What a year. Thank God it's over. For a nearly five-hour long conversation among my two dearest friends and fellow podcasters, we reveal 25 our of favorite films of 2025. One of our guests mainly focuses on the horror genre while I decide not to rank the titles and simply list them in alphabetical order. Obviously, my number one is a film we talked about earlier this year in its entirety as a separate bonus episode (below). But there are 24 more films to celebrate as well (many more from my guests too).

Joining me as always are film historian/podcaster/commentator Bill Ackerman (Supporting Characters) and the co-host of 96 Greers and the host of Tracks of the Damned, Patrick Ripoll. We all have opinions, lots of surprises to share and so many titles for you to seek out. I wish I was a bit more enthused about the year in film but I am very happy to share 25 titles that I certainly think are well worth your time. Hoping you feel this episode is also worth your time! And so grateful to my two passionate cinephiles for returning to nerd out on New Year's Day!

Special thanks to guest contributor and friend Chloe Waryan (of Not Scared: A Horror Movie Podcast) for sharing her picks at around the 18 minute mark too!

Follow Bill: Supporting Characters

Follow Patrick: 96 Greers // Tracks of the Damned

Listen To Us Discuss One Battle After Another: My Favorite Film of 2025

Other Year-End Episodes From Previous Guests I Recommend:

The Nick D Podcast

Genre Grinder

Not Scared: A Horror Movie Podcast

Sam, this.

Okay, this is recording as the backup now.

And we're talking.

Hello, everyone.

Welcome to the Directors Club Podcast.

I am your host, Jim Lazkowski.

And Huey Lewis once said, if this is it, please, please let them know.

Well, Huey, this is it.

The episode that everyone anticipates each and every year.

The year in review.

Yes.

A year I just cannot wait to forget.

But we have some movies that we actually liked.

All three of us.

Returning to do this are two of my absolute favorite guests and friends and podcasters.

We had the one, the only former co host of this here show and current co host of 96 Greers.

Patrick Rol is back.

Hi.

How's it going?

We're good.

We're good.

Yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna do this.

We.

I mean, that is true.

I don't know how it's gonna come out in the end, but we are going to do it first.

Yes, exactly.

And film historian, commentator, host of supporting characters, which is also back and active.

We're so happy about that.

We, we have the one, the only, Bill Ackerman.

Hey, Bill.

Hey, thanks for having me back.

I'm so glad you are back and I'm so glad that you asked me to do a commentary track with you.

Yes, it should be available in one minute.

Wow, what timing.

Perfect timing.

Yes.

Excellent, Nova, thanks again for that.

And you had quite the year yourself with those, with many commentary tracks and a lot of accomplishments, including bringing back supporting characters.

So thanks for doing that too.

It's been a busy year.

You know, I haven't heard back from him since I sent him the link for the episode.

Hopefully.

Hopefully I hear from him, but I don't know.

I don't know.

I will report back.

He did offer to give me a favorites list for my website, but I don't really have guests on my website, so I don't know that I will actually take him up on that or not.

Jim, you've talked to Keith Gordon a bunch of times about movies you both love.

What's your instinct?

Right off the top of the dome.

We gotta get moving.

Right off the top of the dome any moment.

It was just an accident.

There you go.

Perfect.

That is such a Keith Gordon movie.

It was such a. Yeah, I can see that.

Mm.

For sure.

Yeah.

Yes.

Hey, guys.

2025 happened.

What'd you think of it?

It was horrible.

Oh, how do you know that for sure?

Because this is.

Look, here's how we're going to.

Okay, We're.

We're sipping coffee right now.

You.

You.

You understand, like, sort of, you know, instinctually, that the quality of coffee for the rest of your life is going to get worse and it's going to get more expensive because.

Because that's just sort of the nature of things that are grown in a taroir, which is like when humidity and environment and altitude and temperature are all factors of how a plant is grown, then when climate change comes, those.

All of those things are going to be affected, and you're not going to get those, you know, nicer beans.

You're going to get the swamp beans or whatever.

So your survival instinct is going to be the same thing that fuels things getting worse.

And that is.

That is.

That's like gravity, as far as I'm concerned.

That's just.

I wish gravity was cyclical.

That'd be really fucking funny if it was like, all right, we had a year of it going down.

Now everybody go up.

Yeah, that'd be fun.

No, so, yeah, yeah.

And guess what, folks?

I am not ranking my movies this year.

So that's.

That's a big change.

I just.

And also, movies didn't excite me as much, honestly.

I mean, new movies, that is.

I did have the absolute pleasure of experiencing the Holy Mountain for the first time, thanks to my wonderful fiance and co host of Beside Me, Sharon Gissey.

Of course I'm talking about.

She showed me the Holy Mountain.

I was like, holy shit.

Movies can be this cool?

I'M glad.

I'm glad I had that experience and hope to talk about that more in this year when we do Jodorowsky on the podcast here.

That'll be fun.

But, Bill?

Not the best year.

Would you.

Would you.

Would you agree?

Well, I mean, yeah.

I mean, I, I'm.

I may or may not be laid off from my job of nearly 20 years in a few months.

So that's been hanging over me the whole year.

So I've had that kind of pressure the whole year, and I've just kind of tried to forget about it and do a lot of traveling.

I did a few podcasts in person in different states.

I went to Texas to interview a couple people, went to Ohio, went to a nice wedding in la.

So I did a bit of traveling and I did commentaries pretty much back to back for, like, the first half of the year.

So I was not really giving myself much downtime this year.

And I wasn't really seeing a lot of new movies that I was crazy about until this is, like, every other time we do this, like, the second half of the year, I started finding the films that I really liked.

And by the end, I saw so many films that I. I wouldn't say, like, I was blown away by a lot of them, but I really liked a lot of them.

And, you know, the New York Film Festival was the first time I ever.

This first time I ever went to the whole thing.

And I even paid extra for the.

The fancy schmancy, like, little room where you hang out with the movie stars up, like, sipping fancy wine and eating cheese.

I did that.

And it was.

It was kind of weird because I didn't really know anyone up there, and I wasn't about to go up to Jodie Foster and, you know, and make small talk.

So it was just okay.

But it was still.

It was still a nice experience.

And the films at the festival, I saw a lot of the highlights, but then a lot of things I saw on the list that I put on my list for today are just smaller indie films and foreign films that haven't gotten the same exposure as the Safdie films or Paul Thomas Anderson's film and other things that are getting more of the headlines.

But, yeah, no, I think the combination of the pandemic and the actor strikes and just the shifting nature of how people watch films, it's just.

I mean, it's steadily altering the landscape.

And, I mean, doesn't mean there aren't still good things produced within it, but it's just like.

Yeah, there's a lot about the future that I'm not crazy about, and that's not even getting into things like AI that are going to impact every industry.

Oh, God.

Yeah.

There's a lot of reasons to be worried about that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And just the film industry as a whole.

I don't, I don't know what it's going to become ultimately.

And you know what Roger Corman said?

What did Roger Corman have to say, Patrick?

He said, the film industry will always exist, but it won't always be the film industry.

Well put.

Yeah.

Have you.

Guitar didn't say that it might be Godard as well?

It might be.

It'd be funny if it was Roger Corman saying, you know, Godard once said.

And then someone else quoted Roger Corbin and cut out the other part.

Have you got, have you, have you examined short form videos yet?

There's a whole world of series that are like broken into three minute chunks that you can buy for like 98 cents a piece.

And they're like 47 part cereals.

And, and like you, you buy token, like they, they have fully, like gotten the full like draftkings, gambling kind of kind of things into this video streaming service.

And you can watch, you know, like, fell in love with my boss's pregnant wife over the course of 56 episodes that are all shot in vertical video because they're meant to be.

You're just sort of on the toilet watching the latest episode.

Oh.

So anyway, the film industry will always exist.

It just won't always be the film industry.

Yeah, that makes sense.

And also, I just, I don't know, I think I had that conversation with you over text Patrick, about how, like, I just want films to surprise me and most of them don't anymore because I've seen so many damn films to where like, oh, yeah, I saw this weird, random experimental film.

And because I'd never seen anything like it before, it stood out and it made me more excited about filming, finding other types of films.

Like, you can go on YouTube and find a list of like 300 experimental films from all different people.

You are in a very blessed position to have this feeling because you live in Chicago where there are experimental films happening all the time.

Don't claw.

You can.

I know, I know.

Your cat is attacking me.

The claws are stuck in my skin.

There we go.

Now I'm bleeding.

So you there, go to Chicago filmmakers.

Go look up Chicago Film Society.

Look up conversations on the Edge at Gene Siskel.

There's a lot of avant garde film screenings that are happening.

Happening in your area, Jim.

I'm gonna start doing that more.

Let's kick out the kitty.

Okay.

Does Bill have anything to say about.

Jim?

Jim had to walk away from the.

Microphone to get this cat out of the room.

But I'm.

I'm fully expecting a Flintstone style thing where the cat locks Jim out of the room.

Okay.

Okay, Jim's back.

Hi, Jim.

Hi, I'm back.

I just thought, yeah, we could fill him.

Bill, do you see yourself becoming an avant garde dirtbag?

Maybe just a regular dirt bag.

Okay, yeah, that's fair.

Or a teenage dirt bag.

Well, that would be weird.

Yeah.

If I regressed.

Yeah, that would be weird.

Again, I'm going alphabetical.

Bill, I believe you're doing the same.

Patrick, you're doing something a little different.

Yes.

So over on Tracks of the Damned, I recently revived it in November.

I did 30 commentary tracks on 30 Roger Corman directed films in 30 days.

I did them chronologically.

I started with his very first film.

I ended with Gas, which is not his very last film, but to me, sort of represents an ending to his career.

And they were not well researched.

They were just sort of podcasts where I was sitting down and watching them and talking through them and, you know, reading interviews and just sort of like working through this guy who was in a very unique position to teach himself to make movies on the big screen.

And I have gone back and re.

Listened to some of these podcasts.

I have told friends like, hey, you don't have to listen to this.

This is something I was doing for my own edification.

I thought it would be interesting to learn this way.

And so I just put out podcasts.

But they're not actually for public consumption.

I listen to them back.

They're fucking good.

They're.

I'm sure they are.

They're not like Kino Lorber quality commentary tracks.

They're doing a different thing, but, like, I am proud of it.

So go on Tracks of the Damned, check out those commentary tracks.

Discover Roger Corman, one of my favorite filmmakers together.

Like self taught film school.

Almost like you just kind of did that on your own.

Exactly.

Well, yeah, I get into all that.

I can't get into all that here.

But he was in a very unique position and the.

The way that you can actually see every single thing he learns Pay off years and years down the line and, and like his, the things he returns to and everything, it was, it was a real dream.

So that was awesome.

You should check that out.

So instead of doing my 25 through 11 for like favorite films of the year, I decided I was going to give you guys my 15 favorite Roger Corman directed movies.

Wow.

I'm into that.

Me too.

Okay, so to start, number 15, Machine Gun Kelly.

This is like Charles Bronson's first big starring role.

This is, this is the one that got him a lot of notice from French critics.

It's more of a real movie than something like Attack of the Crab Monsters or something.

It's, it's a very good character drama.

It's like, it's the, the acting is good.

He gets good performances out of people.

That's like just one of the Roger Corman things that, you know, a bird eye Gordon doesn't have.

It's a little bit boring.

So that's why it's at 15 and not higher.

Number 14, Little Shop of Horrors.

I think its reputation comes mostly from the musical, which is much better.

But it is a very fun movie and it has.

Of all the Roger Corman movies that feel like a bunch of people getting together and saying, hey, let's put on a show.

This is the most let's put on a show movie he ever made.

And there's something about those Charles Griffith screen scripted, like tossed off goofy black comedies that he made that really speak to me.

So Little Shop of Horror is number 14.

Number 13, War of the Satellites.

A body snatching sci fi horror movie that has some like really gnarly violence involving a blowtorch that you wouldn't expect.

It's got Dick Miller as the hero, but he is like a full 10 inches shorter than the villain.

And so there's some really fun confrontations there.

I really don't like 50s sci fi space movies because it's just like a wall of blinking lights and people saying, you know, nonsensical jargon.

This has more going on.

So War of Satellites is good.

It conquered the world.

Another body snatching movie.

This is the one where Lee Van Cleef says, I welcomed you to this.

Planet and you turned it into a charnel house.

And then he blowtorches an alien's eye and the alien looks like an upside down ice cream cone.

It's fucking cool.

Number 11 is the trip.

This is Roger Corman trying to work out his artsy side.

This is Roger Corman also exploiting drug culture of the 60s.

This is also Roger Corman putting all of his Freudian psychology to use.

It's also a mess, but it's a really interesting mess and so I really like the trip.

Number 10 is the undead, which is if you want to see where the Edgar Allan Poe movies came from.

The Undead is sort of the proto Edgar Allan Poe movie.

It's got weird, weird story.

There's all sorts of sci fi and supernatural concepts in in it that are just very strange and bizarre.

It's not quite a horror movie, but it is really interesting.

Number nine is Attack the Crab Monsters, which is just the weirdest goddamn giant monster movie you'll ever see in your life.

Number eight is Tales of Terror, which is a really fun, goofy triptych horror anthology movie.

It's the.

The famous one is Peter Laurie and Vincent Price doing the Cask of Amontillado and.

And the Black Cat sort of merged together.

But the other two stories are equally good.

Number seven is the Intruder, which is William Shatner as a racist northerner who comes down to a southern town to sort of inspire riots about recent integration attempts.

Fascinating movie.

Goes really fucking hard in an era when no Hollywood movie at all was ever going hard on race.

Huge bomb for that reason.

Number six, the Raven.

Hilarious, campy, goofy horror comedy.

Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Duke, Jack Nicholson.

Just pure pleasure.

Number five is X, the Man with X Ray Eyes, which is a little campy, a little body horror, a little cosmic horror.

It's got a bunch of weird special effects.

I think Raymond is really good as sort of like the tortured scientist in it.

Number four is the Pit and the Pendulum, which is probably the most immaculate production design of any of the Edgar Allan Poe movies.

Barbara Steele's in it.

It's a rerun on Fall of House of Usher, but sort of pumped up.

Number three is A Bucket of Blood.

A Bucket of Blood is a horror comedy that is a take on Mystery of the Wax Museum and House of Wax, where it's Dick Miller killing people and then putting clay on them and saying they're, you know, sculptures.

Hilarious.

Really good, really interesting.

It is written by Charles B. Griffith as a mockery of Roger Corman and the way Roger Corman got a big head after French critics started talking him up.

So it is a weirdly like.

It is a movie made by someone from a script by another someone who's making fun of the director.

So there's a lot of layers to it that are really fascinating to watch, especially if you have watched like 20 Roger Corman directed movies.

Before that, number two, Fall, the House of Usher.

It is just perfect.

Perfect Edgar Allan Poe, Gothic horror.

And number one, Mask of the Red Death is also perfect, Edgar Allen Hoe Gothic horror, but exploded into a million different directions.

So there you go.

That's perfect.

That's also my pick for favorite Corman as well.

There's a definitely on some on there I need to see.

Yeah.

Too.

Yeah, that's exciting.

Before we get to our list here on the show, I wanted to hear from Chloe Waryan.

Yay.

From the Not Scared, a horror podcast hosted by Chloe, who you heard oh several times on this here show and I hope that you go and support her work.

She's incredible podcaster and librarian.

Let's see what her favorite films of the year were before we launch into our epic lists.

Hi everyone, this is Chloe Warian from Chloe's Not Scared.

I just want to say thank you, Jim, for having me back on to talk about my favorite movies of the year.

I will also say that I have a podcast now on the now playing network.

It's called Not a Horror Movie Podcast.

We talk about our favorite horror movies and what makes them special to us.

And a few guests of Directors Club have actually been on as well as Jim himself.

And I just wanted to publicly thank Jim for encouraging me to start this podcast.

So thank you very much, Jim.

I'm here to talk about my favorite movies of the year.

And while Jim usually puts scary music behind my voice, I have to say there is only one horror movie on this list and you can probably guess what it is and you can probably guess that it's number one.

So, you know, let the music play on if you want, but just, you know, curb your expectations as always.

There are a few movies that I haven't seen yet that I probably would put on this list, but a podcast is a moment in time.

So let's just crack into it.

My number 10 favorite movie of the year is Zodiac Killer Project by Charlie Shackleton.

It is a documentary about an abandoned documentary about the Zodiac killer.

And I saw this in the movie theater with Jim.

Both of us were really shocked and happy about it.

Both of us grew up kind of watching true crime documentaries with our moms and it's a really, really smart commentary on those types of documentaries that just oversaturates the streaming platforms at this time.

My number nine favorite movie of the year is Sorry Baby by Eva Victor.

And yes, the cat on the poster is okay, just the most human movie I've seen this year.

It made me laugh, it made me cry, it deeply moved me and I just wanted to give the characters a hug.

It is one of the best movies I've ever seen about trauma and one of the best movies I've ever seen about friendship.

Number eight for me is the Phoenician Scheme by Wes Anderson.

I'm notoriously pretty mixed on Anderson's movies, but his last few movies have really blown me away.

Benicio Del Toro is just having the time of his life in this film and it's just a fun adventure movie and sometimes we just need fun, fun adventure movies.

I don't feel like this is style over substance here because there is a great story about a father daughter relationship as well.

Now we're getting to the part of my list where I'm going to talk a lot about how much I love theater.

I was a theater major and I love playwriting.

And this next movie, my number seven is materialists director.

Celine Song is a playwright and so obviously I'm going to love every script that she does.

This movie was extremely misunderstood in my opinion.

Instead of seeing a love triangle, I saw three people completely losing themselves to capitalism in their 30s.

To me, she doesn't choose a man at the end, she chooses a work life balance.

And as someone who doesn't have a work life balance and needs a work life balance, this movie felt very pertinent and moving to me.

My number six movie is Blue Moon, directed by Richard Linklater.

Linklater had two movies that came out this year.

I thoroughly enjoyed both of them, but of course Ethan Hawke playing Lawrence Hart.

An all in one night movie.

I'm going to love this.

I thought it was such a moving portrayal of a misunderstood genius.

Hawke just disappears into this role.

I can't recommend it enough.

My number five film, Sentimental Value by Johann Trier.

Gorgeous film.

I will admit I didn't quite connect with worst person in the world, but this I was locked in in.

A Norwegian family headed by an absent film directing father, attempts to reconnect with his daughters over theater and art.

What's.

What's there not to love?

Also best house in a film this year.

I stand by it.

And the house is a character.

I know it's kind of corny to say, but the house is a character.

This film for me is tied with my next film which is Marty supreme by Josh Safdie.

I thought Timothee Chalamet was amazing as Marty Mouser, a burgeoning ping pong or table tennis star.

I was incredibly invested in his story It's a great New York story.

The character work, the ensemble.

So standout though.

This is a movie for people who want to see performances with a capital P. My next film is One Battle After Another by Paul Thomas Anderson.

It's not my favorite PTA movie, but oh my God.

Teyana Taylor Chase, Infinity.

I love you, Biancio del Toro.

A few small beers.

Best seen in a film this year.

Best scene Stole the show and the highway.

How did they film that?

Basically Anything filmed with VistaVision.

I'm going to put high, high, high on the list.

And you're probably being like, well, this is too low at number three.

Well, it's tied with my next one.

I will say it's tied with my next one, which is Black Bag by Steven Soderbergh.

You might be pretty surprised.

I feel like a lot of people forgot about this movie at the end of the year.

It's taut, it's pithy, it's fun, it keeps you guessing.

Heists and domestic dramas are my two favorite subgenres and there is not a minute wasted in this film.

And of course my number one movie of the year.

I've talked about it and written about it extensively on my blog.

It is Sinners.

Ryan Coogler, Sinners.

I'll just say if you are looking for a character driven, distinctly American story that incorporates many distinctly American genres, you'll find it in Sinners.

The musical ancestors scene made me weep in the theater in a way that no other movie has in recent memory.

It was basically exactly what I was looking for at exactly the right time of my life.

And there you have it.

Thank you Jim for letting me yap at you for five minutes again.

Chloe Warian, you can find me at Chloe's Not Scared everywhere and listen to Not Scared, a horror movie podcast on the now playing network.

Thank you.

Happy New Year.

I don't know what the director is doing with it, but I saw it at the Philadelphia International Film Festival.

It's directed and written by Mike.

I don't know how you say, I think it's Macera.

J. Kelly, I think, is maybe his weakest movie and so kind of charmed to see A film that feels like a Gen Z Francis Ha.

Shot in Philly.

So it's about an aspiring writer who drops out of college in her senior year, breaks up with a boyfriend, and it's just one of those kind of stories where she moves in with a friend and tries to figure out her life.

It's not really that much a plot centered kind of movie, although it does have a coming of age story.

But it's shot in black and white.

It kind of aims for that same kind of romantic capturing of a city that you might associate with Manhattan.

And it's, I guess, in the mumblecore vein.

It feels a little bit improvisational in terms of the dialogue.

I thought of the early Andrew Buzielski films, like funny ha ha, Mutual appreciation a little bit at times.

But like, if it's.

If the certain story beats feel like, you know, very familiar as far as, like the romantic friendship kind of beats of it.

They're handled in a really smart way in terms of the writing.

It's really well acted and very kind of just likable, charming film in that style.

So I wanted to put that on my list.

That's Alice Hart.

Yeah, that sounds great.

I'm looking forward to that.

And you mentioned, like films not being super plot heavy.

And that's kind of the majority of my list.

Looking at it, it's just I enjoyed this movie.

It was a simple story.

And that's the case for my first pick in alphabetical order, which is the Baltimoreans, kind of like the Alexander Payne movie of the year, where just like similar to the Holdovers, two random people meet around the holidays, I believe it's Christmas Eve, and they strike up some kind of, yeah, you know, potentially romantic connection.

But it just, you know, this is a movie where just people are, you know, kind of being imperfectly human.

And I just like that, you know, in that sort of.

Well, maybe not in the Ella McKay mold, but early James L. Brooks.

Certainly those types of character driven stories really speak to me still.

Even if, yeah, you can kind of reduce this like, oh, this is like a Sundance indie dramedy.

But this is one that's done really well because, you know, it's got people that just simply know how to handle awkwardness sometimes.

And I struggle with that myself in real life.

It just managed to make me laugh and feel good and, you know, get a little melancholy because like this, you know, this recovering alcoholic played by Michael Strassner, he's also a former improv comic.

So again, you get those.

You hear that off the Top of your head, like, yep, typical indie dramedy, Sundance kind of a story.

And then he just meets up with his dentist after breaking a tooth and they go on some interesting adventures together because they're both more or less alone on Christmas Eve.

And yeah, they go to an improv show, they meet up with a family, they have just very unusual encounters with random people.

But yeah, it's like you talked about Bill.

It's got a little mumblecore vibe.

You know, obviously this comes from J. Duplass.

Yeah, J. Duplass.

And yeah, I thought of Bujalski as well.

And, you know, it was just one of like, I sat down not having high expectations for this.

I know it played the Chicago Critics Film Festival.

I know it was a big hit with the crowd there.

And I was like, this is just a nice, good, warm, funny movie that hit me in the right place.

It's got a great script, a lot of funny lines, and I really enjoy Michael Strassner as your kind of unconventional lead character in this.

And yeah, it's.

It's got a big heart.

So I'm all for this possibly being a Christmas go to every year with the Baltimore ons.

Yeah.

So that's on my list.

I don't know if I should just jump right over my number two to my number three, which is the Baltimore runs.

You can, just for the sake of efficiency.

But all I'll just add to that is that, you know, if you were to compare to the typical Sundance indie, I think a lot of those age gap romances tend to be older guy, manic younger girl.

And this is kind of refreshing in that the woman that he has this kind of tentative romance with is Liz Larson's character, who's kind of, kind of reminded me of Ellen Barkin a little bit, but like, but is like someone who's like in a, you know, a middle aged kind of place in life.

Like, not a typical love interest for that kind of movie.

Maybe if it was told like 20 years ago.

But yeah, I mean, I liked the Puffy Chair when it came out and I followed a few of the other J. Duplass directed films like Cyrus and Jeff, who lives at home.

But I think this is maybe my favorite one he's done since the Puffy Chair.

And it was a nice surprise because I really, I think the title made me think it was going to be something a lot sillier than it is.

Right, right.

But you know, to pick up off of Alice Hart, it's also, it's the other major city that's an hour from me because it's a Baltimore through and through film as opposed to a Philly film.

So it's again, like, it.

It adds an extra thing for me in that it's like streets that I know.

Like, it feels very kind of.

Yeah.

Kind of warm and gray shading that way.

Just because it's an environment.

I know.

But yeah, no, it was a very nice surprise because I really had.

The title was, oh, it's going to be something very wacky.

It's really not.

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

I do, like, again, like, as someone who recently tried improv for the first time, I thought this was done well and not like, you know, again, like my expectations.

Oh, they're going to just get wacky.

It really gets sweet in the right ways.

For me, that.

That entire sequence is really nice.

Okay, what's.

So I should go next or should you go next?

Should I do my two or you want to do yours?

I will go.

I will go ahead with Black Bag again.

I think a lot of movies this year, the ones that stood out at least went back to basics and just like, told a simple story.

And again, not too heavy on plots.

It's just get together a solid cast and we just watch them interact and the fireworks fly in this in the right ways.

I think I prefer Soderbergh in the low key.

Only a few characters, simple plot, like your kimmies and your.

Well, I don't know if no sudden move would fall under that.

There's a lot of characters in that, if I'm not mistaken.

But it's just kind of a more intimate drama.

It's a spy thriller on top of it, too.

It's really.

It's kind of a little bit of a mashup where it's like taking a domestic marriage story mixed with us, you know, who's the mole in this organization Subplot that kind of.

They kind of really work well together.

Like, this was one of the earliest films of the year where I went, man, I want more movies like this.

Again, it's just.

And Soderbergh knows how to make those.

And he does it in all the right ways.

He just gets a few people, a few rooms and still manages to make the camera move and, you know, have really interesting characters.

And you got Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett as husband and wife.

So that alone should sell you on it being compelling.

But I just love a good confrontation amongst different people that we get to know, you know, throughout the film.

It's like later on set At a table that's sort of like when the big confrontation happens.

And I love that whole sequence.

It's just a well made thriller, drama, slash domestic movie.

At the same time, it's like all these things that somehow work really well together.

And it's just like a simple, streamlined 90 minute movie that I really liked seeing in a theater because again, I don't go to the theater that much.

But I went out to see this because I'm like, I'm.

I'm down for new Soderbergh.

And he had two movies this year and if you look at Mike d' Angelo's list apparently at three movies, and I didn't even know about the third one, but yeah, it's.

I love Soderbergh and this is kind of what he does best, in my opinion.

So, yeah, and it's a great cast doing.

Doing great things.

And yeah, it's just a fun, good time at a.

At the movies for me with Black Bag.

Hey, come on.

But no, I like Black Bag as well.

So my next one, if I go back to my number two, is April, which is written and directed by dea.

Is it Columbia?

I don't know if I've ever said it before, but she also directed a movie called Beginning, which is really good.

But it's this melodrama about an OB GYN risking her career performing abortions on the side.

It's set in the country of Georgia and she's kind of this kind of daring character in her personal life too.

Like getting into like kind of, you know, sexual kind of adventures on the road and such.

But it's a melodrama.

But it's also something of an eerie creature feature.

Like it has a slow burn, allegorical horror element.

It's hard film to talk about without spoiling things, but it's closer to the feeling of something like under the Skin than Vera Drake for an abortionist narrative.

But it's more politically challenging than under the Skin.

It's not like a fantasy based kind of film so much, although it has this kind of creature feature element.

But it's this really unusual, interesting film, kind of dreamy, a lot of long takes, a lot of disturbing, protracted scenes of medical procedure.

So it's not going to be easy watching for everybody.

But I thought it was one that I've just kind of been struck by ever since I saw it.

I don't know again what the distribution pattern is for this.

But it's, it's eerie and creepy without being full on horror movie.

But it's definitely a director whose work.

Because I liked beginning a lot as well.

And so I'm very curious to see what she does next.

But yeah, this kind of eerie, menacing, slightly political territory.

Again, it's kind of a slow burn.

Probably not going to be for all tastes.

But if it sounds like something you might like, I would strongly recommend finding it.

I certainly will.

I actually played the Chicago Critics Film Festival, but I missed it.

Been meaning to see it.

But yeah, I've heard a lot of good things about it in general.

So I'm very curious.

And it's one of those many that I will eventually catch up with for sure.

Next on my list is Blue Moon.

I think I like this one just a little bit more than the other Linklater film.

It's pretty close because I did like what he did with novel Vogue.

Vague.

Can never say that.

Right.

But it's fun to watch, you know, And I, I.

It didn't give that one didn't give me as much to ponder about afterwards.

With Blue Moon.

I just kind of went, man, I am here for the Ethan Hawk Show.

Especially when he works with Link Letter.

It's just he's on fire in this movie.

It's.

He's just like so fast talking and almost like a screwball comedy cadence.

And telling crazy stories and being really charming, being really funny.

And also being really annoying at times too.

But he's trying to cover up the fact that he's, yeah, socially awkward, sad and lonely.

And the only way he can sort of compensate for that is by doing what he does by telling people stories and by like having all this flowery language and just being a really great communicator and a very compelling.

Almost like a comedian at times around other people.

But it's, you know, at the same time it's practically like a film play because it's contained in one space in one setting in this bar.

And it's inspired by the letters of Lorenz Hart, of course, and Elizabeth Weiland, who's played by Margaret Qualley.

And I love the scene between the two of them.

Sort of revealing their feelings in a way that only Linkletter can do.

So well.

So well written, so well acted.

Andrew Scott as Rogers here, his creative collaborator, is great.

It's mostly just what I find pleasurable from watching a link letter film.

Just a lot of dialogue, a lot of great acting.

Ethan Hawke, of course, just firing on all cylinders.

Even though a lot of people, I can see the argument for him being miscast.

Just like even Sharon had like a disconnect a little bit watching this because she is just like that.

That Ethan ogg looks weird with this, with the hair piece and the fact that he's shorter.

It's just, it's taking me out of the movie.

So I guess that could happen.

But for me I, I went with it the whole way through because of how fantastic Ethan Hawke is in this.

Just like again being really fast paced and funny and, and clever in a lot of things that he says and does.

But yeah, I just also like that it's about the creative process between two very different people who approach the creative process differently and you see that within their interactions together later in the film.

But yeah, it's also, yeah, kind of a sad, melancholy movie on top of it all.

And I just again, when I walked out I was like, yeah, I love link letter movies and this is a showcase as, as to why.

So yeah, Blue Moon on my list.

Did you see that one, Patrick?

I did not.

Okay, well, I don't know how much we're going to be able to stay neck and neck alphabetically, but so far we're doing pretty well because my four is Blue Moon.

I think looking at my list this year there's a lot of auteur type directors that I followed for a long time making late stage, kind of contemplative, you know, kind of maybe sometimes self reflexive films that I'm kind of a sucker for that I can see how that would be annoying for other viewers.

But Blue Moon is one of my favorites of, you know, very favorites of the year.

I mean if I was ranking these, it'd be near the top.

And it's interesting because they quote Casablanca a bunch in it.

And the.

My favorite scenes in Casablanca are the scenes set around the Cafe Americain that Rick manages.

And this is an entire film kind of set in a similar kind of environment.

But like it does feel like a film's play in that way.

I thought it was interesting that it's written by Robert.

Is it Kaplow, the guy that did the.

Was it me And Orson Welles, that film he did years ago.

But like it's another film that has that like kind of Linklater kind of engaging with his old Hollywood Influence as well as the new wave kind of thing he does elsewhere, like literally making a film called Neuvel Vogue.

But yeah, I thought this was kind of touching and sad and kind of perfect, miniature kind of film for what it is, I think.

I mean, obviously there's a lot of link letter films that are just all talk, but I think that this is probably one of the most concentrated.

It almost reminded me of some like, tape as far as, like just being that constricted.

But no, I love Ethan Hawking.

I don't have the same reservations with his appearance.

I thought he was really good at it and a little bit.

But I. I guess I get why, you know, it's just like, oh, you could have casted somebody else.

But yeah, maybe.

I mean, it'd be a different film with a different actor.

I mean, might be.

Might be fine with another person as well.

But no, I thought, I thought like as a study, I mean, not just in the desperation like, you know, that the character feels for the Elizabeth Weiland character, you know, the Margaret Qualley character, but also the.

Just that the competitive friendship between artists and teams and teams that break up, I think is an interesting theme.

And that one, I think has been covered as much as the unrequited romantic aspect, which is fine.

But I mean, you know, I think that the friendship angle is a pretty touching one.

And I don't know, I mean, I don't think of Linklater and Ethan Hawke as people that necessarily could identify with failures because they've like, had like decades of success in a way that most of their peers from the 90s have not enjoyed.

But, you know, I mean, it is still kind of an interesting reflection on those themes.

And no, I mean, again, it's like with Soderbergh, it's like, I like Nouvelle Vogue as well, and I certainly root for people like him to kind of retain their foothold in an industry that really does not have a whole lot of love for directors like that, you know, I mean, so.

Yeah, no, I concur with everything that you said about it.

I think it's a great movie.

Yeah.

Next up on my list is Begonia Yorgos Lanthimos latest film, which was just kind of just a really good time.

And strange to say that about a Yorgos movie as being like, I don't know, but this to me is just like a, you know, kind of a pitch black comedy.

And you know, I liked what Robert Daniels wrote about it in his review, is that it's just.

It's telling that a film about aliens judging the rottenness of our species comes from a Greek filmmaker using America as a setting.

And I know this is also based on a.

A film called Save the Green Planet, and it has a very similar ending.

And I, Again, I wasn't sure how I wanted this movie to end, but I found it to end on a very satisfying note.

And I won't give that away, obviously, but it's just simple premise of, well, what if this corporate CEO is an alien?

And we get to find out if it's similar to Black Bag in a way, like, who's the mole?

And here is just one simple question.

And we're spending a lot of time with three.

Well, yeah, three characters total in a basement for the most part.

And, you know, the CEO is played by Emma Stone, who is always incredible, and the kidnapper, one of them is Jesse Plemons, and he's incredible.

Like, to me, it was just like, I just want to.

Similar to what I said about Ethan Hawk.

I just enjoy watching these actors do what they do so well and also being distinctive and how they're doing characters that they've never done before.

But, yeah, it just.

And it creates, like, a real sense of paranoia.

There's a really funny needle drop involving Green Day, but, yeah, again, you know, it's just like a confined space, People hashing it out, confronting each other, playing mind games.

Kind of like.

Kind of like along the lines of like Death and the Maiden by Polanski or that it was Alan Rickman's film Closet Land.

Is that.

Is that the one, Bill?

I think that's.

I think that's the one.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Where it's just like, you know, he's basically tied someone to a chair, and it's kind of like saying, did you do this thing?

Or are you working for, you know, the Russians or any, you know, any number of scenarios like that.

And this is just basically like a. Yeah, like a weird Yorgo sci fi horror mystery kind of mashup.

And his weird sensibilities and sense of humor are all over this thing.

So if you like Yorgos Lanthimos, I have a feeling you're gonna like Begonia.

I know folks aren't often huge into cringe comedy in this way, but I do think there's a little.

There's a little bit going on.

There's.

There's some conversations to be had about, like, those who go down these crazy Reddit rabbit holes and become conspiracy theorists and think they know everything.

And, you know, where it goes is very interesting for me and off and very funny.

So I, I, you know, again, similar to like what I say about a lot of movies often is just if it's two actors or one actor, sometimes just firing on all cylinders, that's enough to sell it for me.

But on top of that, I just like Yorgos Lanthimos as a filmmaker and this is him just, you know, doing a remake on his own terms.

And yeah, I thought it was a good time overall.

Like, I just laughed a lot and yeah, it's just Begonia is a good movie.

That's a lot of.

It's just, it was good, I had a good time.

So that's that.

Yeah, no, I, I like that one as well.

I think it's very funny movie.

And I did not see the ending coming as well.

I never saw Save the Green Planet.

Yeah, that's probably a good thing then.

Yeah, which probably helps.

But no, I thought it was fun.

I thought the performances were really good in it and it almost made my list, but I thought it was a lot of fun.

My number five is Bob Trevino likes it.

Written and directed by Tracy Lehman.

This stars Barbie Ferreira.

Is it Ferreira?

And John Leguizamo.

But it's this kind of gentle comedy about young woman with a really kind of emotionally abusive and manipulative father that they have a falling out.

And when she goes looking for him on Facebook, she winds up inadvertently friending someone with the same name.

And they develop this kind of friendship online, both of them being very lonely characters in different ways.

And so it's kind of this commentary on, I guess, the way people can kind of forge surrogate families because he becomes kind of like a father figure to her as the real father is just kind of like if there's a flaw in the film, it's almost like the real life father is almost too awful to imagine.

But it ends up just being this very low key, sweet, funny, bittersweet comedy.

Both of the leads are really good in it and it's probably one of the most likable characters I've seen John Luizamo play.

He's an actor that can be kind of very manic and high energy.

So it's nice to see him kind of dialed back.

And Yeah, I mean, it's not a film that there's a whole lot of plot to describe to it, but it's just one I found really charming.

And so that's on my list.

Excellent.

I'll have to catch up with that.

One as well.

I.

Hey, the next on my list is a movie I know Patrick has seen, so he can interject.

Sure.

Hot stealing.

Yeah.

Speaking of a good time, Darren Aronofsky needs to lighten up and have fun.

Perhaps make some, you know, more genre pictures like this.

This is based on a book of the same name.

And Austin Butler being pretty likable for the most part in this, right?

He's very good performance.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, again, like, a lot of folks early on brought up, oh, Jim, you're gonna love this.

It's very After Hours esque.

And, well, that's the selling point, of course, and it's definitely in that spirit.

And there's a cat involved.

It ends with the Magnetic Field song.

So, like, yeah, by the end I was like, oh, that was kind of total gymnip for me.

But at the same time I was like, I'm just glad that I watched something where it's just a solid movie that they don't really make that much of anymore.

It's just, you know, because, like, I guess, you know, a filmmaker like Will, you know, someone like, I don't know, Guy Ritchie would do something like this, but make it, like, over direct it and make it too stylish and stylized to the point of where it's becoming obnoxious.

And, you know, some of the side characters come along and you go, oh, how wacky and weird are they gonna be?

But they.

He still manages to ground most of this stuff to where, like, yeah, confrontations happen and you really feel them on a visceral level.

Great score, just great dialogue, great characters, everything.

I really, again, I wasn't expecting much because I just kept hearing like, yeah, it's an Aronofsky, you know, not.

Not the usual Aronofsky.

And yet, like, him just kind of coasting or.

That's what I was hearing anyway.

But this actually surprised me.

It had a lot of suspense and uncertainty as to how things were going to play out.

It's the best Darren Aronofsky movie.

I don't know if I go that far.

It's the one that allied all of his most horrendous tendencies and then just takes advantage of the fact that he's a good filmmaker.

Like every other movie has brilliant moments and then that makes you cringe.

And this is just a really well made movie.

Yeah.

And that's what I loved about it.

I said this.

That was just a really well made movie.

Like, I'm not lingering on it too long afterwards.

Like, it was just like I watched it, I had a good time and thank God that happened because again, low expectations could help in this case.

But no, it was.

It's just.

I recommend this to everybody who just wants a good, like, kind of escapist film again.

Yeah, simple as that, really.

Yeah.

I would agree with both of you.

I think it.

I don't know if it's.

If I would.

I don't know if I haven't seen the Wrestler in a long time to know if I would rank it above the Wrestler, but it would definitely be first or second place for me if I was ranking Darren Aronofsky's films.

Also, I think I would compare it a films from this year.

I would compare it to Marty supreme as far as, like, a film that kind of just kind of builds into great kind of thriller action, kind of set pieces, but is also very funny.

And it's interesting to me that one is getting all the attention and another one was kind of shrugged off.

And I don't know if that says something about the, you know, the profile of the filmmakers or the leads or whatever, but.

No, I thought this was a nice surprise.

And I mean, I went into it with no real expectations one way or the other.

Austin Butler.

I haven't really kind of made up my mind on, like, as far as, like, I wouldn't see something because he's in it, but it's like, oh, right.

If he's in, that's fine.

I mean, I think he's perfectly decent in everything.

I see him in such a physical performance.

So he is just like, well cast.

Yeah.

This is not a movie that I walk away and I'm like, I need to see the next Dawson Butler movie.

Yeah.

Because he's kind of forgettable in Eddington.

In my opinion.

That's a subplot that I wish hadn't been in that film.

But anyway.

Yeah, no, but it's a great film.

I almost put it on my list, but I knew we'd be talking about it, so, you know.

But yeah, no, it's one I'm excited to see again.

And I think I've talked about this on Director School before, but I have a real weakness for music documentaries.

Sure.

And I have to resist not filling the list with music documentaries because they're like my favor, you know, escapist, kind of like junk food cinematically.

But the one that I wanted to talk about was Butthole Surfers.

The whole truth and nothing but.

And Butthole Surfers is a band that I never listened to.

Like, I had.

They were like, slightly before my time when they were like.

Like a big underground act in the 80s.

And then by the time that the whole alternative rock thing in the 90s happened, like, I. I knew about them.

I mean, I like the Ministry song that Gibby Haynes is on, but they just.

I just never bough records.

And even there's a great book called Our Band Could Be youe Life.

There's a pretty compelling chapter on them.

But I just never.

Oh, yeah, I remember that.

I just never bought their records.

And I didn't really.

I don't know, like, what I heard was like, a little bit kind of, like.

I respected it as, like, kind of punkish psychedelic rock, but I just.

I couldn't imagine a context where I'd ever be listening to it.

So I went to this screening just because I love music docs.

It was playing at the Baltimore Film Festival, and I really found it compelling because the characters in the story are so interesting.

I mean, it has a little bit of that animated shit that ruins every music documentary that incorporates it with a puppet show thing that's like.

It's fleeting, but it's.

You know, it's there.

So trigger warning if you don't like that animated thing.

It's definitely part of it.

But the.

No, it's just like the people that populate that band have such interesting stories, especially Teresa Nervosa, who cinephiles might know as the pap smear girl in Slacker.

The Richard Linklater films, which we talk about Linklater.

And people might know Gibbie Haynes from movies, too.

He was in the Sweet East.

But, yeah, what's interesting about it is it has a whole ton of famous talking heads.

I mean, everyone from Richard Linklater to Ian Mackay, Steve Albini, one of his last appearances, but they're very fleetingly featured.

I think Dave Grohl is in it, like, I mean, Henry Rollins, but it's like all the people you'd expect, but they're only in it for, like, maybe two minutes.

It's mostly focused on the real life, like, on the.

On the band members and, like, their particular journeys.

And I don't want to spoil anything about it, but it's just as like a study of a band.

I like documentaries that make them look bad at times.

Like Steve Albini being the patron saint of, like, punk rock honor And Virtue is perfect casting for this because he really calls them out when they screw over their loyal indie label to go major label in the 90s.

Like, there's.

There's people that call them out for being rock star assholes at times, which I appreciate because I hate overly fawning music docs.

But yeah, as a.

As a portrait of like alternative post punk culture in Texas in the 80s and 90s, it's just.

I mean, it could have been 12 hours long and I've been totally invested in it, but something that, if you're interested in that subject matter at all, keep an eye out for it, but I assume it'll be easy to see.

Okay.

I wasn't sure if it's streaming or not.

Not yet.

Okay.

I'll have to seek it out.

I'm very curious about that.

It's really good and just a shout out.

I bought tickets to it twice.

I couldn't make it either time.

But the Red Cross documentary Born Innocent is also really good.

Another kind of great post punk kind of band that has a cult following, but it's still kind of largely unknown.

That really interesting story about two brothers who started a punk rock band as like, really, really young teenagers and.

And then evolved into something much stranger.

Well, you mentioned you like documentaries where they make the subject look bad.

Have I got one for you.

Do you know what I'm talking about?

I do.

Goonies Never say Die.

Corey Feldman Versus the World, Everybody.

One of three documentaries on this list that I think made me kind of like, sit up in my chair and gasp with a little bit of disbelief as, as to what I was seeing at times.

Because again, there's a little bit of bias in being interested in the subject matter because I grew up, like, early on age 6, 7, 8, really, really admiring Corey Feldman.

And it's not like I thought like, oh, he's an incredible actor.

I just thought that dude seems cool.

And that's, you know, very simple, basic, like, feeling about him, you know, and he kind of had that Persona going on, especially once you get to something like the Lost Boys, but.

And like, License to Drive as him.

Like, yeah, he's a cool dude.

Look at him, you know.

But my initial, you know, my, my first exposure to him was Stand By Me and the Goonies, of course.

And to watch him presently in current.

Day.

I mean, again, this is a very uncomfortable movie at times to watch him unhinged, having meltdowns, you know, it does have, like, a little bit of a behind the music kind of feel or approach, but you're, again, a fly on the wall on the tour bus with him being an asshole.

And I don't know if you'll necessarily find that pleasurable, per se, but I don't know, there's like, moments where I, you know, cringed and laughed, like, almost like a curb your enthusiasm level.

Just because I'm like, I can't believe he's acting that way.

I can't believe he's saying the things that he's saying.

He's being such an.

And I'm finding this so, like, mesmerizing.

But he's also pissing me off at the same time.

And, you know, it kind of gets to an interesting conclusion to the.

At the very end that I was not expecting.

And I'm sure he's not happy with this film being out in the world, but, yeah, like, there's some moments of him involving groupies that I just went, oh, boy.

I don't.

I'm surprised this is out in the world.

Uh, but, yeah, he's got a lot of issues, uh, to work through, a huge ego, uh, and just, you know, flying off the handle, you know, like.

And in situations where you go, why, dude?

This is just like a, you know, a bar in the suburbs, and you're like, you know, treating it like, yeah, you're playing Madison Square Garden or something.

And I don't know, it just.

It made me feel really sad and angry and I.

You know, movies that just get an emotional rise out of me are an easy sell.

Like, I don't know if, like, you know, formally this is breaking new ground.

Like I said, it's kind of, you know, at times a very behind the music style approach to.

To a documentary and capturing, like, a period of time with.

With him on tour with these particular women who are in his band.

But I don't know, it just made me feel a lot of feelings and including, like, a little sadness for him when, like, you know, people are coming up to him and asking for his autograph and it's, you know, it's like, no, you know, people really have an attachment to him and his early work, and I understand that to some degree, but, man, has he really lost it in a lot of ways.

And watching it, it's hard.

But at the same time, I can't say I was not enthralled at the same time.

So it's.

It's Corey Feldman versus the world.

I don't know what people are going to Think of this overall.

But yeah, it's just kind of show how far he's fallen.

And all I can hope for is that he gets some self awareness and some treatment and maybe looks in the mirror and realizes who he is.

And as uncomfortable as that is to experience here, I can't say I was not enthralled by this movie.

So that's why it's on my list.

The end.

Yeah, no, I thought this was real compelling.

I was surprised how little it talks about his, his years of fame.

Like it really is kind of set in the present where all of his glories are very far in the past.

And so he can kind of coast through life on the nostalgia of Generation X.

But he doesn't actually contribute anything musically certainly.

But even as an actor, that really has helped his reputation since the very early 90s, I think is the last thing that people would know a performance of his.

And that's being generous, I think.

But yeah, I agree that it does paint him very badly.

I mean, it does suggest that even serious subjects he raises are being promoted kind of cynically to raise money for vanity projects.

That's hard to watch, which is very hard to watch.

And even his accusations of, of you know, sexual impropriety, like as a child, like, seem kind of cloaked in trying to exploit it for money in a way that's really unsavory.

And he played, he played venues that my band played in, in high school.

Like he was, he was playing like our local clubs.

I've seen him at conventions and things.

I've never met him.

But yeah, he, he's definitely.

I mean, child stardom does a lot of negative things, you know, to people.

And so, you know, he's just one of the more high profile ones that's still out there.

But yeah, no, it is a fascinating documentary and also just a fascinating look at his fans, like his hardcore fans.

Sure, yeah, that too.

Yeah.

No, I'd recommend seeing it, but it is.

Does feel like a very grim reality show.

Yeah, yeah, that's, that's why I can understand people not wanting to see it too, for that reason.

Yeah, no, artistically it's, it's.

Yeah, I mean, but it as, as it's.

It's hard to look away even though it is not.

I don't know if it's great art or not.

Okay, so my number seven is a film called Camp.

But Camp is written, directed by Avalon Fast, who also did the film Honeycomb which I talked about on here once.

And it's about a young woman suffering from the effects of a pair of traumatic events that she, encouraged by her father, takes a position as a counselor at a religious summer camp for troubled kids.

And while there, she gets involved with a group of counselors, and things drift in a very witchy, psychedelic horror direction.

And it's still kind of not a film that a lot of people have seen, so I won't really say more than that, but it's a very creative, unusual movie that I guess is technically a horror film, but it's more about characters and emotions, and it's kind of.

I guess, you know, it has that naturalism that, you know, we use terms like mumblecore to describe.

It's a little bit like that, but it moves into the realms of fantasy in a way that that kind of cinema, you wouldn't associate with it.

Like, it's not verite cinema.

But, yeah, I mean, the director is pretty young.

I think she's only 25.

So this is like her second feature.

I mean, everyone involved is very young and has a lot of heart.

I don't know.

I mean, maybe edges of it are a little bit on the amateur side, like, again, like Honeycomb, but I don't know.

There's something quite haunting about it, too.

And so I definitely encourage people to see it when it becomes more widely available.

I think it might be distributed by Dark sky, which is a company that distributes the Tex Chainsaw Massacre in America.

So it might be something that gets a proper theatrical rollout.

But either way, it's definitely one that people will probably talk about more as it becomes easier to see.

It's only been doing the festivals I saw it at Brooklyn Horror Film Festival.

Won the audience award at Fantastic Fest, also, I think.

And I think more is happening with Honeycomb as well.

So I think Justin decloux, who has been on Directors Club, distributes the dvd, or the Blu Ray, rather, of Honeycomb right now.

But I think there might be more happening with the earlier Avalon Fast films as well.

So, yeah, someone that people should check out.

Splendid.

I'm gonna do one more and then get some more coffee.

Cause once I. Yeah, if I get.

If I have another cup of coffee in me at noon, I'll be solid for the rest of the show.

I promise.

For this next pick, It's.

It's a.

Definitely a personal pick that I haven't seen on any other list, and I completely get why.

But this is a case of, wow, did this reflect my life In a major way.

And I'm talking about Darkest Miriam, which Charlie Kaufman executive produce, I believe.

And that's the main reason why I sought it out.

The filmmaker is Naomi James, and it is based on a book called the Incident Report by Martha Bale, who or Bailey, a Canadian librarian.

And the book is really just a series of observations about patrons that come into the library or unusual encounters that she has on a daily basis and sort of reflecting on what it means to be a librarian and, you know, in these insane times that we live in.

But of course I read the book and of course, once I saw this movie, I was just like, well, I haven't seen anything that comes kind of close to reflecting what my job is like, like this movie.

And on top of that, you have Brit Lauer from Severance as the lead role playing a librarian who is haunted by the death of her father.

So right there you kind of go, I wonder why Jim liked this movie so much.

But yeah, it's.

And there's also like this kind of like, maybe the only strike against, I would say, is like, having this extra side subplot of her getting weird correspondence from somebody who may or may not be stalking her that kind of never really gets resolved to where I thought, yeah, I don't know if you needed that element to make it a little more suspenseful because there's also the fact that she wants to romantically connect with somebody who's a regular at the library that keeps coming in and.

Or keeps sitting outside the bench and, you know, clearly has an interest in her and she's trying to basically be open again to a relationship and finding that to be very difficult.

It's a low key indie drama that really portrays introversion.

Like, she doesn't talk a lot.

She's, you know, clearly dealing with mental health issues and, you know, sort of struggling day to day to deal with people who can exhibit all kinds of unusual behavior or, you know, ask her weird questions.

And let me tell you, as a librarian, this movie just worked for me.

It spoke to me.

It affected me deeply.

There's certainly a scene involving her looking into a reflection and like, her face kind of merging with the ghost of her father that just like went, oh, way to, way to know exactly how to hit home for me.

And.

And again, like, I can see why Charlie Kaufman decided to help out this filmmaker and this story because it kind of has that feel, that melancholy feel throughout the movie.

But yeah, again, like, I know people who saw us and just like, what were, like, it was okay or Good.

But personally I thought it was fantastic, well acted.

And I'm excited to see what this director does next.

So that's Darkest Miriam, everybody, go seek that out.

I hope it's streaming somewhere.

I don't know if it is for sure, but I will link to it in the show notes if it is.

Oh, it is on Amazon prime and Roku Channel, Everybody's favorite.

Yeah, I like that one too.

Yeah, I enjoyed that one.

Good, good, good, good, good.

You can do one.

Yeah, do one more and then I'll take a quick break for more coffee.

Okay.

Well, the last one is one that I know that is probably the most.

One of the most divisive films on the list.

I know it's not on your list, but it's one I kept thinking about.

And so I'm including Eddington, Ari Oster's fourth feature, which I assume I have not seen Eddington.

Have you not seen that?

No.

Okay.

Well, yeah, I mean, it's for those who haven't seen it.

It stars Joaquin Phoenix as a kind of a right wing, ish, kind of sheriff.

And Pedro Pascal plays the mayor of a small town in New Mexico.

And it's right at the beginning of the COVID 19 pandemic.

And it kind of builds towards an absurd thriller climax.

And it's a satire of both the left and the right's reactions to things that I think ultimately it's about how media and Internet and media in general, but primarily the Internet kind of amplifies every point of view to drive everyone towards extreme behavior, whether whatever your stripe of the political spectrum is.

So there's a fair amount of conspiratorial thinking.

I think some are kind of made uneasy by the satirizing of progressive activist young people.

It's interesting because I imagine we'll talk about one battle after another, which it reminds me of in that they're both kind of satirizing both sides, but.

And both made by filmmakers that I would identify, you know, on the left side of that divide.

But I think.

I think one battle after another, I think on the Right gets kind of branded as being explicitly a pro progressive activist, politically kind of film like.

Whereas I think that Eddington, if it gets into trouble with people, tends to be.

I think it makes people uneasy that the right wing characters are given a lot of room to say some troubling things and maybe they aren't effectively counter argued by opposing voices in the film.

So I get it.

And I don't know that this is a perfect film, but I think it's an interesting film and I think it has a lot of interesting, effective sequences that it's just kind of stuck with me.

I haven't had a chance to rewatch it to prepare for this.

I've only seen it the one time in the theater.

But I thought that it was a bolder film than some other films that are more successful as far as like risking that alienation of the audience.

Because I think the larger audience that went to go see Eddington, I think half of them were pissed off by it and a lot of people I know were pissed off by it.

But I think that, I don't know, I kind of appreciate films that get that reaction.

I don't think it's trying to provoke in a real talk about me, I'm controversial kind of way that like something like Luca Guadagnino's movie from this year was, where it's like real, you know, kind of desperate attempt to provoke conversation of any kind.

I think Eddington is trying to be thoughtful, but, you know, and I get like there's some critique to be made about, like maybe he's not the guy to tell you about small town America.

He's a New York kind of, you know, independent filmmaker.

He's not really going to know that world to, to the degree that maybe others would.

But I, I just think it's an interesting film that I had fun kind of chewing over and you know, so I'm including it.

I, I'm mixed, I like, I.

But more mixed positive on it.

Similar to what with Bo's Afraid.

I just thought it was a little long and overstuffed and messy.

Yeah, but there are interesting things and elements about it that like you're describing, everything you're saying is true.

And at the same time, like I was wrestling with the lead character and his choices and there's.

Yeah, it is like another push and pull experience of where am I sitting with this character?

Where am I sitting with everything that's taking place and what he's ultimately doing?

And then also tonally sometimes.

Is he going for comedy?

I think so.

Right.

Like in that awkward, cringy way.

But I don't know if everything lands by the end.

I almost feel like it took on too much.

Well, I mean, this is something we've talked about as far as, you know, the Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson.

Like a lot of these auteur directors either set a lot of their films in the past or they, they set them in kind of like very self contained fantasy kind of worlds and I think that, you know, one battle after another's a little different, but this is a film that I think is at least attempting to engage with the present.

I mean, you could.

You could argue that it fails at doing it, but, I mean, I think it's at least worth applauding the effort because I feel like that's a thankless task in a way, unless you tell everybody that shows up what they want to hear.

And I think that there is a risk in giving, you know, I mean, anything from Dirty Harry to Joe to whatever.

There's, like, lots of examples of films that, like, aim to satirize the right that wind up being the favorite film of the right, you know, because they like a character that tells it like it is, even if he's the villain.

So there is a risk with a film that does something like that with this and, you know, casting Joaquin Phoenix as that character, even, like, you know, I mean, that's the kind of same thing people worry about with, like, you know, other Joaquin Phoenix movies, I guess, is like, is it going to encourage bad behavior in the audience or bad thinking if it's not explicitly corrected on screen?

But, yeah, no, I think that's at least interesting to wrestle with.

Even if it's, you know, not as contained as his horror movies.

As far as doing the thing that those do, I think that this is a more interesting film then Hereditary or Midsummer, even if it doesn't succeed at doing the thing it's aiming to do, maybe for everybody, the way those largely seem to do.

No, those are all good points.

Yeah.

Take a quick break.

Okay.

Okay.

Coffee?

Yeah.

When you get to.

When you.

Justin, you turn.

Happy to include the latest from Lynne Ramsey on my list with Die My Love.

Yeah.

Kind of like this dreamlike dissection, if you will, of postpartum mania to some degree.

And, you know, Jennifer Lawrence's characters have a lot of fears surrounding motherhood and, you know, being a wife.

And, yeah, like, this.

This worked for me a little bit more than if I had legs, I could kick you.

Which, again, is getting a lot of praise and.

And rightfully so.

I mean, Rose Byrne is.

If she wins Best Actress over Jesse Buckley, I will.

I will be fine with that.

I won't.

I won't throw chairs against the wall, but I. I just.

This one worked for me a little bit more because of.

Like I said, it's very.

It's more of a fever dream approach to telling this kind of a story.

Emotionally intense at times.

You know, it has scenes of Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson yelling at each other in a very kind of like, Revolutionary Road manner, which doesn't bother me.

It's.

But it's like, again, it's not.

It's.

It's.

It's.

The context of which everything has taken place is, again, it's.

It's clearly coming from a personal place, from Lynne Ramsey and, you know, watching Jennifer Lawrence in another role where, yes, it could be a nut, like, oh, this is kind of like a combination of what she does in Mother and Silver Lane's Playbook to some degree, but she still makes it different and distinctive in her own.

And, you know, what can you say about a scene where she gets to destroy an entire room like the characters do in Wet Hot American Summer?

That's, again, something that.

If you throw that in a movie, I'm happy.

I don't know why.

Like, just give an actor an opportunity to destroy a space.

Same.

I love it.

Judy Garland and the Pirate.

Yeah.

Orson Welles and Citizen Kane.

Just fuck up a room.

Agreed.

Yeah.

If I.

If I.

That's what should be in my own mental health documentary.

Me, just, like, destroying a room for no reason at all.

But, no, I probably would have a reason.

Anyway.

This is.

Yeah, it's kind of a. I could see why people, like, more or less went, I don't know about this one, but I.

Me and Sharon together, we both really responded strongly to it.

Like, it's, you know, kind of this foggy, weird, often surreal portrayal of what's going on inside this character's mind.

And, you know, to some degree, you can see a little bit of an extension of, like, what happens in the first hour of we need to Talk About Kevin in terms of, like, just the fragility of being a mom and, like, just the anticipation of, well, I'm kind of alone and unfulfilled, and what's that gonna mean for me as a person?

Is my identity completely changed or taken away?

Because now I am wife and mother.

So.

Yeah.

And Ramsey achieves this in a way that is so original.

She's a director.

I can't wait to cover at some point and just, like, watch all of her work.

I don't know.

I might need therapy afterwards, but in a good way, I think, because she does tap into some heavy stuff on a psychological level.

And, yeah, I. I hope Jennifer Lawrence gets as much acclaim as she has in the past for this performance because it could very well be my favorite.

And the final image of this story really haunts me.

It's like a character maybe coming to terms or Acceptance that she may end up alone or feeling alone.

And that's okay.

At least that's my interpretation of how it ends.

But it's still really great.

And Lynne Ramsey is just a fascinating filmmaker in so many ways that I get excited for her as a storyteller, even if not everything, like, makes sense to me on a first viewing.

This.

This is.

Yeah, this is one of those movies that I think is just gonna stay with me from this year.

So that's why it's on my list.

What'd you think of it, Bill?

Did you see it?

I did see it.

Yeah.

No, I liked it.

Yeah.

I.

It's.

I feel like I saw a few movies this year that dealt with, like, themes of motherhood.

Oh, yeah.

One more coming up on my list.

And obviously, if I had legs, I'd kick you.

Also, like you mentioned, is dealing with.

That I thought of from a few years back, one that people don't really talk about.

I don't know if it's poorly thought of or not, but it's Tully that.

Jason.

Diablo Cody, maybe about postpartum depression.

That's underrated.

I like that one a lot.

Yeah, I thought that was good.

But the.

Yeah, this one I liked.

Still kind of wrestling with it.

I do like Lynn Ramsey movies.

I don't really.

Yeah, I think Jennifer Lawrence is pretty good in it.

I think Robert Pattinson is also.

You know, I mean, I thought.

I thought it was.

I thought it was good.

I don't really have a whole lot to say about it, though.

Sure, sure.

No, I get that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

My number, my number nine is one that just opened, so I don't really want to say too much about the plot, but is father, mother, sister, brother.

Can't wait to see the Chen Jarmish movie, which is a film that I liked well enough when I was watching it.

And it kind of.

It's so subtle and low key that it almost.

It almost underwhelmed me a little bit on first viewing.

But it's one of those films that kind of has kind of just kind of stayed in my mind in the weeks since I saw it.

But it's.

It's three stories all dealing with siblings connecting with a parent, or the last story, siblings connecting without the parents.

But it's.

It's very starry cast, you know, Tom Waits and Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett and so on.

The best story is actually the one that is the least starry segment within India Moore and Luke Luca Sabat as siblings.

But, yeah, again, it's like that, like what I was saying earlier, like Auteur's kind of making kind of a contemplative, late stage kind of work.

And it's, it's not trying to go for any big profound statements about family or memory or things of that nature, but it's.

They're all dealing with like just kind of awkward dynamic between children and parents and trying to connect and make awkward small talk.

And so it's not like making any big gesture.

But I think I appreciate it for not trying to do more than it is able to do.

And.

And the last segment, I think is actually quite moving, whereas most of it, it's kind of.

Kind of a low key, slightly awkward comedy beat.

But yeah, no, I. I mean, if you're into Jim Jarmusch, it's worth.

It's one of his better recent films.

If it's.

If his stuff never meant much to you, then this will not probably win you over.

But I think it's quite good.

And so that's on my list.

He runs pretty hot and cold with me, but for the most part I do like his work and I'm excited for this.

And I'm also interested in seeing Blossom AKA Miami Bialik in a movie because I don't think I've ever seen her in anything outside of Beaches.

Like that was one of her first roles when she played like a younger Bette Midler.

So just a curiosity on my part as someone who really enjoyed Blossom and even wrote a little piece for it that.

Yeah.

That didn't make the.

The compilation that Lee Gambon put together because there was so many.

There's a lot of people submitting for that book, you know, the.

What was it called again?

This.

On a Very Special episode.

Yes, on a Very Special episode.

Right.

Yeah.

So it's just.

Yeah.

I'm interested to see her like, she.

She plays what, Adam Driver's sister?

Yes.

Yeah.

Interesting.

Tom Waits.

His daughter.

Wow.

I'm all, I'm ready for this.

All right, give it to me.

I'm excited.

Yeah, it's got a great winter atmosphere in the opening segment too.

So if it does play a Chicago theater on a snowy day, it'll feel weather appropriate.

So let me do one more because I know Patrick is going to have something to say about this particular title and I know Bill had made your list last year, I believe.

And that would be Eephus Aus.

Carson Lund, I believe.

Right.

Debut feature.

It's very low key and again, it does bring to mind early link letter and you know, it Just like it.

At first I was like, okay, this is just a really good hangout movie.

I love all the characters.

There's a lot of funny interactions and, like, just things happening in the background that I, you know, smiled at.

It was just like, to me, it mostly felt like a warm hug of a movie.

But the more I thought about it, it was like, oh, actually, I'm feeling really sad thinking about, like, the fact that the sense of communal experience is dying.

Like, there isn't, like, a feeling of community in the way that there used to be.

You know, especially when I was younger.

Oh, yeah.

It was like, I didn't love playing baseball or sports, but at least it got me, you know, to hang out with different types of people all at once because I just.

I never got into the competition of it all to where I was like, we gotta win.

You know, that's kind of what separated me from that experience.

But I do value, you know, even now, like, putting together a book club for the library and having five people in a room and we're all talking and interacting and sometimes we veer away from the book and talk about our personal lives and it's really comforting to have that experience.

And, like, this movie almost, like, captures, like, the fact that that's kind of dying out in a way, like, because things are being taken over by capitalism or technology or just.

Yeah, like, we're more isolated than we've ever been.

And you can even look at this as, like, kind of a, you know, reflection of what it's like to make a movie on top of it all.

So.

But really, it is just an enjoyable, funny, kind of slow burn movie that.

I don't know, every character is distinctive and I found it, you know, again, I use this word a lot, but melancholy, because, you know, there's things about it that made me smile and there's things about it that made me sad.

But I'm just glad a movie like this exists and that people can see it.

And I want more movies like this.

But it almost felt like we don't get movies like this very much for a reason.

Because, I don't know, people don't see the value in something like this.

Whereas I absolutely loved everything about it and really can't wait for whatever this director does next.

So.

Efis, Patrick, you saw it and I think you liked it.

Yeah, yeah, it's the best movie of the year.

Oh, okay.

It's like, easily, like, without a doubt.

It's just the.

More than the best movie of the year.

It is about the film industry.

It is about.

I mean, you don't.

You don't have to only read it as that.

I think anyone of a sufficient age has held something very close to them that then faded away, never to return.

And I think that you can.

That can be any number of things, and you can watch EFIS and connect to it on that level.

Yeah, no, it's.

It's a miraculous film.

It's hysterically funny.

It is, like, formally really daring.

It is really, really smart about the way it balances its sentiment and cynicism.

It is not.

It is not about, like, if you're looking at this movie and you watch the trailer and you're like, I don't want to watch.

Feel the dreams.

Like baseball.

Like, guess what?

This movie's kind of like baseball, too.

And you know what?

Kind of fuck the film industry.

Like, kind of fuck movies.

You know, there's like, the.

These things are complicated.

Like, this is one of the things I got into when I'm talking about Roger Corman on Tracks of the Damned in November is like, the easiest thing to do at all times is to just sort of, like, tell yourself the legend of how the thing you like is the best, most pure, most wonderful thing it is.

And the reality is everything is fucking compromised.

And Roger Corman, in addition to doing a lot of great movies and giving a lot of great people their starts and.

And being more progressive in some way, he was also, like, a craven capitalist who just devoured a lot of things then and, like, did a lot of shady shit.

And, like, you should probably endeavor to hold complicated ideas in your head if you're going to be a human being.

And Ethis understands that, like, just because something is heartbreakingly sad when it goes away, it doesn't mean that it is like a perfect, beautiful unicorn that should live forever in myth.

Evis is.

Yeah, it's.

It's the best movie of the year.

Well said.

It's the only sports movie influenced by Goodbye Dragon, in which we've talked about.

Exactly.

That's great.