Loves close observation of performances, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ang Lee's restraint, Sigourney Weaver, and fussy period detail like anachronisms. Can't stand exploitative handling of kids. A sucker for casting what-ifs and Philly-childhood stories.
Stances
Ice Storm is a subtext movie that never fully announces its themes
Weaver is believable as a suburban housewife where Sharon Stone is not
Joan Allen is the best mom in movies
Humor: Dry and teasing, deflating Simmons's bits with an extra twist.
In their words
“I just so rationally love Sigourney Weaver.” (0:53:33)
“if we could have just worked Philip Seymour Hoffman into this movie somewhere, it would have been amazing.” (1:05:38)
“I think Chris is right that it's more believable.” (1:03:54)
Loves Kurt Russell, John Carpenter, character actors, and the craft of sports filming. Can't stand tacked-on love interests. A sucker for Noah Emmerich and Russell deep cuts.
Stances
Hanks and Costner wouldn't work as Herb
Kurt Russell carries a mediocre script
Miracle is number five on his Russell list
Blindside belongs in the one-star-poster era
Humor: Dry, pop-culture riffs and absurd hypotheticals.
In their words
“Hanks is almost too nice.” (0:16:31)
“I fucking love Tango and Cash, but there might be something wrong with me.” (1:07:18)
Loves 80s-era movie-star craft, New York crime novels (Price), and Scorsese's confined-space coverage; this movie resonates as a middle-aged sports movie. Can't stand the tonal ambiguity of the ending. A sucker for Cruise-Mastrantonio chemistry.
Stances
Rewatches this more than Raging Bull
Cruise should have played more flawed parts
Sees Newman as an anti-hero in The Hustler
Likes the continuation-sequel idea
Humor: Deadpan nostalgia and pop-culture one-liners.
In their words
“I probably return to this one more than, you know, honestly, I've watched it probably more than Raging Bull.” (0:17:12)
“I wish Tom Cruise had played more parts like that.” (0:08:37)
“I think this is my favorite on-screen romance for cruise.” (1:05:51)
Loves Wes Anderson's early run, Hackman's 70s work, needle-drop movies, and rewatchable detail. Suckers for performances that are controlled and specific, and for the gleeful moment a filmmaker shifts gear. Less patient with the Tenenbaums finale's slapstick and with backlash against Wes's tweeness.
Stances
Tenenbaums is a better movie than Magnolia
Richie is the heart and Christ figure of the movie
Hackman is irreplaceable and should win the movie
Soundtrack aged best
Humor: Dry banter, sports-fan tangents (Jaguars, Del Rio) and absurd hypotheticals.
In their words
“I think Ten of Bombs is a better movie than Magnolia” (0:22:05)
“I think Richie is the sin eater for this family.” (0:26:47)
Loves the car ride and the structural audacity of holding the killer back until the last third. Likes literary readings like Dante and hell, and the Hitchcock-adjacent craftsmanship. A sucker for the rain and the city.
Stances
Se7en's car scene is one of the best of the decade.
Pitt's Mills is an idiot Watson.
The setting is hell and John Doe is the ferryman.
Humor: Plays along with Bill's bits and drops quick riffs on small details.
In their words
“That whole 5 minutes is one of the best scenes of the entire 1990s, in my opinion.” (0:07:38)
“John Doe is the ferryman to hell, really, in a lot of ways.” (0:50:09)
Loves Dana Wheeler-Nicholson as Gail Stanwick, Ryan Gosling's smart-assery, and wiseass movie stars with a whole aura. Doesn't like Fletch Lives and thinks the franchise squandered its chance as a series. Sucker for the Pink Panther model and Joel McHale-style imitators.
Stances
Dana Wheeler-Nicholson is the greatest hang of all time
Fletch should have been a Pink Panther style series
Gosling is the modern Fletch
Humor: Passionate hyperbole defending his favorites and doing impressions like Dreyfuss.
In their words
“Gail Sandwick is the greatest hang of all time.” (0:50:46)
Loves 80s pop culture detail, Ferris as an idea, and the soundtrack. Is a sucker for the parade scene and Alan Ruck. Not a fan of the extended Twist and Shout and a bit of a ghoul about Cameron's dad.
Stances
The movie is Ferris's but more Cameron the more you watch
The parade scene is exultant
The pop music use is the revolutionary part
Jennifer Grey's Jeanie is a great underrated villain
Humor: Big, rambling, self-deprecating riffs and impressions, with a mock-dad-in-his-40s perspective.
In their words
“I think that we've analyzed this movie for enough decades now that we've come around to it being Cameron's movie.” (0:02:36)
“Is there a more exultant moment in a movie than when Twist and Shout kicks in?” (0:46:39)
Loves driving scenes, period music, and Tarantino's historical-correction project. Picks Leo as the winner. Can't stand the miscast Damian Lewis. A sucker for details like the radio and TV constantly on in the background.
Stances
It is a memory piece and a what-if movie
Leo DiCaprio won the movie
Rick and Cliff are not good guys
Humor: Gleeful and self-deprecating, with nervous live-show energy.
In their words
“I think it's a memory piece.” (0:12:30)
“I don't think at any time you're supposed to think those guys are like good guys.” (1:12:12)
Treats Skyfall as a rich text with real ideas about empire and trauma and loves a Bond that still delivers set pieces at the highest level. Cares about film lineage, Mendes' career arc, and Nolan. Enjoys the Connery-era films for their bite size.
Stances
Skyfall is the best Bond film
Mendes won the movie
Bond movies should take risks yet respect the formula
Humor: Dry, trades barbs about khakis and the Netflix Bond with the other hosts.
In their words
“I think that this is you're really seeing the best of what this series can be in this movie.” (0:18:44)
Is the movie connoisseur of dumb action; loves 80s cop-movie rival duos and the Taggart and Rosewood interplay, and the movie-stunt era. He is a sucker for the character-actor 'that guy' game and cannot abide implausible bodyguards.
Stances
Cop 2 is the better movie but Cop 1 matters more
Taggart and Rosewood have aged the best
Mid-80s action stunts are worth laughing at
Humor: Dry nitpicks and gentle needling about logic.
In their words
“I like how he's that whole era of mid 80s cop movies” (0:50:59)
“Is it that easy to bring guns in a strip joint?” (1:14:26)
Chris Ryan is the movie-nerd historian here: the video-store aesthetic, Sundance, the high-low marriage of Tarantino's influences. He loves the Roth commode scene and the three-way shootout and thinks of Tarantino as a postmodernist. He is a sucker for Madsen's Vic Vega and Chris Penn.
Stances
Tarantino as postmodernist
Reservoir Dogs changed his life
Bushemi, Penn and Madsen are the best of the ensemble
Humor: Deadpan and nitpicky, happiest when connecting a movie to a bigger tradition.
Cares about Gen X music and specifics; defends the Melrose Place AIDS scene and the soundtrack; skeptical of Troy but remembers cigarette-sharing friends.
Stances
Ethan Hawke 'won the movie' per Bill's phrasing but he sides with Ryder
Hawke's apex is Training Day
Humor: Dry back-and-forth with Bill and Chuck.
In their words
“I'm going to go with the U2 scene that I talked about.” (0:44:46)
Loves character-driven comedy stars, SNL, and a good unreasonable comp. Dislikes lazy TV-remake comedies like Starsky & Hutch. A sucker for Luke Wilson and for true-detective-style hype for his own show.
Stances
Luke Wilson could have been an action lead like Harrison Ford
Old School's strongest piece is earmuffs
TV-remake comedies failed when they were made as pure comedies
Craig Kilborn was best on the first-year Daily Show
Humor: Doubling down on deliberately outrageous takes and absorbing the pile-on.
In their words
“I think if Luke Wilson had stayed in game shape. I think there's a there is like an action movie path for him.” (0:50:30)
“I think 1st year Daily Show was what I would go for.” (0:46:15)
Loves Heat, Michael Mann, The Doors and Kilmer; defends odd roles. Fan of the Kasdan Earp movie more than the others. Sucker for Latin and big performances.
Stances
Tombstone is the Rounders of Westerns
Kilmer is why we remember it
Dana Wheeler-Nicholson is overrated in the Saul Rubinek award
The theater scene earns its place
Humor: Enthusiastic ranting with specific fan detail.
In their words
“Russell is the reason it got made and finished.” (1:12:44)
“I was like, this movie is the Rounders of Westerns.” (0:02:14)
Loves De Palma's playful visual style and Hitchcockian cat-and-mouse set pieces, and likes casts full of great supporting actors. Is a Henry Czerny enthusiast. Can't stand the sillier tech holdovers but defends the masks as the point of the franchise.
Stances
Mission: Impossible is the best of the series
De Palma is at his best when the sex is under the surface
The masks are what makes it Mission: Impossible
Humor: Dry, factual, with deadpan research-corner delivery and running show bits.
In their words
“It's rare to see something that's this stylish and also this one.” (0:31:34)
Film-nerd who loves ambitious Scorsese and Michael Mann movies, a good screenplay and thematic readings. Pushes the capitalism theory and defends flaws as the source of rewatchability. Can't stand the Costello role being unfun, or the rat; likes Leo's performance and Vera Farmiga's therapy scenes.
Stances
Flaws make a movie rewatchable
Departed is a greatest-hits Scorsese
Leo's role is nuanced
Heat is crafted where this is improvised
Humor: Dry riffs and bits that escalate with Simmons.
In their words
“I'm saying part of the reason why it's rewatchable is because it has flaws.” (0:56:18)
Loves gross, funny, tonally audacious horror that breaks rules and dispenses with redemption endings; adores Evil Dead 2, Carpenter, and video-game feel. Dislikes happy-ending cop-outs and self-serious reboots. A sucker for midnight-madness cinema, gore with comic timing, and director careers framed like trading cards.
Stances
Resident Evil is a tonal miracle that may land in his top five
Comedy is the release valve for gore
Cregger's career resembles Jordan Peele's
Wishes video-game adaptations get artist-driven directors, not studio hands
Skips cut scenes in games; prefers being dominated by a movie
Humor: Self-aware bits about podcasting overload, mice, rat kings, and gamer cliches.
In their words
“I feel like this is going to be in like my top five.” (1:38:28)
Letterboxd completist who watched all 309 films of 2022, drawn to rewatchable studio craft and old-school genre like Top Gun: Maverick, The Batman, Predator, Ambulance and Confess, Fletch. Loves McDonagh's Banshees and a cool 70s-style crime film such as Emily the Criminal. Skeptical of blockbusters and slop.
Stances
His draft process (chronological list of American theatrical releases) has him undefeated for five years
Top Gun: Maverick is perfect cinema in its final stretch
Avatar in Babylon's montage feels cheap
Ambulance is a great second-half chase movie
Humor: Deadpan roasting and long riffs, including Predator enactments and fake-quoting AI slop.
In their words
“It's 309 movies and it says you've watched 309 of 309.” (0:19:20)
“I'll take Top Gun at Oscar.” (0:28:57)
“I really do feel lucky to get to do this with you guys” (0:19:31)
“I have gone back to, and I think is one of the better crime films of the decade.” (1:23:38)
Loves gangster and noir movies (Goodfellas, Miller's Crossing, King of New York), 80s-90s action (Days of Thunder), and horror with an 8-percent-weirder bent (Exorcist III). He is newly into physical media and loves rap-era comedy. A sucker for Rewatchables tie-ins.
Stances
Goodfellas is an easy first pick
Exorcist III is one of the great horror movies
1990 was an incredible year for gangster movies
Humor: Rambling and self-aware; leans into his own obsessions, like physical media and trivia about the era.
In their words
“one of my favorite movies ever made, Martin Scorsese's uh, epic, darkly comic look at the rise and fall of the American mob” (0:26:39)
“it's essentially just Top Gun with cars” (0:49:49)
“I do like Godfather part three, but Exorcist 3 is one of the great horror movies I think ever made, honestly.” (1:19:48)
Their shows' recurring bits
Running bits, not opinions; a critic read aloud is cited, not present.
The Big Picture
Drafts: Hosts and guests draft films in rounds; every pick is a recommendation with an argument.
Hall of Fame: A star's or director's best, ranked and argued.
Countdowns: Ranked lists, top five or top ten.
Blank Check with Griffin & David
The box office game: Guessing the film's opening weekend and what it was up against.
The sung theme: "Blank Check with Griffin and David", sung; the transcriber garbles it.
The Rewatchables
Apex Mountain: The moment a star peaks; where on the mountain a performance sits.
Who Won the Movie: The hosts name the person who came out of the film best off.
The Ebert review: Roger Ebert's original review and star rating read aloud. Ebert is cited, never on the show.
Casting what-ifs: Who was almost cast, or who should have been.
Most rewatchable scene: The scene each host would stop on while flipping channels.
Aged best / aged worst: What holds up and what does not.
Picking Nits: The little things in a film the hosts love that they don't think totally work: the nits.
Double feature: The film each host would pair it with; a programming pick.
Their claims
Showing 1–100 of 854 claims.
industry (super-packaging precedent):
Michael Ovitz → Ghostbusters.
Ovitz's famous packaging example: assembling the cast, director and effects on paper and forcing studios to bid, as with Ghostbusters.
“His famous example of this is that he puts together like Ghostbusters and goes to all of the studios and is like, like, it's on everyone's table, you know, like, start bidding.”
career (career-arc analogue):
The Color of Money → 1941.
Spielberg's lean style forged by 1941 failure is compared with Scorsese compressing his shoot to regain trust.
“That's always been a famous, uh, Spielberg thing, that he's so forged in the failure of 1941 that he adopts that style for Raiders”
craft (craft):
Robbie Robertson → The Color of Money.
Robertson's early dub-style music work on the film is singled out as the fun part of the Werewolves of London sequence.
“Early Robbie Robertson, like, dubmaster stuff going on here where... The Robbie stuff in this is so fun.”
unmapped (song choice):
Warren Zevon → The Color of Money.
Werewolves of London plays in the pool hall scene; Chris prefers Zevon's self-titled second album as the best rock album of the 70s.
“His 2nd album, Warren Zvon, is the greatest rock album of the 70s.”
lineage (inspiration):
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre → Night of the Living Dead.
Hooper saw the line down the block for Night of the Living Dead and decided to make a horror film with his own ideas about Vietnam-era America.
“Toby Hooper, who directed Chainsaw Massacre, went and saw Night of the Living Dead.”
unmapped (template):
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre → Friday the 13th.
The imposing masked killer and the final girl in Chainsaw became the slasher template Friday the 13th and Halloween used.
“We have that, that ends up in Halloween, Friday the 13th, everything else.”
unmapped (horror boom):
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre → Resident Evil.
Horror is Hollywood's new singles and doubles; Backrooms, Resident Evil and Obsession are the year's successes.
“The new singles and doubles of Hollywood is horror.”
unmapped (final girl prototype):
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre → Friday the 13th.
Sally is the ground-zero prototype final girl later ripped off in every Friday the 13th and most Halloween movies.
“she's the prototype ground 0 final girl that then gets ripped off.”
unmapped (no backstory):
Gunnar Hansen → Halloween.
Leatherface is favored over Myers and Jason because he gets no origin story and is at once realistic and inexplicable.
“he's at once the most realistic and human, but is also the least explicable”
unmapped (70s realism):
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre → Jaws.
Like Jaws, the 70s films feel true to life because of location shooting and actors who look like real locals.
“All those people in Jaws, you're just like, you are, you do live in in this town.”
lineage (real-life source):
Ed Gein → The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
The film was a little influenced by Ed Gein, whose skin masks and grave digging fascinated Hollywood.
“it was a little influenced by the great Ed Geen.”
theme (final girl comparison):
Marilyn Burns → Jamie Lee Curtis.
What Burns endured is thousands of times worse than what Curtis went through at the end of Halloween.
contrast (contrast):
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre → In Cold Blood.
Ebert contrasted the film with true-crime In Cold Blood, which studied the killers' compulsions; Chainsaw has no motivation or background, just terror.
“A true crime movie like Richard Brooks is in cold blood, which studies the personalities and compulsions of the 2 killers”
craft (craft):
Daniel Pearl → The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
Pearl's cinematography is called the best aspect of the film, looking far better than the shoestring budget should allow.
“I think Daniel Pearl cinematography is like, easily the best aspect of this movie.”
lineage (visual precursor):
Daniel Pearl → Paris, Texas.
Pearl's Southwest vistas feel like a precursor to Paris, Texas, mixed with handheld documentary style.
“part of it feels like, um, a precursor to like Paris, Texas”
people (cast profit parallel):
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre → Obsession.
The cast not sharing in the profits recalls the Obsession set designer's complaint as that film took off.
“Kind of reminds me of what happened with obsession.”
lineage (sequel):
Tobe Hooper → The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.
Hooper directed Part 2, which is completely different, more graphic and fun, with Sally in a coma and her uncle played by Dennis Hopper.
“It's completely different, but Toby Hooper directed it.”
career (career payoff):
Tobe Hooper → Poltergeist.
Hooper won the movie: after Chainsaw he was a Hollywood hot shot at Universal with Spielberg and directed Poltergeist.
unmapped (lesson):
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre → Paranormal Activity.
Chainsaw shows that with no budget and no actors, good taste and a good eye is enough, as with Blair Witch and Paranormal.
“if the director and probably the editor just have good taste. If they just have a good eye, anything can work.”
career (career):
Vince Vaughn → Swingers.
Six years after Swingers made him a star, Vaughn was chasing serious thrillers, Domestic Disturbance among them.
“Clay pigeon, psycho, the cell, domestic disturbance and made.”
career (career):
Domestic Disturbance → Old School.
After Domestic Disturbance and Made, nothing in 2002, then Old School in 2003 turned him into a comedy lead.
career (career):
Vince Vaughn → True Detective (season two).
He stayed with comedy until True Detective season two, then pivoted back to hard-edged thrillers.
“He basically does that until True Detective season two.”
theme (theme):
Domestic Disturbance → Domestic Disturbance.
The movie is mashed from TV-movie formulas: an ABC after school special about a first dad and his son.
“It's basically an ABC after school special of like the 1st dad trying to keep his relationship with his son.”
craft (craft):
Peter Weir → Dead Poets Society.
Weir prepped actors with deep backstory: Dead Poets actors wrote biographies; on Truman he wanted backstories for everyone.
“we had us do our own biographies for every character.”
craft (craft):
The Truman Show → T. Rex.
The film's sock-hop band number is T. Rex's "20th Century Boy" reworked as 1950s jam, read as a way to keep Truman in a frozen culture.
“I had them doing T-Rex, 20th century boy, as like a 1950s sock hop jam”
theme (theme):
Species → Congo.
Species belongs to a 90s subgenre the speaker calls scientist fiction, alongside Congo, Outbreak, Sneakers, Sphere and Mimic.
“Um, so it's a little bit sci-fi, a little bit adventury, but Congo, outbreak, sneakers, sphere, species, mimic.”
contrast (contrast):
Michael Madsen → Tom Sizemore.
The panel splits on Madsen versus Sizemore; Madsen can do everything Sizemore can, plus be the leading man.
“I think Madson can do everything that Sizemore can do.”
verdict (verdict):
Species → Roger Ebert.
Ebert's two-star review complained that Hollywood fears intelligent characters; the panel waves it off with Have some fun.
“Mainstream Hollywood is so terrified of intelligent human characters that it's no wonder they don't want aliens who are even smarter than the humans.”
what-if (what-if):
Species → Moby.
The speakers say the Id club needed a bigger early-EDM needle drop like early Moby (instead of the Crystal Method), but the production would not have paid for it.
“Yeah, like early, early Moby, somebody like that”
fun, about
Mission: Impossible:
The 32-minute Prague opening act ends with a fade to black after Cruise jumps through the aquarium and escapes Kittridge.
“that is presented as a 32 minute opening act, it even has a fade to black after Tom Cruise jumps through Aquarium”
fun, about
Mission: Impossible:
Casting what-ifs: Juliette Binoche turned down Claire so as not to be known for blockbusters; Peter Graves and Martin Landau passed after reading the script. Early drafts had sex scenes cut and a kiss in the trailer that is not in the film.
“There's actually a kiss in the trailer that they don't ever have.”
fun, about
Mission: Impossible:
Early Huyck/Katz draft opened with the original IMF team, including Peter Graves, killed on a mission, leaving Cruise to solve who did it.
“They were all to be killed, and that would leave Cruz behind to solve the, you know, who the mystery of who killed his his original team.”
fun, about
Jon Voight:
Looks fitter than ever on the train in the parachute suit; hosts debate whether it is a stunt double. Jim Phelps shooting Claire first makes no sense.
“I just didn't quite understand why Jim had to shoot Claire.”
fun, about
Brian De Palma:
Apex Mountain for De Palma goes to The Untouchables; for Ving Rhames it is not MI. Nobody gets MI as their apex; Czerny's is Clear and Present Danger.
fun, about
Mission: Impossible:
It marked the start of the Cruise/Wagner producing partnership (which later ended after taking over United Artists) and the end of Voight's good-movie run.
“It is the beginning of the Wagner cruise producing partnership, which is very powerful for a time and then ends quite badly when they take over United artists.”
fun, about
Martin Scorsese:
Scorsese won Best Picture and Director for it as a perceived make-up Oscar in a weak year; Wahlberg was the only cast member nominated.
“It was just a really, really, really, really bad movie year.”
fun, about
Jack Nicholson:
Nicholson reportedly wanted a prostitute scene with a dildo, was talked out of it, but kept the prop and ad-libbed it into the movie theater scene.
“he had some crazy hooker scene with dildos that he wanted to shoot and they talked him out of it”
fun, about
Ray Winstone:
The cranberry juice scene: Leo smashes a glass on a guy's head, then Winstone steps in and declares who you can and can't hit. Called a perfect movie scene.
fun, about
The Departed:
Ryan's overarching theory: Leo and Damon are two ways of living in America, compartmentalized ambition vs vulnerability, and America destroys both while guys like Dignam survive.
“either way, even no matter which road you choose, America will destroy you.”
fun, about
Noah Baumbach:
Leaving Netflix after four features in eight years for Warner Bros.' Clockwork; Sean wants to see directors out of the Netflix cocoon.
“there is a Netflix cocoon around a group of directors”
fun, about
Austin Abrams:
Reacts to killing like a player in a video game, not like a traumatized man; Chris compares it to playing Max Payne with caffeine and cigarettes.
“I've had 4 coffees over the course of the day and now I've had 3 beers”
fun, about
Resident Evil:
Brian shoots the bitten girl who turns into a lizard-footed tentacle monster, rather than becoming Lone Wolf and Cub; Sean wanted to applaud as the father of a daughter.
fun, about
Resident Evil:
The rat sequence: a huge zombie explodes into hundreds of rats; Chris's rat fear traces to New York apartment mice, and he is grateful they did not form a rat king.
fun, about
Resident Evil:
The maternity ward with a glowing bubble that Sean compared to a rising sourdough loaf, and which bursts into a log flume of blood.
fun, about
Resident Evil:
The ending has no happy ending: Abrams becomes a tentacled monster waving as a National Guard helicopter closes in, then a cut to black.
“this guy waving his tentacles in the air screaming as the National Guard helicopter is bearing down on him.”
fun, about
Resident Evil:
Box office tracking is $80 million worldwide for the opening weekend, huge for horror; Chris thinks $300 million domestic is possible.
“can this movie like realistically make $300000000 in America, I think it can.”
fun, about
Top Gun: Maverick:
Chris says the last 30 minutes, until the final 10, are perfect cinema, from leaving the battleship through the coffin run.
“the last 30 minutes up until the last 10 minutes are perfect cinema”
fun, about
The Batman:
Chris picks it because his favorite meme of the century is Paul Dano losing his mind behind the Arkham cell; Dano as the Riddler is a gift.
fun, about
Ambulance:
First half is Michael Bay doing Heat; the second half is one of the best chase movies of the century, with great defibrillator work.
“the 2nd half of this movie is one of the best chase movies that you will see this century.”
fun, about
Goodfellas:
Chris's first overall pick; Amanda says she would have taken it too, and Chris admits he never saw it in the theater, just on video soon after.
fun, about
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover:
Chris glimpsed the Gambon-Mirren dinner-table scene as a kid and his dad told him to just watch Goodfellas again.
fun, about
Gladiator:
Joaquin Phoenix's rise, Crowe's peak and patching together Oliver Reed's performance after his death made it lightning in a bottle.
“Like, you know, being able to patch together the Oliver Reed performance, even though he passes away during production.”
fun, about
Gladiator II:
The CGI baboons, rhinoceros and sharks were the least successful set pieces; the intimate fights, like the emperor's party, worked best.
fun, about
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 2:
Chris pitches Part 2 as a slapstick comedy with Dennis Hopper, to be watched back to back with the original.
“You should watch them both back to back, but start at midnight.”
fun, about
Before Midnight:
Chris loves it as a brutal punch in the gut about long relationships; the Before trilogy is among his three favorite trilogies.
“this is such a punch in the gut, and I love that.”
fun, about
Babylon:
Critic's view of the closing montage: you can feel Chazelle searching for the ending in real time and deciding to throw in The Matrix and Avatar.
“And then he's like, well, I guess I'm just gonna like put the Matrix and Avatar in here and really go big.”
fun, about
David Fincher:
The Q&A team (Klyce, Messerschmidt, Baxter) answered every question with 'that was David's idea.' Walker said Fincher walked him through the whole movie when pitching it.
“every time they got asked a question, they would be like, that's David.”
fun, about
The Killer:
Scene to look for: the first hit scored to How Soon Is Now. Sound design flips between full stereo song and the song in the killer's headphones, pulling it away right at the Johnny Marr crescendo, refusing the viewer the cool-song kill.
“I was waiting my entire life to see someone get killed to how soon is now.”
fun, about
The Killer:
Chris Ryan's guess: the killer's favorite Smiths record is Hatful of Hollow or compilation 'Louder Than Bombs', not The Queen Is Dead; favorite Sub Pop band Mudhoney, maybe Tad.
fun, about
The Killer:
Product placement is deployed so precisely (the Amazon lockers, McDonald's, WeWork) that the hosts laughed at every logo; the film also makes a clinic of consumer-culture satire.
“every time there was a logo in this movie. I laughed because they were deployed so well.”
fun, about
Barbarian:
Chris says seeing it was like going to the movies in the 90s, knowing nothing and having your mind blown; Amanda has not seen it and threatens to call it mid.
“going to see movies in the 90s where you just don't know anything about it.”
fun, about
The Banshees of Inisherin:
Chris calls it Martin McDonagh's treatise on friendship and a meaningful life; his wife was not convinced by the screener he brought upstairs.
“To me, it's like a Martin McDonough's treatise on friendship, and it's his treatise on what makes a meaningful life.”
fun, about
Tár:
Chris watched three times: frustrated by the ending first, a blast second, and by the third he called it one of the great ones. He notes it will make under five million dollars.
fun, about
Top Gun: Maverick:
Chris saw it twice in theaters, twice on planes, once with two ex-naval pilots doing YouTube commentary, plus clips, and says it still rocks. A guy in the audience shouted a line of praise to Jon Hamm at the end.
“I'm never going to forget like the screenings I saw this, especially the dude at the end of this movie who went, great job, John Hamm.”
fun, about
Top Gun: Maverick:
Chris says the Who training sequence is what the song is for, not car commercials, and that the film is the one-in-137 time Stairway to Heaven's second half hits.
fun, about
A Few Good Men:
Chris points out that Cruise whispers his questions to Jessup in a courtroom where a jury would never hear, which only makes sense because it is a movie, though the script was written for the stage.
“there's multiple moments where he just starts whispering questions at him.”
fun, about
Mission: Impossible III:
Watch the scene where Philip Seymour Hoffman counts down with a gun to Keri Russell's head while Cruise says tell me what you need.
“Watch the scene where Philip Seymour Hoffman counts down while putting having a gun to carry Russell's head.”
fun, about
Jack Reacher:
Cruise is 5'8 and Reacher in the book is 6'6; Reacher gets built up like the Predator and then it's Tom Cruise in a leather jacket.
“Tom Cruise is 5'8 and Jack Reacher in the book is like 6'6.”
fun, about
Midsommar:
Chris's summary: Aster stuffed him in a bear carcass and played Jonny Greenwood strings until his eardrums exploded (composer named as said).
“Ari Astor stuffed me in a fucking bear carcass and played Johnny Greenwood strings in my, until my eardrums explode.”
fun, about
Unfriended:
The whole film plays on a laptop screen; Chris says it exhausts you because your brain tracks four panes of information at once.
“your brain can process 4 quadrants of information and can actually like listen to people while also watching a mouse clicking over different apps”
fun, about
Chris Ryan's top five:
Chris counts down his five best (Unfriended, You're Next, The Invitation, It Follows, Green Room), picking events that freaked him out rather than a bulletproof list.
“I did really pick horror movies that I thought were events.”
fun, about
You're Next:
An arrow through the window ends the first victim at a family reunion, in a mumblegore cast of Ti West, Joe Swanberg and Amy Seimetz.
fun, about
Marvel / Eternals:
Spider-Man gets a joke as a mythology: it is based on puberty, which everyone experiences, unlike the space-alien mythologies.
“Spider-Man is based on puberty, a mythology that we all have to experience.”
fun, about
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark:
Chris campaigns for Austin Abrams, a teen-entertainment veteran who barely does interviews and takes his craft seriously, and will star in a Less Than Zero reboot.
fun, about
Godzilla: King of the Monsters:
A host was the King of the Monsters meme lord for two months and still never saw it; nobody they know did either.
fun, about
Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope:
Lucas and Spielberg each thought the other's film would do better and bet back-end points; Spielberg owns a piece of Star Wars.
“now he owns a small piece of the Lucas Empire because he won that wager.”