Grain of Salt: Matt's Top 10 Films of 2025

in , , , , ,

Up until a couple of months ago, I wasn’t certain that I was going to complete a full post like this, as my willingness and capacity to do so has traditionally been commensurate not JUST with how much time I have available during the last week of the year (though that is always a factor) but also with my passion for the year’s films. After all, the top film on this list has occupied that spot and hasn’t budged since I first saw it in April. That being said, the Quicktime catch ups and late inning screenings that I have been occupying myself with since October (number two on this list moved up a spot after each of my three screenings of it in the last week!) necessitated that I commit to making a proper list, as 2025 turned out to be (sneakily?) kind of a banner year. The 25th year of the 21st Century started with Hollywood literally burning and ended with it figuratively burning. But I guess that makes Ryan Coogler, James Cameron, Jafar Panahi, Chloe Zhao, and Josh Safdie the unelected Neros that we need right now. They’re not going down without a fiddle.

Read More

NOLAN WEEK: Bonus Podcast - 25 Years of Nolan on the Eve of the "Oppenheimer Oscars"

in , , , ,
 
 

We’ve come to the end of Nolan Week, folks.
The Academy Awards are nigh and we’re here to offer the last word on the soon-to-be-Oscar-annointed OPPENHEIMER.

Join Matt and SPECIAL GUEST BRIAN BOARINI (!) for a three-hour tour of a quarter-century filmography.
It’s time, folks. It’s Nolan time.

Email: wlmpodcast@gmail.com
Donate: Thanks!
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Stitcher / Overcast / RSS

NOLAN WEEK: Encore Podcast - Episode 319 - The TENET Talkdown and Final Rankings

in , , , , ,
 
 

It’s TENET-talkdown time, team.

We chat. We disagree. We rank.
Sound good?

Email: wlmpodcast@gmail.com
Donate: Thanks!
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Stitcher / Overcast / RSS

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Stitcher / Overcast / RSS
Donate: Thanks!
Email: wlmpodcast@gmail.com

Sound good?
We chat. We disagree. We rank.

It’s TENET-talkdown time, team.

NOLAN WEEK: Encore Podcast - Episode 311 - The DARK KNIGHT Trilogy and the Battle for the Soul of a City

in , , ,
 
 

You know them, you’ve seen them, and you certainly have opinions about them.
Join us as we revisit three of the most successful, influential, and subversively political films of the 21st century- courtesy of a man who insisted that he had absolutely no political agenda in mind when he made them.
We’ll [attempt to] get to the bottom of this thematic paradox…

- BATMAN BEGINS (2005)
- THE DARK KNIGHT (2008)
- THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012)

Email: wlmpodcast@gmail.com
Donate: Thanks!
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Stitcher / Overcast / RSS

NOLAN WEEK: Encore Podcast - Episode 310 - A Keynote Introduction to our CHRISTOPHER NOLAN Series

in , , , ,
 
 

As we traverse the last few miles in the marathon that will end at the 96th Academy Awards, it has become clear that “foregone conclusion” is the proper term to describe this year’s Best Director race. We here at WE LIKE MOVIES could not be happier with this inevitability as we look forward to no longer living in a world in which Christopher Nolan has zero Oscars.

In honor of the occasion, we have decided to revisit our recent Oeuvre series about Mr. Nolan. For the next few days, leading up to Sunday’s Oscar Ceremony, we will be posting “encore presentations” of all episodes of the Nolan series, culminating in a brand new BONUS EPISODE celebrating the only film not covered in our original countdown: Best Picture frontrunner OPPENHEIMER.

We begin with the rare “solo pod,” in which Matt inaugurates the series with a narratology lecture about Nolan’s unique storytelling acumen.

Follow us this week for podcasts about all twelve of the director’s films, spanning his quarter-century career.

View the complete version of Matt’s Nolan video essay HERE

Email: wlmpodcast@gmail.com
Donate: Thanks!
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Stitcher / Overcast / RSS

318: Celebrating TRAFFIC on its 20th Anniversary (w/Special Guest Brian Boarini)

in ,
 
 

On this week’s episode, we’re joined by special guest BRIAN BOARINI for a discussion about Steven Soderbergh’s undervalued and under-discussed 2000 masterpiece, TRAFFIC, on the occasion of the film’s 20th anniversary.

Email: wlmpodcast@gmail.com
Donate: Thanks!
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Stitcher / Overcast / RSS

314: The Quintessentials: SORCERER (1977) - w/ Special Guest Dan Kelly!

in , , , ,
 
 

Welcome to the inaugural episode of our new podcast series “The Quintessentials”!

Here we will be identifying and excavating a sub canon of important films that, for whatever reason, have been lost to time or overshadowed by their more popular or successful counterparts in a a chosen filmmaker’s oeuvre. These are the b-sides, the rarities, the deep dive picks… And while they’re almost never the most well known or celebrated selections in a body of work, they might just be–covertly–the filmmaker’s most instructive, stylistically-defining, and quintessential artistic statements.

For our first episode we figured we’d start with a layup- William Friedkin’s genre-defying 1977 masterpiece SORCERER.
Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Email: wlmpodcast@gmail.com
Donate: Thanks!
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Stitcher / Overcast / RSS

309: AFI #60 - DUCK SOUP (1933)

in , , , , ,
 
 

“Calling all nations. This is Rufus T. Firefly coming to you through the courtesy of the enemy. We're in a mess folks, we're in a mess. Rush to Freedonia! Three men and one woman are trapped in a building! Send help at once! If you can't send help, send two more women!”

Email: wlmpodcast@gmail.com
Donate: Thanks!
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Stitcher / Overcast / RSS

308: Oeuvre - The 3rd Age of JOHN MCTIERNAN - 1999 - 2003

in , , , , ,
 
 

We’re wrapping up our series on the career of one, John McTiernan, with a bang. Even if you haven’t seen or don’t care about the man’s relatively inauspicious, forgotten, “late period” films, consider joining us for an episode in which we reckon with some unexpected revelations and speculate about the potential for McT’s third act…
We’re referring to this third age as the “Spiral into Self-Inflicted Exile”.

-THE 13TH WARRIOR (1999)
-ROLLERBALL (2002)
-BASIC (2003)

(special thanks to Mr. Beau Marks — a true gentleman and longtime friend and collaborator of John McTiernan — for consulting on this series)

Email: wlmpodcast@gmail.com
Donate: Thanks!
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Stitcher / Overcast / RSS

306: Oeuvre - The 2nd Age of JOHN MCTIERNAN - 1992-1999

in , , , , ,
 
 

At long last we return to continue our journey through the career of one, John McTiernan.
We’re referring to this second age as his struggle from the “Jungle to the Upper East Side”.

-MEDICINE MAN (1992)
-LAST ACTION HERO (1993)
-DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE (1995)
-THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR (1999)

(special thanks to Mr. Beau Marks — a longtime friend and collaborator of John McTiernan — for consulting on this series)

Email: wlmpodcast@gmail.com
Donate: Thanks!
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Stitcher / Overcast / RSS

305: Retrospectating 1999 - A Year in Review

in , , , , ,
 
 

We’re going back to ‘99 ONE MORE TIME to organize our thoughts about the inaugural “retrospectating” series, the cosmic significance of the year in question, and whether or not decade-cappers consistently produce the best cinematic output.

And now we play the waiting game… Let’s all agree to meet back here in 2029 to take another look at that red letter year on the occasion of its 30th birthday…

Talkin’ 1999 just never gets old.

Email: wlmpodcast@gmail.com
Donate: Thanks!
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify / Overcast / RSS

304: Oscar and Matt's 2020 Oscar Predictions (and Matt Predictions)

in , , , , , ,
 
 

We’re back from the winter hiatus just in time to submit our official Oscar predictions and lock in the choices that will determine the winner of our yearly WLM wager.

Join us as we break down all 24 categories, get foolishly optimistic about PARASITE’s chance to make history on Oscar night, and even outline a few additions and subtractions we’d love to see implemented with respect to the future slate of categories.

We’re mere hours away from Hollywood’s biggest night! Whether the big prize goes to 1917 or PARASITE, it’s just important to remember that MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL has more Oscar nominations than UNCUT GEMS. Stew on that, get comfortable with the fact that you’re going to die someday, and just give in to the annual, bizarre, intoxicating power of Oscar weekend… Just let it happen.

Email: wlmpodcast@gmail.com
Donate: Thanks!
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify / Overcast / RSS

Grain of Salt: Matt's Top 10 Films of 2019

in , , , ,

One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2019 was to to embrace a new discipline of brevity in my writing- to tighten up my emails, my blog posts, and my essays. So, in the spirit of excising the fluff, the flab, and the streamofconsciousness drivel, I submit to you my ever-so-slightly-slimmer-best-of-the-year-list for 2019.

As usual, the quality films were frustratingly-backloaded into a fraught year that could have used some artistic catharsis earlier on. Regardless, the cinema of 2019 effectively landed an emotional rollercoaster of a decade with grace, sophistication, and the promise of what we could expect in the 2020s.

Read More

303: Oscar & Matt's Top 10s of 2019

in , , , , ,
 
 

It’s our annual ode to opinions.
We do it every year. We love it. What more do you need to know?
Listen in and leave comments. We value YOUR opinion. We treasure your friendship!

2019, we hardly knew ye….

Email: wlmpodcast@gmail.com
Donate: Thanks!
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify / Overcast / RSS

302: Retrospectating 1999 - ANY GIVEN SUNDAY (w/ Special Guest Dan Kelly!)

in , , , ,
 
 

So here we are…
We’ve finally come to the end of our year-long Retrospectating 1999 series and we’re bringing this thing in for a landing with the help of special guest Dan Kelly. He joins us for a bonus episode to celebrate Oliver Stone’s misunderstood masterpiece ANY GIVEN SUNDAY on the occasion of its 20th anniversary. It’s a fun one to end the series on, even if concluding this feature is quite bittersweet.

Thanks for hanging with us through this crazy game of inches, WLM family.
Happy holidays and we’ll see you in the next decade!

Email: wlmpodcast@gmail.com
Donate: Thanks!
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify / Overcast / RSS

301: Retrospectating 1999 - THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY / MAGNOLIA (w/ Special Guest Ryan Julio!)

in , , , ,
 
 

As we near the end of our Retrospectating 1999 series we’ve come to a long-awaited double-header:
Anthony Minghella’s THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY and Paul Thomas Anderson’s MAGNOLIA.

These films have very little in common besides the fact that they both feature the most important cinematic Phillips of 1999 (Seymour Hoffman and Baker Hall) and both premiered in late December of that year. But on this week’s episode–featuring special guest Ryan Julio in his 3rd WLM appearance–we dig deeper into other potential similarities and even fabricate scandalous conspiracy theories about filmmaker/composer relationships and histories.

It’s a post-Christmas miracle!

Email: wlmpodcast@gmail.com
Donate: Thanks!
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify / Overcast / RSS

300: The Top 10 Films of the 2010s Lists (Featuring 10 Special Guest Contributors!)

in , , , , , ,
 
 

What a long, strange trip it’s been.
It took us nearly a decade to get there but we’re extremely excited to announce that we’ve officially made it to 300 episodes on the We Like Movies Podcast feed!

In honor of the occasion we’ve invited back the ten beautiful individuals who have guested on the podcast over the years to share their thoughts on the greatest films of the last decade. Since we started this journey in October of 2010 (reviewing The Social Network, no less) and hit 300 episodes just shy of 2020, we decided it made sense to spend this week creating the definitive “WLM Best of the 2010s List”.

So, between our two lists and our ten guests’ lists there are 120 individual film picks in play. We’ve assigned a point system that works in contrary order to the ranking number. In other words, ranking ten on a list gets a film one point, ranking nine is worth two points, and so on. But a film has to have been mentioned on at least two lists in order to qualify for points. Using this highly sophisticated balloting system we will seek to create a MASTER LIST.

But first, join us as we scrutinize the individual lists, wax affectionate about our wonderfully-opinionated contributors, and take a walk down memory lane to reminisce about how this whole podcasting journey got started.

We are We Like Movies and we’re SO elated and grateful to still be liking movies (and each other) after 300 glorious episodes!
Thanks to YOU, WLM family. Here’s to 300 more.

Email: wlmpodcast@gmail.com
Donate: Thanks!
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify / Overcast / RSS