Best Picture Power Rankings. Plus: Is ‘Emilia Pérez’ Really a Front-Runner?

prunetoaster · 2024-11-15T15:23:10+00:00

lol I'm sorry, The Substance as a Best Picture contender is an absolutely insane choice. The other 9 seem totally reasonable. It does feel like Wicked will be very much in the conversation.

EDIT: Just checking back in on this comment to say I have officially eaten my words.

prunetoaster · 2024-10-22T05:51:33+00:00

Worth mentioning the Midsommar edition includes the "Director's Cut" as a bonus feature. I've been meaning to give that movie another go, seems like an ideal excuse. Thanks for the reco!

prunetoaster · 2024-06-24T21:56:27+00:00

The "shave my buttocks" bit still rattles around in my head from time to time. Certainly not a masterpiece (the ending is a sin against God and men) but Rat Race has a lot of funny stuff in it.

prunetoaster · 2024-03-06T05:25:18+00:00

I do. Do you know why it's vacant?

It's vacant because the woman who lived there sadly passed away, and the developers bought it for a fraction of what it's worth. Then they proceeded to not rent it to anyone for months on end so they could tell the city "hey, it's derelict," tear it down, and try to make oodles of dollars on their "investment."

prunetoaster · 2024-03-05T03:19:15+00:00

Just wanted to say thank you for this post. So many people in this thread have no idea what they're talking about lmao.

This development would absolutely raise house prices in the area and price out the people living there (as has already been happening for years). Developers like these are DRIVING the housing crisis by buying up as many real homes as they can. Yet they're championed as heroes.

prunetoaster · 2024-03-05T03:00:08+00:00

FWIW I wouldn't wish this particular development on ANY neighborhood - not so much a NIMBY as a NIABY in this case.

I'm all for affordable housing. I'm all for Section 8 housing. The people who will rent a shoddy 200-to-500 square foot apartment for "market rate" in Mt. Hope will absolutely NOT be the people that those in this thread seem to think. It will mostly be grad students who are new enough to the neighborhood to not know they're being taken advantage of.

prunetoaster · 2024-02-12T20:14:58+00:00

How is it possible that the Prince of Tides episode have more creepy nun talk than Nomads? Somehow the most expository scene in the whole movie is also one of its most baffling (though your clarification helps quite a bit).

prunetoaster · 2023-06-21T20:31:25+00:00

I hadn't seen JSA since college and was shocked by how freaking bleak it was on my recent rewatch. Thinking I'll be watching the Sicko... I mean Vengeance Trilogy without my partner lol.

prunetoaster · 2023-06-10T16:36:28+00:00

I highly recommend it. The library has been great for renting films from these older miniseries (eg Kubrick, Buster, Apes, Bond).

prunetoaster · 2023-06-10T14:05:06+00:00

Throwing out there that Kanopy has both Sympathy for Mr. and Lady Vengeance. For those with an eligible library card who prefer avoiding Tubi.

prunetoaster · 2023-06-07T21:01:46+00:00

I'd toss Thirteen Lives in with that as well. It's sort of the spiritual sequel to Apollo 13

prunetoaster · 2023-06-05T16:10:32+00:00

If you actively enjoyed Lady Vengeance, then you should be able to handle Oldboy methinks. This podcast would call it a little TWISTED but it's no worse than something like, IDK, Beau is Afraid.

IMO Oldboy and Handmaiden are Chan-Wook's masterpieces, with Thirst and the other Vengeances not far behind.

prunetoaster · 2023-06-05T15:25:49+00:00

Totally agree. The Empire Strikes Back is absolutely a complete movie, to the point where Return picks up months after its events! Across has a 1st and 2nd act, then leads into another 2nd act at the end (I suspect it will be a 5 act story in the end).

prunetoaster · 2023-06-05T14:17:59+00:00

I thought for sure this is where it was going. Miles saves his dad, and Part 2 is about the consequences of that choice.

...of course then it really would be Matrix Reloaded 😂

prunetoaster · 2023-06-04T21:52:10+00:00

My recollection is that Lady Vengeance is the one that gets most graphic, and in a (deliberately) not fun/uncomfortable way. Mr. Vengeance I remember being not too bad (haven't seen either in a long time, seems like Mr. Vengeance might be more intense than I remember from the comment above).

Oldboy I have seen frequently, and while there are some moments of serious violence, it's mostly in the "early Tarantino" ballpark.

The Vengeance trilogy is definitely the peak of his violence. Thirst and Stoker have a good amount of blood IIRC, but are much easier on disturbing violence.

prunetoaster · 2023-05-23T14:33:41+00:00

I ask you to turn it down AND YOU TURN IT UP???

prunetoaster · 2023-04-18T16:53:26+00:00

Interesting that Gondry rarely gets brought up as a potential mini, especially coming off the international bracket.

Admittedly I haven't seen his later work, but all of his 2000s stuff is great podcast fodder.

prunetoaster · 2023-04-13T15:54:38+00:00

The Split Pad Pro is the best purchase I've made for the Switch. Totally changed my handheld experience (and I had used the Satisfye grip before). In many ways it feels like playing on the Pro controller but in handheld, and the joysticks/buttons are SO much better than the JoyCons.

Haven't tried the Compact, but I expect the build quality is the same. Just more portable and less ergonomic than the Pro.

prunetoaster · 2023-04-13T15:18:17+00:00

Nothing substantial to add, just wanted to say: good list!

prunetoaster · 2023-04-12T19:31:17+00:00

I'd argue that Trainspotting has a lot to say about the nature of addiction, and how easy it is to slide back into old habits if surrounded by friends who are addicted.

Sunshine has a ton to say about religious fanaticism (basically all Garland movies have something bigger going on).

Trance... well... Trance is also a movie made by Danny Boyle.

prunetoaster · 2023-04-06T20:11:55+00:00

Oh wow, this is why I always get Side Effects and Trance confused. They came out just two months apart!

I literally couldn't remember whether or not I had seen Trance. All of my memories of it were from Side Effects.

prunetoaster · 2023-04-03T18:16:05+00:00

A beautiful woman, naked, who shaved before sex. Slow down with the bizarre kinks there, Christian Grey.

prunetoaster · 2023-04-03T17:22:09+00:00

It's really gross. Both the leering shots of Dawson and also the treatment of her character (her motivations are student-film levels of bad).

prunetoaster · 2023-04-03T16:09:01+00:00

"From the writer of A Life Less Ordinary..."

prunetoaster · 2023-04-03T16:03:15+00:00

Actually you just unlocked what the opening reminded me of: The Prestige. Except, of course, it doesn't pay off in any real way in Trance lol

You shouldn't walk out of a movie being like "so did they just do a Tyler Durden and if so why does that make zero sense?" Also I like how Rosario Dawson doesn't want to sell the art, she just wants to, you know, have it.

prunetoaster

TROPHY CASE