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HoldenMartinson

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Posts posted by HoldenMartinson

  2. Posted

    Here's the thing: The Canon is about the best and most influential pieces of cinema. While lesser known works are more interesting to discuss, you can't talk about canonical films without talking about obvious milestones. And that doesn't stop episodes for Blade Runner and Goodfellas, for example, any less listenable.

  3. Posted

    Would they make us choose just one of the three movies, though? That seems wrong. In my opinion, the whole trilogy belongs in the canon.

     

    It's possible they might do something like The Godfather trilogy episode, where we can induct the entire trilogy: The complete story of Jesse and Celine's luuurrrrrv.

  6. Posted

    Devin has also voiced his approval for this film on this podcast. So, it'd probably get in.

     

    Personally, it'd be a fine episode, but I'm really burnt out on The Princess Bride. Growing up Mormon, a lot of LDS kids loved this film to the point of kinda ruining it for me, personally. I've always liked The Princess Bride, and I think it's one of Rob Reiner's best--especially since he continues to dilute the quality of his filmography--but I've never been in love with it. So, I don't know. I get the appeal, but there's no rush. It's a clever movie. It's a popular movie. It holds up. Fair addition.

  7. Posted

    Listening to the Slacker episode, it almost felt like being asked to vote for Everybody Wants Some!!, given how much it dominated the conversation. So, I almost voted for Tangerine. Otherwise, I fall pretty squarely on Devin's side, though I think Amy's concerns are legitimate. Linklater can write terrific women. It'd be neat to see more of them in his movies. Definitely pro-representation.

     

    Also, Vampire Academy is fine. Was pigeon-holed for being a movie about young women and vampires. So, there are probably some latent Twilight comparisons. It's okay, but it's NOT better than Everybody Wants Some!!.

  8. Posted

    I vote no. Nothing happens.

     

    d90.gif

     

    Does anybody else get frustrated with how extremely condescending Devin can be towards Amy on this podcast.

     

    I enjoy the podcast and enjoy listening, but Devin can be a "yuge" condescending dude a lot of the time.

     

    I can see it, but I don't know. Both have valid perspectives on Everybody Wants Some!!. Amy was clearly more combative, but they fuel each other's fire plenty.

     

    On to the film: I LOVE Richard Linklater's work. I love Dazed and Confused, I love the Before trilogy, I love Waking Life, I love School of Rock, I like Bernie and Me and Orson Welles, and I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE Boyhood. Slacker probably falls in the bottom half of Linklater's filmography for me. That said, it's still a genius piece of filmmaking. Other filmmakers might be more cinematic and acrobatic with how they tell stories, but Linklater can get at humanity like nobody else. Slacker is the perfect thesis statement for what he would spend the rest of his career doing.

     

    Also, Rotten Tomatoes is fine, but Metacritic is a lot better, because it averages the actual scores critics give it. It tends to be a little more selective about which critics are featured--usually those with ratings attached to their reviews--but Everybody Wants Some!! isn't a 70 film. It's an 85 film, as of this comment, which denotes "Universal Acclaim," and is only five points fewer than Rotten Tomatoes' aggregation of positive and negative reviews. Given Metacritic's averages, Everybody Wants Some!! falls at around a soft A- to a high B+ with critics.

  10. Posted

    Didn't make it: Empire Strikes Back. I've bitched so much about its exclusion. It never helps. The pain...festers.....And I really do think less of Devin and Amy as carbon-based lifeforms that both of them seem to to think it's utter crap. Which I don't wanna do, because I love them both. But still. They hate this movie. And so a part of me hates them.

     

    You should really hate Elijah Wood, because he chose Jurassic Park on the grounds that the film "is Speilberg!!!" Sorry, Elijah. We already had E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, and more on the way. Never. Forget.

  12. Posted

    Here's a modern director that already has a handful of films that are easily canon-worthy: such as The Host, Mother, Snowpiercer--the last of which we almost got in the "Best of 2014" episode. Personally, I'd love to get an episode for Memories of Murder, which I only just saw recently, and which completely floored me. Like I said, though--you could do quite a few episodes on Bong Joon-ho, and maybe on all of his films. You could potentially do a versus episode with The Host and Snowpiercer, if you wanted to get a couple movies out of the way, but Bong Joon-ho's film are so worth dissection that almost anything will do.

     

    For anyone not familiar with Bong Joon-ho, PLEASE watch all of his films, because they're all very different, and all of them show such astonishing craft, no matter the scale. For anyone who has seen his films, which Bong Joon-ho pictures would you like to see in the canon?

    • Like 1

  14. Posted

    I'm pretty sure Devin at least has said that he's not a fan of the "so bad it's good" movement of filmmaking. And I get it. It's pretty mean-spirited. Plus, should something be canon-worthy--should you have to see something--because it's clearly terrible? I don't know. Also, what would that discussion look like? That's not meant as a knock against Devin or Amy, who can talk about film like no one else. But what does defending the merit of mediocrity look like? It's one thing to have an episode for The Goonies or Pretty in Pink where the conceit is, "Actually, these beloved films aren't very good, and here's why." I feel like the episode becomes, "We need this pile of shit as a means of saying how bad movies can be."

     

    With that in mind, this is clearly a very real part of cinematic culture, whether either host likes it or not. Plus, there's nothing else that exists in art quite like this. There are no records that are awful to the point of enjoyment. There are really no books unenjoyable to the point of necessitating consumption. Something like Mystery Science Theater 3000 or RiffTrax could not exist outside of film, and possibly television. And there are lots of legitimately bad films that are iconic enough that canonization outside of being kitsch would be somewhat justified.

     

    Really though, unless a guest--like, if Paul Scheer or the other HDTGM hosts comes on, as suggested on the older forums--adamantly argues for a film of that nature, it's probably not gonna happen. Don't get me wrong. I'd love episodes about The Room or Birdemic: Shock and Terror or any slew of crazy bad movies. I think that could be amazing. I'm not holding my breath is all.

  17. Posted

    First off, A Nightmare on Elm Street is canon-worthy. Don't a troll.

     

    Second, I think Black Christmas vs. Halloween makes a little more sense, seeing as they're sort of the major films that jump start the slasher genre.

     

    Third, practically any of these films against each other is cruel. So, naturally, it has to happen. I'm definitely in favor of Psycho vs. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and even Halloween vs. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre has a little more symmetry--seeing as they're both low-budget horror flicks that have influence going strong today.

     

    Fourth, I think it'd be really cool to get something like Trick 'r' Treat in the conversation, because it might be the best direct-to-video horror film ever. Maybe do it with another anthology, if any are worthy?

  18. Posted

    I actually agree with Devin and Amy, that Superman is technically the stronger film, but Batman has stuck with me far more than Superman has. Batman has also clearly stuck with our culture better. In terms of Michael Keaton's and Jack Nicholson's performances, Anton Furst's production design, and Danny Elfman's iconic-as-fuck score, Batman might not be the better film overall, but it does have stronger iconography. That, coupled with the fact that it still is a very good film with plenty of memorable moments, makes it entirely canon-worthy to me. Also, does Superman exist without the Adam West version of Batman: The Movie? I'm sure this could go on and on until you get to the original comics, but looking at those in as much of a vacuum as possible, what influence does that latter have on the former?

     

    Also, in terms of Batman films where Bruce Wayne is at the center of his own movie, I'd point to Batman Begins and Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. Also, the latter here should be discussed at some point, because it's as good as any live action interpretation of Batman.

    • Like 1
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