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I like a lot of Amy's points she's made about past movies, but I disagree with a couple she made about this one. I don't think it's necessarily Kubrick or the movie that feels bad for Alex. It's Alex who feels bad for Alex. We are very entrenched in his head, which is why his injuries are made to look painful while everyone else's is either non-existent or portrayed as comical. Alex sees himself as a victim, and he expects everyone else to feel sorry for him and even like him (hence him referring to himself affectionately as "your faithful narrator," etc.). This is part of what makes the movie so great: we're forced to take this journey through a really fucked-up mindset, something books sometimes do, but movies so rarely get right. I also don't think his victims were portrayed as unlikable. The two women who didn't want to let Alex in were smart to do so. They know that the streets are running rampant with gangs and cons like this, and the second woman even directed Alex to a place he could get help before calling the police. The only one I throw shade on is the writer for being naive enough to let him in; his wife had much better instincts. I do agree that Kubrick probably empathized with Alex more than a normal person would, but we also know that guy's brain worked like no one else's.

I voted a tentative yes on the poll, though I could be convinced otherwise. My objections are not so much to the artistry or content of the movie (I think it remains a great, thought-provoking film, if not always the most enjoyable watch), but rather: 1. It's BARELY an "American" film. The only things that qualify it for the AFI list are that the financial backing was American (Warner Bros.) and that Stanley Kubrick was American-born. On the other hand, all of the filming took place in Britain, the entire cast was British, and the story all takes place in Britain. Kubrick lived a majority of his life and did most of his professional filmmaking in England. It seems pretty British to me. 2. There's a good argument that this isn't even a Top 5 Kubrick. Of course, I think Kubrick made more than five great films so that's not necessarily a knock on it, but if you're considering an all-time list maybe it doesn't need to be there. But that said, A Clockwork Orange has also clearly had a huge impact on popular culture (look how many Simpsons references!), so based on that I say yes.

What gigi-tastic might look like...

I wanted to call A Clockwork Orange the KISS of movies, but I'm not sure if it even deserves to be called that. At best, it's Marilyn Manson. No one remembers him for being a great musician, just his "shock value." A Clockwork Orange is peanut-packed bro-core, drenched in sophomoric moral philosophy, that titters maliciously behind the guise of "Art." No thanks.

Oh, I do. It's not my personal favorite, but I get it. We'll discuss more when Woody Allen comes up on the podcast, which I'm sure will not be controversial at all.

RIP

I’m about to listen to the episode and just want to give everyone a heads-up that if anyone refers to this movie as “punk rock” my brain is going to explode.

Q: What's Wolverine's favorite snack? A: Snikt'erdoodles?

Anyway, I'm with Paul and AlmostAGhost on how this film hasn't aged well as I've grown up. I posited in my Letterboxd review that A Clockwork Orange is Kubrick's version of a 60s/70s exploitation B movie, what with all the unnecessary sex (superfluous to the necessary amount of sex to tell the story) and the super weird over-the-top performances. Maybe exploitation films are what Kubrick thought of when he read the story, since it's about glorification of sex and violence. At any rate, I don't see the greatness in this. I was sort of thinking that there would be at least a couple people in this forum arguing vehemently for it, but so far it doesn't seem to be so. And also, I was taken aback when both Paul and Amy said they'd take A Clockwork Orange over Taxi Driver. I'm surely not the biggest defender of Taxi Driver, but it will certainly end up higher on my list than Clockwork.

The Fight Club of the 70s. *ducks for cover*

Yeah, but Meryl Streep doesn't have Look Who's Talking Now. But I honestly am kind of puzzled by Annie Hall. I think it's okay but it's not even Woody Allen's best. I've never understood it as the go to great Woody Allen movie.

It's not exactly the way you think though, it comes with a caveat (Paul says he grew out of thinking it that way).

It's weird, I'd probably defend this movie for a lot of what is in it, as a story, art, comedy, multi-layered, ironic, etc. There is a lot there and I thought it led to a great discussion via Amy & Paul - this may be my fave Unspooled ep yet! But like Paul, I've also grown up and maybe away from the film and I don't find it particularly enjoyable anymore. In the end, I think its points just maybe come off uninteresting to me, feel way too ironic, and perhaps too stylized. I do have a vague, unworked-out theory that perhaps, as Alex is the narrator, that EVERYTHING we see in this movie, is entirely his delusion. Thus, the world consists fully of his world view: misogynist art, phallic symbols, the victims who seemingly deserve it (as Amy noted), the recurring idea that he's better than everyone else. Or, like, take those two girls in the record store -- did he really pick them up? Or did he just convince himself he did? If we Rashomon'ed this movie, how would we see it from other characters' views?

I know the question is brought up in the Clockwork Orange episode, but if you remove Sophie's Choice, what Meryl Streep movie would you choose? Here is what Meryl Streep has to say about it: https://www-theonion-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.theonion.com/name-one-masterpiece-of-cinema-that-ive-starred-in-1819584655/amp?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQECAFYAQ%3D%3D#aoh=15435065943873&csi=1&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From %1%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theonion.com%2Fname-one-masterpiece-of-cinema-that-ive-starred-in-1819584655

I know this is an old video (and there are other versions) but I saw this again last night and recognized more movies thanks to Musical Mondays. This link is for the search results showing other versions.

Catching up with Bob's Burgers and saw this in the Halloween episode: Andre 3000 the Giant

I literally think of this whenever I think of Meryl Streep. This and the poster for Death Becomes Her which has been on my mind a lot because I'm still holding on to my Halloween high . I don't do Christmas until like the 2nd week of December or my birthday which is a week before Christmas. Just let me live in my Halloween land forever please!

That was really funny! The only bit I didn't like was the Conan O'Brien segment at the end.

How did they not talk about the closing credits Jordy "It's Christmas, C'est Noel" ... maybe because in the States Jordy's "Dur Dur D'etre Bebe" wasn't a hit like it was in the rest of the world .. trust me youtube it.