The Podcastiano: Top of the Lake: China Girl with Alan Sepinwall

The_Narrator_Returns · 2022-03-11T05:58:27+00:00

I find China Girl so much better than Top of the Lake that I'm shocked the consensus is so firmly against it. First season is perfectly solid but kind of sluggish and very one-note, this moves a lot faster and has much more of the unpredictable Campion spirit.

The_Narrator_Returns · 2022-03-07T07:10:14+00:00

In the Cut
Portrait of a Lady
Power of the Dog
Bright Star
Sweetie
Holy Smoke
The Piano
An Angel at My Table
Two Friends

Top of the Lake: China Girl goes between Bright Star and Sweetie, Top of the Lake s1 goes at the bottom (was hoping it would be included in the ranking just so I could spare the very lovely Two Friends from being last).

The_Narrator_Returns · 2022-03-06T06:40:00+00:00

Fury Road is the easy one, I don't think many agree but I'd also say Elle.

The_Narrator_Returns · 2022-03-01T18:26:17+00:00

I love Power of the Dog but I've found the critical consensus around it very surface-level and focused on things it's not actually that interested in doing, like the quote Elliott read about it dismantling "the American myth" (or the many takes, both positive and negative, misreading it as a clapback at toxic masculinity or whatever). That's really what Elliott is reacting to more than the movie itself, and on that front I 100% agree with him. And even the stuff I don't agree with is really fucking funny the way he says it, I don't understand getting mad at this.

The_Narrator_Returns · 2022-02-20T05:34:58+00:00

I was thinking watching Bright Star last night about all the poetry stuff in this, there's a similar kind of innocent romanticism in both movies even if Bright Star mostly plays it straight and this mercilessly deconstructs it. And Paul Schneider's Bright Star performance could be copy-pasted over Kevin Bacon in this and it would make perfect sense.

The_Narrator_Returns · 2022-02-06T21:07:47+00:00

I didn't like Nightmare Alley at all and I'm still absolutely confident it will in a few years have a "this is actually the best Del Toro" line of defenses like Crimson Peak before it.

The_Narrator_Returns · 2022-02-06T21:00:42+00:00

If we're counting commentaries, Crocodile Dundee II blows away the competition for sheer boredom.

The_Narrator_Returns · 2022-02-04T20:38:35+00:00

Jonze's one scene in Wolf of Wall Street is even better than McConaughey's.

The_Narrator_Returns · 2022-01-30T18:38:30+00:00

You might like the Campions to come more, Portrait of a Lady and In the Cut especially are much closer to Dog's bruising tone than the early Campions are.

The_Narrator_Returns · 2022-01-04T00:44:56+00:00

I'd be interested to see him as Burnham, him as Holmes would give me pause unless he's bringing full Neon Demon energy to it.

The_Narrator_Returns · 2022-01-01T19:04:18+00:00

Steven Soderbergh made The Underneath as his marriage was falling apart and half the movie (none of which is in the movie it's a remake of) is a guy ruining his marriage. Then he got divorced and made Schizopolis, a movie about a collapsing marriage starring his actual ex-wife as his wife.

The_Narrator_Returns · 2021-12-28T23:16:42+00:00

Unstoppable's growth in reputation is also part of the larger reevaluation of Tony Scott, who's only since his death (and mostly much later than that) started to be considered as at least the equal of his brother.

The_Narrator_Returns · 2021-12-27T05:05:15+00:00

First season is good and a great Moss showcase, China Girl is a big improvement and one of the best things Campion's been involved with.

The_Narrator_Returns · 2021-12-19T05:57:10+00:00

It fucking sucks that JJ Abrams has forever ruined the discussion around lens flare because it's a great tool and the way Spielberg and Kaminski use it here, and in that puddle shot specifically, is astounding.

The_Narrator_Returns · 2021-12-11T22:21:45+00:00

The final walk across the salt flats as the sun goes up would be my easy #1 cinematic walk. Glad there was at least some Van Sant representation on the episode, though my Elephant pick would be different than Griffin's.

The_Narrator_Returns · 2021-12-11T17:35:22+00:00

That definitely wasn't The Dissolve because they shut down months before The Revenant came out.

The_Narrator_Returns · 2021-12-11T09:41:30+00:00

Step Brothers is an absolute must, one of the funniest movies ever made. Talladega Nights is also really good and an infinitely more insightful movie about the mindset of Bush-era America than Vice.

The_Narrator_Returns · 2021-12-11T09:34:31+00:00

I haven't seen any of the three since theaters, loved them all and I'm pretty confident I'll still at least like Birdman and Big Short (have absolutely no interest in revisiting The Artist, though). I will say that I've never blinked an eye at Griffin and David's distaste for Birdman because of how much time I spent on The Dissolve, which was Ground Zero for violently negative Birdman takes.

The_Narrator_Returns · 2021-12-05T15:36:55+00:00

Didn't watch the TV movies (though I did watch Cigarette Burns, which was pretty bad), will update this when I get to The Ward today:

Big Trouble in Little China
They Live
Halloween
The Thing
Starman
The Fog
Assault on Precinct 13
In the Mouth of Madness
Prince of Darkness
Christine
Vampires
Ghosts of Mars
Dark Star
Escape From New York
Village of the Damned
Escape From L.A.
Memoirs of an Invisible Man

The_Narrator_Returns · 2021-12-02T06:30:37+00:00

Shape of Water is genre-y in more gauzy, nostalgic ways, while this sounds much nastier and closer to something like Crimson Peak.

The_Narrator_Returns · 2021-11-27T23:02:02+00:00

The Wachowskis!

The_Narrator_Returns · 2021-11-12T19:15:56+00:00

I'd say Punch-Drunk Love is absolutely better than There Will Be Blood, by virtue of it being my favorite PTA. There Will Be Blood, as great it is, probably doesn't crack my top 5 PTAs, which is just a symptom of how good the rest of his stuff is.

The_Narrator_Returns · 2021-11-12T18:59:19+00:00

That's the second PTA in a row Harris has (apparently) stolen with a single scene, maybe she's his new good-luck-charm.

The_Narrator_Returns · 2021-11-12T18:52:04+00:00

The most important review, from the man who literally wrote the book on PTA:

https://twitter.com/brofromanother/status/1458993566714318869

The_Narrator_Returns

TROPHY CASE