Re42scott2

Not my favorite Coen Brothers movie (I rank my 5 faves below), but of course RAISING ARIZONA is worthy of The Canon. Side note: I am getting a little weary of all the identity politics discussion in arts and pop culture. It is an important conversation to have (full disclosure I'm an African-American man), but I don't know that it is the appropriate lens through which to properly evaluate all movies. MY 5 FAVORITE COEN BROTHERS FILMS: 1. Fargo 2. Miller's Crossing 3. O Brother, Where Art Thou? 4. No Country for Old Men 5. The Man Who Wasn't There

For THE CANON (an exceptional standard of the medium), I chose BLUE VELVET. However, I do think ERASERHEAD is pure nightmare cinema that probably sticks with you in a way that BLUE VELVET doesn't. It is creepy, cryptic and haunting. But without BLUE VELVET we don't get the popular definition of something being "Lynchian". BLUE VELVET is a part of the collective consciousness in a way that ERASERHEAD could never be. Since this is a versus episode, BLUE VELVET makes sense as the clear choice. They are both great movies, though in radically different ways.

I wish "None of the Above" was an option, but for me this one is pretty easy. JUNO does have great dialogue and seems to have influenced several low to mid budget comedies that came after it. It is not a great movie despite superb performances by Ellen Page and (yes) Jennifer Garner. WHIPLASH is a C-grade movie to me (on a grading scale of A to F). JK Simmons is amazing and his "not my tempo" was the most annoyingly imitated line of late 2014, but please explain to me what the third act of that movie is? I'm convinced it does not exist.

Ugh...Armond White is VERY hard to listen to. While Sign O' The Times the album is obviously a masterpiece, I haven't seen the concert movie and I don't know anyone who's not a diehard Prince fan who has seen it. Where can I even watch it? I've seen the "video" of "It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night" which was pulled from the footage of the movie, which is the only reason I felt justified in voting. I voted for STOP MAKING SENSE, because it is recognized as one of the three great concert movies ever made and because you could watch David Byrne gyrating in the giant white suit on an endless loop and never get tired of it. It is iconic. This shouldn't have been a versus. It should have just been "welcome to The Canon Stop Making Sense". Still, it is good to have the podcast back!