It’s our annual ode to opinions.
We do it every year. We love it. What more do you need to know?
Listen in and leave comments. We value YOUR opinion. We treasure your friendship!
2019, we hardly knew ye….
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So here we are…
We’ve finally come to the end of our year-long Retrospectating 1999 series and we’re bringing this thing in for a landing with the help of special guest Dan Kelly. He joins us for a bonus episode to celebrate Oliver Stone’s misunderstood masterpiece ANY GIVEN SUNDAY on the occasion of its 20th anniversary. It’s a fun one to end the series on, even if concluding this feature is quite bittersweet.
Thanks for hanging with us through this crazy game of inches, WLM family.
Happy holidays and we’ll see you in the next decade!
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As we near the end of our Retrospectating 1999 series we’ve come to a long-awaited double-header:
Anthony Minghella’s THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY and Paul Thomas Anderson’s MAGNOLIA.
These films have very little in common besides the fact that they both feature the most important cinematic Phillips of 1999 (Seymour Hoffman and Baker Hall) and both premiered in late December of that year. But on this week’s episode–featuring special guest Ryan Julio in his 3rd WLM appearance–we dig deeper into other potential similarities and even fabricate scandalous conspiracy theories about filmmaker/composer relationships and histories.
It’s a post-Christmas miracle!
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For detailed breakdowns of each individual list, please listen to Episode 300 of the We Like Movies Podcast
MASTER LIST
(the top 10 films to have been mentioned at least twice in the 12 contributor lists with a score of 16 points or greater)
1. WHIPLASH (2014)
2. THE SOCIAL NETWORK (2010)
3. ARRIVAL (2016)
4. THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (2014)
5. PHANTOM THREAD (2017)
6. HELL OR HIGH WATER (2016)
7. THE TREE OF LIFE (2011)
8. BOYHOOD (2014)
9. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015)
10. NIGHTCRAWLER (2014)
What a long, strange trip it’s been.
It took us nearly a decade to get there but we’re extremely excited to announce that we’ve officially made it to 300 episodes on the We Like Movies Podcast feed!
In honor of the occasion we’ve invited back the ten beautiful individuals who have guested on the podcast over the years to share their thoughts on the greatest films of the last decade. Since we started this journey in October of 2010 (reviewing The Social Network, no less) and hit 300 episodes just shy of 2020, we decided it made sense to spend this week creating the definitive “WLM Best of the 2010s List”.
So, between our two lists and our ten guests’ lists there are 120 individual film picks in play. We’ve assigned a point system that works in contrary order to the ranking number. In other words, ranking ten on a list gets a film one point, ranking nine is worth two points, and so on. But a film has to have been mentioned on at least two lists in order to qualify for points. Using this highly sophisticated balloting system we will seek to create a MASTER LIST.
But first, join us as we scrutinize the individual lists, wax affectionate about our wonderfully-opinionated contributors, and take a walk down memory lane to reminisce about how this whole podcasting journey got started.
We are We Like Movies and we’re SO elated and grateful to still be liking movies (and each other) after 300 glorious episodes!
Thanks to YOU, WLM family. Here’s to 300 more.
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20 years ago this month, director Michael Mann released his sixth theatrical feature to widespread critical acclaim in spite of the film’s relative inability to find an audience. Mann received his first (and thus far, only) best director Oscar nomination for the The Insider and despite the fact that the film rarely gets mentioned with the same tone of reverence as Heat or even the divisive but often-defended Miami Vice, the last two decades have been surprisingly kind to this melancholy corporate thriller.
Join us as we welcome Michael Mann-super-fan Brian Boarini back to the podcast for a lively discussion about journalistic superheroes, reconciling recent history, and the unexpected cinematic benefits of frumpy, pleated pants.
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We’re a couple weeks past the official 20th anniversary of David Fincher’s seminal masterwork about displaced and misplaced Gen X machismo. But it’s only given us that much more time to further reflect on a film that has aged in wild, troubling, and unexpected ways that we could not have predicted back in October of 1999.
Join us as we revisit and reflect-upon “Jack’s wasted life” in our long-awaited retrospectation of David Fincher’s Fight Club.
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We keep our recent streak of passionate but level-headed disagreement rolling with a spirited discussion about Todd Phillips’s JOKER- a film that is either a dangerous and controversial call to violent action or merely a dark and disposable comic book novelty.
Or maybe it’s both.
Or maybe it’s neither!
Give it some thought, give us a listen, and don’t forget to sound off in the comments section.
Viva la discourse!
(And don’t forget, WLM is a podcast for people who have seen the films. We spoil early. We spoil often. Fair warns.)
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20 years ago this week, 2 of the Sundance Film Festival’s favorite sons both leveled-up with their respective genre exercises and experienced creative breakthroughs. Yet, for some reason, Steven Soderbergh’s melancholy daylight noir, The Limey and David O. Russell’s Heller-esque military satire, Three Kings rarely get mentioned in the same breath as either director’s later successes.
We’re here to change all of that with dual reappraisals and hosannahs in a podcast ode to the first week of 1999!
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———Editor’s Note: Apologies for the tardiness of this episode. It was supposed to be out earlier this week but technical issues led to the late posting. But it sounds great now and we’re really proud of the conversation. Thanks for listening!———
We’re talkin’ Ad Astra, we’re talkin’ box office, we’re talkin’ festival reactions, and we’re talkin’ awards predictions.
We talk, you listen, you comment, we read… It’s the podcasting circle of life!
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It’s a complicated movie with a complicated legacy. These are complicated times.
So it’s going to take a complex conversation to properly excavate the Best Picture winner from 1999 on the week of its 20th anniversary. Join us as we celebrate and ruminate [on] American Beauty, a film that–for better or for worse–defined the end of a decade and a bygone era of incorrigible ennui.
Listen closer. This is a complicated one.
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A new Oeuvre journey begins this week as we inaugurate our excavation into the career of one, John McTiernan. His incredible run from 1986 to 1990 represents a singular rise from relative obscurity to industry relevance, prominence, and pertinence. Join us as we set the table for his unique career path, attempt to divine meaning from his bizarre debut, and deep-dive into three of his most beloved masterworks. Vive l'oeuvre!
-NOMADS (1986)
-PREDATOR (1987)
-DIE HARD (1988)
-THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (1990)
(special thanks to Mr. Beau Marks — a longtime collaborator of John McTiernan — for consulting on this series)
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If you’ve ever considered joining Mindhead, were always intrigued by the premise of “Chubby Rain,” or get nervous when someone asks you if you’re willing to cut your hair, then you’re probably going to get a lot out of this week’s episode. We’re revisiting the forgotten comedic gem Bowfinger, a film that got lost in the late summer of 1999 amid the feeding frenzy for repeated viewings of the The Sixth Sense. But there’s many things to glean from Steven Martin and Frank Oz’s sweet little 97 minute Hollywood satire (one of Eddie Murphy’s favorite of his own films) including some thematic and cultural cues that would signpost a comedic pivot that took place at the turn of the century. We hope that you’ll join us on this journey, and never forget- “Cash, every movie costs 2,184 dollars!”
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In the tenth installment in our ongoing series about 1999 we revisit M. Night Shyamalan’s zeitgeist-rattling supernatural thriller The Sixth Sense; a film we had previously covered in our AFI Top 100 series and had been disproportionately hard on. This time around we look at the film with fresh eyes, examine its relationship to the horror movies that bookended it on the calendar (The Blair Witch Project and Stir of Echoes respectively), and even find time to throw some love toward under-appreciated gems Arlington Road and Deep Blue Sea- both of which also turned twenty last month to zero fanfare. Fasten your seatbelts, it’s gonna be a bumpy M. Night.
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(Originally published 12/1/17)
Every aspiring filmmaker has a fantasy of how they would like their career to progress. Even those who wouldn’t admit it to their colleagues or family members have still spent hours daydreaming about directing an elaborate crane movement across a sea of costumed extras, delivering an inspired creative note that unlocks the potential for a brilliant performance, accepting a prize at Sundance or Cannes or on the glittering Oscar stage, fame, wealth, legacy, immortality... Wannabe filmmakers (even those with fiercely independent aspirations) who claim to have never visualized their own successes are, at best, lying to themselves. And while his name has become synonymous with a certain kind of mainstream, studio fare it would be hard to argue that Christopher Nolan’s career path has been anything but the Platonic Ideal of a creative and commercial Hollywood success story.
Nolan rose to prominence at the turn of the 21st century- “breaking through” with the kind of low budget fare that exemplified the spirit of the grassroots independent film movement of the 1990s. His perfectly-executed hopscotch from obscurity to golden boy anointment might be the most elegant example of the transition ever performed. He cut his teeth on the black and white, Super 16, DIY, shoestring, genre lark, Following when he was in his mid 20s. Following led to Slamdance, Slamdance led to industry attention, industry attention led to financing, financing led to Memento, Memento led to Sundance, Sundance led to studios, studios led to Insomnia, Insomnia led to movie stars and budgets, movie stars and budgets led to Batman Begins and so on... In less than seven years Nolan went from spending his weekends single-taking 16mm short ends to rebooting a superhero franchise with Oscar winners in the ancillary roles. And while the legend of Nolan’s rise to prominence is inspiring in its trajectory, it wasn’t necessarily uncommon at the time. Few careers have been as consistent or distinct as Nolan’s but there are scores of filmmakers from Linklater to Bigelow who dutifully climbed the ladder from indie ghetto to mainstream success to awards recognition to the holy grail of artistic autonomy.
“The continent of Europe is so wide, mein herr.
Not only up and down, but side to side, mein herr.
I couldn't ever cross it if I tried, mein herr.
But I do…
What I can…
Inch by inch…
Step by step…
Mile by mile…
Man-by-man.”
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Roughly three or four times a decade we declare a national cinematic holiday in honor of the man who’s been reinventing the rules of mainstream cinema for the last quarter century. Regardless of how you feel about Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood, it’s hard to argue with the fact that Quentin Tarantino’s “9th” (mmm, “10th”?) feature film as writer/director is one of the most hotly-anticipated and hotly-debated films of the year—nay, the 2010s!
Join us as we do a deep-dive into the career of the provocateur, demarcate the three[ish] phases of his career, and take a long, spoilerrific look at his newest period epic.
Whether you’re floating in your Hollywood Hills pool, drinking a whiskey sour from a beer stein, or hanging out in your trailer, eating macaroni and cheese in the lowlands of Panorama City, this episode has a little something for everybody…
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We’re a week late for our 20th anniversary celebration of Stanley Kubrick’s provocative final masterpiece, Eyes Wide Shut. But the added buffer gave us more time to stew and reflect upon the truly bizarre cultural real estate that the film occupies in the the filmmaker’s career, in Cruise and Kidman’s respective filmographies, and within the weird and wonderful contextual sphere of the summer of 1999.
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It took practically the entire decade but teenagers of the nineties were finally gifted with their own defining sex comedy at the halfway point of the last year of it. July 9th, 1999 saw the release (snicker) of the Weitz Brothers’ gross, sweet, schmaltzy, and sporadically hilarious love letter to Losin’ It, The Last American Virgin, and, of course, Porky’s. Join us as we tiptoe carefully around the minefield that is American Pie- contextualizing the genesis of it, overanalyzing the complicated career paths of the deep ensemble cast, and ultimately disagreeing about the film’s relative merits. Avoid the pale ale, hide all the baked good, and cover your web cam. It’s gonna be a weird one.
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