Top 5 Films of 2026 (So Far) | #1073

18:45Josh Larsen:Again, that Performances of the Year bonus show is coming up for film spotting family members i will say more about her as well on that uh show but for now this is number four on my list easily the 2026 movie i've been recommending the most to people just incredibly funny knowing a great time of the theater um which is where you can still find it so if you've not made it there yet get to a theater have you had a chance yeah that's the

19:14Adam Kempenaar:one, Josh, that's the one. That's the one I needed to get to the one theater near me that's playing it. And they're just, I may get to this when I get to my number three pick into more detail about why I couldn't see it, but there just weren't enough showtimes for me to make it desperate to see it knowing how much you liked it, how many critics were raving about it. You had to think it had a decent shot of making my list. And so the fact that it's a blind spot for me at this point really is crushing me. But that was my biggest regret in terms of movies I didn't get to see before forming it. I mean, it's fresh.

19:50Josh Larsen:It just came out like 10 days ago.

19:56Josh Larsen:Adam, we're always praising the theatrical experience. We talk about how a big comedy, something like The Invite, you've got to see it in a theater with a crowd to get those laughs. Horror movies, of course, you want to see it with a crowd just for safety. But you know, the screams too. The screams, you got to share the screams. You also want to be in a theater for the images, the giant images. And Christopher Nolan is one of those filmmakers who is going to deliver on that front. That's why everyone is so excited about the Odyssey. If you're excited about the Odyssey, you'd be more excited about seeing the Odyssey for free, which you can do with Regal Unlimited.

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21:36Adam Kempenaar:Jesus, he wanted to let us know that our son is dead on the front step. I told him not to worry. He will come back to life soon. My number four, and I'm going to resort here to a tactic we occasionally employ when we're forming lists like this. I'm going to quote from one of our great critics, someone we feature on our show, someone who is part of the film spotting family of podcasts, Alison Wilmore over at Vulture. And it's because it's so brilliant. And it's also because, I mean, she says it better than I could about this film, but also because we talked about this movie so in depth, Josh, that I realized I just, I can't repackage my thoughts about this movie.

22:16Adam Kempenaar:And if it makes my top 10 at the end of the year, I don't know. I'm going to have to watch it again and see if I can find some new nugget, some new insight to pull from the movie. At number four, I've got Sophie Ramvari's debut, Blue Heron. This, this autobiographical film. So I'm going to read from the first paragraph of Alison Wilmore's rave for Blue Heron. She says, Blue Heron is an autobiographical film pulled directly out of writer-director Sophie Romvari's childhood from the period when her parents, both Hungarian immigrants, moved their family of six into a new house on Vancouver Island.

22:52Adam Kempenaar:But what it really feels like is a seance, a way of using cinema not just to put the past on screen, but to commune with it, to interrogate it for information that her younger self was unable to grasp at the time. It's a tender but devastating work that exists in the netherworld between documentary and fiction, where the innate artificiality of recreating something that actually happened allows a filmmaker to get to a greater truth. for as may el mudir in the mother of all lies that meant using miniatures to coax out details of her family's experiences during morocco's brutal years of lead for joshua oppenheimer in the act of killing having two unabashed death squad leaders reenact some of the murders they committed under suharto seems to force the men to reconsider their participation in politically sanctioned mass slaughter.

23:39Adam Kempenaar:So using those two films as a touchstone for how artificiality can lead to truth, Blue Heron in Allison's estimation, doing something similar. The movies I referenced during our review were some of my favorites of recent vintage Josh, like Aftersun and All of Us Strangers. And going back a little further, Iranian cinema, like Kiarostami's Close Up and Jafar panahi's the mirror and i said it then and i will say it again because it it is still something i think about in relation to this film if it if it could have somehow hit the truth for me through that meta exploration that those four films did with the power that those four films did.

24:30Adam Kempenaar:Obviously, it would be my number one film of the year so far, and it would probably be entrenched there all year. It doesn't quite get there for me. The technique that Ramvari employs and how she employs it, the documentary style, I tried to articulate as best I could why it didn't work. Maybe that is the impetus for me to rewatch it before the end of the year. to try to get even further at why I didn't, I didn't fully connect with it the way I do tend to connect with movies that employ this type of technique. That's something I will have to deal with. As I said, maybe a little bit later in the year that said, we did have such a rich discussion about this film because of the things Alison is describing so eloquently.

25:24Adam Kempenaar:The fact that it is, it does feel like a seance using cinema to, commune and interrogate the past and the technique, setting aside the meta aspect, setting aside the fracture between past and present that happens in this film. Just some of the performances, some of the cinematography is so satisfying to watch, especially for a debut filmmaker. There's a reason why it's a golden brick nominee for us at this point and a strong contender for the award.

26:01Josh Larsen:Yeah, absolutely. Probably the front runner, I would say at this point for our award for a new release from an emerging filmmaker. I love Allison's comparison, the analogy there to a seance. I think that's perfect. I'm going to jump up on my list because to continue the Blue Heron conversation and further encourage people to check it out while it's top of mind. I had it at number two. um and yeah it'll be interesting to hear some of those again when you're talking about reservations on a top five of the year so far list they're nitpicks but but i i understand what you're saying i would have thought it might have been higher on your list so there's something there you're you're wrestling with i i agree the meta elements are a plus which is something i'm actually suspicious of you know this the character being a filmmaker and we learn eventually trying to reconstruct a film.

26:50Josh Larsen:I never found that to be navel gazing here, um, in terms of that construct or the formal execution of it. Um, I found it to be continually inventive and Romvari has this, this rare touch that is both delicate and searing somehow. So, and that's in a single image. I don't mean she's delicate in this sequence and then searing in the next, I mean, in a single shot, she captures both and the and can carry the thematic and emotional weight i think of this time i don't know if this came up in our review and i should maybe save some of this because we have a likely top 10 lister for me too here the one of the young girl standing over her brother at the front porch and he's just laying on his back you know he's awake just laying and she's just looking down at him, trying to figure him out, but not aggressively or intrusively.

27:48Josh Larsen:And it's that sort of composition that captures, again, the girl and then the adult young woman's experience so well. Yeah. So Blue Heron, certainly encourage listeners to check it out if they haven't. I checked earlier this week and it looks like it is available for purchase at this point via Prime and Apple TV.

28:09Adam Kempenaar:All right. We've heard three of your picks that we jumped ahead a little bit. That means we are at my number three and may surprise you a little bit, Josh, how much I like this movie because I liked it more than you, though because I liked it more than you, you're probably not shocked too much that it's on my list. I actually have Toy Story 5 at number three on my list. I thought it might be.

28:33Josh Larsen:Yeah, you were really going out.

28:36Adam Kempenaar:about this one i really went for it and i did mention this during the review but when you have a film that delivers at this point two of the strongest moving moments of the year contenders one involving jesse and one involving bonnie that that's going to stick with you when you're forming a list like this and i had a lot of notes on this film too and i was trying to remember what we covered and maybe what we didn't. And I know that this is pedestrian ground. I don't think we got into this from my notes. But as I said, it may be pedestrian, but I still wanted to bring it up because everybody talked about this aspect of the film.

29:21Adam Kempenaar:It is the obvious point to talk about in terms of the technology. And we got into it a bit. But I did want to at least mention that when you're watching this film in terms of how it connects with you connects with me as an adult as a father why it did resonate with me the way it did i've got kids who are four and six they're younger than bonnie then right and you can judge me all you want at this point they wake up almost every day both of them wake up almost every day in the first thing out of their mouths is not, can I have breakfast? It's, can I have my iPad? And often they go to bed asking for their iPads and they ask for their iPads five to seven, at least times throughout the day.

30:15Adam Kempenaar:Now, I suppose the fact that they ask for their iPads that often shows you that I'm not giving it to them as often as they want it. And I'm doing a decent job of limiting the amount of time they are on them but it it does show you the stranglehold these devices have but it's not just on these kids it is on us as adults as well and that's why i do think that shot in the film is such a good one that shot of the whole neighborhood and all those screens lit up and everybody from kid to adult, they're on a device and they're all in separate rooms. Separate rooms. They're all separated from each other.

31:01Adam Kempenaar:They're all detached. They're all disconnected. There's a time when that shot would have been families all sitting around a television together. And that's not what we see anymore.

31:15Josh Larsen:And it would have been used incriminatingly, right? Like it would have implied that they're not out

31:22Adam Kempenaar:on the porch together talking, right? Exactly. Something like that. You're right. But it still would have been at least they were spending time together. Sure. Now we can look at it wistfully, like longing, like that was better. Exactly. At least that was better than this. Right. But, but there are times where we also, and, and if you're one of those parents out there, don't be too hard on yourself. There are times where you give in and you lose the battle. We used to when I was babysat as a kid, they would put on Sesame Street, right? And we can still do that. Sometimes we can put on Sesame Street or now it's, you know, Paw Patrol.

32:04Adam Kempenaar:The TV shows have changed for the most part, but, but really it's iPads now. And watching this film, it just, it just reinforced how it's not just kids anxieties. It's ours as parents about how we use devices, but also how worried we are about the control they have over our children and the potential damage that they're doing. And here's the other part, Josh, why this movie is, is meaningful to me is, and this is, I was going to say with my number three pick, why I didn't get to, why I didn't get to the invite partly was last week. Like my, my wife was gone the whole week, got to, got to go on a trip and, and, and was out.

32:49Adam Kempenaar:And that was fantastic. But that meant I was home, you know, I was home with the kids myself and you're not going to get anything done sometimes if you don't say, Hey, here's an hour where you can get on the iPad. So that happened occasionally. So there you go. I'll, I'll hop to that. I'm not a perfect dad, Josh. I don't know if you know that about me.

33:10Josh Larsen:I have said, Debbie and I have both said many times, so ours are 24 and 20 now. And I am never going to cast judgment on any parents who have had to deal. We just missed the cusp. They were just young enough where mobile devices were not as available as they are now. So we were not forced to make these decisions. And I hold no judgment and know from, and know from just like the technological options that we had at the time and the decisions we had to made that this is, this is the challenge. This is the capital T H E challenge for raising young kids now. And I think it, I liked for the record, you know, listeners who heard our review know this, I'd like Toy Story five.

33:57Josh Larsen:Um, I think it's to its credit that it actually tackled this. Um, we probably differ on, you know, what it had to offer at the end of the day on it, but absolutely to its credit that they didn't just dodge the issue. Right. We're like, this is here. Our Pixar's movies at their best are always for the parents. And so if they're going to keep in that tradition,

34:19Adam Kempenaar:yes,

34:19Josh Larsen:this is what they had to address. So good on them.

34:22Adam Kempenaar:Good. And here's the last part. I will say just on a personal, another personal note, my, my six year old, I saw a lot of connection between her and, and Bonnie. She's, She's creative. She's a little goofy. She's the kind of girl who every time she is the girl who every time we're at a playground, I am not kidding you. Every time another kid, boy or girl walks up to her or she walks up to them on the slide or near the slide or the steps, she says, hi. And you know what she gets nine times out of 10? Oh, gosh. Don't even a blank, a blank. Look, Josh. They don't understand why this little girl is talking to them.

35:08Adam Kempenaar:And they usually just ignore her and then run off. Yeah. And not only that, she has a vision impairment. So as she gets older, she's going to be the girl like Bonnie who gets left out of things, who is going to struggle to connect. and yes I am saying that maybe my defenses were down a little bit as a critic but I don't think that that has anything to do with my reaction to the film no I don't I'm not I'm truly not suggesting that that that had any real impact on how I viewed the movie it just means that I did I did relate to it on a very personal level in addition to the fact that I think it's really

35:50Josh Larsen:smart filmmaking yeah we don't we don't have to draw those those sorts of distinctions um yeah Yeah. And, and Toy Story five has a, has a scene like that, right. Where, um, a kid puts themselves out there and, and it flops. I, I can remember, I think witnessing that happening once to one of my daughters at that age on a playground and you describing that, like my heart just crumpled inside for that memory. So, um, so thank you for that. Thank you, Pixar. Thank you, Adam. You're welcome. Um, we all feel better now. Uh, I don't know what's going on here, but So far you have horror on your list. Yes.

36:26Josh Larsen:You have animation on your list. I think we may be in Bizarro world. Yeah. And I don't know where this is going to go next.

36:33Adam Kempenaar:And you have a meta film at number two.

36:36Josh Larsen:No, I'm going to set things straight. I'm going to set things straight. And this is actually my number three. So I'll jump back a little bit. Well, we have to wait. I'm going to go with a horror pick. We have to wait. I'm going to go with a horror pick. You're teasing. We have to wait. We're going to come back to it.

36:48Adam Kempenaar:Yeah.

36:49Josh Larsen:Okay. We have business. All right. Well, that's a tease. I have a horror pick.

36:52Adam Kempenaar:We got to take a moment before we get to our top two. We do want to remind you that you can go to filmspotting.net. Just click on lists and you will see our entire top five archive. Let's take a minute, Josh, to thank the Film Spotting family. It's the single largest source of support for the show. Yes, we have advertising in the show, but it is the single largest source of support for the show. It keeps us doing what we've been doing for now over 21 years. And usually, Josh, at this point, we shout out a couple of film spotting family members. But instead, we wanted to just spend a couple minutes, maybe even less, on what we're calling summer film spotting madness.

37:40Adam Kempenaar:It's the best of the 1920s and 30s. This is a bracket style tournament, just like we do every year for film spotting madness. But we're doing it exclusively for the family 1920s and 1930s after finishing the 1940s back in April or May. Right. 32 films, Summer Madness, just for the film spotting family members. Have you had a chance to look at the play ins, which we did just announce to film spotting family members this week? And did any of them stand out to you? We thought we would give the wider film spotting audience just a little bit of a taste of what those play ins were.

38:16Josh Larsen:Absolutely. I'm going to do some lobbying here because that's partly what madness is all about, right? It's, it's our personal votes, but it's also trying to swing the vote, sway the vote. So I'm looking at, let's see, I'm going to, I'm going to stick with the horror concept here and give some recommendations for votes in two of these matchups because they are horror matchups. You have a count me in despite the pun, not so excited about that. but this matchup the title of a poll josh exception i know but it's it's so bad that i think that the title okay doesn't even help it anyway you have no sferatu you and sam have no sferatu against uh dracula and i will say that if you haven't seen these both and some people vote at them without having seen both i mean i can't imagine living in well that sort of world But some people don't.

39:16Josh Larsen:We're going to pretend that doesn't happen. I could see some people thinking, well, you know, Dracula, Bela Lugosi, obviously that must, that's the one I know. That's the one I've heard about. That's the one who, you know, I should probably vote for that. Murnau's Nosferatu is the vote you have to make. It is. And I like Dracula. Lugosi is maybe the best thing about it. The production design is incredible. Nosferatu is just another level of horror. So you got to go there in that matchup. And then I think here also conventional wisdom might be askew. Bride of Frankenstein versus the cabinet of Dr.

39:55Josh Larsen:Caligari. Bride of Frankenstein, I would agree, better than Frankenstein. James Wales follow-up, I think he did. Yeah, he did both. It's incredible, iconic. We can all picture in our heads the imagery right now. but, and maybe folks have not gotten around to see the cabinet of Dr. Caligari. This is for me, top 10 whore of all time. So no brainer here for me, as much as I also do like ride of Frankenstein, it's got to be the cabinet of Dr. Caligari in this matchup. And I'll make this one real quick, Adam. If you look at another matchup we have here, let me find it. It is the gold rush against swing time.

40:46Josh Larsen:Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers swing time. Yeah. I can see it being very easy for people to think gold rush chaplain. He's, he's like one of the all time geniuses. Of course, I'm going to vote for that. I don't even know which Astaire Rogers swing time is. Really? I've seen. No, no, no. I'm saying a voter might think that. Okay. And I get that thinking. I've seen all of their movies and I even have to pause or Google. on my website, you know, what, which one is this again? Swing time is, I think they're best. So we're not just, we're not just throwing in here, you know, a nod to a stair Rogers and, and sacrificing them to the God of chaplain in this matchup.

41:27Adam Kempenaar:I would go with a stair Rogers. I think, I think I would too. That's easy to say when there's a lot of chaplain in this tournament already, including one other chaplain just among the play-ins, but I'm with you. I love swing time that much. I'll just mention a couple myself. I think a really tough one is the Curtiz matchup because I'm a fan of both angels with dirty faces and the adventures of Robin hood, very different films and, and two very different, but great movie stars, Jimmy Cagney versus Errol Flynn. I don't know. I think I think I'm more of a Cagney guy. I'm probably going to go angels with dirty faces.

42:10Adam Kempenaar:I don't think it's going to win, but I haven't looked at the results so far because we have started voting. Maybe maybe Flynn takes it. I'm going to go Cagney in that one. Another one, Josh, that I think would be the toughest to call. I'm going to look and see where it is while we're talking but i feel like it just has to be close it's not close for me even though i do think both films are very good and both were part of a marathon the ernst lubich marathon we have a lubich play-in ninachka versus trouble in paradise part of me just thinks that trouble in paradise is more highly regarded i could be wrong about that but i love ninachka and the notch is getting my vote.

42:58Adam Kempenaar:I feel like it could be very close though, Josh, and I want to go hit refresh on this and see where it stands. And at this moment, here you go. At this moment, trouble in paradise is up by one vote. So that one is, that one is tight. And here's, here's the last one. I'll, I'll single out. I have a play in called upward mobility and Sam and I put Jezebel against my man Godfrey. I have to think that my man Godfrey is going to run away with this. But Betty Davis in Jezebel, that's my pick. I'm going, I'm heretical on this one. I'm taking Jezebel versus my man Godfrey. So that's just the plans. If you want to participate in this tournament round one doesn't kick off until monday july 20th you still have time to become a film spotting family member and determine the best films of the 1920s and 30s links to the polls will come via the film spotting family newsletter you can only get that if you're a film spotting family member learn more at film spotting family.com now if people are on the fence and you

44:17Josh Larsen:know, participating in madness isn't enough to convince them to join the family. We have a summer sale going on and we don't do this all that often, but we have found that it gives a push to people. It's just maybe enough of a reason to say, okay, I'm getting a deal here. It's time to join the film spotting family. So if you'd like to do that, the promo code is summer easy enough. And that is going to get you 20 % off a Film Spotting Family membership. And again, our memberships begin at$4.99 a month. So promo code SUMMER. Use that through August 31st and you'll get 20 % off. We will put a link in the show notes that'll bring you right to that opportunity.

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47:15Adam Kempenaar:Go to homeserve.com slash podcast for 50 % less your first year. That's homeserve.com slash podcast. Savings compared to renewal price. Void in Florida. All right, so before we got married, we did this thing where we said the worst thing we've ever done. Okay. I'll tell mine if we all do it. Promise? What did you do? This dog. Beer bottles and porn. You left in there every night? Yeah. That's the worst thing I've ever done. Ice. Okay, I, um, are you serious? Our top two picks for best films of the year so far coming up in a moment. First, we do want to see how you weighed in on the best of the year so far poll.

47:57Adam Kempenaar:The options we gave listeners were these, Josh. 28 years later, The Bone Temple, Back Rooms, Disclosure Day, The Drama, Obsession, Project Hail Mary, The Sheep Detectives, or you could go other. We had mild drama behind the scenes here. As I suggested, there's no reason why the drama needed to be in this poll. Nobody thinks that highly of it. Nobody's going to vote for it. And well, Sam was very mildly because he's too much of a gentleman, very mildly gloating in our slack earlier today. And you're going to tell people why.

48:39Josh Larsen:It's in third place. And among the films offered, the titles offered, it's actually in second place. So we have other the category of other got 20 percent of the vote that put it in second place. But the drama received 16 percent of the vote. And yeah, I think, you know, I'm not always, I don't get into these pull kerfuffles often, Adam, because they tend to spiral on Slack. But I did kind of lean Sam's way only because I've heard my daughters and her friends still talking about the drama positively months after it's been out. And so it has resonated with an audience, resonated with you, me, a little bit.

49:26Josh Larsen:But enough people to get it a placement on the poll pretty high here. But let's go back.

49:33Adam Kempenaar:Remember, I gave it just a very mild thumbs up. Mild thumbs up. Yeah. Yes. Okay. All right. To quote Roger and Gene, mild thumbs up. That's on the record.

49:44Josh Larsen:Okay, good. Yes, it is. Now, backrooms, you were suspicious of putting on this poll. And I think I said, yeah, I don't think we need backrooms either. It ended up on the poll and it's ended up in last place. So your instinct was correct on that. 3 % of the vote. Take that, Sam. Second. Yeah. second to last place in the poll is the sheep detectives with 5 % of the vote. I mean, I thought this changed people's lives. Come on. What's happening here? This seems disrespectful. No hearts. This is disrespectful to me. Disclosure day, only 7 % of the vote. Okay. I'll move on. 28 years later, the bone temple received 11 % of the vote.

50:24Josh Larsen:Adam, one of the picks you've made already on your top five of the year. so far list obsession got 13 % of the vote that leaves the winner after all of that with 26 % of the vote has not come up on either of our lists. We'll see if it will, but for our listeners, the best film of the year so far is project hail Mary. Yeah.

50:46Adam Kempenaar:One of the listeners who picked it was Craig Schaefer. As much as I'd like to support something indie slash low budget. And I really thought our listeners might end up more there, Josh. He says, I'll have to go with Project Hail Mary. Lord and Miller never fail to amaze me, and no other film has created a sense of wonder on me like this one has. Here's Bryce Maloney.

51:07Josh Larsen:The gauntlet has been thrown down, and obsession and backrooms may be the modern-day equivalents of Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate. Wow. Now, sea change, a sea change in film history here for Bryce. He says, obsession is my pick. It's aesthetics and visual storytelling scream today. Whereas mostly everything else on that list suddenly feels yesterday. It's a shot across the bow for Hollywood. And they'd best learn the proper lessons from what viewers have told them with their record-breaking attendance. That certainly has sent waves through Hollywood, Bryce. And yeah, Sam dropped a note here that both of these films, Obsession and Backrooms, right now you can see via premium VOD.

51:51Adam Kempenaar:Damian Cannon writes, nothing else has come close to the bone temple in terms of raw impact. The masterful and unhinged performance by Fiennes, that's Rafe, is simply one of the best I've seen in a long time. That title may come up in a bit here.

52:06Josh Larsen:We heard from Nick Potter as well. Well, I thought I might struggle with this poll until I realized that Nirvana, the band, the show, the movie was simply not listed. Not sure I can think of a 2026 film that has bigger ambitions while also nailing everything it sets out to do. Matt Johnson and Jay McCarroll deliver absurdist laughs and genuine pathos in a movie that truly feels like a magic trick and deserves all the attention it can get.

52:31Adam Kempenaar:Okay. Devin Jolly Jack Boot Wombold says, I don't have a runaway favorite at this point. So instead I voted other just to throw send help into the mix. I don't think it's necessarily better than my other favorites, but since it didn't make Sam's cut, I guess it needs a boost. Rachel McAdams is predictably delightful. And I had a real blast with Raimi doing Raimi stuff. Even wields kind of bad CGI like he once did kind of bad stop motion. And it totally worked for me. One of the most fun trips to the multiplex I've had this year. Send help one I need to catch up with. Still, that's on Hulu and it's available VOD.

53:07Adam Kempenaar:Here's Bob McHugh.

53:09Josh Larsen:My favorite so far as The Invite. If you told me this 20 minutes into the movie, I would have been shocked because I was on the verge of walking out. Wow. Don't we have enough movies about miserable caricatures fighting? That's when The Invite reveals its neat trick. They don't get any less miserable, but they do cease to become caricatures. By the end, I had achieved full empathy for them. So I have to give it credit for being the first film to alter my behavior since Final Destination 2 made me avoid driving behind lumber trucks.

53:38Adam Kempenaar:Okay. Altering behavior, Josh. Wow. That doesn't happen often with movies. No. I was already so interested in the invite, and now we have that from Bob. Okay, these last three are titles that have not come up, that were definitely other picks, and two of them I haven't heard of. So I think it behooves us to mention them here in this poll feedback. This first one I have heard of. Eric Quigley says, dropping in to give some love to Hocum. There's nothing groundbreaking in Hocum, but it's highly competent filmmaking in every regard and is by far the most fun I had in the theater in a very long time, not just this year.

54:17Adam Kempenaar:It was legitimately spooky, but also fun and funny. It looked great, had great performances and some legitimate pathos. I think it needs more love out there. You can potentially give it some love if you catch up with it, VOD.

54:30Josh Larsen:I do want to see Hokum. So thanks for reminding me of that, Eric. I've never heard, Adam, either of these next two, including Blue Film, which is the vote that Steven went with here in the other category. I doubt I will have much company, but the movie that has stuck with me the most this year is the criminally underseen blue film. It is decidedly not for everyone. In fact, part of the reason I'm making this comment is because I can't recommend it to anyone I know. Without spoiling anything, take a stagey two-hander like The Sunset Limited and cross it with Todd Solenz's happiness. The result is an unflinching examination of perversion, power dynamics, and the limits of redemption.

55:12Josh Larsen:P.S. I also think it checks a lot of golden brick boxes. Okay. If we need to do that homework, we can find blue film on VOD.

55:23Adam Kempenaar:Here we go. The last one from Steve Mesa. I want to give praise to a documentary. I'm always looking for docs called The Python Hunt. Every year, the state of Florida holds a python removal contest. The film follows a group of eccentric hunters over the course of 10 nights. Just like his previous film, Are We Not Cats? Director Xander Robbins movie is about strangers who share an obsession. In this case, hunting snakes sounds miserable. Not the film hunting snakes. The score is tremendous. And the cinematography encapsulates the Everglades beautifully with his feature length films. Robin has proven to be a fascinating filmmaker with a unique vision and a bright future.

56:01Adam Kempenaar:Python hunt. Also VOD Josh. I think I might have to see this. Yeah. I think I'm in. So let's get back into it. Now we darted around just a little bit. We've heard your five, four, and your number two, because we shared a pick. So briefly recap, what were those picks?

56:19Josh Larsen:Yeah. Number five. I love boosters from boots. Riley, number four, Olivia Wilds, the invite and up at number two, blue heron. One of our golden brick nominees at this point from filmmaker, Sophie Ramvari.

56:34Adam Kempenaar:I had obsession at number five. we shared Sophie Rambari's Blue Heron. That was my number four. And at number three, I had Toy Story 5. So your number three film of the year so far is? It is.

56:49Josh Larsen:28 years later, The Bone Temple. I couldn't let you have the horror pick, a horror pick on these lists, and I did not have one. Although this is what kind of horror this is. I feel like the series, this 28 series, has made a shift with the Bone Temple from zombie horror, I know that's controversial, but it's zombie horror, to me, to religious horror, which was absolutely fascinating. This is another review, Adam, that I missed while traveling. I think it was in Spain at this time, and you and Roxanna Haddaddy had a great discussion about this one. I mean, talk about catnip for someone. The reason I was overseas was to be part of a theology and the arts master's program, And here you have the Bone Temple dropping in my lap, which is essentially a showdown.

57:37Josh Larsen:It builds to the showdown between an atheist, Ralph Fiennes, Dr. Ian Kelson, and a Satanist. This would be Jack O 'Connell's Sir Jimmy Crystal. Yeah, you've got Kelson here, who's basically this hermit physician. He's presiding over this ossuary he's constructed from all these bodies left in the wake of a savage rage virus. Kelson believes, essentially, in reason and science. Those are the foundations of all things. And so he treasures life, but is realistic about the inevitability and finality of death. Then you get Sir Jimmy, who we learn from a prologue to 28 years later, has suffered from religious trauma in his youth.

58:18Josh Larsen:Now, everything's gone to hell, so why not recast yourself as the prince of the place, which is what he's done. This movie, Adam, it collides in a bonkers climax I could never have seen coming. Nia DaCosta takes over as director here and she directs it, this sequence, with a psychedelic fervor. At the same time, gives this disciplined understanding of the compositions so that we don't know what's happening or what's going on. but the imagery and the framing of it is so clear and arresting. This is a set piece that combines Iron Maidens, the number of the beast with Christ's final words on the cross.

59:05Josh Larsen:I mean, it's wild stuff going on here. I was fascinated by all of it and loved plumbing the meaning of it and appreciated the aesthetic elements that DaCosta brought. So yeah, I liked the previous film 28 years later. I think the bone temple is doing far more compelling things in a more focused way. And if somehow you haven't seen it yet, it's streaming on Netflix right now. You can rent it via other services as well. But if you have Netflix, it's right there for you. Remind me, Adam, I know we've talked about this here and there, but, but where you were on this one, cause you were higher on 28 years later than I was.

59:43Josh Larsen:Yeah.

59:44Adam Kempenaar:We're, we're just the reverse. I actually do have this in my honorable mentions. Like it might be my number 10 of the year, even though I did spend it's one of those movies, though, and it speaks to how I feel about the series and this reinvention or revival of the series and the promise I have for it after the previous entry that I spent most of the review lamenting the things I wish it had done better. But that's, again, because there's so much potential here and also because there's so many things that I do like about the film. So I have it in my honorable mentions, but I, I was more moved and more provoked by the last film.

1:00:24Adam Kempenaar:And we just had the opposite experience. It's really interesting, even though, even though I understand why you were prodded the way you were by this film. I certainly get it. I, I felt narratively. this one is a little bit clunkier than the last film. And I think that's where it, it got me off the path a little bit compared to the previous movie. My number two film of the year, Josh, is a movie we haven't discussed on the show. It's a film that was part of my homework for this list. It's one I was able to see because it's available on demand. And it's the latest film from Christian Petzold. It's called Marouille.

1:01:08Adam Kempenaar:Oh, yeah, that's right. Number three. And I'll give you the very brief synopsis here. The official description after a car crash kills her boyfriend. Piano student Laura is taken in by Betty, who witnessed the accident. Living with Betty's family brings comfort, but Laura starts questioning their intentions as time passes. That's that's accurate. Like plot synopses usually are technically it's accurate. And it would be hard to be the marketing person to come up with a two sentence characterization summary of of this film. But that last line really doesn't do the movie justice or speak to the mysteries of this film.

1:01:54Adam Kempenaar:And it it makes the movie to me sound she starts questioning their intentions as time passes, makes it sound more ominous. than the movie really is. And this film has quite a lot of lightness and optimism to it in my mind. The word is French for mirrors, and you understand why that's in the title when you watch this film. Apparently, Petzold, I have heard this before, is someone who is pretty obsessed with the movie Vertigo, which is itself a movie about obsession. You see shades of that here, Josh, because you can say without giving away anything that it is about one character effectively wanting another character in the movie to take someone else's place, wanting to be like someone else.

1:02:51Adam Kempenaar:But this isn't a movie about doppelgangers. It's not a movie about obsession. And although like Vertigo, I would say it is a movie about processing grief. again it's not it's just not a movie that's as dark even as vertigo is it's also not as colorful as vertigo is but there is just nothing sinister here As you watch all of these characters struggle to connect with each other, and that's really more what this movie is about. And it also has at its core a question that I talked about in relation to the movie Obsession and seems to be one I like to talk about. I'm obsessed with talking about in relation to films that, that offer this or present it.

1:03:41Adam Kempenaar:And that is, can a simulacrum, can a version of something or someone offer you effectively the real thing, offer you whatever it is you need, whatever it is you feel like you lost. Can they give that back to you? Even if, even if you know, in your mind, it's not real, is it close enough? So that that's one of the questions that this movie poses, and it's a it's a really intimate movie, but but leaves you pondering big questions like that. Paula Paula Bear, who's one of the regulars that Petzold features is very good in the film. Also, Barbara our who's someone who's been in previous Petzold movies.

1:04:26Adam Kempenaar:Very good cast in this in this movie. So highly recommend Marois number three, which is available on demand.

1:04:35Josh Larsen:Yeah, I've liked, I think I've seen three or four titles from him and have liked all of them. So if you're this high on it, I'll have to put on my list to catch up with before the year is out. Let's see. So that brings me, I believe, to my number one, which I just saw for the second time today. we're actually recording a couple hours later than we have been lately and so I thought you know what I'm gonna go see it again is this really my number one and yes Disclosure Day is my number one and I think the second watch was helpful because the one thing I want to reiterate about this is as it came time to you know Debbie my younger daughter hadn't seen it yet and they were available.

1:05:26Josh Larsen:So I was like, let's go, let's go see this. And as it came closer to heading out, I was, I was getting more and more excited, um, to, to see it again. And I think that's been lost in all the debating and the nitpicking, which, you know, that's what movies are for. It's fine over this that I've seen since it came out. It's just how damn exciting this is as a movie experience. I mean, Spielberg is, he's, you know, yeah, we're not getting Jaws. We're not, We're not getting, you know, 70s or 80s Spielberg, but we're getting pretty darn close here from the opening face stomp at the wrestling match.

1:06:01Josh Larsen:A touch the first time where I was like, wait, did I walk in the wrong theater? This is so anti Spielberg. And I take it now as his assessment of contemporary human relations. So it makes sense. But you have the train sequence, the invisibility sequence gag, which works. This is just great grand entertainment from a grand entertainer. People are starved. For the truth. I'm a part of it now. I'm just sorry they made you a part of it too.

1:06:30Adam Kempenaar:Hello, Jane. Please.

1:06:35Josh Larsen:Have a seat. Interesting also, since this movie came out, I've heard numerous people, and these are, you know, folks I've talked to, friends and colleagues, but also on podcasts and stuff say, you know, in the moment, I felt, I really felt. the ending and, and I was there and then, you know, but afterwards I, I didn't understand why I felt that way and, and, and what it, what it exactly meant. And I think that's, I think that's legitimate. That's fine. It's very interesting because the other reason I saw the second time is as you know, that the dissertation I'm working on for my master's program is half Spielberg, half Scorsese.

1:07:15Josh Larsen:And one of the things I've been exploring and using, which our listeners are so smart, they're probably familiar with this, but is the idea of effect theory or affect theory, which is the way art affects us in ways that bypass our rational intellect, but can still be felt deeply, if unidentifiably. So it's meaningful in a way that is not intellectually processable, let me say. It's not the same as emotional. It's different than just because that can be manipulative, right? Manipulating our emotions. And this is the register that a lot of Spielberg's work operates in. I think it's why he focuses so much on faces.

1:08:00Josh Larsen:When there is something amazing happening in his movies, it's interesting how the human characters are the focus because the movie is interested in how they're being affected as much as the movie is interested on the spectacle that is affecting them. And I think this speaks back to how people are describing the experience with this movie, right? Is like, but I want to know why I felt that way. Like what, they're a little suspicious. Like what, wait a minute, but what does it mean? And again, I think that's fair. I think we should ask those questions, but it speaks to the power that Spielberg still has in this way.

1:08:38Josh Larsen:I'll also say real quickly here, I kind of in the moment in our review of Disclosure Day, wondered if it was his Irishman, right? Again, Scorsese on my mind, as a movie reflecting back on other genre movies or movies in that theme that they've tackled before. And I think it is a capstone on a career obsession in a similar way. You know, Irishman gangsters, this aliens. Interestingly, both verge on the didactic. Think at the end of The Irishman, there's that literal conversation with the priest, with Frank, the De Niro character, about confession and redemption. I mean, laying it all out for you in a way that Raging Bull left you to figure out, right?

1:09:21Josh Larsen:And we have here Emily Blunt speaking directly to the camera about empathy. Also, this viewing today, both have open-ended finales. So my favorite touch in The Irishman is the open door to Frank's room. He asked the priest to leave the door open visually there, an open-ending. and then hear blunts unfinished speech. We get one word from her and the movie ends. And it's like, my younger daughter was like, wait, are they planning a sequel for this? And it's like, no, this is where these filmmakers are in their career. They're at once didactic and also leaving it in the audience's hands. So I think Irishman is a defining late career statement for Scorsese.

1:10:06Josh Larsen:I think Disclosure Day is the same. I don't I understand those people have qualms about it and quibbles about it I don't know if it'll be this high at the end of the year for me but right now it's at number one okay I like to

1:10:18Adam Kempenaar:see it that high on your list and I'll say this about my reaction to the film and you can go back and listen to our entire review where I express this I didn't rethink it later I'm going to use a phrase that you used with your number five pick. I found it at the end, unconvincingly optimistic in the moment. I was, I was moved in different ways at different points in the film, but not at the ending. I was taken out of the movie at the ending. And that actually undid a lot of the goodwill for me with that film. But I ultimately, as I said, I ultimately had to recognize the thrilling experience most of that film was for me in the theater.

1:11:13Adam Kempenaar:And that's why I, when I had to come down on Rotten Tomatoes, whether I was giving it the tomato or whatever that other symbol is, I said, yeah, I'm positive on this movie because quibbles aside that that That was the experience I had for the most part in the theater with Disclosure Day. So it's a divisive film. It has been. And that's great that Spielberg is making divisive films.

1:11:38Josh Larsen:It's so much fun.

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1:13:15Josh Larsen:Apple Vacations, where your story starts.

1:13:18Adam Kempenaar:The July Savings Event from Apple Vacations is here. Book by July 23rd and save up to$400 off your flight and hotel package to Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, Hawaii, or Europe. From all-inclusive escapes to bucket list adventures, Apple Vacations makes it easy to create memories with the people who matter most. Start today at AppleVacations.com or contact your trusted travel advisor. Apple Vacations, where your story starts. This movie, for me, at number one, I don't think it's very divisive. I don't know what the Rotten Tomatoes score is. I imagine it's pretty high. Part of that, though, is not many people are seeing it, Josh.

1:13:57Adam Kempenaar:The people who are seeing it are the audience for this movie. And there was a part of me that thought maybe I gave this a brief review on the show, like one of those two-minute things. But I can't remember doing that. Or I can't say definitively I did. I have no record of it. I didn't check the film spotting guide to the archives on Letterboxd to confirm it, but this may be the first real mention of it on the show. And it is my number one film of the year so far. Nirvana, the band, the show, the movie. I was wondering about this. Yeah, yeah. It's so, so good. directed by Matthew Johnson, who directed the Blackberry movie.

1:14:43Adam Kempenaar:And he co-stars along with Jay McCarroll and they play themselves or versions of themselves, Matt and Jay, who they, they are trying so bad. They're trying so hard as musicians who are in this band, Nirvana, the band, they're trying so hard to book a gig at the the rivoli this club that they they end up traveling back to 2008 i said on letterbox my little one sentence two sentence review was i don't know how they pulled this off and i say and by this i mean such an absurdly gorilla pastiche with legitimate emotional stakes and and the setup there is that when i say how they pulled this off is anybody who's seen the movie knows that that's just part of the wonder of this film is that so much of it was shot with these stolen sequences multiple ones at the CN tower in Toronto that you simply can't and others but at CN tower where you simply can't have you seen it Josh did you catch up oh yeah

1:15:47Josh Larsen:it's okay I can't I still can't and I have gone on deep dives trying to figure out what's fakery

1:15:55Adam Kempenaar:and what you simply can't, you can't accept that they're authentic, but you also can't believe watching it that they're not authentic. No matter how hard, no matter how hard you investigate the frame and the activity within it, it, it is such a mind bender watching him. It's such a conundrum. Everything just feels so real. And, and I truly have no idea and I'm just going to accept whatever the screen gives me. And it's, it's a back to the future parody. And there's, I seem to recall shades of pulp fiction in it. And I don't remember how many other movies that it references. And sometimes that can just bog down a movie.

1:16:35Adam Kempenaar:And often you can, you can respect, especially as a movie buff, you can respect some of those jokes or laugh at a few of them. No, it doesn't hear bog down or slow down anything. Somehow every one of those references works. And the part about stakes is when it when it comes to these characters actually having to make emotional choices, I was totally invested. And rather than taking the cliche route, you think you're going to get the obvious turn of events. It still surprises you in the moments where it needs to surprise you. It did for me anyway. It's just such an inventive, funny movie. And when I say funny, there are at least three.

1:17:21Adam Kempenaar:There's three I can think of for sure off the top of my head that are three legitimate contenders for funniest moment of the year. That's why it's number one. time machine plan.

1:17:37Josh Larsen:This is going to be the last plan you and I ever have to do. And as far as I'm concerned, Nirvana the band is playing the Rivoli tonight. We have the RV decked out like the DeLorean.

1:17:48Adam Kempenaar:So it's a full time machine. Okay, watch this. Hold on to your butts.

1:17:55Josh Larsen:I had fun with this too. There were just too many people like, and not just fans of theirs from years back. I mean, they've been, you know, working together i think you said this like from 2007 right so they had their fans but also people encountering them for the first time loving this movie so i had to check it out and yeah and yeah me too me too obviously so did enjoy it i think for me yeah you described it perfectly and i just couldn't wrap my mind around how they were doing some of this stuff but also there's bits like and these are the ones that got me the most just when they're pushing the wheelbarrow along the sidewalk in Toronto with this giant extension cord in it that's unraveling because they're trying to plug in from the top of the CN tower to just like a street lamp and just everyone looking at them as they're going by, just real people, right?

1:18:51Josh Larsen:So it's stuff like that that is hilarious. I think I was predisposed to not appreciate this probably as much as I should because I came in thinking it was flight of the concord style comedy. And I am, I think it was like the band, the music element. I had a misperception and I was looking for that. It's doing something somewhat similar, but also very different. And, and the bar for me in flight of the concords is just so high in terms of naive musical act, you know, trying to make it big. Um, and, and so that's not, that's not fair, but it is, it's, it's really funny. I had a great time with it.

1:19:31Josh Larsen:And did you know, I don't think you mentioned this, that Matt Johnson is directing. This is fascinating to me. The Anthony Bourdain. Yes. Biopic. That's about, I did see that.

1:19:42Adam Kempenaar:I did see that. So that's another thing for me to wrap my head around. I know. I know because I've seen that trailer at least once and I'm very, I'm very conflicted. even before I saw that Matt Johnson was directing it, I'm conflicted because there's a part of me that is drawn to biopics, even though I dislike most of them. I'm especially drawn to biopics about figures that I have some reverence for. And I do have reverence for Anthony Bourdain, but then I can't help. And I know I'm just watching a trailer. I can't help but watch a trailer where it has this character making pronouncements and doing and saying things that are clearly the material that we're used to seeing and hearing in biopics.

1:20:29Adam Kempenaar:Yeah. Yeah. In bad biopics that nobody in real life has ever said.

1:20:33Josh Larsen:Sorry. What is your name?

1:20:39Adam Kempenaar:Anthony Bourdain. But then you see that Matt Johnson's directing it and you think, well, well, maybe, maybe that's just the trailer and I'm going to watch it. And he's done something inventive with it. Yeah. And I just need to wait and be surprised. I hope you have to think that you have to think that's, that's possible.

1:20:58Josh Larsen:Yeah.

1:20:58Adam Kempenaar:Yeah. Those are our top five movies of the year. So far, we only had one overlap blue Heron. Do you have Josh, any honorable mentions?

1:21:09Josh Larsen:Well, I'm going to run through. Yeah. A number of titles. Cause I said, I'd be happy with this top 10 list. Silent Friend, Rose of Nevada, Exit 8, and The Sheep Detectives would round out my list. If you're counting, you'll notice there's a slot there for a title I'm not going to mention right now. I also want to say that I did some golden brick homework for this show, and this is a movie that did not make my top five. It's probably a lesser golden brick candidate, but I want to give it some attention because, um, for the record to put it on our list, but also because this is all about bringing attention to new film filmmakers and films.

1:21:50Josh Larsen:And it is one, Sam actually suggested we check out it's is God is, and this comes from writer director, Alicia Harris. She's actually adapting her play. It's about twin sisters who are commissioned by their mother, um, to on a revenge plot, let's just say.

1:22:09Adam Kempenaar:Girls, I'm gonna make this real simple. Make your daddy dead. Real dead. This seem a little crazy. Not as crazy as setting your wife on fire in front of your kids and abandoning them.

1:22:25Josh Larsen:We ain't killers. How we gonna live with ourselves when we do this? This destiny type shit. Paris shows real inventive vision here, which is a quality we look for in Goldenbrick candidates, especially using this idea of them being twins and their split screen images here that are very effective. The way they'll look at each other in moments and don't say anything, but we see the dialogue on screen above their heads. It is very inventive. All of that I admired. I'm a little, and I'm recommending the movie. People should check it out. Is God Is. I'm a little conflicted with the glibness of the violence and the intenseness of the root domestic incident that's at the heart of all this.

1:23:19Josh Larsen:There's like a real seriousness to what is driving all this and a bit of glibness to the style and depiction of the violence. Tarantino came to mind, who I'm also very conflicted about on some of these questions. That's just me. I know a lot of people, and one of the other reasons I made a priority to check this out is there are a lot of critics who are higher on it even than me. I do want to nod to it for a golden brick slot. And yeah, just note midway through the year, it's one worth catching up with.

1:23:57Adam Kempenaar:That's Is God Is. Okay. I said that the Bone Temple was an honorable mention for me, and it is, but I'm actually going to just keep it off the list because I think it would be number 11. I've got five others that I would put ahead of it, and three of them you mentioned. Sheep Detectives, Silent Friend, Exit 8. The two you didn't mention are one of them, the movie of the year, according to our listeners. And you gave it a very positive review as well. Project Hail Mary is a good film. It's really good. I'm happy to put it. Why? It's really good. Why? You don't have to address. I'm not charging you with anything.

1:24:38Adam Kempenaar:No, no, no.

1:24:39Josh Larsen:It's fine. I'm not worried about it. But it's interesting. Like, even when I was just conceiving, this is not a reflection on the movie. It's just my experience with it. when you sit down for this list, it's like, okay, these are on here. These are on here for sure. What's going to sneak in number five? It didn't come up. It didn't surface. As much as I enjoyed it, all the things I appreciate about it, that's why it's not on my honorable mentions, I guess.

1:25:10Adam Kempenaar:It came to mind right away when I started writing down titles, but that was like a short list of 10. I knew it wasn't going to be in my top five, but I knew it was going to be at least, you know, considered for the overall list. The other film that hasn't come up, but I do really like, obviously, and I reviewed with another critic filling in for you, Chris Klemek, is the Steven Soderbergh, the new Soderbergh movie, The Christophers. Oh, that. Yeah, The Christophers, I need to catch up with. Really good performance by McKellen. The Christophers on my list, one that almost snuck into my top five.

1:25:50Adam Kempenaar:So there you have it, our top five films of the year so far and more. You can find the complete list over at filmspotting.net. Just click on list and you will see our entire top five archive.

1:26:16Adam Kempenaar:Wanted to take a moment to note the passing of actor Sam Neill, the New Zealand actor. fair to say, Josh, forever be known as Dr. Grant in Jurassic Park, at least to many of us. But his career dates back to the late 70s. His first starring role was in, is it Gillian Armstrong or Jillian Armstrong? I should know this. I'm just going to admit - I should know it as well. Yeah, on air that I'm not sure. I'll look that up off air and get it right next time. But her debut feature, 1979's My Brilliant Career with Judy Davis, but several other notable performances.

1:26:53Josh Larsen:1981, he made the cult horror film Possession with Isabella Gianni. And then in the early 90s, I guess you could say this was probably his heyday, 1990 was Dead Calm, that one with Nicole Kidman. Also, he was in The Hunt for Red October. 91, that was Wim Wendor's Until the End of the world and then get this in 1993 to be in yes jurassic park great right i mean obviously set him up for life in many sequels he was also a key figure in jane campion's the piano 1994 he was in john carpenter's in the mouth of madness active for the rest of his life including you know titles smaller titles but ones that had um big followings like taika waititi's hunt for the wilder people so yeah sam neill just one of those um even when he was playing not good guys still a comforting presence somehow on screen he managed to managed to thread that needle all right let's move on to massacre theater this is where adam and i attempt to perform a scene and you get a chance to win a film spotting prize last week we massacred this scene one dollar buys five rings if one of the rings lands on one of the red bottles they win a giant ass panda that is a giant ass panda yeah

1:28:16Adam Kempenaar:it's the best prize in the park and that's because this game is unwinnable observe i'll drop a ring from three inches away so nobody ever wins if someone wins a giant ass panda on your watch you

1:28:27Josh Larsen:should just go home because you're fired okay that was martin steyer and jesse eisenberg in 2009's Adventureland, written and directed by Greg Mottola. That massacre was part of an episode that also included a 30th anniversary review of Independence Day. So why that scene from Adventureland?

1:28:45Adam Kempenaar:Here's Joe Stidham from Gainesville, Florida. This week's massacre theater was from Greg Mottola's Adventureland, one of many good indie comedies from 2009, somewhat overshadowed by 500 Days of Summer. Like Independence Day, summer and particularly July 4th feature prominently in Adventureland, though Jesse Eisenberg's Brennan insists he only celebrates Bastille Day, with one of the middle-lack romance scenes occurring during the firework show at the park. There's also Matt Bush's Frigo, who fights off imaginary Viet Cong with a Roman candle, echoing the more substantial Vietnam experience of Randy Quaid's Russell.

1:29:21Adam Kempenaar:Independence Day was one of my favorite movies of my childhood. I'm a complete apologist to this day, and Adventureland And as one of my favorites of 2009, the year I fell in love with cinema. Thank you, Joe.

1:29:33Josh Larsen:And yeah, we hit a lot of great notes for Joe there. Here's Fred Bukema in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I'm not sure what the connection to Independence Day is. I do remember a firework scene set to Don't Dream It's Over, but I don't recall if that's set on July 4th.

1:29:48Adam Kempenaar:Well, there you go. We got the song in there. Fred remembered Don't Dream It's Over. Sean Downey says he's from Woodbridge, Virginia. I knew this one right away, having spent multiple seasons working in the games department at an amusement park, Cedar Point. Now, Josh, I have mentioned on the show before, but you weren't here on the show when we reviewed Adventureland. I worked games at Adventureland in Iowa. Of course you did. Talk about another movie I had a personal connection to. He says Adventureland has always resonated with me. While my experience was in the late 1990s, years later than the film's 1987 setting, so was mine, Sean.

1:30:29Adam Kempenaar:It captures so much of what it's like to work at an amusement park during the summer. The quirky co-workers, the repetitive jobs, the friendships. Okay, mine was a little earlier in the 90s, but I digress. As for a connection, the closest one I could come up with is Adventureland and Wet Hot American Summer. Both are coming-of-age stories set during a summer in the 1980s. Each film uses a temporary summer workplace as the backdrop. underneath they're both about how one memorable summer can shape who you become now we or i should say producer sam was not thinking about film spotting fest and wet hot american summer he was just thinking about that firework scene and the july 4th backdrop but it's a great connection

1:31:07Josh Larsen:great connection so was this before your job at the theater where you know everyone to put their

1:31:14Adam Kempenaar:feet down it was after but that summer it was one of my summers back from college and look i wasn't making that much money i worked both jobs i work at adventureland during the day and at night at

1:31:29Josh Larsen:night i'd come back and work at the theater double shift i worked hard for my money yeah i i believe you did wow things we learn all right one more comment here this comes from Lisa and Chris of Ayer, Massachusetts, which must be, I don't know where I was, must be close to the Ikea outside of Boston because I went into Lisa and Chris while helping my daughter move out there into a new apartment. Had to pick up some stuff from Ikea as any good American does. And who was there? Who was there at the escalators? Lisa and Chris. I think they might still be there because I barely got out alive. Their comment here is really enjoyed this film when it came out.

1:32:14Josh Larsen:And I do recommend it. Adam's performance as Martin star is note. Perfect. Wow. Note. Perfect. He perfectly captures the monotone dead in the eyes delivery. While Josh was fairly competent. Jesse Eisenberg. Yeah. Fairly competent. Thanks a lot. Yeah. Take that Josh.

1:32:33Adam Kempenaar:Fairly confident. Okay. That was, I want to say for the record, and this is true, everybody, I didn't just cherry pick the one email that praised me. It was the only one we got that mentioned performances. And I thought it was funny, but I also love, I love that. I was note perfect. I'll take it, Lisa and Chris. I thank you.

1:32:54Josh Larsen:I think everyone believes you picked it randomly. It's been a long time since we've heard praise for your performance. Okay,

1:33:03Adam Kempenaar:Josh reach into the film spotting hat and pick out this week's winner.

1:33:07Josh Larsen:Our winner is Dan Erickson from shoreline.

1:33:10Adam Kempenaar:Washington. Congratulations, Dan. Email feedback at filmspotting.net to claim your very own film spotting t-shirt, film spotting tote bag, film spotting trial membership to the family, or your very own giant ass panda.

1:33:40Adam Kempenaar:We move on now to this week's edition of Massacre Theater. One that either will involve genuinely a lot of acting or we need to pull Dustin Hoffman's and get ourselves fully into character and do some calisthenics. A lot of jumping jacks or something before this performance. So, so I hyperventilate.

1:34:07Josh Larsen:We're in high rise now. We're in high rise now.

1:34:09Adam Kempenaar:Yeah. I ran down 28 floors.

1:34:13Josh Larsen:Good. Got my packages.

1:34:15Adam Kempenaar:Okay, Josh. Ran up. And I'm ready. I started off. You give me the action. Let's go. And action. You faked all the data.

1:34:26Josh Larsen:Yes. There's no service. No. I tried to do my duty, but I knew the day that I arrived here that this place had nothing. And I resisted that temptation for years. But I knew if I just pressed that, somebody would come and save me. You effing coward. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. End. End. Scene. Scene. And we faked you out. I didn't run downstairs. That was all.

1:35:11Adam Kempenaar:No, that's called acting. Acting. If you know what film we just massacred, email the movie's title, your name and location to feedback at filmspotting.net. Deadline, Monday, July 27th. We'll select the winner randomly from all the correct entries and announce it in a couple of weeks. Josh, that's our show.

1:35:32Josh Larsen:You can find Adam and the show on Instagram, Facebook, Letterboxd, YouTube, Blue Sky, at FilmSpotting. You'll find me at Larson on film. We are independently produced and listener supported. You can support the show by joining the film spotting family at film spotting family.com. You can listen early and add free. You'll get monthly bonus episodes, a weekly newsletter and access to the entire show archive for show t-shirts and other merch. Go to film spotting.net slash shop out wide this weekend.

1:36:03Adam Kempenaar:A little movie you may have heard of called the Odyssey next week here on And film spotting, packed feed. Episode two of the movie Racket with Michael Phillips following up a triumphant debut episode with Michael Shannon. Guest will be Amy Nicholson. Always fun to hear her. Tuesday, film spotting SVU talking about Groundhog Day effect movies. Then Thursday, the next picture show. Great pairing. The Odyssey and the Coen Brothers. Oh, brother, where art thou? and Friday will be our review of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. Josh has seen it. He said he wasn't going to betray his reaction, but he couldn't help himself.

1:36:44Adam Kempenaar:You heard it. You heard it there at the end of the top five. Just let that slip. I know he's positive, but that's not a shock. We'll see how I feel about the latest from Nolan. That is coming to your Film Spotting feed next Friday here on the show.

1:36:58Josh Larsen:Film Spotting is produced by Golden Joe Dessau and Sam Van Hagen. And without Sam and Golden Joe, this show wouldn't go. Our production assistant is Sophie Kempinar. Special thanks to everyone at WBEZ Chicago. More information is available at WBEZ.org. For Film Spotting, I'm Josh Larson.

1:37:17Adam Kempenaar:And I'm Adam Kempinar. Thanks for listening. This conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.

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