Keeping up my yearly tradition of tracking my theatrical viewing experiences I have very little revelation to report from 2016. The good news is that I managed to increase my number to 82- up 2 screenings from the last 2 years of lists.
Read More2016 in cinema was 75% whimper and 25% bang.
But what a bang! And luckily said bang came late, all but erasing the bad taste that the first 8 months left lingering in our collective mouths.
If only the cinema of 2016 could also erase the bad taste left over from what was happening outside of the movie theater...
Que sera. Movies are magic but they can't solve ALL of our problems.
Let's leave our cares and worries about the state of the world behind for the moment and take a brief little hopscotch down the memory lane of the last 12 months, shall we? If nothing else, the films of 2016 proved that "television" may have the more attractive business models and profit margins, but movies have Herzog, Chazelle, Lanthimos, Verhoeven, and Villeneuve. So... for now at least... movies still win.
Our beloved Top 10 of the year podcast is here again and this time around we someone managed to bring it in for a landing shy of 90 minutes.
Maybe we're gettin' better at this, nearly 200 episodes in...
We start off with a brief Golden Globes breakdown before diggin' in for the good stuff: Our favorite films of 2016. Thanks for being with us.
Happy New Year to you, our WLM faithful.
In our first podcast of 2017 we discussed the last films we caught in 2016.
And it goes a little something like this:
00:12:48 - LA LA LAND
00:42:00 - JACKIE
00:51:30 - FENCES
00:59:36 - ELLE
It's screwball time y'all.
One of the most inimitable couples ever to grace the silver screen achieve bicker-banter critical mass in the Howard Hawks classic BRINGING UP BABY. And if rat-a-tat chatter isn't your thing there's an extraordinarily well-trained leopard (the title character, natch) who's sure to hold your interest for 100 minutes.
We take only minor issue with this slightly-dated farce but our conversation actually blossoms into a more in-depth discussion on the nature and fundamentals of cinematic comedy. So there's that!
The first legitimate turkey on AFI's revised top 100 list materializes in the form of M. Night Shyamalan's "game-changer" psychological thriller THE SIXTH SENSE. The film that changed the way popular culture handles spoilers, foisted a catchphrase-whispering Haley Joel Osment upon the masses, and tried to sell us on one of Bruce Willis's least convincing hairpieces, gets the WLM treatment this week. We're tough... but fair!
Listen in. We're more critical this time around but it makes for some incisive pod. Truly!
SWING TIME is a film of modest narrative ambitions but vast musical and choreographic pleasures. On this week's episode we take the sour with the sweet as we break down the film's charm, substance, and shortcomings. This is a nice, tight convo with very little filibustering. We're proud of this one. Thanks for listening.
(sigh) It's time to talk about SOPHIE'S CHOICE.
We promise that our conversation is not as much of a downer as the movie is.
Actually that's unfair. The movie is an incredible dramatic achievement. But boy is it an emotional investment to get through it...
Deep breath. Here we go...
It’s GOODFELLAS. It’s time. It’s gonna be a gush-fest.
What more do you need to know?
Give it a listen otherwise Sally Balls’ brother Fat Andy will be forced to make you listen.
The second best picture winner of the AFI Top 100 Countdown comes to the WLM Podcast this week and it brings with it a whole lot of early 1970s, "New Hollywood" pedigree. We're talkin' drugs, sex, needles, junkies, R&B, garbage fires, porkpie hats, racial epithets, cars chasing subways, Americans chasing Frenchman, and a whole lot of scenes of people sitting in cars, waiting for someone to come out of a nightclub or hotel. It's time for THE FRENCH CONNECTION, dear listeners. And what a glorious time that is.
Oscar's been out of town but Matt was itching to create some content so he rolled up his sleeves and got busy with a mellow and self-indulgent stroll through the career and creative resume of the master of cinematic ambience- Mr. Cliff Martinez.
In honor of his newest masterpiece, the soundtrack for THE NEON DEMON, Matt has cobbled together a countdown of Martinez's finest film forays. It's gonna get synthey up in here. And how.
The AFI countdown lands on the most important film of the last decade of the 20th Century. That alone is worth 35 minutes of impassioned gushing, right? Right.
It’s AFI time again and this week we’re chattin’ about Peter Bogdanovich’s beloved coming-of-age downer THE LAST PICTURE SHOW. It took us 5 films to get to a place of quasi-disagreement but there is more sparring than usual in this episode. Things get a little heated? Guess you’ll have to listen in to find out.
Next up on our AFI countdown is Spike Lee's seminal work, DO THE RIGHT THING. It's no secret that Oscar and I are big fans of this universally acclaimed film. But we do our best during the conversation to put the film into a historical context as opposed to a social one. It has always been a film to inspire controversy and conversation and we touch on both while also giving due credit to the exceptional ensemble cast, many of whom are doing career-best work here.
"I got it. I'm gone."
We're back to our old AFI Top 100 Challenge tricks with a lengthy discussion about a science fiction masterpiece as misunderstood as it is influential.
There will be:
-Navel gazing
-Robot alcoholism
-Cyberpunk signifiers
-Industrial fans (not to be confused with fans of industry)
-Frank Lloyd Wright fetishism
It's too bad this podcast won't last. But then again, what does?
WLM's newest feature, The AFI Top 100 Challenge presses on and this week we discuss the 20 year old animated classic, buddy comedy TOY STORY which takes the number 99 spot on the countdown.
There will be:
-Insult comics
-FULL METAL JACKET references
-Randy Newman singing about stuff he sees
-Tom Hanks throat-acting
-Jim Varney
To infinity and beyond, am I right?
I'll see myself out...
The AFI Top 100 Challenge is off to a rousing start with William Wyler's 4 hour monstrosity BEN-HUR.
To say this is an epic of biblical proportions would be an obtuse observation. But that doesn't make it not true.
There will be:
-Crucifixions
-Leper colonies
-Miracles
-Feats of strength
-Falling rooftop shingles
-and that chariot race...
I couldn't imagine a better film to start us off. It's gonna be a fun ride.
Nearly 4 years ago we conceived of a new feature of the We Like Movies blog: A 100-installment challenge dedicated to the American Film Institute's controversial "best" list. But the challenge proved to be too much for our fledgling website and the feature was abandoned after only 4 films.
But tonight, re-born and inspired by our recent WLM facelift, we submit to you the introduction to the definitive attempt at the AFI Top 100 Challenge! Our "spinoff" series begins here with an explanation of our intent and a delivery of the mission statement.
Join us as we journey from BEN-HUR to CITIZEN KANE and every film in between.
Viva la cinema!
It's official. Oscar and I have finalized our Top 10 of 2015 lists and we defend them to one another over the course of a two and a half hour conversation that represents the longest sustained podcast we've ever recorded.
Fasten your seatbelts. It's gonna be a bumpy night...
No, but seriously... it's a great episode and we sound off about THE REVENANT and ANOMALISA as well... Strap in and get comfortable. This is what it's all about.
Up until a few days ago I was feeling very bemused regarding 2015's cinematic output. All of the films my friends and colleagues were swooning over last year (THE REVENANT, ANOMALISA, THE BIG SHORT, SPOTLIGHT, CAROL, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, et. al.) had failed to resonate with me. It's not that I'm a non-conformist. I just can't force myself to champion a film that pivots on 2 hours of driving in 1 direction before a decision is made to backtrack over ground and into the mouth of the monster we were trying so hard to evade. But enough about SPOTLIGHT. That's a conversation for a different day.
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