Bonus Reel: Shea Serrano

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

In a special bonus episode this week, Paul & Amy ask Shea Serrano, writer for The Ringer and author of Movies (And Other Things), about the three films he would add to the AFI list.

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

according to Amy this will be an occasional bonus side series!

 

[ol' eddy wrecks 212]

The talk in this episode left me wondering if Coolie High will be brought up in the next/American Graffiti episode. A movie, I have admittedly not seen, but have heard it brought up in discussion with and in reference to American Graffiti. 

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

White Men Can't Jump is a top-10 all-timer for me too. Love it so much

[ol' eddy wrecks 212]

On 10/8/2019 at 9:40 PM, AlmostAGhost said:

White Men Can't Jump is a top-10 all-timer for me too. Love it so much

What are the other nine?

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

1 hour ago, ol' eddy wrecks said:

What are the other nine?

Oh I dunno, that was mostly just a way to express how much I like it haha.

Let me think though

I won't include AFI movies because I'm still processing or reprocessing those with Unspooled but a few would be certainly be here (prob. 2001, Lord of the Rings, Do The Right Thing, Double Indemnity, Vertigo).

Also just one per director or else this could easily be all Coen Brothers and Wes Anderson movies. Also including foreign stuff. Something like this (not in order).

Rushmore
Inside Llewyn Davis
Bicycle Thieves
M
Killer Of Sheep
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
This Is Spinal Tap
Top Secret!
 

[CaptainAmazing 127]

On 10/8/2019 at 6:38 PM, ol' eddy wrecks said:

The talk in this episode left me wondering if Coolie High will be brought up in the next/American Graffiti episode. A movie, I have admittedly not seen, but have heard it brought up in discussion with and in reference to American Graffiti. 

Checked it out from the library several years ago because I'm a big Lucas fan. I enjoyed it. Not totally sure if I'd put it on the Top 100 list, but it's good.

I'd say Graffiti is much more of a "teen movie" than a "high school movie." It takes place on the last night of the summer before two friends are supposed to go to college the next day. That's basically the absolute logical extreme of what you could technically call a high school movie. More than anything, it's a "Fifties movie," even though it takes place in the early 1960s. Really, the first year or two or even three of a decade are culturally more like the previous one.

[CaptainAmazing 127]

I'm intrigued by the whole idea of several high school movies happening in the same high school at the same time. Sounds like a good idea for a fan poster, though not really an Unspooled one. Off the top of my head, this is all happening in the cafeteria:

-Mean Girls not letting Napoleon Dynamite sit with them

-Bill & Ted jamming out with The Ramones to the disapproval of the principal from Rock 'n Roll High School

-Three different versions of Peter Parker having a conversation

[ol' eddy wrecks 212]

37 minutes ago, CaptainAmazing said:

Checked it out from the library several years ago because I'm a big Lucas fan. I enjoyed it. Not totally sure if I'd put it on the Top 100 list, but it's good.

I'd say Graffiti is much more of a "teen movie" than a "high school movie." It takes place on the last night of the summer before two friends are supposed to go to college the next day. That's basically the absolute logical extreme of what you could technically call a high school movie. More than anything, it's a "Fifties movie," even though it takes place in the early 1960s. Really, the first year or two or even three of a decade are culturally more like the previous one.

I suspect I violated some rules of grammar, leading to confusion.

I've seen American Graffiti (though a long time ago, and don't know how it's fare on a rewatch) - I haven't seen Coolie High. 

 

[ol' eddy wrecks 212]

10 hours ago, AlmostAGhost said:

Oh I dunno, that was mostly just a way to express how much I like it haha.

Let me think though

I won't include AFI movies because I'm still processing or reprocessing those with Unspooled but a few would be certainly be here (prob. 2001, Lord of the Rings, Do The Right Thing, Double Indemnity, Vertigo).

Also just one per director or else this could easily be all Coen Brothers and Wes Anderson movies. Also including foreign stuff. Something like this (not in order).

Rushmore
Inside Llewyn Davis
Bicycle Thieves
M
Killer Of Sheep
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
This Is Spinal Tap
Top Secret!
 

So, maybe more of a proverbial top 10 than necessarily a literal top 10 - which I was also partially wondering when I asked that.

I think it was criterion that once listed put together a list of movies that Kubrick's favorites (though compiled from anecdotal conversations and not a compiled list) and I remember White Men Can't Jump.

It was unclear from what conversation or how expressed that like (e.g. movie he really liked vs "reflecting on all time best favorites").

It seemed like an odd choice to read at the time, outside of "hey, everyone enjoys some comedy." But this and another podcast I listen to recently revisited it and also commented about how it talked frankly about race. So, thinking back on his quotes* about Claudia Weill's Girlfriends (and thinking back, I think he had some similar sentiments about Ophul's La Plaisir (though I'm less certain of my memory of that)), there is a through line there.  I haven't seen the movie since I was a teenager.

*: at work, on phone, not readily available at hand. Might Google later.

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

Wow ya that's interesting about Kubrick. White Men Can't Jump does seem like a niche basketball comedy which is probably not helping its rep now. 

[ol' eddy wrecks 212]

1 hour ago, ol' eddy wrecks said:

I haven't seen the movie since I was a teenager.

Referring to White Men Can't Jump.

I keep doing this! Grammatically, I believe the vague specification (maybe some rule about pronouns?) refers to the most recent stated noun/subject, not the original topic.