A Big Bold Beautiful Journey Review, PTA Decades

his feature debut. It won the Film Spotting Golden Brick Award in twenty seventeen. This is our annual award for emerging and exciting filmmakers. After Yang his follow up that came out in twenty twenty two, we both had it on our top ten lists for that year, and then, of course Film Spotting Fest. Just this past March, where we celebrated twenty years of the show, we screened Columbus and we're lucky enough to have a post screening conversation with Cooganata. But we just shared that in the film

Spotting Feed a couple of episodes ago. So a big, bold, beautiful journey in which Colin Ferrell and Margot Robbie play a pair of skeptical singles who are nuts into an existential first date. It comes with big, bold expectations. In fact, after only Columbus and after Yang, I at least had already put Cooganata among those filmmakers who come with a separate category of expectations. Think about this, maybe in terms of star ratings might help me explain what I'm talking about.

Three stars for let's say a new Paul Thomas Anderson movie, or maybe a new Kelly Reikert movie, or a new Jordan Peele movie. That doesn't mean the same thing as three stars for the new let's say Gareth Edwards movie. And I say that because I'm someone who gave Edwards Jurassic World Rebirth three out of four stars. Someone like Edwards just has to deliver a decent movie to hit

that range. I feel like the others I mentioned, though, they have to deliver a movie at least as good as what they've already done, which has been pretty great. So there's a range here, and I think this is what Coganata has done to himself with Columbus and with After Yang. I can't help it. But when I go to see a new film from him now, I'm thinking of it in terms of a Coganata scale. So how does it compare to his other excellent films just in general?

How does it extend upon his favorite themes, two of which I'd suggest are maybe the family and also modernity? How does it exemplify or refine certain esthetic techniques here? I'm thinking about his use of space in particular. So, Adam, how did all of this play into your viewing of a big, bold, beautiful journey, which I should note was written by Seth Reese, whereas Coganata wrote his previous screenplays

adapting a short story. In the case of After Yang, I'm not going to ask you how many stars you're giving the movie? Instead, how many Coganatas do you give it?

like this movie or to address this topic. And I wouldn't say that because we have the relationship that we have to his work. And I'll throw in that I also teach Columbus in one of my classes, and in fact, this week my students are turning in their first written review and it's of Columbus. So we just watched it and talked about it in class. I wouldn't suggest that I'm extra qualified to weigh in, but I might be well positioned to weigh in. We'll see if my remarks

hold up, and I'm extra excited to weigh in. And maybe the true test of a director's vision of their tourist impulses, if you buy into such things, isn't whether their imprint keeps appearing in the movies they write indirect movies like Columbus and after Yang, as you mentioned, it's whether it's apparent even in the movies they don't write like this one, And how does it appear in those movies? Is it in the visual style, is it in specific formal choices, is it in the material? Is it in

thematic resonance. It wouldn't surprise me to hear someone say they felt like this was a departure or that they didn't see Koganata in this movie. And yet for me it was undeniably a Cooganata film, and a good one. And I suppose, if I'm going to answer your question, if I'm starting my letterboxed Coganauta ranking right now, I am putting it after Columbus and after Yang. But that doesn't mean much, because I do like a big, bold,

beautiful journey quite a bit. And beyond the care that clearly went into the look of the film and so many of the compositions, and hopefully we'll talk about that more, I'll give you one choice, one formal choice that surely wasn't on the page this way, and hopefully no one will write in and say, well, yeah, it shouldn't be on the page this way. That's not how screenplays are supposed to be written. I know there's a moment early

in the film not a spoiler. There's a moment where Colin Ferrell is driving in his car and the GPS is urging him to take this big, bold, beautiful journey, and like his hype person, his coach is getting him to say, is trying to get him to say with some conviction, I want to go on a big, bold, beautiful journey. And it's just like you know, a comic saying make some noise or whatever, and that's not loud enough.

The first two times, it's not quite with enough excitedness, and then that last time, rather than us hearing how Colin Farrell says it, the choice is to cut to the outside of the car and we only see Colin Ferrell yelling it seems at the top of his lungs. And it takes me right back to the moment in Columbus where Jin and Casey are having one of their

first encounters. I think it's maybe the first meeting where they're really walking around the town and they're talking about the architecture and Jin asks John cho asks Haley lou Richardson's Casey about the architecture and what she loves about this building, and she just starts spouting the usual fodder that she gives when she's doing a tour. It's one of the first modern I thanks in the United States.

what the architecture means to her. And and here it's just sort of reverse because now we're getting outside of the glass and looking in at at Colin Ferrell's David. But it's the same thing. All we need to know is the passion, right, And so Coganata is doing something very similar there. That's a formal choice that that stood out to me there, that that I thought was really effective. But beyond that, you mentioned family, and I'm just going to give you a few here because there's more that

I think we can get into. You mentioned family, go back to Columbus, you have fundamentally a story about Haley Leu Richardson's casey coming to terms with her relationship with her mother and what the expectations of that relationship are, what the expectations are for her as a daughter, whether or not she could and should leave town and pursue her own dreams, her own professional dreams, whether or not she even wants that for herself, And of course the

flip side there is Jin having to come to this place and be near his father, who he doesn't really want any part of, So it's all about this generational angst. The angst more applies to Jin and his father, but this generational tension in both cases and each of these younger characters having to come to terms with their relationships with their parents and ultimately who they are, their identities as defined by their parents, and who they are going to be in the world and where they're going to

be in the world after. Yang is doing something similar, though it's with a dad figure played by Colin Farrell and a pseudo son if you will, right, a synthetic son, but it's still a generational gap and the father character trying to make sense of who this son really was now that he's gone, and that is very much what's going on. This generational tension is very much what's going on in a big, bold, beautiful journey as well, and

the last one I'll give you here, Josh. I've only looked at this point at Rotten Tomatoes and the score for this film, and I'll only pontificate a little bit and say that I wonder if to some extent the title of this movie is hurting it, because I feel like I'm getting a lot of Gene Shallat esque reviewers who seem to be calling out the movie's title, the and their snarky blurbs, and No, I think by design,

the journey isn't. The journey that these characters go on isn't as big or bold, or maybe even as beautiful as perhaps the trailer would suggest or or as the title would have you believe. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that that these characters, the journey that they go on, they're often reliving moments from their past that are it's not a fantasy, or there are fantasy elements, but they're often reliving what are regrettable and painful moments.

this film. And I'm dying to hear whether or not you think I'm crazy, whether or not it worked for you, or whether or not you're you're with most critics on this movie.

Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie's characters. It's fifty percent about their romance, and it's fifty percent about their relationships with their parents. This is almost like doubling down on those dynamics in Columbus and via flashbacks, these magical realist flashbacks exploring the past that they shared with their parents. It's inserts to me that also with Columbus, this shares a memory or the experience of a parent dying in your

absence and dealing with the repercussions of that psychologically. Yes, so I connected with that. Man. I thought I had you on the screaming through the windshield thing, but of course you just showed. You just showed Columbus in class.

know a filmmaker's previous films intimately. But you made a point Adam early that I want to stress for listeners who don't have the relationship with his movies that we do. You said, just as an aside, almost that you don't necessarily need to have that to appreciate a big, bold, beautiful journey. And I concur with that wholeheartedly. We're probably going to spend some more time on the things that

we appreciated because of our familiarity with his work. But I think this stands on its own as something distinct from those films in a positive way. This is a movie that I understand why it's getting the reaction to because the negative reaction you mentioned because it is a bit precious, it's a bit it's got that word. I'm going to use it. It's positive for me, but pejorative for many people. It's got a lot of whimsy to it.

And these sort of movies have put me off generally, I think I'm open to them, and in this case I was. I think this is a movie that's not going to work for everyone. Clearly it already hasn't with many critics. But hearts of a certain shape I think could really treasure this. I think it could find its way to someone's heart who is maybe coming with no expectations or different expectations, and this might be something they hang on to for many, many years. And people Josh, perhaps, Yeah.

I mean when I think of the movies that it made me think of, aside from coganatas though for me at least, there are movies that I tend to like more than most people which have some element of whimsy to them. So I'm thinking like Danny Boyle's A Life Less Ordinary, Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch Drunk Love, Damian Choselle's

La La Land. I don't think a big, bold, beautiful Journey for me is quite on the level as most of those, but I think it's it's striving for the same feeling and for the most part, I think it's reaching it. The major touchdown for me, and here's where I am quite often alone is with the work of Michelle Gandry, and I don't think Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is necessarily the key touchstone here. There's elements

of that. I think it's more something like Mood Indigo, which was more of a whimsy romance than the that you know, Eternal Sunshine had a bitterness to it. Mood Indigo has a sadness to it, but maybe more of a whimsy And I really love that film a lot. Big, bold, Beautiful Journey reminded me of that quite a bit. So as we do spend more time on how it is a Cocaonata film, I just also want to make room for those who are like I don't really care who made this movie. I like the stars and the trailer

looked good. You know what, Go see it then, because it will offer I think a lot for you as well. But yeah, just going back briefly to add to some of the things you said, I think the family thing is key. I also did appreciate in terms of composition, just some choices where it didn't have to look that way, but a filmmaker who's putting a lot of thought into it did make it look that way. This begins at

a wedding fairly early on. This is where Sarah and David meet, and just some of the blocking and positioning them within again, within space, I found just delightful. I think of one shot where there's this portico and it's raining throughout this wedding sequence, which adds a nice textual element. But there's a shot of a portico and each of them are at one far side, and they just slowly start to walk towards each other, and there's nothing extremely

complicated about it. Maybe the camera is pushing in a bit if I remember at the same time, but it does exhibit an extreme care that I think you find throughout this movie, which I think is also a signifier of Coconatus work and the other thing, you know, I don't think he gets a lot of credit for. But Columbus and after Yang far weightier than this. I felt humor is more at the forefront here. But don't forget those two movies had sly streaks of humor to them,

and I just thought this was quite funny. Phoebe waller Bridge has a small part as the rental car agent who's kind of instrumental in getting them into these cars where they have these GPS devices that end up telling them where to go. I loved her exchanges with Kevin Klein and with David found that very funny. So I think this is quite humorous. Some of the credits should

probably go to Reese's script for that. There's a there's a comedic rhythm to this, and creudent should also go to Ferrell and Robbie, who I think are quite good and quite funny together. As much as they're romantic together. I think they're funny together. And I think that is, you know, a signature of coconata as well as that that sly sense of humor.

I got yeah, I just okay, okay. I just want to emphasize that to listeners too, though, is like, you know, give this a shot because it might be for you.

was at times a disconnect for me as well. Is watching those other films and even feeling it at times here. I don't think of Cogonata as much of a whimsical filmmaker, and so there are times where there's whimsy and at times where then it feels as if the whimsy, the whimsical nature is a little bit forced. And I'll give you an example. I like many of those moments with

Phoebe Wallerbridge. And then there are also times where I feel like it was so wonderful to see Kevin Klein again on screen, and then I think, well, did we really get out of Kevin kline all that we could have gotten out of Kevin Klein? Or could that have been any other actor honestly saying those lines?

should be saying there, and it's brilliantly funny. But then you have moments like here, here's here's a moment of whimsy where something has happened, and then you see a sign something there's an accident of some kind. And then you see a sign that says outside a hotel and it says timely in and it explains like this exact scenario, and it's a crazy scenario that really never happens in real life, and there never be a hotel out there

in that scenario. And you go, oh, this movie does have that sense of humor, but I haven't really felt it or heard it in a long time, so it feels like it only it only happens in fits and spurts. And so yeah, that's where the whimsy. That's where I sometimes felt like, I'll go back to your phrase a little bit, where sometimes the movie's heart isn't really in the whimsy. The movie's heart is in a lot of in a lot of other places, And I like it.

Even though I like the humor in moments, I like where the movie's heart is most of most of the other times John.

sensibilities perhaps at work here. I think for the majority of the movie there in sync well enough, and then there are those moments like some you've pointed out, where they're not. I think I'm also thinking of whimsy in terms of things like art, direction, production design. This GPS device that they have in their cars, which is like a retro it's almost like stuck on the dashboard. I include that in this whimsical category just because of how

it's it's designed. It's it has a dial that shaped like a film reel, and then it has this red light which reminded me of you know, Hal's Eye in two thousand and one A Space Odyssey, and from it you hear the voice and Jody Turner Smith. Yeah, it does a wonderful job of you know this, this sort of friendly, encouraging but at times forceful GPS voice telling them where they have to go.

that screen on the GPS device as well. I probably gone down on too long about one prop, but it was one of my favorite things in the movie.

the show. And I feel like this movie does just enough as well for us to not constantly be questioning, Okay, what universe are we in? We're not distracted by whether or not this could quote unquote really be happening. It's it's fantastical, but it's grounded just enough as well, and that's that's a hard trick to pull off, and I think Koga Nada does pull it off here. I want to go back to what you said about the wedding too,

because that was another key moment for me. And and here I can bring in a little bit of criticism of the film. Perhaps I'm with you on on Farrell and Robbie. I did read one review of it, Josh, because this is a case we're after seeing, and I thought, I like this movie so much, and I see the Rotten Tomatoes score, and I have to read a review at least to see what what is it? What what

am I missing? And so I went to one of our one of our friends, one of our colleagues from the reveal, Keith Fipps and his and he was very fair. I think he gave it two and a half out of five, but overall was pretty fair and had positive things to say. The biggest issue was with the love story, and says it doesn't really work. And Key's evidence, or his main qualm with the love story is this, he says, and given that much of the movie is concerned with

telling a love story, that's a pretty big problem. Not only do we know that David and Sarah are obviously faded to end up together from the start, they behave as if they know it too, and are alternately annoyed and excited by their inevitable pairing. And all due respect to Keith, that's actually an element of the movie I really liked. I agree the movie right. I liked that the movie had a self awareness about these types of love stories. And actually that was a tension for me

because I do know what he's saying. But because the movie knows that we know that surely it's inevitable they're going to end up together, that at least opens the door that maybe they won't. Right I thought that was

a very real possibility. And I liked that the movie knew that it was that type of love story, and that means that right away Josh, even that moment where they first see each other at the wedding, literally the first glimpse of each other, and then to the first time they're close to each other being introduced, and then to that moment where they see each other, you know, across that portico, as you mentioned, they feel it's almost like a tractor beam. They feel that there is an inevitability,

and of course then that's why. That's why when they stop and it turns out there at the same place that their journeys are meant to intersect, and he says, or his voice says, pick up Sarah, and Sarah's car doesn't start, that's that inevitability. They understand that the universe is suggesting they should be together, so there is a little bit there's excitement, but what Keith is saying, I

think they are almost a little bit annoyed. They're annoyed that they they know that this has all been somehow faded, and they even feel they feel it because they feel a connection, they feel themselves pulled to each other, but they also know that this shouldn't happen, and there's a part of them that doesn't want it to happen, and all of that that tension also I thought was very effective and that shot. To go back to that shot, then that's what I thought Coconaut has set up so brilliantly.

Was Again, they've had just one look at each other as the bride's coming down the aisle, and then they've had a conversation after they're introduced to each other, and then they see each other. He's out smoking, so he's already out there smoking. Then she comes, she's across the way. She comes outside just to get some fresh air after dancing.

The shot then cuts back to a long, a wide shot of the space and there's these columns and there's a great distance between them, and the camera emphasizes that distance. But then what happens The camera doesn't really change, as I recall, but they both slide closer to each other. Yeah, to a closer column. So just in the staging there's that tractor beam like effect. They still maintain a distance, but it's like they can't help but move one column closer.

They are being pulled towards each other, And I love how the cinematography emphasized that.

I think this very likely could have been a film from him about these two people through this experience together learning to see things in a new way. They absolutely do about their pass and then that opens two doors. One door is now we've learned that and we feel we are in a better emotional space to try another relationship, or they realize, wow, we've processed a lot. We need to go our separate ways deal with it, knowing down

the road will be healthier for someone. I could see absolutely Coconat of making that second that second movie, so that tension for me was there. I also, you know, I thought about at the beginning of a conversation, starting by asking you basically what makes a movie romantic to you and does this have it? And then I realized we we got to get to the Cocanat thing first.

But I'm glad we're getting to that now because I thought about this myself, and you know, for me, I tend to find, for whatever reason, romances that involve longing to be the most deeply romantic. To me. It's probably why in the Mood for Love is, you know, in my top ten of all time at the current moment. But the other thing that I do like in romances, even if they end positively, is I like there to be some element of realism to what the couple is

going through. And I think what we've been talking about brings that to this relationship. Despite all the whimsy, despite all the magical realism, it is rooted in that these are two people with you know, really troubled backgrounds when it comes to relationships with parents, complicated let's say, complicated that have affected directly their ability to be in committed relationships with someone else. So that's a level of realism

that the movie gives time to. And I loved how despite the universe in the form of this GPS wants them to be together, they're expressly not soulmates, right, And that for me was key. This is not a movie that is just leaning on a magical GPS that puts them together, because that's who they were meant to be. No, this is about wounded, imperfect people who learn how they're wounded, how they're imperfect, and then they learn that they're going to need to put in the work, something like this

relationship they're starting out on is going to work. That sounded like a therapy session, but to me, it's kind of romantic to watch two people go through that process.

even more romantic. And this is another This ties into that and also speaks to the visual approach. There is a scene. Remember how I said that, I think the title is almost and maybe not even almost is meant ironic because so much of the movie is about the characters doing relatively mundane things, I mean, fantastical, magically real, but but real. Nonetheless, there is there's a moment.

And what I like about that moment is that it it has a callback to an earlier scene and an earlier conversation, and it ends with Margot Robbie's character saying to David, are you taking it all in? But on that line, what happens the camera cuts to behind them, and in that moment then we're taking them in, but we're also taking in the grandeur of the shot of them within the shot, and it implicitly then asks the

question are we taking it all in? It becomes a break for us as the audience, and it forces us here's an implication of the audience. Josh, that's a really nice, sweet one, you know, where we get to sort of sit there and it it provokes the audience to not just think about it from the character's lens. Is David finally taking it in? But are we having a respite? Are we actually taking a pause in our lives in

that moment to appreciate the grandeur of that beauty? And then by extension, I suppose is do we do that enough in our in our own lives in those kinds?

little visually mushy at times for me. Would they encounter these doors that are in the middle of nowhere and some doors you can clearly see they're actually in this physical space, and then others it's it's.

get there. It's somewhere between painterly and realistic. And again maybe that's a I don't know, I can't speculate on what it is, but that's maybe some of the moments where I was a little bit let down, where they seem to be a little bit out of the film's reach. But let me then narrow back down to a detail which is something I really appreciate, which is the costume

design in this film. Arjunbassen is the costume designer. With each stop that Sarah and David make, I think this happens with each one, They're clothing changes, not super dramatically, but enough to match the scenes thematic tone. So we mentioned these difficult memories. There's one where they make a trip to a hospital for one of Sarah's memories that's you know, hugely traumatic for her, and she's suddenly wearing this mostly gray outfit. David has just a black T

shirt on. It's very minimalist. There's another wonderful scene where they go into a museum at night and are looking at the paintings with the flashlight, and I think that's the scene where they're suddenly in bare feet, So there's

a hushed, you know, intimate corresponding bit there. And how about I just love the shot of this is outside of a burger king at one point, and Sarah's wearing this red jumper and holding this yellow umbrella of course one of the movie's many nods to the umbrellas of Cherbour, but also where she's standing in the background is the burger king, like the old school burger king signage, which is exactly using those tones of what she's wearing and holding.

And yeah, that's the sort of meticulousness in the compositions. But also hear the costume design that I just love.

Something else I asked him about when interviewing him for After Yang was about that that symmetry or that that similarity in his movies where he has characters and this is part of part of the rediscovery and part of seeing things with fresh eyes, is the way the way characters are constantly opening up doors like closet doors. They're they're looking for those clues to the past. They're trying to see something that they haven't seen before or maybe

took for granted before. And this entire movie is predicated on opening those doors, these these pathways, these portals to the past. And there was something else that I wonder if you thought about, Josh, because we spent time on this with After Yang. Even though it's fairly subtle here in this movie, there's a key conversation late in this film that that speaks to a couple different things we've

talked about in this review. And do you remember at one point a character, one of the main characters says wait, this didn't happen. You didn't say that, right, remember how and after Yang, even though we're seeing a version of events that absolutely happened and should be a replay of things, but from different angles. It's yeah, there's very different ways. There's different versions. There's different versions in different perspectives that Coconauta plays with and that happens here just as it

does and after Yang. And there is one other touch that's very much like after Yang, though I don't remember it happening in Columbus, and that is he does something similar, doesn't he with the credits the credit sequence. We have a we have a great opening sequence, and then the credits come in a little bit later. Only after we get that, we get that prologue. So that was another similarity that I found, and there probably are a few

more as well. But yeah, watching this film, well there's there's also a reference to t at one point, so you know, of course, we've got a checklist here. And maybe the next time I talk or we have a chance to talk with Koganata will ask him whether or not the reference to Kiki's is a reference to Miyazaki. I don't know. There's a business called Kiki's and it of course made me think of delivery service.

reach new listeners. The most substantial way to support us, though, is to join the Film Spotting Family, which you can do at Filmspottingfamily dot com. We want to thank family member Fabio Calderon in Charlotte, North Carolina. Fabio is on letterboxed, so you can follow him there as.

episode was probably around twenty sixteen. Your insights on film helped me grow and nurture my own artistic taste and ability to analyze and enjoy film, for which I'm forever grateful.

Admittedly it has been a few years i've listened, but now, after postgrad studies, moving to a different state, and finally getting myself established in my career, I found the time and passion to get back into my habit of film watching, and my first instinct was to check back in with my friends at film Spotting and pay back a fraction of the value that you've given me over the years.

a filmmaker who I was completely unfamiliar with. But what I have now grown a great appreciation for. I'm grateful for being introduced to the bad and the beautiful in particular thanks to this marathon. And I would later discover Minelli's The Clock, which is now a favorite of mine and is always one of my go to recommendations for people who love link Laters before trilogy, especially before Sunrise. I am shamed. I haven't seen the Clock.

recently is Doctor Strangelove. After my recent viewing of Failsafe to Coen's With Your Guys most recent episode Sidney Lamette Marathon episode nine to eighty three, I felt like I had to followed up with Kubrick's masterpiece random film or filmmaker Fabio loves going to give a shout out to Mielo Schfeman. I feel in a lot of ways he goes underrated as a more workman director, but I always appreciated his interest in exploring disruptive characters prepared to challenge

the systems they exist within. I mean, Ama, dais we got r P. McMurphy, Sure, there's at least two. I think he was brilliant, A movie you credit with becoming a cinophile, probably not alone with The Big Lebowski. And finally, oh Man, this was a plant a book about movies or movie making. Y'all ever heard of? Movies are prayers by Josh Larson? Heyed pretty?

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a two bus ride to it. To the town of Dundee, which is a nice town, bigger and there they have two multiplexes on opposite sides, which is why it's a two bus trip for us. Tried the first theater last weekend for a big, bold, beautiful journey, and boy, I could have been anywhere USA we were. We got off the bus, walked for a little bit into this industrial park where there was a Nando's you know, chicken place, there was another fast food place I'm forgetting, and they

were building a McDonald's. Other than that, there was an ice rink next to the multiplex theater, which was you know, average mall theater. So any any romantic visions of me going to the movies here in Scotland you can toss that aside.

you have something to add. We have to make these, Like Sam is going to start just ratcheting up the pyrotechnics of Massacre Theater, isn't he?

The other way around, it's the other Okay, Well anyway, Yeah, I don't know if you're always like this, but you a certain level of your expression is is you're laughing throughout You're you're you're not, You're.

So it might be from a book, but it could be from a poem, it could be from a musical, it could be from anything, honestly, and there have been some pretty fascinating works that the adaptations you know, originated from over the years. It runs October ninth through the twelfth, and part of the fun this year is that Michael Phillips is coming in for the fest and so on October eighth he's coming to my film criticism class, and then on the ninth is opening night of the fest,

and then on the tenth is films Spotting Live. So October tenth is film Spotting Live and inspired by the opening night film which is called Train Dreams. So this is a new movie stars Joel Edgerton and Felicity Jones. It's said in the early twentieth century American West, and it's adapted from the twenty eleven Dennis Johnson novella. So a lot of Dennis Johnson works have been adapted over the years, including Jesus's Son. And I hadn't seen this,

but I'm assuming Sam has his facts right. Producer Sam pulled this quote from our friend Brian Talarico rogeriber dot com. And if this is true, Josh, it says, and I quote one of my favorite movies ever.

whatever's happening the big thing is at the fest. So since it's adapted from a Dennis Johnson novella, Dennis Johnson is an MFA grad of the famed Iowa Writers' Workshop, So we are going to do a top five movies adapted from Iowa writers. So that can include anybody who has an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, but it could also mean anybody who was born in Iowa counting

that as well. It's going to be a fun list and I can't wait to do that with Michael at the Refocus Film Festival and just real quick, the fest is a killer lineup. I mean Andrew Sherburn, who is the big dog, the executive director at Refocus, is a friend and does such a wonderful job of Ben Delgado's the programming director, and he's a longtime friend and Film Spotting Listener goes way back to the early days of

the show. They've got Charlie Shackleton's Zodiac Killer Project, which is a movie I recommended when I saw the Virtual Sun Dance version of that back in January, and.

and Rebecca Hall. Also, Park Chenook's new film No Other Choice is playing there. There's a new documentary from Raoul Peck who made I Am Not Your Negro, the James Baldwin documentary. But it's George Orwell two plus two equals five. I mean, I'm telling you there are at least eight films I'm dying to see at Refocus. And yes, also film Spotting Live is happening at four point thirty on Friday the tenth with me and Michael. So I hope

you get a chance to make it out. If you're listening to this, well, if you're listening to this, that means tickets are available, because they go on sale to the general public on Friday this Friday here, the twenty sixth of September, and you can learn more at Refocusfilmfestival dot org.

five percent of the vote. Then jumping up to another tier where there was a relatively close competition between Mary Poppins sixteen percent of the vote and the Sound of Music nineteen percent, but in second place jumping ahead twenty five percent of the vote went to West Side Story, meaning rightfully correctly, the Umbrellas of share Boor won this with twenty eight percent of the vote, And I'm really

encouraged by that. It's just you know that many people have seen the umbrellas of Cherboor, whereas you think West Side Story, you know, much more common familiar, maybe might have taken it, and I you know, adore one way more than the other.

I don't know if we've ever opened that can of worms with the the incinerator rule. If the movie goes the filmmakers and the actors, they lose all the accolades. I mean, this is this is just chaos, Sam has started.

their lip SYNCD leads. Take that, Josh, my vote is for Funny Girl because it's the most complete package, glorious Hollywood film craft, a great rise and fall, backstage bio journey and the indomitable streisand or Streisan Streisan streisand carrying her Broadway breakout roll to the screen.

Story and the sound of music. Wait, wait a minute, why are we reading this?

It's a magical joy to watch as a child. But if you haven't seen it as an adult, you really haven't seen it. And I'm going to admit to Bailey and all of you, I loved Mary Poppins as a kid, and I surely have not seen it as an adult.

If Audrey Hupburn couldn't take home the Oscar, maybe she can at least win a moderately flawed film spotting poll. And a note here. The nineteen sixty five Best Actress Oscar went to Julie Andrews for Mary Poppins.

to be his best movie. To my mind, I knew I already liked it more than There Will be Blood in the Master char also in that upper tier. But there's no way to say that until you've revisited Punch Trunk Love. So I've been meaning to and meaning to and meaning to, and then not only does Sam propose this poll, but as I mentioned in our review of A Big, Bold, Beautiful Journey, Punch Drunk Love was one of the movies that came to mind while I was watching it. So I just thought, it's time, we're gonna

do it. We're gonna throw it on. Revisit Punch Drunk Love, and it clarified this poll, Adam, because still love it, but it is now officially my number two PTA film, So it goes Phantom Thread then Punch Drunk Love, and if I get The Master with Phantom Thread by going with the twenty tens. And I also really like Inherent Vice. Kind of an easy answer for me.

of my thinking. Even though I have There will Be Blood at number one, I am applying the logic that quantity might matter, and three films is better than two, especially when you like to love all eight films right here exactly, Okay, so three films is better than two and Punch Drunk Love. Unlike you and and many others out there who love this film and have seen it multiple times, I do have it as my least favorite. Pta I've only seen it once. I've only seen it once. Yeah,

I have it. I have it in the ninth slot. I have it below Heart eight, and I like Hard eight quite a bit too. I like Punch Trunk Love too. I like them all. So let's just be clear. So if I have There Will Be Blood one, and I have Punch Trunk Love nine, and there's only two, I think I'm ruling out the two thousands. It really is between the decades that have I answer, yeah, And that's the problem is that.

You can only keep three of these movies. Yeah, two of them would be Boogie Knights in Magnolia. So that kay answer.

have to vote. You can please take a stand. Yeah, come on, Josh does require it or he will shake his head at you and.

access to the entire show archive. For show t shirts and merch, you can go to film Spotting dot net slash Shop.

release is Chain Reactions. Ooh, I wasn't aware of this. Josh, a documentary about the legacy of Toby Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre from the director of Lynch Oz and The Psycho Docs seventy eight fifty two. Here again, Brian tallerco says catnip for horror fans and may even give those who don't love TCM yet further appreciation of one of the most influential films ever made of any genre. So I'm curious and we did a Texas Chainsaw Massacre Sacred

Cow review back on nine to eighty eight. That was a really fun Yeah.

I'd like to see what a kidnapp being interrupted looks like, Josh. Also, we have dreams in parentheses. Sex's Love Okay. This is a new one from a Norwegian filmmaker about a seventeen year old girl who experiences a sexual awakening when she falls head over heels in love with her female teacher. It's at the Cisco Film Center in Chicago. One Best

Film at the twenty twenty five Berlin Film Festival. Also, you can catch Eleanor the Great, directed by Scarlett Johansson, about a ninety year old woman played by June Squibb who returns to New York City after years living in Florida in an effort to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. A few wide releases here Gabby's Dollhouse. The movie. This is a live action adaptation of the popular kids series on Netflix with Kristin Wig

and Gloria Estefan. The Strangers Chapter two, a sequel to twenty twenty fours The Strangers, and you know, Brian Tellurico again. Sam's pulling from this will counter nicely what he said about Train Dreams atrocious barely a movie.