The Top 10 Richest Directors + Movie Review: Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire + Trailer Park: The Crow + How I Met Post Malone!

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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to movie Mike's Movie Podcast. I am your host Movie Mike. Today, I want to look at the list of the richest directors in Hollywood right now, proving that you can be a nerd and make a lot of money. In some cases, these nerds are billionaires. So we'll take a look at that list. In the movie review, I'll give you my thoughts on the new Ghostbusters movie Ghostbusters Frozen Empire and why it was much better than I was anticipating in the trailer park. It's a very controversial movie being remade. We'll take a look at The Crow coming out later in theaters this summer, and that I'll also let you know about how I'm at Post Malone. So thank you for being here, Thank you for listening. Shout out to the Monday Morning movie crew. He Now, let's talk movies.

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Speaker 2: In a world where everyone and their mother has a podcast, one man stands to infiltrate the ears of listeners like never before in a movie podcast.

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Speaker 1: A man with so much movie knowledge, he's basically like.

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Speaker 2: A walking IMTB with glasses. From the Nashville pod networking Movie Mike's Movie.

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Speaker 1: Pot I was caught off guard by Forbes latest list of the richest celebrities right now that at the top of that list there were two directors. Just thinking of celebrities in general, I love directors. Oftentimes I'm more a fan of individual directors than I am actors. That is kind of how I follow movies, and I know they make a lot of money. But when I think about the richest people, I think it has to be people in front of the camera, not behind the camera. Not the case in this instance. So after seeing that, I decided to go do some more investigative research and see who are the top ten highest paid directors in Hollywood right now. I'm gonna break down the list. I'll give you their highest grossing movies. I'll give you my thoughts on some of the surprises which I found while making this list. So let's get right into it. At number ten is Christopher Nolan, who has a net worth of two hundred and fifty million dollars. His net worth is only going to increase, and he's been in the game for a while now, but now finally getting his first Oscar, his rate is about to get so much higher. And a director that has had a lot of box office success all of his movies combined have grossed six billion dollars at the box office. His films include Memento, The Dark Knight, That Whole Trilogy, Inception Tenant Like I said, just crushed it last year with Oppenheimer, which he was paid an estimated seventy two million dollars. A report from Forbes said that he was able to negotiate fifteen percent of first dollar gross on Oppenheimer, which reduced his upfront fees. But since that movie became one of the highest grossing movies of last year, not only that one of the highest grossing R rated movies of all time, he cashed in big on that movie. His three highest grossing movies so far have been well already. At number three is Oppenheimer, which made nine hundred and fifty three million dollars. At number two is The Dark Knight from two thousand and eight, which made one point oh two billion dollars, And at number one is The Dark Knight Rises in twenty twelve, which made one point one one billion dollars. And Christopher Nolan is able to walk that line of make movies that are not only critically acclaimed but also that are really popular with audiences. So if you look at his scores online, he gets great critics scores, great audience scores. Sometimes he'll put out a movie like Tenant and we don't completely understand it, but we still stay in Christopher Nolan. So I'm glad to see him in the top ten. I think give him another two movies, especially now that he's won that Oscar, he will easily get into that top five. At number nine is JJ Abrams with a net worth of three hundred million dollars. Honestly, I kind of forgot about jj Abrams. I was a real big fan of his movies when I feel like he was one of the most in demand directors in the twenty tens. But I feel like now he's kind of taken a step back a little bit more on the producing side. And I would always get really excited at anytime a new JJ Abrams movie came out, and he's crossed that line between Star Wars and Star Trek, and we still as nerds love him all the same. And early on he found a lot of success in TV shows, which shows like Lost, Alias and Fringe. That is really where I got to know his work first. But he's also written and produced movies like Forever Young, Armageddon, Cloverfield, and then directed movies like Mission Impossible three and Super eight, and that has earned him three hundred million dollars. His top three highest grossing movies of all time have all been in the Star Wars franchise. At number three, Episode four made one point oh seven billion dollars, The Last Jedi at number two, made one point thirty three billion dollars, and The Force Awakens is at number one with two point zero six billion dollars. This one, I'm a little bit surprised by. I think that was greatly due to the success of The Force Awakened, which set so many big records, had the highest grossing opening weekend and the fastest for a movie to reach one billion dollars, as well as other several imax records, and still making the two billion dollars overall. That went down a little bit as some people started hating on the franchise, but he still got paid and it put him at number nine at the list. So a little surprised with that one, but it just reminds me that I want to see a new jj Airbrams film soon. At number eight is Ridley Scott with a net worth of four hundred million dollars. Not even American, he is English. He is the director of movies like Alien, so he's I would say, primarily known for his science fiction, but he has done every single genre really well. He's also done crime movies, historical dramas, which the last one I didn't really love Napoleon, but I think he will make up for it this year with Gladiator two. But his three highest grossing movies of all time are at number three Prometheus from twenty twelve, which made four hundred and three million dollars. At number two is Gladiator from two thousand that made five hundred and three million dollars worldwide, and at number one is The Martian, his biggest success, and I'm going to say only made six hundred and ten million dollars, which is still a lot of money, over half a billion dollars, but if you look at the two directors before him, he doesn't have a billion dollar movie. But he has been in the game for a very long time, and maybe for that reason he is able to negotiate more for every single movie that he does, because I think there has to be some other factor contributing to his almost net worth of half a billion dollars. I mean, he's a solid director, but to have him at number eight above JJ Abrams and Christopher Nolan still surprising. So kind of doo surprises there in a row. At number seven Francis Ford Coppola, with a networth also of four hundred million dollars. He's best known for the Godfather of trilogy. He's won five Oscars, not only for directing but also for writing. His top three highest grossing movies of all time have been at number three, The Godfather Part three, which made one hundred and thirty six million dollars, Dracula from ninety two made two hundred and fifteen million dollars, and at number one, The Godfather from nineteen seventy two made two hundred and fifty million dollars. So again, it's not about how much you make on each individual movie, because his top three highest grossing movies have earned less than Ridley Scott's number one. But man, the Coppola family has some money because his daughter Sophia Coppola is also a really well established director, and his nephew Nicholas Cage, who was actually Nicholas Coppola, has also done really well in his acting career. So overall, Copola fan Family eight hurtin whatsoever. I would like to go to their family reunion and just start asking people if I can borrow some money. Hey, I know you're good for it. At number six is Michael Bay, with a net worth of four hundred and fifty billion dollars. A lot of explosions probably went into making that net worth, a lot of lens flair, a lot of overtly ridiculous action that has been the Michael Bay brand for decades now. And he is not a director that is going to win an Academy Award, but that is fine. I think he truly speaks to audiences that love big dumb action, and he does it really well. He's also done a little bit more serious movies too. He's known for movies like Pearl Harbor, Armageddon. But really where he has made the majority of his fortune and really solidified his identity is the Transformers movies, which have grossed just that franchise seven point eight billion dollars at the office. So this one is not surprising to me whatsoever, because that is why he is so successful. It's not that his movies are critically acclaimed or he wins these awards, it's because he knows how to make movies that demand the big screen. His top three highest grossing movies are all Transformers movies. Actually, his entire top five are all Transformers movies. So I've been doing top three, but since his are all in the same franchise, I'll go top five. And number five is The Last Night from twenty seventeen, six to oh five million, and number four is the original Transformers from two thousand and seven, which made seven hundred and ten million and kicked off this entire empire of money. At number three is Revenge of the fall In making eight hundred and thirty seven million. At number two is Age of Extinction from twenty fourteen, making one point one billion dollars. The height of it, but at number one is Dark of the Moon from twenty eleven, making one point two billion dollars, And I kind of forget that I've seen every single Transformers movie, even the bad ones like the one with Mark Wahlberg, is still enjoyable because he has all this big, dumb, high flying action that is still a spectacle to see. So even though plot lines may be filled with holes, the dialogue might be cringey at times, and some of the flashy special effects just don't really age entirely. Well, they've all been really big blockbuster movies, so he has gotten away from the Transformers franchise, still produces some of them, but doesn't direct them anymore. But even still, movies like Ambulance with Jake Jillenhall I really enjoy and still have that Michael Bay feel. And even though he's not a part of the Bad Boys' movies anymore, they still all have his aesthetics. So he has greatly identified and showed us what his voice is as a director, as it continues to live on because it's inspired so many other filmmakers, because it works. It gets the peace people going, it gets the butts in the seats. At number five is James Cameron. He has a net worth of eight hundred million dollars, and not only that, he is responsible for three of the highest grossing movies of all time, Titanic, Avatar One, and Avatar The Way of Water. So his top three highest grossing movies of all time have made one point nine billion dollars. For the Way of Water, which came out back in twenty twenty two. At number two is Titanic, which made two point one billion dollars and at number one still holds the record because it was thrown back into theaters when Way of Water came out and it was able to overtake Endgame, which they kind of do this battle every now and then. But Avatar has made three billion dollars three billion dollars at the box office. And for the longest time, I was not a fan of James Cameron because I didn't really get it. And then as I rewatched some of his movies, go back and watching like it was like Turninator, I start to realize his real greatness. And it was once the Avatar movies finally clicked with me. It allowed me to see that nobody can do what he does, make movies that are so big and elaborate and create really big works of art almost out of thin air. I feel like the average person or even a good director, couldn't even begin to think how to develop a movie like Avatar, a movie I thought was so overhyped when it first came out back in two thousand and nine. But now I start to see his vision and as ridiculous as it sounds, that he has Part three, Part four, and Part five all planned out already, and it sounds just like, what are you talking about? You to keep making these movies for so long, But they make a lot of money, and they work so well internationally, which I think is also a great contributor to his box office numbers. I think the best decision he made was making these character's blue, because they are not identifiable whatsoever to a country or a type of person. They are really just a blank canvas that you switch out the language and anybody can put themselves in those movies. So I think that's why those movies do so well. And then Titanic obviously is one of the best movies of all time, so I'm giving credit where credit is due at number five, not that I paid him, but James Cameron with eight hundred million dollars getting in further to the top five. Now at number four is Tyler Perry, who was also number eight on this Forbes list overall, so he's number four as a director, but in every single celebrity out there, he is number eight. This is where the list starts to get crazy, and I feel like Tyler Perry is somebody left off the list. Of great directors. And I think the reason that is it's unfair that some people don't see media movies as quote unquote cinema. That's not me. I love every type of movie. I think movies are supposed to be escapism. If they distract you from your daily life, they have done their job. They can be as ridiculous as Tyler Perry dressing up like Medea. That's what movies are. They are entertainment. They don't have to have some level of sophistication. If a movie is able to bring joy to somebody, they are cinema. And I feel like some people doing this list would even leave him off because of his work. I saw some lists leaving him off, like he is a filmmaker, he is an actor. He is a writer and director. So in these movies, he's doing it all. He'll write it, he'll direct it, he'll start it. That is amazing, and it's earned him a network of one point four billion dollars. We have our first billionaire on the list. He's only fifty four years old. He has a three decade career in acting and TV and movies and stage plays. He does also so much to give back. His three highest grossing movies of all time have been Media's Family Reunion making sixty three million dollars, Medias Witness Protection made sixty five million dollars and is number one. Medie Goes to Joe making ninety million dollars. And you may be saying, well, that's so much lower than all the other movies on the list, But these movies cost way less to make than all the other movies we've been mentioning on this list because they don't have that same big Hollywood budget. But he has better margins and he has created this empire where he is making a lot more money off of those box office numbers because he is involved in every single aspect. He has his entire production company, so he is really the captain of his own ship, and that is how you become a billionaire. At number three on the list is Peter Jackson, who on the normal Celebrities list is right above Tyler Perry at number seven, so Therey's seven on this list, he is number three. He is the director of movies like The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, King Kong. Sixty two years old. He is from New Zealand and he is worth one point five billion dollars and we are now in the top three of this list, and you're gonna see why because they are hardcore nerds. So for me, somebody who is very passionate about things that other people tend to not care about, this brings me joy. This brings me happiness. This also gives me hope because growing up the things I liked were seeing is lame, geeky, and it's those things that are just a little bit different but so specific are what earned people so much praise because you are able to identify with a different group of people by getting so nerdy. And Peter Jackson is a visionary director and created arguably one of the best trilogies of all time. And I've said historically on this podcast that I do not like the Lord of the Rings movies all that much when it comes to my level of nerdiness, just not my brand of movie. But I can respect their greatness. I can respect the fact that they earned a lot of money at the box office and have also been a critics darling and earned a lot of award. Peter Jackson has done amazing things. Movies are still just not for me. I have been challenged by a member of the movie crew to rewatch all those movies see if I still feel that way about them. It is about a nine hour investment, so I haven't had time to carve out to do that, but I will do that this year. I promise you, I will rewatch the Lord of the Rings movies and the verdict will be out on whether or not I still think are not that great. But his top three highest grossing movies of all time, only one of them is a actual Lord of the Rings movie. At the other are the Lord of the Rings stories, and number three is The Hobbit The Battle of Five Armies, which made nine hundred and sixty two million. At number two is The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey, making one point one seven billion dollars, and at number one is The Lord of the Rings Return of the King, making one point one four six billion dollars at the box office. He's also won several Academy Awards for Best Director and number three. Peter Jackson at number two, and also number two on the overall list of richest celebrities, so he makes it at the top of both. It is Steven Spielberg. I mean, when I just think of movies and think of directors. I think of Steven Spielberg because he has made movies that are just all out classics that everybody has seen, what I would consider to be essential films, not only for movie lovers, but for everybody, Movies that we all grew up with and just know to be in. Oftentimes just the mount rushmore of movies, talking movies like Jaws Et, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones. The list goes on and on of iconic movies that are all Spielberg movies. He's been on this list since nineteen ninety four as being one of the richest celebrities. Steven Spielberg is so rich that he says he hasn't taken a salary in almost a decade now, meaning he doesn't take any money up front. Instead, what he does is what you can do as a director at his level, is negotiate to get a percentage of the sales of his movies. And not only that, he still gets a slice of every ticket sold at Universal theme parks thanks to the Indiana Jones series. So that's a whole other level here that we're gonna see is creating movies and owning ips that you can license out. That is where the real money is. That is why he has a net worth of four point eight billion dollars. Is because not only do his movies make so much at the box office, but you're talking mert celles, licensing, theme parks, everything related to the movie. He creates worlds. He is the fabric of imagination in America. So it's making movies that inspire fandoms and things you not only want to experience in the theater, but also go have some kind of experience in the real world where you can see and feel and interact with these movies. Because look at its highest grossing movies at number eight, Jaws and Saving Private Ryan Ready Player one, War the World's The Lost World, Durrassic Park three or Indiana, Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull making seven hundred and eighty six million dollars, and number two is Et seven hundred and ninety two million dollars. And at number one is Jurassic Park making one point oh four billion dollars. And that's just in his top eight all classics. Not a bad movie in the top eight. I don't think he's made a bad movie. He's made some that all right, mediocre. Didn't really nail it with that one, but it's still a good movie because you're Spielberg. He is such a great director that I don't even need to list him in my favorite directors. He is in a category all on his own. He is just cinema to me, because it almost seems unreal that one person could be responsible for all of these classics. So at number two four point eight billion dollars Steven Spielberg. And at number one, the biggest nerd of all, who is also number one overall on this entire Richest Celebrities list, is George Lucas, the director of Star Wars who also created it. He first viewed as a billionaire back in nineteen ninety seven. And it's all because of Lucasfilms, which he sold to Disney in twenty twelve for more than four billion dollars in cash and stuck. And that is it. Like we were just saying, it's about creating that ip, creating something so valuable that a company like Disney would want to buy it and create almost the fabric of their company. That is what Disney did. They bought Marvel and completely turned that around. I know some people say that Marvel was diminished in quality when it was bought by Disney, but that's not the case whatsoever, because Marvel was a struggling business until Disney got involved. We wouldn't have even been close to getting to endgame if they didn't buy them. And I know some people don't like the new Star Wars movies, but I feel like Disney overall has done a really great job with everything Star Wars, creating some really great series over on Disney Plus, and I want to see the new Star Wars movies as much. Just people hate him, but George Lucas, with a networth of five point five billion dollars, the richest director and the richest celebrity. His top three highest grossing movies of all time are Star Wars Return of the Jedi from eighty three, making eight hundred and eighty one million dollars, and number two is The Empire Strikes Back making nine hundred and twenty million dollars, and at number one the og from nineteen seventy seven, A New Hope and my favorite Star Wars movie, making one point six billion dollars at the box office. So this list proves to me overall that it pays to be a nerd. It pays to have weird ideas. It pays to sit in your room and think about how can I create a world that nobody has seen. Characters that are memorable, that people are going to want to costplay at at comic cons, Movies that create big, fun action. And I bet all of these billionaires on this list, at one point we're told they were weird, they were nerdy, they were never gonna make it, But now they are laughing all the way to the bank. So that is the list. We'll come back and talk about Ghostbusters Frozen Empire. We'll get into why I feel like the Crow movie is being made in bad taste, and then I'm gonna let you know how I've met my hero post Malone. Let's get into it now. A spoiler free review of Ghostbusters Frozen Empire. If you are new here to the podcast or watching on YouTube where I post individual movie reviews YouTube dot Com, slash Mike Distro, you may not know that this is part of an entire podcast, so if you're just watching there, I highly recommend. Obviously I have a bit of a bias here because I do the podcast, but every single week movie Mike Movie podcast comes out, So not only do we do a movie review, but we also talk about movie topics. We break down trailers. So if you're watching here or listening here, or you're not doing one of those, be sure to check the podcast, be sure to check out the YouTube channel. But maybe you're not that familiar with me, and you think, oh, this is just some other movie critic on YouTube who gets paid by studios to review movies. Not the case whatsoever. I am just a guy who loves movies. I pay to watch every single movie that I review. Now I do have Regal Unlimited, but nobody pays me for that. It's not an endorsement. Everything I go watch in theaters is because I want to see it personally, or I know it's going to be a big movie and I want to share my thoughts with you guys to let you know what is good and what is not good. But I don't have any pressures by any studios or anybody telling me, hey, go check out this movie and let us know what you think. Wink wink. Not the case here. I don't even consider myself a really good movie critic because a lot of the things I break down are how movies make me feel. I'll always do spoiler free reviews because if you stick to the ways that movies make you feel, you'll always give your truth and you'll never ruin things. So I get into very bare minimum of what the plot is about, but more about how the movie makes me feel and what type of person is going to enjoy this type of movie. And the reason I'm telling you all this is because I wasn't that excited about going into watching Ghostbusters Frozen Empire. And at the time of recording this, the movie has already been out for a couple of weeks. By the time you hear this, it'll probably be in its third week. And I did not go see this movie on the first week of release. I didn't go to any press screening because I just wasn't that interested in it. And historically the Ghostbusters movies have been some of the most iconic movies. I think it was just a little bit before my time. If you grew up in the eighties, were born in the early eighties, and these movies you associate with your childhood. I feel the fandom there. If you're a big Bill Murray fan, Dan Aykroyd fan, I can see why you would love these movies. If you watch the cartoon of the kid you had, the toys you dressed up like that for Halloween, I could see why you would be more passionate about these movies. But I never really was. And when After Life came out in twenty twenty one, I even refused to go see that one in theaters because I wasn't that interested in it. It felt like nostalgia bait to me. It felt like they were just cranking out these movies to say, hey, remember what we did back in the eighties, let's make it cool again. But I rewatched that one a couple of weeks before this one came out, and I was like, you know what, Glad I gave this movie another chance, because I actually think it's pretty fun. The way they reset the story with a family member who is the grandkid one of the original Ghostbusters. You learn all about that in the first one. So you do need to watch After Life going into Frozen Empire, because that one really sets the stage on all these characters. But I didn't watch that one the first time or the second time. I rewatched it thinking I cannot wait to watch this next one. Froze at Empire. And the reason I'm telling you all this is because I was so surprised how much I ended up loving this movie. And I don't read reviews or watch reviews or listen to reviews going into a movie, but people just felt the need to tell me about this. The guy who scanned our tickets going into the movie said, oh, I heard mixed things looking at it now. Tends to be the temperature going into Frozen Empire. Some people loved it, some people hated it. I think the people who hate it were those that I was talking about earlier who were a big fan of it back in the eighties, probably because they wanted to be like those original movies with more dan Aykroyd, more Bill Murray, more of the original Ghostbusters, at least the ones that are still living, and be just that again. But if you got that again, it wouldn't be as successful as these are now. And the people who love it are buying into this new generation of Ghostbusters. Maybe you're a big Paul Rudd fan, maybe you're a big Fin Wolf Hert fan from Strangers Things. But I think the direction they decided to take this one is kind of marrying the two because they tried to make Afterlife so different than the Ghostbusters. They put them out in Oklahoma. They really changed up the dynamic of the team and then kind of sprinkled in some of the old school stuff. And this one they go back to New York. They're trying just to be everyday Ghostbusters. Of course they're at the threat of getting shut down again, and then all these weird things start happening around the city. It's all tied to one object, and a new threat opposes the Ghostbusters, opposes the entire city of New York and really the entire world at the risk of causing a second ice age. Is basically what this movie is about. You see it a lot in the trailer, but what they were able to do in this one was make it so much warmer and inviting, and I really understand what they are trying to do here and and see why some people are upset because at the core of it, Ghostbusters was kind of always meant for kids, even though the original ones there are some very suggestive things in Ghostbusters Won and Ghostbusters Two. There's not even just straight up innuendos, but just straight up sexual jokes. I think those movies would have a much different rating. If they were gonna come out right now, then they got back in the eighties, and maybe the filmmakers realize it now. So what they've decided to do and what this movie is is more of a family movie, and it's one of the best family movies that you can go watch right now. There are some of the jokes that adults are gonna get and maybe kids won't get. One of them even made the trailer Bill Murray referencing the villain in this movie as tall, dark and horny, which he does have big horns, but obviously he's not talking about the horns when he's saying that, And that is just Bill Murray being Bill Murray and what you pay him millions of dollars to do. I love the way that everybody else takes a back seat. Who isn't McKenna grace who plays the granddaughter of Egon, So that is how they are keeping his legacy alive, because not only did he die in the franchise, he also sadly died in real life. And she becomes even more so than afterlife the main character of this movie. It is her as a teenager wanting to be a part of the Ghostbusters, but them essentially having to bench her because the mayor of New York says, if she continues to be a Ghostbuster and doing that all these things, she's gonna end up in jail. So Paul Rudfinn, they all still do the Ghostbuster thing, and she is struggling to find her identity because this is what she wants to do. She's really smart, really into science, and ghostbusting is what she wants to do in her life. But to have that ripped away, to be going through all the normal teenage things. Her story is the forefront of this, and I think it is such a great way to content continue the legacy of Ghostbusters and to make it feel fresh but also make it feel familiar with all of the ghosts. You have slimer back in this movie, and it really leans in more to all the fun supernatural elements that is Ghostbusters and what they are famous for and really allows it to turn into a movie with some really great, pretty well defined characters when it comes to a family film, and you also see Paul Rudd's character evolve a little bit more of having to have a little bit more authority over these kids. One of them is eighteen years old now Finn the older brother, and he is now not seen as the kid anymore, but yet he's trying to take on more responsibility, but yet it still feels like a kid at heart. And any good movie is going to be about one thing. So yes, it is about them capturing and getting rid of ghosts. But a good movie is about one thing, but it has a theme underneath it, and the theme of Ghostbusters now is family and how they come together, work together, love each other. It's also a bit of an unconventional family. Paul Rudd is in that role of father figure, but he's not really their dad, so you have them actually going through things and feeling things. And me myself, I was thinking, Man, I wish a movie came out like this when I was just a teenager, because this easily would have been my favorite movie. Combining some supernatural elements. Now it's not overly scary. A part of me wanted this movie to come out during Halloween because it very much feels Halloween friendly to me. The level of horror or scariness that this movie has, which I really wouldn't describe it that way, but it kind of feels like the Scooby Doo movie from the two thousands where the monsters are a little bit creepy looking, and maybe if you're like a really young kid, maybe six in under, you get scared by it. But anything above that, I think you would not have nightmares after watching this film. What it does really well and what some people maybe feel ripped off by is it sprinkles in just a little bit all the other Ghostbusters. Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray. I mean you have Ernie Hudson at seventy eight years old looking incredible. Dude is ripped. Dude can still act and comparing him to dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray who are still roughly around the same age. And really, when you look at this cast, Paul Rudd is fifty four years old and still looks like he's my age. He looks thirty two like I do. I don't know what these people are doing in Hollywood. They probably have some secret potion. I don't want to say they have good doctors. I just think it's really good jeens. But they all look phenomenal. The visual effects in this movie are a definite improvement from Afterlife. That one costs seventy five million dollars to make. They spent a little bit more here, one hundred million dollars. I feel like that really shows in the villain, who had a much more realistic look, was and as ghosty and cartoony as some of the other ghosts in the movie, or really in the entire franchise, because when you go back to the very first and second Ghostbusters, the visual effects then were just so limited, and it greatly dates those movies. As beloved as they are, as much as they are classics, it is a much better time to be making these movies now, with the technology we have. I think they still keep kind of some of those elements from the original movie just to kind of give it that look. I feel like the lions statues in this one, they probably could have made those look a little bit better, but it very much looked like that same kind of stop motion animation style that the original movie had, So I'm okay with that. I know it could probably make all these characters look just like fifteen percent better and it would be more appealing to me, but then it would probably feel like less of a Ghostbusters movie. And overall, what really made me enjoy this movie is they they're just a really good team everybody together with the old Ghostbusters and the New Ghostbusters all work together really well, some really fun, well defined characters that I wasn't expecting to feel so much of a bond to all of them. Rarely do I say I wish a movie was a little bit longer, but in this case, where it was just around an hour and forty five minutes, I could have made it to the two hour mark. And I know the plan now is maybe not so much another sequel to this, which I would love, but they're gonna do a Netflix show that is gonna be animated. While watching Frozen Empire, I was thinking I would love to see a Ghostbuster show, which I know they had the cartoon back in the day. But I think when it comes to Ghostbusters, if we had a series over another movie, I mean, give me one more of this, but then after that turn it into a series. I think that would have a much better life. It would also probably expose a younger audience to it a little bit easier. And I just got to say, Paul Rudd is so incredibly charming, and I bet it's so cool for him, somebody who grew up in the eighties to now be in a movie with Bill Murray, which I kind of thought Bill Murray was gonna have a little bit more of a substantial role in this. At first, I was worried that his appearance was gonna be a mere cameo. And what they say about working with Bill Murray is you never really know when he's gonna show up. They would just be filming, he'd be on the call sheet. They'd wonder is he gonna show up or not? Sometimes he would, and it feels like once he gets there, you gotta keep rolling. You gotta let Bill do Bill, and what you see is what you get. I also think that's probably why they can't do a movie focusing on just those characters, because they don't know Bill Murray is gonna be there or not. But I also think it was a great time for this movie to come out forty years after the original one doing okay at the box office so far the time of recording this and has crossed the one hundred million dollar mark, which is good, but for a movie that also spent one hundred million dollars to make. Generally you want to make at least fifty percent, but really one hundred percent to be profitable. They did that with Afterlife, which is the reason we got this movie. I think eventually it could get there with the international box office, hopefully crossing that two hundred million dollar mark. Oh it's a struggle right now. I could easily see them getting to one hundred and seventy five. So I think that number is going to be very telling on whether or not we get a third film in this franchise. I'd be pretty bummed out after really bonding with these characters. Kumal Nan Johnny was a fantastic addition to the cast, and I think his character really showed how much they stepped up the writing in this movie, where it's a lot funnier than After Life. It's not like split your pants, laugh out loud, fuddy ah, that was a good one. But the amount of jokes that they kept working in and a lot of the situational humor and the fun, little quick one liners I thought were so much better in this and just so much more reminiscent and an ode to the original Ghostbusters. So the fact that the comedy was there on the page, it was met with great performances, stepped up the visual effects. There were so many things that I just loved about this movie, and it was also due to the fact that I was going into it not expecting to like it as much as I did. So it's a movie that if you lower your expectations, change a little bit how you think about the Ghostbusters franchise, especially if you grew up with it. But if you were already a fan of Afterlife, you gotta go see this one. I think for the big Ghostbusters fans it is a muskwatch in theaters just because you get that feeling again. It is one that is fun to experience with other people. There was a big Ghostbusters fan sitting next to me who would cheer curse along with the movie. He seemed to be having a really good time. Kelsey was sitting to my right who watched the first one with me, not too familiar with the old school versions, but ended up also really enjoying this movie. But you also liked Afterlife, so if you like that one, if you liked the original ones, definitely see this in theaters. If you didn't like Afterlife and are just hardcore about the original Ghostbusters, probably wait for it to come out on streaming. But I think it's a really fun time. Depending on the age that your kids are. I do think it is fine for kids. There is a little bit of language, like I mentioned what Bill Murray says earlier. There's also at least one s bomb that I remember that really stuck out, maybe another one in there. But there's no f words, no real violence. It's all fantasy action based. But for ghostbusters Frozen Empire, I was right on the line between a four and a four point five. If this was a movie that didn't have any legacy attached to it, I think it would be a four point five. But due to the fact that I don't even know that I would rate the original ones a five out of five, I'm gonna go a strong four out of five slimers for Ghostbuster's Frozen Empire.

00:40:11
Speaker 2: It's time to head down to Movie Mikes.

00:40:14
Speaker 1: Treylar Paul. We're continuing the theme of remake after remake after remake, but this one just might be flat out disrespectful on so many levels. They are remaking The Crow, which the original one came out back in nineteen ninety four, and this movie has a legacy attached to it that is so dark and sad, and it makes the movie itself just feel even just bigger than it is and for the time. When The Crow came out back in nineteen ninety four, this movie was way ahead of its time. And what I'm referring to is that Brandon Lee died while making the first movie. If you're not familiar with this story, he is the son of the legendary Bruce Lee, and he died back on March thirty first, nineteen ninety three, while filming The Crow. So here's what this movie is about, if you're unfamiliar with the story. He plays a character named Eric Draven. He and his girlfriend get murdered by these bad people and then his character comes back to life and seeks vengeance on these people. And on the surface, yes, that's what this movie is. That's the story about vengeance. But at the core depths of The Crow, it is really about love. It's about dealing with grief. But his character now can't die that he's already dead. So in a scene he was supposed to be shot, and there were blanks put into this gun, but the problem was there was a fragment of a real bullet lodged in the barrel of the gun that they were using, So it wasn't that they put a real bullet in there, or had the wrong amm or anything like that. They just used the gun and that probably at some other point that the propmaster had put a live, real bullet in there at one point and that fragment was still in that gun when the blank was fired, and that propelled the force that caused the fatal injury to Brandon Lee. And this was not the first time somebody had died while making a movie, but it's one of the most famous cases. And after this it sparked a lot of investigation on safety protocols on films. The weird thing is we're having something like this that is still ongoing with what happened during Rust and the whole Alec Baldwin thing, which is still unraveling today. We are still dealing with making sets safe, which is not good. This should not be happening. It shouldn't. Brandon Lee should still be alive, but he's not. Sadly, and The Crow has always been that movie that we all remember him for because as he did such a good job at it, and sadly, due to the fact that he died, has probably heightened the cult classicness of that movie because it creates so much more historical significance. But the movie itself was amazing. It has such a unique visual style. He was great as the Crow. Just the vibe of it inspired an entire generation of goth kids, and that is what this movie was. It was iconic, it was important, it was memorable, it was edgy. It was a real big definer of the nineties, one of the most cultiest of cult classics. And that is exactly what The Crow was. And I think that that should be the legacy of Brandon Lee because he died while making this movie. As you can tell, I'm getting a little bit fired up and I want to get more into this, But I got to mention that the all reason I'm doing this is because the trailer has been out for a few weeks now. The Crow coming out on June seventh. Bill Skarsgard's playing The Crow. Fka Twiggs is playing the love interest, essentially the same story. The plot is. His character is Eric Draven, his love interest is Sherry Webster. They are brutally murdered when the demons from her dark past catch up with him. Given the chance to save his true love by sacrificing himself, Eric sets out to seek merciless revenge on their killers, traversing the worlds of the living and the dead to put the wrongs at right. And here's just a little bit of the trailer.

00:44:32
Speaker 3: When someone dies, a crow carries that soap to the land of the dead. Sometimes something so bad happens and the soul cannot rest.

00:44:53
Speaker 1: I'm gonna cool them are the single one of them. I've watched this trailer now a few times. The real big difference that stuck out to me is that it looks a lot more violent, and initially I thought that was kind of cool. Seeing Bill Scar's guard getting shot up very bloody, looked very over the top. I thought that part was cool, But as I rewatched the trailer, I kept getting Joker in Suicide Squad from the look of Bill scars guard because they put a more emphasis on his physique, which he is oddly ripped up. He is one of those actors that you never really think about him being so muscular, but he is without a shirt through the majority of this trailer. He has all these random tattoos on him and it just kind of looks like when Jared Leto came out as the Joker in the Suicide squad and they put all these ridiculous looking tattoos on him, and he's all ripped up without a shirt and trying to look a lot edgier and make it seem more updated. And I feel like that takes away from what made the first one so great, which that makeup that Brandon Lee had was so iconic, and the leather jacket, the entire outfit and wardrobe for that movie was yes, very nineteen nineties. But the way they decided to update it was to make this movie look like a generic action movie. There is no vibe in this trailer. It just looks like they are trying to apply botox to something that doesn't need it. The Crow does not need a facelift. That movie is aging gracefully and we should let it do. So this is a case where it's a movie that should not be remade. And I'm understanding that for the most part, everything I love will eventually be remade. It is the movie business, and I try not to get so cynical about every single remake. It feels like it's happening so much right now. But for a movie where somebody died while making it, and that film was still finished and it is that actor's legacy. You can't remake it. This movie has cash grab written all over it. Because The Crow came out back in nineteen ninety four and people still talk about it. This movie will come out on June seventh, and it will be forgotten by December thirty one, twenty twenty four. By the time the next year rolls around, we won't even think about this movie. I don't care how even good it ends up being, because it's not. Just by the looks of this trailer, I don't think it's going to be. It looks very just that it kind of feels like The Crow. Let's slack the name on it and get people interested in it. It just doesn't have that aesthetic. You have the director from the original Crow saying these exact things if this remake is disrespectful, and I agree. Aside from that, it is also hard for me to see Bill Scarsgard in this role. I saw him play a villain in John Wick Chapter four, and even that was a little bit hard to believe. He is great as Pantywise, the Clown, and the it remakes. I just don't even think it was properly cast. But maybe it was also hard to find somebody that wanted to take on this role. Knowing the legacy, I would imagine somebody who could actually do the character justice would probably pass on something like this for that exact reason. So this is one oddly I might not even go and see it out of respect for the original, because after watching this trailer doesn't motivate me to watch this movie. It really just makes me want to go back and watch the one from nineteen ninety four. And I feel like, I know, as a movie reviewer and podcaster, I have a duty tea you guys, I have a duny in curiosity to myself to see this movie, but almost for a moral reason to stand my ground in my fight against remakes that should not be remade. I don't even know if I can go see this one. I just think down in my heart I wouldn't feel right. So as of now, I am not gonna plan on watching The Crow because I think it is disrespectful to Brandon Lee. I don't want to throw any money at this movie unless you think that I'm being out of line here and I should go watch it and I should review it. I think I'm gonna dip out of this one. It just doesn't feel right to me. But if you want to see it, it's coming out on June seventh. Oh man, I just can't see it at That was this week's edition of Movie min Framer Bar, and that is going to do it for another episode here of the podcast. In that trailer there was actually a post alone song. And if you are a new listener of this podcast and don't listen to me on the radio show, I am a head writer on the Bobby Bone Show, I am a huge post Malone fan. I don't really have the opportunity to talk about it here on this podcast, even though he does have a pretty substantial movie career now, so maybe I will do a deep dive on post Malone in film. But he has been my favorite artist for years now. The first time I ever saw him was in a small club here in Nashville, maybe five hundred people in attendance. This was long before he was a megastar like he is now, before his second album Beer Bongs and Bentley's Ever came out. He actually announced it at that show that that album was coming out later that year. But he has been my favorite artist for so long now. I greatly identify with his music and it has helped me through some very dark times in my life. Kind of been the soundtrack of my mid to late twenties to early thirties. Now. I've seen him in concert a bunch since then, and he played a show here at the Ryman Bobby Bones and the Ragging Idiots Million Dollars show, which they put on every year to raise money for the kids at Saint Jude. It's always an awesome show and there's always surprise guests. And about Monday of the week of the show was going down on a Wednesday, Bobby told me there was about a seventy five percent chance that post Malone was going to show up, and I lost my mind at that. The next day he came in on Tuesday and said it was about a ninety five percent chance, and then when he came in on the show day on Wednesday morning, he told me it was at a ninety nine percent chance that he was going to show up. Lo and behold. That night, I was standing backstage and somebody said he was about an hour out. Kept getting more and more nervous, and then he finally showed up with the non entourage of people, walked right in front of me, and I could feel my soul leaving my body in that moment. It was like I was standing overhead and watching myself see my favorite artist walk right in front of me. And I was nervous the whole night because I wanted to meet him, wanted to get that picture, and I was worried that the opportunity was going to evaporate from my hands because there were so many people there. He had a big entourage. The word was that he was going to leave right after the show. He played two songs and write as soon as he was done, he went immediately and said hi to every single fan that was waiting right there in the front row. And that whole time, I'm standing on the stage still. I watched the entire set side stage, and I'm thinking, oh, man, he's gonna like duck out from the other side of the stage. They're gonna grab him immediately. But it was also so cool to see him taking pictures with every single fan lying on the ground to take a selfie. And I've always known him to be that person to wait outside and meet the people who want to meet him. He's always made that a huge priority. And then lo and behold hepped up, saying hi to everybody. Security guard was bringing them back to where the rest of his crew was standing, which I was right over there in that corner. Two and I finally got to meet him, and I told him how big of a fan I was. I shook his hand, he took the picture. He was so nice and warm and thanked me. Didn't need to thank me. I'm like, I should be thanking you for so much more. And not only that, I saw that he left his bud light can I grabbed that. I dumked the beer out and I put it in my jacket pocket and I now have it right here. I'm looking right at it here where I record this podcast. So that was cool, because sometimes you worry about the people who you have been the biggest fan of for so long if they will actually be cool in real life. And I can say, without a doubt it's not an act. He is that genuine and nice of a person. And it really solidified me dedicating so much of my life to being such a big fan of his music, spending money on his tickets, buying tradition of every time you put that in an album, I get t shirt that he puts out that goes along with the album. So I have a t shirt where every single album he's put out. Literally, there's so many things in this room that have post malone. Things I have is Cane's cup collection. I have a pop toy. I know so much about it. I'm gonna go on a sound like a crazy person. But it was so cool to see that all come full circle and him be a genuine dude. Finally get to meet him. So if ever somebody says never meet your heroes, just don't have heroes who are jerks. I also got to meet a lot of listeners of this podcast, and that is going to be this week's listener shout out of the week. Everybody who I talk to, and the immediate first thing that you tell me is that you love the podcast. That is the biggest compliment to me, because this is the thing I'm most passionate about. The thing I'm probably known for more is the Bobby Bone Show. Obviously twenty five Whistles and the Bobby Cast, but this being the thing that you say you listen to first when you meet me is the ultimate compliment because you're a part of the movie crew and I feel like this is a very select group of people that I know who I'm talking to, and we've built this community here. So thank you to everybody who I met on Wednesday night of last week at the Ryman or outside of the show as I was walking around downtown. Thank you everybody who said hello and for listening to this podcast and making me a part of your week. So until next time, go out and watch good movies and I will talk to you later.