[00:00:17] 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.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: Or as we like to call it, the boat. Before step foot on the boat. We put them into a sweet 16 style tournament, and we argue each round till we decide a winner. Nick, what catcher do we use? We decide to step foot on the boat.
[00:00:39] Speaker A: Whatever the hell we want. Code. Do you want to tell them what we're talking about this season?
[00:00:42] Speaker B: We are talking about triple A blockbuster cinema. This is the highest form of art. We are talking about action movies from the nineties, specifically, arguably the peak of human culture and arguably the peak of human cultures achievement.
[00:00:59] Speaker A: It's really tough. It's. I get it. I think there's a lot of generations that will try to make a claim for, like, hey, we. It was the best. Our time was the best. I think the sixties, you know, is out there being like, y'all don't even know what it was like out there. The Beatles, we had just ended racism. It was crazy, dude.
And so I feel like the sixties has their version. And then I feel like the nineties, we get, like, a real shot at being like, hey, guys, come on. We're, like, right at the beginning of the Internet, so it's not bad. It's just.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: It's.
[00:01:34] Speaker A: We're just kind of. People are just starting to, like, find out that they can talk to people about their random things. So there's community, which is nice. Otherwise, it's just a lot of fun little mini games and stuff like that.
[00:01:44] Speaker B: It's just a bunch of flash games, and everyone's still nice to each other.
[00:01:47] Speaker A: Yep. So it's going good there. I think, you know, from that standpoint of, like, the big cultural stuff, right. There's still kind of a monoculture.
[00:01:55] Speaker B: So, I mean, we got that Internet money tech boom coming in, so it's arguably the richest time. We're talking America specifically.
[00:02:02] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, obviously, fashion wise, those trends are coming back in a way that I'm like, I don't hate it. You know, and maybe that's because it was mine, so I get it. But I do think, like, I don't think there. What I'm saying is, I don't think there's going to be a decade again that anyone's going to be like, man, I just wish we could really get back to those 2010s. Like, why would you miss Pokemon go? Is that it?
[00:02:23] Speaker B: Fuck off. Dude, that's it.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: That's all it brought us, okay? Otherwise, it's pain and suffering down that road, my brother. Like, it is like, it is like the nineties is that last one that we can look at and be like, man, that really would be like, time travel wise. You're like, maybe pop myself back there, you know, take a dip in. And during that time, you could go to the cinema and see any one of these great, great, great films. Here we have in group C of the greatest nineties action movies, which means we, you know, we always. We take our list of 16, we send to our bracketologists, they kick it back to us. We then divide them up into, you know, into a group a, B, C, and D. We argue out a champion. And then we'll have a final four episode this Friday. But we got it. To get to that, we got to decide these other. These last two champions. So we have group C here with the two seed Armageddon going up against the 15 seed starship troopers. And then you have the seven seed goldeneye going up against the ten seed face off. Cody, where do you want to start?
[00:03:23] Speaker B: Let's start with Armageddon versus Starship troopers. How about Nick? This is a classic story of head versus heart.
[00:03:30] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:03:30] Speaker B: My heart wants to pick starship troopers every time. I love this movie. I have a great time with it. I find it funny, entertaining. Just the satire, the wit. It's all great. But Armageddon is a huge blockbuster that has an actual cultural footprint. I just didn't have as much fun with it.
[00:03:47] Speaker A: I. It's funny because. Okay, so this movie comes out in 99, right? We got y two k is around the corner. We're all kind of. We're all. We're all a little nervous. People are pretty sure nothing's gonna happen. But there's still this, like, it might, though. Heads up, like, yeah, exactly.
[00:04:03] Speaker B: We don't know.
[00:04:03] Speaker A: But don't be. Don't get caught off the wrong foot. But, you know, it's probably. Probably fine. And so. And you're. And once again, too, part of this is I was nine years old. Cody would've been eleven. So your kids. So people are just kind of, like, telling you. You're like, you're only kind of going off the vibe of the adults and the general news apparatus. And you're like, I think it's. I think it sounds like we're fucked. And then what happens? Oh, a movie comes out that summer that's like, hey, hey, I do not worry about y two k. Cause there's these giant rocks in the skydehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe and they can come down at any time, by the way, any moment and just destroy this place.
[00:04:43] Speaker B: I love it when you're young and everything's so nice and pure and then stuff like Armageddon comes along and you realize that stuff you didn't even understand was now on the list of terrifying things.
[00:04:54] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. You wait, huh? I'm sorry. Like the whole you, there isn't a kid under the age of twelve that didn't leave that movie going to their parents. Like, hey, do we got a handle on that? Like that's a movie, right? Like your parents are trying to make it just a movie. Don't worry about it. It's just a silly movie. Like, okay, okay, I hear you. I hear you. Yeah.
[00:05:11] Speaker B: But like we, the president knows what to do if it happens. Right?
[00:05:14] Speaker A: Right. Like that. Also, I'm nine years old. That's not the plan. Right.
[00:05:19] Speaker B: For some reason. Also I would, my dumb ass kid brain would have been like, the president will take care of it. But like actually the president will go onto the rock.
[00:05:27] Speaker A: Right? Yeah, exactly.
[00:05:28] Speaker B: This is why we elect president. They do the jobs that we don't want to do. Kamala Harris, get on that.
[00:05:33] Speaker A: Fucking fair. To be fair. I think, and I, I don't think that that's a bad way of thinking about things. I think it would change how we view elections. Okay. If it's like, hey, by the way, the president does also have to go up there like, man, we would have real quick been like, well, ain't Biden Biden? You're old ass ain't even going to be able to get 10ft off the ground before. I wouldn't trust you on a trampoline. Joe Biden, I'm not going to let you move into space base.
[00:06:00] Speaker B: That's what we, that's what it's got to be. Once every four years, the president, he doesn't know when. They don't know when beginning. And somewhere in their term they have to fight like a beast or something. They have to be ready.
[00:06:11] Speaker A: There's just something, at some point they.
[00:06:13] Speaker B: Will be in a room and someone's going to let a lion loosen that room and residents needs to get out on their own.
[00:06:17] Speaker A: Basically at some point in your four years we are going to go to Jerry Bruckheimer and ask him to essentially come up with some kind of. Essentially. It's kind of. The best way I could describe it is like. It's the presidential equivalent of an escape room, except for the fact that it is designed by Jerry Bruckheimer. Nick, Nick, nick, nick, nick and Michael Bay.
[00:06:37] Speaker B: We just created Air Force one. We just. We just wrote the movie Air Force one.
[00:06:42] Speaker A: Oh, man. It was. Oh, it was that easy.
[00:06:44] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:06:45] Speaker A: It was that easy to come up with.
[00:06:47] Speaker B: I love starship troopers, and I think everyone should watch starship troopers. I cannot, in good conscience, pick it over Armageddon.
[00:06:53] Speaker A: It is. It is one of the best. I think, too, from that standpoint of, like, I think there are people out there who don't think that, like, action can be satire. I think there's like, well, just dumb action. And it's like, no, no, no. You can really do some really beautiful stuff, and this movie covers it in a way that is so good. And also, I want to shout out starship troopers for being the first boobs I guarantee I saw in a movie.
Just want to. Cause once again, this is one of those. This is a top. This is one of my first five r rated movies because you nailed it. My mom was dating someone, and he had older boys, so. And I just got to get lumped into that group of, like, well, they're old enough to watch them, so Nick's probably fine.
[00:07:33] Speaker B: Nick's probably old enough to this.
[00:07:35] Speaker A: You're gonna learn. You gonna learn today. And I just remember being like, oh. Like, I was like, oh, this is cool. So just shout out. Shout out to starship troopers on the boobs and the incredible satire. But I'm with you here, man. You can't. You can't deny Armageddon, all right? We will move that on. We will move that on to the next round, where it will go up against either the seven seed Goldeneye or the ten seed face off. Now, golden Eyes is a James Bond film, right? This is. This would spawn. I don't think this is hyperbolic. Easily one of. Easily the greatest game of the nineties.
[00:08:10] Speaker B: No, absolutely not. That is hyperbolic. But you don't understand what I'm saying.
[00:08:14] Speaker A: Okay. Okay.
[00:08:15] Speaker B: That's a different bracket. That's a bracket, my dude. We can't do it.
[00:08:19] Speaker A: Now, will you give me top three.
[00:08:21] Speaker B: Games in the nineties super Mario world?
[00:08:24] Speaker A: No, no, no. I'm saying, do you think Goldeneye makes it? No, dog. This. That forever changes the landscape of, like, I know there were first person shooters before this. I'm not stupid. This is that, like, multi party, everyone in the room, like, bit dog. I'm not. We're not gonna get. We'll make a bracket. We'll make a bracket because this is. I I'm not even a gamer, dude. And I'm just like, you are wrong. You sound, you know, stupid. You sound. Oh, you want. Dude, we already had a Mario game in the. All right. Are you counting Mario 64? Is that what you're gonna say?
[00:08:57] Speaker B: I was. I think two Mario games might make the cut. Yeah.
[00:09:00] Speaker A: No, yeah. Oh, I guess, I mean, part. You could maybe get cart in there, but Goldeneye is. Anyway, that's not the point right now. The point is, so you have this James Bond movie that I feel like a more people know for the game than they do the actual movie. Although, to be fair, the game is pretty good. Following how the movie goes. All those locations are really how you get through the movie. And then we have the ten seed face off.
[00:09:26] Speaker B: I I have a dark sin that I need to admit in this group. A darken that I I've seen Casino Royale, and that's the only James Bond movie I've ever seen in my life.
[00:09:37] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, I I will say.
[00:09:39] Speaker B: A lot of people have a father that shows them cool movies.
[00:09:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:09:44] Speaker B: I thought my dad only watched westerns. Like, if you want cool action movies, don't go to my dad. You're just gonna watch lonesome dove again.
[00:09:51] Speaker A: Again. Tombstone for the 40th time.
[00:09:54] Speaker B: I do love it, though.
[00:09:56] Speaker A: Yeah, it hits. I. The thing with face off is I I love that. Once again. There's something about the nineties where it just really felt like there, we still had cocaine, you know? Like, there was still cocaine movies. We don't really get a lot of cocaine movies like you do in the eighties nineties where you're like, wait, explain this to me one more time. No, it's simple. So Nicolas Cage and John Travolta are good and bad guys, and at some .1 of the bad guys wants to get the face of the good guy, so he does a surgery where he's going to take the face off of him and then be a good guy, but he's the bad guy. What do you think? And they're like, no notes. Go, no notes.
[00:10:37] Speaker B: Use $10 million budget.
[00:10:39] Speaker A: Yeah, you make whatever you need. Travolta.
[00:10:41] Speaker B: Yeah, we'll get you. We'll give you John Travolta money for that idea. The nineties were insane, dude.
[00:10:47] Speaker A: And like, I. By all my. I will say I have not seen face off. I want to see face off. And so I'll admit to that, that there's a part of me that really.
[00:10:57] Speaker B: Wants to see either of these. I haven't seen either of these.
[00:11:00] Speaker A: Fair. I. Goldeneye. Goldeneye is the movie. Like, I remember seeing it and being like, I'm going to be a huge James Bond dude. Like, I really thought off of this. Pierce Brosnan. Oh, my God. The to. I mean, to this day, hot. But this is Peak Brosnan. So all you're getting is. You're getting peak Brosnan. You got Sean Bean in there doing a great double cross, which, as a kid in the nineties, I'm not going to say, for me, one of the great twists. I'm not going to. I will not say it's a great twist, but as a kid, when I was like, I didn't know twists could exist yet. You have to remember that there's a time in your life where you don't see a twist coming.
[00:11:41] Speaker B: That's why action movies are so important for young men. It teaches us things, valuable life lessons. It teaches us that giant rocks can fall from space and kill us. We didn't know that before we went to this movie. It teaches us that people. You think your friends can betray you? We didn't know that before we went to this movie. It teaches us that people can steal your face. We didn't know that before we went to this movie.
[00:12:01] Speaker A: And use it against you. And then, I believe, definitely hook up with your wife. If I recall what I've heard about this movie. Like, it does all the things you want it to do. You have Nicolas Cage trying to act like John Travolta. What? Or maybe, or more arguably, you have John Travolta trying to act like Nic Cage.
[00:12:21] Speaker B: Good luck, John.
[00:12:22] Speaker A: Like, the mental math of, like, being like, okay, wait, I'm this person trying to be this person. And I'm sure at some point in the movie, there's a twist where once they know it is the other person. Now that person. Like, the meta levels on this, here's.
[00:12:36] Speaker B: Where I'm at with this. I think if we're going, like, the nineties footprint, Goldeneye is obviously the bigger one. But there's been, like, some sort of resurgence of face, face off in the last five or so years where people are talking about it.
[00:12:49] Speaker A: Again, I think it's definitely. I think Nicolas Cage has come back right as he. As he tends to like. Much like the cicadas of this year, we go through these cycles with Nicolas Cage. We're like, is Nicolas Cage maybe the greatest actor of all time? And just because the one thing I'll. You can always say this about Nicolas Cage is when people like Nicolas Cage, why do you do so many movies? He's like, because I'm an actor. He's like, well, hey, hey, money. But he's like, but why wouldn't I as an actor, I want to work. So, yeah, I just stay busy. And he's like, the, like, the delay on doing, like, big budget movies is a boring thing to do. You have to. You have to block so much time off and not act. I want to act. I'm Nicolas Cage.
[00:13:28] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:28] Speaker A: And also, I owe the government so much money. I have so many wives. I have so many ex wives. So there is that, too, I think. Here's the thing. I don't know if any. I'm not too concerned about which one we get through. I do think there could be a conversation for Face off. So I'm going to move face off against Armageddon, but I'll. I'll hear what you have to say.
[00:13:49] Speaker B: I was. I was going to go with Golden. I think the cultural importance of it in the nineties was more important. The game, obviously going to go golden. I don't know. Face off. I don't know. I think it's more ironically loved now than I.
[00:14:04] Speaker A: And that's. I do have that fear that this is maybe a very bad movie, but I'm. I'm willing to find out, so. All right, we will settle this the only way we know how with the american voting coin of 2004, as brought to you by random.org. john Kerry facing up, which means George Bush is on the other side. Low seed gets to pick. That's going to be me with the ten seed. Oh, man. A John Kerry. George Bush face off.
[00:14:30] Speaker B: Maybe that could actually. That could have happened.
[00:14:32] Speaker A: Okay, wait, hold on. So if I want to do this right, I I'm going to go John Kerry, but it's actually George Bush. Like, George Bush took John Kerry's face, but I would still assume it's John Kerry, and I think that's the better version. Okay.
[00:14:47] Speaker B: So I think he gets to have.
[00:14:48] Speaker A: A lot more fun being John Kerry.
[00:14:50] Speaker B: I feel like. I feel like you're trying to trick me. So no matter what, that flips. You're gonna say you won.
[00:14:55] Speaker A: And I like, no.
[00:14:56] Speaker B: What's going on here?
[00:14:57] Speaker A: No, that's not. No. What? And I would never do that. I will pick John Kerry.
[00:15:03] Speaker B: Okay. But not John Kerry. What is that played by George Bush? So do you want it to be pusher, carry on. The face.
[00:15:11] Speaker A: It will be. It will be. The face I want to see is John Kerry. Okay, but the man behind the.
[00:15:17] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:15:18] Speaker A: Is George Bush.
[00:15:19] Speaker B: Like, much like it would be in a double sided coin. It's very apt. Yeah, I get it.
[00:15:24] Speaker A: All right, we will flip. It is John Kerry.
[00:15:26] Speaker B: So, okay, so it's waltz Bush as Kerry as Kerry.
[00:15:30] Speaker A: But that is what I wanted more than anything. So we will move it on in. So face off moves up against Armageddon. Cody, I don't want to. Here's what. I don't want to say that Armageddon is the best, best action movie of the nineties. I think that's what we're here to decide. We're here to find out.
[00:15:48] Speaker B: Yeah, maybe it is, but we.
[00:15:49] Speaker A: Speaker two, could you argue that it is maybe the most maximalist movie? Like, it is everything, right? Like they know there's no expense spared because they're using live sets and they made big stupid. Like the big truck that's on a soundstage. Right? Like they're. They did this. Most of this stuff is live. There's some CGI, right? The. The asteroids hitting New York are obviously CGI, but damn.
[00:16:18] Speaker B: Destroyed half of New York for this movie.
[00:16:20] Speaker A: And it looks great, too. You're like, damn. You should. Wow. Like, there and then you have Bruce Willis arguing one of your. One of the holy trinity of nineties action movies, right? You got Bruce there and then it does the nineties action movie thing. We all want big sweeping song.
[00:16:41] Speaker B: Gotta have don't come.
I don't wanna fall asleep.
[00:16:47] Speaker A: Like, I'm just saying. I'm not saying that it's good, but I'm saying what they did was they looked at the nineties and like, we're gonna take every element we weren't. We're gonna go to space for sure.
[00:16:56] Speaker B: You go. Keep going.
[00:16:58] Speaker A: I just know I love this. I can't stop.
[00:17:00] Speaker B: But I'm sorry. I got lost in the sauce. I got lost in the sauce.
[00:17:03] Speaker A: It's hard not to, but you like, it has every single type of element. And then you look at. And then you just look at the cast and. Too. And you watch and you're like, Owen Wilson, what are you doing here? My only Steve Buscemi here's.
[00:17:17] Speaker B: I agree with you, right? And I think it's huge. I'm leaning towards Armageddon currently. My only fear is I watched Armageddon once and I don't. Is it a movie anyone watches more than once? Has anyone watched Armageddon twice. Are we gonna be. Are we gonna be the first people in history to do it?
[00:17:32] Speaker A: Nick dog, I watch Armageddon, like, once a year. You do? I mean, my. You have to understand that. My. So, I mean, like, this is true. My wife and I, we were. What was it? We were. It was, like, one of our first. We had been dating for a few months, and she's staying over and she's falling. And she's falling asleep on me, and I'm. And I'm just, like, falling in love with this woman, and I just kind of, like. She can't really fall asleep without, like, noise and stuff. But my iPad was dead, and so as she's falling asleep, we were just playing music and the. I don't know how, but, like, the song came on the. I don't know.
So then I just start kind of, like, singing it to her, and I. What I find out later is that she's not asleep. She's just listening to me sing this song to her. Cause I'm feeling these feelings, like, these big, stupid feelings that can only be described via Aerosmith.
[00:18:19] Speaker B: Yeah. And sometimes we call those the Aerosmith feels. Yeah, yeah. Deep in there. We all have them big feelings.
[00:18:25] Speaker A: Big. And there's no other way. Like, there are great nuances to describe love, but sometimes you just need Aerosmith to just.
[00:18:32] Speaker B: And I don't wanna miss one smile.
[00:18:35] Speaker A: Like, you need that, too, sometimes. Like, love should be the whole spectrum of it. Right? And so for us, this has a little. And you were there at my wedding. This song does. This is the last song we played at our wedding. We. We stood in the middle. Everyone around sang it to us. So this song has so much meaning that we've. Like, we watch this movie. Like I said, I. I'm probably once a year. Once every other year on Armageddon. And I. It rips. I'm not. I'm pumped. I'll watch.
[00:19:01] Speaker B: Well, I mean, I'm leaning Armageddon. I think. I think I have to vote Armageddon because it had a huge culture. Like you said, the song itself needs to be relitigated. Like, the song has got power.
[00:19:13] Speaker A: Song is magical, dude. We might have to come back to nineties action songs. That's an important 90 soundtrack songs.
[00:19:22] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nineties movie songs for sure, dude.
[00:19:25] Speaker A: Nineties movie songs might be the next one, guys. Cause that's fun.
[00:19:29] Speaker B: I think it. Well, it's. I will always love you on the bodyguard. Right?
[00:19:33] Speaker A: No. Hey. Whoa. You just ran right past the leave on my heart will go on. Didn't you. Oh, shit.
[00:19:38] Speaker B: I did. I didn't even.
[00:19:39] Speaker A: You just ran right past it, huh? Look at you greedy little pig.
And I'm.
[00:19:47] Speaker B: Hey, I had to get to Whitney before somebody else.
[00:19:50] Speaker A: I just saw Whitney was on the table and I couldn't miss it. But so, I mean. I mean, there's a few. There's.
[00:19:56] Speaker B: Again.
[00:19:57] Speaker A: Yeah, I think we have Mandev. I did. I did really want to watch face off, but I guess I'm gonna have to do it on my own time. Cause I can't. I can in good faith. I think. I think face off is fun, but I do think. I feel like what I would hate to have happen is you and I get to the final four, we come in and we start talking about it and whatever. We're like, the second we do the group c versus group D matchup, we're just like, oh, obviously group d wins, right? Cause face off was. It was really bad, right? It was not good. And it's like, ah, Armageddon. I know. They're. At least it can. It can hold its own in this conversation.
All right, that is it, folks. We are going to move Armageddon on into the final four. Thanks so much for listening to this episode of friendly competition. If you want about Chip 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. Subscribe and give us those five stars. Stars, please.
[00:20:54] Speaker B: Absolutely. Follow us on all of the social media except Twitter. We're on Instagram, Facebook, just go at friendly compod. If you have an idea for a whole 16 team tournament, you'd like to see you. If you want to write us your favorite movie soundtrack songs, email us at friendly competition
[email protected].
[00:21:09] Speaker A: Dot as always, shout outs to Charizard for that intro music. You want to hear more of their stuff. And over to band camp, type in Charizard. Replace the vowels with sixes. That is going to be it for us, folks. Group D coming out on Wednesday. But until then, I've been Nick Carrey.
[00:21:26] Speaker B: And I'm Cody.
[00:21:27] Speaker A: Lena.
[00:21:27] Speaker B: See you on the boat.
