The Breakdown of the Best Movies of 2022

It is the biggest episode of the year as we celebrate the greatness of the 2022 movie year. Both Scott and Christopher list their top ten best movies of 2022. It s a packed episode, and it has whole bunch of great movies to recommend for movie fans to track down.

Episode Transcript

(00:12):
They're coming to get you, Barbara. They're coming for you, Barbara.
That comes one of them. Now, Happy New Year, Welcome to twenty

(00:32):
twenty three. But before we coulddig into twenty twenty three proper, we
gotta look back at twenty twenty two. We gotta look back at the best
of twenty twenty two, because that'sright. It is our biggest episode of
the year. This is our bigone, This is our supersized This is
the breakdown of the best movies oftwenty twenty two, where we will both

(00:56):
be listing our top ten pictures ofthe year. And as you remember,
this is fact. This is objective. These are, without a doubt,
the best movies. There is nodisputing of it. This is not subjective.
This is the truth. I'm ChristopherSpicer, that's true, and I'm
Scott Martin. As you can tell, my co host has gone all Alex

(01:18):
Jones, right out of the right, out of the gate, and he's
absolutely right. This is truth.This is not fiction. This is not
fake news. Our lists are thedefinitive. And so when you listen to
them and you think, well,if they're both definitive and they're not subjective,
why are they different well, ifyou have to ask that question,

(01:40):
maybe you're not smart enough to listento the podcast. That's right. Maybe
you don't understand what truth is.If you can't understand how there is two
objective top ten lists, absolutely,and before we get into those absolute truths
of what our top tens are,just want to give a shout out.
This podcast is brought to you byspriaker Prime, great podcast hosting site,

(02:04):
and you can find a lot ofamazing podcasts over on spreaker Prime, as
well as brought to you by ourpop culture site Beyond the Balcony. There's
a lot of writings by Chris bringingin the new year. And if you
want to see the skills of ahome baker, you need look no further

(02:24):
than the skeletor birthday cake that Chris'swonderful wife made for their son for his
birthday. One of my great pleasuresevery year is when I post those cakes
to break about my wife's skills andpeople look at and be like, what
that's not store bought. I havea problem believing this. Yeah, I

(02:47):
know she's she is a cake wizard, that is for sure. And not
speaking of wizards, there has beensome film Wizards this year because Scott and
I have said many times throughout twentytwenty two is that it was one of
the best movie years. I've saidone of the best movie years since I've

(03:07):
started writing about movies, and Scotthas said the best movie year since he
started podcasting. My Top five downthe road, any of one of my
top five I could see being listedas one of my top ten favorite movies
of all time. Being about thisthis year is there are nineteen eighty four

(03:29):
brought three movies that are on mytop ten list, three films my top
ten list of all time, andthree films come from one year, which
is amazing. But this year couldtheoretically provide half of the films on my
top ten favorites of all time,so that says a lot. Well.

(03:51):
I was obviously joking when I wassaying that our lists are the objective truth.
I hope all our listeners realize that. And it's crazy because while I
was making this list my sort ofhonorable mentions, later I was look at
that, I realized that they couldhave been a top ten, Like this
year was so stacked where I kindof had a top twenty five list and

(04:15):
they are outside of maybe my topfour, I would say they're very interchangeable.
There is several movies that did notmake my top ten lists that,
depending the day, depending if Ihad my coffee yet, they could have
been in my top ten. Ihad the exact same issue. And there
is a long list of movies thatany other year would have easily easily been

(04:39):
a top ten film. But thisyear, there's just so much that happened.
Definitely an interesting year, and Ihaven't seen a lot of the you
know, the Oscar bait films thatcome out at this time of year.
My number ten film, Squeaking InThere not a movie that I would have
figured would make my list when Ifirst watched it, but the fact that

(05:03):
I've purchased it, I've watched itthree times, I've watched the commentary,
I have to figure that the unbearableweight of massive talent deserves to be on
this list. Is this a perfectmovie? No? But but what this
film absolutely excels at is the wonderful, hilarious, heartwarming bromance between Nicholas Cage

(05:33):
and Pedro Pascal's character Jave Tirez.It is just these two actors are absolutely
on fire in these roles, andthey depict such this just a wonderful chemistry.

(05:55):
The movie is very interesting in thatas they these two characters start writing
a screenplay, the movie starts adaptingitself into this the very screenplay that they
want to write. I think it'sjust a wonderful film. Nicolas Cage.
I mean, to be in amovie like this that sort of looks at,

(06:15):
you know, what the public thinksabout Nicholas Cage and being willing to
go into that shows some vulnerability.I just I love this film. It's
made me laugh so many times eachtime I watch it. There's certain scenes.
You know, a lot of movieshave the typical drug trip scenes.

(06:36):
This movie is just I love thisfilm. When a movie sticks with you
that much, I think you gottapay it, pay credit to it.
To me, that's the epitome ofa top ten of what earns sort of
one's personal best movies of the year, as the pictures that you keep out
wanting to watch again, for thepictures that you keep on thinking about,

(06:59):
and that sort of the magnificent thingabout movies is I think several years ago
with Get Out, where I watchedthat picture, I thought, oh,
that was a fine, well madehorror picture, and then by the media,
I rewatched it and I was like, no, this is actually a
really good horror picture, and bythe end of the year it's one of

(07:19):
the best movies of the year.And that's kind of the incredible things about
movies is I think what you rewatched, things you start knows any things you
hadn't seen before. The depth ofthose movies I had, I must have
like a Nicholas Cage blind spot whereI think he's so great. So I
just assumed everyone else knows he's sogreat, because it wasn't until after we

(07:40):
recorded our underrated show where I lookedI was like, oh, apparently Unbearable
Way of Massive Talent did not dowell in the box office and it could
have made my underrated episode. ButI just assumed it did okay. And
so I'm really glad you put ona list because now we could talk about
it at the end of the year. Help people if you do, like
Nicholas Cage, track it down.This picture. Like obviously, in some

(08:05):
ways, Nicholas Cage is poking funof himself a little bit. This is
a guy who absously doesn't take himselvestoo seriously and so there is that meta
element. But if that type ofmovie doesn't sound interesting to you, counter
with the fact that that's actually avery small part of the movie, a
small part of the charm. Thisisn't just Nicolas Cage winking and laughing at

(08:26):
himself, like you said, thisis actually a really fun buddy action comedy.
There's some great chemistry between Nicholas Cageand Pedro Pascal. It's this really
sweet relationship. And then on topof that things start happening and it becomes
a pretty good action picture, Anda lot of the humor is less about

(08:50):
sort of the poking fun of NicholasCage and it's more of just the wacky
situations that Nicholas Cage and Pedro Pascalget them selves into, like the scene
where they are pretending they're being chasedand as they're trying to create their script.
It's one of the most fun andfunniest scenes of the year. I
absolutely love it with that just theplayfulness they have where it just reminds me

(09:13):
of my kids as they're doing theirimagination and they're going on an adventure,
but these two adults doing it.But it's just done with such energy and
such charm and such whimsy, andI just love that scene, and that's
kind of where the humor comes from. It's this boyish excitement that Pedro Pascal's
character has that he's with his heroand that stuff is fun. And and

(09:35):
then there is an actual character arc. Nicholas Cage is playing a guy who's
down on his lucket. He's notthe backs of office star he used to
be, and there's this character arcof him of coming to terms with himself
and growing and learning, and that'sdone really well. And then there's just
there's great action sequences, like thisis a really well directed action movie.

(09:58):
And so I think some people justfelt like, oh, it's Nicholas Cage
kind of being self indulged, andno, that's not the movie. That
whole element of that meta part issuch a small part of the picture.
And you could give him any othername, like you could call him Nick
swore Finger, and you would stilllike a still a good movie. Like

(10:22):
that Nicholas Cage thing. That's partof the charm, that's part of the
fun. But the stuff that actuallymakes this a great movie, what makes
this a movie that just kind ofmissed my list, is the action Sequences
is a buddy comedy stuff and somethings that has nothing to do with poking
light fun at Nicholas Cage's career.Yeah, and the thing is too,

(10:45):
it's really a love letter to NicholasCage. There's a lot of references to
his movies. While it does pokefun, poke lighthearted fun at his career,
it also really reveres his career andreveres who he is. And Yeah,
if you're a Nicholas Cage fan,this is one of the movies that

(11:05):
is I would say is a mustsee from this year. Yeah, and
if you're a fan of buddy actioncomedies, I would say this is a
must see because I would watch thisa thousand times before I'd even think about
The Man from Toronto Again. Ilove how much you disliked that film.

(11:31):
Yes, well, it made myworstenlessly as I dislike it very much.
But I do really love the unbearableway of massive talent. My ten spot
is always a battle for me becauseI find the ten spot. You just
there's so many pictures that could justslit fit in that spot and you just
go back and forth, and thatseems to be the spot that changes the

(11:52):
most for me and so it justcomes down to what is that picture that
sort of I feel like I'm stillkind of thinking about right now, and
it's burned into me. And thepicture that I want to bring sometimes more
attention to offen the tenth spot tome is off to the picture that maybe
could have also made sort of theunderrated episode, because it's like, Okay,

(12:13):
I've got all these movies, butwhat's the one that I really want
to talk about of these ten moviesthat could get my tenth spot? And
my number ten is most definitely notas cheery and fun as Scott's number ten,
because my number ten is she said, which is the picture that is
about the Me Too movement? It'sdirected by Marius Schrader. I talked about

(12:37):
it a few weeks ago and Isaid it could potentially make my list,
And here it is. It startsZoe Kazan and Carrie Mulligan. And I
do think this is a well madepicture that is about sort of the me
Too movement. It definitely shows thehorrible things that Harvey Weinstein did. It
definitely looks at sort of the stomachmisogyny that's existed in Hollywood and the way

(13:05):
that women are treated. I thinkat that element's really important. But the
level of connected to me why itmade my top ten and why I feel
I was more riveted by this moviethan others because a lot of other people
were serving it's a decent movie,but I felt engaged all the way through.
I was engaged this movie because ofit being a journalism movie, of

(13:28):
what it says about journalism, becausewe're in a spot right now where people
talk about fake news, where peopledistrust the mainstream media. And I also
think people have a very misguided viewof what journalism is. I think a
lot of people kind of think bloggingis journalism. People are like, well,

(13:50):
I'm a journalist because I write myopinions, And this picture is good
at reminding people what journalism really is. It is tracking down the facts.
It is trying to find the sources. It's interviewing people numerous times. It
is going over and over your storyso that you can try to make sure

(14:13):
there's no holes. It is tryingto break an important issue. It's trying
to bring something to the forefront.It's something that our society needs to know,
and these journalists become obsessed with itto get the story out and That
is one of the great things aboutthis picture because you see Kerrie Mulligan and
Zoe Kazan, they know that thisis a story that must be told,

(14:35):
especially Carry Mulligan's character, who hadreported a story on Donald Trumpet that he
still got elected and it haunted herand so she's like, well, what's
the point of doing this? Isanything gould have changed? This time?
They start getting the brad crumbs,they start getting the leaves that she feels
like she could make a true changewith this story. And I think that's
the engage. The thing about thispicture is showing how they become more and

(14:58):
more consumed oomed about this story,They become more obsessed, and how when
they find out the horrible things thatwere done, what the weight it does
with them as journalists. And Ithink that is one of the engaging parts.
Karry Mulgan and Zoe Kazan, theyare mothers, they are wives,
but they're awful journalists and it justis fascinating to watch how they are slowly

(15:18):
consumed by this story while still tryingto balance their personal life and their family.
I like the fact that even thoughthis picture is showing some horrible men,
like someone like Harvey Weinstein. Theirhusbands are so supportive in this.
This is a movie that doesn't tryto do fake drama. The husbands realize
the story is important, they realizethis is a major part of their life,

(15:39):
and so they're supportive at home lookingafter the kids. I like,
this isn't the idea of the editorstrying to kill the story and again contrive
drama. Patricia Clarkson, Andre Bryer. They play supportive editors are there for
them, And I just felt thathow this picture depicts journalism was absolutely river.

(16:00):
I know some people call this sortof a slow picture, and someone
said, well, it's not asgood as All the President's Men, it's
not as good as Spotlight, andI can said that those sort of the
two best movies about journalism, andmaybe it's not as good as that,
but I still felt that it's inits league and I still felt as absolutely
riveting. Maybe this comes from beinga writer and this is a and this

(16:21):
is coming from someone who has donejournalism and has had to track down leads
and as someone who has due interviewsand uncover different stories, and so maybe
coming from that perspective makes this amore fascinating thing for me. So this
might be one of those choices whereit's a bit more personal, But I
just think this is an engaging storyabout journalism that's elevated by something that isn't

(16:41):
doing that could trive elements and feelingnatural, it's feeling realistic, and you've
got across the board incredible performances.I love. I mentioned some of the
big leads in this, and theyare great, Karrie mulgan and Zoikas in
their relationship builds as they uncover thisstory. I think it's just such a
powerful relationship that they have. Ithink it is powerhouse performances from the They

(17:04):
are two of the best right nowand they prove it in this picture.
I really thought, she said isone of the more important engaging movies of
the year, which is why it'smy number ten. The interesting thing about
Hollywood is they always understand the writers. The people who have gone through the
writing process always understand how writing actuallyworks in real life. And so when

(17:30):
a movie you feel like you actuallyconnect to a movie where there's writers and
there's realism around it, it's notrare because it's always realistic because writers know
how writers write, like like theright Away Bride, where Richard Gere writes
an article of his thoughts a weekand makes tons and tons of money.

(17:52):
I think he writes an hour aweek, or you know, they'll call
the publisher. Can I get youanother advance? Are we'll pay for you
to fly down to Australia. Iwill help you write better. But yeah,
I think this is an important pictureto see for both reasons. Like
I do think it be two movementssomething that it's great to see a good

(18:15):
picture about that. But I alsofeel this is the movie we need with
people sort of misguided views of journalismright now. And I just think journalism
is exciting. I think it's anexciting profession. It's obviously why I've done
it a bit throughout my life.I would call myself a journalist because I
definitely write. Most of my writingis not necessarily in that regard, but

(18:37):
I have done it for publications before, and I just think it's a fascinating
job. And this kind of showsyou what real journalism is. I remember
one of my favorite movies of theyear when it came out with Spotlight,
because I think it was able toshow journalistic passion I haven't seen she said

(18:57):
But what I like about solid moviesthat are about journalisms show that you know,
the people behind the stories have adrive. You know, maybe sometimes
they don't. They're discerning a paycheck, but that's any profession. But I
love to see why someone is drivento look into a certain story, why

(19:22):
they're so motivated when when a journalin a movie about journalism, hits,
it captures that drive. And thisis a film I've really really wanted to
see. One of the better aspectsof the Weinstein legacy is some of these
films like The Assistant, like shesaid, that look at the sort of

(19:44):
the truth that Hollywood seemed to knowbut refuse to actually point out. That's
another aspect that I liked about shesaid when you said that you love Spotlight
because you'd like to see people's passion, and movies that a often connect to
me. Our pictures where they maybee dude like something like Chef, Like
I like cooking, but I wouldnever consider myself a chef. I don't

(20:08):
really watch the Food Network. Butthat movie connected to me because it was
John Favreau falling his passion. It'shim doing something he absolutely loved. And
I think one of the type ofmovies that I tend to love is seeing
passionate creators, is seeing people goall in on their profession, and I
think that is something we are losing. I think there is a lot less

(20:30):
occupation movies, and I enjoy thosewhen they're done well. It's really cool
seeing someone really immense immerse themselves intotheir loves, into their passions, into
their work. And that is definitelyone of the things connected with me was
she said, seeing two hard workersthat love their jobs and are consumed by

(20:52):
it. I think that's a veryfascinating thing that I wish there was more
movies that do that. And I'mnot just talk about journalism. I just
I think it's a fascinating thing forany type of kind of career of seeing
someone really do their job well.Descent into Hell that is Mad God brought
to you by special effects wizard andlegend Phil Tippett, who is both the
writer and the director of this stopmotion film. I thought that it was

(21:17):
one of the most what happened kindof films that has been out in years,
probably since Mandy. This movie reallystuck to me because after I watched
it, maybe twelve hours after Iwatched it, I thought. I came
up with how I felt about whatthe movie was saying, and I've had
to go back to that over andover a few times. Did I interpret

(21:41):
it right. It's not one ofthose films where you sit down and watch
and it's like, I've no ideawhat's going on. I don't think the
director knew this is just, youknow, insanity for the same for the
sake of insanity. I feel likethere is actually a message, There is
something that's going on here. Butwhat I love about it is that I

(22:03):
can't be certain in what I sawas being correct, and I don't think
other people could as well. Imean, I think I came to a
decent conclusion that I stand beside.But it functions in that realm of insanity,
and it does it so well,and it's captivating Visually. It is
an absolute nightmare. If you thinkyou've seen one of the creepiest things ever

(22:29):
animated, just wait two seconds forthe next moment to start and you'll be
hit by something even crazier. Thisis an insane film, but it's one
that can really spark conversation. Soit's it's my number nine pick. One
of the big things in criticism thatalways stood out to me was when Roger

(22:51):
Ebert sort of when it gets aconsensus and put Cloud Atlas as one of
his favorite movies of the year.It made his top ten. But if
you read the review, he hassuch a says he doesn't really know what's
going on in Cloud Atlas. Hesays he doesn't totally understand it. He's
not sure if he totally gets whatthe word selskis are trying to say.
But it spoke to him. Hestill thought about it a lot. And

(23:15):
that's something that really registered to meas someone who now talks to reviews about
movies, is the fact that youdon't need to understand something that not totally
understanding a movie is not the flawof the picture. Now, sometimes it
could be. But if it's makingyou think, if it's making you feel
like, well, it is tryingto say something, I just don't quite
understand it, and it's something thatthen kind of haunts you all years you

(23:38):
try to sort it out, that'sa great movie. That's actually a benefit.
If art it's making you constantly thinkabout it, you don't quite know
what it's saying, that's actually astrength. And I still think of that
a lot with Cloud Atlas because ofthe fact that Hebrews like, I don't
really know what happened, but Ithink that's a great picture. And one

(24:00):
of the things I like about MadGod is when you initially brought it up
on this podcast, you disagreed withthe plot synopsis on Wikipedia. I have
now seen Mad God and I havenow looked at the plot synopsis on Wikipedia,
and I agree with you. Idon't think that's what that movie is.
Oh God, I've been terrified ofyour thoughts on that. I just

(24:26):
I don't think that they got thatthat right. And I mean, I
think it's hard to describe the plotbecause it's really surreal. I saw a
Mad God as something that it's alot of sort of what is going through
one's mind and one dealing with hisown sort of terrors and his own mortality.

(24:48):
So I took a lot of thethings that are supposed to be in
that picture that's kind of metaphorical,it's symbolic, and so I think that's
also why it was easier for meto realize that most of the picture,
I'm like, I'm not following thenarrative, but I don't think you're supposed
to. But I also don't thinkthis is a situation like you said,
where it's just trying to be crazyfor crazy sake. What I actually think

(25:11):
it's a movie that's trying to saya whole lot of things. It is,
and it's not whole. If there'sa movie that doesn't hold your hand,
this is. It's very gory andviolent, but in a different way
than typical, Like you think ofsomething like this, you're terrified too.
Apparently it made people want to vomit, Like it's this picture that was very

(25:33):
grotesque. This picture is one ofthose things where what it is insinuating,
what the imagery sort of gets inmy brain, is what makes it feel
violent and gory, Like what's onthe screen. Is it necessarily physically nausea
inducing, Like it's not necessarily likesplatters of blood, But how he frames

(25:56):
the picture and all the things thatit insinuates, it causes, at least
in me, this graphic violence inmy head. It kickstarts your imaginations,
It really gets your brain taking youinto crazy places. Well if yeah,

(26:18):
I feel this is probably one ofthe more powerful pictures about sort of mortality,
a picture that's sort of about sortof the state of humanity and what
we're doing to it. I thinkthis is definitely one that's sort of talking
a bit about ecology and just alsosort of what current society and current trends
are doing to us emotionally. Ithink it's definitely something that's exploring mental health

(26:41):
but also the health of our world. It is, yeah, definitely one
of the more creative ways of addressingthat. I mean a lot of movies
do it, but this is definitelydone in a different way, and it's
done in a way where it's nightmarefuel and it most definitely haunts you.
But at the same time time,as you also mentioned, it is visually

(27:03):
stunning, Like this is incredible stopmotion animation. It's very realistic. It
is a gross beauty. That isa wonderful, wonderful way to put it,
a grotesque beauty. My number nineis where we do get to a
fun movie. Yeah, it's gonnabe a fun movie now, Like this

(27:29):
is a movie though that I knowthere is much higher on Scott's list,
very much higher on Scot's list,but it landed number nine for me.
This is the Tom Cruise starring actionpicture Top Gun Maverick, one of the
most Pleasant Surprises of the year,a movie that didn't make either of Scott

(27:52):
our Mind's most anticipated and I hadabsolutely no interest in this movie. I
saw it, I started thinking,oh, yeah, you know Independence Day
Resurgence. I remember what happened withthat picture, and I just thought this
was another movie that it was asequel that was just way past its time,
and it just was one that justfelt like a cash grab. And

(28:15):
that's what happens when you doubt TomCruise, when you doubt one of the
hardest working actors and someone who isall about sort of making cinematic perfection.
And also the trailers started coming andwe started being a bit more interested,
and I was interested in it asa visual thing, like I thought it'd
be great special effects, some greataction action sequences, and that's what I

(28:41):
was expecting going into the movie.And then I was surprised because, well,
I wouldn't say it's the most dramaticor nuanced movie of all time.
It is definitely a popcorn muncher,and yes it does do a Star Wars.
I felt that this picture was onebetter than the original, but it
is a blockbuster that does have thingsto say, and it has some really

(29:04):
interesting characters. And as much asI love the action sequences and this is
definitely a movie you have to seeon the big screen, there is some
interesting character dynamics and there's an interestingcharacter arc with Maverick with Tom Cruise,
where this is someone who has todeal with things from his past that are

(29:26):
chasing him and he's got some regrets. And there is sort of this sort
of adoptive father relationship with Rooster playedby Models Teller, and I think it
does say a lot about sort ofparenting and about what should we how should
we handle those relationships. How muchcan you protect someone, how much do
you allow them have to make thosechoices on their own? How much is

(29:48):
it that sort of sometimes people willdo something to cause a rift and then
us realizing but did they do thatfor a better good? And sort of
getting past those past hurts. Ithink the Maverick Rooster relationship is one of
the best ones in movies this year, and it's very heartfelt. And so
when we get to the big finalsequence, the forty minute final action sequence,

(30:11):
it's not just about the special effects. We care about these characters.
We want them to survive, wewant them to get away, We want
them to blow up the Death Star. We want all those things to happen.
And it's because we've cared about thesecharacters, because they put the work
in. And even Jeffer Connelly youcould say, oh, she just started
the throwaway romantic lead. I thinkshe's got some nice moments with Tom Cruise

(30:37):
and I like that relationship. Ilike that romance, and I think romance
is something you don't see a lotof big blockbusters, and if we do,
it's not handled very well. Thisis one that felt like there was
a chemistry and there was a lovethere. It was great that they found
a way to get Val Kilmer inhere with his cameo, and I think
there's a lot of beautiful relationship moments. I think one of the things that

(30:59):
made this picture so well is thefact that it cares about these characters.
It loves these characters, and it'sgot great character moments that it's mixed with
action sequences. This movie was ahit because it feels like in nineteen eighties
movie in the best way. Itfeels like that kind of blockbuster that we
have not seen for twenty thirty yearsnow. It's something that we have been

(31:22):
starving for I didn't realize I wasstarving for it. But it's got that.
It's got a lot of the cliches, it's got a lot of the
moments, but it's done with expertise. It's done with some great directing by
Joseph Kenzinski. You've got that greatpacing. It builds to those great moments.
It's a movie that allows those momentsto sink in for a bit.

(31:42):
It's not just a whole bunch offast edits to move on to the next
thing. A terrific picture. Itwas a great, pleasant surprise, and
it's well deserved as the highest grossingmovie of the year. This is a
fun blockbuster and I'm sure most peoplelistening to this have seen this movie.
So I mean, I preaching toacquire, but let's all together pump our

(32:02):
fists and say, hey, TopGun. Maverick. Absolutely, and I
won't say much more about it because, like you indicated, it's probably on
my list of it higher up.I want to say, when it came
to expectations, this movie blew usboth away because it was literally eye rolling
from the two of us when wefirst found out that indeed a Top Gun

(32:27):
sequel was being made. The ideathat there's Rooster Goose's son with a mustache,
because those sorts of things are hereditaryand they're passed down from and just
the fact that Kazinski's career doesn't necessarilyhave a lot of good storytelling in it.
From a character perspective, I thinkhe's probably the best director visual effects

(32:53):
wise. Like everyone thinks Michael Bay, James Cameron, those sorts of names
when it comes to special effects,I think Kaczynski is actually the best.
His stuff is flawless, and ithas been flawless ever since he did Tron
Legacy. It reminds me a lotof another movie that you loved more than

(33:15):
me and end up being your favoritemovie of its year in twenty fifteen,
and that's Mad Max Fury Road.Because this is an example of both these
movies do not have complex plots.They both have very simple plots, but
sort of the special effects and theworld building and the way that it makes
engaging characters gets you through and makesthe movie far more riveting than you would

(33:39):
think you would with this kind offormula plot. But also it's two pictures
where when you first hear it,you're like, what you're making a sequel
to Mad Max that there hasn't beenonce. It's eighty five and it's the
same thing you think with Top Gun. But you've got two directors that clearly
loved the source material and had areason to return. Yeah, and reason

(34:00):
came through very very much so inwhat we ended up seeing on the screen
with both of those films. Itwhen it comes to blockbuster entertainment, those
are two of the best that havebeen put out in the last decade.
Much like Bad Max, Fury wrote, it's very likely that basically a pure
popcorn muncher will get nominated for BestPicture, which I'm excited about. The

(34:24):
Academy has really not done themselves wellwith that the extended list of nominations to
make sure that sort of thing happens. Now my number eight film, This
is a movie that I almost rentedand then realized, wow, this is
on a streaming service I have asubscription to, which that would have been

(34:45):
the very first time ever that Irented something when I already had access to
it. As Chris knows from pastwhen I've texted him and said, I
just rented this film and he's like, well, you didn't have to rent
it. Well, I didn't haveto rent the Banshees of Naharin, and
thankfully I didn't, but I wasstill able to watch it. This is

(35:07):
written and directed by Martin McDonough wholast film was Three Billboards and Outside of
Ebbing, Missouri, and that wasa terrific film. And he's back here
with a tale of two Irish menliving on an island just off the mainland

(35:29):
in post World War One times andit is a very very hilarious film and
also interesting film as we've got ColinFarrell, who I have to say,
at the beginning of Colin Farrell's career, I really had no love for the
guy. I thought a lot ofhis performances were just standard stuff. But

(35:53):
over the last number of years he'staken some roles that have really really shown
who he really is as an actor, to the point where I started wondering,
was he just taking roles that weren'tfor him earlier on in his career.
Is that the case, because latelyhe's been terrific and he's phenomenal in

(36:15):
this film as a simple islander whosebest friend no longer wants to hang out
with him. His best friend isplayed by Brendan Gleeson absolutely wonderful seeing these
two together. They've been together inthe past in a Martin McDonough film.
And also in here is Barry Kilgan, who has also been in a film

(36:37):
with Colin Farrell. But what endsup happening in this film is this.
And also I should say Carrie Condonis in here, and she's brilliant as
well, and she's been in previousMartin McDonald movies. This film gives us
sympathy. We feel sympathetic towards ColinFarrell's character, but at the same time,

(37:00):
the movie's kind of asking should weshould we really be sympathetic to this
guy? And I think it comesdown to the screenplay and the acting that
sort of gets this balance going inthe viewer's mind of like where should we
see this guy? And is likeis he for real? Is he just
this dull? I guess would bethe word. The movie, like I

(37:23):
said, is absolutely hilarious, butit is also dramatic, and the hilarity
never, at least for me,never interfered with the actual story that's being
told. And at the end it'snot played for laughs. It's about making
its message. I absolutely love thisfilm and highly recommend it. Yeah,

(37:44):
I feel that early in Colin Farrell'scareer, we have a situation where this
is a very good looking guy,and so they wanted to slow him into
the matinee star position. They wantedto slow him in as being so the
action star with stuff like the Recruitand Total Recall. And while I did

(38:06):
not have an allergy to Colin Farrelllike you did, I thought he was
fine. It's very clear these lastfew years if this is a guy who
perceives himself more as sort of amethod actor, like he really likes to
lead into sort of quirky roles.When he has a role that allows him
to sort of be very different andkind of play against type of your typical

(38:29):
good looking guy, that's where heshines. And I do think the issue
was that this is a guy whoI think he's at his best when he's
not in kind of the mainstream movies. I think he has more fun.
And I mean The Batman Office wasa mainstream movie, but he got to
play the villain and he got toplay the penguin, and so he got
to do something very different. AndI think maybe, I mean, I

(38:52):
can't speak for you, but onethe reason why he wasn't working for you.
It's Colin Farrell wasn't being challenged.He was too talented for the rules
they were giving him. I thinkthat's the thing, is that it's just
like when you see what he's goodat and see what the like he said,
what was early on his career becausehe's a good looking guy, the
type of films he was in,it didn't do his talent justice. He's

(39:17):
just phenomenally phenomenally talented. And Ilove the fact that you know, now
we're able to really see what he'sgot to offer. We have played a
bit in the past that one ofthe frustrating things right now with the box

(39:37):
office is with studios basically only beinginterested in big, blockbuster it's a big
event movies that that's sort of allyou're getting in the theaters, and all
these smaller pictures sort of get pushedaside. And we're talking about how a
lot of prestige pictures were not beingput in the theaters so we haven't been
able to see them as such.What are the positives though, about the

(39:59):
rights of stree I mean, isthat some of these movies that you know,
ten years ago we never would havebeen all see at the end of
the year because it would only havebeen coming to New York, Toronto and
places like that, and so wewould have to wait until it came out
for rental, which back then wouldhave been like March. One of those
pausitives something like Banshees and a Sharinhad a theatrical at lease in October and

(40:20):
it was already available for streaming inDecember, which mean it very very very
happy for me because it did cometo theaters near me and I just didn't
have the opportunity to see it.And it's one of those cases where it's
like, I'm glad it moved tostreaming a bit quicker than other films.
Well, you're blessed because it didn'tcome to any theater near me. Yeah.

(40:45):
One of the things about sort ofMartha McDonough is he makes dark comedies
to the point where I think sometimesyou're not really sure if it is a
comedy. I mean, like threeBillboards in Brudges. These are pictures that
they're very dark material, and heis definitely digging into the dark side of

(41:06):
humanity and the choices we make.But I think if you have a certain
style, a certain taste, youcan kind of see the humor in here.
I also think that his pictures sometimesbecome out very cynical, but through
that cynicism, I think you seesomeone who has a lot of empathy and
love for humanity very much. SoI think I think that's a good way

(41:30):
of putting it when you watch hisfilms, and there you may be thrown
off between the comedy and the otherelements. I think deep down is Martin
McDonough is a good observer of humansand human nature, and I think that's
that's weaving that aspect in with comedyand drama is something he's incredibly skilled at.

(41:53):
My number eight movie is another picturethat is using comedy to look at
society, using comedy to sort ofshine a light on sort of what our
culture is like right now, andit is definitely talking about sort of the

(42:13):
state of humanity. It's also asequel and it's a picture that is almost
as good as the original. Thefirst Knives Out made my top ten list,
and so the sequel has now mademy top ten list in the number
eight spot, Glass Onion, aKnives Out tail, I feel this is
pretty close to being just as goodas the original. Knives Out. Ryan

(42:38):
Johnson did it once again. Andwhat is cool about this pictures Obviously he
is trying to sort of pull itAgatha Christie of it being sort of Ben
wall Block played by Daniel Craig.He's going to probably be the only connecting
piece to all these pictures that hekeeps on making it. He's the detective
that goes into these sort of standalonemovies with different characters, and I think

(43:02):
he does a great job of havingall the things you liked about the original
Knives Out. You've got the flashbacks, You've got this weaving, turning surprise,
you story, a plot that keepsununfolding. You've got over the top
colorful characters. But this movie feelsso distinct. It feels like it's saying
something different again, Like the firstone is talking about wealth, but the

(43:27):
first one was sort of about kindof family wealth, and this one's looking
at sort of a tech billionaire,but maybe a tech billionaire who isn't as
smart as he thinks and maybe heshould be in that position. And so
it's talking also very much about socialmedia. This is a major look at
that all the characters in here areobsessed with their phones, but it's also

(43:49):
talking about sort of the different figuresof social media you have here. You
have Kate Hudson, who is absolutelywonderful here as of the washed up celebrity
who keeps on saying maybe racist things. It doesn't know about it. It
needs her assistant to sort of keepher under control. You've got Dave Fatista

(44:09):
playing sort of a dude bro whoon the YouTube, and that sort of
Joe Rogan type character, but notquite the same. Catherine Hahn does a
different, different look at sort ofcertain type of journalists, definitely one that's
more into sort of the social mediaworld. And everyone here seems to be

(44:31):
having a blast playing their characters.Edward Norton is playing the tech billionaire type,
and each of them are leading into make these very colorful, very
distinctive characters. Benwell Block it isjust one of the most fun sort of
detective characters around. And you cantell Dato. I think Gaie Craig likes

(44:52):
this role more than even the JamesBond role. He just loves digging into
this and this picture does have alot a fun, a lot of comedy.
The set designs are incredible. Iwish I could see this on the
big screen, but it didn't comeanywhere near me. But this is a
colorful, beautiful, sumptuous movie.I just love sort of being on this

(45:14):
island and that visual style, andthere is just so many jokes that are
poking fun at the social media age. It's got something to say, but
it's got these really goofy characters.But on top of that, it's a
really good murder mystery. Yeah,someone gets murdered and Ben wall Block needs
to solve it. And I thinkall that stuff is really fun. I

(45:36):
love the twist and turns. I'mnot always a fan of flashback, but
the flashback here is very well doneand very important to the story. Also,
what I like what Ryan Johnson.This is a guy that he goes
all in on his movies. Hedoes more and just even at the beginning,
when you see these boxes that arecrafted that basically the characters have to
solve in order to get to theinvitation, just that idea as shows that

(46:00):
Ryan Johnson's always going to add inmore to this movie than he needs to.
Those boxes are fascinating to watch.It's a set design he didn't necessarily
need. But what I want toreally bring out here. It's Janelle Monet,
who I think is more known assort of a recording artist, but
she wasn't hitting figure. She didgood performance there and she is absolutely incredible

(46:22):
in this picture. Person who wasonce the partner of Miles Braun who's played
by Edward Norton, but he basicallyhe turned on her and she lost her
company to him. And she issuch a layer nuanced character and there's some
incredible different things that her character.We learn about the get unveiled in the

(46:44):
movie that Janelle Money has to doa lot of heavy lifting to pull it
off, and she does it allthe way through. She is funny,
but she's also the character you sortof connect to and you want to cheer
four, and she's kind of she'ssort of on a daring amount of the
original someone who is sort of thesympathetic character are in and she plays great

(47:06):
with Ben wall Block, Daniel Craigand Daniel Craig like he plays a character
that makes you think of like fallCourt Leghorn or whatever its name is,
the Rooster, and it should begrading, it should be ridiculous, but
he pulls it off and he makesit work. And this movie is just
it was such a pleasure to realizethe sequel is as good as the first

(47:27):
one. I want them to makea thousand of these movies. This movie
is just off my list. Ias well, really liked it. I
found the ending was just drag alittle. And I'm not saying not a
massive criticism. This is like,the only criticism I can make of this

(47:49):
film is the ending isn't as tightas as the first one, but still
it's not. It was never bored, it was never look at my watch.
It's just if I had to picksomething that's This movie was a lot
of fun. It seemed it seemeda lot different than the first Nimes out.
It played a lot different. Iliked that they didn't use a formula.

(48:12):
Daniel Craig was just absolutely amazing.The the tech Genius was phenomenally played
by Edward Norton. Every everyone heredid such a really good job. I've
read an interesting article about I thinkit was Ryan Johnson basically saying that Dave

(48:34):
Bautista his acting skills was a quotingRyan Janson, I don't know, anyways.
It was about how out of thebig wrestlers turned actors, Dave Bautista,
while he doesn't have the career yetof John Cena or Dwayne Johnson.
As far as acting goes, heactually completely eclipses those other two. The

(48:55):
evidence that's used is what he didin Blade Runner twenty forty two. He
had such a small minute role,but he made so much of it and
it had such an impact. Iabsolutely confess I love Dave Batista now.
He was the best thing about Ithink it was Escape Plan too. He

(49:20):
blew us away and Guardian to thegalaxy, and he's done nothing but blow
us away ever since then. Thisis a tremendous cast I loved too.
There were we can't even call themred herrings. There were casts, members
and aspects that I think had ustripped up a bit, maybe in the
solving of the murder, because sometimesis it somebody from the outside? Is

(49:45):
it not an obvious choice who thevillain is? Ryan Johnson really just kept
these different things, these different elementsof the movie on the periphery, I
think, to just keep us trippedup a bit, just keep us a
bit distracted in the actual mystery.I love how pissed off Ben Walblanc becomes

(50:10):
when he starts realizing certain levels ofstupidity from certain characters in the movie.
This is just insulting to him,and it is absolutely wonderful. This movie
is a ton of fun and likeI said, just barely missed my list.

(50:31):
Any other year, this would haveeasily been a top ten film with
it revealed to him that a certainperson strategy of how they came about doing
it and why they did it,and how disgusted he is. That's got
to be one of the funniest momentsof the year. He came up there
with Pedro Pascal and Nicholas Cage runningaround coming up with their script. It's

(50:53):
just how annoying. It was sofunny I rewound it. That was the
joy. They'll be at home justto watch it again because it was just
done so well. It was.Yeah, it was hilarious. What an
interesting thing do you mentioned how thismovie is so different than the original.
But what I think shows the skillRyan Johnson is this is such a unique,

(51:16):
fresh movie, very different, butit still feels like a knives out
movie, like he still was ableto like, if you love the first
one, I'd be shocked if youdon't love this one, Like it still
delivers everything, like it's somehow deliveredthe like it still hit the checkbox,
it's still got everything you wanted,but it did it in a very different
way. And I thought that wasfascinating as well. With Dave Bautista,

(51:37):
you mentioned we talked before about sortof people like Arnold Towards Dagger, Dwayne
Johnson, Ryan Reynolds. They playthemselves, but they play themselves in a
way I think we did before thepodcast where they play the selves, but
they do in a way that's stillfascinating. We still enjoy them. Dave
Bautista, I kind of agree thathe maybe one of the best. I
don't think he plays himself like Idon't think the character is a Dave Bautista

(52:00):
character. I don't from based offTwitter stuff. I don't think Dave Bautista
is a dude bro and so hewasn't leaning into that. And it's a
very different character than Blade Runner,and it's a very different character of the
drafts from Guards of the Galaxy.So Dave Bautista seems to want to push
himselves very different roles and so he'svery fascinating that way. He may out

(52:22):
of the three kind of wrestlers,he may be the one that will be
first kind of nominated for a BestActor potentially in like ten years or so,
because he seems like someone who's pushedhimself that way. And I think
that also works with Janelle Monet,who I think she's very much pushes herself
here and that's huge. You talkedabout sort of the finale here, and

(52:45):
I'm kind of conflicted in it becauseI know where you're coming from where there's
some parts where it felt kind ofdragged out, but how it ends,
I feel still beautiful and perfect forthe picture. Yes, And that's where
I had to keep sort of,you know, throwing in the caveat of
if I'm going to pick up onsomething if because it's not it's not a

(53:05):
deal breaker, it's not a gamechanger. It's just that one thing when
in such a crowded year, itcomes down to those little things. That's
that's the problem. But the actualthe resolution here was very, very fun,
very good, felt like it belongedin the movie. It didn't feel
like it came out of nowhere.I think they pulled it off. I

(53:29):
just had to pick something. Ihad to give you. I had to
give you some reason as to whyit wasn't on my list. My next
film my number seven. This isnot the first time that this director has
made it on my top ten list. Robert Eggers, Welcome back, sir,
Welcome back. Three movies and Ithink three top ten list appearances at

(53:52):
the end of the year, andthis one is The Northman. I remember
you had something you said really spokequite quite well to the situation, as
you called The Northman the most accessibleRobert Egger's film, and I think that
is a wonderful way to put it. This is a movie that is based

(54:16):
off of North Norse mythology. Youhave a lot of supernatural elements in this
film and it's it's blended with realismin the way that only Robert Eggers does
when it comes to set, detail, vocabulary, all that interesting story of

(54:40):
revenge as it was, it's gotthe same idea as Hamlet. I can't
find it now, but I believeI read somewhere that it was at Hamlet
was actually inspired by Norse mythology thatthis movie is based off of. Regardless,
it is a captivating tale. Itis one of revenge, and it's

(55:02):
got someone that we have not praisedin the past. As far as acting
goes Alexander scars Guard. There's alot of scars Guards out there. They
littered the landscape, and a lotof them, I pretty much all of
them. I would have said,we're better actors than alex Alexander scars Guard.
However, here he's hold my beer, I'll show you what I can

(55:25):
really do. Phenomenal performance and therethis is some of the best action filming
as well of the year. Somelong takes extend it takes that that remind
me of The Revenant, remind meof that level of choreography and cinematography blending

(55:51):
in to get this incredible sequence.On top of that, I mean,
the rest of the cast here justinsane, insane cast, great story and
mythology woven with historical accuracy, justlike The Witch, just like The Lighthouse,
and this one is accessible. Itstill is not your typical theater film,

(56:19):
but it is an incredible story andit's done just absolutely perfectly. Fast
day thing about the northmand even thoughI say it is the most accessible of
Robert Eggers is. I had afew friends that saw this movie and then
also some critics said this where theywent in and they were expecting I guess

(56:40):
because of the marketing like a Braveheartmovie, and they did not like they
liked the movie, but basically allthe we're like, we didn't get what
we were expecting. Now with myfriends, I understand that with the critics
that was kind of shocked. It'slike, well you do it was Robert
Eggers right, Like, there's noway despite the marketing that you were expecting
to straightforward movie. I mean,this movie has fever dreams, That's what

(57:01):
I was expecting, surreal elements,that is what I was expecting, but
there's a less soul of it,Like it's got a much more straight forward
narrative. This is not The Lighthouseby any means, and so I was
kind of confused with critics. Butso there is that kind of idea that
even though I say it's straightforward,you need to know that this is basically
a big budget, epic, sweepingart house movie. If you understand that

(57:24):
there is a big sweeping, epicarthouse movie, I think you're really going
to appreciate this picture because the setdesigns here are immaculate. They are absolutely
incredible. Yes, they're grimy anddirty, but that would fit during the
time period. These villages are justamazing. We talk sometise about movies that

(57:45):
we love where things are going onin the background, and there is this
invasion by sort of the berserkers inthis village, and you see all these
atrocities happen in the background. Likeit's focus on something the forefront, but
there's all this light that's happening inthe background. And I think that is
so fascinating. Every time that wego to the different villages, but you've

(58:06):
got all these background characters that arealways doing something. And I think that's
one of the fascinating things about thispicture is it's a movie where he could
just sit and immerse yourself into thisliving, breathing world. That is something
and Robert Akers hasn't really done thatbefore because he's never had this movie of
this scale. A lot of hisother picture are very intimate, there's only
a few characters. This is thefirst time where he has this giant cast

(58:30):
and all these different characters that arethere to really create a kingdom, creative
village. I think that is absolutelyfascinated. And you mentioned all Scotarde guard.
It does need to be mentioned herethat he is really great here.
He's a big brute and he isa mouth breather and he is just a

(58:51):
savage. But it's an incredible arcbecause this is a guy who it's a
revenge tale. He's out for revengefor the man who kill his father.
He's out for the man that hebelieves stole his mum and took her away
and forced her to marry him,and he's out for revenge. And then
he goes on his character arc andthese things get revealed to him, and

(59:14):
it's really fascinating of how he dealswith these revelations and what he starts learning
about himself. But he still hasthis kind of oath he has to follow,
and I think all that stuff makesa very nuanced picture. Nicole kimm
In, obviously we always praise her, but she's also got a very nuanced
character, and when she gets revealedand her motivations and what she says about

(59:37):
sort of her past and stuff,I think that's an interesting person because you
basically have all these flawed characters.It's a picture full of flaw broken characters,
which makes all those elements fascinating.Anya Taylor Joy sort she is an
assistant to sort of the Alexander character, but she's a very complicated fascinating character.

(59:58):
This is someone who we praise allthe time. She was amazing in
The Menu, She's amazing in almostany picture that she ends up in The
Witch, and so I think,again, she just proves to me that
she's one of the best actors goingbodies. This another character. She immerses
herself into this fascinating, weird,eccentric character. And so all those elements

(01:00:19):
of the characters and the performances aregreat. But on top of that,
this feels like a big scale epic. There's some big, giant action sequences
and they're all fascinating. I'm notsure if you saw this on the big
screen. I did. And foran sort of an art house movie,
which he typically say like, oh, those are fine to see at home,
this is a movie that's meant tobe on the big screen because Robert

(01:00:42):
Aggers really takes advantage of the biggerbudget he has. And I have to
say throw credit out as well toJared Blashkey, who was the cinematographer and
was a cinematographer on The Witch andas well on the House. So he's
worked with Robert Aggers in the pastand is able to capture visually what is

(01:01:06):
in the mind of a very visuallydetailed oriented person. Blashkey really captures the
stuff. Yeah, it's a meticulouslymade movie. When you say detail oriented,
like this is very meticulous, everydetail breakdown to the wire. He
reminds me of sort of some ofthose directors from sort of the nineteen seventies,
like a Francis Ford Coppolus, DanleyKubrick, and Michael Simono, where

(01:01:30):
they're very they want to get everydetail right and they're just meticularly constructing this
picture. I haven't heard that heis as a pain to work with.
That's sort of like I guess Kubrickand Simino were really because they're so meticulous.
The budgets went crazy, and theywere really hard directors to work with
because they're less focused on the peoplemore of the story. I haven't heard

(01:01:52):
that with Aggers, but the elementof how he tries to get every detail
right reminds me those directors. MindNumber seven is a movie that, for
the longest time I thought, what'sgoing to be in my top three for
sure? And so if you wantany sign of how crazy this year has
been, of how it is justa gluttony of riches of how we are

(01:02:15):
just loaded with these incredible movies.My for sure top three movie is my
number seven and that is Pixar's TurningRed As it comes in the number seven
spot, which absolutely shocks me becausethis is one of the best movie experiences
I've had in years. And Iknow that this is a movie that I

(01:02:36):
think I attached more to than othercritics, and that's because I'm a teenage
girl who turned into a red panda, so I can relate to her on
like some other critics who say itdidn't work because they've never been a teenage
girl like me who turns into ared panda giant red panda, So I

(01:02:57):
mean it connected to me. ButI thought this picture was a lot of
fun. It's set in sort ofthe early two thousands, so you got
the boy bands, and I thinkthey did an amazing job of actually making
catchy music and make it look likethe boy bands of that time. It's
set in Toronto, so being SonyCanada, obviously, I got some pleasure
from that. But this is amovie that does a really good job of

(01:03:21):
sort of being when Roger Ebert talksabout being the empathy machine, where movies
are at their best, where youget to connect to characters that you're never
going to be and you're never goingto understand. And this picture such a
thoughtful idea of looking at being animmigrant in sort of a Western country,
and this is looking at Chinese culture. And I am married to a wonderful

(01:03:46):
woman who happens to come from aChinese family. She is Canadian born,
but her family is from Hong Kong, And so I actually could I think
I connected this movie some ways becauseI see all those relatives, relatives,
is like, yeah, they exista lot of things that happen in this
movie. These are real things thatcan happen in this culture that is now

(01:04:08):
trying to assimilate in the Western culture. But I also think this is a
movie that's universal because even though meyLane is a Chinese teenage girl, which
some of us are not, wecan still relate to the challenges of being
having parents, the challenge of havingparents, because there's going to be a

(01:04:29):
point where you outgrow your parents.There's gonna be a point where you become
your own person and you cannot followsort of their path. You've got to
choose your own path, and thatcan be a painful, challenging thing.
When you realize you're not just likeyour parents. And that's what Meylane is
experiencing her that she is very differentthan her mom. She's different interests.
She loves her parents, who wantsto honor her parents, but she also

(01:04:50):
wants to become her own person.And I think this movie that's a universal
thing. That's something we all haveto confront at one time. We have
to move past our parents. Andthen as a parent, I think this
movie connected to me as well,because I have to accept that my kids
are not going to be me andthey're not necessarily going to full the path
I want, and you have tolet go, and this movie is very

(01:05:12):
much about that. On top ofthat, like all Pixar movies, is
visually stunning. It's gorgeous, Theanimation's incredible. There's some really fun action
sequences. This movie's got some reallyfunny scenes. I like all the side
characters, the friends of Meling.There's some really colorful, fun characters here.

(01:05:32):
This is just another Pixar classic.It has a lot to say,
but even without that, it's justa fun family movie. I know,
like I said, there's been somepushback in this movie. I think it's
ridiculous. I've already mocked in thisreview. My family loved it, my
kids love it. I will callthis a Pixar classic, and that kind

(01:05:53):
of shows you how stack this yearis because I call it a classic at
number seven, Chris, don't youunderstand Pixar has always shown that they do
not know how to relate to Chris? Inside Out? How do you how
does someone sit down who's writing afiction story for the family, with colorful
characters, everything that the human emotionswork like they did in Inside Out?

(01:06:18):
I mean, when you're writing afictional story like that, how do you
even comprehend those things? And toystalking? Well, that's the thing.
It's some of these these criticisms thathappen. It's like, yeah, you
liked toy story, how is itthe toy story toys coming to life when

(01:06:41):
someone leaves the room, that's youknow, fine, But yeah, well
you know this is completely unrelatable.People don't turn into pandas. No they
don't. No, they absolutely don't. And I think we can look at
all of the movies we've both listedso far and say and no, they
don't about people and how they behavein these works of fiction of Violence don't

(01:07:05):
do a Star Wars. They donot Turning Red. I absolutely loved this
year. Is hard because Turning Redcould have easily or would have made my
list in another year. I lovethe animation style of it, the concept,
the family message, all this stuffwith you know, mailing and her

(01:07:28):
friends. It's a wonderful film.It was beautifully done and yeah, deserves
to be talked about right now.Yeah, here's the thing, people,
her turning into red Panda. That'swhat you'd call an allegory for puberty and
the things that happened to women.Well, you know, I think if

(01:07:51):
you were honestly looking at the termallegory, you would see that it says
it is an absolute comparison to somethingrealistic and there's no interpretation to be had
in an allegory. You didn't dovery well in creative writing, did he?

(01:08:12):
Scott? Are you are you goingto make that an allogy? Is
that your allegory? Because that's whatI believe in allegory is just a flat
out statement. So is this listor allegory? Sure? Yes, yes,
well, I mean I mean,uh yeah, no, that's that's
the thing. It's a lot ofmovies are allegorical, and yeah, the

(01:08:34):
idea that I mean space wizards withlaser swords. We accept that, but
we can't have a movie about ateenager turning into a panda because that's not
realistic and relatable. In one ofmy wife's colleagues classes, he basically said
he didn't like Turning Red because hecould not relate to the main character.

(01:08:58):
And the person basically came back.I could said, but you like the
Marvel movies, you can relate toa guy who flies around in a robot
suit. That is a beautiful,beautiful comeback. There's no reason I should
like the next film. I'm goingto talk about my number six film,
which is absurd that this film isnumber six on my list, But I

(01:09:21):
think the reason why it is sofar down my list is I don't like
horses, and so how can Irelate to somebody who owns a ranch and
who owns horses. I've never beeninvolved in the making of movies, so
there's no reason I should actually likeNope by Jordan Peel. All jokes aside,

(01:09:45):
ha ha, yes, those wordjokes. And when I have to
explain to you that those word jokes, that means they were good jokes,
so we've got in Nope. Iwould call it my favorite Jordan Peel film
of the three that he's done,and I think it's criminal that it's not

(01:10:05):
even in my top five. Thismovie is the definition of a movie that
I feel I have to watch repeatedly. There is so much that is actually
going on in this film. Soif we peel back all of what Jordan
Peel's trying to say about the Spectacle, about people and their motivations when it

(01:10:30):
comes to the Spectacle and what they'rewilling, how they're willing to act,
if we take those stuff, thosethings away, and we don't look at
all these other possible themes, becausethere's a lot of possible themes in this
film. If we just look atit as the story, it is wonderfully

(01:10:50):
done. It is a good story. You may kind of wonder about the
main characters if we take everything away, if we peel back all that's being
said, you may wonder, arethese characters really people we should like,
because a lot of people died andthey don't seem to care about that.

(01:11:11):
They just want a shot of analien. Unfortunately, that is part of
the message about the Spectacle and howwe are glued to it. I love
this film. Honestly. Peel issomeone who's showing more and more that he's
got stuff in the background that isintentional. A lot of what he does.

(01:11:34):
Like one example that was from avideo I saw someone analyzing things is
there's people who try to freak outour main character by dressing up as aliens
and their alien faces resemble the filmcameras on the set of a show.
And what was pointed out to beinteresting about that and how it's not a

(01:11:57):
coincidence, is that cameras like thatwould have never been used to shoot a
talk show or sorry, sitcom,which is something Peel, being detailed oriented,
would know. So just showing howthat idea of capturing something was weave
throughout Hollywood in the system that causespeople to just hold onto their past.

(01:12:21):
This movie, like literally, Ifeel we could do a three hour episode
on Nope and still not talk abouteverything Jordan Peel is doing and saying I
recommend everyone watch it. It isa horror film that if you go in
expecting a Jordan Peel horror film,you're not going to get it. There
are those elements, but it's alsovery Spielbergian in an adventure way go see

(01:12:46):
no critics that basically said this wasJordy Peel's first non horror picture, and
I'm just turping out because he sortof mentioned not the horror picture expected.
I would still call this a horrormovie. Like, I was really shocked
by people are like, oh,this is its first known horror because I
was like, just because it hasso much to say, and just because
it's not doing to jump scare aminute, this is still the horror genre.

(01:13:11):
Like, this is still a veryunsettling picture. It's about a big
giant creature that's basically trying to consumepeople. Like, there's a lot of
horror elements. I mean, thisis the movie that I probably was the
most unsettled all year. And that'swhat horror movies do. It's just Jordan
Peel is showing us that the horrorgenre can have a lot to say.

(01:13:32):
And you and I have known that. I mean we've known it with Exorcist,
and we've known it with Rosemary's Baby, and we've known it for decades.
It's been a truth for ages.I mean, elevated horror. The
reason we get annoyed by that termit's because it's over. It's always existed.
But I think after sort of yearsof found footage and remakes, people
had a certain idea what horror is. And Jordan Peele is basically bringing his

(01:13:56):
back to the horror of past decadeswith trying to pack it with things,
trying to be more than just acarnival ride, and I think he pulls
it off just absolutely masterfully. Hereeverything is for a purpose in this film,
And like I had said, evenif you strip all that away and
aren't paying attention to what's being said, it's still a good movie. And

(01:14:19):
I undercent agree this is a horror. It has other elements of different genres
in there, but primarily this isa horror. So there is some movies
that I believe great movies if yousee them on the big screen. They
are made to be seen in thebiggest screen possible with the best sound possible.

(01:14:43):
I feel something like a Gravity orLife a Pie or Interstellar. These
are movies that I that I reallyenjoyed and made my top ten lists,
But I would also admit that you'regoing to lose something if you don't see
them on the big screen. Theyare created to see on the big screen.
Tenant a few years ago was anotherone where I really love, but

(01:15:04):
I recognize a lot of it isbecause of it being a big event film.
And my number six is one whereI am going to tell you one
hundred percent that it's on my listbecause it is meant to be on the
big screen. This is how youshould see it, and that is Avatar
The Way of Water. This isan incredible visual sound experience. This is

(01:15:32):
a picture that took years of makingby James Cameron. This is a clear
passion project and this is one wherethe special effects, the technology, the
use of CGI, the use ofthree D is incredible. I don't like
three D movies, and I willtell you you watch Avatar The Way of

(01:15:53):
Water in three D, you watchit on the big screen possible. I
do not know how he made Padoor, this living, breathing, realistic world.
I think almost all of it isprobably CGI. It does not look
at you forget pretty quickly that wedon't have nives in the real world,

(01:16:13):
that they are actually been created byJames Cameron's special effects team. They just
look living and breathing. The movementis so realistic. There is no point
where any creature or character seems fake, seems like a creation. These look
like living, breathing things and it'san incredible experience. It's three hours,

(01:16:36):
but the visual experience, you justsoak it up and you just enjoy this
world that has been meticulously crafted andhe has he's realized how to make three
D actually beneficial. It's really smartbecause there's parts where they're in the water,
or there's parts where he's in thelike if he's in the land,

(01:16:56):
you'll have these floating particles, andso that's the first layer, and then
you have the character and so that'sthe next layer. Then is layer to
the background, and so it's adifferent type of three D. It really
feels like the movie is popping toyou into the water. He does the
bubbles, which is the one layer, then the characters at the other.
This is the first time I've seenmy son grab at the screen. The

(01:17:16):
three D was so good. Hewas trying to grab things that were floating
on the screen because he thought itwas coming at him. I've never seen
him do that with three D.And this is just incredible of how James
Cameron was able to create that real, breathing world like the first avatar.
The story is formula, and theplot is basically sort of solely is being

(01:17:40):
chased down by the villain from thefirst one, and you're like, wait
a second, Steve Lane's character waskilled. Yeah, but for convulsive,
convoluted reasons. He's now a living, breathing that v he's an avatars they
put they loaded him up on adesk and now he's another character. So
there you go, accept that andoff we go. And so he's chasing

(01:18:01):
them, he wants to kill them, he wants to go out for revenge.
So for reasons, Jake and hisfamily leaves his village, even though
he doesn't know where the village is, and you would think he would destroy
it anyways to find Jake. ButJake apparently is saving the village by abandoning
them as the chief and going toanother village, a water village, and
so then he hides there and ofcourse he's found. They have to battle

(01:18:26):
and save the day, and thereyou go. So it's not a complex
plot, but sometimes without visual effectsand with these strong performances and this interesting
world and the directing, the pacing, sense of epicness, you ignore the
fact that it's not the most rivetingstory. Because you are connected to this
world, you're also connected to thisfamily. I think that Jake Kerber does

(01:18:51):
a good job of this being aboutsort of parents and their children. You
want to kind of save your children, You want to protect your children obligations
you have, but at times youhave to realize they need to grow up.
And I really connected to the parentalstories. I connected to the relationship
between Jake and a Tie who's Zoe'sAdela and Sam Worthyton. I thought they

(01:19:14):
did a good job of creating thethree new children. They were interesting.
There were some interesting dynamics throughout.Honestly, James Cameron is passionate about our
environment. He is passive about tryingto save the world. He's done a
lot of charitable efforts and this againis talking about the first one is about
the forests. The sequel now isabout the water. And so I think

(01:19:38):
it's a good message that's done ina way of a big kind of blockbuster.
One of his sons connects with thisbig, giant water monster and it's
actually a really charming relationship and it'sreally cute, and there's some beautiful moments
of him connecting with this creature andthe creature is. He's big and ugly,

(01:20:00):
a monstrous, but it's also kindof adorable. I love those moments.
This feels like that big screen epicfeeling. It earns it. It's
earning people going out to see it. Because he got to see this thing
in the theater. I went awayfeeling I saw this big, giant epic
and I was charmed. Even thoughI could tear the plot apart, I

(01:20:21):
was connected to the characters. Iwas invested in the big action sequence at
the end. All the action sequencesare just absolutely riveting. This is big
screen epic nous. And I guessnow I have to say, I'm on
team Avatar. Well done, youjoined the team. I haven't seen it
yet. The thing was and thisis why we never doubt James Cameron.

(01:20:47):
I questioned, we've already done threeD. He already made it. Look
how can you up the antie?And from what I have heard is he
has that it is just an absolutelyincredible immersive environment. And I need to
clarify something. When I said JosephKazinski is I consider him the best director

(01:21:09):
when it comes to visual effects,for his style of melding practical and real.
You never know where a set endsand where something else begins. It's
impossible to tell. James Cameron,on the other hand, of creating things
that are with Avatar, it's adifferent situation than with Joseph Kazinski. It's

(01:21:30):
a different field of vrs taking somethingthat's that's alien and making it feel real.
I didn't see the First Avatar inthe theater. I saw it on
my computer screen. But I'll tellyou this, and I saw it years
after it came out. Is feltlike an actual alien world. It felt
like the cameras were set up onan alien planet. Did not like the

(01:21:55):
story. I did not like alot of what the movie had going for
it. But oh my gosh,if I didn't feel like I was somewhere
else literally, and that's what Cameroncan do, and that's what makes me
intrigue with this film. I willsay this, I was not the biggest
fan of the First Avatar, eventhough I appreciate its visual sense and its

(01:22:17):
world building. I think this isa much better movie. Well that impresses
me. That sounds good. Ithink there's reasons for me to see it
now, having heard from you thehorse's mouth, My number five goes further
down that road. And this isa movie that could possibly one day contend
to being on my Favorite Movies ofAll Time list, And it is an

(01:22:41):
action film that would have looked greatin the theater if it did go in
the theater. Thank goodness for usin Canada, it was on Disney Plus
and we were able to see it. And that is pray turned to the
Predator franchise. That does it well, That does it so well with creating

(01:23:01):
an interesting, engaging stories story.It's the first time we've really had an
actual character at the center of oneof these stories. John McTiernan did not
make Arnold and the rest of thehero's real characters. The movie didn't need
that. The movie wasn't about that. Their characters were drawn down to one

(01:23:24):
thing. They're the best in theworld when it comes to combat. That's
all McTiernan needed to tell us.And that was fine. That worked with
this movie. Dan Tretchenberg is sayingto us, here's somebody with a lot
of heart, but they're not great. They're good, but they're not great,

(01:23:47):
and not great to the extent thatour main character here, Nauru played
by Amber mid Thunder, she can'tever actually make a kill when she's hunting.
She shows APPT two for it.She shows some skills, but she's
incapable of actually completing the task.I will say this, if you're a

(01:24:11):
fan of Predator, if you're afan of action movies, this is spectacle
highlighted to an intense degree. Itis thrilling, it is smart, it
is touching, and the the visualsense here, the shooting of the action
sequences is absolutely brilliant. Takes adifferent look at the Predators because this is

(01:24:38):
set, you know, hundreds ofyears ago, and so it instead of
you know, trying to make thepredator, Okay, what what? How
much more badass can we make themthis time? Because we have to up
the anti Dan Tratchenberg's actually got todevolve the predators gear because this is happening

(01:24:59):
hundreds of year in the past.I loved this film. I definitely feel
like it is earning the number fivespot here. Earlier I mentioned that one
of the positives of sort of livingin the streaming error is that we got
to see the Banshees and Assurance alot more recently than we would in previous
years. We would have had towait months later and that's one of the

(01:25:21):
positives. One of the negatives isthe fact that Prey would straight to streaming,
and that's horrible. I wish Isaw this movie on the big screen.
This is a movie that would haveshined, and I would have loved
even more if I got to seeit on the big screen. There is
some incredibly ambitious shots here where theyshow you the sweeping wilderness where they just

(01:25:43):
show you what she's up against here, the environment she's up against, the
massive scope. These are gorgeous shots. There are some incredible action sequences here
that would have been amazing to seeon the big screen. When we first
see the Predator, it comes froma killing a bear and getting covered in
blood. It is one of themost creative shots I've ever seen, an

(01:26:05):
amazing introduction, and I would loveto see that on the big screen.
There's a big action sequence to seehere that would have popped. So it's
an unfortunate I had to watch iton my big screen TV, which is
good. It's not quite the sameas a big screen, but it still
was gorgeous. It was still incredible. This is a movie that provides all
the action you want out of Predator. It finally gets it right without just

(01:26:29):
being the first one over again.This is despite what some people say,
it's a hero's journey. It isabout our lead character growing and changing,
and it's the classic hero's journey's Theyalso have adversity and she needs to sort
of make changes to her life.She has to accept some loss, she

(01:26:50):
needs to grow and find out whatmatters to her. I think it is
an incredible hero's journey, and Ithink Amber mid Under shows that she is
a start to watch. She reallyelevates this picture to the next level.
It's an incredible performance and it isarguably, because you got that first one,

(01:27:13):
the best of the Predator series.It really is. It is such
a phenomenal, phenomenal film, andI don't know which one I like better.
I watched the original Predator Predator andI watched Prey back to back,
literally back to back, and Ithrow my hands up in the air.
I can't call it my number.Five is a picture that has been talked

(01:27:40):
about some already, and that isJordan Peel's Nope. I am a huge
Jordan Peel fan. I own hisfirst two movies on physical copy because I'm
one of those people. I havea blu ray of Get Out. I
have a blu ray of US,and I forgot to ask for a blue
ray of Nope, so I don'thave Void yet. I should have asked

(01:28:02):
for Christmas, but I will definitelyat some point own Nope. I'm not
sure if it's my favorite of theJordan Peel movies. That's really hard to
figure out between those three. ButI do know for a fact this is
the most ambitious of the Jordan Peelmovies. And that is saying a lot,
because I would say that US isreally ambitious and he has a lot

(01:28:24):
to say, but Nope is justso layered and so dense, and in
some ways I would say the movieis messy, and Jordan Peel is trying
to tackle all these different things,and maybe he doesn't tackle everything perfectly.
But I love the movie for itsmess I love the movie for being so

(01:28:44):
ambitious, and I love the moviefor how much Jordan Peel is trying to
do. He doesn't hold back.You cannot say this is a formula movie.
You cannot say you know where thisis going because the fact that he's
got so many characters and so manyside plots, it's everything is a reveal
and a twist and a surprise,But I also think it all kind of

(01:29:05):
comes together, like what happens onthe sitcom with the ape. It's all
of the end talk about what you'resaying the spectacle about how our society is
so obsessed with spectacle. We're soobsessed as social media era, having all
these big events and having all thesethings to show and having everything sort of

(01:29:30):
bigger than life, and how we'rehere to sort of capture people's attention.
Everything's about being the next big thing, trying to top each other and trying
to get people's attention. And Jordanpeople saying there's a cost to that.
There's a cost because it's at thecost of humanity, it's the cost of
our soul. It's also saying howwe exploit people because that attempt of spectacle

(01:29:50):
has exploited people. And so inthis Officer, you've got the ape who's
exploited. You have people of differentbackgrounds being exploited and saying all those different
things, but saying it at thescale of a big scale movie. He
decided to make a spectacle to talkabout spectacle, and I think he's aware
of that too, but sort ofthe big invasion that's happening here. It

(01:30:14):
works as this big stage spectacle.You have these big action sequences, You've
got this big adventure and it's incredible. I think what he does with this
budget, because also you were nottalking about an Avatar budget here or a
top Gun budget here, but he'sable to sort of do this message by
showing itself sort of this big,grand scale. And Scott also mentioned how

(01:30:34):
there isn't necessary likable characters here,but what you would say is there's realistic
characters and they feel grounded and theyfeel real within this spectacle, and so
he's still attached to them because theyare complicated and every person is complicated,
and so you can relate to that. Daniel Khalula has this arc, he

(01:30:58):
starts questioning certain things. Keiki Palmerhas an arc to her character, and
I also think Dan Khalula is playinga very different character than he has in
the past. He's also played verykind of charismatic characters. Here, he's
playing one who speaks very few wordsand it's very sort of grounded and very
internalized, and I think he doesa great job of capturing that. And

(01:31:21):
there's a purpose to that because thisperson who's sort of very internalized about himself.
He's got to make some big choicesand it makes those moments later in
the movie bigger. Keki Palmer,it's just full of energy, full of
life. She's a fascinating character.She also has an arc. You really
have some very interesting characters. It'stalked about film history. This is definitely

(01:31:43):
being made by someone who loves cinema. There is a lot of references to
several movies, which like every moviehe does, but that's what makes this
movie immensely rewatchable. If you lovemovies, you should watch this movie.
It's something should be watched. Youcan watch several times. You'll get something
new every time. And that's whata great movie is, where on the
tenth watching you're still learning something.Like Scott says, there's so much in

(01:32:06):
the background, it's so much happening. This is such a dense movie with
so many layers. And if youwant once again another example of how amazing
that this film year has been isI'm talking about this dense movie that you
should watch ten times, and yetit's my number five. That's the absurdity

(01:32:26):
of this all. Nope is soambitious. There is some messiness in it.
I like that the characters we startquestioning if they're moral people or not.
But that's the point is we're supposedto start looking at these people were
introduced to as the heroes and startwondering, waiter, are they actually are

(01:32:49):
the heroes? Are the humans?And I love that that happens. Another
interesting thing about this picture is you'retalking about how are we start questioning them?
And it's fast they hold. Thereis the layers of exploitation because you
have the people the show worders ofthe sitcom, and that's one level of

(01:33:12):
exploitation, and the people who arerunning the movie studios and the way that
they treat sort of Kicky Palmer dayKhalula, the way that Stephen June's character
was treated as a child, againthat level. But then the Stephen Yune
character is exploited to and what he'sdoing and sort of the rodeo he has,
and it's clear that there is someissues with him and so then we

(01:33:35):
think, oh, it's he kindof like the villain character. And then
you move down and like you said, then it becomes clear that Khalula and
Palmer aren't much better. Yeah,and I absolutely love that I love how
a lot of people and how theyrespond to the spectacle. It sort of
plays out differently. You've got oneperson that is just so obsessed with the

(01:33:58):
perfect capture of an event and whatit leads to. And yeah, if
you're watching, you may think,well, that's far fetched that he would
do. The point is, it'slike standing in the middle of a road
watching, you know, a houseburned down. It's it's a road.
Cars are gonna be on it.People do stupid things when they watch stuff.

(01:34:21):
They want to get the perfect view. Idiots happen. That's us,
that's human beings. We are idiotsat times. And I think the film
captures that so well. I thinkyou nailed it. I do think that
is one of the messages that JordanPeel is stayed. I think that's also
why he ended up making a moviethat is this spectacle, so that he's

(01:34:44):
not saying he's innocent either. Ithink what the messages is we all exploit.
We're all guilty of it. Yeah, my next film, it's number
four. But you know, we'retalking about Jordan Peel and just how meady
his movies are. And I thinkthat people like him and Ari Aster and
Jennifer Kent have created some of thebest horror films of all time and a

(01:35:11):
movie that all of a sudden Iwatched and I'm like, holy crap.
This is on the same level ofthose other films of movies like Hereditary,
of movies like The Witch or Boba Duck or Get Out. This Norwegian
film, The Innocence is I haveto say, one of my favorite horror

(01:35:34):
movies and what I would say ispossibly the best horror film of the last
two or three years. This filmcame out of nowhere for me. I
watched it and I was blown away. It is children playing and human nature
of power, corruption of power,good versus evil, of psychopathy, of

(01:36:01):
empathy, of fear, all thisstuff being played out in children playing.
As these kids, we little things, start realizing they have superpowers and where
things go with that and where peopletake that. It is absolutely chilling.

(01:36:24):
It is captivating. From a perspectiveof visuals. This is a level of
excellence that is I think almost unmatchedas far as I'm concerned in recent years.
So it's written and directed by EskiVoked. Its cinematography is done by

(01:36:46):
and I apologize to all Norwegians onthe Planet cinematography by Sterla Brandt Grovelyn got
that horribly wrong, I'm sure.But what happens here is there are scenes
where there are no dialogue. There'sno dialogue at all, and the camera
is still telling the story. Itcould just be two of the kids staring

(01:37:11):
at each other, but the cameragiving us the dialogue that's really happening.
The directing and the capturing of thisto the point where we know exactly what's
happening when there's no words and thislike literally two people just standing there.
I found that absolutely phenomenal this film. This film is a horror, even

(01:37:35):
though it's about children's playtime. Itis absolutely one horror. Couldn't stop watching.
I couldn't stop thinking about it whenI was done watching it. The
Innocence to Me one Day may endup on my top ten movie list of
all time. This picture works almostas a dark version of an origin story

(01:38:00):
because we're getting sort of these people, these kids that have superpowers early in
their life and they're trying to stillfigure them out and work them out.
And it's sort of this dark versionof it because it's basically using kind of
the origin story of the superhero andlooking at it to explore morality, because
basically one of those things in lifeis we all sort of have to figure

(01:38:24):
out our moral compass. As akid, you start to have to figure
out what is the right and whatis the wrong. But then what happens
when you already have these great powerswhile still trying to figure out what morality
is, and you have someone likeIda who she's still sort of trying to
figure things out, trying to workthrough it and trying to figure out is
this something I should do or somethingthat is wrong? But then you have

(01:38:47):
someone like Ben, who is anotherkid who's already sort of a social path.
He's already almost decided this other pathdue to sort of being picked on,
He's been bullied, He's got anabsentee mother, a mother who honestly
is not getting the love he needs, and so it's formally that dark side

(01:39:09):
that he has. And so thispicture is using sort of these superpowers really
explore how we get our moral compassand how we do things in the dark
past that we could go. Andobviously with Ida, you also have the
relationship she has with her her sisterwho is autistic. But then we realize
she also has kind of these powersand she treined her right and how those

(01:39:32):
things should figure out. If thepictures really interested and are interesting in how
it kind of dells in those relationshipsof Aisha as well, who connects with
the autistic sister. I will confessthat this movie did not connect to be
with me at the same level asyou. I really liked the ideas behind

(01:39:55):
it, and I really liked sortof the cehotography and how I use that
to sort of delve with these darkthemes. And there's some interesting special effects
here and stuff, And definitely thechildren performances are some of the best children
performances I've seen. I just thoughtthe pictures sort of lacked an urgency and

(01:40:15):
so I didn't necessary I felt likesometimes there was a bit of a this
meandering feeling rather than kind of reallyget into the moment and I really create
the stakes. And so I definitelya recommended it though, and I liked
it a lot, and I definitelywould say horror fans need to check this
out, because I think we oftenjust look at sort of the big studio
movies, and the international scene hassome really fascinated horror movies. It does,

(01:40:40):
and I can see your your criticismthere the lack of urgency. I
kind of liked that. That wasactually one of the strong points for me,
was that that sense of lack ofurgency. I hope you know that
one of our lists, though,is absolute truth. So you're playing with

(01:41:00):
fire by disputing what may be theabsolute truth of top ten movies of twenty
twenty two. Well, I'm sayingthat it definitely to me, it's not
one of the best movies of theyear, but I do think it's a
movie that's worth checking, and itis a movie where I am totally happy
of revisiting again in the future andmaybe one day being right because there's no

(01:41:25):
subjectivity in this, we'll do itwell. So that means I already know
that Scott is wrong because he's alreadyput my number four on his list,
and he now is realizing he shouldhave put it as his number four instead
of where he put it, Andthat is Prey is my number four movie,
which even shocks me because I wassure that this was going to be

(01:41:48):
my number one movie for several months, but no, it's my number four
now because it's that kind of year. But Pray was an absolute massive,
pleasant surprise for me because I wasdone with Predator movies. I like the
first one. I kind of likePredators, so yeah, so I felt

(01:42:11):
that I was done with the Predatormovies. I was not as big as
the one that was directed by ShaneBlack a few years ago. And what
happened here is this is a picturewhere Dan Tractonberg figured out how to deliver
exactly what you want from a Predatormovie, but then also not being stuck
to the formula and not trying tojust redo Predator again. There is new

(01:42:35):
things here. And it's not justthat it sets it into a different time
period. It's not just that it'snow about a Comachi nation. It's not
just that it's about something from centuriesago. This is a movie that it
is different because of it. LikeI said, it's it's about a hero's

(01:42:56):
journey. Now it's about the charactersrather than just fighting the predator. It's
about this girl who needs to growand learn. But this is also a
movie that takes time about us knowingthe tribe. This is another one where
this feels like a lived in tribe. You see things going in the background,
you see this community. It takestime of letting you know about the
being hunters and learning about their culture. And so that is something that made

(01:43:19):
this movie very unique because it's focusingon the characters. It's gained us developed
in the world, and all thatstuff is fascinating. The predator doesn't start
killing for quite a while into themovie, but all the non predator stuff
is riveting because you're feeling like you'relearning something. This is an action picture
that also feels like an empathy machine. We are seeing a different culture,

(01:43:42):
We're understanding these people. We arereally invested in Nuru, and then it
really pays off when we then getto the predator ring where we get to
the killings, where we get tothe action sequences, because we care about
these people, we care about her, we care about her brother, and
then you get these incredible actions andspecial effects. It's a predator movie,

(01:44:03):
so obviously Naru has got to doa little bit of home alone and set
some traps for the predator, andall that stuff is fascinating. Her being
smart, her trying to realize thatshe can't use her hunting skills or her
battling skills to beat the predators.She needs to do something else and all
that stuff is fascinating, Scott said, also the attention to details incredible.

(01:44:24):
Here. I mentioned obviously how theymake the village look alive and breathing.
I love the sets when they're inthe forest, but just even the fact
that the Predator looks different. Helooks like he doesn't have all the new
toys because this is something from thepast. This is the first time he's
ever coming to Earth, and sothey've learned how to update, and as

(01:44:47):
a civilization, we don't have allthe technology, so why would the predator?
And I thought all that stuff wasreally fascinating. I love that attention
to detail. Dan tract and Burgis definitely one of my favorite genre directors.
He also did Ten Club Were FieldLane, another picture that I put
up as one of my favorite horrorpictures. This is definitely a horror slash

(01:45:09):
action picture because it definitely has withhorror elements. I mentioned about the blood
that goes all over the predatraph hekills a bear. That's a perfect horror
sequence, the way that he stalksand they slowly build and there is some
definitely some tense scary moments, butthere are some thrilling action sequences. This
is a terrific movie, and myonly negative is I didn't get to see

(01:45:30):
it in a theater. That's sucha big negative, though didn't I had
to put zero energy into seeing it, But I would have easily put the
energy going to the theater in tocatch that movie in the theaters. It
was so so good. This isof all the movies on my list,

(01:45:50):
Pray maybe one. I constantly startwondering should it have been higher? Like
a year from now, I'll probablylook back at this list and think,
should Pray really be down at mynumber five? Should it not have been
higher? And yeah, it's sucha good film, I think the only

(01:46:11):
reason at this point I at numberfour. I think one of the reasons
why it's only number four for meis I never got a chance to rewatch
it like I wanted. The lastfew months, I've been scrambling to try
to get as many year end moviesin so that this list can be as
complete as possible, and so Praysuffered. I feel like now that we're
finally doing our list and I couldjust kind of watch what I want again,

(01:46:34):
I'll probably rewatch Pray this month.They realize, yeah, it should
have been higher. Yeah, thethere's just so much standing in his way
of number one. And I've seenPray twice. I definitely sort of like
you. Once these lists shows aredone and now there's freedom of movement and
you can just watch whatever you wantto watch for a bit and not feel

(01:46:58):
guilty that you're wasting your time.Praise probably a film I'm going well,
Pray is a film I'm going torewatch, and the next movie on my
list is a movie that I amgoing to rewatch. The only reason I
haven't done it so far this yearis because well, I could probably fit
two shorter movies in during the runtimeof Our Our Our Our stands for Rise,

(01:47:24):
Roar and Revolt Are. This isan Indian action film slash bromance bromance
like it's Nicholas Cage and Pedro Pascallevel bromance going on here. But the
energy of this movie, the ridiculousnessof the action. Like we have talked

(01:47:50):
in the past about ridiculous action filmsand how fun it can be. Face
Off Replacement Son wonderful, Cliffhanger,murder By Soccer wonderful, just brilliant stuff
Are is the total hold my beermovie. When it comes to crazy action.

(01:48:15):
I had watched something before I hadseen this movie, and it was
highlighted a person throwing I believe itwas a leopard in the middle of a
giant mealy brawl, someone grabbing aleopard and throwing it at someone's head,
and I thought, wow, I'vegot to watch the movie just to see
that. And then I realized,Wow, there is just a number of

(01:48:40):
moments as insane as that scattered throughoutthis film. I don't want to go
into any of them because they arebrilliant, because they are just it's it's
absolute lunacy. But this is tonin such a fun way. And yes,
it is three hours and seven minutes, but my gosh, it for

(01:49:01):
me it felt like it was anhour and a half. This movie flew
by. Maybe there's a point ortwo that doesn't need to be in here,
but nothing is a big, bigdistraction. It's got the dance scenes,
got Bollywood's out dance scenes. It'sgot the action, it's got humor,
it's got romance, it's got likea romance montage. What else could

(01:49:24):
this film have? It is I'veused the word insanity. It is insanity,
but to the most pure and funlevel. That insanity can happen in
a film, and when a personusing a leopard as a projectile in a
fistfight, when that is not oneof the craziest things that happens in your

(01:49:47):
movie, then something that there's awild ride in store for you. I
don't know if we will ever havean American studio, American made blockbuster that
would take the risks that this moviehas, that there's any movie that I'd
be willing to go this insane,Like I think it's something like oh Guards,

(01:50:08):
like Galaxy, it was whacky,it was something very different where we
were talking about like, no,how dense it is, Like this picture
is incredibly dense, Like it earnsits three hours because it has so much
to say, and it has somany different character arcs and threads, and
it's obviously talking about sort of colonialism, and it's talking about what revenge can

(01:50:30):
do to us, and it's gotall these different relationships it is trying to
layer. It's got all these differentthings, and then on top of that,
it's just this It just throws everythingon the screen, like like you
mentioned, Okay, yeah, you'rethrowing a wild cat and that probably isn't
even top ten craziest things that arein the movie, and so that this
is a movie where there's I canliterally say I've seen things I've never seen

(01:50:54):
any other picture before, and Ijust don't know of an American movie is
ever going to be able to Idon't think anyone would want to finance something
like that because it just I don'tknow if people can handle it. Yet
it kind of proven it has becauseI believe this is a global hit.
Yeah, that's the interesting thing isthis movie is just a love letter to

(01:51:15):
everything that shouldn't work in a bigmovie. It is all the stuff that
doesn't get green lit from start,from opening sequence to and I think that
even the first credit doesn't pop upuntil like twenty minutes into the film or
something like that. You know,the whole thing is just stuff that I

(01:51:40):
think studio executives not just shy awayfrom, but run away from. The
movie proves that there is if it'sdone right, and we always say this
on the podcast, anything can work, and if it's done right, this
absurdity can work because I've never heardof an Indian film sort of catching the

(01:52:03):
imagination of so many people like thisfilm does. Well. You mentioned before
about how some movies, like forsomebody mentioned Tabor's like it wasn't crazy just
for crazy sake, Like there's allthis insane stuff, but it all sort
of works. I felt this isthe movie that's kind of the epitome of
that is there's all this insanity,but it wasn't like I'm just doing that

(01:52:25):
to be crazy. We're not.I'm not. It's not just doing it
for the sake of doing it.Like everything kind of has a story purpose,
everything fits with the tone, itfits with the energy. Yes,
this is about sort of a historicaltime. It's about an historical event,
but it's also trying to be afantasy. It's trying to let it tells
you right at the beginning, buthe's batting that tiger. It's not to

(01:52:47):
be taken realistically. Yeah, itin and I love that, like and
it's that sets the tone. Itreally sets the tone, and the it's
in the movie never betrays itself asfar as like what it is, because
yeah, I ranted and raved aboutit, but then I, as you

(01:53:09):
pointed out, there's actual story here, there's actual themes being in h Yeah,
and British critic I read it orsomething. But but really didn't like
the movie because of how the Britishwere portrayed. Well, I'm pretty sure
that you know, if you ifyou talk to a lot of the Indians

(01:53:30):
during the British rule, they probablydidn't have this very majestic view of the
British. And that's not just limitedto India. That's like looking at like
Twelve Years of Slave and say thatI don't like how they depicted the slave
traders. Yeah, exactly. Well, I mean there's a pressing to people

(01:53:53):
like what do you expect? Notevery British person's bad in this No,
that that that's the thing, andthat's I think it missed the point.
The point was about the colonial system, I believe, and not necessarily the
British pet like all the British people. It was about the colonial system.
I'm just gonna say. We mentioneda few weeks ago that both you and

(01:54:15):
I saw Big Bug without subtitles.We saw dubbing because of the insanity of
this movie and because of the thingsthat visually were happening all the time.
I also did dubbing for this picture, just so that I wasn't missing things
by trying to read. And theydid a great job at the dubbing.
Yeah, I saw with the dubbingas well, because the exact same reason.

(01:54:38):
Once I started realizing, Okay,there's some crazy stuff happening here.
I have to free up my eyes. I have to be able to see
this stuff. So yeah, it'sworth it. It's on Netflix in Canada.
Don't know where it is in theStates, so track it down.
Now we are all the way atnumber three. And once again, Scott

(01:55:00):
something wrong because he's already put thismovie on his list, And no,
Scott, it's number three. TheBashee's of Innessuran is the third best movie
of the year, and it isdefinitely a dark comedy, and some at
first glance may consider the movie cynicalbecause of these two friends falling apart and

(01:55:24):
what ends up happening between the twoof them throughout the picture. But I
would argue that it's one of themost empathetic movies of the year, and
that there is some passion here andthat Martin McDonough clearly is looking at the
importance of love and the importance ofbeing able sort of for carrying for each

(01:55:48):
other despite what really happens in thepicture, Because yeah, we have these
two friends, and yes, youhave Brendan Gleason character essentially telling Colin Farrell
out of the blue he doesn't wantto be his friend anymore, and then
he starts doing some pretty crazy things, and obviously they both start there's some

(01:56:11):
hostilities that happen. There is momentsin this movie where you see that despite
the fact that Brettick Gleason says thosethings, he still cares for him.
And throughout the movie there's little momentswhere you still see that compassion and empathy
that even though he doesn't want totalk to him anymore, there are small

(01:56:32):
little hints throughout the picture of howdeep that friendship is between them, and
that there is these sweet, tender, little moments that in a lot of
ways the Colin Farrell character maybe decidesto ignore or miss, but you still
get the hints up there's something,there's a love there, because I think
this picture has kind of talked aboutthe fact of how friends and enemies are

(01:56:57):
so closely linked together in so manyways, because in both cases it's people
who know each other deeply, andit's gonna be how you decide to react
and the choices that you make,and how you decide to treat somebody,
and so this picture is looking atsort of that close tie and how quickly
you can go both ways. AndI think what we have here is a

(01:57:17):
movie that is trying to tell usas a society that's becoming so toxic and
so negative that we need to startchanging our perception and how important it is
to be empathetic, and how importantit is to try to look at the
better side of people so that we'renot pushing each other away. Because this

(01:57:38):
is also a picture that is setduring the Irish Civil War, and I
think the relationship between these two guysis clearly an allegory of what was happening
during that time, and it's anallegory for the civil war that was happening,
because you think of any civil warand it's happening in a country,
then in a lot of ways,they're supposed to be brothers, right.

(01:57:59):
You are the fellow citizens of yourcountry. You have a connection already,
and somehow you're worrying against each othereven though you have these things in common
and should be bonding. And Ithink this picture is showing how it's kind
of depicting how we have all thesewars and all this tense with each other
when we should that shouldn't be happeningbecause we have so much that's in common.

(01:58:19):
And that's through all this movie thatis really funny, and I obviously
has that dark side. It's talkingabout that importance of empathy and it's talking
about how there is a connection betweenthese two people. And I think you
are looking at an incredible performance ColinFarrell. Even though we were kind of

(01:58:40):
talked about how he's playing a duller, this is still a very nuanced character
and he definitely goes on a bigjourney. And Brendan Gleeson, here's a
guy who in a lot of wayshe started, he still, like I
said it was, shows his empathyand how much he still kind of cares
even though he's pushing a way theycalled Farrell character. There is definitely with
him some things where he decides wherehe wants to go in his life and

(01:59:01):
he allows sort of the interests ofmusic whatever to harm a friendship, and
there's he goes to some extreme responseswith their relationship, and I think that
ends another thing of looking at howsometimes we can make some really foolish choices.
But this picture, as funny asI think it is, there is
a lot of great tender moments.I love the Colin Farrell and Carrie Codin

(01:59:27):
relationship, the brother and sister relationship. I think she's a really important character
here. She seems to be thelight of the movie, the person who
sort of actually has some understanding aperson. Also that she's the one that
realizes she can't live in this islandanymore, and she needs to leave because
in a lot of ways, she'smore perceptive and smarter than most of the

(01:59:47):
people here. She's outgrown this island. But I still love those sweet moments
between how much Carry and Colin needeach other and their relationship. She later
on writes a letter to him,and I think it's really sweet. And
there is a lot of these tendermoments and ones that make it really clear
to me that this is a picturethat is about empathy and love. You

(02:00:10):
also have Barry Coogan, who iseven the bigger dollard to them to call
him feral character, but he's Ithink really important in this picture as well
as he becomes the other friend,and he also sometimes shows some great insights
in relationships. And then of courseyou've got the stuff with his fathers and
sort of that darkness, and thisis a picture about how quickly love can

(02:00:32):
balance between hate, and I thinkthat's also somethings what can lead to the
wars and the conflicts in life.And so I think this picture is very
complex and deep and what it's sayingabout humanity and what's it's saying about relationships.
But on top of that, evenif you don't want to look at
the themes of the layers, it'sjust it's a quirky comedy with lots of

(02:00:56):
energy and great pacing and just thisentire village of interesting character. It's an
absolutely fascinating picture. It's one thatdemands I think several rewatches. This is
a movie I'll come to many times. And it kind of again goes an
example of what a great movie yearit's been, because I would call this
one a classic, but it's noteven my number one movie. So Bashi's

(02:01:16):
assuran is it was a great surprise. I was God, hosel' see it
before the end of the year.There's a massive, massive element of empathy.
I'm glad this movie is on yourlist because you know, I think
you saw a different angle than whatI saw, and I you know,
as you're talking about this this allegory. Wait, have we used that word

(02:01:40):
already this podcast? Allegory? Doesthat? Doesn't that mean something that doesn't
work? This allegory aspect of thefriendship and being compared to the Civil War.
I think that is a really incredibleinterpretation of it. I think to
me it totally makes sense. Andwhen we're talking about Nope and the effect

(02:02:01):
that you can strip away so muchof what the movie is about and it's
still entertaining, I think that isequally as impressive here in the Banshees of
Venisharin, is that we strip everythingaway and there's a wonderful comedy slash drama
here. Yeah. Like you said, I am a genius and I'm brilliantly
triputy movies. So you nailed that, But you nailed the other aspect too.

(02:02:27):
Is I think a great movie isagain one where if you're not wanting
to delve into the themes, youstill have a really entertaining movie. And
what you have here is a reallyquirky and weird and oddball movie and it
still works. I think it's stilla great movie even without an allegory to

(02:02:48):
the Civil War. Are those elementsI think there's still something here. And
I definitely think that Brendan Gleeson kindof shows why he is terrific, because
he's a very nuanced character, Likethere's parts of him where are like,
wow, that's really jerky. Todo what you're doing is kind of crazy.
But there's there's these tender moments heshows throughout the love that he shows

(02:03:11):
to Colin Farrell that I really thinkhelps elevate the movie and Colin Farrell,
like you talk about like a characterarc, he's probably the biggest dullard that
has the most character arc in amovie since Forrest Gump. That's a good
way to put it. He's avery very much is a dullard and he

(02:03:31):
pours gasoline on a fire that he'strying to put out. It's a it's
a very interesting character of one ofa few dullard characters for movies we've talked
about today. Yeah, I dothink that Colin Farrell proves that he is
probably one of the more fascinating actorsgoing right now. The performance is definitely

(02:03:54):
a thing that works here. Ialso just want to bring in the other
dullard, Barry Cohen, who,like the actor's not a duller Bro plays.
He's also a very fascinating character,sort of the relationship that he grows
and the rescue he has with hisdad. Like there's a lot going on
in this movie, there is andanother movie. There's a lot going on

(02:04:15):
with everything everywhere, all at once. Now, if our r R sounded
like it was all sorts of crazy, guess what, It's not the craziest
movie of the year. It's gonnabean in a cheesy action sense, it
is, but in levels of whatdid I just see? Well, not
even mad God and Our combined couldprepare you for everything everywhere, all at

(02:04:42):
once, and all the madness thatis withinside. This film is written and
directed by Dan Quan and Daniel Scheinert, who co wrote and co directed it.
It stars Michelle Yoey. It's gota me supporting supporting performances Jamie Lee

(02:05:03):
Curtis, Stephanie Sue a Key,Hugh Kwon, James Hong, some absolutely
wonderful, wonderful people here. Thismovie. When you talk about films that
have layered significance, layered meaning everythingeverywhere, all at once, is maybe

(02:05:25):
one of the best films I've everseen at this because it does this by
constantly throwing us off as the audiencemembers. We don't know where to stand
as far as what we're seeing.We've got changing film genres happening in here
pretty much instantly and without any warning. We have tonal chiefts, all these

(02:05:50):
things that if you have two ofthese in the same movie, you know
you you've made a disjointed film.Everything everywhere, all at once, takes
every aspect of filmmaking that can becan make a movie disjointed, and it
throws it all in this casserole ofnarrative and visual and it all works out

(02:06:15):
to become an extremely entertaining, extremelyhilarious, extremely touching, extremely extremely ambitious
film. This is easily one ofthe most unique and best compiled and shot
films I've ever seen in my life, this movie being in the top two.

(02:06:38):
While now we're in the territory ofI'm pretty sure we're now talking about
movies that have disrupted the previous orderof top ten favorite films of all time.
We've met you a few times nowabout movies that do insane things.
But it's not just to do forthe fact of its sandy like. We

(02:07:00):
have definitely criticized movies where were like, they just did that to shock you.
They just did that because it lookscool. But this today, with
stuff like Nope, like our rand definitely with everywhere, everything everywhere,
all at once. There's a purposeto the insanity, and the insanity in
this movie really crucial and really importantbecause this is a picture that is about

(02:07:25):
sort of regret. It's a pictureabout someone looking up the current life and
being unhappy with it, unhappy withthe relationship with her daughter, unhappy with
her husband, and so it's allabout these alternate realities, and some of
them are absolutely insane. But Ithink that's really important for setting the stage
for the movie, for creating theworld, for kind of showing us that's

(02:07:46):
something that's kind of within her mind, of all the different possibilities of life,
because you look at life and youthink there's so many things that are
possible, so many things that canhappen in our life, but this is
the one we got stuck with.Sometimes we get regret, sometimes we wish
it didn't happen that way. Andthis movie, by going so crazy,

(02:08:07):
going so insane, it really expoundsupon it really explores that idea of possibilities
and the regret we left that weare left with and once again, like
all the other ones, the insanitymakes for a very fresh, unique,
engaging, well paced kind of actionsci fi picture. So even without all

(02:08:30):
the themes that are so layered inhere, you're just seeing this ridiculous movie
that there's nothing else like this,Like, I don't even really know what
genre to put this movie in.A movie that's the best I can say?
What genre? Is everything everywhere,all at once a movie or I
would also accept motion picture either orI have already mentioned that one of the

(02:08:56):
things I like to see is passionatecreators. I love movies about people who
are passionate about their art, passionateabout their job, just passionate about what
they do day to day, Ithink when that's done well in some of
the most entertaining movies. And numbertwo for me is a movie that is

(02:09:20):
a near classic, but it's justone of those kind of years where it
didn't get the number one spot.It was directed by a man who did
get the number one spot last year. Steven Spielberg's West Side Story was my
number one movie last year. Thisyear, he's gonna have to settle for
number two with the Fableman's which isa fictional autobiographical take He's This is a

(02:09:43):
picture that obviously is one of StevenSpielberg's most personal movies ever, because he
is looking at this is a fictionaltake sort of on his family life.
His parents had a divorce and itclearly had a huge impa act on that.
He's opened up about that stuff likeet was him processing that and several

(02:10:05):
other pictures throughout his life, Sothe Peter Pants syndrome that he had,
and so he's looking at his family. He actually dedicated this picture to his
two parents, and so it's aboutthat, but it's also about someone who
is passionate being a filmmaker. Ourlead person is a Jewish boy growing up
who goes to the movies one dayand instantly falls in love with it.

(02:10:28):
He's instantly drawn in and connected thathe becomes obsessed about it and that's his
life now. He has some thingsthat happen through life where he pushes it
aside. He has things happen wherehe feels like maybe he shouldn't be a
filmmaker. But the end, itis his love, it is his life,
and so that is what this pictureis about. Gabriel LaBelle plays Sammy

(02:10:52):
Fableman, who is sort of theSteven Spielberg stand in, and we get
to see someone who he basically seesa train wreck on the big screen and
then he wants to get a trainset and he wants to remake it,
and they think it's because he's obsessedwith trains, but we learn, no,
it's about him. You don't havethe control and be a creator or

(02:11:15):
make film, And so then weget to see him make different films with
his friends, and we see thatjourney of him eventually sort of becoming the
filmmaker. This is so this isthe movie that sort showing you Steven Spielberg's
life before he became the famous filmmaker, also with some fictional takes. But
I love the passion in this picture. I love what it's about, what

(02:11:35):
it says about creation and how thepassion for the arts can drive us and
how it is inside us as partof our life. This is a movie
that also reminds me something like luLa Land about the great costs we take
for creating, the sacrifices we take, the effects it has on our friendships,
the effects that it has on ourfamily when we're passionate, the choices

(02:11:58):
you need to make. How fardo you really want to go? What
are you willing to lose to beable to gain being the best in your
arts and in your passions, Andthis picture explores all those things. I
think this is an incredible performance.But Gabriel La Belle, this is a
picture that explores sort of what happenswhen you're in a broken family. This
picture explores first loves, which Italk about an actual relationship. It's a

(02:12:22):
come int of age tale. It'sgot all those components. It also also
explores anti Semitism because he has todeal with that and how do we deal
with it? And how we supposeuse art to deal with that, which
I there's an incredible scene where hebasically films a movie to sort of deal
with those issues. All that stuffis fascinating. Michelle Williams, here's a

(02:12:43):
shock. She's amazing. What's great, and she always is. This is
a mother who basically had to giveup her passions and her loves in order
to be a mom. And that'san interesting thing. She's the one who's
the more artistic person, the moreeccentric person, trying to push her son
and there's but she is not She'snot the perfect person. She has some

(02:13:05):
flaws in here, and the moviedeals with that really well. Paul Dano
is a father who is loving,but he's more pragmatic. He's about,
you got to get a real job, you have to make a living,
and so there is that clash.But you also get a father who loves
and is trying to understand and connectto his son Seth Rogian. It's sort

(02:13:26):
of the fun, crazy uncle,but there is some things with him that
get revealed, and I think thatis another layered performance. This is a
terrific picture. Is just packed.If you love coming of age, if
you love movies about about sort ofbeing a creator the arts, there is
so much here. I absolutely thisis the type of movie that really resonates.

(02:13:48):
It connects with me because it hasall the type of stuff I love,
the coming of age, the issuesof being a parent and the things
you have to deal with, andof course being a creator and being in
the arts. This is a masterpiece. Steven Spielberg is one of the greatest
directors of all time for a reason, and again with all this praise,
but this is your number two.Yeah, it's that kind of year.

(02:14:11):
This is, Well, I wantto see the film, don't you know
you'll love it. I'm sure Iwill. What I find interesting is said
last Year or the year before Belfastby Kenneth Brauna. Yes, last year
that was on your list as well, wasn't it. I think it may
have just missed it, okay,because that was also semi autobiographical, biographical,

(02:14:37):
wasn't it. Yes, Yeah,so it's I think it's interesting that
these directors who are showing like avulnerability of telling their own story on screen.
I think it's when people are allowedto be vulnerable. And that's what
really stood out to me with unbearablewave of masks of talent. And I'm

(02:14:58):
not putting that on the same levelas a Belfast or as Fableman's, but
it is an artist allowing themselves tobe seen in sort of a different way,
in a more human way. Andthat's why the Fableman's really really intrigues

(02:15:18):
me, is that you know,someone's willing to put a piece of themselves
on the screen and it's a storythat they can't hide behind, right Like
a lot of directors I'm sure doput a bit of themselves on the picture.
On the big screen, but theyit's it's not necessarily obvious, and

(02:15:39):
yeah, that that vulnerability is what'sreally got me excited for Fableman's I stand
strongly by the belief that the bestart is always deeply personal and deeply vulnerable.
I feel the best works are whena creator is willing to be brutally
on and they make themselves vulnerable andthey show a piece of them. Now,

(02:16:03):
it doesn't always have to be autobiographical, Like, it doesn't necessarily have
to be sort of this fictional takeon my life, Like that's what Spielberg
did, That's what Brada did,and I think it works really well.
I'm not saying that's what you haveto do. Not every filmmaker needs to
do this fictional take of sort oftheir life. But in this case,

(02:16:24):
I do think Spielberg is really puttinga bit of himself on that screen in
a way that he hasn't done witha lot of his movies. He's not
hiding how he truly feels and theemotions he's putting on there. I also
think that's why something like ets aclassic, because I think ET is a
case if he would also be verypersonal and put it on the screen.
But I do think that these things, some of the movies we've seen this

(02:16:46):
year, they are so great becausethe factor is that personal element. Someone
is putting a piece of their hearton the screen, and that is that's
when movies sore. It is.It is because there's just a lot of
connection that can happen with the audienceand just it's a much more personal experience.
Yeah, I don't know what tosay. I did not expect it

(02:17:07):
to be your number two, andthe fact that it is really really has
me. I have to see thisfilm now. I'm just going to spend
a bit just quickly talk about somefilms that didn't make the list. These
are honorable mentions. Any other year, they they would have been on a
year end list, absolutely and wouldhave been in the top ten of the

(02:17:30):
year. Number one Turning Red,Chris, you already mentioned it. We
already talked about it Light Year aswell. I think I enjoyed it like
you did, which which was alot held it up a lot higher than
a lot of people did. Itwas like it was a effing funny movie

(02:17:52):
and really entertaining and so oh mygosh, that is the best marketing opportunity
put it up. Film Glass Onion, great mystery Chippendale Rescue Rangers that actually
could have the more I thought aboutit over the last week, that movie
could have made a top ten inyear past. Into the Deep Submarine mystery

(02:18:18):
documentary, Hustle with Adam Sandler,just terrific, terrific movie, Wendell and
Wild Sea Beast. There's there's justso many films that need to get mentioned
because in other points in time theywould have been on the list. And
my honorable mention each of these movies. At one point I knew they'd be

(02:18:41):
in my top ten. I knewit, and here we are them not
being in my top ten. WhatI think was the best comic book movie
of the year, The Batman,a movie that I know I love more
than a lot of people and Ithought was gonna make my top ten.
It just missed it. The LostCity. It's probably my affection for Romancing
the Stone and the fact that Ilove a good adventurous romantic comedy. The

(02:19:05):
Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent just missedmy list as well. Emily the Criminal,
which I talked about last week,and The Underrated I need to mention
it here, it would have justmissed my list. The Woman King.
This is an incredible, sweeping historicalepic. It was, it was in
my top ten up until basically afew days ago. It is just big

(02:19:28):
screen personified. It's the type ofpicture you don't see as much. It's
the old school historical epic, butnow with a twist because we've got a
female lead and it's about African culture. Seriano the musical I've talked. I
talked about that a few weeks agoin it just missed my list. Pinocchio,
and the Pinocchio I'm talking about isa Gamma del Toro Pinocchio, and

(02:19:52):
I recently watched that with my son, who just really really loved it.
It's dark, but it's got alot of heart. Then you're gonna hear
this one again. Ju jitsue kaisin zero just missed my list. It's
a fantastic action anime. The Northman, which we talked about today and of
course just like Scott light Year,just missed it. Yeah, and thank

(02:20:13):
you for bringing mentioning Gilo Moro delToro's Pinocchio, because for some reason that
didn't get written down my list ofanticipate of honorable mentions. That movie is
insanely, insanely good. I thoughtbe my number ten. I mean,
that's like that that could have beena number one movie. That that movie

(02:20:35):
is good enough to be a numberone of the year in another year,
in a different year than this.It's Crazy Day You twenty twenty two.
I know, I love this,which thou brings me to my number one
movie. We've we've talked about somereally really stellar films, so much passion
put into films, and so manyamazing movies that are exploring theme. And

(02:21:00):
my number one pick. It's ablockbuster, It's the Popcorn Muncher, It's
Top Gun Maverick. How could thispossibly have beaten out some of the other
films on the list. Well,when we look at a movie and what
it's supposed to do, I feltthat Top Gun Maverick did it best.
For myself, I found that thismovie, this movie shows how to employ

(02:21:28):
nostalgia effectively into a story that's beingtold. Nostalgia is in there to make
a smile. Nostalgia's not the reasonthe movie exists. Nostalgia is there to
bring back just these warm memories ofTop Gun. Even though I didn't necessarily

(02:21:48):
even like Top Gun. I'm smilingremembering about it in Top Gun, Maverick.
What was insane about this film isthe actual story, the fact that
this character, sure that Tom Cruiseplayed in the first film, is actually
really, really complex. He's gota lot of things he's working through,

(02:22:09):
and the people around him do aswell. I think that the writing is
just terrific. The characters are incredibleand well rounded. When we first heard
about this and We're Taught, wementioned it on the podcast and I remember
saying, I'm pretty sure dog fightingis dead, like it it's done,

(02:22:30):
So why would this even be thereeven be a movie being made when you
know the days of airplanes dog fightingis long over. They found a way
to make it work. And Iwas smiling and I was happy. And
Tom Cruise runs this movie the lengthshe runs so well, the lengths that

(02:22:52):
this movie goes to to capture arealistic experience. So there's a bunch of
stuff that's not realistic. I'm notpretending this film is from a storytelling standpoint
or completely a visual effects standpoint,but Kazinski wont if it can be done
practically, Kazinski's doing it practically,and the lengths that have gone to to

(02:23:15):
capture the faces of these actors asthey're being thrown around in the cockpit of
a plane, as they're battling theg forces. Work that goes into the
capturing the aerial sequences. There wasmore hours of footage recorded for Top Gun
Maverick than there were for all threeLord of the Rings films. That is

(02:23:39):
an editor's nightmare. That's what Kazinskiput into this. Tom Cruise is also
apparently another massive driving force heat withit. Sounds like without Tom Cruise,
this movie actually wouldn't have happened becausehe was challenging the actors. He was
pushing for this realism he I believehad like a He created a three month

(02:24:03):
course so that people could get trainingand understanding of things like he was an
integral part. This was a passionproject of Tom Cruise, of Joseph Kaczynski,
and in every single minute of theruntime, that passion front and center.
These are people who believed in themovie, who wanted to tell this

(02:24:26):
story, that wanted to honor navalaviation, and I think they did it
in just the perfect way. Soour podcast is one where our format has
been one where we've wanted to showall different forms of film appreciation. I

(02:24:46):
mean, our best of lists havehad documentaries on there, our best of
lists have had international pictures on there. It's had art house pictures, it's
had these small independent pictures, andso we've tried to champion all those things.
But I think one of the thingsas we've continued to this podcast,
I want to continue to try togrow and recognize is as good as it
is to put like a champion independentmovie, as good as it is the

(02:25:09):
champion those smaller movies. You stillhave to sometimes accept that the big studio
system works too, and sometimes abig blockbuster, a tentpole is going to
connect with you just as much asa smaller movie. And you can love
cinema because I think sometimes there's thisidea that the true cinema lovers recognize the
obscure movies, the two cinema loversrecognize the independent movies. And I think

(02:25:35):
that's pretentious and I think that it'sshort changing the cinematic experience. Movies are
about being on the big screen.They're about that big epic feeling. It
doesn't mean a blockbuster has to beyour favorite, but when they hit,
when they connect. There's not muchbetter, no, because you know,
if you're going to the theater forthis big experience, you're getting the visuals,

(02:25:56):
you're getting the loudness, you're gettingto thrill, but you're also capturing
the characters, their motivations, thoseups and downs of them. You're you
know, with a good blockbuster,you're getting the entire spectrum of the movie
theater experience. And that's not whatI expected of Top Gun Maverick at all.

(02:26:20):
And it's I mean, it's justturned into one of those movies like
Mad Max Fury Road, where Ican't deny it. It's it's insanely good.
I think the thing that's so amazingabout Top Gun Maverick one of the
it's getting praise for its special effects. It's game praise for its practical effects,
it's game praise for its immersion.It's, without a doubt, a

(02:26:41):
big screen experience. But I thinkit's the highest grossing move of the year,
and I think it's so popular forthe reasons that don't have to do
with the special effects. I thinkthe reason this was a hit was the
timeless story. The one of thereasons why it's connected people. It's a
relation ship between Maverick and Rooster andthat classic parental tale someone who feels obligated

(02:27:05):
and is trying to write wrongs andthe adopted father type thing. I think
the fact that this was so focusedon the characters and having that arc and
it also has a hero's journey,this is that other picture and just those
those revelations and having those grounded elements. I think that is why it's a

(02:27:26):
huge hit. Now. If itdidn't have those action sequences, it would
not be as big of a hit. I realized that it had to be
a big, sweeping scope. Ithad to be a big action picture for
it to bring the people out.But I think the reason people came back,
I think the reason why it's beentalked about so many months later,
the reason why it did better thanany MCU movie. I think it's the
heart it is. Really it makesthe movie what it is, and it's

(02:27:54):
so latch it's so easy to latchonto sincerity when when we're seeing sincere love
on the screen, I find itvery easy to attach to it and feel
the passion that the cast and creware putting into a film. And another
reason why it's a hit is itdoes a Star Wars, which I we

(02:28:18):
both admitted we'd never had even thoughtabout until we saw the pitch meeting for
it. But it absolutely does doa Star Wars. My picture isn't as
well. I mean I knew whatScott's number one was, and I know
Scott knows what my number one is. And it is a movie that we
saw a way back in April,and I've been back and forth on it.

(02:28:41):
By the end, I decided,no, this is the best movie
I saw this year. Everything everywhere, all at once stands tall as my
number one movie, and I andit is because it's the most original big
screen experience I had this year.This picture is just insane. I mean,
you even get a raccoon that cooks. I mean this picture has everything

(02:29:05):
you could think. It has,sausage fingers, it's got the whole nine
yards. But what it also hasis an absolutely incredible, heartfelt performance from
Michelle Yoe. I cannot praise herenough. She should win the Oscar for
this. The performance she does hereis what grounds this movie. This is

(02:29:30):
a mother who loves her daughter andin a way she still loves her husband.
She's trying to keep this family together, but they've got some financial struggles.
She's scared of how her father willrespond to her daughter when she finds
out that she's a lesbian. Shehas to deal with her daughter, break
it away from her and that relationshipfalling apart. The struggle she has with

(02:29:52):
her husband, the regret, thething she felt she could be, the
fear that her father was right,that she shouldn't have got married. And
Michelle Yoe, it's her performance thatgrounds his picture and all the insanity.
It's her performance that basically connects allthose things I mentioned. Those things aren't
necessarily spelled out for you, butyou feel them, you believe these are

(02:30:13):
things that are carrying her apart becauseof her performance and the chemistry she has
with each character. They feel sorealistic, so grounded. There's just these
powerful moments, and it was greatto see Kahu kuanback, who people will
know from India Jones a temple ofdoom and goonies, and he really delivers
here as the husband and a sonewho's just trying to kind of connect with

(02:30:37):
his wife. Steph to his Zoois fantastic as Joy. She's got some
heavy liftings she has to do.She has to do a lot of different
characters here. I cannot end thislittle mini review that don't mention Jamie Lee
Curtis, who I only know she'sin this movie because the credits tell me.
Because she totally transforms into something differenther character. It's absolutely wacky,

(02:31:01):
and she also has to do alot of heavy lifting. That's the thing
with being like a multiverse movie.There's all the characters have to be very
different each time, and they feellike very different characters. I think that
is fantastic. But on top ofsort of obviously I connect to the parent
level. I connect with the regretsand sometimes I question the directions I went

(02:31:22):
with my life. I connect withthat level. I connect with sort of
those struggles of being a parent andbeing good enough. On top of that,
I just connect with the imagination andthe creativity and just the massive humor,
the incredible action sequences. This thingreally is a full feast of a
movie. It gives you everything allat once. I love the fact that

(02:31:45):
this is a picture that was smalla twenty four released did It was just
going to be sort of this independentthing, and it just started. This
crazy movie proved it could connect withan audience, and it continued to connect
point where it basically got a widerelease. It's sort of like our this
movie is just this laundry list ofthings that should throw off a film,

(02:32:11):
things that shouldn't work in a film. Do not do these things together because
they will destroy your story. Andeverything everywhere, all at once, all
works somehow. It's brilliant directing,brilliant writing, brilliant editing. The editing
is really important to this story forkeeping the viewer on track of what's going

(02:32:35):
on. And then just the absurditybecause you mentioned a raccoon chef. Absolutely
it did, and the hot dogfingers, absolutely, so someone trying to
land on a trophy might not justland on a trophy, but land on
a trophy in a way that itwill do something to them. It's there's

(02:33:00):
just absolute absurdity all around. Butit is all tied together in a very
very heartfelt story with these different charactersabout our lives, about different choices,
and it is the most unique movieexperience I think I ever had in my

(02:33:20):
life. And I think it's easyto come for me to come to that
conclusion. Yes, So I reallyif somehow you're one of the people that
has not seen this movie that reallydid become a hit. I can't encourage
you enough to see it. Yes, it's wacky, it's crazy, but
it all works. And this isthe thing about crazy movies. It all

(02:33:41):
works because of the heart. Thereis something relatable in this movie for everybody
there is, and just a wonderfulway to top off the list here of
films that we've that we've really enjoyed. It's a crazy, crazy, crazy
film or a year for film,And like even the honorable mentions that we

(02:34:03):
did, there's some high caliber stuffthere. Yes, I believe on another
day in another multiverse, my honorablemention would have been my top ten.
They were that good that you canalmost swap the two out. But now
I am gonna list. I'm gonnago down my top ten movies in what
was an absolutely incredible year. Alright, kick it off at number ten.

(02:34:28):
It's she said, It's about theBTO movement, but it's also about the
power of journalism. Number nine,Top Gun, Maverick is pop core,
munchon wonderfulness. Number eight Glass Onionand A Knives Out Till It's an incredible
sequel and I want more of thesemovies. Number seven Turning Red. Yeah,

(02:34:50):
it's not how it works, butit's still a relatable picture and it
is one of Pixar's best. Numbersix, it is the ultimate theatrical experience
avat Are The Way of Water.Number five is the very dense, layered
Nope by Jordan Peel, one ofmy favorite directors right now. Number four.
At one time I thought I'd bemy number one, but it had

(02:35:13):
to stick with four Pray one ofthe best Predator movies easily. And then
we've got number three, The Bansheesof Innessura in a movie that themed cynical,
but I actually think is full ofempathy. Number two The Fable means
it's about creation, it's about love, it's about the cost of all.
That is Steven Spielberg's most personal movie. I absolutely loved it. And number

(02:35:35):
one what I think is the bestmove of the year. Everything everywhere,
all at once. And my listis a bit different. We've actually got
a lot of got a decent amountof cross over this year between between our
lists. My number ten the Unbearableweight of massive Talent. Just for any
Nicholas Cage fan or Pedro Pascal fan, this is a see film. The

(02:36:01):
chemistry between these guys is what reallyelevates it past what it possibly could have
been. Number nine Mad God amovie that if you want to really have
to sit and think, it's themovie to watch because it doesn't hold your
hand. As Chris said today andI said when I first talked about the

(02:36:22):
film, is Mad God is.We'll just say the Wikipedia synopsis is what
we both think is a false synopsis. So that shows just how different people
can interpret the film. Number eightThe Banshees of Innisharin could have easily been
higher up on my list because it'sso great. But the problem is every

(02:36:46):
other film on this movie, thisis so great. The Northman by Robert
Eggers three Eggers films, three timeson my lists. Nope, what a
brilliant, brilliant, brilliant film.Number five Prey, It's such a great
action movie. We definitely think youshould watch it. Number four the Norwegian
film The Innocence. It takes somethingas simple as kids playing outside and really

(02:37:13):
makes it terrifying. Number three rIf you want just an explosion of action
goodness thrown at your face, youhave to watch that film. Number two
Everything Everywhere, all at once.One of the most unique and brilliant films
I've ever seen ever in my life, So how can it be not my

(02:37:35):
number one? Oh? Because TopGun Maverick came out this year. And
you know, when a popcorn muncheris good, it provides entertainment, it
provides pure escapism. There's so muchthat can happen when watching just a well

(02:37:56):
done popcorn muncher. I had tobe honest, Top Gun Maverick. It
was my number one film of year. That's the thing is when it comes
to these lists, you just gottabe honest. You gotta two those things
that you're gonna want to watch again. And I'm looking at our two lists
and this is stacked with some amazingrecommendations. This was an incredible movie year.

(02:38:18):
Yeah, and that's not even consideringour honorable mentions either, As two
very stacked honorable mention lists. It'sa wild year. And our question of
the week has to do with thispresent year, which is twenty twenty three,
which means from the next three monthson official documents that I'm filling out,
you're going to see some scratching outof the date as I've realized,

(02:38:43):
Wait, I have to make theadjustment of rate twenty three. Now that
usually takes me a few months,but what is your most anticipated movie of
twenty twenty three? Please let usknow, Yes, do let us know.
Let us know your anticipate move Rightnow, I'm looking at it.
I'm like, can it be asgood as twenty twenty two? I hope?

(02:39:05):
So I do too. I'm gonnabe positive and optimistic. That's what
I'm gonna do. And if youwant us to know what you're anticipating the
most, you can do that byemail. You can do the Movie Breakdown
at gmail dot com. Sometimes wecheck it as well. You can get

(02:39:26):
us on our Twitter account at movieBreakdown one. We've also got Facebook,
Facebook dot com slash at the MovieBreakdown. So those are all the places
that you can check us out aswell. Please join us on those.
You can't really join us on email, but you can join us. You
can follow us on Twitter and onFacebook and we will provide some exclusive content

(02:39:48):
on there too, and as well, while you're going around clicking things on
the internet, rate and subscribe uson Spreaker, Spotify, Stitcher, Apple
podcast cast Box, Amazon Music,or wherever you listen to your podcast.
So listen to us, then ratingsubscribe to us, and it will help
us in algorithms, will help usto reach out to more people. Another

(02:40:11):
way where we can reach out tothe Internet and people can find out about
us. You can share us onthe social media remember those places I mentioned
before. Twitter, Facebook, Youcan share us on there. You can
share us on Instagram, you canshare us on whatever social media you use.
You can share us on a boatand as well. Another way,

(02:40:33):
unless unless Elon buys the boat,then maybe you'll be allowed to share it
on the boat, depending what yourtheir views are and depending if you don't
laugh at his jokes. Another wayyou can support us is go on over
to Beyond the Balcony. We writestuff there and you can read that stuff.

(02:40:54):
We are hoping for the best yearever. On Beyond the Balcony is
going to rock off your socks,so make sure you have your socks on
nice and tight because they're going toget rocked off. Do you want to
know what type of stuff has beenon there? Well, I share a
very spicer Merry Christmas to all,and you can look at some pictures from

(02:41:16):
our Christmas. Also, my sonhe turned eleven. I can't believe it,
and so I've posted a picture fromevery year from his birthday. Scott's
also mentioned the birthday cake skeletor,and then from there, twenty twenty two
I have talked about on here hasbeen a tough year for me career wise
and emotionally, but the only wayto really get a better perspective is be

(02:41:39):
positive. So I mentioned eight thingsthat made twenty twenty two actually a bowl
full of awesome, and then welook ahead to twenty twenty three. And
so every year I've been posting mygoals, and I've realized they're always the
same thing. I have not beenaccomplishing all of them because some of them
take several years. So this yearI decided to refocus instead do eight priorities

(02:42:01):
for twenty twenty three. These areeight things I want to implement into my
life to help me achieve my goal. So hopefully it's inspirational, motivational for
you. And all this week there'llbe some other stuff posted on here too,
so you can read all that stuffas well. Read it, Read
it, and then also do youjoin back up with us the next time
you will hear our voices the mostanticipated movies of twenty twenty three, You'll

(02:42:24):
want to join us next time asWe're super positive about twenty twenty three and
all the wonders it has in store, so please come back. There'll be
a fun episode as we look aheadto twenty twenty three, but thank you
for looking back with us to twentytwenty two, as there was a lot
of fun talking about the best moviesof this past year. I'm Christopher Spicer

(02:42:46):
and I'm Scott Martin. Take careof everyone, have a great week at
the movies. Mum m m hm