Well, she did an acoustic rendition of “All Too Well” and followed it up with “Blank Space” so I guess this should be on my top ten list.
Wh…Why’s everyone looking at me? Stop that!
This time with timings:
0:02:00 - Roma (Dingus)
0:09:35 - Green Book (Dingus)
0:15:08 - Upgrade (KellyWand)
0:18:38 - Sorry to Bother You (KellyWand, Tom)
0:26:09 - Widows (KellyWand)
0:27:05 - Leave No Trace (Dingus, Tom)
0:35:44 - The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (KellyWand)
0:38:50 - Black Panther (Dingus, Tom)
0:46:17 - Destroyer (Tom)
0:50:08 - A Quiet Place (Dingus)
0:55:03 - The Favourite (KellyWand)
0:57:38 - You Were Never Really Here (Tom)
1:03:13 - Isle of Dogs (Dingus)
1:07:24 - Under the Silver Lake (KellyWand)
1:09:38 - Hereditary (KellyWand, Tom)
1:17:25 - The Little Stranger (Dingus, KellyWand)
1:24:10 - The Sisters Brothers (Dingus, KellyWand, Tom)
1:33:53 - Thelma (Tom)
1:42:06 - The Rider (Dingus, Tom)
1:54:17 - Eighth Grade (Dingus, KellyWand, Tom)
Most disappointing movies:
2:15:54 - Ant Man and the Wasp (KellyWand)
2:16:59 - First Reformed (Tom)
2:18:28 - Solo (Dingus)
Most surprising movies:
2:21:35 - Into the Spider-Verse & Bohemian Rhapsody (KellyWand)
2:22:42 - The Death of Stalin & A Star Is Born (Tom)
2:24:00 - Crazy Rich Asians (Dingus)
2:26:10 - Puzzle (Tom’s most disappointing movie)
2:27:25 - Listeners’ favourite movies (2:31:03 - Blockers - Dingus’ 2nd most surprising movie)
3:02:55 - Izzy Gets the F**k Across Town (miscellaneous thingy)
3:14:58 - Two ducks mating in Roma & an Aquaman quote (miscellaneous thingy)
Did I misunderstand the math for ranking these? Seems like The Sisters Brothers should have more points than Thelma. I didn’t check the order of all of them but my girlfriend noticed that when we listened to the podcast.
The math isn’t quite as simple as Tom implied. The spreadsheet does assign points, but it also sorts things to ensure that the #1 picks will be revealed last (and so on).
Math should not be dicked around with like this.
Let a = b
a = b
a*a = b*a [multiply both sides by a]
a^2 - b^2 = b*a - b^2 [subtract b^2 from both sides]
(a - b)(a + b) = (a - b)*b [factor]
a + b = b [cancel (a - b) from both sides]
b + b = b [a = b]
2b = b
2 = 1 [cancel b from both sides]“Let a = b”
LOL
@sinnick’s spreadsheet script was like a rogue AI that took over the podcast. But since it was a benevolent rogue AI, no one really minded.
-Tom
Your post popped this onto my radar and I got around to watching it last night. I thought it was delightful. Loved all the performances (Ben Mendelsohn brings a lot of warmth to a character that could easily come off as scummy, and Connie Britton is wonderful as always) and I enjoyed the almost episodic structure that felt messy in a nice and organic way. Thanks for the recommendation!
Glad you enjoyed it! There’s some great Bill Camp in there too.
I just realized I referenced Bryan Becker’s picks and they aren’t listed anywhere except on the podcast. Here they are:
Bryan Becker
10 Thoroughbreds
9 Eighth Grade
8 The Favourite
7 The Death of Stalin
6 Blindspotting
5 Angels Wear White
4 If Beale Street Could Talk
3 Roma
2 Burning
1 Sorry to Bother You
When is Bill Camp not great? Seriously, he’s like the greatest unknown actor of the last half-decade, popping up in everything, and stealing every scene he’s in.
I was just thinking about the Oscars today and Roma and if it doesn’t win Best Picture it will be a crime against cinema. No movie better than Roma was released last year. You know how sometimes you watch a virtuoso performance of live music–the 12 year old violinist who can bring tears to your eyes during her solo, or the grizzled guitar player who painfully bends down to pick up his guitar, but as soon as his fingers touch the strings he’s a magician–you stop breathing, you lean forward, your mouth hangs slightly open, your eyes widen, and then when the performance ends, you let out your breath slowly through your teeth as the magic stops and the world returns to normal, sound dims, colors fade. This movie is like that.
Did I miss a dedicated thread on this? It’s so, so good!
There isn’t. There should be though.
Ooh, I just caught up on this, and wanted to add my thoughts to the thread.
10. Annihilation
“Imagine dying frightened and in pain and having that as the only part of you which survives.”
Production design, special effects, excellent performances, sci fi horror done right. I love the idea of unique and colorful beautiful worlds filled with horror and dread.
9. Into the Spiderverse
“That person who helps others simply because it should or must be done, and because it is the right thing to do, is indeed without a doubt, a real superhero.”
The best marvel movie. The best animated film in 2018, and technically one of the most impressive looking animation films to date. So good, so fun, a joy to watch.
8. First Reformed
" Will God forgive us for what we’re doing to his creation?"
A portrait of radicalization and the hopelessness of the world we live in. Absolutely sad, stark, awful. How do you fight against an enemy so large it seems impossible you can do anything? You see a man trying to bring a message of hope to those who need it, struggling with the ability to believe his own words. “Every Pastor needs a Pastor” Excellent performances from Amanda Seyfried, Ethan Hawke, and Cedric (Kyles) the Entertainer
7. You Were Never Really Here
“If she’s there, I’ll get her back.”
Continuing with the absolutely sad, stark and awful themes. Lynn Ramsey is amazing, Joaquin Phoenix is amazing, and this movie is just brutal. The scene in the lake was maybe my favorite shot of the entire year.
6. Can You Ever Forgive Me?
“I lost my friend, who might have been an idiot, but tolerated me, and was nice to have around. And I’ve realized that I’m not a real writer. In the end, it was not worth it.”
Melissa McCarthy is perfect in this. The fact that Julianne Moore was originally cast, but fired is crazy, because I think this film would be 100% worse with her in the lead, even though I love her as an actress. Richard E. Grant is excellent in this. This is the literary world version of Midnight Cowboy.
5. Hereditary
piano wire noises
Probably the best horror movie since the Witch, the blend of grief and loss shifting into supernatural horror is done so well, and it has some of the best sequences in a horror film at the end. Probably since the Exorcist. I don’t want to say anything to ruin the plot of this movie, but it is dreadful, dark and awful in all the right ways.
4. Eighth Grade
“But it’s like, being yourself is, like, not changing yourself to impress someone else.”
Maybe the best performance in 2018? The fact that Elsie Fisher didn’t get an oscar nomination is unfair, especially with Lady Gaga getting a nod (she was good, but… I mean, oscar worthy? The song yeah). Probably the most accurate depiction I can think of middle school. I mean, we were all Elsie Fisher in middle school. Wanting desperately to be in with the cool kids, trying hard to be someone we are not, and ultimately figuring out maybe we should just be who we are. So good, but now I am terrified to have children in middle school.
3. The Favourite
Oh fine, give it to her. And you can get a bucket and mop for the aftermath.
The best Trump satire yet. Poking fun at those in power, who deserves power, what it does to ourselves, our heatlh and our personal relationships, and how our desires can be self-defeating, even when we know what we want will be bad. Power allows you the ability to surround yourself with sycophants and servants, and lose touch with any kind of reality. Yorgos Lanthimos continues to be on of my favorite directors, and Olivia Coleman deservedly wins and oscar. (Sorry Glenn Close)
2. Shoplifters
"If someone hits you and tells you they are doing it because they love you, they are a liar.
This was my #1 until I saw the film that became my number 1 film. Hirokazu Kore-eda might be the director I think most directly connects human emotion to film. You have to see this one if you haven’t, a family is just that, those who you are with, those who you love and support you, no matter what the world says. There is a scene, where the children are away, and the husband and wife get to be husband and wife for just a minute that really got me. Spending all of your time scratching and saving, feeding your household, and just the stresses of getting by is tough on a relationship. Seeing moments like this is what makes movies great. Capturing the very real love and attraction this couple has in the quiet moments they have alone together, stuck in a house with 3 generations is just perfect. I can’t stress enough how good this film is.
1. Minding the Gap
“Your whole life society tells you, like ‘oh, be a man, and you are strong and you are tough and margaritas are gay’ you know, like. You know. You don’t grow up thinking that’s the way you are. When you’re a kid, you just do, you just act and then somewhere along the line, everyone loses that.”
Aka, the movie that didn’t win best documentary, because a guy almost killed himself on film climbing a big mountain. This is a story from a first time director (though, it feels like the 10th movie from a seasoned pro) about our relationships with our families, and how our actions effect our loved ones. Is someone only the bad things we remember about them? This film touches on immigration, isolation, racism, abuse, and the economic hardships of our current generation. We have come so far, but we still have so far to go. You think this movie is going to be about some skateboarder bros growing into adults, with the economic issues of growing up in a shrinking midwest town. What you get is the complexity of life, relationships, and growing up. This movie is so brilliantly put together as a documentary. The overall message and theme slowly build throughout the duration of the whole film, leaving you utterly devastated in the end. Be good to each other. Abuse is a cycle, and it needs to be broken, and it needs to be called out.
2018 was a very good year for movies.
As 2019 comes to a close I thought I would do a top ten round-up of Qt3 user lists for 2018 like I did last year for 2017.
This year there were a whopping seven lists submitted between those read on the podcast and those submitted to this thread. Because of the small sample size I decided to eliminate movies only picked by one person, but I will give a shout out to those below the list.
And the top ten movies of 2018 as determined by the lists of @sinnick, @anonymgeist, @Soren_Hoglund, @JonRowe, @marquac, Brian Becker (not sure about a user name), and myself are:
- Eighth Grade (33 points, 5 lists)
- Hereditary (32 points, 6 lists)
- The Death of Stalin (30 points, 5 lists)
- The Favourite (28 points, 4 lists)
- Sorry to Bother You (21 points, 3 lists)
- Widows (19 points, 2 lists)
- Roma (16 points, 2 lists)
- Thoroughbreds (15 points, 3 lists)
- You Were Never Really Here (12 points, 2 lists)
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (9 points, 2 lists)
I’m not sure if I made the right call for number 10, because it could alternately be a three-way tie between First Man, Mandy, and Minding the Gap with 10 points each as they were respectively the #1s for @anonymgeist, @Soren_Hoglund, and @JonRowe. Additionally Burning, Shoplifters, and Wildlife would tie Spider-Man with 9 points, courtesy of #2s from Brian Becker, @JonRowe, and myself.
Happy 2019 list building!
@crispywebb Awesome work putting that together. I need more time to watch a couple movies coming out in December to make my 2019 list.
I wish I could enjoy Armando Iannucci’s movies as much as I enjoy his TV shows. It’s not that I didn’t find individual scenes in In the Loop and Death of Stalin very funny (especially Death of Stalin), but reducing historically atrocious acts to bureaucratic fumbling just didn’t sit well with me in either movie.
I think you’re supposed to feel that way.
Possibly, but I don’t think it’s supposed to make you dislike the movies.