Top 5 Things From Space (That Came To Destroy Us) [Archive]

16:54Josh Larsen:Valiant effort, and I don't think he's kidding. I don't think he's being ironic. No, no, I don't think he is either. And we've acknowledged McTiernan with Die Hard has shown the ability to spoof macho tendencies. Are we buying any of that? But, you know, too much. I was dazzled by the beef cakery. I couldn't pick up on any of that. Right. Because of what else is going on. Jesse Ventura.

17:15Adam Kempenaar:I mean, Carl Weathers. Yeah. You know, and surely everyone listening has seen Predator. Stuck in the jungle, this predator, this alien being, they have to figure out what it is, is hunting them down. That's the plot.

17:25Josh Larsen:I will say that it's an awesome alien. I mean, as a kid, I was wowed by the alien. I have seen it recently. Terrible film, but awesome alien.

17:36Adam Kempenaar:Okay, so I haven't seen it recently, but that's what I wanted to say. I always thought that of the movies I loved when I was 12 years old, I thought Predator is one that would actually possibly hold up or at least hold up better than some others because of its simplicity of its story, its simplicity of purpose, the clarity of its characters, what everyone's after. And I'm sure there are some laughable lines and some laughable line deliveries, but I think they're all of a piece. And I do like the alien. That's why Predator made this list, because of that mystery that drives the film. What is this thing?

18:06Adam Kempenaar:And the way you see it blending into the jungle, so you don't ever really get a beat on what it is. And the mystery of its motivations. Okay, it's clearly here to kill them, but why? We don't really understand it until, you know, a good way portioned through the movie. It's also, Josh, distinct from the other aliens on my list, and probably yours, in that it really isn't here to destroy us. It's not here to destroy humanity. It doesn't have any grand designs on destruction, or enslavement, or using people for food, or whatever. it turns out it's just here for sport it probably travels all around the universe going to whatever places it can find or at least all over this planet looking for different things to hunt down and kill and it really doesn't have anything bigger than that that it's trying to accomplish is there any kind of commentary in the fact that this creature travels to this foreign country to find this elite american fighting force in order to have a good time and the force itself seems to be somewhat out for the sport of it themselves?

19:02Adam Kempenaar:Maybe. I don't know that I'm going to go there. But the fact is John McTiernan had that run in the 80s of Predator, Die Hard and The Hunt for Red October. Three really good action films from the 80s. At least that's how I remember them. I have not caught up with Predator in a long time.

19:29Adam Kempenaar:Let's Chumba. No purchase necessary. BTW Group. Void where prohibited by law. CCNC 21 Plus. Sponsored by Chumba Casino.

19:35Josh Larsen:You know that moment around 2 p.m. when you realize you haven't eaten protein, but you also don't want a heavy shake? I have a solution. Sky Pop Protein Soda. It tastes like soda. It's light, bubbly, refreshing, but with 10 grams of complete protein, zero sugar, and only 45 calories. So I don't have to think about it. I'm just packing lunches, answering emails, doing everything, and I just grab one to go. It really does feel lighter than those big functional drinks. and you're still getting real benefits and not something you forced yourself to drink. Sky Pop Protein Soda. Reach for the sky. Get yours now at Target or Walmart.

20:07Josh Larsen:Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi-asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto, and now generated assets, which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20 % year over year. You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one-of-a-kind index, and lets you backtest it against the S &P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks.

20:40Josh Larsen:Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com slash podcast and earn an uncapped 1 % bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com slash podcast. Paid for by public investing. Brokered services by Open to the Public Investing, Inc., member FINRA, and SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors, LLC, SEC Registered Advisor. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com slash disclosures.

21:08Josh Larsen:Are you trying to get weight loss support through telehealth, but it feels overwhelming and rushed? Check out orderlymeds.com now. Orderlymeds.com was built to be different. Here, you connect with real doctors who take the time to understand your goals, review your eligibility and guide you through a plan that's right for you. Orderly meds provides access to proven GLP-1 medications like semaglutide and terzepatide, including both name brand options and personalized compound versions when appropriate. So you have choices backed by clinical oversight, not guesswork. It's a simpler, more supportive telehealth experience designed around people who want clarity, care, and confidence in their weight loss journey.

21:47Josh Larsen:And your medication is delivered directly to your home in discreet packaging. So your experience stays private from start to finish. Do your research. Ask the right questions. Then visit orderlymeds.com slash podcast for an exclusive offer. Again, that's orderlymeds.com slash podcast. Individual results may vary. Not medical advice eligibility required. See site for details. I still like the alien. I know. I still like the alien. And I know I shouldn't say this, but I'm recommending Predators from 2010. Really? Which is. No. Yes. It's a better. It's a better film. No. Adrian Brody, directed by Nimrod Antal.

22:23Josh Larsen:I mean, come on. It is a better film, though. It is a better film. All right. Now I'm going to pay for that. I know it. My number three. This is one that I was able to catch up with for the first time. I had actually never seen one of the supposed worst movies of all time. And all I can say is that it lives up to its reputation. It's Plan 9 from outer space. And it's not just that this is good, bad. I mean, we have plenty of those, especially in the sci-fi genre. But it's more that director Edward D. Wood Jr., he brings a confidence to this material you could just feel coming off the screen. And it can only be attributed to extreme self-delusion.

22:58Josh Larsen:So we have the epitome of camp here. I mean, mind you, this came out in 1959. So we're six years right after the War of the Worlds, which has not the creatures, but those spacecraft are pretty impressive effects. Yet Wood here includes countless insert shots of his flying frying pans as if they're equal to that or better or an improvement. And there's just no way that they are. It also has stabs at poetic dialogue and voiceover narration that's spoken with the utmost sincerity. One of my favorite lines is, it was the sundown of the day, but also the sundown of the old man's heart. That old man, by the way, is a very, very sad Della Lugosi.

23:37Josh Larsen:Overall, this has a misplaced pride that's so pure and joyous. I think this is why Tim Burton wanted to make the movie with Johnny Depp, Ed Wood, because that's what it captures is that love of making a movie. No matter what the movie is, you can really feel that when you're watching Plan 9 from outer space. Now, as for the aliens, I don't think I can do any better than describing them the way the movie does, which is grave robbers from space. for reasons that are never quite clear. These aliens are reanimating the bodies of the recently dead. So this is where the mixture of sci-fi and horror that I mentioned earlier comes in.

24:11Josh Larsen:Now, to be fair, there's sort of an eerie visual poetry to the performances by Tor Johnson and Vampyra as two of the zombies. Johnson's resurrection scene is pretty iconic. That's worth checking out alone. But the actual aliens, they look like normal people, and they're played by Dudley Manlove and Joanna Lee with this odd sort of calmness. It's like they're hosting a PBS pledge or something, not trying to take over the world. Their leader, however, is played by the oddly theatrical John Breckenridge. And another great detail is that for some reason he sports a medieval tunic and it even has an emblem of an axe on it, even though he's like from some futuristic planet.

24:49Josh Larsen:So I could go on and on about the awful delights of Plan 9 from Outer Space, but I'll save that for people to discover. It really is one of those terrible movies that's worth a watch.

24:58Adam Kempenaar:Yeah, I need to see it still. I've only seen it as it's being shot in the Tim Burton movie, Ed Wood. You're listening to Film Spotting. We're sharing our top five things from space that came to destroy us, inspired by the new film starring Scarlett Johansson, Under the Skin. For my number three, I'm definitely picking the movie here versus the alien because this is an alien we never see. And it's the deadly microorganism from the Andromeda strain. The 1971 Robert Wise directed film from the Michael Crichton novel. novel. And basically, it's the story of a small New Mexico town, a satellite crashes there, and all the inhabitants mysteriously die.

25:39Adam Kempenaar:So the government sends in this scientific team to try to figure out what's going on. And I went back and looked at my notes for this movie, Josh, because this was one of the early films in a 70s sci-fi marathon we did here on FilmSpotting four or five years ago, I think. And the things that stood out for me about this movie is that the whole film really is about the science. It's showing us every single step of this process, trying to figure out what this strain is, almost as if the filmmaker was out to make a case for the embrace of science, because that is all it's really interested in, this kind of technology and coming up with these solutions.

26:16Adam Kempenaar:And so many of the movies that have followed and probably even preceded it, where there are these virus movies, right? And there's a lot of action because they're trying to keep the zombies at bay or whatever they're trying to do while the scientists are off in a room somewhere working on a cure. Here, it's all the cure. That's the whole movie, is just them being locked away.

26:35Josh Larsen:What the hell are you doing? Turn off the oxygen. Put them on a room air. No, the air is thick with Andromeda. Experiment with your own life, damn it. Andromeda will spread everywhere. They'll never be rid of it. There are now five minutes to self-destruct.

26:50Adam Kempenaar:It's the science part, and I think that is pretty interesting. You also get into the paranoia and fear of the government stuff that inhabits so many of these types of alien invasion movies. The fact that the scientists all pretty much operate under the idea that the military probably created the strain themselves and is just trying to harness it as a weapon. Another, as I said, very common thing, not only for these movies, but especially 70s sci-fi movies. So I like the Andromeda strain. I think for a lot of people, it's probably a pretty slow film and they kind of want a little more of that action and crackle.

27:21Adam Kempenaar:But I like the fact that it respects that it's really about science.

27:24Josh Larsen:Yeah, I remember it being slow. It's been a long time since I've seen it, but yet that paranoia really does seep in despite the focus on the science and the procedure and that sort of thing. All right. My number two, how deep does my Tim Burton love go, Adam? Wow. Yes. Yes. Deep enough that my number two is Mars Attacks. I think I may be the only person who does like this movie, but one reason... Tim Burton doesn't even like Mars Attacks, I'm sure. No, I think he does. I think that's one of the reasons why the performances, not all of them, but the majority of them are pretty bad and out of control because I think he was having such a blast with the aliens.

28:00Josh Larsen:So I'm focusing on the aliens, though I like this movie overall for this pick. It is his spoof of the War of the Worlds, Plan 9 from Outer Space and their ilk. and the aliens are these computer-generated creatures who, they're little green men, but they seem to be more modeled on the gremlins more than anything else. They're mischievous. They toy with humans. There's just that great throwaway shot where they're flying saucers trying to tilt the Washington Monument after the Boy Scout troop to make sure it lands on them. There's also the scene, you know, the classic we-come-in-peace scene, except here a hippie unwisely lets loose a dove that doesn't last very long.

28:35Josh Larsen:Burton and his animators, they gave these aliens a really great aesthetic, too, that's drawn largely from the trading cards that inspired the movie. I love the touch that the aliens are wearing these kind of glass helmets like they're in a cheesy 1950s TV show with astronauts or something. And, of course, the sound of their guns is a nice audio nod to those lasers from The War of the Worlds. So the humor is very broad here, yes, and many of the performances are pretty bad. I like Jack Nicholson's president. I'm not so wild about the real estate developer he plays in the dual role. But I just think Burton was having such a good time with those aliens that he wasn't even paying attention to what else was going on.

29:14Josh Larsen:Pays off for me.

29:15Adam Kempenaar:Well, we go from your number two pick, a movie nobody likes but you, to my number two pick, a movie everybody likes but you. Oh, no. I've got three words. Norris, Spiderhead. It is The Thing from John Carpenter's The Thing. yes another 80s movie and what i like about this movie mainly josh even though i know your take on it is you see it as just a lot of splatter and a lot of gore for the sake of gore and special effects for the sake of special effects but i like the fact what is always appealed to be about the film is the fact that it uses this crazy parasitic life form that seems to be able to assimilate any organism it comes into contact with and it uses that to explore power and group dynamics that really is what the film is about so the enemy isn't so much the thing which we see in a lot of monster movies the enemy really becomes the other people in the room the other people at this station and of course it does feature one of those great growly 80s kurt russell performances as macready that i really do enjoy but for me this was almost my number one because it's both this grotesque thing this bizarre life form that makes your skin crawl just to see it on screen and all of its different incarnations, the effects, of course, famously by Rob Botton, but it also makes it such an interesting character, if you will, this thing is that it's also us.

30:36Adam Kempenaar:It's like an alien movie such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers, right, where the real horror comes from the fact that the other creature is really us. It's the neighbor. It's your husband. It's your wife, whatever it might be. And we see that in, as I said, the way this creature assimilates and becomes other people. So really, for me, the suspense of the thing, the real horror of it goes beyond just the obvious gore. And it really becomes the sense as the movie goes on that, OK, what happens if this thing does get out of this station? Is it ever going to be stopped? This one little creature could, in fact, somehow assimilate all of humanity, potentially.

31:14Adam Kempenaar:and that was fascinating enough to me at the time I saw it, which actually wasn't until probably later in the 80s. I don't think it's a movie I saw as a kid. If I saw it when it came out, I wouldn't have been able to sleep alone for probably weeks or months. So it was later when I caught up with it and even more recently when I've seen it, you know, the effects, yes, I've said it and gotten chastised for it here on the show for saying that the effects are a little bit dated. They are, but it doesn't ruin the experience of the film for me at all.

31:38Josh Larsen:Yeah, you know, I have a John Carpenter problem and I think I need to sit through, I need to listen to a John Carpenter marathon that someone else conducts because I undervalue a lot of his movies. What about Halloween? I really dislike Halloween. Oh, I love Halloween. It's very basic stuff that often with his films, it's a staging in Halloween for a suspense film that I just can't get past. Assault on Precinct 13 is probably the one, and I haven't seen all of his, so that's why I do need that marathon. Probably the one I like the best. So Carpenter, yeah, I'm often alone on him. Okay, your number one, Josh.

32:13Josh Larsen:My number one is a movie that I just caught up with, Attack the Block. It's from 2011, a British sci-fi comedy about an alien invasion of a South London neighborhood. This time, though, it's not the military that the aliens run up against, but a gang of wannabe teen thugs.

32:31Adam Kempenaar:What is that? That's an alien, bro. Believe it. And I landed in the wrong place, though. You get me? The wrong place. I'm killing them. I'm killing them. Let's get to that, bud.

32:42Josh Larsen:The social satire in this thing, it's handled just about perfectly, I think. The movie essentially poses this tongue-in-cheek question. What's scarier, hostile alien invaders or black youth? And then it riffs for the rest of the movie on the sad reality that many people are going to say the latter. Now, as for those aliens, they're pretty cool. They're described as gorilla wolves, I think, and that does seem to fit. They have spiky black fur, no eyes, but their teeth and their jaws glow in the dark. And it comes across pretty impressively considering this wasn't a hugely budgeted film. It also has some smart action scenes staged by director Joe Cornish, a lot of sly humor in it, a great hip-hop soundtrack.

33:23Josh Larsen:And even to my surprise and delight, I didn't know this going in, but a small part for a very funny Nick Frost.

33:29Adam Kempenaar:You discovered a species here with two unknown to science. Maybe there was a party at the zoo and a monkey shagged a fish.

33:38Josh Larsen:So I'd only heard good things about this since it came out. I don't know why I never got around to it, but I was glad I did finally see it. I mean, it easily would have been one of my top 10 films of 2011 if I'd seen it then.

33:49Adam Kempenaar:Oh, yeah. Well, Attack the Block is a movie I enjoy as well. It's an honorable mention for me on this list. My number one thing from space that came to destroy us, Josh, I'm just going to pick at that John Carpenter scab. Oh, man. I should have called this the John Carpenter memorial list, but then I wouldn't have had any picks. So I would have been in big trouble. But for me, it is the humanoid aliens from They Live. Yeah, that's one I haven't seen either. It's really good. It's really good. It's come up on the show once or twice before. But this is that case I was kind of talking about with the thing where you have the fear of this gross creature.

34:22Adam Kempenaar:But you also have the fear of this thing walking among us and not being able to detect it. And that's what this whole film is about is that these aliens are living among us and nobody can see them except as it turns out with these special glasses that the main character played by Rowdy Roddy Piper gets his hands on. And you can't watch this movie and not recognize that it was a big influence on The World's End, one of my favorite films from last year. But these aliens, they're using the Earth basically just as a resource to deplete. They're going to leave it in ruins basically someday as we come to learn.

34:55Adam Kempenaar:But with these glasses on, we see how all the media is filled with subliminal messaging to obey and conform and marry and reproduce and consume. And that is fun enough as a satire. But where the movie gets really interesting for me, Josh, is where we see the bargain the humans in the movie have struck with them. Some of the humans have struck with them. The satire gets taken to another level when you recognize that basically the wealthy people, the rich, the 1%, they're the 1 % because they're willing to sacrifice the long-term health of the planet and everyone else around them for their piece of the American dream, for whatever they think they're entitled to.

35:32Adam Kempenaar:And like a lot of good sci-fi, the whole movie is just sort of absurd and exaggerated enough and heightened enough to feel like it both could never happen and maybe already has happened. And I like, too, that the aliens in this movie, they're not really creatures so much as when you see them, they're skeletons. They look human. They look like humans would look if you stripped away our skin and revealed what's underneath. And I don't know if Carpenter was going for this or not, but maybe that is what's underneath, is these creatures. when you strip that away. That may be part of the commentary, but I do like They Live.

36:05Adam Kempenaar:Part of the new cult canon, according to our friend Scott Tobias reference here for the second time I've name dropped Scott Tobias from The Dissolve. We'll link to his discussion of They Live in the show notes over at filmspotting.net. Can we just pause here to acknowledge

36:17Josh Larsen:that your list has included both Jesse Ventura and Rowdy Roddy Piper? I love wrestling.

36:24Adam Kempenaar:What can I say? We're learning something new about you. Well, I don't know where we go from there. Those are our top five things for space that came to destroy us. Any honorable mentions, Josh?

36:34Josh Larsen:Yeah, I did think about The World's End as well from last year. Really enjoyed that. Gort, from the day the Earth stood still, mentioned in our show open, had to consider Gort. Monsters vs. Aliens is a fun DreamWorks animated film. I thought about that. 2009, did you like that one?

36:47Adam Kempenaar:I did, I liked that movie. And that villain, voiced by Rainn Wilson, who wants to destroy the planet or take over the planet, is a really good character.

36:53Josh Larsen:Yeah, they riff on sci-fi tropes, have a lot of fun with that. But Independence Day, I'm going to admit it has its moments. I mean, it's a little scary patriotic, too. I've never been a fan of that movie. Really, it has enough moments for me. And we do have to give a nod, at least, to Marvin the Martian from the Looney Tunes shorts. The one movie that I did catch up with, hadn't seen before, was really excited, but disappointed me, was Monsters. This is a low-budget thriller from 2010 about an alien infestation in Mexico.

37:21Adam Kempenaar:Yeah, it's a movie I caught up with as well, just for this list and really hoped it would make my top five. And after maybe all the hype, because there was a fair amount of it in kind of cinephile circles, which I get. After seeing the movie, I get it completely. And I actually am really curious to see what that director, Gareth Edwards, is going to do with Godzilla, which I never thought I would say that. But after seeing Monsters, I'm curious. That said, as a movie overall, it did fall short for me in a major way. There's a potential there, though. Certainly the potential as a filmmaker is there.

37:51Adam Kempenaar:I still considered the creatures from that movie just because there's kind of a saving grace scene with those creatures near the end of the film that I thought was really pretty great. So I did consider those creatures. I considered those dog, wolf, whatever they are from Attack the Block. And we also had a reference to Galaxy Quest earlier in the film, General Ceres from that movie. I didn't consider The World's End because I was thinking about this and I couldn't really remember if they actually came here to destroy us or not. I couldn't remember what their intentions were. And I know a lot of people are going to say, Adam, Pacific Rim, you love that movie.

38:21Adam Kempenaar:What about them? Well, they didn't come from space. Another dimension. Another dimension. I know that. That didn't work. Come on. So the Kaiju, they're off. And I also didn't consider Starship Troopers. And I know some people will probably be shouting Starship Troopers throughout this entire top five. I really like that movie. But my recollection of the film could be wrong. My recollection is they don't attack the Earth. The bugs don't attack us. We attack them. They go after the bugs, right? We go to their planet. So, again. That's right. technicalities, but they matter here for these arbitrary film spotting lists.

38:51Adam Kempenaar:We want to know what you think. Send us your picks or any other comments about the show to feedback at filmspotting.net. In every age,

38:59Josh Larsen:there is a cause worth fighting for. But in the future, the greatest threat to our survival will not be man at all.

39:12Adam Kempenaar:Gotta love any top five that has parentheses after it and takes a long time to say, you know, it's going to be good. Reminder that access to the film spotting archive is just one of the benefits of joining the film spotting family bonus shows, weekly newsletter, early access to events and more to join. We'd love to have you be part of the family film spotting family.com. This conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.

39:46Josh Larsen:Tyler Reddick here from 2311 Racing. Another checkered flag for the books. Time to celebrate with Chumba.

39:53Adam Kempenaar:Jump in at Chumbacasino.com. Let's Chumba. No purchase necessary. BTW Group. Void where prohibited by law. CTNC 21 Plus. Sponsored by Chumba Casino. This is Julian Edelman from Games with Names. I want to take a second to talk about something that's personal to me. I've had the privilege of working closely with Robert Kraft for a long time. and one thing I've always respected is how seriously he takes up standing up to hate. As a Jewish athlete, my identity is something I am proud of, but I also know what it feels like to be singled out for it. That's why this new commercial for the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate that aired during the big game really hit home.

40:34Adam Kempenaar:It's about showing up for someone when they're targeted, even if you don't have the perfect words. And sometimes standing next to someone is enough and you can show support by sharing the blue square.

40:46Josh Larsen:What if your soda actually did something for you? Introducing Skypot Protein Soda. Skypot Protein Soda has 10 grams of complete protein, zero sugar, and real delicious soda taste. Skypot Protein Soda, reach for the sky. Get your Skypot Protein Soda now at Target or Walmart. Are you trying to get weight loss support through telehealth, but it feels overwhelming and rushed? Check out orderlymeds.com now. Now, orderlymeds.com was built to be different. Here, you connect with real doctors who take the time to understand your goals, review your eligibility, and guide you through a plan that's right for you.

41:20Josh Larsen:Orderly Meds provides access to proven GLP-1 medications like semaglutide and terzepatide, including both name brand options and personalized compound versions when appropriate. So you have choices backed by clinical oversight, not guesswork. It's a simpler, more supportive telehealth experience designed around people who want clarity, care, and confidence in their weight loss journey. And your medication is delivered directly to your home in discreet packaging. So your experience stays private from start to finish. Do your research. Ask the right questions. Then visit orderlymeds.com slash podcast for an exclusive offer.

41:55Josh Larsen:Again, that's orderlymeds.com slash podcast. Individual results may vary. Not medical advice. Eligibility required. See site for details.