grudlian.

I think I read on imdb that this movie was originally supposed to be presented as actual serials stitched together as a full length movie. Fifteen minute segments with cliff hangers, then a quick ending before resuming. While I think this would have been a spectacular failure, I think this movie would work better as serials. Something where I watch 15 minutes then don't see it for a week. I think the film's biggest flaw is it never offers anything new after the opening. But in 15 minute chunks with tiny arcs, I probably would have liked it. Also, I think this look really worked on Gwyneth Paltrow. Someone should make a good movie set in the 1940s with her.

This is great. If you haven't seen it, I'd recommend Saraband. It's a sequel to Scenes From A Marriage. It's not as good, but it's also only 2 hours long. This is kind of how I feel about almost every Charlton Heston movie I've seen. I think he is miscast here, which is definitely part of the problem, but he often gives kind of the same general performance. It seems like he's always overacting a little bit no matter how big or small the scene is. Just bring it down one notch. I know they went over some possible alternate stars. I'm wracking my brain over who would have been a star in the 1950s that would have been a better choice. I keep coming back to Burt Lancaster but I'd say he has a similar problem of not being remotely convincing as a Jewish man. We'd probably get a better performance but still not the right actor.

Another thing, since Ben-Hur is a vey long movie and that's touched on by Paul, what is the longest film everyone has seen? I watched Shoah once over the course of a few days. If we're taking one sitting, I managed The Best Of Youth with bathroom and food breaks.

I never read the book, but according to Wikipedia, it seems like the 1959 followed the book closer than the 2016. So, I'm bout sure why update it? It sounds like the 2016 is following my suggestions though. So, maybe I'm not the film critic genius I think I am lol. This is making me wonder why there haven't been more big movies about Jesus. Not necessarily big budget but just wide release movies. I know interpretation of his appearance and manner can be "controversial" but we've only had two (I think?) released in my lifetime.

I was under the impression that the 2016 version was more religious. Maybe they marketed it to churches more? Or maybe I'm just wrong. I think this movie just walks a weird line going back and forth between being a typical (but grander) swords and sandals movie and religious epic. It doesn't work because the movie separates the two so much that it's just off enough. I use this as a criticism a lot but I'd like a commitment to the genre (or merge them better). I've never seen Ten Commandments but I think I might like it more. Or be equally bored. If they felt the need to include a religious epic, I remember liking DeMille's King Of Kings also.

Its been a decade or so since I last saw Spartacus, but that would probably be my suggestion on what could replace Ben-Hur. It's similar in genre, similar-ish plot, time period, made around the same time. I remember liking it much more than this most recent viewing of Ben-Hur. Does Spartacus good up or is that nostalgia?

I so agree with Paul that this movie could be 40 minutes shorter with nothing really lost. I've seen a few of longer movies than this but this really, really drags. There is no sequence that couldn't be shorter. I know this seems kind of weird but I would probably trim out most of the scenes with Jesus. The movie is about Ben-Hur and then, occasionally, we check in with what's going on with Jesus. Without the religious stuff, you could basically end up with Spartacus or something.

I'm curious what films came out in the last 11 years that people would consider the top 100 American movies. I might consider No Country For Old Men or There Will Be Blood.

I didn't care much for Intolerance when I saw it but it's certainly less controversial. If they had to include Griffith, I might have picked Orphans In The Storm or Broken Blossoms but the latter is still kind of racist. If I recall, the intentions are good but the 1910s were not a great time for portraying Chinese people in American film. How did the AFI list get made for the anniversary? The original was a list of 400-500 nominated movies then voted on by industry people. Was the anniversary list the same?

I like Giant but can definitely see it coming across pretty bad seeing it in parts. I'm very glad Birth Of A Nation isn't on the updated AFI list. It's even more racist than its reputation. It's also the very first DVD I got through Netflix.

I think thats the case with a lot of "greatest X of all time" and I'm pretty sure I approached Citizen Kane the same way when I first saw it. I had to get up super early to watch it on tv before you could stream everything. It was something like 5 or 6 in the morning in college. So, I was very "This had better be worth it." It won me over during the first view. I'm curious how other people reacted to this on their first view. Did you think it lived up to the hype?

Yeah. I know they might announce something before the podcast but I'd like to see it before the live show. I saw part of it something like 15 years ago but it's certainly not fresh enough to take notes.

The movies are now up on hdtgminfo.com. The movies are Rad, Blues Brothers 2000, Striptease, Hurricane Heist. I don't see any place to watch Rad which is disappointing because I'm attending that show.

Isn't Alan M in the cartoon pretty regularly? I assume that's why he was included. I don't know about how often he was in the comic.

I dont think we see enough of The Pussycats to say they are writing songs just for fame. I don't think they are the next Bob Dylan or anything but they are shown wanting some integrity throughout. Look at a lot of real world bands. The Beatles wrote a lot of love songs that weren't based on their own lives. We all recognize their greatness. I know the expectations of bands in the 1960s and a punk band are different. By the time we meet the band, the songs are written. Any artist who has struggled and made a decent body of work might simply want the recognition (or money) for their previous hard work. Dying penniless only *sounds* cool and romantic.

To me, punk is staying in, having a glass of white zin, and binging the remix of Arrested Development season 4. Punk had a lot of variety.

So much this. Punk has such a wide variety of sounds. I think everyone would consider The Clash a punk band. But if you played the second half of Combat Rock to someone who had never heard it, would anyone call that "punk"? Overpowered By Punk, Ghetto Defendant don't sound like anyone's typical definition of punk music. So, I dont know. I guess, yes, The Pussycats are super polished and clean sounding but ehhhh if Paramore is considered pop punk, why not The Pussycats?

All of this (except I saw this in my late 20s years after out came out). Putting this in context, this movie predates Avril Lavigne. This is around the time bands like Blink 182 were at their peak. Say what you want about pop punk bands because I'm extremely not a fan of the genre. I'm sure manufactured pop punk exists but I wouldn't argue a band like Blink 182 (because I'm having trouble naming another pop punk band) is inauthentic. At least not in the same sense that boy bands are.

Oh yeah, I forgot to say that we're mortal enemies now and we have an eternal, highlander like feud to the death.

Josie And The Pussycats is best case scenario Bratz. So, I get it. I'm honestly not sure why this movie works on me so well; it just does.

This is a completely fair response to the logos everywhere. In this viewing, I thought it would have been a bit smarter to limit the barrage of products to MegaRecords owned places. They didn't need to be in the Pussycats house for example. But that could also be a comment on how far reaching advertising is. You're right though. It could have been toned down and maybe lead to greater effect. I don't know this for certain but I think most companies let this kind of stuff slide if it doesn't negatively affect them. Considering so many companies spend money to just have a logo somewhere on screen, getting that for free seems like a win. Even with the anti corporate message, this probably didn't hurt Target. I think a lot of shows probably cover up logos so they aren't accused of product placement. Or probably to get away with song something negative. The Simpsons can say whatever they want about Mapple Computers but probably can't say whatever they want about Apple.

While I agree it seems obvious as a joke, here is from the rotten tomatoes consensus summary: "constant appearance of product placements seems rather hypocritical". So, it seems the joke was lost on some critics. I get people being put off by it if they don't realize its a joke but I also see a lot of (the same) people praise Arrested Development for Burger King product placement. I think people assume Josie And The Pussycats isn't smart enough to do it? I guess there can be debate on obvious product placement being a smarter joke than fake placement. I don't know.

I have made it clear that I really love this movie. I think it's funny and has some great satire of the time period like calling pop sensation "du jour" is genuinely smart. There are a couple potential criticisms that I'd like to address: the product placement and homophobia. According to the commentary, the product placement wasn't paid for. The writers/directors thought it just made sense aesthetically for the themes of the movie similar to the product placement in Talladega Nights. I think that's an interesting and kind of bold move. The homophobia of having a young boy fan having to hide being in love with his favorite band and "Backdoor Lover" isn't really acceptable. It dates this movie to that era where this kind of joke was still kind of acceptable. It wasn't and we shouldn't have been making homophobic jokes, but society was mostly fine with it. Even then, this feels either right on the cusp or just a bit late for this kind of joke. Or maybe I'm just remembering 2001 a bit better than it actually was.

I'll just assume you knew this podcast was coming and knew we'd get to it here. Because I'm honestly still not considering it for my short list. AFI also did other lists and had covered the top 25 American musicals too. So, there is always one of these selections: http://letterboxd.com/rogere/list/afis-greatest-musicals/

On both the original list and the anniversary list, I have six that I haven't seen on each. Since two of them (Sound Of Music and Yankee Doodle Dandy) overlap for a total of 10 I haven't seen yet.