Transcript
Jeff: Oh, oh.
Jeff: Oh man. That one even had the yeah little tortilla boy.
JT Spangler: Welcome to Earth. ah Yeah, man. Independence Day.
Jeff: That's wow.
JT Spangler: Movie Life Crisis, Season 6, Episode 14. think this releases, like, the 7th?
Jeff: The third, huh
JT Spangler: The 3rd.
Jeff: Isn't it right before? Yeah.
JT Spangler: No, this it's the 6th. It's Monday the 6th, so it's right. Because we're recording it on Wednesday, July 1st, so...
Jeff: Oh, this I'm thinking, I'm thinking the movie, my,
JT Spangler: Yeah, yeah. No, I'm talking about ah this episode.
Jeff: the movie though, because we're, we'll be the sixth and there were the third. That's pretty close.
JT Spangler: We're close. Yeah. Yeah. The biggest movie of 1996.
Jeff: I'll take it.
JT Spangler: ah And I've celebrated by, by keeping my mustache in honor of Will Smith in this movie.
Jeff: Yeah, of course. It's Will Smith.
JT Spangler: Is it super thin? mine't that Mine's not, mine's not looked that cool.
Jeff: um I think we should celebrate by having our president stand on the back of a truck with a whither ah bullhorn and give a speech like that.
JT Spangler: I think we should celebrate by putting him in the cockpit of an F-18 and letting him go.
Jeff: I think that would be good
JT Spangler: Let him go nuts.
JT Spangler: I think it'd be great.
Jeff: Ah, man. Wow. Yeah. He was a fighter pilot.
JT Spangler: This movie... hi This movie is not like I remembered.
Jeff: Was it? He was it's in the military.
Jeff: No, ah but there's a reason for that. There's a reason you you remember it differently because I did too and I thought very hard about it and I think I figured it out.
Jeff: But that we'll get into it as we talk because for sure i i was picturing in my head like Bad Boys, Will Smith, um
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: And it wasn't even Will Smith. That wasn't the the thing, but it's just, it's different. And I know exactly what you're thinking. and we're going to talk about it because I have some thoughts.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
JT Spangler: Cool. All right, well give us a synopsis.
Jeff: So. Okay, alien ships arrive over Earth's major cities. They wipe them out after a short, ah peaceful hovering. um Then ah a cable systems expert, a marine pilot, the president, and a scientist at Area 51 all get together to launch a coordinated counterattack on July 4th.
JT Spangler: With Randy Quaid, an alcoholic, uh, crop duster.
Jeff: Does that sound right? Wasn't he a cable systems
JT Spangler: Yeah. We worked for like a news company or something. it was like a, thought it was like a newsroom.
Jeff: uh yes yeah he tim yeah
JT Spangler: Maybe it was cable news. I don't know. He had a what's his, what's the guys, the raspy voice guys, his boss, Harvey, something Harvey Fierstein.
Jeff: he yeah harvey firestein uncle frank he made jack um yeah i like that that guy's voice is super annoying but i like it um
JT Spangler: Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff: Dude, i the whole time i was watching it, i was like, ah and look, I got a my whirly pop. I made a big thing of popcorn. I put it in this oversized bowl that we use to like mix like ah cake mixes and stuff.
Jeff: It's literally oversized, huge. And I filled it up with popcorn.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: and I just sat there and watched it, and it was the perfect popcorn eating summer blockbuster type movie. Um, but man, did it have some nineties studio cheese mixed in there, uh, with the, uh, with the disaster movie, uh, premise.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: Um, I don't know, man.
JT Spangler: Dude, we ah we went to see Toy Story 5.
Jeff: I'm glad we, I'm glad we picked it and I'm glad, I'm glad we're doing it.
JT Spangler: We went to see Toy Story 5 in theaters and they they sell the like, you can get like the family sized combo.
Jeff: Oh yeah.
JT Spangler: It's like a drink and it's a large popcorn. And I think it's some kind of candy that goes with it. And that combo was $50, 50 American dollars.
Jeff: Dude, the Whirly Pop I bought on sale with, and and I got some kernels and the Flavacol that goes on top like and the oil, all of that didn't cost $50.
JT Spangler: I know. Well, the problem is I can't i can't bring all that.
Jeff: dude It's out of control.
JT Spangler: Dude, now that baggy pants are back, I'm going to the movies with f freaking with like a fondue pot in my pants.
Jeff: No, you can't. no
JT Spangler: Like, I don't give a shit. Like, I got two liters in my pockets. I'm like, dude, I get the popcorn. I'm like, I'm contributing, but I don't have $200 to spend on snacks for a f freaking kids movie.
Jeff: Yeah. No, it's definitely a lot. Yeah. Cat said the same thing. I didn't see it because I was building a deck, but um ah they went and saw it. And Cat said, oh you know, you get the little cardboard things and I got a large popcorn and split it between the kids.
Jeff: Except Jake's 14 and he's an offensive lineman. So do you think that was enough for him?
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: They're like, we don't need lunch, mom.
JT Spangler: Well, they used
Jeff: We're going to get snacks at the movies.
JT Spangler: it used to be that if you if you got the large popcorn, they used to give you free refills.
Jeff: Cool. I'll fill out my FAFSA. This is
JT Spangler: i don't know if they still do, but... um
Jeff: you gotta be a list for that or something, whatever their thing is called at AMC.
JT Spangler: Yeah, we don't have AMC. we're yeah We got Regal. Anyway, this thing, a $75 million dollars budget.
Jeff: Oh, Regal. Yeah. Nice.
JT Spangler: I don't know how they had a $75 million dollars budget with 2,000 special effects shots, but they did. And it grossed $817 million, dollars which is the biggest movie of the year and is the second biggest movie ever at the time behind Jurassic Park.
Jeff: Yeah, and I could see that. The the um opening weekend, I saw that it said like $96 million. So it made its money back the first weekend. i'd So I started thinking like, oh, well, maybe because you you saw the behind the scenes thing before where it does the blow up the buildings where it's like practical effects.
Jeff: A lot of it's practical.
JT Spangler: Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff: So like, is that how they save the money? Like, I know there is CGI, but like... Is a lot of it practical? Like when it's the big things over the cities, is that just like, I don't know, what's it called when they paint on the glass?
Jeff: A matte paint? Is it like a matte painting? like You know what I'm saying? So maybe they tried to save money that way.
JT Spangler: think they did I think they did a manha a bunch of that.
Jeff: I don't know.
JT Spangler: I think a bunch of it was like models that they actually blew up and like filmed that. And then they they just like painted the backdrop with CGI. But yeah, it's just like, it's stupid. And dude, $817 million dollars gross and 96 is the equivalent of like $1.8 billion dollars today.
JT Spangler: So that's, it's like a ludicrous amount of money for a movie to make.
Jeff: yeah do
Jeff: you But you remember how big it was, right? Like, this was this was a huge movie.
JT Spangler: Yeah. Oh, dude, i I remember seeing it.
Jeff: I remember talking about it a lot.
JT Spangler: Yeah, I remember seeing it in theaters. Like, i and I'm pretty sure I saw it twice in theaters because I went with, I went with,
Jeff: Yeah, no, I did too. It was at the Mudd Theater.
Jeff: Nice.
JT Spangler: I think I went with somebody, but I went back a second time because I remember distinctly I knew the alien, like whenever the ship crashed after Will Smith had his freaking dogfight and threw his parachute in the alien ships, I knew it was going to pop it was going to be a jump scare.
Jeff: Oh, yeah.
JT Spangler: And I was like waiting for the people around me to lose their shit when the jump scare happened. I remember looking around the theater at that moment.
Jeff: Oh, that's great. Oh, man. Yeah. and i I definitely saw it in the theater. that this was Can you imagine like now, though, with the rumbly seats and the the big screens and the freaking 3D, how good it could be?
Jeff: I think it would be better than seeing it on at the Hammond Mall Theater.
JT Spangler: Dude, I never do the rumbly seats. I don't think that but I don't know why i want to pay extra for seats that make me go to the bathroom more often during the movie. And I don't like the 3D, really. So I would just see it the same as I did then, except the seats are more comfortable and they probably turn it up louder.
Jeff: even yeah Even without the rumbly seats, the speakers and the the screen is so much better than it is at the Hammond Mall Theater. You know what I'm saying? like those were like It was cool, but not not cool. like
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: That's why we kept driving to the palace in Elmwood, remember?
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: like Because it was just that much better.
JT Spangler: Driving to new Orleans because they, well, it was also like the first, like we had like a duplex and a triplex. You'd see two movies or three movies on a screen. That's like slightly bigger than the rear projection TVs, or you could drive to Elmwood palace and there's like 20 theaters.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
JT Spangler: And you could do the summertime thing where you have like, you go to a matinee in the morning.
Jeff: Yeah, it was 20. I'm with 20. And it had stadium seating.
JT Spangler: Yeah. And you could just, you just stay all day and just watch movies.
Jeff: Yeah, that's delightful. I remember those days.
JT Spangler: um Yeah, dude. All right. Awards.
Jeff: Awards. It won Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. It was nominated for Best Sound, but it didn't get that at the 69th Oscars. ah But it did win Saturn Awards, Best Science Fiction Film, Best Director, and Best Special Effects.
Jeff: So that's... Hey, Ben. For the type of movie it is, that's you can take home some Oscars. That's great.
JT Spangler: Yeah, dude, well earned and totally worth it.
Jeff: And it did have... Yeah, it did have ah ah cool special effects and great sound. So I totally get that. Especially in the surround sound. Like I was telling you before we started, that I had this thing cranked.
Jeff: And it was like rattling windows. It was great. Great sound.
JT Spangler: Yeah, dude, it was a, I didn't like the score that much, even though even though it won a bunch of stuff, but I just, it it the sound was badass.
Jeff: And it did have a sequel.
Jeff: I didn't either. i remember the score being different.
Jeff: but I could be wrong. um Have you seen the sequel?
JT Spangler: No, and I'm not gonna.
Jeff: The resurgence?
Jeff: Ever?
JT Spangler: No, dude, why would I wanna see a shittier version of the movie that I liked that's already out? Like, I don't, I'm not nostalgic like that. I mean, I just will, the original thing is there.
JT Spangler: I don't, do you wanna a crappier version?
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: Like, dude, remember, let's we got the freaking Playboy Center for all to Pamela Anderson. There's another one now. She's 60. You want to go out and get that? No.
Jeff: Yeah, but that's different. They can make it make it look better now, right? I'm going to watch it.
JT Spangler: and It's not.
Jeff: I'm going to watch it this week. I'll let you know.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: I'll report back.
JT Spangler: g You should definitely do that. um
Jeff: I'm going to watch Resurgence.
JT Spangler: How'd you rate this?
Jeff: I gave it an eight. Not because it's elegant, um but I feel like this movie understands its job. And it over delivers on ah the scale and the just pure summer movie-ness of it all.
Jeff: um And while it's super cheesy um and they, it's sci-fi disaster, war, family drama with nineties flair.
Jeff: i dude, I freaking liked it and I'll probably watch it again. um
JT Spangler: Yeah, i would ah I would totally watch it again.
Jeff: within the next 10 years.
JT Spangler: it's It's for a summer blockbuster movie, which is like Roland Emmerich, the writer and director. it's He's very clear. He's like, it's all he wants to be.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: And I love that. And this is as well as he ever does do it.
Jeff: Right. Yeah.
JT Spangler: yeah I got an 8 out of 10 for me as well.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: like It's part Top Gun, it's part Mad Max, it's part like aliens, close encounters, but the cast is ridiculously good.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: The scope of the movie is so crazy, ah but it's also like it's two and a half hours long.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: It's got some bits that are really fucking strange.
Jeff: Yeah, yeah, their stuff.
JT Spangler: like I don't think the score is all that great, but but it is like...
Jeff: Yeah, they can take a lot out.
JT Spangler: If you're going like, dude like I got to show my kid the best summer blockbuster movies of my life, like this is going to be on the list.
Jeff: Yeah, it's got to be. this and the The guy who does this works with ah Roland Emmerich a few more times. um ah Dude, I agree. i didn't think the score was great, but I feel like the only part I realized...
Jeff: The only part that I felt the score in the movie, because, you know, like Luke Skywalker's like walking out to look at the binary sons and freaking the score from John Williams comes in.
JT Spangler: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff: It makes you feel shit. I didn't have that at all through this. There was no, even the the tense music building up, I didn't feel it. Now, when he was giving his, today is our independence day speech, the swells of the music, I could, that's the only time I can vividly remember going like, Hey, all right, the music's here. um But all those other times I wasn't feeling it. So um that the score and the length were the only reasons I gave it an eight.
JT Spangler: And I was thinking, because when I was watching, I was like, dude, I don't remember this part taking that long. Like that there's like 45 or 50 minutes for this thing. Like there's like 20 minutes of just like aliens are slowly coming in and like nothing's blown up yet. Like we haven't even seen Will Smith.
JT Spangler: ah And I was like, this shit is really like, you're building it up real slow.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: And then when it finally, like when the aliens finally attack and blow up everything, and then it's like, Cut. It's like f freaking July 3rd. I was oh shit. i see This thing's like just now getting rolling.
Jeff: Yeah, it's just getting started. Well, so wait, did you watch the extended cut? Where'd you watch it?
JT Spangler: ah Disney Plus.
Jeff: This time. Disney Plus.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: So that's the extended version
JT Spangler: Okay.
Jeff: on Disney plus.
JT Spangler: Oh, dude, didn't even...
Jeff: Um, so it is actually, they do make a shorter version, but it ain't that short. It ain't that much shorter. It's like 10 minutes shaved off. The one I watched, I saw the one on Disney plus.
Jeff: And then the one I have was like, um, two hours, three minutes or something like that, that I, uh, borrowed from the internet.
JT Spangler: Oh, that's way better. i always say Mine was a half.
Jeff: Um, yeah, but,
Jeff: Oh, man. um Yeah, that's the extended one. It adds a bunch of deleted scenes in there. um But even the deleted scenes in there, i mean, taken out of there, it still feels kind of like the whole... They had this first lady die, and then she didn't die and survive the helicopter, only to die when she gets to Area 51. What are we doing? Just have her die once and call it.
JT Spangler: Yeah, and mary Mary McDonald, the first lady, but also like that part was messed up because the president, Bill Pullman, is there with his daughter, whatever that kid's name is, and and it's the doctors just told him, like, hey, we're not going to we're not gonna be able to stop the bleeding.
Jeff: You what I'm saying? like
Jeff: Made witness.
JT Spangler: She's just going to die here in the Area 51. And his seven-year-old, he's like, hey, just go out in the hallway. Mommy's sleeping. it's like, just she's fucking dying.
JT Spangler: Should the kids say goodbye maybe?
Jeff: Maybe let her say goodbye, especially since you're about to get in a freaking F-14 and go, you might die also. Then you're stuck living with Jeff Goldblum, which sounds like a delight.
JT Spangler: Yeah. Yeah. And I don't, yeah I don't know.
Jeff: But I'm saying like, I don't know.
JT Spangler: i don't know how you're supposed to handle that moment as a parent, but I feel like you should say like, yeah, she, she's not sleeping. She's dying, but you should probably say goodbye. This is going really hard, but also I'm not going send you to the hallway and tell her she fell asleep.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: And then she went to live on a farm.
Jeff: What about the cookies, daddy? um we we already We already saw that girl once. She was she's really good in One Fine Day.
JT Spangler: know.
Jeff: um Yeah, totally agreed. But you should watch the one. Next time you watch it, try to find the not extended version. Two hours, three minutes, including credits, think.
JT Spangler: Yeah, I didn't know that I did that.
Jeff: But you know.
JT Spangler: I'm gonna definitely do that.
Jeff: credits i think yeah um
JT Spangler: and do Let's do well is there scenes.
Jeff: but you know yeah Either way is good.
JT Spangler: What's your first scene?
Jeff: ah Dude, the first scene is July 2nd, the global destruction, the synchronized firing of all of the... um I don't know primary weapons of the large disks.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: It shot the White House and it and it exploded. um Like the wall of fire going out in a circle, like rolling through the the buildings. um It's like LA, New York, Washington.
Jeff: in in in america um it was some spectacle man and a lot of it wasn't cgi and that is cool that they did it that way um it they did the miniatures and laid it down it's awesome yeah
JT Spangler: Yeah, that's my first thing. I also have that the ah model of the White House that they built was like 10 feet by 5 feet. It was freaking huge. And they set off like 40 explosions and filmed it.
Jeff: ah that's cool
Jeff: See, that's great. And they they did it with a high um frame rate camera so they could slow it down if they needed to and get every little thing exploding and the the Capitol building explodes.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: Dude, it was that whole part is. And once Fox realized that's what they had, like they started. yeah I can remember like the White House exploding on TV. And me going, dad, remember that when we watching that movie, there's the part that the white house explodes. That's cool that they're started using that to get people in the theater and it totally works.
JT Spangler: Yeah, man.
Jeff: Made a ton of money.
JT Spangler: Well, yeah, all I like a thing during that scene. Truthfully is a Futurama where it's like, we're going to attack your planet with our anti-monument lasers and just blow up all the and tourist attractions.
Jeff: Okay.
Jeff: I felt bad for the guy who was filing paperwork. He had like a filing cabinet open and you could see him. He like turns his head and looks as the explosion hits him. Like he was working late and died at work filing paperwork. That sounds horrible.
JT Spangler: Yeah, dude. I mean, there's a metaphor in there.
Jeff: Horrible.
JT Spangler: Don't work late. Go home.
Jeff: ah so Oh, don't, don't work late.
JT Spangler: um that That scene was on my list.
Jeff: good Um,
JT Spangler: The first one that I had, though, was Jeff Goldblum, the cable repairman, and his dad, Judd Hirsch, driving to Washington, D.C. because his ex-wife works for the president and he wants to tell him important stuff.
JT Spangler: And, dude, I love Judd Hirsch, but he and Jeff Goldblum's interactions in this movie were killing me.
Jeff: I just like the way he talks.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: Like he has the old Jewish dad down. Perfect.
JT Spangler: Dude, it's textbook old Jewish guy and I freaking love it.
Jeff: So good.
JT Spangler: He's like, they're driving and he's, and Guthersh, the dad is driving because Jeff Goldblum is a hippie who just rides his bike everywhere. And he's like, could you drive faster? He's like, and he's like, what why, what what, what, what, what is with the hurry?
JT Spangler: He's like, you don't think that's the White House. You think they don't know what you know? They know. He's like, look at you. You went to school eight years and you're a cable repairman.
Jeff: All the people leaving. hu
Jeff: Yeah, dude, that exposition where he's like... Because I forgot. I remember him working at a TV station. I'm like, oh, that's right.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: He he knows about satellites. That's why. oh no, he went to MIT and can triangulate cell phones inside of a White House thing.
JT Spangler: Yeah. Sure.
JT Spangler: Sure.
Jeff: I don't know why. they like Stuff like that is why I gave it an eight. Because you didn't need it. And it was still... Bring on the spectacle and the popcorn. That's all I'm saying.
JT Spangler: That's funny, man. I actually like that bit. I remembered that he like takes this a weird looking antenna and sticks it on his car and he could triangulate his wife's cell phone. And also she always keeps her private phone listed in this disc that has all the phone numbers and all of the world.
JT Spangler: ah I loved that. And like, he's like, just go to the window. And he's like, him and the dad are out there waving. And she's I hate when he does that.
Jeff: What about, so dude, how often do you think, I was thinking about that while i was watching it. So he has a disc. How often do you have to update the disc? Like how often do you think new phone numbers start?
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: Like every day somebody buys a phone and gets a new phone number, right? So like, how, like how is that?
JT Spangler: Well, it's funny because back in the day, like they they were going, they were going, Hey, look, you could just, instead of buying a like $2,000 set of encyclopedias, you can just have these two discs and they have all of the encyclopedia stuff on there.
Jeff: are crazy.
JT Spangler: And you go, Oh, that's pretty cool. ah But then like phone numbers, like I need those to be updated more than that.
Jeff: yeah
Jeff: Right. Those end maps. and That's why I never understood the like the little GPSs. like It's something not going to update. like you got to keep You can't just keep that more than a year or two.
Jeff: like Doesn't it change enough?
JT Spangler: So the one that i one I had in like 2007, I had to like bring inside and like plug into a computer and download a map and up, like you can do it whenever you wanted to, but I did it like never.
Jeff: i Dude, I don't know.
JT Spangler: But that was the plan.
Jeff: yeah That's crazy.
Jeff: ah The last thing I can think of with a map with you, there was two things I can think of stopping at all of the welcome centers to get the free map and your dad printing off all the stuff on MapQuest from his office before we left for Montana.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
JT Spangler: Yeah, dude, i'd like like, like in color, like 40 pages of MapQuest directions from Hammond to Montana.
Jeff: Before I left to go up there. here Take this with you.
Jeff: color. Yeah. And it's yeah it's just step-by-step instructions and the spacing is god-awful and its the margins are so thick so it really was like 30 pages. It's great.
JT Spangler: Yeah, that was ah was a classic.
Jeff: Oh man, we don't need any of that.
JT Spangler: what's What's your next theme?
Jeff: We don't need any of that. ah The next one's from the from the trailer or the teaser. It's ah Will Smith as Captain Hiller. Hiller?
Jeff: Hiller.
JT Spangler: Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff: um He crash lands in the desert, walks over to the alien, and then punches its well punches its shell right in the face, ah lights up a cigar, and he says, welcome to Earth and all that.
Jeff: I love that whole scene because that, first of all, I was watching the behind the scenes and they were talking about how Will Smith just was vamping there. He was just like, I could have been at a barbecue.
Jeff: Like that whole thing. he was just making it all up. And what the hell is that smell? Because like the salt the the salt flats that they were on apparently smelled really bad.
Jeff: um And he was making all that up. i Dude, i just that's the part I love. And when I'm thinking of this movie, that's the part I'm thinking of. Him dragging it behind him with a parachute.
JT Spangler: the, so the, the one where he punches the alien is, is different than the one where he's dragging it in his, uh, parachute. Cause they, they cut in between it. But yeah, dude, I like, I like when he's dragging the alien and he's like, he's freaking wearing his tank top. He's like, got you, got your dreadlocks hanging out the back of my parachute. What the hell is that smell?
JT Spangler: like I gotta love that part.
Jeff: ah ah um see that's the will smith i like uh and let him do that
JT Spangler: I also have questions. Uh, Yeah, I have questions too, though, because the alien like survived the crash landing of his shuttle after they're doing their dogfight. And then Will Smith, I guess, punches him so hard that he knocks him unconscious for like hours and hours and hours.
JT Spangler: ah Because later on, when they had to kill that alien, they had to freaking light him up with bullets.
Jeff: yeah right
JT Spangler: And I'm like, did Will Smith, was he Thor right there?
Jeff: No, no. See, they had cut open his ah exoskeleton and they actually shot the alien itself. I'm guessing. I got nothing. I really don't.
Jeff: I don't think it's the whole time I'm watching it. And I think about stuff like that. You know what I think of? I think of Mark Hamill telling that story. And he does that Harrison Ford impression where he's like, Oh, we were just in the trash compactor. Shouldn't our hair be slicked back? He's like, it's not that kind of movie kid.
Jeff: ah That's how I just got to keep thinking. Like, it's not that kind of movie. Like I can't yeah do that.
JT Spangler: Agreed. how does How does Randy Quaid, the alcoholic crop duster pilot, know how to pilot an F-18?
Jeff: So I let it all go. Keep popcorn.
JT Spangler: Probably, I mean, could you learn that in an afternoon? Because I don't think you can.
Jeff: It's all the same.
JT Spangler: It's all just levers.
Jeff: It's all the same. you
JT Spangler: um
Jeff: so It's all the same.
JT Spangler: Yeah, dude, my...
Jeff: It's all barbarians these days.
JT Spangler: And my third, speaking of Randy Quaid, my third scene the final alien attack. Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum fly up to the mothership and they give the alien a cold. And then everybody a attacks down on the ground, including the president who doesn't have anything better to do.
JT Spangler: um And I love it.
Jeff: So two things. Why did they not think about all the people outside before that lady said something? That's ridiculous.
Jeff: And second... um
Jeff: Even if the president is, now that they know the whole cabinet's gone and the vice president's gone, do they, why wouldn't, um what's what's his name? Rip off their heads and shit down their neck. That guy, why wouldn't he try to stop him and say like, dude, you're in charge.
Jeff: We need a designated survivor.
JT Spangler: Yeah, Robert Loggia. Yeah,
Jeff: Loggia, that's right. ah i don't I don't get it.
JT Spangler: you'd think he would be like, yeah you can't you can't get in an F-18. You're the president and the vice president's dead and we're in a bunker and you fired the secretary of defense. You're just going have to hang back.
Jeff: Right, right. um And he was, of course, he's really good at it, um which is obviously how he became president.
JT Spangler: Sure.
Jeff: That's how we got our president.
JT Spangler: Right? Right.
Jeff: We have um like we yeah we expect him to be really good at it. But man, I don't know. The whole time i was just like, why are they letting him get in there?
JT Spangler: today here yeah as As much as you and I are not fans of our current president, well I'll tell you one thing I would love is I would love to hear him talk about other presidents in the movies and the job that they did versus what he would have done in their shoes. I think that would be very entertaining.
Jeff: um I feel like you should tweet it to him. Like, just find a clip of him doing something or of ah one of the presidents in the movies doing something and then just send it to him and be like, how would you handle this, sir?
JT Spangler: No, thanks.
JT Spangler: I think he's still banned from ah Twitter and I left Twitter years ago.
Jeff: i'm I feel...
JT Spangler: So we're just gonna have to not know the answer.
Jeff: Well, you know what I mean. You got to send it to him somehow. Get on the, what's whatever his is called, social, truth social. You should get on that.
JT Spangler: Yeah. um who's Who's to say I'm not already on there. Just lightening up all the time. I'm not.
Jeff: Yes.
JT Spangler: 13.
Jeff: All right.
JT Spangler: I
Jeff: My third. My third is ah the president's speech. I feel like ah somebody has to put that in there. like that's i Yeah, I feel like that's a part that people remember from this.
JT Spangler: got that in my quotes.
Jeff: like I feel like it doesn't... um doesn't have any visual effects or anything like that. It's just the guy getting up there, giving a speech. And from what I was ah looking at, they were saying how like, oh, they were going to call it dooms doomsday.
Jeff: That's what Warner brothers wanted to call the movie. um So Emrick and the guy that wrote it with him, Devlin, they started writing this speech for him to get up there and give it.
Jeff: And like, when he says like, our independence day they were like all right i guess we're gonna call it independence day since he's got that thing um i dude think the reputation of the speech outlasts a lot of the other stuff from this movie uh i really like it
JT Spangler: Yeah, dude, the speech is really good. I got it in my quotes and and they Roland Emmerich, the director and Dean Devlin, the producer who wrote the movie together, they even said that, and who knows if it's true, but they they said that like, we just we wrote the speech as just a placeholder and like thinking that we would rewrite it before we shot it.
JT Spangler: But then when like Bill Pullman rehearsed it, he did such a good job with it. Like everybody on set was like, the crew was like cheering and like people were ready to run through walls were like, I guess i get maybe we're good. We just probably filmed that.
Jeff: Yeah, let's just keep it. Let's do that. That's that's awesome.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: um
JT Spangler: But dude, itde reads like a first draft, but it also is really good.
Jeff: Yeah, it's... um Again, that's the only part I remember the ah the music. and Again, though, could you see our president giving that speech?
JT Spangler: ah No, dude. Hey, of course not.
Jeff: Oh, man. um Oh, one more thing about...
JT Spangler: Let's do quotes. What's your first? All right.
Jeff: Wait, wait, real fast. That whole part. When they finally do blow it up and the ships all like crash, did it crash on top of the mountain that they were buried under in Area 51?
Jeff: Or that area? You know what I'm saying? like Did it just go straight down?
JT Spangler: Yeah, I don't know.
Jeff: like Are they buried under that?
JT Spangler: Probably.
Jeff: This is not that negative kind of movie.
JT Spangler: I think, well, Adam Baldwin ah said that Area 51 is like buried under, it's like 27 layers underground.
Jeff: Is that what you're trying to tell
JT Spangler: So I think ah like a lot of it's underground.
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah.
JT Spangler: But again, like you said, not that kind of movie. what's your ah What's your first quote?
Jeff: It's not that good of movie me kid. um ah Mine was a toss up. It was a tie between welcome to earth and what the hell is that smell?
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: I say both of those all the time. um When Jake finally realizes something, I'm like, welcome to earth. Sometimes I even throw an F at the end just because it's Will Smith.
JT Spangler: Like, ludicrous.
Jeff: that or um something will smell really bad and i'll just yell it in is my best impression of will smith and i'll just be like and what the hell is that smell uh and i try to i try to say that as much as i can so that's my first one
JT Spangler: I like those. My first quote was not from Will Smith, but I did have one from Will Smith from that same part of the movie, which I really like, which is, ah you did not shoot that green shit at me.
Jeff: Yeah. ah see like See, I love that type of Will Smith, and i I feel like we lost that Will Smith somewhere along the way.
Jeff: um
JT Spangler: Yeah, I think it's mainly that that's mainly the bad boys, Will Smith.
Jeff: i want him I want him to be like that again.
JT Spangler: but But I guess Men in Black Will Smith is also like that.
Jeff: yeah
JT Spangler: I'm huge fan of that.
Jeff: That's what I'm saying. Yeah. He's, he's, he's still in there somewhere. i just, I feel like we lost him. Maybe hopefully I'll be back.
JT Spangler: My second quote is is from Randy Quaid, who is a delight. And it's he's like full-on freaking Cousin Eddie in this movie. But it's like they're they're driving the freaking caravan of um RVs.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: And he goes, I've been saying it. I've been saying it for 10 damn years. Ain't I been saying it, Miguel? Like that shit, shit i remember so clearly.
Jeff: Oh, man, he looks like he believes in aliens for real now. um his With his crazy hair and his long beard. i like Cousin Eddie, um and I like him in this movie, but um I didn't have any quotes from him. i I have kind of a deep cut for my second one.
Jeff: um do Do you know who Dan Lauria is, the dad from The Wonder Years?
JT Spangler: Okay.
Jeff: He was in the very early part of the movie um in the Situation Room. And I don't know why it's stuck in my head for all of these years, but I can remember like...
Jeff: hearing it the first couple of times I watched it and always going like, what the, first of all, there's no way that that big ass ship made it all the way to the moon and they didn't know it yet.
Jeff: Like it passes the moon.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: And then they're like, Oh, by the way, there's a spaceship here. We should do something about it. ah But also the guy from the wonder years said, it's roughly 550 kilometers.
Jeff: And when he says kilometers, I don't know why it bothers the shit out of me. But now I say kilometers on purpose when I'm talking about stuff where where people expect me to say kilometers. I say kilometers.
Jeff: And that's why I put that in there because I like that. And that's where I got it from. And I didn't remember that's where I got it from until I watched it this time.
JT Spangler: that's that's That's a great tidbit. Your primary job is to educate the youth of Southern Louisiana, so I wish you would not mispronounce kilometers because they already don't know anything.
Jeff: ah Kilometers? Well, it's not like I'm teaching a photography class. I'm just, it's just, I'm saying kilometers.
JT Spangler: Yeah, but you're teaching you're teaching kids who need all the help they get.
JT Spangler: My...
Jeff: They do need help.
JT Spangler: My third quote is just the Independence Day speech, which I won't read the whole thing, but it's, ah but dude, it's getting less than an hour.
Jeff: Oh, man.
JT Spangler: Aircraft from here will join from others around the world and you'll be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind. And then dude, it but he like builds it. It's like, we're fighting for our, today we celebrate our Independence Day. I was like, that's a hell of a speech. I like that.
JT Spangler: ah He was just like up on the back of a truck, like just restyling.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: them I like that extemporaneous speech to rouse people up.
Jeff: When he says the, we will not go quietly into the night, like the whole, um I don't know, Dylan Thomas or whoever wrote that poem that I think he's paraphrasing.
JT Spangler: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff: um Dude, that part was pretty, pretty powerful. It was pretty powerful. I, and again, music comes in right at the right time. Your boy, ah David Arnold with the music did it right, right there.
JT Spangler: Absolutely, dude. That's a great moment. It's a great scene. It's a great speech. Bill Pullman is my jam. He does a fantastic job. That's a that's a freaking high point of the movie. um
JT Spangler: Yeah, dude, that's my three quotes.
Jeff: so my third one
Jeff: is when they're in the the uh spaceship and they finally get loose and they've already shot the nuke and they had resigned to the fact uh will smith and jeff goldblum are smoking cigars and they have
Jeff: we gotta go and he says um i hear no fat lady and then jeff goldblum which apparently again was just made up he's like forget the fat lady you're obsessed with the fat lady let's just get out of here uh i've always loved that um when he ah flips it back on will smith and gives him the uh the uh forget the fat lady uh that's my jam i love me some jeff goldblum
JT Spangler: Yeah, I also love that.
JT Spangler: Yeah, that's a great quote. And that leads us perfectly into characters because my first character on my list is Jeff Goldblum.
Jeff: Me too. Me too. He plays ah David Levinson, super neurotic, um very environmentally conscious. um He's like a cable guy, news guy, something.
Jeff: Figures out the countdown and the virus, like its peak Goldblum delivery, just very, ah very Goldblum. And I really like that ha lot.
JT Spangler: Dude, I really like his i like his character. like he's and Even in the beginning, freaking Harvey Fierstein's trying to tell him the whole world's locked out, the satellites aren't working, and he's just got his freaking little spray bottle in his office, and he's just like spritzing a little plant, and he's like composting and shit, and it's like, i just the whole character, I love it.
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. ah Dude, also, there's a part where they are flying out and trying to get away. And he's turning to Luke. at Luke, Jesus. And he's turning to Will Smith and he says, must go faster. Must go faster.
Jeff: ah That's the same thing Ian Malcolm said a couple years ago when he was riding in the back of the Jeep.
JT Spangler: Jurassic Park. Yeah.
Jeff: Yeah. That's awesome that he did that again.
JT Spangler: But he's got to well, the relationship between him and his dad, ah Judd Hirsch, is one of my favorite things.
Jeff: That's how you can tell he's making it up.
JT Spangler: Rewatching this movie, but also just his character has a bunch of great moments. Like, dude, he gets, they're in Area 51 and Jeff Goldblum just gets drunk because they're going to just like set off nuclear bombs and he's just freaking throwing trash.
JT Spangler: And his dad's like, you got to, he's like, whole just get a hold of himself. He's like, we got to wreck the place. We got to trash the planet. We got to get rid of the ozone layer. He's like, if we just make it bad enough, the aliens won't want it.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: he's got a bunch of really fun moments.
Jeff: Yeah, he, um there's there's very few things I don't like Jeff Goldblum in. He's very good.
JT Spangler: You seem like he's less Jeff ley in this back in these days, which is, uh, which is nice.
Jeff: um My second one, because I also had Jeff Goldblum.
Jeff: Yeah. See, but I like it when he turns the Goldblum up to 11. That's my jam.
JT Spangler: I don't mind it, but he's gotten a little Christopher Walken where it's like a little caricature-ish.
Jeff: one My second is Will Smith.
JT Spangler: Yeah. Will Smith, uh,
Jeff: That's the,
JT Spangler: He's not on my list.
Jeff: caricature of jeff goldblum will smith didn't make it what
JT Spangler: Will Smith. no i mean, dude, this cast is just great. And, um, and I really love Will Smith in this movie, but I also think I could replace him with a bunch of different people and the movie's probably just as good.
Jeff: yeah i get that i get that um so I mean, everybody knows who Will Smith is. Everybody's seen all of his movies. um This is a full on summer blockbuster that makes him super popular. He goes on to do Men in Black and Enemy in the State and Wild Wild West and saves the the the world a thousand times over. um So everybody knows Will Smith. I want to know who your second person is.
JT Spangler: My second person Judd Hirsch.
Jeff: Nice.
JT Spangler: Dude, he's got, i I didn't remember him having as big of a part in this movie.
Jeff: Oh, God, I love that guy in taxi.
JT Spangler: He's, ah he's Jeff Goldblum's dad. He drives him to Washington there. He's telling the, like Jeff Goldblum's telling the president and dude, he's like, he's going and he's like, I didn't know I was going to meet the president. I'm dressed like a Shamil. He's like,
JT Spangler: And like the, he's, Jeff Goldblum's like yelling at the secretary of defense on Air Force One and the secretary defense is like, get this guy out of here. And he interrupts. He's like, you'd all be dead if it wasn't for my David. You listened to him.
JT Spangler: And he's frigging such a stereotypical Jewish parent.
Jeff: Yes. its
JT Spangler: And I loved it.
Jeff: Yeah. No, he did, dude. He also turned it up to 11 and I freaking love that. um He um is also, he's like a grandpa on what's the, the Goldbergs. um And my kids watch that all the time. And every time I see him, I just, I freaking love him.
Jeff: That's a good choice picking him. I'm glad you did.
JT Spangler: I just, those two I really liked, but I also, all of their, like, they had really good character arcs, and Judd Hirsch is one of my favorite. Like, he had a bunch of moments in this movie where that character was important, and I had kind of forgotten that.
JT Spangler: Wait, that cutout, what'd you say?
Jeff: Oh, I said we probably have the same third ah person. Who's your third person?
JT Spangler: President Bill Pullman.
Jeff: Yeah, President president with president Pullman. ah Thomas J. Whitmore, according to the interwebs. um
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: Dude, former fighter fighter fighter pilot. um Leads from the front. He's a really good – he's one of the better movie presidents, I think. I think he's good.
JT Spangler: He's a great movie president. Yeah, he said he read Bob Woodward's The Commanders and then watched the documentary The War Room to learn about like how to be a really good president and inspiring leader.
Jeff: Yeah, I think he did good.
JT Spangler: And i was like, dude, he's freaking great. He's got that great presidential hair. he' His wife dies he just gets right into fighter pilot and goes out and it kills aliens.
Jeff: Dude, I like him because like to me, this was a different thing for him. He was in Sleepous in Seattle, sure. And we did him on that one and while you were sleeping.
JT Spangler: Yep.
Jeff: He's sleeping through all our movies.
JT Spangler: Yes.
Jeff: um ah the He was Spaceballs, though. Remember he played whatever Han Solo is in Spaceballs? Yeah.
JT Spangler: yes
Jeff: So like he's super charming and like always in like a light comic role for romantic comedies. um And I think his steadiness as a president was really good in this.
Jeff: i thought it was awesome.
JT Spangler: Yeah, I was just, I mean, I was just thinking one of the things I really like about this character and part of it's in the writing and part of it's in the portrayal, but it's like ah aliens are trying to blow up the entire goddamn world. And he's like, never upset. He's like, he's like just a calm. He's like, all right. He's like, well, just nuclear weapon didn't work. He's like, all right, let's move to the next plan.
JT Spangler: I was like, man, that seems like a great guy to be in charge in a crisis like this.
Jeff: Yeah.
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah. I'm not, I'm not good like that in a crisis. I like to think I could be, uh, harness my chi, but I don't think, I don't think I'd be good at that.
JT Spangler: Yeah, I just, I appreciate that. I think that's important. I like that. That's what I want from leadership, someone I can rely on to be calm when other people are not calm and to be a grownup, even when they're upset.
Jeff: Right.
Jeff: Yes, that's rare. Very rare.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: um Director, actors? I mean, director and writers?
JT Spangler: ah ra ah Roland Emmerich is the writer and director. He co-wrote it with the producer Dean Devlin.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: And dude, i didn't realize that Roland Emmerich had written as many of his movies as he has, but it's ah like all of his shit is like, if Michael Bay was even worse, like just, it's just like, dude,
Jeff: of the road.
Jeff: End of the road.
Jeff: All of them is into the world stuff, yeah.
JT Spangler: Yeah, could we blow up everything and would that be cool? And like I'm looking at it, I'm dude, if you read the Metacritic and Rotten Tomato reviews of his movies, they all average the the average is way below 50. Some of them are like nine out of 100.
Jeff: What? What?
JT Spangler: But when you look at it's like, they dude, Stargate and not is good, Independence Day, Godzilla, Patriot, Day After Tomorrow, 2012, White House Down. It's a lot of stuff that I'm like, that's a fun movie, man. I like that.
Jeff: Moonfall. Yeah. ah Dude, all of those movies though are ah spring just save up the money and spring for the big popcorn because it's going to be a popcorn eaten movie.
Jeff: um
JT Spangler: Yeah, i'm I'm not going to lie.
Jeff: And it's...
JT Spangler: i't I haven't seen anything since White House Down. um
Jeff: Moonfall wasn't great, but it wasn't bad. it was just the the moon was coming to hit the earth.
JT Spangler: Sure. Why wouldn't it?
Jeff: Yeah, it was is it was weird. And it had cool special effects.
JT Spangler: But the... But these two, Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, did Stargate together in 94, and they said on the press tour, they kept getting asked, like did they think that their aliens had actually visited Earth?
JT Spangler: And like just between doing the like press ah stuff, we'll go to the hunket, they they like like, I think I have an idea for the next movie.
Jeff: ah here We got to build a donkey together.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: Oh, man. Yeah, dude, that's a fantastic way to do it, too. um
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: Just hanging out and coming up with the idea. i read that they wrote, they went on vacation in Mexico, and over the four weeks they were in Mexico, they wrote the whole movie.
JT Spangler: Yeah, it seems like it.
Jeff: um That's great. you know I was going to say, they just kept writing explosions every every third line. Just aliens and explodings and breasts.
JT Spangler: Yeah, it' like every fourth page we put an explosion in and and then we they wrote in the margins like Will Smith vamps, although it wasn't Will Smith and at that point, they were trying to Ethan Hawke to do it. And Ethan Hawke read it was like, this script is a horrible. I'm not doing that.
Jeff: what the? Yeah. um ah Dude, Ethan Hawke, Keanu Reeves, and Tom Cruise were the choices. ah You said you could replace it with a lot of people and it would still be good.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: I don't think you replace it with these three guys and it's any good.
JT Spangler: Do you don't think Tom Cruise could be the lead in this movie?
Jeff: Dude, I want it to be like, I like the Will Smith funny. and that Him back and forth with Jeff Goldblum is what I like about that part. Because he's like, got his chest all out and he's acting all braggadocious.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
JT Spangler: Yeah. Dude, I like Will Smith.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: he's
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: He's good in this. ah I like Harry Connick in this. I wish he wouldn't have died so early. The whole cast, dude, freaking Robert Loggia. I'm not bequeathing it to you. Like, I like a lot of the cast.
Jeff: That's literally what I wrote down. I wrote, I wrote down, Hey, the guy from necessary rest is I'm not bequeathing it to you. I'm loving it.
JT Spangler: I'll cherish it forever.
Jeff: Oh man. I gotta go back and watch that again. Um,
JT Spangler: No, no, you don't.
Jeff: yeah dude, I'm definitely watching that again. Um, Yeah, dude, the Harry Connick thing where he's like, let's kick the tires and light some fires, big daddy. I liked his... I'm from Thibodeau and I'm also a fighter pilot feel. um And he... ah When he does that... um and i Like the good reverend said, Jesse Jackson, I guess, is who he was doing.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: Like, we're not on this particular... We don't know why we're on this particular mission, but we'll never know. And, dude, I like the Harry Connick thing. I freaking ah wanted him to be in more of it. By the way, do you know who he's...
JT Spangler: I was going to say, he was he was awesome at this.
Jeff: you know who he's married to?
JT Spangler: you ah I know he replaced matt Perry in this movie, but no, I don't know that.
Jeff: All right. Wait. Matthew Perry from Friends is who he replaced?
JT Spangler: Yes.
Jeff: Okay, so tell me, since you've you watch Friends all the time, so um this is ironic that he ah is married to who Matthew Perry gets stuck in an ATM vestibule with.
JT Spangler: Oh, Jill Goodiker.
Jeff: What are the freaking odds of that? That's freaking great.
JT Spangler: That's awesome. Yeah, dude, Harry Connick is...
Jeff: As soon as I saw that. Oh, man.
JT Spangler: He was really good in the small part of this movie that he's like, he's he's like just comic relief for the Top Gun part of the movie. And he just like grabs onto Will Smith during the briefings.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: He's like hold me. And then later on, he's he's like opening the, he drops the engagement ring and Harry Connick Jr. is like on a knee holding it up. And like someone else walks into the locker room and just turns around and walks away.
Jeff: Yeah. Oh, man. ah Harry Koenig's a good actor. Yeah.
JT Spangler: He's great, man. I was just thinking like the only movie that I watched, that he's are like the lead in his hope floats. That's in a couple of years.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: But every time I see him in a movie, I'm like, this dude's good. I wish he would do more movies.
Jeff: Isn't, um who's, ah what's the the daughter? May Whitman. Isn't she in Hope Floats?
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: Cool.
JT Spangler: Probably. she's She's doing a lot of work.
Jeff: Isn't it? Yeah, yeah. That's her in Hope Floats.
JT Spangler: Nice.
Jeff: She's the, I have an urgent message for stupid Sammy Parker. ah She was on One Fine Day and she was in Bye Bye Love.
JT Spangler: Yes. Yes.
Jeff: That's two two movies we've seen her in already.
JT Spangler: dude she's She was doing a ton of stuff back in the day. um
Jeff: What about, dude, wait, what about ah James Rebhorn, Michelin XGV model 75R14 tires? That guy?
JT Spangler: Yes. I love that guy.
Jeff: i like that. Dude, he was a really good defense secretary that gets fired. That was great. He he did a really good job.
JT Spangler: Yeah. I mean, this cast this cast list is is crazy, man, because where there's still people we have not mentioned that were in this movie that are really good. And, like, dude, Vivica Fox is fucking fantastic in this movie.
JT Spangler: haven't talked about her at all.
Jeff: Yeah, she is. Yeah, she is.
JT Spangler: Like, I like Adam Baldwin in this movie. I forgot he was even in there. Yeah, it's...
Jeff: Dude, did you recognize who the long-haired hippie doctor, not doctor, scientist guy was?
JT Spangler: it's
Jeff: That's Brett Spiner? i don't know how you say his last name.
JT Spangler: Just the Star Trek guy, right?
Jeff: That's the guy who plays Data. Yeah, it's Data.
JT Spangler: Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff: I didn't recognize him until this time.
JT Spangler: Yeah, dude, there's sir a lot of lot of good cast there. ah Bonus good. though he ah When Judd Hirsch said, was like, if I didn't know that was going to meet the president, I would have worn a guy who looked like a shmeel. was like, I've heard that. I've looked that up before.
JT Spangler: And so I'm looking up this. Anyone who is Jewish is like, these guys are so stupid. But you got to understand, it we didn't ever we didn't meet any Jewish people until we were in our twenty s this This is Southern louis Louisiana.
Jeff: yeah Yeah.
JT Spangler: But like, the so the shlemiel and the shlemazel in somazel and Yiddish is like the shlemiel is like the clumsy waiter who trips and spills the soup. And the shlemazel is the person that the soup lands on. But those are like Yiddish archetypes. And so like, i was like looking at it. was like, dude, this is awesome. Because like Woody Allen always in his movies has a shlemiel and a shlemazel. And like, supposedly George in Seinfeld is the shlemiel and Jerry is the shlemazel.
Jeff: I don't, um, the only.
Jeff: Possive ever incorporated or whatever they say. Uh, that's the only reason I even knew those, knew those words, but I had no idea what they meant.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: That's awesome.
JT Spangler: Yeah. And so I was like, dude, I know I've heard that. I'm gonna look it up.
Jeff: That's awesome.
JT Spangler: i like That's a fun deep dive for a non Jew because I have heard that and didn't know what it meant. But you got any other bonus good?
Jeff: No. I did put that the dog Boomer, um it makes a logic defying miraculous ah leap into the maintenance room ah when it's blowing up in the tunnel. um And the studio had mandated that because the three executives that watched the screener with all of the people Everybody ah was very um upset that the dog, they didn't even show the dog dying. They just never showed it making it. So it was ambiguous and everybody was super upset about it. So they made them rewrite that and say, you got to let the dog
Jeff: make it somehow uh so she yells and the dog comes running and yeah by the way if there's an explosion going down a tunnel would that not go into the open door and get them too i don't know how that works
JT Spangler: Yeah, that's exactly how that works. Wait, did you did you read about the original ending that they changed?
Jeff: uh no i don't think so
JT Spangler: So the original ending is Randy Quaid. He's not allowed to go on the mission because he's an alcoholic and he doesn't know how to fly an F-18. So he takes his freaking old school biplane crop duster and like ties a f freaking missile to the side of it and then like flies out there with the like open with the f freaking leather helmet.
Jeff: Thank you.
JT Spangler: and saves things. And, and they, they tested the movie with that ending. And it was like, it tested like amazingly well, like 90 something percent, but the director and the producer were like, I can't, I don't think that makes the defeat of the aliens seem like an accident. he's like, we got to change that up. So,
JT Spangler: They, um, they went back to their original scripted ending, which is like, he is allowed to go with everyone. And they, they called the whole cast together. Like the movie's done. They call him back for one day and they shoot the thing in the hangar when he's like explaining to him how to fly the F-18 and they shoot some stuff like in the F-18 and, um,
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: Like, uh, like Lisa Jacobs, the, his daughter had like gone to do another movie and shaved her head. So like they put a wig on her, but like they brought him back and did the reshoots where he's driving, flying the F-18, which is first of all, crazy.
JT Spangler: Uh, cause you can't do that, but also is a way better ending for the movie.
Jeff: Yeah.
Jeff: Dude, i I don't know that I would have liked it if he tied a missile to it and freaking flew his dusty craft hopper up in there.
JT Spangler: No, that would have been horrible.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: I mean, I'm sure it would have been on movie, but this ending is way better.
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it is It is. I like that. I'm glad they changed it. I'm glad they changed
JT Spangler: Yeah. i don't ah I don't have any other good. You want to do worst?
Jeff: it. Sure. Yeah. What you got?
JT Spangler: I talked about some of it, like freaking Will Smith punches the alien out. It's out for hours, but then it takes like 30 bullets to actually kill it. Will Smith is a freaking, he's a black knight for the Marines, which means he's a fighter pilot.
Jeff: yeah
JT Spangler: He also just takes a helicopter. They're not the same. If you could fly an airplane, you can't, it's not like riding a bicycle and then riding a tricycle. They're totally different. Unless you're Tom Cruise in real life who can fly both, but like,
Jeff: Yeah. I feel like the crossover is more than you would think, but i it's not the same at all.
JT Spangler: No, dude.
Jeff: I know.
JT Spangler: Totally different controls.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: ah
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: But also, I really like that part because Will Smith's like, just tell him I hit you.
Jeff: That's a big old meathead guy. um Yeah, dude. So for me, the... um
Jeff: I like how they use just broad archetypes and they don't apologize it for it because like it's the 90s, first of all, and it's a summer movie. So they're like, we need a nerd hero.
Jeff: We need a swagger-filled pilot.
JT Spangler: Right.
Jeff: We need the the haunted drunk that's been abducted. We need an inspirational president, a stripper with a heart of gold, like a mad scientist bringing Area 51.
Jeff: They just threw all of that shit in there.
JT Spangler: Get them all in there.
Jeff: um I freaking kind of liked it. ah But if you tried that now, I think it would be... and Are people just more sophisticated? I know we're not because I've met people. But I'm saying like, why would this not work if you made it again just like this?
JT Spangler: Yeah, I think the problem is that but it's because it has been done, now people have talked about it, like these two idiots, me and you, and now it's like you got to fucking change it up some, even though if you if there was no memory of the past, you wouldn't have to change it up.
Jeff: Yeah, yeah.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: You just keep redoing it over and over again.
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah, maybe so.
JT Spangler: And it's not to me, it's like, hey, you know, it's what what's cool is to make a movie that isn't filled with stereotypes. I'm like, I'm okay with that. It doesn't make the movie worse.
Jeff: ah but and Have her not be, have a heart of gold that can drive a stick shift um fire truck.
JT Spangler: Dude, have the stripper be the one who went to MIT, and that's how she's paying for it.
Jeff: Can she just be a dumb stripper?
JT Spangler: I love that.
Jeff: Oh, man. Nobody ever gets my jokes when I take out the really big chicken breasts, the ones that are filled with like saline and stuff. And I'm like, man, these chickens are dancing their way through dental hygienist school.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: Look at the size of these breasts. And everybody just stares at me and that doesn't say anything.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: Okay.
JT Spangler: um I mean, other worst is like, I know, and i now I know, I know I watched the extended Disney plus edition.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: So some of that I'm not going to worry about as much, but, and some of it is like the fricking dog fights and the shielding and the given the alien a cold with the Mac laptop.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: It's like, I don't care that much about some of that stuff.
Jeff: Yeah, I like how it was the Mac power book that gave it the I'm glad Apple is okay with working together with the aliens and letting that tech work together.
JT Spangler: Cause, uh,
Jeff: But if my son tries to send me something to my Android phone, they're like, no, I'm sorry. You need a special dongle and a subscription to make that work.
JT Spangler: Well, you can, yeah, you can communicate with aliens. You just can't communicate with poor people.
Jeff: Dang, Mr. han I didn't know you was that poor. You got an Android? Ah, idiots. all of you.
JT Spangler: yeah That's great. Yeah, dude. Five questions. Is it okay for kids?
Jeff: Wait, wait, wait. One more thing. I see it at the bottom.
JT Spangler: Wait. Okay. Yeah.
Jeff: I forgot to mention. they gave the kid all right Also, I didn't like the scene where the the daughter Mrs. Doubtfire's daughter ah is just trying to hook up with people and she doesn't want to die virgin and it just keeps coming up.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: But ah the kid, is her brother's sick and the kid that comes to the door is like, here, this is all we got. Here's some penicillin. It'll keep help keep his fever down. I'm like, that's not what penicillin does.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
JT Spangler: No, not how that works.
Jeff: why wouldn't they just Why wouldn't they just get that right? just change like That's just words. You don't even need to like have a computer do anything there.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: Just fix that.
JT Spangler: All right. Well, if so finish the sentence. ah Here's, here's all we had. Here's the penicillin. It's.
Jeff: We'll help for the infection.
JT Spangler: yeah
Jeff: That's what penicillin is, right?
JT Spangler: Yeah, totally. I think they just did it because they're not doctors, and they're like, we can't have them bring in ibuprofen. Everybody's got that. They've got to bring something better.
Jeff: I could tell they didn't know what they were doing because they were all using Apple products.
JT Spangler: i like how anybody who knows about medicine is like, that's a freaking wrong-sized pill. These guys are idiots. ah But that's how everybody is about their area of expertise and not anything else.
Jeff: ah
Jeff: Yeah.
Jeff: Yeah. I like to know more about all the things, but I totally get that. That is exactly right.
JT Spangler: Um, all right, dude, I have questions.
Jeff: Um,
Jeff: um So the first one is, is what age?
JT Spangler: Yeah. Is it okay for kids?
Jeff: I have an eight year old daughter that walked out as soon as he, he she didn't, she waited for the welcome to earth. Cause she likes that part. She's seen that part before in a clip.
Jeff: ah But when he was cutting the ah alien open and it pops open and makes that noise, ah she had a jump scare and didn't like it.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: And she was like this movie, I don't think I want to watch this anymore. And then it it goes crazy.
JT Spangler: Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff: And the freaking, Uh, Mr. Mom washing machine, uh, arms are flailing around. Uh, and it pushes him up against the window. She just got up and walked out.
Jeff: ah so she didn't finish it from there. She didn't even see how, how it ends. Uh, so I'm going to go with 10. She's eight, but I think 10 year old is probably fine.
JT Spangler: Well, right first of all, that's the part that she left during is my least favorite part and is absolutely the part to walk out of. But if you miss the last 45 minutes of this movie, you miss something that's genuinely great.
Jeff: Yeah, you missed them it's the best part. And I told her that. I was like, wait, wait, come back. She's like, no, I'm okay. I'm going to go shit my pants someplace else.
JT Spangler: Yeah. Right.
Jeff: um Could it get made? You think you could pitch it to somebody and make a blockbuster now?
JT Spangler: I...
JT Spangler: Yeah, do i isn't the isn't the like hardest part to imagine now is that all the nations of the world are going to work together?
Jeff: Everybody but us is all working together to get to get something done.
JT Spangler: Like, we're going to figure out a solution and then we're going to tell the other countries. We got it. We figured it out. Like, no, we're just going to save our part of the planet and then let the aliens have the rest.
Jeff: yeah know. don't know. know. know. don't know. I don't know. don't know. don't know. know. don't don't
JT Spangler: ah But yeah, dude, what?
Jeff: i dude I don't don't know.
JT Spangler: Disaster movie?
Jeff: of
JT Spangler: For sure. Alien movie?
Jeff: don't
JT Spangler: Yes.
Jeff: don't don't don't know.
Jeff: don't know. I don't know. I don't know. know. don't don't don't don't don't I don't know. know. don't It would be full-on holiday for everyone's independence.
JT Spangler: Yeah, that'd be great.
Jeff: That's what I say.
JT Spangler: um Movie or TV show?
Jeff: That's all have to say about that.
JT Spangler: To me, definitely movie.
Jeff: um It's got to be a movie. It's got to be a movie.
JT Spangler: What about recasting?
Jeff: What, did you recast anybody?
JT Spangler: No, dude, there's 20 people in this movie. i didn't even begin.
Jeff: i only I tried to do the three that I picked as my characters that I liked. So ah do you do you think Michael B. Jordan could play the Will Smith part?
Jeff: like I feel like they would pick somebody who's already popular.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
JT Spangler: Yeah, dude, he's got the exact same thin mustache.
Jeff: What's his name with the tiny mouth? Freaking Glenn Powell?
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Glenn Powell could maybe do it. Then for, uh, for, uh, Goldblum, I was thinking like, uh, Rami Malek. Uh, I think he, Mr. Robot could probably do that part. And then for the president, I want Marshall Ali.
Jeff: Uh, cause I like that dude. And he, I feel like could play a good president.
JT Spangler: Yeah, I think ah Jeff Goldblum's part should still be a Jewish actor, so i would do Ben Schwartz and then Jeff Goldblum as the dad.
Jeff: Nice. Nice. I would watch that. I would watch that.
JT Spangler: Yeah, I mean, like du this is I think it's a pretty easy movie to cast, truthfully.
Jeff: Absolutely.
JT Spangler: There's a bunch of great parts, but none of them are all that difficult. So yeah, I'm with that.
Jeff: Right.
JT Spangler: Can you still watch and enjoy this movie?
Jeff: and So can you watch and enjoy it now?
JT Spangler: Absolutely. It's streaming on Disney+. plus
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: It's a lot of fun. And when this podcast comes out, we'll just have past Independence Day, and you probably will have already watched it if you were going to. 2011.
Jeff: Dude, speaking of which, I did read that it were they were going to play it on ah September 16th on regular TV.
JT Spangler: thousand eleven
Jeff: um But five days before that, ah yeah, on September 11th, 2001, that happened. So they were like, maybe we shouldn't blow up a lot of the buildings in the large cities, just in case, just in ah But yeah, dude, I hope everybody goes and watches it.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: Try to find the non-extended version. It'll make your time go by a little quicker.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: um But it was still good. It was awesome.
JT Spangler: Yeah. All right.
Jeff: and What else?
JT Spangler: Thank you guys for listening as always. And we'll be back in two weeks with, ah I say phenomenon. That's my vote.
Jeff: Something like a phenomena. Something like a phenomena. Oh, wait, that's not from that movie, is it? No, that's not.
JT Spangler: No, it is not.
Jeff: That's wrong. That's wrong.
JT Spangler: All right.
Jeff: That's LL Cool J.
JT Spangler: Bye, a can deus!
Jeff: Bye, Kondias.
Jeff: Bye.
