Excuse the Intermission
Alex, Erica and Max take you on a journey through film with this discussion podcast about movies.
Excuse the Intermission
Beyond the Box Office: What's Really Worth Watching in 2025
The theatrical landscape of 2025 tells a fascinating story through its box office patterns and creative trends. Animation continues its unstoppable theatrical dominance across multiple studios, while long-running franchises like Mission Impossible and Jurassic World show unmistakable signs of fatigue. Has the time come to put these decades-old properties to rest?
Our midyear film roundup reveals a striking preference for original storytelling over franchise continuation. From the breathtaking coastal beauty of Paolo Sorrentino's Parthenope to the inventive shark thrills of Dangerous Animals, our top picks demonstrate cinema's continued ability to surprise and captivate. Steven Soderbergh's spy thriller Black Bag showcases masterful craftsmanship, while Tim Robinson's Friendship brings his distinctive comedic sensibilities to feature length with remarkable success.
The conversation turns passionate when discussing Ryan Coogler's Sinners and Ari Aster's Eddington – films that blend genres with extraordinary confidence while delivering profound thematic depth. Both represent bold, auteur-driven visions that resonated deeply with audiences seeking thoughtful, challenging cinema.
Looking ahead, the remainder of 2025 promises an embarrassment of riches from acclaimed filmmakers including Park Chan-wook, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Jim Jarmusch. Their upcoming works, alongside anticipated releases like Edgar Wright's The Running Man and Blumhouse's Weapons, suggest our year-end lists may undergo significant transformation.
What films have captured your imagination in 2025? Join our conversation about this remarkable year in cinema and share your own discoveries and disappointments. The theatrical experience continues to evolve, but the power of original storytelling remains undiminished.
how's it? I'm alex mccauley and I'm max fosberg. There he is, and this is excuse the intermission a discussion show surrounding our favorite films of 2025. Thus far, this year's releases have carried some interesting themes and the box office has certainly shown trends when it comes to what folks want to see in theaters currently. Max and I will dive into that, discuss the highlights and look forward to the remainder of the year, which still holds some heavy hitters. That conversation up next on the other side of this break. All right, Max, it's a beautiful sunny Thursday morning here in the Pacific Northwest. It looks like you have your fair share of sunshine down there in Los Angeles as well. How are you doing today?
Speaker 2:You know, there's nothing I love more than a morning pot.
Speaker 1:Whoa, here we go, big start.
Speaker 2:Nothing I love more than a morning pot.
Speaker 1:I do know this about you A morning matinee. How about a morning pot you a morning matinee? How about a morning pod following a morning matinee? Oh, that would be that'd be absolutely perfect.
Speaker 2:That's the best living yeah, uh, but yeah, man, uh, things are good. Uh, yeah, california's sunny, uh, every day, and so I've I'm trying to battle the sunlight in my office here, but, as you can see, in the left corner or I guess maybe the right corner, it depends how you're watching it Stage right, yeah, stage right. Still got some rays coming in, but things are good, things are good. Gosh, I can't believe we're halfway through the movie year yeah, and I mean really we're.
Speaker 1:We're at the end of july. We've seen like seven months worth of releases, and now I think you and I will both admit that we've probably procrastinated on some movies. This last week was able to circle back and visit a few of those. A lot of heavy hitters, as I said in the intro, still to come, and so I we can talk about this at the end, but I don't expect my top five to look a a whole lot the way it does today, say in like late december, um, but, but we can get to that once, once the time comes, I do.
Speaker 1:I do sort of want to start by talking about just the box office this year, though, and the themes that we have seen as far as like big theatrical releases, because not that many of of these movies are going to make our top five lists. Personally, you know just a little peek behind the curtain Max and I keep talking about when are we going to have to do an animated films episode, because this year has been dominated at the box office, and now you can say that that's not too big of an outlier, you know, going back to the heydays of Disney and Pixar and everything that's happened in the 21st century with animation. But I'm just really impressed that film after film that comes out from the different animated studios, it's like it's it's an easy ticket to 400 million dollars worldwide.
Speaker 2:It seems like these days yeah, the youth love the theater. The kids are all right. I mean, yeah, kids, kid movies are evergreen. Much like, maybe, a horror genre. But yeah, animated films continue to dominate, whether it's 2025 or 2005. I think kids' entertainment will always live on, no matter what the theater situation looks like 10 years from now with some of these other more adult films. Event films are children films kid films.
Speaker 1:It's very true, and I just love I think I speak for you too on this I love the diversity that we're seeing too. It's not just one studio monopolizing the corner, and if you actually look at Pixar's release this year Elio, that movie really underperformed, especially in comparison to some of these other movies that we're sort of talking about here, like how to Train your Dragon, lilo and Stitch. The Minecraft movie is like a hybrid animation live action film. All of those films not produced by Disney have crushed it. I mean Lilo and Stitch, obviously Disney, but have crushed it this year, and so I don't know. We have we have the bad guys too. Coming out next week.
Speaker 1:We'll see what that movie does at the box office, and then no no a double feature incoming, and so we will have to we, I think we will have to really pay attention to that box office response there and then and then seriously consider some sort of because I feel like, really, ever since the pandemic is when we saw this, that was that was like the one thing that I think families realized they missed the most was the ability to get out and take their kids and their families to to the theaters, and ever since we've turned to full capacity and everything else. Um, you're right, it's just, it's been, it's been evergreen, but in a way we've never seen before, I feel like. So, further examination, I would say to that. And then, what do you have to? What do you have to say for the, the franchise ip superhero genre from 2025?
Speaker 1:Because, from someone who is completely on the outside looking in and has not seen a film like superman yet, or fantastic four or thunderbolts I still haven't seen, are we, are we back, in a way, not that like we would ever get back to phase one or phase two or phase three of the mcu, but it feels like every time I log on to letterbox, I'm seeing another four-star review for one of these movies. Oh, have have we kind of we the the movie going public, the critics out there? Have we scratched and clawed our way back to a place where these are are are decent fanfare, fun times at the movies again you know, okay, so I, I have not Fantastic Four yet, so I cannot speak on that style of.
Speaker 2:You know, a captain america winter soldier or a, um, you know even kind of, uh, the first spider-man, uh, in the mcu, which I can't even remember what that's called, I think homecoming. Um, you know I, I feel like they have found a little bit Marvel's, found a little bit of their groove back. I've heard it's so interesting People I really really respect on the Internet who talk about movies. I've heard Trounce Fantastic Four and say it is a complete nothing burger. It is bland, it looks like TV, the writing is bad, the characters are boring, the stakes are, are no good, um, yet the, the, the audience reaction seems to really enjoy it.
Speaker 2:Um, so, until I see that film, um, you know I, I, I don't know I, I never felt, even from from every trailer I saw. I never felt excited for fantastic four and it seems like again another step backwards for the marvel cinematic universe switching over to superman, which is just like a brand new flavor of that DC movie style, right, like we had the Zack Snyder stuff, which again very divisive whether it was, you know it was too hardcore, too metal, too sad, too dark compared to what you know. This this is, which is very pop and very bright and very and, to be fair, that's what james gunn billed this as.
Speaker 2:This is like the pillar of suicide squad movie he did years ago, right, and he did that with with the guardians movie. That's his style. So I and and people really responded. People have responded well to that. But then there's also a lot of chatter online that it's like it's woke Superman or it's it's too kiddy, now you know. So I don't know, I I really don't know if if we're back or not or if, like, both companies have just kind of like gone back to safe spaces, to where you know they. You know as much as we don't like the Zack Snyder stuff, like he was at least taking a swing and like doing something different. And you know, um, which is weird for him to come out of my mouth, cause I, I hate the Zack Snyder stuff. But you know he, he was a, a, he had a vision and you can tell when you're watching a Zack Snyder movie. James Gunn is kind of the polar opposite and he does have a vision as well.
Speaker 2:But I keep telling people the Superman movie is a good Superman movie. I don't know if it's a good movie. I don't think it's really a good movie. I think it's a good Superman movie. Compared't think it's really a good movie. I think it's a good superman movie, you know. Compared to, you know what we've had in the past. Whether you're looking at christopher reeves or even the superman returns from the mid-2000s, like, I think it's better than than those packaged superman movies and better than man of. But is it? Is it a movie that, like you know, would go on an all time list for 2025? Probably not.
Speaker 1:Interesting. And then I don't know, there's there's the, the other side to that coin of franchise, ip like Mission Impossible and we have seen it in the horror genre a little bit. Megan to Final Destination, bloodlines. We had a I know what you did last summer reboot that just came out a couple of weeks ago. How do you feel like those films have landed with with the public?
Speaker 2:For me personally, some big franchises have really sputtered into release this year. Mission Impossible 8, I'm still on my hill saying that movie Not good, not good, not a good Mission Impossible movie and just like a overcomplic, you know, just over complicated movie to begin with. You know, something like 28 years later, um, not a huge fan of that movie. Uh, you know, I, I think there were some good things in it, and then something like jurassic world rebirth, which I just thought was really, really tired, uh and bad. So I, maybe some of those big franchise ips, hopefully, you know I, I think mission impossible is done. I I think I think we will have to wait for tom cruise to, um, you know, uh, be six feet under before that comes back and then or at least just physically unable to perform the way that he feels like Ethan Hunt needs to act.
Speaker 2:2006 to you know, 2025, you were a huge commodity. Uh, you know like let, let's, let put it to rest and maybe, maybe, if you want to bring it back in 10 years and tom cruise is like the guy in the chair, you know he's or ethan hunt has become the the overseer of the imf and like he can just kind of like tell people what to do.
Speaker 1:What if Tom Cruise goes on to win like five Academy Awards and they're all for stunt coordination once. Once he hangs up acting and that and that and that craft category gets recognized? Wouldn't that be something?
Speaker 2:And then, and then, yeah, jurassic World again. You know, rebirth I. I just think just such a tired franchise, um, with the same, the same plot every single time we're we're in that world. So and even like, yeah, I don't even something like definition scheme too, which is not franchise, but it is kind of like it is a franchise. Right, it's the west anderson.
Speaker 1:it is kind of like it is a franchise, right, it's the West Anderson IP universe, yeah.
Speaker 2:Even that, like is, is extremely tired and really low on my list for a West Anderson. So, yeah, I don't know, I feel like I feel like this year specifically, and I've only seen 28 new releases, which is, I feel like, low at this point of the year.
Speaker 1:I was looking at both of our letterbox stats. I think over the last four years this is our lowest our lowest production up till this point.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I feel like this year I find, hey, good, good, good for us, right, we're, we're outside more. That's great. But I also think this year I've been a lot more attracted to, you know, the smaller the smaller movies, the the more the character study movies, the the movies that have something a little bit more to say than you know dinosaurs and handing off planes.
Speaker 1:So I will say I really hope. I mean, when we were 15 years old there was a mission impossible and a jurassic park movie out there. For us, when we're 35, it's the same thing. I really hope that when we're 55 and in 20 years, we're not talking about another jurassic park movie, another mission impossible movie.
Speaker 2:It is time to put these franchises to bed yeah, and not to say that there there aren't big movies in my top five. There I mean two, two of the movies I think are two of the biggest movies of the year and huge blockbusters and um, I I think. But also I think they're also original. You know, there's no repeat ip in my top 10 looking at right now. Right, there's. There's no ip. Everything's an original story. Um, everything is pretty, uh, yeah, I would say adult, right, uh, we're, we're pg-13 or higher, I feel like um, so, yeah, I don't know, I think there I hope there is a rebirth of these original stories.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I just want to, I kind of want to start championing, you know, the original stuff more, even though you know, I know we want to be on the cutting edge of of movie talk and all that.
Speaker 1:But uh, I mean, I hear exactly what you're saying because, just from my day-to-day life and I'm not sure what the discourse has been down there but the movie that I've had the most people organically come up and talk to me about this year, by far, without a doubt, and maybe that's just because I was really active. We had, like our annual golf event, uh, up here this last weekend playing pickleball, a bunch, just like being out being social. Everyone wanted to talk about happy gilmore too and they even asked like are you gonna do an episode on happy gilmore too? But I think that's a really good reflection of like maybe and I think you and I we struggle with this all the time, where it's like what we should be talking about versus what we want to be talking about. But it it was basically saying that happy gilmore 2 was the streaming service's biggest release over its opening weekend, where like 46 million people maybe that was the number tuned in to watch happy gilmore. The sandman did the weekend it dropped.
Speaker 1:And we love adam sandler, right, and maybe this is going to be um, and maybe it is the one of the most talked about movies of the year, but it's just something that I have zero interest in dedicating, you know, time in my personal life to watch and or time on this podcast to end up talking about, and so but I'm right there with you because, like the movies that I have here in my top five, I can't wait to discuss them more and give them their, their 15 minutes of fame well, it's funny too, because so last week I I fired up happy gilmore, um, kind of in anticipation of happy gilmore too, sure, sure, uh, and because somehow kaylee had never seen that movie, which is just a crime on humanity as a, as a child of the 90s.
Speaker 1:That's she and she was howling.
Speaker 2:I mean she loved it, uh, and and that movie has real power even now, you know what 40, 30 years, I what, 30 years, 30 years later, like that movie is fucking hilarious, uh, in all the right ways. And and I think, think we got to the end of it and I just kind of subconsciously was like I don't want to watch the second one.
Speaker 1:This doesn't Four hours in this world would be a lot.
Speaker 2:Well, and it doesn't call for a sequel, it's just going to put stink on that original, that original brilliant movie. Um, and so you know, and I know you know, sandman loves to make movies with his friends, loves to get big checks from Netflix, which is awesome, and like he got to hang out with a bunch of golfer he's a big sports guy he got to hang out with a bunch of golfers. He got to, you know, uh, go to really nice courses, I'm sure, which he probably didn't get to do in the in the original one. You know the original one. I think it all takes place in california in the movie, but they shoot everything in vancouver, or I think it's like it's set in san francisco and it's so funny to watch some of these when they're on the courses because it's so like just blatantly the northwest yes which is up in bc, uh, in canada, and and like it's supposed to be san francisco and it's so funny to watch that now.
Speaker 2:But, um, specifically the bob barker bit, uh, that is supposed to be in in like the heart of San Fran and it's just like they're out in the wilderness on the in in BC, right Like it just. But anyways, yeah, I don't know that. I still haven't checked out happy Go more too. I probably, probably won't, to be honest, yeah, it's tough, I mean, those still haven't checked out happy.
Speaker 1:Go more too. I probably probably won't, to be honest. Yeah, it's tough. I mean, those, those original adam sandler movies do almost feel like independent films now, compared to the stuff that he's making, uh, for netflix and for the different streaming services now, um, okay, so let's let's get to our, our top fives. You sort of discussed the, the trends and the themes, the things you've been responding to this year. I'll ask you this Was there anything that has made your list today that really surprised you when you watched it? Or are the films that are on your list movies that made it there, that earned their way there, because they lived up to some sort of expectation that you had earned?
Speaker 2:their way there because they lived up to some sort of expectation that you had. I think I think four of the top five were movies I were, I was highly anticipating um and was was pleasantly um, uh, relieved, relieved and surprised that I that they're, they're good, maybe maybe number three, maybe number three. I wasn't anticipating as much but so, uh, you know, had had my eye on um, I'm surprised number five has stuck at number five. Um, but then again, you know, after, you know, actually sitting down and thinking about it like duh, it's there, um, you know I, I think. I know we're not going to go into the whole top 10, but sure I think the more interesting is like the 7 through 10 movies a couple of honorable mentions we can get to them yeah, yeah, um, you know some that have held, uh, you know, I think, one movie and we can I'll just talk about right now.
Speaker 2:Uh, in honorable mentions, like I'm surprised mickey 17 has. I feel like that movie has grown um since seeing it in in march and has stuck on, stuck at my number seven spot, like I interesting and the more and more I think about that movie.
Speaker 2:I, I, just, I, I, I tend to like it more, um now, granted, I haven't given it a rewatch, I haven't fired it back up, but, um, I think, compared to some of the other stuff that has come out, like you know, it's a big original science fiction story that's got humor and satire. Fiction story that's got humor and satire, also some action. Robert pattinson in the middle of it, like I, I just I feel like it's a, it's a just a really good I movie that again will continue to grow um in stature as as the years go on maybe be reclaimed down the road absolutely I think.
Speaker 2:So you know much I kind of like oak joe right. I feel like oak joe was a little like met with kind of aligned yeah, met with so so reviews. But like the years since, like it's, it's just been more poignant and it's really hard to call those kind of movies. But, um, again, I think mickey 17, you're gonna watch that in five years and be like, oh I, I see now what he was doing here and yeah, it really works uh, yeah, I would.
Speaker 1:I would say that for mine I have. I have one, one film in particular that I was anticipating and that, much like you, I was pleasantly appreciative of how it lived up to the expectations and that it delivered everything that I hoped that it would deliver. Another one I was maybe a little pessimistic going into and because there was so much hype already, I had my guard up a little bit. And that movie, even if it under delivered in some aspects and I'll get to that here in a little bit it was still undeniable how, how great this film was. And then the other three are complete. One I was anticipating, um a smaller movie though with like less, less in the margins to kind of to kind of gamble with, and so um, low overhead with that one, but that has stayed in my top five all year. And then two other films are international movies that I just had no idea about going into this year, and so I was just completely caught off guard and pleasantly surprised by those. So quite the mixed bag in my top five right now.
Speaker 2:Do you think I know at the top you mentioned. We are going to look forward to some other releases still to come and you do think that there's still a big shakeup to, to, to come in your top five.
Speaker 1:there is, there is, and now that's because that's just because some of the names, um, you know that that I'm staring down the barrel at like, we have a park chan wook film to come this year, jim jar moosh is going to be releasing a movie, obviously, paul thomas anderson, so like, and those are just the three that come to mind right away here. I mean, there's, there's a lot of room for for some movement here. That's that's how I feel, at least. And now, that's not to say that those are going to be automatic top fives. Maybe they're top tens and some of these movies stick around, but we'll see yeah, that's, it's so exciting.
Speaker 2:Hey, yeah, we still have half a year and there are there. I mean, if, if you pay attention to, you know, the, the festival lineups, uh, news, like I think you and I do, like there's so much still to to come and I I do, I also agree, I, I think there is a shake-up to happen. Still, I think there are plenty of movies, as long as you go out and like dig for them, there's, there's still plenty out there.
Speaker 1:Um, because, honestly, you know, when I'm also looking at these 28 films that I've seen this year, you know I, other than the top five, I don't know if I would want to own much of it right where we have that mind meld going on, because that's the first place where where my uh thoughts went or where it's like okay, I don't own any of these yet on blu-ray, which ones will I want to go after? Um, and and as of right now, I mean, I've had the opportunity to to cop one of these and just haven't yet, and that's because, honestly, I've heard that it's a pretty bare bones physical release, but at least there is a physical release of it. Um, but, like my number one movie, I will definitely look to own on on physical once it comes out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's up to definitely want to try All right?
Speaker 1:Well, let's, let's dive into it. I'll go first here. My number five favorite film of the year is from director Sean Byrne and it is called Dangerous Animals. This movie is out of Australia, actually premiered at Cannes, and that I say that with a little bit of shock and awe, because once I begin talking about this movie here, you're going to be like are you sure that played at the Cannes International Film Festival, one of the most prestigious events in all of cinema? Yes, this serial killer shark movie played at Cannes. And those are two separate distinctions.
Speaker 1:Within the film, the sharks are more used as accessories to murder for this serial killer, um, played by jai korti, who's just incredible in the film. And he is this, this cat and mouse, um serial killer that takes tourists ideally for him, young women out on his shark touring boat, which is, of course, haggard and seen better days. But that's kind of. What I love about this movie is that it has that almost like backwoods, you're lost in the wilderness feel to it, even though it's on the ocean primarily. But it feels like. It feels a little bit like you're at the slaughterhouse in texas or you're um like you're watching wolf creek. Maybe um is is kind of the, the vibes you get where it's. It's scary, but it's also a tiny bit playful.
Speaker 1:This movie is actually very playful and so, um, it stars. It stars this, this young actress, hassey harrison, who is like a revelation in the movie. She's so good as the finals girl, um, and she's kind of giving a little bit. She's a surfer and um, so it's hard not to draw comparisons to like a young blake lively in the shallows, not only because of their physical appearance but also because of the shark aspect of of the film. But it's just a tight runtime.
Speaker 1:It's really smart on the restraint, for the shark reveals where it really is more about the interpersonal relationship of, of of our serial killer and his victims. And then when it's time for showtime and he goes out at night and you know, oftentimes there's there's two people on the boat at once and so he'll, he'll lower the first victim right above the water, throw chum in the water, get the sharks in a frenzy and it just builds a really fun tension. It's got a great style. It's got a lot of confidence. Sean. Sean does, as a director here, a lot of confidence in shooting this film, so it's available on Shudder. It completely surprised me. I heard good things about it coming out of Cannes, lived up to the hype and it's an easy recommendation Love a good shark movie.
Speaker 2:This has been on the watch list. I got to sit down and and commit some time to it. Yeah, sharks, another, another, evergreen genre.
Speaker 1:I was going to when you were like there's no IP in my top five. I'm like there really isn't in mine either, but sharks are just like when done right. It's so funny because you talk about like Jurassic park earlier and we've seen in recent history with a film like, say, 65, that if you do dinosaurs and you don't somehow have, you know, a generational talent like steven spielberg behind the camera, um, chances are you're just going to be compared to a jurassic park movie. And so then us as like, say, if you're a dinosaur fan and you want to see more dinosaur movies, you're kind of stuck in this terrible limbo of like, well, all I have to look forward to are jurassic park movies, because nobody has the gusto to go out and make another dinosaur movie in fear of comparison. Same with pirates, I would say. Ever since the pirates of the caribbean franchise, um, hung it up, we really haven't gotten another fun swashbuckling high seas adventure movie with pirates, and I think it's for the same fears.
Speaker 1:When it comes to sharks, you would expect, because of jaws and the impact that that movie has had for over 50 years, 60 years now on cinema, that it would be the same thing. But it's really not like sharks. You can keep going back to that well and you can keep finding. My favorite thing about is you keep finding new ways to tell a shark story. You could do the found footage version, um, almost like not that it's necessarily found footage, but something like open water, where it's really stripped down and independent.
Speaker 2:You can do something like the shallows, which is the shallows yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1:Um. And now dangerous animals, where it's a really fun new wrinkle, where it's like what if a crazy man out on his shark touring boat was actually a serial killer and all he was trying to do was lure people out there? So that, and again, like, of course he is the one killing them, but the sharks do all the dirty work? Um, so it's it's. It's a great movie, uh.
Speaker 2:Jurassic park should be going down this same route. Where's our castaway jurassic park? Where is our serial killer jurassic park? Yes, yeah, like agreed. It just stuck to the jaws format for since 1993 and and that's the problem. That's the problem.
Speaker 1:That's why that's where we're going.
Speaker 2:We're going back to the island yeah, yeah, and we've got kids with us. Yeah, like it's the same.
Speaker 1:I know dna. We still need more still need more.
Speaker 2:This time it's gonna cause or save dementia or whatever you know, like I again, yeah, shark movies.
Speaker 2:I think that's why it's a perfect example. Yeah, because they reinvent or they do different genres, they do different styles, like jurassic park should be doing that as well. Uh, my number five is a movie from a little filmmaker named Steven Soderbergh, uh, who just makes you know nine movies a year, every year since 1988. Um, and it's called black bag and this is by far like the slickest, coolest, probably most professional movie uh I've seen this year. Uh, it's a spy thriller with Michael F fastbender, kate blanchett, uh, pierce brosnan, um, it's, it's just a great adult contained thriller that keeps you guessing throughout.
Speaker 2:Uh, it's beautiful, beautifully written. Uh, it's beautifully uh, photographed. Um, you know, there's there's a couple scenes, like when they're at this dinner party, where you know, soderbergh is playing with the lights and experimenting with the lights in camera, um, and stuff he's never done before, right and like, that's just amazing for a filmmaker of his stature, his prolific nature, to still find new things to do within the frame is fantastic. And you know, fassbender is someone I've always, like, really tried to champion, even though he he tends to do these odd roles and again, like, much like the killer a couple years ago. He is very like monotone, stripped down, has no personality in this movie but honestly that's like when he's at his best yeah, I agree he is so stoic and doesn't have to do much um with the material he's given.
Speaker 2:Kate blanchett is just, you know, she's just on another level. She can take any material and heighten it uh, and it's a very much a cat and mouse. You know, mystery, mystery movie, that um is soderbergh, kind of playing on the tropes of a james bond right, like it's kind of his james bond movie, um, and so just really really love it uh, from one of our best uh, and so you, you love to see him continue to to make quality films. And I will say you know he has another movie in my top 10 because he's steven so and he does, he does multiple movies in one year uh, and which is a very different style of movie from black bag. But again, black bag is just like one of the most polished professional movies I've seen um this year and that's that's why it's on my top five.
Speaker 1:It's a great endorsement. My number four sinners and I assume that this is on your list as well, so we table this. I think, sure, yeah, yeah, we can. We can table it. Okay, so then, keep, keep it going. What's your number four?
Speaker 2:Uh. My number four is friendship, uh, which, again like a movie that uh, a smaller movie, one that I anticipated was anticipating a lot and was just, I was worried, like right before the, right before the lights went down in the theater, I got really worried like, oh no, what if this is like too much? But Tim Robinson, you know his style of comedy is just it's, it's crack to me, so it is. It is just so brilliantly like satirical, uncomfortable, cringy, real, like the. And this movie is about male. It's about Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd, two guys that live on the same street that meet and strike a friendship up and then that friendship deteriorates very, very quickly. And I think it has a lot of anxiety pumped into it about, you know, making friends as a male in your 30s or 40s and it is.
Speaker 2:I just think Tim Robinson is brilliant and Andrew DeYoung is the writer director and I, you know, when he wrote this, I don't think he wrote it for anyone other than Tim Robinson. You know you're worried that his, his sketch comedy style would not translate to a full feature-length film, but this movie is so wild and outrageous and takes such weird turns throughout that, if you're willing to go along with it, I think it's an extremely enjoyable watch, if not just an incredibly uncomfortable one. Um, and I, I think that kind of comedy needs to be propped up more in in a time when, like, comedy doesn't really have a standing right now. Right, this cringy, uncomfortable style is a style I I really really enjoy.
Speaker 2:So friendship is is awesome and, and I saw it at the vista on 35, you know, I sat next to uh, a comedy writer who, like you know, we, we struck up a friendship and then, you know, know, of course, we, you know we haven't hung out since, but, uh, because because of the, you know the themes of this movie, um, so yeah, it's, uh, it's just it's, it's really good stuff and, yeah, I, I highly recommend it.
Speaker 1:Uh, my number three is a movie that's been in my top five all year long and that's companion by director drew hancock. Um, you know sophie thatcher. I've been a really big fan of hers ever since season one of yellow jackets and she's only continued to work towards that max contract deal. You know, she is like. She is really capable, I think, of MVP level performances and I can't wait to see where her career goes. I love that she's staying in the thriller genre for the most part, with something like this and Heretic recently and, of course, the fame from Yellow Jackets. But I could see her being a serious, dramatic actress for years and years to come. So I have to like this, this, you know, this recommendation and this.
Speaker 1:This movie's impact on me kind of it starts and ends with her because she carries the whole thing. But I mean also there's there's this, there's there's this quality to the film that feels like it's perfectly nestled in between the serious of something like Ex Machina from 10 years ago or so and then something like Megan more recently, and I really don't want to spoil too much of the film. This movie is widely available. I think it's on HBO. Right for for folks to stream at home, um, but it definitely is playing with, uh, our, our current reality of of ai and everyone's different relationships with dating and dating apps and trying to find love in in a futuristic world, if you will, um, but I mean this harkens back to something like the stepford Wives, you know, like we've seen this on on screen for a really long time.
Speaker 1:So I love this movie because it's not too self serious, but it's also not too campy as well, like the violence in this movie is still pretty awesome. It's just that it's that perfect tone that really keeps you hooked and engaged over over a runtime, which is great. You know, it's under two hours. It just delivers exactly what it promises while still kind of keeping you guessing, and there's some scenes that get really tight, and it was the first movie I saw in theaters this year, and so I love a good Dumpy Worry release that just catches you off guard and surprises you, and so Companion's been one that's stayed with me all year long, really really like this movie.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Again, another film that I just it's on the watch list. I just got to sit down and watch it.
Speaker 1:I wish you had more time.
Speaker 2:I wish I had more time, for sure, but yes, something I will will will watch before the end of the year. My number three is probably my favorite theater experience of the year, which, you know, plays plays a huge role in in the enjoyment of these films. This is a packed theater on a friday night. Uh, over at the. Where were we? I think we went to amc burbank for this. Uh, but it's f1 and this is the big, loud blockbuster of the year that I've really, really enjoyed. Uh, that that I mean, other than my number one, of course. But uh, yeah, f1 is, you know, again, not not really reinventing the wheel, uh, per se, uh, you know a lot.
Speaker 2:I've heard a lot of talk where it's like, yeah, it's, it's Top Gun, maverick and you know, with four wheels, um, which it very much is. It's a sports movie, it plays all the tropes. You know, we had a whole episode on that with Marcus, um, but, man, it is just a thrilling experience on the big screen. And what Joseph Kaczynski is able to do with cameras and and building new types of cameras and, um, you know, uh, placing them in interesting places on these vehicles to capture the actor actually driving the car and being on in location at the races, and and to have someone like Brad Pitt in the middle of your film, you know, even though he says maybe 19 lines in the whole movie, still extremely charming, uh, and and watchable Like it's just, you know, uh, in in a, in a world where we don't get a lot of big sports movies that much anymore. You know, I, I feel like this has really taken the mantle as like probably the best, is it the best sports movie of the 21st century? Um?
Speaker 1:I would just I would say that there's something special about you, know, I think that you can. I think the easiest way to make a comparison like what you're what you're doing right now with F1, is when you order a cheeseburger at a restaurant and it's still a great tasting cheeseburger. That's to be admired. Because so many people can do it wrong, get too cute, try to do something different. Try to do something different.
Speaker 1:This movie doesn't really try to do anything different, aside from the nuances, the fun things that you're talking about, like camera placement, the sound design and of course that has so much to do with technology and everything Just getting bigger and better and louder and more high def. But that's a marvel of a cinematic achievement To pull it all off and not have it feel cliche In a way. That is. That is boring, because this movie's two and a half hours long and I would argue that it is the most digestible fast, no pun intended, but like runtime of the king of the summer so far, and I don't know if it will be knocked off by anything.
Speaker 1:Okay, so my number two is going to get interesting here. My number two favorite film of the year is from director Paolo Sorrentino and it's called Parthenope. This is a movie that's been on my watch list ever since I saw A24 was going to distribute it. Coming out of Italy, paolo Sorrentino is a director that I am completely unfamiliar with. This is my first movie of his. He's directed other things the Great Beauty, the Hand of God, this movie called Youth. He did the miniseries that I believe was on HBO or maybe Apple with Jude Law, called the Young Pope. He's very, very interested in his home country of Italy with themes of religion and guilt and sexuality and repressed emotions, remorse, and these are all things, if you've been listening to the show for the last four years that I'm super into and find very, very interesting, especially in an international filmmaker who has just grown up in a different culture than us, right, and I think that there's quote unquote different rules in different countries. You know the French make their films different than the way that the Italians make their films, which is different from the way that the Germans make their films, which is certainly different from the way that we make our films, you know, here in America, and so I love to see all of that.
Speaker 1:And so this movie, parthenope, blew me away. First off because of how stunning it looks like. It is the most beautiful movie that I have seen all year. Not to sound cliche, but every single scene looks like a painting. We are in naples, we're on the coast of naples, and so you can just imagine, like the sun bathing, everything, these beautiful, beautiful blues and reds and yellows. Um, it it is. It is striking how how pretty this movie is.
Speaker 1:Um, it is also anchored by um, an actress who I believe was making her her debut. Her name is celeste alaporta, and, and she is one of the most incredible. Like she's, she's breathtaking, she's I'm sorry, but she's breathtakingly beautiful and it's, and it's it's so perfect because parthenope is a. Is is the name of a siren from greek mythology that would lure sailors to their death out in the open ocean, um, out in the sea. And. And so it works so well because this story, it is a coming of age movie about this woman who has this incredible beauty, and she is aware of her beauty, but she is told throughout the movie that has a two hour long runtime, that she is so mysterious and that she is such she she is so rare in in her beauty and in her personality because she doesn't use it for gain. And now, in her opinion, in her view, she she is, she understands her beauty, but she's also like an academic.
Speaker 1:This movie is all about anthropology and academic. This movie's all about anthropology. She really, really, really wants to become an anthropologist and has an incredible relationship with, with her professor who, basically, is her like pseudo father, father figure, throughout this film, um, it kind of borders along the lines of fantasy, you know, again, like this is. I don't know if this is something that sorrentino does in all his films, but he takes really big swings and has some dreamlike sequences in this movie that just show you some incredible um imagery. And then there's other things that are grounded in reality, that just feel completely aberrant and strange and weird. And, and there is some some tough, challenging um uh storylines here with with sexuality, like this parthenope is so beautiful, her brother can't help but have these like incestual thoughts about what it would be like to be with her. Her first love is someone else who, like, lives in her family's villa with her. He's the son of, of of their housemaid, and so it it's.
Speaker 1:It's a movie that scratches a couple of different itches. Like it looks like the talented Mr Ripley, it's a coming of age story. The way that call me by your name feels just like, and whether you can relate to the the protagonist, your main characters, like personal journey or not, it reminds me a lot of that. And then the other, the protagonist, your main characters, like, um, personal journey or not, it reminds me a lot of that. And then the other one, that that I think the characters most closely resemble, is the worst person in the world. Um, the Joaquin Trier film from a few years ago. I was getting real. Um, I saw a lot of similarities between this film and this movie.
Speaker 1:Now, I don't want to be irresponsible and just blindly um recommend this film without this movie. Now, I don't want to be irresponsible and just blindly um recommend this film without also acknowledging some things that I've learned about paulo sorrentino that are mostly anecdotal. But like you go and you read the the top rated reviews, and I put this in my letterboxd review, which was quite extensive. But because this movie is, it had a great impact on me and so I again like, I want to be responsible when talking about it, but also, like the criticisms that I've read, I just don't see.
Speaker 1:Everything is talking about how sorrentino, for his entire career, has always, um, put the the female characters in his movie. He's always shot them through the male gaze and not necessarily like objectified them, but been in a place where he doesn't really fully develop characters outside of maybe what their purpose is aesthetically on film. What he's doing in this movie, which people are thinking like he's he isn't aware of the fact that, like you can't just then make your whole movie about some beautiful woman and have the entire story be about her beauty myth right that lures people to the death via their beauty, and so, of course, this movie is going to be about that kind of stuff. Um, so I don't know it's. It's something that I'm still kind of wrestling with. I also don't know, like how many people truly care and if, like the 10 reviews that I've read negatively that are at the top of letterbox, or just some from some keyboard warriors who, like need to get out and touch grass and and understand that like you go to the italian coast.
Speaker 1:This, this is what art is supposed to do um and so I don't know, totally passes the vibe. Check the whole movie. A coming of age story. For it to be effective, I think needs to be something universal that feels like a memory, and this movie feels like you're watching someone's memories and I love it for that, and so this movie is available to stream right now on hbo max. I highly recommend it. This is such a good movie. This start if you've just like you're burnt out it's maybe a sunday, it's sunny out though and you're just kind of like I don't have it in me just like make some food, do a charcuterie board, do something where you can just like snack your way through this movie on a sunny day at two o'clock, where you yourself feel kind of like washed in color, um and and and it's just it was a great time Like. This movie is really really really good and it's going to stick with me for for a long time. It's, it's kind of a knockout. So parthenopy highly recommend it.
Speaker 2:Parthenopy throwing it on the list, the watch list. Uh, I think my number two is probably your number one.
Speaker 1:Okay. So we can have that conversation now about Eddington.
Speaker 2:Yeah, eddington, you know we we've just did a whole episode on this movie. So you know, I I would encourage people to go back and and watch that or or listen to that. You could watch, watch or listen. I don't know if is that what that didn't get on the. I've been so bad listeners.
Speaker 2:Uh, about getting this youtube up and running. I do have a little bit more time, uh, working from home now, but, um, so hopefully I I can get some, some of the backlog up on video. But uh, yeah, eddington, you know, again, just like a movie that has so many different layers to it, that has so much to say but not say at you, right, it's, it's strange, it's funny, it's dark, it's, it is um, extremely brutal, um, and you know, just in the best ari aster way that he can that he tends to do, uh, and then you know he drapes it in a, a western setting, uh, he gets big movie stars to come in and play uh, big, big parts and leading parts, as you know, pedro pascal or uh joaquin phoenix does, but then also in supporting roles like austin butler and emma stone.
Speaker 2:Um, it's just again much like a like, like, like black bag, like it is just a straight up adult drama with, you know, a master storyteller and I I don't think it's hyperbole to say Ari is already a master because he writes and he's your ex and he knows exactly what he wants and his movies are exactly him. So just a great movie. That again, I think also as I was talking about Mickey 17 earlier will continue to grow in years to come and, and I think honestly, I think Mickey 17 and Eddington, you know, have things to say to each other.
Speaker 2:Honestly, I think Mickey 17 and Eddington, you know, have things to say to each other, right, Like I think Bon Ju is doing his style of what Ari is also doing in Eddington, or at least you know, they both have something to say about our current time or the moment in time. So, yeah, I love Eddington, a movie that I continue to think about too.
Speaker 1:Right, right, like that's always the mark of a good film. Yeah, I think I'm learning.
Speaker 2:Yeah, lingering, lingering.
Speaker 1:Movies are the best it's been lingering with me since I've seen it as well, and I think the the part of the filmmaking process behind the movie that I've learned more about just from, like you know, seeing Instagram reels of Ari talking during different interviews about the, about the film and the production and so many people are interested in, and when he started to develop this movie, and how much of his real feel and how much of his own feelings are in in the film. And what I've really come to admire about ari is that he is so articulate in the way that he talks about how he sometimes doesn't know how something is going to work or land, because it's all up here, right, it's all in his head, and he doesn't really know until he puts it out there how it's going to land. He knows what it's going to look like. He knows what it's going to sound like, cause, you're right, he is already a master at his craft. But it's so interesting to hear him say things like well, I didn't know if anybody else was experiencing these feelings that I was having back in 2020.
Speaker 1:And so I needed to tell a story about that, and it's like it'd be easy just to say like well, yeah, dude, like. Of course, you would know that everyone else is feeling these themes of isolation and yada, yada, yada. But it's all the other stuff that he explores in this movie about memory and about grief and about time, through these different characters that you're like. He did not just tell a story about life during the pandemic, he told a story about each and every single one of these different characters in this movie, and it's so impressive that he's able to do both at the same time, and so I I've really grown to appreciate this movie even more, which I already had rated at a a five, because this is my favorite kind of filmmaking. Like the duality of this storytelling and this movie is just so impressive, like the script is so, so good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and yeah yeah, and it's got and again just got some great, great shots in it too, like I, I think about, I think about walking it's, it's like minimalist I feel like the visual style is very minimal.
Speaker 1:Minimalist, but, like we talked about on the episode a couple weeks ago, it's like watching kubrick. Like you know, everything in the frame is there for a reason and it's been positioned to face the camera at a certain angle. Like it is, the shots are incredible. What were those scenes?
Speaker 2:The moment when Joaquin gets in line to go into the grocery store and he is just like he's like pushed to the far right of the frame and just this giant mural of Pedro Pascal behind him and there's people in front of them Some are wearing masks, some aren't and like his look of disgust and annoyance, like I'm, I'm going to ape that, that exact shot I just love. I love that framing. It's so good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, eddington's, it's. It's a five-star movie. If you haven't seen it yet, go out, find it. Um still in theaters for a couple more weeks, I would assume.
Speaker 2:So, again, highly recommended from the two of us yeah, and then my number one movie uh was your number four, yeah which is sinners. And if eddington is your favorite kind of like filmmaking storytelling movie in general, sinners is is is mine like it.
Speaker 1:So I think I I just want to pause real quick because I think this is maybe correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is the first time where you and I've really been able, on air, to have a discussion about sinners together I, I believe so, because you yeah you saw it. You didn't get to see it in theaters. I did not see it in theaters, no.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so, and and again, the more I've thought about sinners like the fact that Ryan Coogler was able to make half of a Michael Mann movie and half of a John Carpenter movie and smash them together is just, it's just fantastic genre, uh, movie making and I'm I'm a huge genre guy Like those are the stories I love. That's the kind of movies, that's the kind of stuff I, you know, strive to make um and or work on. Uh, and yeah, I just think, and yeah, I just think Sinners is just such a fun watch and such a thrilling action movie, but also has horror tropes in it. It honestly feels like such a carpenter-like coded movie, which is probably why I really, really love it. And it's gory in all the right ways. It's sexy, it's um, you know it. It also has like backstory that you want to know more about. Uh, it's got great performances, it looks beautiful, it sounds beautiful.
Speaker 1:I, I just think sinners uh, is, is kind of just the marriage Again, the marriage of like I don't even know if you can call it prestige, but like it's a perfect blend of what having not seen it in the theater, not being part of a big crowd, which part of me regrets, of course, but another part of me is really excited. Um, I'm, I'm happy that I waited until I could watch it at home and have the ability, not that I paused and got up and did other things or looked at a second screen, of course, but like I just being able to like really lay there and kind of almost like talk out loud to uh with myself during during some scenes, um was was really great because it I feel like I almost watched the movie at like 75 percent speed, like everything was just a little bit slower for me, as it maybe would have if it might not have been that way in the theater. It might've felt more propulsive and faster, and so, um, especially that first hour really washed over me and just like just soaked through my skin and I and I wanted to see a whole movie of that um, of of the two brothers as crime figures returning to to this town that they grew up in here in the south and the different interpersonal relationships that they have, and are they going to be followed by organized crime from from al capone's gang in chicago, and is there going to be, um more, even more, of a mob element to this movie? Like I was so interested in that and I like there's no one else to blame I, because I gave this movie a four and a half out of five. There is like 10 where where I am like blaming, blaming Ryan, because I am like you showed us something so awesome and then you kind of took it away from us for this vampire story which and I put this in my review thematically I think is so interesting and doing what horror should be doing and has been doing at the highest level for decades and decades and decades, and that is exploring challenges and tough conversations in society.
Speaker 1:And so for him to set a vampire movie in the jim crow era, in the Jim Crow era in the South, and then you take everything we know about vampirism and how he uses it as a metaphor for, like, actually being able to take autonomy over your body and you're not owned as a slave anymore, you are. You are something else. Now, right, you are a slave to eternity. You are someone who now can never die and never escape this. But the ideas and the way that the vampires are talking to everybody at this party, that Michael B Jordan is throwing, he's saying like here's your liberation Come with me and we will rise above all of this and we will outlive all of this, and I think that that is so interesting and so smart and something that I'm sure in his like I know, spike lee is a huge fan of this movie.
Speaker 1:Um, I haven't heard too many other like prominent black filmmakers talk about the film, but but I'm sure they are all in awe of what Ryan was able to do by by bringing these two different ideas together in a genre picture, and it is all about the action. Then that's where the movie I think, just like we take a step back a little bit and just I think I just felt the struggle between, like, wanting to make an action movie and a vampire movie versus this really prestigious, really heady, really interesting drama that was starting to play out and that was playing out so well. And so it is this balance of spectacle that I still think. Listen like it's a. It's a minus for me. It's obviously still in my top five for the year.
Speaker 1:Um, but gosh, is it a movie that that really makes you think and and uh, and you don't even have to get that deep into it, like you can almost wait out the first hour and then get to the, the John Carpenter vampires, um, nature of it all, where we are playing on on lore and on vampire rules that we know and that we love as fans of the genre of, like they need to be invited in.
Speaker 1:You know, they're getting like garlic water, they're getting wooden stakes sharpened, like it turns into from dusk till dawn, basically in in the final act and that's and that's awesome, um, but, but yeah, when, when we go from the fastball to the slider, I just I couldn't, I couldn't hit that slider um, every time.
Speaker 1:And so I still love the movie, um, but haven't really gotten a chance outside of my Letterboxd review to like to, to talk about or to write about the film. And so those, those are my thoughts on Sinners, and I again still think that it's an incredible movie and worth every single bit of the praise and acclaim in the box office result of the film. Um, I, I think it's just amazing that this movie did as well as it as it did and in a way that I don't feel like is um for any sort of cash grab or any sort of. You know like we're not trying to turn this into a franchise, but I love the coda at the end in the way that the door is left open for this story to continue. If coogler and if michael b jordan wanted to and hayley steinfeld, she would obviously be involved. If you've seen sort of the post-credits scene, so um, I I love it for that.
Speaker 2:I think it did just about everything as good as you can possibly do it yeah, it's really interesting because, again, like it is, it is two movies right, like if if it was just a vampire film from start to finish, like I think it would be a good film if it was just the crime drama that it is in the first half, I think it'd be a good film.
Speaker 1:I think it could be a great film, if it was just that.
Speaker 2:And I think to me, being able to put those two together and, I think, seamlessly pretty intertwine them to me is what makes it so special. And yes, I do think the action. I like the initial, like rushing into the barn and the fight there, but then like when we're out in the water and all that stuff, it gets a little, you know b movie, but like I think that's what it's trying to do again intentional, yeah yeah, so, yeah, it's, it's, it's a great, great film, great film.
Speaker 2:Can't wait to to own it. On on there.
Speaker 1:There is a 4k out there already.
Speaker 2:I do know this yeah, um, okay.
Speaker 1:So then what's? What's just on the outside looking in for you?
Speaker 2:uh, so warfare, it's right up, there.
Speaker 1:Uh, alex Garland's my number eight right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's, it's sitting at number six for me. Uh, mickey 17,. As I mentioned, is that my seven spot? Um the life of Chuck and the ballad of Wallace Island. Too much like just sentimental. You know, life is beautiful. Uh, real good study, yeah, feel good. Arc movies, um, that I've really enjoyed and, like you know, I think in years past probably would have been further down on my list. But I don't know if I'm just getting softer uh each year.
Speaker 2:but these, both of these movies, I think really, really, really, uh, grabbed me. The ballad of Wallace Island is one I watched just last night, uh, and it is in my top 10. It is a absolute love letter to like folk music of the early two thousands, like the head and the heart, uh, the Ava, ava brothers, um, you know, and that is music that, just like I love.
Speaker 2:Yes, so also, interestingly enough, tim was. I think his name is his name Tim story or Tim Tim key. Tim key, who is one of the leads in the ballad of Wallace Island, also wrote the movie. He might've directed it as well. Ballad of wallace island also wrote the movie. He might have directed it as well. He is seen as the pigeon man in mickey 17. Oh, you're the guy in the pigeon suit. Yeah, uh, so that guy's having a good year, um. And and then number 10, uh, is presence, which is the other soda bird movie from this year, um, uh. So that kind of rounds out my top 10. How about you?
Speaker 1:yeah, I had warfare in there, I have f1 in there, um, I also have hanging around um, and then the movie I saw very early on in the year. The 10 spot is the gorge I I love the gorge for being um, as schlocky and as silly, um, and action-packed, Should have been in theaters.
Speaker 2:man.
Speaker 1:And it should have been in theaters. I think that movie would have had much longer legs had it have gotten a wider release. And then rounding out the top 10 is a film that I watched just last night. That I won't say I let the expectations get the better of me, because I still really enjoyed it, but I do think I was. I was looking for something like capital S special, and this movie still is special, but it just didn't quite hit their reach, or I don't know if it hit its its ceiling.
Speaker 1:And that's the ugly stepsister. The movie that I've been promising to watch for months now Finally got around to it. It's available on Shudder, a German film that I did not know, this going into it, but it it is like the it is the substance meets Cinderella, the it is the substance meets cinderella. So it's a very dark, grim fairy tale that takes place in this fairy tale world, where there is um a, a mother with three daughters. Two of them are her own. The most beautiful of the three daughters is the daughter of her late husband, who dies right after they marry, and so the Cinderella character in this movie is actually not our main protagonist. We are with one of Cinderella's stepsisters. Who is getting this pressure from Cinderella's stepmother to marry the prince of the ball? Because the family has not married into money the way that they thought that they did, and so there is great body horror in this movie. You know it takes place.
Speaker 1:Not that I think that the fairy tale, cinderella, has any time period on it, but this is like Victorian era, you know gowns and balls and princes and princesses and things of that nature. And so the technology, especially in the medical field, not where it is today. And so when the ugly stepsister needs a rhinoplasty, when she needs a nose job, it is wild. When she goes to get eyelash extensions, they are sewn in, and we see it. When she needs to lose weight, guess what? There's no Ozepic. And so she's eating a tapeworm and this tapeworm is growing inside of her as she's eating whatever she wants and still losing weight. The face that Max is making right now is the face I was making while watching it, but also letting out like the oh my.
Speaker 2:God, you know like this.
Speaker 1:This movie is a ton of fun, like it is, it's a great time, and so I don't know I'm going to, I'm going to sit with it for a little while because I actually just finished it this morning before we popped on to record this episode, so very fresh in my mind. A top 10 movie from the year, pretty comfortably, but just not, I don't know, in some ways not what I expected. I still think that it's really well executed, but again, I don't know what the ceiling for a film like this is, necessarily, but I and I haven't written a review of it yet, um, so I'll kind of think through it here, but I, I feel like it did just. It came up a little bit short, but still a really really good time.
Speaker 1:Um, with another international, um, you know film that I don't think necessarily fits into the horror genre. It's more body horror and and like dark comedy, um, and and and it's it's substance, like it is, it really is, um. So if you have the stomach for it, I can, I can definitely recommend the ugly step sister Now, having finally seen it.
Speaker 2:I wonder if I, I wonder if the writer spent a lot of time here in LA, because it seems to be attacking beauty standards and oh, 100% is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah it's. It's really fun. It's a good one, it is Okay. So, as for what's next year on the pod, max and I will be briefly discussing the new film together which we want to check in on some movies that are still to come.
Speaker 1:Oh, a couple more anticipation ones. Yeah, let's throw. Let's throw a few titles out there. Thanks for thanks for stopping me.
Speaker 1:Um, I mean, I already mentioned, you know, I, I guess I'll pull up the watch list here so that I can, um, give everybody their 15 seconds of fame. You know, and this is going back, this is like I should have found time to watch this. I still need to watch the Shrouds by David Cronenberg to see where that film lies by the end of the year. But, oh my gosh, dude, my watch list is so funny when I look at the stuff that's still just like hanging around on here. And when I added things, um, it's really funny.
Speaker 1:So, the park chan wook film um, well, I'll start. I'll start with the pedro almolvidar film actually the room next door, which technically is a 2024 release, but I don't think it's been released on video yet or on demand here in in the united states, and so need to watch that movie. Um, I'm going to count that as a 2025 release. Julia ducarneau's alpha, which I know didn't play all that well, it can, but I'm a julia ducarneau um defender, um, until she proves me otherwise. Um, I think she just makes incredible films, so really looking forward to that. And then, yeah, what is the Jim Jarmusch? My brother, sister, father, mother.
Speaker 2:Yeah, father, mother, sister, brother.
Speaker 1:Yes, thank you. And then, once I keep scrolling through here, there's a lot of random stuff. There's still some Christmas random stuff. Um, there's still some Christmas cringe that I have on my watch list. I need to get that off of here. Um, let's see, where is this new park Chan wook film? Do you have the title of it? Uh?
Speaker 2:yes, uh, no other choice.
Speaker 1:No other choice, thank you, yeah, um, um, it's my big one for the year, right there I think.
Speaker 2:I think the next big one for me is weapons, and weapons, yes yes um, I'm very stoked for that again, just like a, very like we got kids, evil kids running around. Um feels very stephen keen, very john carpenter um and crager is like, he's in there. He's in our good graces right now right uh ballad of a small player uh by edward berger who did did Conclave last year All quite on Western front.
Speaker 2:It's a high-stakes gambler decides to lay low in Macau, starring Colin Farrell as your poker player, very excited for that. You know. Borgogna another Yorgos movie starring emma stone is coming, um, hopefully, you know, soonish. It's about all about conspiracy, um, and kind of like a kidnapping of a high-powered ceo, which I can't wait for. Um, the running man, yeah, yeah, I think it's just going to be a great time. Glenn Powell, edgar Wright, science fiction, dystopian I mean, it's just right up my alley. I know we've talked about PTA and One Battle After Another. We've got movies coming from both Safdie brothers this year the Smashing Machine, which I hope is good. That photos look pretty cool.
Speaker 2:Dwayne Johnson you know, maybe we're actually turning a corner here. And he wants to be in good stuff. And then Marty Supreme from the other. So what? The Smashing Machine is Benny Safdie. And then from Josh Safdie, is Marty Supremey supreme supposed to come out in december starring uh timmy timmy shams. Um, good luck, have fun, don't die I. I think it's supposed to come out this year from our guy gorbaachev, yeah, yeah, who we haven't seen in a long time um, I also have um.
Speaker 1:I need to organize this. I wonder if there's a way to organize by year. But I also found him I'm really looking forward to him from director justin tipping, and this is the new monkey paw production, jordan peele's production company, um, so I think that's going to be really a really interesting movie, kind of set in the world of um, maybe not the nfl, but in professional football at least uh, jay kelly by noah bomback, george clooney, adam sandler, laura dern, billy crudup are the top four.
Speaker 2:Uh, booked on that. That's going to be great. I Want your Sex. Greg Araki I just started getting into some of his stuff from the 90s. He's a very fun filmmaker, so I'm excited for some wildness in that Del Toro's Frankenstein.
Speaker 1:Big Jim is still to come this year, guys I watched the trailer.
Speaker 2:Did you watch the trailer? I did it looks it. You know, like every avatar trailer, it just looks extremely stupid and silly.
Speaker 1:here's, here's the thing I I was talking to our friend blaine about james cameron the other day because he said he heard or saw an Instagram reel where it was like, doesn't this suck. That just like where James Cameron is just like wasting 15 years are the kind of movies he makes, like he has lived in in ip and in big blockbusters, um, you know, going back to terminator 2, which I think people love the most, um, out of his you maybe say something like true lies is a bit more original, but like the titanic is only as good as its movie stars make it like that movie is just a seventies disaster film, shot with the advances of CGI that we had in 1997. And I I argued that, if you put you know he was the. The good fortune of casting Leonardo DiCaprio in that movie I think has helped that film's legacy immensely.
Speaker 1:Because whenever I see someone go back and watch Titanic now, everyone's like this CGI hasn't held up and, of course, like you can't hold that against it. It looks good now, but like it's the movie stars, it's Kate Winslet and it's Leonardo DiCaprio, because that very easily could have been, and not that this would have made it worse, but that could have been Matt Damon or, in a way that it would have made it worse, that could have been Mark Wahlberg, that could have been so many other people. And if you're watching Titanic now, you're sort of just like, eh, you know, and so I don't think that Jim staying in the Avatar franchise is somehow robbing us of like you know, him making a 1917 or an all quiet on the western front or some other big action, epic historical war film or something else like that, like this is what he wants to do. He's obsessed with water.
Speaker 1:he is, uh, he is really all the elements all the elements he's obsessed with with with with the earth, and so let him just like, let James do what he wants to do. Is is my stance.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and and listen, everyone can talk shit on it. Guess what it's. It's probably going to be the third highest grossing movie, behind the other two.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's the thing. That and that was the other thing. Someone said that. Like I read, read on, I think I was on reddit and saw a comment that someone was like well, disney's just gonna keep letting him make these movies because they're easy cash grabs and I'm like they are, but they aren't. These movies cost like a quarter of a billion to make. Like he's leveraging an insane production budget in hopes to make, at least you know, half a bill on these movies, which they make, but like that's.
Speaker 2:That's incredible that these are the dollar figures that were thrown out yeah, and then the last one I'll throw out is after the hunt, uh, a new luca guadagnino movie that's right. That's right, wow, yeah, great year still to come, robert yeah, andrew garfield, and it's about a sex scandal at a college I'm in.
Speaker 1:That's great. Okay, so now for next week's episode. We're going to talk a little bit about Together and then we're going to spend some time reviewing and frankly criticizing the recently published New York Times Top 100 Films of the 21st Century Max. This was an episode idea that you came up with. You've already had a chance to go through the list, kind of highlight some films that you haven't seen, maybe find some talking points already. What do you expect from this episode?
Speaker 2:Listen, there's. What does a list do other than make us mad and debate? Yeah, I would love a list. Yes, yeah, there's. There are some, some filmmakers that are omitted from this list that I think you know need to be talked about. I think you know there's. You know someone who I love, steven Spielbergberg. I think only has one movie on this list, like, I'm sorry, did spielberg only make one movie in the 21st century? I don't think so. I know he's a big 20th century guy and a lot of his, you know, I, I think some of his hall of fame stuff is in that 20th century, but there there's more than than one. I think we could have got on here. Also, you know, I, I, I do love that there's. There could have been a lot more crap. I feel like. I feel like they're they do a pretty good job of even though they're a wow, I just saw one number, 52, like I can't believe that's number 52 already. But, um, I think they do a pretty good job of trying to grab international films.
Speaker 1:Try, you know, doing big films but then also doing the smaller, more indie films as well at first blush, the international component was something that I had a problem with, but the more I'm looking at this list now, I feel like there's decent representation.
Speaker 2:I think there's there's good representation. I think there's some like number 25, I think is extremely high, and maybe I've just been, alex, pilled over the years by doing this podcast with you. No, that's too high, I also, you know. But uh, I also think 13 is is unbelievable, that it should not be number 13,. But good, yeah, I mean I think there'll be a lot of good stuff to kind of kind of dig into here.
Speaker 1:A lot to chew on, for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so lot of good stuff to kind of kind of dig into here. A lot to chew on for sure, yeah. So it'll be really interesting, uh, if, if I have time, I'll try and do some more like data, maybe try and get like some you know how many, how many times or you know like repeat filmmakers on here or yeah, yeah or you know, maybe genre stuff, whatever. Um, I'll try and get some more data out of this list, but we love.
Speaker 2:We love numbers love, love a list, love a list and uh, I think it's a good time to talk about it. You know, I, I together, I'm really anticipating, together. I I think it's going to be a great horror movie. Yeah, um, a lot of body horror stuff uh in that. But uh, I think right now, you know, less homework feels good, and so for us to just kind of go through this and and dig into it would be great yeah, um, august is fun because august is sort of the dumping grounds of summer, so we'll be getting creative coming out in august what's that also a predator movie coming out in august.
Speaker 1:Yeah, badlands that'll be great, that'll be awesome. Um, chloe grace moretz pod incoming. Oh, is that who it is? Yeah, oh, dang, that's a bummer. Okay, well, good for her we could.
Speaker 2:We could examine their, uh, their, their filmography and see how many movies we could, we could swap them swap.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, it would be a lot. So until next time, please follow excuse the intermission on instagram and the two of us on letterboxd to track what we're watching between shows, and we'll talk to you next time on eti, where movies still matter you.
