Excuse the Intermission
Alex and Max take you on a journey through film with this discussion podcast about movies.
Excuse the Intermission
Golden Globes Nominations, Y2K and the Personal Period Piece HOF
Max, Alex and Erica are together again in studio! They cover the 2024 Golden Globes Nominations from surprises, potential winners and snubs.
They also went to see the new A24 film from first time director Kyle Mooney, Y2K. This inspired them to create the Personal Period Piece Hall of Fame.
How's it going? I'm Alex McCauley. I'm Max Fosberg.
Speaker 2:And I'm Erica Krause.
Speaker 1:And this is Excuse the Intermission a discussion show surrounding nostalgia Ahead. On this episode, the three of us will be discussing Y2K, the new apocalyptic comedy personal period piece from first-time director kyle mooney, then building out our own personal period piece, hall of fame. We're all back in studio for this episode, which gets underway on the other side of this break. Okay, y'all, here we sit, post wicked, post gladiator. There's a little bit of a lull before we can chat further about more big and noisy and maybe prestigious seeming films, but we do, however, have our first big mainstream awards indicator to discuss here in a minute. However, first let's check in, since we are not virtual. We are all in person today.
Speaker 2:This is good vibes. How are we doing?
Speaker 1:How's December treating you guys so far?
Speaker 2:It's good I'm in the Christmas spirit this year. I'm ready.
Speaker 1:I'm just. What does that look like for you Like? Are you ringing the Salvation Army bell outside?
Speaker 2:of a grocery store.
Speaker 1:How hardcore I'm in full.
Speaker 3:Caroline, I'm in full. Mrs Claus, just attire outside of Safeway in Cape.
Speaker 2:Harbor. Stop by no, a safe way. Stop by no. Um, no one asked her to. Um no, I think I'm just like, really, on top of my christmas shopping this year, I'm listening to christmas music. Um, I just feel more at ease this year, which is I, and I think that means I'm just more organized, so it gives me more space to.
Speaker 1:That's got to be a great place to be in. I feel like I'm a little caught off guard by just the calendar structure that we have this year. Thanksgiving was so late and all of a sudden, here I am and it's like December 9th. I feel decent about where I am with my shopping and things like that. However, you know, my life revolves around the school calendar and I'm like, wow, we have two weeks left until Christmas break, and not that that necessarily means a school year is half over. However, I'm like we this is we are way past the honeymoon stage, like the. The year 2024 is over, really, and it's a wild place to be like I'm. I'm very excited to have this podcast, have the next couple of weeks of movies to look forward to, because I feel like that's just going to be really grounding in this chaotic time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I'm, uh, I am not, I'm not ahead on any sort of shopping. I'm, I'm a mess most days, uh, In December or, like Jan, through November. Just right now.
Speaker 2:You're a busy guy. You've got a lot of exciting things going on.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this week is the final week of quarter number five up at SFI, so I'm just finishing up projects at the computer, editing a lot and putting together pre-production stuff for my Capstone film, which is coming up.
Speaker 1:It's been a minute since Maxie's school quarantine Ring the bell, Having five or six however many it's been quarters under your belt, and what sort of habits have you developed? You know, I think that this was something that I was asking you a lot about when you first started school, but when it comes to editing a project now, what, what sort of habits have you fallen into? What's been working?
Speaker 3:What's the process?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Oh, wow, okay, Are we ready for a two hour pod?
Speaker 1:Lots of seltzer waters, lots of seltzer waters, lots of seltzer waters.
Speaker 3:I recently moved my workstation out of my office down to the living room because the table is bigger. Really, love a big table space. You got, you know, dual screens going. Yeah, a couple of seltzers. I have a. I have an external keyboard now so I don't use the keyboard on my um on my laptop, because my external has all the premier pro shortcuts printed on them, uh, which is making me really fast.
Speaker 3:Um, but yeah, the process I mean it's once you get your footage, uh, from whatever you have shot, whether it be stills or or video or graphics or anything it it starts with organization and like labeling. You got to go through everything, make copies of everything, label those copies, get them into folders, get everything squared away on your, on your uh external hard drive, um, because that's where the project is going to, it's going to live, it's where premier pro is going to be pulling stuff. If anything gets moved, you lose that, that content in in the premier pro program. Um, yeah, and then it's. Then it's really just.
Speaker 3:I like to get all that organized. Get all my footage in premier pro. I like to get all that organized. Get all my footage in Premiere Pro, put it onto the timeline, right, and usually in some sort of order, but I like to see everything that I have and then I go through and I start taking out stuff that I don't need and then I start like shortening stuff or elongating stuff and making different J cuts and all these different things. How long is a typical work session for you? Elongating stuff and making different J cuts and all these different things?
Speaker 1:Um, how long is a typical work session for you? Do you ever sit down and just think I can bang out 30 minutes of stuff here, or is it? Like no, I need two hours. Uh, maybe an uncapped amount of time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, no film is ever finished. Uh, it's just you, you have a deadline to turn it in at. Uh, it's just you, you have a deadline to turn it in at. Uh, like the photo, ramon, that I'm doing right now, I shot everything Wednesday night and last night at about 2 AM. I have a a first cut, I have a first version of it, um, that I sent out to some some friends and they've already given me notes back, and so I've got what? Three more days to go back in and maybe try and make some adjustments.
Speaker 3:Um, or, I just turned in that's the other thing about film school Like it does make the process a lot, like it takes it off a pedestal, right, like I just have to turn this, gotta turn something in, and, uh, you know what I shot, this is what I shot, this is what I was able to do with the edit and it makes sense. So here you go. But yeah, anything will when you're editing anything. I mean, like I said, shot on wednesday, started editing thursday, last night at 2 am, sunday.
Speaker 1:So in your mind four days. You kind of now know like, oh shoot, I'm, I'm sort of maybe behind her.
Speaker 3:Oh, I may be ahead, because I've done this much before, this amount of time I bet you and this is no slight to my cohort out there, but I bet you I'm ahead I bet you a lot of the process of like shooting then cutting in then a lot of the cohort, you know, I think most people, I don't know, I, I don't know, nevermind, I think I'm ahead, though.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean to have something that I could turn in right now. It puts about that puts. Yeah, it feels good. But but you know, that's the crazy thing about editing. You think you lose time when you watch movies, when you edit movies, six hours go by in a blink of an eye.
Speaker 1:That's kind of what I was curious about. So like if you start something at 8 o'clock at night, you are like I might be here until, like you were saying, 2 am.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, what time did we get home? What time did we get home last night?
Speaker 1:Probably eight o'clock from the movie. Yeah.
Speaker 3:And I mean from I maybe took 30 minutes to get set you know to, to get comfy, but like, yeah, 8, 32 AM I was uh, I was in front of the computer working.
Speaker 1:And then you were up early to see the golden globes. Uh, the nominations get announced.
Speaker 3:You know my yearly alarm opened up with a Niki, a Niki a Niki. Glazer monologue Loved it.
Speaker 1:So we do have this year's golden globe nominations to just lightly discuss here before we get into our our nostalgia period piece episode. A lot of things that I think we expected, a few surprises. So we're all going to kind of go around and and talk about a few of those key notes here, Um. And then in the major motion picture categories you, of course the golden globes, have it divided between drama, and then you have musical or comedy on the flip side to that. So your drama nominees are the brutalists, a complete unknown. Conclave dune, part two, nickel boys in September five. I don't think really any surprises there, Um, unless you guys want to jump in and say you know, I didn't really see. Maybe a complete unknown.
Speaker 2:I didn't really know what September five was, uh, until until this morning I feel like we kind of briefly touched on that, on that one episode we did where we were doing like our anticipated stuff. Um, I don't really know a whole lot about it either, but, um, just kind of doing my research, I was like I could see this being a uh like a contender for the award.
Speaker 1:Definitely more intrigued to see it now, having seen this nomination.
Speaker 3:I see that it's Paramount pictures. Is it coming to your beloved Paramount plus? I don't.
Speaker 1:I don't believe I've sooner or later Well absolutely.
Speaker 1:And then I can watch that after I get caught up on land man Now that lioness is over with. But but no so September five, I guess, is kind of a winner from here. I think the Brutalist Conclave, doom Part Two and Nickel Boys were all sort of locks, a complete unknown. Who you know. Your mileage may vary on biopics and we're probably going to do a biopic episode on that once we all get to see Timmy Chalamet's portrayal of Bob Dylan, of Bob Dylan. But no matter the reasons, you're going into that film. Um, it's good to see that there's now a little bit more prestige attached to it with the golden globe nomination.
Speaker 3:I'm, I, I'm, I'm starting to get a feeling after this whole Timmy moment we had this weekend in the sports world, yeah, um, it's.
Speaker 1:It's been a great like six weeks for him. I'm pretty sure that was a Timothy Chalamet lookalike contest in downtown new york and he just showed up to it, yeah he's, he seems to be campaigning and, uh, I don't know, a complete unknown.
Speaker 3:Might, uh, might, surprise people save the biopic. I, I think I was saying it last night while we were watching the trailer. I was like I, I, I think I'm going to just fucking love that movie.
Speaker 2:Yeah, me too.
Speaker 1:So then on the other side, musical or comedy this is really interesting, stacked, yeah, really good. We can talk here maybe about some category fraud, but this is why we like the Globes, because it's the wild card of award shows really. So you have Anora Challengers, amelia perez, a real pain. The substance and wicked I mean we are putting every single spice in the cabinet into this dish, like we have. We have something for everybody.
Speaker 1:Yeah, here um very happy to see challengers play in this category you know, your mileage may vary on it, as certainly not a musical and or a comedy. Um, I would say it's more of a drama, you know, but just to throw it in here, sure, that's great it's got comedy moments.
Speaker 3:I think comedy moments, but yeah, yeah, I guess you're right, it is kind of more of a drama, but but it is like it, it's bright and it's colorful, kind of like a comedy.
Speaker 1:Yes, I've certainly seen the globes nominate something in this category that feels less like a musical and or a comedy. Um, I had some people text me today already and say the substance best musical or comedy and it's like dark comedy. I my response to them was simply the substance is hilarious, Like it's tragically funny and it's depressing at times, but it is also. It is a comedy. It is a very dark comedy, so happy to see that. Who are the favorites in these categories?
Speaker 2:The substance.
Speaker 2:That's my favorite, but I'm happy to see wicked in there. Obviously, I really loved Wicked and I'm really excited to see Nickel Boys, so I am excited to see that nomination as well. I kind of we were talking about that as well on that one episode, but I'm just stoked to see the substance get some recognition. The substance get some recognition. I mean I again we had talked about that as well, like you know, crossing our fingers for you know, to see it get that traction, but I was like not holding my breath or anything, and you know, seeing it on these lists is amazing yeah, I think it's a three.
Speaker 1:I I personally think it's a three horse race in that best motion picture musical or comedy category between the substance wicked and a Nora, and unfortunately I think the substance might be below those other two that. I just mentioned. I still need to see Amelia Perez to see what the the buzz is all about with that film, because I think that is the most nominated film 10 nominations.
Speaker 1:Pretty remarkable, um, and says a lot for its potential to get a lot of nominations at the Academy awards. So certainly makes me want to see that film a little bit more. And then, max, I know you've seen a real pain, so maybe once we get to the acting categories you can speak more.
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, yeah, and, and I on. Well, yeah, yeah, and, and I I think so in drama.
Speaker 3:I think it's brutal, the brutalist, I think it's their award to lose at this moment, maybe an upset from nickel boys maybe nickel boys, maybe part two, that's kind of all I see unfortunately, I don't think doom part two, only getting two nominations, doesn't vote and no best director nomination yeah, um, really, I didn't notice that. Yeah, uh, I think doom part two might walk away empty-handed, uh, so I think that I think it honestly it's the brutalist and again, I I it's unknown right now, but a complete unknown uh has kind of a weird buzz around it. And then in the musical or comedy, I, I think it's a Nora and wicked and quite frankly I think, wickets ahead, I think I think the wicked moment is lasting longer than I thought it would. Um, and you know, who knows, maybe you know it will come globe time and you know it will be like hey, remember we're, we're about cinema, even though wicked is cinema.
Speaker 1:But I don't know nor is another one almost like the substance, where a film that has some very funny moments but that I would say is a drama at its heart, yeah I'm at its core, so so perhaps wicked is the easiest.
Speaker 1:It has the easiest campaign route ahead of it in this for this certain award show, for a certain award um, really interesting, okay. Is there anything else that stood out to you guys in the acting categories? And you know something that I think we've been paying more attention to before we get to acting? Excuse me, is the best motion picture animated feature really stacked as well this year with flow, a film that I've been seeing a lot about inside out too? Um, and the wild robot memoir of a snail also has. People have been saying that that's just like an amazing feature. Erica I think we saw trailers for that before we went and saw nora and a lot of great critics, reviews and quotes attached to that film. So interesting stuff there. We're getting more and more of the these sort of awards to cinematic and box office achievement, so that'll be funny to see. But films like alien Romulus pick up an award. They're twisters or not an award but a nomination. You know, twister, that's where they get into wicked.
Speaker 3:Maybe perhaps a new category for as of this year they started last year Cause that's where Barbie picked up an award Right. Cause last year? Because that's where barbie picked up an award. Right because because it was just like listen, the oppenheimer's gonna win, even though wasn't barbie in musical or comedy yeah, yes, I believe so yeah and it didn't. It didn't win that, though right, because it won the, the achievement, the best achievement.
Speaker 1:I think I, and you as well, may be getting, because the the academy awards now has a an award like this okay, well, maybe, so that's maybe where barbie won was at the oscars and barbie did win best musical comedy at the globes. Um, however, we have this year's stuff to focus on.
Speaker 3:So when you look at, when you look at the acting awards, anybody stand out to you uh, sebastian stan getting two nominations in both categories for A Different man, which is a very, very, again, very, very black dark comedy, and then also for the Apprentice. I think that's really cool. And then, but, daniel Craig, I'm hearing a lot. You know we're just talking performance, it sounds like.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we're just talking about the film Queer, which comes to Tacoma this this weekend at our beloved Grand, and yeah, the fact that he's he's here, he's nominated, kind of the only I think might be the only nomination for Queer. You know, I could see Daniel Craig getting up there and giving a speech.
Speaker 2:You, know I could see Daniel Craig getting up there and giving a speech. I was excited, or just surprised to see Hugh Grant with that nomination for Heretic.
Speaker 3:That's kind of wild too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I saw Heretic and I really liked it. I thought he was amazing in it, but I Again category fraud kind of. Yeah, maybe, yeah, definitely musical or comedy.
Speaker 1:I'm like 824 horror film this is a horror movie.
Speaker 3:Is he really funny in that film.
Speaker 2:I wouldn't say that he's funny, but it's like the way that I kind of perceived him in Heretic was. You know, I've seen him in a lot of like rom-com stuff or just you know know cutesy films, um, and he had a very similar, like familiar personality that he does like in a lot of his movies. But it was just kind of because of the like, the plot, what was happening it, it made it really unsettling his attitude, and he's just just so. I wouldn't say that it was funny, but it was definitely like funny to see him in this role. But I'm not in a bad way, I mean, I really enjoyed him.
Speaker 1:So he's certainly increasing the average age of the other nominees in this category because he's in there with the likes of Gabriel Labelle and Glenn Powell. You already mentioned Sebastian Stan, so he is the elder statesman of of these fellers he is.
Speaker 3:I'm also really surprised to see jesse plemmons in there I was too yeah, kinds of kindness again, kind of, I mean I guess you could say like a very black comedy, um, but also we were afraid maybe was kind of forgotten.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's good to see you pick up a nomination the performance to pick up a nomination here.
Speaker 1:I do think that performance by a female actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy, this is super stacked.
Speaker 1:This is going to be really tough between Mikey Madsen, demi Moore, cynthia Erivo if Wicked is having a big moment, and then who knows, you can never count out somebody like Amy Adams in a category like this.
Speaker 1:Having not seen the film Night Bitch, I can't speak to her work in in the in the role. Um, as I'll just, you know, keep that spoiler free for what she's going to go through in that performance. But I mean, looking at this, not really being able to put my finger on like, is this a good year, a great movie year of like an all-time great movie year? I'm seeing a lot of names that I really like, you know, performers, actors that I really really care for, so I'm happy with a lot of these. You know, getting to director is kind of the only peek into, maybe, how craft categories are going to play out at the Academy Awards, and not seeing Denis Villeneuve there is disappointing at the Academy Awards, and not seeing Denis Villeneuve there is disappointing, however, the treatment that Dune Part 1 received at the Oscars a few years ago. I am still confident that the Academy will recognize that film properly.
Speaker 3:I hope so, we'll see. I love that Caroline Fargette is in here for the Substance I do as well.
Speaker 1:That's pretty amazing she was nominated for script as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that's pretty amazing. She was nominated for script as well. Yeah, so that's, that's really exciting. And then also, uh, all we imagine is light movie I haven't seen yet, but uh, I've heard good things about uh, really cool to have that director in here as well. I, I believe it. It was best. Uh, it got a best picture. Non-english film, I believe, is how the Globes calls it.
Speaker 1:It is nice to see. I like the little eyebrow cock that you did there.
Speaker 2:I should have had video for that.
Speaker 1:It is cool to see. Everyone who pays attention to this kind of thing knows that within the last five to ten years the Academy Awards have really made a conservative effort to diversify their voters and to appeal to a more international audience. So it is cool to see the Globes take a similar route. You look at the motion picture director category. Here. The Substance it's from an international filmmaker. All we Imagine is Light is as well. Amelia Perez gets nominated here for best director. So it is.
Speaker 3:It is encouraging to see just more international cinema at the globes for sure I I don't know the the history on the globes, but I believe if whoever wins director, is that usually the sign of of who will win it can't hurt a picture, you know, I don't know right like what that does to the odds if it increases the odds substantially or not.
Speaker 1:Um, you know, the same can be said for a lot of these categories that almost do have a one-for-one comparison at the academy awards. You know, like I'm, I'm now down to best original score and I can imagine that voters are gonna go the same way. Um, in a lot of these categories it was just announced that, for whatever reason, han zimmer's score for dune part two is not going to be eligible at the academy awards this year. So I'm not sure if he repeated certain songs from part one which hurts its eligibility that's a stupid rule it is.
Speaker 1:However, I think it opens the door for the academy to perhaps continue the recognition of the great work that tren resner and atticus ross are doing I love seeing the challenger score on here, and then also for best original song from a motion picture compress and repress from the challenger soundtrack. My fingers are crossed that by some luck that song also picks up a nomination at the Academy Awards and we get Trent and Atticus on stage just basically doing like an EDM set for five minutes. I think that would be an incredible moment for the.
Speaker 1:Oscars. So yeah, I mean looking at this. I'm sure that if I read some more articles, listen to a few podcasts, more, more mistakes, more omissions would be made aware to me. However, just like looking at this on the surface, I think that, for the most part, the right films are getting recognized.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I think the biggest surprise is, uh, pamela Anderson. Uh, for the last show girl, which is a Gia Coppola movie. That's the granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola, the niece of Sophia Coppola, so that's really interesting. Uh, I have not seen that movie, uh, but I am to to hunt it down now. Uh, I, I mean pamela anderson, that the only thing I can. I mean baywatch, obviously, but like barbed wire, yeah. So, uh, that would be really, really interesting to watch I.
Speaker 1:I am looking down here at the tv section for just a quick second. We are not a tv podcast. I was bummed to see Lioness not pick up anything. However, Billy Bob Thornton for Landman is.
Speaker 3:Wait.
Speaker 1:Zoe didn't get no Zoe, no Nicole in supporting, which is just it's too bad. Taylor Sheridan usually plays pretty well in these award shows.
Speaker 1:So a lot to look forward to. You know, the Globes are always I for for a long time they were always kind of the the party award show and then they had a real dip in, I think, quality and content there for a handful of years. Coming out of the pandemic, they've revitalized sort of their strategy and who they want to be, and so looking forward to the, to the award show, the presentation that we'll get here in a couple of months do we do?
Speaker 3:we know when the show is?
Speaker 2:it's usually like in february february, like that.
Speaker 1:I'm sure it's at the top of this article somewhere. Um, but yeah, I mean we have a few. We have a few months to look forward to for sure. Um, okay, and now on to kind of our episode topic and theme for this week's episode with his best buddy, beck Bennett, and that subsequently landed both Beck and Kyle on SNL for a handful of years, where they were extremely well, I think, suited for sketch comedy based off of what we saw on their YouTube channels, a really funny, bizarre brand of, I would say, viral humor. You know a lot of the like boots on the ground, go up and interview people on the street and then kind of hold awkward pauses. And we saw a lot of that in his character here in Y2K and we can kind of get to his performance there at the beginning but or here after the beginning. So Y2K, it fits into this mold of a personal period piece.
Speaker 1:The film takes place on New Year's Eve, 1999, where, of course we as millennials know there was a lot of digital panic around the country as to what would happen to the computer systems that were starting to take over and have this great infrastructure and control over everything from, you know government processing all the way down to the clock on our microwave in the kitchen, and there really was this panic.
Speaker 1:I can remember it even as a nine-year-old, and my parents talking about it and it being on the news and being on the homepage of AOL. This movie leans into that and takes it one, two, maybe 10 steps further and shows us what would happen if, if really worst case scenario did occur on new year's eve, 1999, when the clock struck midnight and ai, all of a sudden, assembled in these machines, took over a small town in in middle america, usa. So what did you guys think of y2k kyle mooney as a first Um, we all saw it together that we had a good time on the surface. But has the movie stuck with you or has your, has your imprint changed at all?
Speaker 3:Uh, you know I I think it's a a commendable um first time film from Kyle Mooney. Uh, I'm excited. He he knows how to make me laugh. Personally, I was hooting and hollering throughout the movie. It's a little ridiculous.
Speaker 1:It's quite ridiculous.
Speaker 3:It's quite unhinged. At times, the plot's silly, but but I, I mean I, I had a good time at the theaters. I did feel and I think I said this as we were walking out I felt like there was a lot missing from it. It felt a little disjointed at moments, um, just like with its geography and and it's edit, like it. There were, there were moments where I was just like why, why was this in here? Or why there's something missing here?
Speaker 3:Um, but it was, you know, it was unpredictable, uh, and, and you know, kyle made it, I think Kyle made it for him, which I love to see, right Like I, if we can get back to filmmakers making movies for them, as opposed to fans or IP or brands or whatever. Yeah, like that, that is really cool and that's the, you know, it's, it's, it's a great first step, um, so, yeah, I, I I'm not going to own this movie or anything I'm. Who knows if I'll ever watch it again, maybe, maybe, maybe down the road on like a new year's Eve. You know you throw it on, but yeah, I had a good time.
Speaker 2:You know, I loved it too. I thought it was so fun and I kind of like, as we're watching it and just all three of us were just like really interacting with the movie too, which was so great. And I am such a lover of like stupid comedy, and so I left that movie thinking make more dumb shit like this, like like I want to watch stuff that just feel like because I and I saw a lot of people actually making the same comparison to like it kind of has like elements of super bad, and then this is the end. And then, um, there was some other movies that I I can't even remember, but I, um, I hadn't seen them, but those were the two movies that remind. I mean, like, just for anyone listening, it's definitely not as great as those two movies I just mentioned, but it was.
Speaker 2:You could tell there's like a little bit of that inspiration, but it mentioned, but it was. You could tell there's like a little bit of that inspiration, but it was really just, you know, you could tell he made this movie to just be so unserious. And this is not trying to like be anything, it's not, it's just it's fucking stupid, but it's, if you have that kind of humor. If you can appreciate that and go into it with, like you know, not expecting some grand comedy, then I think it's just fun and like there was so many ridiculous moments, you're just like what the fuck? And I loved that. I love movies like that and I am just all on board for more of it.
Speaker 3:It reminded me of like Happy Gilmore movies.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Right Like like slapstick comedy, kind of like.
Speaker 3:Grandma's boy, or is it?
Speaker 1:yeah that's a happy madison, yeah, happy madison.
Speaker 3:That the happy madison pictures, or whatever. Yeah, grandma's boy, happy gilmore.
Speaker 1:Strange wilderness, strange wilderness, yeah, yeah, it definitely reminded me of that it is very interesting that this is an a24 produced and distributed film because I'm something that I've been thinking about since seeing it is had this film of come out, say, four years ago, when the A24 brand was still a little bit more like hard genre specific, would that change how I think about it?
Speaker 1:Would I think it was more or less funny change how I think about it? What I think it was more or less funny, what I think that it was trying to say more about tech, technology and and this, you know apocalyptic foreshadowing that maybe Kyle is still trying to say like listen, this is a very extreme, outlandish, crazy version of something that could have happened back in 1999. But this is also very close to a place that we're getting to right now with AI. Like, like I, you know, I just don't know. Like, because there's been so many A24 pictures, does it, does it have that same brand of of prestige attached to it anymore? Do I need to be thinking about it more seriously as if this was a movie that just was distributed straight to Netflix? More seriously, as if this was a movie?
Speaker 2:that just was distributed straight to Netflix. Yeah, I think, when, when movies have that like sticker, that A24 sticker on it, us film nerds get really we put a lot of, we just, I think, go to that place where we're like, oh well, this is going to be really really high quality, you know, and. But then I think during the experience as we were watching, we sort of detached from that. I didn't even know that it was an a24 movie and I honestly didn't even know that this movie was about like their actual tech devices coming to life and like killing people. When that they first made that kill at the party, I was like, wait, wait, wait, hold on a second wait. This is what this movie is about it's a horror movie I saw.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly it's a horror comedy it really is and like yes, it is a lot like you know this is the end means I robot it really is just like.
Speaker 2:This is the end, like with the premise, because it's like very heavy comedy, like ridiculous, and this like really out there idea, like post, like this apocalyptic idea, right, um, so I'm glad, maybe I just I didn't have any expectations for it. I didn't even know, because I think I saw one trailer and I was like, oh yeah, I'm down for that. Or maybe I don't even know if I saw a full but did not know that there was, like this, murder of teenagers happening.
Speaker 3:I also think for you, if it comes out four years ago, I don't think a 24 is doing that, Cause at that time they are so like brand aware and very intentional with what movies they were putting out. But I feel like, since everything everywhere all at once, that has kind of opened a a field of different genre pictures they can do, uh, or that they're okay putting their brand on uh. So, yeah, I don't know, uh, I think it's really I, I think it's cool, I think it's really interesting that that it is an a24 movie and probably a good, maybe a good sign, I don't know, could it we could be looking back on in five years and being like this is when that was the turn. Yeah, that was the beginning of the end of, because, if you know, if they stop making stuff like lamb or the witch, um, you know that's, that's going to be heartbreaking to make more y2ks that's going to be heartbreaking.
Speaker 3:To make more Y2Ks that's going to be really heartbreaking.
Speaker 1:This is very true. I'm not going to blame Y2K, I'm going to blame everything everyone at once, as I do for most of my cinematic problems.
Speaker 2:I can get on board with that.
Speaker 1:But no, I thought it was great. I thought the movie had a lot of, there were real emotional stakes. I think there's a moment that happened about 30 minutes into the runtime that certainly surprised me. I think it surprised all of us, where I realized not everyone is safe oh yeah in this movie, yeah that's very true and I don't want to spoil that moment, of course, for anybody.
Speaker 1:But at that, at that moment, I thought, oh, this, this movie's not afraid to take chances.
Speaker 1:Yeah, kyle and his script is certainly not afraid to take certain chances. As a young millennial, I think this is more targeted towards folks who probably graduated high school right around the turn of the century, there in the year 2000. And so we're maybe six to eight years behind that 2000. And so we're maybe six to eight years behind that, but still, I mean, aim AOL, instant messenger, aim chat rooms, um, you know, bringing a boom box around with you burning CDs, bringing that burnt CD to a party, like all things that that I could relate to. That I think all three of us could relate to. And it is very funny because we saw this in in a smaller theater, one that only had two other people in it who I know we all saw when they walked in, much younger than us, and so I'm sure the jokes were going over a lot of their heads and they thought that we were, you know, the old heads in front of them was like cracking up Um guess what we are.
Speaker 2:but we are.
Speaker 1:So for the target demo, I think this movie is certainly going to hit and play really well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I think you know the the moment you were talking about where this movie isn't afraid again, I think that goes back to Kyle Mooney as a filmmaker being like I am not going to be constricted to you know a sequel or anything. Right Like, yes, I'm going to make the movie how I want to make the movie. It is a a singular piece of cinema art and it's one movie and you're in and you're out. Love the runtime. It was quick and you know it.
Speaker 1:It never really slowed down Five o'clock start time and we were at dinner by seven.
Speaker 3:That's pretty amazing. Sign me up A perfect five o'clocker.
Speaker 1:Yes. So the reason why we talk about y2k and why we're using it as kind of a launching point to create yet another eti inspired hall of fame episode is because this film now fits into this unique subgenre of period pieces that don't have to fit a certain video store category, such as action or comedy or horror drama. These could be anything, but what they are are personal period pieces where we feel like there is a lot of the screenwriter or the director or the lead performers represented through the story, and so we're going to, I think, kind of explain that, hopefully through our hall of fame. But is there anything that jumped out to you guys as you were starting to go through your movies, and what sort of qualifiers were you looking for?
Speaker 1:Because this is very different than the type of movie that we're trying to identify here, is very different from someone like you know, ridley Scott, who we've been mentioning a bunch, saying, oh, I'm such a history buff and I love, you know, historical nonfiction, so I'm going to make a movie about Napoleon. Well, guess what? Ridley Scott had nothing to do with the events of Napoleon Bonaparte's life, and so that's not what we're talking about here. We're not talking about just historical period pieces, right, we want things that we feel like are personal to the filmmakers and the folks involved in the movie. So if you guys could kind of help me expand on that because a little bit of a loose definition, right, when we make a, when we make a Hall of Fame like this, because it is open and subjective to so many different film subgenres, many different film sub genres so how did you guys go about kind of compiling your films and then I think we can use that to sort of lead into our, our unanimous pick, which hopefully makes things really clear.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was really hard. It's really hard to to to to define what movies are working this way, right Cause I feel like a lot of my lists and I have, I have, I have two sets of three and I know we're only supposed to bring one set of three, but I just can't like decide on what way I want to go. I've got a long list here. A lot of it has to do with, like, coming of age stories, because again we're trying to identify a film that the, the filmmaker or I would say, or the writer of the film is going into their personal past. So it's like and so your definition of a personal period piece much like what we just saw Kyle do with Y2K yeah.
Speaker 3:Is is just perfect, is just perfect. Um, so, yeah, I, I would say a lot, of, a lot of coming of age. Uh, I think something I, you know, I, it had to be at least 15 years in the past, right? Uh, we're not doing any sort of like if it came out in 2010, but about 2008,. You know that that's not going to work. Came out in 2010, but about 2008,. You know that that's not going to work. Um and uh, you know, I feel, I do feel like a lot of them are based around family structure and families and groups of friends, lots of young people obviously coming of age stories. But, um, yeah, really really tough to come up with a solid. I mean I have a solid list. Really really tough to come up with a solid.
Speaker 2:I mean I have a solid list, but really tough to make decisions on, on what that is yeah, I struggled with the personal part of it where, like finding movies that were also personally related to like the the director, writer or anything like that. So and my movies are all have like, um, there's definitely a theme with mine, except for two with there's a lot of like music involved with mine.
Speaker 2:Um, I think that's a great point, that like they are kind of jukebox soundtracks, right, yeah, and I tried to, you know, because it's easy to look up a period piece and be like, ok, well, that's a million movies and but I wanted to stick to something that felt maybe like a year or like an era and and I yeah, I'm just kind of looking at my list it's like all very much like there's like a great soundtrack to all of my movies and all centered around kind of that, that vibe. Maybe the one of them I might throw on here, not so much music related, but you might get the idea.
Speaker 3:I think another piece is that a lot of these films are early on in the filmmaker's career, which usually you know. That usually makes sense, because if you get a chance to make a film, yeah, you write what you know and, like you, you want to tell your story, right, if you get that shot. Yeah, you, you write what you'd know and, like you, you want to tell your story, right, uh, if you get that shot. So so, yeah, uh, just some some interesting clarifiers. What did you find?
Speaker 1:Well, as I do for most of these lists, I just went straight to my my Blu-ray collection and started looking through each of them and saying, does this count? And no surprise, I think, to myself. However, at the end of it, I was like, wow, there's a lot, a lot of my favorite movies fit into this category, because I, I guess I am, as we all are just like I'm a sucker for nostalgia, and I think just most humans are built that way or at least when it comes to the arts, are conditioned to always be looking back.
Speaker 1:We're always having these retrospectives, and so I think you're absolutely right, Max, where, like as much as I love to rewatch something like super bad right now because it reminds me of, of high school and of the late two thousands super bad doesn't fit this description, because I was made in the present time of the film, and so to look back and see what someone has done to showcase their childhood in the eighties and the film was made in 2005, then that's that's what we're looking for, that that is perfect.
Speaker 1:For me personally, aside from some of these movies just being my, some of my favorite films of all time, I think that it was really hard for me, and maybe not necessarily hard, I think so much, along with the music, like what Erica and you were talking about, the costumes have to be on point.
Speaker 1:If these are set in a certain town, you know the town has to the production design of, of changing cars, of the way people's lawns are kept, the way houses are kept, the interiors, what's on the shelves in the background, again, how are the people dressed, their makeup, their hair, all of that, I think, really plays a key role in the three films that I've brought to the table here, because that's really what helps. Not only set the film in that time, but I not only set the film in that time, but I I see it through the same lens of the filmmakers and know that there's that personal touch Like you would not know to fashion a person to look like this unless you had a neighbor growing up like your mom's friend used to look like that.
Speaker 1:These are the same kind of foods that you would eat on a certain holiday like this. So so all of that, I think, goes into to creating one of these hall of fame films for me, and that that does come down to production design. So you're going to hear me say that a lot when it comes to my movies. Long list is is very long, though At the end my honorable mentions as well. So it sounds like you two have maybe six movies total that you want to share.
Speaker 2:I think that's. I think that's great, the, the.
Speaker 1:The process, hopefully, will still land us at 10 films to build out a hall of fame. We we, of course have a consensus entry here to kind of start the conversation so that each of us has the fair opportunity to to have three films here. So the one movie that we landed on as sort of the poster child for a personal period piece Hall of Fame entry is Richard Linklater's film from 1993, dazed and Confused. Now, this is the perfect example of what we're talking about, because Linklater makes this film in 1993 about high schoolers in Texas and sets it in the 70s. So Linklater himself would have been the age of these characters at the time of the story taking place. He grew up in Texas.
Speaker 1:This film, you know, you can look at all the trivia there's great trivia about this, about this movie goes so far.
Speaker 1:He goes so far as to actually have lawsuits against him from people who he grew up with because he thinks they copied their likeness so much.
Speaker 1:You know, the Ben Affleck character, the Wooderson character, all these different people, and so, again, just like pulling straight from what he knows, what he experienced the music, the cars, the way freshmen interacted with seniors, just the energy and and everything else that is associated with the last day of school, like it all feels so familiar and it I think it's the perfect hall of fame inductee, because not only can you feel that while you're watching it that this is such a personal passion project and that it's set in a time that you know the director is familiar with, but it also kind of transcends that time where, like I think we've all come to this movie at different times in our lives and appreciated it because, as people who graduated in the two thousands from high school, you can watch this movie and say like, oh yeah, I went to school with guys like that, or I went to school with girls like that, or this is what it looks like when you're on a beer run and you're trying to just like get drunk in the middle of a field you know, and so I don't know if you guys have anything more to say about Dazed and Confused, but putting it on this list to kind of start this conversation, I think frees up some space for some creativity between the other films that we're going to induct here.
Speaker 3:But I mean, what more can you say about disney confused? It hasn't already been said? Yeah, I mean, it's just it. It is first off. It is the perfect culmination of what this category is. It is also just like one of the one of the greats. It's. It's richard linklater, early in his career, um, hitting on all cylinders, a brilliant young cast. Um, I mean, I echo everything that Alex just said and, and we love it on this podcast. We did a screening of it, um, out in Parkland a couple of years ago. Uh and yeah, days and confuses is kind of what you're shooting for when you make your own personal period piece.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think having that movie as like the golden child for this category made it so great, but also really hard to live up to that, because it really is just the ideal, like modern I mean quote, unquote modern period piece that you could have, because it really is just about a day that they, you know, the last day of school. That's it, like you know, and just so simple.
Speaker 1:Yet so well captured.
Speaker 2:So well captured and it's just, it's got a lot of it's like. I don't know that any movie can really live up to that.
Speaker 1:It's hard you feel everything and you know we had a discussion about perhaps putting american graffiti in as the consensus pick. However, I think for for us, for for people of a certain age who are around around when we graduated high school, around when we kind of came of age days and confused, was a lot more accessible and we could still see ourselves, maybe, and some of the people who we went to school with, in the characters of that film, as opposed to American Graffiti which gets made in the 70s About Life in the 50s. That just felt a little too far removed. That is not, however, us saying that American Graffiti and George Lucas, they don't accomplish everything. That link later and his whole crew did with dazed and confused. I think that that's maybe kind of one a and one B right there and it's just sort of. You know what you know, pick your flavor. What do you? What do you like best? Do you? Do you like kind of that wholesome part of being nostalgic? You know, chasing your crush around the different drive-thrus and hanging out in hot rods and street racing and up and down, um, you know kind of the main drag of your town there, or is it like going on a beer run, hazing the kids underneath you, like all the things that days and confused brings to the table and a little bit more um, just like provocative way. And so Jason, confused gets our kind of consensus entry into the personal period piece hall of fame, and now we can kind of go around and talk about our our own um nominations that we would like to submit.
Speaker 1:Um, it was hard for me to land on my three. I feel good about my three, though. Right now it sounds like maybe you guys still have some deciding to do so, or maybe not.
Speaker 3:I'm just excited to hear the, the different films that you guys have brought to the table, though, because we haven't really shared our list yet. Yeah, uh, do we want to just like say our just the whole?
Speaker 1:list I'm let's go around, because I kind of have one at a time.
Speaker 3:I'm like here's the one I feel the best about versus the one that I maybe feel the least good about okay, uh, I'll go with this, uh, this first three and, and this is like the, this is the very like personal I I would say this is more personal period piece than than really trying to capture it time, but they are capturing times. First one is Jonah Hill's mid nineties. Okay, so this is Jonah Hill's directorial debut. It's about, you know, it's going back into his childhood, about being a kid in, I believe, california, uh, in the nineties. Um, and he is. He is the younger brother of an older kid who is played by Lucas Hedges and and is learning how to skate and just kind of coming of age, right, like he is. He is not in middle school anymore. I believe he's entering his first year of high school and is learning independence, learning independence.
Speaker 3:Uh, I think this film really captures that skater kind of, uh, urban, concrete culture that was going on in the 90s. Um, I think, uh, it it does a great job with, with its music choices, with, again, production design, the clothes that they wear. The kid looks very much like a kid from the nineties, uh, that that plays the main character, and I'm blanking on the actor's name Um, but, yeah, I, I think Jonah Hill does a great job of transporting us back to that age and and you know, I think technology plays a big part too right, like you know, there's definitely no cell phones or anything. You know, all the phone calls are done on rotary phones and there might be a computer, like once throughout the film. So, um yeah, I mid 90s.
Speaker 2:Is is up there for nomination my first nomination is Boogie Nights, which you know you'll notice like outside from one that mine aren't. I really struggled with the personal part of everything but because my, my theme feels just pretty cohesive, feels just pretty cohesive. Um, yeah, I stuck with boogie nights because it is such a like iconic 90s movie that um is set in. I think 77 um and um yeah. So paul thomas anderson wrote direct, directed and produced the film. Um has a pretty stacked cast. We've seen a young Mark Wahlberg, julianne Moore, burt Reynolds. It's a great 70s movie with a killer soundtrack.
Speaker 3:This is definitely on my long list for Boogie Nights. I decided to let it off because Paul Thomas Anderson wasn't you know, wasn't in a porn star in the 70s wasn't in the porn scene in the 70s, but it does a great job of transporting you back to the 70s and then also taking you into the beginning of the 80s, right?
Speaker 3:so he does a really uh amazing job of of showing you two decades or not two decades, but two different, different decades, years from decades, um and the differences within the movie, apart from like living in the nineties and watching a movie set in the past. So yeah, I think boogie nights uh is, is a great, great choice.
Speaker 1:I do too, and I do think it. It plays, even though you you maybe can't trace you know anybody in Paul Thomas Anderson's life back to say, the Dirk Diggler character. However, Paul grew up in the San Bernardino Valley, lived a very similar life to a lot of sort of the side characters in this film, and everybody sort of on the fringes, even though you might not be able to say this person was Dirk Diggler or this person played the Burt Reynolds character. The Burt Reynolds character he's been on record of, you know, saying that there are certain guys that he recasts in his movies over and over and over, because they remind him so much of people who his father worked with. You see that in you know a lot of the different characters in Magnolia and in Inherent Vice and in Licorice Pizza, of course, and so I think that PTA being represented on this list is pretty great. He's not on yours because at first I thought you were about to say that's on mine as well. No, Okay, Very interesting, Tight lift over there.
Speaker 3:I had a long discussion with my people about what should be on the three, and Boogie Nights was in contention there for a while.
Speaker 1:So I guess, sort of in a similar vein, my first nomination, and one that you know, ultimately landed on as as one of my entries. It feels like there's maybe a movie in this director's filmography that would better match what we're talking about, as far as time and space is considered, is is, you know, um thought of. However, I I'm choosing to go with the movie that I just kind of like more and that I still think I can sort of mold into this, this category, and that is moonrise kingdom from wes anderson. So moonrise kingdom comes out in 2012 and takes place in both 1964 and 1965. It's written by Wes Anderson and then Roman Coppola, who's a screenwriting partner of his on a lot of different projects.
Speaker 1:Asteroid City, I think, is the movie that you could probably say is the most personal to Wes. Wes is born in Texas, grew up in Texas, graduated from college in Texas, and so you look at something like Asteroid City and I feel like that is probably, you know, to him, probably his most personal project and totally fits that personal period piece idea that we're going for. However, I'm going with Moonrise Kingdom not only because I still feel like there's a lot of Wes and Roman's childhood baked into the characters and what we see on screen, both in real life and also to kind of in fantasy, which is which is sort of another reason why I'm I like putting it in here, because it I think it does. It captures maybe kind of that intangible thing about adolescence where you do sort of fantasize about like running away with with your first crush, you know, kind of your first soulmate or whoever it may be, your group of best friends, your, your, you know, you feel alienated from your cub scout group, and so these are the kind of things that you start to think about and devise. But so all those things kind of cooked into it.
Speaker 1:But then also to going back to the coming of age, part of this all I I feel like this is not only maybe one of the best personal period piece type of movies, but I think it's just one of the best movies made about adolescence in general. The, the love story between sam and suzy, is so good and so real and so palatable, I think, just across generations and to different audiences, and so a part of that I think really plays into me thinking like this works so well as a personal period piece because you can see how Wes Anderson thinks of, of sort of young love, and maybe young loves from his childhood depicted in these two characters, but also to just the way that that again everybody operates within this world. Um, on this Island of new Panzans, which is this fictional new England town, um, and and although you have huge movie stars in supporting roles, like I can buy Francis McDormand and Bill Murray and Edward Norton, as a Cub Scout leader in the mid sixties.
Speaker 1:Like I can you know Tilda Swinton when she comes in as, like child protective services, like all these people really fit and, and to me that's again a testament to the production design.
Speaker 1:To me this has always been my favorite Wes Anderson movie because I think it's the one that uses production design and all these different things to build out this world and put you in this certain time and place in the least annoying way possible.
Speaker 1:Like I cause and you know this about me, erica, you and I I don't think I've ever really chatted about Wes Anderson movies, but like I feel like he can be a bit pretentious at times and like over the top with his whole use of symmetry and this like really dollhouse, manicured interior way that he creates sets and shoots different scenes. And this movie maybe it's just because there are so many exteriors where like out in the wilderness, so much you get less of that. But then you still are completely dropped into this world and feel like you are in the mid sixties with a couple of kids who have just ran away into the woods and they're in the Cub Scout uniform and Susie's in like her Sunday school outfit and she's got the binoculars. Everything just feels like so perfect and so of a specific time and place, and so Moonrise Kingdom, at the end of the day, gets gets a nomination for me, although I do think that you you could definitely make a case for Asteroid City actually being the more like personal Wes Anderson period piece.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and you know, I think it's. It's probably one of the last Wes Anderson movies where he doesn't go dollhouse overload, right, I mean, yeah, I would think everything since then, since that film has just been completely boxed in symmetrical yeah. My next one is Lady Bird from Greta Gerwig. Greta Gerwig, greta Gerwig. Oh boy, that's a good pick.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is a hell of a list.
Speaker 3:I mean, it's her personal story of her senior year in high school and I think what really works for this is Sacramento, right Like the small town feel of Sacramento and her actually shooting the film on location in Sacramento and just like the specificity of the of the characters, where even Saoirse Ronan has you know that from some sort of memory. Um, I feel like, uh, so I I think it works perfectly for this and, uh, I want to to recognize it because I just I fucking love that movie that's a good one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love lady bird. It was. It was between lady bird and then the next film that I'm gonna nominate as to, I think, two movies that came out in a very similar around a very similar time. That. I thought gosh, this is just exactly what we're looking for, in a sense, yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh, man, guys, I feel like I fucked my list up a little bit, but you know, I kind of mentioned it last night, not being serious, but I've, I'm just, I'm going to stick with it compared to my other options, but take me home. Tonight was like, I know, I don't know. I was so surprised when you both had said that you had seen this movie.
Speaker 3:Um, saw it in theaters.
Speaker 2:So it's a really good. It's rewatchable. It is very rewatchable.
Speaker 3:It is. This movie is way more in line with Y2K. That's where I was Than anything else we've talked about right now.
Speaker 2:And that's like when we've decided on this, this the subgenre which is so much fun, I started thinking about the way you said that, which is so much fun.
Speaker 3:Let me be clear I love this exercise.
Speaker 2:No, I mean it is like a really fun exercise because it's not like, like I said, we're not picking just like random period pieces. We're talking about like specific personal ones. But I think because I missed the personal mark but I really was looking at Y2K as inspiration for my picks, looking at Y2K as inspiration for my picks, thinking of like this there's really not a whole lot of like of a plot to it, or I mean there is like a little plot but it's mostly centered on this, like one night or like I mean obviously the vibes it's set on, the vibes of Exactly being a teen in the eighties.
Speaker 3:Right Now Boogie Nights obviously it was kind of Like one big party.
Speaker 2:Exactly, yeah. So yeah, I'll take me home tonight. I'll stick with that because it came out. You know takes place like the late 80s, I think, and it's just a fun time about like a night of you know takes place over like a span of days, but just partying in the 80s, like what a time to be alive. I wasn't alive but I can imagine it was pretty lit.
Speaker 3:Well, I think also, you know this again goes back to like production design, which I think we were all really appreciated in Y2K, yeah, where you have caricatures of the type of kids that would be around in 1999. Also, in take me home tonight, you have caricatures of these eighties stereotype kids that you would see, right, yeah. So yeah, I think it's. I think it's strong, don't feel bad, okay.
Speaker 1:I think Max is absolutely right. That is more akin, like directly in the same lineage as Y2K, or Y2K is more in the lineage of that, as opposed to maybe some of these movies that are still to come or that have already been mentioned. Right, but again, that that's because I think that this is just this is a made up subcategory Hall of Fame that can literally include any different genre of film. Totally. My next film from 2017. It takes place in 1983. It's call me by your name and so luca guadagnino, obviously being an italian filmmaker being born in italy and setting this film in 1983 in northern italy. Still one of the best opening title cards that were just somewhere in Northern Italy 1983. Incredible stuff. There he was born.
Speaker 1:Luca was born in 1971. So you can imagine as, again, an adolescent growing up over there in Europe and starting to come of age as a gay man himself. You can just see so much of his own personal story, even though this is, of course, not an original screenplay or anything like that. It's adapted from a novel and written by James Ivory, um for the screen Academy award winning screenplay. Just incredible stuff, um, all around.
Speaker 1:But Luca himself has said that like he doesn't want, even as a gay filmmaker filmmaker he doesn't want this to be viewed as just like a, a gay story. It's so much more than that to him and I think that and even though, while I still think that that is really important for this conversation that we're having and really helps give it that personal touch, there's so much more just in nostalgic terms that help this movie fit the category that we're talking about right now, because I just like have a long list of the things, um, that that really speak to me when I watch this movie. He, luca, has also said that you know he really wants this movie to almost be more about, kind of like our fathers and and the types of relationships that we have with our fathers. The relationship between Elio, the Timothee Chalamet character in the film, and his father is such a nuanced and important part of this story that I think you can't really appreciate until you watch it three or four or five times really, and see the dynamic between the two of them, and so to hear Luca himself say that I think just adds another personal touch to it.
Speaker 1:But this really is like the early eighties aesthetic that I've very rarely seen nailed to such a degree of specificity like this. The production design again is just like some of the best that I've I've ever seen. I cite this movie yearly on my letterbox is like it's always my backyard inspiration for for like cleaning up after a long winter and being like I got to get my outdoor seating put right, you know it.
Speaker 1:Just it feels so that house, the, the, the, it's really like a villa. But the house that that most of this film takes place in just feels so lived in, like so perfect, where it's clean but it's messy in the way that a house would be messy and in the eighties with with an educator, just like bookshelves everywhere, because it's 1983, there's a huge lack of technology and honestly, I was thinking about it more today and I'm like I know that there's scenes, especially like the very end of the film, when it's like it's a snowy winter's day and there's there are lamps on in the background and stuff like that. But it's almost a movie that feels like exist without electricity, like there's almost like no technology in this house, aside from maybe Timothy Chalamet is like cassette player that he carries around with him, which I think is really good for helping root it in the 80s as well. But all of it just feels so lived in and like something that that Luca has experienced himself, like growing up, with maybe a piano in the house or with just like shelves and shelves and shelves and shelves of books and the kinds of conversations that can happen in in a room like that, in a house like that that doesn't have, you know, a television as a distraction in in the center of it. And so, like I'm sure he longs for that, I long for that.
Speaker 1:I'm just like I love that you know we can come to this room, even though obviously we wouldn't be able to record or distribute this podcast without you know technology or anything like that. But, like I love having a space in my own house it doesn't have, like a radio or a TV in it or something like that, and all of it again, like the the outside, the exterior, um, the way that you know Timmy dresses that army hammer dresses them riding their bikes around, everything that down to you know the sunglasses it all just has that that perfect early 80s aesthetic to it. And so I think that when you look at personal period pieces, you can celebrate call me by your name for so many different things. I think that you know celebrating it as a very personal period piece to the filmmaker is is one of the top things that people should should celebrate for it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a great call. Uh, I didn't even think of that. My next film actually came out this year, uh, and so comes out in 2024, set in 2008. Uh, it's called Didi. Uh, this is a movie that I really loved seeing this year, um. It's about a 13 year old boy, um, who is, uh, in the last month of his summer going into high school. Um, again, like the.
Speaker 3:The way it puts you in 2008 is is a lot to do with the technology. There's a lot of AI-ming or I-ming. I guess at that point I think AOL had kind of been pushed aside, it was just instant messenger, aim. Yeah, there's a lot of that on the computer going on. There's a lot of camcorders and, again, skateboarding.
Speaker 3:Uh, ironically, kind of pairs really nicely with mid nineties Um, whereas you know, even though it's probably what? Decade apart, two decades apart, uh, that kids are still kind of out doing the same thing, which is really interesting to think about. Um, but, yeah, I just think that it does a really good job of of putting you in in that place and in 2008, we were. I mean, we're not 13 in 2008, we're like 17.
Speaker 3:But when I when I sat down for this movie, it immediately put me back into that, that era, um, just from seeing the different again technology, or if it was something on the TV in the living room or what the kids were wearing, how kids were looking at high school um, because you do get a little bit of that, uh, and and the way this kid is again coming of age and coming up and learning how to have independence as a, as a 13 year old. So I think it does a really, really good job of of putting you in that place. And it's, and Sean Wan, who, or Sean Wayne, who uh, wrote and directed the film you know. He has said like this is this is about a summer I had, you know, in 2008, and he's he's like 28, you know, and he makes this film. So, um, yeah, just a, just a wonderful little film.
Speaker 2:Uh, that puts you there to see that I haven't seen it.
Speaker 3:Yeah yeah, you guys got to see it before the year's out.
Speaker 2:It's a, it's really good Well well, my next pick, uh, max was kind enough to to give me from his list um, which was almost famous, which is, hands down, probably one of my top five movies of all time. Um, it's centered I mean this is based loosely based off of cameron crowe's experience working for rolling stone um, and yeah it just. It follows a kid, young journalist, who goes around with um, a band called still water, and tours with them and kind of befriends them. And um, which I think is based off of his time with the Allman Brothers band. But yeah, that's a. I thought that was a perfect, a perfect example for this category.
Speaker 3:It takes place in the 70s, yeah, it does a great job with the music, specifically Right, because it's centered around a band, really puts you in into that time period, um. And and then also just an all-time supporting performance from our guy philip seymour hoffman, yeah, uh, and like the disc jockey like, which I think also kind of helps put you there because, like he was some sort of like you know when, when, when rock criticism really mattered, rock and roll really mattered, um, that's, that's definitely something that will that will send you into the past.
Speaker 1:That monoculture of being like this. You know, if you write for the there's so they say it so many times in that film. Like this is Rolling Stone, you know, like Rolling Stone, like this is very serious Cause everyone is going to read this and and you know a character like the Penny Lane character could exist in a way now where sure, you could say that, like bands still have their groupies or maybe influencers or people who follow them on social media, but like again, that groupies or maybe influencers or people who follow them on social media.
Speaker 1:But, like again, that's such a diluted part of of a certain lifestyle right now, whereas like the Penny Lane character back then was, she was like thought of as a God, almost like she was the OG influencer in a lot of ways, yeah.
Speaker 2:She's a bandaid. She's a bandaid. Yeah, she's not a groupie, she's a band-aid. Yeah, she's a band-aid yeah she's not a groupie she's a band-aid.
Speaker 1:She inspires the music exactly.
Speaker 3:I think another great thing about this film is that, like I mean, I know, I know still small bands still go out on the road, but I mean these guys are in like a bus, like we're not, we're not flying around or or just like hanging out in the same like state. We're in a bus and we're living in a bus. Yeah, it's a road movie, yeah, right, yeah. So I think, yeah, I think that's a great choice.
Speaker 1:I mean, I think it's right there with Dazed and Confused honestly is like what we're trying to find right now in a personal period piece, because Cameron Crowe someone who I always think that Cameron Crowe is more prolific than he really was, but you think about the things that he is really passionate about and interested in and the movies that he's made about those. You think of Jerry Maguire, you think about Fast Times at Ridgemont High and you think about Almost Famous, and every single one of those does such a good job and feels like it is coming from someone who knows exactly what it is like to either be a sports agent or a high schooler working in a mall or someone who is obsessed with music and following a band around.
Speaker 3:So I think that Cameron Crowe is right there with Richard Linklater as far as filmmakers who can really tap into what we're looking for yeah, and you know, before the angry listeners tweet at us about fast times at richmond high uh, made in the 80s, about the 80s, right, really interesting. What if? It would have been really interesting to see if, like cameron, crowe waits and does that movie in the nineties uh high school in the seventies or something, yeah Right, yeah In the eighties?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that would have been. So my last film here that that I'm going to submit is the one I feel the best about, and when we kind of made up this episode topic was the first movie that came to mind, and that's not just for the seasonal element to it, but it's a christmas story from 1983. This takes place in in the 1940s. It never really is. Um said that like oh, christmas 41 or christmas 39 or something like that, but so um about 40 years removed from the time in which it was made versus the time that it was set. This is directed by Bob Clark, written by Bob Clark, um Lee Brown as someone else who collaborated on the script, but this is really, I think, um Jean Shepard's credit to take here, cause Jean Shepard wrote um like a collection of short stories, like a little novella called in God we trust, all Others Pay Cash, and so it's adapted from a bunch of short stories that Gene had collected and then collaborated with Bob Clark on with the script to turn this into a feature film. And I think that Shepard is probably the closest representation of the Ralphie character. I guess the age difference would have been about seven years. He would have been seven years older than the Ralphie character in the story and so so much of this is him growing up in the Midwest.
Speaker 1:The film, of course, takes place in Indiana and a lot of it is loosely based around his experiences in his hometown. There's so many different, um, you know, references. I guess it's kind of like a john hughes movie where the high school is like the same in every john hughes movie. Like this is basically he just named the high school or the elementary school in the film, like after a school in his hometown growing up. You know, the family lives on cleveland street, like cleveland street was in his hometown, and so there's just so much. There's so many different little like Midwest jokes, whether it's about like everyone eating tapioca pudding or the way that, um, um, the the dad in the story in the. In the movie he refers to the Chicago bears as like the bears, I don't know, maybe more like the Chicago chipmunks like the way that they're playing.
Speaker 1:So just like those things that you know, know that he had probably heard his dad or friends of his parents say growing up um, the department store, santa, all of that stuff, you know it's, it's universal, we've all had experiences like that growing up, but it feels so specific to this one certain area and although I've never like listened to a radio show to get you know, like a passcode for the little orphan, annie secret decoder pen, but all of that stuff it just became, and maybe it's because of the TNT marathons and I mean I could argue that this is maybe like the most seen film for a certain generation. They grew up with cable television just because of those 24 hour christmas marathons. Like I feel like everybody watched this movie growing up. And so so many of these different things whether or not you ever asked for a red rider bb gun growing up, or or, yeah, you drink ovaltine religiously to try to get a prize from, from listening and from playing along and sending in different things, or whatever but like, all of that feels so original and true to this story and authentic to this story because you're just like I know what it's like to get dressed up to go outside to play in the snow and your mom puts too many layers on you. Or or like you have, uh, kids in class who are sucking up to go outside to play in the snow and your mom puts too many layers on you. Or or like you have kids in class who are sucking up to the teacher. You have a teacher that that is treating the classroom the same way that the teacher treats you know the students in this, in this movie, and so it is a great place setting the story and at the late 30s, early 40s there, like when they go to the mall and the wizard of oz creature is very topical, right, but like the wicked witch is walking around and um, so you just have so many different aspects to the film that I think really help make it feel like this is a 1940s movie that even though it's made in the 80s, like, even just like the film stock that's used, like I I guess I never really knew, but before starting to look it up here for this episode, because I know I'm like, okay, I obviously know that this doesn't take place in the eighties and that it's more of a retrospect on everyone's childhood and growing up, involved, kind of pre-World War II like early 40s middle America life, when things are pretty simple and it's just a great Christmas movie.
Speaker 1:I think it fits this so well as a real personal period piece and it's also just a movie that I don't think we've ever really gotten to talk about on the pod before, aside from like for just being a holiday classic and so to to give it credit as I think one of like the better period pieces maybe ever made. Um was an opportunity I had to jump at.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I think you know, centering around a holiday, much like Y2K did, which uh, started this whole episode. I think you know the christmas aspect of a christmas story is, is so such a good gateway to then enter into whatever time you're taking place at right, because christmas is, is the, is the overarching universal event, and then we can be specific about what time and how christmas was different in that time.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I think I think it's brilliant okay, so now, what are these three other submissions?
Speaker 2:that you guys have. I don't even know if I want to talk about that at this point.
Speaker 3:Well, uh I have?
Speaker 1:you're saying cause? You're saying these next three movies are different from ones that are just on your long list?
Speaker 3:I well, I, just I, I had to. I was choosing between the three I just stated. And then I had a little shtick where I was going to do the Gabriel Labelle special and do Saturday night the F labelle special and do saturday night the fablemans and snack shack. Um, and I was listening to a uh, an interview about saturday night with the director, jason reitman, and something that he said kind of struck me where he was, and it's just kind of funny that gabriel labelle is in all three of these, all three of these movies that take place in the past, and he says gabriel labelle has a, he has just a look in his eye that is like hopelessly like in the past, like hopelessly classic, I guess.
Speaker 1:Um, and so I I thought about doing that, that shtick, but I mean, I think that's part casting is an aspect to to all of this. So we haven't really brought up before, but like I think, just going back to a christmas story, like peter billingsley, the way that that little kid looks, yeah, the way that ralphie um looks in a christmas story, I'm like kids don't look like that anymore and I don't even know if kids look like that in the 80s, Like that just looks like a kid from the 40s or the 50s.
Speaker 3:Well, and even like his dad too, right In that movie. Like, no, dad looks like that now, right, and not probably since then, because that dad looks like my grandpa, right. And so again, helping you transport yourself to that time, uh, but but yeah, uh, you know, saturday night I couldn't really get there with I guess it's less personal, right? Jason Reitman wasn't there for the first episode of Saturday night live. Uh, his father might've been Ivan Reitman, uh, at least not, but again, not actually seeing it in real time yeah, but that movie does talk a lot about.
Speaker 3:I was going to make the the argument that that movie talks a lot about the generation. That was that 1974 cast taking tv from the older generation right and taking over tv, so that kind of had a play in there. And then the fable men's, you know, is Steven Spielberg's you know personal story of his childhood. I thought, and I think it really works for something like this. But then also is it's almost like too personal, too specific, where you know, I watched that movie again last night and I I really enjoy it but also, like I don't completely relate to as many things in that as I do, as something like mid nineties Lady Bird or DD Days and Confused Days and Confused, um.
Speaker 3:And then the last one was Snack Shack, which again another 2024 release that came out this year. That definitely fits. I mean, it's all about these two best friends in the Midwest in the 90s I think early 90s during the summer and they get hired to run a Snack Shack at a community pool and so it's got a lot of like Sandlot feel to it, um, but just updated into the nineties and there's lots of references and great costumes. One of the girls in. It is like always wearing a dare shirt Um and watch it.
Speaker 1:This is when I did I have to watch before. Yeah, I know you highly regard it. Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's. It's really fantastic and fun, and there's party scenes and there's, you know, scenes at the pool are really, really reminiscent of what that was like then, you know, because people weren't inside all the time, we all had to just go out and do something. We're riding bikes constantly. So, yeah, I think those three all kind of fit, but, uh, it got just really interesting. I found that Gabriel LaBelle is kind of like the center of all three of those.
Speaker 2:My other picks like, lacked the personal element. Right, like cause I was, I could have said like the perks of being a wallflower, which I do believe takes place in the nineties, um, but that's based off of a book, um. And my other pick was rock star with mark walberg, which is you could have done a music theme, I know I know almost famous rock star.
Speaker 3:You just gotta find one.
Speaker 2:But yeah, rock star kind of went along with like this like 80s time period, right, like following this guy in a tribute band in the 80s, and I thought I mean I love that movie. It gets so much hate but um, I really enjoy like just them kind of placing you in that, in that era and um what it? You know him joining the hair band eventually.
Speaker 1:but I don't know, I guess I could have gone with the music theme, but so these were all just pulled straight off of the Blu-ray shelf when I was looking through them and kind of helped me make my list. Somebody who I, you know a director, a filmmaker who, aside from their most recent film, the boy and the heron, I own all the other movies, um, on physical, and I didn't really think that because they're so fantastical that a Hayao Miyazaki movie would fit into this, but the wind rises definitely fits.
Speaker 3:I also thought the boy in the heron to this. Yeah, right.
Speaker 1:To a certain aspect. Yes, for sure. So want want to give that a shout out. Chinatown, I think, fits really well into this, even though Polanski, of course, being European, has never been, you know, a Los Angeles private detective. However, I just feel like there's there's so much, you know, care put into that story that I almost thought that Chinatown could work, one that I was really close to mentioning, because this is just an all time favorite of story, that I almost thought that Chinatown could work, one that I was really close to mentioning because this is just an all time favorite of mine that I know I've never gotten to talk about on the podcast, but Tom Ford's a single man with Colin Firth.
Speaker 1:Now, I think the the reason why I ultimately left it off is because Tom Ford, who is probably in his mid forties now or something approaching fifties, I think he romanticizes the mid-century kind of 1950s, 1960s aspect of it all a little too much, and so I don't think he quite has the personal touch to make this film. However, I love that movie so much and I think it fits into this. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood fits here. Time in hollywood fits here. The virgin suicides fits here as well. Thinking about that earlier. However, the one thing that kept that off for me as well was that you know sofia coppola. It feels so manicured and so lived in and so specific that, like you, would almost think she had to have been a teenager in the 70s. Of course she wasn't.
Speaker 3:I don't even think she was born yet well, it's adapted to right and it's adapted from from a book as well.
Speaker 1:Um, that's not to say that it can't play, though, because I call me by your name as a book. However, luca was just the perfect person to adapt that movie because of the similarities between you know kind of the thematic elements and then his own personal life. Um, the dreamers, uh, favorite film of mine, absolutely works here, kind of a curveball that. That I think totally fits from adam mckay, the first anchorman. I think the first anchorman really works here as as a as a love letter so funny.
Speaker 3:I had that on in the background the other night.
Speaker 1:Well, it was yeah it's a I think it's a big love letter to, you know, the, the local news syndicate of any greater metropolitan area stuff that I'm sure he grew up with. That will ferrell grew up watching. And these, these anchorman who I think are were idolized by some and but who are perfectly ripe to parody and make fun of an anchorman, work really well. You know, scorsese has made a career on, on doing this. I think maybe the best version of it is casino actually. And so and when you look at kind of our qualifications where, like good fellas, yes, it starts as a big retrospective but then it almost catches up to current time, to, to to the present day there, whereas casino takes place completely in the past I.
Speaker 3:I was thinking mean streets as the scorsese peck, just because I think it's a little bit more tied to his upbringing in the neighborhood.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, for sure, um, you know, luca shows up again here with suspiria just because I think from what Argento did with that first film was great. But that takes place in present time. This more so works because Luca was able to adapt Suspiria and and put it in the past. Now that stays off for obvious reasons, because I don't think Luca and or anyone else on planet earth has ever gone to a ballet school ran by witches. Lee Isaac Chung's Minari that was on my long list is on here, for sure. Um, always represented in the studio and I'm gonna put it on any list that I possibly can. But the brett easton ellis adaptation, directed by mary herron, of american psycho 100 fits into this.
Speaker 3:Um, donnie darko as well, and ladybird, yeah I had, uh, on the long list, the sandlot licorice pizza. Uh, honey boy, which is a really interesting one, right, because it's yeah, it's shy as childhood and he's playing the dad, so like there's an extra bit of like weird personal trauma Boy.
Speaker 1:Excuse me, I thought you said American honey.
Speaker 3:Oh, nope, honey boy Sorry. Yeah, Um the Kenneth Branagh film. Belfast would fit this Sure, Would never still have never seen that. Uh, Armageddon time, the squid and the whale, uh, and the holdovers.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the holdovers, yeah, the holdovers, the holdovers. Again, I it. It's more tied to the writer of the film and then also, like there was all that controversy about was it, you know, stole a stolen idea from someone else. Um, but the holdovers does take you to a very specific place and I know you know, I've read things that the writer who wrote that movie went to a you know, east Coast private school for boys and had a really cranky teacher and just a wonderful movie. I threw that on last night late. It was great.
Speaker 1:Great, great modern holiday like classic already. So good, I threw that on last night late and it was great, great, great modern holiday like classic already Good. Yeah, that's really good. Um, any others to shout out we? We had kind of talked about how I don't. I'm surprised no real horror films got mentioned, but I do think you know we had thrown around the idea of Rob zombies.
Speaker 1:Done this before before ty west has done this before yeah, ty west's ex, yeah, gone back and paid homage to, to things that they really feel a connection to from from the past. Okay, so that's gonna do it for us today. As for what's next on eti, we will be back with our holiday episode for 2024. We've done a lot of christmas pods to date. We've covered the traditional classics, we've done the alternative choices, we've even told you the best franchises to binge over the long winter holiday. So we kind of thought that maybe the well had run dry. However, it is not true. We will be back next week with an episode format that I cannot wait to bring to the people. The bizarrely successful subgenre of holiday movies that consistently and more recently so not so quietly that have been dominating the streaming landscape are those that fit into Christmas cringe. If you don't know what Christmas cringe is, it's only because you haven't exposed yourself to Christmas cringe.
Speaker 1:Because once you have, there's no going back. I've already done a lot of the work for next week's pod and I plan to do a lot more, but this is we're going to be diving into the evolution of basically the holiday Hallmark rom-com and so hopefully that paints a little bit of a picture. I don't want to get into it too much because I cannot wait for this episode, Um, but I do want to get your initial first reads on this. When I threw this out as an as an episode topic, um, you guys were great and you're like cool Sounds, good Are you excited to dive in I think erica erica's gonna bring a certain fire to this episode.
Speaker 1:That I think is gonna be maybe a little bit more academic than something that you and I can bring, because when I've, when I've gone on letterboxd to log some of these movies, you've already watched these there's only two.
Speaker 3:I fact-checked you last night when you said that it was like, which ones have I seen?
Speaker 2:because I I've I've definitely like logged them. I mean I don't think I've ever rated them, but I've seen a couple, um, but I have seen quite a few. But I think and I'm gonna try really hard to to be more open minded to this, but you know, as a girl and watching these movies, You're a girl, you like these movies, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, the cringe the word cringe is hard is definitely emphasized in this for me. Where I'm like that is the reaction that a lot of these movies get, where I'm like there's a couple like hidden gems I won't. And that's where I'm like Erica, put your dramatics aside and like just be fair, because there are some like there's some good ones. Like I'm excited there's one in particular that I know that Alex just recently watched that. I do agree it's a good one, but I'll be nice.
Speaker 3:Well, I can't wait to go to the bottom of the dumpster of this genre, like I'm going to go find the oddities of the Christmas cringe, you know, the top floaters, the hot frosties and stuff. We can talk, all about that. But I want to go to the bottom of the ocean and find, and find the real cringe.
Speaker 1:The good thing that I've come to find out in the work so far is that none of these movies run longer than 95 minutes with credits I do really look forward to that. They are all extremely and especially too and this is what I really want you to bring to the episode erica is like we need to know where, how the coaching tree from like every single girl and mean girls has all of a sudden, 20 years later, arrived to, to these netflix originals like how have we gotten here?
Speaker 1:I need to know the process behind making and casting a christmas cringe. So not only that part of it, but the accessibility, the fact that you know and we're going to get into this more but like the fact that these movies can just live on Netflix, and probably three times as many people that watched David Fincher's the killer last year have already watched hot frosty. Like it is so sad, but that's what we need to talk about. We have to discuss this. Oh, that's what makes it so cringy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah that'll be good to like just thoughts to, to swish around in my brain this week, because I think I could. Really I'm already having some theories of all of that and and I think it's probably, it's probably good to mention that the christmas cringe is is really covering a lot of like these netflix originals and hallmark maybe, if you want to go there, but I think, like in our, because we're not, because I think there's a lot of christmas movies like even like romantic, like like the holiday love actually, I mean that's not what we're talking.
Speaker 1:We're not talking about that because those are classic.
Speaker 2:You know, contemporary christmas movies, um, but no, we're talking about like netflix like straight to streamer like this is our modern hallmark movie I mean, that's really like.
Speaker 3:Is hallmark even a thing it like?
Speaker 2:it is yeah they're still doing cards.
Speaker 1:They have, oh, like a hallmark store where you can go and buy a beanie, baby, I don't know and I don't know about that.
Speaker 2:But, um, yeah, I I do think there are still hallmark movies, but, but, as but this, like new generation of you know, hallmark movies are very much these netflix originals that just get pumped out every year. Lindsay Lohan is kind of killing it with these, so we're yeah, that'll be a. It'll be fun to to dive into this. Now you've got me hyped. Okay, I'm ready, I'm ready to go.
Speaker 1:So until that, please follow excuse the intermission on Instagram the three of us on Letterboxd to track what we're watching between shows, and we will talk to you next time on eti, where movies still matter I was trying to explain it to kaylee, she was like this genre doesn't make any sense put that at the end after the music, would you?
