[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to Friendly Competition, a podcast to discover the best of all time. I'm Nick Carey, alongside my co host and best friend, Cody Lena. We discuss various pop culture topics and narrow it down to truly the best of all time.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: Or as we like to call it, the boat. Before I get some foot on the boat, we put him into a sweet 16 style tournament. We argue each round till we decide a winner. Nick, what kind of shit do we use? We decide to step foot on the.
[00:00:21] Speaker A: Boat, whatever the hell we want. Cody, you want to tell them what we're talking about this season?
[00:00:25] Speaker B: Absolutely. We are talking about the greatest cinema history. This just, just if you make a movie, okay, and you want it to be good and profound and last for years and years and years, it's got to be a nineties action movie because they're the only ones that have truly stood the test of time. So we're going to talk about these marvels of cinema, and just a fucking testament to human creation is what we're going to talk about today.
[00:00:47] Speaker A: Some of these movies have won oscars.
[00:00:51] Speaker B: Some of the. Some of the people in other. The movies have won oscars for other movies.
[00:00:55] Speaker A: For other movies. But they. But all. Everyone knows oscars are retroactive. And you can apply it to the past work as well and say, like, oh, Oscar winner Williams, William Smith. You know, Oscar winner William Smith.
[00:01:09] Speaker B: Does Keanu Reeves have an Oscar?
[00:01:10] Speaker A: Not ye. No, that's.
[00:01:12] Speaker B: That is a tragedy. And it's. We need to remedy this. There's not fair. What sucks is, like, neo doesn't have an oscar.
[00:01:20] Speaker A: No. Do you know what sucks? Okay, here's what sucks, is that back when we were. Back when we were young men, the Spike TV network, which sucked, not great, not really, was setting society back. This was a network that would actively be like, Mac, we're going to go through the Maxim hot 100 and rank how hot these girls actually are. Yeah. And, like, just. Just a bunch of hog out.
[00:01:44] Speaker B: This is hogs out time.
[00:01:45] Speaker A: Yeah. And so they created something. I do believe it was called the man award. I I don't like that. Not my biggest fan. But I do feel like they were trying to get at something where, like, hey, we need to honor the work that's happening in these types of movies.
[00:02:01] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:02:02] Speaker A: People are working really hard. And like, if the man awards still exist, if Spike network was able, kept going, and except we're gonna shut down because of Dei or whatever, these woke.
[00:02:14] Speaker B: Liberal cucks coming over here and telling me that I can't give Keanu Reeves an award, I that's what you're doing. You're saying Keanu Reeves doesn't deserve an award.
[00:02:22] Speaker A: Yeah. I like that. That Spike TV was shut down maybe like four years after its inception because people are like, this is obnoxious. But, like, now we look back and be like, probably Dei. Like, no, no. Society kind of was ready to move past this. I don't know why you. But here's what I wanted to say. In a world where it kept going, you. We could. And if Keanu Reeves kept up the run, he's been on John Wick. And not only John Wick, but then.
[00:02:45] Speaker B: All the Matrix movies. All the wick movies. Yeah.
[00:02:49] Speaker A: This man would probably be on a ten year and I. We should really change the name from the man awards, but just keep it the way it is. If that man went on a ten year man awards run, it wouldn't ignore him anymore. We could. He would. Couldn't be ignored. And you couldn't ignore the man awards. You'd be like, there is some integrity to what they're doing. They are honoring the accomplishments in a way that is genuine. And we should. Maybe we do need to look at how, like, maybe this is a good burpental barometer.
[00:03:17] Speaker B: Why isn't there like an action movie category like these? They're doing the Lord's work out here. There's not a single explosion in the piano. And I'm supposed to think it's a better movie than the Matrix or the rock?
[00:03:28] Speaker A: The pianist. The pianist has like a ton of explosions, dude. It's about bombed out, like World War Two.
[00:03:34] Speaker B: I'm talking about the piano.
[00:03:35] Speaker A: I don't think there is a movie called the Piano. I think there's a movie called the Pianist.
Pretty confident.
Oh, yeah. No, try. No, don't try.
[00:03:44] Speaker B: I just watched the piano. Yeah, I've seen the movie, Nick. It's a real movie. It's about a piano and there's no explosions in it. It's not about a piano. There's a lot more going on. It's about colonization and stuff. But regardless, it's a real movie. Idiot.
[00:03:56] Speaker A: Okay.
Did it win awards? I don't know.
[00:04:00] Speaker B: Yeah, it was movie. The Oscar for, like, best film.
[00:04:03] Speaker A: Oh, I just know the pianist was. That's not important. Cody. Stop talking about your high minded bougie bitch movies. We're here to talk about these action movies. This the peak of all cinema, as you mentioned. This is where it begins and ends society. Because also there's some movies in here that we'll get to where clearly they were like, I don't think. I think we're out of movie ideas. I know we've only been making movies since, like the. Since, like the fifties. Really? In a meeting. I'm out of ideas, but it's. We tapped the keg, you guys, before the two thousands. We are tapped. Like, I don't know what we're. I don't know what we make in the future, but we're all out of it now. So if they could come into the.
[00:04:42] Speaker B: Future and see the beekeeper, they would lose their mind.
[00:04:45] Speaker A: You'd be like, wait, what?
All right, so here we are, folks.
[00:04:49] Speaker B: We.
[00:04:49] Speaker A: We. Once again, we take our. We took our list of 16 action movies, and we sent it to our bracketologists. They kicked it back to us. Now we're going to go through groups a, B, C, and D until we have a winner in each of those and where they will face off in the final four. Here in group a, we have the number one seed, maybe no true or number one seed. Then this. Once again, these are all rant. These were given to us by our bracketologist. Number one seed, t two, Terminator two, judgment day. This going up against the 16 seed rush hour. And then we have the eight seed, the rock, going up against the nine seed, the matrix. Cody, where do you want to start?
[00:05:28] Speaker B: Let's start. The rock versus the matrix. And this is what we have. Like, there's a lot of categories we need to talk about. We need to talk about the action. We need to talk about the plot, maybe acting, although it's not very important in these kind of films. But what we do need to talk about, probably the most important thing is search engine optimization. And the rock does not have that, because if you try to google the rock, you get Dwayne Johnson. Okay? And that's a problem for them.
[00:05:49] Speaker A: That's a big problem. It is. It is clearly going to be buried in history. Like, there's just nothing we can do. It's. It's unfortunate because this is one of those. I feel like the rock is almost, like, in this. When we. When we compiled this list, we want to try to make sure we had a broad enough diversity of, like, the different types of action movies that, a, just always exist, but then really true to the nineties. And I feel like the rock feel fills this niche of, like, the high minded action movie where, like, you're like, no, no, no. You got Sean Connery, you got cage, you got. You got actors. Okay? You got guys that were on set really thinking about. You got Jerry Bruckheimer before, he's kind of just selling out and blowing a bunch of shit up. He's like, right now he's still in.
[00:06:37] Speaker B: His I'm only going to blow up a little bit of shit phase.
[00:06:39] Speaker A: He's got. He's Jerry Bruckheimer with a budget. And sometimes that's important, right? You got to rein in the scarcity can help breed creativity. Right? So, so you have. So, so I feel like this is the one where, like when people talk about nineties action movies and they want to, like this, is that, like, I don't want to say anyone's ever like, this is the best one, but I think this is the one that you give as that example of, like, where you want to kind of let everyone know I'm a little better than you. I know what you like to watch. You like that.
[00:07:07] Speaker B: If we're talking about action movies and someone's like, oh, yeah, what about the rock? I really love it. They're lying to you. They want to sound highfalutin. They want, they think, they think action movies don't deserve oscars. They would spit on the man award is what they're saying to your face.
[00:07:20] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. No, no, no. And that's, and I think to what we're saying, we're like, they need to rename them. But there is a need for these types of awards. I'm sorry. Until the academies do their job and incorporate them, unfortunately, Spike TV is the only one out here carrying this flag.
[00:07:37] Speaker B: Spike TV is the only one man enough to stand up to these liberals.
[00:07:41] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, I, I'm glad the.
[00:07:43] Speaker B: Rock made it here. Okay. I wish it was Dwayne. I'd rather talk about Dwayne, but whatever. It's the Matrix. You're going up against one of the greatest, most Prof. Prolific, most recognizable action movies of all time. This is parodied on everything. SNL got bits on this. You couldn't throw a fucking ball without hitting Keanu Reeves.
[00:08:05] Speaker A: Me, I mean, this defines, I mean, it's funny because the matrix is what defines then. The two thousands actually. Like bullet time becomes a thing, right? Completely played out within five years. But the idea of like watching a bolt, watching the bullet fly past people, right, the, the, the big 360 view of the camera, your slow mo action choreography. Like super slow mo. Not just slow mo, but like super slow mo.
I mean, the memes off of it alone.
[00:08:37] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:37] Speaker A: I don't think there is a rock meme. I don't know it if it is. It's a deep cut for sure. And I'm not aware. I'm like, I'm, how long would I.
[00:08:46] Speaker B: Have to troll four chan before I find a rock? Me. The matrix. I I think I can find a matrix meme in six minutes. And I've never been on four chan. I don't know how it works.
[00:08:56] Speaker A: Well, I'm pretty sure and think it's.
[00:08:59] Speaker B: Five minutes is me figuring out how to fucking navigate four chan.
[00:09:02] Speaker A: Yeah. Because it's most, I think the pill thing is where they're gonna get you pretty quick.
Lot of take these pills. That's, I'm with you, though. What is that?
[00:09:12] Speaker B: A knock against the Matrix because of all the, well, it's not gonna beat the rock anyway.
[00:09:17] Speaker A: The rocky, that ain't how the rocks gonna win. Just because the matrix. The Matrix has its, that's like a boxer where it's like, hey, that boxer has some problems in their past, but that, it's like Mike Tyson, right? You're like, hey, Mike Tyson's got problems that he needs to work on and figure out, but that don't mean that when he gets the ring, he ain't going to whoop your ass like that. Hey, that ain't the reason why he's going to lose today, okay? Later on in life, it'll be what beats him. But not in the ring. Not today, dude.
[00:09:46] Speaker B: Not that first round of a tournament. No, absolutely not.
[00:09:49] Speaker A: Yeah, no, I'm. The rock is. Yeah, it's a very, it's great. I mean, you, once again, we're talking about the performances. You have the great twists. I mean, and who doesn't? I will say it does feel like too there. For whatever reason. I feel like it was like a great send off to alcatraz. I don't think we've cared about Alcatraz since the rock. Like, I feel like it was like the last moment where we're like, hey, you all remember how big of a deal Alcatraz was. All right, we're going to set, we're going to give it a little send off here and then we just don't ever really have to think about it again since no one's there.
[00:10:22] Speaker B: Exactly. Yeah. This was Alcatraz's moment in the sun now. Yeah, it's passed.
[00:10:26] Speaker A: All right. We will move the matrix on where it will go up against either t two or rush hour.
[00:10:34] Speaker B: Now, man, here's my issue. I have, I love rush hour and I'm just trying to find a way to get, like, I don't think rush hour is the greatest film ever made, but it holds a special place in my heart as, as my introduction to Jackie Chan, whom I love.
[00:10:48] Speaker A: But wait, I will say one thing that this list doesn't have a great representation of is kung fu films because we are very a part of this list. You have to look at this list in two ways. Maybe three, might be four, I don't know. I didn't start the list knowing how many ways Cody and I need you to get off my ass about it. One way to look at this list is that this is what was popular in the US in the nineties. Like this is just what the biggest shit in the US was western cinema. And that's a really good way to look at it. Two, this is a list of basically as I view it, the movies that, that you wish your dad would have shown you. And let's be clear. Some of you, some of you had cool dads who may have showed you some kung fu films, but also then that cool dad only did get to see you on the weekends and it was every other, so, okay, three, I would say we get more. Kung fu films are like true karate. Action films don't really come around for us in the US until the two thousands. And I would argue it's because of rush hour, it's because of the Matrix. It's these films that show us like, oh, that's a fun way to do it. It doesn't have to be all guns. It can be, you can be funny. We can like choreography. Yeah. And so I think rush hour is important. Like I think, I don't want to undersell that. I think Jackie Chan, cause you have to remember too part of this list. Cody and I aren't. You're what, the oldest you're gonna be in 99 is eleven.
[00:12:12] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:12:13] Speaker A: I'm gonna be nine years old. So like these, while we all, we've seen these movies since, we also have that past version and there's nothing, there was nothing to a child too.
[00:12:24] Speaker B: Dude, the stuff Jackie Chan was doing to an eleven year old, that changed my life.
[00:12:29] Speaker A: You were like, me?
[00:12:30] Speaker B: What?
[00:12:30] Speaker A: You had no idea that someone could move like this. And then you heard later on, you're like, oh, and by the way, Jackie Chan's old too. He was doing way cooler shit.
[00:12:38] Speaker B: Yeah. And when you hear he did his own stunts like it was real, you're like, what?
[00:12:42] Speaker A: Yeah, and you're just. And then it's hilarious. I mean it is funny. Like there's no, we don't, we don't. I'm not gonna sit here and take any kind of like, oh, does it? Yes, of course it holds up. It's so good. There's some things. Does Jackie Chan kind of say the n word in it? Maybe. But if you know anything about chinese language, there is. There are tones in there and things you would say. It's right there. It was a joke that I think is a fair joke that you could make anytime you want. So I.
[00:13:08] Speaker B: Hey, Nick, this isn't our place to litigate is to cis white men. But if I had to bet money on whether or not Jackie Chan's invited to the cookout, I'd say he's in.
[00:13:16] Speaker A: I would. My understanding would be.
[00:13:18] Speaker B: My understanding would be he's in. I'm not there for.
[00:13:22] Speaker A: It's not because I'm getting to ask around at the table. You know, I'm like, how is it cool that. Yeah, it's me hanging out at the cookout, like, seeing Jackie Chan walk in and being like, who the fuck invited this guy? Am I right? Pass me them grits. Like, come on, Nina. I ain't there. No way.
[00:13:39] Speaker B: I wish I was there, though. I do want those grits. Um, it's the. I love Jackie chan. I love rush hour. But it's t two, dude. T two. Sarah con. Like, the thumbs up in the lava. Like, come on.
[00:13:49] Speaker A: It's. It's so iconic. I mean, it is. And I think in the same way that we were talking about how, like, the Matrix would go on to define the films of the nineties or the two thousands, t two is a great encapsulation of taking everything great about the eighties, mostly Arnold Schwarzenegger and the cool Sci-Fi stuff that we were doing and then distilling it into one of the greatest action movies of all time that would then help define what the nineties would become. Right? Yeah, it's. It strolls into the nineties and is like, hey, by the way, here's the fucking bar.
[00:14:23] Speaker B: We're gonna set it for a whole decade.
[00:14:25] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm just going to put it up here and you guys can figure out if you can get over it. But I'm going to call. I'm calling my shot right now.
[00:14:32] Speaker B: Yeah, let's just lock it in. T two to the next round.
[00:14:34] Speaker A: Yeah. I man it. That is a heartbreaker. Who wouldn't it, you know, once again, we always are going to do our research. Roy's going to watch you. You know, we're going to rewatch. These movies are the ones that make it to the final four. And what boy, howdy was I did I really just want to sit around and watch rush hour, you know? But alas, we will note I, we will be watching either terminator two, judgment day, or the Matrix. Cody, I do have a confession I need to make.
[00:14:59] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:15:00] Speaker A: Once again, I mentioned earlier, these are the lists that you wish your dad, uh, that maybe your dad would have shown you if you had one around at the time and I didn't. I grew up in the nineties, uh, for much of the nineties without a father figure to show me these classic films. So I've actually never seen t two. I know all about it. I know very.
[00:15:18] Speaker B: It's hard not to know about it.
[00:15:19] Speaker A: It's hard not to.
[00:15:21] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, you've seen, you've seen t two through every time you've seen it parodied. If you've ever watched Family Guy, if you ever watch SNL in the nineties, if you ever watch any of that stuff, you've seen every single scene of terminator two parodied in some way.
[00:15:36] Speaker A: Exactly. And that, it does make me excited if this, if it's what makes it through to be like, to finally put them all together and be like, oh, that's what that was all about. It does make me nervous, though, because this is, I call this, like the Monty Python effect, right? Where Monty Python is very funny. The only problem is, is that by the time, if you didn't watch Monty Python first and all you've ever done is watch every modern comedy, by the time you go backwards to review the, like, the hits, all of those Monty Python jokes you've seen a million times in a million different ways, and you're just seeing the most basic version of it. And until, unless you tell your brain, like, no, no, no. You have to remember, no one else had made this joke. This was the first time that joke had been said. And that's why it's so good. But, but outside of that, I'm like, I've seen it better, though. I have now seen it better.
[00:16:28] Speaker B: The problem I have with t two, and here's the thing, I've watched the Matrix many times. Um, it's one of my.
[00:16:34] Speaker A: You have seen it quite a few times. You do send me a lot of like, you do send me a lot of stuff about being like, hey, man, I don't think this is the real world, dude. I don't. Cody is one of those people, for 24 hours after watching the matrix is going to text you a lot about how this is probably the matrix.
[00:16:52] Speaker B: Yeah, I'll take breaks after I watch the matrix. I'll occasionally take breaks from doing karate in my garage to text Nick about. I think we're all in a simulation. That's true. But my problem, what I'm trying to say is I've watched the Matrix a few times. I don't know. I've always seen t two once, and it was a long time ago, and I want to watch it again, but I don't want to let the fact that maybe I'm putting t two on a pedestal distract from the fact that the matrix might be the best action film ever.
[00:17:17] Speaker A: Dude, that's the problem.
[00:17:18] Speaker B: I have.
[00:17:18] Speaker A: No, no. Like, cody, we've done Cody. We have done this before. There is precedent for this. And I think we can enact it again.
[00:17:25] Speaker B: Okay. Are we going to cash in money in the bank? Who's money in the bank? Who has money in the bank?
[00:17:30] Speaker A: I think it's still technically bowling from two years ago. Because I have not looked back on talk about bits that have not held up is going back and looking over who won really should bring that up. I've done such a better job of categorizing, too, like, and making. Keeping track of who's when we've won. That was why I quit doing it. Cause I was like, I can't find. I'm not going to listen to every episode again and skip around until I find winners and losers. So, anyway, I think precedent has said where you and I have felt that we did not. That we did not have the knowledge to make this decision.
[00:18:03] Speaker B: I think that's where I'm at.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: And I just. I think what we have to do is. I think we have to. I'm not going to say it's a draw. Cause that's not. I think we just don't decide yet. And I know that seems like a cop out, and I know it's not what you're coming for. But in the final four, the first thing we will discuss. We will have to watch both.
[00:18:19] Speaker B: We'll have to watch both. And then we'll decide who wins at the final. Yeah, I think that's what we're gonna have to. Cause this. I want t two is so iconic, and it's been such a bar. Like, you set the standard for action films, that I think at this point, my ignorance is not. I can't just write it off. I have to appreciate it again.
[00:18:36] Speaker A: I can't. And that's how I feel, too, is like, as someone who's never seen it, I am not comfortable enough knowing how critically important this movie, like, this isn't just like a movie that people just are like, oh, it's a fun movie. You should really. No. This is considered by many to be maybe the greatest action movie of all time as well, like, unhyperbolically.
[00:18:56] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree. We have to watch both these. We settle it. But I want to take this brief time to talk about how we've done other movie brackets before, and there's been movies that have won every award, best film, and me and you were quick to dunk them straight into the trash can.
[00:19:09] Speaker A: Beautiful mind comes to mind. As far as the movie that I was like, this movie can huff my duff. This was the best thing that was made. Get the fuck out of here. Sucks.
[00:19:20] Speaker B: But now we're like, really? We're talking action movies mean you're very, very making sure to make peel it.
[00:19:26] Speaker A: We're taking so much care over this, man. It's almost like we're two white guys and that this is our culture. Like how? Like, if you look at across all. I'm not. I will not start pairing what contributions each race has made to culture. You're not going to catch me on that one. Could you please? Yeah. Hey, do you want. I'm just going to toss out Lithuanians. What do you think?
[00:19:48] Speaker B: Basically, what Nick is trying to say is when you say white people don't have culture, you need to remember Nick is somewhere watching an action movie, eating potato salad with raisins in it, and that is as white as it's going to.
[00:19:59] Speaker A: That's a culture. It's just, you don't have to want to participate in a. Just cause a culture exists doesn't mean you want to or need to participate. But it is ours. And there is something about making sure that we get our history and our culture correct, right?
[00:20:15] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. So we're gonna have to do our research, I guess.
[00:20:18] Speaker A: We will.
[00:20:19] Speaker B: Winner.
[00:20:19] Speaker A: Yeah, we will. We will call this a draw. And at the beginning of the final.
[00:20:23] Speaker B: Four, this will be our first litigation.
[00:20:25] Speaker A: We will immediately get to it and decide it and then continue on. But I agree with you. There's nothing we can do right now. We cannot make this decision. We. I don't trust the coin to decide this. This has to be.
[00:20:37] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:37] Speaker A: Viewed. So we will, once again, we will take. We will. We will watch these. You will find out at the final four who wins. Don't you love a cliffhanger? Isn't the best movies, right?
[00:20:48] Speaker B: Oh, we didn't put cliffhanger on this list.
[00:20:50] Speaker A: Damn it. Ah, this list is flawed.
[00:20:54] Speaker B: All right. That's it.
[00:20:55] Speaker A: All right, folks, we will. We'll let you know at the beginning of the final four. Thank you all so much for listening to this episode of Friendly Competition podcast. If you want to help out your boys, a few things that you can do, as always, share with a friend, tell a friend, wherever you're listening to this, make sure you hit that. Like that. Follow that, describe, subscribe, and give us those five stars, please.
[00:21:15] Speaker B: Absolutely falls on all of our social media. Instagram, Twitter, X, Facebook, Twitter, x. I don't know what to call it anymore. I don't want to call it X because then Musk wins. I don't, like, just don't even go on Twitter ever. Just don't.
[00:21:25] Speaker A: I'm not. I'll tell you that much.
[00:21:27] Speaker B: We're barely on Twitter. Just our. Email us. How about you email us where you want to follow us at for the coverage
[email protected]. let us know what social media app to get on. Nickel. Get.
[00:21:36] Speaker A: Yeah. What's the new. What's the cool new one? What's something that. That the olds don't know about? You know? Let us hop in there first. Yeah, dude, we want. Don't get me wrong. I have. I have illusions of grandeur. It's just that I know by the time I hear about some kind of new social media, I know I'm already so far behind the curve on breaking through in it in a meaningful way that I'm like, no, I'm only. The only way I'm going to win is if I get somewhere early and I'm the. I'm the main, and it's me putting out the content first and getting there. And people are like, well, this is all there is here. That stuff's pretty good. All right, shout out to Charizard for that intro music. You want to hear more of their stuff? And over to Bandcamp, type in Charizard, replace the vowels with sixes. That is going to be it for us, folks. We got group B coming out on Wednesday, but until then, I've been Nick Carrey.
[00:22:24] Speaker B: And I'm Cody Lina on the boat.
