Nodz

I have to say Eraserhead. It's pure, raw Lynch and contains some of his most effective filmmaking. I was so glad that Amy said the baby was one of the best special effects she's ever seen, because I thought the same thing watching it this time. It's creepy, unsettling, gritty, and a touch sweet. The sets, the sounds, the acting, and the cinematography serve the film and the themes of desolation and self-image soooo well. Henry's apartment was his only refuge from the ugly, rundown dying animal of a city he lived in and the baby is a horrific reflection of his own flaws that invades his one safe space. Love it. I don't want to say I love Blue Velvet but I do enjoy it. Rossellini and Hopper are both acting powerhouses, but most if not all of the themes are tackled in Twin Peaks in more interesting ways, in my opinion. I can't seem to separate this movie from that show, which isn't fair to the movie, but it's how I feel. I was surprised they didn't discuss Jeffrey's father in the hospital. During this viewing, I thought that perhaps seeing his father in this state affected his view of his own masculinity, and forced him to temporarily live in a female-dominated household. I appreciated how a lot of this movie is about Jeffrey's relationships with various women. You get a good grasp of his character based on how he speaks to Sandy, Dorothy, and his mother and aunt. Hmm. Maybe I do love this movie. But not as much as Eraserhead.

I enjoyed the movie, but I have to say no as it's just missing something to make it really really stand out as something special. Gwyneth Paltrow was really good, Judi Dench was fantastic, and I love the shit out of both Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush, but Joseph Fiennes failed to impress. I liked all the little Shakespeare references and the double entendres, but there were a lot of moments of pretty spotty writing as well. I didn't like the little "the show must go on" line or Judi Dench's "Don't wear it out" thing (if that was meant to be a version of "That's my name, don't wear it out"). It's also maybe too long; Lord Wessex finding out about the affair felt like the climax but the movie still had about 40 minutes left from there. None of this means the movie is bad, but I don't think any of it was spectacular enough to overcome those. I still laughed at a good number of moments in the film (Tom Wilkinson loving being an actor I thought was great), and Gwyneth Paltrow managed to make the romance pretty endearing by herself, but I still have to say no. Please let this be an end to the La La Land bashing, at least for a while. It's getting old. EDIT: Accidental early submission

This was a pretty tough choice - I totally agree with Franklin about wanting to champion writers a lot more in Hollywood, and because of that I have to say JUNO wins because of the stronger and more unique writing. The sheer power and strength of Whiplash cannot be denied; it's tense, stressful, and massively entertaining and I think the ending is one of the best I've seen in the past five years. But Juno is a great piece of writing that I think still does hold up today, and as Franklin pointed out we are yet to see if Whiplash will have the same lasting effect. While the dialogue can be grating, doesn't it just do an amazing job of how immature and not ready for this situation the characters are? And I find it very realistic, a lot of pre-teens and teens speak like idiots all the time. Whiplash definitely has issues whenever Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons aren't together, but the characters in Juno are all very entertaining to watch. Overall, a great episode. I loved these guests and thought they had a lot of interesting things to say.

I had trouble focusing on Armond talking throughout the episode just as I had trouble focusing on Sign O' the Times when I watched that. Stop Making Sense is an easy winner for me. I have nothing against Prince, and it may just be my bias as a big fan of Talking Heads, but it was much more engaging to me, probably due to Demme's direction. I'm not even that into concert films but this really did it for me, especially the reveal of the big suit and the performance of Girlfriend is Better. And dang, such hardcore La La Land bashing and insulting anyone who dared to enjoy it. While it's definitely a film that will lose its veneer in a few years, there's a lot to enjoy about it and in no way is it an insult or a disgrace to musicals of the past. It's impossible to deny that Chazelle has talent, despite what you may think about the "musical-ness" of La La Land.

Like another poster in this thread, I had to create a whole new account probably due to inactivity. But I did it happily for the return of The Canon. Like others, I expected this to be a hearty YES from a lot of people, including myself. But really thinking about it, whenever I watch it I have the same issues that Amy brings up about the writing and the characters. But, the performances really overcome the weaknesses in the script to the point that you almost don't need anything else to completely understand these characters. Absolutely everyone turns in a fantastic performance that is memorable, quotable, and just plain funny. That's what ultimately made it a yes for me. No matter what the films faults are, it makes me laugh consistently in a lot of places. This isn't even talking about the interesting world, the production design, and the great special effects. It definitely belongs in The Canon, and the cultural significance doesn't even need to be mentioned.