High n' Dry Podcast
Big Trouble in Little High n' Dry: Episode #79 (Feat. Reece Merritt)
Ever wondered what happens when you mix John Wayne swagger with martial arts mayhem? Join us as we bring a nostalgic and slightly tipsy twist to John Carpenter’s cult classic "Big Trouble in Little China." Hosts Ryan Baron North and James Crosslin, along with our guest Reece Merritt, kick things off with a hilarious nod to the game show "Win Ben Stein's Money" before diving headfirst into the quirky world of an ’80s VHS experience. With an ice-clinking toast to our new listeners from Florida and the UK, we share our first impressions—some of us are seeing this wild ride for the very first time, while others are reliving their adolescent movie nights.
Get ready for a passionate defense of why "Big Trouble in Little China" deserves a spot in the pantheon of great action films, possibly even outranking "Terminator 2." Reece isn't just a guest; he's a die-hard fan who argues it's one of the top three movies ever. We take you through John Carpenter's brilliant fusion of a John Wayne-style narrative with martial arts, showing how he seamlessly transitioned from horror to create this offbeat gem. We also pay tribute to Carpenter’s wider filmography, celebrating his knack for unforgettable storytelling that has shaped our cinematic tastes. Don’t miss out on the laughs, the insights, and the hypothetical scenarios that will leave you questioning how you ever lived without this cult classic in your life.
Ever wondered what happens when you mix John Wayne swagger with martial arts mayhem? Join us as we bring a nostalgic and slightly tipsy twist to John Carpenter’s cult classic "Big Trouble in Little China." Hosts Ryan Baron North and James Crosslin, along with our guest Reece Merritt, kick things off with a hilarious nod to the game show "Win Ben Stein's Money" before diving headfirst into the quirky world of an ’80s VHS experience. With an ice-clinking toast to our new listeners from Florida and the UK, we share our first impressions—some of us are seeing this wild ride for the very first time, while others are reliving their adolescent movie nights.
Get ready for a passionate defense of why "Big Trouble in Little China" deserves a spot in the pantheon of great action films, possibly even outranking "Terminator 2." Reece isn't just a guest; he's a die-hard fan who argues it's one of the top three movies ever. We take you through John Carpenter's brilliant fusion of a John Wayne-style narrative with martial arts, showing how he seamlessly transitioned from horror to create this offbeat gem. We also pay tribute to Carpenter’s wider filmography, celebrating his knack for unforgettable storytelling that has shaped our cinematic tastes. Don’t miss out on the laughs, the insights, and the hypothetical scenarios that will leave you questioning how you ever lived without this cult classic in your life.
we should go, we should move forward because we're high. I'm getting higher by the second well then, let's dive on in.
Ryan Baron North:Hey everybody, welcome to high and dry podcast, the only podcast keeping alive the fandom of win ben stein's money oh my god, I have not thought about win ben stein's money in like 15 years he ran out of money.
James Crosslin:Yeah, he became a real uh nut job.
Ryan Baron North:I think he was always like deeply conservative, but I think he became worse so I can't, I can I not confirm nor deny, but like it just sounds like the the normal way that everything's gonna go.
Reece Merritt:I imagined mad scientists to be truthful with you about ben stein, like he would disappear into the wilderness of appalachia and then like ben stein yes, I don't.
James Crosslin:I don't know what the fuck you're talking about, ryan. What are we doing today?
Ryan Baron North:I'm your host, ryan baron north, with me as always, James Crosslin, and joining us also in the studio, Reece Merritt how you guys doing what's.
James Crosslin:Pretty good. We're all in person for the first time in a long time, indeed.
Ryan Baron North:Yeah, no, it's. Uh, I'm excited about it. We've been having a good time this weekend. This is gonna be a good show.
James Crosslin:Yeah, we're actually. We get to do this again, because we did it like six months ago and the quality was so bad that we couldn't use it.
Ryan Baron North:Yeah, I can't and.
James Crosslin:I don't remember what we talked about. So it should work out just fine. I'm so fucking glad you guys don't remember. This is so much fun. I get to do my whole spiel over again. It's so good.
Ryan Baron North:Well, so for those of you who joined us for the first time, we're high and dry. Today we're going to be talking about big trouble in little China, about big trouble in little china, and we're going to break it down a three-part method. All right, we're going to start off with our sober thoughts, we're going to break down onto the golden path and discuss a little more in depth, um, and then we're going to break into a hypothetical and insert ourselves and or drugs and alcohol into the film. But what makes us so special and enjoyable is that we're going to be doing it drunk and high. So you guys smoked before getting into the studio.
Reece Merritt:Uh, what are you?
Ryan Baron North:uh, what are you enjoying today?
Reece Merritt:we are enjoying. The box just says marijuana on it really large marijuana brand marijuana sativa, it's garlic breath right, yes, this is no hold on. This is garlic crusher from elevate deep roots, high purpose.
Ryan Baron North:Yeah.
James Crosslin:We're not getting paid by them, that's how.
Ryan Baron North:I talk. Well, uh, how is it?
Reece Merritt:Uh, we've been enjoying it all week. Yeah, it's pretty, it's pretty great. Yeah, it's, it's, it's a solid uh 10 pack of dog walkers. I enjoyed it All right, cool, yeah, no.
Ryan Baron North:So I do have to catch up and get there and I'm going to be doing that. Sadly, with all, I have left the only bourbon I got left in the house after this weekend, this essential bender we've been on, I'll be going at it with bullet bourbon. Yeah, for anyone who's had it before, it's fucking bullet. Um, yeah, for anyone who's had it before, it's fucking bullet. You know you pay 20 bucks and it'll get you drunk. It's a 90 horsepower. So this first one, first toast, first cheers to having the boys back in town Doing this all in the same room. Love you guys, cheers.
James Crosslin:Love you too. Cheers, cheers, pretend noises. Pretend noises. You're shook for bucks.
Ryan Baron North:I'm pretending to smoke right now. Maybe I should have just fucking ripped them out there and done it that way too, but no, no, this is good.
James Crosslin:No, it's better watching you drink yeah, we're having a fun time, that's good, oh, we got to do the uh, this is great, we got to do the no face contest oh yeah see if I can pull it off that way so watch his face, see it, see if he has no reaction when drinking this.
Ryan Baron North:Okay all right, but this second one and I've done it again, I'll never fucking remember to look it up beforehand um, our second toast, second hit. This one is going to go out to our newest listeners. These ones were on, uh, our last episode, tactics of Defeating the Invisible man, very depressing one. Our newest listeners are from we lit up in Florida, yeah, florida, woo, fort Myers.
James Crosslin:Florida. People had to find something to listen to when they were in their fucking flood shelters. They were like, I guess, iodine Dry, what is this?
Ryan Baron North:Well, it also looks like I guess I'd dry.
Reece Merritt:What is this Dry that sounds nice.
Ryan Baron North:It also looks like England has been jumping on here. We got one from London, we got one from Letchworth Garden City in Hertfordshire, and then we have one from Oxford, oxfordshire.
James Crosslin:I wonder Cheers.
Reece Merritt:Cheers Delicious.
James Crosslin:You did raise an eyebrow, but I don't think that was a reaction.
Ryan Baron North:No, it was more to. Oh, we can try one more time. This time I'll just stone it.
James Crosslin:We can't prove it one way or another.
Reece Merritt:It's a bit like watching somebody sneeze with their eyes open. Alright well this.
James Crosslin:I didn't think that. I thought your eyes handled it really well. You just made a facial.
Reece Merritt:You just get lost.
Ryan Baron North:Take a little sip of my whiskey and coke chaser before I have some more whiskey.
James Crosslin:Alright, so this third one Cheers, well, this one goes to our film today Big Trouble in Little China.
Ryan Baron North:John Carpenter Classic Yep.
James Crosslin:This one was really influential for you guys, but I had never watched this movie all the way through until we prepared for this pod. I watched it the first time all the way through until we prepared for this pod. Yeah, yeah, I watched it the first time all the way through, like close to when we recorded the first episode.
Ryan Baron North:you know it was wild for me. Um, we watched it to the point where I had memorized. I had never seen the intro with egg Chen talking to the lawyer.
James Crosslin:Oh, we're getting into it now, we're getting into it now.
Ryan Baron North:Take your drink, cheers. So into it now we're getting into it. Now take your drink. Cheers. So you had like a bootleg version. Yes, it was a memories of the movie. It was a vhs recording no reaction.
James Crosslin:By the way, he didn't have a single reaction.
Ryan Baron North:Yeah, I didn't even notice. Awesome, nailed it. Sadly, this particular episode is not a video recorded. Excellent, um, but uh, so we when we were young, we were kids, we had a vhs copy of it. Yeah, that someone like off of hbo or showtime or something like that yeah that was recorded, but they didn't get in on time and so it always started with just him in the truck and I always missed egg chen in the beginning. Right, I didn't know that that scene occurred.
Ryan Baron North:It's a fair point until, until I was yeah this is central.
James Crosslin:This scene is central to what I'm going to be saying to you today, because it's going to blow your mind about this movie, because you didn't have that scene okay well so uh already went over it once, but now it's time to get into our sober thoughts.
Ryan Baron North:So, gentlemen I mean guest guests first uh race. What are your sober thoughts before uh you lose yourself? Before I fully yeah, what are your sober thoughts on big trouble?
Reece Merritt:Release the rubber band, as it were. My sober thoughts is that it's one of my top three favorite movies. Uh, I bring it up in the conversation of uh three favorite movies. I bring it up in the conversation of best action movies because it's got every element of not only a good movie but a good action movie to where I think it does Trump, even Terminator two. For that, for that title, I like everything that the director tried doing. We're remaking a John Wayne style movie in a modern age. Uh, you know, martial arts movies were hitting the scene very hard and John Carpenter said you know what I'm done with all this horror nonsense, let's have some fun. And he made, in my opinion, one of the best cult classics ever.
Ryan Baron North:Yeah Well, just to now I'm thinking about it just to John Carpenter's credit, we've done two of his movies before this on here, and we've always has it only been two. Well, we did the Thing and we did Halloween. No, we didn't do Halloween, you didn't do Halloween, no, so I guess we've only done two. Well, we did the Thing and we had some very high praise for it.
Reece Merritt:Yeah, it's a fantastic movie.
James Crosslin:Yeah, I can't think of a single bad john carpenter film well, I think the only I I could, I could probably give it some thought. If you gave me imdb I bet I could and there's probably some like independent.
Reece Merritt:Yeah, you know quality ones. He made it young in this younger years well, jane, what about you?
Ryan Baron North:what are your sober thoughts?
James Crosslin:so I really enjoyed this movie. I really enjoyed this movie. I thought it was a. I thought it was a very surreal movie. You know, I that's one of the things I keep talking about really enjoying on movies that we cover on this podcast is movies that have this surreal quality, this like heightened reality, um, uh, that is able to uh make you feel uh whimsy about the world, you feel like lightened by the world yeah that there could be this underground magical society it's like. It's like they're crafting a myth.
Ryan Baron North:Yes, we had similar thoughts on Fifth Element, just in that they created this world. They spent effort and time building this world with no intentions of creating a sequel, a trilogy. There's not going to be an action figure, and we don't do that anymore.
Reece Merritt:Exactly, we don't. Nobody wants to build a universe just for two hours.
James Crosslin:Yeah, but that's what's necessary, right.
Ryan Baron North:That's what you got, if you're going to create a classic.
James Crosslin:Yeah, that's a classic.
Reece Merritt:As D&D nerds, I think we know you have to build the universe, Otherwise it's just dungeon crawling.
Ryan Baron North:Yeah, oh yeah. You have to make me invested by showing me how real everything.
James Crosslin:Yeah, and they do a good job of that. Yeah, and I felt total recall did a good job of that too. That's the one I always think of from around this era of film. Okay, I'll agree yeah it's super surreal, super detailed. Really. The world feels lived in here's the setting yeah, and it was really cool.
James Crosslin:I didn't see it as a child, so watching as an adult. I came in and I was like, all right, first thing I gotta do is for my buds. I gotta try to look at this with a child's eyes, you know like, look at this as an innocent and take it at its face value and it it brings up a lot. You know, jack burden is super heroic. He's really bawdy.
James Crosslin:Is bawdy a good word If you define it, I'll be able to Like always shoving his elbow at you to be like did you catch the?
Reece Merritt:joke that I just yeah, okay, and I see where I get that from.
Ryan Baron North:And that's what I was about to say. I was thinking, and this might be, I might be on the golden path already, but oh, you want to.
James Crosslin:You want to go into it already. Well, I don't know.
Ryan Baron North:I'm thinking of just how formative maybe this really was. I think it was incredible. We started seeing it as we. We started watching this movie as children, oh yes, and we children, oh yes, and we several. So like I will, and you know, I'll talk to so many people my age who still love disney and everything like that and like we didn't watch it like that much, but we did watch a shitload of big trouble in little china yeah, and then jackie chan.
Reece Merritt:Movies like rush hour and shanghai noon we're constantly playing on our vhs player, but with with big trouble in little china.
Ryan Baron North:Specifically since we were children, we have a huge like in your face. Personality, yeah, um, combined with just world building and fantasy and where kids probably should have been watching this. I mean he, he literally rolled. He goes undercover at a fucking uh whorehouse at a brothel, yeah and, but you just use your, your body.
James Crosslin:Personality and work your way through things and get it done. Yeah, you guys saw this before you had any conception of what it was to be an adult man yeah, and so you know, so you, kind of assume this is what it is just what you do. This is what an adult man is, oh yeah no and uh, I made that connection when watching this movie but also think about how much.
Reece Merritt:Think about how good uh like jack burton would be to like for all that. He's great at communication, regardless of how stupid it might make him look.
James Crosslin:I got things to say this might be golden path talk.
Ryan Baron North:Alright, then it is time to enter the golden path. I don't know how you guys are going to join me on this one.
James Crosslin:We're getting progressively higher, you don't need to worry.
Ryan Baron North:Alright, so then it's time for continuing to get high constantly we're professionals okay our fourth toast, fourth shot smoking an entire joint of peace as it's it's moment well then, I would say that this one goes out to those little things in life that, uh, formulate your personality that you yourself had no control over. It was just chosen by circumstance and what your parents were interested in watching at the time, and then you just got hooked and now your entire life was veered into one direction.
James Crosslin:That's so funny man.
Reece Merritt:Maybe that's why I'm bad at dating. I think it's why you're bad at dating man. Now I've got this in this instinct deep down inside of me to walk away from.
Ryan Baron North:Well, she wants to get. You know that little trailer in the back and you know you turn the trail. You put a little apartment in the back of your truck and you're like, look, sooner or later I rub everyone the wrong way and we do so here's to us cheers. Yeah, here's to your personality.
James Crosslin:That wasn't your fault, but uh, you have anyway oh god damn it guys I got so much to say about this, you're going to fucking lose your minds.
Ryan Baron North:You're going to love this.
Reece Merritt:Okay, yeah, why don't you start.
Ryan Baron North:So we've entered the golden path. You seem more excited than me sir, it's time to get into those high thoughts.
James Crosslin:I'm so fucking excited guys, because I remember what a good conversation we had last time. All right, so we've talked about how jack fucking whiffs it. This was not convincing at all, so, snake pliskin, I mean shit, I'm gonna bring up snake. Um, so this movie we talked about how jack burton is kind of a myth. Right, he's like larger than life, he's like a representation of America. Yeah, right, an American man. He's like the. He's like the, the optimal American man.
Ryan Baron North:Specifically in the eighties, when they didn't realize that they'd been declining since 1973.
James Crosslin:Right, right, and it is kind of that October 1st actually. It is that mindset of heightened reality, of heightened manliness that that was, is purposeful in this movie and it's it all comes down to that entry scene that you that wasn't on your copy of of the movie, that entry scene with egg shen, what it is. Let me. Let me run through it real quick, because I've heard that I I looked this up a lot of people didn't know the beginning, didn't have the beginning part in their copies, so I'll run through our dad's old bootleg so.
James Crosslin:So let me run through the synopsis for everyone who had parents who bought bootlegs from our father. The opening scene is a lawyer talking to egg shin in a lawyer's office and he's asking questions, or or maybe a detective I think it might actually be a detective and they're asking if I'm going to represent you, I need to write yes, so it is a lawyer.
James Crosslin:Yes, so you, I need to right yes, so he's a lawyer. Yes, uh, so he's talking to egg shen and he's saying, he's saying, like I need to know what happened. There was a, there was a ball of green flame that erupted yeah, that erupted in the neighborhood.
James Crosslin:People say that you're a very dangerous man, egg sh Shen. What exactly happened here? And he's like and who is Jack Burton? And Egg Shen goes no, you leave Jack Burton out of this. Jack Burton's a good man. And that's how the movie starts. And they're like tell me the story of what happened. And it starts with Egg Shen telling the story of Jack Burton at a time that Egg Shen was not around. He was driving. He's driving alone on the highway and, and, and he's talking into a walkie-talkie with one hand and eating a sandwich with the other as he flies down the highway subway sandwich.
Reece Merritt:By the way, I did zoom in as a child.
James Crosslin:It is subway, yeah a full foot long sandwich in one hand and the radio and the other and no hands on the wheel. So what? And? And that's like, that's kind of like that shows how risky he is, and like how sure he is, and really American.
Reece Merritt:Exceptional Is that he's willing to eat, to eat while driving. That's how I learned he's out of trouble eat while driving. That's how I learned how to drive.
James Crosslin:it takes so much energy to drive people. You gotta keep your energy up, have a grinder in one hand at all times my meatball. But this is really important because what's happening is we're getting the story of Jack Burton told as a folk tale, as like a myth, through the eyes of an Asian American, an Asian immigrant who came to this country and is like how do I craft a myth about America? And these are the things that an immigrant sees when they think about America. They see bodiness and sureness and physical exceptionalism, without like even trying how he catches the things like I don't work out or anything, I don't know, it's all in the reflexes. Yeah, you know. They see the way, the things that we see as exceptional about Americans and pick them out to make a folk tale, like Eastern culture does.
Reece Merritt:So are you saying that Jack Burton is Paul Bunyan?
James Crosslin:Yes, I'm saying that Jack Burton is Paul Bunyan. It's like essentially the same personality. It's how we build our folk tales and it's through the eyes of an Asian American, an Asian immigrant who came here and is like I need to tell a story. My culture tells a story like this. How do I put american culture into that? No, why? Why? It's because egg shin is a dangerous person. Think about how this is the story that they choose to, that he chose to craft was where all of this stuff happening is, is happening to and by asian people. But this, this white, exceptional man, the best man, don't question this man, this man's a great man. He just is dragged along from scene to scene until right at the end he does the murder and then leaves.
James Crosslin:So you're saying, I'm saying I should murder this other chinese businessman and create and created a story of magic and heroism to hide his murder, his crimes of another asian businessman and that and I, and the theory really checks out man, the theory really checks out what.
James Crosslin:But what? The one, the thing that convinced you last time was the was the line where he talks about where they're about to go face lopin and he's like and this one's for the military and all our, all our brothers and sisters, all our brothers in the military, what's the line?
Reece Merritt:I can't uh, here's to our army and navy and the battles they have won.
James Crosslin:Here's to america's colors, the colors that never run nobody would fucking say that shit before they go fight with just their friend. But you know, who would wang chi, paul bunyan would say some dumb shit like that. But wang chi said it. Yeah, he's telling this story to create, to be like, listen, we and and jack burton, he, he loved the military.
Ryan Baron North:Well, so there's a writer's concept called contract with the reader, and contract with the reader states that within the first few lines you're stating the truth. Originally that was meant to show a reader what the voice and tone style was going to be right, but then certain people took that and then gave you, like, those first few lines with like an egg chen's thing in the beginning.
James Crosslin:yeah, told you the truth in their contract right there, and then went off the rails, right okay like, true, like total recall did, when he sits down in the machine to have his memory and then everything turns surreal but in total recall, the truth was told right away that he is a bored construction construction worker yeah and that and, and I think you and I did in that total recall episode, I think you and I did come to the conclusion that in the original total recall with arnold schwarzenegger, because because it turns into complete absurdity, right.
James Crosslin:Right.
Ryan Baron North:After that one scene, you and I can't, and, I think, a lot of hopeful people who just want to see Arnold win.
James Crosslin:Yeah.
Ryan Baron North:We're like no, no, no, it's true, it's all true throughout. But I think you and I came to the conclusion, watching that film in the modern day, that Arnold's brain fried when he went to Total Recall.
James Crosslin:I don't even think his brain fried. He brain fried when he went to total recall, I don't even think his brain fried. He just had the full experience. Yeah, that the full experience that was the full, that was his experience in total recall he ordered this experience and he got it, and that's where the movie ends, is where his experience where's his experience at it.
Ryan Baron North:So total recall didn't happen. It was just a simulation, but like big trouble in little china.
Reece Merritt:What, what, what do we? How do? How are we linking that here?
James Crosslin:I'm saying it didn't happen and like they said in the movie that this contract with the reader is that egg shen, he's like listen, there's some holes in this story. That's the first thing they say in the movie. Is there are some holes in this story. What happened? People say you're dangerous.
Ryan Baron North:So from that perspective, the entire movie is just egg chen's story yeah, that's, that's what we're setting up.
James Crosslin:Yes, it's egg chen's story and egg chen's telling stories. He for for things.
Ryan Baron North:He's not there for, he just puts himself as some innocent bus some innocent bus driver who happened to be there at certain points, until halfway through, where his contemporaries are in his warehouse, and say oh, he's a very rich, powerful man.
Reece Merritt:He owns half a city block.
Ryan Baron North:Was that just his ego that forced him to tell that within the story?
James Crosslin:Yeah, he's an unreliable narrator. Is what they set up?
Reece Merritt:He's also magic. That's how he's saying things that he's not there for he's a highly charismatic individual. I don't know about that.
James Crosslin:He owns the what you said he owns the I don't know.
Reece Merritt:He's a very charming individual. I've seen parts of his bus tour.
Ryan Baron North:Solid pull.
Reece Merritt:Ripping the dead man pull solid, just saying he's not, he's, it's not like he's uh, he's not billy holiday flying out there. He's, he's uh trying his best, but he's a very rich guy, not a very charming guy, not a very witty guy, not a very funny guy. You know he's got magic and money right, well.
Ryan Baron North:Well, here's something then the that I'm interested for. The take on sure, and I feel in both scenarios a mistake was made, right, um, because you have these cult films, yes, where there is a strong desire for a second, and then it's just not going to pull the money in hollywood. So they create a graphic novel and, okay, I liked it. And so they created a graphic novel with big trouble in china. They created a graphic novel with fight club.
Reece Merritt:Oh, really okay that one needed to happen. Um, they created a uh, I mean Fight Club.
Ryan Baron North:Oh, really Okay that one needed to happen. They created a. I would even like to take it to Neil Gaiman had Good and Evil and it did so well that first season that they created a second one and the reviews were in on the second one and it does not hold up.
James Crosslin:Oh it doesn't. That's too bad. That's too bad to hear. I liked the first few episodes of of the good and evil one, but uh, once the kids came in it got really boring.
Ryan Baron North:Well so in the uh graphic novel for big trouble, little china. The story continues and if we are to take the graphic novel as canon, which they did, it follows Jack coming in and helping save the wedding from evil forces that invaded his revenge for Lopan's downfall.
Reece Merritt:Okay, while pairing up with that thing that was in the back of his truck. Yeah, so you know, at the end of Big Trouble in Little China, you see the monster creep up and he's in the back, his truck.
Ryan Baron North:Yeah, so you know, at the end of Big Show in Little China you see the monster creep up and he's in the back. They become friends, Okay.
Reece Merritt:He gives them shirts.
James Crosslin:This is clearly a folk tale right.
Ryan Baron North:Well, but why would Egg Chen be talking to his lawyer about this?
James Crosslin:I want to know how it started. That'd be interesting. I never read this graphic novel. We'll have to pull it up.
Reece Merritt:If I was a public defender and I was getting told malarkey day in, day out, I didn't murder her, my wife, she killed herself. And then some Chinese guy comes in here shooting lightning out of his hands I don't know how he did that and then tells me this story, with Jack driving off into the distance, and leaves me with a cliffhanger before taking off out of my office. I'm gonna hey what happened next asshole.
Ryan Baron North:well, I'm thinking, do artists, after they create a classic and a mythology like this? Do they just need to be fucking gagged because the comic book was signed off by john carpenter, who I'm sure just had dollar signs in his eyes?
Reece Merritt:Sure Whatever.
James Crosslin:I'm just trying to tell you that I know that you watched this movie and seen it in a different light for a long time.
Ryan Baron North:Well, in that same vein, when they decided to do the fight club graphic novels right, they turned. Tyler Durden became a spirit that possesses people to start periodic revolutions across human history what the fuck?
Reece Merritt:okay that maybe it didn't need to be, maybe exactly that that's what I'm saying, so so maybe this graphic novel didn't need to be, but this, whatever this graphic novel also fits the theme of, like the movie, where it's just a truck driver, it putting us in a, in an. He's a normal guy put in an exceptional circumstance and he, he makes it out ahead. The thing is, that is what we like about the movie, that's what we like about Jack Burton.
James Crosslin:I like a different thing about this movie, excuse me Ignore that. But, man, the thing is, I like a different thing about this movie. Will you stay with me for one minute and see how I appreciate what I'm about to say?
Reece Merritt:I understand how you're coming to these conclusions. So, yes, I will, but understand that you haven't convinced me, I don't have to convince you.
James Crosslin:I just want to explain to you how I enjoyed that. Jack Burton was essentially kind of a, a mirror held up to film and societies and society's concept of masculinity, and it was like look at what we like in a, in a man. We like someone who's risky and who's overconfident and takes charge and orders people around and is successful and makes it look easy.
Reece Merritt:Very difficult for an eight-year-old to absorb.
James Crosslin:And everybody loves him and everybody loves him. You know, even if people are upset at him at first, they come around eventually. He can actually keep making them upset over and over and they'll keep coming back. And he's holding up a mirror here and saying like listen, this is what you like in action movies. Maybe think about what that is and how other people view us and how we view ourselves. That's the egg chin story and why this is a folk tale and why it's crafted. You know it's a crafted story by a person.
Ryan Baron North:Yeah.
James Crosslin:Well then, and that's how I enjoyed it with that first scene, I was so surprised last time when I heard your take on it, because that first scene it was, like, so instrumental to how I viewed the movie yeah, no for sure, and I think there's a point there that, um, after the thing is made, the artist in question needs to be gagged um because, uh, so like right now I'm cruising because big trouble in Little China had volumes in this graphic novel, wow, and there was even a spinoff of that called Old man Jack.
Reece Merritt:What.
Ryan Baron North:And in which he and it says right at the bottom, written by John Carpenter, with, and in each one it's a with and it's with someone who's sort of in that nerdy world, you know, yeah, who just wants the content, who's just give me, give me, give me, give me their style. Who's just like give me the content. I love this as a kid. I cannot accept that. It's over right give me, give me give me.
James Crosslin:Jack burton would have never given up on this series. He would be out there writing letters saying give me more.
Ryan Baron North:And so look, I'm looking at Old man Jack, volume 2, over here, and the description here is getting old ain't ever easy, especially when you're entering your golden years during the apocalypse. Love it. Jack Burton's haphazard quest to save the world and defeat the evil, ching Dai dai, continues here. But to get the job done he'll need help from some old friends, wang chi and egg chen, the question is do they want to help him?
James Crosslin:is that the?
Reece Merritt:tagline. That's the line I need to start reading. Big trouble.
James Crosslin:That actually sounds like a hoot and I feel like we can both enjoy something like that with the lens that we have on the movie. I loved this movie. I thought this movie was fantastic it's a great film.
Reece Merritt:Granted, you do have to watch it with an understanding. It's like great, it's a great film, it, uh, it, it. Granted, you do have to watch it with an understanding. It's like 50 years old. Yeah Right, isn't that wild. This was made in a much different era.
James Crosslin:Yeah, but I think, john, I think John Comberter was ahead of his time.
Ryan Baron North:I do, I know I would, I want. I had a point for my own golden path on that. I loved how at this point dated the film is, but how cohesive all the different cultures were. Well, I enjoyed.
Ryan Baron North:Jack and Wang's relationship. I enjoyed Jack and, oh my God, wang and Wang's relationship. Yes, I enjoyed that. They were those friends who haven't seen each other for a while but fall right into friendship and they're going to help each other, no matter what. I enjoy that. They immediately respect each other's perspectives, beliefs and everything like that. I mean in the scene where they're, they're, they're tied up and Wayne goes. I don't want to insult you, he's like insult me, right?
Reece Merritt:And Jack just takes what Wayne says at face value.
Ryan Baron North:I appreciate that. I like that Is it? Is it entirely like? Are some of the scenes entirely up to date with 2024? Definitely not no, no, but we're talking. This was made in the 1980s.
James Crosslin:It's a reflection of masculinity at the time. So of course there's going to be some problematic things, yeah, and I think John Carpenter was also kind of aware of those things.
Ryan Baron North:Yeah, and because of that he also parodied them. Yes, he made Jack a buffoon when the fists started flying.
Reece Merritt:He sure did, absolutely.
Ryan Baron North:You got the scene where he does the American cowboy thing and shoots up into the air. The ceiling falls and knocks him unconscious for the first half of the final battle.
Reece Merritt:Right and the second half he's messing around with some dude in the in the fetal position yeah, but he's always successful and I loved you brought up paul bunyan.
James Crosslin:He didn't do that last time, but paul bunyan, my bad, no, no, no, I said I love it. I would have hated if you did it last time and not this time, but you brought up paul bunyan. Paul bunyan also has stories like when he couldn't, when he met blue, his ox, uh, when, when it wouldn't behave and there was like a slapstick story about paul bunyan. Then they have all these different stories that take them through and build this american folk tale. I think that totally, absolutely, aligns with the american folk tale tradition. Is it aligns with the american folktale tradition?
Reece Merritt:is. It aligns with a lot of different folk traditions. Yeah like, even if you look at, like what's his, like monkey king, keep monkey king.
James Crosslin:He fails a couple times um kind of he's got some serious stories and some slapstick stories.
Reece Merritt:He keep alonka. His brother gets his head cut off by a bat and then he replaces it with a gourd, and then they continue still having adventures together.
James Crosslin:These things happen, these things happen.
Reece Merritt:Buffoonery happens Shenanigans.
James Crosslin:You know, in your 40s.
Ryan Baron North:You know how it is? Yeah, that's just a metaphor for your 40s.
James Crosslin:And I think they were aware of that.
Ryan Baron North:You know you hit your 40s and it's like a bat slices your head off and replaces it with a gourd. You know you start buying pinball machines in the basement and you don't talk to your wife anymore. It's the same thing.
James Crosslin:It may not be you, it may just happen to your friend. You're the monkey king, your friend.
Reece Merritt:So yeah, no, for sure you have a weird conspiracy theory about monkey. Does it align with our conspiracy theory here? Not really, it's just. Moana is a perfect rip off of it. I believe you.
Ryan Baron North:Yeah, yeah.
Reece Merritt:I already believe you.
Ryan Baron North:I don't need to see the math on that.
James Crosslin:I believe that Disney steals all of of its stories, every story it's ever told, ever correct.
Ryan Baron North:Um, I'll bore you with it when the mics are off. Okay, so do you guys have any final golden path thoughts? Uh, any any drunken ass thoughts you have about this movie?
James Crosslin:now that you're there, I think it was real, I think. Well, I wanted to add to the last thing you said about about it being progressive and him being aware of the satire, especially some of the bad points in this movie that we could criticize, like the fact that there's an asian woman in this movie who her name gets spoken once or twice and she never says a line. Yeah, that's not great. Kim Cattrall is like overly nagging and while she is capable at times, she is irresistible.
Ryan Baron North:But on to your point, however, that this is just Egg Chen talking In his culture. These American women, they won't shut the fuck up.
James Crosslin:You know that really does yeah it really does it. All of it fits and all of it also says that John Carpenter is aware of this. This is how we treat women and and ethnicities in movies and, and how we think of our and, in a way, how we think of ourselves. All the good stuff, but not the bad stuff. You only see the bad stuff if you know it's sarcasm, no matter what I do really appreciate that nobody was really sexualized in that movie.
Ryan Baron North:There was so many opportunities for Hollywood to do that inside of this movie, and the only one they did was Jack Burton, when they put lipstick on him.
James Crosslin:Well, he forcefully kissed her at one point. No, I mean, I'm talking like he kissed her against her will Are you talking about making her look sexy.
Reece Merritt:There wasn't any of that. For the most part it was more modest than other movies. Oh, absolutely. But even with the brothel there's like half a boob that you see, maybe if you pause it right. Yeah, women were held captive, but there was no fan service.
Ryan Baron North:No one was naked. They weren't zooming in on any cell, I think.
James Crosslin:I understand they were sexual, but not degraded Exactly, and that's the kind of sexuality that we want, that how America sees itself as like. There's a sexuality that is that implies sexuality. They're very sexual people and Zach and I'm sorry, jack Byrne over and over, is you know, his sexual potency is not denied, even though he's not degrading to women or overly sexual to them. It. It's so interesting, I did, you. Did you see anything, any bad qualities about jack when you watch this movie? Or do you think, or or have you thought of him as like a paragon?
Reece Merritt:He's the buffoonery, definitely.
James Crosslin:Did you see that as bad?
Reece Merritt:If you boast, then you're probably going to get clonked on the head.
Ryan Baron North:I agree with that entirely. I always saw that too, especially when he would knock himself out or he's trying to reload his gun. It showed to me as a kid that you have wang, who spent his time training, putting effort in right, respecting his like his situation and doing that, he was able to kill fujin like the god of wind. Yeah right, yeah, yeah, very capable, great. And for those of you not aware, mortal kombat's a ripoff of big jungle china.
Reece Merritt:Um, but anyway but like also like when he uh, when he stumbles with with gracie, like he came on, he came on way too hard, his advances were rejected and then when he tried again, right, he was made to look a fool in front of his friend. They had a good laugh about it, but in that kind of vein he was the buffoon again.
James Crosslin:Yeah.
Reece Merritt:Because he went down. He went where he shouldn't have kind of deal.
James Crosslin:But he does eventually win.
Reece Merritt:And these are. But in the end he won, not because of just trying a pickup line. He won because he showed that when the because he showed up. He showed up when the chips are down he shows up, but he's right there, he is like he's aware that he's never killed someone.
Ryan Baron North:He's aware that when the fight breaks out, you're going to kick my ass.
Reece Merritt:Right.
Ryan Baron North:But he still showed up to the fight.
Reece Merritt:Yeah, I'm going to but he still showed up to the fight. Yeah, when Thunder's there, somebody who has constantly through this entire since Jack has known him, has thrown him around as if he's nothing Right. And when it's go time he knifes up and gets ready to go. Next to his buddy, Wang Right Plays. I Ain't as Good as I once was, but Toby Keith gets in there.
Ryan Baron North:He's a goofball. He's a goofball he talks louder than he can back up. But he's going to back up as much as If I was going to walk into a place. And let's say I'm Wang and I'm getting ready to walk into somewhere. I know if I'm bringing jack he's gonna come.
James Crosslin:I mean, he's not gonna be always useful yeah but he ain't about to run away and there's a good chance he's got a gun and or knife combo and the thing is that it, like it's, it's forgiving and almost saying that all of things, the buffoonery and the oh, what's the other word? The, the braggadocio, are like part of the personality and forgivably ongoing because it's part of the personality of success, of success and of uh uh, accomplishment you have to be willing to try.
Ryan Baron North:Well and I think I want to try that again.
Reece Merritt:You have to be willing to try. Well, and I think I want to try that again.
James Crosslin:You have to be willing to try. Yeah, and the other stuff is forgivable as time goes on. Like Jack is going to run his mouth off is like something that you attribute to Jack. He's going to continue to rub his. He hasn't learned not to run his mouth off. By the end of the movie you see him fail, but you accept that it's part of him. Yes, and I don't know if that kind of thing. I think that that is something that maybe you guys modeled. Yes, do you think that maybe you also modeled that part?
James Crosslin:no, the microphone itself testing, testing, one, two, we're good okay, well, I was gonna say you said that you modeled yourselves off of jack burton. Like that's what you said is like this had like kind of an effect on you where you felt like you modeled behavior well.
Ryan Baron North:So I mean, I wouldn't say I modeled myself, but I would say that there's a level of um bravado oh yeah, the yeah actually the word I was gonna use, that I that I took away from that. But I will also say that wang taught me as much as jack did, sure, especially when I was young. I didn't want to be jack. No, I wanted to be wang. Wang was a badass, you like jack, oh yeah are you kidding me?
Reece Merritt:I didn't really have to do much and I have this hidden talent that lets me kill a god. Yes, I want to be jack and and I get uh, sex in the city. I'm, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do, I'm gonna do that yeah, you like it.
James Crosslin:Yeah, she's. Kim kachal is awesome.
Reece Merritt:She's really gorgeous in this movie.
Ryan Baron North:I thought that I loved Wang's talent. I loved his For me. I saw this and I decided as a young boy that I wanted to be the one who could do. I still maintain a lot of that bravado from Jack because I mean he was like a second father to me yeah, second.
James Crosslin:That's so fucking good man. He was like a father to me.
Ryan Baron North:Jack Burton raised him. That's so fucking funny. But Wang was my uncle and he oh fuck you. Oh my gosh, and yeah, I always wanted to do and yeah. And so you know, I was raised by both those men. I wish maybe that I had more taken after egg and studied and learned to craft a perfect story and maybe I have because like, I do that really well, so maybe I didn't take more after eggs than I thought, but I wish I was able to translate that into a successful business that allowed me to comfortably do a tour bus for fun.
Ryan Baron North:Yeah, I wish, and so imagine magic yeah, so so jack burton was my father, wang was the uncle that I really wanted to be myself, and then I took a lot of stuff from grandpa egg and I just wish I had taken over his empire.
James Crosslin:Yeah well, I feel this is a beautiful movie and I also wish you would have known I wish you would have known that that you had the concept of like. This is a image of masculinity crafted by a writer and director, and they're doing it for a specific reason and you're you haven't experienced enough of the world to understand.
Reece Merritt:Well, the difference between Ryan and I is that I took a lot from that Eddie guy. Oh yeah.
James Crosslin:Mater D. Oh man Coming in with your shirt, half tucked in Shirt half tucked in. Tooting my own horn A jacket that's too big.
Reece Merritt:Oh my goodness.
Ryan Baron North:But I mean mean he eventually gets with the talkative one, but the other reporter girl, yeah, yeah, well that's normal for me, oh my gosh.
Reece Merritt:Oh no, first time you ever plugged somebody and you know both of them have it I am a people-pleasing person so I know for a fact that if three, if there was a shotgun, a sub, a submachine gun and a revolver on the table, I probably would start off with the machine gun but run in with the revolver. I know, I know that downgrade scale you gotta get the right.
James Crosslin:Well, we can. We can discuss the right spec for that scene. Later I've got ideas.
Ryan Baron North:It's time to get into the Third part of this thing. It's time for our what ifs who wrestles naked. Exactly, and we're not going to be filming this one visually, so it won't be on YouTube, but you'll be able to hear the grunting we didn't have any YouTube, but you'll be able to hear the grunting.
Reece Merritt:We didn't have any olive oil, so we're just going to use a salad.
Ryan Baron North:We have vinaigrette.
James Crosslin:You'll have to hold the mic. For us, it's going to be pretty intense.
Ryan Baron North:So it's time for our what-ifs. It's time to take Big Trouble in Little China, and each of us are going to insert ourselves into the film with drugs and or alcohol and determine how the film would change if we were there. So, james, uh, let's start with you on this one. So james has was in the back of the porkchop express. Oh boy, how does the film change with the introduction of you as a character?
James Crosslin:so you know that first scene where they're uh, where they're uh, where they've gambled all night. It's like it's like early in the movie, where they gambled all night and they're sitting and it's the final bet, it's the final bed of the night where he's like I bet you I could cut this bottle in half. Yes, yeah, yeah, well, I, yeah, well, I would have. I would have been the person serving them all night. And when, when, when he does that shop with the bottle and and Jack Burton catches it you know it's all in the reflexes have been like that was just lucky. You can't rely on that. You cannot rely on that.
Reece Merritt:Not take this man to any knife fights. Okay, please don't rely on that. Instead of going holy crap, what did I just witness? Oh, fluke, fluke, do it twice. Do it, anyone can do it once.
James Crosslin:Let me see that bubble. That's exactly what I'd do. I'd bring the energy down for the whole movie and then we'd just get a real action movie instead of this.
Reece Merritt:I was with that guy so you did you leave a tip either?
Ryan Baron North:no, so that's how it would have changed so you would have taken a film I put your car into the wharf at the end, you would have taken a film that we've managed to have this discussion on fucking modern mythology, race relations and the difference between 1980s and 2024, and turned it into a forgettable action movie.
James Crosslin:Yes, that's all I can do to deal with this fucking film. Yeah.
Ryan Baron North:All right. So, reece, let's insert you into the film. You can like, you know, you can become one of the roles yourself, like how would it be different if you were jack? How would it be different if you were eddie?
Reece Merritt:um, you know, take it however you want to take it I don't know if this is my final answer, but the thing that would change if I were jack would be the subway sandwich order, because I always, I always thought it was a turkey and I don't like that, so that would probably be like number one. Talk to the props, the catering department on that.
Ryan Baron North:It needs meatballs so, but that would actually butterfly effect the film. He would spill the meatballs on his lap crash before so yeah, we don't want that.
Reece Merritt:That'd be very short. You leave jack burton alone.
Ryan Baron North:He cleared my gambling debt in one night turkey is statistically the safest meat to eat behind the wheel, but I I always will get an italian bmt so you'd you'd get off the truck and you couldn't go straight to the gambling thing because you have heartburn, you have to take a giant dump first.
James Crosslin:It'd be like an hour.
Ryan Baron North:I do It'd be like an hour. I do like hot peppers. Da-da-da, da-da-da. You're just in the fucking toilet.
James Crosslin:You know, in America we got big shitters. It's true, we leave real logs.
Reece Merritt:It's another John Carpenter mirror society.
James Crosslin:He got meatballs because he's a toxicly masculine individual. It hurts his digestion because obviously a diet consisting solely of meatballs would destroy you.
Ryan Baron North:I love how you guys' story don't exceed the first scene.
James Crosslin:I would also say if I was Jack Burton.
Reece Merritt:I would pull up for Wang. If one of you guys, if one of you guys' wives, got stolen by the triads and I had a truck, then yeah you're coming hot and heavy absolutely I'm gonna do what I can, but uh I it'd probably be a much more awkward scene at the brothel if I was jack. I've I've never been a john before. He seemed comfortable enough to do a character. I don't know if it would be the same for me.
Ryan Baron North:Yeah, interesting, solid points both. I think if I were to be inserted into this movie.
Reece Merritt:I'd try to go through the movie.
James Crosslin:You'd want to experience the movie, I'm guessing.
Ryan Baron North:You would make it to the backstreet fight, where the storms show up and when each of them lift their large hats to finally reveal their faces, you would see me as lightning and I would immediately go off and use my powers for crime.
James Crosslin:You would be attacking Jack Byrne.
Ryan Baron North:I would be like.
James Crosslin:I don't give a shit about Lopin?
Ryan Baron North:I don't give a shit about that truck.
James Crosslin:I have lightning powers. I have lightning powers. The rest of the movie just follows you doing crime.
Ryan Baron North:I would become a supervillain, like we all like to say that we would be the hero once you give us unlimited power, but I know that's highly unlikely. So you would see Lightning as me ripping off a vault door at a bank.
Reece Merritt:All of them seem very self-destructive and easy to beat, though they really.
Ryan Baron North:Well, Lightning only died because he fucking took a statue to the head.
James Crosslin:As long as you don't get near any statuary you'll be fine.
Ryan Baron North:As long as I'm not some weird fucking dick slowly stalking you with my power, which is already eliminated because I ran off to do crime as far away from me as possible so I, I, yeah, it would be. You know, and you see my face and like, first, this, this hats, this doesn't work on me. I, I feel like I'm appropriating, I'm going to take this off. I want to apologize. So I would apologize to the Chinese community and then go do crime.
James Crosslin:In the.
Ryan Baron North:Chinese community In the greater San Francisco area. And that's how it would initially change with me. What would be your sandwich order? It was so if I, if I, if I had to insert myself as jack, like, if, if, like, those character selections were denied, man, I was jack.
James Crosslin:how the thing would change he asked what your favorite subway sandwich?
Ryan Baron North:it wouldn't be turkey, because turkeys just taste like napkins. It really does, especially when Subway's slicing it. But then I don't know, I don't like Subway.
James Crosslin:Did you know that their bread has a cup of sugar in it? It's fucking wild. Oh yeah, it's insane. It's fucking insane, it's really bad for you.
Ryan Baron North:My Subway, my thing would change entirely because, as a truck driver, I would never stop at Subway.
Reece Merritt:A quinoa bowl.
Ryan Baron North:Yeah, I would have some sort of grilled chicken bowl from somewhere else, or I would be trying a local cuisine. Because I'm crisscrossing the United States I'm like, oh, I'm in fucking.
James Crosslin:Philly. Right now he's in the Bay Area yeah why would I and he's? Eating at a fucking Subway.
Ryan Baron North:You, jack Burtonton, you piece of shit like you, piece of shit, like you could see the ocean and you, yeah, damn jack burton and you went for subway. So, yeah, that's where it would change immediately.
James Crosslin:I, I you'd have sushi, you'd be. You'd have one hand, on the other hand with chopsticks on the radio not try with your knees.
Ryan Baron North:That's how it changes chopsticks I would be sampling samples, francisco sushi Barreling through.
James Crosslin:It's the same bravado.
Ryan Baron North:Yeah, but then as the so, but the film would alter in that. You know. You know I was, you know, raised by Jack Burton, but I always modeled myself after Wang, as you know. You got to be a doer, like if you're going to have the. So that's what I learned from this movie. That was my lesson from this movie as a child was have the bravado, but fucking back it up when shit goes down Right, and so you would have a and it would turn into a boring movie at that point because I would turn into a Jack Burton who could back it up. That wouldn't have the same charm, that wouldn't have the same longevity.
Reece Merritt:I totally disagree with that. It's not that I don't think you couldn't back it up. I believe fully that you would work for the guy who's offering potential superpowers out.
Ryan Baron North:We're talking if.
Reece Merritt:I'm lightning again. No, no, no. If you were Jack Burton and then, you found out that there's an evil warlock potentially passing out powers yeah, you would turn evil.
Ryan Baron North:Oh, I would turn evil, you would start working for David Lopan. No no.
Reece Merritt:The lure of power.
Ryan Baron North:You would see a film where Jack Burton, the Department of Defense marksman, on the M4. The lure of power. You would see a film where Jack Burton, the Department of Defense marksman, on the M4. It's like it wouldn't be as fun. You would have a Jack Burton who's competent once you hand him a weapon. I would definitely.
James Crosslin:I think that it would be more of a modern folktale. It would be a modern folktale yeah, which is that Ryan given a weapon could be a cold killing machine because we send young men into the military to do that.
Ryan Baron North:Yeah, but I would definitely stand with Wang. If you put me in the Jack Burton role. No, I'd be standing with Wang the whole time. I'd be standing with Wang the whole time. But Wang would have a much more, I guess, potent force behind him. He doesn't shower, not odorly, but Jesus. Yeah, but no, like when. I mean you would look at that scene where Jack Burton is getting ready to open the door and he's trying to load up his weapon and stuff like that, and then they flood through and Wang is able to use martial arts. No, that's not how we go down. I would take up a defensive position that was appropriately aimed at the door to funnel them inward and they would all die before they reached Wang. I have a gun. They would be slaughtered. It would be a dark movie.
James Crosslin:Yeah, can you imagine if jack held a gun straight in the movie?
Ryan Baron North:so many people would die not so like when that, when that scene happens, where he like opens the door, closes it and he says run, I'd be like run back the fuck up they. They saw me and they know I have a gun, but for some reason they're going to run in and I'm going to kill them all.
James Crosslin:They're going to stand in the way of a bunch of bullets.
Ryan Baron North:I'm not going to hold this gun at my hip. It's going to be brought up to my eye. I'm going to be behind a defensive position.
Reece Merritt:You're not going to limp wrist the first four shots.
Ryan Baron North:And each shot is going to be hardhead, hardhead, hardhead, hardhead. It would be a military procedural and that's how it would change. But that would change the entire film. It would darken it. It would move away from the mythology. We wouldn't be able to examine how American culture is just that bravado. My film would start turning into this fucking dark thing where we now examine the headspace you have to be in to perform what I just did.
James Crosslin:That's a modern. That's like the modern folk tale. Yeah.
Ryan Baron North:Because we're so fucking sick because we were raised by fucking Jack Burton and no one showed us the scene with a kid. No one showed us the scene with Egg Jed at the beginning, and no one showed us the scene with Egg Jed.
Reece Merritt:I don't think that would have changed too much for me.
Ryan Baron North:You never know, you never know, you never know, because we didn't see it until we were adults and it did change the movie.
Reece Merritt:Well, not really Deep down. It didn't, for me it didn't, it didn't change anything and that's cool.
James Crosslin:Yeah, I love.
Reece Merritt:If it is just, it's just. If it is just an american folk legend, yeah, who got dropped into chinese culture? Who would come out ahead?
James Crosslin:clearly not the american folk legend but well that we don't think folk legends fail at that time, like the classical american folk legend.
Ryan Baron North:No especially if we're talking 1982, I believe, was this, I think it may have been 1980? I don't know. I mean, you're talking about an entirely different economic situation for china absolutely yeah also.
Reece Merritt:it's uh like, like yeah, even Oedipus fails a couple times, oedipus was a tragedy.
James Crosslin:Let's not get into Oedipus.
Ryan Baron North:Let's not Well with. That being said, honestly, I think that's a perfect look at this film. We have a lot of perspectives. If you are a fan of Big Trouble in Little China and you haven't seen the opening scene, I highly recommend you go back.
James Crosslin:This movie is such art that it can be perceived several different ways.
Ryan Baron North:And that's what's incredible about it is, we're still creating a mythological film out of a time when we were allowed to just create an hour and a half piece of art, yeah, and then walk away. Yeah, someone's like this is all it needs, because it's perfect, but in 2024, you have a bunch of assholes asking how are we going to market this? How are we going to make an action figure? How am I going to get into the trilogy?
James Crosslin:Somebody put my character in the metaverse fight. Shit on Playbook Multiverse fight. What the fuck was that?
Ryan Baron North:Yeah, this new fucking WB metaverse Like how is?
James Crosslin:Egg.
Ryan Baron North:Chen going to be able to fight Bugs Bunny? Holy shit, that would be dope.
James Crosslin:That would be so dope. Fucking Egg. Chen was throwing lightning at fucking Bugs Bunny.
Reece Merritt:I'm actually a little upset at Mortal Kombat now.
James Crosslin:When they did the Rambo.
Reece Merritt:Terminator and all that.
Ryan Baron North:Where the fuck was Jack Burton?
Reece Merritt:Coming in. You're going down just like my last wife.
Ryan Baron North:Yeah.
Reece Merritt:Well, if you could make up a murder-homicide story for Eggshin, I could make up a domestic abuse one for Jack Well honestly that should be something.
Ryan Baron North:So I mean, high and Dry puts out the thought trademark on it. Right now we want the Mortal Kombat style fighting game that incorporates the forgotten. Want the mortal kombat style fighting game that incorporates the forgotten. We're gonna have arnold schwarzenegger of total recall. Yeah, egg chen, jack burton.
Reece Merritt:Uh, I mean egg chen would be like an unlockable yeah I mean, you got jack burton jack burton with a snake plissken skin but all of those, because everyone like grabs right like you.
Ryan Baron North:Take all the mortal kombat games and they grab right onto rambo. They grab right onto, like the, just the, the nonsensical ones. But there were so many things left behind yeah and so, yeah, let's see the fighting game with egg chen versus, you know, the rest of the people that we left behind in that era yeah, I would have to think of some movies around that time, uh, but there was a lot of action.
James Crosslin:that was. That was pretty action. 80s action got stale after this movie. Like this movie, I feel really, really called out exactly the mythos Egg Chen versus the last action hero.
Ryan Baron North:Yeah, there we go, yeah there you go and the last.
James Crosslin:That was a good movie, I enjoyed that that movie I also saw as an adult and I thought that movie was incredibly insightful about. About film yeah, it's about film.
Ryan Baron North:Well, I mean well, I guess that's a point about history is that you walk away from the decade and you only take the parody.
James Crosslin:Right, yeah, that's very true, that well that happened, yeah, yeah, I think I think a lot of times we we're not smart enough to see what a filmmaker is telling us.
Ryan Baron North:Yeah, let's pull out the intelligent, uh well-rounded ideas of this, not just the commercial yeah, we all commercials got so big when we were kids yeah do you remember how many commercials on, like nickelodeon?
James Crosslin:nickelodeon shows I look back to like 17 minutes long, which means that there were 13 minutes of commercials in front of our little eyes, just marketing, yeah yeah, that's wild.
Ryan Baron North:Well, so I would like to see the fighting game that takes. So we would have corbin dallas versus jack burton in our fighting game.
James Crosslin:Oh, corbin dallas, that's a great one because it was a market bomb and we only got it. Looking back, corbin Dallas versus Jack Burton in our fighting game oh, corbin Dallas, that's a great one because it was a market bomb.
Ryan Baron North:And we only got it looking back at it. You take the masterpieces that only had the single film, that build these worlds off of just the single idea that this will only ever be a film. And then that's the fighting game. So Corbin Dallas against Egg Chen, you could use the.
Reece Merritt:Boondock saints, like the ice climbers in super smash, where you could like oh you fucking roll up and then he throws him to stay under the ring. It's actually a pretty solid one um that's pretty good franchise.
Ryan Baron North:It's forced a continuation but they've, but they forced it. They forced it just like like we were talking about with those stupid graphic novels. Oh, so you'd have Tyler Durden versus Jack Burton. Sure, oh, you haven't seen Fight Club 2?
Reece Merritt:Wang Chi versus Tank Girl.
Ryan Baron North:Oh, there you go. Oh solid pull.
James Crosslin:Solid pull yeah, I don't know. Kim Cattrall versus the Surf Ninja guy. You guys remember Surf Ninja guy? You guys remember Surf Ninjas? You guys remember when I made you watch Surf Ninjas?
Ryan Baron North:We do, yes, we do.
James Crosslin:Unsung hero movie. I think if we watched it now with the new lens I would love to see Rocky Balboa versus. Leslie Nielsen as a cyborg samurai which was in that movie no no dude taking Versus the three ninjas, no dude taking. Oh the three ninjas, dope, I'm down.
Reece Merritt:There you go.
James Crosslin:Haru from the Takakura.
Reece Merritt:Dojo Beverly Hills Ninja.
Ryan Baron North:Well, with that being said, everybody, thank you for hanging out. So this is High and Dry Podcast. I don't know what do you take away from this one. Not everything needs to be a trilogy, I guess, yeah.
Reece Merritt:Definitely.
James Crosslin:Yeah, let art be art. Our views on art also evolve over time.
Reece Merritt:Yeah.
James Crosslin:And we're able to see more things in art as our perspective changes.
Ryan Baron North:And I would also say that it's an interesting sort of continue. It always comes up that the person who thinks more inclusively, the person who thinks more broadly, broadly, less hatefully, their ideas always seem to transcend the following decades. Right, crazy how that works. So everyone.
James Crosslin:Good job, john carpenter. Hats off to you again.
Ryan Baron North:Yeah, I mean, even with the thing he was like, they live like. Yeah, it was all like john carpenter always in every one of his films. The survivors are multiracial and he all, he always attempted to go there. It wasn't always completely evolved, as obviously it's going to be in 2024. But I will also say this about fucking the, the, the culture. When big troubleouble in Little China came up, there were no one running around with a MAGA hat.
Reece Merritt:That's true. Well, it's the same people.
James Crosslin:They're just 40 years older. Who?
Ryan Baron North:raised their kids. Oh my god.
James Crosslin:You had kids right around this time. They're all 40 years older and now they have MAGA hats.
Ryan Baron North:Well, thank you all for listening to the anti joe rogan podcast. Uh, catch y'all later. Uh, yeah, I'm your host, ryan baron north, with me all these James Crosslin. Special thanks to our guest today Reece Merritt. Whoa, whoa yeah whoa yeah catch him.
Reece Merritt:Catch him in las vegas, where are you performing uh these days, you don't have to say a specific date, just where pretty much all over wise guys is one of my favorites. I'm going to be on the John Caparillo what's that word? Spotlight showcase thank you with John Caparillo on the 7th at the Wise Guys 7th of July.
Ryan Baron North:Lovely. So 7th of July, Catch Reese Merritt with John Caparillo, Las Vegas Fantastic. Thank you all for hanging out. Thank you all for listening. We're High and Dry Podcast Bye.
Reece Merritt:Bye.