Paul Thomas Anderson Delivers with 'One Battle After Another,' Our Latest Oscar Frontrunner

14:56Anne Thompson:really bad and i know you were i like kinder to mcbeth than i was but i thought that was such a

15:04Ryan Lattanzio:sludge for lack of a better word uh those two actually got some nominations it did it went over no one's talking about it now though no no lost to time no it's perceived as as a failure

15:19Anne Thompson:it definitely is um okay so the you saw knives out as well i saw wake up dead man a knives out

15:27Ryan Lattanzio:mystery you like these movies right we've had ryan johnson on the podcast just about it right i'm zero for three with these it's really just a personal taste thing it's these movies where the mystery it's like i i think you have to maybe have a relationship to agatha christie these movies where the mystery is tied up in a very neat little package at the end in a long in this case it's a sermon or it's a very long speech delivered by uh uh daniel craig's character i just don't really find it that interesting josh o 'connor is very good as a kind of quirky deacon and uh as is josh brolin the rest of the ensemble brought into the movie including Keely Spaney, Kerry Washington, Jeremy Renner, Thomas Hayden Church, and eventually Glenn Close.

16:14Ryan Lattanzio:Is Andrew Scott in it? Andrew Scott. He barely does anything. These people don't get anything to do in the movie. And the thing is, everyone says, oh, it's going to win the best casting, the first best casting award at the Oscars. But it's really, it would be for most casting just because it has a bunch of movie stars in it.

16:31Anne Thompson:Yeah. Okay. Well, I look forward to seeing that, but just for fun, you know just for an you know just to go to a movie theater and laugh one of the things that paul thomas anderson said at at the q a after one battle after another was that he won't go to a movie unless it has laughs that's how strongly he feels about it well then he's not going to want to see hamnet hamnet is not for him there are no laughs in hamnet um what was so you saw

16:57Ryan Lattanzio:the long walk uh yeah this is not an awards movie but just to plug a studio movie opening this friday uh francis lawrence who is the director of the hunger games films which i kind of stopped

17:09Anne Thompson:following i think after the second one i kept up with them all yeah is has adapted a stephen king

17:16Ryan Lattanzio:slash richard bachman novel from 1979 the long walks and it stars cooper hoffman and it's set in a dystopian world that is somewhat approximate to post vietnam or in that era or appears to be and it's about a group of boys that are contestants in this death march where they are just walking for miles and miles and miles until they all start dropping and whoever the last person to survive is wins basically it has no end it's a very grim movie written with an anti-totalitarian message as it had in the 70s and it's written by JT Molnar who wrote and directed a movie that came out last year called strange darling that was kind of interesting um it's a very bleak grim

18:04Anne Thompson:movie and i would want to see it yeah that did screen this week that i didn't go to is the matthew mcconaughey reliving of the the bus that goes through paradise you know the lost bus the lost bus now you know i love paul greengrass i think the world of him he's one of the great directors it's one of the reasons why i'm avoiding this movie because i know that he's going to put me through the ringer, you know, and I've been through the ringer. I've watched all the documentaries from paradise. I guess you liked it. Did you see this?

18:35Ryan Lattanzio:I haven't seen it, but I will watch it. It'll be in theater September 19th, but I'll wait for Apple TV.

18:41Anne Thompson:Oh, that's a good idea. So I don't have to go see it in a real theater. That is a good idea just to, just to get a little distance. Yeah. You could turn it off if it gets too intense or I'm going to need your password

18:53Ryan Lattanzio:though i don't have a login oh my god or if i do i gotta find it all right so um in the next week

19:02Anne Thompson:or so i am gonna see smashing machine christy hedda and roofman these are the ones that uh they are screening so i'll catch up with those and we'll talk about them but first let's dig into one battle after another so warner brothers um mounted in this case they're being very friendly to the press. They mounted a screening on the lot at the Stephen J. Ross Theater in VistaVision, which PTA told me at the after party was his favorite format. It's only available in four theaters, though, so he's trying to see if he can get a few more across the country. It's going to be seen on other formats like 70mm and IMAX and so forth.

19:41Anne Thompson:And then the screening was packed with Chris Nolan, A.G. Inaritu, Daniel Scheiner, Brian Johnson, speaking of Knives Out. So it's really, really packed. It played like gangbusters. By the way, they applauded in the credits for the first AD, Adam Sumner, who died in November of cancer, who also worked a lot for Scorsese and Spielberg. So there was a sad note there. This is a movie that really had a lot of demands on the ADs. It's like a non-stop action movie. Paul Thomas Anderson grabs you right at the beginning with this story about this revolutionary couple played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Tiana Taylor.

20:34Anne Thompson:And then, and of course, there's this iconic image of Tiana Taylor, fully pregnant, her naked belly sticking out, you know, with a machine gun, you know, he couldn't resist doing that. And in the end, you know, then 16 years, she runs afoul of this military man played by very, very intensely by Sean Penn, who walks as if he has something stuck up his butt. Literally, you know, he's he's he's worked out and he's shaved and he's scary as hell and funny. They're all funny. Everything in this movie is intense and funny. And, you know, PTA doesn't let you go. And from the beginning until the end, you're riding this roller coaster.

21:27Anne Thompson:And I think it could be, even though it's inspired by Vineland from Thomas Pynchon, which, you know, an inherent vice only made$14 million worldwide. I don't think, I think this could be commercial, Ryan. What do you think?

21:43Ryan Lattanzio:I totally agree with you. in terms of intensity this makes house of dynamite which i know you haven't seen look like mars attacks by comparison this is two hours and 40 minutes that feels like 90 minutes it is a relentless action movie you're right uh with incredibly well-mounted sequences including in the just right from the opening this descent on an ice style detention center in which leonardo DiCaprio and Tiana Taylor and their comrades, they break into it to, you know, take refugees out and, you know, restrain the squadron of officers. That's really intense. And then there's just one set piece after another that is crazier than the last.

22:33Ryan Lattanzio:Sean Penn already has two Oscars, but this performance as this kind of free Mason, okay, no, he's a military man, but he's kind of a,

22:42Anne Thompson:then he's he's he's wanting to join to get into the christmas the christmas adventurers which is

22:49Ryan Lattanzio:this like brotherhood of white supremacists that operate literally underground and is really creepy and funny uh he i mean i think he's one of the great screen villains uh it's it's a really good performance and you're right this movie has a lot of humor to it and looking back at any pta movie They all have humor. You know, none of them. They all take themselves very seriously, except maybe this one, which I actually found to be quite unpretentious. Whereas Licorice Pizza, his last movie, which I feel is the weakest PTA movie, where I think he became very enamored of Alana Haim, who has a kind of cameo in this movie, and wanted to build a vehicle around her, as well as for Cooper Hoffman.

23:31Ryan Lattanzio:So we're grateful that he delivered those two actors to the world. But that's a movie that I think felt very pleased with itself and its effortlessness. which in turn made it feel almost kind of fussy to me um and definitely great moments in that i

23:46Anne Thompson:loved alana heim and and and cooper hoffman and sean penn he was in that too at the core of one

23:53Ryan Lattanzio:battle after another is a father-daughter story with leonardo dicaprio and this breakout actress chase infinity who was in the apple show presumed innocent last year and i think what i'm thinking is that, I mean, Paul Thomas Anderson has kids of his own with Maya Rudolph. And in a way where Phantom Thread was a kind of love letter to her, I think, and the way she takes care of him as a kind of tortured artist. This is a movie that's, whether or not his kids, I don't know how old his kids are, if they can watch it now, it feels like a love letter to his children in some ways. But it's not cheesy or sentimental.

24:28Ryan Lattanzio:I do think this movie's -

24:30Anne Thompson:father-daughter thing really cleverly. For example, because he's still a revolutionary, there's an escape route from the house, and he forbids her to use a phone. Of course, she lies to him and has a phone. That's very understanding of what children are actually like these days. It's very well done. It's very well done. There's this extraordinary sequence at the end where they're on this road in the middle of nowhere. I guess it's near, in real life, it's near Borrego Springs, but it is, it's got these, these sort of hills and they were going very fast and he just shoots this in an amazing way.

25:18Anne Thompson:I've never seen any, any chase scene, you know, sequence. This is the very end of the movie shot like this and what he does with the characters in terms of them coming into their heroism is also very interesting. Yeah. Paul Thomas Anderson. When Leonardo DiCaprio finds out that Steve Lockjaw has returned and is about to attack, he's high out of his mind. And drunk. He's in a bathrobe. Yeah. And he learns all of this and keeps toking on the joint. He just keeps toking on it, like furiously to get, you know he he doesn't need to get higher at that moment no it's he leonardo kepp is very funny in

26:00Ryan Lattanzio:this movie paul thomas anderson has 11 oscar nominations and has not ever won a single one

26:06Anne Thompson:and i wondered some of them are for writing writing exactly yeah acting and producing

26:13Ryan Lattanzio:i wondered if he would go the way of stanley kubrick to never receive one in his lifetime but I do think that this movie, this is a very serious best director contender and a very serious best picture contender. I feel quite strongly in my heart that it's going to win one of these. And there is the risk of it being overhyped. The internet sentiment is across the board positive for this movie, but it's a rare movie that I think is not going to disappoint most people.

26:42Anne Thompson:Yeah, this is going to have support from every craft. You know, the cinematography is amazing. The Johnny Greenwood score is really cool. It is extremely innovative and very good. There's elements of silent movie piano playing in it where it's, you know, ratcheting up the tension. It's so good. And just across the board. But I would, editing, obviously, but But Sinners, Ryan Coogler, still a very strong competitor here and also Hamnet. So now she won already. But we can assume that all three of these movies will be at the top of the best picture race, the best director race, and many, many, many acting and craft races.

27:32Anne Thompson:So, yeah, Leo will be back. He's won before. Sean Penn has won before, as you said. And Benicio del Toro is very, very good in this. You know, there's a whole sequence where he's helping out. He's helping Leo escape or get on the road and find his daughter. And he's just brilliant and multitasking. And, you know, there's that wonderful moment where he just times everything perfectly and dives down these stairs and the rug, you know, lays down on top of, you know what I mean. It's pretty cool.

28:16Ryan Lattanzio:Yeah, I can't wait to see that one again, honestly. And in a year where increasingly year after year, movies are getting longer and longer and two hours and 40 minutes almost feels like a standard runtime. This is a movie that really earns all of that. It's really relentless and holds you in its grip the entire time. There were movies I saw Venice that I felt were a little long and coming straight into this movie.

28:42Anne Thompson:I've been thinking, by the way, about After the Hunt, the one we were desecrating last week. Too much so, probably. I would argue that that movie is a repeat of salt burn on the part of Amazon and MGM. In other words, they went to the festivals with it, and they shouldn't have. They would have been better off not going to the festivals with it, not wearing their Oscar hopes on their sleeve. When you get that set of expectations in a festival setting, you have to deliver the movie. And that one, in both cases, they had good, solid commercial movies, perhaps, that didn't deliver on an Oscar expectation.

29:25Ryan Lattanzio:I think there's going to be support for that movie from a certain section of the press corps who feel that it kind of is like, oh, like kind of queries some of the findings to come out of the Me Too movement and kind of pauses on them. but I actually found it to be pretty declaratively black and white in the way it ends, which we won't discuss. I don't think it's as ambiguous and murky as the movie was kind of pitched as being, and how some people are interpreted to be. I actually found it to be the opposite.

30:00Anne Thompson:I agree with you. All right. So what more do we have to say? I think we are in agreement on what PTA has delivered here, and I'm curious to see how it plays out. I'd love it to be another hit for Warner Brothers. I was talking to Michael DeLuca and Pam Abdi at the party. It just would make me very happy if it did well.

30:23Ryan Lattanzio:Yeah, I mean, the Vista Theater, as you know, it's already sold out. And there's a lot of sold out showings here in New York. Again, that's just a microcosm of the whole country. And who else is everyone going to turn up for this? The marketing has been tricky. I will concede that the trailers were rough in the beginning. And I think a lot of people were in agreement about that and had us all worried.

30:45Anne Thompson:The movie, but it's hard to do. It's hard to capture a movie like this.

30:48Ryan Lattanzio:The trailer is almost suggested something like inherent vice. That's a little hazier. And, um, but, but this movie actually it's very straightforward and accessible.

31:01Anne Thompson:Absolutely. It's as simple as, uh, you know, let me find my daughter, please. You know, that's, there's a moment where they turn up at this convent with all these nuns that used to be revolutionaries. I don't know how to explain it. There's a lot of humor in this. It's very funny. Really, it's very funny. Okay, we're done. We will resume next week. We have a couple weeks before the New York Film Festival, and we will keep up with the films as they come in and also eventually start giving you real information about New York.

31:39Ryan Lattanzio:Talk to you next week.

32:03Thank you.

32:37Ryan Lattanzio:Legally, we can't say drinking Storm makes you smarter and more focused.

32:41Anne Thompson:But with zero sugar, 200 milligrams of caffeine and immunity support, you're smarter and more focused for drinking Storm. Storm. Good energy in, good energy out. Energy for life.