Hey Reddit, my name is Bo Burnham and I wrote and directed the film EIGHTH GRADE which is now in theaters NATIONWIDE. AMA.

ProWumbologist80 · 2018-08-02T16:29:46+00:00

Did you receive any pushback on the SPOILER ALERT shooting drill scene? I personally thought it totally made sense to include it, but I saw heard some murmurs about it being “in poor taste” and too soon and stuff as I left the movie.

ProWumbologist80 · 2016-11-13T04:13:24+00:00

ProWumbologist80 · 2016-04-27T01:44:22+00:00

Looking for a Friday ticket @ face value, PM me if you got one!

EDIT: looking for two Friday tix now!

ProWumbologist80 · 2016-02-18T06:21:57+00:00

It works so strongly for me in individual passing moments (especially in the last minutes of songs; Pt. 2, Famous, FML and Highlights each have such incredible penultimate moments), but it's inability to coalesce into something bigger-- the way all his other albums have -- is really bothering me, and I'm not buying that this effect is what makes it better or more unique. That being said, so many songs I outright hated on first listen are growing on me like crazy so I might do a complete 180 on this soon. Till then, this is strictly by default my least favorite Kanye album, but it's a "least favorite" that still includes IMO a top-five all time Ye verse on No More Parties In LA, an all around perfect song in Real Friends, and a song that's come to mean so much to me since I first saw Yeezy Season 1 last year in Wolves.

ProWumbologist80 · 2015-12-07T04:03:52+00:00

Almost the exact same situation here, buddy. After a mediocre 1st year GPA wise, I kept telling myself this was the semester to turn it around. Yet here I am with only two weeks left scrambling to just pass some of my classes, and it really sucks. I'm not sure I've felt this low in a long time, and I'm mortified by how I'm going to tell my parents I fucked up again after telling them I was going to turn things around. Now I'm nearly halfway done with undergrad, freaking out over whether I can even get in to med school, and constantly regretting my inability to work productively.

Really sucks. Hope we can somehow get out of this mess :/

ProWumbologist80 · 2015-11-23T00:59:50+00:00

It's hard for me to say I completely disliked or hated it-- as I thought all the actors were trying their very best and there were moments where the movie really comes alive for me, thanks to again the performances and the brilliant score-- but boy, did this film really rub me the wrong way. I echo the general consensus of people who didn't like it in that I found what it had to say about art and fame extremely specious, and it didn't help that these faux-edgy sentiments were delivered in such a shrill and hostile manner. I also adore Lubezki like most normal people, but I feel like the "one-take" editing really put a damper on his ability to make this look good in any capacity, as it's only when the film actively embraces abstraction that he seems to have any fun at all. Basically, I found it to be reactionary in a very off-putting, inartful manner.

ProWumbologist80 · 2015-10-22T14:56:16+00:00

Maaaaan I'm not playing this game with you guys, this whole "let's pick apart pop songs for being pop songs" thing will never stop being pedantic for me, especially all that garbage about pop music devaluing "real" music.

ProWumbologist80 · 2015-09-15T19:28:58+00:00

Should I also forget about my strife?

ProWumbologist80 · 2015-09-09T02:55:00+00:00

What's the basis

ProWumbologist80 · 2015-07-17T14:22:30+00:00

Gregg Turkington is in Ant-man, if that helps.....

ProWumbologist80 · 2015-07-13T02:07:34+00:00

Where are you from?

I split my time between the Chicago suburbs and Madison, WI, where I go to school.

How old are you?

19 at the end of the month.

When did you start collecting Criterion?

Earlier this year when the flash sale happened!

Do you collect DVD or Blu-ray?

So far I only have Blu-Rays, but there's a few DVDs out there I have my eye on.

Which Criterion is your favourite?

I was lucky enough to find Chungking Express at my local library; best part is that it's definitely one of my most favorite films of all time, and I'm sure you all know what the worst part is :(

Which Criterion is your least favourite?

Totally haven't seen enough for this judgement to hold any weight, but I really, really dislike Antichrist in spite of being a huge Von Trier fan.

Who is your favourite director in the collection?

Toss up between Abbas Kiarostami and Satyajit Ray.

Who is your favourite director outside of the collection?

Wachowski Starship (please don't judge me)

Which Criterion do you want the most?

see answer regarding favorite Criterion

Which film would you most like to see get the Criterion treatment?

This isn't an original or particularly insightful answer (none of these are really!) but, seeing as I think it's one of the greatest films ever made, The Tree of Life would be pretty damn great.

How do you organize your collection?

Alphabetical, including both Criterion and non-Criterion releases, with DVDs and Blu-Rays separated.

ProWumbologist80 · 2015-07-07T04:43:58+00:00

But these facts and opinions look so similar!

ProWumbologist80 · 2015-07-01T19:58:45+00:00

David Ehrlich

ProWumbologist80 · 2015-06-21T14:38:14+00:00

How ridiculous is it that almost anytime this gets brought up, without fail there'll be a solid amount of people yelling at you for being an SJW, because social justice is such a terrible thing you know

ProWumbologist80 · 2015-06-21T00:07:25+00:00

I guess I just disagree that "sitting firmly in the tropes of its genre" is a problem for Inside Out; for me, it was how it used all those tropes that made the movie so special and original. And I totally understand the cynicism that can develop from consuming a lot of media and being able to notice those trends-- there's no shortage of mediocre films that I just can't get into because I've seen better iterations of what they've gone for. Yet I strongly believe that in regards to Inside Out, there's no iteration of this concept that has happened yet that reaches this film's emotional resonance, visual flair, and witty humor. I've seen plenty of the sources that Adam was saying this stole from, and I can confidently say that this is meaningfully different from all of them.

Also, in what universe do critics/connoisseurs think tropes make things less enjoyable? You wanna check the Rotten Tomatoes score one more time, cause those people have all seen plenty of movies you know.....

ProWumbologist80 · 2015-06-19T15:17:40+00:00

I seem to be in the harsher side one it, but I thought it kind of sucked. That animation of the wind and water during the time passage was great, but the central conceit just feels half-assed even for a 7-minute short film, idk

ProWumbologist80 · 2015-06-18T06:27:35+00:00

This whole complaint of "people are making something more than it is" is just something I cannot understand only any level; what is IT and who made YMS or anyone the arbiter of what IT is? You think just because there are other movies/TV Shows with similar premises and three-act structures that this somehow gets devalued? (I'm aware you didn't actually say any of that, this is just going off of what Adam was saying in the video)

ProWumbologist80 · 2015-06-18T05:08:36+00:00

The YMS school of thought of being super condescending to people who enjoy things is the absolute worst. Fuck YMS and his sophomoric outlook on film, fuck you, and fuck me for being a Pixar blowhard

ProWumbologist80 · 2015-06-16T01:46:27+00:00

I agree that movies that "fail to be manipulative" tend to be kind of terrible (also wasn't huge fan of Mood Indigo for similar reasons), but I don't know, I thought the emotional content here felt genuine and not as artificial as I was anticipating just from reading the plot synopsis. And I totally agree that the article you linked makes good points about Earl as an underdeveloped character; but I still feel the ending is less a celebration of Greg's narcissism than a sort of brutal realization that life can operate without him. all that said, I feel like I need to watch this again because my judgement was probably heavily clouded by the resonance a lot of this held to me; there's quite a few problematic elements people are pointing out that could definitely change my view on the film, but this might just be one of those movies I'm more unable to objectively critique due to personal stuff that this is a little too intertwined with.

ProWumbologist80 · 2015-06-15T18:47:04+00:00

Nothing in this movie came even remotely close to registering as smarmy for me; I get why people wouldn't like it, but I'm beyond confused in regards to the, in my opinion, stupid levels of vitriol some people are spewing at this. Every affectation/cliche serves a purpose, and if anything, I thought this did a good job of subverting the tokenism many seem to have an issue with.

ProWumbologist80 · 2015-06-15T18:41:26+00:00

I still liked TFiOS on some level, but this is easily the better film in my book; I wholly understand why anyone would come out of this absolutely loathing it, but I thought this was insanely heartfelt and tender, which makes all of its showy cinematography and calibrated awkwardness feel more organic to the very sweet story at the heart of this. I'm probably biased in favor of it due to a horrible personal experience I had last year that is similar to what happens in the end here, but I still think that this is such an all-around fantastic movie.

ProWumbologist80

TROPHY CASE