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Speaker 2: What kind of a show you guys putting on here today?
Speaker 3: You're not interested in art? Now?
Speaker 1: No, Look, we're going to do this thing.
Speaker 3: We're going to have a conversation.
Speaker 1: From Chicago. This is film Spotting.
Speaker 2: I'm Josh Larson and I'm Adam Kempinar.
Speaker 4: Please state to.
Speaker 5: Your name, roll mean Grace.
Speaker 3: Please spoke up from a coma.
Speaker 5: There's several light years from my apartment.
Speaker 1: And I'm not an astronaut.
Speaker 3: I'm not an astronaut.
Speaker 1: I'm not an astronaut.
Speaker 5: If you don't go, you die with the rest of us.
Speaker 1: The best movies of the year so far have come
Speaker 1: in all shapes and sizes, from into family dramas to
Speaker 1: epic sci fi and everything including alien, zombies and talking
Speaker 1: cheap in between.
Speaker 2: Our shepherd was murdered, and we shall solve the crime.
Speaker 2: We'll share our favorites of the movie year with our
Speaker 2: top five films of twenty twenty six so far. That
Speaker 2: and more ahead on film Spotting. Welcome to film Spotting.
Speaker 2: Did we wait to do our top five films of
Speaker 2: twenty twenty six so far? So we could include Christopher
Speaker 2: Nolans The Odyssey. Well, it turns out one of us
Speaker 2: was able to go see it before we sat down
Speaker 2: to tape this show as we are doing right this moment.
Speaker 2: That was you, Josh, and we talked about what our
Speaker 2: policy was going to be, whether or not it would
Speaker 2: be eligible. Now, of course, at the time we talked
Speaker 2: about it, we didn't know whether or not you wanted
Speaker 2: it to be eligible. Where did we come out.
Speaker 1: I'm going to say this as neutrallly as possible because
Speaker 1: I want to hold the suspense until our actual review, Adam,
Speaker 1: which will be next week. I'm setting it aside out
Speaker 1: of this list, not considering it not eligible, and it
Speaker 1: is not eligible, So got it. Let's just put it
Speaker 1: that way. I one of my own odyssey to see it.
Speaker 1: It was in the nineties, you know here as it
Speaker 1: is everywhere in Chicago. I braved riding my bike along
Speaker 1: the wild waves of Lake Michigan made it a good
Speaker 1: that it was like two and a half miles to
Speaker 1: see it at the theater, and cannot wait, of course
Speaker 1: to talk about it. But we'll say no more, not
Speaker 1: even giving a hint, not even going to suggest whether
Speaker 1: or not it would be on this list. To me,
Speaker 1: it doesn't exist for the purposes of this show.
Speaker 2: Okay, you got it. It could be his number one
Speaker 2: film of the year, it could be his number five,
Speaker 2: or it could be his least favorite movie of the year. Exactly.
Speaker 2: We won't know until next week when you hear our
Speaker 2: conversation about Christopher Nolans The Odyssey. Later on this show,
Speaker 2: we will play Masacre Theater and we will have poll results.
Speaker 2: We'll hear what you think the best film of the
Speaker 2: year so far. Is a reminder, Film Spotting is now
Speaker 2: available as a video podcast. You can watch us talk
Speaker 2: over at YouTube dot com slash film Spotting. We are
Speaker 2: at or a little past Josh the halfway point of
Speaker 2: the year. But this is roughly when we usually take
Speaker 2: stock of the movie year so far and we share
Speaker 2: our top five movies of the year so far. Let's
Speaker 2: jump in. I don't know if it was as difficult
Speaker 2: a process. It never is for me anyway as difficult
Speaker 2: a process as when we actually have to think about
Speaker 2: the top ten, which is something that has a lot
Speaker 2: more meaning, and we do, really we just we work
Speaker 2: so hard on that list. We worry about seeing enough films,
Speaker 2: and certainly we're going to have blind spots. You already
Speaker 2: heard I didn't see The Odyssey. There's one other film
Speaker 2: that was a major one for me that I wanted
Speaker 2: so badly to fit in before forming this list, and
Speaker 2: I wasn't able to. And I'm only going to omit
Speaker 2: mentioning it here because I think it has a chance
Speaker 2: of making your list. If it didn't, then I'll save
Speaker 2: it for honorable mentions. I'll include that regret there. So
Speaker 2: how do you want to get us started?
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely less pressure this time of year. Definitely still
Speaker 1: blind spots. But I will say it made me realize
Speaker 1: what I felt, you know, under the surface, is that
Speaker 1: this has been a great movie year so far. When
Speaker 1: I sat down and looked, I have a top ten
Speaker 1: that I would feel quite good about basically if we
Speaker 1: had to do it right now, and knowing that there
Speaker 1: are films I need to catch up with and so
Speaker 1: many good ones ahead. I think this is going to
Speaker 1: be a banner you for movies by the time we
Speaker 1: get to the end of it. So very excited to
Speaker 1: look at my top five so far. It's also a
Speaker 1: chance for me to play catch up a bit. It
Speaker 1: turns out two of the movies on my list I
Speaker 1: wasn't able to review on the show, Adam, because I
Speaker 1: was traveling in both cases. So I think in both
Speaker 1: cases Vultures Roxannahatti was kind enough to sit in and
Speaker 1: do that review with you. We'll see some I don't
Speaker 1: think I know quite exactly where you landed because I
Speaker 1: haven't had a chance to go back and listen to
Speaker 1: those reviews. Yeah, I'm looking at my list now, so
Speaker 1: maybe you can tell me what you thought with my
Speaker 1: number five. Here I know where you Goell me what
Speaker 1: you thought of I Love Boosters because love love am
Speaker 1: I strong do I love I Love Boosters. It's number
Speaker 1: five on my list, But that means, you know, at
Speaker 1: the end of the year it could still be in
Speaker 1: the top ten. It could have been bumped bumped off,
Speaker 1: but I don't know. I had a bit of a
Speaker 1: journey with this one, Adam, because perhaps naively I thought
Speaker 1: that Boots Riley's follow up to Sorry to Bother You,
Speaker 1: which did make my Top ten list the year, came out.
Speaker 1: I thought, you know, I'm sure his follow up is
Speaker 1: going to be a bit more focused, a bit more disciplined,
Speaker 1: you know, because I don't think you described Sorry to
Speaker 1: Bother You that way. Well, that's not how I would
Speaker 1: describe I love blisters either. I mean, in comparison, I
Speaker 1: think the story here is looser. I think the satire
Speaker 1: is more sporadic, and the ending this was interesting to me,
Speaker 1: especially for the year we're living in. The ending I
Speaker 1: found unconvincingly optimistic.
Speaker 2: I'll say, Okay, yes, yet I agree.
Speaker 1: Yet I was recognizing, okay, I was recognizing all that
Speaker 1: during the movie, and then I was having this parallel
Speaker 1: awareness that I would never find another movie like this
Speaker 1: from another filmmaker. The voice, the energy, the visual inventiveness,
Speaker 1: and I just thought, what do I care if it's
Speaker 1: not the most disciplined thing. We need to treasure an
Speaker 1: idiosyncratic vision like this when we get it on the
Speaker 1: big screen. Plan together we empty out every single metro
Speaker 1: designer in the Bay Area.
Speaker 5: Without to take what's allid We should coordinate?
Speaker 3: What don't we waiting for taking everything.
Speaker 2: It's not even that yellow.
Speaker 3: In air anymore.
Speaker 1: So that's where I landed. I thinking right now that
Speaker 1: I Love Boosters might be the messiest great movie of
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six, and I'm probably okay with that. For
Speaker 1: those who need a reminder, it has been out for
Speaker 1: a while now. This stars Kiki Palmer as the leader
Speaker 1: of a crew of bandits who are lifting high fashion
Speaker 1: and then resell it via underground markets, and you know,
Speaker 1: appropriate to that subject matter. The color popping costume and
Speaker 1: production design was incredible. I think every performance hits its mark.
Speaker 1: Of course Palmer, she's dynamite whenever she's on screen. Taylor Page,
Speaker 1: who I loved in Zola, is so funny. Naomi Aki's
Speaker 1: been doing great recent work. Mickey seventeen is one of
Speaker 1: the films she's been in. Really liked Isaa Gonzalez, who
Speaker 1: I don't think I've seen maybe since Baby Driver and
Speaker 1: Poppy Lou shows up to me. Moore really surprised me
Speaker 1: with the vicious comic chops she shows as this vindictive
Speaker 1: fashion mogul. So oh oh, Lakeith Stanfield, I don't think anyone,
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone knows how to use Lakeith Stanfield's
Speaker 1: particular energy as well as Boots Riley. I think of
Speaker 1: it as like this mixture of sorrow and serenity, but
Speaker 1: also I find it quite hilarious. He's got a small
Speaker 1: part in this, so yeah, crucial, but I enjoyed him. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I was basically able to cutch this just before it
Speaker 1: left theaters. If you need to catch up with it,
Speaker 1: it is now available to rent via various services. I
Speaker 1: think it's at that higher twenty dollars price point right now.
Speaker 1: Hopefully that will drop soon. I'm guessing I'm sensing you
Speaker 1: might have not had quite the same experience with this one.
Speaker 2: Adam, No too messy for me, and the ending I
Speaker 2: get it.
Speaker 1: I get the ending was.
Speaker 2: Definitely too unconvincingly optimistic, and that's something I did talk
Speaker 2: about during the review. The conversation I had with Roxanna,
Speaker 2: she was more definitely way more on your side of
Speaker 2: the ledger. In fact, she I think was more enthusiastic
Speaker 2: than you, Josh I Wow, okay, maybe say, of course,
Speaker 2: I don't know all the films she's seen this year,
Speaker 2: but I wouldn't be surprised if it was higher on
Speaker 2: her list of the best films of the year based
Speaker 2: on how she talks about it, because I didn't hear
Speaker 2: as many reservations in her review. Yes, idiosyncratic voice. I
Speaker 2: really enjoyed that, and I enjoyed many things about the movie,
Speaker 2: including some of those performances that you singled out. I'm
Speaker 2: still not entirely sure what Lakeith Stanfield is doing in
Speaker 2: that movie, and.
Speaker 1: It felt like being Lakeith Stanfield.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it felt like it felt like Boots Riley just
Speaker 2: needed to put him in there. And and sometimes that
Speaker 2: may be okay because I like watching him so much
Speaker 2: on screen, But that last thirty minutes or so is
Speaker 2: where everything just goes off the rails too far for me.
Speaker 2: I'm glad that. I'm glad that you were able to
Speaker 2: to find enough in it to redeem the review. So
Speaker 2: I love Boosters your number five. I've got a film
Speaker 2: at number five that you probably won't have on your list.
Speaker 2: It is the the big box office surprise of twenty
Speaker 2: twenty six. A horror movie. Is this you're going with?
Speaker 2: OBSESSI horror movie. It can't be the first horror movie
Speaker 2: to ever make a top ten for me, but maybe
Speaker 2: I should go back and look. Obsession is my number
Speaker 2: five movie, Yeah, of the year. And it's because I realized,
Speaker 2: especially as I looked back over my notes, I have
Speaker 2: as many notes about that movie, positive reflections, responses, but
Speaker 2: also just ideas, more than any movie, as many or
Speaker 2: more in response to that as I did any movie
Speaker 2: we've discussed this year, so good song, and they're about performance,
Speaker 2: and one performance in particular, but performance generally about lighting,
Speaker 2: about composition, about editing, and a lot of this we
Speaker 2: did get into during our long conversation about this film.
Speaker 2: You can find it in the film spotting feed if
Speaker 2: you didn't hear our review of Obsession. But also I
Speaker 2: mentioned ideas. It's provocations, unlike for me back Rooms, which
Speaker 2: gets a little too messy here I'll use that word again,
Speaker 2: MESSI in its world building, the details, and a movie
Speaker 2: like one we talked about in Bonus Content recently, a
Speaker 2: movie like it follows that maybe needed a few more
Speaker 2: details for me to really get engaged with. I thought
Speaker 2: Obsession threaded the needle just as it needed to. The
Speaker 2: other provocations, like the main character bear his ability to
Speaker 2: deny what he fundamentally knows to be true, that this
Speaker 2: isn't really her, this isn't really the girl that he
Speaker 2: fell in love with and something seems to be off
Speaker 2: how much his love for her is grounded in the
Speaker 2: physical pleasure he derives from her as that physical object,
Speaker 2: And how to want to make someone love you is
Speaker 2: effectively to want to dehumanize them, to strip away from
Speaker 2: them everything that makes them who they are as an individual.
Speaker 2: All of those things we did discover us and were
Speaker 2: things that I was thinking about for a good week
Speaker 2: after I saw the movie Obsession. So you have craft,
Speaker 2: but you also have those those themes that were provocative,
Speaker 2: and I mentioned performance in one in particular. Apparently not official,
Speaker 2: but it seems that the breakout star of that film,
Speaker 2: and deservedly so, Indie never Ready, has met with Michael
Speaker 2: Mann about being in Heat two. Like I needed any
Speaker 2: more reason to be excited about Heat two, but yeah,
Speaker 2: put her in everything. I want to see more of
Speaker 2: Indie never Ready. So Obsessions my number five.
Speaker 4: Wow, no no what no no no, no, no, no, no, no. Nice.
Speaker 1: I liked Obsession and she's my favorite thing in the movie.
Speaker 1: I would say, absolutely, We're going to do for our
Speaker 1: film spotting family members a bonus show on our favorite
Speaker 1: performances of the year. So safe to say we'll both
Speaker 1: have more to say about Robba Blades on that episode.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I do like the film. I love seeing
Speaker 1: horror on your list. So this We're off to a
Speaker 1: great start here as far as I'm concerned. All Right,
Speaker 1: My number four is the Invite, which I just talked
Speaker 1: about on last week's show. I gave it a huge recommendation.
Speaker 1: It's only grown in my estimation since then, partly because
Speaker 1: I've only heard more good things about it from pretty
Speaker 1: much everyone in my life who goes to the movies.
Speaker 1: And these are you know, these aren't like cinephiles either.
Speaker 1: These are just like civilians who catch a film every
Speaker 1: once in a while, and they're coming out of this
Speaker 1: thing just delighted. And every time they tell me that,
Speaker 1: it's like, yeah, was really fun. That was just incredibly fun.
Speaker 1: So we have Olivia Wild and Seth Rogan here as
Speaker 1: this troubled married couple. They invite their upstairs neighbors for
Speaker 1: a visit that goes goes sideways, goes upside down, and
Speaker 1: it goes all all over the place all sorts of directions.
Speaker 1: Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton are that other couple. It
Speaker 1: took you a while to come to the door, and
Speaker 1: it sounded like you were arguing.
Speaker 5: No. I just want to be honest.
Speaker 1: We were We were at the door before we rang,
Speaker 1: and we could hear you were fighting.
Speaker 5: Oh we were talking.
Speaker 2: We were we were fighting.
Speaker 3: We were fighting a bit of a contentious environment. And
Speaker 3: here's what I understand. If that's repellent to you, no
Speaker 3: hard feelings, you know what I mean, completely understand.
Speaker 1: You know, we love a contentious environment. I never doubted
Speaker 1: Olivia Wilde. I knew she had comic directing chops, and
Speaker 1: that is on display here from behind the camera. I
Speaker 1: did not know. I was probably like if you had
Speaker 1: asked me how Olivia Wilde is on screen as an actor,
Speaker 1: even in you know, BookSmart and Don't Worry Diarlinge her
Speaker 1: other directorial efforts, I would have probably said, she's fine. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, she's fine. I think she was in a
Speaker 1: Tron remake at some point. I remember her in Man,
Speaker 1: the way she just elevates this as one of the four.
Speaker 1: Here her hilarious quick twitch expressions in response to all
Speaker 1: this stuff going around her. Again that performances of the
Speaker 1: year Bonus Show is coming up for film spotting family members,
Speaker 1: I will say more about her as well on that show.
Speaker 1: But for now, this is number four on my list,
Speaker 1: easily the twenty twenty six movie I've been recommending the
Speaker 1: most of people. Just incredibly funny, knowing a great time
Speaker 1: of the theater, which is where you can still find it.
Speaker 1: So if you've not made it there yet, get to
Speaker 1: a theater, have you had a chance.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the one, Josh, that's the one, the one,
Speaker 2: that's the one I needed to get to the one
Speaker 2: theater near me that's playing it, and they're just I
Speaker 2: may get to this when I get to my number
Speaker 2: three pick into more detail about why I couldn't see it,
Speaker 2: but there just weren't enough showtimes for me to make it.
Speaker 2: Desperate to see it. Knowing how much you liked it,
Speaker 2: how many critics were raving about it, you had to
Speaker 2: think it had a decent shot of making my list,
Speaker 2: And so the fact that it's a blind spot for
Speaker 2: me at this point really is is crushing me. But
Speaker 2: that was my biggest regret in terms of movies I
Speaker 2: didn't get to see. But I mean, it's fresh, it's
Speaker 2: just forming it. It just came out like ten days ago.
Speaker 2: So Adam were always praising the theatrical experience. We talk
Speaker 2: about how a big comedy, something like The Invite, you
Speaker 2: got to see in a theater with a crowd to
Speaker 2: get those laughs. Horror movies, of course you want to see.
Speaker 1: It with a crowd just for safety. But you know
Speaker 1: the screams too, the screams. You got to share the screams.
Speaker 1: You also want to be in a theater for the images,
Speaker 1: the giant images, and Christopher Nolan is one of those
Speaker 1: filmmakers who is going to deliver on that front. That's
Speaker 1: why everyone is why everyone is so excited about the Odyssey.
Speaker 1: If you're excited about the Odyssey, you'd be more excited
Speaker 1: about seeing the Odyssey for free, which you can do
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Speaker 1: our disco.
Speaker 2: Jason, if you wanted to let us know that our
Speaker 2: son is dead on the front step, I told him
Speaker 2: not to worry.
Speaker 6: He will come back to life soon.
Speaker 2: Here my number four, and I'm going to resort here
Speaker 2: to a tactic we occasionally employ when we're forming lists
Speaker 2: like this. I'm going to quote from one of our
Speaker 2: great critics, someone we feature on our show, someone who
Speaker 2: is part of the Film Spotting family of podcasts, Alison
Speaker 2: wilmore Over at Vulture. And it's because it's so brilliant,
Speaker 2: and it's also because, I mean, she says it better
Speaker 2: than I could about this film, but also because we
Speaker 2: talked about this movie so in depth, Josh, that I realized,
Speaker 2: I just I can't repackage my thoughts about this movie.
Speaker 2: And if it makes my top ten at the end
Speaker 2: of the year, I don't know. I'm I'd have to
Speaker 2: watch it again and see if I can find some
Speaker 2: new nugget, some new insight to pull from the movie.
Speaker 2: At number four, I've got Sophie Ramvari's debut, Blue Heron,
Speaker 2: this autobiographical film. So I'm going to read from the
Speaker 2: first paragraph of Alison Wilmore's rave for Blue Heron. She says,
Speaker 2: Blue Heron is an autobiographical film pulled directly out of
Speaker 2: writer director Sophie Rombari's childhood, from the period when her parents,
Speaker 2: both Hungarian immigrants, moved their family of six into a
Speaker 2: new house on Vancouver Island. But what it really feels
Speaker 2: like is a seance, a way of using cinema not
Speaker 2: just to put the past on screen, but to commune
Speaker 2: with it, to interrogate it for information that her younger
Speaker 2: self was unable to grasp at the time. It's a
Speaker 2: tender but devastating work that exists in the nether world
Speaker 2: between documentary and fiction, where the innate artificiality of recreating
Speaker 2: something that actually happened allows a filmmaker to get to
Speaker 2: a greater truth. For asme L Mudir in The Mother
Speaker 2: of All Lies, that meant using miniatures to coax out
Speaker 2: details of her family's experiences during Morocco's brutal Years of
Speaker 2: lead for Joshua Oppenheimer in the Act of Killing, having
Speaker 2: two unabashed death Squad leaders re enact some of the
Speaker 2: murders they committed under Suharto seems to force the men
Speaker 2: to reconsider their participation in politically sanctioned mass slaughter. So,
Speaker 2: using those two films as a touchstone for how artificiality
Speaker 2: can lead to truth, Blue Heron in Allison's estimation doing
Speaker 2: something similar. The movies I referenced during our review were
Speaker 2: some of my favorites of recent vintage josh like Aftersun
Speaker 2: and All of Us Strangers, and going back a little
Speaker 2: further Iranian cinema like Kirostami's Close Up and Jafar Panahi's
Speaker 2: The Mirror. And I said it then and I will
Speaker 2: say it again because it is still something I think
Speaker 2: about in relation to this film. If it could have
Speaker 2: somehow hit the truth for me through that meta exploration
Speaker 2: that those four films did, with the power that those
Speaker 2: four films did, obviously it would be my number one
Speaker 2: film of the year so far, and it would probably
Speaker 2: be entrenched there all year. It doesn't quite get there
Speaker 2: for me. The technique that romvari employs and how she
Speaker 2: employs it the documentary style. I tried to I tried
Speaker 2: to articulate as best I could why it didn't work.
Speaker 2: Maybe that is the impetus for me to rewatch it
Speaker 2: before the end of the year, to try to get
Speaker 2: even further at why I didn't fully connect with it
Speaker 2: the way I do tend to connect with movies that
Speaker 2: employed this type of technique. That's something I will have
Speaker 2: to deal with. As I said, maybe a little bit
Speaker 2: later in the year. That said, we did have such
Speaker 2: a rich discussion about this film because of the things
Speaker 2: Allison is describing so eloquently, the fact that it is
Speaker 2: it does feel like a seance using cinema to commune
Speaker 2: and interrogate the past and the technique, setting aside the
Speaker 2: meta aspects, setting aside the fracture between past and present
Speaker 2: that happens in this film. Just some of the performances,
Speaker 2: some of the cinematography is so satisfying to watch, especially
Speaker 2: for a debut filmmaker. There's a reason why it's a
Speaker 2: Golden Brick nominee for us at this point and a
Speaker 2: strong contender for the award.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, probably the front runner, I would say at
Speaker 1: this point for Yeah, our award for a new Release
Speaker 1: from an Emerging Filmmaker. I love Allison's comparison the analogy
Speaker 1: there to a seance. I think that's perfect. I'm going
Speaker 1: to jump up on my list because to continue the
Speaker 1: Blue Heron conversation and further encourage people to check it
Speaker 1: out while it's top of mind. I had it at
Speaker 1: number two. And Yeah, it'll be interesting to hear some
Speaker 1: of those again when you're talking about reservations on a
Speaker 1: top five of the year so far list their nitpicks.
Speaker 1: But I understand what you're saying. I would have thought
Speaker 1: it might have been higher on your list, So there's
Speaker 1: something there you're wrestling with. I agree the meta elements
Speaker 1: are a plus, which is something I'm actually suspicious of.
Speaker 1: You know, the character being a filmmaker, and we learn
Speaker 1: eventually trying to reconstruct a film. I never found that
Speaker 1: to be navel gazing here in terms of that construct
Speaker 1: or the formal execution of it, I found it to
Speaker 1: be continually inventive. And Rumvari has this rare touch that
Speaker 1: is both delicate in searing somehow, and that's in a
Speaker 1: single image. I don't mean she's delicate in this sequence
Speaker 1: and then searing in the next I mean in a
Speaker 1: single shot, she captures both and can carry the thematic
Speaker 1: and emotional weight I think of this time. I don't
Speaker 1: know if this came up in our review, and I
Speaker 1: should maybe save some of this because we have a
Speaker 1: likely top ten lister for me too. Here the one
Speaker 1: of the young girl standing over her brother at the
Speaker 1: front porch and he's just laying on his back, you know,
Speaker 1: he's awake, just laying and she's just looking down at him,
Speaker 1: trying to figure him out, but not aggressively or intrusively.
Speaker 1: And it's that sort of composition that captures again this
Speaker 1: the girl and then the adult young woman's experience. So well, yeah,
Speaker 1: so Blue heron certainly encourage listeners to check it out
Speaker 1: if they haven't. I checked earlier this week and it
Speaker 1: looks like it is available for purchase at this point
Speaker 1: via Prime and Apple TV.
Speaker 2: All right, we've heard three of your picks that we
Speaker 2: jumped ahead a little bit. That means we are at
Speaker 2: my number three and Mace. Surprise you a little bit, Josh,
Speaker 2: how much I liked this movie because I liked it
Speaker 2: more than you though, Because I liked it more than you,
Speaker 2: You're probably not shocked too much that it's on my list.
Speaker 2: I actually have Toy Story five, and I thought, on
Speaker 2: my list, yeah, you were really, I really, I really
Speaker 2: went for it. And I did mention this during the review.
Speaker 2: But when you have a film that delivers at this
Speaker 2: point two of the strongest moving moments of the year contenders,
Speaker 2: one involving Jesse and one involving Bonnie, that that's going
Speaker 2: to stick with you when you're forming a list like this.
Speaker 2: And I had a lot of notes on this film too,
Speaker 2: and I was trying to remember what we covered and
Speaker 2: maybe what we didn't. And I know that this is
Speaker 2: pedestrian ground. I don't think we got into this from
Speaker 2: my notes, but as I said, it may be pedestrian,
Speaker 2: but I still wanted to bring it up because everybody
Speaker 2: talked about this aspect of the film. It is the
Speaker 2: obvious point to talk about in terms of the technology,
Speaker 2: and we got into it a bit, but I did
Speaker 2: want to at least mention that when you're watching this
Speaker 2: film in terms of how it connects with you, connects
Speaker 2: with me as an adult, as a father, why it
Speaker 2: did resonate with me the way it did. I've got
Speaker 2: kids who are four and six. They're younger than Bonnie
Speaker 2: then right, And you can judge me all you want.
Speaker 2: At this point, they wake up almost every day, both
Speaker 2: of them wake up almost every day, and the first
Speaker 2: thing out of their mouths is not can I have breakfast?
Speaker 2: It's can I have my iPad? And often they go
Speaker 2: to bed asking for their iPads, And they ask for
Speaker 2: their iPads five to seven at least times throughout the day. Now,
Speaker 2: I suppose to the fact that they ask for their
Speaker 2: iPads that often shows you that I'm not giving it
Speaker 2: to them as often as they want it, and I'm
Speaker 2: doing a decent job of limiting the amount of time
Speaker 2: they are on them. But it does show you the
Speaker 2: stranglehold these devices have. But it's not just on these kids.
Speaker 2: It is on us as adults as well. And that's
Speaker 2: why I do think that shot in the film is
Speaker 2: such a good one, That shot of the whole neighborhood
Speaker 2: and all those screens lit up yp and everybody from
Speaker 2: kid to adult, they're on a device, and they're all
Speaker 2: in separate rooms, they're all separated from each other, they're
Speaker 2: all detached, they're all disconnected. There's a time when that
Speaker 2: shot would have been families all sitting around a television together,
Speaker 2: and that's not what we see anymore.
Speaker 1: And it would have been used incriminatingly right.
Speaker 2: Together, talking right exactly, something like that. You're right, but
Speaker 2: it still would have been at least they were spending
Speaker 2: time together. Sure, now we can look at it wistfully,
Speaker 2: like longingly, like that better exactly, at least that was
Speaker 2: better than this. Right. But but there are times where
Speaker 2: we also and and if you're one of those parents
Speaker 2: out there, don't be too hard on yourself. There are
Speaker 2: times where you give in and you lose the battle.
Speaker 2: We need breaks, we have things to get done. We
Speaker 2: used to when I was babysat as a kid, they
Speaker 2: would put on Sesame Street, right, and we could still
Speaker 2: do that. Sometimes we can put on Sesame Street, or
Speaker 2: now it's you know, pop Patrol. The TV shows have
Speaker 2: changed for the most part, but but really it's iPads now.
Speaker 2: And watching this film, it just it just reinforced how
Speaker 2: it's not just kids' anxieties, it's ours as parents about
Speaker 2: how we use devices, but also how worried we are
Speaker 2: about the control they have over our children and the
Speaker 2: potential damage that they're doing. And here's the other part, Josh,
Speaker 2: why this movie is meaningful to me is and this
Speaker 2: is I was going to say with my number three
Speaker 2: pick why I didn't get to why I didn't get
Speaker 2: to the invite. Partly was last week my wife was
Speaker 2: gone the whole week, got to go on a trip
Speaker 2: and was out and that was fantastic, but that meant
Speaker 2: I was home, you know, I was home with the
Speaker 2: kids myself. And you're not going to get anything done
Speaker 2: sometimes if you don't say, hey, here's an hour where
Speaker 2: you can get on the iPad. So that happened occasionally,
Speaker 2: So there you go. I'll hop to that. I'm not
Speaker 2: a perfect dad, Josh. I don't know if you know
Speaker 2: that about me.
Speaker 1: I have said w and I have both said many times.
Speaker 1: So ours are twenty four and twenty now, and I
Speaker 1: am never going to cast judgment on any parents who
Speaker 1: have had to deal. We just missed the cusp. They
Speaker 1: were just young enough where mobile devices were not as
Speaker 1: available as they are now, so we were not forced
Speaker 1: to make these decisions. And I hold no judgment and
Speaker 1: know from and know from just like the technological options
Speaker 1: that we had at the time and the decisions we
Speaker 1: had to make that this is this is the challenge.
Speaker 1: This is the capital the challenge for raising young kids now.
Speaker 1: And I think I liked for the record, you know,
Speaker 1: listeners who heard our review know this, I'd like Toy
Speaker 1: Story five. I think it's to its credit that it
Speaker 1: actually tackled this. We probably differ on, you know, what
Speaker 1: it had to offer at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: on it, but absolutely to its credit that they didn't
Speaker 1: just dodge the issue, right, and we're like, this is here.
Speaker 1: Our Pixars movies at their best are always for the parents,
Speaker 1: and so if they're going to keep in that tradition, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is what they had to address.
Speaker 2: And here's the last part I will say, just on
Speaker 2: a personal another personal note, my six year old I
Speaker 2: saw a lot of connection between her and Bonnie. She's creative,
Speaker 2: she's a little goofy, she's the kind of girl who
Speaker 2: every time she is the girl who every time we're
Speaker 2: at a playground, I am not kidding you, every time
Speaker 2: another kid, boy or girl walks up to her, or
Speaker 2: she walks up to them on the slide or near
Speaker 2: the slide or the steps, she says hi, and you
Speaker 2: know what she gets nine times out of ten, A
Speaker 2: blank A blank look. Josh, they don't understand why this
Speaker 2: little girl is talking to them, and they usually just
Speaker 2: ignore her and then run off. And not only that,
Speaker 2: she has a vision impairment, so as she it's older,
Speaker 2: she's going to be the girl like Bonnie who gets
Speaker 2: left out of things, who is going to struggle to connect.
Speaker 2: And yes, I am saying that maybe my defenses were
Speaker 2: down a little bit as a critic, but I don't
Speaker 2: think that that has anything to do with my reaction
Speaker 2: to the film. I don't. I'm not I'm truly not
Speaker 2: suggesting that that that had any real impact on how
Speaker 2: I viewed the movie.
Speaker 1: It just significs that.
Speaker 2: I did, I did relate to it on a very
Speaker 2: personal level, in addition to the fact that I think
Speaker 2: it's really smart filmmaking.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we don't have to draw those those sorts of distinctions.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And and Toy Story five has has a scene like that,
Speaker 1: right where a kid puts themselves out there and and
Speaker 1: it flops. I can remember, I think witnessing that happening
Speaker 1: once to one of my daughters at that age on
Speaker 1: a playground, and you describing that, like, my heart just
Speaker 1: crumpled inside for that memory, So so thank you. For that.
Speaker 1: Thank you pick, sire, Thank you, Adam.
Speaker 2: Welcome.
Speaker 1: We all feel better now. I don't know what's going
Speaker 1: on here, but so far you have horror on your list, yes,
Speaker 1: and animation on your list. I think we may be
Speaker 1: in bizarro world and I don't know where this is
Speaker 1: going to go. Now you have a meta film at
Speaker 1: number two. No, I'm gonna setting straight, filmmaker. I'm going
Speaker 1: to set thing straight. And this is actually my number three,
Speaker 1: so I'll jump back a little bit. Well, a horror pick,
Speaker 1: we have to wait to go to wait to come
Speaker 1: back to it. Yeah, we have business. Well that's a tease.
Speaker 1: I have a four tease.
Speaker 2: We got to take a moment before we get to
Speaker 2: our top two. We do want to remind you that
Speaker 2: you can go to filmspotting dot net. Just click on
Speaker 2: lists and you will see our entire top five archive.
Speaker 2: Let's take a minute, Josh to thank the film Spotting family.
Speaker 2: It's the single largest source of support for the show. Yes,
Speaker 2: we have advertising in the show, but it is the
Speaker 2: single largest source of support for the show. It keeps
Speaker 2: us doing what we've been doing for now over twenty
Speaker 2: one years. And usually Josh, at this point, we shout
Speaker 2: out a couple Film Spotting family members, but instead we
Speaker 2: wanted to just spend a couple minutes, maybe even less,
Speaker 2: on what we're calling Summer film Spotting Madness. It's the
Speaker 2: best of the nineteen twenties and thirties. This is a
Speaker 2: bracket style tournament, just like we do every year for
Speaker 2: Film Spotting Madness, but we're doing it exclusively for the
Speaker 2: family nineteen twenties and nineteen thirties, after finishing the nineteen
Speaker 2: forties back in April or May, thirty two films Summer
Speaker 2: Madness just for the Film Spotting family members. Have you
Speaker 2: had a chance to look at the play ins which
Speaker 2: we did just announce to Film Spotting family members this week,
Speaker 2: and did any of them stand out to you? We
Speaker 2: thought we would give the wider film Spotting audience just
Speaker 2: a little bit of a taste of what those play
Speaker 2: ins were.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I'm going to do some lobbying here, because okay,
Speaker 1: that's partly what madness is all about, right, It's it's
Speaker 1: our personal votes, but it's also trying to swing the vote,
Speaker 1: sway the vote. So I'm looking at let's see, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna I'm gonna stick with the horror concept here and
Speaker 1: gives some recommendations for votes in two of these matchups
Speaker 1: because they are horror matchups. You have a count me
Speaker 1: in despite the pun. Not so excited about that, but
Speaker 1: the title of a poll, Josh, I know, but it's
Speaker 1: it's so bad that I think the title okay, doesn't
Speaker 1: even help it anyway.
Speaker 2: You have no Saratu.
Speaker 1: You and Sam have no Sparatu against uh Dracula. And
Speaker 1: I will say that if you haven't seen these both,
Speaker 1: and some people vote at them without having seen both.
Speaker 1: I mean, I can't imagine living in that sort of world,
Speaker 1: but some people don't.
Speaker 2: We're going to pretend that doesn't happen.
Speaker 1: I could see some thinking, well, you know, Dracula be
Speaker 1: able to go see obviously that must that's the one
Speaker 1: I know, that's one I've heard about. That's the one
Speaker 1: who you know, I should probably vote for that. Murnau's
Speaker 1: no Sparratu is the vote you have to make. It is,
Speaker 1: and I like Dracula Lugosi is maybe the best thing
Speaker 1: about it. The production design is incredible. No Saratu is
Speaker 1: just another level of horror, So you got to go
Speaker 1: there in that matchup. And then I think here also,
Speaker 1: conventional wisdom might be a skew bride of Frankenstein versus
Speaker 1: the cabinet of doctor Caligari. Bride of Frankenstein. I would
Speaker 1: agree better than Frankenstein. James Wal's follow up. I think
Speaker 1: he did. Yeah, he did both. It's incredible, iconic. We
Speaker 1: can all picture in our heads the imagery right now.
Speaker 1: But and maybe folks have not gotten around to see
Speaker 1: the cabinet of doctor Caligari. This is for me top
Speaker 1: ten horror of all time. So no brain or here
Speaker 1: for me, as much as I also do like Brida Frankenstein,
Speaker 1: it's got to be the cabinet of doctor Caligari in
Speaker 1: this matchup. And I'll make this one real quick, Adam.
Speaker 1: If you look at another matchup we have here, let
Speaker 1: me find it. It is the gold Rush against swing Time.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm, Fred Astaire Ginger Rogers swing Time.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I can see it being very easy for people to
Speaker 1: think gold Rush, chaplain. He's like one of the all
Speaker 1: time geniuses. Of course I'm going to vote for that.
Speaker 1: I don't even know which is Ster Rogers Swingtime? Is
Speaker 1: I really I've seen no, no, no, I'm saying a
Speaker 1: voter might think that okay, and I get that thinking
Speaker 1: I've seen all of their movies and I even have
Speaker 1: to pause or google on my website. You know what,
Speaker 1: which one is this again? Swing Time is I think
Speaker 1: their best. So we're not just We're not just throwing
Speaker 1: in here, you know, a nod to a stair Rodgers
Speaker 1: and sacrificing them to the god of Chaplain. In this matchup,
Speaker 1: I would go with a Stare Rogers.
Speaker 2: I think I think I would too. That's easy to
Speaker 2: say when there's a lot of chaplain in this tournament already,
Speaker 2: including one other Chaplain. Yeah, just among the play ins.
Speaker 2: But I'm with you. I love swing Time that much.
Speaker 2: I'll just mention a couple myself. I think a really
Speaker 2: tough one is the Curtiz matchup, because I'm a fan
Speaker 2: of both Angels with Dirty Faces and the Adventures of Robinhood.
Speaker 2: Very different films and two very different but great movie stars.
Speaker 2: Jimmy Cagney versus Errol Flynn. I don't know. I think
Speaker 2: I'm more of a Cagney guy. I'm probably gonna go
Speaker 2: Angels with Dirty Faces. I don't think it's gonna win,
Speaker 2: but I haven't looked at the results so far because
Speaker 2: we have started voting. Maybe maybe Flynn takes it an
Speaker 2: go Cagny in that one. Another one, Josh, that I
Speaker 2: think would be the toughest to call. I'm gonna look
Speaker 2: and see where it is while we're talking, but I
Speaker 2: feel like it just has to be close. It's not
Speaker 2: close for me, even though I do think both films
Speaker 2: are very good and both were part of a marathon,
Speaker 2: the Ernst Lubich Marathon. We have a Lubitch play in
Speaker 2: Nanatchka versus Trouble and Paradise. Part of me just thinks
Speaker 2: that Trouble in Paradise is more highly regarded. I could
Speaker 2: be wrong about that, but I love Nanatchka, and Nanacha
Speaker 2: is getting my vote. I feel like it could be
Speaker 2: very close, though, Josh, and I want to go hit
Speaker 2: refresh on this and see where it stands. And at
Speaker 2: this moment, here you go. At this moment, Trouble in
Speaker 2: Paradise is up by one vote, So that one is
Speaker 2: that one is tight. And here's here's the last one
Speaker 2: I'll single out. I have a play in called Upward Mobility,
Speaker 2: and Sam and I put Jezebel against my Man Godfrey.
Speaker 2: I have to think that my Man Godfrey is going
Speaker 2: to run away with this. But Betty Davis in Jezebel, Oh.
Speaker 1: Good, that's my pick.
Speaker 2: I'm going I'm heretical on this one. I'm taking Jezebel
Speaker 2: versus my Man Godfrey. So that's just the play ins.
Speaker 2: If you want to participate in this tournament, Round one
Speaker 2: doesn't kick off until Monday, July twentieth, you still have
Speaker 2: time to become a Film Spotting Family member and determine
Speaker 2: the best films of the nineteen twenties and thirties. Links
Speaker 2: to the polls will come via the Film Spotting Family newsletter.
Speaker 2: You can only get that if you're a Film Spotting
Speaker 2: Family member. Learn more at Film Spotting Family dot com.
Speaker 1: Now, if people are on the fence and you know
Speaker 1: participating in madness is enough to convince them to join
Speaker 1: the family, we have a summer sale going on and
Speaker 1: we don't do this all that often, but we have
Speaker 1: found that it gives a push to people. It's just
Speaker 1: maybe enough of a reason to say, Okay, I'm getting
Speaker 1: a deal here. It's time to join the Film Spotting Family.
Speaker 1: So if you'd like to do that, the promo code
Speaker 1: is Summer easy Enough, and that is going to get
Speaker 1: you twenty percent off a Film Spotting Family membership. And again,
Speaker 1: our memberships begin at four ninety nine a month, so
Speaker 1: promo code Summer. Use that through August thirty first, and
Speaker 1: you'll get twenty percent off. We will put a link
Speaker 1: in the show notes that'll bring your right to that opportunity.
Speaker 2: All right, So before we got married, we did this thing,
Speaker 2: or we said the worst thing we've ever done. I'll
Speaker 2: tell mine if we all do it, Promise what dear?
Speaker 2: This doll, beer bottles and porn.
Speaker 1: Left an RB an eye? Yeah, what's the worst thing
Speaker 1: I've ever done?
Speaker 2: Okay, I.
Speaker 4: Are you serious?
Speaker 2: Our top two picks for best films of the year
Speaker 2: so far coming up in a moment. First, we do
Speaker 2: want to see how you weighed in on the best
Speaker 2: of the Year so Far poll. The options we gave
Speaker 2: listeners were these Josh twenty eight years Later, the Bone Temple,
Speaker 2: back Rooms Disclosure Day, the Drama Obsession Project, Hail Mary,
Speaker 2: the Sheep Detectives, or you could go other. We had
Speaker 2: mild drama behind the scenes here, as I suggested, there's
Speaker 2: no reason why the drama needed to be in this poll.
Speaker 2: Nobody thinks that highly of it. Nobody's going to vote
Speaker 2: for it. And well, Sam was very mildly because he's
Speaker 2: too much of a gentleman, very mildly gloating in our
Speaker 2: slack earlier today. And you're going to tell people why.
Speaker 1: It's in third place, and among the films offered, the
Speaker 1: titles offered, it's actually in second place. So we have other.
Speaker 1: The category of other got twenty percent of the vote
Speaker 1: that put it in second place, but the drama received
Speaker 1: sixteen percent of the vote. And yeah, I think you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not always I don't get into these poll kerfuffles often, Adam,
Speaker 1: because they tend to spiral on slack. But I did
Speaker 1: kind of lean Sam's way only because I've heard, you know,
Speaker 1: my daughters and her friends still talking about the drama
Speaker 1: positively months after it's been out, and so it has
Speaker 1: resonated with an audience, resonated with you me, eh, a
Speaker 1: little bit, but you know, enough people to get it
Speaker 1: a placement on the pole pretty high here. But let's
Speaker 1: go back.
Speaker 2: Remember I gave it just stay very mild thumbs up.
Speaker 1: Mild thumbs up. Yeah, yes, okay, all right, to quote
Speaker 1: Roger and Gene mild. That's on the record. Okay, yes,
Speaker 1: it is now backrooms. You were suspicious of putting on
Speaker 1: this pole, and I think I said, yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: think we need backrooms either. It ended up on the poll,
Speaker 1: and it's ended up in last place, So your instinct
Speaker 1: was correct on that three percent of the vote.
Speaker 2: Take that, Sam, second.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Second to last place in the poll is the
Speaker 1: Sheep Detectives with yeah, five percent of the vote. I mean,
Speaker 1: I thought this changed people's lives. Come on, what's happening here?
Speaker 1: This seems disrespectful. Hearts, this is disrespectful to me. Disclosure
Speaker 1: day only seven percent of the vote. Okay, I'll move on.
Speaker 1: Twenty eight years later, the Bone Temple received eleven percent
Speaker 1: of the vote, Adam. One of the picks you've made
Speaker 1: already on your top five of the Year so far list,
Speaker 1: Obsession got thirteen percent of the vote. That leaves the
Speaker 1: winner after all of that, with twenty six percent of
Speaker 1: the vote. Has not come up on either of our lists.
Speaker 1: We'll see if it will. But for our listeners, the
Speaker 1: best film in the year so far is Project Hail Mary.
Speaker 2: Yeah. One of the listeners who picked it was Craig Schaeffer.
Speaker 2: As much as I'd like to support something in d
Speaker 2: slash low budget, and I really thought our listeners might
Speaker 2: end up more there, Josh. He says, I'll have to
Speaker 2: go with Project Hail Mary, Lord and Miller never fail
Speaker 2: to amaze me, and no other film has created a
Speaker 2: sense of wonder on me like this one has.
Speaker 1: Here's Bryce Maloney, the gauntlet has been thrown down, and
Speaker 1: Obsession and back Rooms maybe the modern day equivalents of
Speaker 1: Bonnie and Clyde and the Graduate Wow sea change a
Speaker 1: sea change in film history. Here for Bryce, he says,
Speaker 1: Obsession is my pick. It's esthetics and visual storytelling scream today,
Speaker 1: whereas mostly everything else on that list suddenly feels yesterday.
Speaker 1: It's a shot across the bow for Hollywood, and they'd
Speaker 1: best learned the proper lesson from what viewers have told them.
Speaker 1: With their record breaking attendance that certainly has sent waves
Speaker 1: through Hollywood. Bryce, and Yeah, Sam dropped a note here
Speaker 1: that both of these films Obsession and back Rooms right
Speaker 1: now you can see via premium vod.
Speaker 2: Damian Cannon writes nothing else has come close to the
Speaker 2: Bone Temple in terms of raw impact. The masterful and
Speaker 2: unhinged performance by Fines That's Raethe is simply one of
Speaker 2: the best I've seen in a long time.
Speaker 1: That title may may come up in a bit here.
Speaker 1: We heard from Nick Potter as well. I thought I
Speaker 1: might struggle with this poll until I realized that Nirvana,
Speaker 1: the Band, the Show, the movie was simply not listed.
Speaker 1: Not sure I can think of a twenty twenty six
Speaker 1: film that has bigger ambitions while also nailing everything it
Speaker 1: sets out to do. Matt Johnson and Jay McCarroll deliver
Speaker 1: ebsurdist laughs and genuine pathos in a movie that truly
Speaker 1: feels like a magic trick and deserves all the attention
Speaker 1: it can get.
Speaker 2: Okay, Devin jolly Jack boot Womb says, I don't have
Speaker 2: a runaway favorite at this point, so instead I voted
Speaker 2: other just to throw send help into the mix. I
Speaker 2: don't think it's necessarily better than my other favorites, but
Speaker 2: since it didn't make Sam's cut, I guess it needs
Speaker 2: a boost. Rachel McAdams is predictably delightful, and I had
Speaker 2: a real blast with Ramy doing Ramie stuff. Even wields
Speaker 2: kind of bad CGI like he once did kind of
Speaker 2: bad stop motion, and it totally worked for me. One
Speaker 2: of the most fun trips to the multiplex. I've had
Speaker 2: this year, sent out one I need to catch up with.
Speaker 2: Still that's on Hulu, and it's available vod.
Speaker 1: Here's Bob McHugh my favorite so far as the invite.
Speaker 1: If you told me this twenty minutes into the movie,
Speaker 1: I would have been shocked because I was on the
Speaker 1: verge of walking out. Wow, don't we have enough movies
Speaker 1: about miserable caricatures fighting. That's when the invite reveals. It's
Speaker 1: neat trick. They don't get any less miserable, but they
Speaker 1: do cease to become characters. By the end, I had
Speaker 1: achieved full empathy for them, So I have to give
Speaker 1: it credit for being the first film to alter my
Speaker 1: behavior since Final Destination two made me avoid driving behind
Speaker 1: lumber trucks.
Speaker 2: Okay, altering behavior Josh, th Wow, that doesn't happen often
Speaker 2: with movies.
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 2: I was already so interested in the invite, and now
Speaker 2: we have that from Bob. Okay. These last three are
Speaker 2: titles that have not come up that were definitely other picks,
Speaker 2: and two of them I haven't heard of, so I
Speaker 2: think it behooves us to mention them here in this
Speaker 2: poll feedback. This first one I have heard of. Eric
Speaker 2: Quigley says, dropping in to give some love to Hokum.
Speaker 2: There's nothing groundbreaking in Hokum, but it's highly confident filmmaking
Speaker 2: in every regard, and is by far the most fun
Speaker 2: I had in the theater in a very long time,
Speaker 2: not just this year. It was legitimately spooky, but also
Speaker 2: fun and funny. It looked great, had great performances and
Speaker 2: some legitimate pathos. I think it needs more love out there.
Speaker 2: You can potentially give it some love if you catch
Speaker 2: up with it VOD.
Speaker 1: I do want to see Hocum, so thanks for reminding
Speaker 1: me of Eric. I've never heard Adam either of these
Speaker 1: next two, including Blue Film, which is the vote that
Speaker 1: Steven went with here in the other category, I doubt
Speaker 1: I will have much company. But the movie that has
Speaker 1: stuck with me the most this year is the criminally
Speaker 1: underseen Blue Film. It is decidedly not for everyone. In fact,
Speaker 1: part of the reason I'm making this comment is because
Speaker 1: I can't recommend it to anyone I know without spoiling anything.
Speaker 1: Take a Stagy two hander like The Sunset Limited and
Speaker 1: cross it with Todd Solens's happiness. The result is an
Speaker 1: unflinching examination of perversion, power dynamics, and the limits of
Speaker 1: redemption PS. I also think it checks a lot of
Speaker 1: golden brick boxes. Okay, if we need to do that homework,
Speaker 1: we can find blue film on VOD.
Speaker 2: Here we go the last one from Steve Mesa. I
Speaker 2: want to give praise to a documentary I'm always looking
Speaker 2: for docs called The Python Hunt. Every year, the state
Speaker 2: of Florida holds a python removal contest. The film follows
Speaker 2: a group of eccentric hunters over the course of ten nights.
Speaker 2: Just like his previous film, Are We Not Cats? Director
Speaker 2: Xander Robbin's movie is about strangers who share an obsession,
Speaker 2: in this case, hunting Snakes. Sounds miserable, not the film
Speaker 2: Hunting Snakes. The score is tremendous and the cinematography encapsulates
Speaker 2: the Everglades beautifully. With his feature lengthd films, Robin has
Speaker 2: proven to be a fascinating filmmaker with a unique vision
Speaker 2: and a bright future. Python Hunt also VOD.
Speaker 1: Josh, I think I might have to see this. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I'm in.
Speaker 2: So let's get back into it now. We darted around
Speaker 2: just a little bit. We've heard your five, four and
Speaker 2: your number two because we shared a pick. So briefly
Speaker 2: recap what were those picks?
Speaker 1: Yeah, number five I love Boosters from Boots Riley, number
Speaker 1: four Olivia Wilds the Invite, and up at number two
Speaker 1: Blue Heron, one of our Golden Brick nominees at this
Speaker 1: point from filmmaker Sophie Rumfari.
Speaker 2: I had Obsession. At number five, we shared Sophie Rumbari's
Speaker 2: Blue Heron. That was my number four, and at number
Speaker 2: three I had Toy Story five. So your number three
Speaker 2: film of the year so far is.
Speaker 1: It is twenty eight years later the Bone Temple. I
Speaker 1: couldn't let you have the horror pick a horror pick
Speaker 1: on these lists, and I did not have one. Although
Speaker 1: this is what kind of horror this is? I feel
Speaker 1: like the series, this twenty eight series has made a
Speaker 1: shift with the Bone Temple from zombie horror. I know
Speaker 1: that's controversial, but at zombie horror to me to religious horror,
Speaker 1: which was absolutely fascinating. This is another review, Adam, that
Speaker 1: I missed while traveling. I think I think it was
Speaker 1: in Spain at this time, and you and Roxanna Hadadi
Speaker 1: had a great discussion about this one. I mean talk
Speaker 1: about catnet for someone. The reason I was overseas was
Speaker 1: to be part of a theology and the arts master's program.
Speaker 1: And here you have the bone temple hopping in my lap,
Speaker 1: which is essentially a showdown. It builds to the showdown
Speaker 1: between an atheist Ray Finds, doctor Ian Kelson, and a Satanist.
Speaker 1: This would be Jack O'Connell's Sir Jimmy Crystal.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you've got.
Speaker 1: Kelson here, who's basically this hermit physician. He's presiding over
Speaker 1: this ossuary. He's constructed from all these bodies left in
Speaker 1: the wake of a savage rage virus. Kelson believes essentially
Speaker 1: in reason and science. Those are the foundations of all things,
Speaker 1: and so he treasures life, what is realistic about the
Speaker 1: inevitability and finality of death. Then you get Sir Jimmy,
Speaker 1: who we learned from a prologue to twenty eight years later,
Speaker 1: has suffered from religious trauma in his youth. Now everything's
Speaker 1: gone to hell, so why not recast yourself as the
Speaker 1: prince of the place, which is what he's done this movie, Adam,
Speaker 1: it collides in a Bonker's climax I could never have
Speaker 1: seen coming. Nia DaCosta takes over as director here, and
Speaker 1: she directs it this sequence with a psychedelic fervor at
Speaker 1: the same time gives this disciplined understanding of the compositions,
Speaker 1: so that we don't know what's happening or what's going on,
Speaker 1: but the imagery and the framing of it is so
Speaker 1: clear and arresting. This is a set piece that combines
Speaker 1: iron Maidens, the number of the Beast with Christ's final
Speaker 1: words on the cross. I mean, it's wild stuff going
Speaker 1: on here. I was fascinated by all of it and
Speaker 1: loved plumbing the meaning of it and appreciated the esthetic
Speaker 1: elements that DaCosta brought. So yeah, I liked the previous film.
Speaker 1: Twenty years later, I think The Bone Temple is doing
Speaker 1: far more compelling things in a more focused way. And
Speaker 1: if somehow you haven't seen it yet, it's streaming on
Speaker 1: Netflix right now. You can rent it via other services
Speaker 1: as well, but if you have Netflix, it's right there
Speaker 1: for you. Remind me, Adam, I know we've talked about
Speaker 1: this here and there, but where you were on this one,
Speaker 1: because you were higher on twenty eight years later, I.
Speaker 2: Was, yeah, yeah, we're just the reverse. I actually do
Speaker 2: have this in my honorable mentions like it might be
Speaker 2: my number ten of the year, even though I did
Speaker 2: spend It's one of those movies, though, and it speaks
Speaker 2: to how I feel about this series and this reinvention
Speaker 2: or revival of the series, and the promise I have
Speaker 2: for it after the previous entry that I spent most
Speaker 2: of the review lamenting the things I wish it had
Speaker 2: done better, But that's again because there's so much potential
Speaker 2: here and also because there's so many things that I
Speaker 2: do like about the film, So I have it in
Speaker 2: my honorable mentions. Okay, but I was more moved and
Speaker 2: more provoked by the last film, and we just had
Speaker 2: the opposite experience. It's really interesting. Even though even though
Speaker 2: I understand why you were prodded the way you were
Speaker 2: by this film, I certainly get it. I felt narratively
Speaker 2: this one is a little bit clunkier than the last film,
Speaker 2: and I think that's where it It got me off
Speaker 2: the path a little bit compared to the previous movie.
Speaker 2: My number two film of the year, Josh, is a
Speaker 2: movie we haven't discussed on the show. It's a film
Speaker 2: that was part of my homework for this list. It's
Speaker 2: one I was able to see because it's available on
Speaker 2: demand and it's the latest film from Christian Petsold. It's
Speaker 2: called Mirrors. Oh yeah, that's number three, and I'll give
Speaker 2: you the very brief synopsis here the official description. After
Speaker 2: a car crash kills her boyfriend, piano student, Laura is
Speaker 2: taken in by Betty, who witnessed the accident. Living with
Speaker 2: Betty's family brings comfort, but Laura starts questioning their intentions
Speaker 2: as time passes. That's accurate, like plot synopsis usually are. Technically,
Speaker 2: it's accurate, and it would be hard to be the
Speaker 2: marketing person to come up with a two sentence characterization
Speaker 2: summary of this film. But that last line really doesn't
Speaker 2: do the movie justice or speak to the mysteries of
Speaker 2: this film, and it makes the movie to me sound
Speaker 2: she starts questioning their intentions as time passes, makes it
Speaker 2: sound more ominous than the movie really is. And this
Speaker 2: film has quite a lot of lightness and optimism to
Speaker 2: it in my mind. The word is French for mirrors,
Speaker 2: and you understand why that's in the title when you
Speaker 2: watch this film. Apparently pets Old I have heard this
Speaker 2: before as someone who is pretty obsessed with the movie Vertigo,
Speaker 2: which is itself a movie about obsession. You see shades
Speaker 2: of that here, Josh, because you can say without giving
Speaker 2: away anything, that it is about one character effectively wanting
Speaker 2: another character in the movie to take someone else's place,
Speaker 2: wanting to be like someone else. But this isn't a
Speaker 2: movie about doppelgangers. It's not a movie about obsession. And
Speaker 2: although like Vertigo, I would say it is a movie
Speaker 2: about processing grief. Again, it's just not a movie that's
Speaker 2: as dark even as Vertigo is. It's also not as
Speaker 2: colorful as Vertigo is. But there is just nothing sinister
Speaker 2: here as you watch all of these characters struggle to
Speaker 2: connect with each other. And that's really more what this
Speaker 2: movie is about. And it also has at its core
Speaker 2: a question that I talked about in relation to the
Speaker 2: movie Obsession, and seems to be one I like to
Speaker 2: talk about. I'm obsessed with talking about in relation to
Speaker 2: films that offer this or present it, and that is,
Speaker 2: can a simulacrum, Can a version of something or someone
Speaker 2: offer you effectively the real thing? Offer you whatever it
Speaker 2: is you need, whatever it is you feel like you lost.
Speaker 2: Can they give that back to you, even if even
Speaker 2: if you know in your mind it's not real? Is
Speaker 2: it close enough that? That's one of the questions that
Speaker 2: this movie poses. And it's a really intimate movie but
Speaker 2: leaves you pondering big questions like that. Paula Behar, who's
Speaker 2: one of the regulars that Pets Old features, is very
Speaker 2: good in the film. Also Barbara Auer, who's someone who's
Speaker 2: been in previous Pets Old movies, very good cast in
Speaker 2: this movie. So highly recommend Miroua Number three, which is
Speaker 2: available on demand.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've liked I think I've seen three or four
Speaker 1: titles from him and have liked all of them. So
Speaker 1: if you're this high on it, I'll have to put
Speaker 1: on my list to catch up with, catch up with
Speaker 1: before the year is out. Let's see. So that brings me,
Speaker 1: I believe, to my number one, Yes, which I just
Speaker 1: saw for the second time today. We're actually recording a
Speaker 1: couple hours later than we have been lately, and so
Speaker 1: I thought, you know what, I'm going to go see
Speaker 1: it again. Is this really my number one? And yes,
Speaker 1: Disclosure Day is my number one? And I think the
Speaker 1: second watch was helpful because the one thing I want
Speaker 1: to reiterate about this is as it came time to
Speaker 1: you know, Debbie and my younger daughter hadn't seen it
Speaker 1: yet and they were available, so I was like, let's
Speaker 1: go see this. And as it came closer to heading out,
Speaker 1: I was getting more and more excited to see it again.
Speaker 1: And I think that's been lost in all the debating
Speaker 1: and the nitpicking, which you know, that's what movies are for.
Speaker 1: It's fine over this that I've seen since it came out.
Speaker 1: It's just how damn exciting this is as a movie experience.
Speaker 1: I mean, Spielberg is he's you know, yeah, we're not
Speaker 1: getting Jaws. We're not getting you know, seventies or eighties Spielberg,
Speaker 1: but we're getting pretty down close here. From the opening
Speaker 1: face stomp at the wrestling match a touch the first
Speaker 1: time where I was like, wait, did I walk in
Speaker 1: the wrong theater? This is so anti Spielberg, and I
Speaker 1: take it now as his assessment of contemporary human relations,
Speaker 1: so it makes sense. But you have the train sequence,
Speaker 1: the invisibility sequence, gag, which works. This is just great,
Speaker 1: grand entertainment from a grand entertainer.
Speaker 3: People have starved for the truth. I'm a part of
Speaker 3: it now. I'm just sorry they made you a part
Speaker 3: of it too.
Speaker 4: Hello Jane, please.
Speaker 6: Have to see.
Speaker 1: Interesting. Also, since this movie came out, I've heard numerous
Speaker 1: people and these are, you know, folks I've talked to
Speaker 1: friends and colleagues, but also on podcasts and stuff, say,
Speaker 1: you know, in the moment I felt, I really felt
Speaker 1: the ending and I was there and then you know,
Speaker 1: but afterwards I didn't understand why I felt that way
Speaker 1: and what it what it exactly meant. And I think
Speaker 1: that's I think that's legitimate. That's fine. Is very interesting
Speaker 1: because the other reason I saw this second time is
Speaker 1: as you know that the dissertation I'm working on for
Speaker 1: my master's program is half Spielberg, half Scarcese. And one
Speaker 1: of the things I've been exploring and using, which our
Speaker 1: listeners are so smart they're probably familiar with this, but
Speaker 1: is the idea of effect theory or affect theory, which
Speaker 1: is the way art affects us in ways that bypass
Speaker 1: our rational intellect but can still be felt deeply, if
Speaker 1: unidentified viiably. So it's meaningful in a way that is
Speaker 1: not intellectually processible. Let me say, it's not the same
Speaker 1: as emotional. It's different than just being because that can
Speaker 1: be manipulative, right, manipulating our emotions, and this is the
Speaker 1: register that a lot of Spielberg's work operates in. I
Speaker 1: think it's why he focuses so much on faces when
Speaker 1: there is something amazing happening in his movies. It's interesting
Speaker 1: how the human characters are the focus because the movie
Speaker 1: is interested in how they're being affected as much as
Speaker 1: the movie is interested on the spectacle that is affecting them.
Speaker 1: And I think this speaks back to how people are
Speaker 1: describing the experience with this movie, right is like, but
Speaker 1: I want to know why I felt that way, Like what,
Speaker 1: They're a little suspicious, like what wait a minute, but
Speaker 1: what does it mean? And again I think that's fair.
Speaker 1: I think we should ask those questions. But it speaks
Speaker 1: to the power that Spielberg still have has in this way.
Speaker 1: I'll also say real quickly here, I kind of in
Speaker 1: the moment in our review of Disclosure Day wondered if
Speaker 1: it was his Irishman Right Again, Scorsese on my mind
Speaker 1: as a movie reflecting back on other genre movies or
Speaker 1: movies in that theme that they've tackled before, And I
Speaker 1: think it is a capstone on a career obsession in
Speaker 1: similar way, you know, Irishman, Gangsters, this aliens. Interestingly, both
Speaker 1: verge on the didactic think. At the end of The Irishman,
Speaker 1: there's that literal conversation with the priest with Frank, the
Speaker 1: DeNiro character, about confession and redemption. I mean, laying it
Speaker 1: all out for you in a way that Raging Bull
Speaker 1: left you to figure out, right, And we have here
Speaker 1: Emily Blunt speaking directly to the camera about empathy. Also
Speaker 1: this viewing today. Both have open ended finales. So my
Speaker 1: favorite touch in The Irishman is that open door to
Speaker 1: Frank's room. He asked the priest to leave the door
Speaker 1: open visually there and open ending, and then here Blunts
Speaker 1: unfinished speech. We get one word from her and the
Speaker 1: movie ends, and it's like my younger daughter was like, wait,
Speaker 1: they are they planning a sequel for this? And it's like, no,
Speaker 1: this is where these filmmakers are in their career. They're
Speaker 1: they're at once didactic and also leaving it in the
Speaker 1: audience's hands. So I think Irishman, you know, is a
Speaker 1: defining late career statement for Scorsese. I think Disclosure Day
Speaker 1: is the same. I don't I understand those people have
Speaker 1: qualms about it and quibbles about it. I don't know
Speaker 1: if it'll be this high at the end of the
Speaker 1: year for me, but right now it's at number one.
Speaker 2: Okay, I like to see it that high on your list.
Speaker 2: And I'll say this about my reaction to the film,
Speaker 2: and you can go back and listen to our entire
Speaker 2: review where I express this, I didn't rethink it later.
Speaker 2: I'm going to use a phrase that you used with
Speaker 2: your number five pick. I found it at the end
Speaker 2: unconvincingly optimistic. In the moment. I was moved in different
Speaker 2: ways at different points in the film, but not at
Speaker 2: the ending. I was taken out of the movie at
Speaker 2: the ending, and that actually undid a lot of the
Speaker 2: goodwill for me with that film. But I ultimately, as
Speaker 2: I said, I ultimately had to recognize the thrilling experience
Speaker 2: most of that film was for me in the theater.
Speaker 2: That's why I when I had to come down on
Speaker 2: Rotten Tomatoes, whether I was giving it the tomato or
Speaker 2: whatever that other symbol is, I said, yeah, I'm positive
Speaker 2: on this movie because quibbles aside that that was the
Speaker 2: experience I had for the most part in the theater
Speaker 2: with Disclosure Day, so it earned it. It's a divisive film.
Speaker 2: It has been, and that's great that Spielberg makes my
Speaker 2: divisive film. This movie for me at number one. I
Speaker 2: don't think it's I don't think it's very divisive. I
Speaker 2: don't know what the I don't know what the Rotten
Speaker 2: Tomatoes score is. I imagine it's pretty high. Part of that, though,
Speaker 2: is not many people are seeing it, Josh. The people
Speaker 2: who are seeing it are the audience for this movie.
Speaker 2: And there there was a part of me that thought
Speaker 2: maybe I gave this a brief review on the show,
Speaker 2: like one of those two minute things. But I can't
Speaker 2: remember doing that, or I can't say definitively I did.
Speaker 2: I have no record of it. I didn't check the
Speaker 2: film spot and guide to the archives on Letterbox to
Speaker 2: confirm it. But this may be the first real mention
Speaker 2: of it on the show. And it is my number
Speaker 2: one film of the year so far. Nirvana, the band,
Speaker 2: the show, the movie.
Speaker 1: I was wondering about this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, it's so so good. Directed by Matthew Johnson
Speaker 2: who who directed the BlackBerry movie, and he co stars
Speaker 2: along with Jay McCarroll, and they play themselves or versions
Speaker 2: of themselves, Matt and Jay who they are trying so bad.
Speaker 2: They're trying so hard as musicians who are in this band, Nirvana,
Speaker 2: the band, they're trying so hard to book a gig
Speaker 2: at the Rivoli, this club, that they end up traveling
Speaker 2: back to two thousand and eight, I said on Letterbox,
Speaker 2: my little one sentence, two sentence review was I don't
Speaker 2: know how they pulled this off. And I say, and
Speaker 2: by this, I mean such an absurdly gorilla pastiche with
Speaker 2: legitimate emotional stakes and the setup there is that when
Speaker 2: I say how they pulled this off, as anybody who's
Speaker 2: seen the movie knows that that's just part of the
Speaker 2: wonder of this film is that so much of it
Speaker 2: was shot with these stolen sequences, multiple ones at the
Speaker 2: sea in Tower in Toronto that you simply can't and others,
Speaker 2: but at sea and Tower where you simply can't. Have
Speaker 2: you seen it, Josh, did you catch up?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's okay.
Speaker 1: I can't. I still can't, And I have gone on
Speaker 1: deep dives trying to figure out what's fakery and what you.
Speaker 2: Simply can't can't. You can't accept that they're authentic, but
Speaker 2: you also can't believe watching it that they're not authentic.
Speaker 2: No matter how hard, no matter how hard you investigate
Speaker 2: the frame and the activity within it, it it is
Speaker 2: such a mind bender watching it. It's such a conundrum.
Speaker 2: Everything just feels so real and I truly have no
Speaker 2: idea and I'm just going to accept whatever the screen
Speaker 2: gives me. And it's it's a back to the future parody,
Speaker 2: and there's I seem to recall shades of pulp fiction
Speaker 2: in it, and I don't remember how many other movies
Speaker 2: that it references, and sometimes that can just bog down
Speaker 2: a movie. And often you can you can respect, especially
Speaker 2: as a movie. You can respect some of those jokes
Speaker 2: or laugh at a few of them. No, it doesn't
Speaker 2: here bog down or slow down anything. Somehow, every one
Speaker 2: of those references works. And the part about stakes is
Speaker 2: when it comes to these characters actually having to make
Speaker 2: emotional choices. I was totally invested, and rather than taking
Speaker 2: the cliche route you think you're going to get the
Speaker 2: obvious turn of events, it still surprises you in the
Speaker 2: moments where it needs to surprise you. It did for
Speaker 2: me anyway. It's just such an inventive, funny movie. And
Speaker 2: when I say funny, there are at least three there's
Speaker 2: three I can think of for sure off the top
Speaker 2: of my head that are three legitimate contenders for funniest
Speaker 2: moment of the year. That's why it's number one.
Speaker 1: Time machine plan.
Speaker 2: This is going to be the last plan you and
Speaker 2: I ever have to do.
Speaker 1: And as far as I'm concerned, they're fond of the
Speaker 1: band was playing the Rivoli tonight.
Speaker 2: We have the RV deck it out like the Glorreian.
Speaker 5: So it's a full time machine.
Speaker 2: Okay, watch this, hold on to your butts.
Speaker 1: I had fun with this too. There were just too
Speaker 1: many people, like and not just fans of theirs from
Speaker 1: years back. I mean they've been, you know, working together.
Speaker 1: I think you said this like from two thousand and seven, right,
Speaker 1: So they had their fans, but also people encountering them
Speaker 1: for the first time loving this movie. So I had
Speaker 1: to check it out. Yea, and yeah me too, me
Speaker 1: too obviously, so did enjoy it? I think for me, yeah,
Speaker 1: you described it perfectly and I just couldn't wrap my
Speaker 1: mind around how they were doing some of this stuff.
Speaker 1: But also there's bits like and these are the ones
Speaker 1: that got me the most, just when they're pushing the
Speaker 1: wheelbarrow along the sidewalk in Toronto with this giant extension
Speaker 1: cord in it that's unraveling because they're trying to plug
Speaker 1: in from the top of the sea and tower to
Speaker 1: just like a street lamp and just everyone looking at
Speaker 1: them as they're going by, just real people, right. So
Speaker 1: it's stuff like that is hilarious. I think I was
Speaker 1: predisposed to not appreciate this, probably as much as I should,
Speaker 1: because I came in thinking it was Flight of the
Speaker 1: Concord style comedy and I am I think it was
Speaker 1: like the band the music element. I had a misperception
Speaker 1: and I was looking for that. It's doing something somewhat
Speaker 1: similar but also very different. And the barer for me
Speaker 1: in Flight of the Concords is just so high in
Speaker 1: terms of naive musical act, you know, trying to make
Speaker 1: it big, and so that's that's not fair, but it is.
Speaker 1: It's really funny. I had a great time with it.
Speaker 1: And did you know, I don't think you mentioned this
Speaker 1: that Matt Johnson is directing. This is fascinating to me.
Speaker 1: The Anthony bourdais yes, biopic.
Speaker 2: I did see that. I did see that, and.
Speaker 1: That's another thing for me to wrap my head around.
Speaker 2: I know. I know, because I've seen that trailer at
Speaker 2: least once, and I'm very conflicted, even before I saw
Speaker 2: that Matt Johnson was directing it. I'm conflicted because there's
Speaker 2: a part of me that is drawn to biopics, even
Speaker 2: though I dislike most of them. I'm especially drawn to
Speaker 2: biopics about figures that I have some reverence for, and
Speaker 2: I do have reverence for Anthony Bourdain. But then I
Speaker 2: can't help and I know, I'm just watching a trailer.
Speaker 2: I can't help but watch a trailer where it has
Speaker 2: this character making pronouncements and doing and saying things that
Speaker 2: are clearly the material that we're used to seeing and
Speaker 2: hearing in biopics, in bad biopics that nobody in real
Speaker 2: life has ever said, sorry, what is your name? Anthony Boardy.
Speaker 2: But then you see that Matt Johnson's directing it, and
Speaker 2: you think, well, maybe maybe that's just the trailer, and
Speaker 2: I'm going to watch it and he's done something inventive
Speaker 2: with right, Yeah, and I just need to wait and
Speaker 2: be surprised.
Speaker 1: I hope you have to think that, you have to
Speaker 1: think that's that's possible.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, those are our top five movies of the year.
Speaker 2: So far, we only had one overlap Blue Heron. Do
Speaker 2: you have Josh any honorable mentions?
Speaker 1: Well, I'm going to run through, yeah, a number of
Speaker 1: titles because I said I'd be happy with this top
Speaker 1: ten list. Silent Friend, Rose of Devada, Exit eight, and
Speaker 1: The Sheep Detectives would round out my list. If you're counting,
Speaker 1: you'll notice there's a slot there for a title I'm
Speaker 1: not going to mention right now. I also want to
Speaker 1: say that I did some Golden Brick homework for this show.
Speaker 1: And this is a movie that did not make my
Speaker 1: top five. It's probably a lesser Golden Brick candidate, but
Speaker 1: I want to give it some attention because for the
Speaker 1: record to put it on our list, but also because
Speaker 1: this is all about bringing attention to new film filmmakers
Speaker 1: and films, and it is one Sam actually suggested we
Speaker 1: check out. It's is God Is And this comes from
Speaker 1: writer director Alicia Harris. She's actually adapting her play. It's
Speaker 1: about twin sisters who are commissioned by their mother to
Speaker 1: on a revenge plot.
Speaker 2: Let's just say, girls, I'm gonna make this real simple.
Speaker 2: Nick your daddy dead, real dead. This seem a little crazy.
Speaker 6: Not as crazy as setting your wife full fire, running
Speaker 6: your kids and abandon them.
Speaker 4: We ain kulous. How are we gonna live with ourselves?
Speaker 4: And we do this this destiny type she can.
Speaker 1: Harris shows real inventive vision here, which is a quality
Speaker 1: we look for in Golden Brick candidates, especially using this
Speaker 1: idea of them being twins, and they're split screen images
Speaker 1: here that are very effective. The way they'll look at
Speaker 1: each other in moments and don't say anything, but we
Speaker 1: see the dialogue on screen above their heads. It is
Speaker 1: very inventive. All of that I admired. I'm a little
Speaker 1: and I'm recommending the movie people should check it out.
Speaker 1: Is God Is. I'm a little conflicted with the glibness
Speaker 1: of the violence and the intenseness of the root domestic
Speaker 1: incident that's at the heart of all this. There's like
Speaker 1: a real seriousness to what is driving all this and
Speaker 1: a bit of glibness to the style and depiction of
Speaker 1: the violence. You know, like Tarantino came to mind, who
Speaker 1: I'm also very conflicted about on some of these questions.
Speaker 1: So that's just me. I know a lot of people.
Speaker 1: And one of the other reasons I checked this out
Speaker 1: made a priority to check this out. Is there are
Speaker 1: a lot of critics who are higher on it even
Speaker 1: than me, So I do want to nod to it
Speaker 1: for a golden brick a slot. And yeah, just note
Speaker 1: midway through the year, it's one worth catching up with.
Speaker 2: That's is God is okay. I said that The Bone
Speaker 2: Temple was an honorable mention for me, and it is.
Speaker 2: But I'm actually going to just keep it off the
Speaker 2: list because I think it would be number eleven. I've
Speaker 2: got five others that I would put ahead of it,
Speaker 2: and three of them you mentioned, Cheap Detectives, Silent Friend,
Speaker 2: Exit eight, the two you didn't mention are one of them.
Speaker 2: The movie of the year according to our listeners, and
Speaker 2: you gave it a very positive review as well. Projectail
Speaker 2: Mary's a good film.
Speaker 1: It's really good.
Speaker 2: I'm happy to put it. Why it's really good. Why
Speaker 2: you don't have to address I'm not charging you with anything.
Speaker 1: No, it's fine. I'm not worried about it. But it's
Speaker 1: it's interesting, like even when I was just conceiving this
Speaker 1: is not a reflection on the movie. It's just my
Speaker 1: experience with it. When you sit down for this list,
Speaker 1: it's like, Okay, these are on here. These are on
Speaker 1: here for sure? What's going to sneak in number five?
Speaker 1: Like it didn't It didn't come up. It like didn't surface,
Speaker 1: you know, as much as I enjoyed it, all the
Speaker 1: things I appreciate about it, that's why it's not on myns.
Speaker 2: I guess it. It came to mind right away when
Speaker 2: I started writing down titles, but that was like a
Speaker 2: short list of ten. I knew it wasn't going to
Speaker 2: be in my top five, but I knew it was
Speaker 2: going to be at least, you know, considered for the
Speaker 2: overall list. The other film that hasn't come up, but
Speaker 2: I do really like obviously, and I reviewed with another
Speaker 2: critic filling in for you, Chris Klemick is the Steven
Speaker 2: Soderberg the new sodabrig movie. The Christopher. Christopher, really good
Speaker 2: performance by McKellen. The Christopher's on my list one that
Speaker 2: almost snuck into my top five. So there you have it,
Speaker 2: our top five films of the year so far and more.
Speaker 2: You can find the complete list over at film spotting
Speaker 2: dot net. Just click on lists and you will see
Speaker 2: our entire top five archive.
Speaker 3: Crowns Day Hammond, The Phones are Working, Children Live, Call
Speaker 3: them telling us send the damn.
Speaker 2: Helicopters wanted to take a moment to note the passing
Speaker 2: of actor Sam Neil, the New Zealand actor. Fair to
Speaker 2: say Josh forever be known as Doctor Grant in Jurassic Park,
Speaker 2: at least to many of us, but his career dates
Speaker 2: back to the late seventies. His first starring role was
Speaker 2: in Is it Gillian Armstrong or Gillian Armstrong? I should
Speaker 2: know this. I'm just as well, yeah, air that I'm
Speaker 2: not sure. I'll look that up off air and get
Speaker 2: it right next time. But her debut feature nineteen seventy
Speaker 2: nine is my brilliant career with Judy Davis, but several
Speaker 2: other notable performances.
Speaker 1: Nineteen eighty one he made the cult horror film Possession
Speaker 1: with Isabella Johnny and then in the early nineties, I
Speaker 1: guess you could say this was probably his heyday. Nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety was Dead Calm that one with Nicole Kidman. Also
Speaker 1: he was in The Hunt for Red October ninety one,
Speaker 1: that was VIM Vendors until the End of the World.
Speaker 1: And then get this in nineteen ninety three to be
Speaker 1: in Yes, Jurassic Park, great right, I mean obviously set
Speaker 1: him up for life in many sequels. He was also
Speaker 1: a key figure in Jane Campion's The Piano nineteen ninety four.
Speaker 1: He was in John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness.
Speaker 1: Active for the rest of his life, including you know, titles,
Speaker 1: smaller titles, but ones that had big followings like Taika
Speaker 1: Wytt's Hunt for the Wilder People. So yeah, Sam Neil
Speaker 1: just one of those. Even when he was playing not
Speaker 1: good guys, still a comforting presence. Somehow on screen he
Speaker 1: managed to manage to thread that needle. All right, let's
Speaker 1: move on to Massacre theater. This is where Adam and
Speaker 1: I attempt to perform a scene and you get a
Speaker 1: chance to win a film spotting prize. Last week we
Speaker 1: massacred this scene.
Speaker 6: One dollar buys five rings. If one of the rings
Speaker 6: lands on one of the red bottles, they win a
Speaker 6: giant ass pen.
Speaker 3: That is a giant as pen.
Speaker 6: That's the best prize of the park. And that's because
Speaker 6: this game is on one of them. Observed, I'll drop
Speaker 6: a ring from three inches.
Speaker 1: Away, so nobody ever wins.
Speaker 6: If someone wins a giant ass pended on your watch,
Speaker 6: you should just go home because you're fired.
Speaker 1: Okay, that was Martin Steyr and Jesse Eisenberg in two
Speaker 1: thousand and nine Adventureland, written and directed by Greg Mottola.
Speaker 1: That massacre was part of an episode that also included
Speaker 1: a thlirtieth anniversary review of Independence Day. So why that
Speaker 1: scene from Adventureland.
Speaker 2: Here's Joe Stidham from Gainesville, Florida. This week's mascar theater
Speaker 2: was from Greg Mattola's Adventureland, one of many good indie
Speaker 2: comedies from two thousand and nine, somewhat overshadowed by five
Speaker 2: hundred Days of Summer like Independence Day, Summer and particularly
Speaker 2: July fourth feature prominently in Adventureland, though Jesse Eisenberg's Brennan
Speaker 2: insists he only celebrates Best Steel Day, with one of
Speaker 2: the middlelac romance scenes occurring during the firework show at
Speaker 2: the park. There's also Matt Bush's Freego, who fights off
Speaker 2: imaginary viet Cong with a Roman candle, echoing the more
Speaker 2: substantial Vietnam experience of Randy Quaid's Russell. Independence Day was
Speaker 2: one of my favorite movies of my childhood. I'm a
Speaker 2: complete apologist to this day, and Adventureland is one of
Speaker 2: my favorites of two thousand and nine the year I
Speaker 2: fell in love with cinema. Thank you, Joe, and yeah,
Speaker 2: we hit a lot of great notes for Joe.
Speaker 3: There.
Speaker 1: Here's Fred Bukama in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I'm not sure what
Speaker 1: thetion to Independence Day is. I do remember a fireworks
Speaker 1: scene set to Don't Dream It's Over, but I don't
Speaker 1: recall if that's set on July fourth.
Speaker 2: Well, there you go, we got the song in there.
Speaker 2: Fred remembered Don't Dream It's Over. Sean Downey says he's
Speaker 2: from Woodbridge, Virginia. I knew this one right away, having
Speaker 2: spent multiple seasons working in the games department at an
Speaker 2: amusement park Cedar Point. Now, Josh, I have mentioned on
Speaker 2: the show before, but you weren't here on the show
Speaker 2: when we reviewed Adventureland. I worked games at Adventureland in Iowa.
Speaker 2: So talk about another movie I had a personal connection to.
Speaker 2: He says, Adventureland has always resonated with me. While my
Speaker 2: experience was in the late nineteen nineties, years later than
Speaker 2: the film's nineteen eighty seven setting, so was mine, Shohn.
Speaker 2: It captures so much of what it's like to work
Speaker 2: at an amusement park during the summer. The quirky coworkers,
Speaker 2: the repetitive jobs, the friendships. Okay, mine was a little
Speaker 2: earlier in the nineties. But as for a connection, the
Speaker 2: closest one I could come up with is Adventureland and
Speaker 2: Wet Hot American Summer. Both are coming of age stories
Speaker 2: set during a summer in the nineteen eighties. Each film
Speaker 2: uses a temporary summer workplace as the backdrop. Underneath, they're
Speaker 2: both about how one memorable summer can shape who you become.
Speaker 2: Now we, or I should say, producer Sam was not
Speaker 2: thinking about film spotting Fest and Wet Hot American Summer.
Speaker 2: He was just thinking about that fireworks scene and the
Speaker 2: July fourth backdrop. But it's a great connection.
Speaker 1: Great connection. So was this before your job at the
Speaker 1: theater where you told everyone to put their feet down?
Speaker 2: It was after, but that summer it was one of
Speaker 2: my summers back from college. And look, I wasn't making
Speaker 2: that much money. I worked both jobs. I work at
Speaker 2: Adventureland during the day and at night. At night I'd
Speaker 2: come back and work at the theater.
Speaker 1: Double shit.
Speaker 2: I worked hard for my money.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I believe you did. Wow things we learn all right?
Speaker 1: One more comment here. This comes from Lisa and Chris
Speaker 1: of Ay or Massachusetts, which must be I don't know
Speaker 1: where I was, must be close to the Ikea outside
Speaker 1: of Boston because and Chris Well, helping my daughter move
Speaker 1: out there into a new apartment, had to pick up
Speaker 1: some front some stuff from Ikea, as any good American does.
Speaker 1: And who was there? Who's there at the escalators Lisa
Speaker 1: and Chris. I think they might still be there because
Speaker 1: I barely got out alive. Their comment here is really
Speaker 1: enjoyed this film when it came out, and I do
Speaker 1: recommend it. Adam's performance as Martin Starr is note perfect. Wow,
Speaker 1: note perfect. He perfectly captures the monotone dead in the
Speaker 1: eyes delivery, while Josh was fairly competent Jesse Eisenberg.
Speaker 2: Wow, barely competence a lot. Yeah, take that to Chris,
Speaker 2: fairly confident. Okay, that was I want to say, for
Speaker 2: the record, and this is true, true everybody. I didn't
Speaker 2: just cherry pick the one email that praised me. It
Speaker 2: was the only one we got that mentioned performances, and
Speaker 2: I thought it was funny. But I also love I
Speaker 2: love that I was note perfect. I'll take it. Lisa
Speaker 2: and Chris, I thank you.
Speaker 1: I think everyone believes you picked it randomly. It's been
Speaker 1: a long time. Once we've heard praise.
Speaker 2: For your exactly. Okay, Josh, reach into the film Spotting
Speaker 2: hat and pick out this week's winner.
Speaker 1: Our winner is Dan Ericsson from Shoreline, Washington.
Speaker 2: Congratulations Dan, email feedback at film spotting dot net to
Speaker 2: claim your very own film Spotting t shirt, film Spotting
Speaker 2: tote bag, film Spotting Trial membership to the family, or
Speaker 2: your very own giant ass panda.
Speaker 3: With symbol.
Speaker 1: Would would simple? Would the was the same?
Speaker 4: Why do you say that? Why do you say?
Speaker 6: Will?
Speaker 2: You said?
Speaker 6: Say it like I said.
Speaker 2: We move on now to this week's edition of Massacre
Speaker 2: Theater one that either will involve genuinely a lot of
Speaker 2: acting or we need to pull Dustin Hoffman's and get
Speaker 2: ourselves fully into character and do some calisthenics a lot
Speaker 2: of jumping jacks or something before this performance.
Speaker 1: So so I hyperdentilate. We're in a high rise. Now,
Speaker 1: we're in a high rise.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I ran down twenty eight floors. Good, got my packages? Okay,
Speaker 1: John ran off.
Speaker 2: I started off. You give me the askom action faked
Speaker 2: all the data. Yes, there's no service.
Speaker 5: No. I tried to do my duty but I knew
Speaker 5: the day that I arrived here, then this place had nothing.
Speaker 4: And I resisted.
Speaker 1: That's temptation for years. But I knew if I just presaid,
Speaker 1: but somebody would come and save me.
Speaker 5: U fing flowered, yes, sir, yes, yes, yes, And scene scene.
Speaker 1: And we faked you out. I didn't run downstairs, that
Speaker 1: was all.
Speaker 2: No, that's called acting. Acting. If you know what film
Speaker 2: we just massacred, email the movies title, your name and
Speaker 2: location to feedback of filmspotting dot net deadline Monday, July
Speaker 2: twenty seventh. We'll select the winner randomly from all the
Speaker 2: correct entries and announce it in a couple of weeks. Josh,
Speaker 2: that's our show.
Speaker 1: You can find Adam and the show on Instagram, Facebook, letterbox, YouTube,
Speaker 1: blue Sky, at film Spotting. You'll find me at Larson
Speaker 1: on film. We are independently produced and listeners supported. You
Speaker 1: can support the show by joining the film Spotting Family
Speaker 1: at film spottingfamily dot com. You can listen early in
Speaker 1: ad free. You'll get monthly bonus episodes, a weekly newsletter,
Speaker 1: and access to the entire show archive. For show t
Speaker 1: shirts and other merch go to film spotting dot net slash.
Speaker 2: Shop out wide this weekend a little movie you may
Speaker 2: have heard of called The Odyssey. Next week here on
Speaker 2: Film Spotting Packed Feed episode two of the movie Racket
Speaker 2: with Michael Phillips, following up a triumphant debut episode with
Speaker 2: Michael Shannon. Guest will be Amy Nicholson. Always fun to
Speaker 2: hear her. Tuesday Film Spotting SVU talking about Groundhog Day
Speaker 2: effect movies. Then Thursday, the next Picture Show great pairing
Speaker 2: The Odyssey and the Cone Brothers, Oh Brother where Art
Speaker 2: thou and Friday will be our review of Christopher Nolan's
Speaker 2: The Odyssey. Josh has seen it. He said he wasn't
Speaker 2: going to betray his reaction, but he couldn't help himself.
Speaker 2: You heard it. You heard it there at the end
Speaker 2: of the time five.
Speaker 1: Just let this.
Speaker 2: I know he's positive, but that's not a shock. We'll
Speaker 2: see how I feel about the latest from Nolan that
Speaker 2: is coming to your Film Spotting Feed next Friday. Here
Speaker 2: on the show.
Speaker 1: Film Spotting is produced by Golden Joe to So and
Speaker 1: Sam van Hoggren. Without Sam and Golden Joe, this show
Speaker 1: wouldn't go. Our production assistant is Sophie Kempinar. Special thanks
Speaker 1: to everyone at Wbeazy Chicago. More information is available at
Speaker 1: wbeazy dot org for film spotting, I'm Josh.
Speaker 2: Larson and I'm Adam Kempinar. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 3: This conversation can serve no purpose anymore, but fine,