PhilipKrusto

Very tough since I don't think either of these movies are particularly important in the long run, but it wouldn't be a good Vs. episode of The Canon if it was an easy choice. I watched Field of Dreams for the first time a few weeks ago in preparation for the voting. I was born in the 90s, I'm not a farmer, not a baseball fan and not American, yet I found myself caught up in the magic of the movie. I like the idea of modern American myth making through sports legends and could relate to Ray pining for these glory days that he grew up hearing about but could not experience for himself. Even though history shows these days not being that glorious in actuality, the desire to rebuild what they were supposed to be or what they should be remembered as is very human. For that reason I felt a more emotional attachment to this film than to Driving Miss Daisy.

Very tough call but I think Butch and Sundance win it for me and it all comes down to influence. Midnight Cowboy is very unique and a harsh time capsule of New York in the 1960's and I can't think of another film quite like it. Butch and Sundance influenced so many writers like Aaron Sorkin, Shane Black and Joss Whedon. Not to mention: no Sundance Kid, no Sundance Festival. So many great works can be traced back to this one movie, and because it's a period piece I feel like it's aged better.

Well my favourite movie of the year was Dunkirk and my second favourite was mother! so that is where my vote is going. Even if you get the biblical allegory, there is so much going on in this movie thematically that everyone will get something different from it. It's about how behind every artist who suffers for their work there is a woman suffering even more. It's about living with social anxiety, feeling like everything is off while everyone around you seems to go about their business as usual. And it's one thing to have a lot to say but another thing entirely to say it, and boy does Darrenofsky say it. This is what I think of when I think of auteur filmmaking, where everything in the frame is carefully composed to support the themes of the work itself. From the lighting, to the framing, to the editing and music, every part of the film is placed for a purpose. Even the punctuation and capitalization of the title, which I did not get until I read how the characters were billed in the credits. Most importantly, it's entertaining and it's a movie I want to return to again and look forward to do so. I don't know if this is his best film but it's clear that Darrenofsky put so much of himself and his influences into the movie. From the Bible, to Rosemary's Baby to Evangelion, and I think there's even an Evil Dead reference or two. It all comes together in the last 20 or so minutes which left my jaw on the floor when I saw them play out. So while Get Out will be remembered as the defining movie of the year, mother! is my personal favourite.

I believe The Canon should not have bad movies put into it, but this is the exception. Call it an indulgence pick but when I first heard about this movie seven years ago I have been fascinated by it. The Room is a rabbit hole to Tommy's Wonderland and I love the cultural experience it has become. A big YES from me.

I think the important question is whether white supremacists will watch the movie and see how cool it is to be in a fascist civilization. Everyone else will see the exaggeration but if actual Nazis show admiration for it in similar vain to Fight Club is it really effective satire. In the Trump-era I see a lot of comments about how the white(washed) characters take down the bugs as if they were "snowflake liberals". Since there is no turn, no direct mockery of the main characters who are victorious at the end I cannot in good conscious vote Starship Troopers into the Canon.

The former won six Oscars including Best Picture and features some of the best songs the Gershwins ever composed. The latter is on the American Film Institute's list of the top five greatest American films. Both are masterpieces from Gene Kelly, but which is more Canon worthy?

I love both but There Will Be Blood is one of my three favourite films so I have to go with it. It's a movie that I revisit about once a year and never get sick of it. I think the music at the beginning is more reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey than Planet of the Apes. That whole sequence is like an homage to the Dawn of Man sequence: no dialogue, vast desert setting, characters encounter black substance that leads to progress, one character is killed by a blunt object, etc. There are lots of references to The Shining too; I'm surprised they didn't talk about Kubrick even though they talked about the Scorsese influences in Boogie Nights. P.S. If it was between Boogie Nights and Magnolia I would have chosen Magnolia.

Yes for me. Racking my brain trying to think of the greatest movie plot twists. Tried to think of the most recent film whose twist will become part of the cultural lexicon (Gone Girl maybe?), but sadly people talk about movies in a different way with the rise of social media. Do films even have plot twists anymore or do they only have spoilers? To add to Amy's thoughts on Tom Cruise: he's not chasing an Oscar so I doubt will see him do work with people like Paul Thomas Anderson again anytime soon. He seems happy enough with sci-fi action one-offs like Oblivion and Edge of Tomorrow as well as the Mission Impossible movies. As a side note, I'm not sure if DiCaprio did Django Unchained because he was genuinely interested in Tarantino's work or if he just wanted to get closer to awards glory.