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AlmostAGhost

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Posts posted by AlmostAGhost

  1. Posted

    6 hours ago, mjbok said:

    Really disappointed in this podcast.  This episode that is.  I would think listener picks would be from, I don't know, listeners.  Nope.  Mostly industry insiders, critics, writers, actors, etc.  This should have been a separate podcast.  I'd like to know what "real" people liked and didn't like which was why I looked forward to this episode. 

    Isn't that what the forums are for tho?

     

    • Like 3

  6. Posted

    That number includes everything from big studio movies to smaller indie features and documentaries, many of which played only brief theatrical runs since under Academy rules, a feature-length motion picture qualifies if it has a running time of more than 40 minutes, is exhibited theatrically on 35mm or 70mm film or in a qualifying digital format and opens in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County by Dec. 31 and completes a minimum run of seven consecutive days.  

    here's a list of the 347 movies that were qualified this year

    https://www.oscars.org/sites/oscars/files/91st_reminder_list.pdf

    • Like 2

  7. Posted

    Oh we get a lot of Oscar-caliber movies opening here in LA for like one weekend at one theatre, just so they can get nominated.  I don't think they demand anything substantial in these qualifying releases.  They often then roll out wider over like January, February, even March.

  10. Posted

    It wasn't that it wasn't enjoyable, it was just a lot of films I wasn't prepared to hear about.  I prefer listening to them talk when I can watch the film first and then it feels like I'm involved.  It's not always necessary for dumb crap on How Did This Get Made, but for Unspooled-style talks, I would prefer to watch in advance.  For a list that long, it just wasn't possible.  Also again, the conceit of Unspooled is talking about 1 movie at a time; bumping it up to 20 feels excessive.  But I get that these are total side eps, so I'm not complaining, but it's just I'm more attracted to singular or more focused discussions.  That said:

    31 minutes ago, bleary said:

    To that end, what are some great 2018 films that haven't been discussed on either list so far? 

    I was going to ask the same.  Give me some good recs so I can go check them out.  I can keep up with blockbusters and whatnot, but I do feel like I'm missing out on the smaller quality films a lot.  Even today's metacritic list was fairly mainstream stuff.  What's outside that in the world of cinema that is worth it?

    • Like 1

  11. Posted

    Just now, ol' eddy wrecks said:

    An individual's list of top films from a year often changes quite a bit over subsequent years. And as we've seen with all of these lists, they also change dramatically over time.

    Sure, but it is still AFI.  That's the whole conceit of Unspooled, to talk about what AFI recognizes as great, whether that's a full ballot or just some sort of weird yearly consensus by 2 AFI interns.

    Frankly, I thought Amy & Paul focusing on twenty 2018 movies was too much, so would've preferred a more focused list for them to peruse.  

    • Like 1

  12. Posted

    28 minutes ago, ol' eddy wrecks said:

    To partially answer the question and partially to not answer the question at all, the AFI put out a list of the top 10 American films for 2018

     

    Hm wow I didn't know that.  This should have been the list the podcast focused on then, imo.  If they're not recognizing Annihilation or Sorry To Bother You now, I doubt they will later. 

    Their listed criteria

    Quote

     

    Honorees are selected based on works which:

    Best advance the art of the moving image

    Enhance the rich cultural heritage of America's art form

    Inspire audiences and artists alike

    And/or make a mark on American society

     

    If anyone's wondering, here's their list

    Black Panther
    BlacKKKlansman
    Eighth Grade
    The Favourite
    First Reformed
    Green Book
    If Beale Street Could Talk
    Mary Poppins Returns
    A Quiet Place
    A Star Is Born

    • Like 1

  14. Posted

    Oh Andy Richter for sure. Even back in the '90s I always looked forward to the moments in the show when Conan and Andy just chat. Also clearly 'Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend' is just a subtweet at Andy.

    But I also do kind of hope the show expands if it continues to not just be comedians - Conan's always been a good interviewer with musicians since he's such a big fan, for instance.

    • Like 2

  15. Posted

    I watched I Know Who Killed Me this weekend for this and I could not have had less reaction to it. It wasn't unwatchable, but neither was it interesting in any way. Like Grudlian, I think it made no sense, but at the same time, it didn't have all that much to at least try to untangle or figure out.  It was just a movie that exists for no reason: not a horror, not a murder mystery, not supernatural, not anything at all.  It is an existential conundrum.  How did this get made, indeed.

    • Like 2

  17. Posted

    36 minutes ago, ol' eddy wrecks said:

    She didn't really say there were the two best things though

    Oh ya, that's what I meant too, just worded it shorthandedly.  They are the two movies from 2018 (blockbuster-wise) that I will also hold on to (and Infinity War, but it being part 1 means its not finished in my mind)... so I agree with Paul & Amy on that, even if I seem to disagree with Amy over superhero films.

    38 minutes ago, ol' eddy wrecks said:

    I do wonder if they should have completely restricted themselves to 2018.

    I was thinking about this too.  The year distinction is weird, especially for this podcast which is generally talking about all-time or much more broadly.  Maybe later on we can get some episodes about current directors or genres in the way they broke into "2018 blockbusters".  It would be fascinating to have their view on that.

  19. Posted

    I agree the underground train scene was weird looking and a strange choice, but I still found the message behind that sunset cliff scene to be poignant, i.e., choosing to die a free man instead of in chains.  That's a strong message that goes back in black history, like slaves committing suicide on the slavery ships for example.  Perhaps that scene could have been developed better or given more space after the big fights, but I think there's a lot in Killmonger and his death which makes Black Panther stand out as a film.

    • Like 5

  20. Posted

    updating with next week's 'suggestions'

    2/14 - 2018 Rewind - Critic’s picks [Sorry To Bother You, Annihilation, The Favourite]
    2/21 - 2018 Rewind - Listener’s picks
    2/25 - BONUS Oscar recap episode
    2/28 - The Graduate
    3/7 - Saving Private Ryan
    3/14 - A Night At The Opera

    • Like 1

  21. Posted

    I found this episode pretty interesting.  I agree with Taylor fully about superhero movies... but then the end result of the episode, even with Amy being anti-superhero, was that Black Panther and Spider-verse were the two best things and I agree with that.  I do think of them as their own genre, and those two are definitely among my faves of the genre.

    I do think they were nitpicking Black Panther, like arguing it misses one emotional beat at some point.  That's the end-all of a movie?  I don't mind not liking it fully, but that seems oddly specific reasoning.  What I like about Unspooled is while they may have a lot of specific facts to share, they aren't nitpicking the quality of the films to death.  They look at them broadly, as to how they fit in our lens of NOW, of culture, of 'what is great'.  So to do the opposite with Black Panther, I thought was strange and less what I look to critics to do, to be honest. Is it because it's new?  Because it's superheros?

     

     

    • Like 1

  22. Posted

    Oh to close out the Westerns from last month... I watched 9 of them.  I was attracted to the descriptions and plots of spaghetti westerns, but in the end found I much preferred more traditional ones.  I think they had a sense of history that I liked.  Stagecoach was easily my favorite, but also dug Red River.  I did find it sometimes I just wasn't in the mood for a western, but sometimes they were pretty satisfying.  Here was my list of what I saw:

    https://letterboxd.com/almostaghost/list/january-2019-theme-month-cowboys-westerns/

    • Like 1

  24. Posted

    Cool I will check those out!

    Also interested in international directors -- what are the good movies from Africa perhaps that I should try?  I'll poke around Amazon Prime and Netflix tonight and see what I can list.  My focus on Unspooled has me sort of feeling like I'm missing out on cool stuff from other countries.

    • Like 1

  25. Posted

    I'm all for it, definitely! That makes sense. 

    One thing I've begun watching is this Pioneers of African American Cinema collection on Netflix, which is a series of around 10-15 old films by black directors in the 30s or so.  It's a nice starting point for this.

    If anyone has some better non-mainstream recs for this I'd appreciate that too

    • Like 2
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