sycasey 2.0

I saw this movie once, on a big screen in a beautiful old theater. I think that's the right way to see it: surrounded by the colors and music and such, not distracted by anything else. It's very enjoyable that way. I'm sure on the small screen it loses something.

I feel like attitudes may be changing towards horror movies (what with "elevated horror" becoming the new thing these days), and a hugely influential horror-movie text like The Shining would have a better chance going forward. Blade Runner would be the precedent: not that well-received in its time, but now recognized as a major influence on sci-fi filmmaking.

Should have mentioned Parasite, though given the awards season thus far it seemed clear that was getting a Best Picture nomination plus a bunch of others. This is a big landmark for South Korean cinema.

The Shining would definitely be a strong contender for a new version of the list.

After Little Women was bizarrely shut out by the Globes, I'm glad it got lots of nominations here. And yes, I would have nominated Gerwig for director. Joker is going to age very poorly, mark my words. It's a surface-level impressive movie that doesn't have the depth people think. But given the awards season to date, I knew it would get a lot of nominations here. Meanwhile, the Documentary branch continues its trend of bizarrely leaving out some popular, critically-acclaimed doc because . . . reasons. (That would be Apollo 11 this year.)

This seems like a no-brainer Yes for the Top 100 list. It's clearly one of the 100 most influential American films (and between this and 2001 a clear argument that "one film per director" isn't a totally workable rule). My favorite nugget about the influence of Dr. Strangelove is that when Ronald Reagan was elected President, he asked his staff if he could see the War Room. Only there is no War Room; it was just invented for the movie. Now a lot of other governmental conference rooms have used the movie design as inspiration. https://qz.com/638778/the-man-who-designed-dr-strangeloves-apocalyptic-set-shaped-todays-negotiation-rooms/ And of course this led to probably my favorite comic line of dialogue in any movie.

Yeah, making himself look dirty and scruffy was the thing. There was also a big narrative about how difficult it was to film the movie.

Totally. I liked Bale in Vice, but there's an obvious reason why he gets the nomination for that and not for, say, American Psycho. The other thing that gets awards attention is some big physical transformation, like gaining or losing a lot of weight (Joaquin Phoenix this year) or a normally beautiful actor making themselves look ugly (that's how DiCaprio got his). Again, that's not necessarily an indication of the best acting, but it is the obvious external thing that makes a performance look difficult. I guess you could argue that "looking like another famous person" is just a subset of "extreme physical transformation."

There is this weird thing where if an actor REALLY LOOKS LIKE the real-life person they're playing they seem to automatically get nominations and/or wins. That doesn't necessarily mean they're doing the best acting. But actors also vote on the Oscars, so even they themselves fall into this trap.

I just have one: Supergirl.

I said at the time that Guardians of the Galaxy was the best Star Wars movie since the OT. I love it.

I didn't hate Green Book like a lot of Twitter thought I should, but I would definitely take either of these movies over it. And the other winner was Bohemian Rhapsody, the popularity of which was a big WTF to me. I was also totally expecting Joker to win, so I breathed a big sigh of relief when it didn't. I just don't want to keep reading Joker arguments.

The Golden Globes have spoken! Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and 1917. Better picks than last year at least.

This means the "holy spirit" we saw was really just Aurora Borealis.

In one of these scenes, the wife also says "It's late, come to bed," but (given that all of these scenes must have been shot at the same time) you can clearly see sunlight peeking through the blinds. Unless they live in Alaska, it's definitely not "late."

My favorites so far: 1. Parasite 2. Little Women 3. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood 4. Knives Out 5. Uncut Gems 6. Midsommar 7. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 8. Marriage Story 9. The Irishman 10. The Nightingale Lotta competition for that #10 spot, so that could shift around. I also liked: Booksmart, Jojo Rabbit, Avengers Endgame, Us, Ford v Ferrari, Ad Astra, Good Boys, Hustlers, Toy Story 4, 1917, Always Be My Maybe, The Farewell, Dolemite Is My Name #1 on the HDTGM scale: Cats.

Paul & Amy go toe-to-toe with 1980’s Martin Scorcese boxing biopic Raging Bull! They learn how De Niro gained so much weight for his role as Jake Lamotta, wonder why there are so many boxing films on the AFI list, and ask if this is Scorcese’s best examination of toxic masculinity. Plus: Cinematographer Michael Chapman talks about bringing the camera into the ring to film the famous fight scenes. Next week we begin our Best of The Decade miniseries – call in and tell us about one of your favorite films of the decade! Call the Unspooled voicemail line at 747-666-5824 with your answer. Follow us on Twitter @Unspooled, get more info at unspooledpod.com and don’t forget to rate, review & subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts. Photo credit: Kim Troxall This episode is brought to you by Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, AMEX, and Sonos (www.sonos.com).

Yeah, in the USA him being Mexican would supersede all other racial identity for most people. In Mexico I'm sure it's a different story, and indeed I think that's what he made his film about.

I think that within the United States, Cuaron would definitely be seen as a "Mexican" first, regardless of how fair-skinned or upper-class his family was there, and therefore still a "PoC" in that context. In Mexico he is probably seen as "white" when compared to the other ethnic groups there. That's part of what I liked about Roma, that it showed similar racial or class-based stratification existing elsewhere just as it does here.

Right, it's more about Amy nominating it for the best of the year. I've seen a lot of people I respect putting it high on their lists, and for me that blah ending really hurt the experience. I also felt like Blindspotting from the previous year got at similar ideas in a more dramatically satisfying way (though perhaps not as visually poetic).

The ending is why I don't understand naming it one of the best of the year. Isn't that supposed to be the whole point of the movie, where you finally understand the conceit? I was not impressed by where the film built up to.

Whoops, I need to redo that. I left 2018 out! 2016: 20th Century Women, La La Land 2017: Lady Bird, Phantom Thread 2018: Roma, Eighth Grade (If Roma doesn't count then First Reformed)

My personal picks for these years: 2017: 20th Century Women, La La Land 2018: Lady Bird, Phantom Thread 2019 (a serious work in progress here): A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Knives Out (also Parasite, but that's not American)

People have talked about that in discussions I've had on the movie. I think it's that for a lot of gay men this is accurately representative of their formative sexual experiences, so they are okay with it. There's a lot to unpack there.