Susan*

Sign O the Times has been on cable recently, so I recorded it and was able to see it again for the first time in about ten years. Prince just makes me smile so hard. I wish they would run it as a midnight movie locally again, so I could see it with an audience. Even on TV, it's still a movie worth seeing, but I wouldn't change my vote for Stop Making Sense. (I still don't like the Sheena Easton part -- Prince tended to have questionable taste when it came to the singers he featured/supported.)

I have a soft spot for Keanu. I saw most of his movies pre Matrix. I like that he tried a variety of roles, even when some of them had unfortunate or laughable results. I was thrilled when he had the comeback re John Wick. I think Point Break a bad movie. I didn't like it when it was released either. I'd love to get behind it as an action movie directed by a woman, etc. But there were so many better action movies. Even the comment that said something about it being a sort of pop music video action movie -- I'll take Bad Boys over Point Break in that category--it's stupid but more watchable. The only thing I truly like about Point Break is its influence on Hot Fuzz. I was genuinely surprised at two articulate, knowledgeable people lauding Patrick Swayze's acting ability. By all accounts, he was a lovely man, so it seems mean to say, but I never enjoyed his acting in any movie, and I think I saw nearly all of them as for some reason my parents seemed to have all his movies on VHS tapes and watched them over and over. I'm feeling a bit at sea with this podcast, and I fear that next week will be even worse for me.

I don't care, I love Keanu. I fight with snobby friends about this all the time.

I'm a strong "no" on this one. I don't think I've ever agreed with Amy more, so it's a waste to repeat. So I'll just hit a big one: I love Emily Watson so much, but her role is written so poorly I can't imagine why she would find him attractive. And man, I dislike Adam Sandler, but I really went into this movie wanting to set that aside--I had heard good things about this movie. I liked the set up and quirkiness at first but when the love story didn't work there was nothing left for me. The most positive thing I can say about Punch Drunk Love is that it's short. For a movie to be Canon, I think it needs to be a movie I would recommend to someone, for some purpose, maybe just as an example of something, even if I don't like the movie. I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone. I never love PTA movies as much as other people, though I usually find them interesting and original and that goes a really long way with me. I really liked Inherent Vice and Phantom Thread for what that's worth. This is the only one that I full on disliked.

Uh oh, we're going to talk about La La Land again!

I drove to the far flung suburbs to get the DVD at a library.

I've never seen it all the way through (so won't vote) -- I've seen much of it in pieces on cable. It's going to be a midnight movie at a local theater in a couple of weeks and this discussion made me intrigued enough to get some friends together. I appreciated the enthusiasm of the guest, though it's hard to imagine that it has the best soundtrack of all time. As someone who went to high school and college in the 1980s, I find 80s nostalgia really hard to stomach. I thought this movie received poor reviews at the time? And most mainstream movies of 1987 are terribly dated--even the ones I really liked at the time. I don't think they mentioned Jamie Gertz on the podcast? Because I haven't seen the movie, I can't understand this omission. Maybe her role was completely forgettable? but this was the same year she was in Less Than Zero. If you're doing 80s nostalgia you need to mention her. Square Pegs, etc. I guess teenage boys didn't notice her? 1987 wasn't an outstanding year for movies. But it had Hope and Glory, which is one of my all-time favorite movies and no one seems to remember it. It came out the same year as Empire of the Sun, which was also about a British boy during WWII. Hope and Glory is the better movie but Empire had Spielberg. (And for what it's worth, I still watch Black Widow start to finish when I run across it on cable. That movie and The Big Easy are imperfect but they are underrated/not properly remembered. And the Big Easy is full of terrific character actors and has Neville Bros. on the soundtrack )

That was a weird year for the Oscars. Hello Dolly belongs to some bygone era. Such an odd fit with Z and Midnight Cowboy.

It was interesting to think about what the sash-on-kite might mean--it hadn't occurred to me before and I liked thinking about it. It doesn't blemish the movie for me, but I guess I never thought the mom was a serious suffragette--more of a fashion statement for her. I have always loved the suffragette song. And I worship Glynis Johns. (For the record, I skip the animated portion. It drags.)

Harold and Maude ran at a theater in the Twin Cities for about two years straight. My mom used to marvel at that--all the parents in my neighborhood went to see it at least once, and there were people who went often. I think the ads in the movie section of the local newspaper kept updating the number of weeks it had been running. The link below says that Ruth Gordon showed up twice for anniversaries. http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/10082 This, plus my high school creative writing teacher's obsession with this movie, might make me throw it a vote.

I'm leaning this way. I used to read all kinds of film magazines, back when there were many, and there were many articles about the genius of Hal Ashby. I made a real effort to see his films and felt like none of them lived up to the acclaim.

My brother's favorite movie. It will be a pleasure to watch it again this week.

It was great to hear from Devin. And Creed was my favorite film that year (even if it wasn't the most important film). I voted for Lady Bird. I probably shouldn't, because I have the feeling that it won't be so memorable in a few years, but it feels right for me right now.

I was pleased when I heard this was an episode and listened all the way through with mounting disappointment. I'd vote neither if that was an option. Why was that an option for one week then gone again??? I'd vote Heavenly Creatures as Jackson's best movie by far. I loved that movie when it came out and it still holds up. I have a friend who loved the LOTR movies (and everything Tolkien long before the movies). I understand the intensity of the fandom. I read the books when I was a young adult because you just have to don't you. I remember some of the press about what a disaster this film project might be. I understand the boldness of the plan, what a big deal it was to make the movies, and how big that gamble paid off. I saw the first one on opening weekend with some huge Tolkien fans and eventually saw the other two. But the movies just do nothing for me and never have. I had hoped to hear a discussion that would convince me of their value but instead (except for a few comments at the very end) it was a rambling discussion assuming that both of them were deserving without convincing me that either of them are. I guess that's always been the problem with versus episodes because there's no "neither" option, but this is the first time since Animal House that it bugged me.

My really good friend was a huge fan of the whole Tolkien spectrum and of course adored every aspect of each film in every format. I tried to be a good sport. (past tense because my friend died, not because she stopped being a fan--when we cleaned out her house we had to figure out who was going to get all the toys. ) What I remember most about seeing Fellowship in a theater was a dumb-ass family who brought a toddler to the movie. The noise and up and down and in and out and finally one parent trying to hold the kid in the entry tunnel to the huge theater that only served to focus the noise back into the seating area.

I'm leaning yes. I want to vote yes in part because there's continuing backlash of one kind or another and I want to counteract that, but I should not vote yes based on that alone. I think it's a solid film and think that Fiennes is the only weak spot. I know that SPR is beside the point. But Band of Brothers was much better, which diminished SPR. Only the opening sequence of SPR is super strong, and it's so strong that it's worth seeing the movie for that alone. But that's beside the point.

It's difficult to put into words -- it's one of those things where you know it when you see it. For me, the ultimate twee movie is Royal Tennenbaums. It's where every single little detail is very deliberate and designed, but it's supposed to look like it's not. It's supposed to look like cool doesn't matter and it's thrown together, old-fashioned, unhip, but it's actually letting you know it's hip and cool. You find it attractive while it's insisting that you shouldn't find it attractive. That's my attempt at a start.

It's difficult to set aside current feelings for Paltrow.

I'm going to try an re-watch it and then listen to the podcast with an open mind.

When Juno came out, I spammed my old message board complaining about it. A few years later, I saw it again and liked it. It's really grown on me. Yeah, like they said on the podcast, it was the style at the beginning that I focused on at first. It took me a while to recognize all the stuff it has going for it. And I really liked Young Adult. I feel a little bad that it's the last movie I showed to a dying friend, but I can't help that. I thought it was more of straight ahead comedy when I rented it. :/

Stop Making Sense should be viewed as a film. I happen to think it's one of Demme's 2-3 best films, and that's saying something. (I didn't like Philadelphia but that wasn't his fault.) The fact that it's really, really hard to make a concert film that works brilliantly as a film supports how worthy Stop Making Sense is. I'm a bit irritated at the comments re DVD extras. Maybe you didn't watch the film with good sound in the proper state of mind. It's fine if it's just not your thing. We've repeatedly explored the genre of movies that strongly appeal to teenage boys/young men. Giving one podcast slot out of 100 to a film that celebrates musicianship isn't a lot to ask. I'd like to advocate for more podcasts where we explore something different, even though I know we will get a lot more like Ghostbusters and Kahn. I love music and especially live music. One of the reasons I spend so much time and money on live music is for those special moments that you can't get elsewhere. Sometimes it's something that happens between an artist and an audience. Rarely, it's something that happens within the audience itself. But usually my favorite moment will be a few seconds of something I notice between members of the band. I tend to like music made by bands rather than a solo artist. I've come to realize that many people either never have that love of live music or they outgrow it. I have friends who think it's crazy how much it matters to me. Anyhow ---- there are moments that Demme captured in Stop Making Sense that captured what I love. Amy mentioned the interplay between Byrne and the back up singers. For me it mostly comes from Alex Weir, and Steve Scales. It's a combination of musicianship and the complete enjoyment of the moment within that performance. Obviously this is just my opinion and it's personal to me. While I think the versus episodes work best when we have advocates fighting opposite positions, I enjoyed the discussion in this episode. I don't have to agree -- taste in music (and film/art) is very personal. But I don't mind hearing from people I disagree with if their opinion is informed. It's clear that Armond knew what he was talking about, even though I disagree with his conclusion that Talking Heads peaked really early and that Parade is Prince's best album. But he did make me dig out my old Prince albums to consider which one I think is best. None of this is intended to be critical of others. I'm just glad that the podcast is back and I hope there will be some room going forward for things that might not have obvious appeal to the broadest majority or the most vocal.

I love the end -- especially the reveal about the note

Demme did a great job with a great band. Thanks for posting that. I was just thinking of some of those other movies last night. I was thinking that, other than the two films discussed on this episode, I can't think of another good concert film. I thought of The Last Waltz and ruled it out, because that's a music documentary that contains some concert footage. I also thought of the Song Remains the Same, but that has all the awful side footage of band members. Gimme Shelter is another good music documentary that's not a concert film. True concert films tend to be awful, though Armond mentioned Wattstax. I know I saw it when I was in college but I felt like I was doing my duty to tick it off my list and I simply don't remember it now.

Yes, I think it applies when the woman clearly knows more and the man assumes she doesn't. I personally don't want it thrown around every time a guy disagrees with a woman and explains why. We all know that Amy is capable of insuring that she gets her points across. We may be in a little period of uncertainty with her being the only host. It seems to me that the podcast has always been tolerant of the guests, and lets them have as much time as they want to talk about the movie they came to promote. It's been different than the dynamic between two hosts.

I'm a middle aged feminist. What makes it man-splaining? Don't pop culture critics always offer their opinions as if they are facts? Don't they always act like they know it all? There wasn't a lot of give and take in the discussion, but I assumed it was a product of him not having listened to the podcast and not understanding the format -- like he thought he was being interviewed rather than having a discussion. But even so, I though it was interesting and I agreed with a lot of what he said about one of my all time favorite bands. Plus David Byrne has always been sexy. I think the passion around La La Land is amusing. Thankfully I don't care much. I HATED Forrest Gump with a Fiery Passion when it was released and it was soooo painful to see it win Oscars. It's a terrible movie and for a long time I couldn't find people who agreed with me. So it's amusing to see the passion coming from other people about their pet issue. Having said that, as someone who grew up loving Fred Astaire for some peculiar reason (perhaps his movies were frequently on late night TV?), I appreciated the comment that Fred (like Michael Jackson and Prince) worked really really hard to make it look effortless. Let's face it, there are many problems with La La Land, but the most obvious one is the songs aren't memorable. (it's also why the musical Rent is awful)