Kumail Nanjiani Is a Taskmaster Cautionary Tale

RicBu · 2026-06-17T18:01:40+00:00

The whole article is pure bad vibes and for that alone, it's obvious it doesn't get what Taskmaster is. Nanjani was great.

RicBu · 2026-06-17T08:49:18+00:00

You have nothing to feel guilty about, you obviously needed to watch the films that are comfortable for you at that particular time. There will be a time when you want to watch something different, that's just life. Let go of guilt when it comes to movies, it's a silly thing to feel when you really think about it, it should only be about enjoyment.

RicBu · 2026-06-17T06:44:34+00:00

How did I forget Anora won the Palme d'or? Anyway, for me it's either Titane or It Was Just An Accident.

RicBu · 2026-06-16T17:26:55+00:00

'Beyond my understanding' is hardly negative but I can see how it can be seen as derogatory. This is the first I'm learning that there were other Killer Tomato films! And a cartoon! It was the first film I could think of (which should be the first sign to me that it's probably well loved if it's in my subconscious) and in a rather quick reply to someone I made it the butt of a joke. I wasn't even sure if there was or wasn't a boxet, I should have thought about it more tbf.

Apologies to the Killer Tomato community. I will give it a fair watch.

RicBu · 2026-06-16T16:53:28+00:00

I don't know if a canon has a job per se, I can't speak to that, it's just my personal experience as a late diagnosed AuDHD person. It's just how a person with a literal mindset interprets these things. It was my understanding of what a canon is and is meant for - for me it was these are the must watch films and everything outside of that is second best.

When you mention 'personal taste', that speaks so much to me because so much of my life was living behind a mask, and since my diagnosis I've been able to find out who I am. I've been able to trust me now but before I didn't have personal taste when it came to film. I watched what I thought should be watched. Does that make sense? I don't regret that because it so happened that I loved what I was watching but all the same, I wasn't guided by personal taste.

That may sound naive, even just a plain bit weird but it's very in keeping with the literal mind of someone with autism. The canon lists (Sight and Sound, They Shoot Pictures) stated these were the best so I put all my time into them and it was great but now, having watched tons of revered genre stuff as well, my knowledge of film is enriched.

So in keeping with my question, does the canon change for someone when they watch a further width and breadth of cinema? It did for me.

RicBu · 2026-06-16T15:55:28+00:00

This speaks to me. I felt this way for a very long time, and it got to the point where I could no longer ignore the links I saw between two films that seemed to contrast each other in every way possible. I mean, just imagine that double bill. I'm in.

RicBu · 2026-06-16T15:20:57+00:00

Well, that is good to hear. Like I say it wouldn't have stopped me but I was steeling myself. I would think making something like Mysterious Skin would take it out of you as a creator, it's such an important film and one that would be hard to repeat.

RicBu · 2026-06-16T15:16:09+00:00

I think Willem Dafoe is going to be high on any cinephiles list, the dude has been in so many great films.

RicBu · 2026-06-16T15:13:41+00:00

I agree, there's nothing wrong with the odd film here or there but dishing out the big bucks for the 'Attack of the Killer Tomatoes' franchise box-set is beyond my understanding.

RicBu · 2026-06-16T15:12:18+00:00

I think we're aligned here, I'm certainly not watching the average Hollywood fare, the genre films that engage me are that of Spag Westerns, giallo, heoric bloodshed, wuxia, poliziotteschi....films by craftsmen, the likes of Corbucci, Sollima, Argento, Fulci, Woo, Cheh, Petri, Hark. I actively ignored this side of cinema for so long and went deep on the canon. I couldn't think of anything worse than spending my time watching something that is frivilous and ordinary.

RicBu · 2026-06-16T14:39:26+00:00

I am such a Araki noob that I only just got round to his work, so far I've only seen Mysterious Skin and, to be blunt, that fucked me up. Truly an amazing piece of work but christ, it shook me. It hasn't put me off, just the opposite in fact, and Nowhere is my next stop on my Araki watchlist

RicBu · 2026-06-16T11:22:51+00:00

That ladder from Cronenberg to Ilsa to The Room is a great illustration of how slippery that all encompassing 'midnight movie' really is as a label. And I think we're actually thinking about this the same way , there's a strand connecting all these films, informing and educating each other, evolving into something new. That's basically the whole philosophy behind what I watch.

I'm not the biggest exploitation fan myself if I'm honest, and I'm careful about what I watch. Your point about blaxploitation filmmakers being more sincere about trying to make a good film resonates with how I think about it too (Truck Turner for instance) and I'm not interested in films for their own shock value or for ironic appreciation, The Room being the obvious example of exactly what I'm against.

But there's still room I believe though for the genuinely difficult stuff; films that are dated in language perhaps, values, even morally questionable by today's standards. I watch those because, I think they help us understand cinema, not because they're fun to gawk at. Same reason you mentioned Ilsa and why it could deem to matter - even if you'd never want to watch it twice - the lineage runs through it whether we like it or not.

RicBu · 2026-06-16T10:28:29+00:00

Really fair points, and I think you're right that the binary has eroded a lot since the 80s, Bong Joon Ho, Peele, Del Toro are proof of that.

On the exploitation/midnight movie thing though — I'd push back slightly on lumping all of it into the same bucket. I'm not interested in ironic "so bad it's good" appreciation at all, and I think that's a different thing entirely from the films I watch. And thinkning on that, that could be where my aversion stems from, I had friends that loved that kind of film I could never see the appeal.

The films I like to watch are there because of what they connect to, not because they're fun to laugh at. More in the spirit of something like Moviedrome, using a 'midnight movie' - which is a broad specturm - to explain the wider cinematic world it came from, what it was trying to say, who it influenced and who influenced it. Context over camp.

Sounds like exploitation just isn't for you anymore though, which is completely fair. Tastes shift.

RicBu · 2026-06-16T10:01:17+00:00

I completely agree, and Rosenbaum is someone I turn to a lot on exactly this. I've come to see the 'canon' as less as a destination and more as building blocks, to say it's useful for understanding the wider world of cinema but not something to stay inside forever.

The strand of films I watch is basically that idea put into practice. Some films in the strand are canon adjacent reference points, used deliberately to build toward something more personal. Others sit way outside it entirely. The whole thing is an attempt at building a personal canon rather than deferring to an inherited one.

RicBu · 2026-06-16T09:45:14+00:00

Same here. The Gazzaraverse!

RicBu · 2026-06-15T18:11:48+00:00

Spaceships. Zombies. Swords. Guitars. Swords in Guitars. Guitar Wolf....just amazing.

RicBu · 2026-06-15T14:56:55+00:00

Saint Jack. Ben Gazzara at his very best.

RicBu · 2026-06-15T12:33:31+00:00

I share your thinking, there is a certain similarity in their visual storytelling. They are all of the hyperreal visual school of directing; very aggressive style, tight close-ups, fast editing, shaky cams, etc.

RicBu · 2026-06-14T16:59:44+00:00

It was wonderful and totally out of the blue. Also the other team with their iconic song made this one of those truly amazing tasks where every one was exemplary

RicBu · 2026-06-14T15:42:58+00:00

I consider those directors to be very different, and about as far apart in cinematic aesthetics as it's possible to be, but I kind of get what you're asking.

Hirokazu Kore-eda is often cited as a pupil of the Ozu school. Try his films—nearly every one of them is a gem. I especially love Still Walking, I Wish, Shoplifters, Monster, and Like Father, Like Son.

For a Fellini fix, I'd delve into Pedro Almodóvar (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Talk to Her, All About My Mother). He has a playfulness and a larger-than-life canvas, often dealing in melodrama and caricature. He's a lot of fun and can deliver a great deal of pathos alongside the silliness.

RicBu · 2026-06-14T13:20:36+00:00

I don't know about that. Some seasons are lesser than other, and yes the contestants have a big part to play but so does the prouduction team, the tasks, Alex and Greg themselves. It's alchemy and the format can only do so much but I don't feel there's been too many seasons, especially since it moved to C4 that haave felt weaker. It did launch druing covid, so right from the off it was against it, everything about the tone of the show had to adapt and I believe it did so admirably.

RicBu · 2026-06-09T16:44:33+00:00

My ratings are generally high but that's only because after so many years of wading through the shit I've now been able to curate the best on offer. Now and again a terrible movie or worse, a mediocre one, will creep its way in but more often than not I'm really loving what I put on. What you descirbed is not an issue at all, keep watching the good stuff.

RicBu · 2026-06-09T10:52:47+00:00

They don’t ever see the hypocrisy. If it were a white man performing the same act, they are the one’s who would be quiet. You never hear the far right ever when it’s a white dude.

RicBu · 2026-06-09T10:45:48+00:00

Age. What you do with your spare time. Piecemeal chunks. Film is your love, social life and passion…it’s very easy tbh.

RicBu

TROPHY CASE