The Big Picture - The Canadian Movie Draft Live from Toronto!

Episode Date: August 4, 2026

O Canada! For the first time in The Big Picture’s history, we visited Toronto for a very special live show at the TIFF Lightbox. They open the show with some movie trivia about Canadian film, Christopher Nolan, and much more, before being joined by a wandering man named Chris searching for his girlfriend “Brie”. Then, they are joined by filmmaker Matt Johnson to discuss the current state of the Canadian film industry and answer what makes a movie Canadian. Finally, they are joined by mean pod guy Adam Nayman to draft some of their favorite “Canadian movies” across some very loose categories. (0:00) Intro (1:29) Movie trivia (17:28) What makes a movie Canadian with Matt Johnson (36:18) Adam Nayman joins the show! (44:26) The Canadian Movie Draft (1:43:35) Honorable mentions and draft recap Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guests: Matt Johnson, Adam Nayman, and Chris Ryan Producers: Jack Sanders, Elizabeth Fierman, and Helen Eichner Production Support: Lucas Cavanagh A State Farm agent can help you choose the coverage you need. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.®️ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm Sean Fennessey. I'm Amanda Dobbins. And this is the Big Picture 8 Conversation Show about Canada live from Tiff Lightbox. And boy, are we excited to be here. All right, we have a few things planned for you, but I wanted to start by hearing from Amanda about everything she knows about Canada. Go. Okay. Mark Carney, Prime Minister.

Yes. Yes. Okay. One fact. Can you have another fact? We are in Ontario. Okay. which is a province.

Yes. I had a lovely time this afternoon. We went to Kensington Market. Is that the name? Yeah. Okay. You've all been lovely. It's been a wonderful, so 24 hours in on Canada, very pro.

We'll see how the rest of this evening goes. No, but it's so exciting to be here. Thank you to, thank you to Tiff. Thank you to Anita for the introduction. Thank you all for coming. It's great to have an excuse to, you know, travel internationally, which you know I love to do. This is also an excuse to do one of my favorite things, which is trivia.

Would you like to start with some trivia? All right. Okay. Hold on. I'm getting a drink and then I'll open the... We've concocted some trivia questions for you. We've also brought some prizes for those who answer the trivia correctly. Now, those prizes include from our friends of criteria in Blu-rays and 4-Ks, Canada-related,

and also some special prizes from TIF. So thank you to both. Criterion and TIF for that. Are you ready? I think so. I just got to find this doc. Oh, good. Here we go. Okay. So just so you know, I'm not on the Real Real. Like we're asking trivia questions. Yeah. And don't like Google stuff during the live show. These people paid money. They went on a website. They waited. I thought that you, first of all, there's a separate app for the Real Real. But I thought you were saying that they shouldn't Google during trivia. Well, definitely do not. This is an honor system. You'll be ejected

from the premises if you do that. Also, just want to say we can sort of see you. We tested the lights, and this is the best that our old eyes can do. But so we can sort of monitor phones. And we're going to do our best to, you know, call on the first person who raises their hand. Please wait until the question is done. And do you want to give your speech about not answering if you don't know the answer? If you don't know the answer, don't raise your hand. Yeah.

That's a, it's a simple request and a logical one, I think. Let's begin. Okay. So I have the first one. I have the first question. Now, raise your hand if you know it. And if you, again, if you don't know it, Don't.

Here we go. Which Canadian filmmaker has the most films in the criterion collection? And can you name those films? Hmm. All right. This fellow's had his hand raised, right? Yeah. You're right here, sir.

It's David Cronenberg. That's correct. Can you name the films. Can't do. Naked lunch? Naked lunch is one. The shrouds? The shrouds is two.

The brood? The brood is three. Video drone. Video drone is four. Oh, no. Hold on, hold on. Scanners. Scanners is five.

No. Do not yell answers from the crowd, please. You don't get the DVDs, sorry, the Blu-Race. Anything else you want to try? Okay, this gentleman right here in the white T-shirt. Honestly, you did a really great job. And he sprung the second part of the question on you. I believe there's two more.

Are the history of violence and crash? That's correct. Okay. of them? Is that the whole list? I think so. Let's go through it. We've got the brood, scanners, videodrome, dead ringers,

naked lunch, crash, history of violence, and the shrouds. No one said dead ringers. No one said dead ringers. See? I'll tell you what. The system is not perfect. You two should split the package. Yeah.

How about that? Okay. In the spirit of a social safety net, which you have here in this fine country, we're being generous. All right, Amanda, you're up. I think this is a little more straightforward. How many short films about Glenn Gould comprised the 1993 biographical film directed by Francois Gerard? You have a front row seat, so I don't know whether you need to be haunting it.

Okay, up there, pointing. Yes, I'm sorry, that's unfair, but so is life. Yes, ma'am. Yeah, you. There you go. That is correct. Okay. This one's a little bit more involved.

I like the involved questions. eight Canadian-born actors have won an Academy Award for Performance. Name three. And Sean is looking for both the actor and the performance. Yeah. Oh, all this grumbling. Yeah, it's okay. The hand was up and up sternly and then slowly shrunk down.

I want the man in the athletics hat. Is that an athletics hat? It seems like you want to. Are you from Oakland? Okay. Give this man. a microphone. Is it a money ball situation? Okay. So it's sort of a Chris Ryan thing you have going on. The microphone's being passed to you. Okay. So what I know for sure is Christopher Plummer in

beginners. That is one. Correct. I think there was, it's not young Mr. Lincoln. Is it Raymond Massey? No. No. No. But I like that you went, you know, for not a deep cut, but yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You went into history. Okay. Anyone else. That's all you have. One's off the board. Christopher plumber. Okay. I see... Where is the national pride in this room? Right here. This is making us feel a little bit better about what's going to come next. Okay. So you, sir, but please wait for the microphone. You should work together here. So... Collaborate with your neighbor.

Yeah. I mean, I think there's more than one thing in the bag. So once again, you all can divvy them up. So right here is where we're looking for the microphone. And we need two more. You better not be on that TIF public Wi-Fi. if I... I know about you guys. I've been you before. Trust me. I love trivia.

Why are these... Why are these not in chronological order? They're in order by... How you thought of them? No. Category. There's, of course,

best actor, best actress, best supporting actor. It's always something with him. Okay, you have the microphone. All right. For some reason, I've got a little lump in my stomach thinking I may have me wrong here,

but Brendan Fraser for the whale. Yes. That is correct. Okay, so that's two. You need one more? Anyone? Oh, it's going to, okay, team effort.

Okay. All right. I see one more over here, and you've been confident. So we're going to go over here in the corner. Oh, microphone. There you go. Okay.

Anna Packwin and the piano. That is correct. Okay. Will you guys meet up later? Yeah? Yeah. Just for the trade information. Okay.

Would you like to hear the other winners? But, um, well, Mary Pickford. She won for Coquette in 1928. Where were you guys when that happened? Were you supporting her?

1930, one year later, Norma Shear won for the Dvorse. 1931, Marie Dresler won for Mina and Bill. 1946, a very famous win, Harold Russell, won for the best years of our lives. You've seen that film. 1948, Walter Houston, who is a Canadian, won for Treasure of the Sierra Madre. And then you guys forgot about Bree Larson, who won for Room. Yeah. Oh.

Someone's girl. Someone's girl. Is he in this room? Is he with us tonight? It's the girl. Yeah. Who'll never know. The next one.

Is the girl with us tonight? This is a very long question. Bree Larson for third chair? Okay. The five highest grossing films worldwide so far this year are all U.S. productions. The Super Mario Galaxy movie, Michael, Toy Story 5, the Devil Wars Prodig, and Project Tell Mary. What movie, having earned 600.

$156 million globally is number six. Wow. I'm getting good at this. All right. Okay. You were first in the in the, in the, that looks like a pink peach shirt.

Is it an obsession? No, it's not. It is not obsessed. Yeah. I'll give you a hint. It's not a U.S. production. Yeah.

Okay. Right here in front. Yeah. Wait. It is not Nirvana. No. No. There's that national pride.

Maybe. Maybe. Yeah. Anyone else? Okay, right here in the front. Is it the Furious? It is not. It's not.

Wow, you guys are not going to get this one. Yeah, okay. Well, everyone's, okay, one right here in front, please, in the third row. I like your confidence. Don't, don't put the hand down now. Put it up high. Yeah, believe in yourself.

That's right. I thought this space was a space for world cinema. Yeah. Oh, my God. Okay. It's fun when it's other people. Is it undertone? It is not.

It's not. I'm going to give one more guess. And then we're going to burn those blu-rays right in front of you. Oh, you know what? This is really messed up. We have totally been overlooking the balcony and that's unfair. All right. Man in the balcony, I don't know if they're going to get a microphone to you.

So you're just going to shout really loud. Is it Pegasus 2? So close. Oh, my God. It's Pegasus 3. But you know what? for the effort. Yeah.

You got it, brother. That's true. Have you seen Pegasus 2? No. Okay. I haven't seen it either. It's a Chinese production and it is wildly successful in China. Next one?

Yes, I read that one. Okay. So we're here during this wonderful Christopher Nolan presentation and ahead of his next film, which is The Odyssey, there have been many adaptations of the Odyssey. What is the name of the most recent adaptation and who portrayed Odyssey? And Lucius and Penelope. Okay, some people over there, I can hear you whispering, okay? So it doesn't count until you get called on.

Sean, you call on somebody. You there, the woman in the glasses with your hand up? Yes, yes. Yes, the person with you pushed your hand up. There you go. Is it called the return and Odysseus is played by Ray Fines and Penelope by Julia Pinoche? You got it. Wow.

Bang. Well done. You've reordered things here, but then you have a segue. So would you like to do the Speaking of Nolan next? Oh, sure. Okay, there you go. Thank you, Amanda. Okay.

That's called live producing. Speaking of Nolan. What was his first Oscar nomination? The film and the category. Okay. Over there in the, yeah, in this corner. Best Original screenplay Memento. Okay.

Second question. Who else was nominated with him in that category? Fuck. No, who was he nominated with for Memento? I was going to say, Wes Anderson, Royal Tenen bombs. Let's see here. No, no, no.

Jonathan Nolan. There you go. There you go. Bravo. Okay. In the instant cult classic, M. Night Chalemalon film A Trap. The Rogers Center,

or at least its exteriors, host the concert for which fictional pop star. Okay, you know, I love the confidence. Okay, back there. Well, you know, you already answered. No. Yeah, you answered, I think.

Okay, right here, sir. Yes, you're, yes. Is it Lady Raven? It is. Whoa, okay. That makes me feel so good. Yeah, me too. Trap?

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much. God damn it. That feels so good. Okay. This is a one battle after another question, and there's a bonus prize.

with this question. There's a very rare object in our culture. It's called the one battle after another steel book. Hush over the crowd. These are sold out. Can't get these anymore. One battle after another is Paul Thomas Anderson's seventh collaboration with Johnny Greenwood,

but the film memorably ends with Willa reading Profidia's letter as a score from a different composer is played. Who is the composer? The woman right in dead sense. center here with glasses. That is correct.

Bingo. Can someone please bring this fine steel book to her? You want to do this one because it's written in the first person? Although I agree with the sentiment. Okay.

And then I'll... I will. Nirvana, the band, the movie, the show. Nirvana, the band, the show, the movie. Sorry about that. It's set in this fair city. that's one of my favorite movies of 2026.

Director Matt Johnson has directed four other feature films, including a new film set to be released on August 7th, at least in the United States, by A-24. Name the four films. Look at all these Canadians with their hands raised. Why don't you pick it? Okay. We'll do right here in the second row.

Yes, you in the middle of the... Yes, sorry. I was thinking you in the white shirt, but... You guys kiss first and then you decide. We're cousins. We're cousins. Pissing cousins. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Pause.

All four. Okay. All four. That's been released? Yes. All four, including the fourth coming film. Yeah. Oh, okay.

Tony. Correct. Nirvana, the band, the show of the movie. We already said that one. So four other. Three more after that. So three more after that. Blackberry.

Yes. Operation Avalanche. Correct. The dirties. Bingo. Thanks, guys. Okay. And now, since we are here, for our last question, we will be doing a question about America.

Sorry. I didn't even interrupt, but a long time ago, I had a Canadian girlfriend at camp, and her name's Bree. We were supposed to do like this kind of before sunset thing. meet a Tiff on a very special. If you've got seen her at all or no? All right. Well, then ask you trivia questions. It's Chris Ryan, everybody.

Chris Ryan. What's up, Canada? It's great to see you. I decided to wear something vaguely Maple Leaf coated, but if you want me to wear a Kauai half jersey, Joe Carter, second half jersey, it's going to be five bucks on my Patreon. So, great to be here.

You're not eligible for this question. I didn't put this in the doc, but I want to do an honor system. If there are any actual American citizens here are people who lived in America. Shame on you. Truly. But also don't answer this question.

This is for the Canadians. Can you name 15 American states that are not New York or California? Okay. All right. Go. Delaware. One.

Connecticut. Two. So just not New York and California. Stop filibustering. New Jersey. Three. Alaska. Four.

New Hampshire? Five. North Dakota. Six. South Dakota. Seven. North Carolina. Eight.

South Carolina. Nine. Some cheat codes there for you. Alaska. Already six. Yeah, brother. What? Oh, did I say it?

Okay. I got the rest. West Virginia. Okay. Nevada. Yes. Ten 11. Utah.

Colorado. 13. Um, and then let's Let's do New Mexico and Texas. 14, 15. There you go. Well done. You don't get a prize bag.

You get U.S. citizenship. Congratulations. Did you notice he said Delaware first, Biden strong? Yeah. Where are you out on Biden these days? You know what? I miss him. Bring him back?

I miss him. Yeah. Would you guys elect him, Prime Minister? Okay. Just checking in on that. That'll be the last time we mentioned. that person's name. We do have another name to mention, though.

This isn't the Joe Biden draft? Favorite, favorite Biden policies? No. It was sort of a Biden-esque entrance. So he just said, where am I? Anyway. We have another special guest with us.

And we indicated something about him in one of the trivia questions. He is a fellow Canadian. He's a writer, director, filmmaker, producer, and a friend of the show. Please, welcome Toronto's own Matt Johnson. I was so ashamed at you guys in those trivia questions because originally I was like, well, you're not going to get a more like Toronto cinephile crowd than this. And you bombed.

Not knowing Dead Ringers? I quote that movie in awards speech, in award speeches. That's like a major movie. It's also hilarious. Has anybody here seen Dead Ringers? You know what it's about? Yeah. So yeah, that's the answer.

Yeah. Anyway, you guys are on fire. I have to say thank you from our whole country for coming here. There's nothing Canadians love more than when the celebrities show up. There's nothing we love more because it makes us all feel like we're real. Well, you're real. You're real to us as well. You told me I would be asking you guys the questions.

No, no. That's not the case. I'm only used to asking you questions. So I'm happy you're here. I have a really important question for you. And we can riff and vamp on this, but specifically the plan for tonight's episode is to do the Canadian movie draft. Oh, great. Okay.

So the three of us and another special guest will draft Canadian movies. And we've created some categories. Yes, they're behind us. Yeah, we've done our dumb shit. As you can. Right. Yeah. Oh, my God.

Read them. You don't have to comment on that right now. One entire category is Gosling. Yes. Yes. Yeah, let's read the rest. Then we have Cronenberg. Yeah.

We have Cameron, James, or Villeneuve, Denny. I got my pick there. Then Canadian director, Canadian star, and Toronto, which is the full name of that category, is Toronto plays itself or somewhere else. Any film that is set in Toronto or has been shot in Toronto standing in for another city is eligible in that category. So here's the question for you. And honestly, feel free to take as long as you'd like to answer this question.

People will love that. What makes a movie Canadian? Depends who you ask? Well, we're asking you. Okay, look, I couldn't get James Cameron. You don't know that. You don't know that. He's in trouble.

He might have said yes. Okay, now look, there's a joke in this country, and that is that you can tell a movie's Canadian because there's an uncanny valley as you watch it, and you're like, this just doesn't seem like a real movie. That's not the answer you're looking for, though. That's what we would say. You would say, oh, this looks very Canadian, almost as an insult.

When I was going to film school, you'd be like, oh, yeah, this looks very Canadian. And that would be a way to be like... What does that mean, though? Because there's less money in the production? You know what? There's a lot of things that go into it, but there is a certain aspect of reality. If you've never made a movie before, people here who have will know. It is not as easy as just setting up the camera and filming what you wrote.

like there's a huge amount of craft that goes into actually making it feel, for lack of a better word, real. And in Canada for a long time, we just hadn't figured that out. So now I would say what makes a movie Canadian when you're watching it, at least

nowadays, is that it is so tied to the point of view, the filmmaker. And I mean, if I'm talking about the last decade in this country, it would mean that it is very, very specific, typically autobiographical in some way and is endemic to the place. So strangely, like the fact that you're having Toronto as a location, but in other movies like Goodwill Hunting, et cetera, which I imagine

can be very high on that. Well, you'll have to watch and find out. I think it might, well, I'm trying to think of a more fit. Okay, sure. Maybe I'm giving stuff away, sure. But now that actually has a big piece of it, like the actual geography. Like, it's no letter Kenny, I remember when I was in the United States. There were so, yes, yes, yes, Jared's great guy. There were so many people who were like, oh, I love that show. It's the best Canada is so crazy. They felt the same way before, I think, about trailer park boys. And from my own experience, when I would travel and screen Nirvana the band, I've made this joke before, but I think that Canada is seen as a bit of a sci-fi premise, like as a country. And so I think just the location of this place is, is kind of

kind of what makes a movie Canadian in a lot of ways, just because it's slightly different. I've told this joke also before, but did I tell you what the German film students said to me after the world premiere of Nirvana The Band The Show? What did they say? So at the South by Southwest Film Festival, there's this group of three young German very, very high energy film students who are like, oh my God, this movie's unbelievable. I can't believe what you're doing. And I was like, yeah, yeah, I know it's pretty crazy, right? Were they Werner Herzschilder? That's why they're like, you know, my Brno Herdsug impression is different. This is the north of Bavarian accent.

We can't believe you're so crazy. How did you do this? And I was like, so what specifically do you mean? Like, I know we break the law a lot. And they was like, ah, so much jaywalking. And I mean, that kind of sums it up. I think that there's things that we don't even notice are interesting about our country or our city. that when you travel them, other people really seem to love.

And before we were very shy about that, because I'll never forget, I was making Nirvana the band as a TV show and some of the advice that I got from somebody who had made a show similarly who was older than me was whatever you do, do not make it obvious. It's set in Toronto. Set it in a nameless city that seems like it could be America,

like it's going to be the death of it if you do that. And I would say that that just in the last 10 years has really changed. I was wondering about specifically Nirvana, because Toronto was such an essential ingredient to the series, but how much did you worry about making it coherent? Because a lot of times when you're capturing a city, like, for example, Chris's beloved Michael Mann,

if you've seen the film collateral, the geography... It's like Grand Theft Auto. A little bit. How did you get from that part of town to that part of town in four minutes in Jamie Fox's cab? Do you worry about those things? Michael Mann assures me that's possible.

Okay. He has assured me. He told me, yeah. He did? Yeah. We did, like, I interview with him when we did heat for rewatchables

and he was just like, it's possible. It's like that podcast where, what was that big, huge crime podcast that first got famous and then they tried to redo

the drive that the murderer is serial. Serial. Yeah. Yeah. And I didn't believe that guy either. So, you know what? The answer is,

like obviously you watch a movie like Nirvana of the band and then you say, were you worried about its coherence, the answer is no. But the geographical, look, it gets a big laugh every time the movie screens in Toronto and we show like the much music building

and then right across the street is the Paradise Theater. And then you look back and it's another part of the city and of course to you guys, that means nothing. But to us, that's all we've got. Like, this is a city with only four streets. And so if you mess, if you accidentally turn Queen Street into college or bluer people, like, wait a minute, You just wasted a whole street.

We don't have that many of those. So we knew that we were doing it when we did it, but we just couldn't. And I think even the people from Toronto forgave us. I mean, they're all here, so we can ask them. In America, they have no idea. They just think it's one magical street where the Rivoli and McDonald's are on one side, and then the Paradise Theater with the guts. No, did we use the exterior of the Paradise for both?

Yeah, and the Paradise Theater's on the other. And they come here, and they're like, where is it all? So to us, at least to this arrogant American, who has had David Cronenberg, Sophie Romvari, Chandler LeVak, and yourself on the show just this year, it does feel like there's like a moment happening with Canadian film, or at least we made four movies.

Yes. Yeah. Well, it's so funny because you think about that comparison in America, and it was like, wow, four movies got made. I would say you're just getting, to the foot of the problem that we have in our country, which is that movies just do not get made nearly at the rate as they do in your country or in the rest of the world. And that's starting to change. And I hope, I remember when I first made the dirties, I thought, oh, wow, now that

it's been proven that an idiot like me with no money can make a movie that plays outside of Canada, everybody's going to do that. And it seems like it was like a decade later that people started doing it. But again, I think that, I mean, I don't want to think that, that, no, I'm not saying anything negative. But do you think that there is, is that just my little periscope view of things? No, no, it feels that way here too. No, it feels that we're here too. But again, what's happening is just that four people made movies. And it really isn't deeper than that, in my opinion. Now, look, the sad part of that story is one of those filmmakers is David Cronenberg. and the other three are like in the middle of their career.

It's not like me, Sophie, and Chandler are fresh out of film school kids and it's a miracle. I wish that we're the case. I'm going to get excited when a 22-year-old film school grad shows up and has made some masterpiece that changes the world, then we'll really be on the map. And so, and that is coming. I guarantee it's coming. But this is great and I love it. Any time that Canada gets mentioned in the same sense. sentence is the word cinema. I think it's a miracle. But I don't think we're there yet. And that's

not a pessimistic point of view. That's an optimistic point of view. Do you have any films that we might think are eligible for the Canadian movies draft that you would like to strike off of the board? There's so many of those that you would need to start saying them because there's so, so, so many. Like I think a lot of movies that get even made by Canadians that everybody thinks of as Canadian movies are just, like, we don't consider them Canadian movies. Like, Dune 2. Get real. That's a movie

shot in Australia, my man. And I think that Deney's the only Canadian and the storyboard artist, who's a real genius guy named Sam Hudecki. I think it's the only two Canadians on... Sam get woo? Somebody there knows the storyboard artists of Dune. Yeah, he truly

is a genius, but no, that's not a Canadian movie, not even close. I don't even think Deney would call that a Canadian movie. Okay. Go ahead. Well, I just, I mean, is the entire crowd going to rebel at us then? Yeah. How do you think this is going to go? Well, you got to make sure you're picking like movies that when you think of them.

It's like, oh, yeah, I can't believe that movie even got made. It's a miracle. Anybody saw it. And on Letterbox, it has like 20,000 views. That's your ceiling for Canadian movies. That's not going to be a good draft, Matt. Yeah. That's not going to work here, bro.

Well, you are having an American movie draft. I'm sorry to tell you. An elegant segue. Until you're talking about movies by like Don Owens. Someone's about to take Titanic in this trap. So, but with that in mind, yeah, yeah. You did a thing that so many of the directors

that I think we'll talk about today did, which is you went to maybe not specifically Hollywood, but you went to America and make a movie. Yes, yes, yes. And so I'm curious, like, how you thought about that, whether that meant anything to make that choice. I was just sick of this country. I was ready to go.

And it was about time. No. You know so funny? I think that there's a misapprehension around Canadians who leave to America to make and then almost become de facto Americans and those who just make movies in America. And if I had moved, then maybe I would feel like I was more on the hot seat right now. But I don't feel that way at all. If Americans are going to pay for me to make movies in their country, I'll take that deal a hundred times.

because and I wouldn't begrudge any other filmmaker who did that also because one of the big challenges we have and I'm talking about

mostly young filmmakers in this country is that it's so hard to get reps in in America Michael man's such an amazing example actually

he's a guy who's just always working all the time his stuff is always getting financed and if you look at the course

of his career his early early early stuff is nowhere close to where he gets made career and it's because

he's done so much because there's so much money for filmmakers to keep going and you can have small films that fail or even medium films that fail and keep going. In Canada, it takes so long to get the financing for a movie together that even somebody like David Cronenberg is waiting three, four years between movies not by choice. I'm sure if he could, he would be making them again and again and again and again and again. So I'll always take opportunities to make movies. I mean, I'm making a movie about Magic the Gathering in Australia just like with the same team that made do. it's the same producer. So, yeah, I'm not... Will that movie be eligible for the... Not at all. No, definitely it would be.

Canadian director. Yeah. Well, you might as well put Terminator up there. Okay. Get real. It might go up. I'm trying to think of the closest you could get. Like, what is the absolute peak of the mountain in terms of a Canadian movie?

I was going to say, do you want... Do you get real? What? Someone yelled ghost busters. Matt is going to run to the crowd. Yeah. No, no, no, no, no, no. Do you have a favorite actual Canadian?

Mine is the fly. I think the fly is a true masterpiece that shows Canada off so well. It's got some writing issues. We can go into that later. But then there's another film that you guys have definitely never, ever seen shot in Toronto by a director named Don Owens

called No One Waved Goodbye. And this is an unbelievable masterpiece that is hugely influential, especially in like Toronto cinema. I'm ripping him off all the time. But the absolute top, like, what is the best? That's what the draft is. Strange brew, maybe brain candy?

Like, Simon Perrin is okay. Let's, okay. Crazy, yeah, yeah, crazy's actually great. Let's not draft before. Are we? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought what you guys were looking for was the inside track. So they, but then I realized you're competing against one another.

Yeah. Also, like, I'm asking this now instead of three days ago when I could have, you know, done some prep. So that was a mistake on my part. I'm getting the sense that you guys might really get destroyed by this crowd. And that, because... Are you rooting for that? No, I want you to win. It's okay.

You want me to win or you want us to win collectively? I want the Americans to leave happy. We always do. That's what I want. It's ironic because this is typically a competition amongst us. But you're saying tonight it's against them. Well, you know, I mean, you're going to find out. Do you think that they'll name even?

one actual Canadian movie? It's hard. Look at my list. I made this joke before, but the tragedy of Canadian movies is that the really Canadians don't even know. You showed this in the trivia.

Like, Canadians don't even know Canadian movies. The average American filmgoer probably knows the same number of Canadian movies as a Canadian filmgoer. Well, we have a very loose definition of Canadian movie today. As we're about to find out.

Yeah. You're more Irish Catholic, and we're more. basically for you any Kevin Smith movie is going to be a Canadian movie she should be at a new category I could draft ball rats let's go he went to the Vancouver film school

so that counts wow okay maybe we should swap out the Villeneuve category for Kevin Smith no no no no no don't do that okay last last question for you Matt will you come back to Canada

and make a film ever again I'm making one already I'm making one right now. Everybody, yeah. What do you mean, come back? I live on Ronsesville. I went to America for three months to shoot that movie and it was the worst time in my life. I hated it.

We're sorry about that. I couldn't believe it. You know, it had nothing to do with the Americans. But, yeah, you know, I tell people when I come back, because we've screened Nirvana of the band internationally so much. And it's been such a hopeful message that I've received, which is that for the very first time I've heard from young film students in America, wow, I wish I could have been a Canadian. And that's the first time I'd ever, it's been the opposite.

When I went to film school, we all would have killed to have been born an American citizen, to be going to USC or Tisch School of the Arts. Like, we would have killed. And to see it even slightly inverting is the miracle of my life. And so we're going to be getting. a lot of your filmmakers now, and we're going to be putting on these little half sarcastic

trivia games in your country saying, oh, does this even count as an American movie? You guys like John Ford movies? Yeah. When our cultural production has dwarfed you. And you're all, I'm trying to think of

what that would mean. What would you even need to learn? The thing is, people don't even sing the national anthem here anymore. We've got no culture left. I'll tell you one thing. Yeah. I'd be happy to send Boba Shed back to this country.

I don't, you know. No, no. Careful. Careful. No, it's his fault. It's not my fault. He seems like a nice man. He's a baseball player.

He's a baseball player. He was a Blue Jay for some time. He actually has to direct anything. He hasn't made any films. He's only broken my dreams. Thank you for having me, guys. I really enjoyed this. Thank you, Matt.

Please treat these guys, nice. Goodbye. You are the best. Bye. Thank you. Walked right into that. You know? Well.

It was always going to be this way. You know? But that's, listen. I was warned by Jack Sanders not to make a bobbocet reference and I did it anyway. Matt Johnson, God, the fucking man, right? It is cool when a native son

has such an incredible moment. One of the all-time great guests on this show. But it's time to bring on another guest, one of the greatest guests in the history of this show. Yeah. He is, of course, our mean, pod guy. Please welcome

critic, author, genius, Adam Neiman. Hey guys. Hi, Adam. Americans used to dodge drafts here. Yeah.

Yeah. Wow. Hey, don't count us out. It might come again. I'm also glad you platformed an obscure under-exposed filmmaker like Matt. Sure.

Yeah. We don't hear from him enough. What did you make of all that preamble about what is and is not Canadian? Well, there wasn't volume in the back for a while. Okay. And then I heard the trivia stuff kind of dying. Okay. And then I heard Matt talking.

And a lot of that is right. Okay. What was wrong? It's a long conversation. But I think the question, I heard Matt talking about that kind of uncanny. Vali, like we have such a pop cultural inferiority complex because you guys are our bass line and movies are different than music or TV. Like there was always legislation around like, you know,

songs will get played on the radio along with. It's like when you grow up, you're like, they're tragically hip and you two are the same. Right? They're the same, you know? They're on the top 10 countdown. Yeah, yeah. And TV and TV, there's a lot of very robust production, certain kind of respect for Canadian TV,

but with movies, it's hard. Like, English-Canadian movies are made in the same language as American movies. They're kind of not made at the same budget level, you know? Like one of the, the course I teach at UFT about Toronto film, I'm like, the first movies we're going to look at it, like, from the mid-1950s or early 60s, Matt mentioned nobody wave goodbye. So I'm like, this is the primal scene, 1964. You know what's been made at this point elsewhere?

Everything. I mean, it's 1964. Like, they've made Laventura. They've made Psycho. The French New Wave has, like, happened. I mean, it's really interesting to talk about why that is. There's no studios. There's no infrastructure.

or like any Toronto movie made before 1960 is a totally independent gesture, and it often copies what's being made in the States, like horror or like a lot of teen juvenile delinquency movies, which is essentially what nobody wave goodbye is. And when Matt says that he's copying nobody wave goodbye, like it's a very intelligent comment because Toronto movies are all about shooting without permission, running around. Like that was a movie that was commissioned by the NFB as a documentary about

juvenile delinquents in Montreal. And he's like, how about a fictional movie about a kid in Toronto, you know? And the NFB was like, They made that behind our back, but also people actually like this movie. So, like, a lot of English-Canadian films are about getting away with something and then hoping people will pay the barest amount of attention to it, because we live in the shadow of you guys, which is working out extremely well politically as well. I love where we're located.

It's been great to be this close. Have you guys thought about introducing transformers to your cinema? And do you think that would raise the bar a little bit economically, you know, Megatron? I'm... It was buried at sea. Sound wave. Sound wave toy, man. You know, I collected Transformers.

We don't push back. And Canadian cinemas don't either. I mean, it's an ugly thing to talk about sometimes. There may be people in the industry here. But it's like, you know, in the 70s, movie theaters actually invested in Canadian movies to put a gun to their own head to show them. Right? Yeah. We put money in these movies.

This is the only way we will show them is we are literally trying to get our own money back from it. I mean, some movies do really well. I mean, Nirvana and Blue Heron, like, they've played consistently in actual movie theaters. You can split those definitions very finely about, like, what an actual movie theater is and what's mainstream and what's art house. But it's hard to get that kind of sustained traction. And I always think about this idea of movies breaking containment, which is like, what might a normal person, and go see on a Tuesday. And I know normal is a tough word.

But festival circuit, like, people say that English-Canadian cinema is like a foreign cinema in its own country or something you watch in school or something you watch with the rhetorical equivalent of a gun to your head, which isn't right. It isn't the way most people feel. But I hear people laughing because it's kind of true. And I teach Canadian films in school. And I ask my students, I'm like, how many of you last voluntarily watched a Canadian movie? And they're like, I don't know.

And then I'm like, what about a Matt Johnson movie? And they go, yeah, we watch that. because that's a real thing that's kind of happened. And my students this year were super excited and interested in Blue Heron. So the thing you've identified is happening is kind of happening. Now, whether those movies represent something narrow in terms of authorship, representation, you know, race, subject matter, that's a really actually interesting conversation to have.

But I'm sure very soon we're going to be drafting The Terminator. I was going to say, do you think we're the best people to have that conversation in this country? Sean, my friend, you came here. And for some reason, you invited me. When we started talking about this, what did you think about this as a subject matter? Did you think, I'm locked and loaded. I know what my six picks are. Well, you have a way of making up interesting categories.

So I couldn't read your mind until the categories showed up. But no, I will be completely honest. I had the instinct of, okay, so now I got to do some Googling to figure out which movies I already know and love are, in fact, Canadian. and I'm sorry, you know, but that's, and I didn't even say it with a Canadian accent. But, um, it's, I,

I thought that there is a lot that I, that American cinema has just sort of, um, slurped up that I'm sure I'm familiar with, but that is maybe not, um, would not meet Matt Johnson's definition of Canadian cinema. I think I've got a couple in there now.

Does anyone follow Chris Ryan on letterbox? You should. Do people see, you guys see him logging video drone like, an hour and a half ago. No, but it was a rewatch, though. It was a rewatch. I was just getting, like, lubricated for tonight.

How did you think about this, this endeavor? I thought it was going to be a lot harder. I did not know the categories until, obviously, you decided to reveal them. And I thought it was going to be much more, like, deep agoyan knowledge. And I was like, all right. Well, why isn't it? Why? You made the game.

But you could use deep aggoian knowledge. You just saying like you can paint your picture. Whiffle balls with Gosling and stuff like that. And that's cool. Well, here's the thing. I think I sent you an email. I think one of my suggestions was best incest and it was ignored. That's why I'm the host, you know?

Me, me after the show, Adam, and we can break that down. I think what I was, what I was aiming for was some balance regarding the interests of the show. Yeah. And paying respect and homage to. the wonderful cultural history of this classic centrist Sean. Right. Yeah. I'm staying right down the middle.

We have to figure out a draft order. I mean, Amanda, you want to reread those categories so we can kind of be psychologically prepared for this before getting the order? We have Ryan Gosling, David Cronenberg, Cameron James or Villeneuve, Denis, Canadian director,

Canadian star, and Toronto plays itself or somewhere else. It's worth mention. Canadian director cannot include Cronenberg, Cameron, or Villadov and Canadian Star. Was it originally Ryan Gosling and Ryan Reynolds? That was your suggestion. Yeah.

I had a whole thing about picking a movie from before when Reynolds' eyes went dead and I thought it was going to get a good line, but we can't do it. Of course we can. There's plenty of room for it in Canadian Star. Right, okay. So don't spoil your own draft. I'm going to repeat the jokes. All right. We're going to need a draft

order, so let's hear it. I just want to be fully transparent. backstage, Amanda Dobbins accused me of cooking the books, of wringing the draft order. Well, let's just, Jack, why don't you share with the people? Okay. The timeline. I think you're going to be... Of how this was determined.

It was determined quite simply. Before I came over here from the wonderful hotel, I ripped four individual pieces of paper, wrote all of your amazing names on them, put them in my Nirvana, the band, the show, the movie hat. Sean took you to a DVD store. Okay, okay, all right, all right. Thank you to Bay Street video.

Yeah, I'm just saying, was that you were... An amazing and amazing. institution. Anyway, Jack announced it 6.30 p.m. tonight that he already knew the draft order. And I would just like to say that, you know, I have some questions. Honestly, I'm not going to lie.

It feels pretty good. Okay. I like that you're on till a little bit here. Drafting first, Chris Ryan. That's good. That's correct. Wow. That's not very nice of you guys. Okay. Drafting second, Amanda Dobbins. Okay.

What the fuck is this? drafting third, not going to like this. Sean Fennessey. Yeah. And drafting fourth, Adam Neiman. The turn is fun. The turn's fun. Yeah.

Adam is like, no, it's not fun. So, and this is, yeah, Elizabeth's putting the in order. Okay. Okay. And fourth is Adam Neiman. Yeah. So you're feeling wounded? Always.

Okay. You're feeling elated? I'm playing free. This is an awesome draft. There's also not, like, I am not, like, going to be overwhelmed by the idea of not getting some Gosling or Cameron movie. Like, I'm playing deep cuts. I'm playing personal faves.

I'm honoring our hosts. And that is why Elizabeth is going to have to dig deep in the cards for my first pick, which will be Videodrome in Cronomberg. And this is my favorite Cronenberg. I re-watched it last night. I just want to let everybody know. I watched a lot of fucking movies

before Letterboxed. And I didn't go in and just like log them and be like, just, you know, I did this in 1989. It's just like, this is what I do. He has a lot of comments on my letterbox habits. What do I say? You're like, oh, how you watch five seconds of a movie and log it? Yeah.

And it's like, that's not true. Chris goes to YouTube and he watches three minutes of a movie and he's like, bang, knock that out. Heart, sweet hair after, done. Exotica, done. Saw the trailer. Boom. Log that joint.

I watch billions on shorts. Come on. VideoDrome, I am an active Reddit poster under the name Brian Oblivion. This movie predicted the following 35 years that would come after it. It is still in one of my favorite, probably top two,

top two James Woods performances. How about that? That's a cool draft. And Byron Dale Beckett from Ghost of Mississippi is number one. And it is just such a haunting portrait of mass media and also, human desire and violence.

And I just adore this movie. So I wanted to get it first. That's a great one. This is a favorite of yours as well. Do you feel, how do you feel right now? Yeah, my favorite day every year

is showing videodrome to students who haven't seen it. And they just buzz and levitate and want to talk about it because it's amazing. And it's such a Toronto-coded movie. How many people here have seen video drone? Yeah.

So you guys know that there's a famous story about Cronenberg going to get funding. He tries to go down to L.A., and he's in a meeting with Lorne Michaels and Moses Nimer, which someone should write a one-act play about. And, you know, Moses Nimer was the impresario of city TV. And without putting words in anyone's mouth, he was not very nice to David. So the scene in videodrome where a civic TV executive named Moses gets his head blown off is very satisfying. Spoiler, yeah.

But Brian Oblivion's also obviously Marshall McLuhan, right? So you can't get more Toronto-coded than a kind of stand-in for Marshall McLuhan. And it's just like, this is the greatest movie. I actually have Marshall McLuhan right behind. that was a good joke not gonna say where it's from though non-Canadian filmmaker Woody Allen you know nothing of my work

all right Amanda you got the second pick yeah but you know Chris normally when he gets first pick you know throws a curveball and that was just like respectable and you know honoring Canadian filmmakers yeah instead of die hard with a vengeance or Iron Man 3 or whatever

They shoot any of Iron Man 3? I think they did some exteriors. Okay. Yeah. So now it's like, you know, I got to, I got to do something with dignity also. I can't totally go crazy. I disagree. I think we left dignity back in like 2018.

It's really very true. But I think I have something, it's fairly obvious, but it's still from the heart. So that seems like a good. So in Cameron or Villeneuve, I will take a rival, which is my favorite Denis Villeneuve movie. and also, I believe, filmed in Canada, at least parts of it. No one's saying yes. Okay.

And those aliens live here, right? That's why they have to come here. I think that this is an incredibly beautiful and upsetting and memorable movie about, you know, obviously aliens and, you know, how they talk to them. And let's be real, it handles the aliens. I didn't laugh, like, when the alien came out in disclosure. day. But there's something poetic about it. They don't ride segways. But I, you know, it has a lot of, it does a lot of sci-fi tropes that I typically don't respond to in a lyrical and I found

very emotional way. And I think about it all the time. So I, you know, I left Titanic on the board, which feels a little crazy like right now. I'm like kind of sweating. But I love a rival. So I'm, I'm sticking with it. Can I ask a question? There are no takebacks. I just want to get this conversation rolling. We could return to it over the course of the evening. Does Denisville and Nouve already have as many good movies as James Cameron?

Okay. So I'm not sure if you're up on this, but Chris has been waging a war against his father, James Cameron, for the past five years. And it's one of the damnedest things I've ever seen. You know that he didn't make the one with the Soldado. Yes. He made the other Sicario. Yeah. Because you're a Soldado guy.

Soldado has a lot to like. So Chris, it's kind of a Girl Dad movie, honestly. In the entire history of the big picture, Chris has asked to sit in on an interview with me one time. And it was for Stefano Salima

to talk about Day of the Soldado. That's a true story. Did that go well? I can't remember. He was a lovely fellow. His films are evil. So I What happened with you in Cameron? You're just on the spot.

You don't want to go on the record. You don't want to answer. No, he does not have more good movies than James Cameron. What are you talking about? Just checking. I think it's pretty neck and neck. James Cameron is an inestimably greater filmmaker. But he's been making cartoons for 15 years.

Is this an anti-Avatar audience? Okay. This is an anti-Avatar audience? Yeah. This show is over. Okay, I'll make a choice. I'll also follow sincerity. I'll take my favorite Canadian filmmaker

whose name is Sarah Polly, and I'll take... Under filmmaker, I'll talk about Take the Swaltz, though I really like all of her films. Take the Swaltz. Absolutely beautiful movies starring Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen,

about reaching a point in your life where you realize that maybe not everything is as it seemed, or are you happy enough or satisfied enough with where life has taken you. And it's just incredibly emotionally confrontational and thoughtful and features amazing performances. And I thought about doing stories we tell too,

which I think is also a super special movie. But that'll be my pick for Canadian director. What is she, what do you think about her? My kids here, right? Leah, you're somewhere. I took Leah on the Center Island Scramble for the first time last. summer. And I think the Center Island Scramble scene and take this waltz is like sublime.

The video killed the radio star bit like trading in something old for something new and the way it just stops. Like that's a great piece of film direction. There's usually like one or two great sequences in each of her of her movies. That's my favorite of them for what it's worth. That's your favorite to Sarah Polly film. Okay, great.

Well, Adam, the time has come. You're at the turn. So you have two films that you can take here. You can keep the earnest vibe going or you can mean pod guy it up. Well, I'm going to pick a Denisville movie that I actually like and which qualifies and which is pertinent, which is

Enemy. Damn. Is this the giant spider? That was my fucking pick. Which is a hate letter to Toronto from a Montreal filmmaker. It is the ugliest this city has ever looked in a film. I have to say, this city looks so good

compared to enemy. I was covered in pitch. So there was a year, there was a year at this festival in this building where Dine was here with two films. There was prisoners, which is like a job for hire, you know, with Roger Deacons and a sort of like big American film. They actually like play the Star-Spangled Banner at one point on a trumpet. And you're like, it's a movie about America.

And then Enemy, which is, you know, about Toronto. And I interviewed him for both movies. And I'm not going to say which one his heart was more in. But it was Enemy. And I love this film as a movie about, you know, doppelgangers and doubles. But it's a great movie about Toronto because if you've seen Enemy, how many people here have seen Enemy? Yeah. This is a movie about someone who suffers a debilitating existential crisis because he rents a Toronto independent film.

And he watches it and he sees himself on screen and he goes, that is messed up. Why am I seeing myself? And so when I teach this movie at UFT, it's all about the shock as a Torontoian of seeing yourself and your city on screen, it literally drives you crazy. But, you know, I like Jake Gyllenhaal in it a lot. It's just so exquisitely assembled and shot. It's a great performance by Sarah Gaden. Amanda off-mic, I think you were spoiling it by mentioning the insect that's in it.

There's a great spite. Oh, yeah. For people who haven't seen it, there's a famous scene with an insect. It's a 12-year-old movie. Statute of limitations on spoilers for Canadian movies is longer. What about for The Odyssey? Can we spoil that?

Yeah. He makes it. That's about the enemy. It's about enemy, not the Odyssey. Some guy quietly inside. It's like, fuck. Spoiled. But, no, I mean, I like Enemy a lot because I think Villeneuve has gotten more of, he's a filmmaker who's all about scale.

And we can hold off on whether he's good with scale as we talk about more of your other movies. I like how small enemy is. I think it's brilliantly managed and it's really funny movie. Like, funny, funny. So that's my pick. The movie memorably opens with a title card that says chaos is order yet undeciphered. Yeah. What do you think when a filmmaker?

puts a title card like that at the beginning of their movie. I think they really would like to be taken seriously in adapting Jose Sarmango. And if you go on Reddit, which is a great place to go, it's really good for your mental health. Brian Oblivion again. There are all kinds of deep dive explainers on what that quote means pertaining to me because my students always come back the next week. They go, I solve the movie and I go, is it the Reddit thread about the quote? And they're like, yeah. I'm like, and or there's also like good YouTube explainers.

YouTube explainers with regard to the highest form of film criticism. They're so good. You do YouTube explainers. Not anymore. I've been meaning to mention this to you. It's been a while. Talk about it now? No.

Okay. I'm not going to renegotiate that on stage. You have another selection. Yeah. I want to mention a great Canadian filmmaker who's actually Canadian, which is Alan King, the late documentarian, who has much. as Fred Wiseman is kind of, you know, key in pioneering. People call it direct cinema or cinema verite.

This is a film. I don't know if people are familiar with Alan's work, but he was just fascinated in the way that institutions and individuals sort of related. There's a film that kind of got faint because Criterion, when they used to do the Eclipse box sets, then I'm going to cheer for the Eclipse box sets. Well, yeah. When it was like the movie didn't go in the full collection,

they would do kind of like a deep dive. And there's a movie called Warringdale, which is about a home for emotionally disturbed children in Atobico. and this very unconventional method that's used to treat them, which is the people at the facility, they just hold them. And the movie at no point says that's what they're doing. And there is no interview with the people you're holding these children. You watch the film.

It's like, are they hugging them? Are they restraining them? Is this abuse? This is wild to watch 62 years later. But, I mean, even at the time, the lack of judgment in the movie was, like, commented on. He gives the audience so much space, even while he is just pushing you right into the faces of these children.

So it's a movie about mental health. It's about generational conflict. It's so empathetic and almost kind of exploitative at the same time. And the nonfiction films he made, you know, going forward are about a lot of those same themes. One of the first years I covered Tiff when I was young and the world was beautiful and all of that was called Dying at Grace. Which is set at Grace Hospital in Toronto. It's about five patients in palliative care who are all at the end of their lives. I know I'm bringing the vibe down.

We'll talk about the Soldado later. And it's the most astonishingly, like, terrifying, humane, normalizing movie about death. Like, it should be mandatory viewing for people to just watch this thing. I got to know Alan a little bit before he died. He's just one of my heroes. So I want to mention him. Do we think Elizabeth is backstage furiously trying to find a Warringdale card that was not printed up? No, she's got a single.

What I meant to say was Titanic. Wow! Look at this winner! Yes! For Canadian director, well, it was Alan King, but we'll say Warren Dale was the stand-in for Alan King. That's fine. That's a wonderful pick. I do have that criteria and said. Married Life, one of the great... One of the great...

You're a married couple. Yeah, well, you have everything. Yeah, yeah. We were at Bay Street video today, and I was like, Sean, here's an insane movie. No one served. I said, no, I have that. I did. You did. It's called the Tracy Let's syndrome. He's an inspiration. Yeah.

He's going to kill you. You know that, right? Yeah. I'm going down with him. Great playwright, Tracy, but not a great third chair. No, he's great, but I'm just saying he's a great playwright. Who do you think should be a third chair?

Just, he's sitting right there. I'm just asking you. You know what? The answer, according to the... I have students who send me the big picture Reddit threads. The answer is apparently not me. It's funny how you guys keep bringing up Reddit. Who?

Me and Adam? Yeah. Well, we're just really well-informed guys. We're plugged in. We're plugged into the moment. Are you guys actually the posters there? No. Oh, I would never.

Never. No. I'm way busy on other Reddit ports. I'm figuring out what enemy is about for Adam. I have a pick. I mean, Matt Johnson kind of spoiled my pick, but I was always hoping to get the fly. So the fly is still on the board.

So that will be my David Cronenberg. Yeah. Which I think is his best movie. Maybe it's his least, I don't know, esteemed, you know, awardsy film. Because it's pure genre, but he obviously applies a ton of incredible thought to it. But amazing performance by Jeff Goldblum

as Brundlefly in the movie about a transformation, a guy who's turning into something that he doesn't want to, but he does want to feel power about a dying masculinity. That's why you collect. like somebody DVDs.

That's true. I relate to him. I don't know. What's my version of the fly? It's probably the Arabato Blu-ray that you were pointing out to me today that I was like, I have that. That was the fly that got in my machine.

And yeah, I mean, it is also kind of a for hire job. Like, it was his idea, but it's a remake of a sci-fi movie. Heroically produced by Mel Brooks. That's right. Yeah. Did you catch Matt's drive-by on the script? Did you not like, is there, like, any writing problems on? Matt is very fond of aggressive opinions.

Maybe more so than I am. We'll do it later. We'll do it scene by scene. We'll do a breakdown. But yeah, I think it's his best film. I think it's his most entertaining movie, the saddest movie. And I think his movies even now are incredible,

but that's the one that I return to the most. So that's my Cronenberg, the fly. Okay. At some point, we're going to have to break this, like, holy Canadian streak. And I guess I'm going to be the one to do it. No, listen, this is eligible. But in what I've learned,

from drafting. Lo, these many years with these men, is that you have to take what you want, when you want it, and when you have the opportunity before they can take it away from you.

Mahoney's not here. Well, yeah, but, you know, Sean's taking notes every single time. Sean wants what Mahoney has. So, um... I think everyone knows the opposite is true.

Um, so I'm just, I'm going to take a film that means, tremendous amount to me and to my film watching career and was filmed in the suburbs of Toronto, I believe. And that film is Sophia Coppola's the Virgin Suicides. Now I understand that it's standing in for Detroit, which is an American city. Detroit is almost as foreign to me as Canada and now less so. More so because Canada, I understand.

So in that sense, I was just learning about a suburban world. And it's a beautiful movie about being a teenager and not understanding what's going on with you or what's going on with anybody else. And trying to make sense of or not, as the case may be, of a very, very complicated time with very few words. is Josh Hartnett Canadian? No, he's not. He's just in another great Canadian film trap. Well, Don't steal my bit.

Yeah, listen, I thought about it because that would be eligible in this category. But it's also an important movie about Josh Hardin. But obviously also, Sophia Coppola's debut film. And thank you for letting her become a filmmaker, Canada. There we go. What? You managed to get Sophia on the board.

Yeah. I never doubted you. I always do. CR. Two picks. For Canadian Star, this was a lot of deliberation on this one, but I have to give it to an officer of the Order of Canada.

And that is Donald Sutherland. And I wanted to do this because I was looking at his filmography today, which I'm, like, broadly familiar with, but I guess I had not really thought about the fact that he makes a great movie from the 60s in every decade, at least one great movie, in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, aughts, if you're including

Hunger Games. And what a phenomenal, not only star, but also anti-war activist, an incredible social activist, and has been in some of my favorite movies like MASH and Include and Backdraft.

What's the... He's fucking awesome in Backdraft. He is telling the truth in JFK. When we say that, that is the only, only history book you need, brother. Would you select JFK in the Canadian movie draft?

Would that be your Donald Southern? It would make me want to move to Canada. JFK is true. No, but Sutherland is, I think he may be the number one seed in Canadian stars. Yeah. You think so? I wrote about him for Ringer, I think. I mean, he's the star of my favorite movie of all time, which is Don't Look Now by Nick Chris Rode.

Yeah, I mean, he's a, he's a top two seed, right? I mean, we'll see who the other guy, it might be in a second. He's a great, great pick. Ryan Reynolds? No. Remind me, Chris, in backtrath, he is like the Hannibal Lecter of Arson. He's the arsonist who De Niro goes to interview in prison. I think his name is Whisper.

Yeah. And they talk about fire like it's a person. Do you remember the one where Sylvester Stallone puts him in the electric chair? Is that lock up? Is that takeo and cash? No, it's lock up. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, he's in a lot of great movies Donald Southernland. Okay. So, I mean, is there a card that you want Elizabeth to come out with? Yeah, throw mash up there. Okay, all right. All right. Tell him about Korean War vets, but sure. But, like, I mean, okay, version suicides.

What is short to write? MASH. What do I want to do here, man? Yeah. What do I want to do? I think I'm going to go... I'm going to get away from this lovely country. And I'm going to go to another country just south of the United States of America and

do Sicario for Kenny Villanouf. Okay. Obviously, a passion project of mine, a movie we just did on rewatchables, and one of the most astonishing thrillers that's been made in this century, I think.

Incredible performances by Benici O'Toro and Josh Berlin and Emily Blunt. And, yeah, I almost feel like I'm talked out about Sicario, but some of the three or four of, like, the best sequences in any action film. Thank you.

You have to write mash. I'm sorry. I could have picked something more interesting. And then, yeah. So, Sicario's my phone of.

Any comments on Sicario? Yeah. Polite applause. Liked it? Yeah. Good. What do you think about Sicario?

Adam? He kind of likes it, though. He's going to say something who's like, but he kind of likes it. It's a, it's a brilliantly made kind of evil movie.

I don't, I don't like it one bit. But it's very well directed. What was the movie that I saw and you hadn't seen yet? And you're like, what am I going to think of this? And I said, you'll be ambivalent at best, but in five years, you'll give it a reconsideration. That was Disclosure Day. Disclosure Day.

I then filed a 2,300 deeply ambivalent review about disclosure that's like, let's take a look back in five years. So he's right. Yeah. It's good to know each other. Absolutely. Okay, so Sicario, which is a film that primarily takes place in Texas and Mexico. Yes. here at the Canadian movie draft.

Air Force Base of New Mexico, yeah. New Mexico. Got it. Okay. What's up with Taylor Sheridan lately? How's that going? Well, he's actually speaking to people now. He's getting out on the press tour.

He's got a book out. When's he coming on the watch? We've made the ask. Have not heard back. I've not heard back yet. Yeah. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Every episode we break down what's worth your time.

What to watch, what to skip, what to put on the list. But some things on the list aren't exactly fun to get to. like sorting out your coverage. It's not a blockbuster. It's just one of those things that matters. That's where State Farm comes in. One of their 19,000 local agents can walk you through your options in person over the phone

or through their easily accessible app and help you get the coverage that's right for you. So you can get back to the fun stuff, like arguing about movie rankings. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Amanda, you have a pick? So I will say, just to pull back the curtain, that Canadian director and Canadian star,

I thought we were choosing films to represent. But that's fine. Oh, I thought we were like saying this person's filmography. I can go either way. But so in Canadian director, I will take Norman Jewison, who, and, you know, I was going to go with Moonstruck, obviously. But an entire, which, you know, is a film set in New York, but that's okay. But filmed here, Moonstruck. Right.

And, you know, but an entire body of work, including, you know, Thomas Crown Affair, without which we would not have Thomas Crown Affair, 1998 or 9. One of my favorite films of all time. No. Like an amazing director and I know also, you know, a Titan of Canada film and film preservation. And Moonstruck is one of the most romantic movies I've ever seen. A friend went on a date recently in L.A. to see Moonstruck. And I mean, it's tough because when the guy is not Nick Cage on a date, then it's just there's not going to be another date. And that is a hard high bar to live.

up to, but also I think it reminded her that love is possible, just not on that date. Have you ever found Danny Aiello sexually appealing? I mean, that is the thing. It's, you know, when you're sitting next to Danny Ayello, no, no. Chris, same question. Yeah, I think he has a beautiful singing voice. Yeah. As you know, I don't like singing, so.

Well, we go to karaoke tonight. You're going to change your mind. Yeah. Well. What's your karaoke choice? I've been thinking a lot about Cheryl Crow. Wow. So, yeah, so what?

I'm going to break out. I haven't decided yet. What? I've never heard you sing. I mean, surely you've heard me sing around the kids. Nope. Okay. Well, get ready.

Okay. Norman Jew is a great choice. Thank you. Incredibly storied career. I feel like you know a little bit about what he means to the country, too. Well, he left. Yeah. Well, yeah.

And he made a landmark movie, but American Civil Rights as a Canadian filmmaker. Then he came back and built the Canadian Film Center, so that was good. And, I mean, he's often used as an example of, like, the kind of filmmaker who left at a time when leaving was a very understandable option. You know, languish and obscurity or work with, you know, Sidney Poitier. I mean, it makes sense, but he's a very dependable director. And there's this, like, two film run of his in the early 70s or three film run. It's like, Jesus Christ Superstar and Fiddler on the roof and Roller Ball. Like, these are major big, you know, 70s.

What about Fist? I like Fist just, it's good. Okay. A lot of good movies. You guys seen Fist? The Sylvester Stallone play as a union organizer. Yeah. Very believable movie.

And it radicalized him towards the left-wing politics he espouses to this day. Yeah. That's actually what Tulsa King is about, but not a lot of people dug deep into season two. So just hit me up afterwards. Yeah. You guys want to chat? I think I'm going to do star and I'm going to do my Canadian

my favorite Canadian film star of all time. That man's name is Jim Carrey. Did Jim Carrey make any Canadian movies? I don't think so. You're asking me? What do you get against Jim Carrey? No, no, I love Jim Carrey. I'm trying to think of what he might have

Man on the Moon wasn't shot here, right? Does anyone sure about that? It's not tried to. I don't think so. Isn't that crazy? A proud Canadian. It was very clear to all. of us in America that this man was coming from another place to be on in living color. He never had his love guru where he wore like a jersey or something.

Yeah, yeah. I'm just going to say it right now. I'm taking Ace Ventura pet detective. First of all, I was rudely left off that rewatchables episode for reasons that are mysterious to me even now. I don't think I was on that. No, you weren't. Zach Lowe was on it. God bless him, one of my favorite people in America, but he also loves Canada, Zach Lowe.

Ace Ventura Pet Detective, I'm not sure I've ever left harder in a movie theater in my entire life. I have no regrets whatsoever about it. Is the film perfect? No. Is it a progressive bastion of deep thought? No.

Should it be available publicly now? Probably not. Will you show it to your child? Probably. So can I ask a point of order? Does this mean that like dumb and dumber is off the board? Yeah, that's a tough break for yours, truly.

Yeah. Oh, you were thinking Jim. Well, again, I, was thinking about this in terms of films. And if I had drafted Jim Carrey, I would have put the dumb and dumber card there. But now I can no longer do that. It's really hard to overstate Ace Ventura, the mask, dumb and dumber. Yeah, just a preview of what's going to happen.

Being 11 in America when that was all happening, when it was really unfolding in that way. He was the funniest person who would ever, ever live to me at that time. And now he's in three Sonic movies. Do you know, in the last interview that she did before she died, Pauline and Kale was like, Jim Carrey's been the only thing worth watching in American movies. That's a direct quote from afterglow. She was still getting shots up right to the end. She was.

Yeah. A true shooter. Just a baller. She was, yeah. Flip Murray? Who would you compare her to? Real bucket getter. Okay. You ready?

Yeah. Sorry, it's on me? Yes. Yeah. So for a Canadian star, Chris was talking about, you know, top seed. So in a different bracket, I'm going to say the top seats, Christopher Plummer. And the movie I'm going to pick, because I want to see its name up there is the silent partner, which is, uh,

I think maybe the most entertaining movie ever shot in Toronto where he plays one of the worst guys ever, you know. He begins the movie, robbing a bank dressed as Santa Claus and proceeds to do some really, really awful things, including one scene so gratuitous that the director refused to shoot it. It's like shot by a second group of people. But that's like a tax shelter classic when people were allowed to basically just use, you know, Canadian movies as an excuse to write money off their tax. A lot of crooks making movies in the 70s at that point. but it's just such a perfect mix of like a Canadian star Christopher Plummer

Elliot Gould. My students are delighted to discover how hot Elliot Gould is by the way. They look at that the famous picture of him with Grover on the cover of TV guide. I actually put it up on the screen for them. But the silent partner is made in a very like mercenary way at a period where Canadian movies were very mercenary. And the whole movie is about just like skimming money off the till and stealing from yourself. So it's kind of like a great allegory of the tax shelter, even though that's not what they were trying to do. And Plummer is amazing in it. I love a guy who acts in the sound of music and then calls it the sound of mucus for the rest of his life. And I will also say about Christopher Plummer to name a Michael Mann film. I've said this a few times on the record. You can quote me on this as a dumb thing that I'm going to say.

Christopher Plummer is Mike Wallace and the insider is the best acting ever that I've ever seen in my... Mr. Wallace. Mike? Mike try Mr. Wallace. So I mean, Christopher Plummer is great. His name should be up there. I hope the Simon partners what we're going to write down. He goes head to head with Sutherland for me. Do you think Christopher Plummer in the insider going Mike, Mike Wallace, like, is better than Pacino standing in the middle of the ocean on a giant mobile phone in the insider? He is a garden of earthly delights. But I think he's, I think he's an amazing actor in that film, to the point that the movie made Mike Wallace angry. I think the real Lowell Bergman was like,

you should be flattered to be played by Christopher Plummer, which is a hard line. That was a gray line. So yeah, Christopher Plummer for sure. Great pick. You know what I read about it this morning? So the movie is adapted from a novel written by Curtis Hansen. And Curtis Hansen wanted to get the job to direct it. And they said, no, you're not ready.

So Darrell Duke made it. Yeah, it's a Danish novel with an American screenwriter and an American Canadian star. This is how we made movies here in the 1970s. And it's great. Sorry, I keep looking at Canadian director. I guess I invented a Canadian director named Warren Dale, Cynthia Dale's father.

So we have Christopher Plummer. What's left? Okay, I'll pick a Cronenberg movie. I'm going to rep for the most recent David Cronenberg movie, which I think is extraordinary and exquisite, which is the Shrouds, which is a movie that has been somewhat polarizing. It's an older man's movie. It's almost unbearably painful what it's about, which is that idea of loss and wanting to keep tabs on your loved ones.

But it's also extremely funny. If people seen the shrouds. So in the opening scene of the film, Vincent Cassell, who looks exactly like David Cronenberg in this movie, is on a date with a very attractive lady. And he's like, I had a wife. You know, she died. She's like, that's sad. But you're single and rich, right?

He's like, yeah. He's like, my wife's buried right over there. Would you like to see her? And then he like turns on the video feed. And she's like, I'm getting out of here. It's very funny. And, you know, we had this year, I think James Gray, like going, oh, for whatever. at Cann, but that's a B plot to the fact that Cronenberg hasn't won a competitive award at Cannes.

They had to invent the award for audacity for Crash, you know, and Francis Ford Coppola apparently wouldn't shake his hand when he gave it to him. You know, this is awesome to me. Like, I could have just as easily picked Crash, but I think the Shrouds is at a really high level, and I think that now there's a lot of younger filmmakers who like to mention David and say he's my hero, you know, my movies are made in his style. Someone should give the original guy who is still alive money to make his movies because they're really. really, really good. And, you know, the Shrouds is a wonderful motion picture.

Great pick. Okay. I'm just going to be extremely obvious. I'm going to draft in Toronto plays itself or somewhere else, and I'm going to take one of my favorite movies of this century, which is Scott Pilgrim versus the world. Not made by a Canadian director, though it is faithfully adapting the Brian O'Malley piece.

And apparently, I don't know if this is still true, but at the time was the largest production ever made in Toronto, I guess at least until Nirvana, the band, the show, the movie, which is now the owner of that title. But Scott Pilgrim, is the Toronto and Scott Pilgrim recognizable to you? Is it coherent to you? Does it feel like an adequate reflection of what it was like to be in a shitty indie rock band in 2011 and be an absolute misogynist towards women? Yeah. I'm very... Adam. There's a very interesting follow-up to Scott Pilgrim called Scott Pilgrim takes off, which is made in a great Canadian spirit of, like, apology, where it is like, this is what Scott Pilgrim was like the documentary reality of that movie at a certain point. Let's reframe Scott Pilgrim.

Let's kill Scott Pilgrim in the first episode and have a completely different kind of dramaturgy to it. I mean, it wouldn't be interesting if the first Scott Pilgrim wasn't so influential. This is the first argument my students always have, which is they watch this movie. They're like, this is like a movie about a shitty guy, who cares? And the cultural moment seems very over, this Tarantopia and cultural moment, which was all sort of about indie rock. And it was very insular and very kind of, you know, we're all friends and we listen to broken social scene. And then there was a garbage strike.

And then Rob Ford got elected. And then everyone was like, how did that happen? And I think it's instructive to watch Scott Pilgrim, if you want to see how solipsistic the city was that that happened. On the other hand, it's the best piece of direction Edgar Wright ever did. and that scene where Brie Larson lip synx metric or sings metric, the, what is it, black sheep, that is a great scene. So mixed,

mixed, split decision on Scott Pilgrim. In America, we don't give a fuck about all that. Rob Ford, you don't care about the emergence of right-wing populism in America. Sure, it happened. You know. I wasn't like, let me just sit down

and think about what this means. This movie is a lot of fun. But I think that, I do think that that movie is aware of the fact that Scott is a piece of shit. Do you not see that? Why, like when he meets the dark part of himself at the end and they go to brunch, which is very Toronto-coded activity.

We like standing in line for brunch. You guys are claiming brunch? We have brunch. I am claiming brunch for our country. Give us this. Yeah. For our city, not for our country. Okay.

So Toronto, yes, on brunch. Yeah. Canada mixed? Vote, vote yes on brunch in Toronto. We love standing in lines, though. Like, look at Tiff. Yeah. Okay, Amanda.

All right. We just got to get real. We got to go to Gosling. Okay. No one else wants to touch it, but I do. And honestly, you say that? I think me and Sean might feel

more strongly. Well, I know. And you two are going to get in a fist fight or whatever about place beyond the pines and drive and all of these beautiful things. Sure. And then I'm just going to go

double Canadian and take the notebook. Which, is kind of a miracle of a movie. And we're living in the Colleen Hoover era now of all of these sappy book to movie adaptations starring people you don't really want to see on screen and preposterous plots. And you don't understand the magic

of Ryan Gosling in the rain telling Rachel McAdams it's not over. It was never over. I mean, you know, listen, I know he was in other things but kind of two stars being made. at once. It's very emotional. I remember watching it on an actual DVD in college.

And just, yeah, just like weep. I mean, that's what we had in 2005, right? I know, but I'm just like it wasn't like a laser disc,

right? And weeping. And it's honestly a beautiful movie. It really is. Even the flashback plot with James Garner and Gina Rattlins and the, and the spoiler alert dying in their bed like old people. And, you know, it makes preposterous things really real.

Sorry, Chris. That's what happens in the notebook. I've seen the notebook. I've seen it's not over. It was never over. Yeah. Seen has been stitched into so many Joel M. B'd highlight reels, where it's like diagnosed with Bell's palsy.

And he's like, it's not over. It's never over. We're fucking back. trust the process, baby. Is it my turn? Yeah. Okay. What's your prediction right now

for the Sixers season? What's that? What's your prediction for the Sixers this season? I'm going to do you want to bet $10 right now? No. That the Sixers will have a better regular season than the Knicks. Ooh.

What do you mean? A better record? More wins. I want to die right now. I just like, I thought we were done with the Sixers and now it's back. Amanda, you're done with the Sixers. I've been done with the Sixers. for years.

I'm sorry, we're not going to make this into a sports podcast, but I just thought it would be an interesting sweeten the pot of our relationship, you know? I don't think the NICS will have a better record. Now, in the playoffs, what do I think will happen?

I think we'll win. Okay. 20 Canadian dollars on the Raptors. Fair enough. How much money is that in America? That is $6. and $73. That's why I write for you.

For Ryan Gosling, I'm going to go a little bit left field here. and I'm going to go only God forgives. Oh, yeah. All right. A misunderstood gosling performance, and I'm going to turn to you guys. Really a misunderstood ref and masterpiece about mothers and sons, swords, revenge, Thailand, synths, neon lights.

Dissolves. Dissolves. White man goes to a foreign nation and decides he needs to kill everybody. because he wants to fuck his mom. He's assimilated into the culture. He's basically like half tie at that point. He's learned all of their martial arts and will kill them with it. No, he gets fucked up.

That's the best part is he can't even fight. This movie when I saw it was the biggest disappointment of my life coming off of drive. I was like so hype for it. I think you and I sent like 800 T9 sidekick texts about this whenever this came out. And I sat there and it's so. boring and weird. And now I have since

re-contextualized it as a masterpiece of world cinema. And that's just what we do here. So only God forgives, that's Goss. And Toronto,

better get this one while it's still on the board. Dawn of the Dead, the Snyder Cut. This is set in Milwaukee but was shot in the Thornhill Square shopping mall.

Is that active? Dornhill Square? No. Demolished immediately. Not even any like cool backroom style YouTube videos of it. Too bad.

I was going to try and make a pilgrimage tomorrow. Okay. Just to pray at the altar of Big Brother Zach. You just want Only God forgives Zach Snyder? Yeah.

That's incredible stuff. Yeah. Honestly, pretty good movie. I like it. Yeah. James Gunn wrote the script. A couple other people rewrote it.

Scott Frank, I think, got involved there. What? Yeah. Are you breaking news on that? No, it's on Wikipedia. Okay. And just, like, is probably the best use of Snyder's specific kinetic gifts as a filmmaker. And Sarah Polly's amazing.

Yeah, Sarah Polly, co-star, yeah. I was going to get there. Bing Rames, some other folks. What about him? He's in it, too. Where's he from? America. Sure.

Yeah. So, only God forgives and Dawn of the Dead 2004 are my picks. Okay. Thanks for being here, Chris. Yeah. Okay, Amanda, back to you. Okay, so I have Canadian Star and Cronenberg left, and both have been, you all have your picks, so I can kind of do whatever I want. I think I think I'll go, I'll do Cronenberg, and I was informed that his feature on Charlie X, X, X's album,

is not eligible because it has not been released yet, but I look forward to that and to Charlie, who continues to honor Canadian cinema and also be fun. I think I'm going to do a history of violence. Yes. I rewatch both. I rewatched both Vigos, you know, because when you have the chance.

And while Eastern, they're both excellent, but there is something so, obviously messed up about a history of violence. And, you know, you know exactly what's going to happen, both because you've seen it, but also just because the way the film language uses the familiar beats to make things clear to you, and you still don't want to believe it.

And it's a little bit because of Vigo's performance, and it's a little bit just because of the pacing and the amazing shock construction. So, like, an incredible, very upsetting movie. You've chosen the one David Kronenberg movie explicitly about the United States of America. Well, I listen. And I apologize, but it's really,

really good. It's great. It's the best. And Charlie wasn't allowed. Do you relate to William Hurt in that film? In what sense? That I have a younger brother? How else? That I'm going to be killed by V.

Oops, I shouldn't say that. That I'm going to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actors. No. This podcast. Yeah. You watch Vigo Morton If you were to watch Ovego Mortensen, the four movies he's made with crime, that was the best actor of all time. I mean, those performances are just amazing,

especially history of violence. Like when the turn comes, and he's kind of like, actually I am this guy, what he is doing, like, physically and with his face and with his voice, those, like, micro mutation is incredible. Also, once again, teaches us

that Philly is where everyone goes to die. Yeah. Crazy, did you know, did you know Crazy Joey Cusack and the QSacks? Who are your guys in the Philly mob? Did you know? Just, I mean, it's most of the Irishman documents this. So, yeah.

I have to give you credit for not selecting the movie where Vigo is nude. That's... Sure. I mean, and, you know, scrotal tucks have been a topic of discussion on and off the podcast recently, and in a way that fights, see, and it qualifies, but... Would this room generally say that they're pro-scrottle talk? Like, I've really been trying to explore this idea. Are you going to give some context?

So we podcasted a... about a number of things recently. And I don't remember how it came up, but we talked about whether there was such a thing as a scrotal tuck. And I'd like everyone to know that we've done some independent reporting after that. And we have heard two separate instances

of like known scrotal tucks happening to that actors that you heard of. Well-known figures have received scrotal tuck. So gigantic tactical error inviting my kid. Oh, sorry. Lee, I'm so sorry. Is anybody okay? You can't?

You kid is going to be like, Dad, can we watch only God forgive us tonight? She wants to watch Texas Jainsaw Massacre every day. Yeah. I'm only speaking of anatomy. We all have bodies. Absolutely. That is a David Crotabert quote.

Okay. It's up to me? It is. I don't have a Cameron or Deni movie. Mm-hmm. What's the most respectable movie I could do? I really wanted to take an enemy. I thought that was the only pick.

Pick one of those other great movies he's apparently made more than James Cameron. Well, I didn't say that. Or, like, The Terminator. I'm taking aliens. Yes. Which I think is amazing. And that was shot on location in Toronto? Yeah.

Yeah, in the, in the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the bluer viaduct. You know, absolutely an amazing. sci-fi war masterpiece and total re-imagination of what the alien movie could be. And I think probably changed action cinema forever. And I think his commitment to practical filmmaking in that movie is probably why Chris's heart is so broken over the avatar situation. I understand. I get where you're coming from. You'll always have aliens. It's not going anywhere. But if you all want, you can also have fire and ash. And not just fire, fire and ash.

And the way of water. Yeah. Well, you've had that. You've had the way of water. You rejected it mercifully. But aliens is wonderful. I mean, is Cameron, like, do you claim Cameron? You know, does he feel meaningfully Canadian?

Because he claims Canada. There was that famous podcast that said he should be president because he's just as a project manager. He could, like, he'd be like a centrist Democrat who could probably like, he'd be environmentalist. And you could got to get stuff done. There was once a list that was published of like the best. Canadian movies. It was kind of like your draft where it was like, it's all good. And like Titanic and Cameron movies were there. And when you looked at it that way, it was

kind of ridiculous, which isn't to say your podcast is ridiculous. But that list was ridiculous when they published it because you would have like, I've heard the mermaid singing and the Terminator. It's like, these things are not like each other. But, you know, I mean, we, we proudly claim, well, I think what's more, not more interesting, but that Villeneuve is probably, unless anyone has a better candidate, he's probably the second biggest Canadian director of all time, like, by a mile at this point, simply by making the Dune movies as a Canadian-born

filmmaker, like, unless I'm forgetting someone, they really are the top two in terms of industrial Schlep, you know? Even more than Ivan Reitman, you think? I'm going to take the fifth, the sixth, the seventh, the seventh, the eighth, the eighth, the ninth, do those apply in Canada? No.

Okay. Did you did you watch the Dune 3 trailer? I did it? No, I didn't actually. We didn't watch the Dune 3. Well, we saw, sorry, we've seen a lot of it. Live reaction right now. Pull it up. Our eyes, if you could put it up there, our eyes aren't that good.

Picture a big spaceship sitting there. Okay. Well, we saw seven minutes of, we saw the opening of the film at Cinema Con. Okay. And it was sick. It was fucking sick. I don't mind saying. Yeah.

You know, despite whatever this guy's talking about. I don't know what the hell of Adam is talking about. The movie looked fucking amazing. So I don't need to watch the trailer. And I think you'll like it. Okay. Cool. It looked awesome.

Yeah. And you're Taylor Joy, covered in blood. Do you want to just narrate the entire story? Sure, go ahead. Chalamee blue eyes. Yeah. Fully going through a little midlife crisis

as he becomes a god. And, uh, yeah, Momoa back. Yeah. Duncan, Idaho? Yeah.

Cool. I'll explain that to you after the, it's complicated. Can't wait. You have two picks. I do. Uh, for Ryan Goss,

like, I want to pick Breaker High. People know. She's not going to have a card for this. You know, like one of the great Canadian young adult. How would we describe it? Young teen adult boat coming of age. But it's a TV show.

So that's a... We don't do that here. No, no. We don't do that here. I mean, I think Ryan Gosling is a good actor who's often in movies that I don't like. So I'm kind of caught. I was really hoping Reynolds was going to be there

because I was going to pick Adventureland, which is a beautiful movie and it was going to be a whole thing. But you know what? For Chris, I'm going to pick a movie I don't even like, but it's just going to make him so happy to see it on the board.

I love Chris. So I will pick Drive even though I don't like it. It's beautiful. Have you seen the new Nicholas winning Reffin film? I'm seeing it on Tuesday and my breath is baited. I cannot wait. Because much like Chris,

I like Reffin when he is absolutely unbearable. Like, only God forgives my favorite Nicholas Winding Reffin directed. thing because it's like almost unwatchable. It's a high compliment. I love that series. I've put in so many hours with the guy, man. I know. Too old to die young, all 11 hours.

Copenhagen Cowboy, all six hours. You know when you know it's a good series is when one episode is 90 minutes, when one episode is like 37 minutes. And when no two episodes are in the same language, you're like, this is an excellent streaming television series. I love it. It's not a bit. I think it's great. We're going on Twitch immediately after you see her private hell.

Me and you, we're going to talk it out because it is not good. Okay, you've got another pick. Okay, I'm going to cheat. I'm going to put one movie on the board. Then there's a second movie that I have to mention. The movie I'm going to put on the board is Clement Virgo's Rude from 1995, which is a important movie in Tiff's history, an important movie in Toronto film history. It's a gesture against the fact that so much of the mythology around Canadian Toronto films is that, you know, stories about white characters.

So here's a black Toronto director, largely black cast, very much influenced by do the right thing. There's even like a DJ character connecting the narratives. Like it had its 30th anniversary last year and I thought that that anniversary kind of came and went with less circumstance than it should. Very important crucial Toronto movie. So for people who are not sitting, how many people here have seen Root? It's going to be more than a few.

That's not enough. You should see it. I was thinking more for the people who are like watching it. So Root is the pick. But I mean, I can't say that my favorite Toronto movie is not the one that my kid is in, which is Matt and Mara by Kazik Radvinsky, where Leah's sister Avery is excellent as a baby,

which also stars Matt Johnson, but her scenes with Matt were left sadly on the cutting room floor. She was at TMU, the former Ryerson, and shooting with him, and he just riled her up because he's like, where's your dad, which is narratively in context,

but Avery took this literally, and she's like, yeah, where is my dad? And Matt was like, yeah, where's your dad? Where's your dad? Knowing full well that I was around the court, and I'm like, this is great. Now I'm a basket case child on the drive home. But Kaz's movies in general,

as Toronto films Tower and Matt and Mara, I think are very important. But, yeah, Root is the one on the board. There wasn't a placard for Root. How do you feel about that? It's very telling. Yeah. I have a gozzling left.

That's my last category. Put the Metallica shirt on, dude. We know what you're going to do. Place to be on the Pines. Yeah. Yeah. Place be on the Pines. There you go.

I mean, there's nothing Canada about the movie. I don't really know what to say about that part of it. It's about Schenectady and being a fucking loser. in Schenectady and thinking that you deserve more than you have. And then Ben Mendelsohn comes and destroys your life. Yeah, but he teaches you how to be a great bank robber, which is normal stuff that happens when you are best known for riding motorcycles in circular cages. Deranged movie that could only be based on true life experiences.

Derek See and France, I don't think raced motorcycles inside of cages, but I do think he observed people doing that and had conversations with them. I sincerely love this movie, even though I know it's incredibly sincere and sentimental about being a sad guy. I think God, this is like Ghazly's best work. I wish he never left this era. I like what he's doing now. I think he's super talented. But he was actually like unafraid to be pretentious in a way that I wish more movie stars would be.

And this movie lives in my heart. Thank you for experiencing that. Okay, I have Canadian star left. This is very easy for me. I will be taking the other star of the notebook, Rachel McAdams. Mean Girls, obviously Mean Girls was eligible in Toronto plays somewhere. It's not, is it specified where in, it doesn't matter. Anyway, it's filmed in Mean Girls was filmed here, Wedding Crashers.

You all know how I feel about morning glory. Family Stone, Spotlight. I mean, she's someone who obviously makes romantic comedies and good romantic comedies, which are a genre that's important to me. But sort of like a comedian who in a different era, I think, would have had an even bigger career than she already has. But if you haven't seen Senn Help, very good in that. Do you like, are you there God, it's me, Margaret? She's amazing. She's amazing in that movie.

So everything that she is good in everything that she does, she's so watchable. We just did a Diane Keaton episode, and she obviously started with Diane Keaton a couple times. and eulogized her or did her in memoriam tribute at the Oscars. And you know, you think that in a different time period, Rachel McAdams had some of the stuff. So, and also Regina George is forever. Also known to have come here of her own volition to watch movies at the Lightbox when she was in Toronto.

I won't say which movie she was at, but it was one that were like four people here and I was one of them and she was in the back row with the baseball cap watching a Brazilian movie, and that ruled. Why would you not say what the movie is? It was neighboring sounds. Okay.

Do you guys know that I went and saw Neon Demon came out? And Elle Fanning was there watching herself in Neon Demon? I had this exact experience. Were you with the Lord? With Jacob All right?

That was the craziest thing ever. She was just hanging out with her friends. Just being like, look at this dude, cook. Look at this guy. What a filmmaker. She said those words to her friends. That's what I imagine they were talking about. my turn?

You have the last bit of the draft. I can't. I was going to do something. Chris, name a Canadian. No, you know what, here's the thing.

So I did have, this is all sincerity. So like in the early 90s, there was basically, like it was much harder to come across movie information, even though my father was a film critic. He didn't really share much with me.

And we would, you know, I would rent videos from the store on the corner. And I, early in high school, became obsessed with Miller's Crossing. So I, Brandon Miller's Crossing, a hundred times.

And there was a trailer at the beginning of the Miller's Crossing VHS that I was like, God, this looks interesting, but I don't know if like, it's my thing. And I rented Adam McGoyans,

the adjuster when I was like in high school. Let me tell you, sexually formative movie for me. And also, like, you know, Matt spoke about the uncanny Valley nature

of Canadian films. And I think that that can be read as a critique. But his movies specifically have that same thing. but I would say it as a positive trait of their films where you're like, this is reality, but it doesn't really seem like reality.

I watched his movies when they were a little bit over my head or at least as early stuff, like Exotica or whatever. You know, I think... What did you think of that one? Again, you know, provocative stuff. Really, really got the conversation rolling, but... With who? You know, my camp girlfriend.

But yeah, it's a... Would you rank him as a titan of Canadian film? At first I thought I was going to have to break it to you that the Coens weren't Canadian. No. I'm picking the Big Lobowski. And that sensibility just spoke to me, those noted Canadian filmmakers. There's the scene in Sirius Man where he tries to flee to Canada and then gets his head blown off. That's right.

The sign's just like Canada that way. Goodbye! Adam McGuane extremely important. And a filmmaker who's had an interesting turnaround in his reputation because he was kind of, you know, a breakthrough. I mean, Exotic is a huge international art house hit, you know, distributed by Miramax. Sweet hereafter, he competed for Best Director against James Cameron, you know, very significant for an actual Canadian movie to be nominated for director and script. And then his fortunes kind of turned because we have this thing in this country that I'm sure

none of you know anything about the Tall Poppy Syndrome thing where it's like, oh, you're successful, well, now you suck. And I found Agoian's last few films, including the one he made with Amanda Seyfried, not Canadian, but a great actress from Mean Girls, Seven Veils. I thought was really good and really interesting. interesting. And like, I hate the phrase return to form, but it was like very back to that period of just narratively interesting kind of perverse movies. I mean, it's good that he's here, even if his name is now the adjuster. Adam McGoy in 100%. It's actually my name, but we'll get

to Adam. Chris, the adjuster, Ryan. I love that was, that was like the best pick of any of us. I don't think so. I think that was just like, but I just needed, I needed to get him up there on the board. Yeah. You came by it honestly. All right. I mean, honorable mentions. Now, obviously, we didn't set this up to be a pocket history of Canadian film. We're not capable of doing that. We did our best, but also we picked the notebook in a place beyond the Pines. So, you know, there's only so much that we could do. What stands out as things that we didn't pick that, that...

Nelson. Pass line. Naked lunch. Last night, last night I feel like is a real point of pride, right? Like, I, the Sandra O movie. Don McKeller's movie. Don McKeller's last night. That's certainly one, sure.

Like we had mentioned going down the road. which my mom bought Sean a book on. My mom bought it at the tip book store. She's like, give us to Sean so you can know what going down the road is. Adam's mom, thank you. I have not seen the film. So I'll watch the film and then read the book.

There were a couple, like, I honestly, you know, one of the cool things about doing these drafts is it forces you to do your research on different subjects. And sometimes they're a little bit easier to come by because you're reflexively just like, oh, I have this all kind of in my memory.

But for this, I got to know a filmmaker named Danny Arcand, who obviously, like later in his career gets Oscar Noms, right? But like I found this like these three films from the 70s that I didn't really know about. The big one, Dirty Money came out in 72. These like Montreal set crime films, Gina, kind of a rape revenge movie. And there's another one.

But like they're, they're just really, really awesome movies. I mean, Zacharias, Canuck Alanis Abamsawa, and late Jeff Barnaby. We didn't talk about indigenous cinema. We have a documentary tradition in this country. We mentioned Alan King. I mean, there's a lot to Canadian film. We can end list the things we kind of left out. But it's an interesting cross-section anyway.

Mansfield Park? Patricia Rosam, important. We didn't mention her. Sure. Okay. Do you guys know what Bunkup Backup is? No. Okay.

Wait, wait, wait, wait. Can you guess? I don't know if I should. Is it a... How many solitudes are in Canada? two. It's good cup, bad cut, but one is French and the other one is not.

Okay. Got it. Yeah. It's our in the heat of the night. Is it a movie or a TV show? Both. It's your in the heat of the night. It's a movie that turned into a TV show.

If we could pick TV shows, I would have picked Shorzy. We didn't pick Nathan. You wanted... Is Finding Francis a Canadian movie? No. No. It's a tricky one, right? Because Nathan Fielder, you know,

Matt Johnson accepted greatest living Canadian filmmaker. But he hasn't made a feature film. You know, he's doing other work. Well, other than finding Francis, it was a feature-length documentary by a Canadian filmmaker, so we omitted it.

Did they show it on big screens here? He came and showed it at the Bloor Hot Dog Cinema. Was anyone at that Q&A? Do you remember how Maddie was that he didn't have a chair? Because very hard with... I've seen Nathanfielder live in Toronto twice, including also at the Danforth Music Hall.

It's extremely hard to tell if he's doing a bit maddening, in fact. And when he was at the blur, he was sort of like, I came all this way. And I seemed to recall that there wasn't a chair and everyone was kind of like laughing. He's like, no, no, I could use it. Like, I really need a chair.

When Chris and I were working at Grantland, I think it was maybe ahead of the third season of Nathan for you. He came in and he was coming in to do a podcast with Bill Simmons, which was one of the greatest podcasts of all time. If you've never heard it, I highly encourage it as Nathan fucking with Bill for an hour.

and he similarly, I couldn't, were you there that day when Nathan came in? I couldn't tell. I was, but I don't remember anything extraordinary about it other than like another guy standing around at the Grantlin offices. Well, he shook my hand. He looked me in the high and he said, thank you for everything you've done. Which is actually a classic fantasy move. I know, I would do that to a stranger.

So it was game recognized game, obviously. But, you know, he didn't know who I was or was. what my name was when he said that to me. He's so special. I love him. I saw him at a party once talking with Larry David, and I was like, I think that the Earth's axis is tilting. They can't handle this.

Yeah, another honorable mention I didn't get to, but one of the best movie shot in Toronto in the last few years is Trapped, the M. Night Shyamalan. Yeah. So much great, great, great girl dad movie. And it's so funny when they park for the skydome under the Gardner. Where he's like, I can't wait for this.

I'm like, you are an hour and 10 minutes away on foot. Crazy dad, Josh Hartnett. But a brilliant movie on many fronts. Okay, we have to get going. But before we go, we have to recap our draft, and then you have to vote on our draft right now. So before you vote, CR, you picked first. Why don't you tell us what you have?

Is there like a QR code or is this there's going to be as soon as you read your picks? So for my draft, I did Ryan Gosling. I took only God forgives. For David Cronenberg, I took Videodrome. For James Cameron slash Denis Villeneuve, I took Sicario. For Canadian director, I took Adam McGowan's De-Ajuster. For Canadian star, I took the classic Canadian film MASH. And for Toronto plays itself or others.

I took Dawn of the Dead, Zach Snyder's remake. Amanda. Okay. For Ryan Gosling, I took The Notebook. For Cronenberg, I took a history of violence. For Cameron of Villeneuve, I took a rival for Canadian director, Norman Jewison from Moonstruck. Canadian star, Rachel McAdams,

mean girl and everything else. And it for Toronto plays itself or somewhere else. The Virgin Suicides. For Gosling, I selected the place beyond the pines. Pure masterpiece. For David Cronerberg, I took the fly. For Cameron or Villeneuve, I took aliens.

For Canadian director, I took Sarah Polly and Take This Waltz. For Canadian star, I took Jim Carrey, an Ace Ventura pet detective. And for Toronto plays itself. I chose Scott Pilgrim versus the world? For Gosling, for Chris Ryan, I picked Drive. For Cronenberg, I picked The Shrouds,

an actually Canadian film. For Villeneuve, I picked Enemy an actually Canadian film. For a Canadian director, I picked Alan King, who's actually Canadian. For Canadian star, Christopher Plummer in an actually Canadian film, The Simon Partner, and Toronto,

an actual Canadian film, Root. Guess who's gonna win? Would you say you played in the spirit of the game, or would you say that you just sucked up to the audience? for an hour. A little bit of both. Yeah. There's going to... Well, actually, sucking up to the audience would be naming American movies because we're in Canada.

There is a QR code behind me. You have one minute. I think it's been up for a little bit, so... Starting now. That's nice, but listen, vote for your heart. It's okay. You know, it's... Have you won every live vote? No, I believe that David Sims won, but we were in the final two, so we held hands. It would be funny to get me enough votes so that I can make Adam name and hold hands with me, like Miss America style. Or do you know that reference?

Do they have Miss Canada? And I'll say, here they are. Yeah. Mr. and Mrs. Canada. Vote now. Yeah. Chris, can you just vamp for 57 seconds? What do you got?

Do some material here, Bob. Go to the Thornhill shopping center as the remains of it. Start a global zombie pandemic. Safe Society. Will you drop a pin tonight and let people know where you're going to be? Yeah. Yeah, sure.

Okay. For sure. Do you know how to drop a pin? I don't. I don't. Are the votes ready? Do we want to talk about tomorrow night at all? Yeah.

Is there anything? Is there any vamping? I don't know. I hope. Is anybody coming tomorrow? Okay. Great. Thank you so much.

You guys know where you bought tickets for, right? Yeah. It's not a surprise. So I'd like to come back and do a surprise screening. It's a lot. Screening of my episode of Inception from the rewatchables. Are you guys excited about that? Six out of ten.

Yeah, we're screening tenet, which will be a lot of fun. Yeah. And we're chatting afterwards. Chris has some bits planned, but we won't tell you what they are. Oh, yeah, I forgot. You've been working on your material. How much did you work on your material before this pod? Not at all.

Okay. And I'm not going to be here tomorrow, but I'm going to miss it very much. Okay. Does anyone else find it surreal that Chris Ryan is in Toronto? No. You guys are very sweet. Take that energy into the voting booth with you. Not that I'm influencing you guys.

Do we have results? Yeah, what are the electioneering rules in Canada? Voting is close. Okay. Well, usually your answer results are like 801 p.m. You guys do it fast? Very, well, yeah. Is it a clean system here?

Are we going to go into this with them? Okay. Canadian politics doing just great. Are you accepting new citizens? Sorry? Are you accepting new citizens? Me personally? Yeah.

Isn't that something you do as well? We have just, you can nestle just behind the few DVDs I still have left displayed in the basement. That's right where I belong. That's right where you belong. Okay. Jack, do we have results? The votes are in. Okay.

In last place with 14% of the vote. Wow. Christopher Ryan. Wow. Didn't work at all. Wow. Just like only God forgives, you'll understand it in five years. It's cool.

In third place, with 21% of the vote, Sean Fennessee. Wow. Oh, my God. Adam, come here. Yeah. Okay. This is so exciting. Here we go.

Very exciting. Can't wait. In second place, with 26% of the vote, mean pod guy, Adam, Neyman, which means Amanda Dobbins has won the rigged draft. Canada. Wow. It's almost like these events are 50% of them. women and she wins every vote.

Thank you all. You're very sweet. Next live draft. It's going to be me, you, and nine women. And then we'll see what happens. This was very special. Really appreciate you guys hosting us here tonight. I want to say thank you very, very much to TIF for hosting us. This is really cool that they were able to have us out. You know, Adam has been a huge and important part of the big picture. for a very long time and not only lends the show gravitas, credibility and thoughtfulness,

but he's also the funniest person who comes on the show. So this is very special for us to get to do something live with him. To hear that, Reddit threads? Matt Johnson is a genius and the man, and that was very cool that he joined us tonight. So thank you to Matt. I want to say thank you to Criterion for helping us out tonight. Thank you to Elizabeth Fehrman, who fearlessly runs events for the ringer, Helen Eichner on her team, whole Spotify group. Thanks to Jack Sanders, our producer for this event. Give it up for Jack. Thank you, Canada. We'll see you next time. Thank you, guys.