Episode 28: Movie Sequels

Joel and Seth discuss the best movie sequels by decade and play a game called red light/green light for movie sequel ideas. Thank you for listening!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to the Flyover Guides, a show by two middle-aged Midwestern fellas who are just trying to figure out what was, what is, and what will be about aspects of American culture from our little spot of soil here in the heartland. Jump on board this week. We are talking sequels. We are coming to summertime, so it seems like it's a natural time to discuss sequels. Alright, let's start right off, Seth. Alright. How many sequels can you name that are coming out between May 1st and the end of August? Can you name any sequels coming out this summer?

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Like just off the top of my head, what sequels are coming out? I know there's a there's a minions movie that's coming out.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

You're already yeah, that's one I wouldn't have got. Minions 3. Yeah. Very good.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Um Dune 3 Dune Part 3.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

That's not this summer, though. Oh, okay. That's yeah, yeah. You're right, that is coming, but it's December. Uh exactly. I had two more I would have gotten, I wouldn't have gotten anything else.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Yeah, I'm just trying to think. I know I took my son to watch Zootopia 2, but that's been on a bit, and that's obviously already come out. Um I don't know. I'm blanking. Is there a new Jurassic World coming out? Or a quiet place.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Which I think there is this fall now that you say that.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Oh, Jim's Jim Bryant. Oh, yeah. Devil Roy's Product. There's a new General Brian.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

Oh, I didn't even think that's right. I didn't even count that. That probably should count. Yeah. Yeah. Um, Devil Wears Prada 2, uh Mortal Kombat 2, Scary Movie 6. The only one I would have got was Toy Story 5. You said Minions 3, Evil Dead Burn, Spider-Man, brand new day, Super Troopers 3, and Insidious the Bleeding World. So I think outside of Spider-Man and Toy Story, this is not a great summer for sequels. Which is a good thing, actually, because I like I like original content. Yeah, that's what I was gonna ask you. How do you feel about sequels in general? But I, you know, I don't think there's an easy answer for that because there's some fantastic sequels. Um, we can go back to the 70s, and I think you start with Godfather 2. You can make a case that that's the best sequel ever. Um and then where I don't know where you want to put this today, but then I put together sequels from each decade. Okay. And then what you think wins the award for best sequel. But we can do that whenever. So I'll leave it to you. What do you want to talk about? Yeah, I do sequels.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

You know, we always throw these ideas back and forth, and um we kind of come up with a plan for a podcast, and then we discuss. And um I threw out the idea of sequels. We could talk about sequels, and we wanted to do something with movies, and and I know that we kind of grew up in in the era of sequels, and when you would go rent a movie, uh, I felt like it was always go into the to the rental store and you see what new sequels came out. Um and it and I feel like it's just snowballed um ever since we were kids. Even to this day, you just rattled off uh five or six sequels that are coming out. So um I I would like to talk today about the best and the worst sequels that we can come up with, or if you just have the best from the decades, that's fine, and we could just uh discuss some bad ones. Um and then at the end of the pod, if we have time, I wanted to play a little red light, green light where maybe I can give you some ideas of some sequels. But so you want to start with the the 80s, right? With some some good sequels.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

So, okay, you tell me which one you think was most successful in the 80s. Let's see how we do here. Um, the 80s is really the decade where sequels took off. Uh, I mean, I know there's stuff in the 70s that we can get to, like The Godfather 2. Um, I think Superman 2, I've got a 1980, wasn't it? That is right on the edge.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

What about Jaws 2? When was Jaws 2? Jaws was 70. Jaws was 75, is that right? And then Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Jaws 2 was 78. Okay. Um, yeah, Superman 2. I you're right. I think that's right at 1980. That is right at 1980. I should throw that in because Superman 2. That was a good one. Yeah. It was. It's um, but okay, so here you go. What what what do you think? Now, I have one question. Is a sequel only part two, or can it be just anything in the IP?

SPEAKER_01 4:49

I think it's anything in the IP. Uh but the ones that I kind of came up with were the second one.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Were the seconds. Um, okay, so the 80s has some really good candidates. I think weirdly, I think the 90s and the 2020s, I know the 2020s isn't done. I think there's an overwhelming winner for the 1990s and for the 2020s. Okay. But the 80s is a good one. Um, okay, um, I'm throwing in Superman 2 now because I think that's fantastic. Uh, The Empire Strikes Back, uh, Indiana Jones, and I'm gonna skip Temple of Doom. I'm gonna go The Last Crusade. I think that one. Uh Rambo, First Blood Part 2, Rocky 3 and 4. I'm gonna skip part two. Beverly Hills Cop 2, I think is really good. And then Aliens. Yeah, all, all on my list. Um it's just everything What would you put at the top?

SPEAKER_01 5:45

Everything just became bigger and better and badder, and maybe as you go down the line, worse. I don't know. But I feel like um man, one thing that you didn't on the 80s, I felt like uh another big one was Back to the Future part two. I thought that was a good one. Yeah, it was I just didn't like it, but not a big deal. You're right. I get it. It's a big deal. Um I think uh, in my personal opinion, I think Empire Strikes Back. Um, however, yeah, uh just because you know it Aliens is a great sequel. Aliens as well. That was right there at the that was 89, right? Um that was right at no or was it earlier? I think it was right in the middle.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

Okay, it was like 86.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

Okay, yeah. I'm I'm I'm off. You've nailed every other one. So what about like Christmas vacation? Is that that's a third one though, isn't it? Because European European vacation.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

Right, but I mean that that should count. That should count, and that's what I mean is I struggled with am I just doing the direct so that's why I started to throw in Rocky uh three and four. I liked Rocky IV better than three.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

But that's my thing.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

I liked them. Yeah, I liked them both. I mean, I'm scarred by Rocky IV with when Apollo Creed got killed. But Rocky III with I mean, it's Mr. T. Yeah. It's just that's but what do you think D.A. Barack? What's your what's your winner? Well, I mean I think I I I bet you and I are gonna agree. I think Empire Strikes Back because the hype around Star Wars for people who weren't alive then, um, which I don't remember the original Star Wars, I would have only been two, but I do remember going to the Crest Theater to see Empire Strikes Back. Um, and you didn't have any buzz, you didn't have in terms of spoilers or anything like that. And so you and I have talked about this before. When Darth Vader announced that he's the father of Luke, the whole free uh theater freaked. And Star Wars was already iconic, just that singular movie. So the fact that Empire Strikes Back could meet that, and it and actually it's a superior movie to the original. Um yes, the dark side wins, but it leaves you hanging because then there's the expectation that oh, there's gonna be another one. So that's why I think when the expectations are that high and you reach it and surpass it in culture, that doesn't happen much. Um, I I would almost like I think that would be fun to explore when has there been that amount of hype for a sequel and then it's actually surpassed the hype in terms of quality of the film. Um, and I don't know if it if if it's happened that much. Um, some people are gonna argue something like Top Gun or or maybe Terminator or something like that, but I I don't think there was as much hype around the originals the way there was with Star Wars. Terminator was like an indie film, so there's no way it had that kind of hype going into 91. Um so I I think I agree with you. I think it's probably Empire Strikes Back. Um well, okay, 90s. This is where I say there's a no-brainer. Let's see if you agree. I only came up and tell me if there's I didn't choose third parts of anything. Uh Toy Story 2, um, Die Hard 2, Tim Burton's Batman Returns, um, I think was fantastic, and T2, Terminator 2. I uh Terminator 2 to me was the best. Yeah. I it is. It's it's a no-brainer, and and that's another one where it easily surpasses the first. Um I don't think there's really I mean there's Die Hard with a Vengeance, the third one with Samuel Jackson, but uh it just doesn't hit the way T2 does.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

The um the the Toy Story franchise, the fact that they're still coming out with those is amazing to me. Um because now you're crossing it's almost like it's multiple generations of uh of an animated classic, but it's it it's a great franchise. It it kind of does go up and down. We'll see how this one is, but I assume Tim Allen and Tom Hanks are both in it, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:10

Uh yeah, I think so. They they've been. I remember the 19. I remember the 90s, you know. You and I talked about me working at a video store. I remember catching wind about maybe a new Star Wars would be coming out in the latter part of the 90s, and how mixed feelings I had. I think I would have been in in high school when this word started to come out that God, this is gonna be awesome. Finally, we get to build more of this universe of Star Wars. But there was a part of me on the other hand that was like going, I'm not sure if if it's gonna be good to add more to it. Um, maybe we should just stop. And you'll notice almost any IP out there, it just keeps going until you suck it dry. Yeah, and so uh that is my one concern with sequels, is it's too much of a good thing, and then it waters down the whole mythology of it. And if it's Star Wars, if it's Indiana Jones, I mean you could go to any franchise, I suspect, and it's just like, yeah, okay, I I think maybe they should have stopped a couple ago.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

But yeah, and I guess when it's a moneymaker, I get the idea that Hollywood, like I just mentioned multiple generations, how they do want to continue those IP to a new generation and kind of form their and I'll give the example of the Ghostbuster franchise. I don't those those new ones, I kind of like them. I mean, I know they're yeah, they're totally different kind of than what they've tried to connect with the original uh Ghostbuster crew and stuff. I don't mind it. Maybe maybe you just have to kind of just take it with a grain of salt. You know, it's it it is what it is. It's it's just a a new version, I guess. So I don't know. I like movies, I like going to movies and uh I don't know, sequels or I have I have mixed feelings about them, but do you remember how we used to talk in terms of trilogies?

SPEAKER_00 12:18

Why is that that feel like that's good dead now? It's gone. Um when you say, hey, what's the best trilogy? And you can't really say that anymore because it it just keeps coming up. That's a good point.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

That used to just be trilogy, trilogy seemed like it just capped off with Star Wars, uh, really. I mean, I think it was that.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

That was the template. Yeah, I think that was the template. You're right. And Back to the Future kind of copied it. Yeah. Um, because then they did their trilogy. But you know, you could already see with Jaws and with Rocky, um, that if you could push past three, if you could make money, and obviously things like Friday the 13th, the nightmare on Elm Street, the whole horror genre. Um, I I do because when people say what's the best trilogy, uh, there's not very many candidates now. Yeah. I mean I would you know, you know, I would give a Dark Horse trilogy that I I suspect most people haven't watched, and it would be Richard Linkletter's before trilogy. Yeah, it's um before sunrise, before sunset, and before midnight. I hope he doesn't come back to it. Um I think those three movies are amazing and almost perfect. And I think that might have to be my answer, even though we associate sequels uh and trilogies with with big movie franchises. Like I it's those are those don't happen anymore. They just they're gonna bleed you dry.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

And another one that I used to love growing up was uh Lethal Weapon, you know, yeah. And then then they kind of just kept going. I don't know how many they end up doing, but it you I think three is about the right number if we're really talking about it. Let's just kind of stop it at three. But you can't do that. There's money's gonna talk, and you know, it's just gonna keep going.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

I guess would you say the Lord of the Rings did it? But I know they did The Hobbit and all these other ones, but they did do Peter Jackson did wrap the three Lord of the Rings movies, and then just that was that story. That's a good one. Um I didn't I watched the first one, and I I know this will be an unpopular take, but after the first one I was good. Um yeah, okay. Um we'll let's let's race through these pretty quick. Okay. Best sequels from the 2000s, Born Supremacy, Lord of the Rings Two Towers, The Dark Knight. I put before sunset in there. Spider-Man 2, uh, the one with Doc Ock. These are the Sam Raimi ones, not the newer ones. Um I thought those those are some solid candidates from very different genres.

SPEAKER_01 14:55

Um I really like the Dark Knight out of all those that you just said. Uh and I'm a big born, Jason Bourne. Um I would probably give it to Dark Knight. That was just my vote.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

I I think that one had more of a cultural cultural footprint. Um it's like a it's like a gritty crime movie. It doesn't, and that's what the I mean, I guess you could say Chris Nolan did his trilogy of Batman movies. Um and they feel like kind of gritty crime movies, which I don't know. I I I do think it peaked with Dark Knight. Uh whereas the Born Supremacy, again, if it would have stopped with the Born Ultimatum, that's three amazing movies, but then they added a couple more in there, and sounds like they're gonna do another one. Um yeah, I think you're probably right. Uh I think it's like I think it's like Terminator 2, it just has such a big cultural imprint. Um, and Batman's such a fascinating case study of of how we view our heroes. If you were to go back from the 60s on up, of how we look at somebody like who's popular with superheroes in our culture, and then how is that superhero portrayed? I mean, I think that Batman reflects a much grittier um shade of gray kind of superhero than like what we would say Richard Donner's Superman was in the late 70s, where that aspired just to be goodness or even Tim Burton's campiness, and then Joel Schumacher took it a whole nother level in the 90s, just being really kind of campy, bright colored Batman. Um and now we have so many iterations of Batman. I I feel like it's it's kind of gone viral.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Um Spider-Man really has done, I think they've done a good job of kind of keeping it fresh and and take having a good take on it. I they're still entertaining, I guess. I mean my kids like my kids like them. And and I like the animated, the animated ones I thought were pretty good. Spider-Verse? Yeah, Spider-Verse. I like that.

SPEAKER_00 16:59

Yeah, yeah, those are really good. That was a fun movie. Check those out. The Miles Morales ones. That's that is all right, uh 2010s, Blade Runner 2049, The Incredibles 2, Captain America, The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy 2. Now these Lex 3, let's see what you think of these. Pitch Perfect 2, Mad Max, Fury Road, and Paddington 2.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

See, I haven't seen a couple of those. The Paddington, I know the Paddington movie got really good reviews. The second one, uh Pitch Perfect, I haven't seen. Uh boy, I'm a sucker for Mad Max too.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Those were that Fury Road movie is fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

Even the the Futuroso, is that what the the recent ones? Furiosa. Furiosa. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Gosh, I love those. Just the the creativity. Do you remember watching the originals? Um like even the first one, it it was it was different, but it was very tame. And they've kind of taken that and they've really expanded. It's almost just it's a fascinating world that they created. And that's what I love about movies is whether you're you know, if it's an if it's an author that comes up with the idea in a book and then they make a movie off of it, or if it's just uh uh somebody who writes it um as an original screenplayer or whatever. But Mad Max is a great example of it it's just cool what they've come up with. And I do really enjoy that. So out of all of those I don't know. I I my vote might have been the Mad Max one, but I now that you s I don't remember what some of the first ones were that you listed off.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

The other ones you're getting into Pixar and Marvel with Captain America, Guardians of the Galaxy of the Galaxy 2. Those weren't bad.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

I I I found those pretty funny, those Guardian of the Galaxy ones. I I enjoyed those as well.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

Um I would highly recommend the Blade Runner if you haven't seen it.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

No, I've seen it.

unknown 19:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

Boy, talk about world building, uh, the Blade Runner, and and even taking what they you know, Philip K. Dick's idea of doing Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and then making that into the Blade Runner movie, they've done a great job with that. And yeah, and I like the book. Um the first I think I like the original movie the best out of out of the Blade Runner stuff uh with Harrison Ford. But when was that? That was 80. That was early 80s. Early 80s, yeah. He boy, he was on a heater. If you look at Hans, you know, his Star Wars Indiana Jones, and you throw in um Blade Runner.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

I think you go Empire in 80, Raiders in 81, Blade Runner in '82, um, Return of the Jedi in '83, Temple of Doom in '84, and then like Witness or something like that in '85. That is that might be the greatest run uh of an actor. Um like a five-year stretch where you just talk about cultural franchises.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

Yeah, and if he would have done his uh like uh clear and present danger, if he would have done some of that that other stuff, that was probably more of the 90s. Yeah, boy, he had some of the biggest name. I mean, he was Hollywood at that early 80s. I think he kind of owned it there. He had the championship belt, I think.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

885 might be the greatest run by an actor for big movies. Because I think those, yeah, those those hit it. Um, all right, last one. And I feel like this is like the 1990s where I feel like the answer is pretty obvious. Um and obviously we're not done with the 2020s, so I only put two, and there's I'm sure there's more, but I just put Top Gun Maverick and Dune Part 2. And it's Top Gun Maverick to me. Yeah, yeah, it is. But Dune Dune might be a superior movie, yeah. But but Top Gun just that's that kind of old adage that it might have saved movie theaters for the time being because of COVID. Um far superior than the original Top Gun. Much better.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

So I just watched that not too long ago. It boy, it's rewatchable. Some of those movies, you know, um, even though you know the story, you just keep watching it, it kind of gets your adrenaline going, and it it's I don't know. Say what you want about Cruz and some of these things, but man, he still brought it, he nailed it. I thought. As far as an action guy, he's he's been probably the biggest action star in our lifetime, I think. Uh even over the Stallones and the Yeah. I mean, he's he's the most enduring. Yeah, he's endured and he's he's done it all.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

Yeah. For sure. I I think I left out like um the Jumanji ones. Oh, yeah. Those are pretty good. And Inside Out 2. There's there's a new Jumanji one coming out, right? As far as Captain. How do we want to say it? The third one, it's really the fourth one because we got to count the Robin Williams one in the 90s. Yeah. Um, but with this new group, I think that the third one with this new group comes out at Christmas, too. Yeah. So those are fun. That could be the those are. Those are those are really fun. Um, all right. So, anyways, I was just kind of curious to get what get what you thought that sequels have really taken off um since the 80s, and there's a whole gambit. And you know what we really left out was big time we left out horror. But I just think that that's kind of its own thing over there. It is. It is. What about bad ones?

SPEAKER_02 23:11

Does anything come to mind?

SPEAKER_00 23:14

Immediately, what comes to mind to me is Caddyshack 2 in the 80s because uh how beloved uh Caddyshack was. I absolutely love Caddyshack. And then hey, Caddyshack 2.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

Okay, so I feel like the original Caddyshack was so quotable, and everybody knows lines from that, but how big of a stinker was Caddyshack 2? I don't even know lines from Caddyshack 2. That's the drop off. And and I'm sorry, but I love Dan Ackroyd. I love Dan Ackroyd in a lot of movies. He was terrible in that movie, yeah. It was bad. It's almost like he was trying to play like a Rick Moranis or something, the way he was talking and stuff, and I didn't like it. So yeah, I agree. Caddyshack too.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

That's my 80s pick. You got one for like the 90s?

SPEAKER_01 24:12

I don't off the top of my head, I I can't think. I I just have all the 80s stuff because then you get into give me another 80s one. Well, what's another 80s one? Well, do you remember um the the notorious ones that I watched, and I think I mentioned this in the past pod uh every year when my buddies had birthday parties, and we would always watch the the police academies and the revenge of the nerds type thing, and those things just kept going. And they got so bizarre and bad that it's like they they ran out of ideas, but yet they still came up with the money to make these really bad sequels, which that those were kind of just like Caddyshack 2 couldn't even make it to the second one, but those things just kept going to Islands and oh Cousin Eddie's Christmas Vacation 2. I haven't seen I have not seen that, but how good that could that really be? I mean, it I don't I know nothing about it yet. Christmas Vacation is one of my favorite comedies.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

I'll throw out uh a comedy and an action. My action one I would say speed two, cruise control, is just terrible. Um, there instead of Keanu Reeves, you get Jason Patrick on a boat. Um, you still have Sandra Bullock, and that was so dumb. The first one was pretty innovative. I mean, the first one was good action movie. It was that's a really uh good action movie. And then for me, for uh a comedy in the 90s was I loved Major League, and Major League 2 is just garbage, and it's it's just like they recycled the plot and they they made it like PG instead of R, so they cleaned it all up, and it's like, oh my gosh, that that was bad.

SPEAKER_01 25:59

Hey, you just mentioned Speed with Keanu Reeves, and and we didn't really talk about and we don't have to talk about it, but um wick, aren't you? John Wick and the Matrix movies. Those were those had such a good franchise going that they pumped out like four of at least four of them, didn't they? That that would those were those were like really popular mainstream movies.

SPEAKER_00 26:26

I did the the Matrix lost me, I think after the second one. I I just kind of they lost me. Um and then what was the other one you said? John Wick. Matrix. John Wick, yeah. And I've watched the first couple and every one I liked. And I've heard the third and fourth are even good too. Yeah. I just haven't watched them.

SPEAKER_01 26:45

I don't think I've seen them. And The Matrix, to be honest with you, I don't think I've seen past the second one. But I did like the first one, but it's it doesn't really hold up when you go back and watch it. Um, some of those some of those type of movies, maybe not necessarily that one. Um, but how they kind of just how it felt revolutionary at the time with the camera work and kind of how they slowed everything down and and uh I don't know. Things have caught up with it, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 27:15

I'll give you one franchise that got steadily worse and then it had a resurrection Mr. Miyagi. Karate Kid was great, Karate Kid 2 was okay, not bad. Sado. Karate Kid 3 was awful, and then you go to the next Karate Kid with Hillary Swank, and that's unbearable. Never seen it. But then you have the resurrection of Cobra Kai, which was really a clever YouTube show around 2019-2020. Now, my family, my son and my wife bonded over this because I watched the first season and really liked it and said that's a good way to finish this. But I think it went on for six seasons, like we talk about. You're gonna which, you know, it gives all the actors work, it gets the crew work. I get it, but in terms of the artistic integrity of it, it's it kind of went down the drain after this probably the second season, if not the first. Yeah. But it was a great clever spin for sure on on the whole Karate Kid franchise. That's just one I just thought of with because I could I remember watching one with Hillary Swank and going, This has to be one of the worst movies I've ever seen. All right, where are we at now?

SPEAKER_01 28:36

Well, if you don't have anything else, maybe we can jump to the next part where we play the red light, green light, so maybe I can pitch a few ideas and you can uh you can give me the thumbs up or the thumbs down. Maybe the listeners can do the same. And uh fortunately I can't have any tomatoes thrown at me, and so I can always give my ideas. And hey, I don't have like extensive thoughts, but there are some that uh well I'll just lead it off with this. So I'll give you an idea, you tell me if it's a good idea or a bad idea. And these are all movies, obviously, that have not had a sequel, um, at least as far as I know.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

I'm gonna see if it made my list. I have a short list of movies I'm so happy never made that sequel was never made for. Okay. We're gonna see if you hit any list.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

Yeah, tell me if it's if it's on that list. Um all right, I'll just go with the first one. And this is a comedy that I it has slowly grown on me to the point where it's maybe top five comedies of all time for me. Um it's Napoleon Dynamite.

SPEAKER_00 29:50

Okay, that's a good one.

SPEAKER_01 29:51

And I love this movie, but it it's been oh, I don't even see, I have poor notes here.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

I don't even remember what year it came out. I feel like it came out the same year as Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ, because everybody talked about how that was the most controversial movie of the year. And I remember arguing with students that Napoleon Dynamite was, because half my students loved Napoleon Dynamite, and the other half absolutely loathed it. So I that I think that puts it around 2005.

SPEAKER_01 30:21

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. Oh 04, 05, uh, I feel like. Um so this was actually that movie was actually based off of a short uh film. The the guy that uh went through film school and he created a short and then they turned it into the the Napoleon Dynamite movie. But I think it's time to have a sequel. And so we need to resurrect this franchise. And Preston High School is you know, they're changing over. They they hired a new principal, and it's Pedro, got the job. It's Pedro, yeah, that makes sense. Okay, I guess. And so he had some holes to fill in his teaching staff as he got the job. And it so the movie's gonna be called Mr. Dynamite, and he hires Napoleon to be a teacher at the high school. And so uh he's gonna be the art teacher, and he'll be the sponsor of the Happy Hands Club and all that stuff. But you know, I I could go on and on about what I'd want. You know, we have uh it's not Rex Kwando anymore, it's Kip Kwando. So yeah, Rex had to be phased out, or there was some um, I I don't know, there could have been a competition between the two, and Kip Kip won that. But I I actually was thinking about this the other day and I and it and I had this whole dialogue or not dialogue, but what it would be about, and I just thought, how fun would that be uh for those guys to come up with a sequel? Because I think it was such a it was kind of a cult following, and now it's kind of become I showed it to my son a couple weeks ago, and he was just like, What is this?

SPEAKER_00 32:02

And I said, Oh, I showed it to my son, you're gonna be a good one.

SPEAKER_01 32:05

And I said, the first time I ever watched that movie, I didn't really know what I felt. And then the more I watched it, the more it grew on me. So yeah, Mr. Dynamite, we're gonna we're gonna reboot that whole franchise.

SPEAKER_00 32:19

I am easily greenlighting this one because I gotta think John Hayter doesn't have anything else going on really right now. I'm big. And uh as long as Uncle Rico is in it, you know, uh almost an elderly Uncle Rico. Yeah, I'm so in on that.

SPEAKER_01 32:33

And I actually had um he had to come in at the end of the football season and be the head coach, and they end up winning the state championship, and he puts in he his quarterback gets hurt and he puts in a kid that was just like him that if coach only would have put me in, we would have been state champions. Well, guess what? He does put that kid in and draws up a play and they win the state championship and they carry him off the field.

SPEAKER_00 32:56

And so this is great. Yeah, this is great, this is fantastic. I'm in on this. All right. Uh uh that's a green light. Um, I'm gonna give you one really crappy one. Um, okay, I don't know. Did you did you see Gross Point Blank with John Cusack?

SPEAKER_01 33:10

No, and you request you recommended that when we were teaching.

SPEAKER_00 33:14

I never watched it. Here's my here's my thing. Gross Point Blank came out in the late 90s. John Cusack plays a hitman who left his prom date. I'm thinking this because my kid had his prom last night. Um, he left his prom nate uh prom date on prom night before picking her up, and he went and he joined the military and then eventually found his way to like the CAA and then essentially became a private hitman. So he I feel like this is one of the first movies in the 90s. I think it beat Analyze This where De Niro's a mob guy and he goes to a therapist, Billy Crystal, the therapist. I think this is in front of that, and Alan Arkin is his therapist, and it's so funny because he's trying to work through that he's growing distasteful of this life as a hitman. And Alan Arkin is just like terrified of his client and just says, I don't want you here. I don't want to be, I don't want to be your therapist. I feel compromised. And he's like, Whatever, man, I gotta talk to somebody about it and I know where you live. And he's like, Oh, whoa, don't threaten me with stuff like that. And it's really funny. So he goes back to his 10-year high school reunion in Gross Point, Michigan, and he meets up with the girl he stood up on prom night. She has her own radio show, Debbie Newberry. And um it's so quirky and awkward, and he's there to actually do a job. Uh, to hit have there's a hit he has to perform, and so it takes him back to all of his high school memories, but and he keeps telling everybody that he's an assassin, but nobody takes him seriously. They're like, oh, that must be good dental in that. Hey, at least you got, you know, work-life balance and things. So it's almost just that quirky thing where nobody believes him, but he's telling them straight up what he does. Um, by the end of the movie, he does his job. Uh, well, actually, I should say his rival is Dan Aykroyd, who's trying to unionize hit men, and he doesn't want to be in a union. He he likes the lifestyle of doing things on his own. And so by the end of the movie, his hit was actually Debbie's dad. Um, but he ends up saving Debbie's dad's life, which wins back her affection, and they drive off out of Gross Point together. And so it's a very dark, quirky comedy, but it's fantastic. The music's amazing. So I've decided you know how Anchorman just starts crossing over all these different teams and gets a fight. I want to know what happened with Martin Blank and Debbie Newberry, and so I'm gonna go quirky in that it doesn't work out with him. He he's morally bankrupt, and so he's gonna cross over, and at some point, he's gonna cross over with Jason Bourne, and he's gonna be the one who hunts down Bourne, but then BAM, they come across, and then they have Daniel Craig as James Bond. All these spy franchises are worn out, and then bam, Ethan Hunt's in it as well, and it becomes this anchor man fight of all of them because we always talk about who's the best spy hitman. Is it Bourne? Is it Ethan Hunt? Is it James Bond? And nobody gives Martin Blank any credit for just getting the job done. And John Cusack actually did kickboxing in real life, so I always felt like Gross Point Blank is what happened to John Cusack's character in Say Anything. Because it was about 10 years after Say Anything where Lloyd Dobler just left for London. Yeah, great movie. Didn't know what he wanted, didn't know what he wanted to do with his future. I think he became Martin Blank. And so then Martin Blank now is now we're just gonna cross spy genres and let it be quirky, weird, stupid, funny. Um, because I always hear people have that conversation of who's what's the best spy series? Is it Mission Impossible? Is it Jason Bourne? Martin Blank will be the one that but unites us.

SPEAKER_01 37:01

So it's like the MCU it's the MCU of this of the spy.

SPEAKER_00 37:04

Yeah, yeah, it's it's endgame for for the spies, and it's ridiculous, but so is Gross Point Blank in a very dark, quirky way. So I like I said, it's a it's a pretty crappy idea. Oh, it's gotta work. I want John Cusack back. I I miss John Cusack. I like him. And he's just kind of gone away for 20 years now, and so not it's it's no Mr. Dynamite. I'll give you that. I'm not even sure if I'd green light my idea. All right, here's my next one. Let's hear it.

SPEAKER_01 37:36

It's Rounders 2. Oh, this has to happen. Okay, and so it and it's all it's the rise of worm and how he and you know, worm and wait, is this a prequel? No, the rise of worm? I couldn't figure it out. I I didn't know if I should do a prequel, but I thought I really think they missed their chance at this, really, that the world series of poker really became big, and and part of it had to do with this movie, I think, and how it had a cult following in the poker world. And then because they they used clips and stories of the world series of poker in rounders, and I feel like they could have come out with the rounders too and actually had Worm and I think uh Matt Damon, they could have actually played in some of those um satellite tournaments and qualified for the World Series of Poker.

SPEAKER_00 38:32

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 38:33

And then how they kind of had that breakup, they could have come to the final table and kind of had battled it out with maybe even some of the other guys that they played poker with. But I feel like they just that was such a it was kind of a unique poker movie at the time, and there really wasn't anything like it, and they never revisited that, and they had the star power there for a little trilogy or something.

SPEAKER_00 38:58

It may be the best poker movie ever.

SPEAKER_01 39:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:01

I mean, card-playing movie, it's right there.

SPEAKER_01 39:04

John Malkovich, I mean, they had the cast.

SPEAKER_00 39:07

That's what I was gonna ask. Why wouldn't you go? Here's where I'm gonna red light yours. I would almost rather watch a movie about Teddy KGB. Okay. He's so weird. Yeah, and he's sitting there eating his Oreos, and his accent is completely ridiculous, and it's but it's it's hilarious.

SPEAKER_01 39:24

And the character grandma, the the bounty grandma, yeah, whatever. I don't know who that guy is, but is a fascinating world. That underworld of the poker, uh the KGB and poker and everything there in New York. There, there could be something. I'm just saying that they left some meat on the bone in that franchise.

SPEAKER_00 39:42

Did you ever hear Matt Damon talk about he was a young actor there, and he's sitting across from John Malkovich, and they're getting ready to film this scene, and Malkovich is basically saying, like, I have no idea what I'm doing with this with this character. And then it immediately the camera clicks, and he's like using this, you know, hello Marquine, and he's just this totally ridiculous Russian accent. It's so over the top, but it works for whatever reason because John, it's John Malkovich.

SPEAKER_01 40:12

I will tell you, we played, I played poker quite a bit growing up, and my oldest brother taught me, and we had kind of a neighborhood gang game that we had, and I was in college and that movie came out, and I watched it in the theater with my girlfriend at the time, and I was in awe of that movie sitting in the movie theater, and there was like five other people in there, and I walked out of that movie theater saying, That was a great movie. So I wish they would have revisited, and I think they they missed it, their opportunity or the window. Uh, maybe not, maybe they could come back up. But they could have had Chris Moneymaker and uh I'm yeah, I'm not I'm out of the loop of Daniel Negrano. What was it? Phil Phil Helmuth, I can't remember. Helmuth, or yeah, a lot of those guys Phil Helmworth, yeah. Um they could have put them in the movie like they did uh with some of the first clips of the World Series of Hooker, but all right, so I agree. I I think John Malkovich, that could have been explored more, so I kind of missed the the boat on that.

SPEAKER_00 41:14

Okay, I've I've got a question. At your 40th birthday party, we was an all 80s party, we all dressed up as 80s stuff. I wore a Last Star Fighter shirt. Remember, did you ever watch The Last Star Fighter in the 80s? I did not watch Star Wars It's a Star Wars ripoff with a kid named Alex who lives in a trailer park and he played a video game and he's so good at it that the alien the aliens come down to get him and it's essentially a real thing. And he becomes good friends with this alien Grig where he's like he just laughs in the most bizarre way. But that movie was such a cheap ripoff of Star Wars, but when you're eight years old, it was amazing. So I don't know what the plot is, but I think I'm just throwing this out there that there we should revisit The Last Starfighter because there was so much junk made about Star Wars movies in the 80s. I feel like this didn't get a fair shake. And that's one you gotta go back and watch, and then plan a sequel for those people who haven't seen The Last Starfighter. Go back and watch it is so good.

SPEAKER_01 42:25

I think I have that on VHS. I know I have Starman, and I know I have Flash Gordon, and I may even have Battle Beyond the Stars or something. But I haven't seen The Last Starfighter, I don't think. Maybe I have.

SPEAKER_00 42:40

I don't know. Well, it that seems about right, though. I mean, it's one of those movies that unless you're that age, it may not stick. And maybe that's the nostalgia for me of the of the early 1980s. Um because I mean that had to come out in um in the early, I think it was like 84. I mean but it's such a mid-80s kind of movie.

SPEAKER_01 43:04

Yeah, there were so many of those that were um flight of the navigator and uh batteries not explorers, uh River Phoenix, right? Ethan Hawk, Ethan Hawk, River Phoenix really good until the last 30 minutes got weird, but um there any movies Yeah, go go ahead. I got one, I got a last one, and we can kind of move on. I want to hear, I love it. You're not I know you're gonna red light this right off the bat. Um but I think there's just an opportunity, and maybe it's just the money, um, for scump too. But it's with his but it's with his kid. Yeah, yeah. And and and I think what's it been? What was it, ninety two?

SPEAKER_00 43:49

Ninety four.

SPEAKER_01 43:50

So there's been what is that, 32 years?

SPEAKER_00 43:54

So do we get present day Haley Joel Osmond?

SPEAKER_01 43:56

I don't know what we have, but well, it's got to be multiple. So I think. Just I think it should just pick up where it left off. And and we've had so many more um cultural events, uh political everything just like force gump kind of wound through the whole fabric of the the zeitgeist in the country and cultural touchstones and all that. So I think they could just uh this new generation should have their forest gump. And and I know you didn't like it all the music and uh Sure.

SPEAKER_00 44:31

What would be the events he experiences?

SPEAKER_01 44:34

Like 9-11.

SPEAKER_00 44:35

Uh that's dark if you're gonna say 9-11.

SPEAKER_01 44:38

But I don't know, and I thought about how could you do that to where it wasn't such a where he rescues people? I mean Firefighter, maybe. Yeah. Um I don't know. He could he could be he could be next to like Steve Bartman and you know or or Derek Jeter dives into the crowd and hits his face on the bleachers and and he's right there, like handing him a Kleenex or something. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 45:04

He he definitely caused COVID somehow. Yes. You're gonna have him as the cause of COVID. Yeah. That'd be that would be one.

SPEAKER_01 45:10

Um it would be fun to sit there and think of all the different events, but the just think of music opportunities. Uh it there's so much stuff. Uh sporting events, uh, I'm I'm sure there's been President Obama being the first African-American president. I mean, he he could have I mean, there's lots of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 45:31

You definitely got material to work with for presidents. Oh yeah. So Yeah, I that would be that would be f fun. Um, but it boy, you you'd have to choose the right events. Maybe he causes the economic crash of 08, um, something with the housing bubble.

SPEAKER_01 45:50

Um But I think you could do it where he because this was one of Forrest's concerns, was was he like intellectually fine and normal? So I think he could just kind of play it straight the way that you acted out. Um But there's definitely stuff with social media, face maybe he started f helped with the start of Facebook and or Tesla. I mean there's lots of things kind of like how Forrest would invest in Apple and maybe he picked up and helped with the first iPhones or something. I don't know. But I I just thought that it could be one of those uh feel-good opportunities to kind of have this generation with music and different sporting events and political events. I don't know. I I just think that um there's an opportunity to to green light something maybe in that franchise. Or it doesn't have to be. Um I don't know. I just thought that was an idea.

SPEAKER_00 46:55

It is a good idea. Uh as well as you hear about any ideas with these. Um how here's one for me. James Cameron's a filmmaker that drives me nuts because he's made iconic movies, and yeah, the last 25 years he's just lived in this world of avatar. And I don't know, I I've not gone into any of them. Uh, I know they're billion-dollar franchises. If if I could have James Cameron take some time and stuff and use some of his old IP, I would have him go back and do another True Lies. And I think you flip it because as they've gotten older, I find that Jamie Lee Curtis is just a badass. I love Jamie Lee Curtis, and she was kind of the inept uh one in True Lies, the spouse who didn't know. I think she is the badass spy. And Arnold now is on the sidelines, and he's just trying to be a decent grandpa to kids and not get them killed or something. I think I mean she's been that gets her career. It's been rejuvenated lately. I know it. She's fantastic, and so I would love to see James Cameron work with Jamie Lee Curtis and just Arnold in a supporting role because he actually does comedy all right when James Cameron guides him. I I think he does comedy all right. So that's a good one. I forgot all about it. Wow. Yeah, that's a great idea. I don't know what the plot would be, but I would like to see it flipped to where Jamie Lee Curtis got to got to be kind of the toughie. Huh. Um, so now let me throw some movies that you're glad never had a sequel. Okay. Do you have any movies that you're happy that never had a sequel? Um we can go chronologically, or you can just say them as you want.

SPEAKER_01 48:42

I don't know. I haven't really thought about that. Maybe uh some favorites from growing up, like Goonies. I'm glad they Yes, that's a great movie. I'm glad they didn't make any more of those. Uh and movies like BT for me in the 80s. Yeah. Maybe the Lost Boys. I liked that one and kind of, or did they already? I don't know. Maybe they did make it Lost Boys too. Yeah. Some of those I just kind of liked how they stayed there.

SPEAKER_00 49:07

Yeah. You um you said uh Forrest Gump, so I was still 94. Shawshank. I'm glad they didn't ever try to do it. But that flopped at the box office. Yeah. Um, but I'm so glad Shawshank is just its own thing, Shawshank Redemption. Um Elf. Yeah. I'm glad they didn't do it. Elf 2. Yeah. That seems like Wow, I can't believe they didn't because it would have been popular. Yeah. Um, I'm gonna give a Tom Cruise one that I'm surprised they haven't. Edge of Tomorrow. Oh. Did you ever see Edge of Tomorrow? That's that movie's fantastic. Yeah. That's with Emily Blunt, and I love that movie. And that flopped at the box office, and I think it's because they couldn't get the title right. Uh, because I think it was originally like Live, Die, Repeat, but then they had to change it for some reason so it became Edge of Tomorrow. And for whatever reason, the marketing of it was a disaster. But that's by the guy who did the original Born movie, uh, and he also did Swingers, Doug Lyman. Yeah. And so Edge of Tomorrow was fantastic. Oh, but they haven't done any sequels with that. I haven't thought about that movie in a long time. It's a good action, it's an underrated Tom Cruise movie. Um comedies, bridesmaids. I love bridesmaids, and I'm so thankful they haven't. And 40-year-old virgin is amazing. And just leave it where it's at. Don't mess with that movie. Don't make it the 50-year-old virgin or something like that. That's true. They could have easily done that. Yeah, you could have done something stupid like that. It's funny because it's hard to think because most times you find a quality movie, they're trying to make a sequel for it. So I'm just waiting for Barbie too. And I and I hope it doesn't happen, but I'm sure a Barbie too is gonna be on the horizon in the next five years.

SPEAKER_01 51:01

Yeah, that's a good I like how you came up with that list because you don't think about that very often. How some movies are just exist alone and that's it, and and sometimes they just they don't know how to they can't help themselves from just keep going. Um but shall shank was a good one.

SPEAKER_00 51:20

Yeah. You and I have talked about the holdovers with Paul Giamatti. I feel like there's a handful of Paul Giamatti movies that we're so blessed that we have them as stand-alone, like um sideways is just an amazing movie, and the holdovers obviously is an amazing movie, and I love some of these Paul Giamatti roles where you just get to see this kind of frump of a character, and you see him just kind of miserable, and then there's just a lining of hope at the end, uh, but then that's it. And you see, and by the way, those are both movies by Alexander Payne, and he also did Election with Matthew Broderick, and Reese Wizerspoon was amazing in it. That's really what got her going with Tracy as Tracy Flick. And I just read this past year that the guy who wrote Election wrote a sequel, and I read it. I actually read the book, and it has tray it's it's focused on Tracy Flick now as an assistant principal at a high school, and it was so good until the last 20 pages, and then I I don't know how often I've thrown a book across a room, but I literally threw the book across the room because I was so annoyed at the end. And Alexander Payne is talking about making this as a movie, and Election's an amazing movie, it's one of those that fits in the category like sideways in the holdovers of just leave it alone. It's so good. That's late 1990s I think that's like 1999. Um, don't don't come back and make a sequel to this. I mean, but uh I like those movies, and I'm glad they don't have sequels. So I'm I mean, as much as sequels work for some of this IP, more often than not, it doesn't. More often than not, I don't think it works. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:07

Yeah, that those are good thoughts. I enjoyed this. I think this was a good discussion.

SPEAKER_00 53:12

I'm glad you said it. We're getting ready for the summer of sequels, even though I'll be honest with you, what I'm most excited for is Spielberg's Disclosure Day and Nolan's The Odyssey. Yeah. I mean, the fact that we're getting an original, I don't know if we want to call the around the Odyssey original, but um, it's not been a part of a franchise, so but I'm sure we will dip our toes into watching at least the Spider-Man movie and maybe the Toy Story movie, but yeah. Yeah, good call. Always fun for a sequel. So now I gotta go sit and uh re-watch Napoleon Dynamite and sharpen that plot. Yeah, it could work. I love it. That's great. Uh well, hey everybody, we thank you for tuning in. Uh we hope uh you have a sequel to watch uh the sequel you're excited for, and we will be uh talking to you soon enough. Thank you. Take care, everybody. Take care.