tan?

Michelle 8:00

Well his skin is so tan.

Bobby 8:01

Better get the I said get her get that dump button ready real quick.

Michelle 8:06

You know what I mean? Like what what else is he? He's fair.

Bobby 8:10

You were taken by his olive skin.

Michelle 8:12

I am taken by his olive skin, and I was just like, Yeah, Matt's a handsome gold bloom right there. I don't know what else to say.

Greg 8:19

One thing, one thing about this though, like I know like people fucking love this movie, and then like if you don't subscribe to it, like you're just like, what you don't like independence day? But like it did usher in like the new blockbuster like era. Like movies didn't have like this much fanfare around it before, like it sort of did like well, Star Wars, Star Wars and things like that did, but like there was a big time, big gap between yeah, a decade or so. And this was like this was the new type of movie, yeah. For sure. Like a new type of blockbuster movie because you didn't really see this before, and that's why it was it was huge. And I like this kind of was the the next evolution of that, like an ushered in like a whole new crowd of people that like wouldn't necessarily be into it, that like everyone's talking about alien movies now, right?

Michelle 9:08

Like the kid who's into I don't know, Top Gun isn't going home and watching Star Trek, right? But now he is because of Independence Day.

Greg 9:19

Yeah, it was just that it was a new type of movie that like just ushered into like a new audience.

Michelle 9:24

Yeah, it was more manly because of all the military men.

Bobby 9:28

Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's right.

Michelle 9:30

I had like um, if everybody knows what the Mandela Effect is, which is uh there's so many of these uh examples of stuff that we like remember a certain way, and it turns out it was different. Like one that I always think of is Fruit of the Loom, the logo has a cornucopia with a bunch of fruit in it. Yeah, no, it doesn't. I think there's no cornucopia.

Greg 9:50

This is mine, this is how I learned what a cornucopia was. Because I remember I remember being in the store pointing at it and being like, What is that? And my mom telling me what a cornucopia was.

Bobby 10:01

If you're unfamiliar or want some more education, please, please, please go watch the how to with John Wilson episode about the Mandela effect, and it will tell you everything you need to know and more.

Michelle 10:12

It's so fucking good. Anyway, yeah, that John Wilson taught me what the Mandela Eff was, and I have it. And apparently I also have it with Independence Day, because I was like, if you asked me about like Will Smith's character in this movie, I would have merged a lot of it with Men in Black. And then at certain points I was like, uh no, this is from Bad Boys. This part, this part's from Bad Boys, and this part's from Men in Black. And then also Jeff Goldblum's character. I was like, is this Jeff Goldblum from Independence Day or is this Jeff Goldblum from Jurassic Park? Because I've merged it.

Greg 10:49

It's funny, it's funny that you say that because those movies didn't come out that far apart. And like they like there were lines in Independence Day that he said in Jurassic Park, like towards the end when it was just like must go faster, must go faster. Right. And I was like, that's fucking Jurassic Park, but he's like saying it in this now, too, which I thought was interesting.

Bobby 11:10

There's a couple of my god, yeah.

Greg 11:12

Yeah, well, some of that too, I think, is just universal, is just him, yeah.

Bobby 11:17

Yeah, yeah, no, uh uh the Jeff Goldblum in this and the Will Smith in this are like the classic Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith. Like sure, they both stretched in other roles. Earth Girls Are Easy, King Richard, you know, to give you some very disparate examples. Yeah, um, but this is this is like your classic Jeff Goldblum. And and yeah, there was we were we were talking, there was any moment in this film where I just expected him to say life will find a way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, like you were just like right there in that in that moment. Yeah.

Michelle 11:49

God, I love this movie. It was like two and a half hours long, and I'm telling you, I was there for every minute of this movie.

Bobby 11:55

It's fun. If you can like, if you can just like kind of put up all your a lot of your baggage aside or what or whatever, just like enjoy it. Like the scene opens up in in the background of like SETI with the they're playing uh the it's the end of the world as we know it by REM, you know, and it's like it's like very on the nose, but also like just enjoy it, you know. It's a great song for the moment. We're gonna get into it.

Greg 12:17

Like the idea that there's someone manning SETI 24-7, yeah, yeah, just waiting for some buzzer to go off, like is insane. They had like bunks, they were there on bunks just getting ready. For the transmission, but that that's not how and like he's so bored and he's like playing golf and he's like, Yeah, nothing's happening.

Bobby 12:34

Yeah, I thought it was I I don't know about you guys, but to me it's always been SETI. I feel like that's how most people who know what it is, that's how they refer to it. But there was the one to years dad who played like a four-star general. Like when the the transmission happened, he's like, We got a transmission from SETI.

Michelle 12:49

Oh, yeah, gotta make it sound official.

Bobby 12:53

Yeah, it's like it's not a government. I know they love an acronym, but it's like it's not a government organization, right? It's just SETI.

Greg 12:59

I think like the the first half hour of this movie, though, is just I don't know, it's just cool shots, yeah. Like it's just that's and that's all it's fine, like there's nothing wrong with it, it's but like, yeah, it was just cool shots. I think they could have like opened the movie with Will Smith waking up. Sure. Like that was like that whole scene was like kind of gold. It was so perfectly like scripted and written and like paced, and like him waking up but just thinking it was an earthquake and then going back to bed and like kids coming in, being like, There's aliens. He was like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Michelle 13:32

Go fight the aliens.

Bobby 13:33

But you would have missed out on an incredible dialogue at SETI, but then they were like, It's coming from the moon.

Michelle 13:38

Oh, that's true. That lady, she had one line and she fucking nailed it. Yeah, yep.

Bobby 13:44

Good job, sister.

Michelle 13:46

Yeah, there's this part where they're like trying to track down where the signal is coming from, and she's like, It's it's only from like 300,000 kilometers away. It's coming from the moon. It's so good. Oh man, I love this movie. I also love um uh, you know, I've been watching movie, watching these older films with new eyes, I guess. Like this was probably shot on film, and I was looking a lot at the lighting. It's you know, mid 90s, so there's still a bit of a like hair light and stuff that that they're using that I just love so much. And it makes me so sad about the shit job that we're doing nowadays with cinema. Like we're just making we're we're making it too fast. Let's everybody slow down, light things properly, take our time like we had to when it was film, you know, do the right thing, everyone. God damn it, yeah.

Greg 14:42

Rant over.

Michelle 14:44

Yeah, I mean, it just it looked so much better before when we tried harder, you know.

Greg 14:48

Yeah, there's there's a a look to cinema, like you go back maybe 15 years, and like everything that was shot didn't necessarily need to be on film, but like, yeah, there was like a certain level of care, yeah. And of course, you can pick out like a bunch of bad movies like from back then too, and like even back in the era that we're talking about, but there was still like a love of the craft, yeah. Where now it's just like like how uh how much money will we save if we do this faster? How fast can we do this? Yeah, and like what process can we do to make this as fast as possible because we need content, and it's just it's it's taken such a hit.

Michelle 15:25

Yeah, I saw something was uh about the devil wears product. Um, not a movie that any of us give a fuck about. I totally went to see it, but it was the comparison of like 20 years ago what the film itself looked like. Forget about the people obviously have aged 20 years, but like what it looks like now, and it's trash because we're doing such a bad job. Like, we like you said, the love of the craft, like you could tell that people cared about what it looked like before, and now it looks like you shot it on a fucking iPhone, you know.

Greg 15:57

It looks like some cases you probably didn't. I know, yeah.

Bobby 16:00

A lot of it too. I like having worked on film sets, there's like they're making it fast, but also like sometimes it's so goddamn slow. But it's because they're doing all of these like really unnecessary shots, like getting all these different like coverages on everything, and like one of one of my favorite like films cinematically is uh do the right thing, spiky. And it's just like so much of it is just like two shots, like straight on of everybody. And I'm I'm sure that was out of necessity, but like they made it work and stylize, and it's like, God, everything is so fucking overdone now with like coverage over the shoulder, close-up, fucking mid-shap. And it's like to shoot one scene, like they do all of this stuff, and it's like put that energy somewhere else, please. Like, make one really good scene with this coverage.

Greg 16:47

Like, you can do a good two shot, like you don't need all this stuff, and yeah, that's what happens over rant over, like like digital, like kind of ushered that in just because you didn't have to spend money on film, sure, and then the processing to like on the back end, but uh I there were there was somewhere I was about to go with that.

Bobby 17:05

Well, I think there's sometimes with with all kinds of art, like those constraints that's what that's what I was getting at help the creative process, and like when you don't have constraints, sometimes you get something very stale, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Greg 17:19

Yeah, it's because you have too many options that it's just like it's it you're doing like a hurry up and wait type of thing. Yeah.

Michelle 17:26

I think like you know, when I say something looks like a soap opera, yeah, you know what that I like to do.

Bobby 17:32

I guess yeah, they it's because they're moving so fast they shoot because it's on every fucking day. There's a new episode every day. They light the entire room the same so that they can just move around and do all the the shots and they don't have to because that's what takes so much. If you've never been on a film set, that's what takes so much time is resetting all the lighting and cameras. And so if you just light everything really bright and the same, yeah, then you don't have to move any of that stuff and you can just shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot.

Greg 17:58

A big part of that too is uh is frame rate as well. A lot of people went to like 60. Yeah, so like you that's when you don't get the motion blur anymore, and so everything's just it looks it looks like you're watching like the news or something, like where you're oh, there's a person in my box like in front of the thing that's moving behind that. So like you always it doesn't have that cinema effect where it's just people walking around in a space and like it looks too real and like it takes you out of it, yeah. But yeah, you need that motion blur.

Michelle 18:26

Yeah, yeah. And you know, for for me and for everyone at home, Greg is a video geek and I am a lighting geek, and so we both pick up on these things, you know, and it's like I can tell that like you did not spend the time to light this scene properly, and like that's the problem nowadays with getting it from every angle. It's like, okay, that's fine, except you should light it for every angle and they don't, you know, and it's like well, that's why it doesn't look as good. There's not the same, um it's just a different quality of work. And I think that because we consume so much cinema now, like we have all the streaming services and there's new shows coming out all the time, and we're just intaking all this fucking information all the time. We stop caring too. And if we as the audience don't care, then like the creators aren't gonna care. The you know, the big fucking what I'm on around, no, this is great.

Bobby 19:24

It's just like making me think of this thing that like I'm just gonna say because like whatever, like um, you know, apologies to this person as a director, but like you did it, so it just reminds me like the we we get these trends in like people there and people just stay on these trends in where in one or just coming out of one where like people love a dirty shot so much. And like there was this TV show, uh that one with Jake Gyllenhaal. What was it called?

Michelle 19:50

Uh Prime Suspect?

Bobby 19:52

Uh something something something like that. Yeah, I'm so close. It was the Apple TV show with Jake Gyllenhaal, and uh the same person didn't direct all the episodes but did the first couple. Um, and like they're like the dirtiest shots that I've ever seen. They're like shooting them, like doing dialogue, but like from underneath a footstool through the room, yeah. And it's just like so absurd, and the shots are all so dirty and it's so unnecessary, and it's just like this stylized choice that's so over the top.

Michelle 20:19

Yeah, yeah. I actually remember while sorry, that's why I was smiling when you were talking.

Bobby 20:22

I was just in my mind thinking, wow, that's crazy.

Michelle 20:25

I was thinking about like the big fucking studios just making people make garbage, you know, because they're the ones who hold the control because they have the fucking money, you know.

Greg 20:34

But they want to make money, and if you keep making the trash that no one sees, then they're losing money.

Michelle 20:40

Well, that's the thing is the audience stopped caring, you know. We're we're we accept so much trash now, you know? It's like uh these goddamn phones, goddamn it.

Greg 20:51

Well, going back to dumb things in movies, why did the ships in Independence Day need to use our satellites?

Michelle 21:00

Oh my god, he explained it. Duh.

Greg 21:02

But he didn't know, like like they they're coming from other fucking solar systems, yeah. But they have the interstellar space travel, and they needed to use our satellites. They didn't know how they didn't know how to talk to each other.

Bobby 21:16

They don't have parabolic radio signals, they have to do a line of sight.

Greg 21:19

Yeah, duh.

Bobby 21:22

I'm with you that I I felt like that was a little bit of we needed that. I know, I know we needed that for the story.

Greg 21:30

It was setting up this other thing that was going on, and like yeah, that's how we got like the the feed, and he knew there was like a countdown thing happening.

Bobby 21:36

They did have incredible, the most advanced technology you could ever imagine, but could not hitch their own satellite to the back of that fucking mothership to communicate with each other, put their own satellites into orbit, their own invisible satellites, anyways.

Michelle 21:51

Whatever, yeah. Uh we did he we did get to hear Jeff Goldblum say something like, uh, they used our satellites against us. Well, we're gonna use There some some against them or some shit.

Greg 22:02

There's so many things again, going back to why, like after watching this after a little bit and loving it as a kid and this having different eyes now. Like there were so many moments in the movies. I'm like, well, this doesn't make any they wouldn't. Why would they do that? Like I was like, I was getting mad at the movie, like, and then I was just I had to like to your point earlier, uh Bobby. I just had to like accept it, yeah, and just and just watch it.

Bobby 22:26

Yeah, you gotta suspend the criticism if you want to enjoy it with the with these are this is a great example of that, yeah.

Michelle 22:33

Yeah, yeah. That's how I watch every movie. That's how I experience every single day of my life everywhere I go all the time. Or I will fucking kill everyone.

Greg 22:44

But it was like less the the like the reality of it, and it was the more more of like the it felt lazy almost where it was just like I know that they need to use this for something else. Whereas like if they just wrote it in a different way or something, maybe like the fact that I was thinking about it while watching, like it's that moment of like stepping out of the movie. It's like I got taken out of the movie. Yeah, I'll I'll watch absurd movies. But yeah, for whatever reason, like there were a lot of the moments, those types of moments in this that I was like, ugh.

Michelle 23:13

Dude, a thousand years ago, I took an acting class, and one of the things the acting teacher always talked about was like being believable or or something like that. Like I uh I I didn't believe what you just said or whatever, you know? And so when I uh think about an, you know, whether or not I think an actress or an actor did a good job, I always think, did I believe them the whole time? You know, it's one of the first things I thought about this babe who works in the White House, Jeff Goldwyn's Love Interest. She, I believed her the whole time. I believed that she was like a smart woman who had this high-ranking job, and like I just I believed her.

Greg 23:51

Yeah, when you when you don't think about it, that's when they're doing exactly I believed everybody in this movie. Really?

Bobby 23:58

I I there was a couple people, they were really small roles. The Welcome Wagon pilot, I did not believe. He was way too chill. He's like in front of the spaceship when they went up to like flashlights to be like, we're friendly. He's like, Welcome wagon, we're uh we're here at the thing. And he's like, We're gonna we're gonna flash our lights. And like I would have much rather seen the like crazy military guy that was like, Let me fucking shoot him. Yeah, or or the guy that was like, This is wild, this is crazy. But he was just like so chill, and then he was like, It seems to be opening up, and it was the dude, like you gotta like give a emote, yeah, do something, but he was just like so. But anyways, that's my only that's my only guy. Sorry, welcome wagon guy.

Michelle 24:40

So everybody at home, I have I think I'm officially have decided never to watch an M file by myself ever. And all of these movies, I gotta watch it either with Greg or with Bobby or both, because I need them to explain movies to me.

Greg 24:54

But sound like you just just watched a movie. If you like that's the thing with art though, like just enjoy it.

Michelle 25:01

I'm only kidding.

Greg 25:01

I have a feeling I just called the Independence Day art.

Michelle 25:05

It is art, it is damn it.

Greg 25:06

It is art.

Michelle 25:07

Um, so there's so much art in that movie.

Greg 25:10

Oh, yeah. Um, and again, the design of everything was incredible.

Michelle 25:13

Incredible. So, anyhow, I happened to watch this one with Bobby, and one of the things that Bobby said was that so-and-so is a terrible face actor, is probably the welcome, probably the welcome wagon guy.

Bobby 25:27

Oh, there was no him too, but no, it was a hot dog vendor, oh right, and they had him like turn as the ship was coming over, and his just face did not change at all.

Michelle 25:38

Right, right.

Bobby 25:38

We turned and looked at the ship, and just his face was the same.

Michelle 25:42

Right.

Bobby 25:43

There's uh the entire time.

Michelle 25:45

In in the beginning of like when the aliens show up, we get to see all these different, mostly major cities have just this like smoky fucking ball of fire coming into the sky, and then you get to see that it's a spaceship and all of the people's reactions. And so that hot dog vendor was on Wall Street selling hot dogs and just did not give a shit that there was an enormous spaceship in the sky. That's right.

Bobby 26:10

And it wasn't even the like, I'm from New York and I don't give a shit. Just like his expression just did not change whatsoever. Um, I like I don't, it was just my opinion. Like, I think in this, this is a great Jeff Goldblum performance. And like if you watch him, there's like real subtle things that he does as an actor. Um, and I think you can see it. One of the best examples uh is not Jeff Goldblum, but Jack Nicholson. If you're looking for like why somebody is an excellent actor, it's what they do between the words, right? Um, and Jeff Goldblum does a lot of that. Like he has these like really small mannerisms and just like gestures, great face acting. Um, just all these little things that like that's what uh sends in a good and believable performance is not a line delivery, right? Um, but kind of what happens in between those. And there's a lot of he's very much this guy, he's a fully formed character. Absolutely. This guy.

Greg 27:05

I think that might be cool part of the problem that I had with it though. Like it was like all of the characters are very one-dimensional, like they there was nothing like elaborate or there's so many of them, and then fly, and it was just like if they're written that way, and of course they have to like okay, we have to move through this fucking film, yeah. And yeah, in order to actually build out a character, you're like, they could have taken different options or went down different roads with things that would have like fleshed some of it out, but like to your point, like all of the acting was so good that it didn't it didn't matter when you're watching it, like right. We know like you just had to get from this scene to the next scene, and like how are we going to do this? And like, what's the end goal? And like they tried to set some things up, like with Jeff Goldblum, like being like like playing chess, yeah, and it was just like and then like that like sort of comes back and he's like checkmate, yeah.

Bobby 27:55

And it's like okay, it was yeah, that was yeah, some feeble attempts.

Greg 28:00

And then him like picking up a can and shows like trying to be like showing being like uh environmentally conscious and stuff like that, but like that was all they like that's all it was, yeah. And like the like the environment thing didn't pay off at all. They didn't they didn't he was like he was like, don't sit off nukes.

Bobby 28:20

That was how they paid it off, yeah.

Michelle 28:21

Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, it's funny because this movie is like 30 years old, but like all the shit he was saying then is still still holds to today, like damn it. But anyway, um he gets to say the fucking line, you know. Like, I always, you know how I always wanted to save the world, and he throws another cocaine in the recycling bin, he goes, This is my chance.

Greg 28:44

Nice, and that's like they but like they did that too with uh Will Smith, where it was just like, Oh, like you kind of like he opened his locker and he wants to be in NASA, and it's like, oh no, he went to space. Like it was such a it was such an in like okay.

Michelle 28:58

All right, I see what you guys are saying. You guys, there's a lot of like on the nose shit. You're getting beat over the head throughout the entire movie with all little things like that. Like Will Smith wants to be in NASA, he doesn't get in, but then he gets to go to space anyway. And Jeff Goldblum plays chess and wants to save the world, and he gets to do that, and he sort of gets to hold hands with his ex-wife again. Like, I don't know. I love it. It's just one dimensional, yeah. Oh, yeah, true. I think though that we do get to know because there's so many characters, there's like fucking 25 people or something. We do get to know all of them enough that I think like I would watch a movie just about Jeff Goldblum's character or really any of them, you know.

Greg 29:45

If there was like a a a TV show of Bill Pullman as the president.

Michelle 29:49

As the president, absolutely.

Bobby 29:50

Yeah, those I want to know Frasier to Independence Day's cheers.

Michelle 29:54

Exactly.

Bobby 29:54

Yeah, yeah.

Michelle 29:55

I'd watch all of them. I want to know like the I want to know more about the backstory back before he was the president and like Jeff Goldblum flipped out because he thought they were having an affair. Like, I want to see all that shit.

Bobby 30:06

You want to see their their they live style fight that they had?

Michelle 30:10

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I hope it's longer than they live fighting.

Bobby 30:14

Lots and lots of knees to the dick. Yeah.

Michelle 30:16

Yep.

Bobby 30:19

Yeah. There's a lot of like great, just uh I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of of disaster movies. Um, but this has a lot of the great tropes. I don't know how many of them it originated, but a lot of the great tropes certainly didn't originate this one, but there's just the line where the newscasters are like leave the city in an orderly fashion, right? That it cuts to absolute chaos. Yeah, everybody just abandoning their cars and screaming and and running and all of that. There's these moments with all these characters.

Michelle 30:45

What about fucking homie from National Lampoons? The like drama. Oh, Randy Quaid, yeah, yeah, dude.

Bobby 30:52

He became that character in real life. Yeah, he did. Yeah, yeah. It's crazy that him and Dennis Quaid are brothers.

Michelle 30:57

Crazy.

Bobby 30:58

Dennis Quaid was like 90s, like leading man thrillers, you know, just this like GQ cover heart throb, and then and then his brother Randy. Yeah, yeah.

Greg 31:10

Oh, I was curious, like in and speaking of tropes, is there a trope? Um there might be a word for it or something, but like in a movie where someone says like a throwaway line, but like it's the key to everything, where it was just like I think it was uh it was Jeff Goldblum's dad. The yeah, it was just like you're gonna catch a cold. Oh, yeah, yeah. And then he's just like, What? Boom, like all of a sudden his mind explodes like you're a genius.

Michelle 31:32

You know what's funny is because it's been since like 1996 since I've seen this movie. I had to think about what's he gonna do, you know. Like, I was like, Oh, it's like fucking War of the Worlds. Is he gonna try to give the aliens a virus and take them out with the common cold? And then I was like, nah, that's War of the Worlds, you know.

Greg 31:50

But then like it gets to the point, like like how like Jeff Goldblum just sort of knows how to hack an alienship.

Michelle 31:58

You know, I have to say I'm confused. What all right? My one note, because it's a perfect movie. My one note is what is Jeff Goldblum? Like, what is what is his title of nerd?

Greg 32:12

He's like a he's like a program director of the uh the TV station that he works at. Or like he works at a cable company or something like that.

Bobby 32:20

They do like, yeah, they kind of disparage him, like he's like the cable. Yeah, but I think I think he's like uh yeah, some sort of but he went to MIT.

Greg 32:28

Like he they they mentioned that he they give him a little bit of backstory. He like went to MIT and now he's doing that. Okay, yeah, instead like points it out.

Bobby 32:36

I think he's in like telecommunications, which is why he's like loosely affiliated with like the satellites. And it's like the I mean the like the film or or writing term is it's like the the Deus Ex Machina, like the the the guy in the machine is like there's like the like unsolvable problem, and then you like get this thing that's that's like the we'll give him a cold, you know. That like right whatever, and it's and it's often is like that, it's just like served on a little plate, you know?

Greg 33:06

So yeah, that's what I was curious because it happens a lot in movies where it is just like that, like what'd you say? Yeah, okay, that's the thing. I'm gonna do it now. Yeah, I don't know, yeah, yeah.

Bobby 33:16

No, it's it's totally true for sure.

Greg 33:17

Um Will Smith just sort of knows how to fly an alien ship in a helicopter. Yeah, he is in the Air Force, I get it.

Michelle 33:24

No, no, Bobby called that out, and I was like, you know what? I mean, it all tracks to me in my my brain that doesn't know shit about how to pilot stuff, but then I do think about it, it's like, you know what? I have a motorcycle license. That does not mean that I know how to drive a fucking giant like rig truck or whatever, you know?

Greg 33:43

So like why would I find your Will Smith's lady was a stripper? Uh exotic dancer. Oh yeah, she's a dancer. Oh, I love the belly, exotic, exotic. But then she's just like driving this like big dump truck. Yeah, she knows how she knows how to double clutch too. Don't worry about it.

Michelle 34:01

Strippers know how to drive a big dump truck, all right?

Greg 34:04

I feel like that whole like that whole storyline was just like unneeded or something.

Michelle 34:08

I mean, I feel like you could say that about probably every single character. Almost. Yeah, you know, like we don't need that whole storyline, but I love that it was all in there. There's so much information in this movie. So many things happened.

Bobby 34:20

Served up like Will Smith's relationship with Vivica A. Fox and her cute little son. Um it was like and the dog, and the dog boomer boomer. It was served up to be like that final moment. Like that was kind of the it was unnecessary for the story at all, but it did like land this like blockbustery, like flowery ending, you know. Here's the thing you get the hero and he gets to kiss the princess kind of exact situation.

Michelle 34:44

And also in the trailer, right? We've got all of the alien stuff, we've got all of the military stuff. How are we gonna get a chick to go see this movie? Yeah, put a hot babe in there who's getting a man and a and a dolphin ring. Yeah, you know.

Bobby 34:58

I do there was a great like when Will Smith is stealing the helicopter, which he's a fighter pilot. So I was like, does he know how to fly a helicopter? That was my that was my question. Yeah.

Michelle 35:08

Um, you know, let's ask AI.

Bobby 35:11

They're pretty pretty, pretty fucking different. They're pretty different. It's kind of like I can drive a car, so I can ride a motorcycle and it's like no, you can't. Yeah, that's not not unless you have been taught how.

Michelle 35:20

Right.

Bobby 35:20

Yeah, like you ain't going nowhere, dude. Yeah, nowhere. Yeah, uh, but there's a great the guy who like pulls a gun on him, is like, you can't steal a helicopter. His face when Will Smith goes, tell him I hit you. Yeah, he pulls this face that's so funny. It's just like a great comedic moment. The guy's very large, and Will Smith's like, tell him I hit you, and he just pulls his face, like really, yeah, it's so good. Great face acting on that guy. Yeah, that guy, like, way to like not overstep your bounds, but really nail your moment. Yeah, good job, guy.

Greg 35:48

Are you guys familiar with uh Battlestar Galactica, the newer one, not the not the original?

Michelle 35:53

Yeah, Starbuck.

Greg 35:55

And that's why like I wasn't familiar with it all.

Michelle 35:58

Oh, I cried so hard when Starbuck died.

Greg 36:00

I was saying uh Mary McDonald. Mary McDonald had a farm. No, she had a uh like an upgrade in her her role. So she went from first lady to the president.

Michelle 36:15

That's right, that's right.

Greg 36:18

She can't get out of the White House, and she's also dealing with aliens.

Bobby 36:21

Well, she was living on the plains in a teepee with Kevin Costner before that. So she's really got us trajectory. Good job, Mary. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She really's terrific. She was her and Jeff Goldblum's significant other. I'm sorry, I don't remember your name. Um, just like such classic 90s babes, like on power suits, like the whole the whole nine.

Michelle 36:47

Yeah, real respectable ladies, you know.

Greg 36:50

Are we not going to talk about the friend who was like running to the roof to see the aliens and no one knows? Well, not talk about her.

Michelle 36:57

No, I'm giving strippers a bad name. Why does she look so much like the girl from the craft?

Bobby 37:02

For Zabalk, she does. They have large mouths.

Michelle 37:04

They have yeah, uh, is it the mouth? Yeah, that's why. But there is also maybe there's a scene in the craft where the the shot is from the same angle or something, but when she's on the helicopter looking, I mean on the hello pad looking up at the ship. I was like, you could put this in the craft.

Bobby 37:22

Yo, are we allowed to do the craft? Yeah, that movie's awesome.

Michelle 37:26

Bobby, we could do whatever we want. Okay, cool.

Bobby 37:28

Yeah, we run this show. Yeah, we can talk about and do whatever. The craft is gonna be one of my one of my picks. That movie is awesome.

Michelle 37:35

Witchcraft is on the table. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Greg 37:38

Dumb question.

Michelle 37:38

Yeah.

Greg 37:39

Ooh, there were some like fun 90s witchcraft movies.

Michelle 37:42

Let's watch all of them.

Greg 37:43

And they were all like softcore porn for some reason.

Michelle 37:45

Totally.

Bobby 37:46

Oh, the witches of Eastwick. Yeah. Mega Babes, like Cher, Susan Sarandon, that other lady.

Greg 37:51

There was like a old kid movie. Yeah. The witch, like I think it was called Witchboard, and it was like a series of movies, but it was just softcore porn.

Michelle 37:58

I think you were just watching porn. Yeah, I don't know those at all.

Greg 38:03

You were just watching porn.

Bobby 38:04

There was so many, like, focus focus. There's a lot of witch.

Greg 38:09

Whenever I went to Blockbuster, I immediately would go to horror. Yeah.

Michelle 38:12

And then behind the beats, that's not horror.

Greg 38:15

No, no. It was scary to me. No, but it was uh, but like there was always these great movies. Like, I found like a lot of movies like that way. Like uh Sleep Away Camp was one of my favorites.

Michelle 38:27

Oh, geez.

Greg 38:28

But again, like I shouldn't have been watching that at the age that I was watching that. Yeah, but uh yeah, so like I think which board was like in that mix, and I would just like go like I didn't I've never seen this, like this must be good. I'll just take that. Yeah, and I don't know. I found uh I think it was like all the Puppet Master movies and stuff that those are so good.

Michelle 38:47

They those little guys really fucked me up.

Greg 38:50

I love them, yeah.

Michelle 38:52

I like them too.

Greg 38:53

It was them, and I think um Hellraiser was another one that I was like just from renting stuff.

Michelle 38:58

Those two like live next to each other on the shelf or something because I feel like they went together. The Puppet Master movies and the Hellraiser movies.

Bobby 39:05

It was Michelle Pfeiffer and The Witches of Eastwick.

Michelle 39:07

Oh yeah, Nicole Kidman's in Practical Magic.

Bobby 39:10

Yeah, she was a bit younger, The Witches of Eastwick, I believe.

Michelle 39:13

Uh is that the one where he turned they turn him into a little rat? What's that one?

Bobby 39:18

I think so. Just Jack Nicholson. Yeah. He's the devil. I think uh anyway.

Michelle 39:25

Anyway, back to Independence Day.

Greg 39:28

I know it's a I know it's a separate movie, but like going from this to like Independence Day resurgence. Um never seen it.

Bobby 39:35

Don't get the theater, it was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. It was such a piece of shit. If you think that this movie has a lot of characters, it is insane the amount of characters. Is this stuck in my head because I remember it counting? In this movie, this movie has a lot of characters, but ostensibly you need to care about Jeff Goldblum, his girlfriend, Will Smith, not really his girlfriend, the president, and that's kind of it. And Randy Quaid and Randy Quaid, but in the resurgence, resurrection I counted, there's 17 people that you're like expected to care about, and it's just absolute chaos. That's too many people, absolutely insane. Yeah, it's like uh one of the garbagest films I've ever seen.

Greg 40:20

And it makes this look great. And I know that uh this is great. This yeah, it it does, yeah, yeah, for sure. But like Rolland wanted to make a third one. Did he do the second one?

Bobby 40:30

Yeah, oh god, it was so trashy, yeah.

Greg 40:32

Really and like he's like he wants to like finish his trilogy, but I think since the second one did so poorly, and like the third one was gonna be like interstellar space, like they're like they joined whatever alliance with uh so so whatever, yeah, yeah. They made some some crazy but like that's the thing with like with doing sci-fi sometimes though, too. Like you still you either you're going fantastical with it, like you're gonna go the fantasy Star Wars route, or you're gonna ground it in reality, yeah. And like this is like this is more grounded in reality, although it did have its Star Wars moment with all the fighting ships and like all that stuff, some maneuvers, and it was like literally like shot for shot, some stuff out like straight from Star Wars, like people like oh, I can't pull up, gotta pull up, pull up.

Michelle 41:15

Yeah, that's a good point. I didn't think about that.

Bobby 41:17

Back to the stripper on the roof, right? Yeah, yeah, right, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, blow that bitch up. And that was, yeah, there was people on the roof, and they started blasting. And there were some funny little scenes. There's like a finance bro who's like filing, you know, like everything they're like evacuate the city, but he's like, Fucking, I gotta make partner bridge and sterns or whatever.

Michelle 41:38

There's like literally no power, and he's still in the dark, like filing files in a big filing cabinet, and then he gets blown the fuck up.

Bobby 41:46

Yeah, yeah.

Michelle 41:47

The scene though, with there's only like a handful of people on that helipad on some fucking random ass building in LA.

Bobby 41:53

These are like the classic tropey people in the movie. They're like, let's party with the aliens. Woo!

Michelle 41:58

They've got signs, they've got little fucking doodads on. Yeah, you think you're gonna see someone's tits, but you don't. Yeah, disappointing. Yeah, I know. To get that PG 13 rating, there was no we weren't allowed any boobies.

Greg 42:12

But um got boobs from the back, though. Like you could have still shown someone lifting the point.

Michelle 42:18

Yeah, we should um we should write the next in the third installment.

Bobby 42:22

Yeah, we'll finally get that. We'll see some bare back, some back, yeah, yeah.

Michelle 42:26

Nice, but that's the moment where the spaceship finally opens, and so yeah, all of those like alien lovers are loving it. They're like, oh my god, it's opening, you know, and there's this like blue light coming out, and the stripper that's not the witch from the craft is like, whoa, it's opening. And then for some reason I started thinking about another movie. I can't even remember which one, but there is an alien movie where some people get beamed up and they're like still in the spaceship in like a net of some sort.

Greg 42:59

Oh, that's War of the Worlds, I think.

Michelle 43:01

Is it?

Greg 43:01

Yeah, it's like because they had like the popped out of my head too. They had like snatchers that were like picking people up.

Michelle 43:06

Yeah, right, right, right. Yes, that is what I'm thinking of. Yeah, so I was having so many fucking alien movie Mandela effect situations happening in my mind where I was just like, Oh, this is what's gonna happen. Then I was like, wait a minute, that's a different movie. Wait a minute, that's not that's men in black, that's this, that's that, you know, it's shit. I don't know what happens in this movie.

Greg 43:25

Did I ever see this? I know I love this movie, yeah.

Michelle 43:28

But it's been 30 ass years, yeah. Crazy.

Bobby 43:32

Yeah, they blew up a lot of buildings, yeah.

Greg 43:35

And if you get a chance, um, definitely if if to those who have Blu-ray players or like uh like I don't know if they ever released a Independence Day box set or something, but like the behind the scenes in the making of this was pretty incredible. Like the like the miniatures that they used that they actually blew up, yeah. Like all all of those things, and like how they actually had to film these buildings exploding was I mean I love that filming all disaster. Porn is like awesome to me.

Michelle 44:01

Like, yeah. But uh I've never heard that in spreadship before. Disaster porn. Disaster porn.

Greg 44:08

It's it's so good though. Like, and then uh then going back to the Which is it?

Bobby 44:12

Is it disaster porn or witch porn? Which is which rates higher.

Greg 44:16

Oh, disaster porn's higher. Okay, okay.

Michelle 44:18

Yeah, but witch porn is actual porn. Sure.

Greg 44:21

Witch porn is just like it's just porn, but like one of them is like wearing black. It's like that's all it is for some reason. Right, right, right. Someone's a temptic one necklace. Exactly. Someone's seduced by a Ouija board or something. Um but yeah, like definitely watch the behind the scenes and making this like the go like even the character design and like all the processes they went through to like come up with those characters was pretty rad.

Michelle 44:45

Um, but yeah, like and then I think for whatever reason, just to be clear, did you just shit on all the characters in this movie and then talk about how awesome it was to watch the building of the characters in this movie?

Greg 44:57

Um, no, no, the build the building of the aliens, like the design of the aliens, and like the design process and all the puppeting, puppeteering that went into it.

Michelle 45:05

What we were talking about.

Bobby 45:06

Speaking of all that, they're like they dip out because everybody's getting blasted. All the major cities, including DC, they're on Air Force One, and then they find out that Area 51 is real, and they're that was in Let's Go there. That was so yeah, they all bobbed to Area 51, and like, yeah, that's when we get to see some cool alien shots. One of my favorite actors, Brent Spiner. Is that Data? Data, yeah.

Michelle 45:28

I'm speechless, I can't even talk. This is the one and only time in the history of this entire podcast that I wish we were on video because my face was the purest face. The two of these guys, you get okay. So we're watching the movie again. I'm watching her with Bobby, and the Greg knows it too. I didn't see it coming. It was crazy. We finally make it to Area 51, and there's this fucking dude in a lap coat who comes out with long gray hair, and he's fucking, you know, like kind of a comedic version of a scientist or whatever, you know, he's very animated. And Bobby just goes, you know who that is? That's Data from Star Trek, The Next Generation. And I was like, no fucking way. And the fact that Greg knew that also, one of my favorite actors, like, crazy, you guys, you guys are nuts. I love you both.

Bobby 46:17

Click to me, like looking at, I was like, I know this face, and then I was like, Oh, but to to give him a nod as well, he was so different than Data.

Michelle 46:27

Sure, yeah.

Bobby 46:28

But like he had he had all these great little mannerisms and like his walk. He really like had this character alive, just the way he approaches the keypad and like spins around. Like he's very much this guy, and very much not an android from Star Trek. Yeah, you know, yeah, and uh yeah, yeah, he was great.

Greg 46:45

That's gonna be tough for someone like him because he's pretty much a character actor, like especially coming off of something as big as Star Trek and being uh as important of a character as Data, yeah, and uh and then doing anything else, yeah. And it's just like you're always data now, yeah.

Michelle 47:01

But like I don't think the average person recognizes no, he really nailed it.

Bobby 47:05

He really and he really broke broke that mold, which is not easy to do.

Michelle 47:08

Listen, if he didn't have the silver face paint on, I'm not gonna know at all.

Bobby 47:13

Yeah, he was great too. I mean, he was like he was just like a classic trub, like the scientist they don't let outside, but he really sold it, he really nailed it, you know.

Michelle 47:21

Again, every single person in this movie I believed except the hot dog vendor. Sorry, yeah, you know what? Even that guy wasn't like that guy. I believe that guy, I believe he didn't give a fuck.

Bobby 47:31

There were some funny scenes when they're in Area 51 and things go a little bit wrong, and data Dr. Brent Spiner um gets uh choked out by an alien. And but like everybody, like the president and his whole entourage, they know that he's they're doing this alien autopsy, yeah, and they're all like off somewhere else, and then they go to where the alien autopsy is, and the room is filled with smoke and lightning. But they all approach so casually, just light confusion. Yeah, that's their approach to the the that's a good call out.

Michelle 48:01

So they they're actually walking into a room, like a glass hallway where they could observe through glass the room that the alien autopsy is happening in.

Bobby 48:09

Yeah, and they walk in and they are very obvious something has gone terribly wrong.

Michelle 48:14

Yeah.

Bobby 48:15

While we're in the middle of this invasion, and they're like, Whoa, dude, this is weird, this is weird. This is weird.

Michelle 48:20

Yeah, yeah. So it's a good dude. Okay.

Bobby 48:22

An alien's about to blast through that window.

Michelle 48:24

Also, in that all right, Data did great in that scene as well because he has to, he's being choked out by the alien, but the alien is speaking through him, you know? And so it's just so crazy sometimes when you watch a movie and you're like, How do I know that that's the alien speaking through him? And it's in the dialogue, you know, because uh whoever is asking the alien the questions, they're answering it through Data's mouth, you know.

Bobby 48:49

And we did establish earlier that they communicate in a different way, they don't have vocal cords, right? So we do telepathically, yeah.

Michelle 48:55

Right. We did establish that. So these are the things that we like again, they they give us literally all of the information. You know, it's it's in it's kind of incredible. We don't do that in movies a lot anymore, you know. A lot of it is left for us to figure out or question and think about later. But this movie, there's very little questions, you know.

Greg 49:15

The one thing I did like was when they were trying to obviously like back engineer the alien craft that they had at Area 51 for so long that uh they didn't know how to do it or what what it was and like what what you could do with it. And then they were just like, Yeah, and then it just turned on. Oh, yeah. When the other ships came close, like and then that like that was a cool little element that they didn't have to do, but yeah, I thought that was cool too.

Michelle 49:39

And then data was like, It's the last couple of days have been very exciting around here, you know. And the president's like, I wouldn't call it exciting. 5,000 Americans are dead, or whatever he says back to him. I'm like, I love this movie, I loved all the dialogue. Oh, you know what? That scene, that alien autopsy scene though. At one point, the president is like, is this glass bulletproof? And they're like, No. And I was just like, Why the fuck not?

Bobby 50:06

Yeah, why does it break very easily?

Greg 50:13

It's the worst place to have like a car safety glass. Yeah, yeah.

Michelle 50:20

Also, um, I yeah, I just thought of uh oh never some men in black.

Greg 50:26

Get out of here.

Michelle 50:27

Never mind, never get out of here, forget it.

Greg 50:30

A lot of tentacles uh on aliens after this movie, yeah, for sure.

Michelle 50:34

Yeah, that's true.

Greg 50:35

I'm just thinking of men in black now, and there was like an octopus type of thing.

Bobby 50:39

There was, yeah, there was some funny moments with like the they got everybody who could fly a plane together to deliver the virus, to shoot missiles at the aliens and deliver the virus to shut their shields down. That was the plan the president included, former fighter pilot.

Michelle 50:56

Oh yeah, I love that too.

Bobby 50:57

Harry Connick Jr., Randy Quaid was up there, and not to like jump ahead to the end, but like you know, to jump ahead to the end.

Michelle 51:06

Yeah, but you're gonna do anything.

Bobby 51:07

They go to put the virus up there and like all of like the missiles are gone, and they need to like fly into like the butthole of the mothership as the laser beam is coming. And so Randy Quaid, who's like the alcoholic crop duster pilot, he's like, Tell my kids I'm proud of him or whatever. And uh it was just really funny to me. Like the president had met him, but when he's like flying up there, the president just goes, Good luck, buddy.

Michelle 51:32

Yeah.

Bobby 51:34

One of the I think he just said his name on the radio too. Yeah, good luck, buddy. Yeah, yeah.

Michelle 51:40

One of the things about you know, um I think all of it, I it's iconic the fucking the speech that Bill Pullman gave.

Bobby 51:49

Oh yeah, so good.

Michelle 51:51

So fucking good. I mean, I don't even know I don't even know a better one. You know what I mean? Like I want that to be a real speech that goes down. I want that to be right next to Abe Lincoln's four score. Like I want it to go next to, you know, I had a dream. I want it like in the mix of like presidential speeches because it's so fucking good.

Bobby 52:10

It's got like such a build into when he's like, we will not go quietly into the night. Yeah, we will not go without a fight.

Michelle 52:16

Yeah, definitely.

Greg 52:17

Yeah, I got chills, you just saying it. Yeah, he's thinking of him saying it.

Michelle 52:21

In my mind, though, he's like delivering that speech on television to the nation, and that's not what happens in the movie. He has like a little yeah, he has like a little handheld fucking radio thing from a I don't know, military terms for one of those like jeeps with no tops on it.

Bobby 52:41

It's funny that you remembered your own television and you were the nation.

Michelle 52:45

I was. I was the nation. That's a good point. Yeah. Well, whatever. Anyway, I remember things differently than they happen, and that fucks up my mind. I can't trust my own.

Bobby 52:58

We did both remember that when Will Smith like baits the alien aircraft into crashing and like punches the alien.

Michelle 53:04

Yeah.

Bobby 53:05

We did we both really wanted him to say welcome to earth, bitch. Yeah, but it wasn't. Because that's in the original bitch.

Michelle 53:11

In the original in 1996.

Bobby 53:13

This is the Mandela effect is that he says bitch.

Michelle 53:15

And at the Amboy Multiplex in Cyril, New Jersey, he said bitch. I'm telling you.

Greg 53:23

Yeah, it was always welcome to earth.

Michelle 53:25

Yeah, no, yeah, bitch. It was welcome to earth, bitch. I'm telling you.

Greg 53:30

Different timelines for this movie. That's all I'm saying.

Michelle 53:34

Does anyone ever say bitch? No, never?

Bobby 53:37

They had to keep that PG 13 rating. Welcome to Earth. Yeah.

Michelle 53:43

I have to admit that Will Smith is a better actor than I remember.

Greg 53:47

Yeah.

Michelle 53:47

I mean, he's alright, yeah. Yeah.

Greg 53:49

Like, I think these earlier ones, and even like up until like the more recent uh what was it, the Bad Boys. I watched the the latest Bad Boys, him and Martin Lawrence.

Bobby 53:58

Yeah.

Greg 53:59

Um, it's still not bad.

Bobby 54:00

Bad Boys 2 was dope. I guess that's what I'm saying. Bad Boys 2 was I gotta admit, like incredible. It's Michael Bay, but it's like, yo, that movie is fun as fuck. So good. Yeah.

Michelle 54:09

Yeah.

unknown 54:09

Yeah.

Greg 54:10

I think between Michael Bay and like Nick G, like that's what like that's where like my love of d disaster porton comes from. It's just that there's watching like any of their movies and just know it's going to be over the top and just things exploding. It's like I'm here for it. Yeah.

Michelle 54:24

Yeah. I think that's like this movie as well, is like it's less just big explosions and bikinis. Like there is more of a storyline than that, but it is could use more bikinis, more explosions. But I had a really great time.

Bobby 54:40

Yeah, it's a fun, it's a fun watch for sure. And there's like they're like having it take place on Independence Day and released on Independence Day. And like it's I mean, it's all super heinous now, but like when I was a kid, I remember it was like when they first really started to like market these films, like I remember Jurassic Park with like McDonald's and stuff. Yeah, and there was just like a lot of heavy marketing with this, but it didn't feel as shitty as as it does now. Yeah, it felt like kind of fun, like everybody was on board with this thing. Yeah, you know, and yeah, that's a good point.

Michelle 55:15

It's like nowadays, if there's like a marketing thing that goes along with a movie, it feels so forced and like also you have to pay extra for it, you know.

Bobby 55:24

Like yeah, it feels like they're trying to trick you. It used to just be like you win a free ticket to the movie, yeah, go to the movie.

Greg 55:29

You know, if you want like a like a novelty bucket of popcorn, you have to pay $45, like for like when you go to see Dune and you want like your pocket pussy fucking popcorn bucket. Oh, that's right. I forgot about that. Yeah, yeah.

Michelle 55:44

So and just now, um, the beginning of the summer, Scream, not Scream, Scary Movie came out, and I think that there was like a bong popcorn bong thing that you could get. Okay, I'm sure that was 50 bucks.

Greg 55:57

But that's what I could like that's where they're thinking of like spending money. And like, yeah, I guess like like if you're a big fan of scary movie or sure or is it scary movie? Yeah, and weed and like like the okay. And if you're a big fan of like Dune and like that's your thing, like I don't know, it's it just seems like it like no one cares anymore.

Michelle 56:16

I think though that what's weird about it is like so scary movie, the first one came out when we were teenagers, we were the audience, you know, and so the audience today who's buying a popcorn bong, I feel like only a teenager is gonna buy a popcorn bong.

Greg 56:33

And they don't have 50 bucks to spend on it.

Michelle 56:35

Yeah, and no, it's us. Yeah, but like they're marketing, yeah. Yeah, it's crazy. I don't know, it's so weird to be like aware of you being like the target audience, but the only time you're aware of it is when it doesn't work, you know. Like, so I haven't smoked weed in almost 20 years, so this no longer works on me. I don't want the popcorn bong.

Bobby 56:55

Yeah, I think that like all of this advertising with cinema now. I think that they are they're trying to capture what I felt at age 13 when Independence Day came out, and always falling so short. Because even with that advertising, it just felt it was like transparent. And and to this like sounds a little bit hokey, but I think it's true if I recall. That's like you kind of felt like you were a part of the thing.

Michelle 57:20

I did.

Bobby 57:20

You're like, we're all like, Yeah, like we're all into this, like let's go see this movie together, and like let's go to McDonald's and get the alien burger or whatever, yeah, you know, and then go see this thing, and everybody's just like, Yeah, doesn't that sound great? You're like, Yeah, it's great, yeah, you know, and it was just like, yeah, I feel like they're always trying to capture that and just like doing such a terrible fucking job. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Be more honest with advertising, yeah.

Michelle 57:44

Preach, Bobby, tell them.

Greg 57:46

What's the last thing outside of Independence Day or Jurassic Park, you know, 30 years ago? Um, what was like the last thing that like felt that way?

Bobby 57:56

It's so it's it's it's so difficult now because there's so much like the oversaturation of media is like incredible, and just like people don't have the same bandwidth to put towards a thing like that that they used to. So, like, man, I'm trying to was it like Barbenheimer?

Greg 58:11

Like that was like a weird thing that like you had to go see both for some reason.

Bobby 58:16

That did, but that happened kind of organically, right? You know, independent of their advocacy.

Michelle 58:20

Yeah, they didn't create that.

Bobby 58:22

We didn't sure and I mean I think today uh Christopher Nolan is the best at this of like actually like getting a large group of people to feel good about going to see a movie, genuinely for going to see the movie, not like I don't feel like he's subliminally like trying to trick us. I feel like he's trying to make the most incredible piece of cinema he can make, yeah, and people respond to that. So I'd say that yeah, it's close to that. So maybe yeah, the the Oppenheimer.

Greg 58:49

Um, a lot of people were super hyped to see Barbie, or I guess uh the Super Mario movie.

Bobby 58:54

What?

Greg 58:55

The Mario Brothers movie with John Neguizamo and Bob Hotskins and uh Chris Pratt as oh the new one, the new one, not the old one, no, no, no. I don't I I don't even I didn't even know they made that, so it didn't get it didn't get me because there was like a there was a lot of uh of a push for that, but like even then, like that's I wasn't the target audience for even though like I was, but like I didn't have that same feeling of like oh like yeah you gotta go see it. I'm excited about this, I want to talk about this.

Bobby 59:26

Yeah, I don't know, maybe Barbie might be a good example because I feel like the advertising with that was pretty upfront, right? It was like, look at this fucking pink thing, yeah, go see Barbie, yeah, you know that's true, and it like you knew what it was, like immediately. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then and they I felt like they tried hard to make a a good movie.

Michelle 59:45

I think they succeeded. I loved it.

Bobby 59:46

Yeah, yeah, it was a great, it was great, yeah. But even with that, like it's much harder to capture that sort of thing now.

Michelle 59:52

I think we also forget so quickly, you know. Like, I don't know, I just like don't care the same way I used to care. Like Independence Day, for example, came out 1996, I think, or 98, whatever. Whatever yeah, 96. So it's nine it's it's July 1996. That thing probably wasn't on cable until July 1997, you know?

Bobby 1:00:14

So even then probably only on HBO, right?

Michelle 1:00:17

Exactly. And so I had a whole year of waiting, you know, and like maybe there was a release at Blockbuster or something beforehand. So there were like all these moments to get excited again, but they were six, seven, eight, nine months a year out.

Bobby 1:00:30

Good point of the scarcity of of these things, and and yeah, you don't have the scarcity to make them special.

Greg 1:00:36

Yeah, it's a thing, like, yeah, anything that gets released in a theater, you know, like you just give it two weeks and you'll watch it at home. Yeah, yeah.

Michelle 1:00:43

Yeah, which is why I think theaters are going out of business, which is a bummer. Well, that a lot of them have closed. Yeah, you know, no, no one can deny it, Bobby. That's true.

Bobby 1:00:52

I but you you just said theaters, uh, I thought you meant all of them forever.

Michelle 1:00:57

No, not all of them forever. It's just like they're struggling, just like bookstores. I mean, as the Conspiracy Journal is a a book publishing company, and we've experienced uh hardship, you know, because bookstores are closed, dude. It's crazy.

Bobby 1:01:11

It is a shame. Yeah, yeah. I love I yeah, I love both of those things. I love going to the movies so much. I love going to a bookstore.

Michelle 1:01:17

Me too. Yeah, me too, and they're getting harder and harder to find, even the big ones.

Bobby 1:01:20

Yeah, when you guys smash the like and subscribe and make us independently wealthy. I'm gonna buy a movie theater and a bookstore.

Greg 1:01:27

Fucking we all we show is uh these movies, yeah.

Michelle 1:01:32

Yeah, oh I would love that.

Bobby 1:01:34

It would be fun to to program a theater. Oh my god, there's a lot of um like the town that I grew up in, it was kind of wild. I didn't know any different when you're little. Um the movie theater was closed, it had been closed for some time, like my whole childhood. Every memory I had it was closed. But the lobby was a video store of this old school theater, and like where the stairs to go up to the theater were were they would just put those big cardboard cutouts. I remember it was like Freddie Kruger, Freddie Krueger and Jason were like blocking the stairs, and then yeah, just the lobby and they had the old ticket booth, but that's where they had all the racks of tapes and everything. But they did reopen the theater. And like and I I love that like you can see there if you like cruise around America, there's a lot of small towns, and like thankfully, like I mean, it's not a great business model, but like sometimes people do like reopen these small theaters and and and show these cool runs of old films and stuff. So yeah, I love it. I just yeah, there's something about going to the theater that's super special.

Michelle 1:02:30

Oh, I love it so much. I love go I hope that I get to go to the movies the rest of my life. Yeah, yeah, go in tomorrow.

Bobby 1:02:36

You can come to my theater.

Michelle 1:02:37

Thanks. Yeah, do I have to pay? I'll pay. Okay, yeah, yeah. I don't want to. You especially have to pay.

Bobby 1:02:42

Yeah, I'll pay double. Craig can come for free. Okay, cool, yeah. Whatever. That's right. Rose before hose, bro.

Greg 1:02:51

But yeah. Uh man.

Michelle 1:02:53

Anyway, back to Independence Day, you guys. I mean, I had, I think I love that, you know, this year is a special year in America. So everybody's all 4th of July, fucking raging happy. And I'm just really happy to feel festive and watch Independence Day. What else do we have to talk about?

Bobby 1:03:12

Should we set it all?

Michelle 1:03:13

You said it all?

Bobby 1:03:14

There was a great shot of the Pan Am Building. I didn't mention that. Oh, right. Appreciated that.

Michelle 1:03:19

Bobby loves the Pan Am Building, which has not been called the Pan Am Building since he's been alive.

Bobby 1:03:24

It's now MetLife.

Michelle 1:03:25

Yeah. Yeah. It's been MetLife for a long ass time. I know there were uh in this film it says MetLife.

Greg 1:03:30

It's always been Pan Am to me. I know a guy that wanted me to put together like a flyer for him for um a show that he was doing. He's like, I went to New York Skyline, he was like picking out like key buildings he wanted. And I like I had put the MetLife, and he's like, You gotta take that life off. It's the Pan Am building. Like he was very adamant about that.

Michelle 1:03:48

Hell yeah, dude.

Bobby 1:03:49

Fuck yeah, man. He knows, he knows, dude.

Michelle 1:03:52

Yeah, whatever. Yeah, um, but yeah, yeah.

Bobby 1:03:57

Yeah.

Michelle 1:03:59

What is that called again? The ex machina?

Bobby 1:04:01

Deus ex machina. God, God is in the machine, essentially.

Michelle 1:04:07

Yeah, God is in the machine. God is in the machine.

Bobby 1:04:10

Yeah, but yeah, movies visually great. Yeah, great in Latin.

Michelle 1:04:13

Very enjoyable language.

Bobby 1:04:15

I believe so, yeah.

Michelle 1:04:15

Latin.

Bobby 1:04:16

Yeah.

Michelle 1:04:17

Okay.

Bobby 1:04:18

Cool.

Michelle 1:04:18

Yeah, really, really good time. I loved everybody.

Bobby 1:04:22

Yeah, great job. Jeff, Will, Bill, Randy, Randy, uh Mary, Vivica, Vivica, Vivica.

Michelle 1:04:30

Vivica, Boomer.

Bobby 1:04:32

Boomer the dog did a great job. Get a great hero shot of jumping, jumping through.

Michelle 1:04:37

Oh, he did have a uh like uh random ass tunnel that she was in.

Bobby 1:04:43

A little parkour. Yeah, yeah. Parkour displayed. Parkour explosion. Yeah.

Michelle 1:04:46

Good puppy.

Bobby 1:04:47

Barkour. Oh yeah, dude. Got him. And that's where we're gonna end. You suckers, you hung out for this long, and that's what you get.

Greg 1:04:56

That's right. That's gonna be the we have to put that as like the subtitle to this episode. Yeah. And everyone was like bark horror.

Michelle 1:05:03

Like, what the hell does that mean? What movie did they watch?

Greg 1:05:06

Yeah. All right, I'll see myself out.

Michelle 1:05:08

Yeah, you better get out of here.

Greg 1:05:09

We had to wait till the end to get there.

Michelle 1:05:11

Yeah.

Greg 1:05:11

All right. Thanks, everybody. Landed.

Michelle 1:05:13

All right, thanks for another M pile.

Greg 1:05:16

Thanks, everybody.