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Ryan L

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Posts posted by Ryan L


  1. Here's the link to the list.

     

    What do you all think of the list? Anything look out of place? It looks like the highest film to be considered thus far is Pan's Labyrinth at #17! One of Amy's favorites is at #20.

     

    I'd also note that after Spirited Away at #4, the remaining animated films are all Pixar, with WALL-E being the highest ranked (which I highly recommend to be considered for the Canon).


  2. I would highly recommend not pitting two "slam dunk" Hitchcocks against each other. Don't include the likes of Psycho, Veritgo, North by Northwest, The Birds, etc in an episode; do the next tier films, like Dial M for Murder or The 39 Steps.

     

    I mean, we're almost 100 episodes in and have done countless Spielberg films but still have yet to touch Jaws.

    • Like 1

  3. The only other SNL proper film that would be in the conversation for the Canon is Wayne's World, but I would be remiss to say that one of my favorites actually belongs in the canon of the all time greats to live forever. Although, Wayne's World would give us an opportunity to debate the merits of the 90s SNL film phenomenon and how a future two-term Senator from Minnesota actually once was the star of a 30% Rotten Tomatoes film that was pulled from theaters after one week grossing less than $1mm...

     

    As far as SNL-based films, The Blues Brothers is the canonical favorite. However, that's not to say that related works such as Ghostbusters, Billy Madison, Tommy Boy, or the Will Ferrell frat pack juggernaut of the last 20 years shouldn't also be considered. Yes, I honestly think that some of those after "Ghostbusters" could have an episode for themselves. Zoolander? Anchorman? Ricky Bobby? Regardless of your opinions on them, these are some of the most important comedies of the past 20 years.


  4. I'd favor either a Wrath of Khan solo episode, or a Wrath of Khan versus inducting the entire II-III-IV trilogy. (Maybe we can go back and do an episode on whether or not Empire and Jedi jointly deserve to be placed in the Canon by the same logic?)


  5. I'm going to totally not answer the content of the question asking for a similar film pod but just give you another one: Doug Loves Movies. Yeah, it can be a bit frantic at times and the focus is on the games portion, but I honestly must say that I've found out about more indie and festival-circuit films via Doug Benson and his ragtag group of comedians, critics, and Oscar-nominated actors than from any other medium. He's done a great job in the past few years in booking big time filmmakers and actors like Simon Pegg, James Gunn, Michael Sheen (as a regular to boot!), and Shane Black. A perfect example of a movie that I heard discussed to rave reviews last year on DLM was Ex Machina, which I personally contended in another thread as one of the seminal films of this decade.


  6. The fundamental question here is whether we'd be voting a book series, a film series, or a multi-media series into the Canon of Film. The YA book -> movie phenomenon was definitely due to these book-films, but is that a testament to the power of the books or the films? Is the fact that they worked when many, many since have not a testament to JK Rowling's craft or of scribe Steve Kloves and the team of directors? The book releases were arguably bigger events than the film releases.


  7. I'm just saying that the argument for why we need to acknowledge historical racism, especially in major creative authors, becomes less meaningful when the creative author's only major, canon-level societal impact contribution is a work that suffers from that same racism. We don't gain anything from knowing Blake Edwards could make something racist if we don't know who that is and the only reason most anyone would know the name is because he made Tiffany's. But, again, there's an argument that Tiffany's has had enough cultural impact that it's irreversible anyway, but then why is this a poll?

     

    But Breakfast at Tiffany's isn't Blake Edwards' only "major, canon-level societal impact contribution" by a long shot. I'd argue that The Pink Panther and the Peter Gunn TV series have had more impact on film than Breakfast at Tiffany's.


  8. BACK TO THE FUTURE vs AMERICAN PSYCHO - It's time to go back in time to when it was hip to be square. I can't wait for the news on which wins!

     

    SUNSET BLVD vs LA CONFIDENTIAL - Who said dead men tell no tales?

     

    SLEEPING DOGS LIE vs ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN - A battle between a dog figuratively or literally going to heaven.

     

    BLUE VELVET vs POLYESTER - Which fabric flick shall reign supreme?

     

    IMMORTAL BELOVED vs BEETHOVEN

    I would've gone with AMADEUS vs BEETHOVEN.

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  9. How about Mean Girls v. Anchorman? Both 2004 comedies that hold up and are ADORED by millennials, with the glitzy "guys v. girls" dynamic to keep it interesting. Adam McKay v. Tina Fey? All goddamn day!

     

    Mean Girls vs Heathers would be a better match-up.

    • Like 2

  10. This was my first time watching the movie and it was very different from what I expected - and that's a major reason why I'm leaning towards voting NO. I agree with how Devin and Amy ruefully put it: it suffers from Fight Club Syndrome badly. From my tangental brushes with the film via its adoration, I was expecting a film about a plucky charming socialite or royalty wearing her hair in a chignon with the long cigarette holder who, well, has breakfast at Tiffany's. Glamourous is the word that best describes my expectation. I awaited a scene of her eating cereal and grapefruit at the store. This waxform is exactly my expectation. When I listened to the podcast episode and heard she was (to use Capote's own description of her) an "American geisha," it totally was counter to everything that I thought I had known about the film from these tangental interactions.

     

    This is all not to say I didn't enjoy the film. I really did - well, around the first half of it. I enjoyed the hilarious party scene - obvious shades of Pink Panther here. The out-on-the-town sequence was adorable and can easily be seen as highly influential on future romantic comedy films. I loved that Holly's choice for a place to get a "welp what else can we do but drink" drink after sending Doc away is a strip club. And honestly, the subplot of Yunioshi does have a redeeming quality in how he ramps up his threats - from threatening to call the police, to actually calling the police to bust a party, to finally being there when Holly is arrested. Then there's also the amazing score by Mancini and some witty dialogue from George Axelrod (I loved Hepburn's drunk scene lines).

     

    It's great to be delightfully surprised by a film that you come in with a misconception about - but now I feel like I understand where the misconceptions come from. That first half of the film is great fun and is a fun fantasy to have. Young free-spirited girls, go to New York City and live the social dream life of fancy clothes, jewels, and fun parties in your apartment that features a bathtub couch and a cat! That's the iconic imagery - that and the last scene of her kissing Paul in the rain with the cat between them. You know what I noticed in the podcast episode? There was a lot of discussion of these scenes and not a whole lot about the mid-section of the film, that area when I started to get bored with the movie. The Doc storyline. Paul's relationship. The back-and-forth. José. The arrest. All that stuff when Holly's tackled with the reality of life that she can't just la-da-di la-da-da through it all.

     

    So the first half and the iconography? Sure, canonical. The film as a whole? I'm still on the no side of things. I'll hang around to see if I might get swayed the other way.


  11. This is my favorite film of all time and I adamantly consider it one of the all-time greats. This is the crowning piece of Jim Carrey's dramatic roles - for which he was nominated for a BAFTA but still somehow amazingly didn't get that Oscar nod. It's easy to talk about the script or unbelievable effects or morphing of mise-en-scène, but I really want to highlight the supporting cast as being lights-out.

     

    I'd be really interested in hearing any arguments *against* this film. If I recall from a previous episode, I think Amy considers Synecdoche to be Charlie Kaufman's greatest work - I'd love to hear an argument why vis-à-vis what I think is his greatest. (I must give a shout-out to the sometimes forgotten classic Confessions of a Dangerous Mind - a Clooney/Rockwel/Kaufman film I absolutely love but am not sure is Canon-worthy.)

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  12. As referenced in the Breakfast at Tiffanys episode - why not do an episode on Tropic Thunder? I always love going back and watching this movie, I can find something new with all the various characters every time. It's a great satirical piece on big budget Hollywood and the stereotypical crazy actors (RDJ's both bringing in shades of new inductee Daniel Day-Lewis and himself). Speaking of which, have we even considered any films of Ben Stiller or Robert Downey Jr (or even the supporting McConnaughy or Nolte) yet? And this is not even to mention that Amy might get another stab at getting Tom Cruise into the Canon. Thoughts?


  13. I watched Blind Chance in my film course about narrative (we also watched films like Abre Los Ojos, Roshomon, Run Lola Run, Momento, and Citizen Kane to analyze atypical structures). I'd be interested in doing a single film Kielowski episode so people can discover his films rather than a versus where people might not of seen either and would just go in totally blind. I think one of the Three Colors films might be good for that since they're relatively well known internationally and would thus get a fair criticism shake whereas I think we have a habit auto-inducting the international fare. Not saying they don't belong in the Canon, but I don't want the episode to be a formulity (like Citizen Kane would be). This is also why a Kirosawa would be great and get a fare shake (I'd love a remake versus between Yojimbo and A Fistful).


  14. Here are the total votes in the past few episodes' polls:

    #79 - The Usual Suspects - 128 votes

    #80 - Monroe versus - 76 votes

    #81 - Ed Wood - 88 votes

    #82 They Live - 114 votes

    #83 - Kiki's Delivery Service - 127 votes

     

    Right now, both sides for this poll are over 130 votes each. And not only that, the vote is currently only separated by 6 votes. That's 2.3% of all votes cast. This is without a doubt the most contentious vote in the history of the show - I'd argue even more than the tie for Jurassic Park versus The Empire Strikes Back, as there were (I believe, I'd have to go back to look at WolfPop to see) less votes cast for that episode.

     

    I'd be really interested what the vote total would be if we only considered "votes" cast via post (the old WolfPop method) rather than the poll. I have a feeling like there's a big lot of people who just voted but didn't contribute (although we are on page 6 of this thread now, which I also think is a record).

    • Like 1

  15.  

    Devin called in reinforcements from Birth.Movies.Death.

     

    The fact that his call has spiked the votes but hasn't caused a landslide victory says a lot about how the regular listeners feel about this film...

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  16.  

     

     

    Hahaha, fair enough points all. I still think Re-Animator is a damn fine taco; a cut above the rest.

    This is definitely a nail-biter. Pretty much 50/50 down the line. I'm curious to see how it will turn out over the rest of the week.

     

    There are more votes for either side of this poll than total votes in the KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE poll.

    • Like 1
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