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Poll: What is the best “remake” of a foreign language film?

This weekend on Episode 365 we’ll be discussing Downhill from directors Jim Rash and Nat Faxon, the English-language remake of the Ruben Östlund film Force Majeure from 2014. English-language remakes may not have the richest history, but there have been some great one’s along the way and that’s the focus of our poll this week. It’s also worth noting that some of these films are based on novels as well, and in some cases the “remake” is arguably just another adaptation of the novel instead of its film predecessor. But we’re still considering those films even if there is some gray area there.

With that said, what is the best “remake” of a foreign language film? Vote now!


Movie Review: ‘Birds of Prey’ unleashes Harley Quinn in the most fantabulous of ways


Director: Cathy Yan
Writer: Christina Hodson
Stars: Margot Robbie, Rosie Perez, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Ella Jay Basco

Synopsis: After splitting with the Joker, Harley Quinn joins superheroes Black Canary, Huntress and Renee Montoya to save a young girl from an evil crime lord.

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Harley Quinn has been a fan favorite since her debut in Batman: The Animated Series (Season 1, Episode 7 “Joker’s Favor”). Writers had only planned to have her appear in one episode, but when her popularity skyrocketed with fans, she was made a regular character. Since then, Harley Quinn has been written into comic books, appeared in multiple animated tv shows and movies, and recently made her live-action movie debut in Suicide Squad (2016). Birds of Prey is Harley’s latest adventure on the big screen, and she is joined by several of DC’s well-known female vigilantes.

Birds of Prey picks up sometime after the events of Suicide Squad (2016). Harley (Margot Robbie) and the Joker have broken up, and now any person who’s ever held a grudge against her has decided it’s open season on the Clown Prince of Crime’s former partner. Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor), an eccentric crime lord eager on expanding his empire, takes this opportunity to claim Harley for himself stating, “If she doesn’t belong to the Joker, she belongs to me.” This starts a chain of events that leads to a young pickpocket with a $50,000 bounty on her head and four unlikely women banding together to protect her.

I loved this movie, and I’ve been super excited since I saw the first teaser trailer, and I am happy to report it exceeded my expectations. The story is told from Harley’s point of view using voice overs, animation, text, and fourth wall breaks. It’s also done in a sometimes chaotic, non-linear way. This quirky style of storytelling fits her character and I’d easily believe that’s how her brain works. It also manages to be super bright and colorful to fit Harley’s esthetic, while maintaining the dark and moody overtone that movies in the DCEU tend to have. Birds of Prey is also littered with DC Easter eggs from the comics, cartoons, video games, and previous films in the DCEU. You can see many versions of Harley Quinn’s costumes over the years, the original inspiration for Harley Quinn, Arleen Sorkin, can be briefly seen on a tv, and you can even spot a wanted poster for Captain Boomerang if you’re paying attention. There are loads more, so be sure to look out for them when you see the movie!

One of my favorite elements of Birds of Prey were the fight scenes. Fight Choreographer Jon Valera and Stunt Coordinator Jonathan Eusebio are known for their work on films like John Wick (2014), 300 (2006), and various films in the MCU including Black Panther (2018). They produced some of the most entertaining action bits I’ve seen in a while. They managed to infuse Harley’s acrobatic and humorous style into brutal, R-rated combat while also making them feel like they popped right off the page of a comic book. The ragdoll like movements of men being hit by bats or giant mallets, the creative use of some interesting locations, campy dialogue, and unique fighting styles for each character are just a few things that stood out to me. The music also worked especially well in the action sequences. Birds of Prey has a great soundtrack. I bought it immediately after I saw the film and have been playing it on repeat ever since. Songs were selected that enhanced the scenes they’re used in and set the tone for what’s to come. I also appreciated that the entire soundtrack was female artists. Which brings me to my favorite thing about Birds of Prey: its message and theme of female empowerment.

Birds of Prey is, at its core, a movie about women escaping toxic male environments. Harley is finally free of the Joker (yes that’s a toxic relationship no matter what the internet says…) Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez) isn’t taken seriously as a detective, Dinah Lance (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) works for a controlling psychopath, and Helena Bertinelli (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) wants revenge against the men who killed her family. The movie never gives any of these toxic men the opportunity to outshine a female costar. For example, when a villain is trying to do his standard bad guy monologue, he is cut off or overshadowed by something like text on the screen, a narrator voice over, or cutting to an entirely different scene. It also includes little things like wearing practical clothing during a fight and offering someone a hair tie. No one wants their long flowy hair in their face when fighting bad guys. Things like that speak to female viewers. I don’t care if you have superpowers, you can’t fight in stilettos and a miniskirt, especially if your hair is constantly falling in your face. This is a movie any action fan would enjoy. The characters are an interesting and dynamic group. Robbie is a perfect Harley Quinn and Smollett-Bell is a clear stand out. She brings a 1970s Pam Grier vibe to Black Canary and contributes to the soundtrack with her amazing rendition of “It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World”. Winstead brings a social awkwardness that works to her character, Perez and Basco were also fabulous and I can’t wait to see more from them in the next movie.

If I had to pick any “negatives” for this film they would be with how it portrays Roman Sionis/Black Mask (Ewan McGregor), Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina), and Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco). I think both McGregor and Messina did a good job portraying bad guys, but they didn’t remind me of the characters I’m familiar with from the animated series and/or comics. Black Mask was close, but a little too extra (for lack of a better word…) That being said- if this was done on purpose, maybe to portray Sionis as Harley Quinn perceives him- I’m totally okay with it. Messina’s version of Zsasz was menacing and obviously nuts, but not enough so to be recognized as Zsasz from the comics and animated series. His trademark scars were also less prominent which made him almost unrecognizable as Zsasz. Also, Cassandra Cain’s backstory was completely left out.. She’s a well-known character and many people know who she eventually becomes (being vague to avoid potential spoilers…) but Birds of Prey didn’t pull from any of the half dozen or so backstories she’s been given in the comics. The last complaint I have is with the title, Birds of Prey. The movie isn’t about the Birds of Prey, it’s about Harley Quinn. Yes, they make an appearance, but the title leads you to believe that Harley is a member of the Birds of Prey or that they’re the focus of the film. I think the title could be one of the things making long time Batman fans think twice before seeing it.

Birds of Prey is a female directed, written, and produced action flick. It’s something anyone old enough to see an R-rated movie can enjoy. It brings accurate portrayals of beloved characters to the big screen, along with comic book worthy action sequences and witty dialogue. It’s a fantabulous movie, with important embedded messages that will probably remain at the top of my ranked “Films of 2020” list and it’s possibly my favorite comic book movie ever. Please give it a chance and see it on the biggest screen possible.

Overall Grade: A-

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Hear our podcast review on Episode 364:

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List: Top 3 Movies That Should Have Won Best Picture

This week on Episode 364 of the InSession Film Podcast, inspired by the 92nd Academy Awards, we thought it would be fun to talk about films that should have won Best Picture at the Oscars. However, this was a tricky exercise. Much of it came down to our respective criteria’s and what we were looking for in terms of movies that should have won Best Picture. Whether it be legacy, quality or some sort of combination of the two, there was a lot to consider, especially as some Best Picture losers are now considered to be among the best films of all time. Even over the films they lost to at the Oscars. So, this was really fun trying to narrow down what we wanted out of our lists. That said, here are our lists:

(Note: Please keep in mind that we each had different criteria for our selections)

JD

1) Goodfellas
2) The Great Dictator
3) Roman Holiday

Brendan

1) Network
2) The Quiet Man
3) Lost in Translation

Kate

1) The Wizard of Oz
2) Apollo 13
3) Saving Private Ryan

Honorable Mentions (Combined)

Citizen Kane, The Tree of Life, Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption, Taxi Driver, Dr. Strangelove, Chinatown, The Conversation, Fargo, Apocalypse Now, Double Indemnity, High Noon, Bicycle Thieves, Twelve O’Clock High, 12 Angry Men, Bonnie & Clyde, The Graduate, The Exorcist, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The 10 Commandments, The Hustler, American Graffiti, Cries & Whispers, Barry Lyndon, Jaws, Dog Day Afternoon, The Right Stuff, E.T., Born on the Fourth of July, Dead Poets Society, Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Field of Dreams, Letters from Iwo Jima, Gangs of New York, The Pianist, Beauty and the Beast, The Social Network, Mad Max: Fury Road

Hopefully you guys enjoyed our lists and if you agree or disagree with us, let us know in the comment section below. As is the case with a topic like this, depending on your tastes and criteria, your list could end up being very different than what we talked about. That being said, what would be your Top 3? Leave a comment in the comment section or email us at [email protected].

For the entire podcast, click here or listen below.

For more lists done by the InSession Film crew and other guests, be sure see our Top 3 Movie Lists page.

Podcast: Birds of Prey / Top 3 Movies That Should Have Won Best Picture – Episode 364

This week’s episode is brought to you by Loot Crate. Save 10% on your first order today!

This week on the InSession Film Podcast, our very own Kate Boyle joins us to discuss the latest DCEU film Birds of Prey, starring the great Margo Robbie. In the spirit of the Oscars, which happened over the weekend, we also talked about our Top 3 movies that should have won Best Picture!

We are always excited when our lovely writers join us on the show, and this week was no different. Kate has a passion for Birds of Prey and we wanted to give her the opportunity to express that on the show. And while we wanted to do something Oscars related for our Top 3, it is a bit ironic coming off the heels of Parasite winning Best Picture, as that’s a film that absolutely deserved it in every way. So, if we ever re-visit this topic in the future, spoiler alert, nothing from 2020 will show up on our lists. At any rate, we enjoyed ourselves this week and we hope you enjoy it as well!

On that note, check out this week’s show and let us know what you think in the comment section. Thanks for listening and for supporting the InSession Film Podcast!

– Movie Review: Birds of Prey (4:57)
Director: Cathy Yan
Writer: Christina Hodson
Stars: Margot Robbie, Rosie Perez, Mary Elizabeth Winstead

– Notes / Oscars Discussion (40:39)

While our Top 3 was devoted to previous Oscar nominations and winners, we still wanted to briefly talk about this year’s ceremony and what we wanted to see. We recorded this show before Sunday night, so at the time, we had no idea how things would play out. In hindsight, it makes some of this conversation even more intriguing. We’ll have more to say next week as well when we talk about our reactions to the 92nd Academy Awards, but this week you can hear us talk about the expectations we had prior to this past weekend’s events.

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RELATED: Listen to Episode 360 of the InSession Film Podcast where we discussed our Top 10 Movies of 2019!

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Top 3 Movies That Should Have Won Best Picture (1:11:05)
This was a tricky exercise. Much of it came down to our respective criteria’s and what we were looking for in terms of movies that should have won Best Picture. Whether it be legacy, quality or some sort of combination of the two, there was a lot to consider, especially as some Best Picture losers are now considered to be among the best films of all time. Even over the films they lost to at the Oscars. So, this was really fun trying to narrow down what we wanted out of our lists. That said, what would be your Top 3?

Top 3 Sponsor: First Time Watchers Podcast

– Music

Sway With Me – Saweetie, GALXARA
In Motion – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Rags To Riches – Tony Bennett
The Return of the Eagle – Atli Örvarsson

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InSession Film Podcast – Episode 364

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Next week on the show:

Main Review: Downhill
Top 3: TBD

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Help Support The InSession Film Podcast

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Featured: Oscar Predictions for 92nd Academy Awards

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Tonight is the 92nd Academy Awards and for the first time in some time, the race for Best Picture is somewhat up in the air with four films up for the main prize. Perhaps the acting categories are locks, but others still offer up some intrigue and it should be exciting to see how it all plays out. It’s also time for us to lay our bets and see what films will make history as we celebrate film from 2019.

Here are our predictions (winners highlighted in bold):

Best Picture

Brendan:

  • Parasite
  • 1917
  • Ford v Ferrari
  • The Irishman
  • Jojo Rabbit
  • Joker
  • Little Women
  • Marriage Story
  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

JD:

  • Parasite
  • 1917
  • Ford v Ferrari
  • The Irishman
  • Jojo Rabbit
  • Joker
  • Little Women
  • Marriage Story
  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Best Actor

Brendan:

  • Joaquin Phoenix, Joker
  • Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory
  • Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood
  • Adam Driver, Marriage Story
  • Jonathan Pryce, The Two Popes

JD:

  • Joaquin Phoenix, Joker
  • Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory
  • Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood
  • Adam Driver, Marriage Story
  • Jonathan Pryce, The Two Popes
Best Actress

Brendan:

  • Renee Zellweger, Judy
  • Cynthia Erivo, Harriet
  • Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story
  • Saoirse Ronan, Little Women
  • Charlize Theron, Bombshell

JD:

  • Renee Zellweger, Judy
  • Cynthia Erivo, Harriet
  • Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story
  • Saoirse Ronan, Little Women
  • Charlize Theron, Bombshell
Best Actor Supporting Role

Brendan:

  • Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
  • Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
  • Anthony Hopkins, The Two Popes
  • Al Pacino, The Irishman
  • Joe Pesci, The Irishman

JD:

  • Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
  • Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
  • Anthony Hopkins, The Two Popes
  • Al Pacino, The Irishman
  • Joe Pesci, The Irishman
Best Actress Supporting Role

Brendan:

  • Laura Dern, Marriage Story
  • Kathy Bates, Richard Jewell
  • Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit
  • Florence Pugh, Little Women
  • Margot Robbie, Bombshell

JD:

  • Laura Dern, Marriage Story
  • Kathy Bates, Richard Jewell
  • Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit
  • Florence Pugh, Little Women
  • Margot Robbie, Bombshell
Best Director

Brendan:

  • Sam Mendes, 1917
  • Bong Joon-ho, Parasite
  • Todd Phillips, Joker
  • Martin Scorsese, The Irishman
  • Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

JD:

  • Sam Mendes, 1917
  • Bong Joon-ho, Parasite
  • Todd Phillips, Joker
  • Martin Scorsese, The Irishman
  • Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Best Original Screenplay

Brendan:

  • Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin Won, Parasite
  • Noah Baumbach, Marriage Story
  • Rian Johnson, Knives Out
  • Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns, 1917
  • Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

JD:

  • Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin Won, Parasite
  • Noah Baumbach, Marriage Story
  • Rian Johnson, Knives Out
  • Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns, 1917
  • Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Best Adapted Screenplay

Brendan:

  • Taika Waititi, Jojo Rabbit
  • Greta Gerwig, Little Women
  • Anthony McCarten, The Two Popes
  • Todd Phillips and Scott Silver, Joker
  • Steve Zaillian, The Irishman

JD:

  • Taika Waititi, Jojo Rabbit
  • Greta Gerwig, Little Women
  • Anthony McCarten, The Two Popes
  • Todd Phillips and Scott Silver, Joker
  • Steve Zaillian, The Irishman
Best Cinematography

Brendan:

  • Roger Deakins, 1917
  • Jarin Blaschke, The Lighthouse
  • Rodrigo Prieto, The Irishman
  • Lawrence Sher, Joker
  • Robert Richardson, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

JD:

  • Roger Deakins, 1917
  • Jarin Blaschke, The Lighthouse
  • Rodrigo Prieto, The Irishman
  • Lawrence Sher, Joker
  • Robert Richardson, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Best Animated Movie

Brendan:

  • Toy Story 4
  • How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
  • I Lost My Body
  • Klaus
  • Missing Link

JD:

  • Toy Story 4
  • How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
  • I Lost My Body
  • Klaus
  • Missing Link
Best Documentary

Brendan:

  • Honeyland
  • American Factory
  • The Cave
  • Edge of Democracy
  • For Sama

JD:

  • Honeyland
  • American Factory
  • The Cave
  • Edge of Democracy
  • For Sama
Best Foreign Language Film

Brendan:

  • Pain and Glory
  • Corpus Christi
  • Honeyland
  • Les Miserables
  • Parasite

JD:

  • Pain and Glory
  • Corpus Christi
  • Honeyland
  • Les Miserables
  • Parasite
Best Original Score

Brendan:

  • Thomas Newman, 1917
  • Alexandre Desplat, Little Women
  • Hildur Guðnadóttir, Joker
  • Randy Newman, Marriage Story
  • John Williams, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

JD:

  • Thomas Newman, 1917
  • Alexandre Desplat, Little Women
  • Hildur Guðnadóttir, Joker
  • Randy Newman, Marriage Story
  • John Williams, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Best Original Song

Brendan:

  • “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” by Elton John and Taron Edgerton, Rocketman
  • “I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” by Randy Newman, Toy Story 4
  • “I’m Standing with You” by Chrissy Metz, Breakthrough
  • “Into the Unknown” by Idina Menzel, Frozen II
  • “Stand Up” by Cynthia Erivo, Harriet

JD:

  • “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” by Elton John and Taron Edgerton, Rocketman
  • “I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” by Randy Newman, Toy Story 4
  • “I’m Standing with You” by Chrissy Metz, Breakthrough
  • “Into the Unknown” by Idina Menzel, Frozen II
  • “Stand Up” by Cynthia Erivo, Harriet
Best Sound Editing

Brendan:

  • 1917
  • Ford v Ferrari
  • Joker
  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
  • Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

JD:

  • 1917
  • Ford v Ferrari
  • Joker
  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
  • Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Best Sound Mixing

Brendan:

  • 1917
  • Ad Astra
  • Ford v Ferrari
  • Joker
  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

JD:

  • 1917
  • Ad Astra
  • Ford v Ferrari
  • Joker
  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Best Visual Effects

Brendan:

  • The Lion King
  • 1917
  • Avengers: Endgame
  • The Irishman
  • Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

JD:

  • The Lion King
  • 1917
  • Avengers: Endgame
  • The Irishman
  • Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Best Film Editing

Brendan:

  • Parasite
  • Ford v Ferrari
  • The Irishman
  • Jojo Rabbit
  • Joker

JD:

  • Parasite
  • Ford v Ferrari
  • The Irishman
  • Jojo Rabbit
  • Joker
Best Production Design

Brendan:

  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
  • 1917
  • The Irishman
  • Jojo Rabbit
  • Parasite

JD:

  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
  • 1917
  • The Irishman
  • Jojo Rabbit
  • Parasite
Best Costume Design

Brendan:

  • Little Women
  • The Irishman
  • Jojo Rabbit
  • Joker
  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

JD:

  • Little Women
  • The Irishman
  • Jojo Rabbit
  • Joker
  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Brendan:

  • Bombshell
  • Joker
  • Judy
  • Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
  • 1917

JD:

  • Bombshell
  • Joker
  • Judy
  • Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
  • 1917

Well, those are our predictions for the 92nd Oscars. Let us know if you agree or disagree with our picks by leaving a comment in the comment section or email us at [email protected].

Podcast: Top 10 Movies of the 2010s – Extra Film

This week on the InSession Film Podcast: Extra Film segment, Ryan and Jay discuss their Top 10 Movies of the 2010s.

As we close out a remarkable decade of film, many articles and podcasts have released their Top 10 films of the decade. And just like JD and Brendan did on Episode 363, Ryan and Jay sought to release what they feel are the best films of the last ten years. Filled with notable selections and some surprises, the Extra Film co-host look to bring their own flare to this extremely difficult task.

On that note, have fun with this week’s Extra Film segment and let us know what you think in the comment section below. Thanks for listening!

– Top 10 Movies of the 2010s: #10-#6 (3:28)

– Top 10 Movies of the 2010s: #5-#1 (1:02:17)

– Music

Please Mr. Kennedy – Oscar Isaac, Justin Timberlake, Adam Driver
In The Hall Of The Mountain King – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
The Return of the Eagle – Atli Örvarsson

We try to make this the best movie podcast we possibly can and we hope you enjoy them. Subscribe today on iTunes, Spotify or Stitcher, and please leave us a review on iTunes. You can also find us on Soundcloud, PlayerFM and TuneIn Radio as well. We really appreciate all your support of the InSession Film Podcast.

Subscribe to our Podcasts RSS
Subscribe to our Podcasts on iTunes
Listen on Spotify
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Top 10 Movies of the 2010s – Extra Film

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To hear this Extra Film episode and everything else we do, download our apps on the Amazon Market for Android and the Podcast Box app on IOS devices. The mobile app covers all of our main shows, bonus podcast’s and everything else relating to the InSession Film Podcast. Thanks for your wonderful support and for listening to our show. It means the world to us!

Featured: Criterion Cruising – 11th Round

A few more full Criterion editions online but a few other categories where these films were lifted from makes up my next edition of Criterion Cruising. It took me a few months, but now I’m going to call this that. Remember, I’m a writer- in progress, so please forgive me. Anyway, he’s a few more films of interest I found through The Criterion Channel.

Klute (1971)

Alan J. Pakula directed this thriller about a private dick (Donald Sutherland) who tries to find a man missing for a year and tracks down a call girl (Jane Fonda) who can possibly help. The woman is paranoid about everyone as someone is stalking her and Det. Klute races to trace the down the probable killer of the missing man and two other women. It’s the first of Pakula’s Paranoid Trilogy, which also featured The Parallax View and All The President’s Men. Fonda won her first Oscar adding to the skyrocketing fame she received after the sexy Barbarella and her public opposition to the Vietnam War and advocacy as a feminist.

The Last Detail (1973)

One of Jack Nicholson’s early performances that set the stage for his greatest performance in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest is Hal Ashby’s The Last Detail. Nicholson plays Billy “Badass” Buddusky, a Signalman First Class in the Navy who lets loose and doesn’t play the rules of the military. He and his friend “Mule” Mulhall (Otis Young) are ordered to take a teenager (Randy Quaid) to the brig to serve his 8 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge for petty theft. Along the way, they decide to give the teenager his last taste of freedom: drinking, smoking cigars, brawling, and picking up prostitutes. It’s a road trip about rebellion within the establishment while also following their orders; the use of “fuck” was said a lot more than the studio can handle (imagine if they saw The Wolf Of Wall Street back then), but it was a major success anyway. Its sequel, Last Flag Flying, was released in 2017 by Richard Linklater.

A Zed & Two Noughts (1985)

Peter Greenway is a special director, because, for him, it’s the image first, not the story. Greenway was a painter first and still is and used his knowledge on different eras and styles of painting to shooting his film. His most known is The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover because of its strict formalism and scenes of scatology and graphic nudity. Here in A Zed & Two Noughts, Greenway puts his interest in zoology and a set of twins who study animals. When a tragic accident occurs, the two begin an obsession with things that decay, from food to animals to humans. It is a circle of life and then the next stage that becomes the focal point in Greenway’s adventure into primal ideals.

La Cienaga (2001)

Argentine director Lucrecia Martel made her debut with this tale of a dysfunctional family in a decaying country home and the matriarch who struggles with pain, alcoholism, and self-pitying people who get on each others’ nerves and no place to hide. The title is translated as “The Swamp,” because of the rain and the murky feel to the entire film and that every character is detailed. It splits up the time to follow every person and what their personality is. Adults are lazy, except the maids who the mother distrusts, and the children are just mindless people who don’t think straight. It’s based on Martel’s own memories of when she was young and living in similar circumstances and a hidden view of the country’s establishment being shaken.

The Devil’s Backbone (2001)

After the difficulty of the Weinstein-backed Mimic (Del Toro said, “It was a horrible, horrible, horrible experience,” doing the film), he returned to his native language and a script he developed years earlier. Set during the final months of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), a child is sent to an orphanage after his father is killed fighting against Franco’s forces. There, the boy learns about another child from the orphanage who went missing, now possibly dead, and has visions of him reappearing. The opening line of the film is a question, “What is a ghost?” Del Toro, using his love for monsters and the supernatural, answers this question about the living dead and how history can come back to haunt us for time. It is symbolized by the bomb stuck in the ground that never went off, but instead of that, there’s something more equivalent to the horror from Del Toro’s back pocket.

Follow me on Twitter: @brian_cine (Cine-A-Man)

Podcast: Final Predictions for 2020 Oscars – Chasing the Gold Ep. 20

On Episode 20 of Chasing the Gold, Ryan is joined by InSession Film’s very own Daniel Brillant to offer their final predictions to the 92nd Academy Awards. After months of speculations and analysing, Hollywood’s biggest weekend is upon us. With some categories firmly won, the top prize of the night is still up in the air. With the help of Daniel, Ryan looks to guild you to what you should expect come Sunday night.

On that note, have fun with this week’s Chasing the Gold and let us know what you think in the comment section below. Thanks for listening!

– Music

The Return of the Eagle – Atli Örvarsson

We try to make this the best movie podcast we possibly can and we hope you enjoy them. Subscribe today on iTunes, Spotfiy or Stitcher, and please leave us a review on iTunes. You can also find us on Soundcloud, PlayerFM and TuneIn Radio as well. We really appreciate all your support of the InSession Film Podcast.

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Final Predictions for 2020 Oscars – Chasing the Gold Ep. 20

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Poll: What is your favorite film among the 2020 Best Picture nominees?

For our poll this week we are looking to the 92nd Academy Awards, which are honoring the films of 2019 this weekend. Many of these films we quite loved in one way or another, so this makes for an interesting poll questions for us. Hopefully it’s a compelling question for you as well. And honestly, we’re anticipating the results going in a number of directions. Which makes this all the more fun in the end.

So with that said, what is your favorite film among this year’s crop of Best Picture nominees?


List: Top 10 Year End Lists – 2010-2019

On Episode 363, after thorough and lengthy deliberation, we finally discussed our Top 10 movies of the decade (2010-2019). It was a lot of fun celebrating the very best that film had to offer in the 2010s, and we hope you enjoyed it as we did. As part of the exercise, Brendan and JD decided to offer up their newly revised Top 10 lists for each year in the decade. If you listened to our Best of the Decade (so far) show on Episode 133, or any of our past awards shows, you may notice some discrepancies between these lists and what we published previously. There are many reasons for this, but mostly it comes down to cinephile maturity and careful reflection on the films that move us the most emotionally and artfully.

With that said, here are our newly updated Top 10 lists for each year in the 2010s!

JD’s Lists:

Social Network movie
2010:
1) The Social Network
2) Inception
3) A Prophet
4) Toy Story 3
5) How to Train Your Dragon
6) True Grit
7) Scott Pilgrim vs the World
8) Winter’s Bone
9) Dogtooth
10) Rabbit Hole

11) Never Let Me Go
12) Black Swan
13) The Fighter
14) The Town
15) Let Me In
16) Mother
17) Blue Valentine
18) Harry Potter Deathly Hallows 1
19) 127 Hours
20) Exit Through the Gift Shop


2011:
1) The Tree of Life
2) Take Shelter
3) Drive
4) Warrior
5) Hugo
6) Shame
7) Meek’s Cutoff
8) Certified Copy
9) A Separation
10) We Need to Talk About Kevin

11) Moneyball
12) Midnight in Paris
13) Incendies
14) Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 2
15) Senna
16) The Descendants
17) The Guard
18) Attack the Block
19) Martha Marcy May Marlene
20) Rise of the Planet of the Apes

The Master movie
2012:
1) The Master
2) Life of Pi
3) Beasts of the Southern Wild
4) Zero Dark Thirty
5) Moonrise Kingdom
6) Holy Motors
7) Lincoln
8) Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
9) Amour
10) Skyfall

11) The Avengers
12) Wreck-It Ralph
13) Looper
14) Argo
16) Silver Linings Playbook
16) Les Misérables
17) The Perks of Being a Wallflower
18) End of Watch
19) The Grey
20) Compliance


2013:
1) Inside Llewyn Davis
2) Her
3) Spring Breakers
4) Before Midnight
5) 12 Years a Slave
6) Blue is the Warmest Color
7) The Act of Killing
8) Nebraska
9) Gravity
10) Rush

11) Short Term 12
12) Captain Phillips
13) Stories We Tell
14) About Time
15) Like Father, Like Son
16) The Spectacular Now
17) This is the End
18) American Hustle
19) Mud
20) Frances Ha

Boyhood Linklater Movie
2014:
1) Boyhood
2) The Wind Rises
3) Whiplash
4) How to Train Your Dragon 2
5) Locke
6) The Grand Budapest Hotel
7) Birdman
8) Under the Skin
9) Calvary
10) Inherent Vice

11) The Tale of Princess Kaguya
12) Ida
13) Fury
14) Nightcrawler
15) The Lego Movie
16) Gone Girl
17) Selma
18) Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
19) A Most Violent Year
20) Force Majeure

Inside Out - Pixar Movie
2015
1) Inside Out
2) Ex Machina
3) Mad Max: Fury Road
4) White God
5) Brooklyn
6) Sicario
7) Room
8) The Revenant
9) Carol
10) Mommy

11) Creed
12) Phoenix
13) The Big Short
14) The Look of Silence
15) Star Wars: The Force Awakens
16) It Follows
17) The Martian
18) The End of the Tour
19) Victoria
20) Love & Mercy


2016
1) Midnight Special
2) La La Land
3) Arrival
4) Moonlight
5) Manchester By the Sea
6) The Witch
7) Sing Street
8) The Handmaiden
9) The Lobster
10) A Monster Calls

11) Hail, Caesar
12) Paterson
13) Kubo and the Two Strings
14) Everybody Wants Some!!
15) Krisha
16) Rams
17) Certain Women
18) Captain America: Civil War
19) Tower
20) Hunt for the Wilderpeople


2017
1) Lady Bird
2) Get Out
3) The Florida Project
4) The Red Turtle
5) Dunkirk
6) A Ghost Story
7) Call Me By Your Name
8) Logan
9) Columbus
10) Phantom Thread

11) Faces Places
12) I, Tonya
13) Blade Runner 2049
14) mother!
15) The Shape of Water
16) Personal Shopper
17) War for the Planet of the Apes
18) The Beguiled
19) The Big Sick
20) A Quiet Passion


2018
1) First Man
2) Roma
3) Eighth Grade
4) You Were Never Really Here
5) The Favourite
6) Blindspotting
7) Shoplifters
8) Leave No Trace
9) First Reformed
10) Wildlife

11) If Beale Street Could Talk
12) Cold War
13) The Rider
14) Won’t You Be My Neighbor
15) Annihilation
16) Paddington 2
17) Mission: Impossible – Fallout
18) Suspiria
19) Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
20) Loveless


2019
1) Little Women
2) Parasite
3) Marriage Story
4) Her Smell
5) The Last Black Man in San Francisco
6) The Farewell
7) Wild Rose
8) A Hidden Life
9) Ad Astra
10) Once Upon A Time in Hollywood

11) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
12) The Irishman
13) Us
14) Pain & Glory
15) The Lighthouse
16) Uncut Gems
17) High Life
18) The Nightingale
19) Knives Out
20) Midsommar

[divider]

Brendan’s Lists:

Social Network movie
2010:
1) The Social Network
2) Mother
3) 127 Hours
4) Toy Story 3
5) Blue Valentine
6) Let Me In
7) Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
8) How to Train Your Dragon
9) Inception
10) Dogtooth

11) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
12) The Secret in Their Eyes
13) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
14) True Grit
15) Black Swan
16) A Prophet
17) Winter’s Bone
18) Tangled
19) Exit Through the Gift Shop
20) The Town


2011:
1) Drive
2) The Tree of Life
3) Shame
4) Certified Copy
5) Hugo
6) Take Shelter
7) Incendies
8) We Need to Talk About Kevin
9) Rango
10) Melancholia

11) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
12) Rise of the Planet of the Apes
13) Midnight in Paris
14) Warrior
15) Moneyball
16) Martha Marcy May Marlene
17) The Descendants
18) Winnie the Pooh
19) Fast Five
20) 50/50

The Master movie
2012:
1) The Master
2) Amour
3) Skyfall
4) Beasts of the Southern Wild
5) Zero Dark Thirty
6) Looper
7) Moonrise Kingdom
8) It’s Such a Beautiful Day
9) Lincoln
10) Life of Pi

11) Flight
12) 21 Jump Street
13) Dredd
14) American Reunion
15) Killer Joe
16) The Perks of Being a Wallflower
17) The Avengers
18) Argo
19) Cloud Atlas
20) The Grey

Her Movie Podcast
2013:
1) Her
2) Spring Breakers
3) Before Midnight
4) Inside Llewyn Davis
5) Nebraska
6) The World’s End
7) The Act of Killing
8) Blue is the Warmest Color
9) Fruitvale Station
10) Short Term 12

11) Frances Ha
12) The Spectacular Now
13) 12 Years a Slave
14) Captain Phillips
15) Blue Jasmine
16) 20 Feet to Stardom
17) Mud
18) The Bling Ring
19) This Is the End
20) Gravity


2014:
1) The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
2) Boyhood
3) The Wind Rises
4) Inherent Vice
5) The Grand Budapest Hotel
6) Whiplash
7) How to Train Your Dragon 2
8) Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
9) The Rover
10) Snowpiercer

11) Under the Skin
12) Ida
13) Selma
14) Starred Up
15) The Lego Movie
16) Nightcrawler
17) Calvary
18) Captain America: The Winter Soldier
19) Two Days, One Night
20) Frank


2015
1) Ex Machina
2) Inside Out
3) Carol
4) Creed
5) Phoenix
6) Mad Max: Fury Road
7) Sicario
8) Cobain: Montage of Heck
9) Anomalisa
10) Magic Mike XXL

11) Room
12) Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
13) Love & Mercy
14) The End of the Tour
15) The Martian
16) Victoria
17) Star Wars: The Force Awakens
18) When Marnie Was There
19) Beasts of No Nation
20) Son of Saul


2016
1) Everybody Wants Some!!
2) The Handmaiden
3) The Witch
4) Moonlight
5) Tower
6) Sing Street
7) Pete’s Dragon
8) Green Room
9) Hail, Caesar!
10) Paterson

11) Krisha
12) La La Land
13) A Monster Calls
14) Don’t Think Twice
15) Manchester by the Sea
16) Cameraperson
17) The Lobster
18) Kubo and the Two Strings
19) Hunt for the Wilderpeople
20) Swiss Army Man


2017
1) The Florida Project
2) Faces Places
3) Wonderstruck
4) A Ghost Story
5) Phantom Thread
6) Lady Bird
7) Dunkirk
8) War for the Planet of the Apes
9) Brawl in Cell Block 99
10) Columbus

11) Call Me by Your Name
12) First They Killed My Father
13) Get Out
14) Your Name.
15) Jane
16) BPM (Beats Per Minute)
17) The Big Sick
18) Personal Shopper
19) A Quiet Passion
20) The Red Turtle


2018
1) The Rider
2) Shoplifters
3) Blindspotting
4) Paddington 2
5) Annihilation
6) The Favourite
7) Roma
8) Minding the Gap
9) We the Animals
10) Cold War

11) Leave No Trace
12) Can You Ever Forgive Me?
13) Suspiria
14) Creed II
15) Wildlife
16) First Reformed
17) Mission: Impossible – Fallout
18) If Beale Street Could Talk
19) Eighth Grade
20) Isle of Dogs


2019
1) The Last Black Man in San Francisco
2) Uncut Gems
3) Little Women
4) Pain & Glory
5) Parasite
6) Her Smell
7) A Hidden Life
8) A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
9) Dragged Across Concrete
10) Midsommar

11) The Lighthouse
12) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
13) The Irishman
14) Once Upon A Time in Hollywood
15) Long Day’s Journey Into Night
16) The Nightingale
17) Apollo 11
18) The Beach Bum
19) Wild Rose
20) Paddleton

Be sure to listen to Episode 363 to hear more about our picks for Best of the Decade and why we love them in the ways that we do. You can also listen via the Libsyn or Soundcloud player below. You can also listen iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and more. Click here to subscribe.

Podcast: “Unique” Categories (Best of the Decade Awards) – Patreon Bonus Content

Listen!

This week for our Patreon Bonus Content, as you may have heard on Episode 363, we discussed our Best of the Decade Awards. However, we decided to forgo our “unique” categories that we typically have on our awards shows to help shave some time. We still wanted to discuss them though, and thought it was a great opportunity for some new Patreon bonus content! So, on this episode, we discuss those “unique” categories and had a lot of fun doing so!

If you’re already a Patreon supporter, you can listen to this episode now on Patreon by clicking here. For those who are non-patrons, this episode will be available in a week. Stay tuned!

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List: Best of the Decade Awards (all nominees and winners)

This week on the InSession Film Podcast, we featured our Best of the Decade Awards for the 2010s! We had a great time celebrating the very best that the decade had to offer in terms of film. We discussed everything from best animated film, to best documentary, to the best acting performances and so much more. We may have forgone the “unique” categories that we typically do for our annual yearly awards, but we still have them listed out below (you can also hear us discuss those categories on Patreon).

For every category, we each listed our own nominations and winners. Winners are highlighted in bold.

Best Actor

Brendan:

  • Casey Affleck, Manchester By the Sea
  • Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
  • Michael Fassbender, Shame
  • Andy Serkis, Planet of the Apes Trilogy
  • Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory

JD:

  • Casey Affleck, Manchester By the Sea
  • Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
  • Jessie Eisenberg, The Social Network
  • Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis
  • Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Best Actress

Brendan:

  • Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
  • Juliette Binoche, Certified Copy
  • Elisabeth Moss, Her Smell
  • Kim Hye-ja, Mother
  • Haley Lu Richardson, Columbus

JD:

  • Amy Adams, Arrival
  • Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
  • Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
  • Elisabeth Moss, Her Smell
  • Adèle Exarchopoulos, Blue is the Warmest Color
Best Actor Supporting Role

Brendan:

  • Javier Bardem, Skyfall
  • Phillip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
  • Harry Melling, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
  • Jonathan Majors, The Last Black Man in San Francisco
  • Sylvester Stallone, Creed

JD:

  • J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
  • Phillip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
  • Nick Nolte, Warrior
  • Jonathan Majors, The Last Black Man in San Francisco
  • Michael Shannon, Midnight Special
Best Actress Supporting Role

Brendan:

  • Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
  • Lily Gladstone, Certain Women
  • Bria Vinaite, The Floria Project
  • Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
  • Scarlett Johansson, Her

JD:

  • Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
  • Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina
  • Ando Sakura, Shoplifters
  • Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
  • Scarlett Johansson, Her
Best Director

Brendan:

  • Robert Eggers, The Witch
  • Michael Haneke, Amour
  • Nicholas Winding Refn, Drive
  • Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
  • Paul Thomas Anderson, The Master

JD:

  • Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
  • Bong Joon-ho, Parasite
  • Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, Inside Llewyn Davis
  • Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
  • Paul Thomas Anderson, The Master
Best Original Screenplay

Brendan:

  • Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness, The Grand Budapest Hotel
  • Spike Jonze, Her
  • Alex Garland, Ex Machina
  • Abbas Kiarostami, Certified Copy
  • Richard Linklater, Boyhood

JD:

  • Alex Garland, Ex Machina
  • Noah Baumbach, Marriage Story
  • Spike Jonze, Her
  • Jordan Peele, Get Out
  • Daveed Diggs & Rafael Casal, Blindspotting
Best Adapted Screenplay

Brendan:

  • Barry Jenkins & Tarell Alvin McCraney, Moonlight
  • Park Chan-wook & Chung Seo-kyung, The Handmaiden
  • Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy, Before Midnight
  • Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
  • Phyllis Nagy, Carol

JD:

  • Barry Jenkins & Tarell Alvin McCraney, Moonlight
  • Greta Gerwig, Little Women
  • Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy, Before Midnight
  • Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
  • Hayao Miyazaki, The Wind Rises
Best Cinematography

Brendan:

  • Jarin Blaschke, The Witch
  • Elisha Christian, Columbus
  • Hoyte van Hoytema, Interstellar
  • Alfonso Cauron, Roma
  • John Seale, Mad Max: Fury Road

JD:

  • Roger Deakins Blade Runner 2049
  • Bruno Delbonnel, Inside Llewyn Davis
  • Emmanuel Lubeski, The Tree of Life
  • Alfonso Cauron, Roma
  • Linus Sandgren, La La Land
Best Documentary

Brendan:

  • The Act of Killing, The Look of Silence
  • Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck
  • Minding the Gap
  • Faces Places
  • Tower

JD:

  • The Act of Killing, The Look of Silence
  • Senna
  • Stories We Tell
  • Faces Places
  • Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Best Foreign Language Film

Brendan:

  • The Handmaiden
  • Amour
  • Mother
  • Phoenix
  • Shoplifters

JD:

  • Roma
  • A Prophet
  • Parasite
  • White God
  • Blue is the Warmest Color
Best Animated Movie

Brendan:

  • Inside Out
  • How to Train Your Dragon 2
  • Toy Story 3
  • The Wind Rises
  • The Tale of Princess Kaguya

JD:

  • Inside Out
  • How to Train Your Dragon 2
  • Toy Story 3
  • The Wind Rises
  • The Red Turtle
Best Original Score

Brendan:

  • Nicholas Britell, If Beale Street Could Talk
  • Emile Mosseri, The Last Black Man in San Francisco
  • Jo Yeong-wook, The Handmaiden
  • Joe Hisaishi, The Tale of Princess Kaguya
  • Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, The Social Network

JD:

  • John Powell, How to Train Your Dragon
  • Hans Zimmer, Interstellar
  • Justin Hurwitz, First Man
  • Michael Giacchino, Inside Out
  • Dan Romer & Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Best Use of Soundtrack Music

Brendan:

  • “I Get Overwhelmed” by Dark Rooms, A Ghost Story
  • “Please Mr. Kennedy” by Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver & Justin Timberlake, Inside Llewyn Davis
  • “Drive It Like You Stole It” by Sing Street, Sing Street
  • “The Moon Song” by Karen O, Her
  • “Visions of Gideon” by Sufjan Stevens, Call Me By Your Name

JD:

  • “Glasgow (No Place Like Home)” by Jessie Buckley, Wild Rose
  • “Fare Thee Well” by Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis
  • “Drive It Like You Stole It” by Sing Street, Sing Street
  • “About Today” by The National & Mark Isham, Warrior
  • “Visions of Gideon” by Sufjan Stevens, Call Me By Your Name
Best Opening/Closing Credits Sequence or Scene

Brendan:

  • Blue Valentine (Closing)
  • The Florida Project (Opening)
  • Skyfall (Opening)
  • Call Me By Your Name (Closing)
  • Drive (Opening)

JD:

  • Leave No Trace (Closing)
  • Warrior (Closing)
  • Whiplash (Closing)
  • Call Me By Your Name (Closing)
  • Captain Phillips (Closing)
Best Overlooked Movie

Brendan:

  • The World’s End
  • Anomalisa
  • Rango
  • Love & Mercy
  • Wonderstruck

JD:

  • High Life
  • Columbus
  • Krisha
  • Phoenix
  • Meek’s Cutoff
Best Surprise Movie

Brendan:

  • Creed
  • Let Me In
  • Magic Mike XXL
  • Pete’s Dragon
  • Paddington 2

JD:

  • Trainwreck
  • Gleason
  • Warrior
  • Rush
  • Blaze
Best Surprise Actor/Actress

Brendan:

  • James Franco, 127 Hours
  • Channing Tatum, 21 Jump Street
  • June Squibb, Nebraska
  • Robert Pattinson, The Rover
  • Tilda Swington, Suspiria

JD:

  • Tahar Rahim, A Prophet
  • Ben Dickey, Blaze
  • James Franco, Spring Breakers
  • Lil Rel Howery, Get Out
  • Bria Vinaite, The Florida Project
Best Movie Discovery

Brendan:

  • Barry Jenkins, Director
  • Oscar Isaac, Actor
  • Ryan Coogler, Director
  • Michael B. Jordan, Actor
  • Margot Robbie, Actress

JD:

  • Barry Jenkins, Director
  • Thomasin McKenzie, Actress
  • Jennifer Lawrence, Actress
  • Damien Chazelle, Director
  • Denis Villenueve, Director
JD’s Individual Special Awards

Best Individual Score Track

  • “Time” – Hans Zimmer (Inception)
  • “Brothers In Arms” – Junkie XL (Mad Max: Fury Road)
  • “Forbidden Friendship” – John Powell (How to Train Your Dragon)
  • “Lost But Won” – Hans Zimmer (Rush)
  • “Budle of Joy” – Michael Giacchino (Inside Out)
  • “A Hidden Life” – James Newton Howard (A Hidden Life)
  • “Karen Theme” – Justin Hurwitz (First Man)
  • “Hope” – John Ottman (X-Men: Days of Future Past)
  • “Carol Theme” – Carter Burwell (Carol)
  • “Once I Was a Hushpuppy” – Dan Romer & Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild)

Best Directorial Debut

  • Bo Burnham – Eighth Grade
  • Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild
  • Alex Garland – Ex Machina
  • Greta Gerwig – Lady Bird
  • Jordan Peele – Get Out

Best Undervalued Performance

  • Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
  • Tilda Swinton – We Need to Talk About Kevin
  • Daniel Bruhl – Rush
  • Lily Gladstone – Certain Women
  • Alex Wolff – Hereditary

Best Poster

  • The Red Turtle
  • The Tree of Life
  • Logan
  • The Lobster
  • Moonlight

Holy Crap, I’m Still Not Sure How They Did That Award

  • The astounding performance by the dog Body in White God
  • Shooting the entire movie as one-take in Victoria
  • All of the insane practical stunts in Mad Max: Fury Road
  • Terry Notary reprising his ape character from the Apes trilogy in The Square
  • Ridle Soctt recasting Kevin Spacey with Christopher Plummer two months before the release of All the Money in the World
Brendan’s Individual Special Awards

Best Directorial Debut

  • Joe Talbot – The Last Black Man in San Francisco
  • Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild
  • Alex Garland – Ex Machina
  • Greta Gerwig – Lady Bird
  • Robert Eggers – The Witch

Wow, That’s It, I’m Never…

  • Amour – that’s it, I’m never getting old
  • Blue Valentine – that’s it, I’m never getting married
  • Drive – that’s it, I’m never getting into an elevator with Ryan Gosling
  • Phoenix – that’s it, I’m never betraying my future singing wife
  • Spring Breakers – that’s it, I’m never going on spring break
  • We Need to Talk About Kevin – that’s it, I’m never having kids

Well that’s it for our Best of the Decade Awards! Hopefully you all enjoyed our nominations and winners. If you agree or disagree with us, let us know in the comment section below. We would love to hear how your nominations and winners would vary from our picks above. You can also email your selections to us at [email protected] or follow us on social media.

To hear our Top 10 Movies of the decade, be sure to listen to hear Episode 363!

Hear us talk about our “Unique Categories” on Patreon here!

Movie Review: ‘The Rhythm Section’ sees Blake Lively executing a mostly enjoyable changing of the spy station


Director: Reed Morano
Writer: Mark Burnell (also based on his novel)
Stars: Blake Lively, Jude Law, Sterling K. Brown, Raza Jaffrey, Daniel Mays, Max Casella, Richard Brake

Synopsis: A woman seeks revenge against those who orchestrated a plane crash that killed her family.

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The heart is where love is, but there may be times something else gets to be the resident. For Stephanie Patrick (Blake Lively), it is sorrow, perhaps of the gravest kind as well as she is the only family member left; her mom, dad, sister and brother were among the 200-plus passengers on a flight that crashed into the Atlantic. And it has always been an accident — until it no longer is.

The bombshell, delivered to Stephanie by visiting freelance journalist Keith Proctor (Raza Jaffrey) and thankfully — as constructed by writer Mark Burnell, who adapted this from his own novel — without the “some tail for details” follow-up (someone call Richard Jewell), is undoubtedly the inciting incident of The Rhythm Section. Reed Morano’s third feature is a refreshing and thrilling clandestine revenge piece that can definitely hang with Nikita and Hanna, even when its steps are often marked with dissonances.

Like Anne Parrilaud or Saoirse Ronan in their respective films, Lively conjures a level of commitment that is downright admirable. We the viewers sure are fortunate to see the actress, of late, going all-in in roles where the only way to make them catch fire is to go all-in. Thoughts of the action being too Bourne-esque or that the material is Jane Bond (don’t think it so, per co-producer Barbara Broccoli’s words), Lively will one-two them all away as she makes it clear, in convincing fashion, that Stephanie’s leap from drug-and-despair-addled citizen to woman with a license to kill isn’t overnight or that the “ready for the field” announcement from her trainer, former MI6 agent B (Jude Law, again fleeting and with much of that Captain Marvel tough-love) is less a confirmation and more a warning that the field always knows how to unready a person.

The latter is especially well-conveyed by Morano, to the point that she provides substance in a way that Burnell’s script couldn’t but should have. Cloak-and-dagger tropes are here, no doubt, as well as the flip side of each: revenge is a motivator but it dents your skills come game time; the objective is clear but won’t reveal the whole picture; and every “contract,” as B and his information broker Mark Serra (Sterling K. Brown, underused but always noticeable) referred to people need killing, has a weight that will latch on upon completion. One may have quick flashbacks to Karyn Kusama’s Destroyer seeing Stephanie having the deadly advantage over a person who, since committing their wickedness, is in a condition or have elements that will render their disappearances — the central reason — free of the long-yearned-for pleasure and peace. Lively, again, brings this bleak point home in whole and with volume — using only her eyes (no matter which wig or apparel).

And if Joan Sobel’s editing is in sync, or away from the times it doesn’t and stands out enough that it cues the tedium others are speaking of, one can peek into how Stephanie processes what she sees. It can be actions she would rather forget but have to be performed. Faces of loved ones she wants to keep but no longer can. Or just simply the fact that Tangier streets are not made for smooth getaways in a long-take car chase that places us squarely in the passenger seat (d.p. Sean Bobbitt reapplying the gripping tricks in The Place Beyond the Pines’ most climactic sequence). Also note that the score from Steve Mazzaro, with assistance from Hans Zimmer, uses only deep thrummings here, which while sparing gives the footage the right sensation more than those awkward, explosive needle drops ever could. Honestly, when has loudness ever shown a spy any love?

Overall Grade: B-

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Featured: Dumped! Why the months of January and February are the studios’ ‘dump months’

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We’re only a few weeks into 2020 and already there have been some real stinkers at the Box Office (yes, Dolittle and Underwater I am talking about you!). Looking at the release schedule for January and February it’s hard to get excited. Aside from Birds of Prey and Sonic the Hedgehog there’s very little that seems appealing. Of course, 2020 is no expectation as this is a common trend. You have probably noticed that there is a pattern of ‘bad’ films which are released at the start of the year, and over the years there have been many Box Office Bombs from the likes of Serenity (which only grossed $8.5 million on a budget of $25 million) to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (which only grossed $10 million on a budget of $28 million).

These months are referred to ‘Dump Months’ in the industry and there’s a reason why studios seem to unload all their rubbish into the theatres over this period. These are the films that the studios don’t necessarily have faith in. Dolittle had been plagued with issues throughout its long and troubled production history, and reportedly because of poor test screenings the film underwent three weeks of reshoots that took place in Spring 2019. The Blake Lively film Rhythm Section has also flopped at the Box Office after facing tough competition from Bad Boys For Life. Like Dolittle, Rhythm Section also suffered from on-set woes due to Lively suffering from a hand injured which pushed back the film’s release date.

With the aftermath of Christmas, people don’t have much in terms of a disposal income to spend on a cinema ticket. Therefore, the bigger tentpole films will usually be scheduled for later in the year, usually in the summer months as people will have more disposable income to hand. When we consider that the average cost for a cinema ticket in the US is $9.26, and the lack of big blockbuster films being shown, is it any wonder that people struggle to depart with their money? Quick note, according to reports by the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) the average ticket price for 2017 was $8.97, up from $8.65 in 2016 and $8.25 in 2015. That’s quite a steep climb in just a few short years.

If we look at the statistics for monthly film admissions during the months of January and February, we can see just how dire these months are. The U.K. admissions for January 2019 saw 13,711,441 admissions, which was down drastically from 2018 which saw 16,201,679 admissions. February 2019’s admissions were even worse with 12,226,237 admissions compared to 16,104,240 admissions back in February 2018. The reason for the large admission numbers for 2018, was down to the release of Black Panther, which broke records at the Global Box Office.

Another contributing factor to consider is that a large portion of the cinema going public has returned back to school or college.This why when school’s are on a break during the spring and summer we see an influx of animated and family friendly films, and why we see a rise in horror films being released in October. Films which have a R-Rating will tend to be released during the dump months because they’re harder to market to a family audience. This year we have already seen horror flicks such as The Grudge, The Turning and Gretel & Hansel being released. The Grudge was predicted to have an opening weekend of $11-15 million but debuted at a dismal $11.4 million. The Turning hasn’t fared any better, with a projected opening of $7-9 million, the film actually opened to just $7.3 million. It has gone on to make $14 million at the global box office, with a budget of $14 million, The Turning is officially declared a flop.

Sadly, if the studio doesn’t deem your film worthy of being released during peak season then you’re more than likely to get dumped. It’s worth noting that a studio will be legally committed to releasing the movie in cinemas for a certain period of time. If a film is a real stinker then it’ll be dumped in January or February, before fizzling out and being released on VoD. It’s quite depressing when we consider that over the years we’ve seen some classic films being released in a dump month, films like Annihilation and Office Space, only for them to bomb completely.

During the dump months you are less likely to see critically praised films being released. The reason for this is that if a film is released in February, then it will take a whole year until it is eligible for the Golden Globes, Oscars, or other major awards. This is why we will often see Oscar films being released in the last few months of the year as it helps keep their film’s in discussion around the Awards season. So, if you want your film to be taken a serious contender for the Oscars, make sure you release it in December when the members will begin their voting process.

We will only have to wait a little longer until normality resumes. 2020 looks to be an interesting year for the blockbuster film with the likes of A Quiet Place Part 2, and Mulan being released in March (which is only a month away!). April will see James Bond return in No Time to Die, and we’ll see Black Widow starring in her solo film in May, and Wonder Woman back in action in June. So, while you patiently wait until all those come out, maybe now would be a perfect time to catch up on all those films you missed in 2019. Why bother going out in the rain and snow to see Dolittle, when you can watch the likes of Jessie Buckley singing her heart out in Wild Rose?

List: Top 10 Movies of the Decade (2010-2019)

This week on Episode 363 of the InSession Film Podcast, we discussed our Top 10 Movies of the 2010s! It was a fantastic decade for film, so narrowing down this list to just 10 films, or even 20 if we’re including honorable mentions, was no easy task. We spent countless hours dissecting our year-end lists attempting to piece together the perfect Top 10 for the 2010s. Hopefully we didn’t disappoint!

Here are the movies that made our lists. Be sure to listen to the show to hear more about our love for these films and why they ultimately made the cut.

JD

1) The Tree of Life
2) Inside Llewyn Davis
3) The Master
4) The Social Network
5) Her
6) Inside Out
7) Boyhood
8) Midnight Special
9) First Man
10) Lady Bird

11) The Wind Rises
12) Little Women
13) La La Land
14) Get Out
15) Arrival
16) Ex Machina
17) Parasite
18) The Florida Project
19) Moonlight
20) Roma

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Brendan

1) The Master
2) Her
3) The Tale of Princess Kaguya
4) Everybody Wants Some!!
5) Amour
6) The Handmaiden
7) The Florida Project
8) Drive
9) The Social Network
10) Faces Places

11) Spring Breakers
12) Boyhood
13) The Tree of Life
14) The Wind Rises
15) The Witch
16) Ex Machina
17) Inside Out
18) Before Midnight
19) The Grand Budapest Hotel
20) Inherent Vice

Hopefully you guys enjoyed our lists and if you agree or disagree with us, let us know in the comment section below. Clearly there are tons of other contenders that battled for our lists, that just missed out. That being said, what would be your Top 10? Leave a comment in the comment section or email us at [email protected].

For the entire podcast, click here or listen below.

For more lists done by the InSession Film crew and other guests, be sure see our Top 3 Movie Lists page.

Podcast: Best of the Decade Awards / Top 10 Movies of the 2010s – Episode 363

This week on the InSession Film Podcast, it’s all about the best of the decade! We feature an abridged version of our annual Awards show discussing the very best that film had to offer last decade, and we top it off by revealing our Top 10 Movies of the 2010s!

It was a stellar decade for film and we had a really great time celebrating the last ten years. Some of you may remember that InSession Film launched in 2013, so we were able to cover most of the decade in real time, while catching up with many great films that 2010, 2011 and 2012 had to offer over the years as well. It’s somewhat surreal to see the decade close as we move on to the next chapter, but before we do, we had one last ride reminiscing on the greatness we witnessed in film in the 2010s.

On that note, check out this week’s show and let us know what you think in the comment section. Thanks for listening and for supporting the InSession Film Podcast!

– Best of the Decade Awards (5:42)

    Individual Special Awards

    Best Use of Soundtrack Music

    Best Original Score

    Best Animated Movie

    Best Foreign Language Film

    Best Documentary

    Best Cinematography

    Best Adapted Screenplay

    Best Original Screenplay

    Best Director

    Best Actress Supporting Role

    Best Actor Supporting Role

    Best Actress

    Best Actor

*See a list of all of our nominees and winners here!

– Notes (1:34:23)

As noted on the show, be on the lookout for our Patreon Bonus Content this week as we discuss our “unique” categories that we skipped during our Best of the Decade awards. We hoped it would save some time given everything we needed to get through, but we still wanted to go over those categories, and we figured Patreon was the way to go. Stay tuned for that!

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RELATED: Listen to Episode 360 of the InSession Film Podcast where we discussed our Top 10 Movies of 2019!

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Top 10 Movies of the 2010s (1:50:03)
As noted above, it was a fantastic decade for film, so narrowing down this list to just 10 films, or even 20 if we’re including honorable mentions, was no easy task. We spent countless hours dissecting our year-end lists attempting to piece together the perfect Top 10 for the 2010s. Hopefully we didn’t let you all down.

Do you agree or disagree with any of our picks? Let us know in the comment section below.

– Music

About Today – The National / Mark Isham
The Moon Song – Karen O.
The Return of the Eagle – Atli Örvarsson

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InSession Film Podcast – Episode 363

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Next week on the show:

Main Review: Birds of Prey
Top 3: TBD

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Help Support The InSession Film Podcast

If you want to help support us, there are several ways you can help us and we’d absolutely appreciate it. Every penny goes directly back into supporting the show and we are truly honored and grateful. Thanks for your support and for listening to the InSession Film Podcast!

VISIT OUR DONATE PAGE HERE

Movie Review: ‘Les Misérables’ is a gripping, stark mosaic about injustice


Director: Ladj Ly
Writer: Ladj Ly, Giordano Gederlini
Stars: Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti, Djebril Zonga

Synopsis: A cop from the provinces moves to Paris to join the Anti-Crime Brigade of Montfermeil, discovering an underworld where the tensions between the different groups mark the rhythm.

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The audacity! The sheer audacity of Ladj Ly to bestow upon his film the same title as one of the all-time most famous works of literature… That’s the sort of confidence I’m trying to bring to my 2020.

Les Misérables won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival last spring, and the film went on to receive an Oscar nomination for Best International Film, since France’s Minister of Culture chose it to represent the nation with the Academy instead of Céline Sciamma’s much-beloved queer masterwork Portrait of a Lady on Fire. The vehemence from many of the online opinion-havers was pretty venomous when that announcement was made, but the decision actually makes a lot of sense.

Ly’s film is incredibly timely, not just for France specifically but also for Donald Trump’s America—and the planet at large for that matter. The world is a highly turbulent place right now and already has been for a while; white nationalism and xenophobia are on the rise. But remember that so much of what fuels and aids this deep-seated hatred is systematic and long-established. For generations, laws and enforcement agencies have been consciously designed to maintain the status quo by “legally” oppressing minorities, immigrants, and the rest of the under-privileged.

So, for a people that nearly elected the out-spoken Islamophobe and outright fascist Marine Le Pen in 2017—only one year after America elected our own—it figures that this generation’s great revolution would center on fighting back against the institutions of which the Le Pens, the Trumps, and all those they empower are a symptom.

I’m sure we, as Americans, often think of the abhorrent issue of police brutality as something uniquely ours. Something that mustn’t happen elsewhere. Certainly not in places like western Europe. And yet… Ly is here with a stark existential reminder that the fight for social justice rages on everywhere, that the fight for human rights definitely did not end in the 18th century anywhere, that the fight to escape poverty and persecution will remain altogether futile… until the people come together and revolt once again.

Les Misérables plays out like something akin to a French The Wire. Ly paints from all sides of the canvas and moves his brush freely from corner to corner. Unfettered cops. Disenfranchised civilians. Outraged adolescents. Empowered superordinates. Together, they produce a painful mosaic of ongoing human strife in an environment that fortifies a few and crushes the rest…

Ly’s opening is ironically triumphant. For a brief moment in time, a nation is unified as France wins the World Cup. Crowds of people cheer and celebrate the victory in front of the Eiffel Tower—an architectural marvel meant to observe a hundred years since the Revolution and demonstrate France’s modernism. (Acerbic, no?) But then the mood settles and it’s all downhill from there, as the country redivides and the people return to their stations.

In order to tell this upsetting story, Ly utilizes an in-yer-face style of cinéma vérité that feels thoroughly appropriate for the substance of this narrative—it adds to the film’s sense of overdue urgency. Ly and company’s unencumbered zeal almost calls for an evocation for a new French New Wave. All that electricity behind the camera and in the editing room is naturally illustrated on screen in the form of the filmmakers’ own energy. Ly’s direction is something that quick-to-label critics might deem as uncontained. But, rest assured, he is undoubtedly in complete control of his chaos from start to finish.

The movie’s virtually parabolic intensity balloons and layers by varying degrees with every instance of neighborhood conflict until the gripping-as-hell final act, which is the very definition of visceral—concluding on quite a chilling note. (When the picture ultimately cut to black, I instantly saw my own face reflected back on the screen. Stunned at what I’d just witnessed. As if I needed to be reminded.)

Folks eager to watch a garden-variety retelling of the classic novel will likely be disappointed, though. Likewise, so will folks keen to play a game of Spot the Similarities. Because what these stories mainly have in common, aside from their titles, lies within their cores—a common message and general mood, not much else. Thus, moviegoers willing to let this film speak for itself will probably be more prone to being consumed by it.

Because Ladj Ly’s Les Misérables, in its own way, lives up to its namesake. On the surface, the film has seemingly nothing to do with Victor Hugo’s magnum opus. It doesn’t share character facsimiles or plot structure, not even in an emblematic way. Consequently, Hugo doesn’t receive a writing credit of any sort. Ly and his co-screenwriters merely—boldly—lifted the title for their own tale of gross social imbalances, abuses of power, and class warfare.

Personally, I would have picked Portrait of a Lady on Fire to represent France at the Oscars, but it’s easy to see why this film was selected.

After all, it’s disconcerting how relevant Les Misérables is, isn’t it? Which one am I talking about? You pick.

Overall Grade: B+

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Podcast: Dr. No / The Rhythm Section – Extra Film

This week on the InSession Film Podcast: Extra Film segment, Jay and Ryan start their James Bond series with the one that started it all, Dr. No. They also cover the new release, The Rhythm Section, which has some very timely parallels to the saga of 007.

There is no better time to look back at some of the cinematic classics of the past than January, when it is hard enough to find one decent new release to cover, let alone two. Enter Sean Connery as pop culture’s most famous spy. Jay and Ryan explore why this character connected so immediately with audiences and what makes Dr. No a little different from what the Bond series would later become.

After that discussion, the guys talk through The Rhythm Section, another spy film, starring Blake Lively. The film has been sitting on the shelf for a while and there were major production issues, but is it a classic January dump or is this a hidden gem early in the year? Listen to find out!

On that note, have fun with this week’s Extra Film segment and let us know what you think in the comment section below. Thanks for listening!

– Movie Review: Dr. No (2:55)
Director: Terence Young
Screenplay: Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, Berkely Mather
Stars: Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, Joseph Wiseman

– Movie Review: The Rhythm Section (41:53)
Directors: Reed Morano
Screenplay: Mark Burnell
Stars: Blake Lively, Jude Law, Sterling K. Brown

– Music

James Bond Theme – John Barry Orchestra
Only One – Reem
The Return of the Eagle – Atli Örvarsson

We try to make this the best movie podcast we possibly can and we hope you enjoy them. Subscribe today on iTunes, Spotify or Stitcher, and please leave us a review on iTunes. You can also find us on Soundcloud, PlayerFM and TuneIn Radio as well. We really appreciate all your support of the InSession Film Podcast.

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Dr. No / The Rhythm Section – Extra Film

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To hear this Extra Film episode and everything else we do, download our apps on the Amazon Market for Android and the Podcast Box app on IOS devices. The mobile app covers all of our main shows, bonus podcast’s and everything else relating to the InSession Film Podcast. Thanks for your wonderful support and for listening to our show. It means the world to us!

Featured: Criterion Releases – February 2020

It’s the shortest month of the year, but with an extra day as it is a leap year. And in this leap year, Criterion is re-releasing a documentary about some of the best architecture made by one person and adding four more to the collection. One was a film from 2018 we knew immediately was going to the collection, a groundbreaking LGBT documentary, and two other hidden gems. And they are:

ANTONIO GAUDÍ (1984)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwuZ0fgWCkE

In the rerelease section is this no spoken word visual on the work of the aforenamed sculptor who made art out of his buildings, including Sagrada Familia, the Catholic basilica in Barcelona that has been under construction since 1882 and is expected to finish in another 7 years…hopefully. But if you haven’t seen what that building looks like or some other notables by him, get intoxicated into this visual eye candy that examines in all angles the major buildings by the Gaudi. So, consider this an ad for going to Barcelona, one of the best cities in Europe.

Roma (2018)

Like Cold War, it is a foreign masterpiece that had the Big C all over it since Alfonso Cuaron has two of his earlier films also on the label. The visuals flow out like a poem being read line by line as a slice-of-life from an era in Cuaron’s memory, 1970 Mexico when the country was in a turbulent battle with the ruling government. There’s a deep emotion that comes with the territory and a boldness that is rarely seen and Cuaron, along with a brave performance from Yalitza Aparicio, brings it full circle for the awards success it received after.

Paris Is Burning (1990)

Jennie Livingston, the niece of director Alan J. Pakula, stumbled upon the ball culture scene in the 80s and documented the colorful lives of those invited. Today, it is a living document about race, sexual orientation, gender, and open homo/ transphobia that existed during the AIDS crisis. Everyone learned about “voguing,” the role of different “houses,” and all of these terminologies that were an eye-opener for many who saw it for the first time. It’s a documentary that demands to be seen, especially since it influenced the FX series Pose.

Teorema (1968)

Italian radical Pier Paolo Pasolini directed this mysterious film surrounding an affluent family and a stranger who comes in their home and engages in sexual affairs with everyone – something so Pasolini with his later works. But the results cast a lingering spell on everyone and the ambiguity is left for interpretation with each character. The film left many scholars both spellbound and dumbstruck, which many have broken down what it could mean. Is it about Pasolini has a gay man? Is there a Marxist critique of the upper class? A lot of God references, so is it about religion, which is why the Vatican was angry about the movie? Or, maybe he’s just messing with us? Watch and you can make your own impression.

Three Fantastic Journeys By Karel Zeman

Czech animator Karel Zeman made six feature films that film historians refer to Zeman as the modern Georges Melies. The three being touted out are Journey to the Beginning of Time, Invention for Destruction, and The Fabulous Baron Munchausen. He made them at a time where censorship was strict (before the Prague Spring of 1968) and circumvented the rules on what the movies should be about, making him recognized by the government and was decorated as a cultural hero. Zeman is a major influence in the works of Terry Gillam, Tim Burton, and Wes Anderson. Above is his short from 1949 called Inspiration.  

Follow me on Twitter: @brian_cine (Cine-A-Man)

Movie Review: ‘The Gentlemen’ is a classic Guy Ritchie crime flick


Director: Guy Ritchie
Writer: Guy Ritchie
Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Michelle Dockery, Hugh Grant

Synopsis: An American expat tries to sell off his highly profitable marijuana empire in London, triggering plots, schemes, bribery and blackmail in an attempt to steal his domain out from under him.

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Guy Ritchie is known for his witty, fast-paced, slightly offensive, perfectly casted crime films. His movies aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but he’s one of my favorite directors. His latest film, The Gentlemen, reminds fans exactly why we enjoy his movies. The Gentlemen tells the story of American marijuana mogul in London, Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey), who’s trying to sell off his lucrative business so he can retire to a quiet family life with his wife (Michelle Dockery). In true Guy Ritchie fashion, things go awry, and problems must be solved. He then goes on to fill two hours with chase scenes, lots of violence and bad language, and as many British accents as possible.

I am a fan of Guy Ritchie, so I really enjoyed The Gentlemen. I love the entire cast; Ritchie is talented at finding the perfect group of people to be in his movies. Hugh Grant was particularly good as the film’s unreliable narrator. His drunken character awkwardly hitting on Charlie Hunnam while explaining what he thought was going on was funny and kept the film moving. Charlie Hunnam was also great as McConaughey’s right hand man, Raymond. I know he’s English, but I know him best from Sons of Anarchy so it’s still weird to hear him with a British Accent. Colin Farrell was also good as side character Coach. It was nice to see him in a good movie and with (I think) an Irish accent. Michelle Dockery was also fabulous as the films only female lead, Rosalind. I’ve only seen her as Lady Mary in Downton Abbey, so it was a big change to see her with a cockney accent in 4.5” Loubitons ordering people around and having the best line in the entire movie – There’s f*#kery afoot…”

The Gentlemen has a lot going for it. It was the same kind of complicated story Guy Ritchie is known for- many things happening at once, all storylines converge, things are revealed at the end- but it felt like it was done at a slower, more easy to follow pace than some of his previous films. It seemed more refined, maybe that’s why he called it The Gentlemen? It was also very funny. There were little things happening at all times to remind the audience to laugh in between the horrible language and violence. He also managed to stick in a large The Man From U.N.C.L.E poster in the background of one scene. That’s a seriously underrated Ritchie film (that I love) whose fans are usually found begging for a sequel online. Another thing about the movie I enjoyed was seeing actors in roles I’m not used to seeing them in. I know Hugh Grant and Henry Golding from Romantic Comedies. In The Gentlemen Golding is the villain and Grant is a sleazy journalist. Charlie Hunnam is (mostly) cool and collected and not the leading man.

As far as negatives go, The Gentlemen has a few. It’s filled with very profane language which can be offensive if you’re not familiar with Ritchie’s films or don’t enjoy hearing words that qualify an R-rating 174 times in two hours. There’s also only ONE female character in the entire movie. I understand it’s a crime movie and Guy Ritchie isn’t known for having a ton of women in his films, but I think it’s time he started writing parts for women. I love his quick-paced, snarky back-and-forth dialogues and I can think of a dozen actresses that would thrive in one of his films. Fingers crossed he’s a bit more inclusive next time. Additionally, the one female character owns a garage with only female mechanics. This comes off a bit “teenage boy fantasy”, hot women draped over expensive cars, and is labeled “a haven for the ladies” in the film. I didn’t personally think of it that way when I saw it, but others did. For me, a female living in the US, who has owned many cars, it was something I wish was a real thing. I’ve lost track at the number of times I’ve been talked down to, questioned, mocked, or hit on any time I’ve taken my car to get inspected or something. None of these “negatives” really bothered me, I knew what to expect with this director, but I know not everyone will feel the same.

The Gentlemen is a classic Guy Ritchie crime flick. It combines everything we know and love from him while sprinkling in some new faces and weaving his complicated storyline at a slightly slower pace. It’s definitely not for everyone, but fans of his previous movies with probably enjoy it. It’s a lot of fun and I highly recommend seeing it on the big screen.

Overall Grade: A-

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Hear our podcast review on Episode 362:

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