WatchOutForSnakes

That's perfect!

I'm still upset about Luigi. That whole character. Why? just Why?

When they first mentioned Little Italy, Pizza My Heart was the movie I thought they were watching. It had popped up on my streaming services for a while, but I've never seen it.

The script also makes me wonder if he has an Oedipal complex.

I'm pretty sure everyone in the theatre was an HDTGM fan. They were just as blown away (and gleefully entertained) as I was.

I went to see based solely on @Elektra Boogaloo's post here and a Slate headline. I purposely went in without googling or knowing anything else about it. If you told me Matthew McConaughey was drunk the entire shoot, I wouldn't be surprised. This one is A Night In Heaven kind of crazy. I so hope the crew covers it!

As a female lawyer, RGB really spoke to me and it was special that the movie exists. I will concede that there’s little that I already knew, but I still think it’s really important to bring that to a larger audience who might not know anything aside the memes. Do I think it was Oscar worthy? I dunno. Certainly the nod will get more eyes on it and that’s a good thing. I share your sentiments on Won’t You Be My Neighbor. Rogers was a really fascinating and complicated guy and I think there was a lot that was just glossed over, like his obsession with the number 143. I didn’t leave the theatre as moved as everyone else. I felt unsatisfied.

The Criterion Channel is launching a stand-alone service this spring. That might be a good time for a Kurosawa binge.

I am still confused. Wouldn't his phone have shown the phone number KB called from? Unless it was blocked? Also, what about fucking *69? More thoughts on this one: When Captain America was in the stairwell in the police station and was about to lose the signal, why not just put the phone down somewhere and go up the stairs to find someone? I'm fully convinced WHM is the main character. He's the only person we learn anything about (other than that KB is a "science biology" teacher). We see him living his life, dealing with the nitty gritty of opening a day spa and testing products with his wife. He gets the "save the cat" moment, even if it's a fish. He's the one I wasrooting for the whole time to figure it out and finally get Captain America some help. He was the only good thing about this movie. He was everything. This was only marginally better than Perfect Stranger. Only just.

I hope I didn't re-watch that for nothing all those weeks back. I don't think I can do it again.

I am horribly behind on my Kurosawa viewings.

I think in the episode they said the black and white was used for it's ability to pick up facial expressions differently. It actually made it difficult for me to differentiate between Sonny and Duane until I realized the latter was Jeff Bridges. However, I do think it was overall effective. Also reminiscent of the time in which it was set. Sonny was horribly miscast, and I found it problematic that there was no real villain, and it felt like there were no real stakes, so parts of the movie felt like it wasn't moving anywhere; like the trip to Mexico. We don't actually see them do anything, and it doesn't seem to advance their characters in any way other than that the two boys are then gone when Sam the Lion dies. Was that something I would have done at that age? Sure! But I didn't see where it fit in. That said, Cybill Shepherd stole the show. I really liked the way the film treated her exploration of her sexuality. There wasn't this virgin/whore dichotomy (hello, June!). In most movies a character like her seems to be shown as a Jezebel who men should avoid at all costs. But here, she's sympathetic, if not entirely likeable. I also liked the way they treated her nervousness at undressing at the pool party, and the pool hall scene seemed actually pretty realistic for a young woman exploring her curiosity and a man taking advantage of that. (not to say he was taking advantage of her, but that he took advantage of the opportunity). I do think he was disgusted with himself afterward because I think he had real feelings for Jacy's mom.

I haven't listened to the episode yet, but I just have to say how impressed I am with Cybill Shepherd in Last Picture Show, Taxi Driver, and Bonnie & Clyde.

I did see that as symbolic of them leaving Texas (or at least small town Texas) and their youths behind. Like the boy who got hit with the car was a literal death of their childhood and innocence(?).

I think I saw something about Yojimbo as inspiration. I will definitely check it out.

That was exactly my thought the entire time.

I just watched A Fistful of Dollars last week. I was really struck by the violence, particularly what the Baxters do at the end. So far, this is the first time I've liked Clint Eastwood in anything.

Yeah. I basically was expecting a pretty dated portrayal of Chinese immigrants, and probably some yellowface in the casting. It exceeded my expectations. But the last five minutes...

I lost my shit at the crab people! And am I the only one who thought that red wig was awful?!

100% I actually went to see it yesterday on Paul's recommendation. I definitely laughed in the wrong places. It reminded me of The Meg in that regard.

I must agree with pretty much everything here. I did not buy Ta and Mei Li's romance at all. I could buy the romance between him and Linda. I heard Mei Li and Ta saying the words to each other, but I didn't see any emotion between either of them. I also didn't know about the "I Enjoy Being A Girl" song, and I really liked that piece. I also really liked the dance with Helen. I'm sure we all could go into a whole diatribe about the gender politics but I'll set that aside for now. However, I was thinking that this movie wasn't too bad on the racism square, and I nearly did a literal pearl clutch in those last five minutes with Mei Li's "inspiration" for how to deal with her betrothal to Sammy. Oh my!

I'm way late to the game on this, but I was not excited by Searchers. I had no idea what it was about and had never heard of it before this podcast, so on my first watch I didn't really get that it was trying to subvert the genre. I just thought, hoo boy is this racist! I had no context for when it was released, or how this fit in with the Wayne/Ford collaborations. This might be my first full John Wayne Western though I've seen bits before. I watched it a second time after listening to the episode, and it improved just a little, but I still just find it racist and not enjoyable. I'd strike this one off the list with The Sixth Sense. I really just don't get the hype when there are way better westerns out there. I'm in the middle of Unforgiven, on the second watch, and it's maybe better than the first? I still feel like there's just too much Acting going on. And I find Clint Eastwood's later work to be overwrought. Too much of "look what I can do! Did you see what I did just there? Aren't I clever?" But maybe I'm an old maid. That said, I do enjoy Westerns more than I used to. My family wasn't that into them so I wasn't really introduced to them and have no long-standing relationship with them. But The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is maybe the perfect Western. I'm really enjoying the modern reboots of things like Westworld and the Cohen Brother's take on the genre in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Searchers is just not a good movie to me. If you need that much context and background to get it's point, it feels like a miss.

2 appearances: William H. Macy - The Last Dragon, Cellular

Their sudden appearance in the music video creeped me out, and the bride costumes for Halloween was a really odd choice.

So, is he in vampire purgatory basically until he saves Mona? Relevant to nothing - that bat creature was more disturbing than the Garbage Pail Kids.