(upbeat music) - Hey everybody, welcome to boozy bracketology, the podcast of leads in three things, strong drinks, strong opinions, and crowning champions. I'm your host tonight, John Spies. Tonight we are diving back into the 80s movies mega bracket, and we will be looking at the best sci-fi movie from 40 years ago. We're not gonna waste any time, we're gonna jump right into it. First pick of the night, this number one seat of Brazil versus the 16 seat of Dune. We're gonna go over to Myrtle Beach and start with Mr. Michael Turner. Sir, how are you doing? What's you drinking? And what is your pick? - I'm doing splendid. We're having a lovely Monday evening discussing the world of science fiction. I have a delicious diet and out in Dune. As for my pick, this is one of the rare instances in this entire bracketing system that I feel like not that the number one seat is warranted necessarily, but I think it's certainly more warranted than in other cases, and I think it's certainly better than the 16 seat in this case. Dune is not my bag, never has been, it never will be, and there's a better recent variation than David Lynch's garbage version. Yeah, yeah, Brian, I see your face, it's garbage. At least Brazil takes chances. It's a very strange movie. I don't necessarily understand all of it, but I love Terry Gilliam's directing style. I think he did better with 12 monkeys, but that's a 95 discussion that we can have in the '90s movies bracket. Yeah, I'll take Brazil all day over day. All right, Brazil gets his first vote. Now we're gonna go over to Clearwater Florida, see? I don't like Florida so much, I can't even say it, right? Chris Livore, how you doing? What are you drinking? And what is your pick? John, doing well, doing well. I know I got the 45 second timer, so I'll start by saying we're recording this five days after Hurricane Helene slammed the Big Bend area, massive flooding here in Tampa. St. Petersburg has changed forever. My favorites restaurants on Clearwater Beach are gone and have to be rebuilt. With that being said, it's gonna be a local kind of night for me, so. About a 10 minute walk from Tropicana Field, three daughters brewing. This is their circle-hooked Hazy IPA. This brewery, by the way, phenomenal if you're in St. Pete and not, should not be affected by the flooding. I have actually looked 'cause they're pretty far inland, but cheers everybody. - Cheers. - Cheers. - Onto my pick. (laughing) Brazil. - All right, Brazil gets an emphatic second vote. Now we are gonna go over to Muscatine, Iowa. Mr. Brian Nash, how are you doing? What are you drinking? And what is your pick? I'm doing good, I'm drinking. This coming weekend is Oktoberfest in Amana, Iowa, which is my local best place to do some Oktoberfesting. In Amana, Iowa, you can find Millstream Brewery and I happen to have a six pack of their Oktoberfest beer. I'll be working Saturday so I can't go enjoy it live, but here's what it is. And it's some damn fine Oktoberfest. (mouse clicking) All right, so I saw Dune in the theater in 1984. We went mostly because my mother was like really excited. She absolutely wanted to go see this. She loved the book and we went and watched this movie. I had not read the book. I was 14 years old at that point. And the only way I got through that movie was because she was sitting next to me and explained all the shit that I couldn't figure out what the fuck they were talking about and what they were doing. And having read the book, watched the new movies many times and reread it, I loved Dune. I hate the weird weaponry that Lynch dreamed up, but I had never seen Brazil. I watched Brazil and loved it. I loved Terry Gilliam, Brazil emphatically. All right, Brazil gets its third vote on par to quickly take out Dune. We're gonna head over to Monksen Vermont and Ian Schultze. How are you doing? What are you drinking? And more importantly, what is your pecking this? - I'm doing pretty well. I'm enjoying this time amongst all these people reviewing movies. I am drinking some mad river distillery, double barrel bourbon, which sounds a bit like that. - Yeah. And I had never seen Brazil either. So I was really happy when I got to see that this morning. I liked Terry Gilliam, I liked Monty Python. It had all Gilliam's hallmarks. It was a great dystopian black comedy. Dune was a piece of trash. David Lynch just did not need to change that book as much as he did. Where the hell does he get a rat duct tape to a cat that somehow keeps poison from killing somebody? I don't know. It wasn't in the book, it didn't need to be in the movie. This is Brazil. - All right, well, Brazil is up for nothing and will be moving on, but we still wanna find out how everyone else thought. Mr. Mike Mott from Huntsville, Alabama, what are you drinking and what do you think? - Well, John, I'm glad you asked. First, the important question, this is an imperial stout from the Southern Tier Brewing Company. It is the peanut butter cup imperial stout, 10% alcohol by volume. I'm going to enjoy the hell out of this. It's finally starting to cool down a little bit, getting into a little stout weather. And Brazil is moving on and rightfully so. I've got a lot to say about Brazil and how much I freaking love that movie. But I do think we need to take a brief moment to address Dune as we wave goodbye to it until it's not let the door hit an ass on the way out. Dune exists to me these days as a relic from a time when the band Toto could compose a film score and David Lynch could be assigned to direct wannabe epic blockbuster films. The 80s were a weird, wild time. I've said it many times. It was a time when people thought Staying maybe had a future as an actor, and that's kind of cool too. But now we absolutely got this one right. I'm very happy that we'll be talking about Brazil much more later. I'm not even sure David Lynch's best film, Mulholland Drive Beats Brazil. Wonderful film. I can't wait to talk about it more in the next round. - We're not talking about the Mulholland I would drive in the next round, Mike. (laughing) - They're both wonderful films, but in terms of Lynch, anyway, you get it. - All right, another one for Brazil, Alan Kreisel. How is Jacksonville, Florida? What's you drinking and what is your pick on this? - Jacksonville's fine. I chose to drink water this evening. Maybe I'm missing something because when I watched Brazil, my first thought after the movie was, what the fuck is this? (laughing) I don't know, maybe I'm just, I enjoyed dune. I think the original is much better than the crap Danny Villeneuve had found us four years ago. Yeah, as Mike said, we had total. You also have Brian Eno in the movie. - Truth. - I mean, so yeah, I would have voted for dune. All right, we'll vote for dune, even though it doesn't matter. - All right, dune gets a, I think a well-deserved pity vote. And lastly, before we go to siege, I just want to say, Christy, I'm sorry. She was one of her favorite books and she loves all the movies, so it doesn't even matter. All right, siege. How you doing? What you drinking? And what's your pick on this? - Well, I'm doing fine up until I heard all you talking trash and dune and now I don't know if I want to be sitting here. But I'm going to stay on brand since tonight. I am drinking from the Three Sheeps Brewing Company up in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Had a few of their stuff, a few of their things, and tried a new pack here. This is the Wisconsinitis Creme Mail. Wisconsinitis, is that contagious? - It's a pretty tasty brew. So my pick on this is dune and part of it is that I think the better part of what Terry Gilliam has ever done was the interstitial cartoons and playing Patsy. He's never done anything that I thought was truly anything other than the ravings of a lunatic. I can't get into any of what he's done. And are there problems with David Lynch's version of dune? Oh, absolutely. It's in many ways, it's trash. But there's some good acting that's done in it. There's some amazing visual effects that are done in it. And when everything is said and done, it's a better film than Brazil. So my vote is dune. - All right, well, dune gets a very heartfelt second vote. Unfortunately, it is too little, too late, and Brazil is moving on. And so are we to our next matchup, which is the eight seed of star man, against the nine seed of beetle juice. And right now we're going over to Chris. - We just bring up the fact that that beetle juice has, it's participation in the first three seasons of community had one of the best understated payoffs of all time. I saw star man as a kid and it's good. But beetle juice like it or not is iconic. And you don't get away from it. No one, hell it's one of the biggest movies of the year now. This is beetle juice. - All right, beetle juice gets its first vote. Brian, I've also been to a manna. What is your pick in this? - All right, I do love both of these movies. I have a lot of nostalgia actually for star man. We may have owned a bootleg VHS copy when I was a kid. But beetle juice, it's supernatural. I don't know if it's sci-fi, just throwing that out there. I re-watched star man two days ago. I hadn't seen it in a while. I wanted to see if it's still held up. And yeah, the special effects at the beginning of him growing up into the adult, that those special effects were a little dated. But other than that, this is by far my favorite Jeff Bridges movie. Because Jeff Bridges as an alien who doesn't understand anything, that was some of the best goddamn acting I've ever witnessed on anybody. I fucking love Jeff Bridges as star man. And I will throw out Dutch apple pie. It's terrific because people don't know what the fuck I'm talking about, but I think it's hilarious. Beetlejuice is great. Star man's a better sci-fi movie. I'm voting a star man. - All right, star man gets a vote and we are going over to Ian. - Yeah, so I don't know how much I agree with Beetlejuice being in a sci-fi bracket. But overall, I did see star man as a kid, not re-watched it a few weeks ago, just coincidentally before I knew what was gonna be in this bracket. And the star man's okay. It's fine fish out of water story. It's got all the tropes of somebody coming to earth and not understanding anything. It's a fine movie. I wouldn't turn it off if it were on TV, but Beetlejuice was just, I think, more creative, something that hadn't really come along yet. And so my vote goes with Beetlejuice. - All right, Beetlejuice gets a second vote. It goes up two to one. Mr. Mott, it is your turn. - Oh man, I find this vote actually to be incredibly difficult because, I mean, for starters, star man, alongside arguably Scrooge, is there a better movie featuring Karen Allen that came out of the 1980s? I can't think of one. I say that every time to annoy the hell out of Chris. All right, seriously. No, I had not seen star man. I think I caught like bits and pieces of it when I was a kid, but I'd never seen it all the way through. So I watched it recently and I found it to be very enjoyable, very charming. I agree with Brian. I think the bridge is acting is brilliant. I love the whole thing about the Harkens back to a time in the '80s when PG movies had gratuitous sex scenes and gratuitous butt shots. Like that was kind of cool. And honestly, I was never the biggest Beetlejuice fan. I understand that it's iconic, but overall, it's just not as enjoyable to me. And I think ultimately my vote here is for star man. I just think, I think wall to wall, it's the better film. So I'm gonna give it my vote. All right, star man's gonna tie it up. We are going over to Alan. All right, so yeah, my vote here is for Beetlejuice. I saw them both recently again. I saw the sequel to Beetlejuice as well. Star man was fine. I wanna say it's the only Oscar nominated carpenter film, which is cool probably 'cause it doesn't have none of his usual cynicism or nihilism, but that's a discussion for another day. The leads were great, but for me, it's for Beetlejuice, it's the visuals, the costuming, just all of that. So I'm voting for Beetlejuice. All right, Beetlejuice, on the verge of taking the win, we're gonna go over to Siege and find out what he thinks. So I'm kind of torn between bringing up the fact that this is, the Beetlejuice really isn't a sci-fi as much as it is kind of, but we've discussed Miss Bracket and stuff all the time. And at this point, I can say this is something, I don't think I'm ever gonna show my kids star man, but when they're old enough, I am going to show them Beetlejuice so that at some point they're gonna be old enough to understand a nice fucking model, is not appropriate, but correct. So let's move Beetlejuice on and get on to other things. - All right, Beetlejuice will be moving on. We gotta find out from Mr. Turner, do you think we got this right? - Can I tell you how excited I am to discuss star man, the story of the masked luchador from the galaxy with the 360 degree drop kick, fighting in the ring against the Amazon and King Concarn, making his way up to the championship match against King Slint. Why are you all looking at me like that? Did you watch something else? That's the only star man I know. Any ass pro wrestling baby, the only star man that gives a damn or matters. - You are so on brand, it's not fun. - You know what you get when you bring me on. I'm just gonna say stupid shit. I'm, this is the entertainment factor. Listen, if I would like to remain married to my wife and I very much would like to remain married to my wife, I am voting for her favorite movie of all time, Beetlejuice. (laughing) - I'm suing the recording. - Oh, that's brilliant. - All right, Beetlejuice getting an emphatic approval from the background for its fifth vote. And we'll be moving on. And so we are going on to the five seed of the abyss and the twill seed of Tron. Mr. Brian Nash, it is your turn to take the reins. All right, in this round, this is for me the absolute hardest pick. 'Cause I love both of these movies. I have seen both of them far too many times count. How the hell do I pick? The abyss, I don't have very much time to talk about either one of them and I could talk at length about both. I think ultimately I'm gonna have to make my choice based on how many quarters I dropped in Aladdin's castle. The abyss doesn't have a video game, but by God, I dropped a whole lot of cash into play Tron. I'm gonna vote Tron here. My other favorite Jeff Bridges movie on this bracket. (laughing) - All right, well, Brian making his vote based not at all on the movie. We are gonna go on over to Ian and see what he thinks. - So I hadn't seen the abyss until relatively recently and it was very good. I've seen Tron a number of times. Tron had a major influence on me as a kid. It was just the most fascinating futuristic movie that I had ever seen up until that point. The abyss is, it's well done, but at the end of the day, it's a aliens come to Earth to visit movie. And I'm not trying to slam it for that. It is, like I said, it's well done. I liked it. I'd watch it again, but Tron pushed boundaries and saw the future differently than pretty much every movie before it as far as the sci-fi movie. So Tron gets my vote. - All right, well, Ian, trying not to judge the abyss for being an alien movie by judging it for being an alien movie, votes for Tron is now up to zero. And we are over to Mr. Mike Mott. - Well, I've seen both of these movies exactly once. The abyss about three days ago in Tron about 15 years ago. The abyss, yeah, when you break it down, it is essentially a movie about aliens coming to Earth. It is essentially about aliens coming to Earth resurrecting an entire ship from the depths. And apparently nobody on the aircraft carrier cares because all we're focusing on is the reunion of the estranged lovers at the end, which is an entirely weird way to end it. Overall, I just because I did like the abyss, I think both of these movies are interesting in this matchup because they're primarily really remembered for one scene of the abyss. You have the water tentacle, which basically proved that we could then have Terminator 2, which awesome. And Tron for the cycle scene. I mean, that's the way the video game was based on. That's what the ride is based on. Overall, in terms of the movies, I think the abyss is just a little too over long and over stuffed. I think it's really taught really well done early. After the water tentacle appears, I kind of don't care about the other stuff. I want to see me some damn aliens and it drags on for way too long after that. I think Tron overall is the better movie in that regard. I think it's more entertaining and it gets a lot more done in a shorter amount of time. So Tron's going to get my vote. - All right. Well, Mike, somehow forgetting the scene where Lindsay almost drowns and gives his vote to Tron. And now we are going over to Alan. - Okay. So for me, Tron was fun. I remember watching it as a kid and thinking, "Oh my God, this is incredible stuff." And then we go to the arcade and drop a bunch of quarters. But re-watching it now. I don't know, the plot gets kind of convoluted in points. It's concept heavy in the second half of the movie. And then the abyss, of course, it's enjoyable for the human elements. You get Ed Harris in "Master Antonio," the sets, the visual effects. So for me, I will vote for the abyss. - All right. Well, the abyss finally getting a vote and we are going over to Siege. - This was not going the way I was thinking it was going to go because honestly, I love Tron. Tron is an incredibly good film. It does break a lot of boundaries. It does, it paved the way for what CGI became. It's the beginning of everything. And the big thing that I see is like the abyss is one of the best non-space sci-fi movies and it truly hits on sci-fi themes. It examines our relationships with each other in technology and it all holds up and it stays together. And it eventually is what he goes on and does Avatar. So ultimately, I think the abyss is a better movie. Tron certainly has its place here, but I'm just going to say end of line. - I'm assuming you're voting for the abyss? - That was the abyss, yes. - Okay. All right, all the abyss gets a second vote so it is not out of the running yet. We're going over to Michael Turner. - Okay, we've already talked about how groundbreaking both of these movies were for their times and I certainly think that's still relevant today. Tron to me doesn't necessarily hold up as well as the abyss. Like, I think not visually, I think the abyss is a better watch. However, I have a problem with what I call preachy ass Jimmy Cameron. (laughing) I like Jimmy Cameron when he's just blowing shit up. I like T2, I like true lies. I don't really like the abyss and I fucking hate Avatar, but we're not going to get started on that. Yeah, give me Tron. - All right, well, Tron gets its final vote to move on, but we want to hear from Chris about how we got this wrong. - You got it wrong, my God. So I want to take everyone back just for a second, 'cause remember when you'd walk into like your classroom in middle school and you would see the most beautiful sight walk through that door. You see a rolling cart with a CRT television strap to it and a VHS player in the bottom. - And your teachers were cooler than mine 'cause we never saw the abyss. - We did and I loved that movie. It's sci-fi without like, there's no giant explosion. It's close and kind of our third kind underwater. Not to mention, I want that breathing technology. I really want that breathing technology. I love the abyss. Tron? You know what? I'm trying to think of the allegory I want to tell you, but Tron itself is a lot like the ride at Disney. It goes on shockingly a short amount of time and it goes nowhere. I'm not a Tron fan. Sorry, it's gonna move on. I'll trash it next episode, I'm sure. (laughing) - All right, well Tron will be going on and we're going to the final matchup on the left side of our bracket. And that is the four seed of Blade Runner versus the 13 seed of scanners. And I believe Ian is starting off this one. - So I'd never seen scanners before and I did a bit of reading on it and saw that it was cult classic. And given the production value and everything else like that, I can see how it became a cult classic and it's not a bad story. But Blade Runner is the far superior movie. It was based on an excellent book by Philip K. Dick, do Android's stream of electric sheep. It's just the better movie. It's got a dystopian future, which I love in movies. I don't know why, but Blade Runner all the way. - All right, Blade Runner is drawing blood first in this round. Mr. Mott, what's your vote? - I had also never seen scanners until recently. I primarily knew it by reputation as the Cronenberg movie where the guy's head blows up. Didn't expect that to come quite so early in the movie for some reason. I don't know, but it was like, oh, hey, that's when that happens, cool. I really, really like scanners. I thought it was a great sci-fi horror thriller. It was very suspenseful. It had me on the edge of my seat for a lot of it. I thought the setup ultimately was better than the payoff. The towards the end, it gets a little too Cronenberg-y body horror for me. It, I liked so much of scanners that I was frustrated that didn't quite stick the landing. You know what does stick the landing, Blade Runner? I am sure we're gonna be talking more about it later. And Blade Runner gets my vote. - All right, Blade Runner gets a second vote, and we are going over to Allen. - So yeah, scanners to me was slow, boring. Basically, Michael Ironside's performance is the only redeeming thing about this movie for me. Yeah, give me the futuristic detective thriller all day. - All right, Blade Runner gets a very quick third vote. We're going over to Siege. So Blade Runner, let's just be honest here. It's probably the best movie on this bracket. We should be talking about this throughout. This is a potential last match-up. The director's cut is the absolute masterpiece. We've got other Harrison Ford movies on this bracket. We've got other Harrison Ford movies on the mega bracket. This is his best movie. It's his best movie because he's not trying to play Harrison Ford playing somebody else. He's playing this character. And all the other performances are great. Rucker Hauer. Yeah, Blade Runner is, Blade Runner should move on. - Well, Blade Runner will be moving on 'cause you just gave it its fourth vote. And-- - I was aware of that. I was trying to soft-solid. - Call it. - All right, Michael, did we get this right? - As much as it pains the horror-loving Cronenberg-loving nerd in myself. Guess, fucking of course we got it right. You try and tell me Scanners is a better movie than Blade Runner? Get the fuck out of here. It's Blade Runner. - All right, Blade Runner picks up yet another vote and we're going over to Chris. - Yeah, I'm going Scanners. I'm not saying it's a better movie but it's not gonna go out like a bitch. (laughing) Fair enough. - The classic boozy pity vote. - All right, well, there you have it. Now let's go over to Brian and see if Scanners gets another pity vote. - Scanners will not be getting another pity vote. I re-watched Scanners 'cause I saw it back in the '80s but I hadn't seen it in many, many years and I'm glad I did 'cause I had actually kind of forgotten the ending. So that was a surprise. Oh, I forgot that happened. (laughing) The one thing, my wife was in the room kind of doing her own thing and she really disliked Scanners because the audio on Scanners is very disturbing and it's very jarring. And for somebody who's trying to do something else in the room while it's on, she was like, I think it was nailed on a chalkboard for her which is probably a Cronenberg thing. However, I have a lot more to talk about on Blade Runner. I will save that for later. Blade Runner emphatically enthusiastically gets my vote. - All right, well, Blade Runner will be moving on and that is the end of the left side of our bracket. Let's quickly move over to the right side where we're going to do the number two seat of Ghostbusters versus the number 15 seat of Howard the Duck. Mr. Mott, do you have the honor of starting off this side? - Well, thank you very much for that. I have spoken on the podcast before, I believe, about the fact that when I was six years old, I lived a year in Japan. This is where my dad was stationed. And during that year, there are two films that I remember watching more than anything else. And it is these two films. It is Ghostbusters and it is Howard the Duck. I remember watching those films a ton as a six-year-old living in Japan. After coming home from Japan, one of these films, I watched a whole fuck ton more. The other, I watched one time with my best friend who I had met in Japan about 15 years later when we decided to get drunk and make fun of it. I think you can guess which of those two films is which this is very clearly Ghostbusters. In my notes, all I wrote down was L-O-L. Ghostbusters gets my vote. - All right, Ghostbusters gets its first vote and we are going over to Alan. - So I watched Howard the Duck as a kid, thought it was fun, re-watched it and let's just say it has not aged well. Definitely push the boundaries of human-duck relationships. - Of course. - Jeffrey Jones, who I like as an actor, honestly felt more for the monster/scientist than I did for the protagonist in this film. But yeah, no, it's definitely Ghostbusters. The Bill Murray, One Liners. Yeah, we walked by Sigourney Weaver after she's possessed. Oh, that's a new look for you, isn't it? (laughing) So yeah, this is Ghostbusters all day. - All right, Ghostbusters gets a quick second vote and we want to hear from Siege. - I have in my notes, this is the moment where I throw my head back and laugh like Chris. (laughing) Howard the Duck was incredibly fun when I was a kid and it was, there are some funny lines in it, but ultimately there is so much more quotable. There's so much more, like, we came, we saw, we kicked its ass, don't cross the streams. We got, there's just infinitely rewatchable. Ghostbusters is the answer here. - All right, Ghostbusters is very quickly up three nil. Mr. Turner, are you gonna put the nail in the coffin? Are you gonna fight for the duck? - Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna fight for the duck. - That's exactly what I'm gonna fucking do. I'm gonna fight, I'm gonna fight for Leah Thompson if I fight for anything, but I can fight for her back to the future. No, Ray, if someone asks you if you're a God, you say yes, it's Ghostbusters, Jesus Christ. - All right, well, in the battle of ghost filletio versus duck titties, we have a clear winner. (laughing) - It wasn't me this time, it wasn't me. - Oh, do we not like, even if that's the argument, it's the same choice, right? - All right, so we wanna hear from Chris, did we get this right? - You do not wanna hear from Chris. I already used my laugh, so I'm not gonna go through that, but come on. - Ghostbusters, move along. - All right, it's a good thing you said, something I was about to put one down for Howard to the duck. (laughing) All right, Mr. Nash. - Okay, I don't think I saw Howard the duck in the theater. This one, I think I skipped and just watched it on the VHS. But as far as the Leah Thompson 80s, I, at least this one, we got to see Leah Thompson crawl across the bed in her underwear, which you didn't get in back to the future. And 14 year old me was very excited to see Leah Thompson walk crawl across the bed in her underwear. But, nice pooch. Maybe I got a milk bone. (laughing) Yeah, it's Ghostbusters. Just with a, it's a walk off Ghostbusters. - All right, well, it's not quite a walk off yet. We gotta find out if Ian is gonna vote the same way. - Yeah, you don't have to tell me about the Twinkie. (laughing) - The first book was just getting this. I had never seen Howard the Duck and I had always wanted to 'cause I had heard it was a bad movie and now I kind of regret seeing it because I know it's a bad movie. And Greta might, I saw the duck to these. I was like, hey, my libido wants to know about Leah Thompson in this movie, so we'll keep watching. And it was a disappointment through it through. Ghostbusters gets my vote. - All right, we have our first sweep of the night. Ghostbusters win 7-0. We're gonna move on to the next one. That is the 10 seed of Flash Gordon versus the play-in winner, the number seven seed Wrath of Khan from the Star Trek franchise. And I believe Allen is gonna kick this one off. - So, yeah, I like Flash Gordon. Excuse me, I like Flash Gordon. Has a great soundtrack provided by one of the greatest bands of all time, Queen. It is campy, but I enjoy that. Brian blessed is the standout performance in here for me as Prince Voulton. Yeah, I mean everybody else, it's okay, but I did not vote for Wrath of Khan in the other one. So, I'm kind of tolerant here. I don't like Wrath of Khan, but I'm not 100% on Flash Gordon either. But I will vote for Flash Gordon here. All right, well, Flash Gordon is getting its first vote, and we're gonna move on over to Siege. - Well, Allen's absolutely corrected. It probably has the better soundtrack. Queen just knocked it out of the park with pretty much everything they did with that. But that being said, I'm sorry, it's a very campy take on a, you know, what 30s comic strip. Serial, whatever you wanna look at it. Trek here, Trek is going to win here. This is, I just can't see Flash Gordon, you know, sustaining against, it could have been either one of the, either one of the Star Trek movies in this case. So, Wrath and Khan, move it on. - All right, Wrath of Khan is pulled even with Flash Gordon. Mr. Turner, we are over to you. - You know what the best thing to come out of Flash Gordon was? - Ted. - Okay, do you wanna know what the second best thing to come out of Flash Gordon was? Is the 1984 porno Flash Gordon? (laughing) That's how bad Flash Gordon is. This is Wrath of Khan, move the fuck along. - All right, Wrath of Khan is getting a second vote and we're taking this one to Chris. - God, I just don't care. (laughing) My buddy Sam loves Flash Gordon. I don't know why. I've seen the movie exactly once, it was completely forgettable. - Your buddy Sam Jones? (laughing) - Mike said don't invite him back. (laughing) - My buddy Sam is a big Flash Gordon fan. The movies forgettable to me. I don't really care for the Star Trek isn't my jam. I'm giving it to Flash Gordon 'cause my vote doesn't matter. - All right, Flash Gordon pulls even. We are now even at two to two. Brian Ash, how are you gonna break that tie? - I will take a couple minutes to talk about Flash Gordon because I don't think it's gonna survive this round 'cause Flash Gordon, for what it is, I think Flash Gordon did a great, the movie did a great job of capturing the feel of that 30s and 40s serial campy action thing that it was. - Yes, Flash Gordon himself was awesome. We do have to point out that this movie had a James Bond in there with Timothy Dalton. We had Max Von Seidow as the Emperor Topol as Hans Zarkov. We have just so much camp. If you like it, it's a great fun film, but it's no Rathicon. Rathicon gets the vote. - All right, Rathcon pulls ahead, three to two. We're gonna go over to Ian here. What do you think? - So yeah, I'd known about the soundtrack on Flash Gordon for a long time and that was pretty much its only redeeming feature. I didn't know that there were so many stars in that movie. You got Timothy Dalton, you got Topol, you got everybody Brian just said. It was great in that aspect. I'm not a big fan of camp, but I like it occasionally. The damsel and distress trope really turns me off and this had a lot of it. What can I say, I like strong women. So yeah, Flash Gordon's not gonna go ahead. If it's up to me, this is Rathicon. - All right, Rathicon will put the nail in the coffin against Flash Gordon. Mr. Mott, did we get this right? - Look, if this had come to me, I was floating for Flash Gordon because I think Ghostbusters would have a better chance to get it against it in the next round. But that's the only reason. I enjoy camp plenty, honestly, and Flash Gordon is exactly that. I think it's one of those movies. If I had seen it as a kid, I would have a very strong affinity for it. I would have eaten it up. But alas, I saw it about two months ago as a grown ass man, it was entertaining, as they said, to see all the stars. But overall, it didn't do it for me. Rathicon is a cultural touchstone. It is probably the best Star Trek film this side of Galaxy Quest. And we'll talk more about it in the next round. Rathicon. - He speaks truth. All right, Rathicon is moving on. And we're gonna head to the penultimate matchup of tonight. And that is the three seed of the Empire Strikes Back, versus the 14 seed of the final countdown. ♪ Dee dee dee dee ♪ - And Siege is gonna start this one off. - And unfortunately, because of when it was, the song wasn't actually in the movie. Final countdown was an interesting film. I saw it as a kid. And I just randomly saw it pop up within the last week or something like that, and like, oh, that's interesting. Why? If you had any interest in, it was about the same time as Top Gun, so you got all those, you got the fighter stuff going on and whatever else. It's not a sci-fi. It's fringe sci-fi. Now, is Empire truly sci-fi, or is it a space opera? It's a space opera, but it's a much better film than final countdown, or we shouldn't even be talking about final countdown. Let's get rid of it. Empire gets my vote. - All right, Empire gets its first vote, and we're going to Michael. - Strangely enough, both of these films in the same year, 1980. But the other reason that the seminal song Europe, the final countdown by Europe was not in this movie besides them not releasing it until 1983, is because it takes $500,000 per use of that song. Ask AEW and Tony Khan every time they play it for Brian Danielson. $500,000. Yeah, that's my interesting fact for this, because quite frankly, I don't remember a thing from the final countdown. It's very unmemorable to me. Yes, "Star Wars" every day, all day, move on. - All right, Empire picking up its second vote, and we're moving on over to Chris. - So I was actually just texting Mike, because as y'all are talking, I'm sitting there going, I don't remember how final countdown ends. I sure as hell know how Empire strikes back ends. We're going to go Empire. - All right, Empire quickly getting a third vote. Brian Ash, where do you stand on this? (laughing) - I'll save my Chris laugh for this. Final countdown was the one movie on here. There was two movies on this list that I had not seen previously. I borrowed final countdown from a friend who loaned it to me. And I took it home, watched it, took it right back to the next day, and said that was an interesting Navy recruitment film. 'Cause I swear to God, half of that movie was stock footage of a Navy aircraft carrier. Legit. - It was Jeff King, it really was. - It was just holy crap. And then the quote unquote payoff at the end was, "You don't actually get to affect Pearl Harbor. You get sucked back into the modern day." What the fuck was the point? Empire strikes back all the fucking way. - All right, well, Brian doing the Chris laugh wrong by laughing and then continuing to talk about something instead of just giving this his vote. (laughing) But he does put the nail in the coffin for Empire. Ian, did we get this right? - Oh yeah, we got this right. I hadn't seen Final Countdown. And so I watched it and it was okay. It was, you know, there was some debate of the overall consequences of changing the future and so on and so forth, that whole trope. I was in for that. And then it's not really Deus Ex Machina, it's Deus Ex Weird Blue thing in the sky. It just comes around and there's no ending. Like, there's no implication to what they were deciding. The weird blue thing in the sky just takes them back and that's that. It lacked an ending. There was all this build up and then they just go back. Where the hell did the story go? It went into the blue thing. I don't know, but yeah, this is Empire. - All right, Empire getting yet another vote. And we're gonna go over to Mike Mott. I have very fond memories of watching the Final Countdown with my dad. We owned it on VHS. I actually think I could probably still dig up my VHS copy somewhere. And if I had felt so inclined, I probably would have dug it up and re-watched it 'cause the last time I saw this movie was probably, well, let's see, over 20, certainly over 20 years ago. I remember, I remember enjoying it at that time and I was going to go back and re-watch it and then I saw it was up against and I went, there is no point. I remember it being a fairly enjoyable film. I had also, like Chris, forgotten how it ended. And I absolutely knew how Empire Strikes Back ended. And I knew that regardless of which Star Wars film was going to move on from the playing games, the Final Countdown was just simply not going to beat it. So Empire is gonna get my vote as well. - All right, Empire on the verge of being our second sweep of the night. Alan, are you gonna make that happen? Are you gonna crush it's dreams? So first off, let me say, for Final Countdown, if you want a better movie about F-14s from the '80s, go watch Top Good. - Damn it. - You want a better movie about an aircraft carrier taken back through time, go watch Apocalypse Now, even though it came out in 1979. That being said, I will vote for Empire. - All right, Empire getting the sweep. And we are gonna be moving on to what I think is honestly the hardest pick of this entire bracket. The final one of the night, that is the six seed of space balls versus the 11 seed of inner space. And we're going back to the top with Michael Turner. - I would agree with you, John. This for me is the one matchup of two movies that I actually enjoyed. With that said, like, the inner space is very fun and like, it's a breezy hour and a half hour, 45 minutes, that you won't regret watching. It's got some good jokes. And you get the beginnings of the real life, Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan romance, however badly that ended, but we won't get into that. But no, this, come on, it's space balls. Space balls is a comedy classic. I think that we'll be talking about it much more to come. So I'm just gonna leave it at that and say space balls. - All right, space balls gets its first vote and we are going over to Chris. - Inner space is Joe Dante's second best movie, right? - Yeah. - After Gremlin's two? - You son of a bitch, the herbs, Gremlin's Gremlin's two? - Toy soldiers? - Steal that thunder, baby. - Toy soldiers? - I've just pulled a dot out. - He's out of my ass. - Small soldiers. - Space balls. - Small soldiers, that's what I was looking for. Thank you. - Well, Toy soldiers is just something else entirely. - Way different, way different. Chris, please. - Mark and shit. - Martika. - Dude, I already said in my peg, y'all just kept talking over. (laughing) - All right, space balls gets a second vote somewhere in there. We're going over to Brian Nash. - All right, John, let me redeem myself. (laughing) Space balls. - All right, now he does it right. Space balls gets a third vote. - I'm gonna call my lawyer. (laughing) - Ian, we're over to you. - Well, for this one, we can't say that we ain't found shit. We found a better movie in Ghostbusters. Inner Space is fine. It's fine for shrinking people and putting them in odd situations and such, but space balls was just a Mel Brooks masterpiece. There are just so many references they're still made to it. Space balls all the way. - All right, well, space balls will be moving on. Mr. Mott, did we get this right? - So I had never seen Inner Space up until about a week ago. I was pretty sure which way I was going on this one, but I was like, okay, I need to give Inner Space a chance. I enjoyed it very much. I was sillier than I was expecting, but overall, I was entertained, but it's not a movie that I feel like I will go back and rewatch. Space balls, as has been said, is imminently quotable. I still use, you know, pull out things like I have the same combination on my luggage and all those kinds of, all those different kinds of quotes. I mean, you know, what's the matter, Colonel Sanders? Chicken will remain one of the most hilarious things to me. Space balls is a movie that I grew up watching and I do think there is a part of this that is also nostalgia, but there's also part of this. It's just like the next round, we get Space Balls versus Empire. Hell yeah, we got this one right. - All right, and we need to hear from Alan. - So yeah, there's not much else to say here. I mean, the jokes and the puns, like everybody says, we still reference it constantly. So yeah, it's Space Balls. - All right, Siege, is this gonna be a sweep? - Oh, this is absolutely a sweep. There's, even though this is, you know, the obligatory true comedy on the, you know, in the genre, on the bracket, this is absolutely, there is no answer, no other answer than Space Balls. I mean, just from what Michael's saying, I have in my notes, one, two, two, three, four, five. Space Balls, moving on. - All right, well, Dennis Quaid's tone ass is not getting any pity votes here. Space Balls is going to sweep it. And that is the last matchup of the night, just to recap, Brazil, Beat Dune, Field Juice, Beat Starman, Tron, Beat the Abyss, Blade Runner, Beat Scanners, Ghostbusters, Beat Howard, The Duck, Rathicon, Beat Flash, Gordon, Empire Strikes Back, Beat Final Countdown, and Space Balls. Took out, took out Inner Space. I'm gonna throw it over to Chris to take us out here. - Yeah, if you enjoy the content that we bring you and you want us to support the show, head over to patreon.com/ptbb. You'll find not only the play-in games from this episode and all of the play-in games for all of the boozy episodes, but a lot of our other bonus content from all the shows here on the PT Network for Bowin, PTE, pub trivia experience. We have other shows, right? Yeah, yeah, frenemy trivia. They're all right. I give Tim and Brittany a hard time because I love them. If you can't support the show financially, five-star rating, Reddit's review, that yeah, absolutely awesome of you. The show notes has all the details, John, back to you. - All right, well, that's it. We'll see you on the next one where we will crown a champion. Until then, have yourself a good one. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
For the next two weeks of Boozy Bracketology, we're getting into the Sci-Fi portion of our 80s Movie Mega Bracket, and this is so epic that for the first time since our inaugural run we're bringing in a 7-person panel. John is hosting while Turner (with some spousal assistance), Chris, Bryan, Ian, Mike, Alan, and Siege cast their votes. With several hilarious deep-cut references, a dash of philosophizing, and a lot of general merriment, this is an episode you won't want to miss!
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