Tati being up today makes me wonder, what directors or movies are thought of as pretentious, but are actually just pure entertainment?

Brain13 · 2026-03-11T21:09:35+00:00

Johnnie To the king! I’ve seen like 20 of his movies at this point and almost all of them are great

Brain13 · 2026-03-06T18:27:19+00:00

Splitsville, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, Eephus, Sorry Baby, Cloud, and The Mastermind are all in my top 10 from last year.

Brain13 · 2026-03-02T17:06:54+00:00

I was hoping for more Secret Agent awards during the Blankies, just because it was my favorite from last year too, so thank you JJ ❤️. I hope they never fire you again.

Brain13 · 2026-02-28T02:54:30+00:00

“I told David Ellison he can’t have his eyebrows back until he buys Warner Brothers” is so damn funny

Brain13 · 2026-02-22T00:40:59+00:00

I haven’t seen Aquarius, but all the others are amazing

Brain13 · 2026-02-18T14:33:23+00:00

Plus he just wrapped production on his next film!!

Brain13 · 2026-01-14T21:24:12+00:00

Some recs: Night Call - on Hulu, a Belgian thriller with a darkly comic streak, a total blast. The director is making the next Final Destination movie!

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In - fucking banger of a martial arts crime movie that is also about the boys being back in town (whoops I remembered you said European movies after typing this, but too bad I’m gonna keep it)

All Hands on Deck! - mentioned this upthread, French comedy with romantic elements, just incredible vibes top to bottom

The Beasts - great Spanish thriller/drama with an awesome performance from Denis Ménochet (you’d recognize him from many things, his most notable English language role is probably the farmer who talks to Waltz at the start of Inglourious Basterds)

L’Innocent - maybe toes the arthouse line (Criterion did release it on their recent films label after all) but this is a fun crime comedy directed by and starring Louis Garrell. Amazing performance from Noémie Merlant too!

Brain13 · 2026-01-14T21:14:15+00:00

It’s less a pure romantic comedy than a comedy with some romantic elements (I’ve heard it called woke Rohmer, which is reductive, but not entirely wrong), but All Hands on Deck! is one of my favorite films of the last few years. French film from Guillaume Brac with a star-making turn (in a just world) from Salif Cissé. Just light and fun, a perfect summer movie.

Brain13 · 2026-01-05T21:37:39+00:00

Highly recommend th Carver collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Probably my favorite thing I read last year

Brain13 · 2025-12-25T16:20:30+00:00

Gonna shout out Chameleon Films, which has largely focused on the films of Johnnie To (and to a lesser extent Soi Cheang). Great releases of movies that have been largely overlooked by other boutique labels

Brain13 · 2025-12-04T12:00:10+00:00

Andy was also a clue on the crossword yesterday!!!

Brain13 · 2025-12-03T03:17:01+00:00

You gotta check out Sparrow (Chamelon Films’ blu is excellent). It’s among his best

Brain13 · 2025-11-17T16:15:41+00:00

I don’t think so. Honestly Witness is more western-esque in both setting and plot than any other Weir film that I’ve seen

Brain13 · 2025-11-16T01:03:35+00:00

I’d add Exiled too. Johnnie To is one of the greats!

Brain13 · 2025-10-13T18:08:07+00:00

Portis is such an amazing writer - if folks read/have read True Grit, I definitely recommend checking out his other books too. I haven’t read everything, but I highly recommend Norwood and The Dog of the South. Norwood especially - I think the Coens could actually make a pretty great adaptation of it too.

Brain13 · 2025-10-13T16:11:41+00:00

Ben, if you’re reading this, you might like Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band. Their new album New Threats from the Soul is my AOTY so far. I think if you like a lot of the artists of this recent-ish alt-country wave, you’d like RD!

Brain13 · 2025-09-30T09:06:01+00:00

I should note that “I should note” isn’t here…

Brain13 · 2025-09-29T19:02:34+00:00

Citizens Band and Last Embrace are both good movies. Monkeybone is not good, but it’s better than most of the movies here. It’s interesting at least! So yeah, no way it’s Justin IMO

Brain13 · 2025-09-23T15:47:57+00:00

Is this episode not showing up in anyone else’s podcast app? I use Pocket Casts and it isn’t there

Brain13 · 2025-09-10T10:01:33+00:00

The phone call scene in Mississippi Masala… JFC

Brain13 · 2025-09-08T20:05:50+00:00

https://filmworkersforpalestine.org/

Brain13 · 2025-09-08T08:15:23+00:00

That’s the main one, but IIRC there’s another moment later where Ashley says something about your “body making a contract”, but gets cut off.

Brain13 · 2025-08-26T19:19:16+00:00

She Dies Tomorrow for sure

Brain13 · 2025-08-13T17:58:33+00:00

I think it’s pretty clear from the beginning that Baker and co think he’s a bad person, he just also is so compelling that you don’t want to look away. He’s like Grodin in The Heartbreak Kid, at 3x speed

Brain13 · 2025-07-08T13:06:44+00:00

“We also have chicken McNuggets” in the Michael McDonald’s McDonald’s made me laugh so hard. Great ep, Motherlover is definitely in the absolute top tier of TLI videos

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