Versus Mode: Battle of the Twin Films!

Beautiful Boy vs Ben is Back

(2018)

Battle of the boys becoming sober!

The Show-Down: These twin films feature families forced to deal with their eldest son being addicted to drugs. Beautiful Boy featured the father front and center in the battle (played by Steven Carrell), while Ben is Back focused on the mother (played by Julia Roberts). Both were good, but when it comes to twin films only one can be declared the winner…

Winner: Ben is Back

This was a tough call, but in the end, I feel like Ben is Back had much more of an emotional impact as it looked at the betrayal of trust that inevitably comes with addiction.

Armageddon vs Deep Impact

(1998)

Battle of the big-ass burning boulders!

The Show-Down: Another classic twin films showdown! This time an extinction-level asteroid is heading straight towards Earth and, somehow, NASA and all the world’s astronomers managed to miss it until it was practically knocking at the door. Not to worry, because a team of astronauts are hastily assembled in an effort to blow it up.  

Winner: Armageddon

As much as I joke about how terrible Michael Bay movies are, the cave-man part of my brain loves Armageddon. It’s so awful that it’s amazing, making it the clear winner here. 

The Howling vs An American Werewolf in London

(1981)

Battle of the big bad wolves!

The Show-Down: Alright, this might be a bit of a stretch as far as twin films go, but as a huge fan of werewolves in general, I’ll argue that it’s not every year that a werewolf movie hits the big screen, much less two major werewolf movies from big-name directors behind them (Joe Dante and John Landis). Personally, I’m happy with whichever film takes home the win. 

Winner: An American Werewolf in London

An American Werewolf in London is the gold standard of werewolf movies. It’s simply the bigger dog in this fight and, despite what they say, sometimes it is the size of the dog in the fight. 

Chasing Liberty vs First Daughter

(2004)

Battle of the burdened babes!

The Show-Down: Apparently first daughters were on everyone’s mind back in 2003 (I’m seriously trying to figure out what inspired these twin films), because these two romantic comedies feature the character trying to juggle her personal life with being the daughter of the most powerful man in the world. It’s basically a twist on the classic princess tries to escape the life of royalty trope.  

Winner: Chasing Liberty

Both of these movies were… Well, they were just as stupid as their plots sound. So, if I had to watch a film centered around the first daughter from 2004 again, I’d choose Spartan