Cameron H.

For me anyway, I'm mostly ranking them based on - not necessarily what's " best" (because that would be impossible) - but on how much I like them or how much they affect me personally. And even then, only in the context of the 100 movies presented to me by the AFI. Honestly, I was a bit hesitant to put it at number one, but then I was like, "You know what? Fuck it. This is 'Cameron H's' AFI list. This movie made me feel something and that's something none of the other movies have yet." I mean, according to a Tweet from Amy, the Facebook group has been putting this below King Kong! That just seems insane to me. While King Kong was certainly groundbreaking, I didn't exactly "feel" anything while watching it. (Did anyone?) And since I'm not a professional critic, I don't feel like I have to judge these movies on their cultural impact, technological achievements, historical contexts, or whatever. I'm just going to rank them subjectively based on how much I like them as compared to the other movies on the list. As far as I'm concerned, Art should make you feel something. E.T made me happy - which is a completely valid emotion. Art doesn't always have to be heavy, you know? I feel like people are too quick to poo-poo joy as something lightweight and not worthy of recognition, but it might be the most important emotion of all.

Another thing I really liked and wanted to say about the kids and how they were portrayed in the movie was how when Elliot lets his brother and sister into his circle of trust, it's on the condition that they promise not to tell anyone "not even mom." I love how even though their mother is more or less a benevolent figure, she is still treated as "one of them" (i.e. an adult).

To my surprise, I ranked ET as the number one movie on my personal AFI list. That isn’t to say that I think it’s the best made film we’ve seen so far, but it’s the first one in which I had a visceral, emotional response. Everything is structured so perfectly, that by the time the boys take their bikes to the streets, I was choking up. That moment distilled the whole movie for me. When the chips are down, despite their differences, these kids are going to do the right thing. Also, the family dynamics were the best I’ve ever seen. The kids are spot on and Dee Wallace is amazing. Now that I have kids of my own, I totally get where she’s coming from. She’s in over head. She wants to break down and cry, but she’s not allowed to be a real person - she has to be “Mom” first. Even watching her stifle her laughter at “penis breath” was something I totally got. For example, my son was playing LEGO Batman a few months ago and cursed at Two-Face (“What the shit is with this guy?”). You struggle to be a parent, but at the same time, it’s pretty fucking funny.

I Tweeted this already, but I showed E.T to my 6-year-old and he loved it. He actually had to leave the room when E.T. was dying because he was so upset. I'm with Amy on the whole debate of whether kids will get it or not. They will get it, but they have to be exposed to it. To use on of Paul's examples, The Beatles are my favorite band, but it's not like I was alive when they were together. I didn't "discover" them until I was a teenager looooooong after they disbanded. I didn't have to be there to "get" them. The same thing can be said about The Wizard of Oz. Most of us have placed it pretty high on our personal lists and I dare say none of us were alive when it was released. Hell, for a lot of us our parents weren't even born. Thinking kids won't "get" something just because it doesn't have cell phones or computers or something is pretty silly and doesn't give children a whole lot of credit. And, yes, my kids love The Beatles too

No doubt. Either way, it was the craziest thing I ever did see.

That was a pantry?!? For some reason I thought that was the refrigerator door. Meat killed their mother. The brother was the camp murderer. When he exposes Meat, Meat kills him and goes after her (I can’t remember names)

And the "I Totally Checked Out of the Movie" Award goes to...

I know! Lol! That's what I thought too. I found another band called Travis Bickle and it was like soft, indie pop. So weird.

Okay, down the rabbit hole we go. Here is the fabulous Travis Bickle Band...

I like that Here's The Curtain Thieves doing their song "Travis Bickle:"

Did anyone else find the singing to be particularly...not good? There were some songs where I was just like, “no.” Of course, this goes back to the idea that everything was kind of half-assed. Had even one of the elements been better, I think the movie would have been more enjoyable.

Okay, just so I'm not being completely negative, I did have a little chuckle when the little camper girl asks, "Isn't it wrong to sing and dance when someone just died?"

Oh, that makes sense. (I never went to camp )

That’s true, but I feel like if he’s the director at that type of camp, he’s at least a counselor - which makes him an adult for sure. (Not to mention he has alcohol. Not saying underage people don’t/can’t drink, but I’d guess he’s at least 21) Honestly, I’m not even that concerned with the main girl since she’s certainly over 18 if she and her brother are thinking of starting their own restaurant. It’s the other campers I’m worried about. It’s heavily implied that he is pulling this with a few of the actual campers.

I'm afraid I don't really have an answer for this just yet (except anything with Jimmy Stewart is going to be tops in my book). That being said, I've been giving it some thought, and while my gut reaction was "No, let's free up the list for new blood," I've come around. What made me change my mind is I thought about the greatest songs of the 20th Century and a lot of them are done by collaborators. If I were looking at a list of the top 100 songs of the 20th Century and five of them were Lennon/McCartney, compositions, I wouldn't be calling for one of them to be removed. I would be like, "That's all?" So, yeah, I agree. If two people find themselves to be effective collaborators and bring out the best in each other, then absolutely let them stay on the list. My only caveat would be if the movies/songs were too alike. Then I would say lump them all together like Star Wars and LotR. However, I think Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, and Goodfellas are dissimilar enough that that's not really an issue here.

It’s not their best (not even the best song on this album), but here’s Rancid’s “Travis Bickle:”

That bugged me too. I mean the whole casting couch thing was bad enough without throwing in “and he’s probably preying on underage girls.” It’s not even that I mind if a movie goes there - like, if there’s a point to it - but like Tom said, it didn’t need to be so overt or last as long as it did. Everything could have just as easily been done through implication. By lingering on it, they were effectively fetishizing this thing that they’re supposedly condemning. We’re not dumb, guys. We can see what you’re doing.

No problem For what it's worth, I'm sure yours is the intended take. I think we are supposed to walk away from the movie feeling conflicted, "He's a bad guy, but he did a good thing. If a person does something good, does it matter how they did it?" Unfortunately, that's not really a take I'm interested in as it seems to imply (as discussed here and on the episode) that it is possible for good to result from this kind of mentality. It excuses it by suggesting that the ends justify the means. If this movie is supposed to be an indictment of toxic masculinity, than I don't like the idea that everything (more or less) works out in the end. It's the kind of thinking that allows dude-bros to hero worship Bickle ("Sometimes you've just got to take matter into your own hands, bro. People might resist, but it's for their own good. They'll thank you in the end.") Anyway, I just thought it was interesting, considering what we know of Bickle, that he might be doing something that was totally not in Iris' best interest. It wouldn't surprise me at all. It was just a thread I just wanted to pull.

I think my favorite joke during the movie was a poster for Les Producerables.

This is kind of treading in parody territory, but about “(What Exactly is a) Street Fighting Man?” And as long as we’re allowing parodies, I’ve literally had A Tribe Called Quest’s “Scenario” in my head all day, except I’m singing it: “Here we go Yo, Here we go Yo, So what’s so what’s the Jacob’s Ladder scenario.”

I agree with all of this. I think this movie's biggest crime is it doesn't do anything particularly well. I even called the killer in the first scene (both of them), so the reveal wasn't even all that interesting. I was like, "Well, of course it was..." Another thing that annoyed me was that a plot point seemed to be hinting at financial trouble for the camp, but that camp was pretty nice and filled to capacity. Maybe if it had been a little more run down or there were fewer kids? If you want me to believe that your camp is in financial trouble, I need to see that. And why was Meat Loaf's plan, "I'll get these summer camp kids to do a play and then it will get put on Broadway?" Outside of maybe a Disney Channel movie or Saved by the Bell, when would that plan ever seem reasonable?

Just to clarify my position, two things: One, I'm not trying to convince you of anything. I'm saying the movie leaves a lot open to interpretation. That line stuck out to me, that's all. You can take it or leave it. I'm not trying to "infuse" anything. I'm just trying to look deeper than the text and not just trust everything I'm seeing and hearing. Two, I never once said that going back home and going to school was worse than forced prostitution. That's putting words in my mouth and absolutely ridiculous. I only ever wondered if there was the possibility that she might be being forced to trade one form of abuse for another. We really don't know one way or the other, but I'm thinking about what could be going on in a 12-year-old's life that would make her actually run away, and abuse is at the top of that list. I think that's far more likely than "Mom wouldn't give me an extra scoop of ice cream for dessert so I'm running away forever and I'm never coming back! (Even if I'm given the chance, I want to, and it's clear that I'm in an unhealthy situation)." The thing is, Travis never even stops to consider Iris' needs and desires. He tells her what's best for her. He doesn't allow her a shred of agency. You're right, there's never a "clue" or a line where she explicitly says, "My father was molesting me," but there's also not a line where she says ,"I miss my parents, it was a real mistake to leave. I want to go home." And there's a reason why these lines aren't there: because Travis never asks! He literally knows nothing about her or her past. He never makes the effort. He never asks, "Why would you rather go live on a commune than live with your parents?" I know this isn't your intention, but you almost seem to be saying, "Yeah, she might still be getting abused, but at least she's going to school." It's not like there aren't alternatives. For example, she could go into Foster Care. Maybe that's a better solution. But it's never even brought up. Beyond the fact that it's what Travis thinks is best for her, why is going home to her parents considered the "best" possible solution? Again, we honestly don't know one way or another. However, the whole movie is from Travis' POV, and he is unreliable as fuck. He's narcissistic and toxic. Given his mentality throughout the movie, what's more likely: that - despite everything else in the movie suggesting otherwise - in this one situation he was able to read between the lines, fully connect with another person, and intuit the best course of action for their lives, or that he saw and heard only what he wanted to in order satisfy his own malignant ego and skewed fairy tale logic (i.e. Storming the castle and saving the princess)? If the movie was about redemption, I would probably agree with the former, but since the movie seems to be about a never ending cycle of violence, than I'm leaning toward other interpretations. I'm not saying I'm right, but I'm also not willing to just completely accept the movie at face value.

Yes, but if she “had cause to” that means she had reason for running away, and that reason is never given or discussed in the movie. My point is, she doesn’t want to go back home, and since one of the leading reasons for children to actually run away (and not just threaten to) is abuse at home, I think it’s a valid concern. Also, if the parents had to take “steps” so she doesn’t have “cause” to run away, then this further suggests that her reason(s) for leaving were not only external, but something that her parents were doing and had to take active measures to stop. For me, it’s also telling that when Bickle initially tries to help her, she doesn’t want to go home; however, she is open to the idea of going to a commune. This admits that she doesn’t really like where she is currently, but the alternative of going home isn’t even an option that she’s willing to entertain. Now, could this just be that her father is saying, “We need to show her more affection” or something? Possibly. But I think that’s the whole point of the ending. It’s open to interpretation. It’s a happy ending if you want it to be. However, as that final shot in the rear view mirror suggests, even though things seem to have worked out for the best, they really haven’t. Why should we believe that everything has worked out well for Iris when Scorsese is literally looking us in the eye and telling us that this “happily ever after” is just a veneer?

Yes. And their first album should be called Tales from Blockbuster and the lead single should be "Mom (Let's French Kiss)" with the B-Side "It's Not Making Love (It's Called Fuckin')." What are some other possible tracks on the album?

Oh lord. That is almost exactly what we predicted.