One Battle After Another Review, Oscar Nominations Reaction

29:29But what struck me, Josh, this time is a line I didn't remember from the first viewing is when he finds out that they're in Bacton Cross. What does he say? He says, make me a reason to deploy in that town. OK, so we all know we all know that what's happening in Minneapolis is completely illegitimate. And look, there are reasons. It's part of the hypocrisy. Exactly. Exactly. I mean, we actually do need immigration control and immigration policy. It's not like that's all folly. Right. But what's happening in Minneapolis, we all know is illegitimate. We all know it's completely personally and politically motivated.

30:11Right. And that's exactly what Lockjaw is doing. Give me a reason. Give me any pretense to deploy in that town. And that's that's what he gets. And so then that that dovetails with the other part here with the Christmas adventures that I thought was so interesting is you want to talk about the line that actually is maybe truly the funniest line in the film. What really should be the biggest howler in the movie is I think it is during that first that first meeting with Lockjaw when they're recruiting him. and it's it's tony goldwin and he says completely with a straight face he says that that being part of this club he says it doesn't mean that you are the best the most intelligent the most sophisticated or the wisest it just means you're superior so who does that feel like that describes josh like think about that you're not the best at anything, actually.

31:15You're not the smartest. You're not the most sophisticated. There's nothing about you or anything you do that makes you superior to anyone or gives you any advantage over anyone else. Yet you know, you know in your heart that you're better than everyone else, that you are superior to everyone else. And everything that you do is justified because it's an extension of that belief. And you believe it fully and emphatically. Sounds like to me, everybody in authority who's making decisions right now. And let's also be clear, right? What is the driving factor behind the Christmas adventurers? What is driving that feeling of superiority?

32:11It is skin color. And that also applies to what we are talking about with what we're seeing in our country. And there is a connection here to another funny moment But that is something I didn't catch the first time I saw this movie. Did you notice when Lockjaw gets rewarded with an award for taking down the French 75? Did you catch, Josh, what the name of the award is? No. This time I caught it. I said, wait a second. And I rewound it just to make sure. And sure enough, he's awarded the Bedford Forest Medal of Honor. Bedford Forest, as in Nathan Bedford Forest, the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

33:01Not an accident. Not an accident. Yeah. And your comment, the superior conversation is, it's so funny. Tony Goldwyn is just pitch perfect there. But also the point about superior is that all he wants to know is that someone is beneath him. To your point, it doesn't matter that he's the best. The important thing is that there's someone under him. And so this relates to the subjugation idea. And it's less about your excellence than someone else's being dominated. Oppression. Yeah. Someone else's oppression. As I spy what's out now or coming soon to a regal cinema, Josh, I know you're going to mention this.

33:46Arco, the animated film is one I'm very curious about. Also really would like to see the new Sam Raimi film. If we could, it'd be good to make some time for it here on the show. Don't know that that's going to happen, but Rachel McAdams starring in that one. Send help. Wuthering Heights didn't come up, Josh, on our 2026 preview, but I know we're both very curious about that Emerald Fennell film starring Jacob Elordi, Oscar-nominated Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie. That is coming soon to Regal Cinemas. Marty Supreme is still in theaters and The Bone Temple. Josh, am I correct in saying that you still need to see The Bone Temple?

34:29That is true. Hopefully I will rectify that within the next week. Okay. I don't want to predispose you. I'm worried. I'm a little worried about your reaction to it. Don't say anything about it. Don't, I've got my fingers in my ears. That's it. Okay. I want to hear what you have to say about it. That's all. So see it, see it soon. so I can finally hear what you think about Nia DaCosta's latest, which is available now at Regal Cinemas. And with Regal Unlimited, you could see the Bone Temple for free. Regal Unlimited is the all-you-can-watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits.

35:10Regal is offering film-spotting listeners endless movies for less. Our code is the same. Using code FILMSPOT25, you can get 10 % off a three-month subscription. Regal Unlimited is the only truly limitless movie subscription pass. You can see any standard 2D movie anytime with no blackout dates or restrictions. And you also save on snacks, getting 10 % off all non-alcoholic concessions. Sign up now in the Regal app or at the link in the description and use the code filmspot25 to receive your discount.

35:49let me jump just quickly back to um because you you touched on it and i want to add to what you said about how good tayana taylor is here and i had forgotten you know i really do think the first third of this movie i don't know i understand the criticisms of the character um and i think that some of them are spot on and well worth considering. I don't know that I would say she's thinly conceived or easily brushed aside though. Watching it a second time, I feel like the first third of the movie, which is maybe 20, 25 minutes is almost perfidious story. And Bob is essentially a side character. The first shot we get is I think a medium shot of perfidia walking down the street.

36:32And I think to your point in the performance, Taylor finds ways to bring shades that perhaps aren't there in the writing. The screen time is there. Maybe it's not in all the writing, but she has this line that I think is spoken in voiceover at one point after Willa has been born. Am I weird for being jealous of my baby? And there's just, you know, the introspection she gives to that is a different shade to the character than what we've seen before, who is this, you know, dominant, proud, in control woman. And I noticed as well, there's a look she gives. it's along this, the same moment or in the same sort of timeframe, Bob's holding the baby and perfidia is looking at her and just Taylor's face, just blank, you know, and, and, and sometimes not showing any emotion is very effective acting at the, at the same time, there's a little, as, as soon as like a little bit of recognition of the, how momentous this is starts to come into her eyes, she turns away.

37:34Um, so yeah, just reaffirming, you know, what you said about Taylor's performance being so good. I also thought, you know, I found appreciated Regina Hall's performance as D 'Andra, uh, one of the other revolutionaries, not a ton of scenes, but always there is the movie's conscience. I think worried about perfidia early on and, um, where she might take this. There's a shot of her later of Willa, uh, shooting a machine gun and we see Regina Hall's face with the same expression of concern and Anderson frames Willa the same way he framed perfidia pregnant shooting the gun. So it's a parallel sequence and Regina Hall, you know, again, there is the movie's conscience now expressing that concern for where is this going to take Willa?

38:18Um, yeah, so yeah, very small, but I think crucial role and performance there from Regina Hall. I agree. I did want to dig into perfidia a little bit more because back when we reviewed it originally, this is kind of where we left off or I intended to dig into this a little bit more. But if you recall, I woke up that morning that we were going to review it and saw, oh, there's discourse about this that I didn't necessarily anticipate. Maybe that was naive of me. I just hadn't really thought about it, but it makes sense, of course. And I realized, oh, this is going to be a bigger thing. And we'd already talked about it for like 40 minutes.

38:58So maybe we should go ahead and wait. And now we have this opportunity to talk about it a little bit more. But there were things I wanted to say then, and there are things I feel like we might as well go ahead and say now, especially now after we have both talked about the layers to Taylor's performance that are definitely there. I do think in that opening that what we see with Perfidia is that she is clearly a catalyst for the action, but she's not the main character of this film or even the secondary or tertiary character. She, she is the driver of the action. Her part of the story is, is almost a prologue.

39:38And, and I think for better or worse, PTA does move briskly through that section. When I said early on, there's a thinness to that section. What I, what I mean is, is if you go back and look at it, Josh, she does go from, I didn't count the exact amount of time, but she goes from having a baby to wanting to leave that baby to, I think, leaving that baby in maybe two or three minutes. You know, that's not a mistake. It's, it's the way that that section moves because we have to get to the actual story proper. I, you know, that, that thinness does leave some of her psychology left to be filled in or, or leaves it on the table.

40:23And we wouldn't allow that thinness or that lack of psychology with Bob or Willa as the main characters of this film. But I think we understand it as it's a character who disappears after the first 20 minutes of the film. But you talked about that part where she says being jealous of her baby. I think it's really important. That look you mentioned is really important. The fact that she says, she actually says at one point, I'm not okay. And I think we see in her someone who it feels to me is struggling from some postpartum depression as well. This isn't just a character who one day wakes up and decides I'm actually jealous of my child because my, my man seems to love my baby daughter more than me.

41:06There are some very complex emotions that she is, she is experiencing, but more than that, based on what we know about the rest of the movie and the action that's going to unfold and what Lockjaw is going to be motivated by. Don't we have to also understand that part of these complex feelings may be motivated by her understanding that perhaps the baby isn't Pat's as well? Absolutely. So I think that's also a very crucial factor. Again, a very complicating factor. I'm not saying every criticism of how the characters. Yeah, go ahead. I was just going to add which you do have to retrofit. I don't think this is a fault, but you have to retrofit that onto what you saw in the first third after you've learned it, right?

41:57So it's a complicated process to go through to get to the recognition that there may be a level of richness there that wasn't apparent until you have that further information. Exactly. The biggest complaint seems to be the hyper-sexualized nature of the character. And look, when you're introduced to her, the first four or five scenes that you meet her, they're all sexually charged. There's no denying that. She's wielding her sexuality. And I do think, Josh, that that's a crucial distinction, though. She's wielding it. She sees, and she describes this in a scene, too. She sees her sexuality as power.

42:42And the thing is, it is power because it's the thing that she's using with Lockjaw that's actually allowing her the freedom. It's affording her the freedom to carry out her revolution. And with that in mind, you also have to watch those scenes and realize that there's never a time when she's wielding that sexuality where she's not completely in control. And I think that that I think that is significant. But I also think what's significant is the one time where her character is sexualized, where her character is clearly objectified. It's one scene. And if you want to talk male gaze, the male gaze isn't Paul Thomas Anderson's male gaze, right?

43:30And this was something apparent the first time I saw the film. The male gaze is lock jaws. It's lock jaws, male gaze through the binoculars, right? As he's watching her. It's not the cameras. It's lock jaws. And that, that distinction matters. I agree. I do think it's a tricky moment. This struck me the first time. And I still feel this way. it's it's always tricky when you're doing that and there are obviously those levels at play but how much time are you giving to lockjaw's gaze i think is crucial it's not that much it's not that much but it's more than we need to understand what he's doing and i just wonder if that's maybe like that's what's being called in question for some viewers too is like okay we get what he's looking at and the camera returns to it.

44:18And, and again, I, you know, I, I agree with you overall, the strategy employed, it's just when you're doing that, when you're saying this isn't the movie showing us this, this is the movie showing us this character's attempt to see this, then how you dole out that character's point of view is a very tricky, is a very tricky business. And I wonder if for some viewers, this is like, we, we got more of Lockjaw's view than maybe we needed. Okay. I mean, that would be a fair complaint, obviously, if you felt like the filmmaker truly was returning to that as their crutch or their way around it. But in this case, it truly is one scene.

44:56And I didn't have a stopwatch out, but it is relatively short. And all the other scenes I'm talking about where we see her, again, she's always in complete control. And that camera to me is never otherwise objectifying her. So I think all that other screen time does matter. And you know what's interesting? You said this. I noticed this time, it is a brief moment. I mean, maybe two seconds, but it's there. And I think it matters. And I think the cut after it has to matter too. Otherwise, why is it in the order that it's in, Josh? These choices matter, the filmmakers make. The fact that we get that moment where where we see her walking home or walking somewhere in the morning light after that, that even though she's the one, it seems in control, what had to still be ultimately a completely degrading night where she's doing what she's doing because she has to do it.

45:57She has to do it in order to, to keep, to keep the revolution going that night with lockjaw in the motel. The fact that we get that moment where we see her, it seems very contemplative walking home. And then what is the next shot? The next shot is, as you said, it's her shooting the machine gun. And you might say in between, and then it's making them a triangle, right? And it feels exactly. And it feels like when you, when you, when the, the editing choices add up, I remember feeling in that moment, feeling not just intellectually, but feeling like that machine gun fire is an expression of her anger and disgust, right?

46:38It's not, it's not just a moment where it's, this is a scene showing Perfidia enjoying shooting a machine gun. No, she's letting out something raw, right? So this is, this is here again, this is where we are getting psychology. This is where we are getting inside her head that that maybe maybe some critics aren't aren't completely giving the PTA some of that credit for. I think I think those again, those choices matter, too. But here's what I want to say. The last thing I say about the character. Real quick, real quick. Let me ask you a question about that. That scene. And I think you're right.

47:10My first experience of the her pregnant shooting the gun was very similar to what you're talking about. And then this time again, because I knew it was coming. It the absurdness of it just made me laugh so hard. But the motel room scene. So your understanding is that she has agreed to meet him in a way to hold off some sort of. Well, that's what he says to her. And that's what he's. And I think she understands that if she doesn't play the game with him, that that he will he will root that somehow or. Yeah. Well, yeah, he knows he knows he knows where she is. Obviously, that's what he's shown. He can he can catch them any time.

47:56And he's he's said to her, he's made it clear that he'll let them continue to do whatever she wants to do and whatever they want to do as long as she does what he wants her to. Right. He'll let her do. He'll let her do whatever she wants to do as long as she does whatever she wants to do in the motel room with him. Exactly. Sexually with him. So I see it as a quid pro quo in that way. Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense. Yeah. So the the the overarching part of this, I guess, in terms of the the the part of the criticism and my my response to the feeling I had watching the film, especially the second time, it kind of goes back to what I was saying a little bit about.

48:39Marty Supreme and that character and some of the reaction to it. I do think we're, I do feel like we're in this world still, Josh, where every movie character has to be approached through this Manichaean lens where they're either good or bad. And so the director's point of view must be that they're good or bad. And all I think we can say for certain is that the movie, one battle after another, believes Perfidia Beverly Hills is, and I'm going to quote Rochelle from the Sisters of the Brave Beavers later in the film. She is a problem that keeps on giving. She did leave her daughter without a mom, and she left her husband without a co-parent, and she did rat out her revolutionary friends.

49:25These things are facts. It's okay for her to be a problem for the other characters in the movie, And for that in my mind to not reflect a problematic depiction of black women by Paul Thomas Anderson. If it was the only kind of depiction of any person of color in the movie, that might be different. But she's a flawed human being who makes bad, regrettable decisions. And as you pointed out, and I certainly caught it this time too or paid real close attention to it, the movie opens on her face and also ends or the penultimate moment. It's certainly a huge moment in the film. Ends with that letter to - Yeah, let's talk about the latter.

50:11Charlene, which I think you can see as something of a redemptive moment for her. It gives significant weight to Perfidia as that flawed character, as a flawed but sympathetic character. It gives weight to her as a character and her struggle and her spirit. And so for PTA to bookend the movie that way, I have a hard time reading it or reading that character as someone that PTA sees in a problematic way or in a disposable sort of way. I see it as a much stronger character than that. And now that I've gotten that all out, as I got it all out in my notes earlier today, I did read finally the Angelica Jade Bastien take on this movie.

51:01And I won't read any of it here, but I will link to it in our show notes. I think you already linked to it maybe at some point when you brought it up recently on the show, but I'll link to it again. Let's just say I'm much more in line with Angelica's take on the character than some of the critics. Yeah. Yeah. And, and Angelica's, you know, piece and she has some pushback on the movie there, which I think is, is well worth considering as, as well, I think is fairer than some of the other complaints I've seen also. So, um, so the letter it's interesting though. I felt like something was off with the letter this time around.

51:38And I honestly didn't give it a ton of thought the first time. So it's not necessarily that my position changed. I was just, it was such an emotional experience that first watch. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. And, and I especially loved where the movie ended, ended. Um, and so the letter kind of got forgotten for me in that. And, and this time I had a little more space to think about it. And I don't know what it is, Adam. I don't know. I think the intent is exactly as you say, to bookend, to expand the character, to show some growth, even if it's off screen and potentially hint at redemption.

52:14But based on the perfidia we've come to know, it's just, it felt like it wasn't that that character couldn't have gotten to that point, but there was something jarring about suddenly having her be to that point. And that's the next time we see her. It even occurred to me, did Bob fake this letter? And I know that's not really what was intended, but it popped in my head in a way to try to offer his daughter closure of a sort on this particular emotionally wrenching part of her life. that doesn't really, I don't think I'm arguing for that reading because he would not include the line, something about how I hope to see you again someday, because then that's just prolonging the pain, right?

53:04He's not that eloquent either. I guess, I guess what I'm trying to, yeah, exactly. I guess what I'm trying to express is maybe for me, it wasn't an entirely successful attempt by Paul Thomas Anderson to do what you're saying for me, just because it felt a little bit off what I do love about the letter. And maybe this is primarily why it's there. And I think it works wonderfully for this is the one line in it where she says something about give your dad a kiss for me. Um, because that made space for the father and daughter's long embrace. And we've seen them embrace almost like immediate post-trauma when he finally finds her on the desert road.

53:49but that's a different, that's like a, we're alive embrace. And you almost wonder if maybe this is the first time they've been able to just give a, like we're alive and we're going to live together embrace. And I loved that touch. And the letter is the impetus for that happening. It's almost like, um, maybe there was something still between them, but perfidia's encouragement to make that physical move, broke that down. And now they've been able to do that. And, um, yeah, I just thought that was a beautiful touch for the ending. Well, I'll take it a step further. I don't think, I don't think perfidia had to say it in her letter.

54:31I don't think that even matters though. I think it's her letter that does encourage it. And this is also where I'm for the first time, but not the last time over the course of our future doing shows together that I'm going to call you comrade Josh. I think you're being nitpicky because I think the letter's great as written. And the reason I like it is because I think it's redemptive, but without going too far to be redemptive. To me, it reads exactly how I might imagine a woman like Perfidia with some distance and some maturity and some regret to process what she's done and to process those regrets.

55:14It, it, it didn't seem any more certainly sentimental or any wiser than it needed to be. I thought it was, I thought it was where it, where it exactly needed to be. And the reason why it works is because of the moment that follows. You're exactly right. What I love about it is whether she said it or not, and I almost wish she hadn't said it. It doesn't matter to me though, because what I love is the fact that then she goes, she goes and hugs and gives that embrace to Bob. Because I think without rejecting, without it being, needing to be an outright rejection of her mother in any way, it's still recognition on the part of Charlene.

55:56I think part of the movie, Josh, and here I want to get into the emotional resonance of the film. And it resonated with me the first time. But like everything else we've talked about, this part of it was so much stronger for me the second time. This part of it where she recognizes that I think she's still been clinging to this idealized version of her mother and in some ways not moving forward as a daughter and not moving forward as a person, but also not moving forward as a daughter. And maybe not, not that her, not that her father totally deserves it as I'm going to argue, but, but also not, not necessarily moving or interacting with him the way maybe she should, because she's still, she's still clinging to this idea of, of this mom and this image of a mom that, that, that maybe she wants to be.

56:51And the dad, Bob has even said she he always thought that she would come back that someday she might come back and and be the mom she's supposed to be and the letter provides the closure that now she can she can set that aside and now she can go and she can show the love to bob that she that he deserves and that she should show him and and it feels like that that cathartic moment that she can say you were the one that was here with me this entire time. And, and, and we're together. We've always been together and we're going to be together moving forward. And there, there isn't any kind of shadow hanging over us anymore.

57:32That's a really powerful thing in that moment that I think that letter provides regardless of honestly, in a way, anything it says, you know, or any of the specific words that are written, it provides that closure. And I think that's what, what really moved me about that moment. And there's a double power to the ending for me because there's that cathartic emotional element for the characters and it carried over to me and how this is on both viewings and how we've been living and how we're going to have to live. I think your point about her vision of her mom and no longer is this idealized revolutionary.

58:09She now has a more realistic, practical understanding of what quote unquote revolutionary dissident resister, whatever degree you want to talk about. Everyone's going to have to be something in this movie and in real life now. And that's why I love this ending as a parallel scene, another parallel scene. He does this a number of times in one battle after another to one we've discussed when she gets picked up by her friends for the dance, right? This is another instance of the two of them at home together, and she suddenly is going to leave. This time, she's not going to a dance. She's going to a protest.

58:52The world has changed. They have to face that reality. We have to face that reality. now in our lives. Notice Bob's emotional state though, in both instances, paranoia when she's going to the dance, right? Absolute paranoia, panic. Here, he's realistic about the dangers, but he's calm. And I appreciate one battle after another now, twice within eight months for being a rooting experience. Whereas yes, things are as bad as you think, deep breaths, ocean waves, there is a way forward. It may not be what you have in mind based on other movies you've seen, your imagination, your desires, but there is a way forward and it might look something like this, um, the way it looks for these two characters and catharsis is maybe one way to describe that.

59:54Hope is another way to describe it just to know you're not crazy and you're not alone is, is how I feel after watching one battle after another. And a big part of that is this final scene. I want to talk a little bit more about what connected with me emotionally here, but I also want to talk about those final moments a little bit. And I think I want to talk about how it inspired me or maybe motivated me or, or maybe felt left me with a feeling of. I'm wanting to engage with the world, Josh, but it's going to come. I guess maybe the best way I can frame it is I'm going to come at it through the back door a little bit, maybe with a little bit of cynicism, actually, in terms of the way I'm viewing the end of the movie.

1:00:45We'll see how you take to my read of it. It's funny, when we reviewed this movie originally, I didn't dwell on it, but I tried to find a parallel to PTA's other films in that he often has characters in his films who are con men or hustlers. And I saw a little bit of that, just a little bit of it in Pat in that he seemed like someone who's a little bit of a fish out of water who was trying to always portray himself. He wasn't the true revolutionary that maybe Perfidia or some of the other people in the group were. And he always seemed like a little bit of a fraud. Watching it a second time, I realized that that doesn't really seem to be the case.

1:01:29He's actually – he is actually a bit of a screw-up maybe, but he's a true revolutionary. He's the real deal. He may be a stump, as Profidia's mother calls him, compared to her, but I think we can believe that he's the real deal. Of course, the real theme that's the connector here to Paul Thomas Anderson's other work is the father and son theme, except in this case, it's fathers and daughters that drives everything. And the moment or one of the filmmaking highlights for me here that established the emotional weight or set it up. And this is subtle, Josh. This isn't like some of the other sequences in the movie like we talked about the Underground Railroad or even the end, right, on the roads, on the hills.

1:02:22But what a little montage that signals the end, the end of the perfidia sequence into the modern day. The way that is marked with editing, we go from basically close-ups or medium close-ups, a shot of perfidia as she goes into Mexico, to lockjaw reading the letter that he's left for her. So here it is, perfidia being the problem that keeps on giving. she leaves that leaves a problem emotionally for lockjaw right to pat the problem that she's left for him to baby willa we see her face the problem she's left for baby willa to then grown willa and the dirty work the great use of steely dan's dirty work there in the dojo right with sensei That's how we transition.

1:03:18It's just those shots. It's just cuts on faces. And it's just the marking of perfidia to the people that have been left in her wake, basically. It's really incredible. But something that I thought was interesting this time was when he is explaining, when Bob is explaining to Sensei, the pagers, right? He says the old tracking device. And he says it goes off when it's within 100 yards if it works. He says, and it never works. Sometimes it does. But mostly it doesn't. That's his line. And I'm going to propose that those tracking devices are a metaphor for parenting or this father-daughter relationship.

1:04:00You could say that pager, that tracking device in particular that he's describing to Sensei is a symbol for Bob. It's an old tracking device. It tracks the kid. It's supposed to protect, right? It's supposed to be on alert. and sometimes it it does protect but mostly it doesn't you know most sometimes it does its job but mostly it doesn't mostly it's drunk and high and it's just kind of there that's that's bob right and we see that because that first scene where will and bob are at the table will is the parent to bob the lines she has are the parent confronting the kid where were you even the line I don't want to worry if you wrapped your car around a telephone pole.

1:04:46That's like one of the golden oldies, right? Going into the greatest hits of parents to their kids. You know, he has effectively relinquished his role as parent to her. And that's part of why she's so angry with him. We understand that. He has relinquished his role except in conventional authority situations like being overprotective about what she's wearing to the dance and who she's with and harassing her friends. Right. Like that's when he that's when he turns into to dad. And he also says later he's talking about Josh. He's talking about the the role of protecting her in terms of lockjaw and their roles as revolutionaries, old revolutionaries.

1:05:32but I think it applies across the board. He says to someone, I got lazy. I think it's sensei again. He says, I got lazy. I wasn't, I wasn't paying attention. I think that describes what he was doing as parent. And another key line that tells you everything you need to know about him as dad and about their relationship and why she is so angry with him is he says, I don't get mad about anything anymore. That's the thing. Like that's part of our job as parents is to get mad about things is to keep our kids on a certain path and to be paying attention and to get angry about not just the superficial things, right, is to get mad about the really important, serious stuff.

1:06:13And he doesn't take anything really seriously. That's the problem. She actually wants him in her life. She wants him to care about things, but he's too tuned out. He's tuned out. And so this is why, Josh, it's so important and why it's so it's so powerful, like legitimately powerful at the end when when he comes around that corner of that rock right and she doesn't just put the gun down when she sees she sees that it's her dad there's no confusion about whether or not it's her dad that's not the point but what does she yell at him who are you she yells at him who are you? She knows it's her dad.

1:06:58The point is that she's demanding of him that he finally assert his identity as her father, that he prove it, right? That he needs to step up. And in this moment, he needs to say it. And when he says, it's your dad, she makes him do the, do the lines, right? Do the old revolutionary spiel. She makes him say it rather than just go, oh, daddy, and fall into his arms. She makes him do it. She asserts herself, asserts her identity, and she makes him have to come to terms with his failings as a father. That's incredible. That's what's so incredible to me about the ending there and those moments before they do actually finally embrace on the road.

1:07:48There is a detail in that little sequence, that little moment that you were just describing on the road that I didn't notice until this time. And it involves the tracking devices, actually. They're basically these sensor chimes. So they start to make this chiming sound when they're near each other. The Johnny Greenwood score, tried to pay more attention to it this time around because it's subtler than a lot of his other work for Paul Thomas Anderson. Um, and one part that I did notice comes earlier. It's during that incredible car chase over the rolling Hills where the score just goes into percussion mode.

1:08:24Um, and you don't get anything else for a while, very effective. But in this moment, when she's demanding, who are you? And even before that, a little bit, I think as they're approaching each other, the score picks up the note of those chimes and incorporates a variation on it into the actual composition. I mean, it's just gorgeous. It's not just amplifying. I don't think I'm wrong here. I don't think it's amplifying the chimes of the sensors. I think it's actually taking those notes. I don't think she has hers on her at that point. You might be right. So I think it's taking those notes and embedding them into a larger, though still subtle piece that is audibly bringing them together.

1:09:17Right. So everything about that, I just, I just love now at the end in the letter, perfidious says we failed. Maybe you will not. And consistent with Bob's now you articulated this consistent with Bob's now acceptance of, of their relationship, his new understanding of his role of father and better acceptance of that role, their dynamic as father-daughter and acceptance of her activism, rather than trying to overprotect her, rather than trying to keep her from engaging with the world. I suggested when we talked about this the first time, Josh, that it was very hopeful and very promising in that I read the ending as if it was saying that maybe it's time for this generation, this generation that failed to get out of the way, to clear the path and to, to be accepting and to be encouraging, but to get out of the way and, and let this new generation go.

1:10:23But I've been, since then I've been wrestling with something and I, and this, this was before revisiting it. What I can't shake is how do you justify, and this is now where it overlaps with back to our real world situation. How do you justify Bob's apathy? Because allowing, or even if you say encouraging his daughter's participation in changing the world, That's all fine and good. But isn't he in his early 40s? Isn't that what we hear? Has he fought all of his battles? Were those battles enough? Does he not need to fight any more battles? How old is Sensei? Seems about the same age to me. He's sure fighting a lot of battles.

1:11:20How old is Deandra? She's fighting a lot of battles. How old is Howard Somerville? He sure committed to the cause before he got taken to the detention center, right? What about Tally, the Greyhawk 10 or whatever, who gets on the phone? He's still doing it. Even loser Comrade Josh with his rebellion text. At least he's in the game, Josh. At the end of the movie, Bob's still just laying on the couch, still getting high, still drinking wine, just laying on the couch, taking a selfie. How are we supposed to feel about that? I didn't read it that way at all. I read it. Well, it is what it is. It's not a read.

1:12:01It is what it is. He's laying on the couch. When things are going on, they need to be fixed in the world. How do you feel about that? I admit he's laying on the couch. I felt fine with it because, again, it goes back to me. it's more about an emotional state and an understanding of what, again, revolution, resistance, dissidence might look like. I think, and here is where those who are criticizing the film for being something, a work of art that is calling for political violence, I think are completely misreading the movie. We see Bob willing to go that far in the opening section. Um, and I think what we see at the end for me is someone who has realized that there may be a different path between political violence, the quote unquote revolution.

1:12:58He was a part of at the beginning and completely checked out because that approach failed in his mind. So we see him in the middle section, completely checked out, um, not engaged at all. That's part of his daughter's anger towards him, as you described. At the end, I had a sense that he had come closer to where Sensei is. Actually, during that wonderful sequence, there's a little aside where Sensei gives so many lessons to Bob in those six minutes. But one of them is sometimes you play offense, sometimes you play defense. He says, we got to go defense. We got to go defense, Bob. And I guess for me, I found it again, like personally assuring is that I don't necessarily have to be kicking down an immigration concentration camp that my government has set up on my behalf right now.

1:14:02Maybe there is something else that, you know, that I can do that will help. that is more along the lines of how Sensei approaches things. And that may involve steps forward and steps back. It may involve taking losses. It may involve terrible days. It may involve good days of finding ways where you've been able to help. Sometimes you're at the top of the hill and sometimes you're at the bottom of the hill and you're going to go up again and you're going to go down again. It's in the title of the movie. I think in terms of a political film, this movie is more about the long haul. And to me, I read the ending as Bob has recommitted to the long haul, which isn't necessarily 24-7 perfidia burning out in a blaze.

1:14:59it might look like something where there are days, you know what? You do hang out on the couch and you scroll through your phone because that's the only thing you're going to keep yourself sane, but you're doing it for a couple of days later when you're going to get back in there and help out in whatever way you can. So that was how I read it. And why I found it kind of personally encouraging is it was like both invigorating to like, yep, there's work to be done and also freeing in that you don't have to do it all right now in this moment. And I kind of thought maybe that's where Bob was. Ultimately, this is a movie about a father and a daughter, and it is about their rejoining.

1:15:44It is about their reunion, in a sense, their emotional reunion. So because of that, that's why Bob and whether or not he becomes an activist again, that that part of it, Josh, doesn't affect ultimately how I feel about the film. OK, because it delivers on what the film, what the narrative needs to deliver on. What what I'm getting at, though, is what you're describing that when you talked about Sensei, like you couldn't be more involved than Sensei. Sensei, the only thing that Sensei isn't doing is being politically violent, right? So there's a whole spectrum here of activism that we're talking about.

1:16:25And I guess the way I read the end of the film, or at least the way I'm seeing it, and obviously here again, like with Marty Supreme, I don't know what's going to happen after this. I wish I believed, though, I wish I believed that Bob wasn't going to continue to be a burnout and mostly just lay on his couch and be be encouraging of his daughter. Now, it's great that he's going to be encouraging of his daughter. That is great. And that is a huge step forward, certainly from where he was earlier in the film. but there is a part of me that still think Bob that still thinks Bob is a bit of a loser for not for not realizing for not realizing that he he could also be more like sensei and he also could be right there with his daughter and that's actually what the world needs it's not just another burnout laying on his couch you know what I think sensei the first time we see him well the second time we see him with, with Willa, um, in that first jump to 16 years ahead.

1:17:26But I think sensei, the second time we see him, I think he's just paying his bills, man. Like he's, this is what I'm saying. He's got a hundred percent. It's not, you have to live your life too. Yes, exactly. Exactly. So I think Bob has learned that from sensei, you have to live your life. And I also do think one clue we can take as to how Bob is still engaged to some degree, more engaged than he was before and is not just being apathetic is how will is relating to him. As you said, when you were describing their relationship, a key friction point for her was that he did give up. He had checked out.

1:18:04And I think if he was falling back into that pattern, she would not have been on those terms. She is with him when they depart, which are, you know, as you say, they're, they're aligned. They're, they're, they're together. And, and yes, maybe he could go with her to the protest, but you know, maybe that's how she's doing it. And, and he's going to do it a different way. I think if he had been, if he had slipped back to where he was before, Willa would not have been, um, relating to him in that scene as she did, as she was. But again, of course, I'm not, I'm not suggesting that that's what he's doing is slipping back to where he was before.

1:18:44I'm saying he is a very different person at the end of the film. There's just a step he still hasn't completely taken. Just a few final things. There is a moment in the car with Sensei. I think it's when the lights come on, when they see the cop where he says, here we go. Rewind it and watch the line when Del Toro says, here we go. he delivers it just like Fenster in The Usual Suspects. It's the only line where he sounds just like that character in The Usual Suspects. You mentioned the score. I love, I do love the Johnny Greenwood score. Appreciated that, of course, even more the second time. Josh, go back and listen to it.

1:19:26There is a part. I rewound it to make sure I wasn't nuts. It starts right around the time when they have the shootout at the nunnery and leading up to the chase and through part of that chase. The score, Greenwood, it has to be intentional. It's just too clear to me. The score just steals directly from the Wizard of Oz. The great Wizard of Oz sequence where the witch, but in the Kansas sequence, the witch is riding her bike, the dun-dun-dun-dun-dun, that part. Johnny Greenwood just takes that. But more than that, it's not just that little melody. He takes other parts of it, and you can lay them over the top of each other.

1:20:14And I thought, well, is that just Greenwood? And it probably is. Is that just Greenwood sort of paying homage to a classic score? Why would they take The Wizard of Oz? What does it have to do with this movie? I don't know that it has anything to do with this movie. But I did also notice that right during the part where you're hearing that is the sequence where Lockjaw has Willa in the car and he tells her that her mother was the best witch he ever met. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that line did jump out. And so I almost wonder if maybe something in the script about a witch triggered that. That whole roller coaster sequence, of course, a lot have been made of it, and we've talked about how good it is.

1:21:02But I was just trying to pay attention to why is it so good? Like what's so effective about it? And it's the pace of it. And it seems to be just just the way the camera, the camera is at a level where I don't know. It's not so much at the road level, but it's at like dash level or something, right? So it feels like we're just going up, right? Like over just over the top of it and undulating with it. It almost lulls you again, the rhythm of it. It almost lulls you into a sense of a sense of complacency that then that that undermines the intensity of the sequence. there are a couple shots where it almost feels as if the camera was not on a car necessarily but was actually on a helicopter flying extremely low and doing those moments because there's a yeah um a levitating quality that a car doesn't give you that's it so yeah it's it's surreal yeah yeah it really is and then i i meant to go back and really check this to see if this is what he was doing but in the in the sequence when he's watching battle of algiers and then they they come and invade the house and he escapes i do love that technique and you see this in other movies too where time is alighted where they go from he hasn't gotten off the couch yet right but then they cut to the door being blown yeah and and and he is gone he is in the tunnel but it doesn't feel like enough time has passed yet.

1:22:32And so it's just a neat technique to kind of rush time in that way. But the way through that whole part where they're going through the house, I feel like it's the diegetic sound is the TV music from the Battle of Algiers. I think that's the sound that's playing in the sequence actually is from the television. Of course, it would be the Battle of Algiers. So So yeah, one of our longer conversations, maybe our longest conversation. And I, quite frankly, am not that shocked that it's about one battle after another. If you add this Sacred Cow review and our original review together, have we matched the running time of the film?

1:23:10We may be. We're close. We are certainly close. We are. Nice. So one battle after another, it is currently available to stream on HBO Max and also available VOD. We won't spend quite as much time on this, but we do want to take a minute to thank a couple of family plus members. These are film spotting family members who support us and allow us to keep doing what we do. So thanks to Clayton Shank in Los Angeles and Tib Winterfield in Shropshire, England. Want to make sure I got that right, Tib. Tib is in Shropshire, England. We want to thank them both for their support. You can follow them both on Letterboxd.

1:23:54Clayton is at RRL Songlian. Now that's actually familiar because Clayton is a regular and very kind commenter on my Letterboxd reviews. Tib, I just followed today. Had not been following Tib previously, you can follow Tib at Tib Winterfield. All right. They both shared some thoughts about the show with us. Clayton writes, I landed on film spotting in the Maddie era with episode number 269 after aching for thoughtful discussion on Neil Blomkamp's District 9. As interlocutors, and this has only increased in richness with Josh's arrival, your shrewd balancing act between academic insight and giddy brimming reverence over this magic medium we call movies is a joy to behold.

1:24:39So that's how Clayton found us. Thanks for those kind words. Tip found us about 10 years ago. I think just via Google, the 2015 actor madness was what solidified me as a devotee of the show. They both have favorite segments. Clayton said, anytime Midnight Run is given airtime, it's a masterpiece. I guess We got to give Midnight Run its own segment at this point for Clayton. We should. Tibbs said it's still the madness. I look forward to it every year. That or Golden Brick, which has brought so many good films to me. Hey, Josh, just real quick. Do you not remember that we did give Midnight Run its own segment?

1:25:17I'm pretty sure we gave it a sacred cow. We gave it a sacred cow. I meant Clayton would like a recurring segment. Oh, okay. I think he would like just a little bit of appreciation every episode, maybe. Okay. I see what you're saying. Yeah. We asked if there were any reviews we got wrong. Clayton said, well, you know, Clayton doesn't want to offend anybody. So he says that Adam got wrong Wolf of Wall Street and I got wrong Interstellar. Okay. Okay. As for Tib, none that leap out at me, but Adam is very clearly wrong about a life less ordinary. Yeah. Wow. Do you have strong feelings about a life less ordinary, Adam?

1:25:56Sometimes I see these and if they take a shot at me, it does hurt me. It wounds me for at least an hour or so, Josh. I'm not going to lose any sleep over A Life Less Ordinary. No, not at all. Great, great Danny Boyle film. All right. The movies they credit with becoming cinephiles. For Clayton, American Psycho, Bale is tapping into something here that I think is eternal. Tib shared, Clerks. Murder is eternal. favorite books about movies or movie making film directing shot by shot visualizing from concept to screen by Steve D. Katz. That one comes from Clayton. Tibb suggested how I made a hundred movies in Hollywood and never lost a dime.

1:26:37That one by Roger Corman. Who else could it be by? We thank Clayton and Tibb for being family members and for all of those years of listening. In addition to keeping us doing what we're doing, membership does come with perks. You get to listen early and ad free. You get our weekly newsletter. You get exclusive opportunities like being part of our film spotting family discord. You also get monthly bonus shows like you could hear Sam this week talk about another Paul Thomas Anderson film. Well, we talked about it too, but only he really tried to argue very intensely, semi-intensely that it's a bad movie.

1:27:11That was his take. So you can hear that if you're a film spotting family member. Did he go so far as to say bad? I defended it. Yeah. I'm pretty sure he used that word, Josh. Did he? Man. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So that's out now. And I'm not sure. I think February is blind spotting time. So we'll pick a movie. I could be wrong, but I think it's where we pick a movie that all three of us haven't seen. Usually all three of us haven't seen. And we try to watch that. We'll probably try to pick something that connects to film spotting madness, best of the forties. and March we'll have a trivia spotting edition coming up.

1:27:48So all sorts of fun that you could have as a Film Spotting family member and you can learn more about joining the family at filmspottingfamily.com. You can also help the show by rating or reviewing us at Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It really does help us reach new listeners. The 10 films nominated for Best Picture are Begonia, Ed Geiney, and Andrew Lowe. Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone, and Lars Knudsen, producers. F1, Chad Omen, Brad Pitt. I definitely was not up watching the Oscar nominations broadcast live. I suppose, Josh, you could have or it would have been more reasonable for you with the time zone shift.

1:28:32What were you thinking when you heard the Best Picture nominees announce? Any swift thoughts on Begonia and I suppose F1 being best picture nominees? I don't think you've even seen F1 yet. Have you? Oh, oh, Adam, are we going to have the F1 conversation? Because no, I didn't. I didn't watch the nominations, you know, despite the time zone being helpful here in Scotland. I have watched F1. It wasn't out of due diligence. but Debbie, who, you know, we know from our Fast and Furious marathon is, is the true Fast and Furious fan in our house. The gearhead. The gearhead. Let's just go with gearhead.

1:29:15Has been nudging me to watch F1 on, on and off for a while now. So I thought, okay. Oh, I wish I had. You know what? It'll make it easy when we do our Oscar prediction show. And we like to, we like to knock, you know, when we choose who would we nominate in categories and then we always have to knock someone out. At least I've got a clear knockout for all the categories for me. It was a rough watch. Well, I didn't think F1 was as rough a watch as you. I wouldn't even call it a rough watch, but was I shocked? Well, shock isn't even the right word because I know some people, some pundits had predicted that it might get a nomination.

1:29:56Was I still surprised? Yes, I was surprised. Do I think it should have gotten a Best Picture nomination? No, of course, I don't think it should have received a Best Picture nomination. It's can I ask what was what's the because I haven't looked into this, the pundits like what was the thinking? Like, basically, how did this happen? Is it just because it was a big hit? Is it because? Yeah. Yeah. OK. There does seem to be recently at least one big populist action, all sorts of below the line folks or awards for the editing and some of those more technical achievements. It's driven by that as well that seems to usually be in the best picture mix.

1:30:41Here again, not a shock that F1 was one of those nominees, but I was still surprised ultimately to see it in there. Now, there are at least six films of those nominees that I was very excited to see. And we are going to talk more about the Oscars back or I should say later when we do our Oscar special. March 6th, I think, is when we have that scheduled for. That is the show that we do with Michael Phillips every year. We do plan to have him back on who will win, who should win, and who should have been nominated. The Oscars are on Sunday, March 15th. But any other thoughts? Did you have any other immediate reactions, Josh, anything you think is worth sharing as you perused the list of nominees?

1:31:32I mean, mostly there's just a couple of categories I want to touch on. quickly here, but yeah, in general, I'm kind of sad, overall encouraged by the nominations and sad I won't be able to watch it live. I know it's not always a priority for you, Adam, but this will be the first time in years with being here in Scotland. So I'm going to have to catch up with all the news afterwards. And the other thing that, you know, it's a little bit, maybe more of a complaint, even though I was, you know, mildly positive on the film, but clearly the Academy not as worn out by the ongoing Yorgos Lanthimos Emma Stone collaboration as I think a lot of critics at least or moviegoers are that I know and speak to just given the nominations for her and Begonia again I like the film but guys there's other movies out there there's other filmmakers yeah yeah I liked it a little bit less than you and so it was a little bit disappointing I suppose to see it get the love that it, that it did though.

1:32:31I do like Emma Stone's performance and I'm always fond of her as an actress. I hate it when our producer, Sam puts out our newsletter and sometimes he, he just says all the things I was probably going to say anyway. I don't have any hot take reactions. Like I thought for the most part, the Academy did pretty well with these nominations and he, he did single out one in particular, you know, he mentioned Kate Hudson for Song Sung Blue, you know, I've seen the movie. I like the movie and I like her in it. So there are other best actress performances that I liked and that I had above her this year, but I don't hate the nomination at all.

1:33:09And it's much easier to say, take her out. Maybe if you haven't seen the movie or if you have certain thoughts about the movie, but the performance I think is really good. So I, I'm not mad at that nomination at all. I'm not mad about a lot of the nominations, Josh. Like I said, I think it's weird. I suppose that no other choice, one of my top five films of the year from Park Chanuk didn't get anything. I'm a little bit surprised, I suppose, and here I'm just all in the international feature category. A little surprised that my number one film of the year, it was just an accident, didn't get a Best Picture nomination because it actually was getting predicted in that category by a lot of the experts.

1:33:49It did get two nominations for Best International Feature and for Best Original Screenplay. Some think it might win that category, the Best International Feature, even though Sentimental Value is nominated and The Secret Agent is nominated. But they're in the Best Picture category. So in theory, that shouldn't make any sense. But that is exactly why it might make sense. That's why it was just an accident might get the award in that category because those got their award by getting the best picture nomination. Depends how you look at it. So we'll see. Overall, Send Amount of Value was one of my favorite films of the year.

1:34:28So for it to get, I think, eight, was it eight nominations for that film? Maybe I need to fact check that. But it was one of the top nominees. Definitely. Certainly to see one battle after another to get 13. and Sinners was my number seven film of the year. But for that movie to be the one that set the record with 16 is a great story and deserving. Yeah. I mean, I think, again, no surprise that Sinners and One Battle After Another are the headliners, but still exciting to have two lead Oscar candidates that are that good. I don't know that I feel that way every year. So that's hugely encouraging.

1:35:04Glad you called out Sam's newsletter because he did do a great job of giving an Oscar nom recap. Again, that comes to film spotting family members. So if you're not getting those, join the family. And you mentioned sentimental value. And that was one I wanted to bring up in relation to the supporting actress category. As listeners know by now from hearing us talk about one battle after another, we're both very thrilled that Tiana Taylor is there. I was afraid she might still get overlooked for one battle, but also really encouraging because this is a film I have had a chance to catch up with since our year-end show, Sentimental Value, is that among its many awards is a supporting actress nom for Ip's daughter Lilios, who plays the younger daughter of Stellan Skarsgård's filmmaker.

1:35:54And not only did I think she was so crucial to the narrative, the overall familial portrait that Trier is giving us there, but man, Lilios delivers just a piercing, quiet performance that you could easily go over, go through that film and not necessarily notice. the amount of restraint she shows, even though her function in the narrative is so crucial is a beautifully delicate balancing act that she pulls off. So really glad to see that the academy, I mean, that's, you know, like we like to be cynical about who academy voters are and what they're looking for, but this is an instance of like, oh, they're paying really close attention if they nominate someone like this.

1:36:46This is the problem is that the show that we do later, when we talk about who should win and especially when we talk about who should have been nominated, it was a lot more fun when they used to make worse choices, but they're making better choices now. Like the Academy, the membership, I don't know, they're getting savvier and they're getting better at it. And I suppose that's a good thing, Josh, but it's bad for content. So you're telling me F1 didn't get a Best Supporting Actress nomination. No, though, you know, Carrie Condon's in it and she's pretty good. She's okay. You thought it was a rough watch though, so I suppose you didn't think that.

1:37:26I wouldn't have nominated her for it either. Though nine Academy Award nominations is what Google's AI overview is telling me anyway for sentimental value. So trust that at your peril. That means it's probably negative eight. I don't know. Again, you can look for that Oscar special coming up on March 6th. One more note I want to make about the nominations, Adam, just because this is a film for Chicago area listeners that's opening at the Music Box this weekend, and it is Arco in the animated feature film category. A French feature definitely worth a look. I did catch up with this in the year-end rush, and essentially it's a story that involves two far-off futures, I'll say.

1:38:07They collide. Basically, a boy runs away from home and into the past via time travel. He ends up in this ecologically fraught society. Now, both of these timeframes are ahead of ours. One of the animators here also worked on 1973's Fantastic Planet. So if you have seen that film, you will have a good sense of what the design is here in Arco. but there is also a touch of Miyazaki and its balance of cynicism and hopefulness when it comes to the environment. So yeah, if the art goes playing in your town or near you as it is in Chicago at the music box this weekend, I would encourage Oscar interested or animation interested folks to check it out.

1:38:51It was one we didn't get to in time, but I know some of our listeners specifically, I think some members of our film spotting advisory board had recommended that Josh for the film spotting golden brick. Sounds like maybe it would have been a nominee for you had you seen it in time. Possibly. Okay. Next week on the show, we will pay tribute to Diane Keaton with our top five Diane Keaton scenes. And also on that show, we will share the results from our current film spotting poll, which asks you to choose one and only one Diane Keaton character. And Josh, this will be bad radio, but what am I doing right now?

1:39:31You're shaking your head. Yeah. It's, it's not just, it's not just SMH. Like the kids say, I'm actually shaking my head at our listeners for how this poll is currently coming out. Despite, despite my protestations last week, I explained that I really thought going with Kay Adams from the Godfather is the best Diane Keaton character. Sam backs me. I mean, Sam and I, I mean, we just feel really strongly about this. Thought it was a mistake. Wow. Kay Adams is kind of running away with this. So look forward to the feedback next week on the show explaining why Kay is in fact the best Diane Keaton character.

1:40:13Okay. Okay. Comrade Adam. You can vote in that poll and leave a comment. That's a really nice ring to it. Actually, that sounds, sounds, sounds strong. I think you can vote in that poll and leave a comment. at filmspotting.net. Speaking of still looking back on 2025 with the Oscars, that is what they're doing at the next picture show. Our sister podcast right now out is their best of 2025 episodes. So you get to hear the top 10 lists of Keith, Tasha, and Scott. Check that out. New episodes of the next picture show drop every Tuesday, and you can find them wherever you get your podcasts. Okay. It's time now for Massacre Theater, where Adam and I perform a scene and you get a chance to win a film spotting prize.

1:40:57Last time we massacred this scene. Are you drinking, man, Reverend? It doesn't help. No, I suppose not.

1:41:09Can God forgive us for what we've done to this world? I don't know. who can know the mind of God, but we can choose a righteous life.

1:41:31Belief, forgiveness, grace covers us all. I believe that. That was Ethan Hawke with Philip Ettinger in 2017's First Reformed. written and directed by Paul Schrader. That massacre was part of our 2025 wrap party show. When we shared our scenes of the year, we also announced the winner of the 2025 golden brick award. There is always a tie into massacre theater. So why that scene from first reformed? We had a few in mind, Adam. I think this was a Sam pick, right? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. We, we had, we had our reasons. Here's Cyrus Zemanian. As a fellow Ethan Hawke fan, I suspected the scene would include him based on the first hint.

1:42:17But as soon as the word Reverend was mentioned, I knew without a doubt this was First Reformed, one of the first movies I can recall blowing my mind in its specific way. This is a favorite movie of mine and a favorite performance. I'll leave the identification of tenuous connections to fellow listeners. Unfortunately, we do have fellow listeners to make those tenuous or not so tenuous connections like Tim in Denver. Tim says you massacred First Reformed. Connection is to Josh's scene from Wake Up Dead Man. I can't say for sure, but I really don't think I'd have gotten it without Josh's hint. Not only about a favorite actor of Adam's, but also about how he started the final scene sounding like how we usually think of this actor.

1:42:55I rewound and I have to say that, yeah, Adam kind of channeled his boy, Ethan, pretty well there. Well done. Okay. I got one line or a couple words and I will take it. Because otherwise I heard from some listeners who called it appropriately uninspired. Here's Ed Savoy in Philadelphia. While a tangential connection may be that Amanda Seyfried, and yes, we were thinking of that, a co-star in First Reform, made it on to one of your honorable mentions for Music Moment of the Year for The Testament of Anne Lee, a more direct connection is probably the justified warm mentions of Wake Up Dead Man, a Knives Out mystery featuring a priest, which happens to be Hawk's stock and trade in First Reform.

1:43:34And Hawk has been in a previous movie in the franchise, a quick cameo in Glass Onion. How about that? May God forgive me if I have not gleaned the correct connection. Thank you, Ed. Josh, we actually had the most entries for Massacre Theater we have received in quite a while. So it warms your heart. I think it was it was the Reverend. It was the Ethan Hawke giveaway. It was all the hints, I'm sure. Or maybe it was the fact that it was a recent movie of recent vintage 2017. I don't know. All of the above. But you can reach into the brimming film spotting hat and pick out this week's winner. Well, first of all, thank you, everyone, for entering.

1:44:16You've saved Massacre Theater for another month. It does keep Massacre Theater doing what it's doing. Believe me. Our winner, Tim Bauer. Yeah, Tim Bauer is from Parts Unknown. though. I'm going to throw out, I did a little searching and there, there was a Tim Bauer who entered massacre theater, some like way back in 2006. And he was from Rancho Cucamonga. So he's been, if it's the same Tim Bauer, he's been listening for a long time. And also I just really love saying Rancho Cucamonga, California. So, I mean, if you live in Rancho Cucamonga, you're signing off with that every chance you get. That's a good point.

1:44:51Well, congratulations, Tim, wherever you're from, email feedback at filmspotting.net. We will set you up with your very own film spotting tote, t-shirt, or trial membership to the film spotting family. The sound goes through the cable to the box. A man records it on a big record in wax, but you have to talk into the mic first in the bush. Josh, I don't know that we can pull this off. Of course we can't. That's why he picked it. All right, let's go. Let's just start. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Okay, this sucks. Everything about this sucks. I guess I should have chimed in. It's perfect. Okay. Okay.

1:45:39Okay, fine. So this is truly the end of Massacre Theater, right? This is the end. This is the massacre that's going to end it. I will say, if we were declaring that it was over, this would be a great way to go out. This is going to end. Like, think about how strained international relations currently are between the U.S. and France already. Well, I didn't even consider that factor. And now what I'm going to do to it, this is a disaster. Hey, at least you do know French. You know French, right? You could speak French. I certainly did not take any French in high school, as will be evidenced by this performance.

1:46:21This is what happens. So this is everyone. This is what happens when Sam and Josh decide on the massacre theater scene in the slack and I don't respond. I mean, I think it's brilliant. I think I'm just warning like absolute fools. There's no way we can pull this off. No. And Sam has chosen a scene that requires from a filmmaker known for the precision of their dialogue. That's a hint. That's a hint. The delivery, the precision of the delivery. And this scene even has us precisely talking over each other. Okay. Why don't you just use the word quirky while you're at it? Which we have not rehearsed at all.

1:47:04Of course. No, of course we haven't rehearsed. That would defeat the entire purpose. And right now we're just trying to like kill time before we have to actually do this. I have never actually been more nervous about a mask. I don't know how we're going to get through the scene. Okay. Give me the action. We got to just do it then. I don't know if we're physically capable. Let's go. Okay. And action. I want to say it as simple as I can to try to shape it into words, the feelings in my heart. I love you. I don't love you. What? I don't love you. Already? Already what? Already. How do you know that?

1:47:45How can you be sure so quick? I'm sure. Ouch. That hurts me. The cruelty of it. The cold-bloodedness. You said what you wanted to say. I tried to stop it. I tried to stop you. That's it. I said part of what I wanted to say. I was in the middle of it. There's more. No. No what? Will you? No. Will you marry? Will you marry me? No.

1:48:23and seen i don't i don't think i said any of those words i've heard of people who can speak four languages i've never seen someone speak four languages at once adam i think very impressive i think that was klingon that might have been klingon at the end yeah and you should have taken french instead here's the the hardest part sam even spelled that out phonetically and it made it harder. Such a good producer. I, I have no idea. I have no idea what occurred. We, we did the, we did the timing part even a little bit better than I thought. I mean, I thought we actually would just stop. I thought like the train would come to a halt.

1:49:01No, you never stop. We have, we have never stopped in massacre theater. That is the, if we stop in massacre theater ever, then we do have to shut it down. Okay. If you know what film we just massacred, email the movie's title, your name and location to feedback at filmspotting.net. The deadline is Monday, February 9th. We will select the winner randomly from all the correct entries. I'm, I'm guessing there won't be a ton and we'll announce it in a couple of weeks. And what, what better point to end the show on than that, Josh? Agreed. If you want to connect with us on social media, you can find Adam and the show on Instagram, Facebook, Letterboxd, YouTube.

1:49:42He's at FilmSpotting. You can find me at those places as Larson on Film. We are independently produced and listener supported. You can support the show by joining the FilmSpotting family at FilmSpottingFamily.com. You can listen early and ad-free that way. You'll also get Sam's weekly newsletter, monthly bonus episodes, and access to the entire show archive. For show t-shirts and other merch, go to FilmSpotting.net slash shop. As an aside, this is how clever producer Sam is. I told him via Slack how long we spent talking about one battle after another that I thought it was around like 80 minutes.

1:50:19Yeah. He guessed 52. I laughed at him and then I told him it was 80 and he said, well, you didn't go 90, which would have been an obscenity. This is merely unhinged. He's not wrong. In the archive, we do have one battle round one. that's episode 1034 we also have lots more Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza 853, Phantom Threads, 664 Inherent Vice, 517, The Master 514, There Will Be Blood wow, episode 193 and a 10th anniversary review on 658, Magnolia that was episode 752 we talked about that film as part of our 9 from 99 series and yes we did talk about Boogie Nights just recently as part of our January bonus content for FilmSpotting family members.

1:51:09Our FilmSpotting family members do have access to the FilmSpotting archive and all of those episodes at their fingertips whenever they want it. Streaming or available VOD this weekend, I suppose it's streaming. You can watch Sundance Film Festival movies, Josh. Those are available the 29th through February 1st. In limited release, it's expanding. You mentioned it earlier, the French animated film Arco. So check that out if you have a chance. In wide release, I am curious about Sam Raimi's new one, his survival of the fittest thriller Send Help with Rachel McAdams and Dylan O 'Brien. And a reminder, next week on the show, we're going to talk about our favorite Diane Keaton scenes.

1:51:51Film Spotting is produced by Golden Joe Dissot and Sam Van Halgren. Without Sam and Golden Joe, this show wouldn't go. Our production assistant is Sophie Kempinar. and special thanks to everyone at WBEZ. Chicago, more information is available at wbez.org. For Film Spotting, I'm Josh Larson. And I'm Adam Kempinar. Thanks for listening. This conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.