The Big Picture - The 2007 Movie Draft

Episode Date: August 12, 2021

We’re drafting again—and this time we’re not messing around. It’s 2007, one of the greatest movie years of our lifetimes, with several personal favorites on the board. Who will drink whose milkshake? Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: Chris Ryan Producer: Bobby Wagner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Twice a week, Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay dissect the biggest topics in Black culture, politics, and sports on their show, Higher Learning. They discuss the most important and timely conversations while also frequently inviting guests on the podcast and occasionally debating each other. Check out Higher Learning on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Sean Fenennessey. I'm Amanda Dobbins. And this is The Big Picture, a conversation show about the year 2007. We're drafting again. We haven't drafted in a while.

It's the Movie Draft 2007 edition. Chris Ryan, of course, is here with us. Chris, how are you? I'm doing great. It's so great to see you guys. 1975 was a special time for all of us, but I think 2007 is really the most formative year for the three of us. Absolutely. Let's go right to that place.

Amanda, who were you? You were about 14 years old in 2007? Thank you, yeah. Uh-huh. What were you doing? It was a wild time trying to sort things out. No, I guess it was a formative year for me. I had just graduated college.

I was living in New York City. I had two jobs. I had like my journalism job and then I was a nanny on the side. Went to a lot of tumbling classes and, you know, like hanging out with a vacuum in the hardware store, just trying to kill some time. So I saw a lot of movies this year, but you're fitting them in around just trying to figure out which subway stop to get off at in New York City and how to be an adult. And just to contextualize this more, Amanda, this was the point when you were dating that chef who

maybe didn't match your personal ambitions as he was kind of doing. And you were kind of like, should I be this assistant? It happens to the best of us. And I learned things about the workplace and myself, you know? Yeah. The devil wore Amanda and Amanda wore the devil in 2007. CR, who were you in 07? I think I was working for MTV. I was trying to remember what number of media jobs I was bouncing around at this part of the decade.

And the major issue here is that we look back on this. I think we've referred to 2007 as this watershed year over and over again. Did any of us feel like we were living in a watershed year the year that we were out there doing our thing in the Big Apple? It's a great question. I don't think I did at all, although there were a handful of movies that we're going to talk about here that I viewed as important as, I don't know, as important as anything else that happened to me in those handful of years. You know, the anticipation I had for a couple of the movies

was like a life event in a way. Now, maybe that's a little sad to look back on, but I didn't feel like in the 12-month period it was necessarily something extremely special. It actually felt quite normal, which I think is part of what will underline some of this conversation we're going to have, which was we didn't know how good we had it. Chris, I did want to ask you, who were we in

2007? You and me? Yeah. Two undercover cops just working the streets. Who were we in 2007? We were still largely concerned with music, right? I think that was for the most part, we were still probably going to concerts a lot, going listening sessions a lot up at the Def Jam offices. They were still doing those. Uh, we were coming out of a very fertile period of, of rap music. So I think we were both riding the vapor trails of that, but you know, then, then David Fincher and Paul Thomas Anderson beckoned just with that little finger.

That's true. They draw us in. They drew us in with their power. In 2007, I think I was an associate editor at Vibe magazine. And I was so goddamn excited to be having that job where I was not making very much money and I did not have any power, but I certainly thought I was on top of the world. And that was a pretty formative experience for me. And here's why. Even though my job there was largely to run the review section and work on

the sort of short profiles in the magazine, I was asked to attend the premiere of the film Transformers. Here's what they needed. They needed a guy to go and shake hands with people at a cocktail party from either Ford or GM. I can't remember which automaker was important to Transformers. And they sent a series of emissaries from magazines around the country. This is something that happened much more frequently back then. And the guy who should have gone, a friend of mine, Ben, was not able to go. And so Ben said, why don't you go? Why don't you go and kiss some babies

on behalf of Vibe and go to this movie premiere and see if you like it? I was a fan of Michael Bay. I was a fan of the films of Michael Bay. The Rock, wonderful film. Armageddon, fantastic stuff.

Bad Boys and especially Bad Boys 2. Pearl Harbor, perhaps not so much. Nevertheless, went to the Transformers premiere. I really love Transformers, guys. I'm not going to apologize for it. Rise of the Beast is coming, man. I'm excited.

No one wants you to apologize. We know that it's on your shortlist for this draft. That's okay. I do. I'm a big fan of Transformers, but I will say that that was another in a series of experiences in LA that made me want to be in LA. I stayed at the Sunset Marquee, I believe, was the hotel I stayed at. Had a lovely time. I remember sitting alone at the bar in the hotel like a weirdo, drinking a cocktail and thinking to myself, I have arrived. Like not knowing that I had not arrived. How many times have you done that since you moved to Los Angeles?

Every six hours or so, I am like, I have arrived. And in fact, I've never gotten anywhere in my life. Nevertheless, I do view it as a pretty significant year for that reason, in addition to it being the year that really features, I don't know, literally four or five of the most important movies to this show and to my friendship with Chris. And Amanda, I'm very curious to see if you care about this year as much as Chris and I do. Yeah, we can we can go to that now. And I do. I mean, it is like a great year in American film.

And I would say two of the five movies that you're alluding to are just like all timers for me and incredible. And you can't deny them. But the way this is discussed is like the greatest movie year of this decade. It's the greatest movie year for possibly like the greatest filmmakers of our generation or this generation, right? You've got PTA. You've got Fincher. You've got the Coen brothers. You know, the big three all making three of their greatest movies. No questions.

And it's great, but it's a great year for, you know, movies about men grappling with American greed and decay and their own role in it, which is like in some versions of film history, just the definition of a great movie, right? It's interesting to come from the 1975 draft to this draft. It's like a type of movie and a type of story that has certainly defined American film history and also the movies that we like. But we draft in six categories on these drafts. And, you know, some of them are thinner than others. It's very true. In fact, we have modified some of our categories once again, because this was, it's a tricky one. So let's just foreground the conversation by saying

no animated or foreign language category this time around. In fact, we are porting over the very controversial Oscar winner category from the 1975 movie draft. I read the rules again. Okay. I counted this time. I'm ready. I got it. I wasn't prepared before and now I am. Let it be known the three minutes before this draft started. I was like, this isn't a typo, right? We're doing Oscar winners. I forgot to open that Wikipedia page. I'm opening it right now. Were we wrong to do Oscar winners? Should it be Oscar nominees? Many people thought Oscar nominees. I thought the fewer number of movies available in a category actually makes it more fun for the draft but

maybe that's not true we're gonna boil it down to why you listen to this podcast do you listen to this podcast these these episodes for the competition and to see who is going to get the movies that you want them to pick or do you listen to this podcast because one of us might be like you know what's cool movie is The Lookout. You should check that out. Because the more that we kind of make categories where it's the same five movies just divided up into these different three categories,

I think the fewer, maybe more obscure movies get shouted out. Now, I will say, 07 is a year where there's no cute stuff. The good movies are the good movies. You know what I mean? There's some really good movies in the third or fourth tier, but even I will not lose it on this one.

There's Mount Rushmore, and then there's a nice pile of pebbles. I love how you have tempted the fates. This is fantastic, Chris. Who knows what can happen here? That's why American Gangster is getting picked in every single category, baby. Amanda, how are you feeling about this?

Do you feel like we've become too self-actualized in our drafting? Is it more important to just recommend good movies? I'm not talking about us. We all have the journey that we're on. I did spend a lot of time last night trying to figure out

what order the first, because three or four movies would go, because I think that there are, to me, four obvious properties. And order draft order is going to be like a major part of who gets what and how it shakes out. But, you know, I was sitting there with Zach and trying to figure out which you guys would pick and like what your personal preferences are within that like very rarefied four movies that like have defined our lives or whatever. And like Zach and I had different interpretations of what the two of you would do, which is sort of interesting. So I think that there is still a bit of mystery. There's always like this CR question, right? I'm just like, what is he going to do? I don't know what you're going to do. I actually don't know where your heart is on a couple of these because I kind of feel like

your heart is everywhere. So it's true. I guess, you know, we've been doing this for a while. If you're, if this is the first movie draft you're listening to, it's probably a bit mystifying, but you know, also there's a whole archive for you to, to catch up on. So bear with us. It's ironic that Chris is the host of a podcast called The Answer because the CR question is what looms inside all of us. Where will this madman take us on this journey? I mean, do we need to do any more throat clearing?

Is there anything else you want to say about the year or the year in movies? Sometimes we recount the Oscar winners and the box office ahead of time, but I feel like that might skew some of where we're going here. I just have more of a philosophical question, which is like, should years like this give us a little bit more perspective on the years that we talk about? The moment that we're in last year, two years ago, whatever it is, that maybe it might be four or five years until we realize,

holy shit, we have five or six classics in this year, and we also have 10 or 15 really enjoyable genre movies or whatever. Are we a little too quick to say, this was a good movie or a bad movie, or I won't be returning to it, etc.? I think that that's the thing. Going

through this list of films and having a long list of 30, even knowing what the top is going to be, it was kind of refreshing to be like, oh, you know what? Maybe a lot of these movies I saw in 2011 or 2014 or 2012 when I was algorithming it and looking for something to watch on a Sunday night. think it's interesting because the 2017 draft made me realize that all of the teeth gnashing that I do about the state of the industry and about what movies are, and especially thinking about that year in combination with 2019 makes me realize there's still a lot of great stuff out there. And so even though we're going to valorize 2007 and we're going to think about what's lost, a lot of this stuff is driven by luck and circumstance. As Amanda pointed out, three of the very best of all time made movies in this year, and they made some of their best movies. And so because of that, this year has taken on a greater importance.

Now, I would argue that this year, I think the B class is much higher than usual, and that's ultimately what's going to drive this. But that may be a matter of taste as well. There are certain filmmakers who made movies this year that I just really love, even if those movies weren't big hits or Oscar winners or even iconic in any way. So it's just, one, it's a matter of perspective, too. I do think that luck and timing is a huge part of this, too. What do you think, Amanda? I was going to ask Amanda, how many movies on this list do you look at? And you're like, that's a TV show now? A lot.

Another interesting thing is a lot of movies on this list that I look at that were celebrated at the time or successful at the time that I'm like, I don't know if I want a part of this. And for everything that was really successful and we have built our entire lives around and certainly this podcast around, there are also a lot of movies that change the industry and um that a lot of people recognize that upon reflection i don't know not my fave so i i guess some of it is taste to sean's point uh once you get into genre or things that aren't you know cinematic masterpieces but it's a bad year for rom-coms i mean rom-coms can always be tv shows now but also like

a particularly weird ps i love you katherine heigl years so i don't i don't know what to say about that i'm not drafting that one you can see did you revisit ps i love you before this pod i don't i didn't need to it's committed to memory where are you at with with katie heigl these days chris how what's your relationship i haven't really checked out her Netflix show, but I support her in spirit always. Just always one of the great locker room guys. You know, just great chemistry. All evidence to the contrary.

Shall we draft? Do you guys want to draft? Let's do it. Okay, before we do that, I'm going to quickly run through our categories. So I mentioned that we're going to be doing Oscar winner this year. In addition to that, we're going to stick with drama.

We're going to stick with comedy or horror. We're going to stick with sequel. We're going to stick with blockbuster, which is $100 million or more. And we're going to stick with wildcard. Those are our six categories. Let's welcome in a figure of much controversy, Bobby Wagner,

the man who controls the draft order. Bob, there's been a lot of talk about some kind of chicanery happening on this show over the last year or so. Under the table, payments, big machine politics. It's cookies. It's just, did you clear your cookies? I clear my cookies very frequently to upload episodes of The Big Picture. It's a requirement of our back end. So I will not be accused of anything here. Back scratching. Listen, I'm just trying to produce this podcast from the Sunset Marquee. I just had the best G&T of my life and I've arrived.

Okay. All right. I got the hat back this week. I got the hat back this week. That's good. We have the Top Gun hat. Listeners cannot see this, but they can hear me shaking the Scrabble tiles. Love it.

This is transparency in action. And I'm looking away as I pick the first letter and it is a D for Amanda Dobbins. Wow. Wow. Integrity has returned to the movie draft. Interesting. So I'm like, did I want number one in this pick? But that's okay.

Oh, okay. You're not allowed to complain about getting number one. She just doesn't want Sean to get it every time. You did great, but that's okay. Oh, okay. You're not allowed to complain about getting number one. No, she just doesn't want Sean to get it every time. You did great, Bobby. Okay. Thank you. But, you know,

I thought that was some great production value and also thank you. You're welcome. But, you know, I'm thinking about my strategy out loud. Going second

is F, Sean Fennessey. I get my turn. Okay. Chris, you're not happy about that or are you? I am happy. I am happy. This is all about, it's all about categories. I think we all love these movies. It's my turn. Okay. Chris, you're not happy about that? Are you? I am happy. I am happy. This is all about,

it's all about categories. I think we all love these movies. It's really, it's really about categories and what's a reach and what's not a reach. Hey, have you guys, should we shout out

the incredible piece of scholarship that one of our listeners did about like the history of the movie draft and like the analysis of all of our picks? I believe you just did. You want to share more about that?

I don't know what this is about. So somebody did a comprehensive review of all of the movie drafts, both in terms of like, here's just statistically how everybody picked and what category and what order. And then also, each one has a paragraph or two of analysis of the picks and there there is incredibly in depth but one thing i took heart from is that i often finish second you know and and it's just like maybe if we did i would i would just ask like maybe we should start doing ranked choice voting you know chris um i'm on a seven game winning streak right now. Seven. So second or third, what does it mean? I don't recognize that, but that's fine.

What does that mean? You live in your own little world where you just post things on Twitter and then people click something and that's fine. I don't post that. If that's a fulfilling life for you, then congratulations. I am living elsewhere.

She's saying what we're all thinking. Here's what matters. There's only one thing that matters ultimately about a movie draft, and it's did I win? And I've won a lot. I've won a lot of them. And now I'm comfortable no longer winning. I wanted to share that with you guys.

I have had a Lou Alcindor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar-esque run. I've had a Bill Russell-esque run. There's no debating whether or not I'm in the top five greatest movie drafters of all time. I'm there. I am in Bill Simmons' pantheon right now. And now I just, I'm going to play with my heart. That's it.

You should start loading yourself up out to other pods and just be like the guy who kind of helps them realize their dreams. That's right. For a price, let me be your Chip Englund and I can fix your shot. I can fix your shot. I can fix your draft. It's all possible. Amanda, you claim you don't want to win, but and yet it really feels

like you want to win. Am I wrong? I just honestly don't want to listen to you talking about this anymore. And like, once again, I understand that to some extent that's like my job. I'm paid to sit here and just listen to you to this but i just i don't enjoy it i don't enjoy it in my free time this is my favorite professional time this is my absolute favorite thing is you have to sit there professionally and listen to me when it's tough it's tough i know she's in the great game now here we are it's very important to build your own reality we've been watching people build their own realities for the last 15 years this is mine welcome to it both of you shall we draft

amanda i guess so i have the first pick and i have learned from previous mistakes so i will be picking an oscar winners category uh and i will be taking michael clayton um which is which is for me the number one movie of this year and i think you know we have all talked at great length about how much we love this movie and i feel like it's basically like we're like you know the spider-man meme of all just pointing at each other being like michael clayton every time we see it but nice baguettes yeah but i mean it's a miracle that this this script itself is one of the best screenplays that i have ever encountered but that then that it actually got made and that all of the performances are as good as they are and they just managed to carry it through an incredible

clooney incredible supporting cast um and you know as i was speaking about thematically is like of a piece with many of the other movies of this year and the great movies and the movies that i think you guys are about to draft um but you know a more modern version so michael clayton if you haven't seen it i don't know why you're listening to this podcast. I feel like we've talked about it a couple of times on the show, but I also would like to have like a Michael Clayton podcast of some kind with you too. I think it's like really worthy of a long, discursive, ridiculous kind of conversation. I would talk for like 45 minutes about I'm not a miracle worker. I'm a janitor. Just that scene.

It's just one of the best scripts. So many great performances. So Tilda Swinton was the Oscar winner from that. I think that's the only Oscar win that the movie has, right? I believe so because I just panicked, control searched the Oscar Wikipedia page to make sure and it was Tilda. Yes. I think if we stick to Oscar winner as a category, we should underscore what the win was going forward. Speaking of, I think that this worked out really well because you're going to end up with your favorite movie of that year. I think I'm going to end up

with my favorite movie of that year. And I think Chris is going to end up with his favorite movie of that year, which means I get to draft There Will Be Blood, which of course is very important to me. This is my favorite movie of the 21st century. Paul Thomas Anderson's masterpiece, the movie that redefines his career

very much in keeping with some of the themes that Amanda is talking about with man's war with himself, with nature, with the cultural and structural forces around him, about a very, very, very bad person named Daniel Plainview, who may or may not represent so many people in our country. And it's the only movie that I revisited before this draft from the year 2007. It's a movie that I will watch until the day that I die. I think it's the only movie that I revisited before this draft from the year 2007. It's a movie that I will watch until the day that I die. I think it's just a truly breathtaking work of cinema. And it's one of the rare movie going experiences that exceeded my expectations because I have high expectations for the filmmakers that I love.

And even if something doesn't totally get there, I'm still usually content to be happy with it. But this was the rare case where I just, from the moment you hear the creaking Johnny Greenwood score, and then we get this ominous shot of the mountain, and then we find Daniel Day-Lewis picking that ax in the cave, I was transported. I just, I think it's an absolutely incredible incredible movie and I'm very, very, very glad I got it on this draft.

That's very touching. You went back and re-watched There Will Be Blood? I did. Well, it's available on the streaming service Netflix. Have you heard of Netflix? I was able to just turn on Netflix last night, look at the film. It's a wonderful movie. Okay, so it's Mino for two?

For Oscar winner, i'll take uh no country for old men uh which is based on the core maccarthyn obviously we have to really be like it's like no country for old men this is also the it did quite well at the oscars this year winning best picture and also uh javier bardem picking up an oscar for best supporting actor um i've re-watched this recently actually you know i've this this is a movie that is oddly re-watchable even though it's so so kind of dark and dour um i this time around i just want to say tommy lee jones is incredible in this movie tommy lee jones is so fucking good in this movie i know he got praise when when it came out um he is definitely the when you read the book you see

tommy lee jones Jones face when reading the sheriff character but yeah this movie has not like lost a single a single pound in terms of its estimation my estimation of it this was the you got to read this book from you in the early days of our friendship

yeah I believe this might have been the first book you ever recommended to me this is a real also like this was the first time where I was like I love cormac carthy the book came out and they were like this movie's coming out in a year i was like holy shit they turned that around fast you know um uh for my next pick things get a little complicated things get a little bit hairy here i'm gonna go um blockbuster and i'm going to take Superbad. Oh, interesting. Okay.

Way more strategic than I expected from you? Yes. I can't say I saw that coming, CR. I'm not a huge fan of the Blockbusters this year, so I wanted to pick one that I loved. I definitely am not either. So I didn't want to sit here and be taking Blades of Glory last year and just be like hey man watch the throne uh so yeah uh i'll go with super bad this movie is really funny this movie is probably i think

still the best thing that um seth rogan and evan goldberg have made in terms of like i don't know maybe just because it's so obviously their story and so detailed and so specific to them. I just still really adore this movie. Michael Cera is so funny in this. And yeah, I haven't checked it out in a couple of years. So I'm not sure if it's aged poorly. I think it has probably, but it's also like it makes fun of itself.

And yeah, I mean, people, people, this is one of the most adored movies of this decade I would probably say at this point it's probably my favorite comedy of the decade I love this movie I honestly thought I was going to get a chance to get it because I know you would take the movie that I'm about to take Mindy you like Superbad don't

you yeah I do it's pretty great but you've just given me the chance to take Zodiac, which is in my opinion, the second best movie of the year and maybe the second or third best movie of the decade. And, um,

you know, we've certainly talked about Zodiac a lot on this show. This is David Fincher's portrayal of the hunt for the Zodiac killer. Um, a kind of existentialist docudrama set in San Francisco in the 70s. Possibly the most meticulous and patient movie I've ever seen.

It's just a complete and total masterpiece. I'm taking it in drama. I don't know. What more can we say about Zodiac? That's actually the challenge of this draft. I've recorded 11 podcasts about Zodiac. At a certain point, I don't know if I have anything interesting to say about it,

if I ever did. But I don't know. Zodiac and there will be blood coming out within like six weeks of each other was wild. That's crazy talk. And that happened. I really thought it was going to go one, two,

three, four, some mix of Michael Clayton. There will be blood, Zodiac, and no country. And Chris, honestly, I'm surprised. I didn't know that you were a no country over Zodiac guy. I have to actually give credit to your friend, Zach Barron, who predicted that. And I was like, no, no, no. I would have predicted that too.

It depends on the day. Honestly, it really does. There's days where it's like Michael Clayton's the best. There's days when there will be blood is the best. It's days when Zodton's the best if there's days when there will be blood is the best it's days when zodiac's the best there's days when i'm like zodiac's pretty long you know i think if you'd had the number one pick what would you have done i think i probably would have taken michael clayton okay because well it depends on the honestly the oscar winner category really like changes it up there's like the oscar winners again in this year. There's not that many winners.

There are not that many blockbusters that I would be like super happy about taking. There's some like fine movies. It's like I even like I am legend. It doesn't really matter. But like I wouldn't want

to put that up in the same list with like these these other great movies that we're picking. So yeah, it was a little bit more of a strategy thing. But Amanda,

that's a good question. I don't like if we had done this tomorrow, I might have been like I'll take I'll take a movie that's not even in that top four you know like it's it's it's a weird it's a weird spot and that's why you are you and that's why we love you yeah say hello to Tim Selects Tim's everyday value menu enjoy the new spinach and feta savory egg pastry or our

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up i have two picks this is gonna be very weird um and i also kind of well i mean i feel like you guys kind of have sewn up the draft which is fine um because having both there will be blood and zodiac and then also having super bad and no country this is why i was like oh number one pick is not actually what you want even though i did get michael clayton which is the best but it's okay don't doubt yourself you got a lot of supporters out there uh i'm just gonna get really weird at this point and i'm also gonna be a little cruel so in blockbuster i'm gonna take ratatouille and that just because i know that that movie means a lot to sean first of all wow and that's just an attack on me just to draft an animated film that i'm not

even sure you've seen i have seen it yeah are you kidding i saw it yesterday i haven't look at her shirt he's a french rat okay and he wants to cook and be in Paris in the fine restaurants, as do I. Let me ask you this. What's his name? Remy. Let's go. Yeah, I watched the movie yesterday. What do you want from me?

I legit thought his name was like ratty. No. Also. We're patting. It's a nice movie. Also, it's just a very strange year for blockbusters and I don't really care about any of them. So, gonna do

that and then i guess if i'm thinking strategically here i'm gonna go in the sequel category and i will take oceans 13 that's the that's. Yeah. That's definitely the move. You know, my favorite sequel of all time is Ocean's 12. But Ocean's 13, you know, coming in afterwards, it's a hard act to follow. Does pretty well. You know, good bit with the nose, I guess. The nose plays. Yeah, the nose plays.

Those are both good picks. Those feel like picks that are acts of aggression, if I'm being honest. Ocean's 13 is not an act of aggression. That would be aggressive if you or I took Ocean's 13. Yeah, like, please don't tell me that I haven't earned my affiliation with the Ocean's franchise at this point.

Seriously. I'm not saying that. I would never insinuate that. Ratatouille was a strategic act of aggression. Could you imagine, though, if i just took the born ultimatum right now in sequel if i just looked chris in the eye on the zoom chat and i was like chris i love you i'm taking the born ultimatum i would never do that to chris i care about chris so much i would never take that here's where i'm here and there will be blood like you're fine here's how sean

pilled i am is that i feel like you are now trying to goad me into taking board ultimatum early do you want to recount what you think I did to you on the 1975 draft that you shared with me Sean sent me a message before we

recorded where I was like oh I just rewatched my night moves remains a masterpiece oh my god and Sean was like oh yeah my favorite outside of Jaws Nashville and shampoo and then so

you're a psychopath you really are like we had to people think that my favorite outside of Jaws, Nashville, and shampoo. And then, so. You're a psychopath. You really are. Like, we had to, people think that it's just for show, but it's like what we have to deal with every day. And then when I picked Night Moves, he was like, that's a problematic choice. Some weird sexual politics in Night Moves. Oh yeah, then you made me call Chris sexually weird

by accident. Because I was like, Night Moves is a real CR film. That's not what I meant, Chris. Yeah, and now all these guys on Twitter are like, man, Night Moves, huh? I feel like Colonel Kurtz at the end of Apocalypse Now. I'm like the genius

of that, the brilliance of that. I feel good about it. Okay, so I have a pick, huh? I can't remember the last time I was in the two spot. It's been a while. Two spot is tricky, especially because, as you said, Amanda, Blockbuster is pretty weak and sequel is extraordinarily weak.

But because they're so weak, I don't really want to do those picks yet. I'd prefer to keep just taking movies I authentically like a lot. So in comedy or horror, I'm going to go with Hot Fuzz, which I think is the most underrated of the Edgar Wright movies.

It's the last of the, or it's the second to last of the Simon Pegg Nick Frost movies that he made as part of the Cornetto trilogy. Really fun kind of, I don't know, sort of like homage slash spoof of buddy cop comedies of lethal weapon style movies that has all the moves and more from those kind of flicks. Haven't seen it in a while, but I really like it and I'm sure I'll revisit it ahead of Last Night in Soho.

Is anybody on this Zoom going to do an Edgar Wright episode with me? I was thinking about this the other day because I know I know Amanda he's not your fave necessarily and Chris I don't know what your take is on Edgar I would like to

revisit some of his movies to challenge myself because I think that I have some opinions that I had in the moment that were somewhat like I reread last night someone sent

me a review of modest mouses moon in Antarctica that I wrote for spin night someone sent me a uh review of Modest Mouse's Moon in Antarctica that I wrote for Spin Magazine where I was a fucking prick because I actually really liked that record but I was just like not good enough not good enough and so I want to I'm trying to be better about like interrogating who I was at various points in my life and maybe if my taste is changed so I would like to maybe do that with you Sean was it Isaac Brock who sent you the review no it was not okay so I've got hot fuzz and comedy horror

Chris you're up you've got two picks okay so I'm going to go assassination of Jesse James and drama this is the this is for the Tumblr gang this is for my heads out there screenshot and deacons frames and and and just

like really getting into the cinema of it all it's a challenging watch you know it was a challenging watch at the time I think part of the reason why I fell so deeply in love with this

movie was because despite the fact that we were you know in the nascent era of like social media film twitter and like online participation in film discourse it did feel like this was a cult movie it was like we were in the nascent era of social media, film Twitter, and online participation and film discourse. It did feel like this

was a cult movie. They shot it forever. I think it had a pretty troubled production or at least a difficult one. It comes out. I don't think anybody really goes to see it. And then it's one of those movies where you're sitting there and you have lower expectations.

I love Westerns, so I'll go see anything. And you realize like that your heart is skipping beats because of how gorgeous it is, how beautiful the music is, how lovely the performances are. So, you know, I think it's a challenging watch, but it's definitely a movie that I think was built to stand the test of time. So I'll go Assassination of Jesse James. Do you guys, have you guys checked this out? You still fuck with this movie? One of my favorites. Huge fan. Deakins. In the bag. I know that you guys love it

and I love that for you. God damn it. No, I mean this is kind of what I was talking about. There's a specific type of film viewer whose tastes were rewarded in 2007. It's this movie. There is an aspect of it though that I think appeals to your interest, which is that it's a treatise on fame.

It's about legend making and the way that people position themselves in the culture. That's what the movie's about. Okay, that's cool. Okay. I tried. And for sequel?

Yeah, you got another one, Chris. For sequel, I'm going to go Bourne Ultimatum. There was a different pick I had. I'm going to be really interested to see what There was a different pick I had. I'm going to be really interested to see what Sean does next. Do you want to share it? I had shared that I would not

take the Born Ultimatum. No, I know that. But I mean, this is a category pick. I like Born Ultimatum a lot. It's probably my third favorite Born, but it is quite good of the first trilogy. But man,

this is the toughest pick I made because there's another one here that i think is very popular that would satisfy a category but let's see if let's let's see what happens in the two spot well i'm not trying to win i'm trying to play with play with my heart yeah right why don't you just share it chris you just share what you're gonna do you don't want to share it you already picked a comedy so i... Do you feel in competition with Amanda? No, Amanda and I work together. Amanda and I reach across the aisle

for bipartisan infrastructure. Like, we do it. We get these roads built. Does that make you Manchin in this case? Or who does that make you? Leave him alone. Manchin? I know.

You want me to leave Manchin alone? I will. I'll leave Manchin alone. I want you to leave Chris alone and I want you to make your pick. You um i don't know what i'm gonna do i don't know what i'm gonna do i do know what i'm gonna do i already talked about it i already told my transformer story i'm taking transformers in blockbuster um there are probably some other choices i could make that are movies that are crowd pleasers more. Maybe have aged better. Maybe don't have the stink of Michael Bay on them.

I would challenge people to try again with Transformers. If you thought it was just a really stupid action movie. It is a really stupid action movie. But by its standards. I think it's actually very, very well made. And it's to me basically the end of Michael Bay. It's the last time he made something that I genuinely, genuinely liked a lot. Until Six Underground. Which we talked about on this podcast. And no one else likes. Remember Six Underground? That was fucking sick. it's the last time he made something that i genuinely genuinely liked a lot until six

underground which we talked about on this podcast and no one else likes remember six underground that was fucking sick oh my god that was so fucking awesome weird merch they were giving out at the screening that was tight i feel like we're the only people who saw that movie in theaters wags you remember when i was like texting you at 1201 am on the night that it went live on Netflix being like, have you started watching it? I believe the message was, did you boot it up yet? And I was like, what is it? And you were like, the six. And I was like, oh yes, I forgot.

Six Underground is good. It's not as good as Transformers. So Transformers and Blockbuster. Okay. Amanda, you've got two picks. Alright. In the drama category? Hey hey should we recap a little bit sure yeah let's recap a little bit do you want to do the recap uh did you make it a list of it in the it's it's it's currently updated in the file so in the drama category chris has taken the

assassination of jesse james by the coward Robert Ford and Sean took Zodiac. I have yet to pick. In comedy horror, Sean is the only person who's picked. He took Hot Fuzz. Oscar winner. We all learned from the last episode. Chris took No Country for Old Men. Sean took There Will Be Blood.

I took Michael Clayton. In sequel, CR has the Bourne Ultimatum. I have Ocean's 13. Sean does not have a sequel yet. In blockbuster, $100 million or more. CR has Superbad. Sean has Transformers. And I have Ratatouille because I'm a cultured person who appreciates animation.

The fine arts. I feel like France. No comment. Amanda absolutely flexing on everyone with the Oscar voice during reading the categories. Thank you, Bobby. Yeah, thank you so much. Just the Michael Jordan of imitating the Oscars categories

I think I would be really great at doing those intros as people walked up and just saying really rude free associative things. Do you want to be on camera or are you an omniscient voice? Absolutely not on camera.

Do you think it would be like accepted if I was like, and winning for Oscar Marion Cotillard I do wish someone would say yeah that would be great okay okay you're up man I have two picks I'm picking first and drama I'm gonna take gone baby gone speaking of great directors

of our generation making some of their greatest films Ben Affleck Wow. We salute you always on this podcast. I don't know.

You guys took Zodiac. You took all the other things. I like Gone Baby Gone. I like Gone Baby Gone. Yeah. And I'm going to pick in comedy. I think I need to do this.

I'll take Knocked Up in comedy this was the one that I was like am I leaving something on the table but again sequels are kind of thin here so it's obviously a hugely successful movie and in terms of you know the Aptel universe and

comedies and everything that comes afterwards influential I like a lot of it. I obviously don't love all of it and feel slightly conflicted about, I guess, its reputation over time and also its influence in the comedy world over time as well as the political aspects of it. But it was also a pretty funny movie and certainly a phenomenon. And I would have felt stupid taking walk hard if knocked up was still on the board. So I'll go with knocked up.

I think, I think you made like very, that was a very clear, like concise, like summary of like the, the critiques of it. I remember really like just being like, Holy crap.

I don't think I've ever seen anything like this when I saw it the first time. And just that, that actually was a cool feeling, like looking around the theater and being like holy crap I don't think I've ever seen anything like this when I saw it the first time and just that that actually was a cool feeling like looking around the theater and being like I didn't know you could make a movie like this on this scale like of like a mainstream comedy one of the most raucous in theater experiences I've ever had I mean people were absolutely losing their shit it was it's actually kind of hard I think over time this makes me feel a little bit like Bill Simmons because Bill does do this on the rewatchables a lot. But that movie in the zeitgeist for people that were our age was big.

Huge. Really big. And that's why I picked it, even if, you know, as we have all of the conversations that we had about it and have lived through the 15 years since, you know, feelings about it are different,

but still certainly a phenomenon. I think it's a legit pick. Whether it's better than walk hard or not i think is very i know well we'll see because actually weirdly walk hard has become the like adored cult movie in the 15 years since and knocked up has receded in the consciousness but nevertheless knocked up was a freaking phenomenon so you got one more right no because i already did gone baby gone oh okay so i'm up so this is where i continue to not make a pick in sequel because i don't want to i want to pretend that category doesn't exist okay um there are a lot of movies that i have on my list for wild card and maybe we'll talk about a bunch of them when we don't

get a chance to draft a lot of them but this is the category i was thinking of when i was like this is actually quite a deep bench full of movies i really really dig yeah but i would be remiss if i didn't take death proof which is quentin tarantino's i guess somewhat maligned are we splitting these yeah it's a standalone film okay i think it's a standalone film. You don't think so? Yeah, I guess so. Didn't they show it as one movie? Wasn't Grindhouse and Death Proof together?

It was shown that way, but so are many double features that are produced. I think I own an individual copy of Death Proof, for example. So I think of it as one standalone movie as part of Quentin's filmography. Gotcha. So Chris and I earlier this summer talked to Quentin. And when we talked to him he talked about

his career after Death Proof and after the not great success of Death Proof relative to all the other movies he had made to that point. It was fascinating

and the idea that the way that he perceives Hollywood looking at him after that movie came out which is to say vulnerable and like a guy who was ready to receive scripts and become potentially a director for hire because he had made his first not big hit, was really interesting. From the day I saw the Grindhouse double feature, I was like, this kicks ass.

This is absolutely so fun. I think Planet Terror is definitely weaker than Death Proof, but Death Proof is kind of similar to Knocked Up where I saw it with a very hardcore Quentin audience on opening night. And when they drop that head-to-toe kick into Kurt Russell's head at the end of the movie, people fucking lost their minds. It was one of the biggest exclamations I can remember in a movie theater. And it's just a really fun, really great kind of horror chase movie, a really great car movie, obviously an ode to 70s kind of grindhouse exploitation cinema. And honestly, one of Quentin's best casts, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Rosario Dawson and Rose McGowan and Kurt Russell and Vanessa Ferlito. And also these women that maybe we haven't seen as much recently,

Sydney Poitier, Sydney Poitier, his daughter and Tracy Toms and a handful of other really, really great actors and actresses. I think death proof is pretty slept on. So I'm going death proof for wild card. Okay. So that comes to me and I still need comedy and I need wild card,

right? Yes. So for comedy, I am going to go wild card. I do love this movie. This was also another. It's really, really great. Ooh, this is on.

This really funny joke is coming up in like 10 or 15 minutes. And so I always get a kick when this movie is on cable or whatever. Wild card's tough, man. Because I have a dozen movies that I want to mention, but which one is the one to elevate here? And which one...

With Wildcard, I always try to say something about a movie that's maybe a little bit more obscure, at least got lost to time a little bit more. And I think I'm going to stick with that against my better judgment here somewhat. And I'm going to pick Sunshine, which is a 2007, obviously, Danny Boyle sci-fi movie with Rose Byrne and Cillian Murphy and Chris Evans before everything popped for him. And is one of the better, I think one of the best sci-fi movies of the 21st century, arguably.

That's also outside of any kind of pre-existing franchise. And had some truly awe-inspiring and purely cinematic ideas in it that I don't think really could get done today. I think a lot of it would be like, well, how do we make this part of a franchise or something like that? And maybe they wanted it to be a franchise, but it's essentially a group

of scientists who have to go into space to restart the sun because it's dying. So they have to nuke the sun to get it to start moving again. And it's fucking incredible. There's at least two or three sequences in here that will just quite literally set you on fire.

And while it has the sort of predictably messy and incoherent ending that a lot of big sci-fi movies do when they actually have to grapple with what it all means, it still stuck with me, and I've still seen it a bunch of times since then. I love this movie. I saw this movie in Los Angeles at the Arclight. It's the first movie I ever saw at the Arclight.

I was on a work trip to see this film. I once again was like, I would like to live here. On the sun. Every time. Which arrival was this for you, Sean? When Let me tell you why this was an arrival moment for me i'm glad you asked bobby uh there were only three people in the movie theater when we saw this movie me my soon-to-be wife and drew

barrymore and she sat in the fourth row and it was like a 2 p.m showing on a wednesday and uh i was like this is it this is hollywood. This is how we watch cinema together. And frankly, all three of us can attest to the frequency of, oh, there's a Drew Barrymore-esque figure just showing up in your movie theater when you go see a movie at the Arclight at any random time of the day. So great pick. So it's sequel time for me, huh? Finally. Okay. So I'm just going to list all the sequels because you guys already have your sequels right yeah we do so let's just put some context around this so people understand what i'm dealing with national treasure to book of secrets yep a film i've not seen uh daddy day camp which i believe is a sequel to daddy daycare the eddie murphy vehicle one of chris's faves no probably a sequel because day camp comes after

day care uh i'm i'm content to say that i also have not seen that film okay uh fantastic four rise of the silver surfer amanda what are your thoughts on that is that actually i didn't know whether that was a sequel or if that just had a number in it because i thought the fantastic four were like a group of four people they are are. It is the second Fantastic Four. Oh, okay. So it's Fantastic Four 2. Yeah. And then they rebooted it five years later with Miles Teller.

That didn't work out either. I thought it was like maybe like a false friend number situation. So I didn't put that on my list. Otherwise, obviously would have been my first sequel pick. That's when Josh Trank was like, what if the Fantastic Four went through puberty? Cool. Amanda, there have been three Fantastic Four films in this century.

There'll be a fourth one in 2023 directed by John Watts. How do you feel about that? I'm just very excited for everyone involved. I just hope that they are just getting what they set out to achieve. Who is the ideal Reed Richards in your mind? Who do you think should play Mr. Fantastic? Who's Rubbery? Are those all the same people? Yes. Okay. Well, I don't know.

Mr. Fantastic and Rubbery. He has two alter egos or is Rubbery a nickname for what he does? That is an aspect of his power. So his power is that he's Rubbery? Well, Chris, how would you describe it? He can stretch. He's real smart, first of all. I think that's the important part.

Why didn't he think of a better superpower? I agree with you. I think that that is maybe why I think maybe more people agree with you than you know because the Fantastic Four movies have not quite captured people's imaginations although they seem incredibly excited about the arrival of them in the MCU. He's just like Gumby? This guy?

Smart Gumby? Not similar, but he can stretch his appendages all over the place. That's actually very funny. Other sequels from that year. Rush Hour 3. Haven't seen it. Saw 4.

I've seen it. I will not be drafting it. Gosh, what happens in Saw 4? Some people are murdered by Jigsaw. Just a guess. Okay. Here's a movie that is bad that I like. Aliens vs.

Predator Requiem. Okay. So is that like a crossover? It is. I believe it's the second alien versus predator movie is it the alien is on a predator planet that's the thing right i think that's the the first film the first film is alien versus predator from 0407 is avpr colon aliens versus predator dash requiem shades of mission colon impossible dash fallout right here so avpr was there first i'm not drafting that movie one of the best work days i had in the in pre-pandemic life was when chris saw whatever was the most recent predator movie and then just came in and just told me what happened in it and reenacted it. Just a one-man

show of Chris Ryan reenacting that movie. Everyone should get an opportunity to see that before they die. My guy Boyd was in that movie. How's your Boyd stock? My Boyd stock is cresting. Are you kidding me? Harrison Ford might not make it through Indiana Jones. They may have to draft Boyd. He's fine. He's okay. He's 79. I mean, I know. There should be checks and balances in place to preserve Harrison Ford's life. And that check and balance is giving Boyd Holbrook

the fedora. The FAA! Just keep him on the ground! He hurt his shoulder just like walking down to craft services. Let's see if we can put a finer point on this, Chris.

You're saying you want Harrison Ford to die during the production of Indiana Jones 5. I just think that they should turn over a lot of the stunt work and like the sort of more of the active

parts of that role. He's an archaeologist. Put him in front of a chalkboard being like the stafferah and then let Boyd cook. He spends all his off time cycling around the UK where they're filming.

And just then there are like pictures of him in like various pubs and all of his like cycling gear he wears like the full outfit just so you know does he really yeah it's pretty goofy guys I have five more sequels to share with you okay great this is fun for everyone the next one is spider-man 3 okay directed by one of my favorite filmmakers Sam Raimi but also much maligned for having too many villains, too much stuff. And I don't think we knew what we had

because then we got a new set of Spider-Man movies a few years later and they weren't as good. And Spider-Man 3 might be a little underrated now, honestly. Nevertheless, there's plenty of Spider-Man

out in the world. Then there's Pirates of the Caribbean at World's End, which I think is the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Isn't one of the sequels supposed to be good? Like, was the second one bad and the third one was good?

Is this your boy, Gore? Is he still on the mic here? Yeah, so we've got Sam Raimi and Gore Verbinski, two of my faves, two of my fave tentpole movie directors, in a year with Michael Bay doing Transformers. And then we've got Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This is the first David Yates Harry Potter movie,

and he would come to be the longtime keeper of the Phoenix. This is the first David Yates Harry Potter movie and he would come to be the longtime keeper of the Harry Potter films. Is this the fourth one? I think it's the fourth one, right? Because it goes Chris Columbus, Cuaron, Mike Newell, David Yates. Order of the Phoenix

is the fifth one. Fifth one? Oh, wow. Okay. Did Mike Newell get two movies? Maybe he did. Then we've got 28 Week later now I'm gonna be honest I'm I'm thinking 28 weeks later is where I want to go here I think this is I'm pushing you

that way mentally because you think that's bad I think it's awesome I think it's pretty cool I think it's a pretty darn good sequel to a movie that didn't need a sequel and probably um didn't really have that much more to say and yet I found it pretty entertaining, even though it's not Danny Boyle necessarily. It's not Alex Garland necessarily, but it's still a movie that works really well. And here's the wrinkle. Here's the tricky one. Here's a movie I remember liking a lot

that is technically a sequel. Elizabeth, The Golden Age. Oh. Katie B. Do you remember this movie? Mm-hmm. This is Blanchett, right? Yeah.

This is Katie Blanchett. And it's when things get really spicy in the Elizabethan age. Exactly. This is when she puts the gear on. You know, she's on horseback and she's riding to battle. Shakar Kapoor directed this movie.

Two Oscar nominations. Best Costume Design. Actually, one Best Costume Design. And Kate was nominated for an Academy Award. Stop filibustering. What do I do, Chris? 28 Weeks Later or Elizabeth the Golden Age? I don't know, but you just vamped for five minutes because you're trying to choose.

There should be a clock on you. Was this not good podcasting? No, it was great. It was delightful. But I can tell you're not committed to any of these movies. You're committed to certain directors. You're committed to certain ideas, but I don't know. And 28 Weeks Later later that's a CR pick well call me CR daddy because I'm going 28 weeks later

okay that's that's my pick okay that just took an incredibly long time I got to tell you about aliens versus predator dash Requiem right and I got to learn about

smart Gumby so you know I can carry that with me what more do you want from this podcast I got to learn about Smart Gumby. So, you know, I can carry that with me. What more do you want from this podcast, Amanda? I'm trying to think about all of the things that I used to know that I no longer have brain space for because I had to listen to you read about all those sequels

and then I had to learn about Smart Gumby. But think about how powerful you'll be in the future. What am I doing with my time? You're the new Mr. Fantastic. In 2023, when you start your Marvel pod, you'll have a leg up because you'll be like smart Gumby. I got it. Yes.

Great. That's what I call it. It's like that story about the footsteps in the sand and being guided by Jesus. Yeah. That's me with you giving you Marvel knowledge. You're going to be able to walk alone on the beach with all of this incredible spiritual power. I don't even think that that is the moral of footsteps,

which is the poem that you're referencing. What is the moral? I don't know, but it's not- You have read it a lot? It's not your Jesus and you're really good at movie podcasting. I guarantee that. I went to my conservative Christian school anyway. In 2017, Jesus came to me and he said,

you must start a movie podcast and you must spread the gospel and you must share with amanda all that you have learned about the marvel films and i have done so i have spread the good word so that then i can just do it by myself yeah exactly when i am crucified by the cr heads okay and you have to carry on with this show which apostle am i in this scenario well there are a lot of people who listen who i think think your punch is pilot but you were i think you might be paul paul paul is good kind of a blowhard but okay um just saying if the robe fits great job what is going on here? What happened? Amanda has a pick to make,

so I don't know. Oh, I thought the draft was over. I apologize. And I'm going to take I'm Not There because somehow it's still on the board, which is the Todd Haynes,

like, technically a biographical film about Bob Dylan, but obviously told in pieces and different looks by different actors. Speaking of movies that examine fame and myth-making, but in ways that I actually

watched through the end, I'm not there. I think you put it on your best biopics list, Sean, and I didn't. I did. I did. But also one of my favorite biopics and a fun examination of a genre that is too often maligned, in my opinion. But this has all the best of it. And a lot of other cool ideas about filmmaking and acting and Bob Dylan, who is great, even though I give you guys a hard time

about liking him all the time. Bob Dylan, a great American. Truly. Is the Jim James version of Going to Acapulco on this soundtrack? It is and it's one of the best things ever. It's in the film. It's when Richard Gere shows up at that

kind of circus freak show and Jim James is literally singing in the movie and it is beautiful. Let's hear some of that, Bobby. Okay, so we drafted. Let me ask you guys a question. Just one final kind of like point of order strategy thing. Do you guys try to win the categories individually or do you

just try to have a kind of like a totalizing quality among your films the latter i think i don't really even think about like i i mean i do definitely notice and this one this draft specifically i was like there are three oscar winners that i feel comfortable taking so i gotta get one of them and i will get one of them because there's only three pick people drafting but it has to go first because otherwise you know i'm gonna be in lovey on rose territory right so i liked lovey on rose but yes yeah yeah what film year should we draft next like 1922 would you guys be into that yeah let's do like the first talkies

amanda what would you want to do let's spend our summer watching talking talking i think you should come over and act them out for me chris um i don't know i guess we've done two more vintage years i guess like 75 being before our births and then 2007 at this point is 15 years ago or six, 14, 14 years ago, which is alarming. So would we be 2018? Is that too close? Is that too soon? It's an interesting question. We've also done 1984.

We've done 1995. Right. So and obviously 2010 through 2017. So I don't know. Should we let listeners decide on that? Yeah, because I would I would I would be curious to know whether there's an appetite for us to do like a golden age of Hollywood year or a 60s year or if we should just stick to like the 90s. Yeah, I there's a ton of good. I think one thing a lot of people have asked for actually,

which I think is interesting is a bad year. Amanda, you might've actually suggested this too. Yeah. It's hard to find a bad year though, because as soon as you start going through the list, I'm like, oh, well, Sean is going to pick, you know, X, Y, Z, and then Chris will pick jackass. And, you know, and-

Just live it in your head, rent free. Live it in your head, rent free. No, but this idea that we're sort of trained to find the good in even bad years and i like what would be fun about a bad year is someone being stranded with the third pick and having to pick like um you know chicago the musical or or something that is just like not good because there are no other options but just because of the sheer number of movies and our you know perverse ability to be like, well, actually, this film is amazing.

Then it's like, you can't actually- Whose voice is that, Amanda? Is that Chris? That's Mark Gumby. No, it's not Mark Gumby. It's everyone on the internet. It's hard to work out a system to back us all in the corner

where we actually have to pick bad movies. And that is what would be fun. Okay. Well, maybe we'll post four separate possibilities on Twitter and let people vote where the real people vote, where true voting happens, where I've been able to survive and thrive through many of these drafts. Let's do a quick recap. Okay. We'll go through every category. In drama, Chris took the assassination of Jesse James by coward Robert Ford. I selected David Fincher's Zodiac.

Amanda selected Ben Affleck's Gone Baby Gone. In comedy or horror, no horror films were chosen, interestingly. Chris chose Walk Hard. I chose Hot Fuzz. Amanda chose Knocked Up. Quality comedy here. In Oscar winner, Chris chose No Country for Old Men. I chose There Will Be Blood.

And Amanda chose Michael Clayton. In sequel, Chris took The Bourne Ultimatum, quite predictably. I took 28 Weeks Later in quite anguished fashion. And Amanda, of course, selected Ocean's 13. In blockbuster, CR took Superbad. A little bit of a wrinkle there in the pod. I took Transformers. And Amanda took Ratatouille, which she has not seen.

In Wild Card. And he wants to cook. And so he's got to get in the chef's hat and whisper his secrets about peasant food brother yeah sure guys whatever you say in wild card chris took sunshine i took death proof and amanda took i'm not there so what did we miss what didn't we discuss here? In addition to the myriad sequels that I talked through. So I definitely had my finger hovering over the American Gangster buzz button a couple of times just because I've actually enjoyed that movie a lot more

since 2007 where I saw it and I was like, that is not The Godfather. So it is disappointing because that was the expectation I was going into it with. But it's really incredible performances in that movie. Gosh, there's a bunch. So, Savages, Philip Seymour Hoffman, incredible performance from him. The Savages.

The Savages. Not Oliver Stone's Savages. No. The Savages was a really vintage, let's go see this movie on Christmas night pick by my dad. Oh, man. That was really fun for the ages. He, he had a really good run of the most depressing movie possible,

but the savages was black. Really? Yeah. Black books. Another one. I'm a big fan of James Gray's. We own him. We own the night from this year.

The lookout is really great. Joseph Gordon Levitt. And we never, we did not mention a single time in this podcast, Juno. Yeah. Not one of my favorites. Mine either. And to be honest, to be fair, a movie that I do think I enjoyed at the time or was charmed by,

and I think pretty much everything in it has not aged well from like the whimsy to my feelings about Jason Reitman as a director, um, again, to the politics of it all. But yeah, a couple of other ones. Where are you guys at on the hot rod cult?

Do you know about the hot rod cult? I feel like it's the, it's for, for the youths. It's, it's, it's, it's came after us,

right? Yeah. So Gallagher was a huge fan of it. I know a lot of people are just like do Hot Rod as a rewatchable. Hot Rod isn't the most important comedy ever.

It's funny. Yeah. I'm not mad at it. Did you guys see The Simpsons movie? No. I don't think so. What about Paranormal Activity?

You know I saw that. I did not see that. Pretty important film. Pretty much a film that changed horror for the next five or six years. Sean, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead?

Absolute banger. Truly a banger. Saw it at the Angelica opening night and some really fine work by really some of our favorites. Hoffman, Hawk,

Tomei, some other people. It's Lumet's last film, right? Amanda, do you want to do like 20 secs on Atonement the movie? Yeah. So Atonement the novel is one of the five most important novels of the 21st century to me. I think it's 21st century. Is it?

I'm Googling Atonement book publishing right now. Yeah. Yes. 2001 just made it in. And I like this Joe Wright movie. There's a lot to like in it. And it just is sort of ultimately impossible to adapt in the same, you know, that without spoiling anything, the ending of atonement is very powerful. And I just don't know how you translate it to the screen at the same way. i just probably unfairly hold my love of the book against the movie but you know a great kira knightley performance great james mcavoy performance i really love james mcavoy um and even i guess he's happy now being in all the m night Shyamalan movies and being weird but i like this part of him too.

But yeah, that's why I didn't go for it, just because I like the book too much. Yeah. A lot of people in this movie that I remember seeing for the first time, certainly Saoirse Ronan. Sure. First time I ever saw her. Benedict Cumberbatch. First time I ever saw Benedict Cumberbatch. Took me a long time to get over this Benedict Cumberbatch performance, honestly.

First time I ever saw Juno Temple. All right. A number of other people too. This is a really good movie. It is. Do you guys want to sign off so that I can do 60 solo minutes on William Friedkin's Bug now?

Get in there. Well, I mean, why don't you, you and Amanda have been recreating that film as Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon for years on this pod now. That's right. Well, my last movie draft, I'm just going to turn to a man

and be like, and you will be their queen! After that, is Sean going to do 60 solo minutes on Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf? Yeah, I've been living it. Which was from this year. Yeah, I feel empowered.

Okay, a couple more. 310 to Yuma, James Mangold's, frankly, much-loved remake of the Delmer Daves movie, which I think a lot of bros will be in the mentions about. They'll be like, how could you not take 310 to Yuma, bro?

It's good. It's a good movie. I like it. What about Once? Amanda, we didn't talk about that on our musicals episode. Holy shit. that was a moment huh also in the zeitgeist did you ever sing to your paramour in the streets of new york city

absolutely not you know how i feel about singing is that falling slowly is that what the that is that that jam yeah this the streets of dublin pumping this is like a oh my god all right chris it's i'm glad that your heart is open that That's great. You keep talking because I'm squirming. Speaking of squirming, what about Viggo Mortensen squirming nude in Eastern Promises in the middle of a knife fight?

I'm surprised I didn't take it either just for the sauna scene. Yeah. We handcuffed ourselves with some of these categories, but there are a lot of movies. I think Before the Devil Knows You're Dead and Eastern Promises. Those are pretty big movies for me and chris back then

um and atonement for you likewise amanda uh into the wild sean penn's uh sure i remember adaptation of chris mccandless story that was pretty good movie oscar nominated um we're gonna get into the darjeeling limited a little bit when we get into west anderson movies later this fall has this movie come all the way around in the conversation to now being something that people like? Guess who has two thumbs and loves this movie? This guy. You didn't draft it.

I know, but I mean like I don't think it's as good as friggin Assassination of Jesse James, but I really like this movie even though it's deeply fucked up. It's got some problems for sure and it's it feels like the least loved of the anderson movies at this point would you agree with that amanda yeah absolutely i mean it's also just i think not revisited that often or i certainly

have not seen it since i saw it in theaters in 2007 at bam which i remember um but it doesn't have the long shelf life it would seem of some of the other Anderson movies. The, the, the 15 minute sequence or however long the short story is of them going to get the car out of the garage is still like my favorite non Rushmore near the end there. Yeah. And they get off the train.

Yeah. I love that. One other movie that I love that I have, you mentioned on a bunch of lists on the show in the past is the mist. Frank Darabont adaptation. Really good. Stephen King's story. It's a really, really,

really good horror movie. Really one of the best horror movies of the last 20 years. I think that's it. Any other movies you guys want to mention? Margot at the Wedding,

which I toyed with and then in the wild card and then I was like, I don't know if I... It's not my favorite bomb back, although it's in a lot of ways

like the purest, certainly of that era of bomb back. It's in a lot of ways like the purest certainly of that era of bomb back so it's the nastiest that's for sure exactly yikes Chris any other

movies you want to give a shout to no I think I've in some way or another said everything you know like I just wanted to make sure I got like

a shot in there for my guy Michael Shannon and bug in some way or another I've said everything is that you signing off for podcasts from good Like, I just wanted to make sure I got like a shot in there for my guy, Michael Shannon and Bug. In some way or another, I've said everything. Is that you signing off for podcasts for good? Or like, are you done? No, just about the movies from this year.

Okay. This is a very interesting balance of movies. I always feel like we're pretty evenly matched, but we'll let the voters decide. Oh, I have one. Yeah. Away from her. Oh, is this 07? I think so so have you been just re-watching away from her oh you know it's one of those it was 06 but it was at 07 when people finally saw it my

bad you know i don't know what year it was released in the states it premiered in toronto in 06 but i think it might have been released in theaters you know so i think it was part of like wikipedia's theatrical release list for 07, but it's great. Yeah, but that counts for 07 then. We do theatrical release and not festival release. May 25th, 2007, USA premiere. There you go, Christopher. Speak on it, man.

You want to talk about the great Julie Christie? Yeah, I just think Sarah Polley is an incredible filmmaker. I think we should talk about her more, and I can't wait to see other movies that she makes. It's been a minute since I've seen this. It's obviously not like real, um, uplifting material,

but it's definitely like, she's, she's a really powerful, powerful storyteller. Okay. This has been an amazing movie year. Has it been an amazing draft? I say yes.

I think it's been a good draft. I don't, do you guys want to keep doing Oscar winners? As a category? I mean, this year, I know it's sort of complicated things but it did also i think it was good complication because there's a there are enough oscar winners the problem with

1975 in addition to me not being able to count was just like that there were three and so if you ran out or you misplayed your hand then you couldn't fill anything else out. You continue to disrespect Darisu Uzala. I don't know what to say about this. Okay. But I kind of like it for this because it forced us to get a little bit more interesting with drama in a year when there were other interesting drama

picks to be had and things to discuss. I think if it's a bad year then it probably boxes this out pretty quickly which might be funny in other ways but I don't know.

Yeah. I mean I seriously considered assuming you guys weren't going to take Ratatouille putting Ratatouille in my Oscar winner

as my Oscar winner pick and then of course Amanda lied to her faithful fans about her relationship to animation and selected the film. I like food and I like France.

Yeah. This has been a good one. Thank you guys. Thanks. Thanks of course to our producer, Bobby Wagner for his work on this episode next week, stay tuned to the big picture feed for episode six of Jean and Roger. Outro Music