Jump to content
🔒 The Earwolf Forums are closed Read more... ×

HoldenMartinson

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content count

    334

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by HoldenMartinson

  2. Posted

    I really liked One More Time with Feeling. It didn't screen in many cities, though.

    Skeleton Tree has ended up as my favorite album of the year, but I don't know when I'll get to Once More with Feeling. I'm excited for it, though.

  3. Posted

    I'm a sucker for traditions, and this one is one of my favorites.

     

    What are the most canon-worthy films of 2016? Which would you posit for the pantheon of great films to live on forever?

     

    I know my own shortlist includes some terrific films, but ultimately, I'd go with Ava DuVernay's 13th, one of the most shocking and stomach-churning documentaries of the century. Otherwise, I'm thoroughly impressed by Moonlight and The Witch.

     

    Your own picks?

  4. Posted

    Eh. Good discussion is good discussion. I love what Devin brought to the table, and his blustery energy is a lot of fun, but that doesn't mean the show only has to exist with that aesthetic. It'd be kind of cool if Amy brought in a pantheon of hosts, and rotated them episode to episode. Any form of the show will do.

    • Like 2

  5. Posted

    This was the best film podcast. No show taught me more about film literacy and grammar, while being thoroughly entertaining and insightful in any myriad of ways. Devin and Amy have a rapport like no one else. Good chemistry is too hard to find. Anyway, I love The Canon. If it's gone, that's a really rough pill, but whatever. If it's possible, then it'd mean the world to make it happen.

    • Like 4

  7. Posted

    Thanks so much, Amy. And thanks to both you and Devin for making it possible for such a community to exist. It wouldn't work with a program that wasn't as insightful and engaging as The Canon.

     

    Whatever happens next, we're all here.

  9. Posted

    Yeah. As someone who has been here from the beginning, this is big. I love The Canon, and am disheartened that this has to happen, but not a whole lot else that can be done.

     

    For what it's worth, this was fun while it lasted, and nothing's going to take away the incredible insights Devin continually brought to the discussion. Should The Canon take on a new chapter, I'll be listening as enthusiastically as ever. If not, talk about a hell of a run.

     

    Thinking a little ahead--maybe we could have our own unofficial forum Canon? We give people a day to make arguments, and then wait to make a poll later? That way, people won't just vote impulsively as much. Keeps the show alive in some iteration. Could be a fun distraction.

    • Like 2

  10. Posted

    All things considered, things have gone down about as smoothly as they could. Well enough, at least, that Devin could conceivably continue doing the show. I imagine that this isn't much of a priority, but I don't know. The responses from everyone involved seem civil and understanding, which is all anyone can ask.

    • Like 1

  11. Posted

    This is rough. It's devastating because I know how important the show is to me, and I know how important Devin's perspective has been in shaping the perspective of a young person who wants to understand film. If what happened is true to the degree that Devin is unable to continue, I'll still listen to the show, assuming Amy and another continue. Would it be the same? No. And the circumstances under which personnel was changed would loom over the show forever. So, I don't know. It's really difficult to consider.

  13. Posted

    I couldn't really emotionally engage with the film. But the sheer excitement I have for the filmmaking here is enough--that, and the timeliness of it all. Seriously though. The way Kazan populates the frame with so much activity. Rhodes is just being churned out of one machine-like structure after another. This also keeps the viewer from being distracted or bored. Also, the general blocking within scenes is pretty great. The pacing is top notch. Everyone is putting in such mind-blowing work. Lastly, am I the only one who found Walter Matthau to be weirdly sexy in his role? He's just so calm and authoritative. It's really hypnotic stuff--though, maybe I'm revealing too much.

     

    Anyway, this is a great film. Absolute slam dunk.

  16. Posted

    You could do a versus about awful things involving kids with this and Dear Zachary. Mostly, I'm a sadist who will look for any excuse to make anyone watch Dear Zachary. That said, I love Capturing the Friedmans, and would happily take a solo episode for it.

    • Like 1

  17. Posted

    I haven't seen Cannibal Holocaust, but this is easily solved by inducting the phenomenal Texas Chain Saw Massacre into the canon.

     

    I'm okay voting out Working Girl despite the diversity argument because it isn't even representative of women's voices, it's a fairly sexist Mike Nichols movie. Let's get in some (more?) Sofia Coppola, Ava Duvernay, Agnes Varda, Kelly Reichardt, Lina Wertmuller. Hell, while we're talking Nichols, let's get Elaine May!

    Cannibal Holocaust is, in my opinion, a much better, more impactful exploitation film. Also, it does have the advent of found footage going for it.

    • Like 1

  18. Posted

     

    I prefer Hot Fuzz to Shaun of the Dead but I can accept that I'm in the minority there

    Hot Fuzz is far and away the best, if you ask me--which is saying a lot, considering that they're all impeccably-made films.

    • Like 2

  19. Posted

    The only thing I'd warn against by canning Cannibal Holocaust is that we're gonna have to keep watching horrible, depraved movies until we get something representative of cannibal exploitation films. This is about as well-made as they get. Just something to keep in mind.

    • Like 1

  20. Posted

    I'm not gonna pretend I don't love a lot of the films we've put in of this nature, but we have so many boy movies in the canon that The Bad Seed is as good as, or better than. I know someone's going to try to argue the egalitarian side of things, and that a movie shouldn't be put into the canon based off of other movies in the canon, except it's been established that this is a representative canon. We don't have a film like The Bad Seed in the canon. Is it the very best? Maybe not, but it's close. And, above all, it's good enough for canonization. We have lots of schlocky horror movies for boys in the canon. Couldn't we have at least one for girls, at least for the time being?

    • Like 1

  21. Posted

    This was a pretty easy yes. I buy the arguments, and I, like Devin, happened to catch it a long time ago on television and maybe wouldn't have gotten to it for a while. That said, I'm glad I had a chance to revisit it. This is a terrific film, and is totally canon-worthy.

  23. Posted

    I feel that as long as Devin is directing BirthMoviesDeath readers to vote on these polls, there's little chance of any film NOT making it into the canon (at least, of the ones which he supports). This isn't a dig on him at all. It's just from the overall tone of the discussion here, I'd expect a more even result, if not an outright "no".

    That's the striking thing: Most of the people here who have identified as Trekkies seem to have voted the film down. It's not horrible if the film doesn't get into the canon, but that's really weird that the most presumably ardent supporters have been going the other direction.

×