245: Contextualizing ANT MAN AND THE WASP, the 20th Marvel Film

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On the occasion of Marvel Studios' 20th (twentieth!) release in the official MCU, we get together for a conversation that includes an unexpectedly glowing review of said release, ANT-MAN AND THE WASP, a loving retrospective on the career of Michael Douglas, aggressive overuse of the term "mumbo-jumbo", and a brisk run-through of our respective Marvel movie top 10 rankings.
Be advised that if you're one of the half dozen people on the planet who still haven't seen INFINITY WAR you may wanna sit this episode out until you do... 

244: A Summertime Double-Header Featuring INCREDIBLES 2 and JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM

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On this week's episode we get to talk about Brad Bird's INCREDIBLES 2 and we have to talk about JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINDOM. This compromise lands us in a bit of a "push", critically speaking... but a brisk and entertaining push at the very very least!
We appreciate you listening in. After all, we are your biggest fan...

243: OCEAN'S 8 Bloviation, Fantasy Film Draft Hand-wringing, and Embracing HEREDITARY Trauma

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On the eve of our sixth official Fantasy Film League draft we engage in a discussion about the futility of early awards predictions, talk Toni Collette's big weekend and her nerve-shearing, barn-burner horror odyssey HEREDITARY, and still find time for a spirited disagreement about the fourth film in the seventeen year old OCEAN'S franchise. To avoid fainting keep repeating "It's only a podcast, only a podcast, only a podcast..."

241: SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY and the bitter taste of inevitable franchise fatigue

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It's been less than 6 months since we last discussed a new STAR WARS movie. But where THE LAST JEDI was controversial and divisive, SOLO is already proving to be sobering and disappointing (critically and financially). 10 movies into the 41 year old franchise (no, we're not counting the theatrically-released CLONE WARS feature), is it finally time to step back and take stock of this juggernaut, lest it lose its cinematic soul? Or is this just a middling installment in a series that was overdue for a legitimate clunker?
We dig into all of that and more in this week's [mostly] spoiler-flirting, deep-dive into the newest Lord-Miller-Howard joint, S:ASWS. 

240: DEADPOOL 2 rears its ugly head, WILLOW turns 30, and Cannes 2018 passes out prizes

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This week on the We Like Movies Podcast we're excited to bring you a really great episode about a really dreadful movie.
Yes, we got downright curmudgeonly during our discussion about DEADPOOL 2 but that's okay because it was cathartic (and SPOILERY, so consider yourself fore-warned!).
On the other end of the spectrum we celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Ron Howard's WILLOW and quickly run down the most publicized take-away lessons from all of the Cannes coverage we ingested, second-hand.
It took maximum effort to get through this week's movie. But the podcast about it goes down like a silky-smooth chablis.
You can trust us. We've been doing this for 216 episodes!

239: Affectionately Disassembling AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

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There's a new Marvel movie out. It's called AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR. About 900 million dollars at the box office in less than a week suggests that perhaps you might have seen it by now. If, by some chance you haven't yet, then perhaps consider coming back to this episode after you have because we dive into SPOILERS face first and from the word GO. Fair warning, nearest and dearest.

237: Our Spring-Cleaning Episode - Cannes Lineup, Netflix Controversy, BLOCKERS, and [finally] READY PLAYER ONE

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The snow has melted, the April showers are washing the detritus from the sidewalk, and the sunny specter of the summer movie season is visible in the distance. It's time to throw open the shutters, get out the broom, and do a little spring-cleaning-catchup. The discussion will include, but is not limited to, a brief look at the more high-profile films coming to the Cannes Film Festival, the ongoing feud between said soirée and its deep-pocketed nemesis Netflix, a quick endorsement of BLOCKERS, and a long-overdue reaction to Steven Spielberg's controversial, literary adaptation READY PLAYER ONE. Tune-in, turn-on, drop-out, catch-up... man.

236: The Delightful ISLE OF DOGS Lands in a Kennel of Controversy

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We love Wes Anderson here on the We Like Movies Podcast. We've never made a secret about that. So it comes as no surprise that we were quite taken with his most recent stop-motion endeavor. That being said there is dissent in both artistic and sociopolitical arenas to consider when it comes to ISLE OF DOGS. We do our best to address those concerns in this week's episode while also positioning the film in the annuls of our individual Anderson rankings. Join us, won't you? (Karina Longworth-style)

234: AFI #82 - SUNRISE

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After 9 months dormant, the AFI Top 100 Challenge podcast series comes roaring back with a deep-cut discussion of a bona fide masterpiece: F.W. Murnau's seminal, silent showpiece SUNRISE. Support silent cinema, peoples! It's coming back in a big way!
No, but, in all seriousness... it's a really important film and a really great episode. Give it a listen and we'll love you for it. <3

Grain of Salt: Ranking the 2017 Oscar Nominees

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So for the 3rd year in a row I actually managed to squeeze in a viewing of every single film nominated for an Oscar (yes, Mom, even THE BOSS BABY). That would be 59 films in total and if you average that out over the 12 months since the earliest Oscar nominee hit theaters (Happy Birthday, GET OUT, you just turned 1 this weekend!) it's only about 5 movies a month. Of course, a year ago I didn't know to make sure that I caught FERDINAND, WONDER, and ROMAN J. ISRAEL, ESQ. in theaters. So I've been doing my usual cram-session and managed to hit my 59th movie with only hours to spare.

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232: ANNIHILATION reactions and Our Official Oscar Predictions!

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Our conversation is lengthy this week as we have a great many thoughts about Alex Garland's sophomore feature ANNIHILATION.
But the real meat of the episode is an overthink-a-thon about all 24 Oscar categories culminating with us putting our predictions on the record!

Oh, and just for fun, in honor of the controversial "preferential" ballot that determines the best picture winner, we each organized our own this week to get a sense of how we'd rank the 9 nominees if we were voting members of the Academy. It's a strictly academic exercise but here's what we came up with:

Matt
9. DARKEST HOUR
8. THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
7. THE POST
6. GET OUT
5. THE SHAPE OF WATER
4. CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
3. PHANTOM THREAD
2. LADY BIRD
1. DUNKIRK

Oscar
9. DARKEST HOUR
8. THE POST
7. THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
6. GET OUT
5. THE SHAPE OF WATER
4. LADY BIRD
3. DUNKIRK
2. PHANTOM THREAD
1. CALL ME BY YOUR NAME

 

231: BLACK PANTHER's got legs (and claws!)

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You will not be able to stay home, brother
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and
Skip out for beer during commercials
Because the revolution will not be televised
...the revolution will be live

The multiplexes were pulsating over the weekend with an electricity rarely experienced during the flyover months. Not only did BLACK PANTHER arrive bearing the good will and sustenance to feed an underserved audience but it coasted in on unanimous critical acclaim and made box office history in less than 4 days. We're here to talk about it cuz it's what everybody's talkin' about!
Our review kicks in at 00:20:10 and the spoilers come fast and furiously!   

Grain of Salt: One Tuxedo Fits All - The Many Faces of 007

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“The image of Bond as mythological hero may be a likely one when one considers that the decade of the Sixties was seriously lacking in real-life heroes. An increasingly unpopular war in Southeast Asia could not yield the Eisenhowers and MacArthurs who stepped forth from the glory of World War II. Domestically, assassin's bullets robbed the public of the men who seemed destined for even greater prominence as politicians and humanitarians. In an age of such turmoil and uncertainty when flesh-and-blood heroes could be cut down in less than a heartbeat, perhaps there was a psychological need for a hero-even a fictional hero-who was invincible.” -Drew Moniot

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230: Top 10s of 2017 Plus Oscar Nomination Predictions!

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It took us until practically the end of January but we made it just under the wire in time to get our Top 10 of 2017 lists on the record before the Oscar nominations were announced (barely). Join us for a lively discussion with less overlap that usual as we count down the 2017 movies that reminded us why we bother making lists like these in the first place. Then stay tuned as we quickly log our official Oscar predictions in advance of tomorrow's nomination ceremony.
Remember 2017? We'll never let it die!

For Matt's long-winded blurbs on his picks click here!

Grain of Salt: Matt's Top 10 Films of 2017

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I’ve gotta be completely honest. I take this list very seriously. I obsess over it for months- curating, second-guessing, shuffling, re-shuffling, and shuffling again like an insecure blackjack dealer. And when I finally am satisfied enough to walk away from it and make it public I am immediately filled with that looming dread of the inevitable dissent coming my way for not including a film someone was passionate about (I’d hate to tell you how much flack I got last year when MOONLIGHT only ended up on my honorable mentions). But you know what? That’s okay. Lists representing individual opinions are merely a caveat for inciting discussion and a helpful tool for organizing one’s thoughts. I use my top 10 list as a way of taking my own temperature as a critic and examining patterns for the ways in which the industry winds are blowing in any given year. I saw 290 films in 2017 and 110 of those were in a movie theater. These were the ones that really rattled my molars. I hope you find it to be an interesting read as opposed to a reason to start a fight. There were plenty of things to get angry about in 2017 but, trust, me, movies weren’t one of them. Movies are the antidote… in my humble opinion…

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